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GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY
HISTORY
OF THE
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
A RECORD OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF HER PEOPLE IN THE MAKING OF A
COMMONWEALTH AND THE FOUNDING OF A NATION
Compiled Under the Editorial Supervision of
EZRA S. STEARNS
Ex-Secretary of State; Member American Antiquarian Society, New England Historic-Genealogical
SoGiETY, New Hampshire State Historical Society; Corresponding Member Minnesota
State Historical Society; Member Fitchburg Historical Society
ASSISTED BY
WILLIAM F. WHITCHER
Trustee New Hampshire State Library, Member New Hampshire State Historical Society and New
England Methodist Historical Society
AND
EDWARD E. PARKER
Judge of Frobate, Nashua
VOL. i
ILLUSTRATED
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
New York Chicago
1908
INTRODUCTORY
THE present work, "Genealogical and Family History of the State of New Hamp-
shire, ' ' presents in the aggregate an amount and variety of genealogical and per-
sonal information and portraiture unequalled by any kindred publication. Indeed,
no similar work concerning New Hampshire Families has ever before been presented.
It contains a vast amount of ancestral history never before printed. The object, clearly
defined and well .digested, is threefold;
First. To present in concise form the history of New Hampshire Families of the
Colonial Days.
Second. To preserve a record of the prominent present-day people of the State.
Third. To present through personal sketches the relation of its prominent families
of all times to the growth, singular prosperity and widespread influence of New Hamp-
shire.
The reading public of New Hampshire, as well as other States, has long been famil-
iar with the historical and genealogical work of Mr. Ezra S. Stearns. He has contrib-
uted much to the perfection of family history embodied in many of local histories pub-
lished by various towns of the State, begide those published wholly from his pen. His
latest work of this charac-
ter, the History of Plymouth in
two handsome volumes, has re-
ceived many encomiums from
press and critical literary author-
ities. The work herein embod-
ied may be justly regarded as the
crowning effort of a life devoted
largely, in the midst of other
public services, to genealogical
research. His pains and tireless
efforts in the interest of accuracy
and thoroughness are well known
and need no sponsor. His efforts
have been seconded by several
able assistants, including Miss
Frances M. Abbott, of Concord;
tiist Mecciue Place oi Lctibiaiurc at Concord, 1783. J. C Jeuuings, of Wayne, Maine I
IV
INTRODUCTORY
James A. Ellis and Francis L. Gownen, of Boston, genealogists, and many others, to
whom thanks are hereby tendered.
It is to be regretted that indifference or unwise prejudices on the part of a very few
have interfered with a proper representation of their families, but it is confidently assert-
ed that this work covers all that can be reasonably expected from finite efforts. No mat-
ter has been printed that was not first submitted to persons most interested for revision
and correction, and many articles have been submitted to several individuals in order to
secure most complete criticism and revision. In some cases family traditions have been
put forward, and in these there is sometimes conflict; where such was the only authority,
effort has been made to reconcile as far as possible.
There are numerous \oluminous histories of the State, making it unnecessary in this
work to even outline its annals. What has been published, however, relates principally
to civic life. The amplification necessary to complete the picture of the State, old and
nowaday, is what is supplied by these Genealogical and Family Memoirs in more ample
degree than heretofore. In other words, while others have written of '.'the times," the
province of this work is a chronicle of the people who have made New Hampshire what
it is.
Unique in conception and treatment, this work constitutes one of the most original
and permanently valuable contributions ever made to the social history of an American
commonwealth. In it are arrayed in a lucid and dignified manner all the important facts
regarding the ancestry, personal careers and matrimonial alliances of those who, in each
succeeding generation, have been accorded leading positions in the social, professional
and business life of the State. NorJias it been based upon, neither does it minister to,
aristocratic prejudices and assumptions. On the contrary, its fundamental ideas are
thoroughly American and democratic. The work everywhere conveys the lesson that
distinction has been gained only by honorable public service, or by usefulness in private
station, and that the development and prosperty of the State of which it treats has been
dependent upon the character of its citizens, and in the stimulus which they have given
to commerce, to industry, to
the arts and sciences, to
education and religion — to
all that is comprised in the
highest civilization of the
present day — through a con-
tinual progressive develop-
ment.
The inspiration underly-
ing the present work is a
fervent appreciation of the
truth so well expressed by
Sir Walter Scott, that
"there is no heroic poem in
the world but is at the bot-
Peavey House. Exeter
Gov, Bennini,' Wenlwortli
Eleri/ur Wheelock
First President of Dartmouth Collefie
Rp
^^^^
u
John P. Hale
Salmon P. Chase
h r
V. S. Ship Portsmouth. Built atlPortsmouth Navy Yard. 1843
Court House, Lancaster
Soldiers' Monument. Keene
INTRODUCTORY
VII
torn the life of a man. " And with this goes a kindred truth, that to know a man, and
rightly measure his character and weigh his achievements, we must know whence he came,
from what forebears he sprang. Truly as heroic poems have been written in human lives
in the paths of peace as in the scarred roads of war. Such examples, in whatever line of
endeavor, are of much worth as an incentive to those who come afterward, and as such
were never so needful to be written of as in the present day, when pessimism, forgetful
of the splendid lessons of the past, withholds its effort in the present, and views
the future only with alarm.
Every community with such ample history as New Hampshire, should see that it be
worthily supplemented by Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of its leading families and
prominent citizens. Such a work is that which is now presented. And, it should be ad-
mitted, the undertaking possesses value of the highest importance — in its historic utility
■I
as a memorial of the development and progress of the community from its very founding,
and in the personal interest which attaches to the record made by the individual. On
both these accounts it will prove a highly useful contribution to literature, and a valuable
legacy to future generations. Out of these considerations the authors and publishers
have received the encouragement and approval of authorities of the highest standing as
genealogists, historians and litterateurs. In the production of this work, no pains have
been spared to ensure absolute truth — that quality upon which its value in every feature
depends. The material comprising the genealogical and personal records of the active
living, as well as of the honored dead, was gathered by men and women e.xperienced in
such work, and acquainted with local history and ancestral families. Much has been
gathered from the custodians of family records concerning the useful men of preceding
generations, and of their descendants who have lived
useful and honorable lives. Such custodians, who
have availed themselves of this opportunity of having
this knowledge placed in preservable and accessible
form, have performed a public service in rendering
honor to whom honor is due, in preserving the dis-
tinction which rightfully belongs to the Colonial Fam-
ilies, and which distinguishes them from later immi-
grations; and in inculcating the most valuable and en-
during lessons of patriotism" and good citizenship.
Than New Hampshire, no other State or region
offers so peculiarly interesting a field for such re-
search. Its sons — "native here and to the manner
born," and of splendid ancestry — have attained dis-
tinction in every field of human effort. An additional
interest attaches to the present undertaking in the
fact that, while dealing primarily with the history of
native New Hampshire, this work approaches the dig- , ,^ ■ " — ■ ■^"'►-i-wMHjl
nity of a national epitome of genealosrv and biography. "
. ., ^ ^-' a r J Town Hall. Lebanon
Owmg to the wide dispersion throughout the country first Meetine House in Lebanon Vlllase. bullt 1783
I
VIII
INTRODUCTORY
of the old families of the State, the authentic account here presented of the constituent
elements of her social life, past and present, is of far more than merely local value. In
its special field it is, in an appreciable degree, a reflection of the development of the
country at large, since hence went out representatives of historical families, in various
generations, who in far remote places — beyond the Mississippi and in the Far West —
were with the vanguard of civilization, building up communities, creating new common-
wealths, planting, wherever they went, the church, the school house and the printing
press, leading into channels of thrift and enterprise all who gathered about them, and
proving a power for ideal citizenship and good government.
These records are presented in a series of independent genealogical and personal
sketches relating to lineal family heads, and the most conspicuous representatives in the
present generation. There is an entire avoidance of the stereotyped and unattractive
manner in which such data is usually presented. The past is linked to the present in
such style as to form a symmetrical narrative exhibiting the lines of descent, and the his-
tory of distinguished members in each generation, thus giving to it a distinct personal in-
terest. That these ends have been conscientiously and faithfully conserved is assured by
the cordial personal interest and recognized capability of the supervising editors, of prom-
inent connection with the leading patriotic societies, all of whom have long pursued gen-
ealogical investigations with intelligence and enthusiasm.
The Publishers.
Wiiite Mountains, from LJetlilehem
^J^ y^^U'^uC^'U^^
NEW HAMPSHIRE
The name in England, as records
KIMBALL show, appears in the various forms
of Kymbolde, Kembold, Kembould,
Kembolde and KembaU. Henry Kemball, a brother
of Richard, has descendants in New Hampshire (see
Kemball).
(I) The common ancestor of the great majority
of Kimballs in this country was Richard Kimball,
who with his family embarked at Ipswich, in the
county of Suflfolk, England, April lo, 1634, in the
ship "Elizabeth," William Andrews, master. He
arrived at Boston, and from thence went to Water-
town, Massachusetts, where he settled and became
a prominent and active man in the new settlement.
He was by trade a wheelwright. He was pro-
claimed a freeman in 1635, May 6, and was a pro-
prietor in 1636-37. Soon after this date he was in-
vited to remove to Ipswich, where was needed a
competent man to act as wheelwright to the new
settlement. Here he spent the remainder of his
days as one of the leading men of the town. He
died June 22, 1675. Richard Kimball married (first)
Ursula Scott, daughter of Henry Scott, of Rattles-
den, in the county of Suffolk, England. He
married (second), Margaret Dow, widow of Henry
Dow, of Hampton, New Hampshire, October ■ 23,
1661. His children, eleven in number, w-ere by his
first wife: i. Abigail, born in Rattlesden, county
of Suffolk, England. She married in England, John
Severans, and they came to America. She died at
Salisbury, Massachusetts, June 17, 165S, and he died
at the same place, April 9, 1682. They were the
parents of twelve children. Their youngest child,
Elizabeth Severans, married in 1686, Samuel East-
man, of Salisbury, Massachusetts. Her grand-
daughter, Abigail Eastman, born July 10, 1737.
daughter of Thomas and .\bigal (French) Eastman,
married Ebenczer Webster, and was'the mother of
Daniel Webster, the statesman. 2. Henry is men-
tioned at length below. 3. Elizabeth, born in Rattles-
den. Suffolk county, England. 4. Richard, receives
further mention in this article, with descendants. $.
Mary, born in Rattlesden, England, in 1625, married
Robert Dutch, of Gloucester and Ipswich, Massa-
chusetts. 6. Martha, born in Rattlesden, August.
1629, married Joseph Fowler, who was born in Eng-
land in 1622, and was killed by the Indians, May 19.
1676, near Dccrtield, Jilassachusetts. 7. John, born
in Rattlesden, England, 1631, died May 6, 1698. 8.
Thomas, born 1633, died May 5, 1676. 9. Sarah,
born at Watertown. Massachusetts, 1635, died June
12, 1690. She married, November 24, 1658, Edward
Allen, of Ipswich, }ilassachusetts. 10. Benjamin is
the subject of a paragraph in this article. 11. Caleb,
born at Ipswich, ^Massachusetts, 1639, died 1682.
(II) Henry, eldest son and second child of
Richard Kimball, was born in Rattlesden, Suffolk
county, England, baptized August 12, 1615. and came
to America in the ship "Elizabeth" with his father
i — I
in 1634. He first settled in Watertown, Massachusetts,
but some time after 1646 followed his father to Ips-
wich, and about 1655 removed to Wenham, and spent
the remainder of his life in that town. November 8,
1657, he subscribed £3 as minister's rate, one half
in wheat, the other half in Indian corn, "at Mar-
chant's price." In 1659 he subscribed ^3.50, one-
half in corn; and in 1660-1, he contributed los toward
the new meeting house. He was chosen constable,
October 22, 1669. He died in Wenham in 1676,
leaving an estate inventoried at £177 12s. He mar-
ried (first), about 1640, Mary, daughter of John and
jNIary Wyatt, who came to America in the same ship
with him. Mary died in Wenham, August 12, 1672,
and he married (second), Elizabeth (Gilbert) Ray-
ner, widow of William, son of Thurston Rayncr,
and daughter of Humphrey and Elizabeth Gilbert.
Henry and Mary (Wyatt) Kimball were the parents
of thirteen children : Mary, Richard, John, Caleb,
Dorcas, .Abigail, Sarah, Henry, Mehitable, Benjamin,
Joseph, Martha and Deborah. (Mention of Joseph
and descendants appears in this article).
(III) John, second son and third child of Henry
and Mary (Wyatt) Kimball, was born at Water-
town, December 25, 1645, and died previous to May
20, 1726. When sixteen years of age he went to
live with his grandfather, John Wiatt, of Ipswich,
where he remained until the death of Mr. Wiatt,
in December, 1665, when he became heir to the
property left by him, provided he performed certain
conditions. This property was bounded by the
"Meeting house Green," which shows where he lived.
He sold his estate March 25, 1667, and removed to
Newbury, where he was living June 17, 1668. About
1669 he removed to Amesbury. where he afterward
lived. He testified in the trial of Susan Martin for
witchcraft. May 16, 1692. A full report of his testi-
mony may be found in Increase Alathcr's account of
witch trials. He was a yeoman and wheelwright,
and took the oath of allegiance December 20. 1677,
was made a freeman in 1690. served as appraiser
of dift'erent estates, and died in 1726. He married
(first), October, 1665, Mary, daughter of Francis
and Jane Jordan. He may have married (second),
February 9, 1713, Mary Pressey, of Amesbury, as
a marriage is recorded at Newbury between John
Kimball and Mary Pressey. If this be so she soon
died, and in April, 1715, he married (third), the
widow Deborah (Weed) Bartlett, born June 15,
1659, daughter of John Wceji, who survived him.
He had seven children, all by the first wife. Their
names are : Mary, John, Abigail, Joseph, Abraham,
Hannah and Deborah.
(IV) John (2), oldest son and second child
of John (i) and Mary (Jordan) Kimball, born in
Newbury, July 19, 1668, was a wheelwright by trade,
and lived in Amesbury. He married Hannah, daugh-
ter of Nathaniel Gould, as is shown by a deed made
February 11, 1714, in which John Kimball, Jr., and
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
wife Hannah, of Amesbury, Samuel Gold, Joseph
Gold, Thomas Beedle, and ISIary Jones, widow of
Joseph Jones, children of Nathaniel Gold and Eliza-
beth his wife, convej'ed property that they inherited
from Nathaniel Gould, who died in 1693. The nine
children of this marriage were : Benjamin, who died
young; Sarah, Jonathan. Judith, Benjamni, Hannah,
Mary, John and Nathan.
(V) Nathan, fifth son and ninth child of John
(2) and Hannah (Gould) Kimball, was born in
Amesbury, June 21, 1719, died in 1753, and resided
in Amesbury. He married, December 16, 1742, Han-
nah Ring, and they were the parents of children :
Nathan, Josiah, Bachelder, Hannah, Esther, Judith
and Thomas.
(VI) Nathan (2), oldest son and child of Nathan
(l) and Hannah (Ring) Kimball, was born in
Amesbury, March 3, 1743, and died December, 1816.
At the time of his marriage he resided in Hopkin-
ton, New Hampshire, where he was a farmer. He
afterward removed to Weare, and lived there at the
time of his death. He married Judith Kimball,
born May 12, 1739, daughter of Benjamin Kimball.
She died May 2, 1785. They had five children :
Betsey, Hannah, Judith, Benjamin and Mark.
(VTI) Hannah, second daughter and child of
Nathan and Judith (Kimball) Kimball, married
Samuel Muzzey, of Weare, and settled in Newbury.
(See Muzzey, VHI).
(HI) Joseph, sixth son of Henry and Mary
(Wyatt) Kimball, was born in Wenham, January
20, 1661-2, and died 1713. He married Elizabeth
Needham, born February i, 1674, at Lynn and died
October 6, 1708. He lived in Boston and followed
the sea, and probably was lost at sea. Administra-
tion on his estate was granted his brother-in-law,
Ezekiel Needham, April 14, 1713. Children: i.
Joseph, born February 24, 1701, mentioned below.
2. Mary, born May 27, 1703, in Boston.
(IV) Joseph (2), son of Joseph (l) and Eliza-
beth (Needham) Kimball, was born in Boston, Feb-
ruary 24, 1701 ; died 1767 at Preston, Connecticut,
where he was an early settler. He married in Bos-
ton, May 25, 1721, Bethia Mackerwithe, of Dedham,
Massachusetts. Children, all born in Preston : i.
Benjamin, born April 15, 1722; died August, 1796.
2. Bethia (twin), born February 18, 1723-4. 3.
Sarah (twin), born February 18, 1723-4. 4. Joseph,
born December 29, 1731 ; died (jctober 22, 1822,
in Plainfield, New Hampshire ; mentioned below.
(V) Joseph (3), son of Joseph (2) and Bethia
(Mackerwithe) Kimball, was born in Preston, Con-
necticut, January 9, 1732; married May 2, 1754,
Hannah Morgan, who was born October i, 1731.
and died March l, 1756, in Preston. He married
second, Mary Clift, daughter of Samuel and Lydia
(Do.ggett) Clift, born at Marshfield, INIassachusetts,
October i, 1738, died July 9. 1781. He married
third, Eleanor Dunlap, born at Killingly, Connecti-
cut, October 25, 1743, died December 18, 1833, at
Plainfield, New Hampshire. Eleanor Dunlap was
the daughter of William and Sarah (Ledlie) Dun-
lap, emigrants from Ireland, some say Scotland.
Her brothers were': John, Joshua and Robert. Her
sisters were: EHzabeth^and Mary. Joseph Kimball
settled at Plainfield. New Hampshire, in 1764. Fle
was a soldier in the Revolution, and took part in
the battles of Fort Ticonderoga and Bennington.
The inscription on the family monument reads : "He
was the first proprietor of a farm inclosing this
cemetery, a successful hunter and kind neighbor, a
soldier of the Revolution at Fort Ticonderoga in ^
1776." The original slate-stone slab, still standing,
is inscribed "Lieutenant Joseph Kimball," but
whether he was lieutenant in the regular army or
the militia is not known. He settled first in the town
then known as Plainfield Plain, and later removed to
a farm near the village of Meriden, New Hampshire,
where he lived until his death. Joseph Kimball had
one brother, Benjamin, who died at Plainfield, Au-
gust, 1796, aged seventy-seven. Benjamin Kimball's
son, Daniel Kimball, died February 27, 1817, aged
sixty-three years. He was the founder of Kimball
Union Academyat Meriden, New Hampshire. Han-
nah Chase Kimball, wife of Daniel Kimball, died
June 17, 1S47, aged eighty-nine. Joseph Kimball's
only child of first wife : I. Hannah, born March 22,
1/55, died May 10, 1756. Children of second wife,
born in Connecticut: 2. Wills, born March 31, 1760,
died August 13, 1843, married ]\Iercy Roberts; their
son Elisha died April 3, 1873, married Tryphena
Ticknor. 3. Hannah, born September 6, 1761, died
August 19. 1788. 4. Benjamin, born March 6, 1763,
died March 18, 1815. 5. Elisha, born March i, 1765,
died September 3, 1766. Children of second wife,
born in Plainfield, New Hampshire : 6. ISIary Clift,
born November 30, 1767, died January 27, 1855. The
second white child born in Plainfield, New Hamp-
shire. 7. Sally, born July 15, 1769, died l\Iarch 9,
1803. 8. Lydia, born April 3, 1771, died October 2,
1775- 9- Joseph, born September 9, 1775, died Sep-
tember I, 1823, at Deerfield, near Utica, New York.
Children of third wife : 10. Eunice, born January
19. 1783. at Plainfield, New Hampshire, died Oc-
tober 4, 1862, at Hopkinton, New Hampshire; mar-
ried Abraham Brown, who died December 15, 1852.
II. Betsey, born December 16, 17S4, in Plainfield,
New Hampshire, died January 19, 1866, at Meriden,
New Hampshire, unmarried. 12. Robert, born De-
cember 16, 17S6, mentioned below.
(VI) Robert, youngest child of Joseph and
Eleanor (Dunlap) Kimball, was born in Plainfield,
New Hampshire, December 16, 1786, died Septem-
ber 20, 1876, at Lebanon, New Hampshire. He mar-
ried at Wolcott, Vermont, November 19, 1817, Fanny
Willis, born January 3, 1792, in Hanover, New
Hampshire, died at Lebanon, New Hampshire, Sep-
tember 15, i860. She was the daughter of Dyer
and Elizabeth (Warner) Willis, of Hanover, New
Hampsliire. Children: i. Daughter, born and died
September 4, 1826. 2. Robert Byron, born October
24, 1827, died March 16, 1877, at Lebanon, New
Hampshire. 3. Mary Elizabeth, born January 21,
1834.
Robert Kimball was a worthy representative of
his race, a race of men strong physically and intel-
lectually. Like the Kimballs who preceded him, he
was ready in the defence of a friend, a cause, or an
opinion. With the Vermont volunteers he saw
ser\'ice in the American army iri the War of 1812,
and was present at the battle of Plattsburg. In
early life a merchant in Morristown, Vermont, he
removed to Plainfield, New Hampshire to assist
in the management of his aged father's farm. Each
of these towns, during his residence in it, chose him
as its representative in the state legislature. On the
death of his father he removed to Lebanon. New
Hampshire. He was at once recognized as a leading
citizen, and continued to exert a wide influence in
the town until the infirmities of age compelled him
to step aside from active life. He represented
Lebanon in the legislature in 1842 and 1843, was a
member of the convention which revised the consti-
tution, and was president of the Bank of Lebanon
for twenty-five years. Mr. Kimball was a Mason,
when it cost to be a Mason ; an original owner in
both the Concord and the Northern railroads, and
their staunch supporter ; an abolitionist, wiien abo-
cv,
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
litionism was most unpopular. When at the age
of eighty-nine, he died, full of years and of honor,
it might well be said of him that he had "fought the
good fight."
(.Vll) Robert Byron, only son of Robert Kimball,
was born October 24, 1827, in Plainfield, New tlamp-
shire, and died March 16, 1877, at the family home-
stead in Lebanon. He never married. He was a
successful business man and financier, and a director
of the Savings Bank and the National Bank of
Lebanon. His was a busy, useful life, too full of
business cares and private enterprises to admit of
his holding public office. But his deeds of charity
and his unblemished character caused him to be
widely beloved, and he still lives in the memory
of his lownpeople, a Christian gentleman.
(VH) Mary Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Kim-
ball, born in Plainfield, New Hampshire, January
21, 1834, has lived since her infancj' in the Kimball
homestead in Lebanon, New Hampshire. She is un-
married, and has an adopted daughter, Anna Cunn-
ingham Kimball, born in Lebanon. New Hampshire,
October 2, 1881.
(.H) Richard (2), fourth child and second son of
Richard (i) and Ursula (Scott) Kimball, was born
at Rattlesden, county of SufTolk, England, about
1623, and came to America with his father in the
ship "Elizabeth." He went to Wenham between the
years 1652 and 1696, and was the first settler of the
name in that town. He was called a wheelwright
and yeoman. He was a large landowner, and ap-
pears to have been the largest taxpayer among the
early settlers. He was a grand juror of the town
of Wenham in 1661. He died in 1676. He married
twice, both of his wives having Mary for the given
name. It is probable that his second wife was Mary
Gott. His first wife died September, 1672. He had
nine children, of whom eight were alive at the time
of his death, as is shown by an agreement made
between them and his widow. Their names follow :
John, Samuel, Thomas, Ephraim, Caleb, Christo-
pher, Richard and Nathaniel. (Samuel, Thomas and
Caleb and descendants are mentioned at length in
this article).
(HI) John, oldest child of Richard (2) and
Alary Kimball, was born about 1650 and died about
1721. He was an inhabitant of Boxford as early
as 1669. August 24, 1665, Richard Hubbard con-
firmed to Richard Kimball of Wenham his farm in
Rowley village (now Boxford). John probably set-
tled on this land. He was made a freeman March
22, 1689. By the frequency with which the name
of "Corporal" Kimball is found upon the early
records of the town it is evident that he was a man
of much importance in town affairs. In 1675 he was
tax collector. In 171 1 his name and those of his sons
are upon the tax list. He was a member of the
Church of Topsfield, and was dismissed to the
Church in Boxford in 1702. His will is on file at
Salem, Massachusetts, and bears date February 19,
1718, and was probated April 15, 1721.
He married (first), Sarah , who died July
27, 1706; married (second) October 29, 1707, Han-
nah Burton, daughter of Isaac Burton. She was
born in 1686, and survived her husband sixty-five
years, dying October 16, 1786, aged one hundred
years. Their children were : Sarah, May, Richard,
Abigail, Elizabeth, Hannah and John.
(IV) Richard, son of John and Sarah Kimball,
was born September 28, 1673, and died April 22,
I7S3- He resided in the southerly part of Boxford,
Massachusetts, on the place where Major Samuel
Perley erected a house in 1833. He dealt consider-
ably in real estate. His will, approved May 7, 1753,
is on file at Salem, Massachusetts. In the ancient
burial ground where he and his wife are buried
there are but fourteen very old and sadly neglected
stones. (1897). He married February 22, 169S-9,
Hannah Dorman, daughter of Ephraim Dorman of
Topsfield, jMassachusetts, born 1682, died March,
1748. They had nine children: Jacob, born June 9,
1700, resided at Andover, Massachusetts; died 1787.
Hannah, born June 30, 1702. married, April 28, 1724,
John Andrews (3rd). Aaron, born January 17,
1704-5, died 1732. Amos, born September 8, 1707,
died January 26, 1788. , born June 11, 1710,
died December 19, 1785, at Rindge, New Hampshire.
John, born March 6, 1713, resided in Boxford, Mass-
achusetts. j\Iary, born October 10, 1715-16. Moses,
born August 23, 1718, died in Amherst, New Hamp-
shire. Ephraim, born April 11, 1721, resided m
Boxford, Massachusetts.
(V) Amos, third son and fourth child of Richard
and Hannah (Dorman) Kimball, born in Boxford,
September 8, 1707, and died January 26, 1788. He
was a farmer in Boxford. He married (first),
March i, 1736, Margaret Hale, born February 23, 1712-
13, and (second), June 23, 1765, Abigail Session. His
children were: Jesse, born April 15, 1738, died March
18, 1814; Joanna, born September 24, 1739, died
young; Jethro, born August 23, 1741, died March 11,
1828; Enoch, born February 28, 1742-3, died 1816;
Eli, born July 5. 1/44, died in Swanzey, New Hamp-
shire; Peggy, born January 7, 1746, died young;
Lydia, born 1749, died September, 1S35 ; Amos, born
November 9, 1752, died January 9, 1824; Joseph,
born February 6, 1754, died October 9, 18I3.
(VI) Jesse, eldest child of Amos and Margaret
(Hale) Kimball, was born in Boxford, Massacliu-
setts, April 26, 1738, and cfied at Manchester, New
Hampshire. March 18, 1814. He resided in Box-
ford and Andover, Massachusetts, until 1775, when
he removed to Chester, New Hampshire. His home
was on the river road between Martin's Ferry and
the Derry line. He married at Andover, Massachu-
setts, May 5, 1763, Susanna Jackson, born in An-
dover, July 2, 1744, died at INIanchester, New Hamp-
shire, April 22, 1808. They had twelve children :
Jeremiah, born at Andover, November 20, 1764,
died July 18, 1765. Jedediah, born at Andover, May
25, 1766, died November 5. 1814. John, resided in
Chester and went to Bangor, Maine. Peggy, born
in Andover, May 16, 1769, married Gould,
died in Chester, New Hampshire, July 17, 1794.
Nathan, born in Andover, JNIarch 29, 1771, went to
Bangor, Maine. Ruth, born in Andover, May 7,
1773, died at Manchester, New Hampshire, October,
1831, single. Ezra, born in Chester, November 14,
1775, died October, 1831. .A.mos, born in Chester,
July 26, 1778, died 1854. Stephen, born in Chester,
January 28, 1781, died July 13, 7852. Phebe, born in
Chester, September 4, 17S3, died in Chester, Febru-
ary 27, 1819, married Whittier. Daniel, born in
Chester, November 23, 1786. Sarah, born in Chester,
August 13, 1791, married (first), Cheever;
(second), William Foster, of Argyle, Maine. (Men-
tion of Amos and descendants appears in this
article).
(VTI) Nathan, fourth son of Jesse and Susanna
(Jackson) Kimball, was born in Andover, Massa-
chusetts, March 29, 1771. He resided in Chester
and Manchester, New Hampshire, and Bangor,
Maine. He married Eunice Hoyt. They had five
children: Mary, born June II, 1796, married David
Martin, of Martin's Ferry, Hookselt, New Hamp-
shire. Eunice, born May 29, 1798. Susan, died
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
aged nineteen years. Lucinda, married Benjamin E.
Sawyer, and resided in Canada. Stephen, born
March 7, 1808, died July, 1S89.
(VIII) Stephen, fifth and youngest child of Na-
thaniel and Eunice (Hoyt) Kimball, was born in
Manchester, New Hampshire, }ilarch 7, 1808, and
died in Auburn, New Hampshire, July, 1889. He
resided in Hooksett about twenty years, and for the
last thirty-three years of his life in Auburn. He was
a farmer by occupation, a Universalist in religious
belief, and a Republican in politics. He served as
selectman in Hooksett, and also in Auburn. He
married, November 26, 1834, Mary Anna Woodbury,
of Dunbarton, born August 1814, daughter of
Ebenezer and Susanna (Hoyt) Woodbury, who died
in Auburn. She was a member of the Methodist
Church. Their children were : I. Frederick Smith,
born December 17, 1835, died November 5, 1894.
2. George .Clark, born April 10, 1840, married three
times. 3. Emily Ann, born October 18, 1845. 4.
Eliza Ordway, born August 27, 1850.
(IX) George Clark Kimball, second sou and
child of Stephen and Mary Anna (Woodbury) Kim-
ball, was born -in April 10, 1840. In early life he
learned the trade of shoemaker and also served on
a railroad, where he was employed many years. His
residence is on Hackett Hill, three miles from Hook-
sett, and commands a tine view of the country.
(VII) Amos, eighth child and sixth son of Jesse
and Susanna (Jackson) Kimball, was born in An-
dover, Massachusetts, July 26, 1778, and died in Man-
chester, New Hampshire, in 1858. He married, De-
cember 24, 1801, at Pembroke, Amia Stark, and they
had 'children : Peter, Bestey, Fanny Stark, Mar-
garet, Almira Stearns. Reuben, Frederick, Emily,
Mary Ann and Harriet.
(VIII) Frederick, seventh child and third son of
Amos and Anna (Stark) Kimball, died in 1871. He
married !Martha , and they had one child,
Emma, who married Hugh K. Ramsey. (See Ram-
sey).
(III) Samuel, second son and child of Richard
(2) and Alary Kimball, was born in Ipswich, about
1651, and died in Wenhani, October 3, 1716, aged
sixty-five. He resided in Wenham where he was
surveyor in 1676, constable in 1677, was made free-
man !May 24, 1682, and was selectman in the same
year. He was also an ensign in the militia. On
March 2, 1701, he and his wife deeded a lot of ten
acres and a house to their son Samuel. His estate
was settled by the son Samuel, who took the prop-
erty and paid off the claims of his brothers and sis-
ters. Their settlement contains the signatures of
the husband of the married sisters, and serves to
identify them. Samuel Kimball married, September
20, 1676, Mary Witt, daughter of John and Sarah
Witt, of Lynn, Massachusetts. Their thirteen chil-
dren, all born in Wenham, were : Samuel, Sarah,
Martha (died young), Mary, Richard, Jonathan,
John, Ebenezer, Martha, Thomas, Benjamin, Abi-
gail and Jerusha. (Mention of Ebenezer and de-
scendants follows in this article).
(IV) Jonathan, sixth child and third son of Sam-
uel and Sarah (Witt) Kimball, born in Wenham,
Massachusetts, in 1686, died February 19, 1758. He
removed to Boston about 1708, and probably returned
to Wenham about 1718. He served on a jury in
1721, and is then called of Wenham. He was a
cordwainer by trade, was a captain in the militia
and town clerk 1751-52. He and his wife united
with the church, February 27, 1737, and he was
made a deacon of the first church in Wenham, No-
vember 26, 1742, holding that office until his death.
He was married in Boston, July 28, 1729, by Rev.
Cotton Mather, to Hannah Hopkins, of Boston.
Their children were : Jonathan, Hannah, Samuel,
Sarah, !Mary and Abigail.
(V) Jonathan, eldest child of Jonathan and Han-
nah (Hopkins) Kimball, was born in Boston, Oc-
tober 9, 1710, resided in Wenham, and was town
clerk of that town in 1751-52-55-59-60. He married,
April 21, 1732, in Ipswich, Martha Ober, of Beverly.
Their children were: Martha, died young; Mar-
garet, died young; John, Martha, Isaac, Ezra, Mar-
garet, Mary, Abigail, died young; and .\bigail.
(VI) Isaac, second son and fifth child of Jona-
than and Martha (Ober) Kimball, was born in
Wenham, January 18, 1742, resided in Wenham and
Beverly, Alassachusetts, Temple, New Hampshire,
and Waterford, Maine. He married, November 9,
1762, .'\bigail Raymond, of Beverly, Massachusetts.
They were the parents of twelve children : Abigail,
died young; Isaac, John, David, Mary, Jonathan,
George, Abigail, Sarah, Hannah, William and Betsey.
(IMention of John and descendants follows in this
article).
(VII) Isaac (2), second child and eldest son of
Isaac (i) and Abigail (Raymond) Kimball, was
born in Beverly, June 17, 1765, and died in Temple,
New Hampshire, June 13, 1804. He went to Temple
soon after marriage, and there he resided for years.
He owned a farm in Andover, Vermont, upon which
he built a barn. While this was in progress of con-
struction he went into it after dark and fell through
the floor to the cellar, injuring himself seriously.
He soon afterwards sold the farm in Vermont, and
was carried on a litter to Temple, New Hampshire,
where he died after months of suffering. He mar-
ried Sally Cutter, who was born June 30, 1767.
They had eight children : Isaac, Benoni Cutter,
John B. (died young), Sally, George B., William
Barber and Simeon Gould.
(VIII) Benoni Cutter, second son and child of
Isaac (2) and Sally (Cutter) Kimball, was born in
Temple, New Hampshire, jNIarch 13, 1791, and died
there March 29, 1868, aged seventy-seven years. He
was a house carpenter and resided on the second
farm in Temple, on the Mason Village road, from
which he removed to the new house at Mason Vil-
lage, in which he resided for a time. Afterward he
built another house there in which he lived until he
bought a two-third interest in the Dunster home-
stead, about 1835. He bought the other third at
the death of the Widow Dunster in 1858. He was
an influential member of the Congregational (Ortho-
do.x) Church, and took a prominent part in or-
ganizing the new church at Mason Village. In all
enterprises connected with their church, he and his
wife took an active and leading part. He married,
December 28, 1815, ]\Iary Dunster, who was born in
Mason, February 16, 1796, and died May 31, 1864,
aged sixty-eight. He parents were Jason and Mary
( Meriamj Dunster. (See Dunster, VI). Fifteen
children were born of this marriage, as follows :
Benoni, George, Mary Ann (died young), Eliza
Ann, Addison (died young), Franklin, Isaac New-
ton, Samuel Dunster, Frederick, James, Marshall,
Mary. Ellen Maria, Edward and Abby Jane,
(IX) Marshall, eleventh child and ninth son of
Benoni C, and Mary (Dunster) Kimball, was born
in. Mason Village, October 2, 1832. He was edu-
cated in the public schools and at Appleton
Academy, at New Ipswich, and after leaving the
latter institution he taught school three terms. He
is a lifelong farmer, and Owns the Dunster home-
stead. Lot 10, in the eighteenth range. In 1867 he
built the commodious barn, from the cupola of
which he fell, striking on the roof and other por-
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
tions, till he reached the ground, a distance of forty
feet. He was seriously injured, and has never fully
recovered from the lameness succeeding the injury.
In 1870 he was one of the selectmen of the town,
and has held other town offices. October 18, 1862,
he enlisted in Company C, Sixteenth Regiment New
Hampshire Volunteers, and did duty with his regi-
ment, principally in Louisiana, until it was mustered
out at Concord, New Hampshire, August 20, 1863.
He united with the Mason Village Congregational
Church, Way 6, 1849, by profession ; and November
5, 1858, was elected deacon of that church, which
office he still retains. He was married. Way 15, 1859,
at the village church, by Rev. George E. Fisher, to
Louisa Judith Allen, who was born October 7,
1832, daughter of Oliver and Harriet (Harding)
Allen, of Wason. She graduated at Appleton Acad-
emy, and taught school in Wason and other towns
constantly for ten years, and until her marriage.
She is a gifted writer, and is the author of the
"Song of Welcome," sung at the Mason Centennial
Celebration in 1868. She died November 4, 1900.
Six children were born of this union : i. Elmer Allen,
born January 18, 1862; graduated from Dartmouth
with the class of 1S85 with the degree of Bachelor
of Arts. He was afterward a successful lawyer in
Chicago, and is now president of the Ogden Gas
Company of that city ; he married Ella Howard,
and they have one child, .^llen Howard, born Jan-
uary 23, 1899. 2. Mary Lillian, born June 2, 1864;
married Ernest L. Sawyer, and has six children :
Bertha Roxana, born July 24, 1887; Ralph Marshall,
February 18, i88g, died April 26, 1902; Ruth Ernes-
tine, born December 27, 1890; Ethel May, April 6,
1895; Catharine Louisa, April 9, 1899; Marguerite
Ainsley, May 20, 1904. 3. Fred Benoni, born March
18, 1866; married Wartha A. Russell; they have five
children : Marion, born April 6, 1891 ; Esther, April
17, 1893; Hazel, November 25, 1894; Bernice Naomi,
June 6, 1899; Russell Marshall, December 27, 1905.
4. Lena Harriet, born November 22, 1870, married
Charles Thomas Wheeler, of Greenville, and they
have two children : Doris Wabel, born October 27,
1896; and Elsie Faye, born April 19, 1901. 5. Flora
Louisa, born February 8, 1872, resides at home. 6.
Edward Marshall, born September 13, 1873, married
May Newby, January 22, 1906. They have one child,
Marshall, born May 11, 1907. The mother of this
child died May 31, same year.
(VH) John, third child and second son of Isaac
and Abigail (Raymond) Kimball, was born in
Temple, New Hampshire, March 8, 1767, died in
Wilton, New Hampshire, December 13, 1853. He
resided in Temple until 1802, when he went to Wil-
ton, and bought a farm in the southeast part of the
town. He was a prosperous farmer and a good citi-
zen. He married (first), March 8, 1797, Abigail
Billings, who died Octoljer 31, 1814. He married
(second), April 11, 1816, Anna Livermore, born
August 20, 1781, died June 5. 1824, daughter of Rev.
Jonathan Livermore. Married (third), March 26,
1829, .^chsah Spaulding, born September 2, 1788,
died April 27, 1873, daughter of Jonathan and Mary
(Marshall) Spaulding, of Wilton. His children
were : John, Anna Hunt, Harriet, Achsah, Daniel
Raymond. Granville, Augustine, Samuel Livermore,
Abigail, Jonathan Bowers and Mary.
(VIII) Anna Hunt, second child and eldest
daughter of John and Abigail (Billings) Kimball,
born in Temple, August 4, 1800. died May 16, 1864.
§hc resided in Wilton, was a school teacher in early
life, and was noted for her kindness to the poor
and unfortunate. She married. May 29, 1823, Moses
Spaulding. (See Spaulding, VII).
(IV) Ebenezer, eight child and fifth son of
Samuel and Wary (Witt) Kimball, was born in
Wenham, about 1690, and died in Hopkinton, Mass-
achusetts, in 1769, aged seventy-nine. He resided
in Wenham and Beverly, and was a yeoman and a
mason. In 1740 he moved to Hopkinton, Massachu-
setts, and bought property and resided there the
remainder of his life. His will, probated in 1773,
is on file in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He married,
June 9, 1712, Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Carr,
of Salisbury, Massachusetts. They had nine chil-
dren : Elizabeth, Jilary, Dorothy, Ebenezer, Richard,
Abigail, Sarah, Anna and Boice.
(V) Richard (3), fifth child and second son of
Ebenezer and Elizabeth (Carr) Kimball, was born
in Wenham, December 20, 1722, and died in Newton,
Massachusetts, Warch 2, 1803, aged eighty-one. He
went from Wenham with his father to Hopkinton,
Massachusetts, wdiere he lived till about 1764. March
5 of that year he bought a house and lot in Natick,
Massachusetts, and resided there till 1790, when he
bought land in Newton, and removed to that place,
where he spent the remaining thirteen years, of his
life. His wife's forename was Sarah. Their eleven
children were : Sarah, Abigail, Wary, Elizabeth,
John (died young), Thomas, Sibilla, Richard, Eben-
ezer, John and Edmund.
(VI) Richard (4), eighth child and third son
of Richard (3) and Sarah Kimball, was born in
Hopkinton, Wassachusetts, April 17, 1773, and died
in Rindge, New Hampshire, November I3> 184S.
aged seventy-two. He removed to Rindge, New
Hampshire, in 1807, and bought one hundred acres
of land about one-half mile west of the village of
West Rindge, and was a farmer and the first manu-
facturer of clothes pins in the town. These latter
he made with a knife and a hand saw. He whittled
them into a desired form, and made the wedge-
shaped opening with a handsaw. He sold them dur-
ing his accustomed travels through Rindge and the
adjoining towns in quest of customers. He was an
ardent Methodist, and was licensed to preach. He
married Lydia jNIcIntyre, in Boston, Massachusetts,
April 16, 1793. Their children were: Sibilla, Rich-
ard, Sally (died young), Samuel M., Ebenezer, Dew-
ing, Sarah. Lydia, James W., Mary, Tryphena, Try-
phosa and Elijah S.
(VII) Samuel Mclntyre, fourth child and second
son of Richard (4) and Lydia (iNIcIntyre) Kimball,
was born in Natick, Massachusetts, March 28, iSor,
and died in Rindge, 1882. He was educated in the
common schools and grew up on his father's farm.
In 1839 he bought one hundred acres of land near
the village of West Rindge, and there engaged in
farming and also carried on the business of wheel-
wright until the time of his death. He was a Re-
publican in political sentiment, and for more than
twenty successive years was elected sealer of weights
and measures. He was a Methodist, and for many
years steward and trustee of the JMethodist Church.
He married' Melinda Peirce, who was bona in
Rindge, May 3, 1803. daughter of Elipha and Phebe
(Streeter) Peirce, of Rindge. Their children were:
Samuel D., Elipha S., Mary M., Susan H., Charles
D., George E., S^ Warren, Harriet E. and Martha
Jane. Samuel D. died young; Elipha S., born July
13, 1823, was a manufacturer of woodenware, and re-
sided in West Rindge. Mary M., born .\ugust 13,
1826, married, August 13, 1846, Edmund Bemis, of
Troy, New Hampshire, and resided in Rindge.
Susan H.. born October 12, 1829, married Elijah
Bemis, of Rindge. Charles D., born June 4, 1832,
resided in Rindge. George E., born June 20, 1833.
resides in \\'est Rindge, New Hampshire. Samuel
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
W. is the subject of the next paragraph. Harriet E.,
born February 21, 1843, married, December 23, 1861,
Ambrose Butler. Martha Jane, born April 17, 1844,
died February 21, 1864.
(VIII) S. Warren, seventh child and fifth son
of Samuel M. and Melinda (Peirce) Kimball, was
born in Rindge, December 31, 1835. He was edu-
cated in the common schools of Rindge, and was
variously employed until 1864, when he began the'
manufacture of woodenware, such as butter prints,
mauls, rolling pins, etc., on a small scale. By atten-
tion to business and by turning out good work he
built up a good trade, to supply which required the
assistance of two or three hands. He was engaged
in manufacturing until 1902, when he retired. He
is a Republican, and has been a member of the board
of selectmen and filled minor town offices. He has
been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church
for fifty-four years, and has been steward twenty
years, and class leader twelve years. He is a mem-
ber of Mary L. Weare Grange, No. 192, Patrons of
Husbandry, of which he has been chaplain and
master. He married (first), October 2, 1855, in
Keene, New Hanipshire, Emilie F. Davis, who was
born in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, September 15,
1835, 3nd died in Rindge, September 17, 1S74, daugh-
ter of Joseph and Hannah (Lawrence) Davis, of
Ashburnham. He married (second), October 13,
1875, Lucia O. Austin, of Gardner, Massachusetts,
who was born in Gardner, Massachusetts, December
13, 1849, daughter of William and Lucy (Richard-
son) Austin, of Gardner. They have an adopted
daughter, Annie B., who married Elwin Jewell, and
resides in Rindge.
(III) Thomas, third son of Richard (2) and
Mary Kimball, was born November 12, 1657, and
died October 16, 1732, near the close of his seventy-
fifth year. His wife, Elizabeth Potter, died Decem-
ber 4. 1823. They had several children.
(IV) Daniel, son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Pot-
ter) Kimball, was born 1684, and died December 17,
1754, aged seventy j'ears. His wife, Esther Foster,
died June 12, 1753.
(V) Thomas (2), son of Daniel and Esther
(Foster) Kimball, was born July 29, 1716, and died
December S, 1767, in his fifty-second year. He was
married March 3, 1743, to Penelope Johnson of
Andover, Massachusetts, and their children were:
Phebe. John, Rebecca and Thomas.
(VI) Thomas (3), youngest child of Thomas
(2) and Penelope (Johnson) Kimball, was born
July 17, 1753, and was a soldier of the Revolution,
serving in Captain Samuel Johnson's company in
1776. He died October 20, 1825. He was married
March 6, 1781, to Olive Lovejoy, who was born 1754.
and died January 28, 1842, in her eighty-eighth year.
Their children were: Olive (died young), John,
Sally, Rebecca, Thomas, Olive, Betsey, Phebe and
Susan.
(VII) Olive, fourth daughter and seventh child
of Thomas (3) and Olive (Lovejoy) Kimball,
was born INIarch 15, 1794. and became the wife of
David Cross, (see Cross, V).
(HI) Caleb, fifth son and child of Richard (2)
and Mary Kimball, was born in Wenham, Massa-
chusetts, April 9, 1665. He was a mason by trade.
He bought land in Exeter, New Hampshire, as early
as 1720, and resided there for a time, then returned
to Wenham. He sold his farm to his son Abraham,
on condition that he should pay the other children
their shares. (Mention of Abraham and descend-
ants follow in this article). His wife's name was
Sarah. She died February 20, 1731-2, and he died
in Wenhaiii, January 25, 1725-6.
(IV) John, third child and second son of Caleb
and Sarah Kimball, was born December 20, 1699,
in the town of Wenham. He was a carpenter by
trade, and resided on land in E.xeter, New Hamp-
shire, that he obbtained from his father. He also
owned land in Kensington and Chester, New Hamp-
shire. He married (first), February 14, 1722-3,
Abigail Lyford, who died February 12, 1737-8. He
married (second), September 18, 1740, Sarah, daugh-
ter of Deacon Thomas and Mary L. Wilson. She
was born November 23, 1709. He died in Exeter,
1785. He was the father of fifteen children.
(V) Joseph, fourth child and second son of
John and Abigail (Lyford) Kimball, was born in
Exeter, New Hampshire, January 29, 1730-1. His
first wife, according to tradition, was Olive Wilson.
He married for his second wife, in 1762, Sarah
Snu'lh. born 1740. They resided in Exeter, and in
1788 removed to Canterbury, New Hampshire. He
became blind before leaving Exeter, and never saw
the town of Canterbury, in which he resided for
twenty-six years. He and his wife died in Canter-
bury, November 6, 1814, and March l, 1858, respec-
tively, and are buried in the cemetery near Hackle-
borough, where a monument has been erected to
their memory.
(VI) John, eldest son and third child of Joseph
and Sarah (Smith) Kimball, was born in Exeter,
New Hampshire, November 20, 1767. He married,
November 21, 1793, Sarah Moulton, daughter of
Benjamin Moulton, of Kensington, New Hampshire.
She died April 30, 1853. They moved from Exeter,
to Canterbury, New Hampshire, February 17, 1794,
and settled on the farm owned by his father, just
north of the Shaker village, where he lived for
sixty-seven years. He was "a farmer, wheelwright,
and hay-rake manufacturer, and did a large business
through central New Hampshire, buying wool. He
died in Canterbury, February 26, 1861.
(VII) Benjamin, eldest child and son of John
and Sarah (Moulton) Kimball, was born in Canter-
bury, New Hampshire, December 27, 1794. He
married, February i, 1820, Ruth Ames, daughter of
David and Phebe (Hoit) Ames, of Canterbury, New
Hanipshire. After living two years with his father
on his farm, he resided two years on a farm in
Northfield. He moved to Boscawen, New Hamp-
shire, in the spring of 1824; and purchased the
farm on High street, then known as the Frost place.
In 1830 he purchased of Hon. Jeremiah Mason, of
Portsmouth, attorney for the United States Bank,
its land and water power at the south part of the
town (now Penacook). He removed there and re-
sided in the house he had bought, situated next
east of the hotel. He was an active and influential
business man. In 1831 he built the lower dam across
the Contoocook river, and erected and put in oper-
ation the brick grist and flouring mill now in use.
This was the first improvement of the water power
at the upper falls, now the centre of the growing
village of Penacook. In company with his cousin,
William JNIoody Kimball, he carried on an exten-
sive lumber trade. In March preceding his death
he was elected to represent the town in the legis-
lature, but his health did not permit him to take
his seat. He died at Penacook, July 21, 1834. His
wife died October 22. 1874, at the residence of her
son John, with whom she had lived as a widow
forty years. Mr. and Mrs. Kimball were the parents
of five children: i. John, born April 13, 1821. 2.
Elizabeth Jane, born April 12, 1825. She was
drowned in the pond near the carding mill of Ca^i-
tain Samuel M. Durgin, in Boscawen, September 20,
1S40. 3. Joseph Ames, born October 8, 1826, died
'i/n^MUiicLc
tatl^aully'
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
February 20, 1827. 4. Lucy Ann, born August 28,
1829, died August 25, 1832. 5. Benjamin Ames, born
August 22, 1833.
(.Vlll) Hon. John Kimball, eldest child of Ben-
jamin and Ruth Ann Kimball, was born April 13,
1821, in the town of Canterbury, New Hampshire.
At the age of three years, in 1824, he went with his
father to the town of Boscawen, and at the age of
seventeen he was apprenticed to his cousin, William
IMoody, to learn the trade of millwright. In 1848
he took charge of the new machine and car shop
of the Concord railroad at Concord, New Hamp-
shire, and in 1850 was made master mechanic, a
position he held for eight years. He became ac-
tively identified with various important interests,
and has been for many years treasurer of the INIer-
rimaclc County Savings Bank, and a director of
the Alechanics' National Bank at Concord; presi-
dent and treasurer of the Concord Gas Light Com-
pany, to which he was elected in 1880; and is a
director in the Concord Republican Press Associa-
tion. He has ever been deeply interested in chari-
table and religious institutions, and has been active
in his aid to the New Hampshire Odd Fellows'
Home and the Centennial Home for the Aged, of
both of which he is president, and the New Hamp-
shire Orphans' Home and the New Hampshire Bible
Society, of both of which he is treasurer. He be-
came a member of the South Congregational Church
of Concord by letter, June 28, 1849, and was one of
the committee of nine that built the present house
of worship of that society. For thirteen years he
was a deacon of the church.
Mr. Kimball has been conspicuously useful in
the public service both at home and in the state at
large, and the city in which he resides owes much of
its advancement to his wise and long continued
effort. In 1856 he was elected to the common coun-
cil of the city of Concord, and when he .was re-
elected in the following year he was chosen to the
presidency. From 1859 to 1862 he served as city
marshall and collector of taxes. He was elected
to the mayoralty in 1872, and the efficiency of his
administration finds evidence in his re-election to
three consecutive terms following. During this
period the system of water supply from Long Pond was
successfuly completed under his immediate direc-
tion as president of the board of water commis-
sioners. During his administration as mayor one
wooden and two iron bridges were built across the
river within the city limits, and the fire department
was provided with new buildings and apparatus.
In 1S58 Mr. Kimball was elected to the house of
representatives of the state of New Hampshire, and
again in 1859. In 1S62 President Lincoln appointed
him collector of internal revenue for the Second
District of New Hampshire. This highly important
position he held for a period of seven years, during
which time he collected and paid over to the treas-
urer of the United States the sum of nearly seven
millions of dollars, and keeping so accurately the com-
plicated accounts indispensable to this immense busi-
ness that their final auditing at his retirement was
promptly accomplished and without inaccuracy to
the amount of a dollar. In 1876 Mr. Kimball was
elected to the convention for the revision of the state
constitution, and he bore an active part in the de-
liberations of that body, and aided in formulating
some of the most important provisions in the new
organic instrument. In 1877 he was appointed by
the governor one of the three commissioners to
whom was committed the erection of the new state
prison. In 1880 he was appointed by the supreme
court of the state one of the three trustees of the
Manchester & Keene railroad. In November of
the same year he was elected to the state senate,
and at the beginning of its session received the high
honor of being elected president of that body.
Mr. Kimball was an original Republican, aiding
in the formation of the party in 1856, under the first
standard bearer, John C. Fremont, and from that
time to the present has been one of the most stead-
fast of its supporters. He has frequently sat in the
state and other conventions of the party, and has
enjoyed the intimate friendship and confidence of
many of the most eminent statesmen of his day,
and particularly during the Civil war period, when
he rendered all possible aid, by effort and means,
to the administration of President Lincoln in its
gigantic struggle for the preservation of the Union.
Of cultured mind and reflective habits of thought,
Mr. Kimball is deeply informed in general afifairs
and in literature, with a particular mclination to-
ward historical and genealogical research, and his
attainments found recognition at the hands of Dart-
mouth College, which in 1882 conferred upon him
the degree of INIastor of Arts. Entirely regular
habits of life and total abstinence from stimulating
beverages and drugs (through conviction of con-
science as well as for other reasons) have preserved
to him excellent physical powers, and his form is
tall and erect, and his presence commanding. While
firm and decided in his views, he is ever genial and
courteous, and his wealth of information and fine
conversational powers make him a welcome ad-
dition to the most polished circle in his state. His
residence has long been in Concord.
Mr. Kimball was first married- May 27, 1846, to
Maria Phillips, daughter of Elam Phillips, of Ru-
pert, Vermont. She died December 22, 1894. Of
this union there was born one child, Clara Maria.
Mr. Kimball married (second), October 15, 1895,
Charlotte Atkinson, of Nashua, New Hampshire.
(IX) Clara Maria, daughter and only child of
Hon. John and Maria (Phillips) Kimball, wa»
born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, Iilarch 20, 1848.
She married, June 4, 1873, Augustine R. Ayers, who
was for many years a merchant in the city of Con-
cord, and is now a resident of that city.
(X) The children of Augustine R. and Clara
Maria (Kimball) Ayers are: Ruth Ames Ayers,
born March 11, 1875; John Kimball Ayers, born
July 9, 1876; Helen SicGregor Ayers, born October
26, 187S; Joseph Sherburne Ayers, born January
17, 1880, died February 7, i88o; Josiah Phillips
Ayers, born November 15, 1881, died April 27, 1S82 ;
Augustus Haines Ayers, born March i, 1883; Ben-
jamin Kimball Ayers, born March 28, 1888.
(VIII) Benjannn Ames, youngest son of Ben-
jamin and Ruth (Ames) Kimball, was born in Bos-
cawen, August 22, 1833. His father died in the
autumn of 1834. and when the subject of this sketch
was sixteen years of age his widowed mother, whose
memory is precious to her children, established a
home with her oldest son, Hon. John Kimball, at
Concord. In youth and in manhood Mr. Kimball
has lived and labored in the capital city of his native
state. He was prepared for college in the Concord
high school, supplemented by a course of study at
the'Hildreth preparatory school at Derry. He was
graduated from Dartmouth College, Chandler Scien-
tific Department, with the highest honors in the class
of 1854, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Science.
Immediately afterward he entered the service of
the Concord railroad as a draftsman in the mechan-
ical department, where his industry and ability won
for him an ear^)' promotion, for two years later, in
a generous expression of confidence and approval on
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
the part of the corporation, he was appointed super-
intendent of the locomotive department. In this
employment the dreams of the youth were realized,
and the drawings and mechanical studies of the
former student were tested and matured in the cul-
ture and experience of manhood. The well-remem-
bered locomotive "Tahanto" and others were con-
structed from the drawings of Mr. Kimball, revised
in the more practical school of experience. These
years of discipline, vivid and gratifying jn the
memory of the subject of this sketch, constituted the
superior school of preparation for future and graver
responsibilities.
At the completion of eleven years, Mr. Kimball
resigned his position as master mechanic of the
Concord railroad, and for several years was actively
and successfully engaged in private business, but no
other calling could permanently separate him from a
predestinated career in the world of railroads. In
the ambition of his youth and in his first employ-
ment 'in the mechanical department in rail-
road work, his future was clearly outlined and fore-
told. The story of his ready comprehension of and
of his firm grasp in railway affairs in later years,
was the natural sequence of his first employment
and of his lively and constant ambition and his suc-
cess was early assured. If in later years and in a
broader field he has borne graver responsibilities,
and if the sword of his resources has been often
tempered in the heat of fiercer conflict, he has
fought his way with the same qualities of courage
and intelligence which attended him in early man-
hood. Mr. Kimball was recalled to the railway
service when in i'873 'le was elected a director of the
Manchester & Nortli Weare railroad. In January,
1879, he was chosen a director of the Concord rail-
road, succeeding ex-Governor Onslow Stearns, who
died in December, 1878. He has since been elected
annually to the board of the Concord, and its suc-
cessor, the Concord & Montreal railroad, to the
present time, and he has been president of the
corporation since 1895. He is a director and presi-
dent of nearly all the leased roads connected with
the Concord "& Montreal railroad system, which is
now leased to the Boston & Maine railroad, includ-
ing its electric branches.
In the progressive and liberal policy of the Con-
cord, and later the Concord & Montreal railroad, in
the construction and control of contributory roads,
in the substantial ^character and attractive architec-
ture of the depots and the equipment of the system,
in the memorable controversies with rival corpora-
tions, Mr. Kimball has been sagacious in council and
efficient in action. He originated many and has ably
supported all of the comprehensive measures which
developed and expanded the Concord & Montreal
system, and which made it a potent factor in the
growth and prosperity of New Hampshire. At all
times he has given a willing and efficient support to
the enlargement of the system and to the construc-
tion and management of the connecting and sub-
sidiary roads. To him the people of the state and
the summer tourists are forever indebted for his
foresight and loyal attitude in the vexatious and pro-
longed litigation, in the interest of the public, for the
control of the summit of Mt. Washington.
In association with the managers of the railroads
of New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Mr. Kimball
clearly comprehended the increasing volume of
traffic over the trunk lines from the west to tide
water, and the necessity of a more systematic and
economical management of the connecting roads.
From the beginning of the discussion he has been
an intelligent and consistent supporter of the con-
solidation of the connecting systems. In advance of
many of his associates and until other events ren-
dered the plan impossible, he was an intelligent and
earnest advocate of a Merrimack Valley system,
combining the roads from Canada, through Concord,
Nashua and Lowell to Boston. In the leases of the
subsidiary roads and in the union of the Concord,
and the Boston, Concord & Montreal roads, this
plan was practically consummated. The transition
from the support of the proposed Merrimack Valley
system to an approval of the lease of the Concord &
-Montreal to the Boston & Maine was only an en-
largement of an original plan, and was firmly sup-
ported by Mr. Kimball. In the consummation of
the lease he labored successfully to preserve the in-
tegrity of the subsidiary corporations, tlie property
rights of stockholders and the larger interests of the
public. In consequence of several measures by him
proposed and successfully advocated, the union of
the separate interests is harmonious, the state is the
recipient of an increased revenue, and the public en-
joys the benefit of lower rates of fares and freight.
In 1865, at the time of his temporary retirement
from railroad business, he became an active partner
of the firm of Ford & Kimball, manufacturers of
brass and iron castings. To a prosperous industry
he added the manufacture of car wheels which for
the past forty years has been an important feature
of the business of the firm. He was one of the
founders and is a director and president of the Cush-
man Electric Company, and is a director or president
of several other successful manufacturing corpora-
tions.
In the monetary institutions of Concord his abil-
ity has been recognized and his service has often
been sought. During the life of the institution he
was a trustee and president of the Concord Savings
Bank, and he was also a trustee of the Merrimack
County Savings Bank. At the organization of the
MeChanicks National Bank he was elected a director
and vice-president, and he has been president of this
institution since 1884, succeeding the Hon. Josiali
Minot. In the securing of a new city library build-
ing under the liberal donation of William P. and
Clara M. Fowler, in the perfected project and in the
construction of the city waterworks, and in the lo-
cation and spacious surroundings of the postoffice
and state library buildings, Mr. Kimball has ren-
dered enduring and valuable service to the city of
Concord. Immediately succeeding the passage of
the valued policy insurance law in T885, the foreign
companies withdrew from this state, leaving- property
owners an inadequate protection from loss by fire.
It was a season of unusual solicitude. Mr. Kimball
was one of the resolute and self-reliant men who
came to the rescue by joining in the organization of
new companies to succeed the ones which refused to
renew expirinpr policies. He was one of the in-
corporators and a director of the Manufacturers
and Merchants Mutual Fire Insurance Company. In
any review of the unusual insurance problems of
twenty years ago. the prompt action and the com-
prehensive plans of Mr. Kimball and his associates
will merit attention and commendation.
From early manhood Mr. Kimball has been allied
with the Republican party, and he has been an in-
fluential factor in the conventions and councils of
the organization. He has never sought political
preferment. If he has had any ambition to partici-
pate in governmental affairs, it has been restrained
by the accumulating demands of an active business
career, and he has declined many complimentary
overtures of his friends and political associates. In
1870 he was a representative in the state legislature
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
and a delegate to the "constitutional conventions of
1876, 1889 and 1896. and was an alternate delegate to
the Republican national convention of 1S80 and a
delegate at large in 1892. At the state election in
1884 he was elected to the executive council, and
served with distinction during the administration of
Governor Currier. He was an agent, representing
the council, to designate and prepare the site of the
statute of Daniel Webster in the state house yard.
In the autumn of 1886 Governor Currier appointed
Mr. Kimball a commissioner to represent New
Hampshire in a convention of commissioners from
the states which assembled at Philadelphia, Decem-
ber 2, 18S6. At this time the commissioners outlined
and subsequently conducted the historic and mem-
orable ceremonies of the commemoration of the one
hundreth anniversary of the promulgation of the
constitution of the United States. In accordance
with the arrangements determined at the first meet-
ing of the commissioners, the demonstration oc-
curred at Philadelphia on September i^, 16 and 17,
1887.
In 1889 he was appointed one of a commission of
five to mature plans accompanied with recommenda-
tions for the erection of a state library building.
His associates in this commission were : John W.
Sanborn, Charles H. Burns. Irving W. Drew and
Charles J. Amidon. The recommendations of the
commission were adopted by the legislature, and
were incorporated without amendment in an act
providing for the immediate construction of the
edifice, which was completed in the autumn of 1894.
In all of its appointments the structure is an endur-
ing testimonial of the ability and good judgment of
the commission, and of their appreciation of the
present and future needs of the people of the state.
From 1S90 to 1895, succeeding Charles Francis
Choate and associated with Jeremiah Smith, Mr.
Kimball was one of the hoard of visitors of the
Chandler Scientific School of Dartmouth, College,
and since 1S95 he has been a trustee of the college.
He is regarded by his associates as an able and
useful member of the board, and in the financial af-
fairs of the corporation and in the construction of
new buildings his experience has been of value
and the ripeness of his judgment has been approved.
Mr, Kimball was among the first of the alumni of
the Chandler Scientific School to realize the im-
portance of its complete consolidation with the col-
lege-proper, and took a most active and influential
part in the negotiations that finally resulted in the
accomplishment of that object. ■■ He is a member of
and a trustee of the Alpha Omega Chapter of the
Beta Theta Pi of Dartmouth College; for the past
four years he has been chairman of the finance com-
mittee of the board of trustees of Dartmouth Col-
lege, a position in which his well-known pliility and
love of his alma mater find a useful field. Since
1890 he has been a member of the American Social
Science Association, and for manv years an active
member of the New Hampshire Historical Society
and president of the society 1895-1897. .At the pres-
ent time Air. Kimball is interested in the project of
a new and modern building, for the latter, and in the
possible find happy rea'ization of his ideals this
society will enjoy a home of ample dimensions and
ornate architecture.
.At a meeting of the New Hampshire Historical
Society held June 29, 1907, Beniamin .A. Kimball,
Samuel C. Eastman and Henry W. Stevens, of Con-
cord ; Frank N. Parsons, of Franklin, and Frank W.
Hackett, of Portsmouth. New Hampshire, were ap-
pointed a building committee witli full authority to
procure a suitable lot and erect a new building for
the Society.
Mr. Kimball, chairman of the committee, has
from time to time during the past three years, con-
ferred with prominent members of the society rela-
tive to the growth and needs of the Society, and the
absolute necessity of a new and commodious fire-
proof building for its use. They believe
that it should be of classical Greek architecture, and
should meet all the requirements of the Society.
Mr. Kimball has procured from Mr. Guy Lowell, a
prominent architect of Boston, several studies of the
proposed building, which have been approved. A
commanding location has been selected among the
notable group of public buildings at the capital of
the state.
In his relations to the public. Mr. Kimball is con-
scientious in the discharge of his duties, and is gen-
erous in a willing support of every commendable
institution or enterprise. He has ever maintained
personal and friendly relations with his associates
and with men in his employ. His friendly greetings,
his words of kindness and sympathy and often his
substantial favors in times of need are secretly
treasured in the memory of many who have been
employed by the corporations with which he is con-
nected. In the lives of men and the growth of a
state, the parallels of development run close and
far. The history of New Hampshire is mirrored in
the biographies of the men who have shaped events
and have given direction to public and business af-
fairs. In the early childhood of Mr. Kimball the
people of the inland towns were not far removed
from many features of pioneer life. Labor was the
common inheritance of all. The first mile of rail-
road in this state had not been constructed, and the
conveniences of life, compared with the present,
were few and limited. From such conditions the
state has advanced, and under such conditions the
life work of ^Ir. Kimball was begun. His success
is the merited reward of industry, ability and in-
tegrity. Possessing a vigorous mind, disciplined by
a liberal education and strengthened by a ripe ex-
perience, he has ever been an active and an able
promoter of the best interests of the city of Con-
cord and a potent factor in the development of the
material interests of the state. Mr. Kimball has
taken many trips to Europe, has a large, well se-
lected and very valuable private library and a choice
collection of costly paintings and statuary. His at-
tractively located residence and grounds have been
embellished under his personal supervision and his
home is one of the most noted in the Granite State.
The summer residence of the famil)' is a baronial
structure, kno'wn as "The Broads," on the shore of
Lake Winnipesaukee. Mr. Kimball is a lodge and
encampment member of the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows and is a member of the South Congre-
gational Society of Concord.
Mr. Kimball was married, at Canterbury, Jan-
uary 9, iS6r, to Miss Myra Tilton Elliott, a daughter
of ira Elliott, of Northfield. In his domestic rela-
tions he is very fortunate and in the happiness of
his home he receives much needed rest from the
cares and burdens of his busy life. They have one
son, Henry .Ames Kimball, born in Concord, Octo-
ber 19, 1864. He was a delicate boy, and was not
sent to the public schools. His early education,
under the direction of a tutor, was secured in the
light and love of home. Later he pursued a prepara-
tory course of study at Phillips .Andover Academy,
then imder the direction of Rev. Cecil F. P. Ban-
croft, LL. D. Relinquishing a collegiate education.
lO
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
he renewed his study under the instruction of an
accomplished tutor with whom he studied and trav-
eled in Europe, visiting many places of historic in-
terest in England and on the Continent. While in
London in 1887 he was admitted, on examination, a
fellow of the Society of Science, Letters and Art.
Returning to his home in Concord, he addressed
himself to the more exacting concerns of a business
career. He is and for several years has been a
partner and associate manager of the firm of Ford &
Kimball, and of the Cushman Electric Company.
He is a member and now recording secretary of the
New Hampshire Historical Society, and for many
years he has been an interested and active member
of the Young Men's Christian Association. He was
married at Nashua, November 17, 1904. to Miss
Charlotte Atkinson Goodale, born at Nashua, May
26, 1875, and daughter of John Harrison and Jose-
phine Bonaparte (Atkinson) Goodale, She is a
graduate of the Nashua high school and of Welles-
ley College, class of iSgS. Mr. Goodale, her father,
was secretary of state, and was prominent and
esteemed in the literary and political circles of his
time.
(IV) Abraham, third son and fourth child of
Caleb and Sarah Kimball, was born in Wenham,
Massachusetts, August 19, 1702, and died in 1772,
aged seventy years, in Wenham, where his whole
life had been spent. He united with the church Jan-
uary 13, 1730. His intentions of marriage with
Elizabeth Houlton were published April 26. 1729.
She survived him. Their children were : Caleb,
Sarah, Elizabeth, Keziah. Ebenezer, Mehitable, Ben-
jamin, Abigail, Hannah, Henry and Anna.
(V) Benianiin. seventh child and third son of
Abraham and Elizabeth (Houlton) Kimball, was
born in Wenham, January 5, 1745, and died in Hills-
boro, New Hampshire, June 4, 1813. He resided in
Wenham and Topsfield, Massachusetts, and went to
Hillsborough. New Hampshire, in 1776. He mar-
ried at Topsfield, Massachusetts, July 7. 1768. Han-
nah Parker, who was born in Bradford, Massachu-
setts, and died in Hillsborough, August 21, 1825.
They had thirteen children : Abraham. Hannah,
Mehitable, Sarah, Samuel, Benjamin, child died
young, Keziah. Betsey, Retire P., Henry, Abigail
and an infant that died young.
(VI) Mehitable. second daughter and third
child of Benjamin and Hannah (Parker) Kimball,
was born in Topsfield, Massachusetts, October xo,
1773. and married Fisher Gay, of Hillsborough, New
Hampshire. (See Gay, H).
(H) Benjamin, tenth child and fifth son of
Richard Kimball, born in 1637, about the time his
father moved from Watertown to Ipswich, Mass-
achusetts, died June 11, 1695. He was probably a
resident of Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1659, a car-
penter by trade. He removed to Salisbury, Mass-
achusetts, in or before 1662. and was a resident of
Rowley, Massachusetts, May 12, 1663, when he
bough.t land w^hich is within the limits of the present
town of Bradford, then a part of Rowley, On Feb-
ruary 20, 1668, at the first town meeting in Merri-
mack, afterwards Bradford, he was chosen overseer
of the town. He was called of that town March 16,
1670, and March 15, 1674. On November 23, 1667,
he bought several tracts of land ; among them was
land which once belonged to his brother, Thomas
Kimball, who was killed by an Indian May 3, 1676.
He was a wdieeUvright and farmer, and his house
was in the west parish of old Bradford, not far
from the ancient cemetery. He was a cornet of
house troops and was known as "Cornet Kimball."
He and his brother Richard Kimball were soldiers
in 1683 and 1684, under Captain Appleton. His in-
ventory showed that he was well ofl for the times,
the total amount of his estate being one thousand
and sixty pounds, seven shillings. Among the as-
sets was a quarter interest in a saw mill in Haver-
hill, near the Amesbury line, which he bought of
Matthew Harriman. This interest was handed down
in the family for several generations. The grave-
stones of Benjamin and Mercy Kimball may still be
seen in the cemetery at Bradford. Benjamin Kim-
ball married, April, 1661, in Salisbury, Mercy, daugh-
ter of Robert and Ann Hazeltine. born "16, 8 mo,
1642," and died January 5, 1708. She \vas one of
the first members received into the first church in
Bradford, when she with sixteen other women were
admitted January 7, 1683. The children of Benja-
min and Mercy (Hazeltine) Kimball were: Anna;
Mercy; Richard; Elizabeth; David; Jonathan;
Robert ; Abraham ; Samuel ; Ebenezer ; and Abigail.
(David, Jonathan, Robert, Samuel, and Ebenezer
and descendants are noted at length in this article).
(III) Richard, oldest son and third child of
Benjamin and Mercy (Hazeltine) Kimball, born
December 30, 1665, died January 10, 171 1, lived in
Bradford, and was prominent in town affairs, being
town clerk for many years. In the division of his
father's estate he received one quarter of his interest
in the saw mill in Haverhill, also land and meadows
in that place and in Amesbury. He married, Sep-
tember 6, 1692, Mehitable Day, born January 26,
1669, daughter of John and Sarah (Pengry) Day.
After Richard Kimball died she married her cousin
Richard, the son of Thomas, and survived him. She
was the wife of two Richard Kimballs, and had a
son and stepson Richard Kimball. The seven chil-
dren of Richard and Mehitable were : Sarah, Ben-
jamin, Abraham, Abigail. Job, Stephen and Richard.
(IV) Benjamin (2), oldest son and second child
of Richard and Mehitable (Day) Kimball, was born
in Bradford, July 11, 1695, and died in 1752. He
married in Haverhill, February 17, 1719, Priscilla
Hazen, a woman of great strength of character and
ability. She was a daughter of Richard and a
granddaughter of Edward Hazen, who settled in
Rawlcy as early as 1648, Her mother was Hannah,
daughter of Robert Andrews, the emigrant ancestor
of Governor Andrews, of Massachusetts. She mar-
ried a Peabody for her first husband, and Richard
Hazen for her second. Priscilla Hazen was born in
Haverhill, November 25, 1698, and died November,
1782. After Benjamin's death his widow married,
February 26, 1756, Captain Daniel Ames. The chil-
dren of Benjamin and Priscilla (Hazen) Kimball
were eleven in number, as follows: Mehitable,
Mary, Abigail, Obadiah, Sarah, Richard, Priscilla,
Benjamin, John, Bettie and Dudley.
(V) John fourth son and ninth child of Ben-
jamin and Priscilla (Hazen) Kimball, was born in
Bradford. February 5, 1739, and died in Concord.
New Hampshire, December 31, 1817. He lived on
the homestead in Bradford, Massachusetts, until his
marriage, when he moved to Concord, where he
lived on the place now (1897) occupied by Samuel
S. Kimball. He was a man of strong religious con-
victions, and at the age of eighteen united with the
church of Bradford, and during his long life honored
his Christian profession. During thirty years he
was absent but once from public worship. He was
very hospitable, and clergymen were always his
welcome guests. For twenty-nine years, 1789 to
1817, he was an officer in the church, and was noted
for the fidelity and promptness with which he per-
formed his_ public and private duties. Mr. Kimball
was one of the signers in the church at Concord,
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
II
and proposed to Rev. Mr. Walker, the pastor, to
abolish "lining the hymns," as it was called, on
the Sabbath, and adopt the present style of singing.
This was done, and took effect in the time of the
Revolutionary war. He was on the committee of
safety in 1777 and 1778. The number of offices he
held was large, and he filled some of them for many
consecutive years. He was chosen tything man in
1767 and again later; constable two terms; surveyor
of lumber many years ; was sealer of yveights and
measures; field driver; selectman, 1775 and 1778;
clerk, 177S to 1786 inclusive ; and treasurer 1785-6.
He married iVlarch 23, 1765, Anna, daughter of
Samuel and Ann (.Hazen) Ayer, born in Haverhill,
Massachusetts, October 3, 1740, died in March, 1819.
Their children, born in Concord, were : Hazen,
John, Benjamin, Anna, Elizabeth, Hannah, Sarah
and Samuel Ayer.
(VI) Hannah, third daughter and si.xth child of
John and Anna (Ayer) Kimball, was born in Con-
cord, June 24, 1777, and died in Concord, November
16, 1846. She married, JNlarch 2, 1802, Rev. Syl-
vester Dana. (See Dana, V).
(HI) David, second son and fifth child of Ben-
jamui and Mercy (^Hazeltine) Kimball, was born
July 26, 1671, in Rawley, Massachusetts (that part
which is now Bradford), and died in Bradford,
June 14, 1743. He resided all his life in that town,
and his father gave him from his estate si.K acres
of land on which his house stood, January 21, 1697.
This was adjoining the ferry. His first wife, Eliza-
beth Gage, daughter of John Gage of Ipswich,
was born March 12, 1674. No record of her death
has been found. Mr. Kimball was married (second),
about 1717, to Ruth (surname unknown), who was
born 1682 and died March 14, 1770. There were
ten children, all of the first wife and two of the
second, all born in Bradford, namely : Hannah
(died young), Samuel, Hannah, David, Rebeckah, a
son unnamed, Jeremiah, Aaron, Elizabeth, Abraham,
Ruth and Abigail. After the death of Mr. Kimball,
his widow resided with Ralph Hall, her son-in-law,
in Salem, New Hampshire, and he was, at that time,
forced to give security that she should not become
a charge upon the town.
(IV) Jeremiah, fourth son and seventh child of
David and Elizabeth (Gage) Kimball, was born
October 15, 1707, in Beverly, and died in May, 1764,
in Warner, New Hampshire. He was a resident of
Beverly until April, 1733, when he and his brother
David, of Concord, New Hampshire, sold land to
Thomas Richardson. In the'' settlement of his
father's estate he sold land to James Head, June
10, 1734. He subsequently resided in Hopkinton,
and Warner, New Hampshire, and was buried at the
old fort on Putney Hill, in Warner. He was mar-
ried, January 20, 1732, to Elizabeth Head, and their
children all born in Bradford, were : Elizabeth,
Sarah (died young), Jeremiah, James, Reuben,
David, John, Betty, Mary, jNIoses, Sarah, Abraham,
Phoebe and Richard.
(V) Reuben, third son and fifth child of Jere-
miah and Elizabeth (Head) Kimball, was born .-^pril
17. 1738, in Bradford, and died May 2, 181 1, in War-
ner, New Hampshire. He lived for a time in Hop-
kinton, and settled in Warner in 1762. He accom-
panied his father-in-law to that town and they were
among its earliest settlers. Reuben Kimball built a
log house and barn and he and his wife moved to
their humble abode in the wilderness Jun» 30, 1762.
Their eldest child was the first white born in VVar-
ner. I-Iis tombstone stands near the wall in the
south east part of the cemetery in Warner, and bears
the inscription "In memory of Mr. Reuben Kimball
who died May 2, 181 1, aged seventy-three years."
He belonged to that class of sturdy and industrious
citizens who cleared from New Hampshire soil the
virgin forest now enjoyed by his descendants and
many others. He was married about 1760, to Han-
nah, daughter of Daniel Annis, of Hopkinton, and
after her death he married Elizabeth (surname un-
known). His children, all born of the first wife,
were : Daniel, Jeremiah, Richard, Johnson Guill,
Jane Betsey and Persis.
(VI) Jeremiah (2), second son and child of
Reuben and Hannah (Annis) Kimball, was born
December 14, 1767, in Warner, and died in that
town, where he resided all his life, March 27, 1841.
Besides farming he worked as a cooper and made
flour and fish barrels, and pursued a quiet and un-
eventful life. He was married, November 21, 1793.
to Molly Foote, who was born April 30, 1771, and
died May s. 1855. Their children were: Challis
Foote, Hannah, Nancy Foote, Reuben (died young)
and Reuben.
(VII) Rev. Reuben, youngest son and child of
Jeremiah and Molly (Foote) Kimball, was born in
Warner, April 29, 1803, and died in North Conway,
November iS, 1871, aged sixty-eight years. The
father being .1 farmer, Reuben was taught to culti-
vate the soil, and early earned his bread in the sweat
of his face. Behig the younger son, his parents
placed their reliance on Reuben and he continued
with them upcp the homestead, his older brother,
who was his senior by some years, having gone from
home while Reuben was yet a youth. There was
that, too, in the dutiful and affectionate spirit of
this son which led them, particularly the mother, to
look upon him as "the one to live at home and have
the farm," and to be the solace of their advancing
age.
The son; however, had been earnestly desirous as
a boy to obtain an education. He liked his book
better than the farm, and as he grew up made the
best possible use of the means of intellectual culture
within his reach. His parents, not seeing perhaps
at first whereunto this would grow, encouraged his
bent in this direction, by giving him the best oppor-
tunities in their power. These were supplemented
by his own persevering endeavors — teaching when he
became qualified to procure the means of extending
his privileges at the academy. He proposed to his
parents, if they would consent to his leaving home
to obtain an education, that he would educate him-
self, and would never ask for any portion of the
patrimonial estate. But to this they did not feel
that they could consent, and the appeal of the mother
to the tenderness and fidelity of his filial affection,
wss more than he could resist, and he determined, as
a dutiful son, to remain at home with his parents.
In this expectation he married. A year of two be-
fore his marriage he had become the subject of re-
newing grace, and at the age of twenty-four united
with the Congregational Church in his native town.
His jcining the church stimulated his desire for edu-
cation. With this concurred the establishment of
the Gilmanton Theological Seminary in his near
neighborhood, in which facilities were afforded to
persons desirous of entering the university, who
could not take a full college course, to obtain their
object by an abbreviated or a condensed system of
classical and theological studies. He heard of some
who had removed their families into the vicinity of
the institution for the purpose of receiving its bene-
fits. He visited the seminary and conferred with its
professor, who encouraged him in his desires, pro-
vided he could make it compatible with his duty to
his parents. They had lately been converted and
12
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
joined the ^church and gladly consented to this plan.
He now entered the seminary and pursued his
studies with such success that he graduated in 1840,
and shortly after obtained from the Hopkimon As-
sociation license to preach.
Mr. Kimball's first field of labor was at Kittery
Point, Maine, where he was ordained January 27,
1841. He remained here nine years, until his dis-
missal, January 9, 1850. From Kittery he went to
Andover and Wilmot, in this state, laboring half
of the time at each place, for the first two years,
and afterwards, exclusively at Wilmot. In De-
cember, 1855, Mr. Kimball commenced his ministry
in Conway. The church here was small and so
situated, territorially, as to make it necessary to
maintain worship in two places — one at Conway
Corner, so called, and the other at North Conway,
four miles distant from each other. 'Mr. Kimball
resided for sometime at the corner, but later at
North Conway, preaching every Sabbath in both
places. The population at the North was much in-
creased during his ministry through the summer
months especially, owing to the large number from
the cities who resort to this locality at that sea-
son for health and recreation. This peculiar fea-
ture of his parochial charge in Conway rendered
his post one of much responsibility, and, to a some-
what shrinking and sensitive spirit like his, one
of no small solicitude and wearing anxiety. Yet
it was here and on these accounts that his rare
ministerial gifts and peculiar traits of personal ex-
cellence were rendered eminently conspicuous,
through the many appreciative minds upon which
successively they shone, and which have carried
sacred remembrance of him, as a model minister,
into all parts of the country, and of the world,
even. His parish, under the shadows of the great
mountains, was one of the high places of our Ameri-
can Zion.
His ministry here continued until about two
years before his death when his health, for a long
time slender, becoming more seriously impaired, he
felt his strength to be insufficient for so arduous
a service and resigned his pastorate. Subsequently,
however, he performed missionary labors in some
destitute sections of the country, under a com-
mission at large from the New Hampshire JNIis-
sionary Society. He was especially instrumental of
a good work in Effingham, in procuring the repair
of the dilapidated meeting house of the well-nigh
extinct Congregational Church there, with whom he
resided and labored for seven months.
It was pleasant to Mr.' Kimball to be actively
employed in the Master's service, and he used every
degree of his remaining strength in the work of the
ministry so long as opportunity was granted him.
A very useful department of labor in which he em-
barked with characteristic efficiency while at Con-
way, was the Bible distribution throughout a large
and destitute section of the country, of which that
place was the center. For this work he was ad-
mirably fitted by happily combining with the agency
the labor of an evangelist — awakening attention and
winning interest in the minds of the careless and
ignorant, especially the children, in behalf of the
divine word, which they were induced to receive at
his hands.
As a minister Mr. Kimball was eminently faith-
ful and devoted, while he often lamented that he
had not enjoyed advantages of a more thorough'
education, yet seldom, if ever, -was any deficiency
in this respect apparent in his public perform-
ances. He made diligent and successful use of all
the helps, literary and professional, which were at
his command. His knowledge of the Bible was
intimate and extensive. His faith in its doctrines
was sound and discriminating. His preaching was
serious, plain, practical, direct, tender, while he
was the farthest possible from being harsh or dog-
matic in nis style of address. Yet he was never
deterred by fear of man from a full and faithful
setting forth of unwelcome truths. The visible
fruits of his labor were many and of a desirable
character. . While there were no very extensive
revivals under his ministry, there were frequent
seasons of religious interest, in which some were
converted and a few at a time were added to the
church. His ministry was peculiarly adapted to
promote the spiritual edification of believers. As
a man and as a Christian, he was himself an ex-
ample to the flock, having also a good report of
them that were without.
The last days of the life of this beloved man
of God, though oppressed with bodily sufifering,
were serene and peaceful. He labored to the last
in Bible distribution, and when he gave it up and
realized that he should not return to it agam, he
expressed regret that he should not be able to
finish all that he had hoped to accomplish, as he
had enjoyed these labors much, and felt that therein
he was doing good. But when he immediately
acquiesced to his Heavenly Father's will, saying that
"he might as well go now as any time." A member
of the church who came to see him, said he w-ould
like to know his views while looking on death or
near. He said in reply that he had not those
ecstacies which some have spoken of, but he could
trust his Savior now, as in life he has professed
to do. Two or three days before his death, while
his power of speech remained, in the morning,
after a chapter had been read, he wanted the
children to sing a hymn ; and then, saying he would
try to pray, he oft'ered up a prayer in which he
commended all his family and friends and the
church to his heavenly Father for protection, being
quite exhausted by the effort. This was his last
audible prayer on earth; and for the last twelve
hours he did not speak nor move a muscle, but lay
as quiet as though dead, until he ceased to breathe.
"Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright,
for in the end that man is peace." To his brethren
in the ministry and his christian friends, his death
seemed sudden and premature. He worked up to
the last few days and none knew his danger until
it was over. "He walked with God, and was not;
for God took him."
Mr. Kimball was married. May 21. 1829, to
Jndith Colby, who was born in Warner, and died
in Ipswich, aged about seventy-three years. She
was the daughter of John and Sarah Colby, of
Warner. Mr. Kimball was eminently happy in his
domestic relation — the wife of his youth, who sur-
vived him, having adv.iiced with equal step from
the humble and private sphere in which they began
life together, through the stage of its elevated and
more responsible duties as a helpmeet, and in the
full sympathy with the joys and sorrows incidental
to his work. Nine children were born to them,
whose names are as follows: Molly Foote (died
at three years), Marcia Aletta, Edward Payson,
Anna Louise, Reuben, Jeremiah, John Elliott, Sarah
J\Iehitabcl, Moses Colby.
(VIII) Edward Payson, eldest son and third
child of Rev. Reuben and Judith (Colby) Kimball,
was born in Warner, New Hampshire, July 4, 1834.
He was educated in the common schools of Kittery,
Maine, and Hampton and Andover Academies.
From 1855 to 185/ he was engaged in mercantile
^^^C^Ct^-t^O U/^(^li-i4y^cdXV
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
13
business in Kittery. In the latter year lie removed
to Portsmouth, and has since been engaged in
banking. He was first a clerk in the Piscataqua
Exchange and Portsmouth Savings banks. He be-
came cashier of the First National Bank in 1871,
and in 1882 was made president of that bank, and
also of the Piscataqua Savings Bank. In addition
to the interests named and others in Portsmouth,
Mr. Kimball has business interests in the West.
From his youth up he has adhered to the Republi-
can party in all political contests, and has been a
staunch supporter of the measures advocated in its
plat'forms. He has been a member of the city
government, and in 1885-86, served in the New
Hampshire legislature. Since 1871 he has been a
deacon of the North Congregational Church, and
has held office as clerk and treasurer of the church
since 1867. His liberality to the church is well
known, also his deep concern for the welfare of the
public educational institutions of the state, and
the benevolent and charitable organizations of a
private nature. He has been a member of the
Portsmouth school board, is a trustee of the Cottage
Hospital, the Chase Home for Children, the Ports-
mouth Seaman's Friend Society, and is president
of the Howard Benevolent Society, and the Young
Men's Christian Association. Mr. Kimball was in-
strumental largely in building the beautiful Young
Mens Christian Association building in Portsmouth
and contributed freely for the same. In fact it
is one of i\Ir. Kimball's acts which has given him
satisfaction. He is a member of Piscataqua Lodge,
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and one of its
board of trustees.
Mr. Kimball is emphatically a man of business,
and though he has held political offices, it has been
more from business interests with a view to proper
legislation than any desire for official honors. He
is in no sense a nominal member of the various other
organizations in which he holds official rank, but a
worker for the end for which each institution was
organized. He married in Wilmot, New Hampshire,
September 13. 1864, Martha Jane Thompson, who
was born in Wilmot, daughter of Colonel Samuel
and Anna True (Smith) Thompson, of Wilmot.
They have had three children : Elizabeth Coiby,
born January 27. 1866, died March 7, 18S0. Martha
Smith, February 28, 1870, who graduated from
Smith College in the class of 1892. Edward Thomp-
son Kimball, September 29, 187,3. a graduate of
Amherst College, in the class of 1896.
(Ill) Jonathan, third son -and si.xth child of
Benjamin and Mercy (Haseltine) Kimball, was
born November 26. 1673. in Bradford, and passed
his life in that town, where he died September
30, 1749. He was a prosperous man, as indicated
by his frequent purchases and sale of lands. In
hjs possession were lands in Chester which he
divided equally November 12. 1733, among his four
sons, Benjamin, Nathan. Jonathan and Isaac. He
was married (first), July 15. i6g6, to Lydia Day,
who was born March iS, 1676, daughter of John
and Sarah (Pengry) Day, and died September 16,
1739. He was married (second), November 3,
,17.59. to widow Jane Plummer, and died in 1764.
It is apparent that his last marriage was not a
happy one, as his will contains this clause, "since
my wife, Jane, has eloped and refuses to live
with me, I give her five shillings and a pair oi
leather gloves." It would seem that the widow
refused to accept this legacy, and contested for
a share in the estate, and the matter was- prob-
ably compromised, as her receipt is on record for
the sum of fifty pounds. Jonathan Kimball's chil-
dren, born in Bradford, iNIassachusetts, of his first
wife, were: Benjamin, Jonathan, Nathaniel, Lydia,
Moses, Isaac, Rebecca, Ruth, Abraham, Mehitablc
and Hannah.
(IV) Benjamin (2), eldest child of Jonathan
and Lydia (Day) Kimball, was born May 16, 1697,
in Bradford, and resided in Haverhill, where he
died August 5, J741. He lived in the northern part
of that town and when the line was run between
the two provinces in 1741, his property was found
to be in New Hampshire, in the town now known as
Hampstead. He and his wife were members of the
church in Plaistow or North Haverhill, in Novem-
ber, 1730. He was a deacon of the church there,
being elected February 3, 1731. He owned land in
Chester, which was inherited by his son Moses.
It is said that he married at the age of eighteen,
and went three miles north of the river into the
woods to clear a farm, and his mother was very
much depressed because of his danger from attacks
by the Indians. He married Mary Emerson, of
Haverhill, who was born March 21, 1696. She was
the daughter of Joseph and Martha (Toothaker)
Emerson, and granddaughter of Robert and Ann
(Grant) Emerson. Their children were: Mary,
Jonathan, Benjamin, Lydia, Martha, Hannah, Moses,
Abigail, Joseph and Mehitable.
(V) Jonathan (2), eldest son and second child
of Benjamin and Alary (Emerson) Kimball, was
born April 14, 1720, in Haverhill, Massachusetts,
and died October 17, 1807, in Plaistow, New Hamp-
shire. According to the family tradition, he was
one of the first to settle in the northern part of
the last named town. In building his log cabin
in the woods he was assisted by twenty men, two
of whom stood guard against Indian attacks while
the others worked. He subsequently returned to
the present .town of Plaistow, and served for a
period of twenty-one years from 1757 to 1778 as
town clerk. He joined the church at Plaistow,
February 5. 1738, and for fifty-seven years he was
a deacon of this society, being first elected Janu-
ary 25, 1739. He was married (first), August 22,
1738, to Elizabeth Little, who was born November
12, 1719, a daughter of Daniel Little. She joined
the church May 18, 1740, and died February 8,
1753. He was married (second), November 29,
1753. to Abigail True, of Salisbury, Massachusetts,
who was born November 26, 1722, and died January
23, 1814. There were five children of the first
marriage and four of the second, including: Benja-
min, Jonathan, Daniel (died young), Nathaniel,
Daniel, Elizabeth, True. Martha and Joseph.
(VI) Benjamin (3), eldest son and child of
Jonathan (2) and Elizabeth (Little) Kimball, was
born August 5, 1741. in Plaistow, and lived in that
town, where he died August 25, 1779. aged thirty-
eight years. He was commissioned first lieutenant
in Captain Samuel Oilman's company of Colonel
Enoch Poor's regiment. May 25. 1775, and rendered
valuable service as a Revolutionary soldier. He
was promoted to captain at Ticonderoga, September
6, 1776, and was commissioned captain and pay-
master in the First New Hampshire regiment in the
Continental service, and remained in that connection
until his death. He was shot throuth the heart
at Tioga, Pennsylvania, by the accidental discharge
of a soldier's musket, while on Sullivan's expedition
against the Indians. He was buried at Tioga the
following day. He was much respected and highly
regarded both at home and abroad. His widow
was left with a large family of small children, and
received half pay in accordance with a resolution
of Congress passed August 24, 1780. She was mar-
14
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
ried (second), June 2, 1780, to Jonathan Poor,
of Poor's Hill in Atkinson, New Hampshire. Cap-
tain Benjamin Kimball was married in early life
to Sarah Little, daughter of Samuel Little, who
survived him and was married (second) as above
noted. She died July 6, 1823. Their children were :
Benjamin (died young), Jonathan, Tamar, Eliza-
beth, Benjamin, Abigail and Sarah.
(VH) Benjamin (4), third son and fifth child
of Captain Benjamin (3) and Sarah (Little) Kim-
ball, was born January i, 1771, in Plaistow, and
died in Kingston, New Hampshire, September 25,
1825, He was a farmer in Kingston, and was mar-
ried April 16, 1793, to Abiah Kimball, who was
born September 24, 1771, daughter of Jonathan Kim-
ball and died August 21, 1861, almost ninety years
of age. Their children were ; Abiah, Sarah, Rus-
sell, Mary, Benjamin, Daniel and Richard (twins),
Hazen, Amos and Elizabeth.
(VIII) Russell, eldest son and third child of
Benjamin (4) and Abiah (Kimball) Kimball, was
born December 7, 1798, in Kingston, New Hamp-
shire, and resided in Piermont, New Hampshire,
where he was a successful farmer. He was mar-
ried to Louisa Bean, who was born in Lyman, New
Hampshire, and died February 18, 1866, at Haver-
hill Corner. They were the parents of four chil-
dren, of whom only the eldest survives, the others
having died in infancy. They were : Peabody W.,
Sarah L., Charles R., and Ellen L.
(IX) Peabody Webster, only surviving son of
Russell and Louisa (Bean) Kimball, was born
October 24, 1834, in Piermont, New Hampshire.
He had a fair opportunity for acquiring an edu-
cation, being a student of the public schools in
Haverhill, of Newbury Seminary, Newbury, Ver-
mont, and of the Orford and Haverhill academies.
After leaving school he was associated w'ith his
father in a general merchandise store at Haverhill
Corner, where he continued two years. He then
became a partner in the business and so continued
until his father's death in 1862. For a short time
thereafter he conducted the business, which was
ultimately closed out. He then engaged in farming
on a small scale in Haverhill, and for fifty years
this continued down to the present time. He has
been an active citizen and has taken part in the
management of local affairs, and represented the
town in the general court in 1864-65. Politically
he is a Republican. He is a member of Grafton
Lodge, No. 46, Ancient Free and Accepted Ma-
sons, and of Franklin Chapter, Royal Arch Ma-
sons, of Lisbon. He was married on Christmas
Day, 185s, to Jane Pearson, who was born April
26, 1834, in Orford, New Hampshire, a daughter
of George and Mary (English) Pearson. They are
the parents of two children : Ellen L. and George
Russell. The former was born January 5, i860, and
is the wife of Dr. Henry A. Hildreth, of Bethlehem,
New Hampshire.
(X) George Russell Kimball, son of Peabody
Wejjster and Jane (Pearson) Kimball, was born
August 31, 1866, in Haverhill, and received his
early education in the public schools of that town.
He was subsequently a student at St. Johnsbury
Academy, St. Johnsbury, Vermont. Returning to
his native town, he was engaged in the printing
business for two years. He then removed to Haver-
hill, where he was engaged one year in the print-
ing business in company with F. W. and J. F.
Bittinger, at Woodsville, New Hampshire, and then
sold out to his partner. He returned to Haverhill
Corner and , was engaged three years as a printer
with W. E. Shaw. He was afterwards employed
for a period of two years as a clerk by Poor &
Wesgate, general merchants. Their business was
terminated by destruction of the store by fire. Mr.
Kimball is quite active in fraternal circles, being
a member of Grafton Lodge of Free Masons, at
Haverhill ; Franklin Royal Arch Masons, at Lisbon ;
St. Gerard Commandery, Knights Templar, of Lit-
tleton ; Northern Star Lodge of Perfection, of Lan-
caster ; Washington Council, Princes of Jerusalem,
at Littleton ; Chapter Rose Croix, at Littleton, and
Edward A. Raymond Consistory, Thirty-second de-
gree, at Nashua. He is also a member of Bektash
Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Concord;
and of the Eastern Star Chapter at Lisbon, New
Hampshire. He is a member of Haverhill Grange,
Patrons of Husbandry, and of the Concord Chap-
ter, Sons of the American Revolution.
(III) Robert, seventh child and fourth son of
Benjamin and Mercy (Hazeltine) Kimball, was
born in Bradford, March 6, 1676, and died Febru-
ary 24, 1744. He bought, March 3, 1703, of his
father-in-law, Philip Atwood, land which formerly
belonged to Henry Kemble, blacksmith, of Boston.
He resided in Bradford, and he and his wife was
buried in the old cemetery there. He married Su-
sanna, daughter of Philip and Sarah Atwood of
Maiden. She was born in "Mauldon," February
I, 1686. Their children, all born in Bradford, were :
Susanna, Rachel, Philip, Sarah, Ebenezer, Joseph,
Abigail, Oliver and Solomon. (Mention of Oliver
and descendants follows in this article.)
(IV) Ebenezer, fifth child and second son of
Robert and Susannah (Atwood) Kimball, born in
Bradford, December 29, 1716, died June i, 1798;
was a farmer and resided in the town of his birth.
He married, April 4, 1740, Mary, daughter of Ben-
jamin and Priscilla (Hazen) Kimball, born April
II, 1723, died September 22, 1819. Their children,
thirteen in number, were : Mary, Phineas, Ebe-
nezer, Priscilla, Benjamin, Susanna (died young),
Edward, Susanna, Obadiah, Dudley, Daniel, Asa and
Betsey.
(V) Lieutenant Phineas, second child and old-
est son of Ebenezer and Mary (Kimball) Kimball,
was born in Bradford, December 8, 174S, and died
November 6, 1826, aged eighty years. He removed
to Concord, New Hampshire, and settled at Apple-
town, east end of Turtle Pond. He was a revo-
lutionary soldier, and April 23, 1775, was in Cap-
tain Isaac Baldwin's company. Colonel John Stark's
regiment. He was at Bunker Hill, and in service
throughout the year, being in Captain Hale's com-
pany, October 4, 1775, when he receipted for four
dollars as full compensation for a coat promised
him by the colony of New Hampshire. He was a
lieutenant in the militia after the war. As a
citizen he was honorable and prominent, and ac-
quired considerable estate. He married, December
13, 1770, Lucy Pearl, daughter of Richard and
Sarah Pearl. She died April 21, 1821. She was an
amible, accomplished, and much respected woman.
Her family name has been bestowed upon many of
her descendants as a christian name. The children
of Phineas and Lucy (Pearl) Kimball were: Pearl,
Hepzibah, Molly, Sarah, Obadiah, Benjamin, Rob-
ert and Betsey, mention of whom follows.
(VI) Betsey, eighth child and youngest daugh-
ter of Phineas and Lucy (Pearl) Kimball, was
born in East Concord, July 12. 1787, and died in
Concord, January 23, 1870. She married March
6, 1808, Colonel Joshua (2) Abbot, of Concord
(see Abbot, V).
(IV) Oliver, eighth child avtd fourth son of
Robert and Susanna (Atwood) Kimball, was born
FOUR GENERATIONS OF THE KIMBALL FAMILY.
CHARLES LESTER, CHARLES, CHARLES F., CHARLES ALLEN.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
15
in Bradford, Massachusetts, May 24, 1724, and died
in Salem, New Hampshire, June 23, 1806. He re-
sided first in Bradford, and later removed to Salem,
where he spent the remainder of his life. He was
a man of some means and, like the other settlers,
allowed his young stock to run loose in the woods
in the summer. The registry of his mark in the old
town record of Salem is as follows : "July 22,
1747. The mark of Oliver Kimballs cattel and
other cuachers is a swalous tail of ye right ear,
and is an a halfany ye upr sid of ye left ear."
He married, March, 1745, Mary Ober, who was born
May 23, 1725, and died June 23, 1806. Their chil-
dren, all born in Salem, were : Oliver, Hilary,
Susanna (died young), Elizabeth, Susie, Mehitable,
Abigail, John and Sarah.
(V) Oliver (2), eldest child of Oliver (i)
and Mary (Ober) Kimball, was born in Salem, De-
cember S, 1745, and died there April 20,' 1821. He
was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and served
at Bunker Hill, August i, 1775. Salem town meet-
ing adjourned to August 22. at which time Oliver
Kimball, Jr., was chosen ensign. October 16, 1775,
he was in Captain Woodbury's company,, and he
was in the same company in 1776. He was select-
man in Salem in 1793, where he resided all his life.
His tombstone in Salem bears the following in-
scription : "Death's sudden stroke dissolved my
feeble frame, Reader, prepare, your fate may be the
same." He married INIary Allen, of Salem. She
was born March 17, 1751, and died February 6.
1846, aged ninety-five. Their children were : Su-
sannah, Molly (died young), Joseph and Molly.
(VI) Joseph, third child and only son of
Oliver (2) arid j\lary (Allen) Kimball, was born
in Salem, December 25, 1786, and died April 28,
1867, aged eighty years, four months and three
days. He succeeded his father on the homestead,
and was a cultivator of the soil. He married,
February 2, 1815, Rebecca Hazeltine, born Au-
gust 5, 1792, died January 29, 1854, daughter of
Asa Hazeltine, of Auburn. Their children were:
Harriet, Rebecca, Charles, Washington and Joseph
Allen.
(VH) Charles, third child and eldest son to
grow up of Joseph and Rebecca (Hazeltine) Kim-
ball, was born in Salem, April 18, 1822. He grew
up on the homestead and was educated in the public
schools. After he started in life on his own ac-
count he worked principally at farming, gardening
and lumbering. For four years, however, he was en-
gaged in mercantile business at -Salem depot. For
two years he has been out of active business. He
is a Democrat, and was a leader of his party in
local affairs. He was selectman three years and
was chairman of the board all this time, and served
two terms as town treasurer, and represented the
town in the legislature one term. He married, Au-
gust I, 1844, Celenda Jane Hazeltine, who was born
in Salem, July 31, 1825, daughter of Silas and Lydia
(Hall) Hazeltine. Her father was born in Alan-
chestcr, and her mother in Salem. Mr. and Mrs.
Kimball are members of the Methodist Episcopal
Church. Six children were born of this union ;
three grew up: Aroline Francena, Charles Frank-
lin, and Nellie E. Aroline F. married Walter G.
Woodbury, of Salem. Charles F. is mentioned be-'
low. Nellie E. resides in Salem.
(Vni) Charles Franklin, second child and
only son of Charles and Celenda J. (I-Iazeltine)
Kimball, was born in Salem, March 15, 1853. He
received his education in the common schools and
at Tilton Seminary and Pinkerton Academy. From
1870 to 1S73 he worked on the farm. In 1874 his
father bought a store at Salem depot and there
Charles acted as clerk and assistant postmaster
until 1878. He then returned to the farm and for
a number of years made a specialty of supplying
JNIanchester market with vegetables. He put his
farm under a high state of cultivation, and from
fifty acres of land he cut annually one hundred
tons of hay. His first crop of corn was thirteen
hundred bushels, which was ground on the place
by a wind mill erected for the purpose. In 1903 he
built a large barn and storehouse, and in 1904 he
began the construction of an elevator with a ca-
pacity of twelve thousand bushels, and engaged in
the grain business on a large scale. In 1905 he
occupied the elevator, and accepted his son as a
partner, forming the firm of C. F. Kimball & Son.
June 10, 1905, he sold for $30,000 the ancient Kim-
ball farm upon which five generations of the family
had resided, and it became later part of the Salem
Race Track upon which six hundred thousand dol-
lars were expended.
In politics Mr. Kimball is a Democrat. His
interest in public affairs has always been a lively
one, and he has been called to fill various offices.
He was tax collector in 1874, a member of the
school board several years, and a member of the
committee which built the present school house.
He was chairman of the committee to purchase the
Salem town waterworks, a member of the w-ater
board one year, during which time he was chair-
man of the committee to dispose of the town farm.
He has served as road commissioner, and 1896-97
represented Salem in the legislature. He is a
staunch member of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
and since 1877 has been superintendent of its
Sunday school and for many years treasurer of
the Pleasant Street Church. He is one of the
stewards and. a member of the board of trustees
of the Royal Arcanum, and a member of Enter-
prise Grange, Patrons of Husbandry. He married,
September 3, 1874, Martha Ella Copp, who was
born September 3, 1855, in Windham, daughter of
Millett G. and Rowena (Wentworth) Copp. The
only child of this union is Charles A., whose sketch
follows.
(IX) Charles Allen, only child of Charles F.
and Martha Ella (Copp) Kimball, was born on
the old homestead July 17, 1876. He obtained his
education in the public schools and at Tilton Semi-
nary. After leaving school he was engaged in
agriculture with his father until 1S98, when he be-
came junior partner of the firm of C. F. Kimball
& Son, grain and lumber dealers, and has since de-
voted his attention principally to that enterprise..
He has been very successful in business, and has
one of the finest and best finished country residences
in New Hampshire. He is a Democrat, and is
chairman of the board of selectmen. He is a
member of Enterprise Grange, Patrons of Hus-
bandry, and of the United Order of Pilgrim
Fathers. He is a member of the Pleasant Street
Methodist Episcopal Church, and one of its
stew-ards. He married, November 16, 1898. Lena
Mabel Hall, who was born October 30, 1874. daugh-
ter of Oscar O. and Henrietta (Cross) Hall, grand-
daughter of Oliver, and great-granddaughter of
Jonathan Hall, the first settler of Salem. They
have three children : Gertrude Hall, Charles Les-
ter and Ruth Ella.
(Ill) Samuel, ninth child and sixth son of
Benjamin and Mercy (Hazeltine) Kimball, was born
in Bradford, Massachusetts, March 28. 1680, and
died in 1739. aged fiftj'-nine years. He married
Eunice Chadwick. His will was made June 30,
i6
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
1739, and proved August 27, 1739. His son James
was to have his right in Penny Cook aHas Rum-
ford (.now Concord, New Hampshire). His son
Andrew was to have his father's property in Ches-
ter, New Hampshire. Samuel bought of Moses
Day all that land and right in the saw mill which
had been set off to "Abigail, formerly Kimball,
now my wife, out of her father Benjamin's Estate."
The children of this marriage were : Mercy,
Samuel, Edmund, William, Mary, Timothy, James,
Andrew, Joshua and Ann. (Mention of Edmund
and descendants appears in this article.)
(IV) Samuel (2), eldest son and second child
of Samuel (i) and Eunice (Chadwick) Kimball,
Vi'as born in Bradford, August 17, 1714, and died
in Plaistow, New Hampshire, in 1789, aged seventy-
five. He was a farmer, and lived in that part of
Haverhill which after the survey of the Ime be-
tween Massachusetts and New Hampshire became
Plaistow, New Hampshire. He seems to have lived
on the border line between Plaistow and Atkinson,
for February 17, 1768, he petitioned that his prop-
erty, both real and personal, might be transferred
from Atkinson to Plaistow, which was done.
Samuel Kimball, of Plaistow, was guardian of the
children of Jonathan Dow, of Plaistow, February
27, 1768. In his father's W'ill he is called of Haver-
hill, and received the portion of his father's estate
situated in that town. He represented Atkinson
and Plaistow in the provincial congress at Exeter,
December 21, 1775, and was a member of the same
body in 1776. Administration of his estate was
granted to his son, Joseph, then of Plaintield, New
Hampshire, August 28, 1789. He married, Decem-
ber 12, 1736, Hannah Abbott, of Andover, Massachu-
setts. They had seven children ; William, John,
Hannah, Samuel, Joshua, Joseph and Asa.
(V) Samuel (3), fourth child and third son of
Samuel (2) and Hannah (.Abbott) Kimball, was
born in Plaistow, June 5, 174S, and died December
6, 1802, aged sixty-seven years. He resided in
Plaistow and Henniker, New Hampshire. His
brothers William and Joseph, were charged with
being Tories, and some of the family of Samuel
went to New York state and others to Canada.
Samuel Kimball, of Henniker, was coroner in 1776,
Samuel, of Henniker, was also captain in Aaron
Adam's company in 1776. He married, January 21,
1769, Abigail Eastman, who was born January 30,
1748, and died March 3, 1819, aged seventy-one.
Their children were : William, John, Samuel, Han-
nah, Abigail, Joseph, James, Molly, Fanny, Wil-
liam and Sophia.
(VI) Samuel (.4), third son and child of Samuel
(3) and Abigail (Eastman) Kimball, was born
January 22, 1770, and died February 3, 1852. aged
eighty-two. He resided in Henniker. He mar-
ried (first), November 17, 1797, Betsey Sargent,
who died March 2, 1813, and (^second), February
10, 1818, Jennie JNIannehan. Their children were :
Mary, Betsey, Abigail E., Lucy, Joseph, Fannie,
Catherine and James.
(VII) Betsey, second daughter and child of
Samuel (4) and Betsey (Sargent) Kimball, was
born January, 1800, and married, INIarch 15, 1821,
Nathaniel Patch (see Patch, VI).
(IV) Edmund, third child and second son of
Samuel and Eunice Chadwick Kimball, was born
in Bradford, April 6, 1716, and died there November
10) I79S- He was a farmer, and had a large landed
estate after he gave each of his sons a handsome
inheritance. His residence was in the center of the
village, and he was succeeded here by his son Wil-
liam. He loaned the town of Bradford, May 5,
1778, one hundred and thirty dollars for the pur-
pose of raising men for militia service. He was a
man of great influence. He married, January 25,
1742, Dorothy, daughter of Ephraim and Ann
(Tenny) Kimball. She was born June 30, 1724,
and died April 30, 1797. Their children, seven
in number, were: Timothy, born April 27, 1743.
Michael, born April 21, 1745. Ann, born April 14,
1747. David, born June 15, 1749. Edmund, born
!May 2, 1751. Eunice, born December 11, 1753.
William, born December 19, 1757.
(V) Michael, the second child of Edmund and
Dorothy (Kimball) Kimball, was born in Bradford,
Massachusetts, April 21, 1745, and resided most of
his life in Pembroke, New Hampshire. In 1777
he petitioned to be annexed to Colonel Stickney's
regiment. He belonged to the first militia company
of Pembroke. His will was made January 4, 1802,
and proved December 21, 1803. He married (first),
in 1763, Bettie Runnels, born July i, 1748; and
(second) Anna . His children were:
I. Hannah, born August 16, 1764. 2. Daniel, Oc-
tober 7, 1767. 3. David, January 12, 1769. 4. Polly,
May 16, 1772. 5. Betty, January 19, 1774. 6. Sarah,
June 27, 1776. 7. David (2), March 7, 1782.
(VI) David, second son and third child of
Michael Kimball, was born in Pembroke, Novem-
ber 7, 1782, where he lived and died. He married
(first) Abigail Perkins, and (second) Betsey Per-
kins, and had nine children : Betsy Perkins. Asa,
born March 8, 1808. Perkins, March 7. 1810. John
Shackford, April 28, 1812. Abigail Perkins, Oc-
tober 15, 1816. Sarah Towie, May 5, 1819. Joseph
Lewis. Mary' Lewis, October, 1821. Harriet Robin-
son.
(VII) John Shackford, fourth child of David
and Abigail (Perkins) Kimball, was born in Pem-
broke, April 28, 1812. He was educated in the com-
mon schools and at New Hampton Academy. While
a student at the latter place he was one of the
students who founded the "Social Fraternity Li-
brary." After leaving the academy he was em-
ployed for some time in a bakery in Concord. He
left that place to enter the printing office of Hill
& Sherburn at Concord, where he learned book and
job work, and was later in the office of Hill &
Barton, where he became well known as a card
printer, and introduced enameled work. After some
time spent in the Franklin book store he went to
Portland, Maine, where he served three years in the
post office.
While in that city he began the study of law
with Mr. Haynes, then district attorney for Cum-
berland county. He continued his studies in Har-
vard Law School, and finished his preparatory
course in the office of Robert Rantoul, Esq., a dis-
tinguished lawyer of Boston. After his admission
to the bar he was a partner with his preceptor for
six years. Failing health compelled him to aban-
don the law, and about 1838 he became a partner
in the firm of Kimball & Chase, of Burlington,
Iowa, succeeding to the interests of his brother,
Joseph L. Kimball. About 1840 Mr. Chase died
and Samuel B. Wright, who married !Mr. Kimball's
sister, Mary Lewis Kimball, entered the firm, the
name of which was changed to J. S. Kimball &
Company. This firm become noted as a wholesale
dealer in dry goods and groceries, both in the
east and west, doing the largest business of any
concern of its class in its section of the country.
Mr. Kimball became known as one of the most
skilled buyers in the trade. In 1865 he retired
from active business, disposing of his interest to.
William Bell, of Salt Lake City, Utah. He resided
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
17.
in Boston, ilassachusetts. About 1854 he pur-
chased an estate in Hopkinton, New Hampshire,
when he became a permanent resident. In poli-
tics he was a Repubhcan and represented the town
of Hopkinton in the legislature in 1866 and 1S67.
Governor Walter Harriman appointed him colonel
on his staff and he filled that place during the gov-
ernor's term of office.
He married, October 15, 1843, Mary Eldredge
Stevens, born January 16, 1818. Mr. Kimball died
in Boston, Massachusetts, April 19, 1888. Their
children were : John Stevens, born in Boston, Mas-
sachusetts, July 31, 1845, resides in Hopkinton, New
Hampshire. Robert Rantoul, born in Boston, Mas-
sachusetts, March 17, 1849, was a resident of Hop-
kinton. Mary Grace, born in Boston, October 9,
1853. Kate Pearl, born in Boston, January 3, 185(3.
George Alexander Stevens, born in Boston, Novem-
ber 26, 1859.
(,Vni) George Alexander Stevens, fifth and
youngest child of John Shackford and Mary El-
dridge (Stevens) Kimball, was born November 26,
1859. He was educated in the Boston public schools,
and at sixteen years of age entered the employ of
Charles B. Lancaster, shoe manufacturer, Boston.
Later he was in their employ at Pittsfield, New
Hampshire. In 1881 he removed to Hopkinton,
New Hampshire, where for twenty-two years he
has kept a general store. In 1898 he was appointed
postmaster, and has .since held that office. He
was appointed deputy sheriff in 1897, and in 1904
was elected high sheriff', as a Republican, of wliich
party he has been an ardent member since he
attained his majority. He is an Odd Fellow, mem-
ber of Kearsarge Lodge, No. 23, of Contoocook,
New Hampshire, and Eureka Lodge, No. 70, Ancient
Free and Accepted Masons ; Trinity Oiapter, Royal
Arch Masons ; Horace Chase Council, Royal and
Select ^Masters ; Mount Horeb Commandery, Knights
Templar ; Bektash Temple, Ancient Arabic Order
Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, all of Concord, and
of the Wonalancet Club of Concord. Mr. Kimball
has been long recognized as a counselor as well
as a worker in party matters. In business he has
been a very successful man like his father before
him. He married, March 3, 1880, Theresa Green,
daughter of Cotton Green, of Pittsfield, New
Hampshire, born January 21, 1862. They have
one son, Robert Warren, born February 3, 1881.
(III) Ebenezer, tenth child and seventh son
of Benjamin and Alercy (Hazeltine) Kimball, was
born in Bradford, Massachusetts, June 20, 1684.
and died January 23, 1715. He lived in Haverhill
and Bradford, and owned land in Mcthuen. His
wife was Ruth Eaton, who married after his death
Aaron Johnson, of Ipswich, and had children :
Lydia, Sarah and Richard Johnson, and died April
6, 1750. The children of Ebenezer and Ruth
(Eaton) Kimball were: Jemima, Abner and Abra-
ham.
(IV) Abraham, third and youngest child of
Ebenezer and Ruth (Eaton) Kimball, was born
January 3, 1714, and resided in Bradford and
Haverhill, Massachusetts. He married, first, De-
cember 13, 1739, Hannah Hazeltine, who died Janu-
ary 9, 1747, and second, April 16, 1747, Mary Pike.
His eight children were : Timothy. David, Abra-
ham, Hannah, John, Amos, Abigail and Abner.
(V) Abner, eighth child and sixth son of
Abraham and Mary (Pike) Kimball, was born at
Haverhill, April 10, 1755, and died March 11, 1818.
He was a private in Captain Ebenezer Colby's com-
pany, April 19, 1775. August 15, 1777, he enlisted
in Captain Carr's company for three years, and was
discharged February 12, 1780. August 12, 1781,
he enlisted as sergeant in James Iilallon's company,
Putnam's regiment, and was in the same company
September 5, 17S2. He removed from Haverhill,
Massachusetts, to Sanbornton, New Hampshire. He
married, first, December 18, 1781, Abigail Gage, of
Bradford, Massachusetts, born 1761, died May 24,
1803; and second, July 10, 1803, Mrs. .Mercy Jud-
kins Colby, widow of Anthony Colby, who died
January 28, 18(35, i"- her ninety-ninth year. His
children were : Rebecca, Hannah, Moses, Abigail
and Abner.
(VI) Moses, third child and eldest son of,
Abner and Abigail (Gage) Kimball, was born in
Sanbornton, February 27, 1787, where he lived and
farmed many years and then moved to Pembroke
where he died September 20, 1848. He married,
first, March 15, iSoS, Polly Shaw, born March 7,
1787, died March 24, 1809, daughter of Josiah
Shaw; second, August 11, 181 1, Dolly Shaw, sister
of his first wife, born December S, 1793, died March
4, 1S17; and tliird, April i, 1818, Sally Eastman,
daughter of Thomas Eastman, born .March 17,
:79i; died December 16, 1858. His children were:
Syrena, Asa, Everett and Sally, twins; Polly, John
E. and Mary.
(VII) John E., sixth child and third son of
Moses and Sally (Eastman) Kimball, was born in
Pembroke, April 20, 1819, and died in Saco, Maine,
January 7, 1892. He was graduated from the Ver-
mont Medical College in 1847, served as surgeon
of the Twenty-seventh Maine Regiment during the
war, and was one of the most eminent physicians
in Maine. He was a Democrat, and a member of
the Congregational Church. He married, January
16, 1880, Emma Staniels, died June 17, 1881. They
had one child: Sarah Eunice, born June 3, 1881,
in Pembroke, who, in December, 1902, married
George T. Hillman, of Pembroke (.see Hillman).
This name is found early in the
WIGHTMAN Colonies of Rhode Island, that
community established upon the
broadest foundation of religious liberty, which has
contributed so much to the moral, intellectual and
material development of the United States. It is
the home of the busy spindle and other tools of
industry, as well as the abode of institutions of
learning, and exercises an influence in the history
of the nation far beyond its territorial importance
or relative numbers in population. The family
herein treated furnished some of the pioneers of
western New Hampshire, and has been well and
favorably known in the development of this sec-
tion.
(I) George Wightman is of record in Rhode
Island as early as 1669. He was an inhabitant of
Kingstown, and took the oath of allegiance to the
colony May 20, 1671, and was made a freeman in
1673. He was constable in 1686, was a member of
the grand jury in 1687, and for some years was a
niember of the town council. He was one of the
eighteen persons who bought seven thousand acres
of land in Narragansett, sold by the general as-
sembly in 1710. Tradition makes him a descendant
of Edward Wightman, who was burned for heresy
at Litchfield, England. April 11, 1612, being the
last to suffer death for religion's sake in that
country. He was a relative (perhaps a brother) ot
Valentine Whitman, who settled early in Provi-
dence. The descendants of George have more gen-
erally preserved the spelling of the name as Wight-
man, though they occasionally use the ether form.
Whitman. George Wightman was born in Janu-
rS
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
ary, 1632, and died in January, iy22. He married
Elizabeth, daughter of Gilbert and Catherine Smith
Updyke. She was born in 1699, and was the mother
of the following children : Elizabeth, Alice, Daniel,
Sarah. John, Samuel and Valentine.
(II) George, second son and fifth child of
George (l) and Elizabeth (Updyke) Wightman,
was born January 8, 1675, in Kingstown, and was an
inhabitant of Warwick, Rhode Island, becoming a
freeman in 1716. In 1719 he bought one hundred
and fifty acres of land in the town of East Green-
wich, Rhode Island, and was a deputy from that
town in 1729. His will was made September i,
I7S9, and a codicil was added March i, 1760. He
probably died about the beginning of the succeeding
year, as his will was proven January 16, 1761. He
married (first) Elizabeth (surname unknown), and
(second), August 30, 1738, Sarah Todd. His chil-
dren were: George, John, Samuel, Elizabeth,
Phoebe and Deborah.
(Ill") Samuel, third son of George (2) Wight-
man, was married, November 11, 1729, to Margaret
Gorton, and their children are given upon the War-
wick town records as: Samuel, Benjamin, Pene-
lope. George, Freedom, Margaret and Asa.
(IV) Samuel (2), son of Samuel (i) and
]\Iargaret (Gorton) Wightman, was born Janiiary
23, 1738, in Warwick, Rhode Island, and resided
in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, at the time of
his marriage, December 4, 1760, to Amy Lawton,
also of East Greenwich. Their children appear on
the record of Rehoboth, Massachusetts, where it is
probable they afterward lived. They were : Sarah,
Israel, Mary, George. Amy, Lydia and Samuel.
Samuel Wightman came to Walpole in 1801, and
purchased of Isaac Redington three hundred and
fifty acres of land, lying in the vicinity of the mouth
of Cold river. The land had been owned previously
by Colonel John Bellows, and he had erected on
the site of the residence of Thomas Keyes a public
house. To this house Mr. Wightman moved with
his family, and remained two or three years. In
the meantime he built what is now known as the
Carpenter stand. He died in 1827, in the eighty-
ninth year of his age, and his wife Amy died in
1837, aged ninety-eight years. Deacon Samuel
Wightman's family consisted of seven ^ children,
three sons and four daughters, of which Israel
was the second, who died in 1838, aged seventy-
four. The father gave his son Israel the place
on the plain, w-hich was the largest portion of his
estate, where he lived during life, after coming to
Walpole, New Hampshire. _ ,
(V) Israel, eldest son and second child of
Samuel (2) and Amy (Lawton) Wightman, was
born December 12, 1765, in Rehoboth, Massachu-
setts, whence he moved to Walpole, New Hamp-
shire, and died there March 21. 1838, in his seventy-
fourth year. The records of Rehoboth, Massachu-
setts, show that the intentions of marriage of
Israel Wightman and Frances Allen were published
March 30, 1788. She was the sister of William H.
Allen, whose son, Daniel B. Allen, married Ethe-
linda Vanderbilt, the daughter of the Commodore,
and was for many years at the head of the Pa-
cific Mail Steamship Company. They had ten chil-
dren: Samuel Allen Wightman, who married Ma-
tilda, daughter of Solomon Bellows, who was a
brother of Alexander Hamilton Bellows, the father
of Dr. Henry W. Bellows, the noted Unitarian
divine. Samuel Allen Wightman went to Ashta-
bula, Ohio. He served in the war of 1812. John,
Maria, Herman, Sarah, Hannah, Frances, Pamelia,
Content and Herman Allen.
(VI) Herman Allen, the youngest child of
Israel and Frances (Allen) Wightman, was born in
180S. He married Maria Retsey Lovell, of Clare-'
mont. New Hampshire, in 1834, and removed to the
old homestead in Walpole, New Hampshire. They
had five children: Frances M., Nellie S., Martha L.,
Mary J. and Caroline E.
(VII) Mary J., the fourth child of Herman
Allen and INIaria Retsey (Lovell) Wightman, was
born January ig, 1S43, in Cambridgeport, Vermont,
and married Dr. Osman B. Way, February 22, 1882
(see Way, VIII).
This is one of the most distinguish-
WEBSTER ed names in the annals of New
Hampshire, having been especially
honored by that distinguished patriot and states-
man, Daniel Webster. It has furnished many good
citizens, who, though not nationally known, like
their compatriot and relative, have supported the
cause of human liberty in all struggles, and per-
formed well their part in the various walks of
life.
(I) Thomas Webster, first known ancestor of
the New Hampshire family, resided with his wife
Margaret in Ormsby, Norfolk county, England,
where he died in April, 1634. His widow subse-
quently married William Godfrey, with whom she
came to America, bringing her son, Thomas Web-
ster (2).
(II) Thomas (2), son of Thomas (i) and
Margaret Webster, was born in November, 1631,
in Ormsby, England, and came to Watertown, Mas-
sachusetts, in company with his foster father and
other early settlers of that town. He removed with
the pioneers to Hampton, New Hampshire, where
he died January 5, 1715, aged eighty-three years.
He was married, November 2, 1656, to Sarah,
daughter of Thomas Brewer, of Roxbury. Massa-
chusetts, and had the following children : Mary,
Sarah, Hannah. Thomas, Ebenezer, Isaac, John,
Joshua and Abigail. (l^Iention of Ebenezer and
John, with descendants, is a feature of this article.)
(III) Ebenezer, fifth child and second son of
Thomas (2) and Sarah (Brewer) Webster, was "
born August I, 1667. He served in the Indian
war, and was pilot to Captain Gilman's company,
August, 1710, which went in pursuit of Indians.
He was one of the proprietors of Kingston, New
Hampshire, and a settler there. He married. July
25, 1709, Hannah Judkins, who died February 21,
1756. Their children were : Rachel. Susannah,
Ebenezer, William, John, Hannah, and Mary and
Joseph, twins.
(IV) Ebenezer (2), third child and eldest son
of Ebenezer (i) and Hannah (Judkins) Webster,
was born October 10, 1714, and lived in Kingston,
where he was identified with the clearing up of that
portion of the wilderness. He married, July 20,
1738, Susannah Batchelder (see Batchelder, V), of
Hampton.
(V) Ebenezer (3), son of Ebenezer (2) and
Susannah (Batchelder) Webster, was born April
22. 1739, in Kingston. Here he grew up without
a day's schooling, knowing almost nothing of books,
but fully equipped to fulfill the mission of life on
the frontier of civilization, where strong bodies,
sound sense, and courage were required to cope
with physical impediments, want of learning, and the
lurking foe that haunted the hundreds of miles of
unbroken wilderness which lay between his home
and the French settlements in Canada. He came
of age during the great French war, and about
1760 enlisted in the then famous corps known as
Daniel Webster's Birthplace
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
19
"Roger's Rangers." In the dangers and successes
of desperate fighting, the "Rangers" had no equal ;
and of their hard and perilous experience in the
wilderness in conflct with Indians and Frenchmen,
Ebenezer Webster, strong in body and daring in
temperament, had his full share. He served under
General Jeffrey Amherst in the French war, and re-
turned to his native town with the rank of cap-
tain. After eleven years spent in clearing his farm,
in the northernmost part of Salisbury, where he
settled in 1763, there being no white man's abode
between him and Montreal, the Revolution broke
out, and Ebenezer raised a company of two hundred
men and marched at their head to join the forces
at Boston. At Dorchester, Washington consulted
him about the state of feelings in New Hampshire.
He served at White Plains, and at Bennington was
one of the first to scale the breastwork, and came
out of the battle with his swarthy skin so blackened
with dust and gunpowder that he could scarcely be
recognized. He was at West Point at the time
of the discovery of Arnold's treason,' and when
on ,Luard before the general's tent Washington said
to him, "Captain Webster, I believe I can trust
you !'' That was the sentiment ever felt by those
who knew him. He was uneducated and silent,
but stroi.g and unquf-tionably trustworthy. His ser-
vices brought him the rank of colonel. After the
war he returned to his farm, and his neighbors
elected him to every office within their gift, in-
cluding the offices of representative, state senator,
and judge of the common pleas court, of Hills-
borough county. This last office he held from 1791
until his death, which occurred .\pril 14. 1816.
Judge Webster filled one other office, in the per-
formance of whose duties he probably derived more
pleasure than from any other. He was one of
the electors of the president in New Hampshire,
when Washington was chosen to that office. In
the intervals of his toilsome and adventurous life,
he had picked up a little booklore, but the lack of
more barred the way to higher honors, which would
otherwise have been easily his.
Ebenezer Webster married, January 18, 1761,
Mehitable Smith, born at Kingston, and who died
March 28, 1774. Of this marriage there were five
children : Olle, a daughter, and Ebenezer, a son,
who died young: Su?annah, born October, 1766,
married John Colby ; David, a farmer who reared
a large family, and died at Stanstead, Canada; and
Joseph, who died in 1810. Mr. Webster married
(second), October 13, 1774. Abigail Eastman (see
Eastman), in Salisbury, New Hampshire, who was
born July 10, 1737, and died April 14, 1816. Her
father was Thomas Eastman. The children of the
second marriage were: Mehitable. .\bigail, Ezekiel,
Daniel and Sarah. Mehitable died unmarried.
Abigaiil married a Mr. Haddock. Ezekiel and
Daniel are mentioned below. Sarah married Colonel
Ebenezer Webster, of Hill. (See Webster, second
family, VII.)
(VI) Ezekiel, third child and eldest son of
Colonel Ebenezer and Abigail (Eastman) Webster,
was born in the log house of his father in Salis-
bury, April It, 1780, and died in Concord, March
10, 1829. After various struggles with poverty,
he graduated from Dartmouth College in August,
1804. For a time he taught school, and read law
in Boston, but in the autumn of 1807 he took charge
of the paternal farm, his father having died in 1S06,
and in conjunction with Daniel assumed the support
of his mother and sisters. He was admitted to the
bar in September, 1807, and succeeded to the busi-
ness of his brother Daniel, in Boscawcn, when the
latter moved to Portsmouth. Although intellectual-
ly not the equal of his gifted brother, Ezekiel Web-
ster was one of the leading men of the state, and
an uncompromising Federalist. Had he been less
rigid in his political belief, he might easily have
been elected to congress, but he would never com-
promise principle. He dropped dead j\larch 10,
1829, at Concord, while addressing a jury in the
court house. "He was a man of high talent, much
professional learning, and great solidity of charac-
ter." From their earliest youth Daniel depended
on Ezekiel's sound judgment while he lived. "He
has been my reliance through life," was the testi-
mony borne of the elder by the younger brother.
He married, (first), January 15, 1809, Alice Bridge,
of Billerica, Massachusetts, who died in 1821. He
married (second), August 2, 1825, Achsah PoUord,
born at Dunstable (now Nashua). Two children
were born to Mr. Webster: Alice, married (first),
June I, 1836, Professor Jarvis Gregg, the first pre-
ceptor of Bo;cawen Academy, and after his death
Rev. George Whipper, of Oberlin, Ohio. .She died
March 6, 1876. Mary, married, December 11, 1837,
Frofesscr Edwin D. Sanborn, LL. D., of Dart-
mouth College. She died December 30, 1864.
(VI) Daniel, fourth child and second son of
Ebenezer and Abigail (Eastman) Webster, was
born in a "frame" house, near the original log house
of Ebenezer, in Salisbury, January iS, 1782. About
a year after the birth of Daniel, his father removed
to what has since been called the "Elens Farm,"
situated in the present town of Franklin, and here
Daniel grew to manhood. He was a sickly child,
and had but limited educational advantages iii child-
hood. He was a few months at Phillips Academy,
Exeter, New Hampshire, hastily completed his
preparation for college as the private pupil of Rev.
Samuel Wood, of Boscawen, and in 1799 entered
Dartmouth College, where he partially supported
himself by teaching in winter and by local news-
paper work. He soon made up the deficiencies of his
earlier education, distinguishing himself as a de-
bater in the college societies, and became the fore-
most scholar in the institution. Graduating in Au-
gust, 1801, he commenced the study of law in the
office of Thomas W. Thompson, Esq.. a lawyer of
Salisbury, his father's neighbor and friend. 'While
reading his law course, he also read a great deal
of general literature, and filled up his leisure hours
with dog and gun and fishing-rod. In order to
obtain means to keep his brother Ezekiel in col-
lege, Daniel pursued the study of law but four
months before going out as a wage-earner. He
was offered and at once accepted the charge of an
academy in Fryeburg, i\Iaine, where he was to re-
ceive one hundred and seventy-five dollars for six
months' labor. Four evenings each week he copied
deeds for the registrar of the county, earning liy this
means two dollars a week, which paid his board.
His serious and high-toned deportment, and his
success as a teacher, secured him many friends;
he was offered a large increase in salary, and could
have been clerk of the common pleas court, but the
mysterious power which operates unconsciously
upon men of great intellect in their youth, leading
them toward tile destiny which genius creates for
them, took him away from Fryeburg and hack to
the law office, where he remained until February
or March, 1804, and then went to Boston, Massa-
chusetts. Fie he entered the office of Hon. Chris-
topher Gore, afterward governor of Massachusetts,
where he remained from July until the following
February, and was admitted to practice in March,
1805. Soon afterward he established himself in
20
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
the village of Boscawen, New Hampshire, and be-
gan his professional practice, spending the next two
and a half years at that place. In May, 1807, he
was admitted as a counsellor in the supreme court
of New Hampshire, and soon after removed to
Portsmouth, where he at once took rank as a lead-
ing lawyer. In 1812 Mr. Webster was nominated
as a representative to the thirteenth congress, to
which he was subsequently elected, and in which
he took his seat on the 24th of May, 1S13. He
succeeded to the oflice in the fourteenth congress.
After a residence of nine years in Portsmouth, he
removed to Boston, 1816, and for several years
devoted himself to his profession. In 1822 he was
almost unanimously elected to congress to repre-
sent the district of Suffolk. He was re-elected
in 1824, and in 1826 as the representative of the
Boston district. In June, 1827, he was chosen
United States senator. At the end of his term he
was re-elected, and continued in office by re-election
until 1841, when he resigned to become secretary
of state in General Harrison's cabinet, a position
he held till the 8th of May, 1843, when he resigned
and retired to his home at Marshtield. In the wmter
of 1S44-45 J^ir. Webster was again elected to the
senate of the United States by the legislature of
Massachusetts to hll the vacancy occasioned by the
resignation of Mr. Choate. Immediately after the
accession of Mr. Fillmore to the presidency, he
offered the department of state to Mr. Webster, and
a second time Mr. Webster resigned his seat in the
senate, to accept the place, which he held until
his death, October 24, 1852. Mr. Webster's ofiices
were not all great offices. He was a member of the
Massachusetts constitutional convention, and gave
it the benefit of his great knowledge of constitutional
questions. He was once a presidential elector, and
also sat ten days in the Massachusetts legislature.
The above mere enumeration of the places Mr.
Webster filled is all that the scope of this article
permits. The writing of details has been left to
his biographers. His forensic ability, his exalted
statesmanship, his knowledge of constitutional law,
his wonderful influence over men, and his illus-
trious record in general, are too well known to need
mention here.
Daniel Webster married in Salisbury, May 29,
1808, Grace Fletcher, born January 16, 17S1, daugh-
ter of Rev. Elijah Fletcher, of Hopkinton, New
Hampshire. She died in New "Vork while on the
way to Washington with her husband, January 12,
1828. They were the parents of five children :
Grace Fletcher, the eldest child, died young.
Danfel Fletcher, born July 23, 1813, was a colonel
in the Twelfth Massachusetts Volunteer Militia,
and fell in the service of his country, August 30,
1862. Julia, married, September 24, 1839, Samuel
A. Appleton, a member of the Boston family of that
name, and died April 28, 1848. Edward, died of
disease while serving in the Mexican war. Charles,
died in infancy. In December, 1832, Mr. Webster
married in New York, Caroline Bayard Leroy, sec-
ond daughter of Herman Leroy, a wealthy merchant,
descended from one of the early settlers of New
York.
(Ill) John, fourth son and seventh child of
Thomas (2) and Sarah (Brewer) Webster, was born
February 16, 1674, in Hampton, and settled in Rye,
where he passed his life as a farmer. He was mar-
ried September 21, 1703, to Abiah Shaw, iind they
were the parents of the following children: Jere-
miah, Charity and Josiah (twins, the first of whom
died young), John, Thomas, Caleb, Abiah, Elizabeth
and Charity. (Mention of Josiah, John and Thomas
and descendants follows in this article.)
(IV) Jeremiah, eldest child of John and Abiah
(Shaw) Webster, was born December 21, 1704,
in Hampton. He was among the few of the original
grantees of Stevenstown (1749), now Salisbury,
New Hampshire, who settled with their families.
Most of^ the grantees did not remove to the town.
At the first meeting of the proprietors it was voted
that "Jeremy Webster shall be the surveyor to-
assist and join with the s'd com'te in laying out
the land, as above s'd." In 1760, at a meeting of
the proprietors, Jeremy Webster was moderator.
(V) Jeremiah (2), son of Jeremiah (.1) Web-
ster, was a prominent man in the early settlement
of Salisbury. Fle came previous to 1769, and set-
tled on the site now occupied by Phineas Clough.
He married, June 9, 1774, Anne Sleeper, who died
January 10, 1841, aged eighty-six years. He died
March 4, 1817, aged seventy-four years.
(VI) Jeremy (3), son of Jeremiah (2) and
Anne (Sleep.er) Webster, was born June 19, 1775.
He built the Clough House and was a famous singing
master. Fie married Phebe Wardwell. He died August
20, 1841, and she January 20, 1847. Their chil-
dren were : Amos, born November 24, 1801, died
August 30, 1821. James R., March 20, 1804, removed
to Georgia, where he died September, 1S41. Phebe,
March 4, 1806, married Hubbard Hutchinson, of
Merrimack, and died in that town. Nathaniel F.,
March 4, 1808. Mary A., May 20, 1810, married
(first) Joshua Burpee, of Boscawen, and (second)
Samuel Gilman, of Lake Village, where she died
about 1850. Joseph W., November 12, 1812, a
merchant . of Savannah, Georgia, where he died
March, i860. Emily, December 20, 1815, died
February 26, 1838. Elizabeth, August 28, 1818, died
June 10, 1S39, unmarried. Eliphalet. January 4,
1821, died JJanuary 16, 1822. Amos E., September 17,
1828, died in Georgia, August, i860, where he mar-
ried Eliza Savage.
(VII) Nathaniel F., third son and fourth child
of Jeremy and Phebe (Wardwell) Webster, was
born in Salisbury, New Hampshire, March 4, 1808,
died in Georgia, September 24, 1854. He married
Miriam Couch, daughter of John and Lydia Ann
(Bean) Couch, of Salisbury, who married (second),
Jonas Merriam; she was born March ir, 1810, and
died April 6, 1887. The issue of this marriage was
one child, John Francis Webster, born November 18,
1837. In 1S42 or 1843 Nathaniel F. Webster, who
was a cabinetmaker by trade, went to the state of
Georgia and became a partner with Isaac W. Morrill,
of Savannah, under the firm name of Isaac W. Mor-
ril & Company, wholesale and retail furniture and
pianos. Mr. Webster's three brothers, James R.,
Joseph W. and Amos E., also settled in Savannah.
James R. and Joseph W., were partners in the
wholesale grocery business, and Amos was a book-
keeper. Nathaniel Webster was prosperous in busi-
ness and became a man of means. It was his custom
to send his wife and son north in the summmer,
and join them in the fall when he went north to
buy goods. In the summer of 1854, while the wife
and son were absent, Mr. Webster was attacked by
yellow fever, and died September 24, aged forty-
six years. Mrs. Webster survived until April 6,
1887, dying in Concord at the age of seventy-seven
years.
(VIII) John Francis, only child of Nathaniel F.
and Miriam (Couch) Webster, was born in Dor-
chester, Massachusetts, November 18, 1S37. His
education began when he vcas about seven years
c^^^^;^ ^, "U^^J^l^^
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
21
old, and attended Chatham Academy, at Savannah,
Georgia, till he was seventeen years old. Subse-
quently he attended Professor Barnes' Academy at
Concord, obtaining a commercial education with
Rodney G. Cutting. He began his business life
with the hardware firm of jMoore, Cilly & Com-
pany, where he remained a year. He then entered
the employ of the Concord Railroad Corporation,
assuming the duties of way-bill clerk, March 14,
1857. In one month he was promoted to local
freight cashier, filling that position till 1S6.2, when
he was made chief clerk of the general freight office
of the road. May I, 1865, he was appointed cashier
of the Concord Railroad system, and retained that
position until September, 1S89. He was appointed
cashier of the Manchester & Lawrence railroad,
August I, 1S67, and remained with that company
until its absorption by the Boston & Maine rail-
road. When the Concord railroad and the Boston
Concord & Montreal railroad united, forming the
Concord & Montreal, September, 1889, he was then
elected treasurer, a position he has ever since held.
Mr. Webster was elected as a Republican to the state
legislature in 1889, representing ward 4, and serving
as chairman of the finance committee. Besides be-
ing treasurer of the Concord & Montreal railroad,
Mr. Webster fills a similar position for the Mount
Washington Railway Company, the Nashua Acton
& Boston railroad. New Boston railroad, and is
assistant treasurer of the Boston & Maine rail-
road. Mr. Webster is a trustee of the Loan &
Trust Savings Bank and a director in the Me-
chanics' National Bank. Mr. Webster became a
Mason in the year 1866, and is now a thirty-third
degree member in that order. He has held almost
every office in the gift of his jurisdiction, and is
one of the most prominent members of the Masonic
fraternity in tlie Granite state.
June 18, 1856, Mr. Webster married Mary J.
Cutting, daughter of Gilman and Eliza (Davidson)
Cutting,' of Concord. She was born September 10,
1837, and died November 23, 1893. The children of
this marriage are : Jennie Margaret, born October
20, 1857, married Edward E. Brown, of Concord,
superintendent of the William B. Durgin Silverware
Manufacturing Company. She died January 16,
1905. Clara H., born July 24, 1850, married Joseph
Swett Matthews, a native of Franklin, now an at-
torney in Concord. Jessie Marion, born NovL-mber
13, 1865, single, at home. Frances May, born No-
vember 9, 1867, married Frederick L. Richardson,
of Concord, clerk in the Manchester Savings Bank.
All the daughters are graduates of the Concord
schools. Mr. Webster married (second), February
6, 1897, Stella Hutchinson, of Manchester, daughter
of Hubbard and Phebe (Webster) Hutchinson, of
Merrimack, New Hampshire. That Mr. Webster
has served one corporation and its successors con-
tinuously for almost half a century, and has risen
step by step to his present place of responsibility
and trust, leaves no occasion for comment on his
ability as an officer and his integrity as a man.
(IV) Josiah, second son of John and Abiah
(Shaw) Webster, was born April 2, 1706. His twin
sister died soon after they were born. He resided
in Rye, New Hampshire, where he died March 11,
1764, in his fifty-eighth year. He was married Sep-
tember 21, 1738, to Patty Goss, given in the vital
records of New Hampshire as Martha Goss. She
was born September 9. 1714, daughter of Richard
and Martha Goss, one of the first settlers of Green-
land, New Hampshire. She died November iS,
1798, having survived her husband nearly thirty-
five years. Their cliildrcn were: John (died young),
Elizabeth, Abiah, Sarah, Josiah (died young), John,
Richard, Martha and Josiah.
(V) Richard, fourth son and seventh child of
Josiah and Martha or Patty (Goss) Webster, was
born January I, 1754, in Rye, and died in that town,
January 16, 1836. He was a soldier of the Revo-
lutionary war, and served under Captain Parker
at Fort Sullivan, and Captain Parsons in Rhode
Island. He was also engaged in several privateer-
ing cruises. He was married October 29, 1778, to
Elizabeth Randall, who died March 14, 1826, at the
age of seventy-one years. Their children were :
Betsy, Abigail, Martha, Sarah, Hannah, Olive, Rich-
ard and Mark Randall.
(VI) Richard (2), elder son and seventh child
of Richard (l) and Elizabeth (Randall) Webster,
was born October 6, 1788, in Rye, and resided in
Epsom and Rye. He was a shoemaker by occupa-
tion, and after working at his trade some time in
Epsom returned to Rye, but had taught school in
Rye previous to his going to Epsom. He also en-
gaged in farming in Rye, in which he was successful
and continued until shortly before his death, which
occurred November l, 1856, in Portsmouth. He was
married in 1813, to Mary Philbrick, who was born
February 5, 1792, in Rye, daughter of Joses and
Sarah (Smith) Philbrick, of that town. Their chil-
dren were; Daniel, Roswell, Mary, Sarah Ann,
Ursula, Benjamin F.. David S., Richard, Emily J.,
John P.
(VII) Benjamin Franklin, third son and sixth
child of Richard (2) and Mary or Polly (Philbrick)
Webster, was born September 7, 1824, _ in Epsom,
New Hampshire, and received his primary edu-
cation in the public schools of that town. He was
also a student at Pembroke and in Rye.- At the age
of seventeen years he went to Portsmouth and was
employed by Benjamin Norton as an apprentice to
the carpenter's trade. He was a ship joiner for
several years and since then has been engaged in
building operations in Portsmouth. Through his
perseverance and great industry, coupled with upright
business methods, he has been prosperous down to
the present time. His operations have included the
erection of the following notable buildings : The
Kearsarge house, the Cabot street school hou';e, re-
modeled three churches, also built many residences.
Mr. Webster partakes of the characteristics for
which his long line of ancestry has been noted, and
is a progressive and useful citizen of his home town.
He is frequently called upon to fill official positions, and
has served as ward clerk and assessor. In politics, he
is an ardent and enthusiastic Republican. He is a
valued member of the Masonic fraternity, in which
he has attained the thirty-second degree. He was
married, January 2, 1849, to Sarah A. Senter, and
they have a son and daughter, Merit V. and Stella
C. Webster.
(IV) John (2), third son and fourth child of
John (i) and Abiah (Shaw) Webster, was born
February 10, 1712, in Hampton, and settled in Hamp- .
stead. New Hampshire, where he died February 11,
1780. His wife was Elizabeth Lunt, who survived
him and passed away September 9, 1785, in her
seventy-si.xth year. Their children were : Elizabeth,
John, Mary, Ann and Caleb.
(V) Mary, second daughter and third child of
John and Elizabeth (Lunt) Webster, was born
March 20, 1747, and became the wife of Moody
Chase. (See Chase, VIII).
(IV) Thomas- (3), fourth son and fifth child of
John and Abiah (Shaw) Webster, was born July
I, 1715, in Hampton, and settled in Haverhill, Mass-
achusetts. The poll lists of that town show him to
22
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
have been a resident of the west parish in 1745. He
was on the alarm list for the French and Indian
war, which was established April 14, 1757, and was
deacon of the church from 1771 to 1782.
(V) Thomas (4), son of Thomas (3) Webster,
was born in August, 1767, in Haverhill, where he
read medicine with Dr. Brickett, and began practice
in 1790. Three years later he moved to Warner,
New Hampshire, where he continued in practice
for a period of seventeen years, with gratifying suc-
cess, and endeared himiself to the people. In 1810
he removed to Sanbornton, this state, and was
noted there for his success in healing, though his
career was soon cut off by death. An epidemic of
spotted fever raged through the state in 1813, and
Dr. Webster was noted as having lost not a single
case of the disease treated by him, though he fell
a victim to its ravages. While visiting patients at
Laconia he was stricken, and died there within
forty hours of the attack, August 8, 1813. Thus was
a most brilliant career suddenly closed, and the state
sustained a great loss. His wife, Sarah West, of
Haverhill, Massachusetts, died April 3, 1830, in
Claremont, this state. Their children are noted as
follows : Thomas, lived and died in Sanbornton.
William West, died in Windsor, Vermont. Sarah,
became the wife of John Hitchcock, and died in
Hanover, New Hampshire. Pamelia, married a
man named Marsh, and resided in the West. Edvrin,
died young. Arthur settled in Minnesota, where he
died. Charles Henry, died at Center Harbor, this
state. Mary S.
(VI) Mary S., youngest child of Dr. Thomas
(4) and Sarah (West) Webster, was born July 20,
1807, in Warner, and was married November 12,
1840, to John Tyler, of Claremont. (See Tyler,
VII).
(Second Family).
Not all the Websters in New Eng-
WEBSTER land are of one stock, though all are
of good stock. The present line,
which descends from John of Ipswich, has furnished
many good rjen of local prominence in pioneer days
and later times, several of them being college grad-
uates. This line was united with the family of the
ancestor of Hon. Daniel, in the seventh generation,
by the marriage of Eliphalet K. Webster, of the line
of John and Emily Webster of the progeny of
Thomas.
(I) John Webster came from Ipswich, Suffolk
county, England, to Ipswich, Jilassachusetts, where
he was made a freeman in 1635. He died about
the year 1646, and his family afterward removed
to Newbury. His wife was Mary Shatswell. They
had four sons and four daughters, as follows : !Mary,
John, born 1633 ; Hannah, Abigail, Stephen, Eliza-
beth, Israel and Nathan. On October 29, 1650, John
Webster's widow married John Emery, of Newbury,
and she died April 28, 1694. (Mention of Stephen
and Nathan and descendants forms part of this
article).
(II) Stephen, second son and fifth child of John
and Mary (Shatswell) Webster, was born about
1637-39, ill Ipswich, and was a tailor, residing in
Haverhill, Massachusetts, where he took the free-
man's oath, in 1668, and died August 10, 1694. He
first settled in Newbury and moved thence to Haver-
hill in 1653. He was married, March 24, 1663. in
Haverhill, to Hannah Ayer, who died June 2, 1676.
He married (second), May 26, 1678, Widow Judith
Broad. His children, all born of the first wife, were:
Hannah, John, Mary, Stephen, Nathan and Abigail.
(Mention of Stephen and descendants appears in
this article).
(III) John (2), eldest son and second child of
Stephen and Hannah (Ayer) Webster, was born
March 15, 1668, in Haverhill, and died in 1742. He
was married, June 14, 1693, to Triphena Locke, and
the Haverhill records give him ten children.
(IV) Stephen (2), son of John (2) and Tri-
phena (Locke) Webster, was born June i, 1698,
and was married February 21, 1722, to Abigail
Berry.
(V) Stephen (3), son of Stephen (2) and Abi-
gail (Berry) Webster, was born March 3, 1731,
was married February 28, 1754, to Susanna Ladd,
and died March 2, 1803.
(VI) Stephen (4), son of Stephen (3) and Su-
sanna (Ladd) Webster, was born March 15, 1758,
and was married April 15, 1779, to Chloe Wheeler,
who was born November 28, 1760.
(VII) Atkinson, son of Stephen (4) and Chloe
(Wheeler) Webster, receives mention elsewhere
(see Wyman, VIII).
(III) Stephen (2). fourth child and second son
of Stephen (l) and Hannah (Ayer) Webster, was
born in Haverhill, January i, 1672, and died March
9, 1748, aged seventy-si.x. He was one of eigfht men
in the garrison of Johii Webster, March, 1690. He
married Widow Mary Cook, and they had six chil-
dren : Samuel, John, Stephen, William, Ebenezer
and Mary.
(IV) Ebenezer, fifth son and child of Stephen
(2) and Mary (Cook) Webster, was born Septem-
ber 20, 171 1. He married Mehitable Kimball, of
Bradford, Massachusetts, and they were the parents
of Lydia, Isaac, Mary, Ebenezer, Jonathan, Stephen,
Moses and John. (Mention of Ebenezer and descend-
ants forms part of this article.)
(V) Isaac, eldest son of Ebenezer (l) and Me-
hitable (Kimball) Webster, was born in 1740. He
also served in the revolutionary war. He married
Lydia Woodbury and had children: Phineas, see
forward; Jonathan and Kimball.
(VD Captain Phineas, son of Isaac and Lydia
(Woodbury) Webster, was born March 4, 1775,
and died September 11, 1858. He was captain of a
company during the war of 1812. He married,
1797, Hannah Hazelton, who died October 4, i860.
Their children were : Jesse, see forward ; James,
Alfred, Moses, Lydia, Caroline and Isaac.
(VII) Jesse, eldest child of Captain Phineas and
Hannah (Hazelton) Webster, was born in Atkinson,
New Hampshire; February 14, 1798, and died May
iS, 1845. He was a carriage builder for many years
at Derry, and for twelve years prior to his death
was engaged in farming. He was educated in the
district school and at Major Dudley's military school
at Windham. He became a private in the Sixth
Company, Eighth Regiment, New Hampshire Mili-
tia, commanded by Colonel Samuel Richardson, and
was appointed sergeant August I, 1817; was ad-
vanced to a lieutenancy April 25, 1S20: to a cap-
taincy June 2, 1820, by Governor Samuel Bell. He
served until November 18, 1824, and then resigned.
He was a member of the Presbyterian Church, and
for a number of years served as an elder. He mar-
ried, November 28, 1823, Betsy Wilson, born in
Pelham, December 16. 1798, died February 4, 1874.
She was a daughter of Benjamin Wilson, a lineal de-
scendant of John Wilson, the first minister of Bos-
ton, Massachusetts. The children of this marriage
were: i. George .Mfred, died young. 2. Ann
Elizabeth, also died young. 3. Caroline Elizabeth,
see forward. 4. Lydia Ann, born August 19, 183 1,
died February 9, 1862, was a successful school teach-
er. 5. Otis B., born January 3, 1834. died in Ches-
ter, New Hampshire, January 26, 1862. He w-as
graduated from Princeton College in 1859, entered
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
^Z
the Princeton Theological Seminary in i86r, and
died the following year.
(VIII) Caroline Elizabeth, third child and sec-
ond daughter of Captain Jesse and Betsy (Wilson)
Webster, was born in Derry, May 19, 1829. She was
educated in the public schools and in Adams Fe-
male Academy, from which latter institution she was
graduated September 24, 1844. She was engaged in
teaching during the following six years, and taught
in District No. 9, where her mother had taught, and
where her daughter Annie subsequently taught. She
married. May 19, 1853, Nathan Spalding Morse, born
in Orange, March 30, 1830, died in Chester, October
23, igo2. He was educated in the schools of Chester
and at the Pembroke Academy. He was an- auc-
tioneer and a dealer in real estate and resided in
Chester. In politics he was a Democrat, and for
twenty years was moderator of the annual town
meetings. Mr. and Mrs. Morse had five children: i.
Roger Spalding, born May 23, 1855. died at Fitch-
burg, Massachusetts, March 17, 1876. 2. Lawrence
L., born July 10, 1856, died March 28, igo6. 3. Car-
rie. 4. Morris W., born November 12. 1S64. He
was graduated from Dartmouth College in 1887. and
from the Hartford Theological School in 1890. At
Hartford he won the Welt fellowship, which enabled
him to attend theological lectures at the University
of Leipsic, Germany, for two years, following his
graduation. Returning to America, he preached at
Hollister, California, two years; Crete, Nebraska,
five years ; Ferndale, Washington, five years ; then
at W'ilbur; and later at Ilwaco. Washington. He
married in Orange, California, July 15, 1890, Laura
M. Blasdale, daughter of Dr. Charles and Julia Dick-
inson Smith, They have children: Annie Mabel,
Marion and Walter. 5. Annie L., born August 12,
i866, was educated in the public schools and Mount
Holyoke Female Seminary, where she attended
1883-85. She taught school for two yeari in and in
the vicinity of Derry. She married. May 7. 1894, in
Haverhill, Massachusetts, Charles Adams Sprague,
of that city, and since 1898 they have resided in
Derry. They have children : Daniel L., and Roger
Edmund.
(V) Ebenezer (2), fourth child and second son
of Ebenezer (i) and Mchitable (Kimball) Webster,
was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, February i,
1744. and died in Pelham, New Hampshire, March
13, 1823, aged seventy-nine years. He was, like
his ancestors, a farmer, and settled first in London-
derry, New Hampshire, wdiere he passed most of his
life, an industrious and respected ci.tizen. He was
married three times, (first) No.vember 29, 1770, to
Rebecca Baldwin; whose children were: Sarah,
Ebenezer and Rebecca; (second) December 31, 1775.
lo Martha Barker; (third) to Elizabeth Bradford,
of Beverly, Massachusetts, born September 6, 1755,
uIio died in Amherst, New Hampshire, March 27,
iS4i. They were married in Salem, October 13,
1778. by Rev. Abner Bayley, and had children born
to them as follows : Ro.xana, Betsey, Asa, John,
Nancy, Sully, Rebecca, Mary, Catherine, William G.,
Heriot (or Harriet) and lienjamin. (Mention of
William G. and descendants forms part of this ar-
ticle).
(VI) John (2), son of Ebenezer (2) and
Elizabeth (Bradford) Webster, was born in Pelham,
December 25, 1791. and died March i, 1883, aged
ninety-one years and two months. He lived on the
paternal homestead in Pelham, excepting one year in
Meredith, and one in Hudson (formerly Nottingham
West),- until 1841, when he sold his farm in Pel-
hawi and bought one in Amherst, where he resided
until 184(1, when he returned to Hudson, and buy-
ing a farm on Bush Hill, lived there twenty years ;
then resided with his daughters, Sally Titcomb and
Lov'isa Baker, until his death, which occurred at the
residence of the latter in the town of Hudson. He
was drafted in the war of 1812, and served in Cap-
tain Haynes' company of New Hampshire militia
at Portsmouth. From February 14, 1871. until his
death he received from the United States a pension
for his services, Mr, Webster was an energetic
and industrious man, a quiet citizen who abided by
the law, did his duty in every position, and for many
years was univer.-^ally called "Honest John Web-
ster." He married, August 22, 1815, Hannah Cum-
mings, of Nottingham West, who was born in Not-
tingham, .\ugust 4, 1794, and died in Hudson, Feb-
ruary 3, 1871. She was the daughter of Eleazer and
Sarah (Hale) Cummings and great-granddaughter
of Deacon Henry and Mary Hale. Mr. Cummings
was a farmer and taught school and singing school.
His wife was born April 20. 1767, and died May 7,
1852, aged eighty-five years. She was a woman re-
markable for physical strength and endurance. While
her husband was absent engaged in teaching, she
performed her household duties and also took charge
of a herd of cattle. She was a member of the Con-
gregational Church, and made her Christianity apart
of her daily life. Mrs. Hannah (Cummings) Web-
ster first became a member of the Congregational
Church in Pelham, and during her residence at other
places was a member of the other churches of the
same denomination, in all of which she was a highly
esteemed sister. The thirteen children of John
and Hannah (Cummings) Webster were: Eliza-
beth B., Moses, Sally Hale, Eleazer C, Lovisa N.,
Lucv Ann, Kimball, Hannah J., John C., Nathan P..
Willard H., Milton E. and Orrin P.
(VII) Kimball, seventh child and third son of
John and Hannaii (Cummings) Webster, was born
in Pelham, November 2, 1828, and educated in the
common schools of Pelham and H-iidson., He grew
up a farmer boy inured by hard work and prepared
for the toil and labor that has since befallen him.
In April. 1849, six months before attaining his ma-
jority, he heard of the great gold discovery at Sut-
ter's Fort, now Sacramento. California, and at once
set out for the Pacific slope. He left home April
17, 1849, and went to Independence, Missouri, where
he outfitted, and with a company of about twenty-
eight persons went by horses and pack mules over
the trail to California, arriving at Sacramento Val-
ley, California, in the month of October, after spend-
ing six months on the trail and experiencing wdiat
ica. He engaged in mining on the Feather and Yuba
it is impossible for any traveler to experience today
anywhere in the Union, or hardly in North Amer-
rivcrs, and in June, 1851, went to Oregon City, and
was deputy surveyor on government surveys in
the Willamette and Umpqua valleys. After passing
two years in California and nearly four in Oregon,
he returned to the states in the fall of 1854 by the
Isthmus of Panama, arriving at home in the fall
of 1854. In 1855 he was employed as a surveyor
on the line of the Hannibal &' St. Joseph railroad
in Missouri. In 1855 he returned to New Hamp-
shire, and in 1858 resided in Vinal Haven, Maine.
Since that time he has been a resident of Hudson,
New Hampshire, where he owns and occupies a
portion of the land which his great-grandfather,
Eleazer Cummings, bought in 1728. He is a surveyor
of long experience and has a wide reputation, being
one of the most accurate and reliable in the county.
In politics he is a Democrat, and has been a leader
of the minority party in his town and county for
many years, and when a candidate for office has
24
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
usually polled more than the' p&tiy vote. In
1901-02 he was a member of the legislature and
served on the committee on appropriations, and dur-
ing the famous Northfield-Tilton case he was a
member of the committee having it in charge; the
case was an important one, and was long and stub-
bornly fought. He was a selectman four years, and
three years of that time was chairman of the board.
In 1S59 he was made justice of the peace, and has
held tliat office ever since. His interest in the past
in promoting the use of the best methods of agri-
culture, and a desire to see the farrner obtain the
greatest possible reward for his toil made him
from the time of its establishment an industrious
worker for the promotion of the effectiveness of
the Grange movement. He was the first petitioner
for the establishment of a grange in Hudson, and
upon the estabHshment of Hudson Grange, No. ir,
of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, December
8, 1873. he' was chosen its presiding officer, and filled
that place three years. He was one of the few who
organized the New Hampshire State Grange, De-
cember 23, 1873, and also Hillsborough County
Council. March 4, 1874, of which he was master
two years, and secretary from December, 1876, until
the organization, April 17, 1883, of its successor,
Hillsborough County Pomona Grange, when he was
made secretary of that liody and continued to hold
tliat office until about 1888. His intelligence and ac-
tivity have made him a useful and valued member
of this order. Mr. Webster is a member of Rising
Sun Lodge, No. 39, Ancient Free and Accepted
Masons, of Nashua, which he joined in 1869.
His interest in historical matters and ancient
landmarks is lifelong, and has grown stronger with
the lapse of years. He has done much to preserve
the latter by carefully drawn and creditable copies
of niany of the much \vorn and injured plats of
lands, ancient grants, etc., in Old Dunstable. At
the present, time (1907) he is at work on a history
of Nottingham and Nottingham West, now Hud-
son. He has been president of the Cummings fam-
ily reunion for the past twenty-six years, and which
are held on the Merrimack River banks, opposite
his home. Mr. Webster has marked the spots
where the Blodgett and Hill's garrisons were locat-
ed, with large bowlders, which bear the following
inscriptions: "Hill's, the first settlement of Hud-
son, was about 1770. Nathaniel Hills, April 12,
1748, aged sixty-five years. Henry plills, died
August 20. 1757, aged sixty-nine: erected in 1901."
"Blodgett. Joseph and Dorothy Blodgett; their
eldest son, Joseph, born here February 9, 1718. being
the first white child born in the town ; erected 1904."
He is a quiet, mild mannered man, remarkable
for his energy and executive ability. These qual-
ities have attracted to him many friends who' have
known him from his youth and now honor him in
his age. He has always been regarded as a safe
and honest man whose wisdom and judgment were
relialile, and a worthy type of the intelligent New
England farmer.
He married, January 29, 1857, in Hudson, Abiah
Cutter, who was born in Pelham, February i, 1837,
daughter of Seth and Deborah (Gage) Cutter, of
Pelham. Ten children have been born to them as
follows: Lizzie Jane, January 11, 1858; Ella Frances,
August 19, 1859; Kimball C. and James (twins), June
26, 1861 ; Kimball C. died August 22, 1861, and
James on day of birth; Eliza Ball, July 14, 1862;
Latina Ray, July 26. 1865, died November 12, 1887;
Julia Anna, October 26, 1867; Mary Newton, Au-
gust 9, 1S69; twins, male and female, who died
at birth.
(VI) William G., ninth child and second son of
Ebenezer and Elizabeth (Bradford) Webster, was
born in Londonderry, August 20, 1803. He was a
tinner and resided in Dover, New Hampshire. Wil-
liam G. Webster and Hannah J. Foss, both of Dover,
were married by Rev. Benjamin P. Hoyt, of Dover,
May 15, 1828. Their children were: George. Eliza-
beth, who married and died in East Boston. Harriet
who married Cyrus Littlefield of Dover. Helen,
deceased. Olive, deceased. Charles E., who served
in the Civil war four years, resided at Boston, and
is now deceased. Benjamin K., whose sketch fol-
lows.
(VII) Benjamin Kimball, third son of William
G. and Hannah J. (Foss) Webster, was born in
Dover. April 21, 1839, and educated in the public
schools. He learned his father's trade and was as-
sociated in business for a time with his uncle, Dan-
iel K. Webster, in Dover. In 1868, he took charge
of the Varney tannery of Dover. He enlisted at
Dover as a private August 18, 1862, and was mus-
tered into the United States service as a private in
Company K, Eleventh New Hampshire Volunteer
Infantry, September 21, 1862, and was later appoint-
ed corporal and subsequently -sergeant. He was nnis-
tered out June 4, 1865, after having campaigned in
Alaryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Mississippi and Ten-
nessee, and participated in the battles of Fredericks-
burg, Vi(.1<sburg, the Wilderness and Cold, Harbor.
He participated in seventeen important battles of the
war. After his return to New Hampshire he worked
at his trade for a time and then engaged in fanning
on North Main street. Wolf borough, which he car-
ried on until 1906, when he sold his one-half inter-
est in the farm to his son-in-law. John Frank Good-
win, a prominent contractor and builder. Mr. Web-
ster's place commands a fine view of Lake Winne-
pesaukee and the mountains and has been a favorite
with many wJio have spent summer vacations there.
He ran a boarding house several years, accommodat-
ing thirty or forty guests from the city of New York,
Boston and other cities. Mr. Webster is a member
of James R. Newell Post, No. 61, Grand Army of
the Republic, of Wolfborough, of which he was a
charter member. He married (first), at Wolfboro,
in 1870, Emma C. Libby, who was .born in 1840,
daughter of Dudley and Sarah A. Libby, of Wolf-
boro. She died October 7, 1875. He married (sec-
ond) Eliza C. Wiggin, who was born July 15, 1849,
daughter of James M. and Caroline (Wiggin) Wig-
gin, (see Wiggin 11.) of Tuftonborough. They have
one daughter. Helen C, who was born in Wolf-
borough, January. 1881. She graduated in 1889.
from Brewster Free Academy, and June, 1906, mar-
ried J. Frank Goodwin. They reside on the old
homestead.
(II) Nathan, youngest child of John and Mary
(Shatswell) Webster, was born in Ipswich. Massa-
chusetts, in 1646. He settled in Bradford, where he
died in May, 1694. He was married June 30, 1673,
to Mary Hazeltine. born December 9, 1648, daugh-
ter of John Hazeltine, of Haverhill. She was ad-
mitted to Bradford Church from Haverhill in 1682.
Their children were: John, Mary, Nathan, Joaiina,
Abigail. Israel, and Samuel. Joanna married Rich-
ard Bailey (see Bailey, III).
(III) Nathan (2), eldest of the. three children
of Nathan (i) and Mary (Hazeltine) Webster, was
born March 7, 1679, and was one of the proprietors
of Chester. New Hampshire. He removed to that
place about 1729 and owned two home lots, Nos.
71 and y2. and resided on 72. That Nathan Web-
ster was a man of ability and standing, and an active,
efficient and highly respected member of the church.
^c
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
•^0
is evident from "the fact that the record shows him
to have been chosen selectman in 1729-38-42-50-51-
57-61-63-66-70-71. At a town meeting in August,
1739, "Voted that Capt. Sam Ingalls, mr Nathan
Webster, and mr John Taltord Shall be a Commit-
tee to take bonds of the Inhabitants of Rumford
(now Concord") for the making and maintaining a
good soficient Roads for Passing Massibeecik Pond
towards their town, agreeable to their proposals
made to us, and to Enter into bonds to them to make
and maintain one on this side, and over the said
pond, as good."
At the town meeting held January 13, 1730, he
was appointed on a committee "to treat \vith the
Rev. Mr. Moses Hale, and to acquaint him with what
ye town hath done, and to invite him into the work
of ye Ministry among us in Chester." He was sub-
sequently twice appointed on committees for sim-
ilar purposes, and was a member of the committee
appointed to build the meeting-house.
By his first wife, Martha, Nathan Webster had
the following named children : Daniel. Nathan,
Stephen, (founder of the Webster family of Plym-
outh, New Hampshire, mentioned at length here-
inafter). Abel and Mary. He was married (second)
August 3, 173S, to Mary (Stevens) Godfrey, whose
first husband was Thomas Sargent, and her second
Peter Godfrey. She was a daughter of Deacon
Thomas and Martha (Bartlett) Stevens, of Ames-
bury, and survived her third husband several years,
dying !May 24, 1766. (Stephen and descendants
receive mention in this article.)
(IV) Nathan (3), second_^ child and son of Na-
than (2) and Mary Webster' was born in Chester,
July I, 1715, died 1794. He was a farmer and lived
on house lot No. 117. In the year 1764 he was one
of the three chosen by the town as a committee to
settle about highways in Raymond and make return.
He signed the association test in 1776. Chase's
"History of Chester" states that, "At the Septem-
ber term of the Superior Court, 1771, Andrew Jack.
Nathan Webster and John Robie, the selectmen of
Chester, were indicted because Chester, having more
than 100 families, had no grammar school. At the
March term, 1772, Jack and Webster were tried and
fined £10, and cost taxed at £7, 12s. 4d."
This does not imply that Nathan Webster, the
ancestor of many college graduates, living in a
communit>' now so intelligent, was opposed to the
oittlay of money for the support of schools. On
the contrary, the financial conditions were such
that the men of that communitv did not feel able to
bear the burden of schools, and had voted to secure
the selectmen from fine for failing to act. He mar-
ried, February 10, 1742. Martha Blasdell, and they
had eleven children, all but two of whom died
young. Those who grew up and had families
were : Nathan and Moses.
(V) Nathan (4), third child of Nathan (3) and
Martha (Blasdell) Webster, was born in Chester,
November 19, 1747, and resided on the old home-
stead. He married. May 8, 1771. Elizabeth, daughter
of Isaac and Sarah (Healy) Clifford, of Candia.
and granddaughter of William Healy. Isaac Clif-
ford was the son of Samuel Clifford, of Kingston,
and Martha Healy, his wife, was the daughter of
William and Mary (Sanborn") Healy, formerly of
Hampton Falls. The ten children of Nathan and
Elizabeth Webster were : Josiah. Sarah. Mary, John
Ordway, Nathan, Elizabeth, Martha, Huldy, Susanna
and FTannah. (Mention of Nathan (s) and descend-
ants appears later.)
(VI) Rev. Josiah, eldest child of Nathan (4)
and Elizabeth (Clifford) Webster, was born in Ches-
ter, January 16, 1772. and died March 27, 1837. He
graduated from Dartmouth College in 1798, studied
theology with Rev, Stephen Peabody, of Atkinson,
was ordained pastor of the South Congregational
Church of Ipswich (Chebacco), 1799; dismissed,
1S06: installed June 8, 1S08, at Hampton, where he
remained till his death. He married. December 2,
1799, Elizabeth Knight, born June 11, 1771, daugh-
ter of Eliphalet and Martha (Webster) Knight, of
Atkinson. She died April 9, 1849. Their children
were: Eliphalet Knight, Josiah, Elizabeth Clifford
(died young), John Calvin, Joseph Dana. Eliza-
beth Knight and Claudius Buchanan. John Calvin
graduated at Dartmouth in 1832; Joseph Dana,
1S32, and Claudius Buchanan, 1836.
(VII) Eliphalet Knight Webster, M. D., eldest
child of Rev. Josiah and Elizabeth (Knight) Web-
ster, was born in Esse.x, Massachusetts, May 3. 1S02,
and died in Pittsfield, New Hampshire, November
9, 1881. He received his medical education at Dart-
mouth College, practiced medicine in Litchfield, Xew
Hampshire, for a short time; in Hill from 1S33 to
1844, and from 1844 to 1870 in_ Boscawen. Dr.
Webster was a prominent man in his profession, and
was once president of the New Hampshire Medical
Society. He was active in politics and held the
office of postmaster in Boscawen. In religion he
was a Congregationalist, and a loyal supporter of
the church. He was married August, 1833, to Emily
Webster, daughter of Colonel Ebenezer Webster, of
Hill, New Hampshire, and his wife, Sarah, young-
est sister of Hon. Daniel Webster. (See Webster,
first family, "V.) Emily Webster was born Febru-
ary 12, 1809, and died October 19, 1882, at Pitts-
field. They had four children: Daniel Dana, Sarah
Elizabeth. "Emily Maria and Edward Knight,
(VIII) Edward Knight, youngest child of Dr.
Eliphalet K. and Emily (Webster) Webster, was
born in Boscawen, August 5, 1848, He was educa-
ted in the public schools of Boscawen and at Pem-
broke Academy, and Putnam School, Newburyport,
Massachusetts, and was a bookkeeper for a com-
mercial house for a time. In 1872 he engaged in the
drug business at Pittsfield, which he carried on suc-
cessfully for twenty years. He is a member of the
Episcopal Church, and in politics is a Democrat.
He has held several town offices, was trustee of
Pittsfield Public Library six years, member of the
constitutional convention, 1900, and was deputy
sheriff for Merrimack county for eight years. He
was made a Knight of Pythias October 15. 1874,
becoming a charter member of Norris Lodge, No. 16,
of Pittsfield, was elected keeper of the records and
seal at its institution, and afterward filled the
several chairs, and became past chancellor October
24, 1S83.' He took the Grand Lodge Rank, February
7. 1S84, and was elected grand outer guard at that
time. He was made grand master-at-arms, 1885 ;
grand vice-chancellor, 1886; grand chancellor, 1887:
elected supreme representative, June 12, 1889; and
became a member of the Supreme Lodge, August.
T890, at IMilwaukee, Wisconsin. October 2, 1901,
was elected grand keeper of records and seal at the
convention of the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire,
held at Franklin, and has been re-elected at each an-
nual convention since that time. He was commis-
sioned assistant commissary general, with the rank
of colonel, on the staff of Brigadier-General C. P..
Hoyt, commanding the New Hampshire brigade, uni-
form rank, Knights of Pythias, and held that posi-
tion until 1905, and was then commissioned colonel
and assistant adjutant-general on the staff of Briga-
dier-General Orman T, Lougee, A company of the
uniform rank. Knights of Pythias, was formed in
Pittsfield in 1896, and named Edward K, Webster
Company, No. 16, in his honor. In November, 1905,
26
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Mr. Webster took up his residence at Concord,
where the office of the grand keeper of records and
seal is maintained.
(IV) Stephen, third son and child of Nathan
(2) and Martha Webster, was born February 18,
1718, in Chester, resided for a time in Candia, and
later in Hollis, where he was selectman in 1762-63-
65. By purchase of the right of one of the grantees
of Plymouth, this state, he became a proprietor of
that town, where he settled about 1765. He was an
intelligent and useful citizen, and acted as teacher
in the early schools of the frontier settlement. He
died in 1798. He married Rachel Stevens, of Ames-
bury, Massachusetts, probably a daughter of Samuel
and Rachel (Heath) Stevens, of Amesbury. She
was admitted to the church there Januai-y 14, 1728,
was dismissed to the church in Chester, May 10,
17.39, and died January 3, 1754. Mr. Webster mar-
ried (second) Sarah, widow of Daniel Clough, of
Kingston, and daughter of William and Elizabeth
(Heard) Baker, of Salisbury. The first wife was
the mother of five children, and the second of two,
namely : David, Stephen, Lydia, Sarah, Amos, Daniel
Clough and Rachel. (Mention of Stephen and de-
scendants follows in this article).
(V) David, eldest child of Stephen Webster
and his first wife, Rachel Stevens, was born De-
cember 12, 1738. He wr.s a colonel and rendered
conspicuous service in the Revolution. After his
marriage he- lived for one year in Hollis, New
Hampshire, but moved to Plymouth in November,
1764, where he became prominent in town affairs,
and served as sheriff of Grafton county for many
years. He was twice married, but his children were
all by his first wife. On April 20, 1761, Colonel
David Webster married his step-mother's daughter,
Elizabeth Clough, daughter of Daniel and Sarah
(Baker) Clough, who was born in Kingston, New
Hampshire. September 23, 1745. They had twelve
children: Sarah, David, mentioned below; Eliphalet'
William, Josiah, a son who died at birth, Elizabeth,
menlioned below ; George Washington, Ralph,
Sarah, a daughter who died at birth, and Walter
Raleigh. Mrs. Webster died May 22, 1809, and on
September 3 of that year Colonel Webster married
Susanna Qiase. who was born in 1749, and died
April 6, 1821. Colonel David Webster died May 8,
1824.
(VI) David (2), eldest son and second child of
Colonel David and Elizabeth (Clough) Webster,
was born at Hollis, New Hampshire, November 30,
1763. The next year his parents moved to Plym-
outh, where he lived till he was twenty-five years of
age. From 1789 to 1799 his home was at Moulton-
boro. New Hampshire, and for the succeeding seven-
teen years at Haverhill, New Hampshire; but in 1816
he returned to Plymouth where he lived till his
death nearly thirty years later. He was an active
man of ability and influence, and for several years
was deputy sheriff. He owned two or three farms
in Plymouth, and was largely engaged in the cultiva-
tion of hops. He belonged to the state militia for
some time, and was made captain on July 5, 1794.
On November 18, 1785, David (2) Webster married
his cousin, Lydia Cumraings. daughter of Samuel
and Lydia (Webster) Cummings, and granddaugh-
ter of Stephen Webster (IV). She was born Au-
gust 31, 1769. They had thirteen children : David,
Samuel Cummings, mentioned below; Eliza Clough,
Lydia, Harriet, Susan Smith. Ralph. Arthur Liver-
more, Mary Lawrence, Ann Maria, Jane Livermore,
a daughter, who lived but a few weeks, and Eliza-
beth Clough. Captain David (2) Webster died at
Plymouth, June 4. 1844, and his widow died Septem-
ber 2, 1865, aged ninety-six.
(,VI) Elizabeth, second daughter and seventh
child of Colonel David (i) Webster and his first
wife, Elizabeth Clough, was born at Plymouth, New
Hampshire, July 8, 1773, On December 23, 1790,
she married Moor Russell, of Plymouth (see Rus-
sell, V).
(VII) Samuel Cummings, second son and child
of Captain (2) and Lydia (Cummings) Webster,
was born June 28, 1788. He was graduated from
Dartmouth College in 1808, and was a lawyer at
Plymouth, New Hampshire. He was a representa-
tive to the state legislature in 1822-26-27-30-32, being
speaker of the house' in 1830. He was a member of
the governor's council in 1S31. In 1833 he was ap-
pointed sheriff of Grafton county, and removed to
Haverhill, New Hampshire, where he spent the last
two years of his life. On May 5, 1816, Samuel Cum-
mings Webster married his cousin, Catherine, second
daughter and third child of Moor and Elizabeth
(Webster) Russell, who was born at Haverhill, New
Hampshire. May 28, 1797 (see Russell, V). They
had ten children : 'Samuel Cummings, Dominicus,
David Henrj^ Ann Eliza Gushing, Jeremiah Mason,
Rufus Boliver. Catherine Cabot, Edward Gushing,
Charles Carroll and Catherine Russell. Samuel C.
Webster died at Haverhill, New Hampshire. July 21,
1835, at the early age of forty-seven. In 1844 his
widow married Joseph Edmonds, of Brooklyn, New
York, who lived five years. She died in Plymouth,
New Hampshire, September 24, 1880, at the age of
eighty-three.
(V) Stephen (2). second son and child of
Stephen (i) and Rachel (Stevens) Webster, was
born probably in Candia, New Hampshire, July 7,
1 741. He moved from Candia to Plymouth, this
state, where he was a pioneer settler in 1764, and a
man of character and influence. On October 21,
1762, Stephen Webster married Hannah Dolbeer, of
Chester, New Hampshire, and they had eleven chil-
dren: Sarah, married Samuel Heath; Lydia, mar-
ried Nehemiah Phillips : Hannah, married Joshua
Heath ; Polly, married Christopher Sargent : Peter,
Moses, Luc.v. married Solomon Sanborn ; Stephen,
married Pol'lv Fuller; Amos, David, mentioned be-
low ; and Betsey, born April 30, 1782, married Joseph
Fletcher, of Rumney (see Fletcher, VII). She died
March 10. 1863, in Rumney. Of these children the
eldest was born in Candia, and the other ten in
Plymouth : and it is interesting to know that Lydia,
the second child, born June 2, 1765, was the first in-
fant of white parentage to see the light in the new
settlement (Plymouth). Stephen (2) Webster died
in 1 788, at the early age of forty-seven.
(VI) David (2), fifth son and tenth child of
Stephen (2) and Hannah (Dolbeer) Webster, was
born July 6, 1779, at Plymouth, New Hampshire.
He moved to the neighboring town of Rumney.
where he reared a large family. He was converted
to the Christian religion under the preaching of Rev.
Lorenzo Dow, and joined the Baptist Church. The
marriage intentions of David (2) Webster to Lucy
Hutchins were published on January 21, 1S06, and
they were married five days later. She was a woman
of strong religious convictions, gave freely to mis-
sions,, and kepi Fast Day in the early Puritan fash-
ion. She early espoused the cause of the slave, and
left a legacy to the Freedman's Bureau, David (2)
and Lucy (Hutchins) Webster had nine children:
George Webster, George Hutchins, Selomy, Dardana
S., Emeline Mary and Adeline Martha (twins),
David Peabody, Elizabeth Hutchins, and Nancy
Hutchins, Three of these children, George W. and
C. C. WEBSTER.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
27
George H., the two eldest, and Dardana S., died in
infancy, while Adeline Martha, one of the tw^ins,
died October 27, 1821, during her seventeenth year;
but of the five who lived to grow up, three attained
to extraordinary longevity, and two are now living
at present (1907). Seloiny, born April 23, 1809,
married David W. Doe, and died November I, 1907,
in her ninety-ninth year. Emeline Mao', born May
I. 181S, married Ichabod Packard Hardy, and is now
in her ninety-third year. (See Hardy, HI). Eliza-
beth Hutchins. born April 8, 1S20, married David
Hadley, of Manchester, and is now in her eighty-
eighth year. It is doubtful if there is another trio
of sisters in the state who can show such length of
years. The youngest sister, Nancy Hutchins, born
April 22. 1824, married John W. Peppard, of Runi-
ney, and died in February, 1888, in her sixty-fourth
year. David (2) Webster, the father, died at Rum-
"ney. New Hampshire, May 12, 1841, in his sixty-
second year.
(VI) Nathan (5), fifth child of Nathan (4) and
Elizabeth (Clifford) Webster, was born April 9,
1780, and married Mary Simonds, daughter of
Widow Simonds. who married Captain Pearson
Richardson, of Chester. Captain Richardson had
no children, and Mr. Webster became his protege
and lived on his farm, where he died March 30, 1815.
His widow subsequently married John L. Glidden,
and died December 19, 1863.
(VII) Nathaniel (6) Webster came from Lon-
donderry to the eastern part of Manchester, settling
near Lake Massabesic. Later he moved to the west-
ern part of the town, near Gofi''s Falls, where he
died in 1862-63, at the age of fifty-five years. His
death was the result of exposure and hardship in
the line of militan,- duty, as a member of the Ninth
New Hampshire Regiment in the Civil war. His .
wife, Martha ^Maria Corning, supposed to have been
a native of Manchester, survived him many years,
passing away in the spring of 1884. Their home
was on the farm now occupied by their son's widow,
near Goff's Falls. They were the parents of seven
children, noted as follows : Eveline, the eldest, died
before twenty years old. Caius C. is mentioned at
length in the succeeding paragraph. Jane became
the wife of George Durgin, and died in West Man-
chester, in 1895. Ellen resides in Manchester. Abi-
gail died in 1S67, unmarried. Josephine resides in
Manchester. Plumer C, the youngest, is a citizen
of Hcnniker. thi^ state.
(VIII) Caius Cassius, second child and elder
son of Nathaniel and Martha Maria (Corning)
Webster, was born October 10.'' 1839, and died Oc-
tober ID. 1897. on the farm in Manchester, near
Goff's Falls. His education was supplied by the
common schools of the neighborhood, and most of
his life was devoted to agriculture. Soon after at-
taining his majority he went to the defense of his
country's honor, as a soldier in the Civil war. He
enlisted August 13, 1862, in Company A. Tenth New
Hampshire Infantry, and served in the Army of the
Potomac. His first severe battle was that of Fred-
ericksburg, and he was soon after detailed as a
teamster in the army train. He was present at the
fall of Richmond, and was discharged in June. 1865.
On his return to his home, he spent three years in a
flouring mil! at Lawrence, after which he devoted
his summers to agriculture, and was occupied in
w-inter in getting out timbers for building purposes.
l\Ir. Webster was a very temperate man. and knew
not the taste of liqors. He was a regular attendant
of the Methodist Church, and was a member of the
Grand .■\rmy of the Republic and the Improved Or-
der of Red Men. He was a firm believer in the
principles enunciated by the Republican party,
though not a seeker of official honors. In 1894 he
represented the town of Manchester in the state
legislature with credit to himself and his consti-
tuency. He was married, August 10, 1862, to Caro-
line Calef. daughter of John Calef (see Calef, IV).
She was born May 17, 1838, and was tw'elve years
old when she went with her parents to the farm on
which she has since lived. She is a member of the
Methodist Churdi. Her son, Frederick Elmer Web-
ster, died at the age of twenty-six years. A daugh-
ter Edith Aroline, resides with the mother.
Representatives of families bearing this
FROST name came early to America. The first
of whom we have record was Nicholas
Frost, who arrived here in 1632 and settled on the
banks of the Piscataqua, and there is good evidence
that he was esteemed a trustworthy citizen as he was
honored with appointments to responsible positions.
There were also several others of the name who
later settled in that vicinity and became prominently
identified with the leading interests of the com-
munity.
(I) Edmund Frost, came from England in 1635
and settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which
was' evidently the home of the family for several
generations. ]\Ir. Frost was a ruling elder in the
church, and is said to have been a man of great
moral worth, "leaving his children the example of
a Godly life." No mention is made of his wife. He
died July 12. 1672, in Cambridge.
(II) Ephraim Frost was a son of Edmund the
emigrant, and w'as born in Cambridge, but unfor-
tunately the data is very incomplete concerning him
and several of his descendants.
(HI) Ephraim (2) Frost married Sarah Cooper,
daughter of Deacon Samuel Cooper, of Cam-
bridge.
(IV) Samuel, son of Ephraim (2) and Sarah
(Cooper) Frost, married .A.bigail, daughter of Dea-
con John Cutter.
(V) Cooper, son of Samuel and Abigail (Cut-
ter) Frost, was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts,
November 3, 1790. and died in Franklin, New Hamp-
shire, in 1876. He was a hatter by trade, and re-
moved from Cambridge to Concord. New
Hampshire, in 181 1, where he carried on
the business for a large part of the time
for more than half a century. He was
a soldier in the war of t8i2. Mr. Frost possessed
much mechanical ingenuity, and was a man of im-
mense muscular power. He married. July 18, 1815,
Sarah Trumbull, daughter of John Trumbull. She
was born in CoiTcord, and died in Franklin, New
Hampshire, in 1874, aged eighty-seven years. Her
ancestors were among the earliest settlers of Con-
cord. Her grandfather, Judah Trumbull, was one
of thirteen men w'ho with their families were sta-
tioned at the garrison around the house of Ebenezer
Eastman, and his name appears among the officers
of the town as early as 1740. The children of
Cooper Frost and Sarah Trumbull Frost were:
Charles H., Willard, Luther T., George W., Thom-
as, Mary S. and Lucy A.
(VI) Luther Trumbull, son of Cooper and
Sarah (Trumbull) Frost, wasborn in Concord, Nc^v
Hampshire, about 1824, and died in Franklin. New
Hampshire, October 24, 1894. He was a practical
paper manufacturer, and spent nearly fifty years of
Iiis life in Franklin, where he was manager of one
of the mills of the Winnepesaiikee paper mills. He
several times represented Franklin in the legislature
28
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
in Concord. He was a member of the Mt. Horeb
Commandery, Knight Templar, of Concord, and a
Democrat in politics. He was a man of good busi-
ness ability and a worthy citizen. Luther Trumbull
Frqst married, March i6, 1845, Lydia G.. daughter
of Major Samuel and Betsey (Brown) Pike. She
was born in Franklin, March 14, 1822. Major Sam-
uel Pike was the son of James and Alice George
Pike, and was born November 30, 1795, in Goffs-
town. New Hampshire. His grandfather Simeon
emigrated from the Highland district of Scotland;
data is lacking regarding the time of his arrival,
but it was previous to 1752, as his son James was
born that year in Goffstown. The family removed to
Franklin, then Salisbury. New Hampshire, in 1757.
The name of James Pike appears among the sol-
diers of the revolution from Salisbury and he was
wounded at the battle of Bunker Hill. The chil-
dren of Luther Trumbull and Lydia Pike Frost
were: Lorenzo L. and Leroy B. Leroy B. Frost
was born in Franklin and married in November,
i86g, Eleanor Smith, of Entield, New Hampshire.
He is a practical paper maker in Brattleboro, Ver-
mont (1907).
(VH) Lorenzo L., son of Luther and Lydia
(Pike) Frost, was born September 27, 1846, in Mill-
bury, Massachusetts, and died suddenly from heart
failure at the country home of his son, at Pearl
River, New York, May id, 1906. He' was educated
in the public schools, in the academy at Franklin
Falls, and attended Boscawen Academy at Boscawen,
New Hampshire. When quite young he learned
the paper maker's trade, working under his father
at the Winnepesaukee Paper Company mills long
before that company was absorbed by the Interna-
tional Paper Company. He displayed marked ability
and advanced so rapidly that while little more than
a youth he was placed in charge of one of the
mills while his father operated the other. He con-
tinued as superintendent at Franklin Falls for sev-
enteen years, with the exception of one year, when
he was called to Bellows Falls. Vermont,' to put the
mills of the Fall Mountain Paper Company in order,
and to adjust certain labor troubles, for which task
he was admirably fitted. In 1890 Mr. Frost became
part owner and manager of the Sunapee Paper
Company at Sunapee, New Hampshire, where he
remained until 1S94, when he sold his interest. Af-
ter a few months as manager of the Frontenac
Paper Company at Dexter, New York, he acquired
an interest in the Racquettc River Paper Company
of Potsdam, New York, Avhich he retained until the
fall of 1901, when Mr. Frost and his two sons or-
ganized the L. L. Frost Paper Company and built a
mill at Norwood, St. Lawrence County. New York,
which on January 4, 1904, was totally destroyed by
fire. With characteristic energy, which knew no de-
feat, he directed the increase of the water power
from 1500 to 3,000 horse power and constructed, of
steel and concrete, what' is probably one of the
model newspaper mills of the United States. In
August, 1905, this property was sold to Northern
New York capitalists, and Mr. Frost with his sons,
incorporated the Frost & Son's Paper Company, and
purchased property at Napanoch, Ulster .county,
New York. Here mills were built for the manu-
facturing of jute tissue paper. Mr. Frost was sev-
eral times urged to accept a nomination to the New
Hampshire Legislature, but he declined, not caring
for political office. Lorenzo L. Frost was endowed
with a unique personality; naturally of a cheerful
temperament, he m^de friends easily and retained
them to the last. In his home he was an ideal hus-
band and father. Mr. Frost also had the rare faculty .
of considering the subject from the otlier man's
• standpoint, as well as his own. Hence he knew little
of labor troubles, and his employers recognized in
him their best friend. It is said of him that no one
in need was ever spurned by him. From early man-
hood he was a member and a most liberal supporter
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was a force
for righteousness in every community in which he
ever lived, and when he passed from earth he left,
as a benediction, the influence that comes from a
good man's life. October 31, 1867, Lorenzo L. Frost
married Harriet L. Hayward. She was born Oc-
tober 31, 1846, in Alexandria, New Hampshire, and
was the youngest daughter of Jonas Reed and i\Iar-
cia (Sleeper) Hayward. Jonas Reed Hayward was
the son of josiah and Rebecca Hayward, and was
born in Antrim, New Hampshire, April 25, 1805, and
died in Alexandria. January 9, 1873. He was a mer-
chant for many years in Concord, New Hampshire,
represented the town of Alexandria in the legis-
lature several times, and was generally a man of
public affairs. He took a great interest in what-
ever helped onward the uplift of humanity. He
married (first), October 30, 1832, Marcia Sleeper;
(second) in August, 1855, Mary Bodwell, a widow.
Marcia Sleeper w-as the daughter of Moses West
and Ruth (Worthen) Sleeper. She was born De-
cember 26, 1809 ; she was descended on her fathers
side from Thomas Sleeper, who was born in Eng-
land, about 1607. He emigrated to this country when
a young man and settled in Hampton, New Hamp-
shire, in 1640. The Sleeper and Worthen families
are very numerous in various parts of the country,
and have borne well their share in its civic, political
and military affairs. The grandfather of Marcia
Sleeper was David Sleeper, who commanded a com-
•pany of militia in the Revolutionary war. Her
father, Peter, also a member of the Continental army
served as sergeant of his company and later became
prominent in military and civic affairs. The children
of Lorenzo L. and Harriet L. (Hayward) Frost
are: Fredric Worthen, Lorena May and Luther
Hayward, all born in Franklin, New Hampshire.
Luther Hayward Frost fitted for college in the
public schools at Franklin, Andover. Massachusetts,
Academy and Potsdam, New York, Normal School,
and graduated from Wesleyan University, Middle-
town, Connecticut. On the death of his father, he
succeeded him as business manager of the Frost
& Sons Paper Company, at Napanoch, New York,
which position he still holds. He married Alice J.,
a daughter of President Bradford P. Raymond, D.
D., LL. D., of Wesleyan University (recently re-
signed), and Lula (Rich) Raymond. They have
one child ; Dorothy Raymond Frost, and reside in
Ellenville, New York.
Lorena May Frost graduated from the high
school in Franklin and attended Tilton Seminary
one year. Later she graduated from the State Nor-
mal School in Potsdam, New York, after which she
took a course of study at Pratt's Institute, New York
City, and finally was graduated from Columbia
Colege, in June, 1905. She has been connected with
the College Settlement in New York City for two
years, but has recently been engaged as a teacher
in the schools of Summit, New Jersey.
(IX) Fredric Worthen, oldest child of Lorenzo
L, and Harriet L. Hayward Frost, was born January
8, 1870. He completed the full course of the high
school in his native town, Franklin, New Hamp-
shire, and later graduated from Tilton Seminary.
He was also graduated from Wesleyan University
in 1894 with honors. The next two years he taught
in Shady Side Academy, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.
ThfLems^iHshiT^ C-
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
29
During the summer of 1896 he acted as tutor for
two boys, taking them through Europe. Mr. Frost
then studied law, graduating from the New York
Law Sehool in 1898, and was admitted to the New
York bar the same year. He is at present (1907)
practicing law at 60 Wall street. New York City.
October 25, 1S99, in Brooklyn, New York, he mar-
ried Christine Kellogg, daughter of Rev. Charles
E. and Rosabella (Hallock) Glover. Charles E.
Glover received -his education in part at the Biblical
Institute in Concord (later merged into Boston Uni-
versity), and was ordained a minister of the Meth-
odist Episcopal Church. On her mother's side
Christine Glover Frost is descended from Stephen
Hcpkins through the line of his daughter Constance.
Both were passengers on the "Mayflower." She is
also of the famous Paine family that included Rob-
ert Treat Paine, a signer of the Declaration of In-
dependence, and her great-grandmother, Ruth Ad-
ams, was an own cousin of President John Adams.
Mrs. Frost is naturally interested in colonial history.
She is a member of the New England Chapter of
the Society of the Mayflower Descendants, and on
the Adams side is eligible to the Society of the
Colonial Dames. Fredric \V. and Christine (Glover)
Frost have two children: Fredric W. (2) and
Constance Hopkins Frost. Their winter home is
in New York City, and they reside in summer at
Pearl River, Rockland county, New York.
The name Slade has an interesting or-
SL.'\DE igin. It meaning as a common noun is
"a small strip of green plain within a
woodland." One of the rhymes about Robin Hood
runs:
"It had been better of William a Trent
To have been abed with sorrowe,
Than to be that day in ereenwood slade
To meet with Xittle John's arrowe."
In England we have the de la Slades of the
Hundred Rolls. The word is seen in many com-
pounds like: Robert de Greneslade (of the green-
slade) ; William de la Morslade (the moorland-
slade) ; Richard de Wytslade (the white-slade) ;
Michael de Ocslade (the oak-slade). Sladen, that
is slade-den, implies a woodland hollow. The name
Slade in this country has sometimes been written
Sled and Sleed.
(I) Stiles' Ancient Windsor gives three resi-
dents of that town, named Slade, including Wil-
liam, Junior, from which we may infer that they
were sons of William. No account of the latter is
given. His origin is unknown, but he probably lived
in Windsor where were born to him three sons.
(II) John Slade, one of these, was married
September 12, 1751, in Windsor, to the Widow
Martha Gleason, of Enfield, and their children in-
cluded: John, Martha, William. Thomas, Daniel
and Samuel. He settled in Alstead, New Hampshire,
in 1773. He received a grant of land there and is
said to have been a revolutionary soldier. The Rev-
olutionarv Rolls of Connecticut mention a John
Slade, who served eighteen days from Wallingford.
(III) Samuel, youngest son of John and Martha
(Gleason) Slade, was born in Windsor, Connecti-
cut, and was in the neighborhood of two years old
when he came with his father to Alstead, New
Hampshire. He died there September 28, 1S60. at
the age of ninety-eight years, his death being caused
by a fall which broke his hip bone. He, and his
brother remained on the paternal homestead in
Alstead. They lived and dwelt in great peace and
harmony, although they held opposing principles in
both religion and politics. Samuel was an ardent
Democrat, while his brother was quite as earnest in
support of Whig policies. Samuel enlisted at Keene,
New Hampshire. July 6, 1779, for the defence of
Rhode Island. He was a member of Captain Ephra-
im Stone's Company of Colonel Bellow's regiment.
He enlisted July 26, 1799, in Colonel Hercules
Moony's regiment, and was discharged January 10.
17S0. He received a bounty of thirty pounds and
traveling expenses of twelve pounds for his Rhode
Island service, being credited to the town of Al-
stead. He married Hannah Thompson, who lived
to the age of eighty years. They are said to have
had eleven children', but they do not appear in the
vital records of New Hampshire. (Mention of their
son, Samuel, appears in this article).
(IV) Enoch, son of Samuel (i) and Hannah
(Thompson) Slade, was born April 12, 1787, in A\-
stead. New Hampshire, and settled when a young
man in Brookfield, Vermont. When his children
had become partially grown he removed to Thetford,
Vermont, to secure the advantages of the academy
there in the education of his family. He was the
owner of a farm, but was kept employed in the trans-
action of public business, in probate matters and
other local affairs. Although he was not a licensed
lawyer, vet he transacted most of the legal business
in his town. He filled all of the chief oflices, to
which he was repeatedly elected. He was trustee
of Thetford Academy, aiid a member of the Congre-
gational Church. He was a very earnest adherent
of the principles of the Republican party, and ever
aimed to promote the welfare of the community in
which he resided, as well as of the state and nation.
Mr. Slade was possessed of an unusual degree of
intelligence and executive ability, and occupied a
verv influential position in the community where
he lived. He was a man of large stature and usually
weighed more than two hundred and fifty pounds.
He married Penelope Wellington, who was a daugh-
ter of Palsgrave and .\bigail (Sparhawk) Welling-
ton. The last named was famed for her beauty,
and before her marriage to Mr. Wellington was the
wife of Hall Sewell, a wealthy Englishman, who was
a graduate of Harvard College, and died early in
life. Enoch Slade and wife had five children The
first, a daughter, died in infancy. The second,
Samuel Wellington, became a distinguished lawyer,
residing in Saint Johnsbury, Vermont. Laura, the
third, is the widow of Asa Snow and lives in Bos-
ton. William lived and died in Thetford, Vermont.
Hannah, the youngest, is the widow of Governor
Moodv Currier, of Manchester (see Currier).
(IV) Samuel (2), son of Samuel (i) and Han-
nah (Thompson) Slade, was born May lO. 1797,
in Alstead, New Hampshire, He was a farmer
in that town. He saw some service in the War of
1812. He enlisted in Captain James M. Warner's
company, in the Second Regiment of Detached
Militia. He enlisted September 25. 1814, for si.xty
days. Samuel (2) Slade married Emma .A.ngier,
daughter of Benjamin and Enice (Johnson) Angier.
Shewas born November 3, 1799, and had the distinc-
tion of living in three centuries. Her death occurred
May 12, 190T, at the remarkable age of one_ hundred
vears, six months and nine days. The children of
Samuel and Emma Slade were: Lucius, whose
sketch follows; Eunice, Lora, Ira, Dana, Orrissa
and Orrilla.
(V) Lucius, eldest son and child of Samuel
(2) and Emma (.^ngier) Slade, was born in Al-
stead, New Hampshire, .April 12, 1818. He attend-
ed the public schools in Ludlow, New Hampshire,
and was graduated from the school in Unity, New
Hampshire, taught bv Dr. .Monzo A. Miner, after-
wards the noted L'niversalist clergj-nian in Boston.
30
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
For a time Lucius Slade taught school in Surry
and other places in his immediate neighborliood.
At the age of tw^enty-four he moved to Boston, and
for six months was employed by Aaron Aldrich, a
butter and egg dealer in Faneuil Hall market. He
was afterwards employed by John Miller in the same
business. In 1851 Lucius Slade formed a partner-
ship with George Rust, for the purpose of conduct-
ing the butter, cheese, and egg business in Faneuil
Hall market. Mr. Rust retired in 1851, and Mr.
Slade removed to Faneuil Hall Square, w'here he
conducted this business alone for forty-four years.
In 1896, as Mr. Slade was approaching eighty years,
he felt the need of an associate, and he took W. J.
Haves into partnership. The firm then became Lu-
cius Slade & Company. l\Ir. Slade lived on Poplar
street, on the lower slope of Beacon Hill, Boston,
till 1896, when he removed to North Cambridge,
where he died at the age of nearly eighty-six. Dur-
ing Lucius Slade's long and active life he served
as councilman two years and alderman for eight
years in Boston. He was a member of the Massa-
chusetts senate from 1862 to 1864. While alder-
man he was chairman of the committee on sewerage,
paving and public buildings. He was also a mem-
ber-of the school board. He made the public good
his chief object and he w'as a thoroughly upright
and much respected man. He was one of the oldest
of the Boston Lancers, being a member for half a
century. He was captain of the Lancers for eight
years, and was in command at the time of the Cooper
street riot, one of the draft riots of the Civil war.
After the war he was made major of a batallion
composed of the National Lancers, the Roxbui-y
Horse Guards, Prescott Light Guards and Dragoons.
During the Civil war Captain Slade was active in
forming several companies from the Lancers for the
Union army. He belonged to the Masons and Odd
Fellows, and was one of the oldest members of the
Boston Club. While in Boston Major Slade lost his
interest in New Hampshire. He bought several
farms in Walpole, on one of wdiich his daughter,
Mrs. Sawyer, now lives. Lucius Slade married Lucy
Rust, daughter of Daniel Rust, who was born in
Alstead, New Hampshire, December 3, 1817. She
was the granddaughter of Nathaniel Rust, who had
a government grant of land in Alstead, and came
there from Windsor. Connecticut. They had three
children : Franklin, who lives in Cambridge, Massa-
chusetts; Carrie, who died young; and Lelia L.,
whose sketch follows. Major Lucius Slade was a
man of great energy and business capacity, and of
a kind and genial disposition and, many people have
reason to remember his generosity. His long and
useful life ended January 13, 1904. His wife lived a
little more than a year after her husband, dying
April 5. 1895, in her eighty-eighth year.
(VI) Leila L., second daughter and youngest
child of Major Lucius and Lucy (Rust) Slade, was
born in Boston, January i, 1S57. On I\Iarch 12,
1883, she married Henry Holmes Sawyer, who was
born in Charlestown, Massachusetts. (See Sawyer,
HL)
There were several ancestors
WAKEFIELD bearing this name who settled
very early in the New England
colonics, and their descendants have been conspic-
uous for good citizenship through the numerous
generations that have taken their turn upon the
stage of life. A town in Massachusetts has been
named for the family, and its members have been
conspicuous in the fields of education, medicine,
law and the ministry. They have also been active
as business men and have contributed universally to
the mental and moral growth of society as well as
the material development of tlie 'commonwealth
in which they lived.
(I) John Wakefield, the progenitor of the fam-
ily which has been very numerously represented in
Maine, was a native of England. The first record
of him found in this country bears date January i,
1637, when at the town meeting held at Salem he was
assessed fifteen shillings as an inhabitant of Marble-
head in the Colony of Massachusetts Baj'. It is
presumable that he came as early at least as the
previous summer. On the fourteenth of the same
month, among the several portions of land laid out
at INIarblehead. he received four acres "on the Neck."
Prior to 1648. he lived in Salem, which then includ-
ed the present town of Marblehead. He first ap-
pears on record in JNIaine in 1641, when he and his
brother-in-law, John Littlefield, received a grant of
what is known as the Great Hill Farm. The hill at
that time extended much farther into the sea than
it now does, and with the projecting land at the
eastern end was called the Great Neck. This was
in the ligonia patent, and neither of the grantees
took possession probably on account of the uncer-
tainty as to their title. John Wakefield settled in
the town of Wells, where he attained considerable
prominence. Fie served as commissioner and select-
man in 1648-54-57. In each instance his father-in-
law, Edmund Littlefield, served in the same capacity.
In 1652 John Wakefield purchased Wakefield's Is-
land and removed to it in that year and there re-
sided for a time. He subsequently purchased land
in Scarboro and resided upon it several years. Thence
he removed to that part of Biddeford which is now
Saco, where he remained until his death. That he
was a man of considerable substance, is evidenced by
the fact of his buying and selling lands, and he was
frequently called upon to v.-itness deeds for other;.
In 1670, when he was probably incapacitated by ill-
ness or the infirmities of age, his wife acted as his
attorney in selling parcels of land. He died Feb-
ruary 15, 1674, and was buried at Biddeford. The
destruction of the records of Wells, Maine, leaves
us no accurate data as to the time of his marriage
or his birth or the births of his children. His wife
Elizabeth was a daughter of Edmund and Annis
Littlefield. of Wells. Her death is not recorded.
Their children included: John, James, Henry, Wil-
liam, Mary and Katherine.
(II) William, fourth son and child of John and
Elizabeth (Littlefield) Wakefield, was probably born
at Biddeford. Maine. He was possessed of some
property as is shown by the record of a deed of ten
acres of land in York township. On October 25,
1707, he went out with his brother James and four
others in a small sloop tn fish. There was a heavy
sea at the bar, and as they attempted to drive the
sloop it was upset and all were drowned. One of
the bodies was never recovered. Bourne's History
of Wells says, "These men were all valuable citizens
and their aid was greatly needed." William Wake-
field was married at Salem, March 13, 1698, to Re-
becca Littlefield. There is but one child on record,
namely : William. Tradition gives three others :
Joseph, Jonathan and Benjamin.
(III) Jonathan, third son and child of William
and Rebecca (Littlefield) Wakefield, was born in
Maine and settled in Sutton, Massachusetts, before
1734. He was a soldier in the Colonial wars, and
died in October, 1765. He was married June 22,
1732, to Abigail Smith, and his children, born in
Sutton between 1734 and 1755, were : Abigail (died
young), Jonathan, Rebecca, Tabatha, Amasa, Sam-
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
31
uel, Silas, Isiah, Luther, Mary and Abigail.
(IV) Jonathan (2), eldest son and second chdd
of Jonathan (l) and Abigail (Smith) Wakefield,
was born October 16, 1736, in Sutton, Massachus-
etts, and served as a soldier of the Colonial wars
and also in the Revolution. He was killed in the
service at Dorchester Heights in March, 1776. Soon
after his widow and her children settled in Newport,
New Hampshire. He was married May 21, 1760,
to Anne Wheeler. Their children were: Jonathan,
Josiah, Joel, Sarah, Peter, Jesse, Lucy, Chloe and
Anna. The migration of the family to Newport oc-
curred in 1779.
(V) Peter, fourth son and sixth child of Jona-
than (2) and Anne (Wheeler) Wakefield, was
born probably at Sutton, Massachusetts, about 1767.
He came to" Newport, New Hampshire, and lived
many years in the west part of the town near the
plumbago mines. He was the father of Methodism
in this section and built the chapel at Northville,
near Newport. He also built what was afterwards
known as the Reed sawmill there; he spent his lat-
ter years at Northville. He married Hannah, sis-
ter of William Haven, and they had ten children:
Nancy, bom May 17, 177S; Lovina, mentioned be-
low; "Hannah, M'arch 31, 1793, married Cyrus Mc-
Gregor; Lucy, August 17, 1795, married Jeremiah
Adams; Simeon, ."^pril 20, 1798: Ruth, September 8,
iSoi. married. September 22, 1822, Lorenzo Freeto;
Orpha, October 24. 1804: Mahala, April 26, 1809;
Peter, June 21, i8ro; Philena, July 31, 1812.
(VI) Lovina, second daughter and child of Peter
and' Hannah (Haven) Wakefield, was born March
8, 1791. She maried, November 16. 1810, Stephen
'Aeeh, of Newport, New Hampshire. He was born
December g, 1790, and came from Plainfield, Ver-
mont, at the age of nine years. They lived at the
Reed sawmill in the northeast part of the town.
Thev had five children : Erastus, born March. IS.
180 : lioena, married .-^zor Paul; Jackson, February
20, 1819: Rowancy. married Gilman Davis; Rosella,
became the second wife of .A^zor Paul, of Newport
(quod z iilt)
This family is typical of the patient,
AFRICA persevering, progressive German stock
which peopled Pennsylvania, cleared
away the forest, settled farms, developed mines, and
made it the second state in the Union in point of
wealth and population.
(I) Christopher Africa, a native of Hanover,
now a part of Prussia, came to America about 1750,
and settled in Germantown, Pennsylvania, from
which he afterward removed to Hanover, in York
county. He had two sons, Michael and Jacob.
(II) Michael Africa, elder son of Christopher
.A.frica, was born in York county, Pennsylvania, and
settled in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, in 1791. He
became one of the founders of the Lutheran Con-
gregational Church of that place, in which he was
an elder. He married Katherin Graflius, of York,
Pennsylvania.
(III) Daniel, son of Michael and Katherin
I Graffius) Africa, was born March 19, 1794, in
Huntingdon, and passed his entire life in that town.
He was a man of much intelligence and ability, and
became prominent and influential in the community.
He was deputy sur\-eyor of Huntingdon county from
1824 to 1830, was justice of the peace for twenty-two
years, and was noted for the extent and accuracy of
his legal knowledge. He married a daughter of
John Simpson, a native of Bucks county, Pennsyl-
vania, and a Revolutionary veteran, probably of
Scotch ancestry. His wife was a daughter of James
Murray, who took part in the Revolutionary war as
captain of the Lancaster company. The latter was
born in Scotland, and came to America in 1730,
while still very young, and resided in Paxton, now
in Dauphin county, Pennsylvania.
(IV) John Simpson, only son of Daniel .-Vfrica,
was born September 15, 1832. in Huntingdon and
died there .August 8, 1900, near the close of his
sixty-eighth year. He acquired his education in the
common schools and in the academy of his native
town. For the pursuit of his chosen profession,
surveying and civil engineering, he received practical
training under the instruction of his father, and his
uncle, James Simpson. In January, 1853. he be-
came a member of the engineering corps of the
Huntington & Broad Top Mountain railroad, on its
organization under Samuel W. Mifflin, chief engineer,
and assisted in the location of the road. He was
just twenty-one years old when he received his first
public office, that of county surveyor of Huntingdon
county, i;i October, 1853. He was the Democratic
nominee, and although the normal Whig majority
was over six hundred, he obtained a majority of one
hundred and sixty-five. In 1856, a Presidential year,
he was again a candidate, the vote resulting in a tie.
But the court six months later appointed his op-
ponent. In the meantime he kept up his surveying
and became known as one of the most competent in
central Pennsylvania In 1853 he and Samuel G.
Whittaker established a weekly paper called the
Standing Stone, and for two years he was the pro-
prietor and one of its editors. In 1883 he edited
the History of Huntingdon and Blair counties, a
valuable work. In public addresses, newspaper arti-
cles, and in various other ways, he largely con-
tributed to the history of the commonwealth, and
especially that of the Valley of the Juniata.
During the sessions of the senate of Pennsyl-
vania, in 1858 and 1859, he served as journal clerk.
In October, 1859, he was elected member of the
house of representatives, serving during the session
of i860. During the Civil war, while he did not
forsake the Democratic party, he supported the
government. When the office of the Monitor, the
organ of the Democracy of Huntingdon county,
was wrecked by a mob, he was among the first to
join in a letter publicly denouncing the outrage,
and helped to re-establish the paper. In May. 1875,
he was appointed deputy secretary of internal af-
fairs, serving until May, 1879. The department was
created by the Constitution of 1873, and its organ-
ization devolved upon Mr. Africa. In 1880, at the
request of William A. Wallace, then United States
senator, President Hayes appointed him supervisor
of the census for the seventh district of Pennsyl-
vania, takin in fourteen counties in the center of
the state. The duties of this office he discharged
very thoroughly. Soon after he was appointed
cashier of the First National Bank at Huntingdon.
In 1882 he was elected secretary of internal afifairs,
and resigned his cashiership. His term was for
four years, which ended in 1887. He was one of
the incorporators of the Union Trust Company of
Philadelphia, in 1882, and was one of its directors
until his death in 1902. October 13, 1887, he was
chosen president, and held this position until he
died. He was d'tcctor of the First National Bank
of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania,, and of the Fidelity
Mutual Life Association of Philadelphia. He was
a member of Mt. Moriah Lodge, No. 300, .-Vncient
Free and Accepted Masons, and of Standing Stone
Chapter. No. 201, at Huntingdon. He served as
grand master of Masons of Pennsylvania during
1891-92, and was on standing committees of the
32
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Grand Lodge and Grand Chapter. He also be-
longed to the Engineers' Ckib, the Franklin Insti-
tute, and the Pennsylvania Scotch-Irish Society.
On January I, 1S56, Mr. Africa married, at
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Dorothea Corbin Green-
land, of Huntingdon, who was born 1834, and died
November 15, 1S86. She was the daughter of
Joshua and Elizabeth (Wright) Greenland. Five
children were born of this union, of whom three
are now living: Benjamin Franklin, the second
child, is manager of the Gas and Electric Light
Works at Huntingdon ; James Murray, the third
child, is a civil engineer and resides at Huntingdon.
He is a graduate of the Rensselaer Polytechnic
School at Troy, New York. Walter G., twin
brother of James, is the subject of the next sketch.
Benjamin F., the eldest, and Bessie, the youngest
child of this family, died young.
(V) Walter Greenland, fourth son and child of
John Simpson and Dorothea Corbin (Greenland)
Africa, was born in Huntingdon, April 11, 1863.
He was educated in the public and private schools
of that town, and at Huntingdon Academy. After
graduation he took a place in the First National
Bank of Huntingdon, where he remained about a
year and a half, devoting his evenings and other
leisure time to the study of civil engineering. Leav-
ing that place he became connected with the firm of
Elkins & Widener, the well known gas promoters
of Philadelphia, who with their associates controlled
the gas franchises of Philadelphia and many other
cities in the United Slates. In 1885 he leased the
Huntingdon Gas works, which he successfully oper-
ated until, June 1887, when he removed to Man-
chester, New Hampshire, at the time of the organ-
ization of the People's Gaslight Company, which
soon acquired control of the Mancliester Gaslight
Company. He served as superintendent of the new
company for two years, and was then elected treas-
urer, and has since filled both positions. Before
leaving Pennsylvania his abilities and techanical
knowledge had been recognized by the state author-
ities, and he was appointed to investigate the glass
sand mining industry of that state, and at the con-
clusion of his labors in 1886 published an illustrated
report upon it. In addition to his work in connec-
tion with the People's Gaslight Company, he has
many other cares in his business relations with var-
ious industries in Manchester. He was treasurer
of the Manchester Electric Light Company twelve
years, and was president of the Manchester L^nion
Publishing Company; is treasurer of the Brodie
Electric Company; treasurer of the Ben Franklin
Electric Light Company ; director of the l\Ierchants
National Bank ; director of the Amoskeag National
Bank; director in the Elliot Manufacturing Com-
pany; trustee of the Hillsborough County Savings
Bank; president of the Manchester Garment Com-
pany ; treasurer of the Robey Concrete Company ;
president of the Cohas Building Company; director
in the East Side Company; and director of the
Derryfield Company. Mr. Africa is connected ac-
tively with so many of the leading enterprises of
Manchester that few have a greater influence upon
its industrial life than he. He is a comparatively
young man. an untiring worker, and a success in
everything he has undertaken. He is an active mem-
ber and_ first vice-president of the New England
Association of Gas Engineers, and a member of the
American Gas Institute and secretary of the Guild
of Gas Managers of New England. In politics he
is a Democrat, but not an active personal participant
in party affairs. He is a member of the Franklin
Street Congregational Church, and president of the
Manchester Young Men's Christian Association. He
is a member of the following named Masonic bodies
in ^Manchester : Washington Lodge, No. 61, in which
he is senior deacon ; Mount Horeb Royal Arch
Chapter, No. 11; Adoniram Council, No. 3, Royal
and Select Masters ; and Trinity Commandery,
Knights Templar, in which he is eminent com-
mander ; of Edmund A. Raymond Consistory of the
Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret of Nashua;
and of Bektash Temple of the Ancient Arabic Order
of the Mystic Shrine, of Concord. He is also a
member of Wildey Lodge, No. 45, Independent
Order of Odd Fellows.
He married, November 17, 1887, Maud Eva Cun-
ningham, who was born in Huntingdon, Pennsyl-
vania, daughter of Robert and Agnes Myton (Oaks)
Cunningham, of Huntingdon. They have four chil-
dren : Dorothea Cunningham, born November 18,
1S88; Esther Bessie, January 21, 1890; Walter Mur-
ray, April 22, 1892 ; Maud Isabel, April 8, 1907 ; all
born in Manchester.
This noted old English name
WELLINGTON was very early transplanted to
America in the settlement of
the New England colonies. It has been worthily
identified with the settlement and development of
New England and has spread to the remotest dis-
tricts of the United States, where it has sustained
the well known traits of New England character,
and has contributed by its industry, perseverance
and sound sense, to the upbuilding and moral worth
of many communities.
(I) Roger Wellington, the emigrant ancestor,
was born about 1610, in England, and came to Amer-
ica in 1630. He was a planter, and one of the
founders of Watertown, Massachusetts, his name
appearing on the earliest list of proprietors. In the
division of lands he received a home stall of si.\-
teen acres, four acres of meadow and two of plow-
land, and the balance distributed in five other parcels.
To these he added lands and buildings by purchase.
He was elected to town offices, and shared with his
associates the duties and privileges of townsmen.
He married Mary Palgrave, eldest daughter of
Dr. Richard Palgrave, a physician of Charlestown,
^Massachusetts. Roger Wellington died ^larch 11.
1698. His children were : John, Mary, Joseph, Ben-
jamin, Oliver and Palgrave. Hon. Roger Sherman,
one of the signers of the Declaration of Indepen-
dence and later a United States senator of Con-
necticut, was a grandson of Roger Wellington.
(II) Joseph, son of Roger and Mary (Palgrave)
Wellington, was born October 9, 1643, in Watertown,
and was a farmer of that town. His first wife
Sarah died childless, February 5, 1683, and he was
married (second), June 6, 1684. to Elizabeth
Straight, daughter of Captain Thomas and Elizabeth
(Kimball) Straight, of Watertown. Both were ad-
mitted to full communion with the Watertown
church, July 31, 1687. He died July 30, 1714. Their
children were : Elizabeth, Thomas, Mary and Sus-
anna.
(III) Thomas, only son and second child of
Joseph and Elizabeth (Straight) Wellington, was
born November 10, 1686. in Watertown. and lived in
that part of Cambridge which is now Arlington,
^Massachusetts. He was one of the prudential com-
mittee men in 1737, and a foundation member of
the Precinct Church, of which Rev. Samuel Cook
was pa'^tor. He married (first), Rebecca Whitteniore.
who died November 6, 1734, and he married
(second), in 1735. to Cherry Stone. He died Julv
3. 1759. and his widow subsequently married Captain
^i^yf/ax^cz^^ ^cS^ ^^^^4--.--.,,^^
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
33
James Lnnc, of Bedford. Thomas Wellington's
children were : Rebecca, Joseph, Thomas, Susanna
and Elizabeth. Susanna married Abraham Hill and
their son Isaac was a distinguished governor of
New Hampshire.
(.IV) Thomas (2), second son and third child
of Thomas (i) and Rebecca (Whittemore) Welling-
ton, was born August 6, 1714, in Cambridge, and
was a farmer and inn holder. He lived in the part
of Watertown which was incorporated as Waltham
in 1638. He was married, March 13, 1734, to Mar-
garet Stone, who was born September 15. 1718,
daughter of Jonathan and Chary (Adams) Stone
of Lexington. She survived him nearly seventeen
years, dying September 7, 1800. He passed away
November 4, 1783. Their children were: Thomas,
Elizaljeth, John, Jonathan, Susanna (.died young),
Sanniel, Jo.^'iah, William, George, Rebecca, Susanna,
Thaddeus, Sarah and Joel.
(\') George, seventh son and ninth child of
Thomas (2) and JNlargaret (Stone) Wellington,
was born October 21, 1749, in Waltham, and resided
in that town and Jaffrey, New Hampshire, and
Cavendish, Vermont. He was a soldier in the Revo-
lution, participating in the Concord tight, the siege
of Boston and the battle of Bunker Hill, and was
later in the Continental regiment. He was married
in Waltham, December 24, 1772, to Lucy Peirce,
who was born March 27, 1755, daughter of Ephraim
and Lydia (White) Peirce. She died in Waltham,
April 29, 1793, and in 1796 Mr. Wellington removed
with his children to JafTrey, New Hampshire, and
thence to Cavendish, Vermont, in 1801. His chil-
dren were : Ephraim, Lydia, married Richard Wicks
of Royalton, Massachusetts; Lucy, married Deacon
David Gilmore, of JafFrey; Leonard; and John and
George, who settled in Maine.
(VI) Captain Leonard, second son and fourth
child of George and Lucy (Peirce) Wellington, was
born 1780, in Waltham, Massachusetts, and bap-
tized March 5, of that year. He grew up in his
native town and settled in Rindge, New Hampshire,
in 1S03. He was a hatter by trade and established
a hat shop in Rindge Center, in the wing of his
house. He subsequently engaged in farming, in
which he was successful. In the War of 1812 he
was in command of a company serving at Ports-
mouth in the autumn of 1814. For many years he
was an auctioneer, and conducted a majority of
the local vendues. He was married, December 4,
1805, to Eunice Earle, who was born September lO,
I777. daughter of John and Rebecca (Page) Earle,
of Rindge. She died in 1808 and he was married
(second), September 6, l8og, to Dorcus Priest, who
died August 3, 1S17, He was married (third), Jan-
uary, 1818, to Lucinda Page, who was born January
26^ 1790, in Rindge, daughter of Abijah and Mary
(Sautel) Page. She died December 22, 1847, and
he survived her a year and a half, dying May 22,
1849. There were two children by the first marriage,
four by the second, and eight by the third, namely :
Adeline L., Eunice E.. Eliza G., Leonard W. (died
young), Charles W., Leonard P., Gilman P., Lu-
cinila, Gcorgp P., Alary Ann, Lucy G., Joel, John
and Caroline.
(VII) Joel, son of Captain Leonard Wellington
and third son and sixth child of hi.s, third wife,
Lucinda (Page) Wellington, was born July 7, 1831,
in Rindge, and grew up in his native town, where
he early began the manufacture of lumber in the vil-
lage of East Rindge, In 1870, in connection with
Colonel Otis Wright, of Nashua, he bought the box
factory -of Reuben Ramsdell and a productive area
i— .3
of timber land. They founded at this time the
Union Box and Lumber Company, which has long
been a successful institution of the tow'n. In a few
years Mr. Wellington purchased the interest of his
partner, and continued - the business thus auspi-
ciously begun. He has ably conducted an important
industry. His factory was burned in 1880 and
again in 189 — . With fortitude and courage he has
erected new factories, and was the proprietor and
active manager of this substantial industry until
very recently, when he retired from business. He
has been a useful and interesting citizen in the con-
duct of town ai?airs, and was a selectman eight
years, moderator, six years, and representa-
tive of the town in 1873-4 and 1893. He
married, November 30, 1854, Harriet Eliza-
beth Ramsdell, who w-as born JMarch 16, 1837, a
daughter of Amos and Harriet (Wright) Ramsdell,
and a lineal descendant of Prudence (Cummings)
Wright, whose defense of the bridge in Peppered,
Massachusetts, and the arrest of Leonard Whiting,
the Tory, is one of the heroic exploits of the Revo-
lution. Mrs. Wellington died November i, 1902.
She was the mother of three sons : Herbert D.,
Arthur J. and Elsworth. Tlie youngest died in
childhood. The others are mentioned at length
below.
Herbert D., eldest son of Joel and Harriet E.
(Ramsdell) Wellington, was born in Rindge, Sep-
tember 18, 1856. He married, September 15. 1881.
Harriet A. Wright, born April i, 1862. daughter of
Laban and Susan Adaline (Sawin) Wright of Ash-
burnham. Massachusetts. He was supervisor; select-
man and representative of Rindge, and removed,
in 1899, from that town to Fitchburg, Massachusetts
wdiere he now resides. Two of their three children
died in infancy. Their daughter. Bertha .Elizabeth,
born June 16; 1884, graduated at the Fitchburg
high school, class of 1902.
(VIII) Arthur James, second son of Joel and
Harriet E. (Ramsdell) VN'ellington, was born Feb-
ruary 28, i860, in Rindge, and received his primary
education in the public schools of his native town.
He was subsequently a student at Gushing Academy,
Ashburnham, Massachusetts. At an early age he
became the foreman in the factory of his father and
for several years conducted a store owned by the
Union Box & Lumber Company. Trained to the
business of manufacturing, he easily and naturally
assumed the management of the lumber trade and
the manufacture of bo.xes when his father retired
from the business, and he is now actively carrying
forward this enterprise which was founded so long
ago in the town. He was a man of excellent busi-
ness capacity, has long been a member of the board
of education, and has served as supervisor and post-
master at East Rindge since 1897. His energy and
industry are indicated by the fact that he became
foreman in the factory while yet a youth, and his
easy transition from factory to store and vice
versa. The business requires the employment of
tw'enty-five hands and is flourishing under his charge.
He attends the Congregational Church, and is a
member of Monadnock Lodge No. 90, Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, of East Jaffrey, New Hamp-
shire. In politics he has always been an ardent
Republican. He is clerk and treasurer of the Me-
chanics Hall Association of East Rindge. He was
married in Rindge. June 7. 1886, to Susan Eliza-
beth Lloyd, daughter of James and Agnes Wilson
(McAdams) Lloyd. They are the parents of four
children, all of whom are graduates or students of
Gushing Academj' — Ida Maud, the eldest, gradu-
34
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
ated in 1904; Alice Georgia in 1907; Beatrice Agnes
is a member of the class of 1910; Ralph Arthur
John, is the youngest.
This family is traced from very
WILKINS early times in English history, and
was founded in New England by
an ancestor who was one of the most prosperous
men of his time in the Colony. The oldest families
of this name in the United States are all from one
ancestor and include many members of promi-
nence.
The ancestor of the Wilkins family in Wales,
Robert de Wintons, went from England to Gla-
morganshire (now Breckmock county), Wales, in
the year 1090. He was one of the nobles sent by
William Rufus, the King, to subdue the Welsh
who caused him much trouble. The expedition was
led by Robert Fitz Hamon. After the Welsh had
retreated to the mountains Robert de Wintons re-
mained and built a castle and was lord of the
manor. The line of the Wilkins family in Wales
is published in several histories of ancient Wales,
with the crest and coat-or-arms — a Wyvern.
(I) Bray Wilkins, the ancestor of the Wilkins
family in New England, was born in 1610. He came
from Wales and settled in Salem, Massachusetts,
in 1628 or 1630. There is a record of his being there
in 1630, and the family tradition in Salem states
that he came in 162S with Endicott. As the list
of passengers on that vessel has not yet been found,
there is no documentary proof that he came with
Endicott, but it is probably true, as the ancient
tradition during the generations has so positively
asserted it to be so. Bray Wilkins went to Dor-
chester and was one of the first Jand owners, or
proprietors, as they were called in Colonial times
in Dorchester. He took the freeman's oath. May 14,
1634. Fifteen years or more he lived in Dorchester,
and then returned to Salem and purchased a tract
of seven hundred acres of land which had been
granted to Governor Richard Bellingham by the
general court. Afterward he added smaller tracts
of land to this until he owned nearly a thousand
acres, and his domain extended two miles along
the line of Reading. His estate was known as
Will's Hill, as the hill on the place had formerly
been the home of an Indian known as Black Will.
On this estate Bray Wilkins spent the remainder
of his life, living, according to the records, "like
a patriarch surrounded by his children and chil-
dren's children, and their children," for he died
January, 1702, at the age of ninety-two, most highly
esteemed by all. The record of the baptism of
his children is found in the book of the First
Church in Dorchester. After returning to Salem,
he and his wife and older children were mem-
bers of the First Church in that town, and Bray
and Anna Wilkins are the first signatures to the
petition for permission to withdraw from the
church in Salem for the purpose of forming one at
Salem Village, as his estate was nine miles from
Salem and but two and a half miles from Salem
Village (now Danvers), where a church was founded
when a sufficient number of families had settled
in that part of the town. This was the church of
which the minister, Samuel Paris, took so active
a part in the witchcraft delusions in 1692. About
twenty-five years after the death of Bray Wilkins,
his estate and some of his neighbors were set off
to form the town of Middleton. Bray Wilkins'
wife's name was Anna Gingell. and they had eight
children, six sons and two daughters ; Samuel,
Jolm, Lydia, Thomas, ^Margaret, Henry, Benjamin
and James.
(H) John, second son and child of Bray and
Anna (Gingell) Wilkins, was baptized March 2,
1642, and died before the completion of his thir-
tieth year, in January. 1672. His wife's name ap-
pears to have been Mary, but no record of their
children's births has been discovered.
(Ill) John (2), son of John (i) and Mary
Wilkins, probably resided for a time in that part
of Salem now called Danvers, and subsequently
lived for several years in Middleton, Massachu-
setts, whence he removed to the northerly part of
Marlboro, and there resided for the remainder of
his life, and died May 14, 1763. The church rec-
ords of Salem show intention of marriage, pub-
lished October 24, 1713, of John Wilkins and Mary
Goodale. Their children, born in Middleton, were :
Josiah, John and Edward.
(,1V) Josiah, eldest son of John (2) and Mary
(Goodale) Wilkins, was born July i, 1718. He
married Lois Bush, who was born March 8, 1721,
daughter of Jonathan and Sarah Bush. Lois died
May 25, 1796, surviving her husband, whose death
occurred August 21, 1784. Their children were:
John, Jonathan (died young), Mary, Josiah, Jona-
than, Levi, Lois and David.
(V) Jonathan, fifth child and fourth son of
Josiah and Lois (Bush) Wilkins, was born in
Marlboro, June 19, 1755. He was a student in
theology at Dartmouth College, from which he was
graduated in 1779, and subsequently went to Concord
as a candidate for the pastorate. He continued to
preach in that capacity until December 17, 1786,
when he received a unanimous call from the church
to become its regular pastor, and on the following
day a similar invitation was tendered him by the
town, guaranteeing a salary of one hundred pounds,
with the use of the parsonage (excepting the
Meadow lot) and the sum of two hundred pounds
towards a settlement. This offer he declined, and
abandoning the pulpit he turned his attention to
agriculture, purchasing a farm at the "Eleven Lots"
(so called), located at the juncture of the roads
on the west side, in the immediate vicinity of the
residence of the Countess of Rumford. His house
was still standing in 1855. Jonathan Wilkins served
as a selectman for Concord for the years 1801-03-
04-05, was commissioned a justice of the peace in
1802, and frequently officiated as moderator at town
meetings. In 1797 he was chosen clerk of the
church, and in 181 1 was made a deacon, in which
capacity lie continued to serve until his death, which
occurred March 9, 1830. July 3, 1787, he married
Sarah Hall, who was born August 29, 1770, daugh-
ter of Jeremiah and Esther Whittemore (Wood-
man) Hall, and granddaughter of Deacon Joseph
Hall, Senior. She became the mother of twelve
children, namely : Sophia Janette, Jeremiah Hall,
Joseph H., Sarah, Esther, Fanny, Cynthia, Caroline,
Rufus, Mary T., Erastus and Charlotte. Sarah be-
came the wife of Dr. John L. Sargent (see Sar-
gent, VI). The mother of these children died
February 16, 1826. ,
■ (VI) Jeremiah Hall, second child and eldest
son of Jonathan and Sarah (Hall) Wilkins, was
born in Concord, December 25, 1791. He went from
Concord to Pembroke about the year 1815, and for
a period of forty years was a prosperous merchant
dealing in dry goods, groceries and other merchan-
dise. At the time of his death, which occurred
October 20, 1864, he was considered one of the
wealthiest residents of Pembroke, and he was also
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
35
one of the ablest business men and astute public
ofiicials, possessing to the fullest extent the esteem
and confidence of his fellow-townsmen. As select-
man, town treasurer and representative to the legis-
lature, he was instrumental in forwarding the inter-
ests of the community of which he was for half
a century a prominent and honorable member. In
politics he was originally a Whig, but his opinions
in relation to the slavery question led him into the
ranks of the Republican party at its formation, and
he was a loyal supporter of the Union during the
Civil war. He was a Congregationalist and an
active church-member. On September i6, 1817,
he married Mary Thompson, who was born in
Bow, New Hampshire, December 4, 1799, daugh-
ter of Robert and Judith (Noyes; Thompson, of
that town (see Thompson, V). She died in Pem-
broke, May 19, 1S79, having been the mother of
fourteen children, whose names are : Sarah, born
February 28, 1818, married David Austin. Charles,
December 21, 1819, died November 2, 1820. Alan-
son, jNIarch 31, 1822, died June 16, 1S63. Sophia,
August 5, 1824, married Samuel Chandler, of Pea-
cham, Vermont, June 23, 1847, and died November
24, 1869. Francis, April 23, 1826, married Ann
George, of Warren, New Hampshire, July 30, 1854,
and died March 15, 1901. George, December 29,
1827, died July 22, 1829. Caroline, September 15,
1831, married, January 23, 1844, Franklin Hale, of
Chester, died September 15, 1857. Thompson, De-
cember 27, 1S32, died October 3, 1833. Henry, July
7, 1836, served as a marine in the United States
navy during the Rebellion. Charlotte, June 27,
1838, died June 13, 1840. Mary Esther, March 23,
1840, married Dr. John Sullivan, December 7. 1863.
Hall, September 14, 1S42, married Lizzie H. East-
man. Joseph, the date of whose birth will be re-
corded presently. Harriet, April 25, 1848, married
Dr. Frederick E. Potter, United States navy (see
Potter, Vni).
(.VH) Joseph, youngest son of Jeremiah Hall
and Mary (Thompson) Wilkins, was born in Sun-
cook, New Hampshire, May 24, 1844. After con-
cluding his attendance at the public schools he went
to Chicago, and in the summer of 1864 enlisted as
a private in Company F, One Hundred and Thirty-
second Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, with
which he served in the Civil war until December of
that year, when he was honorably discharged and
mustered out. He participated in the battles of
guerrilla warfare. Learning the art of photography
he has followed it continuously from 1867 to the
present time, and for the past thirty years has
been identified with that business in Suncook, hav-
ing attained a most gratifying success. Politically
he acts with the Republican party. He is a comrade
of the Grand Army of the Republic and belongs
to Louis Bell Post, No. 3, of Manchester, New
Hampshire. On June 23, 1897, Mf- Wilkins was
joined in marriage with Lora Emery, who was
born in Allenstown. New Hampshire, daughter of
Seth and Lorinda H. (Ames) Emery.
(II) Thomas, third son of Bray and Anna
(Gingell) Wilkins, was baptized March 16, 1647,
and died October, 1717. He married Hannah
Nichols, May, 1667. Their children were : Hannah,
born 1669, Thomas, Bray, Joseph, Isaac and Henry.
(III) Bray (2), second son and third child of
Thomas and Hannah (Nichols) Wilkins, was born
in Salem, Massachusetts. He married February
10, 1701-02, Rebecca Knight, of Salem, and they
had nine children, five sons and four daughters:
Rebecca, born May 18, 1703; Penelope, Septembel
22, 1704; Israel, January 6, 1706; Phineas, Decem-
ber 26, 1708; Ithamar, September 15. 1711; Me-
hitable, September 6, 1712; Abigail, July 28, 1716;
Joshua, August 26, 1718; Ichabod, July 7, 1720.
(IV) Israel, third child and eldest son of Bray
(2) and Rebecca (Knight) Wilkins, was born in
Salem, Massachusetts, January 7, 1706. He mar--
ried Margaret Case, July 18, 1726, and they had
children: Israel, Bray, Hannah, ?klargaret, Rachel
and Mary.
(V) Bray (3), second son of Israel and Mar-
garet (Case) Wilkins, was born in Salem, April
20, 1729. He was a minute man and answered
the Lexington alarm on the 19th of April, 1775;
he enlisted for eight months immediately after, at
Cambridge, and served in the battle of Bunker Hill,
June 17, 1775, in Captain Archelaus Thomas's com-
pany. Colonel Ebenezer Bridge's (Twenty-seventh)
regiment. He married, April 11, 1750, Lucy W'il-
kins, born March 16, 1729, daughter of Hezekiah
and Mehitable Wilkins. (i\Iention of sons. Bray
and Hezekiah, and descendants appears in this
article.)
(VI) Bray (4), son of Bray (3) and Lucy
(Wilkins) W'ifkins, was born April, 1755, in Middle-
ton, and lived in that town. He was a soldier in
the Revolution. He was married, jNIarch 6, 1781,
to Lucy French Blanchard, of New Boston, New
Flampsiiire, a n' afterwards lived on Wolf Hill, in
Deering, that 5-ate. She was born April 21, 1755,
a daughter of Nicholas and Priscilla (French)
Blanchard, of Hollis. They had children : Lucy,
Sally, Ann, Betsey, Polly, David, James, John and
Isaac and Rebecca (twins).
(VII) James, second son of Bray (4) and
Lucy French (Blanchard) Wilkins, was born in
Deering, New Hampshire, November 10, 1791. He
moved to Henniker, New Hampshire, April 18,
1831, and erected the buildings near the center of
the town, where his son James afterwards lived.
He was a wheelwright by trade, a man of skill
and an excellent citizen. He was a Republican in
politics, but never cared to hold office, and was
a member of the Congregational Church. He was
a strong advocate of, the temperance and anti-slavery
movements. He married (first) Abigail Chase, of
Deering, New Hampshire. They had one daughter,
Abigail. On November 28, 1820, Mr. Wilkins mar-
ried his second wife, Sarah Fulton, daughter of
Alexander and Sarah (Blair) Fulton, the last
named a native of New Boston. Mrs. Wilkins was
born in Deering, New Hampshire, February 10,
1804, and was a woman of fine taste, excellent judg-
ment and high ideals. Most of her married life
was spent in Henniker, where she was a member
of the Congregational Church, and where she reared
a family of ten children, six of whom she was
called to bury in infancy and youth. In later years
Mrs. Wilkins found a home with her daughter,
j\Irs. Oliver Pillsbury, at Concord, New Hampshire,
where she was devotedly cared for and where her
well spent life came to a peaceful close, January
21, 1892, at the age of eighty-eight years. Mr.
James Wilkins died June 7, 1869. The ten chil-
dren of James and Sarah (Fulton) Wilkins are
thus briefly described: Gawn. born January 16,
1822, wheelwright, merchant, postmaster, served in
the Civil war, where he was first lieutenant of the
Seventeenth Illinois Regiment; married Lucy W.
Cogswell, November 17, 1870, and resided in Hen-
niker. Sarah, born July ig. 1824, died October
21, 1825. Betsey Jane, born January 9, 1827, died
August II, 1869. Sarah is mentioned below. James,
born January 10, 1831, married Charlotte A. Abbott,
December 23, 1858; was a wheelwright, farmer,
36
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
selectman and town treasurer in Henniker. George
May, born October lo, 1833, died in the Civil war.
Charles, born July 7, 1835, died in the Civil war.
Henrietta, born November 21, 1837, married James
S. Taylor and (second^ Charles A. Sayward, of
Ipswich, Massachusetts. William H. (twin of
Henrietta), born November 21, 1837, died March
13. 1S39. Mary Childs, borri Alarch 13, 1840, died
July b, 1859. Few parents made a larger sacrifice
for their country than iMr. and Mrs. James Wil-
kins. Of the four sons who lived to maturity three
served in the Civil war, and two gave their lives
during the summer of 1863. Lieutenant Charles
Wilkins enlisted in Company B, Second Regiment,
New Hampshire Volunteers, June i, 1861, for three
years. He was severely wounded at the first battle
of Bull Run. Before his wound was healed he
received a commission in the First Regiment,
United States Infantry, and joined his command
then stationed at Corinth, Mississippi. He took
part in several battles and skirmishes, was fatally
wounded during the siege of Vicksburg, and died
at a hospital in St. Louis, June 20, 1863. His body
was brought home and was buried with Masonic
honors amid the mourning of the whole town. His
was the first body buried in the new cemetery.
Lieutenant George M. Wilkins enlisted as a private
in Company K, Sixteenth Regiment, New Hamp-
shire Volunteers. He entered the service November
20, 1862, and saw active duty with his regiment
in Louisiana ; was promoted to quartermaster-ser-
geant and second lieutenant, and died at Belle-
fontaine, Ohio, on the return of the regiment by
way of the Mississippi river. His death occurred
August 26, 1863, and his body was brought home
and buried with Masonic honors, barely two months
after his younger brother had been laid away.
(VHI) Sarah, third daughter and fourth child
of James and Sarah (Fulton) Wilkins, was born
in Deering, New Hampshire, January 6, 1829. She
was married to Oliver PiUsbury, December 24,
1850 (see PiUsbury, VH).
(VI) Hezekiah, son of Bray and Lucy (Wil-
kins) Wilkins, was born in j\Iiddleton (formerly
a part of Salem) and baptized May 22, 1763. He
moved to New Hampshire, and settled in Deering,
where he died November 10, 1837, aged seventy-
four years. He married Margaret Armor, born
1762, daughter of Andrew and Margaret (Spear)
Armor, of Windham, New Hampshire, who died
December 26, 1841, aged seventy-nine. Children:
Gawn, Polly, Sally, Isaac, Rodney and Andrew.
(VII) Rodney, son of Hezekiah and Margaret
(Armor) Wilkins, was born in Deering, New
Hampshire, July 26, 1805, and died at Hillsborough
Bridge, November 3, 1861. He married, April, 1842,
Harriet L. EUinwood, daughter of David and Alice
(Aiken) EUinwood, born August 28, 1819, died
January 16, 1893. They had four children: Har-
riet Alice, born September 17, 1843 ; Charles Taylor,
February 15, 1846; Eudora Calista, December 29,
1847, died January 13, 1857 ; Clarence Herbert, May
12, 1855, married, June 11, 1889, Alice Wade, born
October 19, i860.
(VIII) Charles Taylor, son of Rodney and
Harriet L. (EUinwood) Wilkins, was born on a
farm in Deering, February 15, 1846. He resided
for a time at Lebanon, and later removed to Man-
chester where he has since lived. He learned the
trade of woodmoulder, and is an ingenious man
and expert w^orkman. He married, December 13,
1871, Emma A. Stewart, born May, 1850. They have
one child,. George Clarence.
(IX) George Clarence Wilkins, M. D., only
son of Charles Taylor and Emma A. (Stewart)
Wilkins, was born at Lebanon, New Hampshire.
]\Iarch 8, 1876, and came with his parents to Man-
chester ivhen a boy of four years of age. He
acquired his literary education in the schools of
Manchester, and graduated from the high school
in 1894. As a youth he was fond of athletic sports
and popular among his fellows. He was first lieu-
tenant of the Manchester High School Cadets, busi-
ness manager of the school paper and a manager
of the base ball and football teams. He spent a
j-ear taking a special course in preparation for the
Harvard Medical School, having Dr. William W.
Parsons as his medical preceptor. Entering Har-
vard in 1895, he graduated M. D. magna cum laude,
in 1899, being tenth in a class of one hundred and
ten students. After graduation he was house sur-
geon to Carney Flospital, Boston, for a year ; then
house physician to the Boston Lying-in-Hospital
till June, 1901. Taking the position of assistant
physician at McLean Hospital he filled that place
from June to September, when he became assistant
superintendent and resident physician at the Boston
Harbor, where he remained till January i, 1903.
Returning to Manchester at the latter date he
opened an office and has succeeded in establish-
ing a paying practice and an enviable reputation
in the profession. He is vis^iting surgeon to
Elliott Hospital, member of the New Hampshire
Medical Society, Massachusetts Medical Society,
New Hampshire Surgical Club, Manchester Medical
Association, of which he is secretary, and of Man-
chester Academy of Medicine. He is also a jSIason,
a member of Washington Lodge, No. 61, Man-
chester. He is a political worker, but votes the
straight Republican ticket. June 17, 1903, Dr.
Wilkins married Sara L. Stuart, daughter of Zach-
ariah B. and Rose L. (George) Stuart, born in
jNlanchester, September 20. 1877.
(IV) The first of .whom authentic record can
be found in this line was Stephen Wilkins, who
was born 1712, in Salem, Massachusetts, as shown
by his family record. The records of Salem contain
no mention of him and it is quite possible that he
was born in some town near Salem. He may have
been a son of John (2) Wilkins and his w'ife Abi-
gail, who were married April 10, 1710, in Salem.
On September 15. 171 1, Nehemiah Wilkins. of Box-
ford, was married to Susanna Wilkins, of Salem.
We have no record of their children. It is pos-
sible that Stephen might have been among them.
He died April i, 1742, aged thirty years. He was
married, August 24, 1732, at the age of about twenty
years, to Hannah Curtis, who was born in 1714.
Their children were : Phoebe and Stephen.
(V) Stephen (2), only son of Stephen (i)
and Hannah (Curtis) Wilkins, .was born May 17,
I733> in IMiddleton, Massachusetts. He was a sol-
dier in the French and Indian war and participated
in the storming of the fort at Ticonderoga under
General Abercrombie in 1758. At the beginning
of the Revolutionary struggle he was captain of a
militia company at Middleton, ^Massachusetts. On
the night of the i6th of June, 1775, he marched
with his company to Charlestown arriving there
on the morning of the 17th after the British had
placed batteries to attack Charlestown Neck. The
colonel commanding the regiment of which Captain
Wilkins' company was a part, refused to permit
his command to pass over the Neck and join their
comrades on Bunker Hill in the memorable battle of
that day. Soon after this Captain Wilkins was made
lieutenant in the Continental army, and was sta-
tioned for a period of eight months on Winter Hill
(7JIl^c.^^ua 4tG ^,i(}^^^-l^
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
37
in Charlestown. He was subsequently commissioned
captain and ordered with his company to Ticonder-
oga. Returning from the army in the spring of
1777, Captain Wilkins sold his farm in Jvliddleton,
Massachusetts, and purchased one in ^lerrimack,
New Hampshire. This was situated on the north
bank of the Souhegan river, there and one-half miles
above its mouth. His residence on this farm re-
mained standing until within a short period of
the present time. It was occupied as a residence
for more than one hundred years. Previous to the
construction of a meetinghouse in Merrimack, re-
ligious meetings were held in this house, then owned
by Captain Joseph Blanchard. The farm remained
in the hands of Captain Wilkin's descendants until
1848, when it was sold. He and his wife were for
many years consistent members of Rev. Dr. Bur-
nap's church. Both lived to a good old age and
were respected and beloved by their contemporaries.
Stephen (2) Wilkins was married, April 11, 1760,
to Anna Berry, at Middleton, Massachusetts. He
died at Merrimack, August 27, 1832, having sur-
vived his wife more than twelve years. She died
April 22, 1820. Their children were : Andrew,
Stephen (died you4ig), Hannah, Lucy, Stephen,
Levi and James.
(VI) Levi, son of Stephen (2) and Anna
(Berry) Wilkins, was born January 23, 1776, in
Middleton, Massachusetts, and was a child when
taken by his parents to Merrimack, New Hampshire,
where he grew up and passed his life. He died
there August 14, 1845, in his seventieth year. He
was a farmer by occupation and resided on the
homestead of his father in Merrimack. He was
an active member of the Congregational Church,
and his example was entirely consistent with his
professions. His nature was 'pleasant and social,
he was kind to both his family and his neighbors
and was almost universally beloved and respected
in the town. For seven years he was elected to the
office of selectman, which he tilled with credit to
himself and to the satisfaction of his constituents.
He was married, January 27, 1803, to Ann Mc-
Cauley, who was born Sep<sember 15, 1779, in
Merrimack, and survived her husband more than
eighteen years, dying at Nashua, November 9, 1863,
in her eighty-fifth year. They had severt children,
namely: Alexander ]McC., Roxanna, Levi T. (died
young), Lucy A., Hannah, Levi and one which died
unnamed in infancy.
(VH) Alexander McCauley, eldest child of
Levi and Ann (McCauley) Wilkins, was born
February 25, 1806, and died November 28. 1896,
aged ninety years. He obtained in the district
school an education that enabled him tO' teach
winters for many years. He spent the remainder
of his time in cultivating his farm and in lumbering.
He owned a mill on Souhegan river, where he cut
considerable lumber. In 1856 he bought the farm
on which he spent the remainder of his life. He was
a man of means and sterling integrity and of much
influence in his town. He settled many estates
and was a director in the Indian Head Bank of
Nashua. In the political affairs of the town he was
a central figure. He held the office of justice of
the peace thirty years, town clerk, chairman of
the board of selectmen five years, and represented
the town in the legislature in 1855. He was a mem-
ber of the committees which had charge ol the
Thornton ^lonument and the Soldiers' Monument.
He married, December 2, 1834, Caroline Richmond
Stearns, who was born August 13. 1812, daughter
of James and (Lydia) (Glover) Stearns, of Am-
herst. She died June 13, 1894, aged eighty-three
years. Their children were: Lucy Ann, Frank-
lin Addison, James M. and i\lary Caroline.
(VIII) Lucy Ann, eldest child of Alexander
McG. and Caroline Richmond (Stearns) Wilkins,
was born in Merrimack, January 22, 1836, and was
educated in the district schools, at Magaw Insti-
tute, and at Nashua and Francistown, graduating
from the McGaw Institute at the age of eighteen.
She soon afterward began teaching ancf made that
her vocation in life for several years. She taught
successfully in every district in Merrimack, con-
tinuing her labors until 1879, when she left the
school room to become the housekeeper and com-
panion of her father who was then seventy-three
years old. She faithfully discharged her duties
to him until his death in 1894. December 11, 1895,
she became the wife of James W. Fosdick, of Msr-
rimack.
(I) Aaron Wilkins, son of Uriah and Lydia
Wilkins, was born in Middleton, Massachusetts,
October 20, 1745, and was killed in Amherst, New
Hampshire, by a falling tree, April 23, iSoo, aged
fifty-five. He settled in Amlierst with his fam.ily
in 1779. He married Lydia Smith, who was born
November 9, 1755, and died March 25, 1837, at the
age of eighty-two. Their children were : Aaron,
Alexander, Lydia (died young), Naomi, Lydia,
Uriah, Eliab, Clara Smith and Orpah.
(II) Aaron (2), eldest child of Aaron d)
and Lydia (Smith) Wilkins, was born in INIiddle-
ton. Massachusetts, February 17, 1778, and died
in Amherst, June 3. 1862, aged eighty-four. He
succeeded to the paternal homestead, . and was a
substantial, progressive citizen, and an upright and
honest man. He married, September 16, 1824, Sarah
Flint, widow of Simeon Flint, and daughter of Dea-
con Jacob and Sarah (Lamson) Kendall, of Amherst.
She was a great-granddaughter of Samuel L;un-
son, who resided in Reading, Massachusetts, in 1676.
She was born January 17, 1784, and died September
14, 1861. They had but one child, Aaron S., whose
sketch follows.
(III) Aaron Smith, only child of Aaron (2)
and Sarah (Kendall) Wilkins, was born in Am-
herst, January 25, 1827, and died April, 1900, aged
seventy-three. He resided on the ancestral acres,
and was a man of substance and influence. Jle
was selectman in i87S-76-77> was commissi ined
justice of the peace in 1874, and elected deacon in
the Congregational Church, April 9, 1874, serving
until his death. He was a skillful farmer of ad-
vanced ideas, and a past master of Souhegan Grange,
No. 10, Patrons of Husbandry. He married, No-
vember 18, 1852, Martha Abigail McClure, who was
born in Merrimack, April 15, 1829, daughter of
Asa and Mary (Allen) McClure. They were the
parents of seven children : Aaron ^lilton, George
Henry, Frank Edwin, Charles, Lincoln, Bertha
Maria, Harry Albert and Lizzie Lawrence.
(IV) Aaron ^Milton, eldest child of Aaron S.
and Martha A. (McClure) Wilkins. was born in
Amherst, January 22. 1854. He was educated in
the public schools and at McCoUum Institute, j\Iount
Vernon. He was a teamster for a time, and in
1S73 began work in the saw mill of Frank Harts-
horn. He is now a niember of the firm of Wil-
kins Brothers, box manufacturers, of Milford. For
years he has been a leading man in the business
enterprises of Milford. He has been a town super-
visor, police judge, chairman of the board of edu-
cation, and was senator from the fifteenth district
in 1903. He is a moderator of the town, an oflice
he has filled continuously for eleven years, and is
a past master of Souhegan Grange. No. lo. Patrons.
38
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
of Husbandry, and of Custos Morem Lodge, No. 42,
Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a deacon
of the Congregational Church at Amherst, and
superintendent if its Sunday school for twenty
years. He married, September 23, 1880, Lucy A.
Hartshorn (see Hartshorn), who was born in Am-
herst, December 10, i860, daughter of Frank and
Elizabeth P. (Knight) Hartshorn, of Amherst. She
is a member of the Kings Daughters, and active
in church work. They have three children :
Harold, born April 25, 1887; Aaron Wallace, Au-
gust 5, 1889; Miriam E., September S, 1894.
Several Watsons came to this
WATSON country prior to 1650. Tradition has
it that they were brothers, or near
relatives, but the only fact in corroboration of this
is the circumstantial evidence of similarity of family
names, which was maintained for two or three
generations, and some of them to the present time.
It is said that they came from England, and it is
known that Robert, who settled in Windsor, Con-
necticut, in 1632, was a bellfounder from London.
John owned an estate in Roxbury, Massachusetts,
as early as 1638. Thomas was admitted to the
church in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1639. Another
John was in Hartford, Connecticut, as early as
1644. Nicodemus sailed from England for Vir-
ginia in 1635.
(I) John Watson, the ancestor of this line,
resided in Salisbury, jNIassachusetts, and on March
22, 1687-88, married Ruth Griffin. He died April
25, 1710. He and his wife were signers of the
Bradford Petition. Their children, born in Salis-
bury, were : Abraham, John, Ebenezer, Hannah,
Jonathan and Ruth.
(H) Jonathan, son of John and Ruth (Griffin)
Watson, was born October 12, 1696. When the town
of South Hampton, New Hampshire was incorpor-
ated in 1742, it was constituted from a part of Ames-
bury and Salisbury, Massachusetts, and in the trans-
action Jonathan's estate and that of several others
were included in the new town, so that during the
remainder of his life he was a citizen of the town of
South Hampton, New Hampshire. His occupation
was that of a cooper. He saw considerable service
as a soldier. In 1724 he served in Captain Samuel
Wheelwright's company, in an expedition against the
Indians in Maine ; in 1745 he served in Captain
Ladd's company. Colonel Moore's regiment, in the
expedition against Louisburg. He was for many
years a prominent citizen of South Hampton, taking
an active part in the affairs of the tow-n, particularly
in the religious controversies of the time with re-
spect to church affairs in that section of the state,
as is shown by the numerous documents and peti-
tions now on file in the state department. He mar-
ried, in Amesbury, Massachusetts, Eleanor Flanders,
born January 19, 1701-02, daughter of Daniel and
Sarah (Colby) Flanders. Their children were:
Nicodemus, Zebediah, Daniel, Peletiah, Parmenas
and John, and it is said by some of their descendants
that there were also an Obediah, a Nathaniel, a Ben-
jamin, and perhaps others. Of the first six we have
authentic records, with their family histories.
(Ill) Nicodemus, son of Jonathan and Eleanor
(Flanders) Watson, was born about 1725. probably,
and died in Weare, New Hampshire, in 1812. He
settled in Hampstead, New Hampshire, where he
resided until a short time before the Revolution,
when he removed to Weare. His occupation was
farming, and he was one of the citizens of the town
who, in 1776, signed the New Hampshire Declara-
tion of Independence, known as the ".'^association
Test." Evidently he was one of the more prominent
citizens of the town. In 1782 he was elected one
of a committee of five to report upon a "form of
government." He married (published January 16,
1750, marriage recorded, 1754), Elizabeth, born
August 8, 1732, daughter of Joshua and Elizabeth
(Simonds) Harriman, and a descendant of Leonard
Harriman, who emigrated from Rowley, Yorkshire
county, England, to Salem, Massachusetts, 1638.
The children of Nicodemus and Elizabeth (Harri-
man), Watson, all born in Hampstead, New Hamp-
shire, were: Daniel, Abijah, Caleb and Ithamar.
(IV) Caleb, son of Nicodemus and Elizabeth
(Harriman) Watson, was born December 15, 1761,
died April 28, 1832, at Salisbury, New Hampshire.
In 1778 he removed with his family from Weare to
Salisbury where he built a log house and endured all
the hardships incident to pioneer life; and developed a
valuable farm, and became a trusted citizen of the
locality. His chief business was farming, but he
was a natural mechanic, and was skilled in the mak-
ing of cart wheels, ox yokes, barrels, boots and
shoes, and other necessaries of life. He was for
many, years a deacon in the Freewill Baptist Church.
He served as a soldier in the Revolution, in "Capt.
Samuel Runnels' Company of Foot from the State
of New Hampshire now in the service of the United
States of America Stationed on the Western front-
iers under the command of IMajr. Whitcomb," and
also served as a soldier in 1780 in the Coos country.
He married, December i, 1781, Lydia, daughter
of Thomas Howlet, of Hillsborough, New Hamp-
shire. She was born November 23, 1761, died March
20, 1842. Thomas Howlet was one of the earlier
settlers of Henniker, New Haihpshire, having come
from Massachusetts in 1766. He was a man of
some prominence in' town affairs. The children of
Caleb and Lydia (Howlet) Watson were: Thomas,
Ithamar, Caleb, Lydia, Safford, Moses, Alice, Han-
nah and Mark K. (Mention of Caleb (2) and his
descendants is given below).
(V) Ithamar, son of Caleb and Elizabeth (How-
let) Watson, was born in Weare, New Hampshire,
September 7, 1784, died in Salisbury, New Hamp-
shire, November 2, 1855. He was a school teacher,
mechanic, and later a farmer. He made wool card-
ing machines, spinning jennies, etc., and was said
to be a master workman. In the War of 1812 he
was captain of a company of minute men, and for
some years of the Blackwater' militia company at
Salisbury. His fine physique and military bearing
well fitted him for a commander. For many years
he was master of the Warner, New Hampshire,
Lodge of Masons. On December 25, 1807. he mar-
ried Dolly (Dorothy), born October 4, 1784, daugh-
ter of Stephen and Keziah (Cheney) Thurston, of
Rowley, Massachusetts. She was fifth in descent
from Daniel Thurston, who emigrated from England
to New England about 1650. She died June 6, 1859.
Their children were : Henry Lyman, Malinda
Cheney, Joseph Warren and Porter Baldwin.
(VI) Porter Baldwin, son of Ithamar and Dolly
(Thurston) Watson, w^as born in Corinth, Vermont^
July 13, 1825, and died in Littleton. New Hamp-
shire, January 22, 1894. He settled in Salisbury,
New Hampshire, and was a farmer by occupation.
Fle was one of the selectmen of that town in 1858-
60, and representative to the legislature in 1862-63.
In 1864 he removed to Newbury, Vermont, and in
1869 to Littleton, New Hampshire, where for a few
year he was actively engaged in the manufacture of
leather and gloves. In 1883-85 he was treasurer of Graf-
ton county, declining a re-noniination. In 1889 he
was selectman and overseer of the poor ; was an
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
39
Odd Fellow, and a member of the Unitarian Clnirch.
Married, October 17, 1848, Luvia Ellen Ladd. of
Lunenburg, Vermont, born November 25, 1830,
daughter of Pascal P. and Catherine (Rice) Ladd,
being seventh in line of descent from Daniel Ladd,
who emigrated from England to New England in
the "Mary and John of London," and took the oath
of allegiance, March 24, 1633-34, and who became
one of the original settlers of Haverhill, Massachu-
setts. He was a soldier in the Narragansett war.
The children of Porter Baldwin and Luvia Ellen
(Ladd) Watson were: Irving Allison, Idella, Wal-
ter Warren, Fred (died young), Alice May, Fred
Alland, Angle Bell, Minnie Candace and Albert
Ladd.
(VH) Irvin Allison, son of Porter Baldwin and
Luvia Ellen (Ladd) Watson, was born in Salis-
bury, New Hampshire, September 6, 1849. He re-
ceived a preliminary education in the common
schools of New Hampshire, and at the Newbury,
(Vermont) Seminary and Collegiate Institute; com-
menced the study of medicine in 1868; attended lec-
' tures at Dartmouth Medical College, and at the
medical department of the University of Vermont,
and was graduated M. D. from the latter institution
in 1871, receiving from Dartmouth College the
degree A. M. in 1885. Immediately after graduating
in medicine. Dr. Watson commenced practice at
Groveton (Northumberland) New Hampshire, re-
maining there ten years. During his residence in
that town he was several years superintendent of
schools ; was twice, in 1879 and 1881, elected to the
state legislature ; and was surgeon to the Grand
Trunk Railway. He was largely instrumental in
securing the passage of the act creating the state
board of health, was appointed one of its members,
and at its organization in September, 1881, was
elected secretary and executive officer of the board.
In October of that year he removed to Concord,
where he has since resided, still holding the office
of secretary and executive officer of the state board
of health.
■ In 1S89 the state board of health was also created
a state board of lunacy, and the executive work
of the latter board has also devolved upon Dr.
Watson. He is registrar of the vital statistics of
the state; has been president of the state board of
cattle commissioners since its organization in 1891 ;
was five times elected secretary of the American
Public Health Association, holding the office con-
tinuously from 1883 to 1897, when he resigned on
account of other duties ; was vice-president of the
Conference of State and Provincial Board of
Health of North America in 1894, and presi-
dent of the same in 1903 ; is a permanent
member of the American Medical Associa-
tion ; honorary member of the Academia Nacional
de IMedicina de Mexico ; was assistant secretary-
general of the First Pan-American Medical Con-
gress ; member of the Societe Francaise D'Hygiene
of Paris; of the Medico-Legal Society of New York;
of the New Hampshire Medical Society, of which
he was president in 1903 ; of the Centre District
(New Hampshire) Medical Society, and of numer-
ous other organizations. He is also a registered
pharmacist in the state of New Hampshire.
December 12, 1884, he was appointed surgeon,
with rank of major, of the Third Regiment, New
Hampshire National Guard; May 20, 1889. was pro-
moted medical director, with rank of lieutenant-
colonel, of the First Brigade, New Hampshire
Guard, resigning the commission in 1894. Dr. Wat-
son has compiled and edited the reports of the state
board of health, and of the department of vital
statistics since 1881 ; the report of the state com-
missioners of lunacy since 1890; the reports and
papers of the American Public Health Association
from 1883 to 1897 — a total of over fifty volumes. He
is the author of numerous papers and articles pub-
lished in these reports and in the various sanitary
and medical journals of the country, and editor
and compiler of "Physicians and Surgeons of Amer-
ica," 850 pages, illustrated, 1896. In 1891-92 Dr.
Watson traveled extensively in Mexico and Central
America. He is a Knight Templar.
Married, April 17, 1872, Lena Allen, daughter of
Oilman and Philena (Allen) Farr, of Littleton,
New Hampshire. She was born, Januar\- 8. 1S49,
and died January 30, 1901. Has one child, Bertha
May Watson.
(V) Caleb (2), third son and child of Caleb and
Lydia (Howlet) Watson, was born in Weare, New
Hampshire, February 8, 1787. He moved to War-
ner. New Hampshire, where he conducted the car-
riage business. In 1820 he removed to Salisbury,
New Hampshire, where he died April 12, i860. He
married, November 24, 1814, Rachel, daughter of
John and j\Iolly (Gordon) Couch. She died July
9, 1863. Their children were : Harriet Byron,
Sophronia Evans, Ithamar Howlet, Louisa Jane,
John Couch, Lucinda Hayes and Livonia.
(VI) John Couch, second son and fifth child of
Caleb 'and Rachel (Couch) Watson, was born in
Salisbury, New Hampshire, ^lay 13, 1828. He was
educated in the common schools. In his youth he
learned the carpenter's trade, and he followed that
and farming all his life. In politics he was a Re-
publican. He married Hannah A. !\Iorrill, daughter
of James Moore and Deborah (Woodman) Morrill,
of Warner, New Hampshire. Their children were :
Clarence Herbert, a sketch of whose life follows.
Mary E., born July 12, 1854. Alma E., June 6, 1S61.
William W., J\Iay 31, 1864. John C. Watson died
April 22, 1890, and his wife died ^larch 10, 1902.
(VII) Clarence Herbert, eldest son and child of
John Couch and Hannah A. (Morrill) Watson, was
born April 27, 1856, in Warner, New Flampshire.
He was educated in the common schools of Warner.
He first went to farming on his father's farm ; in
1893, the year of his marriage, came to the hundred
acre farm, where he now lives. He carries on a suc-
cessful dairy business, and is also engaged in lum-
bering. In politics he is a Republican, and was elec-
ted selectman in 1906. He belongs to Warner
Grange, No. 90, and attends the Congregational
Church. January 26. 1893, he married Mrs. Mary
Bates Morrill, daughter of John and Ann Elizabeth
(Thompson) Bates, of Wilmot, New Hampshire.
(I) Daniel Watson was born and
WATSON died in Meredith, where he had a
farm of one hundred acres, and was
all his life engaged in agriculture. His children
were : Job, John, Winthrop, Sally and Mary.
(11) Job Watson, son of Daniel Watson, was
born in Meredith, January 2. 1781, and died in Gil-
ford, in 1839. aged fifty-eight years. He had a farm
of one hundred acres, was a stock raiser of note,
and took a just pride in the cattle he raised. He was
a member of the Free Will Baptist Church, and in
politics a follower and admirer of General Jackson
and Thomas Jefferson. He married, Feliruary 2,
1812, Elizabeth Fiske, who was born in Ncwburj'-
port, Massachusetts, in 1793, and died in Gilford,
February 9, 1857, aged sixty-four years. Thirteen
children were born of this union, three of whom
died in infancy. The other ten living to attain
more than sixty years each. The children were:
40
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Eliza, Samuel, Mercy Fiske, Sarah Ann, Nancy,
Mary Jane, David, John, Elizabeth, Laura, William
W. and Samuel Orriu (twins), and Charles.
Chaplin Watson was a successful Congregational
minister who filled pastorates in Peabody, Dover,
Warham, ^lalden and Lynn.
(Ill) William Warren, eleventh child and fourth
son of Job and Elizabeth (Fiske) Watson, was born
in Gilford, July 20, 1833, and was educated in the
district schools of Gilford and at the Laconia Acad-
emy. Soon after attaining his majority he went to
New York City, where he was employed two years
in the manufacture of bolts in the shop of C. H.
Emerson Screw Bolt Company. Since that time he
has resided in Gilfprd where he has a farm of
three hundred acres, and besides carrying on that
does a large lumber business. He has built a large
residence, and in summer accommodates a number
of persons who seek health and recreation amid the
picturesque scenery of the region of Lake Winni-
pesaukee. He is a Republican, has held local offices
and is a Free Will Baptist in religion. He married,
1866, Mary E. Emerson, who was born in Hebron,
daughter of Charles H. Emerson. They have seven
children : Nellie, married Fred Potter. Charles
Henry, married Clara Gove. Winnie, who died at
twenty-two years of age. Abbie, married Frank
Smith. Nathaniel, who died young. John William,
who died at the age of twenty-one'. Alice, who
married George Lamprey, all of Gilford.
Various persons named Shaw settled
SHAW in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in
the very early years of its existence.
All seem to have come from England, but most of
them were not related to each other.
(I) Roger Shaw, the progenitor of many of the
present day families, was born in England. He
was of Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1636, where
he was made a freeman March 14, 1639. He re-
turned about 1647 to .Hampton, New Hampshire,
where he bought the right of John Cross to cer-
tain tracts of land, and also received some grants
from the town. He soon became a large land-
holder, and an influential man. He was a select-
man in 1654: a constable also in the latter year; a
connnissioner for small cases in 1651 ; and he rep-
resented the town in the general court (of Massa-
chusetts) in 1651-52-53. He married (first) Anne;
and (second) Susanna, the widow of William Til-
ton, of Lynne. She died January 28, 1655. He
died May 29, 1662. He is known to have had
seven children, probably all by the first wife. The
children were: A daughter (Margaret, probably),
Joseph, Esther, Mary (died young), Mary, Ben-
jamin and Ann.
(H) Benjamin, son of Roger and Anne Shaw,
was born about 1641, and died December 31, 1717,
aged seventy-si.x. He was a trader, and lived on
the homestead occupied by his father. He mar-
ried. May 25. 1663, Esther Richardson, who died
May 16, 1736, aged ninety-one years. Their twelve
children vi'ere : Mary. Esther. Sarah, Abigail. Ruth,
Benjamin, Roger, Joseph, Edward (died young),
Edward, Hannah and John. (Mention of Edward
and descendants forms part of this article.)
(HI) Joseph, eighth child and third son of Ben-
jamin and Esther (Richardson) Shaw, was 'born
in Hampton, New Hampshire. November i, 1681,
and resided at Hampton Falls. He married, De-
cember 12, 1705, Hannah Johnson, born about 1684,
daughter of James and Sarah (Daniels) Johnson,
of Hampton. Their children were: Gideon. Jer-
usha, Esther, Elihu, Moses, Caleb, Mary and Sarah.
(IV) Caleb, probably a son of Joseph and
Hannah (Johnson) Shaw, was baptized July 14,
1717, and died in Kensington, December 25, 1791.
aged seventy-four. He was a patriot soldier in the
Revolutionary war. His name with others appears
on a receipt dated Medford, October 4, 1775. for'
"Four Dollars (each man) in full Satisfaction for
the regimental Coats which were promised us by
the Colony of New Hampshire." He was probably
in Captain Richard Wcare's company, as an order
on him (then lieutenant) dated Winter Hill, Jan-
uary 30, 1776, signed "Caleb Shaw." may still be
seen. His son "Caleb Shaw," Jr., of Kensington,
aged 20, is named as a soldier, June 3, 1775. A
clock inscribed "Caleb Shaw, 1749," remains in
the old home at Kensington, The clock was made
by him. In his will, made in February, 17S7, he
mentions children : Caleb, Elijah, John, Nathan-
iel (married Abigail ). Hannah and Sarah.
The Hampton Falls Church records contain the fol-
lowing: Caleb Shaw married, October 16, 1747,
Elizabeth Kimball, of Exeter, children : Hannah,
Josiah. Simeon and Hilyard.
(V) Elijah, son of Caleb and Elizabeth (Kim-
ball) Shaw, was born in Kensington, in 1760, and
died in May, 1830, aged seventy. He first resided
on the place now called the "Tuck farm." from
which he removed to his homestead on "Orchard
Hill." He married (first) Deborah Nudd, Ken-
sington: (second) Sarah Batcheldcr. of North
Hampton. He had six children by his first wife,
and two by the second: Mary, Joseph. Elijah, John
Weare. Sally, Nancy, Nathaniel and Abigail Col-
ton.
(VI) John Weare, fourth child and third son of
Elijah and Deborah (Nudd) Shaw, was born in
Kensington, June 3, 1788., and died April 23.
1852. aged sixty- four. He married (first) his
cousin, Sarah Nudd. daughter of Weare Nudd of
Kensington, (second) Ruth, dau.ghter of Thomas
Currier, of Newton, New Hampshire, (third) Sarah
(Stilson) Goodwin, (fourth) Elizabeth Stilson. sis-
ter of his third wife. He had one child by the first,
ten by the second, and four by his fourth wife, as
follows: John Eherburne. Sallv Nudd. Susan Cur-
rier, Judith Ann, Elijah Morrill and Thomas Cur-
rier ftwins), Mary Abigail. Weare Nudd. Gecrge
Washington. Nathaniel Jackson, Winborn Adams,
Zachariah and Elizabeth (twins), a child (died
voung) and Edna Elizabeth.
(VII) Captain Elijah Morrill Shaw, fourth child
and eldest son of John W. and Ruth (Currier)
Shaw, was born July 16. 1S26, in Kensington, New
Hampshire. He began securing an education in the
district schools of Exeter, New Hampshire, and the
periods of attendance on in.struction were inter-
spersed with terms of labor in the cotton factory
of that town. He had inherited from his ancestors
a natural bent for mechanics, and readily actiuired
n knowledge of the machinery employed about him.
The great success of his life was due to this tal-
ent, counled with a capacity for close application
and a disposition for persistent endeavor. He has
well been stvled a fine type of the selfmade man.
After spending a little more than a year at Phil-
lips-Exeter .Academy, he entered the employ of
the Exeter Manufacturing Company in 1848. and
thus began a business career which covered a per-
iod of more than forty years — and in which he
attained a steadily increasing prominemce among
the cotton and woolen manufacturers of New Eng-
land. When he first entered the mills of the Exeter
Manufacturing Company, his stipend was fixed at
eighty-five cents per day. This was gradually in-
creased until it amounted to seven thousand five
^,
J
^
I
NEW HAAIPSHIRE.
41
hundred dollars per annum. During this time he
never asked for an increase of salary ; he was never
discharged from any position ; was never heard to
complain of his work and never abandoned any
employment except to enter upon a more advanced
one. He was yet a young man when his practical
knowledge of every step in the production of both
cotton and woolen goods was thorough and .com-
prehensive. Leaving E.xeter. in 1853, he became
overseer in^ the Victory mills in Saratoga. New
York, and a'fter four years in' that position, became
overseer in the Bates mill at Lewiston, Maine.
When the Civil war broke out in 1861 he was
among the first to enroll himself as a defender of
his country's integrity, and he served successively
in the First, Tenth and Twenty-ninth Maine Regi-
ments. In the first regiment lie was made second
lieutenant of Company F., but soon left this posi-
tion to accept a promotion. On October 3, 1861, he
was commissioned as adjutant of the Tenth Regi-
ment of Maine Volunteers. He became a captain
in the same regiment, March 12. 1863. Hi.s mili-
tary experience did not begin with the w'ar, as he
had previously held official stations in both Maine
and New Hampshire militia. From 1863 to 1866
Captain Shaw was employed in the Everett mills at
Lawrence, Massachusetts. During the succeeding
three years he was agent of the Crocker woolen
mill in Leominster, Massachusetts : he went from
there to Lewiston, Maine, becoming superintendent
in the woolen department in the Bates mill : sub-
sequently to this he constructed the Farwell mills
in Lisbon, !\Iaine, and was their agent until 1883.
He was subsequently agent of the Great Falls, Ver-
mont, mills, which had been on a commercial de-
cline, and were placed by him on a paying basis.
He was called to Nashua, New Hampsln're, in 18S6,
to becorne agent of the Nashua Manufacturing
Company's cotton mills, the leading manufacturing
concern there, and he filled this position until 1891,
when he resigned and retired from active business
life. Soon after this he was appointed chairman of
the board of commissioners of the state of New
Hampshire to the Columbian Exno?ition held in
Chicago in i8qs and the duties of this position were
fullfilled by him in a manner both acceptable and
creditable to the state. In the midst of his busi-
ness activities he found time to devote to many
lines of endeavor, and was much interested in
schools and church work. He also became inter-
ested in a business way as a director of the Nashua
Trust Companv. In 1S04 he was chosen treasurer
of the New Hampshire Baptist Association, and
filled that ofiice for five years. He was an active
member of the First Baptist Church of Nashua, and
was a liberal contributor to its various branches of
work, including the building fund for the Crown
Hill Mission Church, which was located upon land
donated by him. He was also a warm supporter of
every movement for the enforcement of the pro-
hibition law. He was warmly interested in geneal-
ogical research and aided in 'procuring the publica-
tion of a history of his family. In iSgg Mr. Shaw
was elected business manager of Colby .Academy at
New London, New Hamnsbire. During the' re-
mainder of his life he held this position, and made
every effort for the success of the institution. The
dearest wish of his heart was to sec it free from
indebtedness, and for this he praved, planned and
worked untiringly. He often sai'd that he asked
only to live to see this desired end brou.ght about.
On February 23. 1903. he attended the Evangelical
educational loonference held in Manchester, and
made a most effective appeal before that body in
behalf of Colby Academy. This appeal was suc-
cessful and Captain Shaw left the assembly with a
very light heart. He proceeded at once to the old
hom.e in Kensington wdierc he was born, and made
a visit to his twin brother then living there. He
had had his wish and God took him that night.
Captain Shaw was not in any sense a politician,
but he entertained well settled principles on matters
of public policy as he did upon religion, and he
was a faithful supporter of the Republican partj'.
His chief official ser\-ice was in the capacity of
representative to the state legislature, which he
held in 1881-83, in Lisbon. Maine. While in Lewis-
ton he was a member of the common council and
served as its president. He also filled other official
stations in that state. He was at one time com-
mander of the Maine department of the Gi'and
.Army of the Republic. He was a member of the
Sons of the American Revolution, and of the Loyal
Legion; and was affiliated with the orders of Free
Masons, Patrons of Husbandry, and the Independ-
ent Order of Odd Fellows. He was married -Vpril
20, 1859, to Amantha C. Sanborn, of Brentwood,
New Llampshire. She died before 1865, and in that
year he married Mary H. Davison, of Prince Ed-
wards Island. There were three children of the
first marriage: Irving Chase, Annie Elizabeth and
.Susie Shaler. The son is a carpenter residing in
Kensington. New Hampshire. The elder daughter
is the wife of Winfield S. Libbey, of Lewiston,
Maine. The younger died when two years old.
The children of the second wife were: Elijah Ray,
Susie McNeil and Helen Maude. The last two
died in childhood. Elijah Ray is the subject of the
succeeding sketch.
(VIII) Elijah Ray, only son of Captain Elijah
M. and Mary Helen (Davidson) Shaw, was Iioni
May I, 1872, in Lisbon, Maine. After passing the
minor grades he attended the Nashua high school,
Phillips Exeter Academy, the Berkley School (Brs-
ton). the New Hampshire State College, and spent
two years at the Boston University Law School.
Having decided upon a business career, in
1900 he engaged in business as a florist witli
Gaedeke & Company, of Nashua. Lie resides upon
the paternal homestead in that city, and is well-
known in business and fraternal circles. He is in-
terested in the Granite State Knitting Company, of
Nashua. He is a thirty-second degree Sir Knight
Mason. ' He is also a member of Granite Lodge,
No. T. Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr.
Shaw takes an active and intelligent interest in
questions of public policy, and has been frequently
selected by his fellow citizens to fill official sta-
tions. He has served two years as a member of
the common council of Nashua, and is now (1907)
aldennan of the second ward of the city. In 1906
he was commissioned by Governor !\IcLane as
major and brigade quartermaster of the Brigade
staff. New Hampshire National Guard. He was
married in Nashua, June 9, 1904, to Louie Ethel
'I'olles who was born in Nashua, December 29, 1875,
a daughter of General Jason E. Tolles of that city
(see Tolles).
(Ill) Edward, tenth child and fifth son of Ben-
jamin and Esther (Richardson) Shaw, lived on the
paternal homestead. The records of the family
.show that his house was struck by lightning. He
married (first), June 27. 1716, Mary Johnson, born
November 4, 16S8. daughter of James and Sarah
(Daniels) Johnson, of Hampton. Married (sec-
ond), July 2, 1727, .Abigail Marshall, of Ipswich,
who died June 4. 1757. aged seventy-one years. His
children were : Jeremiah, Samuel, Mary, Ichal)od,
42
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Edward, and Benjamin. (The last named and de-
scendants are mentioned in this article).
(IV) Edward (2). second son and third child
of Edward (l) and Mary (Johnson) Shaw, was
born March 2, 1724, and died July 16, 1787, aged
sixt3'-three. He married, May 7, 1746, Ruth Fel-
lows, of Salisbury. Massachusetts, and died on the
homestead. She died May, 1798. aged seventy-five.
Their children were: Jeremiah, Samuel, Mary, Ich-
abod, Abigail, Simeon, Levi, and John, whose
sketch follows.
(V) John, eighth and youngest child of Ed-
ward (2) and Ruth (Fellows) Shaw, was baptized
June 14. 1761, and died August 9, 1844, aged eighty-
three. He was the successor of his father and
grandfather on the homestead. He married. No-
vember, 1801, Zipporah Towle, who was born in
Hampton, February 5, 1774, and died December 31,
1850, aged seventy-six. She was the daughter of
Samuel and Rachel (Elkins) Towle. They had:
Ruth Fellows, Simeon Brackett, Edward and
Elizabeth.
(VI) Simeon Brackett, second child and eldest
of the two sons of John and Zipporah (Towle)
Shaw, was born in 1804, and died November 16,
1871, aged sixty-seven years. He was a steady,
progressive farmer, and lived on the homestead.
He was chairman of the b^ard of selectmen several
years. He married, in 1829, Jane Perkins, who was
born June 15, 1806. and died January 7. 1878,
daughter of John and Joanna (Elkins) Perkins, of
Hampton. Their children were : Simeon and John
Brackett.
(VII) Simeon, son of Simeon B. and Jane
(Perkins) Shaw, was born March 7, 1831. He was
educated in the common schools and at Hampton
Academy. He lives on the ancestral acres and in
many ways has followed in the footsteps of his
father. For twenty-nine years he was in the em-
ploy of the Boston & Maine railroad, and a portion
of that time was section foreman. In politics he is
a Republican, and has taken some part in town af-
fairs, having been a member of the board of select-
men two years. He is a member of the Congrega-
tional Church. He married, October 26, 1855, Sarah
Elizabeth Lamprey, who was born October 26. 1835,
daughter of Captain Jesse and Mary (Johnson)
Lamprey, of Hampton. Of this union have been
born ; Simeon Albert, Mary Esther, George Ed-
ward, Martha Adelaide. Flora Webster. Charles Ed-
ward and Fred Merrill. Simeon Albert is men-
tioned below. Mary Esther married John C. Blake.
George Edward died young. Martha Adelaide mar-
ried Jotham P. Blake. Flora Webster married Al-
bert C. Wilbar and lives in Boston. Charles Ed-
ward, unmarried. Fred Merrill married Emma
Taylor, of North Hampton.
fVIII) Simeon Albert, eldest child of Simeon
and Sarah E. (Lamprey) Shaw, was born August
23. 1856. After leaving the common schools he at-
tended Hampton Academy four years and a com-
mercial school in Boston one j'ear. He resides on
the farm which has been the homestead of genera-
tions of Shaws in an unbroken line since 1647. a
fact that is worthy of particular attention, and has
scarcely a parallel in the history of New Hamp-
S'hire. He cultivates the soil, giving special atten-
tion to growing fruit. For six winters he taught
school ; since 1S73 he has been town librarian.' In
politics he is a Republican, and has been selectman
four years. He is a charter member of Oceanside
Grange. No. 260, Patrons of Husbandry, of which
he is a past master. At present he is town agent
for the Rockingham Farmers' Mutual Fire Insur-
ance Companj'. He married, in i88r, Abbie Isabel
Cole, who was born in Portsmouth in 1859, daugh-
ter of William G. and Hannah T. (Brooks) Cole.
(See Cole, II). Their children, who are of the
ninth generation on the same homestead, are : El-
rov Garfield, Everett Simeon, Ethel Brooks and
Thelma May. Elroy G., born October 18, 1881,
married Jessie Crosby, daughter of Charles H.
Crosby, of Hampton Falls. They have three chil-
dren: Harold Douglass, Eveline and Isabella.
Everett S., May 12, 1885, resides at home, is pre-
paring for college. Ethel Brooks, January 11, 1887,
married Archibald Lantz, of Hampton Falls, and
has one child, Eva May. Thelma M. was born June
17, 1900.
(IV) Benjamin (2), youngest child of Edward
(l) and Mary (Johnson) Shaw, was born March
i;, 1727. He removed to Sandown, New Hamp-
shire, where he afterward resided. He married,
August 7. 1747, Rebecca FoUansbee, and they had
Edward, Benjamin, Thomas, Joshua, Joseph and
Hannah.
(V) Lieutenant Benjamin (3), second son and
child of Benjamin (2) and Rebecca (FoUansbee)
Shaw, was born at Sandown in 1758, and died in
1825. aged sixty-seven. He removed to Weare, and
in 1815 to Salisbury, settling at what was called in
his honor. "Shaw's Comer." and purchasing the Ed-
ward Quinby house, which was burned in 1875. He
married, in Sandown, Sarah, daughter of John and
Elizabeth (Sargent) Sanborn, who died April 16,
i860, aged ninety-six. She sat upon the father's
woodpile at Sandown. and heard the firing while
the battle of Bunker Hill was in progress. The
children of this marriage were : John. Elizabeth,
Benjamin. Sanborn. George, Dimond, Abram. Eli-
phalet and Ira. (Sanborn and Dimond and de-
scendants receive mention in this article).
(VI) John, eldest child of Lieutenant Benja-
min (3) and Sarah (Sanborn) Shaw, was born in
Sandown. May 22, 1785, and died March 31, 1869,
aged eighty-four. He was familiarly known as
"Farmer John." He purchased, December 10, l8ri,
lot No. 57. of the first range in Andover. and settled
upon it. Early in 1815 he removed to Salisbury,
settling on the farm now (1906) occupied by his
grandson. Jarvis B.. erecting the present buildings
in 1831. his being the first family to settle on the
hill. He was a tall and stoutly built man. an indus-
trious worker, and a person held in high esteem by
his fellow townsmen. He was an active member of
the Baptist Church. He married (first) Abigail
Nichols, who was born in Bow in 1789, and died No-
vember 26, 1842, at the age of fifty-three : he mar-
ried (second) Widow Nancy Philbrick. who died
.August 7, 1865 '■ and (third) the widow of Stephen
Sawy-er. His children were : Lorena, Oliver. San-
born. Eliphalet. Augustus. Eliza and Mary Jane.
(VII) Sanborn, third child of John and Abi-
,eail (Nichols) Shaw, was born in Andover. May I,
1814. and died in Salisbury. December i. 1901, aged
cight}--seven years. He lived on his father's farm
until he married. He then bought a farm of one
hundred and seventy-five acres on Sanborn's Hill,
where he resided six years, until 1843, and then re-
turned to Shaw's hill, where he spent the remainder
of his life. He was a prosperous farmer and stock
raiser, a respected man. of Baptist Church, and a
Democrat of the Jacksonian type. He married, No-
vember 23. 1837, Salina Severance, who was born
November 12, 1814. and died June 13. 1893. She
was a daughter of Deacon James and Sarah (True)
Severance, of Salisbury. Their children were:
Sarah J.. James S.. Abbie, Ann J., John. Byron and
True.
(VIII) John (2), second son and fifth child of
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
43
Sanborn and Salina (Severance) Shaw, was born
January 25, 1846. He was educated in the common
schools and at East Andover Academy, and after
leaving school worked at farming in Andover for
two years. He then went to Concord, where he
was engaged in driving a quarry team until April
I, 1872, when he returned to Salisbury and in that
year with his brother, James S., bought the "Gookin
Mills" ; his brother died the following year, and
John purchased his interest, and by attention to
business and keeping a line to the times, he has
gained a good reputation throughout his own and
the surrounding towns. It is said "In his mill he
can grind more flour, and of finer quality from a
given amount of wheat, than any other flour mill in
the state." He took his son, Lewis C, into partner-
ship in 1897, and formed the firm of John Shaw &
Son, and they conduct a large and profitable busi-
ness. He owns fifty acres of land at West Salis-
bury, where he resides. He is a man of energj',
and his fellow citizens have confidence in his ability
and integrity, which they have often shown by
elcL-ting him to various town offices. He has been
a member of the school board a number of years,
was town treasurer from iS/S to 1881. selectman
eleven years, and for twenty years was moderator,
representative in 18S3, but finally declined to serve
longer. He has been a justice of the peace since
1882, and has sotlied a number of estates. In poli-
tics he is a Democrat, like his father. He is a mem-
ber of Bartlett Grange. No. 104, Monnamake Lodge,
Improved Order of Red Men. of Franklin, and
Blackwater Council, Order United American Me-
chanics. He married. September 21. 1872. Annie A.
Stevens, born August 5, 1S47. daughter of Moses J.
and Phebe W. Rogers, of Salisbury. They have had
four children: James S.., Abbie F., Lizzie (died
young) and Lewis C. James S., born November 2,
1873, is a graduate of Proctor Academy, Andover.
He studied in the office of Dr. Foster, of Boston,
received his diploma, and is now an optician in
Franklin. Abbie F.. born November 28, 1874, mar-
ried Fred. A. Dunlap ; have had two sons who died
in childhood, and lives in Antrim. Lewis C. born
January 12, 1878, is a partner in business with his
father. He married, October 6, 1904. Alice E.
Sleeper, of Franklin, and they have one child,
Mason.
(VI) Sanborn, third son and fourth child of
Lieutenant Benjamin and Sarah (Sanborn) Shaw,
was born February 20 170,3, in Weare, New Hamp-
shire, and settled in Salisburv', ,on the North road.
Late in life he removed to Northfield, where he died
February 5, 1881. He was remarkably sound and
healthy and never employed a physi'cian during his
life. He was respected as a thoroughly upright
man. He was married (first), October 19, 1819, to
Nancy A. Sherburne, of Salisbury, who died in 1841.
He was married in October, 1843. to Louisa (Smith)
Evans, a widow of Northfield, who died June 2,
i8So. The last named was the mother of two of
his children. Arabella V. and Warren. The first
wife was the mother of nine children, namely:
Elvira, Emmeline. Nancy. Elbridge, Harry. War-
ren, Sarah, Lucy J. and Peter B.
(VII) Lucy j., fifth daughter and eighth child
of Sanborn and Nancy A. (Sherburne) Shaw, was
born November 22. 7833, and became the second
wife of Moses F. Little (see Little. VII).
(VI) Dimond, fifth son and sixth child of
Lieutenant Benjamin and Sarah (Sanborn) Shaw,
was born November 5, 1798, in Weare, and settled
m Sahsburj', in 1826. He removed thence to Hill,
and died in that town May 13, 1874. He was a
farmer and a good citizen. His place in_ Salisbury
is now occupied by his son. He was married (first)
May 21, 1826, to Rachel Dresser, who was born
June 9, 179S, in Sutton, and died November 14, 1851,
in Salisbury. He married (second), February 26,
1852, Mrs. Sarah Quimby, of Hill. His children, all
born of the first wife, were: John, Mary C, Fred-
crick C. and Abigail.
(VII) INIary C, elder daughter and second
child of Dimond and Rachel (Dresser) Shaw, was
born January 6, 1828, and was married February 19,
1852, to Moses F. Little (see Little, VII).
(Second Family.)
No less than thirty-two men by the
SHAW name of Shaw were among the pioneer
settlers of New England during the sev-
enteenth century. The family whose line follows
is not descended from any of these ; the ancestor
of the present branch came direct from Scotland
in 1730.
(I) William Shaw came in 1730 from the Scotch
Highlands to Charleston, South Carolina, as aid
to an English general. Later he settled in North
Concord. Massachusetts, where he died July 10,
1S08. At the outbreak of the Revolution he en-
listed in the Continental army. He married Martha
Mills and they had one son, William, Jr., whose
sketch follows.
(II) William (2), son of William (l) and
Martha (Mills) Shaw, was born in Concord, Mas-
sachusetts, February 25. 1778. He was a farmer
and shoemaker, and came from Boston, Massa-
chusetts, to Milford, New Hampshire, in 1802.
His change of location may have been due to his
marriage, for on November 7, 1802, he married
Asenath, daughter of William and Abigail (Lewis)
Hopkins, of Milford. She was born in that town
August 19. 1869. They had five children, all bom
in Milford, New Hampshire: William (3), born
January 4, 1803. Benjamin, February 19, 1805.
George H., March 20, 1807, married Lydia, daugh-
ter of Cyrus and Hannah (Berry) Stiles, of Am-
herst, New Hampshire, was a farmer in Amherst
where he died November 8, 1895. Abigail, Decem-
ber 12. 181 1, married George W. Davis, of Prince-
ton, Massachusetts, and died February IS, i860.
Olive, June 6, 1813. married Dexter Farwell, of
Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and died October 21,
1S57. William Shaw, Jr., died February 25, 1856,
on his seventy-eighth birthday.
(HI) William (3). third son of William (2)
and Asenath (Hopkins) Shaw, -was born in Mil-
ford, New Hampshire, January 4, 1803. He was a
manufacturer of violins, a phrenologist and a bo-
tanic physician. On November 20, 1823, he mar-
ried Betsey, daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth (Burn-
ham) Hutchinson, who was born in Milford, March
21, 180S (see Hutchinson family). They had four
children, one son and three daughters. The chil-
dren were : Christopher Columbus, whose sketch
follow-s. Lutheria Adaline, born October 17, 1837,
died in Boston, October 4, 1834. Mary Jane, No-
vember 13. 1841. died September 29, 1843. Ella
Francilla, July 12, 1846, married Fred. H., son of
Alfred J. and Ann (Huse) Lj-nch, of Milford,
died February 4, 1872. William Shaw (3), died
October 25, 1870. His wife died June 22, 1889. by
accident on the railroad.
(IV) Christopher Columbus, only son and eld-
est child of William Shaw (3) and Betsey (Hutch-
inson) Shaw, was born in Milford, New Hampshire,
March 20, 1S24, on the place where he now lives.
This land was originally granted to the town of
Charlestown, Massachusetts, for school purposes.
44
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
It was held in this way from 1659 to 1744, when
Charlestown sold it to William Hopkins, of Mil-
ford, New Hampshire, fhe great-grandfather of
Mr. Shaw. It did not descend directly, however,
for Mr. Hopkins sold it to Nathan Hutchinson,
through whom it passed to Jacob and then to Reu-
ben Hutchinson, the father of Mr. Shaw's wife.
C. C. Shaw was educated in the common schools
and at Mil ford Academy. He iirst worked on a
farm till his health failed : and at about eighteen
years of age he began retailing dry goods from
house to house. In 1844 he opened a country
store at Milford, where he continued till 1848, when
he closed out and established himself in the dry
goods business at Lawrence, Massachusetts. In
1850 he moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where he
was similarly engaged for a time on Hanover street.
He then connected himself with the large import-
ing and jobbing dry goods house of J. W. Blod-
gett & Company, in which he has continued either
as proprietor or salesman, most of the time since.
The firm was burned out during the great fire of
1872. and for nearly eight years Mr. Shaw .gave
up his business in Boston and retired to his farm
in Milford. About this time Mr. Shaw was attract-
■ed by the Grange movement sweeping over the
west. Mr. Shaw was one of the first men in New
Hampshire to see the possibilities of this order,
and he sent for the first organizer. General Deputy
Eben Thompson, to visit him at Milford. In two
days Granite Grange, No. 7. was organized in
Milford, with Mr. Shaw as master. A few weeks
later the State Grange was organized, and he was
elected secretary and appointed general deputy.
Subsequently he was made purchasing agent for
the state. In January, 1877, the State Mutual Fire
Insurance Company was organized with Mr. Shaw
as president. He held this position for seven years.
In December. 1884. he was chosen secretary of the
Patron's Relief Association, of which he became
president in January. 1893. From 187.3 till t88o,
at which time he resumed mercantile business in
Boston, Mr. Shaw was dargely occupied in organ-
izing subordinate granges and otherwise develop-
in.g the order in the state. He organized thirty-two
others in various New Hampshire towns. At pres-
ent Mr. Shaw is secretary of the State Grange,
and has been chairman of the executive committee
for several years (1907'). No man in the state
has done more for the interests of the order than
himself, and no one is held in higher esteem by the
older members.
Mr. Shaw has been esoecially interested in the
culture of fruit, and he has sent noteworthy ex-
hibits of fruit, fancv poultry. Chester swine and
Jersey cattle to the New England and other fairs.
He has been a trustee of the New England Agri-
cultural Society, and for many years has been a
life member of that society, also of the Massa-
chusetts Horticultural and .'\merican Pomological
societies. He was one of the committee in charge
of New Hampshire's exhibit at the Columbian Ex-
position in Chicago in 1893. Being dissatisfied
with the state's display of fruit, he decided to or-
ganize the New Hamnshire Horticultural Society,
of which he has been the continuous president. Be-
sides his other interest? Mr. Shaw is a Mason of
the thirty-second degree, and is president of the
Historical and Genealogical Society of Milford.
In politics he was born a Whig, but he early be-
came an .'\bolitioTiist. whence he joined the Repub-
lican partv upon its formation. He represented Mil-
ford in the state legislature of 1875 and 1876. and
for seven years was a member of the Republican
state committee. At one time he received the un-
solicited nomination for slate senator. In religion
he is a Liberalist, and is president of the Veteran
Spiritualist Union of Boston.
Christopher C. Shaw was united in marriage Au-
gust 27, 1846, with Rebecca Peabody, eleventh child
of Reuben and Lucy (Hutchinson) Hutchinson, of
Milford. New Hampshire. Her great-grandfather.
Captain Nathan Hutchinson, was a Revolutionary
soldier, and one of the first settlers of Milford.
(See Hutchinson family). Three children were
born of this marriage : Horatio Christopher, born
in Milford, July 31. 1847, ''^ a salesman and farm-
er at Milford, married, January 26, 1870, Eliza J.,
daughter of William and Mary (Colby) White, of
Mont Vernon, New Hampshire. One child. Hattie
May, born in Wilton, New Hampshire. July 8, 1879.
Charles Jacob, born in Alilford, December i.S,
1851. was at the time of his death, November 6,
1904, a merchant in Philadelphia, he married (first)
Anna M., daughter cf Joseph A. and Elizabeth L.
(Plympton) Twitchell of ^lilford, and (second),
Elizabeth A., daughter of Thomas A. and Sarah A.
(Perkins) Worden, of Boston. He had two chil-
dren : Ralph Jacob, born February 5, 1885, and
Adele Louise, born October 21. 1888, who married
Emmett E. Boone, of Philadelphia, December 5,
1906. Hattie Lutheria, born in Boston, Massachus-
etts, July 14, 1858. died in Milford. New Hamp-
shire, January 7, 1861.
Shaw is an old English name, denoting
SHAW a grove of small trees, and was first
used in reference to persons in the
expression "atte shawe," or "at the shaw," and
finally adopted as a surname by the person living
"at the shaw," and kept by his descendants after
all local reference had been lost.
(I) Benjamin Shaw was born in Hampton.
New Hampshire. December 25, 1766, and settled
in Chichester when a young man. being the first of
the Shaw family in that town. In politics he was
a Democrat. He was a member of the Congrega-
tional Church of Chichester. He married (first)
Abigail Paige, born in 1773, died January 17. 1S31.
She had two children. John and David P. He mar-
ried (second) Ruth Sherburne. She died May 4,
1849. leaving no issue.
(II) David P., second son and child of Benja-
min and A'oigail (Paige) Shaw, was born May 27,
1797. He was educated in the common schools
and at Pembroke .^^cademy. He was much inter-
ested in militia matters, and was appointed- .'Xpril
17, 1826. captain of militia in the Thirty-eighth New
Hampshire Regiment. He also served in the War
of 1812. and was stationed at Portsmouth. He was
like his father a member of the Congregational
Church, and a Democrat. He married, October
16, 1823, Clarissa Carpenter, daughter of the Rev.
Josiah and Hannah (Morrill) Carpenter, of Chi-
chester (see Carpenter, XV), and they were the
parents of John, Josiah C, David C, Charles C.
and Benjamin.
(III) Josiah Carpenter Shaw, second son of
David and Clarissa (Carpenter) Shaw, was born in
Chichester, 1826,. and died in Concord, September
29, 1886. He left home when of age or sooner and
took up his residence in Concord. From about
1850 to 1870 he was steward in the Insane Asylum
at Concord, where by economy and a careful in-
vestment of his savings he gained a competency.
He was a Democrat in politics, and a constant at-
tendant at the Congregational Church. He mar-
ried Rosetta R. Danforth, born in the western part
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
45
of Boscawen, now Webster, March ir, 1843, daugh-
ter of Edmund and Rhoda S. (Clough) Danforth
(see Danforth VI). There is one child of this mar-
riage, Clarence Eugene Shaw, born September 22.
187s, residing in Concord.
This name originated in Scot-
McCLINTOCK land, and the family now being
considered is descended from
a worthy Scotch Presbyterian who early in the
eighteenth century joined his compatriots in the
nortli of Ireland, whence he came to New England.
Bearers of this name have acquired distinction as
scientists on both sides of the Atlantic, notably :
Sir Francis Leopold McClintock, an Irish Arctic
explorer, and John N. McClintock, the well known
civil engineer and sanitary expert of Boston, who
will be again referred to.
(I) William McClintock, a native of Scotland
and a devout Presbyterian, went to the north of
Ireland early in the eighteenth century in order
to participate in the freedom of thought and action
in religious matters enjoyed by his fellow-country-
men who had previously settled there. After re-
siding in Londonderry for a time he emigrated to
New England in 1730, and settled in Medford,
Massachusetts, near Boston. He was married four
times, three times in the old country, was (he father
of nineteen children, and lived to be ninety years
old. His third wife accompanied him to this coun-
try.
(II) William (2), son of William (i) McClin-
tock and his third wife, was born in Londonderry,
Ireland, 172Q, and was brought by his parents to
New England during his infancy. He was a resi-
dent of Medford, Massachusetts, 1757, but later re-
moved to Boothbay, Maine. His death occurred
June 3, 1779. He married second, Margaret Fuller-
ton, who bore him two children : William of Bris-
tol, Maine, see forward ; John, of Boothbay.
(II) Rev. Dr. Samuel, son of William (1) Mc-
Clintock, the immigrant, and his third wife, and
brother of William McClintock, abovementioned,
was born at Medford, Massachusetts, May i, 1732,
died April 27. 1804, in his seventy-second year. He
•was a graduate of Princeton College, a resident of
Greenland, New Hampshire, and served as chap-
lain of a New Hampshire regiment which parti-
cipated in the battle of Bunker Hill, commanded by
General Starke. He married in Portsmouth, in the
fall of 1754, lived with his wife thirty-one years,
and they were the parents of fifteen children. Four
of their sons engaged in the revolutionary war at
the same time, namely : Nathaniel, Samuel, Wil-
liam and John. Nathaniel, the eldest of the sons,
was born Alarch 21, 1757. He graduated from Har-
vard College. 1775. He was offered an ensign's com-
mission in the British army, but refused. Soon
after the battle of Lexington he joined the Ameri-
can army as lieutenant of one of the companies of
the New Hampshire line. He was appointed ad-
jutant in Colonel Poore's regiment and promoted
to the rank of brigade major when Poore
was advanced to that of brigadier-general. He
was with General Washington at the cap-
ture O'f the Hessians at Trenton in 1776,
was at Ticonderoga, and in various engage-
ments with Burgoyne's army until its final capture.
In 1780 he was killed in an engagement on board
a man-of-war. Samuel, the second son. was born
February 21, T758. was a midshipman on board the
"Rollo," a frigate in. the United States service;
was afterward a lieutenant of a frigate ship-of-
war. and was lost at sea on a merchant vessel.
William, the third son, born Februarv 4, 1759,
was killed at the battle ^ of Trenton. 'John, the
fourth son, born August 28, 1761, was in four dif-
ferent private armed ships, in three actions, and
was successively mate, prizemaster and lieutenant
before he was twenty years of age. He was the
only one of the four brothers who survived the
war. He resided in Portsmouth. New Hampshire,
and, served as naval officer for the city for a long
period of time, during the administrations of Har-
rison, Tyler, Taylor, Fillmore and Pierce. At the
time of his death, November 13, 1855, lie was the
oldest man residing in Portsmouth.
(III) Hon. William (3), son of William (2)
McClintock, was born in Boothbay, Maine, Sep-
tember 29. 1778. For a number of years he fol- .
lowed the sea as master of a ve'ssel, owned a farm
in Bristol, of which town he was a resident the
greater part of his life, and served as land sur-
veyor. He was quite active in public afifairs, hav-
ing served as trial justice, in the lower house of
legislature of Massachusetts and Maine, and as
a member of the first constitutional convention of
Maine. He married Fanny Young.
(IV) Captain John, son of William (3) and
Fanny (Young) McClintock, was born in Bristol,
.April 9, 1807. Like the majority of the residents
of his town, he was a seafaring man. and becom-
ing a master mariner visited all parts of the world
as captain of a merchantman. The following in-
cident will serve to emphasize his ability as a mar-
iner. While in the port of Yokohama, Japan, he
found it advantageous to accept a cargo for Callao,
Peru, and although his chronometer was disabled
and he was not in possession of the necessary
charts, with the aid of an atlas of the world and
his watch he guided his ship accurately across the
Pacific ocean and brought her safely into port. He
settled in Hallowell, Maine. He married Mary-
Bailey Shaw, daughter of William Stanley Shaw,
and had a family of six children, four of whom are
living, namely: John N., see forward. Hon. Wil-
liam E., of Chelsea, Massachusetts, chairman of
the state highway 'commission. J. Y., county en-
gineer of Monroe county, New York, resides in
Rochester. Mary E., w'ho is residing in Read-
field, Maine.
(V) John Norris McClintock. A. M.. C. E.. son
of Captain John and Mary Bailey (Shaw) Mc-
Clintock. was born in Winthrop, Maine. May 12,
TS46. HLs early education was acquired in the pub-
lic schools of Hallowell, and he w-as graduated
from Bowdoin College, 1S67. later receiving the
degree of Master of Arts from the same institu-
tion. Prior to the 'completion of his collegiate
course he was appointed to the United States
coast survey, and immediately after leaving college
he entered the government's service, in which he
was later advanced to the position of sub-assistant.
He continued in that service eight years, or until
1875, w'hen he relinquished his govenmient position
in order to establish himself as a civil engineer in
Concord, New Hampshire, in \\-hich city he had lo-
cated some four years previous. He was, how-
ever, for some time afterwards connected with the
United States engineer corps. At Concord he
built up a large and profitable general civil engin-
eering business, being employer in several import-
and undertakings, including electric railways, etc.,
and he was also connected with the geological sur-
vcv of New Hampshire. In 1879 he became owner.
publisher and editor of the Granite Monthly at
Concord, New Hampshire, and he continued to
direct the affairs of that publication until 1891, at
46
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
the same time attending to his professional duties.
In the latter named year he found it advisable to
transfer his headquarters to Boston, where his rep-
utation was such as to enable him to comniand a
large share of general engineering work in that
city, and he was subsequently employed by the
city, the state and numerous corporations.
For the past twelve years Mr. McCHntock has
devoted his time and energies to the important mu-
nicipal problems of the proper disposal of sewage
and the purification of water, with the result that
he has succeeded in perfecting an improved sys-
tem of filteration hascd upon a thoroughly scien-
tific principle. Having purchased certain patents
which he improved through the introduction of in-
. ventions of his own, he organized what is known
as the American 'Sewage Disposal Company of
Boston, and also the Water Purification Company,
both of which have become successful enterprises of
unquestionable sanitary importance. The process
for the rapid filteration and neutralization of sew-
age, known as the Biological System, can be ap-
plied with equal efficacy to the purification of water
for domestic purposes, and in all probability con-
stitutes the most important advance in the art of
filteration yet accomplished. .^s a sanitary im-
provement its value cannot be too highly estimated,
and its adoption by the large municipalities of
America, Europe, including the city of London,
and cities in the Orient, has been attended with ex-
cellent results.
Mr. McCHntock resides in Dorchester. In addi-
tion to his duties as president and manager of the
above mentioned enterprises, he has created a large
business as a consulting engineer, particularly in ref-
erence to sewage purification, in which science he
is regarded as one of the leading experts in the
United States, and at various conventions of scien-
tific bodies he has read papers which have become '
standard authority. He is a memher of the Maine
and New Hampshire Historical societies, and other
organizations. Aside from his professional ability
he is widely and favorably known in New Hamp-
shire as the author of an excellent history of that
state. In his religious belief he is a Congregation-
alist.
Mr. McCHntock married,, October 3, 1871. Jo-
sephine Tilton, daughter of Joseph C. Tilton, of
Concord, and granddaughter of Dr. Timothy Til-
ton, of Canaan. The children of this union are:
John Tilton, an architect in Boston. .Edward
Pratt, deceased, who was a broker in New York
City, .'\rabella Chandler, resides with her parents.
A time-honored name in Ameri-
CHANDLER can annals, among the first in
New Hampshire, this has been
conspicuous in many states, and is among the
most prominent of this commonwealth today. As
jurists and legislators-, as business men and phil-
anthropists, its bearers have done service to New
Hampshire and received honor at her hands. It
has been said that Roxbury, Massachusetts, re-
ceived the best of the English emigrants in Puri-
tan days, and this family has furnished since those
olden days many of the best pioneers in many
states of the Union.
(I) William Chandler, the immigrant ancestor,
with his wife, .^nnis and four children settled at
Roxbury in 1637. Annis is supposed to have been
a sister of Deacon George Alcock, of Roxbury.
One child was born to them at Roxbury. In a
list of inhabitants at Roxbury between 1638 and
1640, William Chandler appears as the owner of
twenty-two acres of land, with seven persons in
his family. He was charged with the care on the
commons of one goat and kid, the least of any of
the residents. He took tlie freeman's oath in 1640,
and was at that time stricken with disease which
caused his demise November 26, 1641. He was
among the proprietors of Andover, w'ith his son
Thomas, and tradition says he was the owner of
the tannery at the corner of Bartlett street and
Shaw-mut avenue, Roxbury. A chronicler of his
time says he "Lived a religious & godly life among
us & fell into a Consumption to which he had, a
long time, been inclined ; he lay near a yeare
sick, in all which time his faith, patience & Godli-
ness & Contentation So Shined that Christ was
much glorified in him — he was a man of Weake
parts but Excellent faith and holiness ; he was a
Very thankful man, and much magnified God's
goodness. He was poor, but God prepared the
hearts of his people to^ him that he never wanted
that which was (at least in his Esteem) Very plent-
iful and comfortable to him — ^he died in the year
1641, and left a Sweet memory and Savor behind
him." William Chandler's widow was married
Tuly 2, 1643. to John Dane, of Barkhampstead, Eng-
land, who died in September. 1658, and she married
(third) August 9, 1660, John Parmenter of Sud-
bury, Massachusetts. The children of William and
Annis Chandler were: Hannah. Thomas, William,
John and Sarah. (Mention of William and John
and descendants forms an important portion of this
article.)
(II) Captain Thomas, second child and oldest
son of William and ."^nnis (Alcock) Chandler, was
born in 1630, and died "15 day, 1703." He came
with his parents to New England in 1637, when he
was about seven years old. He was one of the
proprietors and early pioneers in the settlement of
Andover, and his name is twenty-third "of the house-
holders in order as they came to town." He was
employed with George Abbot, senior, and others, to
lay out lands granted individuals by the general
court. An old record reads : "It is ordered, that
Thomas Chandler be leften'nt in ye ffoot Com-
pany in Andover, John Stephens. Ensign, under
the command of Dudley Bradstreet, Capt." He
was representative to the general court in 1678 and
1679, from Andover. Loring's "History of .\n-
dover" says : "Thomas Chandler was a blacksmith,
ultimately a rich man, carrying on a considerable
iron works." It is a tradition that iron works
existed where Marland village now is. Thomas
Chandler's son. Captain Joseph, sold, 1718. "one
half of ye whole Iron works in Salisbury on ye
falls commonly called ye Powwow River." Thomas
Chandler married Hannah Brewer, of Andover.
She died in .Andover, October 25. 1717, aged eighty-
seven. Their children were: Thomas (died yohng),
John, Hannah, William, Sarah, Thomas, Henry and
Joseph.
(III) Captain John, second son and child of
Captain Thomas and Hannah (Brewer) Chandler,
born March 14, 1655. died in Andover, September
19, 1721, in the si.xty-seventh year of his age, was
a blacksmith and landholder. His homestead was
on the west side of the Shawshin river, in Andover.
He was chosen moderator for the day at the an-
nual town meeting, March 6, 1710, and on the same
date was elected one of the selectman, to which
office he was several times re-elected. He was
first selectman in 1715. and subsequently highway
surveyor. He m.arried Hannah Abbot, third child
of George and Hannah (Chandler) Abbot, of .An-
dover (see .Abbott). She was born June 9, 1650,
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
47
and died IMarch 2, 1741, aged ninety. Their chil-
dren were: John (died young), John, Zebediah,
Abiel, Hannah and Sarah.
(IV) Tohn (2), second son and child of John
(i) and "Hannah (Abbot) Chandler, born March
14. 16S0, died May .S, 1/41, in Andover, was a
farmer in West Parish, on "the Chandler Home-
stead," where his great-grandson. Captain Joshua
Chandler, resided in 1871. He and his wife were
admitted to full communion with the church in
Andover, July 13. 1712. Sergeant John Chandler
was surveyor 1716-20; selectman 1720. Ensign
John Chandler was selectman and overseer of the
poor in 1725-26-28. He ''was chosen a trustee of
the town, to take out of the Provence Treasury
their aforesaid part of £60.000," and September 19,
1732, Captain John Chandler was moderator of a
town meeting in .-Vndover. The Church Records.
South Parish, Andover, November 8, 1730, state:
"Ensign John Chandler was made choice of as a
messenger to the ordination of Rev. Timothy Wal-
ker, at Penny Cook, which is to be on the i8th."
"The great-grandson of Ensign John Chandler used
to relate that on one occasion, when his ancestor
Ensign John Chandler, of Andover, w-ent to Nev^-
burvport, he was impressed by three of the king's
officials, saying to him, as they laid their hands on
his shoulder, "the King needs your services." He
told them he wished to be excused, as his family
needed his care, u:c., to which the reply was, 'we
can't help that; the King needs your services; you
will go with us.' Apparently yielding, he walked
quietly along until they reached a spot where a
house had been burned and where there was a
deep cellar, with ashes and half consumed timbers
still burning, then turning round quickly he seized
them, one by one. and threw them all into the cel-
lar, where he left them and went his way." His
will was dated April 20, and proved June i, 1741.
He married, June 4, 1701, Hannah Frye. born April
12, 1683, died August i, 1727, aged forty-four years.
She was the daughter of Samuel Frye, born 1650,
by his wife Mary, daughter of John Aslett or Asle-
b'ee, granddaughter of Robert Frye. who married
Ann. who died in Andover, October 23. 1680, and
great-granddaughter of John Frye, of Basing,
Hants. England. The children of this union were:
John. Joshua, Nathan. Hannah. Alary, Phebe. Abiel,
'Samuel (died young 1, Lydia, Samuel, Isaac and
Dorcas. Hannah became the wife of Timothy
Ballard (see Ballard, IV"). (Abial and descendants
receive extended mention in this, article.)
(V) Captain John (3), eldest son of Captain
John (2) and Hannah (Frye) Chandler, born in
Andover, Massachusetts. 1702. died in Concord,
July 26, 1775, aged seventy-two, was one of the
original proprietors of Concord, and a man of much
influence. In 1733 he was tithingman and treasurer
of Pennycook. In 1746 he was captain of the gar-
rison round the house of Rev. Timothy Walker,
in Rumford (now Concord), and in 1747 captain
of the garrison round the house of Jeremiah Stick-
ney. In 1750 he was one of a committee "to advise
and order Deacon John Merrill how he shall pursue
and defend the action, brought against said Alerrill
by the proprietors of Bow," &c. Captain John
Chandler had command of a company of nine men
"in his majesty's service" for eight days. 8th to 17th
of September, 1754. probably scouting for Indians,
for which he received ii. 2S. lod. October 8, 1771,
Captain John Chandler, Mr. Philip Eastman, and
Mr. Abiel Chandler were chosen a committee to
take a plan and survey the common and undivided
land and lay out the same to each proprietor "his
or their equal proportion in a just and equitable
manner. Captain Chandler was a man of great
muscular power and a great wrestler. It is related
"that being informed that Rev. Mr. Wise, of Ipswich,
excelled in the art of wrestling, and had not been
thrown, he made a journey on purpose to try his
strength and skill. Mr. Wise on being requested,
declined, having relinquished the practice as un-
suitable to his profession. But being earnestly solic-
ited by Air. Chandler, they went into a door-yard
which was fenced by a wall set in the bank, took
hold, and began to play; when Mr. Wise suddenly,
with a trip and a twitch, threw him over the wall
upon his back. Chandler arose and requested another
trial, but Air. Wise refused. So the Captain re-
turned home sadly disappointed." He married,
Tabitha Abbot, daughter of Nathaniel and Dorcas
(Hibbert) Abbot, (see Abbot, 11) and they were
the parents of John, Timothy, Daniel, Joshua and
Hannah.
(VI) Lieutenant John (4), oldest child of Cap-
tain John (3) and Tabitha (Abbot) Chandler, born
in 1731, died Alarch I, 1807, was a prominent man
in Pennycook (now Concord), of wdiich he was one
of the proprietors. He drew house lot No. 7. con-
taining one and a half acres in the first range, and
lot 68. containing si.x and sixty-six hundreths acres
in the Great Plain. He was named first of the com-
mittee of three which laid out the ''Second Division
of Interval" in 1727, in which he had lot No. 13,
containing four acres. At a legal meeting of the
proprietors of Penny Cook, March 26, 1733. it was
voted "That Lieutenant John Chandler, Mr. .Abra-
ham Bradley, and Ensign Jeremiah Stickney shall
be a committee to let out the common meadow be-
longing to the proprietors (which shall not be laid
out to particular persons), to the highest bidder for
the year ensuing." In June, 1734. it was "voted that
Lieutenant John Chandler and Air. Timothy Clement
be a committee to be with the clerk whilst he is
recording the land, and to see that he make a fair
record of the same." At a legal meeting of the pro-
prietors of Rumford (now Concord), Alarch 11,
I735> it was "Voted that (Lieutenant) John Chand-
ler shall have liberty to build a saw mill on Rattle
Snake brook, and liberty of a convenient yard for
his logs and boards, and liberty to flow the great
pond called Rattle Snake pond, the said Chandler
to pay what damages he shall do to the proprietors
by flowing the pond; the said Chandler to enjoy
the said privileges during the term of fifteen years
from the twenty-fourth day of February, 1734." In
the same year Lieutenant John Chandler was on a
committee "to dispose of the common meadow within
the township, for the year 1735," and was chosen "to
assist the proprietors' clerk in recording the house-
lots and interval six acre lots, and to see that the
clerk makes a true record thereof." He married,
1751, Alary Carter, who died June 9, 1793. aged
sixty-four. Their children were: John, Nathan,
Isaac, Joseph, Jeremiah and Aloses. (Ihe last
named and descendants receive notice in this
article).
(VII) Captain John (5), son of Lieutenant John
(4) and Alary (Carter) Chandler, was born in
Concord. December II, 1752, and died January 24,
1825. He settled in the village of Penacook, on
Boscawen side, and built the first tavern in the
place, now standing (on the corner of Main and
Water street?") and known as the Penacook House.
He married Naomi, daughter of Ephraim Farnuni,
of Concord. She was born April. 1760. died Alarch,
1832. (see Farnum. IV) and they had John. Nathan,
Ephraim, Alary, Susannah, Judith H. and Rhoda C.
48
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
(VIII) Nathan Chandler, second son and child
of John (5) and Naomi (Farnum) Chandler, born
in Hoscawen, April 15, 1782, died in Concord, April
I, 1835. He was a farmer and lived in Boscawen,
his residence being the house next below the hotel
above mentioned, on Water street. He was select-
man 1812-13-16. He moved to the Concord side
in 1829. and settled near the present Penacook rail-
road station. He married, in 1805, Jane Rolfe, born
January 21, 1783, daughter of Nathaniel {2) and
Judith (.Walker) Rolfe, of Penacook. They were
the parents of Abial Rolfe, Judith Walker, Naomi
Farnum, Nathan, Harriet, Sarah B. and William P.
(IX) Nathan (2), second son and fourth child
of Nathan (1) and Jane (Rolfe) Chandler, was
born in Boscawen, June 12, 1812, and died at the
Concord homestead June 21, 1884. In his youth he
assisted his father on the farm, and got a common
school education. After arriving at man's estate he
bought a farm on the interval near the railroad sta-
tion at Penacook, which he carried on the remainder
of his active life. He was a man of sound judg-
ment and highly esteemed by his neighbors'; was
assessor in ward one for a number of years, served
on a committee to review valuation, as selectman,
and representative in 1874-75, and was a prominent
member of the Congregational Church. He married,
December 8, 1840, Lovisa W. Ferrin, born in West
Concord, 1815, daughter of Philip and (Cleasby)
Ferrin. They had four children : Edward Web-
ster, now a resident of Denver. Colorado ; Sarah
Blanchard, died while the wife of James L. Gerrish
of Webster ; Frederick G. and William Palmer,
residents of Penacook.
(X) Frederick Gray, second son and third child
of Nathan (2) Lovisa W. (Ferrin) Chandler, was
born at Penacook, December 31, 1845, and educated
in the common schools of Penacook and the Bosca-
wen Academy. He taught school winters and worked
on his father's farm during the summer for several
years. In 1877 he bought his father's farm, which,
with other land he has since purchased, makes him
a fertile interval farm of one hundred and twenty-
live acres, upon which he resides, and makes a
specialty of raising a fine quality of hay. He also
owns a half interest in the Eagle and Little blocks,
in the village of Penacook, whose ownership is erron-
eously credited entirely to another in Browns History
of Penacook. For twelve years he kept a dairy
herd, and supplied a milk route in Penacook. Like
his father before him, Mr. Chandler is a man of
integrity and influence, and has performed public
service, having been selectman three terms and coun-
cilman two terms. He and his wife are members of
the Congregational Church. He married, June 21,
1877, Mary S. Abbott, born in West Concord, Au-
gust 24, 1841, daughter of Simeon and jNIary (Far-
num) Abbot (see Abbot, VI). They have one
child, Annie Mary Chandler, born July 12, 1880, a
well known church organist and teacher of music.
(V) Abiel, seventh child and fourth son of John
(2) and Hannah (Frye) Chandler, born in Andover.
November 14, 1717, baptized December i, 1717,
died before 1754, was an early settler in Rumford
(Concord), New Hampshire. He was chosen fence
viewer, March 20, 1740; highway surveyor, March
31, 1743, in Rumford. In 1746 his family went to
seek protection from the Indians in Henry Love-
joy's garrison in the West Parish, Concord. But
"Jilarch ye 21, 1746-7" Abiel Chandler was ordered
to do duty round the house (garrison) of Rev.
Timothy Walker. He owned house lot No. 7 in
the Second Range and eighty acres of farm land in
Concord. He married, March 17, 1742, Rebecca
Abbot, of Concord, born in Andover, 1717, died
February 13, 1803, aged eighty-six years, daughter
of Nathaniel and Dorcas (Hibbert) Abbott. They
had four children: Abiel, died young; Abiel, Peter,
a soldier at Bunker Hill ; and Sarah. After the
death of Mr. Chandler, his widow became the wife
of Amos Abbott. (See Abbott, IV).
(VI) Major Abiel, second son and child of Abiel
and Rebecca (Abbot) Chandler, born in Concord,
New Hampshire, May 11, 1744, died of small po.x
at Crown Point, July 12, 1776, in his thirty-second
year. The town of Concord paid Abiel Chandler
for school-keeping and for surveying from 1771 to
I775> fifty-five pounds, fourteen shillings and two
and a half pence; and for "surveying roads and
taking the number of the people," from 1774 to 1775,
five pounds, ten shillings. He was commissioned
captain of the Second Company of militia in Con-
cord, the Sixth Company in the regiment. February
26. 1774. As soon as the news of the battle of Lex-
ington, April 19, 1775, reached Concord. Captain
Abiel Chandler raised a volunteer company of
thirty-six men and marched to Cambridge, Massa-
chusetts, where they remained a fortnight. The
town of Concord voted "That Captain Abiel Chand-
ler and those who went with him to Cambridge,
upon the alarm of April last, be paid by the Parish
at the same rate as other troops in this Colony are
paid." Lieutenant Abiel Chandler was in Captain
Joshua Abbott's company at Bunker Hill, and acted
as ensign in Starke's regiment, and that company
was on the extreme left and had not the slightest
protection of rail fence or hay even in the fight. At
Ticonderoga. 1776, he was adjutant of Colonel John
Stark's regiment, under Brigadier-General Sullivan.
He died at Crown Point while in the service. He
married Judith Walker, daughter of Rev. Timothy
Walker (see Walker, V), of Concord, by his wife
Sarah Burbeen, daughter of James, of Woburn,
JNlassachusetts. They were the parents of three
children: Sarah; Judith, born October 9. 1770. mar-
ried, June 12. 1784, Timothy Carter (see Carter,
VII), and Rebecca.
(II) William (2), second son and third child
of William (l) and Annis Chandler, was married
August 18, 1658, to Mary Dame, who was born 1638,
in Ipswich, and died May 10, 1679, in Andover. She
was a daughter of Dr. John Dane ("chirergen")
and his first wife, Eleanor Clark. Dr. John Dane
was a son of John Dane, of Bishop's Stortford,
Herts, England, whose second wife was Annis,
widow of William Chandler (i). Dr. John Dane
was the author of "A Declaration of Remarkable
Prouidences in the Corse of my Life." (republished
in the "New England Flistorical and Genealogical
Register" for 1S54), in which he declares that he
was a "Taylor by trade." when residing near
Bishop's Stortford, England. William (2) Chand-
ler was married October 8, 1679. to Bridget (Hinch-
man). widow of James Richardson. She died March
6, 1731, aged one hundred years. ]\Ir. Chandler was
admitted a freeman in 1669. He was a brickinaker
in Andover, and kept an inn on the road from Ips-
wich to Billerica, being licensed June 17. 169-- He
died in 1698, in Andover, and left a large estate.
His children, all born of the first wife, were : Mary,
William, Sarah, Thomas (died at two years), John,
Philemon (died at eight months), Thomas, Phile-
mon, Hannah, Thomas (2), Joseph, Phebe, Joseph
(2), and Rhoda.
(III) William (3), eldest son and second child
of William (2) and Mary (Dane) Chandler, was
born January 31, 1661, in Andover, and was married
December 28, 1682, to Sarah Buckminster. They
NEW HAMPSHIRE
49
lived next door to the parsonage in South Andover,
and the wife was a member of the church. He died
October 27, 1727, being survived by his wite until
October 3, 1735, when he was seventj'-four years
old. Their children were : Josiah, Philemon, Sarah
and Zachariah. His estate was appraised at three
hundred and seventy pounds.
(,IVj Zachariah, youngest child of William (3)
and Sarah (Buckminster) Chandler, was born May
I, 1695, and was married in Roxbury, January iH,
1715, to Mary, daughter of Thomas Bishop of Rox-
bury. He lived in West Roxbury, on the north side
of the Dedham road, and was a shoemaker. In
the record of a sale of land by him he is alluded to
as one of the Narragansett soldiers. This land was
in Narragansett township, on the ^ilerrimack river,
next to Dunstable. He was elected sealer of leather
in Roxbury, Marcli 3, 1717, and several years there-
after. In a bill of sale executed at Boston, Novem-
ber u, 1740, wherein it is shown that he paid one
hundred and ten pounds for a negro boy, he is re-
ferred to as a cordwainer. His will was made April
29, 1750, and his estate inventoried July 14, 1752,
showing that his death occurred between those dates.
The will speaks of his "only son Thomas," who
was the only one then of age, and he was charged
with the funeral expenses and received the bulk
of the estate. The funeral charges were five pounds
five shillings, and the appraisers fixed the value of
the estate at eight hundred thirty-four pounds, three
shillings, three pence. His children were : Thomas,
Mary (died seven years old), Sarah, Mary, Zach-
ariah (died at two), Mary, William, Hannah, Abi-
gail and Zachariah.
(V) Thomas, first child of Zachariah and Mary
(Bishop) Chandler, was born December 7, 1716,
in Roxbury, and was baptized when nine days old.
He was among the pioneer settlers of Bedford, New
Hampshire, his marriage being the first in that
town. He built the first frame house in the town,
having lived some time previously in a log house.
At the first town meeting, June 6, 1750, he was elect-
ed selectman. His grandfather, Thomas Bishop,
had received a grant of land in Bedford, and this
led to the settlement there of the grandson, who
died there November 2, 1752. He was possessed of
six lots of land, and his estate was valued by ap-
praisers at two thousand eight hundred pounds.
His wife, Hannah Gofie, of Bedford, was a daughter
of Colonel John Gofife, who was born 1701, probably,
at Boston, and participated in the French and In-
dian war. After the death of Mr. Chandler his
widow became the second wife of Captain Andrew
Bradford, and lived in what is now Milford, New
Hampshire. She bore her second husband five
children. The children of Thomas and Hannah
(Gofife) Chandler were: Peggy, Hannah, Sally
and Zachariah. The mother died December 14,
1819, aged ninety-six. leaving sixty-three grand chil-
dren, one hundred and thirteen great-grand children
and one of the fifth generation.
(VI) Zachariah, only son and youngest child
of Thomas and Hannah (Goffe) Chandler, was born
May 28, 1751, in Bedford, and was among the pa-
triots of the Revolutionary period. He was select-
man in 1784, and fish reaf in 1791. By his will he
divided his farm between his sons, and died April 20,
1830, at the age of seventy-eight years. He was married
in Amherst, this state, in 1771, to Sarah Patten,
who was born March 17, 1749, and died November
20, 1842. aged ninety-three years. She was a daugh-
ter of Samuel and .\lar>- (Bell) Patten, the former
of whom came to America when nineteen years old
and settled in Bedford, about one-fourth mile west
i— 4
of his subsequent son-in-law. During his minority
Mr. Chandler lived at Roxbury and drove a milk
cart into Boston. Because of this the Patten family
objected to him as a prospective husband of their
daughter, but when he assumed charge of the pa-
ternal estate these objections were withdrawn. His
children were named, Thomas, Samuel and Sarah.
(VH) Thomas, eldest child of Zachariah and
Sarah (Patten) Chandler, was born August lO,
1772, in Bedford, where he was a farmer and a most
active and useful citizen. In 1S03 he began teaching
music among his relatives, and gradually extended
this work until he was in demand in many localities,
and became quite noted as a teacher. He was justice
of the quorum in 180S, and licensed as publican 1827.
He was captain of militia in 1815, W'as subsequently
representative of the town in the legislature, was
a member of the state senate in 1817-S and 1825-6-7.
He represented the district in congress from 1829
to 1833, and was an expounder of old-time Jeft'er-
sonian Democracy. He was a tall and spare man,
standing six feet in height, vigorous and energetic,
and continued to help in the fields until he was in
his eighty-eighth year. He died in Bedford, January
28, 18(36, 'in his ninety- fourth year. He was married
November 26, 1793, to Susannah McAflfet, who
was born JNIarch 30, 1772, and died Noveml)er 23,
1857, aged eighty-five. She was the youngest daugh-
ter of -Matthew McAftee, who was born in Roch-
ester, New Hampshire, and died April 15, 1797, and
second wife, Sarah }ilorrison. Mr. and Mrs. Chanil-
ler had four children, namely : Asenath C, Sarah,
Hannah and Adam.
(VIII) Adam, only son of Thomas and Sus-
annah (McAffee) Chandler, was born June 7, 1805.
in Bedford, and was a farmer all his active life, on
the homestead on the river road; he died in Man-
chester, September, 1887. In October, 1841, he was
licensed to dispense liquors at his home, was ap-
pointed a justice of the peace in the same year, and
a justice of the quorum in 1861. He was married,
December 21, 1829, to Sally McAllister, who was
born March I, 1804, and died November 7, 1870. She
was a daughter of John and Jane (Aiken) j\lc-
AUister, the latter a daughter of James and ^iary
(Waugh) Aiken. John McAllister was a son of
John and Jerusha McAllister, of the sturdy Scotch-
Irish stock which settled a considerable portion of
southern New Hampshire. Mr. and Mrs. Chandler
had three sons and a daughter, namely: Henry,
George Byron, John McAllister and Sarah H. Tlie
daughter died at the age of two years. The young-
est son was a merchant in Manchester. The others
the subjects of following sketches.
(IX) Henry, eldest son of Adam and Sally
(McAllister) Chandler, was born October 30. 1830,
on the family ancestral homestead in Bedford,
where he grew to manhood. His education was
supplied by the local public schools and Gilmanlon
Academy, supplemented by that school of practical
experience which is the best tutor for most men.
Of sound sense and steadfast application he had
good store, and he achieved the success which awaits
earnest effort. Like most of those w'ho bear the
name, he was regarded as a successful and useful
citizen by his contemporaries. On attaining his ma-
jority Mr. Chandler went to Nashua and took em-
ployment as clerk and salesman in a grocery and
hardware store. Here he came in contact with the
public and acquired the know^Iedge of busimess
which laid the foundation of his fortune. From
October. 1854. his residence w^as in Manchester
until his death, which occurred October 20, iQrio,
just ten days before the close of his seventieth vear.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
On coming to Jilanchester he became a clerk with
Plunitr &. Bailey, clothing merchantf, and in a short
time became a partner in the concern, which did
business many years under the style of Plumer &
Chandler. While continuing in this business jMr.
Chandler went to Boston and became a partner in
the tirm of Sibley, Cumner & Company, later and
long known as Cunuier, Jones & Co., wholesale
dealers in Jailor's trimmings, but did not remove his
home from Manchester. After a successful mer-
cantile career of a quarter of a century 2\lr. Chandler
disposed of his interests in that line and became con-
nected with the Amoskeag Savings Bank, of which
he was elected treasurer in 1884. so continued
during the remainder of his life. He was also a
director of the Amoskeag National Bank, treasurer
of the Manchester & Lawrence Railroad Company,
and president of the Brown Lumber Company, of
Whitefield. A strict Democrat of the old school, he
acted upon his principles, but desired no political
preferment, though he consented to serve as a mem-
ber of the board of water commissioners of Man-
chester as a matter of public duty. He was a mem-
ber of the Unitarian Church, and of Washington
Lodge, No. I, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.
Of genial nature, courteous and affable in manner,
upright to the last degree, he was a model banking
officer and enjoyed the respect of the whole com-
munitv. :Mr. Chandler was married. November 14,
i860, to Abbie Jane Bond, who was born October 11,
1840, in Bow, New Hampshire, a daughter of
Thomas J. and Anna (Brown) Bond, the latter a
daughter of James Brown of that town. Brief
mention of Mr. Chandler's children follows : Sally,
born November 11, 1861, is the wife of James W.
Hill of Manchester. Annie Bell, January 5, 1864,
resides in Manchester, unmarried. Alice Maria,
March 9, 1866, married Joseph Benjamin Hart,
and lives in Wawbeek, New York. George Henry
is the subject of the following notice.
(X) George Henry, only son and youngest child
of Henry and Abbie J. (Bond) Chandler, was born
February 18, 1869, in Manchester, and grew up in
that city, where he received his education, grad-
uating from the high school in 1887. He at once
entered the Amoskeag National bank as clerk, and
has risen by gradual promotion to the place of
director, being also treasurer of the Amoskeag
Savings Bank. He was made a trustee of the savings
bank in 1889, assistant treasurer in 1900, and suc-
ceeded his uncle as treasurer upon the death of the
latter in the spring of 1905. He became clerk of
the Manchester & Lawrence railroad in 1898, and
succeeded his father as treasurer in 1900. He is a
director of the Concord Axle Company, the Man-
chester Gas Light Company and New Hampshire
Fire Insurance Company; treasurer of the East
Side Company, a Manchester manufacturing con-
cern, and Cohas Building Company; and is presi-
dent of the James W. Hill Company, ^[anchester s
largest mercantile establishment. It will thus be
seen that Mr. Chandler is identified with the leading
interests of his native town, as well as some of
statewide importance and, being a busy man, he has
little time for social diversions. He is a member of
the Derryfield Club of Manchester, and of the Uni-
tarian Church of that city and endeavors to fill
the part of a good citizen. His political allegiance
has been given to the Democratic party until its
platform made free silver the leading issue, since
which time he has not supported the national ticket.
He was married. October 6. 1885. to Mary I. Gould,
who was born October 6, 1871, at Hillsboro Bridge,
a daughter of George E. and Addie Augusta (Ells-
worth) Gould, the former a native of Hillsboro and
the latter of Deering, New Hampshire. A daugh-
ter completes the family of Mr. Chandler, namely,
Marigold, born October 2, 1886.
(IX) George Byron, second son and child of
Adam and Sally (McAllister) Chandler, was one
of the most useful, philanthropic and highly re-
spected citizens of Manchester. He was widely
known, his friends being limited only to the extent
of his acquaintance, and he was honored by niany
who did not enjoy the pleasure of personal inter-
course with him. He was born November 18, 1832,
in Bedford, and passed his earlier years upon the
home farm there. His parents were determined
that he should have a good opportunity for educa-
tion, and he spent some time in academical study at
Piscataquog, Gilmanton, Hopkinton and Reed's
Ferry. Having made proper use of these oppor-
tunities, he was employed three years as a teacher
in Amoskeag, Bedford and Nashua, before his ma-
jority, and spent the first year of his manhood as
a civil engineer in the service of the Boston, Con-
cord & Montreal railroad. Having decided upon
a business career, in the spring of 1854 he entered
the grocery house of Kidder & Duncklee. at Man-
ichester, as bookkeeper, and there gave such prom-
ise of his subsequent success as a financier that he
was invited the next year to take a similar position
in the Amoskeag Bank. This he accepted, and here
his capacity was so demonstrated that he was pro-
moted in eighteen months to the teller's position.
After more than seven years of faithful and efficient
attention to duty, upon the organization of the
Amoskeag National Bank in 1864, he was made
cashier. As such he was the real executive officer ,
of the institution, and his friends may well be proud
of the record in growth and strength of this bank
under Iiis administration. This relation continued
until 1892, when Mr. Chandler became president of
the bank, succeeding the Hon. Moody Currier.
Upon the organization of the People's Savings
Bank in 1874. Mr. Chandler was made its treas-
urer, and so continued_ as long as he lived, and dur-
ing this time its assets rose from one hundred and
thirty-eight thousand dollars to approximately one
million. The New Hampshire Fire Insurance Com-
pany was another of the institutions to prosper
under Mr. Chandler's fostering care. He was one
of its incorporators in 1869, and was its treasurer
while he lived, during which time its capital grew
from one hundred thousand dollars to one million.
In speaking of his other interests the Manchester
Union said:
"While these have been the interests dearest to
Mr. Chandler, he was ever inclined to assist other
worthy enterprises, those calculated to build up
Manchester having the preference. It would be a
difficult if not impossible task to enumerate the var-
ious enterprises in which he was interested. It is
safe to assert that to Mr. Chandler, more than to
any other person, is due to the strides taken in the
shoe industry in Manchester in the course of the
recent years. Mr. Chandler was a director in the
Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, the IManches-
ter & Lawrence railroad, and for several .vears he
was the railroad's treasurer. He w'as also a direc-
tor in the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance
Company, the Moline Plow Conipany. and ^ numer-
ous other large enterprises. Aside from his other
business connections he was entrusted with numer-
ous trusts, involving wise and skillful management
of important and extensive interests. His advice
was often sought in matters pertaining to invest-
ments and so universal was the confidence in his
^i
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
51
tact and proper conservatism that a good word
from him set doubts at rest forthwith. His well-
known inclination to help home industries resulted
in a unanimous choice of Mr. Chandler for president
of the Manchester Board of Trade when that or-
ganization was formed, and he took hold of the
work with the vim characteristic in everything he
undertook, for there was nothing of the lackadaisi-
cal order in Mr. Chandler. And when he retired
from the presidency of the board a system had been
formulated which made the board a most material
factor in the city's industrial progress.
"Mr. Chandler was also an organizer and one
time president of the New Hampshire Club, which
was recently merged in the New Hampshire Ex-
change Clui). His love for the arts and sciences
led him to take a deep interest in the Manchester
Institute of Arts and Science, of which organization
he was a benefactor of incalculable value from its
inception. The Philharmonic Society owed its ex-
istence to him, and, if he had not been freely dis-
posed to make good the deficits certainly anticipated,
the musical festivals, with world-famous artists as
soloists, would not have been Manchester's portion.
The Chandler course of lectures, another boon to
Manchester, was likewise the fruit of his public
spirit.
■'For several years Mr. Chandler was an officer
in the Amoskeag Veterans, which organization was
formed the same year he came to the city. He was
a member of Royal Arch Chapter, Adoniram Coun-
cil, and Trinity Commandery, Knights Templar,
having joined LaFayette Lodge of Masons in 1854.
He was transferred to Washington Lodge in 1857,
and became its first secretary. He was also a mem-
ber of Wildey Lodge, Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, and the Dcrryfield Club. Governor Batch-
elder appointed him on tlie board of trustees of the
New Hampshire Agricultural College. While Mr.
Chandler always took an active interest in politics,
he never sought political preferment. In 1874 the
Democrats nominated him for State senator and he
was elected in a nominally Republican district. He
was also nominated for Congress by the Democrats.
"Mr. Chandler had read much and traveled ex-
tensively in this and other countries. He possessed
a wide acquaintance with distinguished men in all
walks of life, and had, therefore, a valuable
knowledge of the resources, customs and character-
istics of various sections, which stood him in good
stead in his business transactions, as well as
furnishing him invaluable material for public ad-
dresses and private 'conversations. .'Vs a public
speaker Mr. Chandler was most pleasing."
Mr. Chandler was married, Mav 20. 1862. to
Miss Flora Ann Daniels, who died May 3, 1868,
aged twenty-five years and two months, being sur-
vived only a few days by her only child, a daughter.
She was a daughter of Darwin J. and Eliza
.'\nn (Forsaith) Daniels. On October 27, 1870. Mr.
Chandler w-as married to Fanny Rice Martin, only
daughter of the late Colonel Benjamin F. and Mary
Ann (Rice) Martin, and she survives him, with the
eldest and youngest of their three sons — Benjamin
Martin, Alexander Rice and Byron (see Martin,
VI). Mr. Chandler passed to the reward awaiting
just men, on Thursday morning, June 29, 1905, at
8 :5o o'clock in the morning. His demise caused uni-
versal mourning in New Hampshire, and wherever
known. The following tribute from the local press
sums up his character in fitting terms :
"Mr. Chandler was in many respects the city's
foremost citizen. -One of the wealthiest men of
Manchester, he was at the same time one of the
most democratic. He was public-spirited, and in-
terested in everything that pertained to the city's
commercial, industrial and intellectual welfare. He
prospered in business by the aid of his own ability
and industry, as did few Manchester men. He was
charitable, and his 'charity kept pace with his profits.
There was, probably, no worthy public charity in
which he did not interest himself. While many of
his gifts were known to the public, there were many
more of his charities that were known to no one but
himself and the beneficiary. Many kindnesses to
individuals will never be known, in fact his private
charities were legion. It was Mr. Chandler's cus-
tom every winter to fit out the men on the Beech
and Bridge street car lines with gloves. The news-
boys that delivered him papers were remembered
by him. Almost everybody who came in contact
witli him had occasion to know his goodness.
Though in his own church afiiliations he was a
L'nitarian almost every church in the city has had
at one time or another occasion to thank him for *
some substantial gift. To the rich and the poor,
Mr. Chandler was the same modest, helpful citizen.
His conservative judgment, ripened by long and
wide experience, was highly valued by friends and
acquaintances, and his advice was never sought in
vain. His good counsel gave hope and ambition to
many a young man, and to many an older man,
pressed by difficulties, as well."
On the fiftieth anniversary of his connection with
the -Amoskeag Bank, Mr. Chandler was unable to
attend the celebration of that event, but he was
presented with a magnificent loving cup by the in-
stitution.
(VII) Dr. Moses, sixth son and child of
Lieutenant John (4) and Mary (Carter) Chandler,
was born November 23. 1765, and died September
to. 1822, aged fiftyvsix years. He practiced his pro-
fession in Newmarket and Lee. New Hampshire,
but removed to Fryeburg, Maine, where he died and
was buried on his own farm. When about fourteen
years old he ran away from his father and enlisted
in Concord, in Captain Frye's company of Captain
Cilley's regiment, and ser\'ed his country in the
Revolutionary war about one year, for which he
received in after life a pension of fifty-six dollars
and sixty-six cents per annum. He was a skillful
physician, a good citizen, but fond of the sports of
that day. He married first, Sally Goodwin, of Xcw-
markct. New Hampshire, who died September 24,
i8or. in Fryeburg, leaving four children. He mar-
ried second. Mary Langdon, who was born March
21. 1782: and died in Ma}', 1S63, aged eighty-one
years, and was buried beside her late husband. She
was the dau.ghter of Paul Langdon, long the pro-
prietor of the academy at Fryeburg, and grand-
daughter of Samuel Langdon, president of Harvard
College. Dr. Chandler was the father of fifteen
children, four by the first wife, and eleven by the
second, named as follows : Jeremiah, Enoch. Fol-
som, Mary .Ann. Nathan, David Sewall, Sarah Good-
win, Samuel Langdon, Joseph, Moses. Betsey
Chase. Isaac (died young), Judith, Isaac, Paul
Langdon, and Anna Maria.
(VIII) Samuel Langdon. third child and sec-
ond son of Dr. Moses and Mary (Langdon) Chan-
dler, was born in Fryeburg, Maine, October 7. rSo/.
and died in Fryeburg, February 16, 1882, aged
seventy-five. He had an apothecary store and kept
the postofficc in North Conway, New Hampshire,
and practiced law there. He removed to Fryeburg.
Maine, about 1853. where he was lawyer and iustice
of the peace, insurance and pension agent. He was
representative from Fryeburg, and selectman. He
52
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
owned a farm near Fryebiirg and was a member of
the Grange. He married first, Mary S. Kilgore, of
Fry-eburg, who was bom December 13, 1S13, daugh-
ter of Major James Kilgore, who was born May 10.
I7g2. and married, November 21, 181 1, Mehitable
Stearns, who was born October 10, 1705, and died
September 21, 1841, daughter of Timothy Stearns,
of Billerica, Massachusetts, by his wife Mary,
daughter of Edward Carlton. Mary Stearns Kil-
gore was granddaughter of James Kilgore, of
Lovell, Maine, who stood in his place and fired his
gun thirty-nine times at the enemies of his country,
and was "loading the fortieth time when ordered to
change his place, in one of the fights during the
Revolutionary war. The children of Samuel L.
and Mary S. (Kilgore) Chandler were nine, as fol-
lows: Mehitable Kilgore, Mary Stearns. Maria
Lord, Paul Langdon. James Everett, Paul Lang-
don. Mary Abby Lord, Adrianna, and Frederick,
whose sketch follows.
(IX) Dr. Frederick, youngest child of Samuel
L. and Mary S. (Kilgore) Chandler, was born in
North Conway, New Hampshire, March 27, 1852.
He was educated in the common schools and at
Fryeburg- Academy. He was a clerk in Charles-
town, Massachusetts, and then took one year's
course in the medical department of Har\'ard Col-
lege, and then three years at Bowdoin Medical Col-
lege, graduating in T877. He soon after began
practice in Minot. Maine, whence a year and a half
later he went to Scarbbro, and still later settled in
Mont Vernon, New Hampshire. In 1890^ he re-
moved to .Amherst, where he has since built up a
large and lucrative practice. While in Mont Ver-
non he filled the office of town derk two years. He
is a member of P_\i:hagorean Lodge, Artcient Free
and -Accepted Masons, of Fryeburg, and of the
Congregatinnalist Church of Amherst. He mar-
ried, November 14, 1878, Ann Eliza Millett. of
Minot. Maine, who was born June 16, 1856, daugh-
ter of Lemuel and Mary A. (Milliken) Millett.
They have one child, Willis Clifford Chandler, born
August 2. 1879, a dentist in Farmington, New
Hampshire. He is a graduate of the Milford high
school, and of Baltimore Dental College.
(II) Deacon John, fourth child and youngest
son of William and .'Vnnis Chandler, was born in
t6to. and removed from Old Roxbury to New
Roxbury (Woodstock, Connecticut), in 1686; was
selectman in idg."! and afterward ; deacon of the
church ; one of six men who bought the Mashamo-
quet purchase of fifteen hundred acres, and was one
of the prominent men of the town until his death,
April 15. 1703. He married Elizabeth daughter of
William" Douglas and his wife Anna Mattle, daugh-
ter of Thomas Mattle, of Ringstead, in Northamp-
tonshire, England. William Douglass was of Ips-
wich, Massachusetts, in 1641 : in Boston, 1645 ; was
made freeman, 1646; moved to New London, Con-
necticut, 1650; and was one of the grantees of that
place, in 1663. from Charles II. The children of
Deacon John" and Elizabeth (Douglass) Chandler
were: John. Elizabeth, John, Joseph, Hannah, Me-
hitabel, Sarah and Joseph.
(III) Captain John, son of John and Elizabeth
(Douglas) Chandler, was born April 16, 1665, and
at the organization of the town of Woodstock was
chosen to\vn clerk, and also appointed to "instruct
the children to read, write and cipher." In 1693-94
he was one of the town committee, selectman in
1694, representative to the general court at Boston
as early as 1711, and for several years. He lived
several years in New London, and in 1698 was li-
censed to keep a house of entertainment there. Later
he returned to Woodstock, and in 1703 was town
surveyor. During the. period of early Indian
troubles he was first captain, later major and then
colonel. He held many offices of trust, and was
judge of the first probate court in Worcester county.
Massachusetts, in 1731. In 1735 he was appointed
to read the address to Governor Belcher and his
council ; was a commissioner of the peace nearly
forty years, and seven years a member of his
majesty's council. He died in Woodstock, August
10, 1743, in his seventy-ninth year, and was buried
there, as desired in his will, with a fiat stone to
cover his remains, without any inscription. He mar-
ried Mary Raymond, of Woodstock, fifth child of
Deacon Joshua and Elizabeth (Smith) Raymond.
Their children were : John, Joshua, William, Mary,
Elizabeth, Samuel, Sarah, Mehitabel, Thomas and
Hannah.
(IV) Captain William, third son and child of
Colonel John and Mary (Raymond) Chandler, was
born in New London. Connecticut, November 3,
1698, and died June 20, 1754; married. May 22, 1725,
Jemima Bradbury, of Salisbury, Massachusetts, who
was born in Salisbury, January 25, 1703-04. and
died June 24, 1779. Captain Chandler was a farmer
and owned aboa.it one thousand acres extending over
Chandler hill. He was a surveyor of land, and in
1724 was 'captain of a company stationed at Leicester
and Rutland. The children of Captain William and
Jemima (Bradbury) Chandler were : Thomas Brad-
bury, William, Lemuel, Theophilus, Jemima, Sam-
uel, Mary. Mehitable, Henry and Winthrop.
(V) William, second child and son of Captain
William and Jemima (Bradbury) Chandler, was
born March 10, 1728; died February 23. 1756; mar-
ried, July 5, 1753, Mary Hodges, who died Septem-
ber 14, 17915. daughter of Captain Williain Hodges,
of Taunton, by his second wife. William Chandler
was admitted freeman in Woodstock, April 8, 17S4,
and his occupation was ship joiner. The children
of William and Mary (Hodges) Chandler were:
William and Henry.
(,VI) Henry, elder of the two children of W^ill-
iam and Mary (Hodges) Chandler, was born in
Woodstock, Connecticut, June 17, 1756. and died
June 5, 1813. He was a tailor by trade, which he
went toi learn, at the age of fourteen, of Samuel
Waldo, of Pomfret, Connecticut. He set up in his
trade in Pomfret, and had for his sign a cabbage
painted as large as life. He was lame, one leg be-
ing an inch and a half shorter than the other, caused
by disease of the hip joint when he was young.
About 1795 he removed from Pomfret to Hanover,
New Hampshire, and had a farm about four miles
east of the college. Henry Chandler married, -April
10. 1781, Martha Brown, of Pomfret, by whom he
had nine children: Nancy, William, Henry Hilton.
Mary, William Brown, Jeremiah, John, Rebecca
Brown and Nancy.
(VII) Henry Hilton, third child and second
son of Henry and Martha (Brown) Chandler, was
born June 7, 1786, and died in i86g. He was named
by Mary Hodges, his grandmother, who added the
name of Hilton for his ancestor, Edward Hilton, of
Exeter, New Hampshire. He was about ten years
old when his father removed to Hanover. In 1800
he went back to Pomfret and worked for his uncle,
Major John W. Chandler, on the Chandler home-
stead, but eventually returned to Hanover and car-
ried on a wool-carding business at Mill Village,
and also attended a saw and grist mill there, besides
attending to his official duties as town clerk. He
was about five feet ten inches high and weighed in
his best days about one hundred and ninety pounds.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
53
He married, September li, 1811. Anna Wright, who
was born May 20, 1790, daughter of David and
Lydia (Tenny) Wright, of Hanover, New Hamp-
shire (see Wright, 1). Their children were: Clem-
entine Celesta, William Henry, David Wright, James
Hilton. Clementine, and Celestina. ,
(VHI) Clementine, daughter and fifth child of
Henry Hilton and Anna (Wright) Chandler, was born
at Hanover, New Hampshire, November 12, 1818;
married first, January I, 1845, David C. Whipple
(see Whipple. V) ; married second, July i. 1855,
John Wright Dodge, who died February, 1897. By
her first husband, Clementine had two children —
Henry Chandler Whipple and Maragret Perritt
Whipple; by her second marriage she had two chil-
dren—an infant, born January 21, 1857, died Octo-
ber 2, 1857, and Fanny Louisa Dodge, born April
30, i8S9- '
The Ledoux family, which originated
LEDOUX in France, was transplanted to Canada
by an early emigrant who arrived
there during the period in which Pere Marquette,
La Salle, Joliet and other venturesome Frenchmen
were exploring the country and opening its portals
to European settlers. The posterity of its original
ancestor in Canada is quite numerous and the
majority of them are residing in the province of
Quebec.
(I) The emigrant above referred to was Louis
Ledoux of Notre Dame de La Couture, France, who
came over about the year 1668, and was married in
Montreal, March 20, 1679. He was forty years of
age at the time of his arrival in this country.
(IP) Jacques Ledoux, son of the immigrant, re-
sided in Boucherville. province of Quebec.
(III) Jacques (2), son of Jacques (l), was a
resident of Varennes.
(IV) Louis Ledoux, son of Jacques (2), also
resided in Varennes.
CV) Amable Ledoux, son of Louis, was a native
of Varennes and established his home at Beloeil;
later he immigrated to the United States.
(VI) Marcel Ledoux, a son of Amable, went
from Beloeil. his native town, to St. Albans, Ver-
mont. He married Angele Jodoin.
(VII) Toussaint, son of Marcel (6) and .\ngele
(Jodoin) Ledoux, was born in St. Albans. October
27. 1S48. After serving an apprenticeship at the
machinist's trade he followed it as a journeyman in
St. Albans until 1879, when he moved to Nashua,
and has ever since resided in that \hy. He is still
engaged in the activities of life, and for some years
has occupied the responsibile position of foreman
of the International Paper Box Machine Company's
plant. As a Democrat in politics he has figured
quite prominently in local civic afifairs. having served
in both branches of the city government and as rep-
resentative to the lower house of the state legis-
lature. He belongs to the Independant Order of
Foresters and when ever occasion demands he dis-
plays an earnest interest in Catholic institutions.
He married Elmira Bourgeois, who has borne him
eight children, four of whom are now living: Henry
T., Edmond L., Regis and Elphege.
(VIII) Henri Toussaint, son of Toussaint and
Elmira (Bourgeois) Ledoux, was born in St. Albans,
Vermont. November 4, 1873. His preliminary studies
were pursued in the public schools, and he was a
student at St. Therese College in Canada. His
legal preparations were completed at the Boston
Univcrsitv Law School, from which he was gradu-
ated in iRgC. He established himself in the practice
of his profession at Nashua, in the same year, and is
now conducting a general law business with gratify-
ing success. From the time of his majority Mr.
Ledoux has evinced a lively interest in public affairs,
having served with marked ability in the common
council in 1895, was representative to the legislature
in 1897-99, lia5 served four years upon the board
of public works, and is now tax collector. In politics
he is a Democrat. In 1906 he was Democratic can-
didate for congress from the second district. He
is president of the Montagnards Club and also
afiiliates with the Independent Order of Foresters,
and Knights of Columbus. He married, June 6,
1904, Agnes Manseau, daughter of John B. Manseau,
of Nashua.
This is a name almost unknown
LANGLANDS in America, though it is probably
of ancient origin. It dates from
the time when man, lacking other patronymics, was
distinguished by his surroundings, and was doubt-
less first applied to some great landholding English
squire or Scottish chief. ■
(I) William Langlands was born in Scotland,'
in 1800, and came to America in 1834, settling on
Indian Hill, Newburyport, iMassachusetts. He was
a man of ability, was educated at a university in
France, and studied law. Upon coming to this coun-
try he made the acquaintance of Major Ben. Perley
Poore, who was for years the well known
Washington correspondent of the Boston Journal
under the signature of "Perley." Major Poore's
summer residence was at Indian Hill, and Mr.
Langlands worked for him three years, going thence
to the town of Newburyport, where he performed
the legal business for the town until his death.
In 1824 William Langlands married Catherine
Campbell, daughter of Daniel Campbell, of Scot-
lend. They had six children: George Edward,
Margaret, William E., Hannah, Daniel Campbell,
whose sketch follows, and Emeline. George Ed-
ward gave his life to his adopted country. Dur-
ing the Civil war he enlisted in the Eighth Massa-
chusetts Regiment, and was at New Orleans under
General Butler. At Baton Rouge the "Constitu-
tion" was disabled, and he was helping to get out
the ammunition wdien he fell down the hold, break-
ing his kneecap. He re-enlisted after that, but was
so disabled that he was obliged to give up the ser-
vice. He returned home, but his death, which oc-
curred only five ysars later, was due to that injury,
which he received on board ship. Margaret Lang-
lands, the eldest daughter, married John Ewins, of
Newburyport : Hannah married John W. Young, M.
D., and Emeline married Lemuel Fuller, of Am-
herst, New Hampshire. William Langlands died
March 9. 1848, after a residence in America of
only fifteen years. His wife died July 7, 1907, at
the age of one hundred and three years.
(II) Daniel Campbell, third son and fifth child
of William and Catherine (Campbell) Langlands.
was born in West Newbury, Massachusetts. May
13, 1838. He was educated in the public schools of
his native town, and learned the shoemaker's trade.
He afterwards went to South Newmarket. New
Hampshire, where he was foreman for thirty-three
years of Amos Paul's Machine Company. He re-
mained there till after Mr. Paul's death, and then
came to Lancaster, New Hampshire, where since 1895
he has managed the large farm for the Mechanics'
National Bank and Merrimack County Savings
Bank of Concord, New Hampshire. He was one
of the organizers of the Connecticut Valley Milk
Producers' Association, and he was unanimously
elected its first president. He is a Republican, and
54
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
a very influential man in political circles in the
northern part of the state. He has held all the
town otfices; was selectman for ten years and was
representative in 1883 and 1895. He has never been
defeated for any office. He attends the Universalist
Church, and belongs to the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows. Daniel Campbell Langlands has been
twice married. His first wife was Elizabeth R.,
daughter of Captain Cutting and Olive Pettengill, of
Newburyport. They have one son, Daniel G., born
March 20, i860, now connected with the firm of
James B. Roberts Company in Boston. Mrs. Lang-
lands died October 9, 1885. October 12, 1887, Mr.
Langlands married Carrey Oaks, daughter of Henry
and Olive Weitzel. of Newburyport, Massachusetts.
They have one daughter, Catherine Campbell, born
September 3, 1888.
Charles Miller Floyd, one of the most
FLOYD active, progressive and successful busi-
ness men of the city of Manchester,
was, like a large proportion of the prominent busi-
ness men of the world, reared in the rural districts.
His grandfather, John Floyd, was a native of the
town of Derry, where he lived and died, passing
away in 1829, at the age of about thirty-two years.
He was a member of the Presbyterian Church, and
a man of sound character. He had four 'children.
viz. : Joseph, Sevvall, John and Martha. The elder
son died in Boston, and the younger in Maine.
Sewall Floyd lived and died in Derry, where he
was born August 26, 1820, and passed away January
5, i88,s. The common schools of his native town
afforded the limited education which he was privi-
legerl to enjoy, and though his life was passed in a
humble way, his integrity was never doubted, and
he was ever conscious of a moral responsibility to
himself and his neighbors. His earlier years were
passed in teaming and farming, and late in life he
purchased a small farm at East Derry. on which he
passed his last years. He was a faithful member
of the Presbyterian Church ; was a Whig in early
life and a Republican from the organization of the
party under that title, but never sought or accepted
any political station. .His tastes were domestic, his
temper very even, and he was in every way an up-
right and respectable citizen. He was married in
1841 to Sarah Sleeper, of Derry, a daughter of John
and Elizabeth Sleeper, natives respectively of Kings-
ton and Derry. She was born february 13, 1824,
and died May 21, 1882. aged fifty-eight years. They
were the parents of eleven children : Edward, the
eldest, entered the Union army at the age of
eighteen, and was one of the martyrs who perished
in .'Kndersonville prison. Laura, married Martin
Taylor, and died in Haverhill, Massachusetts.
Linnae, died at the age of twenty-one years. Will-
iam H., resides in Haverhill. Joseph, died at the
age of fourteen years. John, a- resident of Derry.
Benjamin,- a resident of Boston. Minnie, who
makes her home in Derry. Ernest, died at the age
of sixteen years. Charles M., the subject of the
following paragraph. James Edward, died in in-
fancv.
Charles Miller Floyd was born June 5, 1861, in
Derry, and received his primary education in the
brick schoolhouse at East Derry. He was subse-
quently a student at Pinkerton Academy, and the
last of his attendance at school was at the age of
fourteen years. During the summers when he was
twelve and thirteen years old he was ernployed at
farm labor by Benjamin Adams, a fanner in Derry.
He subsequently worked in the shoe shop of Will-
iam S. Pillsbur\'. With the natural Yankee apti-
tude for trade, he very early began speculating in
produce, and when twenty years old went to Haver-
hill, where he was employed in a hardware store
and remained nearly two years. After the death of
his parents he returned to his native place and
bought the home farm, which he cultivated for two
seasons and then sold. He was subsequently em-
ployed in Haverhill by his elder brother in the
clothing store, where he worked two and a half
years.
In 1888 Mr. Floyd removed to Manchester, and
bought the clothing establishment of N. W. Cum-
ner, which he carried on for five years, on the west
side of Elm street. At the end of that time he
bought out the Manchester One Price Clothing
House, which occupies its present location at the
northeast corner of Elm and Manchester streets,
where he has ever simce continued business. Under
his management the patronage has been greatly ex-
tended, and he now carries one of the largest
stocks of clothing and gentlemen's furnishings to
be found in the state. His business activities have
not been confine;' to the clothing trade, and he has
been instrumental in bringing to Manchester sev-
eral industries, and in their successful operation now
give employment to several thousand people. In
1891, in partnership with F. M. Hoyt, he purchased
sixty-five acres of land in the southern and eastern
part of the city, and made extensive additions to
the city streets and blocks, and on these they built a
large shoe factory which now employs seven
hundred people. He was a stockholder in the Ken-
nedy Land Company, and had charge, as treasurer
and chairman of the building committee, of the con-
struction of the large manufacturing building sub-
sequently occupied by the Joslyn Furniture Factory,
and now the home of a heel factory, employing
two hundred and fifty people. Mr. Floyd's next in-
vestment was in the wood-working establishment of
Austin, Flint & Day, and he formed a stock com-
pany to operate it, known as the Derryfield Com-
pany, of which he is the president and one of the
board of managers. This establishment makes a
large output of doors, sashes, blinds and interior
fittings. He was president of the East Side Build-
ing Company, which erected a large shoe factorv,
now employing eight hundred hands. He was also
president of the Cohas Building Company, which
has erected one of the finest modern shoe manufac-
turing plants in the state of New Hampshire, where
seven hundred people are now employed. Mr.
Floyd was ten years a trustee of the .'Kmoskeag
Savings Bank, and is a director of the Manchester
National Bank, of the Manchester Traction, Light
& Power Company, and of the Manchester Building
& Loan Association, and is extensively engaged in
a wholesale way in lumbering. In 1895 he re-
purchased the homestead on which he was born,
consisting of one hundred acres, which he managed
as a fann and where he has his summer home. He
has been a member of the school board of Man-
chester, and is now a member of the board of water
commissioners.
Mr. Flo3'd has been among the most active and
influential members of the Republican party of New
Hampshire, and served as state senator in 1899 and
IQOO, and became a member of the governor's coun-
cil, January i, 1905. He was elected governor of
the state in 1906. The contest for the Republican
gubernatorial nomination in 1906 was the fiercest
in the history of the state. It began during the
session of the legislature of 1905 when several
men who had long nurtured an ambition to fill the
executive chair and had been prominent in political
TIC, Lu
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
55
affairs anounced their candidacy. At that time Mr.
Floyd was just beginning a term as a member of
the governor's council, to which he had been elected
from the Manchester district by a large majority,
which attested his popularity among his neighbors.
Outside of that district he was little known. In re-
mote sections of the state he was not known at
all even by name. He had been a liberal contrib-
utor and a zealous worker for his party and his
friends, many of whom owed their political success
largely to him, but his activities had been confined
to a comparatively narrow circle, and beyond this
he had neither following nor acquaintance, and
when in the summer he published, over his own
name, a statement that he would be a candidate
before the state convention, many of the leaders
looked upon it as a joke, and other aspirants and
their supporters were astonished by and afterwards
savagely resented the audacity of the man, who,
without official record, wath only a local reputation,
with the organization nearly solid and the leading
men of the party nearly all against him, had dared
enter the lists for the highest office in the gift of
the people. Later on there was added the hostility
of those whose battle cry was "revolution" and as
the canvass went on it increased in rancor, slander
and recklessness. Never was a candidate more sav-
agely assailed, more shamelessly villified. publicly
and privately, than was Mr. Floyd, but the storm
that swept over him neither stopped nor swerved
him and it is sufficient to say that when the conven-
tion met, he went into it with two hundred delegates
who could neither be bribed, scared or stampeded,
whose motto was "Floyd Forever." who were there
to win if it took all summer and who djd win.
The disappointments and bitterness of the canvass
remained to some extent during the campaign, caus-
ing some who had been active workers to sulk in
the tents, others to give aid and comfort to the
Democracy, whose campaign consisted in circula-
ting the insinuations and falsehoods of the struggle
for the nomination. But it did not avail. Mr.
Floyd was elected governor. His inaugural was
awaited with great' interest by his friends, who ex-
pected it would be a creditable business paper, and
b}- his opponents, many of whose minds had been
so poisoned by what had gone before that they
looked to see it reveal an ignorant, presumptions
man who owed his elevation to his audacity and in-
excusable persistency. It surprised his friends, for
it was better than they had dared to "lope^ for, and it
converted into friends his candid opponents, for
disclosed a knowledge of state affairs, an apprecia-
tion of the dignity and duties of the office, a clear
conception of what was right and a high purpose
to bring it about, which was wholly unexpected by
them. No governor's message was more heartily
acclaimed by those who heard it, more universally
applauded by the press or more generally ap-
proved by the people. The course therein outlined
by him has been followed w'ith scrupulous fidelity,
and the people of the state hold him in high regard
as a strong, self-made, honest and fearless man wlio
is devoted to their interests and worthy to stand in
tlie long line of illustrious governors who have
served the commonwealth to the public good and
with honor to themselves. He is a member of the
Second Congregational Society of Manchester. He
is affiliated with the Masonic Order, with Ridgely
Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, with
the local lodges of the Knights of Pythias and
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of the
Thornton Naval Veterans, the Grand Army of the
Republic and Derryfield and Calumet clubs.
He was married September i6, i8S6, to Carrie
E. Atwood, who was born December i6, 1861, in
Cambridge, Massachusetts. Mr. and Mrs. Floyd
have a daughter, Marion Beatrice, aged sixteen
years, who is now a student of the Walnut Hill
Preparatory School, at Natick, Massachusetts.
It is not every Arnerican family
i\IORGAN whose pioneer ancestor is honored by
a noble statue like that erected to
Miles Morgan in Court Square, in the beautiful city
of Spring-field, Alassachusetts. This statute was _n-
veiled in 1879, just two hundred and ten years after
the death of the man whose virtues it commemor-
ates. The Morgan name has been notable in Amer-
ica in many ways, especially in military records.
Major General Daniel jNIorgan was one of the
famous officers of the Revolution. He was voted
a gold, medal by the Continental congress for his
victory at the Cowpens, where he met and defeated
General Tarleton. His corps of riflemen with which
he marched to join Washington before Cambridge
were the first skirmishers known to militarv' science.
When the British troops returned to England they
carried with tliem the tradition of "Morgan's buck-
skin devils." Dr. John Jilorgan, of Philadelphia,
was another distinguished officer of the Revolution.
At the age of twenty-five he volunteered his services
in the French and Indian wars. In 1760 he went to
Europe, where he remained for five years, studying
his profession at Edinboro, Paris and Padua. In
1776 he became surgeon-general of the American
army by appointment of the first Continental con-
gress, resigning in 1780 to resume practice in Phila-
delphia. Brigade Major Abner Morgan was another
Revolutionary patriot. His home was at Brimfield,
Mas-sachusetts, and he w-as a warm friend of Gen-
eral John Sullivan, of New Hampshire, in whose
command he served. In 1783 he built the largest
house in Brimfield from timbers cut in his own saw
mills, and he introduced through the heavy masonry
a rivulet to lave a hollowcd-out rock in which to
cool his wine. In l8g6 this house was still stand-
ing in perfect condition, and the rivulet was still
running. During the second war with England,
Brigadier General David Banister Morgan, born at
West Spring-field, JNIassachusetts, w-as second in
command with Jackson's army at the battle of New
Orleans. Commodore Charles William Morgan,
United States navy, of Virginia, was in the engage-
ment between the "Guerriere" and the "Java" in ,
1812. The family was represented in the Mexican
war by Colonel ^ Edwin Wright Morgan. United
States army. During the Civil w-ar Brigadier Gen-
eral John H. Morgan, of Lexington. Kentucky, was
one of the most daring officers of the Confederate
side. He organized a band of guerillas, and "Mor-
.gan's raid" struck terror to Indiana and Kentucky.
There were several generals on the Union side.
General Thomas J. JMorgan, born in Franklin, Indi-
ana, was but tw-enty-five years of age when the Civil
war closed, and was one of the 3'oungest men on the
Union side to be made a brigadier-general for gal-
lantry and meritorious services. Another Morgan
who became illustrious during the Civil war was
Edwin Denison Morgan, the great war governor of
New York. He later became United States senator,
and twice declined the secretaryship of the treas-
ury. During his lifetime and by his will he gave
more than a million dollars to philanthropic and edu-
cational work. The Morgans are .scarcely less illus-
trious as financiers than soldiers. Daniel Nash Mor-
gan, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, was treasurer of
the United States from 1893 to 1897. The history
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
of J. Pierpoiit Morgan and his father, Junius
Spencer Morgan, both eminent bankers, is too well
known to need further recital here.
The word Morgan is a Cymric derivative, mean-
ing one born by the sea (tntiir, sea; gin, begotten).
The little town of Caermathen in Wales is the place
where this famous name originated. The town itself
is supposed to be the IMaridunum mentioned by
Cfesar in his Commentaries. It may have been the
place that Shakespeare had in mind as the scene of
those parts of Cymbeline that are located in Wales.
It will be remembered that Belarius in the third
scene of the third act of that play speaks thus :
"Myself, Belarius, that am Morgan called." Prior
to the Roman invasion this district was inhabited
by a warlike tribe called by the Romans the Demetae.
A chieftain of this tribe, Cadivor-fawr, died in the
year 1089. His wife was Elen, daughter and heiress
of another chieftain, Llwch Llawan. The names
of the two oldest sons are unknown, but the Morgan
line finds its first ancestral with the third son. Bled-
dri. Mr. George T. Clark, the antiquary, has pre-
pared a table tracing the lineage of the ^Morgan
family in England and Wales to this Bleddri. In
the sixteenth generation from Bleddri we find Sir
William Morgan, of Tredegar, knighted in 1633,
member of parliament from his county, 1623-25.
He died at the age of ninety-three. His first wife
was Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Winter, of
Sidney. Their daughter Elizabeth, the youngest
of the ten children, married William Morgan, a
merchant of Dderw. They went to Bristol, England,
in 1616, where Elizabeth died in 1638, and William
died in 1648. Their son. Miles Morgan, born in 1616,
is the ancestor of the Morgan family in America.
(I) Miles Morgan emigrated from Bristol, Eng-
land, to Boston, Massachusetts, in January, 1636.
Soon after reaching this country, in company with
a number of other colonists, under command of
Colonel William Pynchon, he set out for western
Massachusetts. They were attracted by the reports
they had heard of the exceedingly fertile meadows
in the "ox-bows of the long river" (the Connecti-
cut). Of this company Miles Alorgan, though the
youngest and the only one under twenty-one years
of age, soon became second in command. The
party settled in what is now the city of Spring-
field, Massachusetts. They gave it the name of
Agawam, which it bore until 1640, when for some
unexplained reason the name of Springfield was
bestowed. INIiles Morgan speedily became one of
the most valued men in the colony, an intrepid
Indian fighter, a sturdy husbandtnan, and a wise
counsellor in the government. In the practical di-
vision of the sumptuary duties of the colony he
became the butcher, wliile Colonel Pynchon was
the grocer and justice of the peace. Miles Mor-
gan's allotment comprised the lands now occupied
by the car and repair shops of the Boston & Elaine
railroad, and they remained in the family at least
two hundred years before the alienation. In the
early days of our country it was customary to
seat persons in the meeting-house according to their
rank ; so when we find that in 1663 Sergeant Miles
Morgan was given the third seat from the pulpit
in the Springfield meeting-house, that fact suffi-
ciently attests his dignity in the infant colony.
There is a pretty romance connected with Miles
Morgan's marriage. Captain Morgan, as he soon
began to be called, came over in the same ship with
Prudence Gilbert. In fact, there is a tradition to
the effect that it was on her account that he em-
barked. It is said that he first saw the fair Pru-
dence while he was wandering about the wharves
at Bristol, and that he decided at short notice to
sail with the ship on which she was going, that he
did not even have time to send word to his parents.
Her people_ settled in Beverly, now a suburb of
Boston. As soon as Captain Morgan had received
his allotment of land in Springfield he started back
to Boston on foot with an Indian guide to claim
his bride. After the wedding the return trip was
made, also on foot, but, in addition to the bridal
pair and the Indian, a horse, bought in Beverly,
was brought along, which like the Indian was loaded
down with the household goods of the newly mar-
ried couple. The two burden-bearers walked in
front while Captain Morgan, matchlock in hand,
followed with his bride. The town of Springfield
was sacked and burned by Indians in King Philip's
war in 1675. Colonel Pynchon being absent, the
command devolved upon Captain Morgan. Among
the killed was his own son, Peletiah, only fifteen
years of age. The houseless colony took refuge in
the stockade about Morgan's house. A friendly
Indian in Captain Morgan's employ made his escape
to Hadley, where Major Samuel Appleton, com-
mander-in-chief of the Massachusetts Bay troops,
happened to be stationed at the time. Major Ap-
pleton was able to spare fourteen men, who re-
turned to Springfield, and dispersed the Indians.
Eight children were born to Miles and Prudence
(Gilbert) Morgan: Mary, Jonathan, David, Pele-
tiah, Isaac. Lydia, Hannah and Mercy. Mrs. Pru-
dence (Gilbert) Morgan died November 14, 1660;
and more than eight years after, February 15, 1669,
her husband married Elizabeth Bliss, of Spring-
field. They had one child Nathaniel, born June
14, i67i._ Captain Morgan died May 28, 1699, aged
eighty-fo'ur years.
(II) Nathaniel, only child of Miles and his
second wife. Elizabeth (Bliss) Morgan, was born
June 14, 1671. He married Hannah Bird, of Spring-
field, Massachusetts, June 19. 1691, and built a
house at West Springfield, on the east side of what
is now Chicago street, where he died August 30.
1752. Their children were: Nathaniel, Samuel,
Ebenezer, Hannah, Miles. Joseph; Isaac and Eliza-
beth. It is from this branch of the family that the
noted banker, J. Pierpont Morgan, is descended,
he being the great-great-grandson of Joseph.
(III) Ebenezer, third son and child of Na-
thaniel and Hannah (Bird) IMorgan, was born
March 6, 1696. He married !\Iary Horton. Janu-
ary, 1719. His second wife was Sarah Warner,
whom he married June 20, 1737. He had five chil-
dren, and from the dates of their birth they must
all have been offspring of the second marriage.
The children were Ebenezer, Samuel, Sarah, Cather-
ine, and Chloe.
(IV) Sarah, eldest daughter and third child
of Ebenezer and Sarah (Warner) Morgan, was
born November 18, 1742, and married her cousin,
Titus (2) Morgan. It has been impossible to trace
the antecedents of Titus Morgan, but he was prob-
ably a near cousin of his wife's. They were married.
^Nlay 19. 1763. and had nine children': Erastus,
Gains and Quartus (twins). Julius, Pliny. Archip-
pus, Titus, Sally and Hiram. The classical names
which distinguished si.x of the children make an
interesting contrast to the plain Yankee cognomens
of the two youngest.
(V) Erastus, eldest of the nine children of
Titus and Sarah (Morgan) Morgan, was born in
Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, March 29, 1764. He
built the first dam on the Connecticut river at
Holyoke, Massachusetts. He married Clarissa
• Chapin, of West Springfield, Massachusetts, De-
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
57
•cember 31, 1789. They had six children: Calvin,
Clarissa, Warren, Lewis, Huldah and Quartus Miles.
(VI) Quartus Miles, fourth son and youngest
child of Erastus and Clarissa (Chapin) Morgan,
was born in Huntington, Massachusetts, June 17,
iSio, and was educated at Chicopee Academy. He
was a veterinary surgeon, shoemaker and farmer,
and a very successful man. In politics he was a
Democrat, and he held va-rious town offices. He
was married (lirst), January 13, 1836, to Lucy
Horton, and they were the parents of six children,
namely: Hosea Edward, Laura Jane, Fanny A.,
Mary A. Russell. Charles Louis and Henry Lorell.
The mother died August 3, 1861, and Mr. Morgan
was subsequently married to Hannah Mills, daugh-
ter of Gardiner and Mary JMills, of Warwick, Mas-
sachusetts. They had six children : Henry, Clara,
Fanny, Mary, Laura and Edward Myles. Quartus
M. Morgan died in 1889, and was survived about
nine years bv his widow, who passed away in
1898.
(VII) Edward Miles, only living child of
Quartus Miles and Hannah (Mills) Morgan, was
born in Warwick, Massachusetts. May 31, 1867,
and was educated in the common schools of that
town. He was always identified with the lumber
business in his native state. He came to New
Hampshire in 1902, and to Warner in 1906, and
operates several large saw mills. In his native town
of Warwick he served as selectman, assessor, con-
stable and supervisor of the poor. He is a Republi-
can in politics, and attends the Congregational
Church. He married Minnie Louise Jaynes, daugh-
ter of William D. and Elizabeth L. Jaynes, of War-
wick, Massachusetts, August 20. 1892. and they have
eight children : Dorothy L., born April 25, 1893 ;
Stephen and Rachel (twins), August 25, 1894;
Miles Edward, November 26, 1895 ; Joseph Giles,
May 20, 1897; Olive Eleanor, December 21, 1899;
Clarissa, October 4, 1900; Esther Minnie, November
€, 1905.
(Second Family.')
Another line of this name is traced
MORGAN from a, very early period in the set-
tlement of Portsmouth, New Hamp-
shire, and includes numerous well known and use-
ful citizens of the state.
(I) Richard Morgan arrived at Portsmouth,
New Hampshire, previous to 1659. It is presum-
able that he was of Welsh birth or at least of
Welsh ancestry. Probably he was induced to come
to .America by the freedom here afforded in re-
ligious matters. He immediatelj' settled at Dover,
where record of him appears. In the same year
he finally settled in Brentwood, near E.xeter, and
a deed given by him to Teter Coffin in 1699, shows
that he was alive at that time.
(II) John, only child of Richard Morgan,
married Mary Powell, and they had two sons, John
and Simeon.
(III) John (2). elder son of John (i) and
Mary (Powell) Morgan, was born in Brentwood,
where he died in 1786. He married .'\bigail Cove,
of Salisbury, Massachusetts, and their children
were ; Joanna, David. Parker, Judith, Elizabeth
and .^bigail.
(IV) Parker, second son and third child of
John (2) and Abigail (Cove) Morgan, was born
December 12. 1757, in Brentwood. A considerable
portion of his early manhood was spent in Gil-
manton. He was a Revolutionary' soldier and in-
formation at hand states that he enlisted shortly
after^ the battle of Bunker Hill in Colonel Enoch
Poor's regiment at Winter Hill, Massachusetts, that
he was wounded at the battle of Bemis Heights
and subsequently discharged on account of physical
disability. He recovered, however, and enlisted in
the navy at Portsmouth on board of the ship of
war "General Mifflin," which captured numerous
prizes. In the New Hampshire Revolutionarj' Rolls
the name of Parker Morgan cannot be found. Those
of Massachusetts contain the following entry:
"Parker JNIorgan, Private, Captain Stephen Jack-
son's company, Colonel Samuel Johnson's regiment.
Enlisted August 18, 1777, discharged November 30,
1777, served 3 mos., 27 days under Gen. Gates in
the northern department. 14 days (280 miles )
travel home, order for payment of amount of roll
dated at Newburyport and signed by Captain Jen-
kins." After leaving the Continental service he
went to reside in Brentwood, but later removed to
Kensington, subsequently to Gilmanton and finally
to JNIeredith, where he died October 21, 1821. June
7, 1781, he married Betsey Sanborn, daughter of
Richard, Jr., and Elizabeth (Batchelder) Sanborn,
of Kensington, who were married June 21, 1713.
and her death occurred September 30, 1S38. Their
children were: John, born January 24, 1782, died
September 12, 1795; Jeremiah, April 16, 1784, died
September 27, 1856; Betsey, January 18, 1789. died
September 26, 1877; Taffen, April 3, 1793. died
.August 7, 1793; Nancy, April 7, 1796; died Au-
gust 14, 1824; Charles, April 30, 1799, died Decem-
ber 16, 1S82; Fanny. August i, 1801, died Febru-
ary 3, 1897; John Taffen, January 31, 1805, died
April 10, 1845.
(V) Charles, third son and fourth child of Par-
ker and Betsey (Sanborn) Morgan, was a native of
Kensington, born April 30, 1799. He was an engineer,
both civil and mechanical, and actively concerned in
the building of several important industrial enter-
prises in New- Hampshire and Maine. He super-
intended the erection of the first cotton mill in Iilan-
chester ; was associated with others in erecting the
Gilford and Meredith Company's mill at Laconia ;
assisted in surveying the Concord and Montreal
railway; and was subsequently for a time in charge
of the Amoskeag Company's machine shops at
Manchester. He was afterward superintendent of
the Saco Water-Power Company's plant at Saco,
Maine. He finally engaged in the furniture busi-
ness at Biddeford, Maine, which he carried on suc-
cessfully until his retirement, and he died in Saco
December 16, 1882. He was a member of the
Congregational Church and while residing in La-
conia was actively interested in the erection of a
church edifice in that place. He married Sar.ah
Ann Robinson, a descendant of Thomas Wiggin,
the first proprietary governor of New Hampshire,
also from the Dudley family which dates its lineage
from the time of William the Conqueror and was
of the English nobility. She was a native of Mere-
dith Village, and a daughter of Colonel Noah Rob-
inson, who was the son of an officer in the Revo-
lution. She became the mother of five children,
three of whom are living, namely: Eustis Parker,
a resident of Saco, Maine ; Sarah E., widow of
Hiram M. Goodrich, late of Nashua (see Goodrich) ;
and Charles Carroll Morgan, a well-known resident
of Nashua, and a retired lawyer.
(VI) Charles Carroll, son of Charles and
Sarah A. (Robinson) Morgan, was born in Mere-
dith (now Laconia) July 25, 1832. From the Gil-
ford Academy, Meredith, he went to the Manchester
high school, and from the latter he entered Brown
University, remaining there until the close of his
freshman year. He then began the study of law,
but relinquished it for a time in order to accept
58
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
a position as manager of the New England branch
of a New York publishing house, with headquar-
ters in Boston, and he later went to the metropolis,
where for the ensuing five years he as employed by
the same firm in the preparation of geographies.
During the progress of the Rebellion he prepared
a "Battle History" of that memorable civil strife.
He next became connected in a managerial way
with the Union Paper Collar Company in New
York City, having the general care of that concern's
litigations comprising some three hundred law
suits. He was engaged in that work for some tinie,
which necessarily brought him into close touch with
the legal profession. Resuming his neglected law
studies he perfected them and was admitted to the
bar at Indianapolis, Indiana, in the late seventies.
He shortly afterward returned to Boston, where he
established himself as a specialist in patent litiga-
tions, and practiced successfully for many years,
In 1901, he retired from his law practice, and re-
moved to Nashua, where he is now residing.
Mr. Morgan united with the Plymouth Church,
Brooklyn, in 1863, which was during the most
vigorous period in the long pastorate of the famous
Henry Ward Beecher. Since coming to Nashua he
has evinced an earnest interest in social and liter-
ary matters, and in the affairs of the First Congre-
gational Church, of which he is a member. He
was the principal organizer of the Fortnightly Club,
which is widely known in New England and other
states. He married Miss Mary Anna Roliinson
Gove, daughter of George W. and Nancy (Robin-
son) Gove, of Exeter, this state. Prior to her mar-
riage she was engaged in v educational work and
was an accomplished student in botany. Airs. Mor-
gan died October 29, 1873. Two children were
born of this union, Anna May, born December 13,
1859, was a student at Olivet College, Michigan,
where she also pursued a post-graduate course and
was appointed assistant librarian. She later turned
her attention to vocal music, had charge of a de-
partment in the conservatory of Albion College,
Michigan, and later a like position in Wells Col-
lege, New York. She subsequently studied in Flor-
ence, Italy. Upon her return to the United States
she had full charge of instruction in the vocal de-
partment of Wilson College, Chambersburg. Pennsyl-
vania, but her career of usefulness was unfortunately
terminated by her untimely death, which occurred
February 13, 1896. The second child, Alice Helen,
was born May 25, i860, and died July 27, 1862.
Coming as he did in the first dec-
CHAMPNEY ade of the settlement of Mas-
sachusetts Bay Colony, there is
no room to doubt that the first of the Champneys
in New England was a sturdy, strong-willed man,
whose love of personal liberty far outweighed his re-
gard for personal comforts, and sent him across the
ocean to worship God as he chose, in spite of the
hardships his act entailed.
(I) Elder Richard Champney came from Lin-
colnshire, England, in 1634 or 1635, ^nd settled in
Cambridge, Massachusetts, and in 1736 was made
a freeman. He was a man of "good understanding
and great piety," and was made a ruling elder in the
church which was organized there. Honorable
mention is made of him in the "Cambridge Church
Gathering." He married, in England Jane
of whose parentage, birth and death nothing is now
known. He died November 26, 1669. Their chil-
dren were: F-sther, Mary (died young). Samuel,
Sarah, Mary, John, and Daniel, whose sketch fol-
lows.
(IT) Daniel, youngest child of Richard and
Jane Champney, was born in Camibridge, in March,
1644, and died in 1691. aged forty-seven. He re-
sided in Cambridge. He married, January 3, 1665,
Dorcas Bridge, who died in 1684, aged thirty-six.
They had seven children : Dorcas, Daniel, Thomas,
Noah. Downing, Abigail and Hepzibah.
(III) Daniel (2), second child and eldest son
of Daniel (l) and Dorcas (Bridge) Champney, was
born in Cambridge, in December, i66g, and married
Bethiah Danforth. Their children were : Thomas,
Dorcas, Daniel, Solomon, Noah, Downing. Richard
and Thomas.
(IV) Solomon, third son and fourth child of
Daniel and Bethiah (Danforth) Champney, was
born in Cambridge, in 1702. He was an artisan,
but became a soldier in the time of King George
III, and was stationed at Castle William in Boston
Harbor, where he died in 1760, aged fifty-eight. He
married, in 1723, Elizabeth Cunning'ham, and they
had six children: Richard, Ebenezer (died young),
Nathan, John, Silence, and Ebenezer, who is the
subject of the next paragraph.
(V) Judge Ebenezer. the youngest child of Sol-
omon and Elizabeth (Cunningham) Champney, was
born in Cambridge, April 3, 1744, and died in New
Ipswich, September 10, 1810, aged sixty-seven. He
was a bright young man, and in 1762, at the age of
eighteen, graduated from Harvard College with the
de'gree of Bachelor of Arts. He was educated with
the intention of becoming a minister of the gospel,
and to that end he studied divinity. After preaching
for about two years he received a call to settle in
township No. I, now Mason, New Hampshire, which
he declined. He soon after abandoned the ministry
and began the study of law in the office of Hon.
Samuel Livermore, and was admitted to the bar
at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1768. In June
of the same year he settled in New Ipswich and
entered upon "the duties of his profession. In the
spring of 1783, he went to Groton, Massachusetts,
where he remained until 1789: was representative
in 1784, when he returned to New Ipswich. His first
commission as justice of the peace was received
from Governor John Hancock, of Massachusetts,
the celebrated signer of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence. In 179s he was appointed judge of pro-
bate of the county of Hillsborough. The duties of
this office were appropriately discharged until his
resignation a few months before his death.
Judge Champney's course in college, his early
graduation, and his apparent success in the ministry
give evidence of superior mental endowment : and
that he did net attain higher honors is probably
due to his not seeking them. He was everywhere
regarded as a man of talents, and where he was
known he exercised no inconsiderable influence.
During the earlier years of his practice he was
the only lawver between Keene and Groton, and
he had offices" both at the latter place and New Ips-
wicli, in conjunction with his son. The labor of
attending the courts at that period was very great,
the circuit being extensive, and all journeys were
necessarily made on horseback.
During the controversy between England and
her American colonies. Mr. Champney opposed the
measures that culminated in the Revolution. He
was a man of peace, a moderate Tory, and depre-
cated the call to arms, believing that with prudent
and moderate counsels all causes of disaffection
might be satisfa(;torily adjusted. He wished to pre-
serve his lovalty and' the peace of the country, but
like many others who forebore to take part in the
contest he lived to acknowledge the beneficent
effects of that struggle which gave the American
people liberty and free institutions.
t
6o
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
ilies in the town, was made a freeman by the general
court, May 13, 1640. His house lot, like his neigh-
bors, contained one acre of land. He built his
house on it and resided there till his death in
1682. the record of which is as follows : "William
Scales buryed July ye tenth day, anno ; 1682."
The record of his wife's death is as follows:
"Ann, widow of William Scales, buryed ye 26 day
September, anno; 1682."
William Scales, received numerous grants of
land from the town ; he was a zealous supporter of
his pastor, Mr. Rogers ; he was largely engaged in
lumber business, farming and stock raising. When
Mr. Rogers and his party came over they brought
the Rowley parish records with them, so that
in that old town in England the present parish
records do not date back of 1650. Unfortunately,
that first book of Mr. Rogers' English parish is
lost, and it is not possible to ascertain the parent-
age of any of that party. Probably there were about
twenty generations between Hugh de Scales, of
Berkhampstead. and William Scales, of Rowley.
William and Ann Scales had three children of rec-
ord, only one of which lived to marry and leave
children.
(II) James, son of William and Ann Scales,
was bornin 1654, and died in 16S6. He was a farm-
er and resided on the homestead in Rowley village.
He married, November 7. 1677, Susannah, daughter
of Zacheus Curtis. Zachens Curtis was of Rowley,
and embarked on the "James." April 5. 1635, at
Southampton, England, as from Donnton. probably
in county Wilts. He is called husbandman. She
died in 1691. Their children were : James. Sarah,
William, and Matthew, wbose sketch follows : _
(HI) Matthew, third son and youngest child of
James and Susannah (Curtis) Scales, was born
March 29, T685. He was only one year old when
bis father died ; his mother died when he was
six years old, and he was left in the care of John
Harris, of Ipswich, as appears by the probate rec-
ords of Salem. Soon after 1712 he began house-
keeping in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The
record book of the North Parish of that city has
the following entry made by the pastor. Rev. John
Emerson: "April 25, 1714. Matthew Scales owned
ye Covenant and his son Matthew was baptized."
in the same book are these further records: "April
18, 1715. James Scales baptized." "June 2. 1717,
Mary Scales baptized." "October 26. 1718, .Abraham
Scales baptized." At Portsmouth Matthew Scales
was engaged in housebuilding and general carpen-
ter work; he was a master mechanic, a good citi-
zen and a devout church member. He does not ap-
pear to have taken anv part in public office holding.
In 1718 he went to Falmouth, Maine, and joined
bis brother William, who had settled there three
years before. In 171Q he moved his family there,
where they continued to reside until his_ death,
at the hands of the Indians, at the same time his
brother William was slain, Apvil. 1725. .^t Fal-
mouth he was selectman several years, while his
brother was representative in the general court of
IMassachusetts. He served under Major Moody as
a soldier in the fort there, and was one of the
leading citizens. Matthew Scales married Sarah
, of Ipswich. Massachusetts in 1712. She prob-
ably returned to Ipswich after the death of her hus-
band. The date or place of her death is not known.
She had three sons who lived to grow up : Mat-
thew. .'\braham and Edward.
(IV) Abraham, son of Matthew and Sarah
Scales, was born in 1718, and was but seven years
old when his father was killed. When he was four-
teen years old he commenced to serve his appren-
ticeship of seven years with a house carpenter in
Boston, the trade then being called the "joiners."
.A.braham and his older brother, who was also a
carpenter, went to reside in Durham, New Hamp-
shire, about 1739, and practiced their trade there
and in the towns around. The fact that they were
born in Portsmouth and that their mother was ac-
quainted with Durham people may have been the
cause of their going there to settle. June 16, 1748,
Abraham Scales, "joiner," and Theophilus Hardy,
"feltmaker," both of Durham, bought lot 41 in
Nottingham, consisting of one hundred acres of
land, covered with a heavy growth of oak and pine.
Later Mr. Scales bought Mr. Hardy's half and also
two other adjoining lots, making three hundred
acres in all. In 1749 he completed building his house
On the original purchase, which is standing at the
present time (1907), perfectly sound and strong.
It is a large, two-story dwelling, and was the first
two-story house built in Nottingham. That house
and farm remained in possession of the Scales fam-
ily more than a centur.v. Abraham Scales and his
wife went there to live in 1749, and resided there
till his death in 1796, when it passed into the pos-
session of his grandson, Samuel Scales. Abraham
Scales was not only .an expert house builder, but
made furniture and about everything that was
needed or could be used about the house, that
could be made of wood. He was a man of strong
personal character of the old Puritan type, inde-
pendent and progressive. He was selectman of that
town in 1754-5.S, was moderator at numerous town
meetings, and held various minor offices. He was
a zealous churchman, but did not like the Rev.
Benjamin Butler for pastor of the church in Not-
tingham, fo joined the Baptists in Lee in 1772, and
remained a Baptist to the end of his life. July 8,
1747. he married Sarah Thompson, of Durham, born
Januarv 5, 1724. and died in 1804, daughter of John
and Mary (Davis) Thompson, and granddaughter
of John and Sarah (Woodman) Thompson ; Sar-
ah Woodman was daughter of Captain John Wood-
man, of Durham, and Newbury. Massachusetts.
.Abraham and Sarah had five children who lived
tn grow up: .Samuel, Hannah, Abigail, Lois and
Ebenezer.
(V) Samuel Scales, son of Abraham and Sarah
(Thompson) Scales, was born September g, 1754,
and died March 20, 177S. aged twenty-four. He re-
sided with his father on the homestead. He served
in the Revolutionary army, on guard duty at Ports-
mouth, in November and December, 1775, and in
the siege of Boston, in 1776, until the town was
evacuated. IMarch 17, of that year. He married
March. t774, Hannah Langley, daughter of Sam-
uel and Hannah (Reynolds) Langley, of Lee; they
had one daughter Mary, who died young: and a
son Samuel, who was born one month after the
death of his father.
(VI) Samuel (2). only son of Samuel (i) and
Hannah (Langley) Scales, was born April 20. 1778,
and died September 21, 1840. His father died a
month before his birth, and he was brought up by
his Grandfather Scales, and at the death of the lat-
ter in T70C, he inherited the home farm and resided
there until his death. He was united in marriage
with Hannah Dame, daughter of Moses and Anna
(Hunking) Dame, of Lee, April 20. 1799; she was
born February 16, 1772, and died July 30, 1847.
Her mother was daughter of Captain Mark Hunk-
ing, of Portsmouth, and Barrington, and grand-
daughter of Colonel Mark Hunking of Portsmouth,
who was royal councillor with Lieutenant Cover-
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
6i
nor John Wentvvorth, his brother-in-law, 1716, to
1729. Moses Dame was born in Newington,
and was fifth in descent from Deacon John
Dam(e), one of the early settlers in Dover, and
second deacon of the First Church in that town,
which was organized in 1638. Samuel and Hannah
(Dame) Scales were excellent persons, and managed
the farm and the household in a successful way for
forty years. It was said of them that no one ever
heard a cross or uncomplimentary word pass be-
tween them, and they brought up their children in
a very exemplary manner. When their children
attained school age they had the district teacher
hold the school at their house, and gave them the
best education that the times afforded. That was
shortly after the towns in New Hampshire were
divided into districts for school purposes ; that
particular district was the "Scales district." To
them were born two sons and two daughters :
Samuel, Mary, Nancy and Levi.
(VH) Samuel (3), eldest child of Samuel (2)
and Hannah (Dame) Scales, was born July 18.
1800, and died January 12, 1877. He received a good
education ; before his marriage he was for several
winters a successful teacher in district schools in
Nottingham and Lee ; he took a lively interest in
military affairs and became captain of a company in
the state militia. He was a strict disciplinarian and
popular commander. He was one of the school
committee of Nottingham for a number of years,
selectman several years, and representative in the
general court in 1849-50, in which he served on
important committees. He was an up-to-date farm-
er, always raising big crops of corn and potatoes.
He had a blacksmith shop and a carpenter shop on
his farm, in which he shod his o.xen and horses,
and sometimes those of his neighbors. He made his
own carts and wheels, sleds and yokes, and all the
sort of tools used on a farm in tliose days. He
took special pride in having the best stock of cat-
tle in town, and his ox teams were beautiful to
every one who admired handsome oxen. He was
found of music, and had a deep clear bass voice that
made him the best bass singer in the town ; He
was choir leader for years. He and his father be-
fore him were liberal in their religious views, be-
ing old-fashioned Hosea Ballou Universalists, as
was his wife. In politics he was a Democrat from
the days of Andrew Jackson, and was delegate to
innumerable conventions of that party, and gen-
erally he was elected chairman, as he was an ex-
cellent presiding officer, preserving order in the
most stormy and exciting to^vn meeting or conven-
tion. It was said that he could make his voice
heard a mile. He was a justice of the peace for
half a century, and did much business in that line;
in all his later years he was known as Esquire
Scales. He was a genial, kind-hearted man, and
delighted to relate anecdotes of his wide experience.
He was a man of much reading and clear intel-
lect, forming his own opinions and standing by his
conclusions until strong evidence was presented
to change his mind, hence, his conclusions as a jus-
tice were rarely disputed or overturned. He was
an indomitable worker, and early riser, always busy,
in storm or in sunshine. He died of heart failure,
January 12, 1877, though he had been active about
his work down to the beginning of that winter.
He was one of the charter members of Sullivan
Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at
Lee Hill. He received his degree of entered ap-
prentice. May 2g, 182S; fellow craft. November 5,
1829: master mason, June 3, 1830. He was junior
warden, i83i-3.{; worshipful master, 1835-36-44-47;
grand steward of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge
of New Hampshire, nine years in succession, 1836-
45; also 1849-50.
He married, December 23, 1828, Betsey True, of
Deerfield, January 11. 1805. and died in Dover. Oc-
tober 4, 1883. She vv-as the daughter of Benjamin
and Mary (Batchelder) True, of Deerfield, whose
father. Deacon Abraham True, of Salisbury, Massa-
chusetts, was one of the first settlers in that town.
1754. i)eacon True was a grandson of Captain
Henry and Jane (Bradbury) True, of Salisbury,
whose father, Henry True, was the immigrant an-
cestor (See True I and II). Jane Bradbury was
a daughter of Captain Thomas Bradbury, one of the
foremost men of Newbury, and Massachusetts Bay
Colony. Benjamin True, father of Betsey, inherited
the homestead farm in Deerfield, and was one of
the leading citizens. He was a soldier in the Rev-
olution. His wife. Mary Batchelder, was daughter
of Captain Nathaniel Batchelder of Deerfield, who
was a private in Captain Henry Dearborn's company.
Colonel John Stark's regiment, in the battle of Bunk-
er Hill. His grandfather. Nathaniel Batchelder,
was a grandson of Rev. Stephen Batchelder, the
immigrant. (See Batchelder I, II, III.) Samuel
and Betsey (True) Scales had three sons: True,
John and George.
(VIII) True, the eldest son of Samuel (3) and
Betsey (True) Scales, was born January 20. 1830,
and died July 27, 1892. He was a brickmason by
trade, resided in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and
was a contractor arid builder for many years.
He was a member of various Masonic fratemities.
receiving his degree of entered apprentice in Ami-
cable Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of
C.-imbridge, January 14, 1865. In 1866 he became
a member of Cambridge Royal Arch Chapter. In
1871 he took the degree of Royal and Select Mas-
ters in Boston Council. In 1873 he became a Knight
Templar in William Parkman Commandery of East
Boston. He held the highest offices in these organ-
izations, ending with that of eminent commander
in 1879-80. He was in office thirteen consecutive
years, and was acknowledged to be one of the mosr
efficient presiding officers in the Masonic Orders.
He married, October 4, 1853, Mary Bird Shattuck,
of Burlington, Vermont, who died October 14, 1905.
They had one son, Frank, born September 26,
1859; he resides in Cambridge: he married and is
the father of three children: Marion Bird. Walter
Francis and George Burton.
(VIII) John, second son and child of Samuel
(3) and Betsey (True) Scales, was born October
6, 1835 ; was graduated from New London Academy
in 1859: from Dartmouth College in 1863; he en-
gaged in teaching from 1863 to 1882 ; he was editor
and one of the proprietors of the Dover Daily Re-
(inblican and Dover Enquirer (weekly) from 1882
to 1898 ; since then he has been engaged in literary
work, and has published a volume of Historical
Memoranda of Old Dover (New Hampshire), and
various historical papers. . He has been a member
of the Dover school committee several years ; trus-
tee of the State normal school. He is a member
of the New Hampshire Historical Society: the New
Hampshire Society Sons of the American Revo-
lution ; the New Hampshire Society of Colonial
Wars ; Moses Paul Lodge. Ancient Free and Ac-
cepted Masons ; Belknap Chapter ; Orphan Council ;
St. Paul Commandery. Knight Templar, and has
received the Scottish Rite to the thirty-second de-
gree. He was united in marriage, October 20, 1865,
with Ellen Tasker, of Strafford, born in Strafford,
May 30. 1843, daughter of Deacon Alfred and
62
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Mary Margaret (Hill) Tasker, of Strafford. They
have two sons: Burton True and Robert Leighton.
(IX) Burton True, son of John and Ellen (Task-
er) Scales, was born August lo,, 1873 ; was gradu-
ated from Dartmouth College in 1895; he was en-
gaged in newspaper work for two years, then took
up the teaching of music in the public schools of
Dover. In 1898 he was appointed instructor rn
music in the William Penn Charter School for Boys
in Philadelphia, which position he now (1907) holds.
He is a fine bass singer and has had marked success
as an instructor in music. He was united in marriage,
September 15, 1900, with Kate Hubbard Reynolds,
of Dover, daughter of Captain Benjamin O. and
Martha (White) Reynolds. They have one daugh-
ter, Catherine Bradstreet, born January 11, 1903;
and one son, Benjamin Reynolds, March 24, 1907.
_(IX) Robert Leighton, son of John and Ellen
(Tasker) Scales, was born June 10, 1880; was
graduated from Dartmouth College in 1901 : he was
instructor in English literature and oratory at Dart-
mouth from September, 1902, to Juh'. 1904; he grad-
uated from Harvard Law School in June, 1907.
He is the author of a te.xt book on Argumentation
and Debate.
(VIII) George, youngest child of Samuel (3)
and Betsey (True) Scales, was born October 20,
1840; was graduated from New London (New
Hampshire) Academy in 1861, and was about to
engage in the study of law when the Civil war
broke out, and he enlisted in the First Company of
New Hampshire Sharpshooters of Colonel Berdan's
regiment. He enlisted in September, 1861, and
served in the regiment in McClellan's campaigns in
Virginia; he was killed July I. 1S62, at the battle of
Malvern Hill. He was an expert marksman. He
graduated at the head of his class at New London.
He was very keen in debate, six feet tall, well pro-
portioned; black hair and black eyes, with a fine
looking head and features, genial in his ways and
generally liked. He was a young man of great
promise for a brilliant and useful career had he
been spared in health.
The progenitor of the numerous Jor-
JORDAN dan family was a very early settler
in Maine. He was fortunate in his
selection of a wife, in his business relations, and in
most of the other affairs of life, and was the' forbear
of a race among whose members are many men of
ability and distinction.
(I) Rev. Robert Jordan, the immigrant, was
probably a native of Dorsetshire or Devonshire,
England, where the Jordan name is quite common,
and whence came many of the first settlers of Fal-
mouth. It is probable that he came in 1639, in
one of the regular trading vessels of .Robert Tre-
lawney, merchant and landholder of Richmond's
Island, then a part of ancient Falmouth in Maine.
He was a clergyman of the church of England, a
man of superior education, and as early a? 1641.
succeeded Mr. Gibson in his clerical capacity at
Richmond's Island. F6r more than thirty years
Rev. Robert Jordan occupied a large share" in the
affairs_ of the town and of the province. He was
an active, enterprising man, and well educated. Al-
though being a Presbyter of the Church of England,
he came hither as a religious teacher, the
affairs of the world in which he lived
and the achievement of his ambitious de-
signs appear soon to have absorbed the most of
his attention, and to have diverted him from the
exercise of his profession — a result originating and
hastened doubtless by. the hostility of the govern-
ment. He and Rev. Richard Gibson were the pi-
oneers of Episcopacy in Maine, and though Mr.
Gibson left the country in 1642, Mr. Jordan re-
mained at the post of duty, and never relinquished
his stand as a churchman or his professional char-
acter. He was the soul of the opposition to Massa-
chusetts, and a chief supporter to the royal com-
missioners and the anti-Puritan policy. Owing to
his religious affinities and associations he was an
object of suspicion and hostility to the Puritan Gov-
ernment of Massachusetts, who forbade him to marry
or baptize. He paid no attention to this order and,
continuing to discharge the duties of his office, the
general court of Massachusetts ordered his arrest
and imprisonment in Boston jail. This occurred
twice, namely, in 1654 and in 1663. For a long
time he was a judge of the court. Edward God-
frey, the fir.st settler of York, and for some time
governor of the western part of the state, was
long associated with Mr. Jordan as a magistrate,
and speaks of him in a "letter to the government at
home, March 14. 1660, as having long experience
in the country "equal to any in Boston;" and adds,
"an orthodox divine of the church of England,
and of great parts and estate." He began early to
mingle in the aft'airs of the settlers, and in 1641
was one of the referees in a controversy between
Winter and Cleaves.
Robert Trelawney and ]Moses Goodyear were
granted land and trading privileges in 1631. In
1636 Mr. Trelawney alone is mentioned as pro-
prietor of the patent, and on March 26, of that year
he committed the full government of the plantation
to John Winter who appears after tliat time to have
an interest of one-tenth in the speculation, and a
salary of £40 a year for his personal care and
charge. In 1645 John Winter died, and three years
later his plantation and all its appurtenances were
awarded to Robert Jordan, his .son-in-law. as heir
and administrator of John Winter. Winter had set-
tled on Richmond's Island, and as agent for Tre-
lawney kept a trading house, bought furs of the In-
dians and dried fish upon the island, having at one
time sixty men employed in the fishing business,
and four ships which were loaded at the island
with fish, oil, furs and pipe-staves for voyages to
England and Spain. By his marriage with Sarah
Winter, Mr. Jordan became one of the great land
proprietors and wealthy men of the region ; "a
source of influence which he failed not to exert in
favor of his church and politics." After 1648 he sold
the property of Trelawney and settled the estate
of Winter, and soon afterward settled on the main-
land portion of the estate of Winter, The planta-
tion there was called Spurvvink, a name which has
been retained to the present day. It lies in Falmouth,
now Cape Elizabeth. He resided there until the
second Indian war of 1676. when he was compelled
to leave and flee from the Indians. He left home
hurriedly, and everything about his house was in
flames before he was out of sight. He went to
Great Island in the Piscataqua river (now New-
castle), then part of Portsmouth, New Hampshire,
and there died in the sixty-eighth year of his age.
His will was made at Great Island, January 28,
and proved July i, 1679. He had lost the use of
his hands before his^ death, and was unable to sign
his will. He left six sons, among whom his im-
mense landed estate of ten thousand acres or more
was divided.
Rev. Robert Jordan married Sarah Winter,
daughter of John Winter, who survived him and
was living at Newcastle, in Portsmouth Harbor,
in 1686. Their children were: John. Robert, Do-
minicus, Jedediah. Samuel and Jeremiah.
(II) Jedediah. fourth son and child of Rev.
4 I I
NF.W HAMPSHIRE.
63
(Jan, was born be-
,ie Elizabeth, Cum-
! in 1735. He left
on the outbreak of
led at Great Island,
iij.-.hire. He afterward
.vhich is shown by his
t a deed to land dated
le made a will of which
.as were the executors.
carriage of Jedediah Jor-
'v;.ury, as no records were
It is probable that his chil-
lery. One of his daughters
1724. His children were:
. ..■ ! .' ziah, Mary, Sarah, John,
a;;J Robert, whose .sketch follows,
Robert, yoiniirest child and fourth son of
Jordan, ' r704, probably at
Vork C' 'n 1726 his father
departed this life in (lie iriinv.pl-, of a F.-.it'
• long had cherisiied
The Buel family
education and social
family was equally' !
intermarried with tl
others. Captain Bu.
1802. For several wmu ,
was, a fine scholar for his ■
gentleman. He was born .\. ..,■
in Colebrook, in 1826. His w..
1767, and died in Connecticut, in ,:,
daughters, Sharlie Maria, wife 01
died in Chelsea, Vermont, .\nother
ried Daniel Egery, and went with hii.i
VVisconsii). where she died. The childrt:
son and Minerva Jordon were: Julia. Mia) ses-
sions Lord, Benjamin Buel, Malvina, Violetta. and
Chester Bradley, whose sketch fellows.
(VH) Governor Chester Bradley j
>,,,,„,.. -I n.i only surviving child of J'
uel) Bradley, was born in
1839. He wrought on a fan.,
-me, early and late for his father .ui'l
to the distant district school wint rs.
: of age he went to the acad-i.y
vnrkine lor wages summer- • ■!
had taug-
'.ools. inc
1777, he tiiiisieu fur len niontlis under Capiaiii
Gibbs. Colonel John Topham's regiment. When
discharged in March. 1778. he immediately re-en-
listed for one year with Captain Traffern and was
discharged in March, 1779. His service in the
patriot army amounted to four years, and he was
a member of the little band which made tlie daring
capture of the British General Prescott on the Is-
land of Rhode Island. He removed to Plainfield,
New Hampshire, in May. 1780, and to Columbia in
1816, where he died in 1846. He married, May 15,
1780. Mary Walker, of Rehoboth, a descendant of
■'Molly Walker." She was bom in 1760 and died
in i860. Each was at the time of death a pensioner.
Their children were: Joseph, Mercy, Ruth, Mrs.
Sweet. Mrs. Hadley, Johnson, Lyman and Polly.
When the mother died she had seven children liv-
''■■'ly, being sixty years old.
J ■ ■ of Benjamin and Mary
J is bom in Plainfield, New
T98, and died in Colebrook,
: S18 he settled in Colebrook,
i the remainder of his life there. He was
a strong man physically — subduing forests
asfs with about equal facilitj'. In re-
iiient he was a Congregationalist ; in
ast his lot first with the Whig party,
at gave place to tlie Republican party
''- views and intcnser interest in hu-
i himself with it. He married, in
■ ^.linerva Buel, born in Hebron,
ticut, July to. i8or, and died
;. fhughter of Captain Benja-
13) Buel. She was a
1 character, refinement
^ ngregationalist, and
't'.g. tbo voitr
(vr.' J .
that he rec^
court and live
parlies in power l,
tion demanded in.- ^
protest of nearly e\ ..
Meantime he had bee;. .
court and court methods,
office continued his readiii
William S. Ladd, of Lai
finished his cour-^e in th^
Heywood, and was admitted to p. a..
courts in November, 1875, and in tlh
courts in May, 1881. Mr. Heywood i\
the firm in May, 1876, and Mr. Jordan w
tl ' office of Ray, Drew *', '
1^ :, by the admission of i
I)-
J
ins ot wli-
wyer. the.
duties of a Counselor, and !■
.1 papers (in which he ex
o the trial and advocacy of causes
64
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
sociated in business with two such noted advocates
as Hons. Ossian Ray and Irving W. Drew, and
unwarrantably distrustful of his abilities in this
direction, Mr. Jordan has seldom ventured into the
lield of advocacy. When, however, by reason of the
illness or absence of his partners, or from other
cause, he has, been impressed into this service, he
has displayed a power of forensic oratory which was
a revelation to his professional brethren, and fur-
nished an occasion of regret to his friends because
he had not made it his life work. His style of
address in the argument of causes is ol the rapid,
ardent, intense, almost vehement, character. rlis
apt and ready words follow eacli other in ceaseless
and quick, succession, and go home with the force
and precision, and rapidity of the Catling's tire.
And herein lies the secret of his power wncii his
voice has been heard in advocacy or defense of
his political faith in the heated campaigns of the
North country." "f-'oUowing the bent oi his early
years, Mr. Jordan has sought and found relaxation
from the burdens of a busy practice in historical
and political reading and writing. « » * in
1870, amid the multitudinous duties of clerk of the
court, he purchased the "Coos Republican,'' be-
came its editor, and gave it high rank among the
papers of the state, tor many years he contributed
political and historical articles to the "Boston
Journal," "Concord Monitor," the "Statesman," and
the local press. Few pens have been oftener or more
potently wielded in defense of the Republican party
of New Hampshire and of the Nation than Mr.
Jordan's. The chief charm of his style is its per-
spicuity and force; and so natural and easy to him
are both the manual and the mental uses 01 the pen,
that almost unconsciously — certainly without ef-
fort— his facts array and arrange themselves in
fetching and forceful order, and nis hrst dralt is
almost sure to be the finished product. Epigrammatic,
perspicuous and forceful in style, accurate in state-
ments of facts, an adept in the graces of rhetoric,
he has won an enviable reputation as a writer on
current political questions. "For forty years he has
written political matters for the press. But his
writings have not been confined to one topic. He
was the mover of the Lancaster town history, and
he also wrote much and furnished much information
for the 'Flistory of Coos County.' He wrote an
essay on the Life of Colonel Joseph Whipple for
the New Hampshire Historical Society; and among
his contributions to the Coos County work were
biographical sketches of Hon. Amos W. Drew, Dr.
Frank Bugbee, and Philip Jordan. For the Cral-
ton and Loos Bar Association he wrote the bio-
graphy of Richard Clair Everett, and other valuable
papers."
At the remarkably early age of nine years Mr.
Jordan began to take a lively and intelligent interest
in politics, and from that time until now his interest
in parties and party measures has never abated. In
early life he espoused the Republican cause and
has ever since been one of its most active supporters.
His first vote in Colebrook was for Lincoln, and in
Lancaster for Grant. In the fall of 1864 he pre-
sided over the meetings addressed respectively by
Senator Patterson, Senator Daniel Clark and the
Hon. Walter Harriman. The famous joint debate
of Harriman and Sinclair began in Colebrook, and
Mr. Jordan presided. In Lancaster he was long
time chairman of the town and county committee,
and as such showed his ability as a leader by
triumphs in hotly contested campaigns.
After a hard fight to redeem his town, in which
his party had made a gain of over one hundred,
Mr. Jordan was elected representative to the gen-
eral court in 1S80. This -was his first term as a
legislator, but such was his reputation as a fair-
minded man and as a parliamentarian that he was
chosen speaker by a very handsome vote. The
house was a most able one, yet the speaker's keen-
ness, accuracy of judgment of men and measures,
alertness, sagacity and general efficiency were so
conspicuous, his conduct of the business of the
house so easy and expeditious, and his courtesy and
fairness so universal that he received the warmest
commendation not only of his own party, but of the
leading journal of the Democracy m the state. In
September, 1882, he presided at the Republican Con-
vention in the great Hale-Currier campaign, when
factional feeling ran high between the adherents
of the rival candidates for the gubernatorial nomi-
nation. It was a full convention, and three ballots
were necessary before a choice was made. Mr.
Jordan was then and there importuned to take the
nomination from the floor, the delegates to drop
the other candidates. This he refused to do, and
by his tact and adroit management the work of the
convention was successfully and harmoniously ac-
complished.
In 1S86 he was unanimously nominated in the
Coos District, a Democratic stronghold, for state
senator. He made a vigorous campaign, made a
gain over his party vote of three hundred, but then
lacked about one hundred of an election. In 1S96
he was again unanimously nominated for that ottice,
conducted a masterl}' canvass, and was elected by
a majority about as large as his opponent's whole
vote. At the senatorial caucus he was nominated
with unanimity for president of the senate for the
years 1S97-98, and the following day was unanimous-
ly elected — the two Democratic senators voting for
him. The honor of an election to this office without
a dissenting vote had not been given a candidate
before in this state for more than one hundred years.
Fie entered upon the discharge of his duties with a
familiarity born of experience, and proved himself
an ideal presiding officer. He also made an ex-
cellent record as a debator on the floor. The re-
election of United States Senator Gallinger came
during this session of the legislature, and Senator
Jordan was designated as the seventh and last
speaker to present his name to the Republican
caucus. His eloquent and polished speech was a
glowing tribute to the character of Senator Gal-
linger, producing a most favorable impression on
his audience, which gave expression to its sentiments
in w-ild enthusiasm.
Senator Jordan's successful career in politics, his
distinguished ability, honorable conduct and long
continued service in public life now began to cause
him to be mentioned as a candidate for governor.
Members of his party repeatedly approached him
on the subject, but he constantly set his face against
any movement to nominate him. In 1898 he was
compelled three times to decline to take the nomina-
tion before his party would accept his refusal. In
1900 the Republicans again urged him to accept a
place on the head of the ticket, and he finally said
that if the nomination could come unsolicited and
unbought he would accept. It so came through,
and by a magnificent convention which gave him
all its votes but about seventy. The candidate then
appeared before the convention, and in a graceful
and telling speech accepted the nomination and ap-
proved the platform. His canvass in the campaign
that foUow^ed covered about a month, and during
that time he made logical, forceful and winning
speeches to large crowds. Election day came an<l
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
at its close his majority was found to be nearly
twenty thousand. In his town and county his vote
was unprecedentedly large. He took the oath of
office in January, 1901, and served two years. Dur-
ing his administration he was always provident,
economical, against unwise appropriations and ex-
travagant expenditure. By a sagacious use of his
influence, tact and legislative knowledge, he kept
down useless appropriations by the legislature to
the minimum, and guided both branches success-
fully. His message was well received and most
favorably commented upon. The old court was
abolished and a dual court established with live
judges on each bench. The ten judicial appoint-
ments were all made by Governor Jordan. The
court bill passed one day, and the judges were
all named the next, and not a murmur was heard
or a ripple felt. His choice had been so wisely
made as to bring universal satisfaction to the citi-
zens of the commonwealth. Justice Blodgett sub-
sequently resigned, and it became the duty of the
governor to name another chief justice and some
one to succeed him on the bench. These appoint-
ments were as well received as the first. Gov-
ernor Jordan's aim and object was to afford the
greatest good to the greate^t number of his fellow
citizens — to benefit the people to the furtherest prac-
tical limit. In order to do this he put himself in touch
with the colleges of the state, the Prison, the State
Hospital, the Orphans' Home, the Industrial School
— in fact with all the state's institutions and inter-
ests. He familiarized himself with the duties of
each department and commission or bureau, but
he did not feel it his duty to visit all the fairs,
granges and like exhibitions and organizations. He
attended the annual meeting of the New Hampshire
Veterans' Association, the State Grange, and the
State Fair, the commencement exercises at Dart-
mouth, the New Hampshire College of Agriculture,
the St. Mary's School in Manchester, and visited
St. Anselm's College, and at all these he addressed
the students and faculties. ' He received the statue
of Commodore Perkins on behalf of the state in an
address on New Hampshire and the navy in the
presence of many thousand persons. He also ac-
companied President Roosevelt from Concord to the
Weirs, and delivered the address of welcome, and
then attended him back to the State Fair at Concord.
He represented the state at the Webster Centen-
nial in Hanover, and then spoke of w'hat Webster
was to the state, before a most distinguished as-
semblage. On this occasion the degree of LL. D.
was conferred upon him by the college ; that of A.
M. having been given in 1882, that of B. S. by the
New Hampshire College in 1901.
The state debt was reduced over four hundred
thousand dollars during Governor Jordan's adminis-
tration, and when he left the office, the treasury
had reached a plentitude never before attained—
there being over si.x hundred thousand dollars in
its vaults. There had been no pleasure tours of
the governor and his council at the state's ex-
pense; and at the close of his term over fifty dol-
lars of the governor's contingent fund of live hun-
dred dollars was returned to the treasury. Many
of the old fish hatcheries were sold, and the three
remaining ones enlarged, and made better and more
productive — the one at Colebrook having about four
thousand dollars expended on it. The prison was
put in better condition, painted and whitewashed,
and new bathtubs and safe boilers put in. Proper
insurance was put upon the state house, state library
and state prison. There was improvement in con-
ditions at the Industrial School, and Dartmouth
College received a larger gratuity from the stale
than ever before. President Tucker introduced the
governor to the alumni at the Webster cclebratioii
banquet as "the first governor of the state to fairly-
state" the true relations between the college anJ
state. The governor received many letters com-
mending his message, his state papers, especially his
thanksgiving proclamation, his letter to Mrs. Mc-
Kinley, the proclamation on President McKinley's
death, and his public addresses during his term o£
office.
Ill politics Governor Jordan has been cliar-
acterized as "u^ close canvasser, a good organizer,
and a natural leader;" as the chief executive of
the state it can be said that he was sound, con-
servative, practical, highly successful, and almost
without exception on tne right side of public ques-
tions.
Although the incumbent of many official pc>-
sitions. Governor Jordan has not always seen tit to
accept every office that has been tendered him. He
was once offered the postmastership of Lancaster,
also the position of special agent of the United.
States treasury department, but declined them. He
has been urged to accept an appointment to the
supreme bench of the state ; in 1867 he was tendered,
but was compelled to decline, a position on the staff
of Governor Harriman ; but the honor was again
proft'ered in 1872 by Governor Straw, and Mr.
Jordan's acceptance and service justified his title to
colonel.
Governor Jordan has assisted many to official
positions, and he has kept in touch with men and
affairs all over the country. He has a large library,
especially versed in tow'n, county and state history,
is found of searching out the records and historv
of the past, and has much interest in and respects
for the pioneers.- It is a fact worthy of notice that
he has missed only one town meeting and no state,.,
congressional or presidential election in his forty--
six years as an elector.. In Colebrook, before com-
ing to Lancaster, he was pitted against the late-
Honorable Hazen Bedel for the moderatorship, a^.
that was deemed the test vote of the day; and in
Lancaster against Honorable Henry O. Kent, for
a like position, sometimes -winning over. Colonel
Kent being the only man who ever did beat him foe
the place.
Governor Jordan's ability in business affairs ha.s
been recognized from his youth. He has 'been the
guardian of many private trusts, the administrator
of various estates and prominent in local banking
circles, holding the offices of vice-president in and
director in Lancaster Trust Company, and director
in Lancaster National Bank and the Siwooganock
Guaranty Savings Bank. Popular among the mem-
bers of his profession, he was for years first vice-
president and then president of the Grafton and
Coos Bar .Association, and an officer of the State
Bar Association. He is a. Mason, a member ot
Evening Star Lodge, No. iT, at Colebrook, where
he took his degrees and was secretary more than
forty years ago ; he took the Royal .\rch degrees
in North Star Chapter, of Lancaster, thirty-eight
years ago, and the consistory degrfes in Edward .-V.
Raymond Consistory in Nashua, lu 1902.
He belongs to no church. Fie was brought up
in the Congregational faitli and attends that church
now, yet sees good and evil in all, and outside ot
all. He has always been bcnificent and charitable,
helped to found the Orphans' Home, and has con-
tributed to it nearly every year since its foundation ;
has given to other institutions as their circumstances,
seemed to appeal to him, and has helped geiierou-ly
66
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
in the erection of soldiers' monuments. In short,
he has tried to do his part in church enterprises
and for benevolent objects and for education in
town and state. He is an honorary member of the
Veterans' Association, and of several regimental
organizations.
Governor Jordan married, in Lancaster, July
19, 1879, Ida Rose Nutter, born in Lancaster,
March 31, i860, daughter of Oliver and Roxana
(Wentworth) Nutter, of Lancaster. ilr. Nutter
was born in Wakefield, and was a merchant, post-
master, and farmer. His father, Alpheus Nutter,
was born in Newington. Roxanna Wentworth was
born in Jackson, and was a descendant of Governor
Wentworth, a relative of the famous "Long John"
Wentworth, of Chicago, and a cousin of General
M. C. Wentworth. As "the first lady of the state,"
Mrs. Jordan won much praise in all her w'ork and
functions for her whole-heartedness, vivacity and
simplicity. She was instrumental in organizing the
Unity Club in Lancaster, and was its first president.
She is also active in the work of her church (the
Congregationalist). She is domestic and refined
in her tastes, possesses rare musical talent, is a
faithful and devoted wife, -and an indulgent and
much-loved mother. P'our children have been born
of this union : Roxannah Minerva, born in Lan-
caster, January 9, 18S2; Hugo, May 26. 1884, died
May 2, 1886; Gladstone, May 15, 1888; and Chester
Bradley, February 15, 1892. Roxanna M. received
her literary education at Lancaster, New Hampshire,
and Northampton, Massachusetts, and her musical
education in Boston. Gladstone, six feet, two and
one-half inches in height in his stocking feet, and
weighing two hundred and fifty pounds, is a student
at Dartmouth, class of 191 1. Bradley, fifteen years
old, six feet high and weighing two hundred and
twenty pounds, is a student at Lancaster.
The Perry name is an old English one
PERRY and is exceedingly numerous in this
country, and boasts many distinguished
representatives. There were no less than ten irn-
niigrants bearing this surname who had come to this
country by 1652 or earlier. The-se were Arthur, of
Boston, a tailor and town drummer in 1638; Francis,
a wheelwright in 1631 ; Isaac, who was at Boston
in 1631; John, of Roxbury, Massachusetts, in 1632;
John, of Taunton, Massachusetts, in 1643 ; and
Richard, of New Haven, Connecticut, in 1640.
Others of the name who settled in Massachusetts
at an early date were William, of Scituate, in 1638;
Thomas, of Scituate, in 1643; Thomas, of Ipswich,
in 164S; and Ezra, of Sandwich, who married Eliza-
beth Barge, on February 12, 1652. From these dif-
ferent ancestors a numerous progeny has descended.
Without doubt the most distinguished American
member of the family is Commodore Oliver Hazard
Perry, whose famous message at the battle of Lake
Erie, "We" have met the enemy and they are ours,"
is familiar to every school boy. Other members of
note are: Commodore Matthew C. Perry, brother
of the hero of Lake Erie, Bishop William S. Perry,
Governor Edward Perry, of Florida, Governor Ben-
jamin F. Perry, of South Carolina, Bliss Perry,
editor of the Atlantic Monthly, and Nora Perry,
the author. In our own state Dr. William Perry, of
Exeter, and his sons Have filled honorable positions.
Horatio J. Perry, born in Keene, was for many years
secretary of the legation at Madrid. He mar-
ried the Spanish poetess laureate, Carolina Cor-
onado.
(I) John Perry, the first of the family in this
country, was born 1613, in London, England, and
is the progenitor of one of three prominent families
of the name in New England. He came to America
about 1605 and settled at Watertown, Massachu-
setts. His wife, whom he married in England, was
Joanna, daughter of Joseph Holland.
(Ilj John (2), son of John (.1) and Joanna
(Holland) Perry, was a native of England and
settled in Watertown, Massachusetts. He was mar-
ried there December 13, 1607, to Sarah Clary, who
was born October 4, 1647, daughter of John and
Mary (Cassell; Clary, of Watertown. Of their
nine children three died j'Oung. The survivers
were ; John, Joanna, Sarah, Ehzabeth, Josiah and
Joseph.
(HI) John (3), eldest son of John (2) and
Sarah (Clary) Perry, was born March 3, 1670,
in Watertown, and resided there through life. He
was married July 19, 1693, to Sarah Price, who
was born September 27, 1667, daughter of William
and INlary (Marblehead) Price, of Watertown. She
died October 11, 1730.
(IV) James, son of John (3) and Sarah (Price)
Perry, was born January 27, 1712, and baptized Sep-
tember I, 1717. He was a chair maker of Charles-
town, Massachusetts, and later lived in West Cam-
bridge (now Arlington), Massachusetts. He was
a precinct collector there in 1770. He was married
in Charlestovvn, October 14, 1742, to Lydia Tuft,
who was born 1724, daughter ot James and Lydia
(Hall) Tuft. He died May 30, 1771, and she was
married (second), November 29, 1773, to Josiah
Mixer, who was born November 17, 1716, a son of
Deacon Josiah and Anna (Jones) Mixer. He was
a prominent citizen of Walton. The children of
James and Lydia Perry were: Lydia, Ruth (died
young), Mercy, James, Ruth, John, Jonathan, Eliza-
beth, Joseph and Benjamin. The younger of these
had their home with their step-father.
(V) John (4), second sun and sixth child of
James and Lydia (Tuft) Perry, was born Decem-
ber 9, 1754, and died August 7, 1834, in Rindge,
New Hampshire. He resided in Lincoln, Massachu-
setts, until he removed to Rindge in 1789. He
settled in the northeast part of the town, removing
a few years later to the farm familiarly called the
"Perry Farm" and now occupied by his grandson.
He was a man of superior intelligence and char-
acter, who commanded the willing confidence and
respect of his fellowmen. He was married in Wal-
ton, Massachusetts, February 28, 1775, to Persis
^lixer, who was born November 6, 1756, a daughter
of Josiah and Sarah (Mead) Mixer. She died in
1780. He was married (second), November 21,
1781, to Abigail Bigelow, daughter of Joseph and
Abigail (Whit) Bigelow, of Marlboro, Massachu-
setts. She died in Rindge, New Hampshide, Sep-
tember II, 1818. He was married (third), February 17,
1820, to Lucy Weston, who was born March 31,
1/59. in Wilmington, Massachusetts, daughter of
Isaac Weston, who died in the army during the Revo-
lution. She died January 15, 1857, surviving her
husband more than twenty-two years. His children
were: Lydia (died young), Percis, John, Betsy,
Lydia, Benjamin, Chauncey, Abigail, Sarah, Selinda
and Jason B. Among his descendants are sturdy
men who have honored their name in business, in
letters, at the bar and on the bench.
(VI) Jason Bigelow, youngest child of John
(4) and Abigail (Bigelow) Perry, was born Septem-
ber 27, 1801, in Rindge. He was a thrifty farmer,
tilling the acres of the paternal homestead. In the
New Hampshire militia he was honored with suc-
cessive promotion and declined a commission as
brigadier-general. He retired with the rank of col-
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
67
onel of the Twelfth Regiment. In later life, in the
speech of his fellowmen, he was Colonel Perry and
except on a ballot or an antograph he had no other
name. He was representative in 1852-53 and select-
man twenty years, a service unequalled in the num-
ber of years, and unexcelled in efficiency in the town.
Colonel Perry was an able, reliable and faithful
man. His character and service was conspicuous
in the annals of the town. He died February, 1883.
He was married, November ir, 1828, to Sally Wil-
son, who was born September 22, 1804, in New Ips-
wich, New Hampshire, daughter of Major Supply
(Scripture) Wilson, and granddaughter of Supply
and Susanna (Cutter) Wilson, of Woburn, Massa-
chusetts, and New Ipswich. (See Wilson, VI).
She died November 14, 1875. They were the parents
of a large family of children, namely : Mary, Eliza,
Susan, John Wilson, James Bigelow, Harriet, Sarah,
Jason Stanley and Jane Sophronia.
(VII) Jason Stanley, third and youngest son
and eighth child of Colonel Jason B. and Sally
(Wilson) Perry, was born January 8, 1847, in
Rindge, New Hampshire, and owns the ancestral
farm on which he lived until 1902, when he removed
to the village of East Rindge, but now resides in
Rindge Center. He was educated in the schools
of his native town and at Appleton Academy, New
Ipswich. Mr. Perry is a prominent citizen of Rindge.
He is a thoughtful student of literature and is well
informed in public affairs. In the social circles he
is a genial companion, and in public assemblies a
ready and convincing speaker. He is a charter mem-
ber and past master of Marshal P. Wilder Grange.
He is a justice of the peace, and has been repeatedly
elected moderator of schools and town meetings.
He is an efficient member of the board of edu-
cation, was three years a selectman, and was repre-
sentative in the legislatures of 1889-1907. In 18S6
he was appointed by Governor Currier a member of
the state board of agriculture and was still in this
service until, at the completion of nine years, he
declined a reappointment. He is a steadfast Re-
publican in political sentiment, and entertains strict
views in matters of religion. Mr. Perry was rnar-
ried November 8, 1871, to Elsie Augusta Page, who
was born November 20, 1851, daughter of Joel and
Sarah (Pierce) Page, of Fitchburg, Massachusetts.
She died September 3, 1S99. He was married
(second), January i, 1902, to Martha (Hale) Rice,
widow of George G. Rice, and daughter of John
F. and Rebecca (Bailey) Hale. She was born Sep-
tember 4, 1849, in Rindge. Following is a brief
account of his children : Mary Gushing, born Au-
gust 8, 1S72, married Frank A. Tuttle ; four chil-
dren ; their home is in Temple, New Hampshire.
Belle Lelia. born August, 1875, married Arthur Z.
Norcross, three children ; resides in Poinfret, Con-
necticut. John Wilson, Ijorn May 26, 1879, resides
in Clinton, Massachusetts, unmarried. James Bige-
low, born March 21, 1884, graduate of the Highland
Military Academy, unmarried, in business in New-
York City. Stanley Jay, born September 6, 1887.
drowned while skating at the age of nine. Susan
Pauline, born August 12, 1890, a student at Apple-
ton Academy.
Although the Perry family is so numerous, it
is impossible to trace the present line farther than
three generations.
(I) Hosea Perry lived in Woodstock, Vermont.
He was a farmer and stone mason. He also did
carpentry work, and was noted for his skill in
moving buildings. His children were: William,
John F., Horace A., Charles F., Lucy and Eveline,
and George and Frank by the second marriage. Wil-
liam Perry, judge of probate, lived at Woodstock
.in 1790, and was one of the founders of the Uni-
versalist Church in that place. It is not known
whether he was related to Hosea.
(II) John Frederick, son of Hosea Perry, was
born at Woodstock, Vermont, in 1822. He attended
the public schools of that town. He then became
a stage driver, being one of the last of that section.
He first drove between Walpole and Claremont,
New Hampshire, then between Walpole and Keene,
and after the Cheshire Railroad was built he drove
for a year between Walpole and Brattleboro, Ver-
mont. In 1850, he was made ticket agent for the
old Vermont Valley Railroad Company, subsequently
absorbed by the Connecticut & Passumpsic Rail-
road, at \Yestminster, Vermont. On taking this
position he moved from Walpole, New Hampshire,
which had previously been his home, to Westminster,
where he lived the remainder of his life. He was
a Republican in politics. He married Clarissa Jane,
daughter of Joshua Whitney, of Bridgewater, Ver-
mont. They had three children : Horace A., whose
sketch follows ; Elmira and Edward, both of whom
died young ; John F. Perry died at Westminster,
Vermont, September 25, 1878. His wife died Sep-
tember 28, 1S89.
(III) Horace Augustus, eldest child of John
Frederick and Clarissa J. (Whitney) Perry, was
born at Bethel, Vermont, February 15, 1841. In
early life he attended the public schools of Walpqle,
New Hampshire, where his father lived. When the
family moved to Westminster, Vermont, he studied
for two years at Professor Ward's college pre-
paratory school in that town. He then engaged in
the silver-plating business with E. H. Cook at West-
minster. He was employed in this work for six or
seven years, plating all work on harnesses and car-
riages. He then moved back to Walpole and for ten
years was in the hotel and express business. In
1883, in company with Warren W. Porter, he formed
the firm of Perry & Porter. They carried on a
general mercantile .business till November i, 1906.
During this time they were agents for the American
Express Company, which business they still con-
tinue. Mr. Perry has been in the express business
since 1864; he began as agent for the old United
States and Canada Express Company, and when
that was merged with the American Express, he
continued with them. He is a Republican in politics,
and has held the ofiice of deputy sheriif' or high sheriflf
since 1880. for fourteen years of which period he was
high sheriff. He has always declined to hold other
offices, although frequently urged so to do. He has,
however, been delegated to the state convention.
He is a trustee of the Walpole Savings Bank, also
of the Unitarian Church, of which he is a member.
He is custodian of various trust funds, amounting
to fifteen thousand dollars, which belong to that
church. For more than a quarter of a century he
has been treasurer of the Walpole Horse Thief
Society, a very strong organization, one of the strong-
est of the kind in New England. Its funds now
(1907) on hand approximate one thousand seven
hundred dollars. Mr. Perry is a Mason, and be-
longed to Columbian Lodge of Walpole till it dis-
banded, of which he was secretary for a period of
fifteen years.
Horace A. Perry married Sarah Jane, daughter
of Captain Edward Bridgeman, of Northampton,
Massachusetts. She was born at Williamsburg,
Massachusetts, January 18, 1844, and was married
February 22, 1863. They have two children : Carrie
A., born December 9, 1864; and Fred J., April 8,
1872. Carrie A., married Warren W. Porter, of
68
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Walpole. (See Porter Genealogy, IV). Fred J.
is a paper manufacturer at Bellows Falls, Vermont.,
He married Anna B. Williams, and they have one
daughter, Delia Coy Perry.
Baldwin is a very old name, and
BALDWIN was in use a long time before men
had surnames. It was in England,
as appears by the records, as early as the year 672,
and quite common in that country in the days of
the Conquest. It appears in the roll of Battle Abbey.
The five Baldwins, earls of Flanders, were men of
distinction, the fifth marrying the daughter of
Robert of France. His daughter Matilda married
William the Conqueror. The name was common in
Flanders, Normandy and Italy. It is of Saxon ori-
gin, and signifies "Bold Winner." The general pre-
valence of the name dates from the crusades, when
it was taken as a title of honor. Baldwins were
earls of Devonshire. The family of this sketch is
one of several which came to New England in
pioneer days, and from those early settlers have
sprung numerous noted citizens.
(I) Nathaniel, probably second son of Richard
and Isabell Baldwin, of the parish of Cholesbury,
Buckinghamshire, England, is supposed to have
been a great-grandson of Richard of Dundridge, of
the parish of Aston-Clinton, Buckinghamshire, Eng-
land. The date of the will of Richard of Dundridge
is January, VI Edward, that is, 1552, and that of
Richard of Colesbury is May 23, 1630. Nathaniel
Baldwin was a brother of Timothy and Joseph, and
came to Milford, Connecticut, in 1639, in the New
Haven Company. His name appears in the Milford
records as a "Free Planter." He was a cooper bj'
trade, and in 1641 a resident of Fairfield, where he
died in 1650, and where the probate of his estate
appears. He married (.first), Abigail Camp, who
joined the church at Milford on June 9. 1644, and
died there March 22, 1648. The children of this
union were : John, Daniel, Nathaniel and Abigail.
He married (second), Joanna Westcoat, widow of
Richard, of Fairfield, Connecticut, and moved there
perhaps the second 'ime. By her he had : Sarah,
Deborah and Samuel. After the death of Nathaniel
his widow married, third, George Abbott, of Fair-
field, and died in 1682. She is mentioned in records
as "Goodwife Baldwin," and was a witness in a trial
for witchcraft in 1654. An unusual number of the
descendants of Nathaniel have been emhient, and the
family generally has been of high respectability.
(II) Daniel second son and child of Nathaniel
and Abigail (Camp) Baldwin, was baptized in Mil-
ford, Connecticut, in June, 1644, and continued to
reside there. He is said to have died in 1711. He
married, June 27, 1665, Elizabeth Botsford. daughter
of Henry, one of the original settlers of Milford.
He and liis wife joined the church June 27, 1669.
Their children were: Daniel (died young). Daniel.
Elizabeth. Mary, Samuel (died young), Nathaniel,
John and Samuel.
(III1 Sergeant Daniel (2), second son of Daniel
(l) and Elizabeth (Botsford) Baldwin, was born in
Milford, Connecticut, March 3, 1668. He was a
member of the local military organization, and his
name appears often on the records, where he is
referred to as Sergeant Daniel. His will was dated
March 8, 1719, and probated May 2, 1725. His
death prnbablv occurred not long before the latter
date. His wife's christian name was Sarah, but her
surname is not known. She joined the church. June
28, 1691, and died December 18. 1710. Her name
may have been Sarah Camp, as in 1708 Samuel
Camp conveys to his brother, Daniel Baldwin, and
Joseph Camp. Their children were : Daniel, Na-
than, John, Gideon, James, Enos, Sarah, Caleb and
Jeremiah.
(IV) Nathan, second son and child of Daniel
(2) and Sarah Baldwin, was baptized November 23,
1691, in Milford. May 2, 1720, he is executor of
the estate of his father, with his brothers John and
James. In 1756 he was executor of the estate of
his brother James, of Newtown, where he had set-
tled. By legislative enactment in 1739 he was made
captain of the "2nd Company or Train-band, in the
town of Newtown." His will is dated July 19, 1761,
and was proved July 4, 1769, between which dates
he died. His wife's name was Elizabeth. They
had four children : Nathan, Sarah, Elizabeth and
Jabez, whose sketch follows.
(V) Jabez, youngest child of Nathan and Eliza-
beth Baldwin, was born in Newtown, Connecticut
April 8, 1733, and died March 31, 1803. He took
in Newtown, with his brother Nathan, land given
them by their father. Jabez Baldwin was a man of
wealth but the great depreciation in Continental
money and the loss of a ship of which he was part
owner materially reduced his fortunes, although he
still owned a residence on Newtown street. As he
could not live in the manner to which he had been
accustomed, he determined to join those who were
forming new homes in the "Upper Cohos," as it
was termed, of which such glowing accounts were
given, and where his eldest son had taken up a
claim as early as 1785. He was one of the grantees
of Stratford, New Hampshire, and before going
there selected from the plan of the town the lot now
included in the interval of the Granite State Stock
Farm ; but, on arriving there he found that the num-
ber he had selected designated the lot next below
the one he had chosen, but eventually the desired
land came into the possession of his children.
March 13, 1788, with his wife and children Nathan.
John, Lucinda, Lucia and Marcia, he left Newtown
and made his way up the Connecticut river to Strat-
ford. In January, 1790, he located upon the place
now known as the Baldwin Homestead, still in pos-
session of his descendants, where he erected a frame
house with luntber brought up the river from
Guildhall, Vermont. This was the first frame house
in that section of country. He was a man of much
energy, and cleared the forest away and made a
farm where he and his family were comfortable
without the luxuries of the older settlements. Of
the privations of pioneer life none were so keenly
felt as the lack of schools. Mr. Baldwin at last
secured the services of a young student who taught
in his family for several months. This eagerly
coveted opportunity was rudely interrupted by the
advent of smallpox. In 1803, during Mr. Baldwin's
absence in Connecticut, his family was attacked by
this disease. When he reached Lancaster he re-
ceived a message from his wife to remain there, but
he went home, took the disease and died. Mr.
Baldwin married (first), in Connecticut, in 1755.
Mary Peck, of Newtown. The children of this
marriage were: Heth, born 1756; Mary, 1757;
Sarah, 1760; Bete, 1762; and Anna, 1766. He mar-
ried (second), in August, 1770, Judith Brace, of
Newtown. She was a woman of strong character,
of great capacity, resource and cheerfulness. Their
children were: Lucinda, born September 28, 1771,
died October, 1774; Nathan, born September 28,
I773i died in Ohio, aged over ninety years; Emmiel.
born January, 1775, died February, 1775; John,
born January, 1776. died September 14, 1810: Lu-
cinda, born November 9, 1779, died January 31,
1863; Lucia, born January 12, 1782, died September
"iiil
Cb^/^^^^^-^^^^W^I^^ALiW^^^^A?^
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
69
•on the
H° in
culture and a ca| .
over-work impair •
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ll-
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the faith
•K
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,
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g^ranted July
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■r>--fed the t'
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of business u
rahM
h..
.!iy wnys. as !.
:h he
n'
• date ot his •
::iirh.
1),
- life was in ■
merchan ■'
■ m heart
his cmpicyi.-; h: :'-:;ll
perated his mill at
during a period
■ Mt upon scarcity
■ ■f the paper cur
was
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was a s!
iiiir-
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.nnr! i'lpt:
and llle
I. Main<,
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rist mill: then
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18, 1820, vi
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Madison,
into the f ■
for hon.
rittee of - '
ilie Rcvolr
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^o
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs.
Baldwin: Mary A., born July ii, 1879, died August
28, 1881 ; Flora E., born August 5, 1881, died April
2, 1885; Berta Edith, born May 6, 1884; Jeanelte
Holmes, born September 28, 1886; and William
Lx)throp, born November 19, i88g. All these chil-
dren were born at North Stratford, with the excep-
tion of Berta Edith, who was born at Newell,
Iowa. William Lothrop is a studei;t at Dartmouth
College, and Berta Edith and Jeanette Holmes are
students at the Brown University.
(Second Family.)
There are various reasons for sup-
BALDWIN posing that the Baldwins are of
Norman origin, and one of them
is the fact that the first earl of Devonshire, who
received his title from William the Conqueror, bore
that name. The name was prominently identified
with the ancient nobility of France, and antedates
the period of the first crusade, during which Bald-
win (1058-1118) was made king of Jerusalem.
(I) Henry Baldwin, the emigrant ancestor of
the family now being considered, was of Devon-
shire, and arrived at Charlestown, Massachusetts,
prior to 1640, in which year he signed the order
for the settlement of Woburn. In- 1652 he was
admitted a freeman in Woburn ; was a selectman
there in 1681 ; and a deacon of the First Church
from 1686 until his death, which occurred February
14, 1697-98. He resided at New Bridge in North
Woburn. November l, 1649, he married Phebe
Richardson, daughter of Ezekiel and Susanna
Richardson, who were also among the original set-
tlers of Woburn. Phebe was baptized in Boston
June 3, 1632, but may have been born in England.
She became the mother of eleven children : Su-
sanna (died young), Susanna, Phebe, John, David,
Timothy, Mary, Henry, Abigail, Ruth and Benja-
min. The mother died September 13, 1716.
(II) Henry (2), fourth son and eighth child
of Henry (i) and Phebe (Richardson) Baldwin,
was born in Woburn, September 15, 1664, and died
there January 17; 1739. He was married ilay 4,
1692-93, to Abigail Fiske, daughter of David and
Abigail (Seaborn) Fiske, who subsequently settled
in Lexington, Massachusetts. Abigail Baldwin, who
survived her husband, was the mother of Henry,
David, Isaac, Abigail (who died young), James
(who died young), Abigail, James and Samuel.
(III) James, fifth son and seventh child of
Henry and Abigail (Fiske) Baldwin, was born in
Woburn, October 19, 1710. He resided on the
family homestead all his life, which terminated
January 28, 1791. May 29, 1739, he married Ruth
Richardson, who was born in Woburn, June 17,
1713, daughter of Joseph Richardson, granddaughter
of Samuel Richardson and great-granddaughter of
Samuel Richardson, the latter a brother of Ezekiel
Richardson, previously referred to (see Richardson,
I). She was the mother of Cyrus, Ruel (died
young), Loammi and Ruel. Ruth survived her hus-
band but a short time, her death having occurred
May 13, 1791, in her seventy-eighth year.
(IV) Ruel, youngest son and child of James
and Ruth (Richardson) Baldwin, was born in Wo-
burn, June 30, 1747. He spent his entire life in his
native town, but the date of his death does not
appear in the records at hand. October 4, 1769,
he married Keziah Wyman, who bore him four
children : Ruel, Ruth, James and Josiah. Keziah
married for her second husband a Mr. Johnson, by
whom she had six children.
(V) Lieutenant James, second son and third
child of Ruel and Keziah (Wyman) Baldwin, was
born in Woburn, October 7, 1773. He resided for
some time in Dunstable, Massachusetts, from whence
he removed to Westford, same state, and he died
November 24, 1827. He was a prominent church-
man and a deacon. His marriage took place in De-
cember, 1798, to PrisciUa Keyes, who was born in
Westford, December 26, 1772, daughter of Issachar
Keyes. She died August 11, 1849. Their children
were: Stephen Keyes, Josiah, Josephus, who were
born in Dunstable; Eliza.
(VI) James, fifth son and eighth child of
James and Priscilla (Keyes) Baldwin, was born
in Westford, May 13, 1812. In early manhood he
entered the employ of his brothers Josephus and
Edvyin, who were engaged in the manufacture of
textile mill appliances in Nashua, such as spools,
bobbins, shuttles, etc., and remained there until
about the year 1859, when he established the present
James Baldwin Bobbin and Shuttle Company of
Manchester under the name of James Baldwin &
Compatiy, and engaged in the manufacture of bob-
bins, spools and shuttles. This business has ex-
panded into large proportions, becoming one of the
most important industrial enterprises in that city.
When the U. S. Bobbin and Shuttle Company was
organized, this company was among those whicli
constituted the combination, and it is now known as
the James Baldwin Company Division of that con-
cern. Mr. Baldwin died in Manchester, May 22,
1893. He was one of the most able and successful
business men of his day, and is justly entitled to an
honorable place among the pioneer manufacturers
of that city, whose foresight and perseverance made
possible the development and present magnitude of
its industrial activities. Like his ancestors he par-
ticipated conspicuously in religious affairs and was
a deacon of the First Baptist Church of Nashua,
and later of the First Baptist Church in Manchester.
His first wife, whom he married October 12, 1834,
was Harriet Robbins, of New Ipswich, New Hamp-
shire; she died March i, 1835. He married (sec-
ond), April 9, 1S40, Mary Buttrick, of Concord,
Massachusetts, who died July 30, 1857, aged forty
years. He married (third), August 4, 1858, Julia
Ann Hiinton, of Nashua, who died October 28,
1877. He married (fourth), February 22, 1880, Mrs.
Eliza W. Brown, of Manchester. His first wife
died childless. The children of his' second union
are: i. James Francis, who will be again referred
to. 2. Mary Emily, born July 25, 1846, and is now
the wife of John C. Littlefield, of Manchester (see
Littlefield, VHI). 3. Harriet Ella, born July 16.
1848, deceased ; she married Ludger Vincent and
had two children. 4. Isadora, born December 15,
1851, died January 2, 1852. 5. Luther Chase, born
July 17, 1854, is now general superintendent of the
U. S. Bobbin and Shuttle Company's general ofhce
in Providence, Rhode Island. He married Julia A.
Dearborn. 6. Charles Henry, born June 10, 1857,
died .September 9, 1857. The children of his third
union are: Frederick Charles, born May 11, 1859.
graduated from Dartmouth College, and is now
principal of the Foster School, Somerville, Massa-
chusetts. David C, born December 25, 1870, died
young.
(VII) James Francis, eldest son and child of
James and Mary (Buttrick) Baldwin, was born
in Nashua, July 12, 1843. He was educated in the
Nashua public schools, and at an early age began
to assist his father, under whose direction he
rapidly acquired a good knowledge of the business.
He has been actively connected with the Bobbin
and Shuttle industry in Manchester from its estab-
lishment to the present time, and when it was in-
>^J-r5L..-<^<:^-
I f f I
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
71
corporated (about 1887) with the elder Baldwin
as president, he assumed the responsible position
of treasurer and manager. These arduous duties
he performed with such superior ability as to greatly
enhance the importance and prestige of the enter-
prise, and at the consummation of the merger (1S9S)
already noted, he became superintendent of the U.
S. Bobbin and Shuttle Company (James Baldwin
Company Division). In that responsible capacity
he _ is pursuing the same liberal and progressive
policy as that which characterized his efforts under
the old regime, and the INIanchester plant, which
employs an average force of three hundred and
fifty skilled workmen, is well abreast of its associate
concerns as regards the quality and quantity of its
output.
In addition to his industrial activity Mr. Bald-
win is prominently identified with the financial inter-
ests of the city, and is a director of the First Na-
tional Bank. He has rendered his share of service
in a public capacity as a member of the common
council, the board of aldermen and the state legis-
lature; in politics he is a Republican. In the Ma-
sonic order he has taken thirty-two degrees, being
affiliated with Lafayette (Blue) Lodge; Mount
Horeb Chapter, Royal Arch Masons ; Adoniram
Council, Royal and Select ISIasters; Trinity Coxn-
mandery. Knights Templar; Becktash Temple, An-
cient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine;
and Edward A. Raymond Consistory. He is also
a leading member and past officer of both the lodge
and encampment. Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows. For many years he has been a member of
the First Baptist Church.
Mr. Baldvt'in married (first), July 12, 1864, Mary
Elizabeth Palmer, daughter of Oilman Palmer, of
Chicago, Illinois. She died in 1900. He married
(second) Isabella McPherson, who was superin-
tendent of the Elliot Hospital while he was a
trustee of that institution. Of his first union there
is one daughter, Stella Mabel Baldwin, who married
Mitchell Ward, of Manchester, receiving teller in
the Manchester Savings Bank.
The first of this name of whom there
HERSEY is any record is Hughe de Hersey,
who was governor of Frau. Nor-
mandy, in 1204. There is mention of a certain Sir
Malvicius de Hercy in the year 1210. The family
appears to have come originally from Flanders.
Edward I of England held another Hugh de Hercy,
that is, took his rents during his minority. Sir
Malvicius de Hercy married Theophania, daughter
of Gilbert de Arches, Baron of Grove, and from him
have descended the family of Hercy of Grove, one
of the first families in the county of Nottingham.
Branches of this family appear to have settled in
several of the counties of England ; one in Oxford-
shire, another in Berks, and so on. Persons of this
name \yere in Sussex, England, from 1376 to 1482,
possessing an estate seven miles in circumference.
The Herseys of Grove show direct descent in the
male line down to 1570 only, but branches of the
family in Oxfordshire and Berkshire continue as
late as I794- The name in early records is written
Hersee, Harsie and Hearsey.
(I) William Hersey is said to have been the
son of Nathaniel Hercy. who died in Reading,
Berkshire county, England, in 1629, and whose chil-
dren were:_ William, born 1596, and Thomas, 1599!
From William sprang all the Herseys of Hingham,
Massachusetts, and many more. He came to New
England in 1635. and early in the autumn of that
year located in Hingham with others who were pas-
sengers on the ship he came in. July 3. 1636, he
had a house lot of five acres granted to him, on
what is now South, nearly opposite West street. At
the time of the trouble about the election of officers
for the train band 1644-1645, William Hersey was
assessed a heavy fine for supporting the views of
Rev. Peter Hobart and his friends ; and the family
rate towards the erection of the new meeting hou.-e
was the largest but one upon the list. In deeds he
is described as a ''husbandman." He was made
freeman in March, 163S, and selectman, 1642, 1647,
and 1650; and was a member of the artillery com-
pany in 1652. He died March 22, 165S. His will,
dated March g, 1658, was proved April 29. following.
The appraisement of his property in the inventory
thereof was four hundred nine pounds, thirteen shill-
ings, sixpence. The christian name of his wife was
Elizabeth. She died in Hingham, October 8, 1671.
The children of William, probably born in England,
were : Gregory, Prudence, Nathaniel, William,
Frances and Elizabeth, the three last named accom-
panying him to America. Three others, Judith, John
and James, were born in Hingham.
(II) William (2), eldest son of William (i)
and Elizabeth Hersey, was born in England and
came to New England with his parents in 1635. He
was made a freeman in 1672 ; was constable in 1661 ;
and served as selectman in 1678-82-90. He died
September 28, 1691. His will made in 16S9 was
proved January 27, 1692, He married (first), about
1656 or 1657, Rebecca Chubbuck, who was born in
Hmgham, in April, 1641. and died June i, 1686,
aged forty-five years. She was the daughter of
Thomas and Alice Chubbuck. The christian name
of his second wife, as appears by his will, was
Ruhamah. There is no entry of this marriage, how-
ever, nor of ner death, on the Hingham records.
The tivelve children, all by wife Rebecca, were:
William, John, James, Rebecca. Deborah, Hannah,
Elizabeth, Ruth, Mary, Joshua, Judith (died young),
and Judith.
(III) James, third son and child of William
(2) and Rebecca (Chubbuck) Hersey, was born in
Hingham, December 2, i66i, and died May 23, 1743.
aged eighty-one years. He was a farmer and re-
sided on South street, in West Hingham, He was
a man of good parts, and was constable in 1694;
selectman 1719 and 1721, and represented the town
in the general court in 1734-35-36. In his will made
May 27, 1739. mention is made of land purchased of
his brother William and of land owned in Abing-
ton; and bequeathes all his property to his wife
Susanna, including "my negroes, to her and her
heirs forever." He married his wife Susanna,
whose surname does not appear, at a place and date
both of which are missing. She died in Hingham,
Jun^ 10. 1762, in the eighty-fourth year of her age.
But two children are credited to them in the "His-
tory of Hingham" : Susanna, who died at sixteen
years of age : and James, who died at eight years of
age. A manuscript history of the family says:
"James had three sons : James, John and Peter."
(IV) James (2), a grandson of William (2),
and perhaps a son of James Hersey (i), moved
from Hingham to that part of Exeter which is now
New Market, having first explored the country for
the purpose of cutting ash and oak timber, as he
was a carpenter or cooper. He afterwards took up
land, and settled there, in company with the father
or grandfather of Nathaniel Burlcy.
(V) James (3). "an immediate descendant" of
the preceding, was of New Market. He met with
an accident which resulted in the loss of a leg. and
afterwards of his property, so that he was unable to
complete the education of his sons.
(VI) Jonathan, second son and child of James
./-
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
(3) and Jemima (Burley) Hersey, was born, says
the family records, December 22, 1746. He and his
sister. Jemima, who married John Piper, settled in
Wolfboro: the other brothers and sisters set-
tled in Sanbornton. Jonathan Hersey. in 1771, re-
ceived of Daniel Pierce, of Portsmouth, a deed of
one hundred and forty acres of land, a portion of
the "Great Lot'' which contained one- thousand acres.
This farm adjoined Tuftonboro. Jonathan was
a stirring man. and held several minor offices. He
speculated considerably in land and eventually be-
came a large landholder, and several of his sons
followed his example and settled in Tuftonboro
;ind Wolfboro. Jonathan married, February 15,
1772, Mary Wiggin, and they had eight sons and
two daughters : Samuel W., James. William, John.
Elijah, Polly. Jonathan, Nabby, Jacob and .
(Vn) John B., son of Jonathan and Mary
•< Wiggin) Hersey, was born in Wolfboro, October
18, 1779, and died August 21, 1853, aged seventy-
four years. He followed the traditions of his fathers
and cultivated the soil, and was a well-to-do and
intelligent citizen. He married, March 14, 1813,
Ruth Nudd. who was born in Greenland, New
Hampshire, February 14. 1788, and died May 2, 1847.
They had seven children: Mary. John. William H.,
James P.. Eraslus, Hannah, and Samuel N., whose
sketch follows.
(Vni) Samuel Nudd, seventh and youngest
child of John B. and Ruth (Nudd) Hersey, was
born in Wolfboro, June 11, 1831, and died April
27. 1907, aged seventy six years. He was a mer-
chant* and manufacturer of clothing, starting in
business in 1857. at Diamond Corner, and in 1873
removing to Wolfboro. where he continued until
1895, when he turned his attention to the excellent
farm which he owned at Wolfboro. He was edu-
cated at Wolfboro and Tuftonboro Academies,
and during his life continued to keep in touch with
the world's progress by reading. He also devoted
his attention to the genealogy of his family and
made some progress in discovering its early history.
He was a member 'of Lake Council, No, 247. Royal
Arcanum, and his funeral was conducted by that
order. He married. May 9. 1857, Susan E. Copp,
•by whom he had one son. Omah. who died young.
He married (second). June 6. 1877, Catherine M.
t Laighton, of Portsmouth, the daughter of John and
Lucy (Trundy) Laighton. The children of the sec-
ond marriage were: Parry T. and Ralph Samuel,
who died June 25, 1902, aged nineteen years, eleven
months.
(IX) Parry Trundy, son of Samuel N. and
Catherine M. (Laighton) Hersey, was born in Wolf-
boro, January t6, tSSo, and was educated at the
Brewster Free Academy, and at Nichols Acadetjiy.
Dudley, Massachusetts. He worked five years at
the printer's trade, and has been in that business for
bimself since August, 1906. He is a member of
Morning Star Lodge, No. 17, Free and .Accepted
Masorts : and of Fidelity Lodge, No. 71. Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, and Myrtle Rebekah Lodge,
No. 48. He married. September 27. i8qq Edna E.
Sanborn, who was born in Wakefield. February 9,
i88o, daughter of John I. and Ella C. (Grant) San-
born* They have two children: Louise Elizabeth
and Donald Samuel.
In the year 1S71 the number of Hovts
HOYT in the Llnited States who had descended
from John and Simon Hoyt was esti-
mated at about nine thousand. That number has
probably since doubled. The name has many varia-
tions, all coming from the spelling Hoit, or Hoyt.
Some now use the spelling Hoitt. The members
of the Hoyt family in this country generally belong
to the middle classes, but there are among them
men of wealth. Many are in the learned profes-
sions, divinity, law and medicine, the latter en-
gaging much the larger number. Military titles are
common; there are many captains, majors and
colonels, and in New Hampshire there were at one
time three generals named Hoit. In the French
and Indian and Revolutionary wars the family took
an active part. A large number served as soldiers,
and many thereby lost their lives.
(I) The earliest information concerning John
Hoyt which has yet been obtained, is that he was
one of the original settlers of Salisbury, Massa-
chusetts, and also of Ame^^bury. It seems probable
that he was born about 1610 or 1615. Whether he
came directly from England or had previously lived
in other towns in America is uncertain. His name
has not been found among those of passengers of
any of the early emigrant ships. John Hoyt was
almost the only individual who received all his earlier
grants at the "first division" of land in Salisbury.
This would seem to indicate that he was one of the
first to move into the town (1640). He early re-
moved to the west side of the Powow river. His
narne appears on the original articles of agree-
ment between Salisbury and Salisbury New-town, in
1654; and he was one of the seventeen original
"comenors" of the new town whose names were
recorded March 16. 1655. In the divisions of land
he received several lots in the "Great Swamp,"
"on the River," at the "Lions Mouth," and in other
parts of the town. One of these contained two
hundred acres, and was styled the great division.
"Goodman Hoget" was one of those chosen to lay
out land in "Lion's Mouth," etc., February, 1661.
John Hoyt is also frequently mentioned on the old
.'\mesbury records as prudentialman, selectman,
constable, juryman, moderator, etc. He was a man
of independent thought, and often had his "con-
trary desent" entered on the records of the town,
in several instances alone, one of them being on the
question of his serving as selectman in 1682. He
was a sergeant of the Salisbury military company,
and is frequently called "Sargent Hoyt." He was
also one of "the commissioned and other officers
of the Militia in the County of Norfolk," in 1671.
The town records of Amesbury state that he died
February 28, 1688. He had two wives, both named
Frances. He probably married his first wife about
1635. She died February 23, 1643. and he married
his second wife in 1643 or 1644. She survived him
and was living in 1697. His children were : Fran-
ces, John, Thomas. Gregorie. Elizabeth, Sarah.
Mary, Joseph (died young). Joseph, Marah, Naomi
and Dorothie. (An account of Thomas and de-
scendants appears in this article.)
(II) John (2), second child and eld(;st son of
John (i) and Frances Hoyt, was born about 1638.
and as he always signed his name in full (did
not write his initials or make his mark) he evi-
dently had a very good education for a common
man in those times. In old deeds, of which he gave
and received a large number, he is sometimes called
a "planter." and sometimes a "carpenter." He re-
ceived his first lot of land ("on the River") in
Amiesbury, October. T658, and was admitted as
a "townsman," December 10, 1660. On the records
of Salisbury, Massachusetts, 9, 2m, 1667, we find
the three following entries : "Jno. Hoyt Jun : tooke
ye oath of fidelitie : att ye prsent Court." "Jno.
Hoyt jun: upon ye request & choyce of \-e New-
towne is admitted by this present Court to keen
ye Ordinary at ye Newtown of Salisbury, & to sell
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
7i
wine & strong waters for ye yeare ensuing." Also.
"Jno Hoyt jun; is dismist by this Court from all
trainings : until such time : as he shall be cuered of
yt inrtrniity wch doth att prsent disinable him fro
trayning." He had a seat assigned him in the
meeting house, July 9, 1667. His name frequently
appears on the Amesbury records as lot-layer, con-
stable, etc. He was imprisoned in Salem "Gaol,"
March. 1694, for failing to discharge his duty as
constable, and in his petition for release he states
"That Your Petitioner has Lately mett with great
losses, haveing his house plundered by the Indians.
and has been visited with much sickness through
the holy afflicting hand of god upon him — besides
sundry of the persons from whume many of sd
arreares be due are both dead & removed out of
ye Towne." etc. "The Great and General Court
of the Province of Massachusetts Bay in New Eng-
land, sitting in Boston," granted his petition and
released him from prison. He was killed by the
Indians, in Andover, on the road to Haverhill,
August 13, i6g6. He married, June 2t„ 1659, Mary
Barnes, daughter of William and Rachel Barnes, who
survived him and was living in 1704. Their children
were ten: William. Elizabeth, John, Mary, Joseph,
Sarah* Rachel, Dorothie, Grace afid Robert.
(.Sketches of John, Joseph and Robert, and de-
scendants form a part of this article.)
(III) William, eldest child of John (2) and
JMary (Barnes) Hoyt, was born September 5, 1660,
died July 19. 1728. His grandfather, William
William Barnes, for whom he was probably named,
deeded him two or three pieces of land. From the
Old Norfolk records we learn that he took the oath
of allegiance and fidelity December 20, 1677. The
town records state that he was chosen tithing man
1693-94 a'ld 1697-98. He probably lived at the
"Lion's Mouth." The amount of inventory of his
property at his death, 1728, was three hundred and
twenty-three pounds. He married. January 12, 1688,
Dorothy Colby, daughter of Samuel Colby, Sr., who
survived him and was living in 1740. They had
nine children : Elizabeth. Dorothy, Abner. Alaria,
Susanna, Philip, William, Hopestill and Aliriam.
(IV) Abner, third child and oldest son of Wil-
liam and Dorothy (Colby) Hoyt, was born in
Amesbury, January 25. 1693, and died in Rumford
(now Concord) in 1747 or 1748. He was a car-
penter. His name is mentioned on the Amesbury
records in March, 1729. The next year he sold
his house and land immediately nortfi of his father's
homestead, "near Lion's Mouth," a-nd immediately
after March 9. 1730, removed to "Penny Cook"
(now Concord), New Hampshire, being one of the
proprietors and earliest settlers of the place. His
name is one of ten signed to a request dated Sep-
tember 18, 1732, to Benjamin Rolfe, proprietor's
clerk, to call a meeting of the proprietors "to con-
sider of what is proper to be done concerning build-
ing a mill, and to agree with some man or men
to do the same and also to raise one hundred pounds
for the support of the Rev. Timothy Walker."
Among the garrisons established in 1746 was one
around the house of Jonathan Eastman, on the Mill
road, and Abner Hoit and Jacob Hoit and their
families were assigned to it. At that time the
inhabitants were in great fear of an attack from
either their French or their Indian enemies or both.
Abner Hoyt owned land on "The Mountains" on
what is now East Penacook street, in East Concord.
"On one occasion." says Bouton. in his "History of
Concord," "his daughter Betsey went out to milk
the cows, just at twilight. She was accompanied
by a soldier named Roane for a guard. While she
milked the cows Roane sat on the fence ; but in-
stead of looking out for Indians his eyes were at-
tracted toward Betsey. She. observing his gaze,
said. 'Roane, you better look the other way. and
see if there are any Indians near.' Turning round
at that moment, he saw an Indian with tomahawk
in hand, creeping slyly toward him. Roane
screamed, leaped over the fence, and ran, gun in
hand, leaving Betsey to do the best she could for
herself. Fortunately, however. Betsey regained the
garrison in safety." Abner Hoit married. Novem-
ber 14, 1717. Mary Blaisdell, who died about 1747.
Their children, of whom the youngest only was born
in Concord, were: Jacob. Zeruiah, Betsey, Stephen.
.Apphia. Philip, and John. Zeruiah was married
(intentions published January 27, 1741), to Joseph
Farnum (see Farnum HI).
(V) John (3), seventh and youngest child of
Abner and, Mary (Blaisdell) Hoyt. is said to have
been the second male 'child born in Concord, Sep-
tember 10. 1732. He died February, 1804, or 1905.
In September, 1754, Captain John Chandler had
ciinimand of a company of nine men, "in His Ma-
jesty's service," for eight days, from September 8 to
16. probably on scouting service, and John Hoyt as
one of these was allowed pay to the amount of fif-
teen shillings eight pence. 'The great highway be-
tween Plymouth and Portsmouth ran through San-
bornton, Canterbury and the north east part of Con-
cord. In that section of the town John Hoyt built
a log house and kept a tavern that was very cele-
brated in that day. The oven in it was so spacious
that a boy twelve years old could go in and turn
around. All the transportation of merchandise in
those days was done by means of horse or ox-
power, and many teams were employed. Mr. Hoyt
charged half a pistareen, or about nine cents, for
keeping a yoke of oxen over night ; one night thirty-
three teams, or sixty-si.x oxen, put up there. The
barn was large and well filled with hay. which was
chiefly cut from a meadow of natural mowing be-
longing to the farm. Mr. Hoyt also raised his own
stock — cattle, sheep, etc.. and his table was well sup-
plied with fresh meat; but travellers usually carried
their own bread and cheese. This tavern was kept
there from 1780 till Mr. Hoyt's death in 1805. John
Hoit married. Jidy 2, 1755. Abigail Carter, who
when a 'little girl saw one Indian or more in the
bushes on the SaWjath before the Massacre." She
died May 25. 1824. aged eighty-seven. Her de-
scendants were thirteen children, eighty-two grand-
children, one hundred and five great-grandchildren,
and five of the fifth generation. The thirteen chil-
dren were : Marv, .-Cbigail. Abner, Martha. Sarah,
John. Susanna. Ezra, Jacob, William. Ruth, Betty,
and William 2d.
(VI) Jacob, ninth child and fourth son of John
(.^) and Abigail (Carter) Hoyt, was born March
28, 1772, in the old tavern. He resided after 1819
on the east side of the Merrimac river, on "the
Mountain." as it was called. He was a farmer and
brid.ge-builder. and was very vigorous in mind and
body long past his eightieth year. The house he
occupied was first erected at "the Fort." by Captiiin
Ebenezer Eastman, before 1748. and afterward taken
down and moved to the Mountain. Mr. _ Hoyt
bought the farm of two hundred acres on which the
house stood in t8i9. and spent the remainder of his
life there, making great improvements on his farm,
and keeping the old mansion in good repair. The
site is one of the most desirable, and furnishes one
of the most extensive and beautiful prospects on the
east side of the river. Jacob Hoyt married (first),
October 27, 1800, Ruth Virgin, and they were the
74
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
parents of one child, Prudence V. Mrs. Hoyt died
July 28, 1803, and he married (second) Fanny
Tucker, February 7. 1805. Their children were:
Sophia, John, Daniel Vose, Rachel. Fanny Jane,
Jedediah T., William, Ruth E., and Jacob N., only
one living, residing in Illinois.
(VII) John (4). second child and oldest son
of Jacob and Fanny (Tucker) Hoyt, was born in
East Concord, November 10, 1807. After acquiring
a common school education he learned the art of
paper making, and went into business, for himself at
Peterboro, New Hampshire. Afterward he went
to Ohio and established himself in business in Cleve-
land, and later in Delaware, Ohio. In 1875 he re-
turned to New Hampshire and carried on the busi-
ness of paper making in Manchester, in company
with his son William, under the firm name of John
Hoyt & Co. The business was large and profitable,
and was kept going until 1886. Mr. Hoyt died in
1891. He was an industrious man, careful and at-
tentive to business, depending for success on his in-
dustry and the good quality of the articles he made.
He married Margaret Morrison Jewett, of Peter-
boro, New Hampshire. They were the parents of
children : Elizabeth, died 1901, married Elias S.
Root, had two children, Margaret, married Arthur
B. Claflin, now resides in Beverly, Massachusetts :
and Orville, now in Paris ; William Jewett. and
Fanny H., born August 21, 1843, now the wife of
John C. Sawyer, of Manchester.
(VIII) William Jewett, only son of John (4)
and Margaret Morrison (Jewett) Hoyt, was born in
Delaware, Ohio, April i, 1842. and educated in the
public schools of his native town. At the age of
eighteen years he entered his father's mill to learn
the art of manufacturing paper. The following fif-
teen years he devoted to perfecting his knowledge
of the business, becoming an accomplished and
skilled man in the business. In 1875, on removing
to Manchester, New Hampshire, he became a part-
ner with his father, and bought out the plant of the
Martin Paper Company, and continued the business
under the name of John Hoyt & Company for ten
years. In 1885 the company was incorporated, John
Hoyt becoming president, and William Hoyt secre-
tary and treasurer. The health of both father and
son failing, the business was sold the following year,
and after that time neither was in active business.
Mr. Hoyt is a stockholder and d^ector in the Man-
chester National Bank, a position for which his
wide experience well qualifies him. He is a popu-
lar man with his associates, and a member of the
Calumet, the Derryfield, and other clubs. Though
a strong Republican and interested in politics, he
has never cared to hold office. He is a member of
the Franklin Street Church Society. He married,
February 3, 1875, Emma A. Cobb, daughter of
Ahira and Maria Cobb, born March 25, 1S54, died
January 3, 1897.
(Ill) John (3), third child and second son of
John (2) and Mary (Barnes) Hoyt. was born
March 28, 1663, and died intestate August 24. l6gi.
In the year 1686 his father deeded him land in
Jamaica, now West Amesbury, formerly the prop-
erty of John (l) Hoyt. He probably lived in the
west part of the town. Among the items mentioned
in the inventory of his estate were three acres
meadow. £15; "two lots in the Lyon's Mouth." £15;
"one Lott in Children's Land," £13 ; "land at the
Countrey pond," £6 : "House and Land at Jamaicoe,"
£60; — total. £153, los. He married Eli^^abeth ,
who survived him and married John Blaisdell. Jan-
uarv 6, 1693. She was living in 1744. The children
of John and Elizabeth Hoyt were: Lydia, Mary,
and Daniel.
(IV) Daniel, third child and only son of John
(3) and Elizabeth Hoyt, was born in Jamaica (West
Amesbury), March 2, i6go, and died March 3. 1743.
In the settlement of his father's estate, 1720 and
1722, Daniel had the "homestead at Jamaica, on the
road to Haverhill." His tombstone is still to be
seen in the West Amesbury cemetery. His will was
proved March 10, 1743. He married (first) Sarah
Rowell, marriage intentions filed December 9, 1710.
She died January 2, 1729. and he married (second),
July 24, 1729, Elizabeth Baxter, who survived him.
The children by the first wife were: Mary, Reuben,
Jethro, Eliphalet (died young), Lydia, John, Eli-
phalet, and Sarah. (Eliphalet and descendants re-
ceive mention in this article).
(V) John (4), sixth child and fourth son of
Daniel and Sarah (Rowell) Hoyt, born December
20, 1720, died about 1795 ; and was called "Deacon"
and "Captain." He built and lived in a house still
standing in West Amesbury, at a place called the
"Highlands." He married (first). November 4,
1745, Meriam Currier. She died October is, 1787,
and he married (second), November 27, 1788,
Widow Mary (Kelly) Moulton. The eleven chil-
dren by the first wife were : !Merriam. Anne, died
young; Daniel, died young; John, Anne, Sarah,
Daniel. Joseph. Hannah, Lois, and Molly.
(VI) Joseph, eighth child and fourth son of
John and Merriam (Currier) Hoit, was born in
West Amesbury, June 7, 1762. He was lame. After
living some time on his father's place, he removed
to New Chester, or Hill. New Hampshire. He
married, December 4. 1792. Hannah Rowell, whose
name appears as Sally Rowell on the publishment.
Their children were : Anna, Hannah, Polly, Joseph,
John, Lydia. and Merriam.
(VII) Lydia. sixth child and fourth daughter
of Joseph and Hannah (Rowell) Hoyt, was born
April 12, 1806, in Amesbury, and married Franklin
Moseley, of Concord. (See ^loseley).
(V) Eliphalet Hoyt, fifth son and seventh child
of Daniel and Sarah (Rowell) Hoyt, was born June
2, 1723. in West Amesbury. He resided in that
parish until 1751. and afterwards lived in the south
part of Kingston, New Hampshire, and vi-as hay-
ward there in 1769. He married, August i, 174S,
Mary Peaslee, and their children were: Anne, Mary,
Eliphalet, Peaslee, Ruth, Lydia, Ebcnezer, Simeon,
Daniel and James. (Mention of the last named and
descendants appears in this article). Eliphalet Hoyt
died about the tlose of the year 1794, and his son
Simeon was appointed administrator of his estate,
January 9, 1795. (A sketch of Simeon appears
below ) .
(VI) Ebenezer, third son and seventh child of
Eliphalet and Mary (Peaslee) Hoyt, was born June
15, 1754. probably in Kingston, and lived for a time
in Amesbury or Newburyport, but finally settled in
Hampstead, New Hampshire. He was a soldier in
the Revolutionary war. He married. July 8, 1779,
Sarah Nichols, of Amesbury. Their children were :
Mehitable, William H., Daniel, Eliphalet, Joseph
and Moses.
(VII) William Howard, eldest son and second
child of Ebenezer and Sarah (Nichols) Hoyt. was
an early settler in Sandown, New Hampshire, where
he lived and died. He married Betsey French, of
South Hampton, and their children were: Sarah
N.. William, Mehitable, Ebenezer, Rhoda, Betsey
and Nathan.
(VIII) Nathan, youngest child of William H.
and Betsey (French) Hoyt, was born November
27, 1817, in Sandown. He married Sally Hook,
whose father. Moody Hook, kept the old Hook
Hotel, a noted tavern in its day. They had four
Thu Lcivis Puhli'ih:
1
76
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
He was married, September 23, 1777, to Miriam
Morrill, of Hawke, who died in March. 185 1. Their
children were : Joseph, James, Susan, Sally, Henry,
Miriam, Polly, Simeon and Nathaniel Morrill.
(VH) Susan, eldest daughter and third child of
Simeon and Miriam (Morrill) Hoyt. was born in
1782-8.3, and became the wife of Joseph Sleeper
(see Sleeper, VI).
(VH) Miriam, sixth child and third daughter
of Simeon and Miriam (Morrill) Hoyt, married her
cousin, Thomas Hoit. (See Hoit, VH).
(VH) Henry, third son and fifth child of
Simeon and Miriam (Morrill) Hoyt, was born
about 1785, probably in that part of Gilmanton now
included in Gilford. New Hampshire. He married
Betsey Cotton, and they had eight children : Jason
Taylor, born May 26, 1812, lived in Charlestown,
Massachusetts. John Cotton, born November II.
181.3, married Polly Swain, and lived in Manchester,
New Hampshire. George, whose sketch follows.
Polly J., born February 5. 1818, died unmarried.
May 22, 1842. Betsey Abigail, born September 18.
1820, married Fernando A. Pierce, lived in New-
buryport, Massachusetts, and died at Manchester, New
Hampshire, August 14, 1855. Jonathan James, born
May 24, 1824. married Lucy G. Fuller, and lived in
West Chelmsford, jNIassachusetts. Edward, born
January 10, 1826, died October 9, 1827. Henry Ed-
ward, born June 9, 1828. married Susan M. De-
meritt. and lived in Manchester. New' Hampshire.
Henry Hoyt, the father, died about 1843.
(Vni) George, third son and third child of
Henry and Betsey (Cotton) Hoyt, was born De-
cember 30, 1817, in Gilford, New Hampshire. He
moved to the neighboring town of Holderness
where lie was a manufacturer of straw hoard. He
was a Republican in politics. On April 25, 1852,
George Hoyt married Frances Moody Smith, daugh-
ter of Obadiah and Eliza (Moody) Smith, of West
Newbury. Massachusetts. They had one child,
Frances Anna, born June 15, 1857, m Holderness.
She married. December 25. 1876, Dr. Ashley Cooper
^V'hipple, of Ashland. New Hampshire (see Whip-
ple, IX). George Hort died August 9. 1882, and
his wife died November 22. 1900, at Ashland.
(VI) James, tenth child and sixth son of Eli-
phalet and IMary (Peaslee) Hoyt. was born ^ larch
28, 1762. He resided all his life and died in Gil-
ford. He married (first) Mehitable Saltmarsh. of
Goffstown : (second) .•\bigail Whittier, of Canter-
bury: (third) Huldah Field. The children, all by
the first wife were: Sally, Betsy. Ehphalet,
Thomas, Nathan and Peaslee.
(VII) Thomas, fourth child and second son of
James and Mehitable (Saltmarsh) Hoyt, was born
in that part of Gilmanton which is now Gilford,
.'\ugnst 4, 1796. and died there. He was a farmer
and resided in Gilford. He married his cousin,
Miriam Hovt, daughter of Simeon and ^Miriam
(Morrill) Hoyt, of Hawke. (See Hoyt, VII).
Their children were: Abigail, William S.. Nathan
and Almira.
(VIII) William Saltmarsh. second child of
Thomas and Miriam (Hoyt) Hoyt. was born De-
cember 2. 1821. and died October 9, 1901, aged
seventy-nine. He was a farmer and carpenter, a
Republican in politics, and a Universalist in reli-
gious faith. He married- October, 184S. Lois .\da-
line Jewett. daughter of Smith and Statia (Glines)
Jewett. Smith Jewett was born July 21, 179,3. and
died February 17, 1868, aged seventy-four. Statia
(Glines) Jewett w-as born May 20. 1799. The chil-
dren of this union are: Helen Frances, George
William and Henry Grant. Helen F. died in 1869,
aged twenty. George William, born June 9. 1854.
married, November 30, 1878, Mary Ann Blaisdell.
They have one son. Park Rowe Hoyt, who gradu-
ated from Dartmouth Medical College, and is now
one of the medical staff of Worcester City Hospital.
(IX) Henry Grant, third child of William S.
and Lois Adaline (Jewett) Hoyt, was born May 27,
1864, in Lakeport, then in Gilford, now Laconia.
He was educated i" ''""^ common schools, and is by
occupation a farmer and musician, residing on the
old Hoyt homestead in Gilford. He married, July
7. 1895, Ora Alzuma Blaisdell. daughter of Jacob
M. and Ann S. (Munsey) Blaisdell, of Gilford.
They have two children : Marian Francis, born in
Gilford, June 12, 1896, and John Barton, November
I, 1897.
(III) Robert, tenth child and fourth son of
John (2) and Mary (Barnes) Ho>-t, was a farmer
and lived near "Pond Hills," perhaps on the home-
stead of his father, as his mother. Widow Mary
(Barnes) Hoyt, deeded her "youngest son Robert,"
"my homestead or tract of land whereon I now
dwell * * * being in quantity, Twenty acres of
upland Meadow and Swamp, as also my Orchard,
dwelling house, barne and other buildings, and out-
housing and fences thereon" ; signed December 23,
1701, acknowledged May 13, 1704. Robert Hoyt
was chosen liighway surveyor in 1703 and 171 1, as-
sessor in 1714-15, and juryman in 1720, and is sev-
eral other times mentioned on the Amesbury rec-
ords. He died in 1741 : his will dated March 18.
1741, was proved June i. 1741. Among the items
in the inventory are : homestead living, twenty acres,
200: other land, 123: dwelling house, 50; barn, 25;
Mill-pond grant at Kingston, New Hampshire, .^o:
whole amount, 535. 5s. He married (first), De-
cember 4, 1701, Martha Stevens: and (second),
March 17. 1707, Mary Currier, who died about 1766.
He had nine children : Hannah and Abigail, by the
first wife ; and Martha, Mary. Theodore. Dorothy,
Aaron. Anne, and Merriam. by the second wife.
(IV) Dorofhy, sixth child and fifth daughter of
Robert and Mary (Currier) Hoyt. was born .^pril
22, 1714, and married Barnes Jewell (see Jewell.
IV).
(II) Thomas, second son and third child of
John (l) and Frances Hoyt, was born January x,
1641. His name stands first on the list of those
who took "ye oath of allegiance and fidelity" before
Thomas Bradbury, captain of the military company
of Salisbury, December 5. 1677. His residence is
given as Amesbury, in 1686, when he deeded to his
"son Thomas," land at "Bugsniore." in Amesbury.
He died January 3. 1691, and letters of administra-
tion were granted March 31, 1691, at a court held at
Ipswich. He married Mary, daughter of William
and Elizabeth Brown, of Salisbury, and they had
children: Thomas. William (died young), Ephraim,
John. William, Israel, Benjamin, Joseph, a daughter
(died 3'oung), Deliverance, and Mary. (Mention
of Benjamin and descendants forms part of this
article).
(HI) Lieutenant Thomas (2), eldest son and
child of Thomas and Mary (Brown) Hoyt, was a
farmer by occupation, but did considerable business,
and gave and received a number of deeds. He was
chosen viewer of fences, 1695-96. constable, 1704-
05; moderator. May. 1705. and March, 1705-06;
juryman, 1708-09 and 1714. and at a later date 'his
name -frequently appears on the Amesbury records,
with the title of "Lieft." On the Massachusetts
records of November 11, 1724, is found the mention
of a memorial of Thomas Hoyt, representative for
the town of Amesbury, respecting a wounded soldier.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
77
He deeded a pew in the East Meeting-House, Ames-
bury, to his son Thomas, May 8, 1740. His resi-
dence and farm were at Pond hills, and a part of
the farm was lately owned and occupied by his de-
scendant, Thomas Hoyt. His will was dated in 1734
and proved in 1741. His inventory, dated March 31.
1742, amounted to six thousand two hundred and
seventy-tive pounds, nineteen shillings. His wife Mary
mentioned in his will, probably survived him. He
married (first), May 22, 1689, Elizabeth Hunting-
ton, who died January 29, 1722; married (second),
November 18, 1722, Widow Mary Barnard, probably
the widow of Joseph, who died in 1740 or 1741.
The children, all by the first wife, were :_ John,
Jacob, Mary, David, Sarah, Timothy, Elizabeth,
Thomas, Micah, Daniel and David.
(IV) Lieutenant Timothy, sixth child and
fourth son of Thomas (2) and Elizabeth (Hunting-
ton) Hoyt, was born in Salisburj-, June 24, 1700.
He lived in the West Parish, on the "Children's
Land," or "Highlands." His name does not ap-
pear on the parish tax lists after 1774. He married,
February 15, 1722, Sarah Challis, daughter of Will-
iam' and Margaret Challis. She joined the Second
Amesbury Church, December 10, 1726. Their chil-
dren were: Judith, Timothy (died young), Timo-
thy, Sarah, ^lathias, Jonathan, Moses. Lydia, Mary
and Eunice
CV) Timothy (2) third child and second son
of Timothy (i) and Sarah (Challis) Hoyt, was
born June 2, 1728, and died about 1794. He was a
shoemaker, and lived in West Amesbury. He mar-
ried (first), July 2, 1751, Lois Flanders, who died
December 30, 1754: married (second) name un-
known; married (third) Widow Elizabeth Stevens,
of Hampstead, publication being made August 24,
1787. Hannah was received into the Second Ames-
bury Church from Salisburj- church in 1775. The
children by the first wife were: Lois, Timothy, and
William ; and by the second wife: Richard, Ephraim,
Thomas, Hannah and Mahitable.
CVI) Ephraim, second son and child of Tim-
othy (2) and Lois (Flanders) Hoyt, was born in
Amesbury, January 20, 1758, and died in Alexan-
dria, New 'York, September 15. 1841. He removed
from Amesbury to Salisbury, New Hampshire, and
afterward to Alexandria, New York. He married,
in Amesbury, August 31, 1788, Sarah Stevens, who
died August 30. 1849. Their children were ;
Patience. Wait (died young), Timothy, Samuel,
Mahitable, Wait S., Sarah, Elizabeth, and Daniel S.,
whose sketch follows.
(\TI) Daniel Stevens, ninth and youngest child
of Ephraim and Sarah (Stevens') Hoyt. was born in
Danbury, New Hampshire. April 17, 1808, and died
in Lowell, Massachusetts. February 12, 1894. He
WR? educated in the district schools and worked on
his father's farm, and later had a small place of his
own. He was a brick and stone mason by trade,
and removed to Alexandria. New York, where he
lived thirteen years. In 1847 he removed to Lowell,
Massachusetts, and worked at his trade until a
short time before his death. He married. March 25,
1827, Dorothy B. Gale, who was born March 25.
1808, and died August 10, 1888. daughter of Reuben
Gale, of Alexandria New Hampshire. Their chil-
dren were : Ephraim. Reuben G., Eli Wait and
Jonn D.
CVIII) Reuben Gale, second sou and child of
Daniel S. and Dorothy B. (Gale) Hoyt, was born
in .'Mcxandria. Jefferson county. New '\'ork, Jan-
uary 6, 1835. He spent his early boyhood on his
father's farm, and attended the district and later the
grammar school in Lowell. At the age of fourteen
he became an apprentice to a baker and confectioner,
and worked at that trade for three years. Later he
cultivated a farm in Sherman, Maine, three years.
November. 1863. he enlisted in the Seventh Mass-
achusetts Batterj-, and served two years, being dis-
charged December. 1865. He took part in the Red
River campaign and the Mobile expedition. After
having six years experience as a traveling salesman
for cigars and confectionery, he opened a general
store in Belmont. New Hampshire, which he con-
ducted until 1893. when he retired from active life.
He married (first), 1859. Mary Heath, who was
born in Northfield. New Hampshire. 1837, and died
in 1873. They had one child, Mary Mandana, born
March i, i860. He married (second), in Laconia,
August 31, 1876, Emma F. Dow. who was born in
Laconia, November 16, 1S46, daughter of Charles D.
and Meribah (Cotton) Bryant, of Laconia. and
widow of G. L. Dow. who served in the Fourth
New Hampshire regiment. Mrs. Hoyt had by her
first husband one child. Etta Bell Dow. born in
Lakeport, New Hampshire. October 17. 1867, mar-
ried, June 29. 1892, H. IM. Grant, of Berwick.
Maine. .
(III) Benjamin, seventh son and child of
Thomas and Mary (Brown) Hoyt, was born Sep-
tember 20. 1680. He was a tanner and lived in Sal-
isbury and Newbury. At the Salisbury "March
Meeting. 1732," it was "'Voted by ye town that
Beniamin Hoyt be Dismissed this year from being
constable by reason of the Lameness of his hands."
Many of his descendants, for two or three genera-
tions, were much noted for their great stature, and
still more for their strength. He died in 1748. His
wife Hannah survived him. His will, dated De-
cember. 1748. was proved February 6. 1749. and the
inventory of his estate was taken May 6, 1749.
"The homestead with ye Orchard and buildings
thereon." i6oo. He married Hannah Pillsbury, their
intentions being filed Februray 19, 1704. Their chil-
dren were: Benjamin. Moses. Hannah, Enoch.
Daniel and Joseph. (Mention of Daniel and Joseph
and descendants appears in this article).
(IV) Benjamin (2). eldest child of Beniamin
(i) and Hannah (Pillsbury) Hoit. born .\pril 29.
1706, died as early as 1746. Soon after the settle-
ment of the boundary line of Massachusetts and New
Hampshire. Benjamin Hoyt signed the petition of
those who "did not belong to the Easterly Part of
Salisbury." showing that he did not wish to be
joined to the township to be formed of the westerly
part of Salisbury and a part of Amesbury. as they
were six miles from the meeting-house, "and re-
questing to be joined to Hampton Falls." Benja-
min Hoyt was a tall and strong man. It is said that
he was a carpenter, and the story is that he once
held the whole side of a building and prevented it
from falling upon other individuals. James Hoyt,
of Concord. New Hampshire, related the following
traditions respecting a brother of his grandfather,
evidently Benjamin : He and a neighbor were once
hoein.g in adjoining fields. After they had worked
awhile the neighbor said to him: "I have hoed as
many hills as you larking two." It turned out, how-
ever, that Benjamin had hoed two rows at a time,
and had thus done more than double the work of
his neighbor. .At another time he carried a heavy
stone into a mill, where it remained for a long time,
serving as a test of strength. At last a man carried
it out, though not sO' easily as Benjamin had carried
it in. It is also said that while at Cape Breton,
during the French war. the soldiers were obliged at
one time to supply the fort with water by carrj-ing
it in barrels, two men to a barrel. They complained
7^
NEW PIAMPSHIRE.
of it as being too heavy work, but Benjamin took
up two barrels and carried them into the fort, a dis-
tance of twenty rods, and back on a wager. He
was taken sick shortly after with a "nervous fever,"
and soon died — from the effect of carrying the
water, as some supposed, and from hardships and
exposure. Most of his children were noted for
their great strength. His widow, Mary, lived
among her children, and died at the house of her
son Abner, at Weare, early in i8or, probably be-
tween ninety and one hundred years of age. Ben-
jamin Hoyt married. March 25, 1730. Mary Collins,
and they were the parents of : John, Abner, Martha,
Jabez, Anna, Mary, Samuel, Hannah, and Benja-
min. (Jabez and the last named and descendants
receive mention in this article).
(V) Abner (i), second son and child of Ben-
jamin (2) and Mary (Collins) Hoyt, was born Jan-
uary 25, 1732, baptized April 2, 1732, and died Octo-
ber 22, 1S07. In 1753, his residence is given as
South Hampton ; but his marriage and the births
of his two older children were recorded at Hampton
Falls, and he was living there as late as October,
1760. He bought land in Chester in October, 1760,
and was living there in 1762-64, and 66, but was
taxed in Poplin in 1769, removed soon after to Hop-
kinton, and afterward to Weare. The birth of one
of his children is recorded in Weare in 1771. The
history of Weare states : "Abner Hoyt, originally of
Poplin, now Fremont, bought Jacob Straw's home
farm, lot 93, range 7, (in 1774) and spent the rest of
his days there." A list of those men that did half a
term going to Ticonderog:a, in 1776, for a term of
four months and twenty-six days includes the name
of Abner Hoit. Under the heading, "those men
that went with Col. Stark for 2 munth are allowd
— Dolls pr munth year 1777," we find the name of
Abner Hoit with others. Another Revolutionary
entry refers to Abner Hoyt and others as being
"two months to benington." In July, 1783. Abner
Hoit was credited for beef furnished for Conti-
nental soldiers ii7, 5s, id.
Abner Hoit was a very strong man. It is said
that he was a carpenter, though he usually worked
on his farm. Tradition says that he and two sons
"spotted" forty acres to clear in one year. It used
to be jokingly remarked that he had only to take
hold of one end and his two sons of the other, and
pile logs up without any trouble. He married, No-
vember I, 1753, Hannah Eastman, of Salisbury, who
died February 19, 1813, and they were the parents
of nine children: Jacob, Benjamin, Betsy, Abner,
Mary, Hannah, Aaron, Moses, and Abigail.
(VI) Abner (2) Hoit, third son and fourth
child of Abner (i) and Hannah (Eastman) Hoit,
was born probably in Chester, March 30, 1760, and
lived in Weare. where he died, September 13, 1829.
He married (first) Joanna Craft, of Manchester,
Massachusetts, and (second) Widow Lucretia
Haskell, and was the father of sixteen childrerL
Those by the first wife were : Betty, Samuel, Joanna
(or Hannah), Abner, Francis, Sarah, Abigail, John,
Asenath, Susan, Eleazer, and Luke; and by the sec-
ond marriage : Warren, Susan, Plummer and Abi-
gail.
(VII) Abner (3) Hoit, second son and fourth
child of Abner (2) and Joanna (Crafts) Hoit, born
in 1790, died at Oil Mill Village, Weare, April 3,
1855. He married, 1812, Abigail or Asenath IJailey,
who died January !2, 1858. They were the parents
of ten children : Sally, Joseph, Amos, John, Daniel
B., Abner, Ziba A., Mary Ann, Hiram and Hannah.
(VIII) John, third son and fourth child of
Abner (3) and Asenath (Bailey) Hoit, was born in
Weare, March 7, 1819, and died February 11, 1853,
in that town, where he passed his life. He mar-
ried Mrs. Sarah Ann (Gove) Bartlett, of Deering,
and they were the parents of five children : Eliza
Ann, John Clinton, Lewis B., Abbie B. The eldest,
wife of William Eaton, died in Weare. The fourth
married Frank Mills, and resides in Goffstown. Mr.
Hoit owned saw mills, was a large dealer in lum-
ber and a successful busuiess man, widely known
and respected as a citizen.
(IX) Lewis Benjamin, second son and third
child of John and Sarah Ann (Gove; Hoit, was
born September 10, 184S, in New Boston, and re-
ceived a good business training, attending the com-
mon schools, FrancestO'wn Academy and Bryant &
Stratton's Business College. In his seventeenth
j'ear, in 1865, he began his business career as an
employe of J. Frank Hoyt, a grocer of Concord, and
continued with him several years. In 1882 he be-
came proprietor of a store and continued in the
same line for a few years. Relinquishing that line,
he engaged in the real estate and lumber business,
with great success, and gradually came into posses-
sion of considerable city holdings. He also owned
and handled lumber and farming lands, and was
widely known in the state. He bought and ship-
ped to all parts of the United States great quan-
tities of apples, and thus extended his business ac-
quaintance. He was the first in Concord to un-
dertake this speculation, and met with gratifying
recompense. When the Concord State Fair was
organized, in 1899, Mr. Hoit was made manager of
the corporation, a position which he filled until his
death, to the satisfaction of exhibitors, stockholders
and the general public. His recognized executive
ability, and pleasing personality contributed very
largely to the success which has come to this en-
terprise. In 1874 he was a member of the city
council. It goes without saying that he was a Re-
publican. He was a member of the First Baptist
Cliurch of Concord and was superintendent of its
Sunday school for several years.
He married, January 20, 1873, Mary Eaton
Boynton. daughter of Lyman E. Boynton, of Con-
cord, born August 14, 1850 (see Boynton, XXIX).
They have one son, Howard Leroy, born April 7,
1876. After being connected for some years with
banks in Concord and New York City, he succeeded
to the business of his father. For some time before
his death, which occurred September 19, 1907. Mr,
Hoit had been in ill health, from weakness of the
heart. Though he knew that his death might oc-
cur at any moment, he maintained a most cheerful
demeanor and went about his daily business with
his usual energy. Flis hearty laugh was a lamp of
cheerfulness to many and a source of great surprise
to those who knew his condition. The Concord
Monitor said of him :
"Mr. Hoit was a man of very wide acquaintance
and one whom all loved and esteemed. While such
an end of his life was not unexpected, yet the shock
was great. As an agent for the sale of real estate,
particularly timber lands and farm properties, his
fame had gone beyond the borders of his city, county
and state, and many were the important transactions
of this kind in which he had a hand. Because of
his reputation in this line he was called upon fre-
quently by the Boston & Maine railroad to assess
damages in claims upon them because of fire and
was much in demand, also, for the valuation of es-
tates. He firmly believed in the future of the city
of Concord, was always ready to proclaim his be-
lief and to back up his words by deeds.* In every
movement for increased business activity or munici-
C^Q^yn^ //V^^^Z — ^
%
^^-^^^
8o
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
striking and peculiar occurrences. One of these
events he witnessed while traveling on business be-
tween the city of Washington and the army. He
arrived in the vicinity of Fortress Monroe just in
time to be a witness of the destruction of the
frigates "Cumberland" and "Congress" by the iron-
clad "Merrimac," and the conflict of the following
day between the "Merrimac" and the "Monitor."
Mr. Hoitt was the first postal agent between Boston
and Portland, Maine, and when others were ap-
pointed he was 'made chief. For several years he
owned and managed a shoe factory in Lynn,
Massachusetts. After passing through many
changes, reverses and successes, in 1880, he did
what he had long desired to do. returned to his
native town, and with two widowed sisters estab-
lished a pleasant home at the Parade, on the bank of
the Suncook river, where for years he has enjoyed
a life of ease and the society of his neighbors amidst
the scenes and associations of his boyhood. Mr.
Hoitt has been a very active man, and by travel, ob-
servation, and study has become a very intelligent
and well-informed citizen. Soon after attaining his
twenty-first year he became a member of Mount
Lebanon Lodge, No. 32, Free and Accepted Masons,
of Laconia, New Hampshire, and subsequently
joined the Chapter, and St. Paul Commandery of
Knights Templars, at Dover, New Hampshire, being
one of the early members of St. Paul Commandery.
joining in 1858. and is now a Knight Templar de-
gree member of that great fraternal organization,
in which he has always taken a just pride, and of
which he has now been an honored member for
fifty-nine years. He is a skillful vocalist and in-
strumental musician, and has freely used his talent
for the entertainment of his friends, and for the
promotion of benevolent objects. For over fifty
years he has been a chorister; he led a well trained
choir at Salmon Falls, and until comparatively
recent years enjoyed taking a part in the Barn-
stead brass band, of which he became a member
nearly sixty years ago. In addition to the great
amoiunt of travel he performed in his younger years,
he has made more extended journeys in recent
years, and has visited Cuba and seen and studied
the beauties and the prospects of the "pearl of the
Antilles." Although now (1906) seventy-nine years
old. Mr. Hoitt is not an ancient man, but is active
and alert, and represented his town in the lower
house of the state legislature in 1901-03. The old
Congregational Church near his home has always
been an object of peculiar regard with Mr. Hoitt
and other members of his family, and once it was
saved from destruction by his efforts. Extensive
improvements have been paid for by him and his
sisters. Among these adornments and embellish-
ments are windows to the memory of Charlotte
(Hoitt) Sanborn, to John S. Hoitt, to Henrietta,
to Harriet N. and her husband Deacon Hiram Rand,
to Sarah, and to Samuel Freeman, the son of Ellen
Hoitt, and her husband, J. B. Merrill, and to
Fannie E. Johnson. Thomas L. Hiott married, in
Lynn, Massachusetts, .April 10, 1871, Martha Seavey,
born June 25, 1S33, daughter of Rufus Emerson and
Eleanor Stacey (Edgecomb) Seavey, of Saco,
Maine. Rufus E. Seavey was born in Saco.
Maine. December 23, 1795. and died there, Decem-
ber 29, 1886, aged ninety-one years. His father was
Job Seavey. of Scarboro, who died in 1839. Job
married Jennie Burnham, of Marblehead, Massachu-
setts. Eleanor Stacey Edgecomb was born in Saco,
Maine, September 18, 1797, and died January i,
1882, aged eighty-five. Her father, Elias Edge-
comb. of Saco, Maine, died February, 1826. His
vyife was Abigail Woodsum, of Buxton, Maine.
She was born in 1772 and died in Tulv, i8i6, aged
eiglity-four. Mr. and Mrs. Hoitt are the paVents of
one child, a daughter, Henrietta Babson Hoitt, born
November 26. 1876. He is a skilled musician both
ni vocal and instrumental music, and is the organist
of the Congregational Church at Barnstead Parade,
and a 'competent teacher of both vocal and instru-
mental music.
(IV) Daniel, fifth child and fourth son of Ben-
jamin (i) and Hannah (PillsburyJ Hoitt, was born
March 25, 1715, was baptized June 5, 1715. and
"owned "Xe covenant," November 6. 1737. He and his
wife were taken into the Salisbury Church. August
26, 17+4, and "dismissed to ye Chh. of & at Epping,"
August 30, 1752. In January, 1743, he bought of
his brother iMoses (both then living in Salisburv)
land in Epping, and soon went thither to reside. He
and his wife were both members of the church in
Epping in 1755, and Daniel Hoitt is mentioned as
a member of the church in 1757. Administration
was granted on his estate the same year. He mar-
ried, June 24, 1736, Judith Carr (of Carr's Island, in
the Merrimack river). Their children were: Judith,
Richard, Benjamin, Daniel, Stephen, Moses and
Joshua. (The last named and descendants receive
extended mention in this article).
(V) Stephen, fifth child and fourth son of Daniel
and Judith (Carr) Hoitt, was baptized at Epping
by JMr. Cutler. He lived in Northwood, New Hamp-
shire most of his life, but died in Canada. He served
in the revolution. He married (first), Lydia Bos-
well; (second). January 10, 1795, Rachel Piper, of
Pembroke, and (third), December 7, 1809. Widow
Hannah Clapliani, of Lee. The children of Stephen
and Lydia (Boswell) Hoitt were ; Samuel,' Richard
Carr, John, Sally, Lydia and Nancy.
(VI) Samuel, eldest child of Stephen and Lydia
(Boswell) Hoitt, died May 3, 1819. He moved from
Northwood probably to Portsmouth in 1809, to
Madbury in 1814, and to Lee in April, 1816. He
married Betsey Piper, who outlived him and became
llie wife of Abraham Batchelder in 1829. The chil-
dren of Samuel and Betsey Hoitt were ; Gorham
W., Alfred. Joseph R. W., Mary E. and William
K. A. Captain Gorham W. was sheriff of Strafford
county. General Alfred was prominent in legis-
lative and military circles in New Hampshire.
(VII) William King Atkinson, fifth child and
fourth son of Samuel and Betsey (Piper) Hoitt,
was born in Madbury, November 7, 1S15, and re-
sided in Dover. He married, March 30, 1843, Sarah
C. Swain.
(VIII) Judge Charles W., son of William K. A.
and Sarah C. (Swain) Hoitt, was born in New
Market, New Hampshire, October 26, 1847. He at-
tended the public schools of Dover, was fitted for
college at Franklin Academy in that city, and by a
private tutor, and entered Dartmouth College" in
1867, graduating with the class of 1871. Entering
the law office of Samuel M. Wheeler, Esq., of Dover,
in February, 1872, he read law there until the latter
part of the next August, and then went to Nashua
as principal of ]Mt. Pleasant school. There his
record as an instructor and a disciplinarian was an
enviable one, and he brought an unruly and dilatory
school up to the standard in all that was essential
to ample success. In 1874 he resigned his position
there, and became usher in the Lincoln grammar
school in Boston, where he served until October.
1875. He then returned to Nashua and entered
upon the study of law in the office of Stevens &
Parker. In 1877, at the September term of the
supreme court sitting at Nashua, he was admitted to
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Sr
the Hillsboro bar. July l8 of the preceding year he
had been appointed clerk of the Nashua police court,
and he continued to hold that position until Oc-
tober I, i8Sl, when he resigned. In 1885 he was
elected city solicitor and re-elected the three follow-
ing years. April 25, i88g, he was appointed justice
of the Nashua police court, and held that position
continuously until he resigned to accept the position
of United States district attorney. Judge Hoittis
a well read and successful lawyer, and as a judicial
officer his course has been such as to make him a
favorite for the position he holds for the past eight-
een years. In addition to the positions mentioned
which Judge Hoitt has held is that of engrossing
clerk of the legislature, which he filled in 1872 and
1873, and clerk of the board of education of Nashua,
in which place he served eight years. In the halls
of the fraternal and beneficial societies he is well
known, and is a member of numerous orders. He
is a thirty-second degree INIason, and a member of
Rising Sun Lodge, No. 39, Ancient Free and Ac-
cepted Masons ; Meridian Sun Royal Arch Chapter,
No. 9; Council No. 8, Royal and Select Alasters;
St. George Commandery, Knights Templar; and
Edward A. Raymond Consistory, thirty-second de-
gree, Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret, also of
Pennichuck Lodge, No. 44, Independent Order of
Odd Fellows, and Indian Head Encampment, No.
20, Watananock Tribe No. 14, Improved Order of
Red iNIen, in which he has held the office of" great
sachem of the state; governor of Wentworth Colony,
No. 76, of Pilgrim Fathers ; Lowell Lodge, No. 87,
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, at Lowell,
Massachusetts ; and the City Guard's Veterans Asso-
ciation. In religious affiliation he is an Episcopal-
ian. He married, January 14, 1875, Harriette Louisa
Gilman, who was born in Nashua, October 21, 1853,
daughter of Virgil C. and Sarah L. (.Newcomb;
Gilman, of Nashua. Two children were born of
this marriage : Richard Oilman, born November
I, 187s, died October i, 18S0; and Robert Virgil,
born November 19, 1882, died August 22, 1S89.
(IV) Joseph Hoit, fifth son and sixth child of
Benjamin (i) and Hannah (Pillsbury) Hoyt, was
born September 20, 1717, baptized March 19, 1727,
died 171S. He was taken into the first Salisbury
Church June 27, 1742. Tradition says that he
studied medicine a while, but, the physician dying
with whom he read, he did not continue his studies
further. He afterwards taught school, and also
went to sea. He was a stout, heavy man, though
not very tall, and was much noted fqr his strength.
It is said he carried a barrel of water from the
river to his house (in Boscawen) about thirty rods,
when he was over sixty years old. He was a soldier
in the Indian war, and many stories are still told
of his strength and courage. His descendants say, .
that while stationed at Saco he was once on a scout
below, when his party discovered an Indian. The
captain, sergeant, and Josegb immediately started in
pursuit, but the latter soon distanced the others, and
overtook the Indian. At another time he and his
captain were out alone after the cows, when the'ir
dog began to bark, and they became aware that a
number of Indians were lurking behind the log
"where (Major) Sorrel's grave was." The captain,
however, frightened them by stouting: "if you see
an inch of their heads, put a bullet in !" and the two
retreated with their faces to the log, and their guns
ready to fire, till it was safe to turn and run towards
their encampment. One of the Indians afterwards
said to the capt.Tin, "Me might kill you and yaller-
headed man,'' meaning Joseph who had light hair.
"You out after cows, little ellamoose (dog) say 'ya !
i— 6
ya ! ya !' " "You cowardly dog, you didn't dare to,"
answered the captain ; to which the Indian only re-
plied, "Me no orders kill captain." According to the
statement of the Indians there were fourteen others
with him behind the log. Amos Hoit states that
Joseph was one of the rangers under Captain Brad-
ford, at Saco, in the French and Indian war, and
thinks he was a clerk or orderly sergeant. He was
once o,ut with the captain's son, and fell in with a
party of Indians, yet they were not harmed, as the
captain's son had previously done the Indians a kind-
ness. Joseph removed to Boscawen, New Hamp-
shire, about September, 1761, and was a deacon of
the Congregational Church there. His name heads
the "Association Test'' from that town, 1776. Pie
married (l) Naomi Smith of Exeter, the intentions
of marriage being filled October 17, 1741 ; and
(second), Susanna French, who survived him some
eight or ten years. There was one child by the first
wife, which died young. Those by the second wife
were : Oliver, Susanna, James, Jedediah and Jo-
seph. (The last named is mentioned at length,
with descendants in this article).
(V) Oliver, oldest child of Joseph and Susanna
(French) Hoit, was born November, 1747, baptized
November 22, 1747, died in Concord, September 11,
1827, aged eighty. Pie moved with his father to
Boscawen when about thirteen. He married, when
eighteen years old, his wife being still younger. In
1772, he removed to "Plorse Hill," in the northwest
part of Concord, being the first settler in that part
of the town. March 7, 1775, the parish of Concord
voted to lease him for nine hundred years the eighty
acre school lot, he paying six dollars annually; but
this vote was reconsidered J\larcli 4, 1777, and the.
selectmen were "directed to receive of him iioo in
full consideration for said lot," the money to be
laid out for a town stock of ammunition. In 1785.
a part of this powder was used in firing a grand
salute in honor of the new-born Dauphin of France.
He subscribed to the Test Oath in 1776. He was one
of the earliest members of the Baptist Church at
Concord. Plis daughter Rebecca was the first per-
son buried in the burying ground at Horse Hill,,
in 1819. He married (first), Rebecca Gerald, whi>
died in 1808, aged fifty-eight; and (second), Rhoda
Hoit, of Newton, widow of Whittier. The children
of Oliver and Rebecca (Gerald) Hoit were: Sus-
anna, Moses, Anna, Polly, Phebe, Plannah, James,
Joseph, Enoch, Sally, ISIehitabel, lizra and Rebecca.
(VI) Ezra, fifth son and twelfth child of Oliver
and Rebecca (Gerald) Hoit, was born in Concord,
July IS, 1789, and resided on Horse Hill, West
Concord, until his death. He married (first) Abi-
gail Ferrin, and (second) Fanny Call. His chil-
dren by the first wife were: Betsy, Albert and
Isaac F. ; and by the second wife : Cyrus G. died
young; Francis F. and Cyrus.
(VII) Francis F., second son and child of Ezra
and Fanny (Call) Hoit, was born in Concord. He
was educated in the common schools, and at different
times was farmer, butcher and proprietor of a livery
business in Penacook. He was an active and success-
ful man. He was a Democrat in politics, and liberal
in his religious views. He married Mandy L.
Swain, and they had five children: Elizabeth (died
young). Amanda Livona, residing in Penacook, Mrs.
Michael Glenn of Penacook, Jeanette Dimond, Lizzie
Jane, wife of Arthur Wilson of Woodsville and Jud-
son Frank, whose sketch follows.
(VIII) Judson Frank Hoit, youngest child of
Francis F. and Mandy L. (Swain) Hoit, was born
in Meredith,- September 25, 1864, and educated in
the schools of Concord, Webster, and the Laconia
82
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Academy. He has always been a farmer and owns a
tine farm of two hundred acres in East Concord,
which he cultivates with profit, and on w'hich he
keeps twenty cows to supply a milk route in Con^
cord. He attends the Congregational Church, is a
Democrat, active in political circles, and has been a
member of the school board since 190J ; road over-
seer since 1900; and police officer suice May 17,
1901. August 27, 1889, he married Annie M. Hoit,
daughter of George A. and Addie ^I. Hoit of Con-
cord. They have three children: Howard Frank,
born July 6, i8go; Ethel George, September 25, 1892;
and Lueila Addie, July 2, 1894. One Lewis Judson,
died in infancy. Mrs. Hoit is a woman of liberal
education, an active worker in the Congregational
Church and its societies, and possesses an excellent
collections of stamps, coins, ancient crockery and
many antiques of various kinds: (.See Hoit, VHI).
(.V) Joseph (2), fifth child and fourth son of
Joseph (l) and Susanna (French) Hoyt, was born
July 19, 1761, and died April 17, 1839, aged sixty-
eight years. He removed from I5oicawen after 1788
to Horse Hill, Concord, where his son Amos subse-
quently lived. He served in the latter part of the
Revolution, and was with the traitor, Arnold. The
name Joseph Hoit appears on various military rolls
of Xew Hampshire. Joseph Hoit enlisted on or
before September 9, 1777, in the militia. "Now rais-
ing to ioyn General Starke at Bennington," in Cap-
tain Sanborn"s company, of Colonel McClary's reg-
iment, and was discharged November 30, his time of
service being two months and twenty-three days, and
his wages and travel money amounting to ii7 2S 9d.
Among the state papers of this period is also found
one of which the following is a copy : "State of
New Hampshire to the Town of Boscawen, Dr.
To paying the Travel money of Joseph Hoit, Jere-
miah Carter, Nathan Carter, and Dan. Shepard from
Boscawen to Springfield, in September, 1781 a 3d
per mile, £6 10." He married, April, 1786, Polly
Elliot, of Concord, who died December 17, 1839,
aged seventy-four. Their children were: Hannah,
James, Polly, Benjamin, ^Martha, Joseph, Amos and
Ruth (Amos and descendants are noticed in this
article).
(VI) James, second child and eldest son of
Joseph and Polly (Elliot) Hoit. was born Septem-
ber 17, 1788. He owned and operated a blacksmith
shop in Concord. He married, }vlarch 30, 1818,
Nancy Abbott. Their children were : Hilary M.,
Rhoda Ann, James Franklin and .Amanda P.
(VH) Mary M., eldest child of James and
Nancy (.\bbott) Hoit, was born in December, 1818,
and married Gilbert Bullock in 1842. (See Bul-
lock, vni),
(VH) Rhoda Ann, second daughter and child of
James and Nancy (Abbott) Hoit, was born in Con-
cord, September, 1821, and married, 1841, Stephen
Sewall. (See Sewall, H).
(VI) Amos, fourth son and seventh child of
Joseph and Polly (Elliot) Hoit, was born February
20. 1800, and lived on his father's honistead at Horse
Hill, where he was a prosperous farmer. He mar-
ried, April 9, 1822, Betsy Abbott, daughter of Ezra
Abbott of Concord. They had a family of nine
children: Martha Jane (wife of Timothy Dow),
Rose Anna, Polly Elizabeth (Mrs. John Sawyer),
Harriet Emeline (died in infancy), Sylvester Goin,
Sarah Eveline, George Abbott, Ruth .Ann Seniira
(wife of Daniel Tenney) and Joseph Sullivan.
(VII) George Abbott, second son and seventh
child of Amos and Betsy (.\bbott) Hoit, was born
on his father's farm in Concord. .April 14, 1834,
was educated in the public schools, and learned the
trade of stone mason. After working at his trade
for a time he carried on the business of butcher,
and subsequently bought a farm of two hundred
and forty acres in East Concord, where he was
profitably engaged in supplj-ing milk to Concord.
He is the owner of land at West Yard. In 1861,
he enlisted in Company E, Seventh Regiment New
Hampshire Infantry, and participated in twenty
battles ; was wounded at New Market Road, Vir-
ginia, October 7, 1864. He was promoted from
private to first sergeant. He is a member of Wil-
liam I. Brown Post, Grand Army of the Republic,
at Penacook; is a Democrat; has held the office of
alderman and member of the council ; was six years
selectman of ward two, and in 1899 represented
his ward in the state legislature. He was married,
April 29, 1858, to Adeline Mahaia Holmes, who
was born January 8, 1840. at Boscawen, daughter of
Ezra and JNIahala E. (Colby) Holmes. She died
March i, 1892, in East Concord and was buried at
Penacook. They had two children — Willis Henry,
the elder, born May i, i860, resides in East Con-
cord. He married Hannah Letitia Home, and his
six children living, namely : Jerome Wilson, Mil-
dred Addie, Georgia Alma, Ruth Annie and George
Willis (twins) and Leon Wilbarth Sawyer. The
sixth, Sarah, died before two years old.
(VIII) Annie M., daughter of George A. and
Addie M. (Holmes) Hoit, was born April 2, 1866,
in West Concord, and married Judson F. Hoit (see
Hoit, VIII).
(V) Joshua Hoitt, si.xth son and seventh and
youngest child of Daniel and Judith (Carr) Hoitt,
was born in Salisbury, Massachusetts, August 15,
1750, and baptized in Epping, New Hampshire, by
Rev. Mr. Cutler. Joshua followed his two older
brothers. Lieutenant Daniel and Stephen, from
Salisbury, and settled in Northwood, New Hamp-
shire. He purchased the land and mill privilege near
the Narrows, upon which he cleared up a farm,
erected mills, and operated a grist mill, to the
last of his days. He was a man of means and
respected by his townsmen. Being a successful mill
owner and operator, he was well known, and was
called into the public service, and served as select-
man from 1792 to 1800. He married Betsy Ger-
rish, and they were the parents of three sons and
three daughters : Daniel, Paul Gerrish, Polly, Betsy,
Judith and Benjamin.
(VI) Daniel, eldest child of Joshua and Betsy
(Gerrish) Hoitt, was born in Northwood, October
7, 1783, and died in Rochester. December 23, 1759,
aged seventy-six. He was a farmer and lived the
most of his life in Northwood, but resided a while
in East Rochester before his death. He married
(first), December 9, iSog, Rhoda Rawlings; (sec-
ond) Nancy Shorey. He died December 23, 1859,
aged seventy-six years. His children, all by the first
wife, were : Betsey Judith, Joshua, Paul G., Phineas
D., Mary R., Dolly A. and Fanny J.
(VH) Joshua (2), third child and eldest son
of Daniel and Rhoda (Rawlings) Hoitt, was born
in 'Northwood, March 30, 1812, and died in North-
wood in March, 1901, aged ninety years. He was a
cabinet maker by trade, and was known as Joshua
Hoitt. Jr., of East Northwood. In August, 1862,
he enlisted at the age of fifty, in Company G, Tenth
Regiment New Hampshire Volunteers, under the
command of Captain G. W. Towle, was wounded in
the battle of Fredericksburg, December, 1862, con-
tinued in the hospital for a time, came home on a
furlough, and June 20 following was discharged,
and was afterward pensioned. In political faith
he was a Democrat. He married, November 16,
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NEW HAMPSHIRE.
83
1836, Theodatlia B. Pillsbury, daughter of James
Pillsbury. They had eight children : Frances Jane,
Betsy Ann, Charles Henry, James William, jilary
* Elizabeth, Augustus Joshua, Lewis Alfred and John
Parker.
(.VIII) Charles Henry, son of Joshua (,2) and
Theodatha B. (.Pillsbury) Hoitt, was born March
II, 1841, in Nottingham. He enlisted in the navy
in 1861, and served on board of the "Brooklyn''
at the mouth of the ^lississippi. After being dis-
charged from that vessel, he returned home, and
August 14, 1862, enlisted as a private in Company
G, Tenth New Hampshire Volunteers. He was
mustered in September 4, 1862, appointed sergeant
October 18, 1863, was made first sergeant Way 14,
1864, and took part in the battle of Drury's Bluff,
Virginia, where he was wounded. He was carried
to Point Lookout, Maryland, where he died June
29, 1864. For gallantry in action he was appointed
-econd lieutenant, July 13, 1864, and notice of his
death was officially received at the war department,
July 20, 1864.
(VllI) James W., son of Joshua (2) and
Theodatha B. (.Pillsbury) Fioitt, was born in Not-
tingham, October 23, 1842, and enlisted in Company
]'!, Second New Hampshire Volunteers, May 25.
1861, as a private, and was discharged on account
of disability July 3, 1861, at Washington, D. C.
(VIII) Augustus Joshua, son of Joshua (2)
and Theodatha B. (Pillsbury) Hoitt, was born in
Northwood, New Hampshire, December 18, 1845,
and educated in the common schools. September
26, 1861, he enlisted in Company A, and was mus-
tered into the United States service as a private,
October 12, 1861. He re-enlisted and was mus-
tered in January i, 1864, and was wounded at Cold
Harbor, Virginia, June 3, 1864. He was appointed
captain of Company I, October 28, 1864, and mus-
tered out June 28, 1865. He served through the
war, participating in si.xteen battles, and at the sur-
render of General Lee at Appomattox, the regi-
mental commander being absent, he, as the senior
captain in point of service, took command of the
regiment, and brought it to Washington, w'here it
participated in the "Grand Review" by the general
officers. On leaving the army Captain Floitt settled
in Lynn, Massachusetts. On account of his fitness
and also on account of his war record, he was
place in various responsible offices. He was elected
to the common council, was city marshal two years,
was appointed postmaster of Lynn by President
Harrison, and was appointed by Pfesident Mc-
Kinley, July, 1898, pension agent for the states of
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, which
position he has ever since hlled. He also has
charge of the payment of all naval pensions in New
England, annually disbursing the sum of eight mil-
lion dollars. Captain Hoitt's career has been active,
prolonged and useful, and by his honorable conduct
in the discharge of his duties and his afTfable and
genial manner, he has surrounded himself by a
large circle of admiring friends. It goes without
saying that he is a lifelong Republican. In re-
ligion he is a member of the First Universalist
parish of Lynn. He is active in Grand .-Xriny
circles, and has been commander of General Lander
Post, No. 5, of Lynn, three times, and he was for-
merly commander of Post No. 26. Department of
Vermont, at Bennington, in wdiich place he resided
for a short time. He married Augusta Howard,
daughter of Alfred P. Floward, of North Benning-
ton, Vermont. They lost two children as infants.
(Ill) Joseph, fifth child and third son of John
(2) and ISIary (Barnes) Hoyt, was born July 14,
i6(j6, and died intestate in 1719 or 1720. He was
chosen tithingman,' March 9, 1710; selectman, 1712;
and a member of the grand jury, 1713. He probably
lived on the homestead of his grandfather John
(I) Hoyt, somewhere near the Pow'wow- river. His
widow's third included the house and one acre of
land on the west side of the country road, land
on the Powwow, six acres at "Lyon's Mouth," on
the Powwow, and other land. The inventory of his
estate amounted to three hundred seventeen pounds
and twelve shillings. He married, October 5. 1702,
Dorothy Worthen, who married Daniel Flanders,
in 1724. The children of Joseph and Dorothy were :
John, Mehetable, Joseph, Ezekiel, Judith, Nathan,
Moses and Dorothy.
(IV) John, eldest child of Joseph and Dorothy
(Worthen) Hoyt, was born July 2, 1703, and died
intestate, in South Hampton, as early as 1754. He
bought the shares of Mehetable, Joseph, and Dor-
othy, in his father's estate. John and wife J\Iary,
were dismissed from the First Church in .\mes-
bnry (East Parish) to the South Hampton Church,
March 18, 1744. His children were all born in
Amesbury, except possibly the youngest. The in-
ventory of his estate was dated April 19, 1754. He
married, December 15, 1726, ]\Iary Eastman, of
Salisbury, and they had seven children : Joseph,
John, Jonathan, David, Benjamin, Samuel and East-
man (the last two and descendants receive further
mention in this article).
(V) Captain Joseph (2), eldest child of John
and ]\Iary (Eastman) Hoyt, was born at Lyon's
Mouth, 1727, and died about 1808. As early as
1752 he was living in that part of Brentwood, New
Hampshire, incorporated as Poplin in 1764. He
was taxed in Poplin as late as 1772, out very soon
afterward removed to Grafton, where he was one
of the earliest settlers. Tradition says that the
first orchard set out in Grafton consisted of one
hundred trees carried there from Poplin by Joseph's
wife. It as said that Joseph raised twenty men,
and went as captain, when the Indians burned
Royalton, but did not reach the place. He paid
all the expenses himself, but when his son Ebenezer
was a member of the legislature, the money was
refunded. An old arm chair, silver shoe buckles,
and several other ancient relics, some of which are
said to have been brought from England, are pre-
served in the family. It will be seen that he was
the oldest son of the oldest son of Joseph (3), and
as Joseph (3) probably occupied the homestead of
John, the inmugrant, it is possible some of these
things may have been quite ancient. He married
(first) Sarah Collins, and (second) Widovv Ruth
(Clough) Brown, of Poplin. His children, all by
the first wife, were : Elizabeth, John, Joseph,
Ebenezer, Sarah, Apphia. Dorothy and Jerusha.
(VI) Joseph (3), third child and second son
of (Zaptain Joseph and Sarah (Collins) Hoyt, was -
born October 11, 1754, and died April 8, iSoi. He
lived in Grafton until about 1800, then removed to
Bolton, Lower Canada. Fie married, August 11,
1774, ^lary Cass, died February 2, 181 1. and they
were the parents of fifteen children : Joseph, Han-
nah, Polly, Benjamin, Ebenezer, Chandler, Sarah,
Nason, John, Sanniel. .\mherst, Dorothy, Moses
Lewis, -Asa and Sherburn.
(VII) Amherst, eleventh child and eighth son
of Joseph (3) and Mary (Cass) Hoyt, born July
12, 1789, and died in 1852, removed to Missouri
in 1850. He married Sarah Chapman, who died
in 1851. Their children were: Washington, Am-
herst, Joseph, Sarah, Stephen, Susan, Amos, Asaliel
and ?lazen.
84
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
(VIII) Joseph (4), third son and child of Am-
herst and Sarah (Chapman) Hoyt, was born Au-
gust 3, 1817. He had a large amount of land, and
was a wealthy farmer in Magog, Province of Que-
bec. He married, June 21, 1S40, Susan Currier,
daughter of Henry Currier, and they had live chil-
dren, all born in Magog: Wallace N., Ahvilda
A., Arreta F., Alfaretta J. and Adrian Hazen, next
mentioned.
(IX; Adrian Hazen Hoyt, M. D., youngest child
of Joseph (4) and Susan (Currier). Hoyt, born at
Magog, Province of Quebec, i\Iarch 7, 1862, at-
tended the public schools of his native town, and
the business college of Davis and Dewie in Mont-
real, and subsequently matriculated at Dartmouth
College, from which he was graduated with the
class of 1S87, with the degree of M. D. Returning
to Magog he began the practice of his profession
there, but finding it not congenial to his bent of
mind, he went to St. Johnsbury, Vermont, where he
entered the employ of the Standard Electric Com-
pany. A year and a half later he removed to Alan-
chester, New Hampshire, and engaged in electrical
experimental work for several years. Later he ac-
cepted the position of manager of the Whitney
Electrical Instrument Company, when it began to
operate in Manchester, and when it removed to
Penacook he contmued as superintendent and man-
ager of the company, tilling those positions until
1905. In that year he built his present residence
in Penacook, and engaged in business for himself.
He has since erected a shop and employs a number
of mechanics in the manufacture of electrical instru-
ments and automobiles, and m doing repair work.
In addition to his other work, in the year 1905 he
was instructor in manual training and electrics hi
St. Paul's School. Dr. Hoyt displays the same
energy and enthusiasm in his industrial employ-
ment and in inventing, that his forefathers, "the
fighting Hoyti," did in subduing the wilderness,
and carrying on war against the enemies of their
country. He has secured twenty-five or more pat-
ents on electrical measuring instruments and scien-
tific apparatus. A number of these devices are
used in the construction of automobiles, in which
Dr. Hoyt has always taken a deep interest, he be-
ing the first owner and user of an automobile in the
state of New Hampshire. He is the inventor of
the alternating current ammeter, and was one of
the first in America to make practical use of the
X-ray. He is a member of the Methodist Church,
and votes the Republican ticket. He is also a mem-
ber of Contoocook Lodge, No. 26, Independent Order
of Odd Fellows; of Hannah Dustin Rebekah Lodge,
and a thirty-second degree Mason, having received
the degrees of both the Scottish Rites and the
Kinghts Templar.
He married, in Magog, Province of Quebec,
June 13, 1887, Lizzie C. Schedrick, born at Magog,
November 28, 1S68, daughter of Daniel and Almeda
Schedrick. They have one child, Wallace, born
October 15, 1888, now (1906) a student in the high
school.
(V) Samuel, sixth of the seven sons of John
and Mary (Eastman) Hoyt, was born in Amesbury,
Massachusetts, January 24, 1739-40. He lived in
Poplin, now Fremont, New Harnpshire, in 1764,
and his name appears on the tax list of that town
in 1765; but he was living in Chester, New Hamp-
shire, in June, 1765. He came to Hopkinton, New
Hampshire, as early as February, 1767, where he
lived till his death, which occurred November 22,
1S21. He was thrice married. His first wife was
Joanna Brown, who died January i, 1778. They
had six children : Jonathan, who moved to Pom-
fret, Vermont; Joanna, who married Samuel Blais-
dell ; Samuel; John, who moved to Canada; and
Lydia, who died in 1777, the year of her birth.
His second wife was Mrs. Anna (Sibley) Stevens,
who died September 14, 1792. They had four chil-
dren: Lydia, who married Jonathan Bean, of Salis-
bury, New Hampshire ; Anna, who married Dorcot
Paul Tenney, and lived at first in Wilniot, New
Hampshire, and then went West; William, who
lived in Hopkinton, New Hampshire ; and Sarah,
who married John Hoit. Samuel Hoyt's third wife,
who survived him, was Mrs. jNIehetabel Kilborn, of
Weare, New Hampshire, who- died November 15,
1833. Samuel Hoyt was nearly eighty-two when
he died, and he had been a resident ot Hopkinton
for almost fifty-five years, where his whole married
life was spent.
(VI) William, only son and third of the four
children of Samuel Hoyt and his second wife, Mrs.
Anna (Sibley; Stevens, was born in Hopkinton,
New Hampshire, July 24, 1783. He married Polly
French, ot Weare, New Hampshire, on February
28, 1805. His home was in Hopkinton, New Hamp-
shire, where he died February 19, 1S13, before
he had completed his thirtieth year. His widow af-
terwards married Enoch Hoit, a remote cousin, who
spelled his name dilterently, and moved to Horse
Hill, West Concord, New Hampshire, where she
died August 2, 1848. William and Polly (French)
Hoyt had five children : Freeman, who went to
Sumterville, South Carolina; Sewel, who lived in
Concord, New' Flampshire; Mary French, who mar-
ried a man by the name of Lynam K. Cheney; Wil-
liam, who also went to Sumterville ; and French, who
died young. By her second marriage !Mrs. Mary
(French; Hoyt (she seems to have dropped the
diminutive "Polly" after she became a widow; had
nine children : Robert B. ; Oilman T., who died
at twenty-four; Oliver, who died at twenty-five;
and a twin sister who died in babyhood; Priscilla
M., who lived to be ten years of age; Rosette and
Jennette, another pair of twins ; Henriette and a
sister who died at birth, the third pair of twins ;
and Enoch Wyette, who died at the age of five
years.
(VII) Sewel Hoit, who spelled his name with
an i, after his stepfather's fashion, was the second
son and child of William and Mary (French)
Hoyt. He was born in Fiopkinton, New Hampshire,
February 2, 1807. He was twice married. His
first wife was Catherine PiUsbury, from that part
of Concord, New Hampshire, now called Penacook.
She died October 19, 1843, aged twenty-three. There
were no children. He married his second wife,
Hannah Elizabeth Nichols, daughter of Luther
Weston and Hannah (Tompkins; Nichols, at Am-
herst, New Hampshire, March 4, 1852. There were
two children : An infant, who was born and died
in 1856; and Jane Elizabeth, the subject of the
succeeding sketch, who was born September 23,
i860.
Mrs. H. Elizabeth (Nichols) Hoit belonged to
one of the old New England families. Her grand-
father, Timothy Nichols, was third in descent from
Richard Nichols, the original immigrant, who came
from England to Ipswich, JMassachusetts, and later
settled in Reading. See Nichols family. (IV) Tim-
othy Nichols, Jr., second son and youngest of the
three children of Timothy and Mehitabel (Weston)
Nichols, was born in Reading, Massachusetts,
February 16, 1756. He was a soldier in the Revo-
lution. In the year 1778 a brigade of New Hamp-
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
85
shire militia was sent to Rhode Island under the
command of General William Whipple. Colonel
Moses Nichols, of Amherst, New Hampshire, com-
manded one of the regiments, and Timothy Nichols,
Jr., then of Amherst, served in the company com-
manded by Captain Josiah Crosby. The latter part
of the next year Timothy Nichols, Jr., married
Susannah, daughter of Captain Archelaus Towne,
of Amherst, New Hampshire. She was born De-
cember 29, 1762, and they were married October 21,
1779. They settled in Amherst, but later moved
to Norwich, Vermont, where she died December 2,
1840. Mr. Nichols lived till August 22, 1846. They
had nine children, two of whom married and went
to live in Concord, New Hampshire, where they held
leading positions. One of the sons, John Perkins,
went to Boston where his son. Dr. Arthur H. Nichols,
has been for several years a noted physician. Dr.
Nichols' winter home is on Mount Vernon, street,
but he has a summer place at Cornish, New Hamp-
shire, where his daughter. Miss Rose Elizabeth
Nichols, has a famous garden. Miss Nichols has
travelled and studied much in Europe, and is an
authority on landscape gardening. She has re-
cently published a book on "Famous Gardens in
Europe." The children of Timothy Nichols, Jr.,
and his wife, Susannah Towne, were : Susannah,
who married John Smith, of Bradford, and died
without children; Grace Gardner, who married
William Low, Jr., lived in Concord, New Hamp-
shire, and died without children ; Sophia, who mar-
ried Deacon Benjamin Damon, Jr., and lived in
Concord, New Hampshire ; Luther Weston, who is
mentioned in the succeeding paragraph ; Leonard
Towne, who married Fanny Blanchard ; Lattin j\lor-
ris, who married Clarissa Safford ; John Perkins,
who married I\lay Ann Clark; Robert, who mar-
ried Betsey Ainsworth ; and Charles, the youngest,
who was born December 9, 1808.
(V) Luther Weston, eldest son and fourth
child of Timothy, Jr., and Susannah (.Towne)
Nichols, was born in Amherst, New Hampshire,
April 22, 1789. He married, in Boston, Massachu-
setts, July 19, 1812, Hannah Tompkins, seventh of
the fourteen children of Gamaliel and jNIary
(Church) Tompkins, of Little Compton, Rhode
Island. She was born April 18, 1790. Luther W.
and Hannah (Tompkins) Nichols had four chil-
dren : Jane Franklin, born March 12, 1813 ; Charles
Hambleton, born December 31, 1814; Luther Wash-
ington, born December 4, 1818; Hannah Elizabeth,
born July 12, 1828. Mr. Nichols was for many
years a dry goods merchant in Bostoii, Massachu-
setts. His store was in Washington street, and
his home from 1832 to 1850 was on Gooch street.
In the latter year the family removed to Amherst,
New Hampshire, where they lived in a fine old
mansion, formerly the Hillsborough County Bank,
in which the original formidable safes still remain.
Mrs. Hannah (Tompkins) Nichols died December
25, 1S52. Her husband subsequently married Mrs.
Lucy R. Home, who lived till June 17, 1878. He
died April 9, 1866.
Hannah Elizabeth, youngest of the four chil-
dren of Luther Weston and Hannah (Tompkins)
Nichols, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, July
12, 1828. Upon her marriage to Sewel Hoit, March
4, 1852, she came to Concord, New Hampshire, to
live, and that city was ever alter her home save
for a few years subsequent to her second marriage
when she lived in ^larlboro, New Hampshire.
Sewel Hoit learned the carpenter's trade, and in
early life he located in Concord, where many sub-
stantial buildings still testify to the . excellence of
his work. About 1840 he built the dignified dwelling
on the corner of State and Maple streets which has
always remained in the possession of the family
and is now the home of his daughter. One of the
most important of his works was the building of
the third house of worship of the First Congrega-
tional Church, or Old North, as it is usually called.
This structure was completed in 1842 and stood
on the corner of Main and Washington streets until
it was destroyed by fire in July, 1873. It was a
wooden building, painted white, with pillars in
front, and is pleasantly remembered by our older
citizens. Mr. Hoit did some farming in later life
on a large tract of land which he owned, between
what is now the Reservoir and Bradley street. He
was a Republican in politics, and served as as-
sessor from Ward Four in 1858 and 1859. He was
a member of the Governor's Horse Guards, a noted
military company with resplendent uniforms, which
flourished in Concord from i860 to 1865, inclu-
sive. Mr. and jNlrs. Hoit were members of the
First Congregational Church. Mrs. Hoit was an
interesting woman, of agreeable social qualities, ac-
tive in church and missionary work, fond of travel
and given to hospitality. Sewel Hoit died at Con-
cord, New Hampshire, January 22, 1875, and was
buried in the family tomb in the Old North Ceme-
tery. Four years later his widow married Frank-
lin R. Thurston, of Marlboro, New Hampshire.
They were married on Thanksgiving Day, 1879,
and went to live in Mr. Thurston's home at I^Iarl-
boro, where they remained till 1885, when they re-
turned to the Hoyt homestead in Concord, New
Hampshire. JNlrs. H. Elizabeth (Nichols) Hoit
Thurston died at Concord, New Hampshire, April
30, 1S97. Mr. Thurston died at the home of his
daughter in Concord, Massachusetts, January 4,
1901.
(VIII) Jane Elizabeth, only living child of
Sewel and H. Elizabeth (Nichols) Hoit, was born
in the old homestead which her father built and
where she now lives, on Sunday,' September 23,
i860. She was educated in the public schools of
Concord, and was a student at Wellesley College
from 1879 to 1883. She began her medical course
in the autumn of 1886 at the Woman's Medical
College of the New York Infirmary (the Black well
College) in New York City. She was graduated
in medicine May 28, i8go. During her last year
of student life she held the position of second as-
sistant in the New York Infant Asylum. The po-
sition has only twice been given to an undergradu-
ate. Dr. Hoyt (she has reverted to the original
spelling of the surname) spent the summer of 1890
in England and Scotland, and in September she re-
turned to this country to assume the duties of
resident physician at Lassell Seminary, a noted
school for girls at Auburndale, Massachusetts.
While here she gave daily morning service in the
surgical room at the Boston Dispen.sary in Bennet
street. She served as interne in the New England
Hospital for Women and Children at Boston for
one year, beginning June i, 1891.
In June, 1892, Dr. Hoyt sailed again for Europe
to pursue a- year's study in the hospitals. The
summer months were spent at Heidelberg in the
acquirement of the German language. In the au-
tumn she began work at the University of Vienna
under Professors Schauter, Hertzfeld, Kaposi and
Lukasieweiz. Upon her return to Concord, New
Hampshire, June, 1893, she began the practice of
medicine at her old home, being the first woman
of Concord birth to establish herself as a physician.
She had a successful practice for six years, and
86
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
then decided, after the death of her mother, to make
a third visit to Europe. She left Concord in Janu-
ary, iSgp, and remained abroad nearly three years.
About half of this period was given to lectures in
the University of Leipsic. Nine months were spent
in Italy in the study of the history of art, and three
months were given to travel in North Africa, where
she visited Tunis, Algiers, and the Desert of Sahara.
In June, 1902, Dr. Hoyt again resumed the prac-
tice of her profession in Concord. In April, 1906,
she went abroad for the fourth time, remaining
three months. On this occasion she went as dele-
gate from New Hampshire to the International
Medical Congress, which met at Lisbon, Portugal.
She then travelled through Spain, which country
she had not previously visited, and again went to
North Africa, including Tangier in her trip. Upon
her return to Concord in July she brought with
her a little Spanish boy, Abelardo Linares, of
Granada, Spain, whose parents wish him to have
an American education. He is a member of her
household at North State street. Dr. Hoyt's home
is filled with souvenirs of foreign travel. Among
other valuables she has a collection of over three
thousand photographs. She has always had a strong
interest in art, and has occasionally lectured on the
subject. She has one of the largest general libraries
in town, with a fine collection of books in various
languages. She has written much for publication ;
newspaper letters of foreign travel, and reports em-
bodyhig scientific research. The latter articles have
appeared in the Transactions of the New Hamp-
shire Medical Society and in various medical jour-
nals.
Dr. Hoyt is a woman of intense activity, and
has many and varied interests. She is a life mem-
ber of the New Hampshire Historical Society, of
the Woman's Hospital Aid AsstJciation, the New
Hampshire Cent Union and the New Hampshire
Bible Society; also of the Seaman's Friends Society
and the Concord Female Charitable Society, founded
in 1812, and of ihe Woman's Medical Association of
New York City. She is a member of the New
Hampshire Medical Society, the Center District
Medical Society, the National Medical Association,
the New England Hospital Medical Society, and
the New Hampshire Equal Suffrage Association.
Doctor Hoyt belongs to many local clubs,- literary,
philanthropic and special. She was a charter mem-
ber Of the Outing Club, founded in 1896, whose
country house. Camp Weetamoo, was the first in
the state to be established for the out-door recre-
ation of women. She was chairman on the building
cojnmittee of same. Dr. Hoyt has always been
deeply interested in religious matters. From infancy
she was called "one of Dr. Bouton's girls." She
was the last person outside the immediate family
to speak with him before his death, and this was
in response to his expressed wish. Deacon William
G. Brown, from the year 1S76 to the year of his
death (and this occurred at the Hoit home April
5, 1892), made his headquarters here whenever his
duties in behalf of the Bible Society called him to
Concord. His death was occasioned from angina
pectoris. He was found in tie morning — having
failed to appear at breakfast— dead in his bed. At
the age of fourteen she joined the North Congrega-
tional Church of Concord, under the pastorate of
Rev. Franklin D. Ayer, D. D. She continued her
membership in this church till 1897. After her re-
turn from her third and longest sojourn in Europe
she became a communicant of St. Paul's Church,
Protestant Episcopal, of Concord, New Hamp-
shire.
On June 26, 1907, at her home in Concord, Dr.
Jane Elizabeth Hoyt was married to George Wash-
ington Stevens, of Claremont, New Hampshire.
Mr. Stevens is the eldest of the seven children of
William Jackson and Cynthia (Young) Stevens,
and was born at Acworth, New Hampshire, Novem-
ber 10, 1843. His grandfather, David Stevens, who
married Abigail Foster, lived at Salisbury, this
state, which place was at one time called Stevens-
town, from the original grantee, Ebenezer Stevens.
While still an infant George W. Stevens moved
with his people to Salisbury, where he remained till
he reached his majority. He then returned to
Acworth for a few years, and lived in Unity from
1874 to 1876, in Charlestown during 1876 and 1S77,
and for the next thirty years in Claremont, bemg
for forty-five years a respected citizen of Sullivan
county. Mr. Stevens is highly esteemed by the
people of Claremont, where the most active half
of his life has been passed, and where he has al-
ways been an active promoter of the public weal.
He is an active member of the Methodist Church
there, and has been class leader thirteen years,
superintendent of the Sunday-school eighteen years,
trustee of the church twenty-five years, and for
nineteen years treasurer of the Claremont Junction
Union Camp Electing Association. In politics Mr.
Stevens is a strong Republican, and was road com-
missioner of Claremont for eight years between
1895 and 1905, tree warden from 1901 to 1905, and
a representative to the legislature in 1905. Mr.
Stevens is interested in the Patrons of Husbandry,
and belongs to the Claremont Subordinate Grange,
the Sullivan County Pomona Grange, and the State
and the National Grange. George W. Stevens
married for his first wife, January 12, 1874, Mrs.
Julia R. (Bailey) Neal, daughter of Ucal and Chloe
W. (Twitchell) Bailey of Unity, New Hampshire.
Her first husband. Ransom JMerritt Neal, was one
of the earliest volunteers of the civil war, and
died of diphtheria in the fall of 1861. Mrs. Julia
(Bailey) (.Neal) Stevens died in Claremont, Sep-
tember I, 1903, leaving no children.
(V) Eastman, seventh son and child of John
and Mary (Eastman) Hoit, was living in South
Hampton in 1765. His name is on the Poplin tax
list for 1766-67 and 69; but the records of Hop-
kinton state that his oldest child was born at South
Flampton, February, 1767, and the second one at
Hopkinton, January, 1769. He was probably still
living at Hopkinton in 1791, but removed with his
family to Windsor', Vermont, and died in West-
moreland, New Hampshire. He married Martha
Clough, daughter of Sarah and sister of Theophilus.
their children were : Hannah, Sarah, John, iNlartha,
Theophilus, Molly, Richard, Jonathan and Joseph.
(VI) Richard, third son and seventh child of
Eastman and i^Iartha (Clough) Hoit, was born
July 23, 1779, and died September 4, 1852. He was
a farmer and moved to Candia, where he built a
large house which is still standing. It is said that
the frame of this house was made and erected by a
neighbor, who received as payment for his work
a colt valued at twenty dollars. Mr. Hoit was a
member of the Baptist Church, and in politics a
Democrat ; was prominent in town affairs, and is
said to have filled nearly all the town offices. He
married (first) Rhoda Merrill, June 16, 1803; and
(second), 1812, Margaret Wilson, daughter of
Colonel Wilson, one of the pioneer settlers of
Candia. His children, all by the second wife, were :
Rhoda, Mercy, Margaret W., William, Sarah J.,
Lorenzo and Ariann.
(VII) Lorenzo, second son and sixth cliiUl of
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
87
Richard and Margaret (Wilson) Hoit, born in
Candia, March 30, 1824, was educated ni the com-
mon schools, and engaged in farmnig with his
father. In early life he bought a house in Sun-
cook, where he died January, 1896. He and his
wife were members of the Baptist Church. He
was a Republican, took an interest in public affairs
and filled town offices. He married, 1850, Alary Ann
Maria Bartlett, born in Epsom, died in Bedford,
April, 1903, and they had four children: Mason
R., John Dayton, Abbie, and Henry W., whose
sketch follows.
(Vni) Henry Wilson, youngest child of Lor-
enzo and Mary A. M. (Bartlett) Hoit, was born
in Candia, June 8, 1868, and educated in the dis-
trict schools and the Candia high school. He suc-
ceeded his father on the homestead, which he car-
ried on several years and then sold; he removed to
Bedford in 1898 and bought a farm where he now
lives. He is a farmer and a dealer in horses and
cattle, and keeps a herd of milch cows. In politics
he is a Republican, and has held the office of auditor
two terms. He is also a member of the Methodist
Church, and is a member of Oak Hill Lodge, No.
97, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which
he has been an officer. He married (first), May
27, 1892, Myrtle Colby, born in Boston, JSIassachu-
setts, daughter of George and Anne (Wilson) Colby,
of Candia. She died May 8, 1901, and he married
(second), August 2, 1903, Emma jNIcGibbon, daugh-
ter of William and Katherine (Burns) JMcGibbon,
of northern New York. There is one child by the
first wife, Elsie Vilena, born June 20, 1895.
This is one of the oldest New Eng-
BICKFORD land families which has been lo-
cated from the beginning within
the limits of New Hampshire, and has been honor-
ably identified with the progress of the state in its
material and moral development from shortly after
the first settlement to the present time.
(,1) John Bickford, born in England, was liv-
ing at Oyster River, in Dover, New Hampshire,
as early as July 17. 1645. on which day "Darbey
Field of Oyster River, in the River of Piscataquay,
county of Norfolk, planter," sold John Bickford his
dwelling house at Oyster River, then "in the tenure
of the said Bickford," w^ith a lot of five or six
acres adjoining on the land towards the creek on
the side towards Little Bay, except the strip on
said creek in possession of Thomas Willey. On
June 23, 1684, John Bickford, with tlie consent of
his "wife Temperance," conveyed to his son,
Thomas, "all his house lands lying at ye poynt of
Oyster River." After selling or rather presenting
this land to his son, John Bickford went to New-
ington Shore, where he owned several tracts of
land, one near Bloody Point, one at Fox Point and
the third one along the point where he established
himself. His children and grandchildren intermar-
ried with the chief families of Newington, Harri-
sons, Dowings, Knights, Pickerins, Goes, Furbers
and others. His wife's name of Temperance was
perpetuated by her descendants through many gen-
erations. They were probably the parents of John
Bickford, who is mentioned at length in this
article.
(,11) Captain Thomas, son of John and Tem-
perance Bickford, w-as born 1656, in Dover, and lived
and died in that town.
(III) Joseph Bickford was born 1696, in Dover,
and lived and died in that town, where he was
a farmer. He married .'\licc Edgerly.
(IV) Ephraim, son of Joseph and .\lice
(Edgerly) Bickford, was born 1743, in Dover, and
was a farmer in that town, where he died May
31, 1783. He was married, March 22, 1772, to
Sarah Bickford. He lived at Durham Point and
maintained a garrison there, which was success-
fully defended against an attack of the Indians
in 1694, at the time when so many other garrisons
were destroyed. He was alone at the time accord-
ing to the provincial papers, and later soldiers were
quartered there by the provincial government. Dur-
ing the attack in 1794 he had sent his family ott
by water, and remained to defend the place or die
in the attempt. He shouted forth his commands
as though he had a squad of soldiers, and presented
himself every few moments in a change of uniform
to appear like another man, and blazed away at the
enemy, wounding some of their number. This ruse
so elt'ectually deceived them, that they speedily gave
up the attempt to destroy the garrison, apparently
so well manned. The children of Ephraim and
Sarah Bickford were: Aaron, Deborah, Joseph,
Ephraim, Susanna and Thomas.
(V) Thomas, son of Ephraim and Sarah (Bick-
ford) Bickford, was born August 8, 1791, in Dover,
and lived in that town. He was a farmer by oc-
cupation, and died October 9, 1865. He was one
of the reputable citizens of Dover. He was married,
1816, to Olive Ann Estes.
(VI) Dr. Alphonsus Bickford, son of Thomas
and Ann (Estes) Bickford, was born in 1S17, in
Dover, and continued to reside in that town
through his life, dying December 31, l86g. He was
educated in the common schools of the town and
Franklin Academy, and read medicine with Dr.
George Kittre3ge, oji Dover. He graduated in 1S37
from Bowdoin Medical College, and began practice
at once in Durham. In 1848 he moved to Dover,
and very soon entered upon an extensive practice
which continued until his death from consumption.
He was very skillful and successful, and stood at
the head of his profession in Dover, being at the
same time popular with all classes. In i860 he was
elected mayor of Dover, and entered upon his
duties the following January. By re-election he
served a second term. During his incumbency in
that office the great civil war began, and on .\pril
15, 1861, Mayor Bickford called a public meeting
of the citizens to see what should be done. The
meeting was held in the court room in the city
building, and was crowded to overflowing. The
leading men of both parties were present, and Mayor
Bickford made a patriotic address, urging im-
mediate action in aid of the president in his pur-
poses to suppress rebellion. Ten vice-presidents
were elected from among the leaders of both the
Republican and Democratic parties, and patriotic
re'solutions were unanimously adopted, pledging sup-
port to President Lincoln. A committee w^-is ap-
pointed to raise volunteers, and George W. Col-
bath, who enlisted at this time, was the first volun-
teer from the state of New Hampshire. In a very
short time a company of one hundred men was
ready to march to Concord to be mustered into the
service. Within three days Mayor Bickford had
a meeting of the city council called to ratify the
plans made, and at its suggestion an appropriation
of ten thousand dollars was made to aid the
families of any volunteers who might be in need
while their heads w-ere at the front in defense of
their country. In less than a week the committee
had enough names for a second company of volun-
teers. The mayor continued in vigorous support
of any war measures that were necessary through-
out his term of office. When the diflicult matter of
88
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
city finances were to be handled after the war,
Dr. Bickford was elected alderman and served in
1866-67, aiding very much by his experience and
judgment in solving these matters. He was popular
with his fellow physicians as well as with the
general public. He was a fellow of the New Hamp-
shire Medical Society and a member of the Straf-
ford District Medical Society, of which he was presi-
dent at the time of his death. He was married.
May 29, 1S39, to Mary Johanna Smith, and their
children were : Mary Ellen, Elizabeth and Frances.
(.VII) Frances, youngest daughter of Dr. Al-
phonsus and Mary J. (.Smith) Bickford, born
February 14, 1850, was married October 18, 1870,
to Elisha Rhodes Brown (see Brown, VIII).
Among the proprietors of Roches-
BICKFORD ter, 1722, was John Bickford, who
was a whole-share proprietor ; and
Jethro Bickford, who was a half-share proprietor;
and another John Bickford, a half-share proprietor.
These Johns were probably father and son.
(II) John (2) and Elizabeth Bickford were
living in Dover, New Hampshire, and were the
parents of the following children, born from 1692
to 1705 : JNlartha, Thomas, John, Henry and Jo-
seph.
(III) John (3) Bickford was born March 10,
1698, and was a prominent citizen of Rochester.
John Bickford was proprietors' selectman in 1732-42-
50, town selectman, 1/37-38-43-45-50-52-53-55-59, and
clerk 1738-43-46-47. October 21, 1751, the pro-
prietors appointed Walter Bryant, John Bickford,
and John Leighton "to lay out all the lands above
the second division." ITe was also' prominent in
church matters as early as 1734!
(IV) John (4), son of John (3) Bickford,
born March 10, 1648, was town clerk of Rochester
1/45-52-55-
(V) Jethro was the son of John (4) Bick-
ford.
(VI) Jethro (2), a son of Jethro (i) Bick-
ford, was born and died in Rochester, where he
■was a farmer. He had two children: John and
Isaac.
(VII) John (5), son of Jethro (2) Bickford,
was. born January 4, 1762, and died November 15,
1827. He was a life-long farmer. His wife's name
is not known. He had nine children: James and
Isaac (twins), Ezra, Hannah and Elizabeth (twins),
Patience, Mary, John and Abigail.
(VIII) John (6), eighth child and fourth son of
John (s) Bickford, w-as born in Rochester, De-
cember 22, 1814, and died February 10, 1901, aged
eighty-seven. The place of his birth was the farm
settled by his father in 1798, on the road which
frqm its width was called the teii-rod road. There
he resided during his entire life. In politics he
was a Democrat, and served as selectman for several
years. He married Hannah M. Demeritt, born
January 19, 1S20, died December 2, 1892, daughter
of Mark and Abigail (Leighton) Demeritt. Of this
marriage were born five children : Charles W.,
Daniel C, John H., Herbert F., and Edwin R.
(IX) Charles Woodbury, eldest child of John
(4) and Hannah M. (Demeritt) Bickford, was
born in Rochester, January 20. 1S43. He was edu-
cated in the public schools, Lebanon .A-cademy. wolf-
boro Academy, and Eastmans Business College,
Poughkeepsie. New York, teaching during vaca-
tions. In 1866 he took the position of night clerk
in the Morton House, corner of Fourteenth street
and Broadway, New York, where he was employed
two years. Returning to Rochester he became a
partner in the firm of W. B. K. Hodgdon & Com-
pany, and remained there until 187 1, when the estab-
lishment was burned. From there he went to Bos-
ton and was steward of the Evans House seven
and one-half years; and subsequently of the United
States Hotel of Boston one year. He then managed
the Ottawa House in Portland, Maine, one year,
and the Narragansett Hotel, Providence, Rhode
Island, three years. He was then successively stew-
ard of Willard's Hotel, Washington, D. C, five
years; the Ocean View House, Block Island; and
the Boston Tavern, two years. In 1890 he opened
the Hotel Champlain, at Plattsburg, on Lake Cham-
plain, for O. D. Seavey, and was steward for both
the following four years, and at the Ponce De Leon,
Florida, winters. In May, 1894, he gave up this
position to become postmaster of Rochester under
the second Cleveland administration. In 1898 his
term as postmaster expired and he returned to the
employ of Mr. Seavey, and was employed as stew-
ard of the Magnolia Springs Hotel, Florida, where
he remained three seasons, and then went to Au-
sable Chasm, where he remained five years as general
manager of the Flotel Ausable. In the summer of
1907 he was manager of the jNIasconomo Hotel at
Manchcster-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts.
In 1903, at the earnest request of his friends,
he returned to Rocjjester a second time and was
nominated for mayor, and at the election following
received all the votes cast but one. He was sub-
sequently twice elected to that office. While he
was mayor the public library and central fire sta-
tion were built, and the plans were made and the
contract let for the construction of the new city
hall. In politics he affiliated with the Democratic
party until the nomination of Bryan in l8g6. Since
that time he has been identified with the Republican
party. He was town clerk of Rochester 1870-71,
member of the common council of Rochester 1896-
97-98, and chairman of the board of supervisors
six years. In 1869-70-71 he was chief engineer of
the Rochester fire department, and in his honor
the new chemical engine was named the C. W.
Bickford. He was initiated into the mysteries of
Free jNIasonry by Charter Oak Lodge, Effingham,
New Hampshire, at the age of twenty-one, in 1864.
Since that time he has been accepted into the fol-
lowing bodies of the order : Temple Royal .\rch
Chapter ; Orient Council, Royal and Select JN^asters ;
Palestine Commandery, Knights Templar; and
Aleppo Temple of the .Ancient Arabic Order of
Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Boston, Massachu-
setts.
He married (first). May 28, 1868, in Rochester,
Mary Louise Henderson, who was born in Roches-
ter, May 3, 1842, and died December 11, 1903, daugii-
ter of Charles and Mary (Tibbetts) Henderson, of
Rochester ; second, July 9, 1906, Frances Hussey,
born July 14, 1862. daughter of George D. and
Mary (Foss) Hussey, of Rochester.
(V) Wilmot Bickford was born in Dover, .\n-
gust 24, 1771, and settled in Wolfboro, New Hamp-
shire, where he died. His children were: William;
Farzina ; John Wilmot, see forward ; Sarah ; Han-
nah ; Alva and Horace.
(VI) John Wilmot, second son and third child
of Wilmot Bickford, was born in Wolfboro, New
Hampshire, April 4, 1803, and died July, 1891. He
was a farmer by occupation, and by hard work and
good management secured a competency and spent
the last years of his life in comfortalile reiirenient.
He married Abra Lord, born in 1801, daughter of
Joseph and Hannah Lord, of Lebanon, I\Iaine, She
died in 1880. They had three children : \\'ilmot J.,
Mary and John Calvin.
(VII) John Calvin, second son and third and
i
^^^/ir^ cJy ^WJ^^^^-7-2i/
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
89
youngest child of John Wihnot and Abra (Lord)
Bickford, was born in Wolfboro. New Hampshire,
December iS, 1842. He grew up on the farm of
his father and was educated in the common schools
and at the academy of his native town. At the
age of twenty years he accepted a clerksliip in the
business of his brother, Wilmot J., who carried on a
store in Ossipee. Shortly afterward, 1862, Wilmot J.
died, and John Calvin assumed sole control of the
business, which he carried on until 1868. He was ap-
pointed postmaster of Ossipee, and filled that office
from 1862 until 1864. He engaged in business as
a solicitor for the Massachusetts Life Insurance
Company, in Dover in 1S68, and continued in the
life insurance business until September, 1871, when
he removed to Manchester and took charge of a
crew of men engaged in the construction of asphalt
roofs. While thus employed, in June, 1872, he
fell and was seriously injured, and as a result of
this accident resigned his position. He was ap-
pointed a ganger in the United States Internal
Revenue service in 1874, and held that office for
two years, when it was abolished. While still en-
gaged in the last named office he commenced the
study pf law which he completed in the office of
Sulloway & Topliff, and was admitted to the bar
in May, 1877. The following month he was ap-
pointed a clerk of the police court of Manchester,
and retains the place at the present (1907) time.
He is a Republican and has taken an active part in
political matters. For a time he filled the office of
moderator in the Fourth ward ; was elected to the
house of representatives in 1881, and was a member
of the committee on the revision of statutes ; in
1900 he was chairman of the house committee ;
was re-elected in 1900; was elected to the state
senate in 1903 and was chairman of the judiciary
committee; for six years was chairman of tho board
of health of Manchester. jNIr. Bickford was made
a Mason in 1S64, in Charter Oak Lodge, No. 58,
Free and Accepted Masons of Eppingham, and was
later its worshipful master ; one year later he be-
came a charter member of Ossipee Valley Lodge,
No. 74, and served as worshipful master for a period
of five years. After settling in Manchester he be-
came a member of Washington Lodge, No. 61. He
is also a member of Mount Horeb Royal Arch Chap-
ter, No. 11; and of Adoniram Council, No. 3. He
joined the Ancient Order of United Workmen in
1883, has filled all the chairs of the subordinate
lodge and was a delegate to the grand lodge in
Helena, Montana, in 1892. He served^ as councilman
in the supreme lodge until 1887, when, at the ses-
sion in Milwaukee, he was elected supreme over-
seer; the following year, supreme freeman; the
next year, supreme master workman; since retiring
from this office he has served continuously as a
member of the committee of arbitration. He is
also a member of the Knights of Pythias, the (Golden
Cross Society, The Royal Arcanum and the Derry-
field Club. Mr. Bickford married (first), Janu-
ary 20, 1S63, Pamelia S. Thurston, died 1878, daugh-
ter of Isaac and Maria (Dodge) Thurston, of Os-
sipee. They had one son, Charles Wilmot, see
forward. He married (second), 1880, Emma S.
Fitts, daughter of Benjamin and Clymena (Green)
Fitts, of Manchester. The former died in 1S54,
a victim of cholera, while engaged in nursing those
stricken with that disease. jNIrs. Bickford is a mem-
ber of the Congregational Church, the .Audubon
Society, the Woman's Federation, and other organ-
izations for the promotion of human welfare. She
is also a member of the Degree of Honor, and for
a period of ten years was treasurer of the largest
branch of tliis order.
(VIII) Charles Wilmot, only child of John
Calvin and Pamelia (Thurston) Bickford, was
born in Ossipee, December 20, 1865. His early
education was received in the common schools, and
he was prepared for college at the Manchester
high school. He entered Dartmouth College in
1883, and was graduated from that institution in
the class of 1887. Immediately following his gradu-
ation he entered upon the profession of teaching
and was successfully engaged in this at Meredith
and Raymond. ' He went to Manchester in 1S90
and continued in his calling in the schools of that
city until 1900, when he was elected superintendent
of schools, in which office he has since that time
served. Through his efforts the efficiency of the
schools has been greatly increased from year to
year. He is widely known in this and adjoining
states as an educator, and as such has responded
to many invitations for papers and lectures on edu-
cational subjects in various parts of the United
States, as far west as Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Bick-
ford is a member of the National Educational As-
sociation, the American Institute of Instruction, and
various local educational bodies. He is an attend-
ant at the Congregational Church and has been a
teacher of the Sunday-school connected with that
institution. He is a Thirty-second degree Mason,
and a member of the following orders : Mount
Washington Lodge, No. 61, in which he has passed
all the chairs and is now past master; Mount Horeb
Royal Arch Chapter, No. 11; Adoniram Council,
No. 3, also passed all the chairs and is now an
officer of the Grand Council ; Royal and Select
Masters ; Trinity Commandery, Knights Templar ;
Edward A. Raymond Consistory, Sublime Princes
of the Royal Secret; Golden Cross Society; and the
Deerfield Club. He married, July 19, 1893, Anna
Maude Sleeper, daughter of Levi H. and Susan S.
(Sampson) Sleeper, of Manchester.
(I) Thomas Bickford settled on Putney Hill
in Hopkinton, and later served as a soldier under
Colonel John Stark in the expedition against Ti-
conderoga. He had four sons, Samuel, John, Jo-
seph and Thomas.
(II) Joseph, third son of Thomas Bickford,
served a seven year apprenticeship at the carpen-
ter's trade in Salem, Massachusetts. He was very
skillful, and was the first man to use an edgetool
in the construction of the New Hampshire stiite
capitol building, at Concord. Some time after the
completion of the capitol he removed to Hillsboro
and settled in the north part of the town, where
he continued to work at his trade, and built sev-
eral houses, and the church at Francestown. The
last year of his life he spent working as a wheel-
wright. He married Sallie Doak, of Marblehcad,
Massachusetts, the daughter of a naval officer. They
had three children barn on Putney Hill in ITopkin-
ton, two of whom were twins and survived their
infancy. They were James D. and Eliza Fosdick.
(III) James Doak, son of Joseph and Sallie
(Doak) Bickford, was born in llopkinton, Febru-
ary IS, iSii, and died near Hillsboro Upper Vil-
lage, April I, 1905. He first lived at Hillsboro
Upper Village, and later bought what is known as
the old David Goodell farm, a pleasantly situated
place near the Upper Village, where he resided
until his death. He was a gifted musician, both
instrumental and vocal, and taught singing school
for years. He played in his church and led the
choir for thirty years. April 26, 1828, he became
a member of the Hillsboro Instrumental Music
Band, which was incorporated by act of the legis-
lature under this ;iame in 1825. He married, Oc-
9°
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
tober I, 183s. Elizabeth Ann Conn, who was born
in Hillsboro, October 16, 1816, daughter of William
and Sally (Priest) Conn. They had three children:
I. Sarah Fuller, born June 25, 1838. She grew up
on the farm and was educated in the town schools,
Tubbs Union Academy, Washington, New Hamp-
shire, Francestown Academy, Francestown and
David Crosby's Academy, Nashua, New Hampshire.
Later graduating from Worthington and Warner's
Commercial College, of Concord, New Hampshire.
She taught penmanship in a number of the leading
select schools in the vicinity of Boston for some
years, and was located in the city of Boston for
ten years, where she conducted her own school
(Madam Hafey's Writing Academy). She married,
February 25, 1879, Charles iM. Hafey, who was born in
Cincinnati, Ohio, and educated at Chickering Academy,
Cincinnati ; Groton, iMassachusetts, White Plains, New
York, and graduated at Columbia Law School' New
York City. They had one child, Frank B., who died
young. 2. John Willard, born December 10, 1841. He
grew up on his father's farm, attended the common
schools and the Henniker and Francestown acade-
mies. He taught school for a number of years,
and read law in the office of F. M. Blood, of Hills-
borough. He entered the law department of Har-
vard, and while a student there was drowned, June
26, 1866. Th law class was suspended to asjist in
searchmg for the body. 3. Frank James, ne.xt men-
tioned.
(IV) Frank James, youngest child of James
p. and Elizabeth A. (Conn) Bickford, was born
in Hillsboro, January 27, 1849. He grew up a fanner
boy, and attended the public schools of Hillsboro,
where he acquired primary education which he sup-
plemented with higher instruction at the academies
of Henniker and Francestown. He taught school
about Hillsboro for several winters, and assisted
his father on the farm the remainder of the year.
Since giving up teaching he has devoted all his
attentions to farming, living on the place which his
father formerly owned. This is one of the largest
farms in Hillsborough county, and contains one
hundred and thirty-hve acres of land which Mr.
Bickford cultivates with skill and profit. There is
also about five hundred acres of pasture land. In
addition to the usual routine work of farming he
deals in cattle, and not infrequently has from forty
to sixty head of neat stock on his place. JNIr. Bick-
ford IS an intelligent, energetic and prosperous
farmer, who is widely known and highly respected.
He is a Democrat, but confined his efforts in politics
to voting and occasionally working to elect the
best man to office. He has served on the school
board for eleven years.
(I) Thomas Bickford was a farmer, shoemaker
and tanner, and lived in Epsom. At one period of
his life he was a prosperous and successful man,
but most of his property was spent before his
death. He married Olive Haynes, and they had
seven children : John, Mehitable, Samuel, Nathan,
Daniel, Olive and Dearborn.
(II) Nathan, fourth child and third son of
Thomas and Olive (Haynes) Bickford, was born
at the old Bickford homestead near the present
village of Grossville, Epsom, December 2, 1797,
and died in 1879, aged eighty-two years. He grew
up on the farm until thirteen years of age. when he
went to serve an apprenticeship with a clothier
named Currier at Epsom. He finished his appren-
ticeship at the age of nineteen and went to Boston,
where he remained until his twenty-third year,
when he returned to Epsom and purchased a cloth-
ing and carding mill on Suncook river. He was
successful in this business, which he carried on for
more than twelve years, and then leased his mill
and engaged in the lumber business, rafting logs
down the Suncook and Merrimack rivers, and carry-
ing on a trade of considerable magnitude. In 1830
he had bought a farm adjacent to his mill, and
afterward did a considerable amount of farming.
After a time he abandoned the lumber business and
gave his entire attention to the farm to which he
made several additions. He was highly esteemed
by his townsmen, by whom he was elected to po-
sitions of trust. He was selectman, and held minor
town offices for many years. He was a meniDer of
the New Hampshire legislature in 1836, and through-'
out a long and busy life he retained the implicit
confidence and sincere respect of those who knew
him. In politics he was an advocate of the prin-
ciples of the Free Soil party up to the formation
of the Republican party, when he joined that or-
ganization and affiliated with it until his death. In
reHgious belief he was a Free Will Baptist, and
contributed liberally to the support of this church,
of which he was a charter member, one of
seven. He was a just man, believed in the neces-
sity of education in religious as well as secular
matters, and generally assisted many beneficent
enterprises. He married. May 12, 1823, Eliza W.
Dickey, of Epsom, who was born in 1807, and died
in Epsom in 1893, in the eighty-seventh year of her
age. She was the daughter of Robert and Hannah
(Osgood) Dickey, of Epsom. Five children were
born to them : Susan G., Salina O., Eliza A., Mor-
rill D. and Alfred P. The last named was born
in 1846, on the old home farm in Epsom, where he
now resides. He married Elizabeth Goss. and five
sons were born to them — William P., Nathan A.,
Alfred G., Harry M., and John G.— all of whom are
now living.
(Ill) Morrill D. Bickford, fourth child and
eldest son of Nathan and Eliza W. (Dickey) Bick-
ford, was born on his father's farm in Epsom, Oc-
tober 3, 1836. He got his education in the public
schools of Epsom and Pembroke Academy, and at
the age of eighteen began the active work of a
busy life. He was brought up to the lumber busi-
ness, which under his father's supervision he
throughly learned, and in which for many years
he was actively engaged. He owns a small farm
in Epsom, where he has resided for several years.
He built a dwelling in Gossville, and in 1881 erected
a residence on his home farm. He has always been
a stalwart Republican, and was elected to represent
the town of Epsom in the state legislature in 1SS5.
In religious belief he is a Free Will Baptist. He
married, November 28, 1862, Eliza J. Hoyt, born
in Northwood, December 30, 1840 daughter of
Morrill Hoyt of Epsom. Two children were born
to them— Siisie A., born in 1866, died in 1S97, aged
thirty-one years ; Addie E.. born in 1868. died in
1903, aged thirty-five years.
This is one of the early Ne\v
BURNHAINI England names, of English origin,
among the foremost in New Hamp-
shire (both in point of time and importance), and
distinguished in military annals from the earliest
colonial period. Not only in military but in civil
affairs it has been pre-eminent, and has furnished
leading agriculturists, merchants, clergymen, edu-
cators, jurists and legislators to this commonwealth.
The name was established in England in the time of
William the Conqueror. In the conquest of Eng-
land this ruler was accompanied by Walter le
"Ventre, who was made a lord in 1080, and received
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
91
the Saxon village of Burnham as a part of his
estate. At this time he assumed the name of
Walter de (of) Burnham, and the estate contuiued
to be held by his descendants until after 1700. The
ancient seat, "Burnham Beeches," is mentioned in
one of Tennyson's poems.
(I) The tirst whose line has been continuously
traced to descendants now in New Hampshire was
Robert Burnham, born 1581, at Norwich, Norfolk
county, England. He married Mary Andrews, in
1608, and had seven children, including three sons
who came to America, namely : John, Robert and
Thomas. They were minors at the time of arrival
1635, and are supposed to have come under charge
of their maternal uncle, Captain .Andrews, com-
mander of the ship "Angel Gabriel," which was
wrecked on the Massachusetts coast. Perhaps they
had not intended to remain, but set out as mariners.
They settled in Ipswich, where Thomas became very
prominent, taking part in all public affairs. (Fur-
ther mention of Robert and Thomas, with descend-
ants, appears in this article.)
(H) Deacon John, son of Robert and Mary
(Andrews) Burnham, was born 1618 in Norwich,
and was seventeen years old when he came to
Massachusetts. At nineteen he joined the Pequot
expedition, for which the town granted him eight
acres of land in 1639. He became an extensive land-
holder, and was a highly respected citizen. He was
one of the original members of the church at Che-
bacco, organized August 12, 1683, and was one of
its first deacon?. August 13, .1O94, the bounds of
his property adjoining the common were settled by
a committee appointed by the town, and it was
found that he had not encroached as reported. He
died November 5, 1694. His children were : John,
Josiah, Ann and Elizabeth.
(HI) Deacon John (2), son of Deacon John
(1) Burnham, followed the occupation of farming.
He died in 1716, leaving a large family. His farm
was at Chebacco (now Essex), and he received a
concession for building a grist mill on the Chebacco
river in 1693. His wife's name was Sarah, and
their children were : John, Thomas, Jonathan,
Robert, Sarah, Mary, Elizabeth and Hannah.
(IV) Deacon John (3), son of Deacon John
(2) Burnham, occupied a similar position in the
town and church of Chebacco to those held by his
father and grandfather. He was made a deacon
in 1732, and was allowed the use of the school
pasture in 1734, being the schoolmaster. He mar-
ried (first) Ann, daughter of Captain Thomas
Choate. She was born May 22, 1691, and died
August 15, 1739. He married (second), in 1740,
Mrs. Elizabeth Goodhue. His children, all born
of the first wife, were : John, Samuel, Jeremiah,
Ann, ]\Iary, Abigail, Sarah and Nehemiah.
(V) Samuel, son of Deacon John (3) and Ann
(Choate) Burnham, was married in Ipswich. No-
vember 17, 1743, to Martha Story, and had nine
children, namely: Samuel, Martha, Sarah, John.
Ebenezer, Hannah, Susannah, Elizabeth and Jabez.
(VI) Deacon Samuel (2). eldest ciiild of
Samuel (i) and Martha (Story) Burnham, was
born October 5, 1744, in Ipswich, and was married
there November 27, 1766. to Mary Perkins. About
1770, after two of his children were born, he settled
in Dunbarton, New Hampshire, where several of
his kindred and townsmen located between 1765
and 1770, and cleared up a farm, becoming one of
the most subsfanlial citizens. He was a deacon
of the church, much respected, and died April 4,
1811, in his sixty-seventh year. He was spoken
of by his pastor, Rev. Dr. Harris, in his funeral
address, as "a wise, safe and very valuable counsel-
lor." Following is an extract from the sermon :
"He was a man of sound judgment and of tenacious
memory; moderate and grave in his natural de-
portment; a kind husband, a tender parent, an oblig-
ing neighbor, a useful citizen, kind to the poor,
and a friend to mankind. * * * He was one of
the main pillars in the church. He did much, and
prayed fervently, for its peace, good order and en-
largement. The doctrines of grace were his theme.
He contended earnestly for the faith once delivered
to the saints, and he contended not in vain," His
widow survived him more than seven years. She
was born May, 1745, and died in October, 1818.
Professor Noyes, ot Dartmouth College, said of
her : "She was a woman of very uncommon ex-
cellence. Her spirit seemed imbued with a most
ardent love of God, of souls and of heavenly things.
She seemed to have but very little to do with
this lower world. Her tears and prayers and warm
exhortations made a deep and abiding impression
on all the family, that she was supremely devoted
to their spiritual welfare." All of the thirteen
children were present at the funeral of the father.
The records of Dunbarton show that one Samuel
Burnham paid ten pounds one shilling for rent of
a floor pew in the church in 1789, and another paid
five pounds twelve for a gallery pew. These are
supposed to have been Deacon Samuel (2) and his
eldest son, Samuel (3). His children were: Samuel,
Jacob Perkins, William, Elizabeth, Abraham, Mary,
John, Sarah and Susannah (twins), Martha and
Hannah (twins), Bradford and Amos Wood. The
first was the first college graduate in the town. He
fitted for college "on the plow beam," and finished
at Dartmouth in 1795. He was the first principal
of the Academy at Derry, and died in 1834, aged
sixty-seven years. Abraham graduated at Dart-
mouth in 1804, became a Doctor- or Divinity, was
pastor at Pembroke forty-two years, and died 1852,
' aged seventy-seven. John graduated in 1807, was a
lawyer and scholar, and died 1826, aged forty-five.
Amos Wood, the youngest, graduated at Dartmouth
1815, and from Andover Theological Seminary in
1818. He was the first preceptor of Pembroke
Academy, and was pastor of the church at Rindge
until dismissed at his own request, after a service
of fort}'-si-x years.
(VH) Bradford, sixth son and twelfth child
of Samuel (2) and Mary (Perkins) Burnham, was
born February 14, 1787, in Dunbarton, where he
resided and was a progressive and successful farmer
upon the ancestral homestead, and died August
28, 1865. He was married, March 3, 1814, to Han-
nah Dane, daughter of Thomas Whipple. She died
July 10, 1847. Their children were : Henry L.,
Fannie L., Hannah D., William B., I^Iary E., Abi-
gail D., Abraham, an infant (died at twelve days),
Ann H. and Louisa W. (Mention of William and
descendants occurs in this article.)
(VIII) Henry Larcom, eldest child of Brad-
ford and Hannah D. (Whipple) Burnham, was
born November 25, 1814, in Dunbarton, where he
was a farmer and one of the most useful and intel-
ligent citizens. He was a man of sterling integrity,
and excellent disposition, Henry Putney said he
kiiew of no man of such character, ability, and real
natural strength. He served as county commis-
sioner, representative in the state legislature, as
as senator and high sheriff. He was a constant
attendant at the Congregational Church, and was
liberal in its support. He died April 30, 1893, in
Manchester, surviving by only eight days his wife,
who passed away April 22. He was married, IMarch
92
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
28, 1842, to Maria A. Bailey, daughter of Josiah and
Sarah (Kimball) Bailey, of Dunbarton.
(IX) Henry Eben Burnham, United States
senator from New Hampshire, only child of Henry
L. and Maria A. (Bailey) Burnham, was born
November 8, 1844, in Dunbarton. He prepared for
college at Kimball Union Academy, j\ieriden, and
entered Dartmouth College at the age of seventeen
years, in i86l. Four years later he graduated with
the honors of his class, and had already demon-
strated those powers of mind and character which
were bound to develop his subsequent successful
career.
Senator Burnham began his study of law in the
office of Minot and Mugridge, in Concord, and was
subsequently associated as student with Hon. E.
S. Cutter, then of Manchester, finishing his prepara-
tion under the direction of the late Judge Lewis W.
Clark, at Manchester. He was admitted to the bar
in April, 1868, and at once commenced the practice
of his profession in Manchester. To this he brought
an exceptional ability, trained by long and careful
study, and his unceasing industry made him a
useful and successful advocate, so that he quickly
gained reputation and profitable clients. The in-
crease of his business caused him to admit partners
in his practice, and in time he became the head of
the firm of Burnham, Brown, Jones & Warren, one
of the strongest at the New England bar.
As judge of probate for Hillsborough county
from 1876 to 1879 he served his fellows faithfully
and acceptably, but the demands of his large private
practice caused him to resign the station. How-
ever, his distinguished talents and undisputed
probity made him a desirable agent for the trans-
action of public business, and he was elected to
the state legislature in 1873 and 1874. In 1889 he
was a delegate in the convention called to revise
the state constitution, and was again called to legis-
lative service in 1900. In that year he became
a candidate for the office of United States senator,
and was triumphantly elected after a trying cam-
paign, in which other able men were contestants.
He took his seat March 4, 1901, and by his con-
servative and sound position on public questions
has shown himself well qualified for the post. Though
a comparatively new member in a body of conserva-
tive traditions and dominated by the shrewdest and
most able minds of the nation, he preserves the
credit and honor of his native state. When the
late Senator Piatt of Connecticut gave up the chair-
manship of the committee on Cuban relations to
succeed the late Senator Hoar on the judiciary com-
mittee. Senator Burnham took the Connecticut
statesman's place. He is also a member of the
committees on agriculture, claims, forest reserva-
tion, pensions and territories. He has made
thorough investigation of the subjects coming be-
fore these committees, and few men in the national
legislature are better qualified to discuss and judge
of conditions in the territories. His ' interest in
the White Mountain reservation bill has drawn
him near to every lover of his native state, and
his activity during the discussion of the statehood
bill in 1903 attracted attention throughout the coun-
try. The Boston Herald said of him in a recent
issue: "Scholarly and dignified, Senator Burnham
enjoys the confidence and respect of every one with
whom he comes in contact. He is a very hard
worker in committees, and probably no other mem-
ber of the senate is more constant in his attendance.
His speech for the statehood bill elicited marked
commendation, and his thoroughness in obtaining
all the information possible on matters in which he
is interested inspired the greatest respect on the
part of his colleagues." He was re-elected for the
term of six years, beginning March 4, 1907.
Mr. Burnham is deeply interested in the Masonic
and other fraternal bodies. He is affiliated with
Washington Lodge. No. 61, of Manchester, in which
he has passed the chairs; with the superior bodies
including the Consistory, and is an honorary thirty-
third degree member, Scottish Rite. In 1885 he
was elected grand master of the Masonic jurisdic-
tion of New Hampshire. He is also a prominent
Odd Fellow, and has passed the chairs in the sub-
ordinate bodies.
Mr. Burnham was married October 22, 1874, to
Miss Elizabeth H. Patterson, of Manchester. She
was born January rg, 1850. in Candia, New Hamp-
shire, only daughter of John Duncan and Hannah
(Eaton) Patterson (see- Patterson). John D. Pat-
terson was born April 13, 1S21, in Londonderry,
and his wife was born April 7, 1823, in Candia.
He died June T2. 1897. They have one son, Will-
iam Wallace Patterson, born September 29, 1847, in
Candia. Mr. and Mrs. Burnham are the parents of
three daughters : Gertrude Elizabeth, born January
28, 1876, in ^Manchester, was married. October 14,
1903, to Charles Maurice Baker, of Manchester;
Alice Patterson, born February 9. 1878, was married.
October 18. 1899, to Aretas Blood Carpenter of
Manchester; Edith Duncan Burnham, born March
16, 1885. in Manchester, resides with her parents.
(VII) William, second son and fourth child of
Bradford and Hannah D. (Whipple) Burnham, was
born August 25, 1820, in Dunbarton, and died in that
town April 2. 1899. He was educated at Pembroke
Academy, and taught school a short time in Bow
and the neighboring towns. He was principally a
farmer throughout life, and was engpged to some
extent in lumbering. During and about the time of
the Civil war he was a selectman several years, and
represented the town in the legislature in 1872.
Mr. Burnham married (first), Harriet P. Kim-
ball, and their children were : Emma M., married
Clinton .D. Grant, of Goffstown ; and Mary A. He
married (second), Asenath Hoyt, of Weare, and
they were the parents of William, who died young.
Mr. Burnham married (third), Martha J. Hoyt,
sister of his second wife, and two children were
born of this union : Walter H., and Abraham
Lincoln. The mother of these children died in
August, 1904.
(VIII) Abraham Lincoln, second child of Wil-
liam and Martha J. (Floyt) Burnham, was born
April 15, 1865, on his father's farm, on the day of
the foul assassination of the r^Iartvr President, whose
name was given to him. The greater part of his life
life was passed in Dunbarton, and his educational
opportunities were limited, he being his father's
principal assistant in tilling the farm, from a very
early age. This homestead property he subsequently
purchased, and in addition to caring for it he is en-
gaged to some e.xtent in lumbering operations, his
properly containing a good grovi'th of timber. He
gives little attention to politics, but has served as
selectman. He married (first), October 2. 18S8,
Nellie A., daughter of John H. Bishop, of Groton,
Massachusetts, and they had two children: Philip
H. and William B., who are of the fifth generation
who have lived upon the Burnham farm. The mother
of these children died November 19, 1894. Mr.
Burnham married (second), Alice E. Webster, of
Methuen, Massachusetts. The Burnham homestead '
is one of the famous properties of this region. Upon
it is an old oak tree measuring nineteen feet in cir-
cumference which Mr. Burnham's grandfather re-
J'XjU^^A^^i.yuu' ^ ' ^ 'S^^^K.yi.yL^cyix^a.
^^;^^.
WILLIAM BURNHa
\
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
93
membered as a small sapling. From a point on this
farm may be seen land in every county in New
Hampshire, and the distant mountains of jMassachu-
setts.
(.II) Robert (2), second son of Robert and Mary
(Andrews) Burnham, was born in England in 1614,
and came to America in company with his brothers,
as above related. He settled in Dover, where he
was an active citizen, and died at the home of his
brother Thomas, in Chebacco in 1691. The record
of his will and settlement of estate are found at
Salem, Massachusetts. He married Frances Hill,
and they have live children: Robert (died young),
Elizabeth, Samuel, Jeremiah and Robert.
(III) Samuel, second son and third child of
Robert (2) and Frances (.Hill) Burnham, had a
son James, but there is no record of births or deaths
or other facts concerning Samuel.
(IV) James, son of Samuel, had four sons:
Samuel, Nathaniel, Joshua and James. There is no
record of his wife, the mother of these sons.
(.V) Nathaniel, second son of James Burnham,
was born in Dover, in 1719. He married Mehitable
Colbath, of Newington, and their children were :
George, Enoch, Temperance, Joseph, Abigail, Dud-
ley, Susanna and James. The father died in Feb-
ruary, 1797, at Somersworth, New Hampshire. His
wife died June 17, 1794.
(VI) George, eldest child of Nathaniel and
Mehitable (.Colbath) Burnham, was born Novem-
ber 8, 1742, and died March 25, 1805, in New Dur-
ham, New Hampshire, where he was a pioneer
settler. He was a soldier of the Revolution, and
served as ensign under Washington. He married
Sarah Rogers and had children : Mehitable, John
and Sally.
(Vil) John, only son of George and Sarah
(Rogers) Burnham, was born December 15, 1774.
and was reared in New Durham, where he died
January 23, 1S54. He married, January 18, 1796,
Martha Berry, of New Durham, and their children
were : Betsey, Experience, George, Lydia, Polly,
Martha, Sarah, Joseph and Hannah.
(VIII) George (2), eldest son and third child
of John and Martha (, Berry) Burnham, was born
April 18, 1803, in New Durham. He was a builder
by occupation, and was very successful in this work
in various towns in New Hampshire and Massachu-
setts until 1S55. In ^larch of that year with two
of his sons, George and Henry, he removed to
Freeport, Illinois. In the fall of that year he sold
his home in Farmington, New Hampshire and re-
moved his entire family to Illinois. The following
two years were spent in Sterling and Morrison,
Illinois, and in Lyons, Iowa. In 1857 he
moved to Comanche, Iowa, where he built
a residence and continued to occupy it dur-
ing the remainder of his life. Both he and
his wife died from injuries received in a great
tornado which swept over that section, Sunday
afternoon, June 3, i860. More than two hundred
people lost their lives in that disaster. Mrs. Burn-
ham died the same evening, and her husband lingered
until Tuesday, the fifth of June following. Their
bodies were brought to New Durham, New Hamp-
shire, where they now rest in the same grave in the
family burying ground. It was the oft-expressed
desire of Mr. Burnham that he might rest when
he fell asleep, in the old orchard on what is now
known as the Davis farm. It was also his desire
and frequently expressed that he might pass away
when "Sally" did. He was married in 1S27 to Sarah
Davis, daughter of John Davis of New Durnham,
the ceremony being performed by Elder Joseph
Boody. She was born March 29, 1809. They had
six children, namely : Charles F., George W., James
M., William H., Albina J., and Hannah (.changed
to Isabel).
(,IX) Charles F., eldest child of George (2) and
Sarah (Davis) Burnham, was born January 28, 1828,
in New Durham, and died September 28, 1894, '"
Farmington. He was a carpenter and shoemaker,
and his life was passed in these occupations in Farm-
ington and New Durham. He was a Republican
in politics, and a member of the Farmington Lodge,
Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He was mar-
ried, jMay 15, 1858, to Betsey Tufts, daughter of
David Tufts of Meaderboro, New Hampshire. They
had three children : Ronello DeWitt, Florence Ade-
laide and Alice Carrie.
(X) Ronello DeWitt, only son of Charles F.
and Betsey (.Tufts) Burnham, was born October 5,
1859, in Farmington, New Hampshire, and there
grew to manhood. He completed the courses of the
public schools in that town, graduated from the
high school. In 1884 he went to Rochester, New Hamp-
shire, was employed four years by S. F. Sanderson
in a drug store, and subsequently opened a drug
store of his own which he has since successfully
conducted. He is an active member of the com-
munity, in which he exercises considerable influence.
He is a Republican in politics, and represented' ward
six <)f Rochester in the state legislature in 1905-6.
He is a member of Humane Lodge, No. 21, Ancient
Free and Accepted Masons, and is also affiliated with
Temple Chapter, Royal Arch Masons., and with
Palestine Commandery, Knights Templar. He is
also a member of Oriental Council, Royal and
Select Masters, and of AUeppo Temple, Nobles of
the Mystic Shrine, of Boston. He is a member of
Motolinia Lodge, No. 18, Independent Order of
Odd Fellows. Air. Burnham is a thorough believer
in the broad and fraternal principles of these orders,
and is a willing contributor to their noble work.
He was married, November, 1885, to Mary Etta
Twombly, and they have daughters — Florence M.,
born February, 1888, and Alice J., May, 1890. The
elder is now a student at Plymouth, New Hampshire.
In 1644, Robert Burnham went to Boston, and
soon after his marriage to Frances Hill. In 1654 he
was one of the company organized to purchase and
settle the town of Dover, New Hampshire, and there
he passed the balance of his life. His children
were : Robert, who died in his si-xteenth year,
Samuel, Elizabeth, Jeremiah and Robert. The re-
cords of this family in and about Dover do not
seem to have been well preserved. The first, now
known in the line herein followed was Paul Burn-
ham, who resided in that part of Dover which is now
Durham, New Hampshire.
(.VI) Jacob, son of Paul Burnham, was born
October 20, 1748, in Durham, New Hampshire, and
died April 30, 1838, in Nottingham, same state, on
the border of Northwood. Early in life he settled
in Nottingham, where he cleared out a farm in the
wilderness and became a prosperous citizen. He
was of liberal religious faith and was a Federalist
in politics. He married (first), in 1773-4, Lydia
Burnham, born ;\lay 13, 1749, died May 19, 1784. He
married (second), Mary McDaniel, of Barrington,
New Hampshire, born July 3, 1768, died October 30,
1818. His children are briefly noted as follows :
Anna, born March S, 1775, died at the age of thirty
years, February i, 1805 ; Drucilla, born December 4,
1777, died young; Sarah, born March 29, 1780, mar-
ried Paul Davis and lived in Nottingham; she died
March 19, 1847; Susanna, born May 29, 1782, was the
wife of Benjamin Magoon, and died April 25, 183S,
94
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
in New Hampton ;, Lydia, born April 22, 1784, died
in childhood; Jacob, born February 11, 1786, resided
in Nottingham, where he died June 4, 1S40; Asa,
born December 8, 1787, died October 7, 1834, m
Northwood; Nathan, born March 27, 1790, resided
in Windham, New Hampshire, where he died m
March, 1881, at the age of ninety-one years ; tire
ninth died in infancy; Miles, receives further men-
tion below; Noah, born November 30, 1795, died
August 27, 1857, in Concord; Uamel, born Novem-
ber 30, 1798, died in February, 1885, in Portland,
Maine; Betsey, born April 19, 1801, was the wife
of David Marsh of Nottingham, and died there;
Sabra, born September 4, 1S03, became the second
wife of Benjamin Magoon, and died in .May, 1852, in
New Hampton; Irene, born June 23, 1809, died m
Eppiiig, August 3, 1874, while the wife of David
Fogg; Pamelia, born December 6, i8n, died unmai"-
ried, in 1858. The lirst of the five mentioned above
were children of the first wife, Lydia Burnham.
iVH) Miles, fourth son of Jacob and Mary
(jNlcDaniel) Burnham, was born May 24, 1793, in
Nottingham, and received the meagre education
supplied by the schools of his time and locality. He
was apprenticed as a boy to Moses Hesselton of
Derryheld, to learn the trade of carpenter and
builder, and in due time became a journeyman and
was thus employed in Roxbury, ^Massachusetts. He
subsequently went to that part of Chester which
is now Auburn, New Hampshire, and opened a
countrj- store in partnership with his brother Noah,
and also carried on contracting and building in the
surrounding towns and in Manchester during the
early forties. He died there September 30, 1850.
He was a successful merchant and builder, and in
addition to his other work built for himself a hand-
some residence in Auburn. In religious faith he was
a Universalist and was active in support of the
church, and in politics a Democrat. Fie was a popu-
lar citizen of the town and was the second in wealth
in it. He was captain of militia. He usually at-
tended worship at the Presbyterian Church which
was more convenient, and when the parish was di-
vided in factions on account of the salary issue
previous to the Civil war, he furnished a house for
the clergymen who had been deposed by the Pro-
slavery faction, and also a hall in which religious
services were held by the Anti-Slavery wing of the
Church. This faction, in time became a strong
body and was organized as the Second Congrega-
tional Church of Auburn, to which Mr. Burnham
gave the site for a building and contributed one
hundred dollars toward the erection of its house
of worship. He was an energetic and industrious
man and his success was secured through his own
prudence and thrift. He married, August 13, 1823,
Salome Hall, who was born April 7, 1803, in Auburn,
and died September 29, 18S1, in Epping, New Hamp-
shire. She was the daughter of David and ^lartha
(Graham) Hall and was born in Chester, now Au-
burn. David Hall was a son of Caleb Hall, who was
a soldier at the battle of Bunker Hill and son of
Isaac of Bradford, ilassachusetts. Mr. and Mrs.
Burnham were the parents of six children. Harri-
son, born August 13, 1824, the eldest, died May 22,
1903, on the old homestead, in Auburn; Elizabeth
Ann, July 23, 1827, the second, died January, 1829,
was fatally burned by the overturning of a pot of
tea; Hosea Ballou is the subject of the succeeding
paragraph; Farnsworth, born October 16, 1831, was
a machinist and died February 12, 1856, in Epping;
Martin V. B., born February 14, 1835, died March
II, 1899; and Daniel, born November 30, 1841, died
April 4, 1842.
(.VIII) Hosea Ballou Burnham, M. D. was born
October 15, 1829, in Chester (now Auburn; and
grew up there. He attended the common schools,
ijilmanion Academy and Pembroke Literary Insti-
tute. He was also a student at the New Hampshire
Conference School, now Tilton Seminary, and VVes-
leyan University, at Middletown, Connecticut. He
left the latter institution in his junior year on ac-
count of ill health and subsequently took up the
study of medicine at iManchester with Dr. William
D. Buck. He was later a student at the Berkshire
Medical Institute, at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, then
at Harvard Medical College of Boston, and was
graduated from the Vermont Medical College, at
VV'oodstock in 1853. He afterwards pursued a post
graduate course at the College of Physicians and
burgeons in New York. Dr. Burnham began the
practice of his profession at Epping, New Hamp-
shire, and continued there for a period of thirty-
three years, during which time he rode over a wide
extent of country, and had a large practice. In 1S87
he removed to Manchester, where he has already
built his residence in Brook street. For a period of
seventeen j'ears he was the county physician of
Rockingham county and for twenty years served
on the examining board of the United States Pen-
sion Department. For eleven years he was the sup-
erintendent of schools in Epping, and represented
that town in the state legislature in 1885. He has
always taken a warm interest and pride in the prog-
ress of his state and has contributed liberally there-
to. He is past master of Sullivan Lodge, No. 19,
Ancient -Free and Accepted Masons, of Epping, and
is now affiliated with Lafayette Lodge, of ^lan-
chester, with Saint Alban's Chapter, No. 15, Royal
Arch Masons, of E.xeter. He is a member of the
Rockingham and Hillsboro County Medical Asso-
ciations and was president of the former. He has
been a member of the New Hampshire ^Medical As-
sociation since 1856 and of the American Medical
Association about thirty years. He was a member
of the first staff of physicians of the Elliot Hospital,
of iManchester, the oldest in the state, and
for some years was president of that board.
He is at present examiner for six life in-
surance companies doing business in that city.
Dr. Burnham is a Unitarian in religious belief. Like
his ancestors, he has adhered continuously and con-
sistently to the Democratic party. Dr. Burnliam, is
still the owner of the paternal farm in Chester. He
,is a genial and affable gentleman, well informed
upon the leading questions of the time and may well
be counted among the foremost citizens of Man-
chester. He was the first treasurer of the Epping
Savings Bank and then vice-president and chairman
of the investments committee until leaving the lown.
He was made justice of the peace in 1855 and served
in that capacity for some time. He has achieved
considerable reputation as a surgeon, having per-
formed many difficult operations. He has always
been a dilligent student and has kept abreast of the
progress made in medical science, through reading
the best literature bearing on this subject, and for
some years had entire charge of the Rockingham
County Institution and the Insane Asylum con-
nected therewith. During his student days he was
a teacher, and was employed in the public schools
of Manchester. As a business man, as well as a
physician, he is shrewd and successful, entertaining
broad and liberal views, and conceding to others
the right to their opinions but holding with
firmness to his own. He married, January 29, 1892,
Lilla D. True, widow of George M. True, and
daughter of Anson H. and Esther M. (Brown)
I I
I I
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
95
Hartshorn. She was born October 3, 1855, in
Nashua, Xew Hampshire. Anson H. Hartshorn
was born March 8, 1827, in Lunenburg, Vermont,
and Esther M. (Brown) Hartshorn was born June
14, 1827, in Iilanchester.
(H) Thomas, son of Robert Burnhani, was born
in Norwich, England, about 1619. He deposed that
his age was about fort}', March 29, 1659. He calls
Simon Tuttle brother (i. e. brother-in-law), and
mentioned his uncle John Tuttle (.probably his
wife's) in England. His wife Mary, aged thirty-
five, deposed concerning her mother, Mrs. Tuttle,
at the same time. He was a carpenter by trade,
and became lieutenant of the militia company ; was
Deputy to the General Court in 1683, 1684 and 1685 ;
was selectman in 1647 and on various town com-
mittees ; in 1664 was sergeant of the Ipswich com-
pany, ensign in 1665, lieutenant in 1683. In 1667
he was granted the privilege of erecting a saw
mill on the Chebacco river, near the falls. He was
a freeman and commoner of Ipswich. His houses
and farms were divided between his sons Thomas
and James. His land in 1648 adjoined that of his
brother John. His will was dated January 10,
1693-94, and proved September of the same year.
He married, 1645, Mary, daughter of Richard
Tuttle. He bequeathed to his wife Mary the residue,
and to his surviving children : Thomas, John, James,
Mary, Hannah, Abigail, Ruth (died young), Ruth,
Joseph, Nathaniel, Sarah and Esther.
(III) John, son of Thomas Burnham, was born
ia (ihebacco, in 1648, and died January 12, 1704. He
married, June 6, 1668, Elizabeth Wells, who died
in 1717. From him 'descended most of the Essex
Burnhams. He settled in Chebacco, first near the
head of Whittridge creek, and afterwards at the
Falls. He became in 1689 proprietor of the grist
mill at the falls, and much of this property that
he owned in the vicinity has remained to the present
time in the possession of his family. In 1687 he
was given permission to move his mill. His chil-
dren were : John, Thomas, Jacob, Joseph, Abigail,
Jacob, Jonathan, David and JMary. (Mention of
David and descendants forms a part of this article.)
(IV) Thomas, second son of John and Eliza-
beth (Wells) Burnham, was born in 1673 and died
in 1748. The land on which he settled was a
part of his father's estate in Essex, and still remains
m possession of his descendants. The family name
of his wife is not known, but he married and had
six children.
(V') Stephen, son of Thomas Biirnham, mar-
ried Mary Andrews, and settled in. Gloucester, Mas-
sachusetts. The dates of his birth, marriage and
death or unknown, but he had a large family of
thirteen children, some of whom came to New
Hampshire and were among the lirst settlers there.
(VI) Joshua, son of Stephen and Mary (An-
drews) Burnham, was born in Gloucester, Massa-
chusetts, in 1754, and afterward lived in the town
of Milford, New Hampshire. He had ten children,
among them a son Thomas.
(VII) Thomas, son of Joshua, was born in
Milford, New Hampshire, in 1783, and died in
Hillsborough, New Hampshire, in 1856. He" was
a substantial farmer and a man of considerable
consequence in the town, although he appears not
to have taken much interest in public affairs. He
continued to live in Milford until 1821, then re-
moved to Antrim and occupied what was known as
the Madison Tuttle farm until 1S37, when he moved
■ to Hillsborough. In 1807 Mr. Burnham married
Rachel Conant, who died in Nashua. New Hamp-
shire, in 1871, at the age of eighty-seven years.
They had eight children : Albert G., Selina D.,
Dr. Abel C, Orna B., Henrietta B., G. Erickson,
E. Hatch and Oramus W. Burnham.
(VIII) Dr. Abel Conant Burnham was in many
respects one of the most notable and noble char-
acters in Hillsborough history. A self made man
himself, and knowing by his own experience some-
thing of the obstacles to be met and overcome in
establishing a comfortable condition of things in
domestic life, he was ever considerate of the cir-
cumstances of those about him and very frequently
during the course of his long and honorable career
as a physician gave medical attention and often
material aid with no thought of compensation or
reward other than the consciousness of having done
some good.
Dr. Burnham was the third child and younger
of the two sons in the family of Thomas and
Rachel (Conant) Burnham, and was born in the
town of Amherst, New Hampshire, j\lay 12, 1812;
and he died in the town of Hillsborough, New
Hampshire, May 26, 1896, in the house now occu-
pied by his adopted daughter. Much of his young
life was passed in the family of his mother's
brother. Rev. Abel Conant, of Leominster, Massa-
chusetts, under whose direction he was given pre-
liminary instruction in order to lay the loundation
of his later education. He afterward was a stu-
dent in the academies in Francestown, Pembroke
and Hillsborough, and having acquired a good edu-
cation he went to Watervliet, New York, and taught
school there for a year, then returned to Hills-
borough and took up the study of medicine with
Dr. Elisha Hatch, in winter seasons devoting his
attention to school teaching. After two years he
placed himself under the immediate instruction of
Dr. Amos Twitchell, of Keene, New Hampshire, a
surgeon of wide renown, and with whom he had
the best of opportunities for gaining a thorough
knowledge of surgery, and often accompanied his '
preceptor when the latter was called to operate and
acted as his assistant. In after years Dr. Burnham
himself became a skillful surgeon and was called
to operate in many difficult and sometimes serious
cases, requiring not only surgical ability but much
courage ; but in this quality he never was wanting,
and while he was perfectly fearless in his opera-
tions in capital cases he always vigorouslj' opposed
reckless use of the instruments. His knowledge
of anatomy was remarkable and in the study of
that branch he was much of the time in the dissect-
ing room. He studied modern works and methods,
both in medicine and surgerj', and employed every
opportunity to be present at demonstrations and
clinics, although his time was earlier than that in
which clinical instruction became a leading part of
the medical college course. Dr. Burnham's medi-
cal education included three courses of lectures^
one at Woodstock, Vermont, and two at Dartmouth
I\IedicaI College, Hanover, New Hampshire, where
he was graduated with the degree of M. D. in
November, 1839. After leaving college with his
prized "sheepskin" he went to Lowell, Massachu-
setts, and spent one winter in the office of Drs.
Kimball & Bartlett, then returned to Hillsborough,
and in February, 1S41, began active practice as
assistant to Dr. Hatch, his old preceptor. In the
following fall he located at the village known as
Hillsborough Bridge, and after six years there took
a post-graduate course in tlie medical department
of the University of New York, and also attended
at several of the large city hospitals. He then
came back to Hillsborough Bridge and established
himself in the practice which continued through a
96
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
period of fifty-five years, until the time of his^
death, in 1896. In connection with a large general
practice Dr. Burnham was for many years promi-
nently identified with the history of the town of
Hillsborough and its institutions. For four years
he held the office of superintending school commit-
tee, and for fifty years held a commission as justice
of the peace. He was twice elected representative
of Hillsborough to the general court, three years
a member of the Hillsborough Board of Education,
thirteen years a member of the board of directors
of the First National Bank of Hillsborough, many
years a member of the American Medical Associa-
tion and the New Hampshire State Medical So-
ciety. He w-as made a iNlason in Harmony Lodge
of Hillsborough in i860, and for several years was
secretary of that body.
Dr. Abel Conant Burnham married, November
9, 1849, Caroline Dascomb, daughter of George and
Mary (Steele) Dascomb of Hillsborough. She
was born July 27, 1823, and died December 24,
1898. Their daughter by adoption, Emma Jack-
man, of Hillsborough, was born in Brighton, Illi-
nois, March 6, 1S70, and from the time she became
a member of the Burnham household was the doc-
tor's efficient helper and chief dependence in his
later professional and domestic life. She mar-
ried, December 31, 1895, John Conway Warne, who
was born in Birmingham, England, August 12, 1872,
and came to this country in 1893. In England he
served a full apprenticeship to the tailor's trade,
and now is engaged in business in Boston. Mr.
and Mrs. Warne have two children : Alma Monroe
Warne, born April 17, 1899, and Nerine Warne,
born February 18, igoi.
(IV) David, sixth son of John and Elizabeth
(Wells) Burnham, was born in Chebacco, October
20, 1688; died February 2, 1770: married (first), July
2, 1711, Elizabeth Perkins; married (second), August
18, 1740, Elizabeth Bartlett, born 1703; died Oc-
tober 16, 1794. Children of David and Elizabeth
(Perkins) Burnham: I. Elizabeth, born June 3,
1712; married February 25, 1733, Samuel Webster.
2. David, born June 17, 1714; mentioned below.
3. Sarah, born December 28, 1715; married De-
cember 9, 1736, Solomon Giddings. 4. Abigail, born
August 31, 1717; married 1740, Daniel Dane. 5.
Westley, born October, 17 19. Children of the second
wife: 6. Isaac, born August 31, 1741 ; died August
8, 1819. 7. Joseph, born January 3, 1743. 8. Wil-
liam, born August 10, 1746.
(V) David (2), son of David (i) Burnham,
was born at Essex, Massachusetts, June 17, 1714;
died December 27, 1802 ; married September 25,
1734, Elizabeth Marshall, born 1715, died 1801.
Children, born in Essex: i. Amos, born 1735,
mentioned below. 2. Benjamin, baptized December
5. 1736. 3. David, baptized November 19. 1738,
died in infancy. 4. David, baptized August 10,
1740; married December 21, 1764, Ann Grover.
S. Elizabeth, baptized October 10, 1742. 6.
Moses, baptized January 6, 1745, died young. 7. Han-
nah, baptized March 25, 1747 ; married November
3, 1768, Thomas Story. 8. Enoch, baptized 1749;
married February 11, 1779, Hannah Bennett. 9.
Susannah, born 1750. 10. Benjamin, born 1755:
married May 24, 1778, Susanna Day ; died April
14, 1847. II. Moses, born 1757: died April 22,
iSoi ; married March 9, 1799, Eunice Andrews.
12. Parker, baptized in 1764; Ui^rried March 8, 1787,
Tabitha Day, second November 16, 1804, Martha
Lufkin ; he died February 20, 1856.
(VI) Amos, son of David (2) Burnham, was
born in Essex, 1735, and died at Ipswich, November
28, 1788. He married first, January 27, 1757, Sarah
Giddings, who died January 20, 1782. He married
second, October 4, 1782, Mehitable Foster. He was
drowned while fowling in Chebacco Pond. Chil-
di-en : I. Amos, married January 3, 1782, Abigail
Goodhue; he died April, 1834. 2. Thomas M., born
about 1760; married November 28, 1784, Mary
Marshall. 3. Sarah, married November 27, 1783,
Charles Burnham; she died May 3, 1851. 4- Eliza-
beth, born about 1765; died August 11, 1846. 5.
Aaron, born May 25, 1767; died December 16,
183s; married October 26, 1790, Lucy Poland.
6. Daniel, born September 6, 1768; died April 29,
1849; married June 29, 1789, Elizabeth Giddings.
7. David, born June 10, 1770; mentioned below.
8. Robert, born 1772; married January 3, 1793,
Eunice Emerson. 9. Susan, married September 13,
1794. Jonathan Burnham. 10. Martha, married
April 21, 1806, Ira Percival. 11. William, mar-
ried August 10, 1798, Eunice Story; he died No-
vember 29, 1848. 12. Judith, married April 5, 1799,
Joseph Allen. Child of second wife : 13. Rosanna,,
born about 1783, married July 14, 1804, Phineas
Story.
(VII) David (3), son of Amos Burnham, was
born in Essex or Ipswich, Massachusetts, June 10,
1770, and died December 8, 1863. He was a sea
captain. He married first, December 19, 1789, Polly
Noble. Children: May, born 1790; Olive, Hepze-
bath, Fidelia, Lucinda, Elinor, Thomas Choate,,
mentioned below, and Matilda.
(VIII) llionias Choate, son of David Burnham,
was born in Essex, September i, 1810; died October,.
1895. He married Sallie Gove. He resided in
Enfield, New Hampshire, where many of the Burn-
ham lamily have settled. Children: i. Elijah Gove,
born June 9, 1841, mentioned below. 2. Mary Jane,,
born February 28, 1848, died March 11, 1862.
(IX) Elijah Gove, son of Thomas Choate
Burnham, was born in Enfield, New Hampshire.
June 9, 1841, and died August 19, 1900. He was
educated in the public schools of his native town,
and learned the trade of tinsmith in his youth,
following it as ■ a trade and business during his
active life. At one time he carried on a hardware
business also. In politics he was a Republican. He
enlisted in 1862 in the union army in the Eleventh
New Hampshire Volunteers, and owing to bad
health was detailed to do special service, such as
clerking, etc. He was a man of much natural ability
and achieved success in business by constant in-
dustry and untiring energy. He married Addie
Lorentine Moody, born at Stowe. Vermont, Sep-
tember 2, '1841, daughter of John and Louisa
(Towne) Moody. Her father was born at Stowe,
February 28, 1816, and died January 10, 1881 ; her
mother was born July 5, 1819, and died June 11,
1849. Children of John and Louisa Moody : Jessie
Towne JNIoody ; Addie Lorentine Moody; Priscilla
R. Moody ; Erminie L. Moody and Nathaniel R.
Moody. John Moody was a farmer and "stone ma-
son; a Republican in politics; a Universalist in re-
ligion. He was the son of John Moody, also of
Stowe.
(I) John, son of Thomas Burnham, was born
at Scarborough, Maine, in 1779. He was educated
at Phillips Academy, Exeter, New Hampshire, af-
terwards settling in Limerick, Maine, where he was
the first lawyer and a member of the legislature
which set off Maine from Massachusetts. John
Burnham married Susannah Hill, daughter of Cap-
tain Jeremiah Hill, of Biddeford, Maine. Her
father. Jeremiah Hill, was commissioned a captain
by John Hancock about the time the Declaration
NEW HAMPSHIRE
97
of Independence was signed. John and Susanna
(Hill) Burnham had eleven children, among them
Mark L,,, whose sketch follows.
(II) Mark L., son of John and Susannah
(Hill) Burnham, was born at Limerick, Maine, in
July, 1815. He spent three years in Boston in early
life, and then returned to Limerick, where he be-
came a farmer. He was an active member of the
Congregational Church, a Democrat in politics, and
served as deputy sheriff a number of years. He
married Susan Lord, daughter of Thomas Lord, of
Limerick. They had seven children : John, de-
ceased; Charles Henry, whose sketch follows;
James O., deceased; Sarah Bradbury, deceased;
Susannah, widow of John Forber, of Limerick;
Oscar D., who lives at Limerick ; Abbie H., widow
of Thurston Day, who lives at Revere, Massacliu-
setts. Mark L. Burnham, and his wife died in
1895.
(III) Charles Henry, second son and child of
Mark L. and Susan (Lord) Burnham, was born
at Limerick, Maine, January 20, 1837. He was edu-
cated in the common schools and at the academy,
and was graduated from Bowdoin Medical College
in 1867. He practiced medicine at Weston, Alaine,
one year, and at Denmark, JMaine, six years, and
came to Jefferson, New Hampshire, in November,
1875. f-*!"- Burnham is a Democrat in politics, and
was chairman of the board of selectmen in Jeffer-
son from 1878 to 1900. He represented his town
in the New Hampshire legislature during 1889 and
1890. He is now a member of the school board
(.1907). Dr. Burnham belongs to the -Coos County
Medical Society, and to the Alasonic fraternity, be-
ing a member ot North Star Blue Lodge at Lancaster.
New Hampshire. He has an attractive home at
Jefferson Hill, and is one of the most valued citi-
zens of the town.
Dr. Charles Henry Burnham married, 1871, Jen-
nie S., daughter of Lorenzo D. and Angeline
(Howard) Berry,' of Denmark, Maine. There ai-e
no children.
This old Scotch name has long
MITCHELL been conspicuous in the history of
New England, and its bearers have
been noted for those Scotch qualities of industry,
thrift and stern adherence to principle which are
proverbial. In the early settlement of New Hamp-
shire and the development of its industries past and
prejent, it has borne no mean part, and is now
known honorably throughout the United States,
many of its representatives being descendants of
those stern old New Hampshire pioneers. These
last mentioned, as well as their progenitors, have
been noted for their feats of physical strength and
qualities of endurance.
(.1) The founder of the family in America
was a native of Scotland, and Captain Mitchell
(probably ftamed Philip) held a commission under
the Duke of Marlboro in the British army. He
was sent to, America in Queen Anne's reign to
assist the colonists in their struggles with the In-
dians. This company consisted of one hundred men,
and included a contingent of a.xemen who cut
their way through the wilderness along the frontiers
under guard of their companions in arms. This
Captain Mitchell received from the colony of Mas-
sachusetts, in compensation for his services, a grant
of one thousand acres of land. He settled in what
is now Haverhill, and built a block house for the
protection of himself and neighbors in case of In-
dian outbreaks, and this continued a long time a
landmark of the locality. His residence was on
i— 7
the north side of the Mcrrimac river, in the west
parish of Haverhill, and he built a house about
1730 which is now standing. This was at Mitchell's
Falls, formerly known as "Mitchell's Eddy," near
Scotland Hill. This hill was so named in honor
of the native land of Captain Mitohell. He had
sons John and George.
(li) John, elder son of Captain Mitchell, re-
sided through life in Haverhill, and had sons :
Nathaniel, Ebenezer, Thomas, Daniel and one who
was accidentally shot in childhood. One of the
sons married a Johnson, of Hampstead, and the
other a Gordon.
(III) Nathaniel, eldest son of John ^Mitchell,
was born 1732, on Scotland Hill, near "Mitchell's
Eddy," and died there _in 1797. Fie was a tanner
and currier, and resided in what is now Dracut
until 1767, when he removed to the eastern part
of Bradfort, transporting his family and effects
down the Merrimac River on a raft. He married
Abigail, daughter of Deacon John and Abigail
(Bailey) Day, who was born January 24, 1733 (see
Bailey, HI). Their sons were: Nathaniel, Captain
Day, Joseph and Peter. There were also two in
succession named James who died in infancy and
also twin daughters, who died young.
(IV) Nathaniel (2), eldest son of Nathaniel
(i) and Abigail (.Bailey) Mitchell, was born Au-
gust 23, 1758, in Flaverhill, and resided in Brad-
ford, Massachusetts, until after two of his children
were born. He subsequently lived twenty years in
Hampstead, whence he removed to Hooksett, and
died there August 31, 1838. He was a soldier ot
the revolution, serving under Stark at Bennington,
and after the war was over he was a partner of
Stark in the 'operation of a saw mill at Amoskeag,
and lived in that village for a time. He married,
about 1790, EUice;. daughter of Abraham and Su-
sannah Parker. The latter was a daughter of
Timothy Burbank, and widow of Benjamin Green-
ough. Mrs. Mitchell was born August i, 1769,
and survived her husband about seventeen Vears,
dying in August, 1855, at Manchester. Their chil-
dren were: James, Abraham, Nathaniel, Benjamin,
Joseph, Retier and Peter. (Retier and descendants
are noticed in a later paragraph in this 'article.)
(V) James, eldest child of Nathaniel (2) and
Alice (Parker; Jilitchell, was born November 25,
1788, in Bradford, Massachusetts, and removed with
his father to Hampstead, and thence to Hooksett.
For some years he lived at Amoskeag, now a part
of Manchester, and with his brother Nathaniel
owned a water power there, on which they operated
a saw mill for two years. In 1819 he removed to
Hooksett and engaged in farming on the River
road, on land now owned by Scott S. Eastman. In
1838 he removed to Aianchester, and in 1839 built
a house on Merrimack street. He subsequently
built at the corner of Merrimack and Pine, and
afterward resided on Central street. From 1828
to 1840 he kept a boarding house. He w-as an
active member of the Methodist Church, and a
vigorous opponent of human slavery. He was
politically identihed with the Whig and Free Soil
parties, and was naturally among the founders of
the Republican party. He was married in 1814
to Isabel Mitchell, of Kiltery, Maine. Their chil-
dren are as follows: Martha Ann, the eldest, mar-
ried Luther B. French, and resided in Du Quoin,
Illinois. James established one of the earliest shoe
stores in Manchester, where he lived and died.
Nathaniel is the subject of the succeeding para-
graph. Isaac resided in St. Louis, Missouri. Alice
became the wife of Isaac Noycs, and died in Man-
98
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Chester, New Hampshire. George was a soldier in
the civil war, and gave up his life in the battle of
Shiloli. Emily married Horatio Stevens, a sea
Captain, and died at iNIalden, Massachusetts, June
2, 1S94. Elizabeth married Rev. James Gridley,
a Presbyterian, clergyman, and resided in Illinois.
Abraham is a prominent railroad man, whose home
is at Hyde Park, now in the city of Chicago, Illi-
nois. Jacob resides at Englewood, also in Chicago.
Beside these one died in infancy.
(VI) Nathaniel, second son and third child
■of James and Isabella Mitchell, was born October
32, 1S17, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and
reared in Manchester and Hooksett, receiving his
education in the common schools. He was a farmer
on the River road in the latter town, on the home-
stead formerly owned by his father-in-law, William
Parker, and continued in that occupation until ad-
vancing years compelled his retirement. His last
.years were passed at the home of his daughter in
Amesbury, Massachusetts, where he died November
22, 1900, aged eighty-three years. He was a regular
attendant and supporter of the ]\Iethodist Church,
and a steadfast Republican, having accepted the
foundation principles of his party long before its
■organization. He was married, about 1S45, to Ade-
4ine Parker, second daughter of William Parker
<see Parker, VI). She was born in 1S24, in Hook-
sett, and died July I, 1884, at the age of sixty-
two years. Their children were : William, died at
■the age of thirty-two years ; Henry Clinton, last
iheard of in Colorado; George Edward, a resident
■of Sacramento, California; Frank Albert, who re-
ceives further mention below ; Elizabeth Belle, wife
•of Arthur Congdon, residing in Amesbury, Massa-
•chasetls; Charles Everett, a resident of Hooksett;
■ and Frederick, who died at the age of one year.
(,VII) Frank Albert, fourth -son and child of
^Nathaniel and Adeline (Parker) JNIitchell, was born
JMay 26, 1858, in Hooksett, and was reared on
ihis father's farm in that town. He attended the
■common school at Hooksett Village, continuing dur-
ing the winter terms until he was seventeen years
old. In the meantime he w-as early introduced to
the duties and labors of a farmer's son, and con-
tinued an active assistant of his father until, he was
.twenty years of age. At that time he went to
Hannibal, Missouri, and began his railroad career
as a fireman on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas
railroad. Before three years had rolled around he
was promoted to the position of locomotive engineer.
In 1882 he came to I\lanchester, this state, and
■was employed four years in Blood's locomotive
•shops, becoming thoroughly familiar with the con-
■struction of the machines which he formerly oper-
.^ted. In 1886 he went to Duluth, Minnesota, and
•was employed on the Northern Pacific railroad, and_
^operated a locomotive used in the construction of
vthe Ashland branch of that road. At the end of
-.two years he returned to ^lanchester and has been
:a resident of that city during the last seventeen
-y-ears. For some time he was employed in operat-
Ting a stationary engine for the electric light com-
pany of that city, and for twelve years past has been
•2mployed by the Amoskeag Corporation. He now
controls an engine of forty-five hundred horsepower
which drives the electric motors used in 'the enor-
:mous plant of that concern. Mr. Mitchell is a mem-
.'.ber of Friendship Lodge, Independent Order of
Odd Fellows, of Hooksett, and is an attendant of
the Christian Science Church at Manchester. Like
liis father and grandfather, he is an ardent be-
liever in the principles and public policy of the
Republican party. He was married, June 1,. 1893,
to Susie Brown, born March 19, 1872, at St. Johns-
bury, Vermont, daughter of Thomas and Mary
(Murtage) Brown, of Scotch ancestry. Mr. and
Mrs. Mitchell have one son, Frank Edward, born
October 13, 1900.
(V) Abraham, second son and child of Na-
thaniel (2) and Alice (Parker) Mitchell, was prob-
ably a native of Hampstead. He settled opposite
Martin's Ferry, in the town of Hooksett, where he
had an intervale of farm of two hundred acres.
His wife Judith Moulton, of Hampstead, was born
January 4, 1790, in Hampstead. She survived him,
and died at the home of William H. Wheeler, in
Hooksett. Mr. Mitchell was a deep student of
theology, and pursued the study so far that his
mind became unbalanced. Following is a brief
mention of his children. Nathaniel, the first, is
noticed in the next paragraph. William died at the
age of thirty-eight years. Sarah became the wife of
Rev. Joseph Hayes, a Methodist clergyman who
attained great age, dying at Newburyport, Massa-
chusetts, when about one hundred years old. John
was a merchant at Hooksett and JNIanchester, and
died at the latter place. Jane, the wife of Wallace
Rogers, resided in and died in Bow, as did, also,
Abigail, the wife of Charles Wheeler. Alice mar-
ried Ira Prescott, and lived and died in Deerfield.
Abraham died in Hooksett.
(VI) Nathaniel, eldest child of Abraham and
Judith (Moulton) Mitchell, was born May 20,
1814, in what is now Hooksett. He was married,
November 13, 1836, to Sallie Leavitt, who was born
December 10, 1810, daughter of Josiah and Susan
J. (Copp) Leavitt. Josiah Leavitt was born March
14, 1783. and his wife November 25, 1786. They
were married August 9, 1804. Nathaniel Mitchell
owned and operated flatboats on the Merrimack
river, and with his brother, J. IT. Mitchell, kept a
large country store from 1838 until 1S44. He was
a selectman and tax collector for many years in
his native town. He was engaged to some extent
in the lumber business, and owned and managed a
farm. He died November iS. 1867, and his wife
died July 30, 1902. Their children were: Hope,
Annie H., Ruth, Seth, Mary and Fred.
(VII) Annie H., second daughter of Nathaniel
and Sallie (Leavitt) Mitchell, became the wife of
Norris C. Gault (see Gault, VI). She died January
18, 1900.
CV) Rev. Retier, fifth son and child of Na-
thaniel and Alice (Parker) Mitchell, was born July
30, 1798, in Hampstead, New Hampshire. His early
education was obtained in the common schools, and
supplemented at Wilbraham Academy and by private
study and extensive reading, and he was widely
known as a cultivated man. He became a deacon
of the Methodist Church, a rank which is seldom
accorded to laymen in that organization. He was
a farmer in Hooksett, and engaged largely in rear-
ing cattle and sheep. His farm was on the .west
side of the river, on what is known as the River
road. He removed to Manchester about 1840 and
purchased a tract of ground on which he engaged
in gardening and fruit culture, and also realized
an income from the sale of city lots. He often
supplied the pulpit in churches of the vicinity, and
held membership with St. Paul's ^Methodist Episco-
pal Church of Manchester. In politics he was an
old-line Whig, and affiliated with the Republican
party upon its organization. He was a representa-
tive. Of studious and domestic tastes, he attained
the great age which is usually the result of temper-
ate living and non-participation in strifes. He died
at Manchester, iSf^J. He was married to Nancy
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
99
Hayes, who was born in Allenstown, the eldest of
five famous sisters in the family of John Hayes of
that town. Their cliildren were Oliver N. and
Emma F. The latter became the wife of M. V. B.
Smith, and died in Manchester, childless.
(.VT) Oliver Newland, only son of Rev. Retier
and Xancy (Hayes^ jNlitchell, was born January
29, 1831, in Hooksett, and was about nine years old
when his parents removed to Manchester. His
education was supplied by the public schools of
that city, and he early began to assist his father in
gardening and horticulture, and continued that busi-
ness after his father's death until old age compelled
him to cease his activity. He died March 12, 1905.
He was a man of quiet tastes, and did not mingle
in public life, although he was was a man of settled
convictions and sustained the principles of the Re-
publican party. He was fond of his home, was
well-read, and universally respected. Although his
name was not on the roll of any church, he was a
regular attendant and supporter of St. Paul's So-
ciety of Manchester. jNlr. Mitchell was married,
November 7, 1854, to Sarah P. Thompson, who
was born March 14, 1829, in Burrellville, Rhode
Island, a daughter of Lewis and Sarah B. (Aid-
rich) Thompson. She survives her husband, and
flow resides in South Manchester. She is a mem-
ber of the Society of Friends, or Quakers. Fol-
lowing is a brief account of their children : Mary
Wing, the eldest, is a teacher in the public schools
of Manchester. Park, the second, is the subject
of the succeeding paragraph. Lewis Thompson is
a resident of Candia, this state. Hiram Wing is
somewhere in the west, and was, when last heard
from, in British Columbia. Peter Olney and Wil-
fred S. Thompson are residents of South Man-
chester.
CVH) Park, eldest son anJ second child of
Oliver N. and Sarah P. (Thompson) JNlitchell, was
born November 16, 1856, in Manchester, where he
grew up, beginning his education, so far as schools
may go, in the primary and grammar schools of
South Manchester. Extensive travel, together with
reading and observation during the years that have
since passed, have made of him a well-informed
man, and this coupled with his native intelligence
have made him a worthy descendant of worthy
sires. For a short time he attended the Friends'
boarding school in Weare, known as Clinton Grove
Seminary. His school days were over at the age
of sixteen years, when he entered the office of The
Manchester Union to acquire the printer's trade.
Since that tiifle he has been a newspaper com-
■positor, and has worked in many states of the
Union. At one time he was one of the proprietors
of a morning paper at Lynn, Massachusetts, whose
plant was destroyed in the great fire of Lynn.
For some years he has been settled down in Man-
chester and held up to 1907 a desirable position in
the office of the Union, where he first began his
career. Since then he has been editing and pub-
lishing the New Ha)nfshirc Trades Union. Since
1880 he has been a member of the Typographical
Union, which he joined in New Haven, Connecticut,
and has held all the offices in- that body. He was
three years president of the Central Labor Union
of Manchester, and in 1904, was president of the
State Federation of Labor. He is also a member
of the Patrons of Husbandry. Mr. Mitchell has
done much speaking in the interests of organized
labor in many parts of the state, and has been
pleasantly received. ' In the spring of 1906 he was
appointed state organizer of the American Fed-
eration of Labor, and has since given his time to
the interests of that organization, with much suc-
cess. He was married, June 25, 1885, to Flora A.
Hartwell, who was born m Claremont, New Hamp-
shire, daughter of Rev. Henry H. and Sarah (Sar-
gent) Fiartwell. The latter was a daughter of
Sterling Sargent (see Sargent, VH). Mr. and
Mrs. Aiitchell are the parents of tlvee children,
namely ; Emma Mary, Florence Sargent and Henry
Oliver. The family attends the F'riends Church.
I, Second Family.)
(.1) Experience Mitchell and his
jNHTCHELL brother 'ihomas were members of
the original company of worship-
pers who went from England to Leyden, Holland,
prior to establishing themselves in New England,
but neither of them accompanied the pilgrims in
the "Mayflower," and Thomas died in Holland.
In 1623 Experience Mitchell sailed in the "Anne,"
which was the third ship to arrive at Plymouth,
Massachusetts, where he shared in the first division
of land the same year, and he also received his
portion of the live-stock which was distributed in
1O27. Lt 1637 he sold his land on Spring Hill,
Plymouth, to Samuel Eddy, and moving to Dux-
bury, he purchased the William Paybody farm on
Blue Fish river. Fie was one of the original pro-
prietors of Bridgewater, Massachusetts, selling his
proprietory rights to Thomas Hayward, but in his
declining years he went to reside in that town with
his son Edward, who settled m the locality known
as Joppa, where he died in 1689, aged eighty years.
He is said to have had a sister Constant, who be-
came the wife of John Fobes. He is supposed to
have married for his first wife Jane Cook, daugh-
ter of Francis Cook, who was one of the original
"Mayflower" pilgrims, and the christian name of
his second wife was Mary. The names of his chil-
dren, as gathered from his will, deeds and other
recorded documents, were : Thomas, John, Jacob,
Edward, Elizabeth, Mary, Sarah and Hannah. As
it is impossible to identify with certainty the parents
of Joseph jNIitchell, said to have been the founder
of the family in New Hampshire, it has been found
necessary to omit the second generation.
(HI) Joseph, probably a grandson of Ex-
perience Mitchell, was a native of Duxbury and
an early settler in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
He was a charter member of the first church in
that town. The maiden name of his wife is un-
known, but her christian name was JNiary.
(IV) Joseph (.2), son of Joseph (i) and Mary
Mitchell, was born in Portsmouth. Irt 1726 he
married Isabel Bragdon, and about the year 1730
removed from Portsmouth to Kittery, Maine. His
children were : Sarah, John and Jeremiah.
(V) Captain Jeremiah, youngest son and child
of Joseph (2) and Isabel (Bragdon) .Mitchell, was
born (.probably) in Kittery in 1731. He became
a master mariner, and was lost at sea in 1785. In-
formation at hand states that Jeremiah and his wife
Mary were the parents of Joseph, Maisie, Eunice,
Sarah, Hannah and Lucy.
(VI) Joseph (3), eldest child and only son
of Captain Jeremiah and Alary Mitchell, was born
in Kittery in 176S. He married Dorothy Blaisdcll,
and reared a family of eight children, namely :
Mary, Jeremiah, Ezra, Joseph, Hannah, Theodore,
Elijah and Benjamin. All lived to a ripe old age
and when Benjamin, the youngest, was seventy-two
years old, all of his brothers and sisters were in
good health.
(VII) Ezra, second son and third child of
Joseph (3) and Dorothy (Blaisdell) Mitchell, was
born in Kittery, November 18, 1799. Lie learned
lOO
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
the tanner's trade, which he followed in Water-
ville, Maine,' for a time, and removing to Mechanic
Falls, same state, he established himself in busi-
ness in that town. He subsequently sold his tannery,
and erecting the first paper mill in the Pine Tree
state he was identified with that industry for many
years. The' latter portion of his life was spent in
retirement on a farm; he died at the age of ninety
years. He married Mary Perry, of Sidney, jNIaine,
and she died in 1851, leaving one son, Ezra.
(VIH) Ezra (.2; Mitchell, M. D., only son of
Ezra and Mary (Perry) Mitchell, was born ni
Minot, Maine, November 12, 1841. After graduatmg
from the Mame State Seminary, Lewiiton (.now
Bates College), he entered the Harvard iledical
School, from which he withdrew at the breakmg
out of the Civil war and enlisted as a private m the
Eighth Regiment, Aiaine Volunteer Infantry, lie
was, however, appointed a medical cadet m the
United States army, and he served as such until
mustered out in November, 1865, on account ot a
serious pulmonary affection which threatened to
cut short his career of usefulness. Firmly believing
that he would ultimately recover, he became a medi-
cal student at Dartmouth College, from which he
was graduated m 1867, and his determination to
conquer his malady, as well as the diseases of his
fellowmen, seems to have been realized, as he is
now practicing his profession m Lancaster, where
he located shortly atter his graduation. The hand-
ling of his own case, necessitating an exhaustive
investigation as to the most effectual means ot
treating what has since been termed the "great
white plague," naturally prompted him to become
a specialist in tuberculosis and kindred diseases, and
his success m this particular held of practice attests
the fact that he has not labored in vain. He does
not, however, confine his practice exclusively to this
specialty, having attained substantial success as a
general physician and surgeon, and he ranks among
the most able medical practitioners m the state.
In 1903 Dr. Mitchell was elected to the lower
branch of the state legislature, solely for the pur-
pose of assisting in the passing of an act appropriat-
ing a large sum for the building of a state sani-
tarium, and the bill passed both houses without
opposition, but was vetoed by Governor Batchelder
Re-elected in 1905, he renewed his efforts in behalt
of the sanitarium bill with increased vigor, and
once more secured its passage in the lower house.
This tim^ the act was opposed in the senate, but
a compromise, in which the Balch estate hgured
prominently, was finally effected, stipulating that the
bill become a law on May i, 1907- Having thus
accomplished his purpose he declined further nomi-
nation for public office, and retired permanently
from politics. He was appointed chairman ot the
board of trustees to locate and build the sanitarium.
Dr Mitchell is a member of the Coos County, the
New Hampshire and the National Medical societies,
and of the Masonic Order. From 1882 to 1S85 he
served as surgeon-general of the state militia, and
attended as a delegate the dedication of the national
monument at Yorktown, which took place on the
centennial anniversary of that decisive battle. He
is now president of the Lancaster Savings Bank,
and vice-president of the Lancaster Trust Company.
In his religious faith he is an Episcopalian, and is
junior warden of St. Paul's Church.
Dr Mitchell married Abbie E. Potter, Decem-
ber 5 1867, daughter of Albert Potter, of Gardiner,
Maine Dr. and Mrs. jMitchell have had three chil-
dren only one of whom, Ernest H., is now living.
A daughter died in infancy and a son met an ac-
cidental death at the age of two years.
Within a few years after the landing
SAWYER of the Pilgrims at Plymouth there
appears in the records ■ of the settle-
ments of Massachusetts Bay Colony the name Saw-
yer, a name which for centuries in the United
States has been borne and honored by men who
have been successful leaders in nearly all the walks
of life. As governors, congressmen, and senators,
as lawyers and jurists, as manufacturers and mer-
chants, agriculturists and skilled artisans, as pio-
neers they have shown those qualities of character
which planted civilization in a land inhabited by
savages, and under conditions that would have dis-
heartened any but the strongest and bravest. Their
hardihood and christian fortitude made them the
fit instruments for the advancement of civilization
upon the underlying foundation principles, the ob-
ject which is the enjoyment of "life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness." As defenders of these prin-
ciples there were ever ready to face death, as the
records of the early Indian wars in New England
show, as well as those of the Revolution, and in
later years when their country required defenders.
It is a matter of record that eighteen members of
the Sawyer family from Lancaster, Massachusetts,
alone were in the military service at the same time
during the Revolution, and that one company re-
cruited in that town was officered from captain down
by Sawyers.
John Sawyer was a farmer in Lincoln-
shire, England, where he is supposed to have been
a landholder also. He was the father of three
sons : William, Edward and Thomas, who left
England on a ship commanded by Captain Parker,
and settled in Massachusetts about i6j6. (The
last named and descendants receive extended men-
tion in this article.)
(I) William Sayer, the immigrant ancestor,
was born about 1613, probably in England. He was
in Salem, Massachusetts, and later in Wenham, from
1640 to 1645. His name at that time was spelled
Sayer. He subscribed to the oath of allegiance in
1678, and became a member of the First Baptist
Church in Boston, with his wife and several otners
of Newbury in 1681. It is probable that he had
then resided in Newbury for forty years. A branch
of the First Baptist Church was formed in New-
bury in 1682, and William and John Sayer and
others were among its members. He was still
living in 1697, and his estate was administered by
his son-in-law. John Emery, in March, 1703. The_
name of his wife was Ruth, and his children were :
John, Samuel, Ruth, Mary (died young), Sarah,
Hannah (died young), William, Frances (died
young), Alary, Stephen A., Hannah and Frances,
(ilention of William and Stephen and descendants
'forms a part of this article.)
(II) Samuel, second son of William and Ruth
Sawyer, was born November 22, 1646, in Newbury,
where he lived. He was made a freeman. May 12,
1675, a"d died February n, 1718. He was married
in Newbury, March .13, 1671, to Mary, daughter of
George Emery. Their children were : Mary,
Samuel, John (died young), Joshua, Hannah, Jo-
siah, John, a daughter who died in infancy, and
Benjamin.
(III) Joshua, third son and fourth child of
Samuel and Mary (Emery) Sawyer, was born about
1677 or 1678 in Newbury and there lived. No
record of his death has been discovered. The name
of his wife was Elizabeth, as shown by the record
LEVI D. SAWYER.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
lOl
of the births of their children, who were : Joseph,
Mary, Joshua, Nathan, Sarah and Anne.
(.IV) Joseph, eldest child of Joshua and Eliza-
beth Sawyer, was born November 19, 1706, in New-
bury, and settled at Falmouth, JNlaine. He mar-
ried Joanna, daughter of Ebenezer and Mary Cobb,
and lived in what is now known as Cape Elizabeth.
From him is descended nearly all of the Saco val-
ley families of that name. His children were :
Ebenezer, iNlary, Jabez, John, Rachael, James, Mercy,
Lemuel and Rebecca.
(V) John, third son and fourth child of Jo-
seph and Joanna (Cobb) Sawyer, Was born De-
cember 24, 1745, at Cape Elizabeth, and settled with
his brother near Duck pond in that town. He
is described as a large rnan, having curly hair.
He died December 3, 1S05. He married Isabella
Martin, of Bu.xton, who survived him thirty-four
years, dying December 6, 1839. Their children
were : Rebecca, Hannah, John, Robert, Abigail,
David, Molly, Rachael, Joanna, Sally and Lemuel.
(VI) David, third son and si.xth child of John
and Isabella (.Martin) Sawyer, was baptized Oc-
tober 3, 1783, and settled m Standish, Maine, and
there owned a farm of four hundred acres which he
cultivated. He married Betsy Allen and they had
several children, including Thomas, Lemuel and
George A.
(VII) George Alvin, son of David and Betsey
(Alien) Sawyer, was born April i, -1823, at Cape
Elizabeth, Maine. He was one of the "forty-
niners" and went to California for a year or two.
He then returned east, and was in the cooperage
business in Boston for a few years. He then formed
a partnership with an uncle, W. H. Kinsman. To-
gether they owned several vessels engaged in the
sugar trade with Cuba. These interests Mr. Sawyer
retained till the close of his life. He was a Re-
publican in politics, and he attended the old Harvard
Church in Charlestown, Massachusetts, the city
that was so long his home. George Alvin Sawyer
married Elizabeth Varney, daughter of Ezekiel Var-
ney, of Windham, Maine. They had four children :
George, who died young ; Eca A., now living in
California; Henry Holmes, whose sketch follows;
and Harriet, who married G. L. Goulding, of Lex-
ington, Massachusett*. George A. Varney died in
1S90, at Charlestown, Massachusetts.
(VHI) Henry Holmes, second son and third
child of George A. and Elizabeth (Varney) Sawyer,
was born June 24, 1854, at Charlestown, Massachu-
setts. He attended the common and-high schools
of Charlestown, and Eaton's Business College, in
Boston. He was first employed by the Continental
Sugar Refinery of East Boston. He then went into
the employ of his uncle, G. L. Goulding, in the
cotton waste business at Maiden, Massachusetts.
Later he went to Somerville, Massachusetts, and
was employed by J. P. Squire and Company, till he
removed to Walpole, New Hampshire, in 1901.
Since then he has carried on general farmin.g on
the estate of one hundred and fifty acres, left by
his wife's father. Major Lucius Slade. Henry H.
Sawyer married, May 12, 1883, Leila L., daughter
of Major Lucius and Lucy (Rust) Slade, of Boston.
They have three children : Robert S., attended the
high school in Somerville, Massachusetts, and was
graduated from the New Hampshire State College
at Durham, in 1906. Franklin L.. employed at the
-Mgonquin Machine Works at Westminster, Ver-
mont. Arthur H. attends the high school at Wal-
pole. (See Slade Family, VI, for Mrs. Sawyer's
ancestry.)
(in William (2), son of William (i) and
Ruth Sawyer, was born February i, 1655, in New-
bury, Massachusetts, and lived in that town. He
was married March to, 1670, to Mary Emery, who
was born June 24, 1652, daughter of John and Mary
Emery, of Newbury (see Emery). All of their
si.x children were born in Newbury, including sons,
Samuel, John and Josiah.
(HI) Josiah, youngest son and child of Wil-
liam (2) and Mary (Emery) Sawyer, was born
January 20, 1681, and is believed to have been in
some prominent manner connected with the military
organizations of the province as he always was
known as Captain Sawyer. He married and had
five children, but the family name of his wife is
unknown. Their children were : Josiah, born 1708,
died June 10, 1792. Moses, born 171 1, died August
25i 1778. Terzah, born 1715, died 17S2 ; married
twice. Gideon, born 1719, died December 26, 1806.
Hannah, born 1735, died September 24, 1759.
(IV) Josiah (2), eldest son of Josiah (i)
Sawyer, was born in 1708, and married, about 1735,
Mary Ordway of Newbury, daughter of Deacon
John Ordway. Josiah was a farmer, and lived in
Newbury until 1746, when he purchased and re-
moved to a farm in South Hampton, and died there
June 10, 1792. His children were: Josiah, Israel,
Miriam, John, Hannah, Richard, Matthias, Moses,
Terzah and Molly.
(V) Josiah (,3), eldest son and child of Jo-
siah (2) and Mary (Ordway) Sawyer, was born in
Newbury, New Hampshire, in 1737, and died in
Deerfield, New Hampshire, June 19, 1812. He was
one of the original proprietors of Nottingham, New
Hampshire, where he lived near the' line between
that town and Deerfield. His wife, Miriam, born
February 28, 1740, was a sister of Jeremiah East-
man, who made the survey of the town of Deer-
field, and daughter of Jeremiah and Lydia (Brown)
Eastman (see Eastman, IV). Josiah Sawyer's chil-
dren were : Josiah, who removed to Gilford, New
Hampshire. Jeremiah, who removed to Gilmanton
and died there. David, who settled in Deerfield
and removed thence to Lee, New Hampshire. John,
who lived and died in Andover, New Hampshire.
Israel, who spent his life on the old homestead.
(VI) Josiah (.4), eldest of the children Fast
above mentioned, settled in Gilford and was the
founder of one of the prominent families in that
town. Sawyer genealogy gives no account of the
life of Josiah after his removal to Gilford, and
family history only records that he was born about
the year 1760, married an Eastman, and had eight
children, among whom were : Dr. Josiah, John,
Sarah, Patty, Miriam and Israel.
(VII) Israel, son of Josiah and (Gil-
man) Sawyer, was born in Gilford, New Hamp-
shire, March 3, 1803, and married Miriam Davis,
daughter of Melcher and Anna (Jewell) Davis.
Their children : Levi, born June 26, 1828. Salina,
born October 26, 1833. Pamclia, born July 7, 1835.
John, born December 13, 1837. Albert, born Janu-
ary 7, 1843.
(VIII) Levi Sawyer was born in Gilford. New
Hampshire, June 26, 1828, and died there July 7,
1903. His entire life was spent in the town, and
he is remembered as a substantial farmer, a man
of e.xcellent character, and ' one who believed in
and advocated temperance in all things. His wife
was Mary Ann Dame, who was born October 29,
1830. Their children : Luther C, born August 12,
1852, deceased in 1875. Ora Anna, born May 21,
18.SO, wife of Charles H. Gove, resides in Gilford.
.■\nsel B., born August 11, 1863, married ."Mice
.'\dams, resides in Gilford. Ernest P., born No-
vember 6, 1S70,
(IX) Ernest P., youngest child of Levi and
I02
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Mary Ann (Dame) Sawyer, was born in the town
in which he now lives, and like his ancestors for
several generations before him has engaged in
farming pursuits. He also is engaged in poultry
raising, and markets the product of his yards chiefly
in Boston. On September i, 1897, Mr. Sawyer
married Miss Sadie E. Adams, by whom he has
had two children : George Levi Sawyer, who died
in extreme infancy, and Ruth E., born April 21,
1907.
(II) Stephen A., fourth son and tenth child
of William and Ruth Sayer, was born April 25,
1663, in Newbury, and resided there where he died
June 8, 1753, being then the oldest man in New-
bury, over nmety years of age. His will was dated
February 20 of the same year and allowed July
23 following his death. He was a member of the
Society of ir-riends. He niserted a "w" in spelling
his name. He married, March 10, 16S7, Ann,
daughter of William and Elizabeth (Bitfield) Tit-
comb. She was born July 7, 1666, in Newbury, and
died September 7, 1750, in her eighty-fifth year.
Their children were : Ann, Daniel, Stephen, Enoch,
Sarah and Elizabeth. (Stephen and descendants
are mentioned in this article.)
(III) Daniel, second child and eldest son of
Stephen and Ann (Titconib) Sawyer, was born
in Newbury, Massachusetts, January 28, 1689, died
October 22, 1781. He married Sarah Moody, and
they had children, among them a daughter Anne
and a son Humphrey.
(IV) Humphrey, son of Daniel and Sarah
(Moody) Sawyer, was one of the first of his name
to settle in New Hampshire, having come from
Massachusetts to the town of Wtare in Hills-
borough county in 1788. He married Mary Phillips,
of Lynn, Massachusetts, and they had three chil-
dren, two of whom, Phillips and Humphrey, settled
in Weare.
(V) Humphrey (2), son of Humphrey (i) and
Mary (Phillips) Sawyer, was born in Massachu-
setts, and was a young man when his parents settled
in the town of Weare, New Hampshire. He is
said to have been a man of great activity, and for
a time held the office of deputy sheriff. He was
a sieve maker by occupation, and during the eni;
bargo, when the importation of foreign-made goods
was entirely prohibited, he invented and operated a
machine for making wire, an article which had
almost gone out of the market. His wife was Mary
Hoag, who bore him three children : James, born
June 7, 1793, married (first) Nancy Tewksbury,
(second) Polly George, and had four children, two
by his first and two by his second wife. Peace,
born November 15, 1797, died unmarried. Allen,
born June 27, 1803.
(VI) Allen, youngest son and child of Hum-
phrey and Mary (Hoag) Sawyer, was born in
Weare, New Hampshire, June 27, 1S03, and died
April 15, 1866. In 1S28 he opened a custom shoe
shop, for he was a practical workman in that line.
He soon took in several apprentices and began
making ladies' shoes to sell in the neighboring
towns, and made the first shoes ever sold in any
store in the town of Pittsfield. He continued gradu-
ally to increase the business until his shop gave
employment to forty workmen and produced an-
nually from eighteen to twenty thousand pairs of
shoes, worth in the aggregate about thirty thousand
dollars. For the time this was considered an im-
mense business and yielded a good income to the
proprietor. At one time Mr. Sawyer was in partner-
ship with Ira Gove at the crossroads at the place
called Slab City, and still later was a partner with
his son, Lindley M. Sawyer, at North Weare. JNIr.
Sawyer was a man of sterling integrity, universally
respected and contributed much to the prosperity
of his native town. He was a member of the So-
ciety of Friends, and originally a Whig and after-
ward a Republican. He married (first), in 1828,-
Annie Osborne, of Loudon, New Hampshire, and
(second), in 1845, Mary B. Peaslee, of Henniker,
New Hampshire, and had in all eight children,
viz.: John O., born September 12, 1829, died in
1856. Eliza L., born tJctober 10, 1830, married
D. Warren Cogswell, of Henniker, New Hampshire,
died July, 1905. Mary Jane, born May 13, 1832,
married John Winslow Hanson (see Hanson, VII).
Lindley M., born September 25, 1833, died Novem-
ber 12, 1872; he married Ellen R. Dickey, of Man-
chester, New Hampshire. Anna JNI., the eldest
child of second wife, born May 3, 1847, married
Charles A. Jones, in Hillisborough, New Hamp-
shire. Hannah E., bom May 12, 1850, died young.
Abbie E., born September 8, 1854, died young.
Addle E., born August 27, 1858, married Lindley
M. Farr, in Weare.
(III) Stephen (2), second son and third child of
Stephen (i) and Ann (Titcomb) Sawyer, was
born about 1692, in Newbury, and continued to re-
side in that town where he died October 22, 1781.
He married, April 2, 1714, Sarah, daughter of
Thomas and Judith (Hale) Moody. She was born
February 11, 1695, and died August 21, 1790. Their
children were; Humphrey, Anne, Elijah and Ju-
dith.
(IV) Humphrey, eldest child of Stephen (2>
and Sarah (Moody) Sawyer, was born February
12, 1716, and resided on High street in Newbury.
He married Hannah Phillips, of Lynn, Massachu-
setts, and they had ten children, born between 1744
and 176S.
(V) Phillips, son of Humphrey and Hannah
(Phillips) Sawyer, was born April 23, 1746, in
Newburyport, Massachusetts, and settled in Weare,
New Hampshire, in 1788. He married Jilary Breed,
of Lynn, daughter of Nathan Breed, of that town.
Their children were : John, Judith, Ezra, Abigail,
Ruth and Nathan. He died in Weare, August 31,
1S21.
(VI) John, eldest son of "Phillips and Mary
(Breed) Sawyer, was born June 25, 1774, in New-
buryport, and was but a lad when he came w-itli
his parents to Weare, New Hampshire. On at-
taining manhood he purchased a lot of land in
Henniker, on which he settled and became a promi-
nent citizen of that town. He was a member of
the Society of Friends, and represented the town
in the legislature in 1812. He was selectman in
1808-09-10-11-12, and in 1818 and 1824. He mar-
ried, August 19, 1799, Eunice Gove, of Weare, who
died April 22, 1S76. Their children were : Mary,
Moses, Nathan, Daniel and Albert.
(VII) Moses, eldest son and second child of
John and Eunice (Gove) Sawyer, was born October
26, 1803, in Henniker, and became one of the lead-
ing citizens of the town of Weare, New Hampshire.
He very early in life set out to earn his own living,
therefore had little time to give to study in the
ordinary way. Fie was, however, a student all his
life and by reading and observation became pos-
sessed of a fund of useful information, and was
respected and esteemed as a citizen wherever he
lived. He was brought up under the tutelage of
the Society of Friends, and was thoroughly estab-
lished in correct principles of life at the outset.
When he was but fourteen years old he left home
to serve an apprenticeship to the trade of dressing.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
103
cloth, and afterwards went to Amesbury, JMassachu-
setts, where he became conversant with every de-
tail in the manufacture of woolen cloth. While there
he made the acquaintance of John G. Whittier and
William Lloyd Garrison and was ever a supporter
of the latter in his efforts for the promotion of
human liberty. At the age of twenty-eight years
Mr. Sawyer went into business for himself, pur-
chasing a water privilege in North Weare and here
he erected a mill. A company was formed for the
manufacture of woolen goods and in this Mr. Saw-
yer was the moving spirit. His capital did not
extend far'beyond his own knowledge and industry
and a thoroughly established character. This enter-
prise was one of the first woolen mills in New
Hampshire, if not the firsts At the time it was
established there was only one house in the present
city of Manchester. Mr. Sawyer continued for
some years in the successful operation of the mill,
and then became the agent of a new company which
enlarged the facilities of the plant and conducted
an extensive business. He continued as agent of
the company for some years, when they sold out in
the eighties. He then lived retired till his death,
which occurred January 27, 1892.
Mr. Sawyer was prominent in the church work
of the Friends, and was active in every philan-
thropic and benevolent movement. He was an
abolitionist from the first and prized and cherished
the first number of the Liberator, published by
William Lloyd Garrison, to which he was a sub-
scriber. No one ever felt more keenly the injustice
of human slavery than he, and he let no opportunity
pass to do all in his power toward securing the liberty
of the southern, slaves. His house was one of the
stations of the "underground railway" and it was
in that house that Frederick Douglass commenced
writing his autobiography. jNlr. Sawyer was a strong
friend of the temperance movement and gave freely
of his means for the support of temperance work.
It was his nature to champion the cause of the
unfortunate and their relief was never to him a
burden. He was a man of quiet domestic nature
and did not seek part in the conduct of public affairs,
but he felt it his duty to perform such labors as
naturally fell to his lot, and in 1S66 was the repre-
sentative of Weare in the state legislature. He was
the first president of the Hillsboro Bridge County
Bible Society, and was one of the trustees of the
State Orphan's Home. He married (first), in 1833,
Rebecca B. Morrill, of Seabrook, New Hampshire,
who died in 1848. In 1852 he marrjed (second),
Hannah B., daughter of Daniel Bassett, of Wolfboro,
this state. The first wife was the mother of a son,
John Edward ; the second wife was the mother of
Henry A., Rebecca E. and Mary E.
(VIII) Henry Abbott, second son of Moses
Sawyer and eldest child of his second wife, Hannah
B. (Bassett) Sawj;er, was born August i, 1853, in
Weare. He married. May 29, 1878, Elizabeth A.
Matthews, daughter of Joseph H. and Adeline M.
(Adams) Matthews. She was born April 27, 1S5S.
He graduated from the State College at Hanover,
New Hampshire, 1874, and was in the woolen mill
for a time, later farming, later owned and managed
a steam laundry at Far Rockaway, Long Island.
He returned to Weare and died there December 24,
1892.
(IX) Moses H., only child of Henry A. and
Elizabeth A. (Matthews) Sawyer, was born Febru-
ary 14, 1S81, in Weare. He graduated from the
New Hampton Literary Institute of New Hampton,
and was president of his class, in 1901, and is now
engaged in the poultry business in Weare, residing
with his mother. He is a member of the Independ-
ent Order of Odd Fellows, of Weare; also William
Lodge, No. 37; also the (irange of Weare. He is,
a Republican in politics.
(Second Family).
This is one of the surnames which
SAWYER probably arose from an occupation,.,
and has been honored in Americai
since its transportation by many leading citizens ot
various states. It has figured conspicuously in the
United States senate, in the ministry, in law and
in the various callings pursued by the American
people. It is ably and numerously represented ia
New Hampshire, and has contributed its proportion,
to the progress and development of the state. It is
shown that eighteen members of the Sawyer family
from Lancaster, Massachusetts, alone were in mili-
tary service at the same time during the Revolution;
and one company, recruited in that town, was oift-
cered from captain down by Sawyers.
(.1) Thomas Sawyer, the American ancestor,,
son of John Sawyer, of Lincolnshire, England, was
born about 1626, in Lincolnshire, and came to Mass-
achusetts in 1636, with two elder brothers, and
they settled in Rowley in 1639. As early as l647>
when he was twenty-four years of age, he became
one of the first si.x settlers of Lancaster, along with
the Prescotts, Wilders, Houghtons and two other
families. In May 1653, the general court, in answer
to a petition of the inhabitants of Lancaster, ap-
pointed Edward Breck, Nathaniel Haddock, William
Kerley, Thomas Sawyer, John Prescott and Ralph
Houghton, "prudential managers," "both to see alii
alotments to be laid out for the planters in diie
proportion to their estates, and also to order their
prudential affairs." During this same year these
managers allotted a part of the lands of the town-
All divisions of land subsequent to the first, whether
upland, intervale, meadow or swamp, were to be
"accorded to men's estates," on the valuation of the
taxable property which they brought into the settle-
ment. Thomas Sawyer's property was valued at
it 10, which was about one forty-second part of
the property held by the thirty adult male inhabit-
ants of the town. Thomas Sawyer was made a
freeman in 1654. He settled near the south branch
of the Nashua river, and not far from the junction
of that stream with the North branch. Here h'e
built a house which was a garrison, and the scene
of the most conspicuous events in the town's history.
In 1704 this garrison with nine men was commanded
by Thomas (.2) Sawyer, and was the place of de-
fense of the families in the vicinity, in case of an
attack by Indians. Thomas Sawyer and his family
passed through some of the most horrible experi-
ences of Indian warfare in this home of theirs.
King Philip's war, which began in 1675, raised a
storm which broke in great fury on Lancaster,
.August 22, 1675 (o. s.), and eight persons were
killed in the town that day. February 9, 1676,
King Philip, with fifteen hundred warriors attacked
Lancaster, and fifty persons, one-sixth of the
inhabitants of the town, were captured or killed.
Among the latter was Ephraim, the son of Thomas
Sawyer, who was killed at Prescott's Garrison, ia
what is now the town of Clinton. The town in-
cluded fifty families, and they made a heroic resist-
ance, but overpowered by numbers they could not
prevent the enemy from destroying a large number
of their cattle and all but two of the houses in the
settlement. After having been abandoned four years,,
the resettlement of the town was undertaken by the
survivors of the massacre, one of wliom was Thomas
Sawyer. He was a blacksmith, and after participat-
J04
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
ing in the struggles and trials of fifty-three years he
died in Lancaster, at the age of eighty years. He
was buried in the old burying ground on the bank
of the Nashua river, and his headstone still stands
inscribed : "'Thomas Sawyer, DecM, September 12,
1706." Thomas Sawyer married, in 1647, Mary,
daughter of John and Mary (Platts) Prescott. John
Prescott, blacksmith, was a native of Lancaster,
England, and the first permanent inhabitant of Lan-
caster. He was the progenitor of Colonel William
Prescott, of Bunker Hill fame, and William H.
Prescott, the historian. The children of Thomas and
Mary Sawyer were : Thomas, Ephraim, Mary, Eliza-
beth, Joshua, James, Caleb, John and Nathaniel.
(II) Caleb, seventh child and fifth son of
Thomas and iNIary (Prescott) Sawyer, was born in
Lancaster, April 20, 1659. He outlived all -the
Harvard pioneers, dying February 13, 1755, aged
ninety-six years. He received a special grant of
thirty acres from the Lancaster proprietors, as well
as lands from his father, laid out upon the east side
of Beare Hill, afterwards included in the town of
Harvard, and probably built upon his lot shortly
after the massacre of 1697. Near his home was the
famous "Rendezvous Tree." often mentioned in old
records of land and highways, tantalizing us with
suggestions of romance, no detail of which has been
preserved by history or tradition. His dwelling is
still standing, and is occupied as a residence. This
house was one of the garrisons of the town during
the Indian wars, and here he lived for more than
fifty years, and here he died. In the town and church
affairs of his time he was an active and useful man.
He divided the home acres several years before his
death between his sons Jonathan and Seth, the lat-
ter living with his father in the old house, and
Jonathan building a short distance to the north.
Caleb Sawyer married, December 28, 1687, Sarah
Houghton, born Februarj' 16, 1661, the daughter of
Ralph and Jane Houghton, granddaughter of James
Houghton, thus effecting an alliance between two
of the most prominent families which organized
the town of Lancaster. She died November 15, 1757,
in the ninetieth year of her age. The children of
this union were : Hepsibah, Abigail, Jonathan, John,
and Seth, whose sketch follows.
till) Seth, (probably) the youngest of the chil-
di-en of Caleb and Sarah (Houghton) Sawyer, was
born December 31, 1704, baptized at Lancaster in
1708, and died March 29, 1768, aged sixty-three. He
was one of the leading citizens in the town of Har-
vard, and served as selectman in 1755. He is re-
ferred to in the church records as iMr., a title be-
stowed only on men of influence in those days. In
the assignment of seats in the church, in 1766, he
was given a place in the "Fore Seat Below." The
committee which assigned the seats was instructed
"that the foremost Seats Be seated .by aged
and pay * * * that the Rest of the Seats be
seated by pay only." He married, in Lancaster,
October 12, 1732, Hepsibah Whitney, 'tlie ceremony
being performed by Rev. John Trentice. She was
born 1710, daughter of Richard and Elizabeth
(Sawtelle) Whitney, of Stowe, and she died of
debility in May, 1797, at the age of eighty-seven.
Their children were : John, Caleb, Dinah, Betty and
Phineas.
(IV) Caleb (2), second son and child of Seth and
Hepsibah (Whitney) Sawyer, wis born in 1737. in
Harvard, a part of Lancaster, which in 1732 had
been incorporated as a town by itself. Here on what
was an outlying piece of land belonging to his grand-
father he built, in 1761, a house, no trace of which
except the cellar, now remains. He married, De-
cember 9, 1760, Relief Fairbank, born December i,
1739, daughter of Joseph and Mary (Brown) Fair-
bank, of Harvard. She died December 2, 1764,
leaving sons, Seth and Caleb. He married, in 176(3,
Sarah Patch, by whom he had two sons, Phineas
and Jonathan. Jonathan remained on the home
farm at Harvard, which is still occupied by his
descendants. Betsey Townsend, perhaps his third
wife was the mother of William Sawyer, who is
mentioned at length, with descendants in this article.
(V) Phineas, oldest son and child of Caleb and
Sarah (Patch) Sawyer, was born in Harvard, May
23, 1768, and died in Marlborough, in i82d. In 1800,
w^hen thirty-two years of age, he moved to JNIarl-
borough, Massachusetts, and in that part which is
now Hudson he erected, in 1806, a cotton mill in
which he carried on the manufacture of cotton yarn
and cloth until the close of the war of 1S12, when
foreign competition compelled him to quit the busi-
ness. He married, in Harvard, May 17, 1791, Han-
nah Whitnev, born April 23, 1773, in Bolton, daugh-
ter of Deacon Israel and Hannah (Mead) Whitney,
by whom he had fourteen children, the first of
whom were born in Harvard. Their names are:
Hannah. Eusebia, Sarah, Sophia, Alfred I., Ira,
Arethusa. Eliza, Mary, Zenas, Edmund, Francis A.,
Weslev and Jonathan. Mrs. Sawyer lived in Marl-
borough nine years after the death of her husband.
In 1829 she went to Lowell, where she lived twenty
years, dying there in 1849, greatly respected by all
who knew her, and held in honor and affection by
her many children.
(VI) Jonathan, the fourteenth child of Phineas
and Hannah (Whitney) Sawyer, was born in ilarl-
borough, June 17, 1817, died in Dover, June 20, 1891,
aged seventy-four. He was educated in the public
schools of his native town until he was twelve years
old. His father died when he was two years old,
and the lad's mother moved, in 1829, with her family
to Lowell. There he continued his studies, and was
a member of the first class which entered the high
school of that town. - T. IL Clark, afterward bishop
of Rhode Island, was at that time principal of the
high school. Among his classmates were General
Benjamin F. Butler, Gustavus V. Fox, assistant
secretary of the navy during the Civil war, and
Ezekial A. Straw, governor of New Hampshire in
1873. He next went to live in the family of his
brother. Alfred I., who at that time operated a plant
at Dover, New Hampshire. Here he remained two
years, attending school part of each year and work-
ing in the mill the remainder of the time. In 1833
he returned to Lowell, and then went to the Wes-
leyan Academv at Wilbraham. After leaving the
academy he learned the art of dyeing m a woolen
mill in Lowell, and then began dyeing on his own ac-
count, carrying on the business until 1839. In that
year he went to Watertown, New York, wdiere for
two and one half years he was employed as super-
intendent of the Hamilton Woolen Company. After
the conclusion of his service with that company, he
manufactured satinets on his own account in Water-
town until 1849. In that year Alfred I. Sawyer died
and left a family of young children, and Jonathan
Sawyer removed to Dover, where he and his brother
Zenas associated themselves together under the firm
name of Z. & J. Sawyer. They continued the opera-
tion of the mills conducted by Alfred I. Sawyer,
which have undergone various changes since they
came into the hands of this family. Altred I. Saw-
yer operated a grist mill and a custom carding and
clothdressing mill. In 1832 the old woolen mill
was enlarged and adapted to the manufacture of
flannels, which manufacture was continued by Z. &
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
10 =
J. Sawyer. At the end of two years Francis A.
Sawyer, another brother, took the place of Zenas,
and the name of the firm became F. A. & J. Sawyer.
Until 1858 the flannel manufacture was carried on in
a woolen mill erected in 1S32. but in that year a
structure near the old one, known as the jMoses mill,
was bought, and in i860 enlarged to a four-set mill,
in 1863 eight sets, and in 1882 sixteen sets. The
old mill was used until 1872, and then a new build-
ing for forty sets of cards was erected. In 1S66 the
company began to sell its own goods.
Jonathan Sawyer, with his enterprise, skill and
e.xccutive ability, was the principal factor in success-
fully establishing the Sawyer Mills and carrying
them through the trying experiences encountered by
the textile manufacturers. in his time. He was far-
sighted, prudent, provident, cautious, untiring in his
activity, and withal a man of sterling integrity
whose personality lent stability to any enterprise
with which he was connected. His relations with his
employes were such as a sense of justice and fair
dealing demanded. He fully understood and acted
on the principle that the laborer is worthy of his hire;
and at the same time he demanded competency, faith-
fulness, and a fair day's work from every one in his
employ. He exemplified in an eminent degree the
theory of a square deal. In the accumulation of
money he was successful, and in the disposal of it
he was not only just, but charitable. He regarded
his prosperity as a means for helping others, and
gave to the needy and distressed with a generous
hand. In all that concerned the public welfare he
was an interested partaker, but he had no time for
and no interest in politics beyond a care for the per-
petuity of our free institutions in their purity.
Offices and honor were offered him, but always de-
clined. He did no believe in human bondage, was
an early supporter of the antislavery movement, and
at a later date was one of the founders of the Free
Soil party. After the organization of the Republican
party he was one of its strongest supporters. He
loved books, and his conversation showed an unusual
breadth of reading in science, history and politics.
Jonathan Sawyer married, in Barnard. Vermont.
June 25, 1839, Martha Perkins, daughter of Cyrus
and Martha (Childs) Perkins, of Barnard, Ver-
mont. The children of this union are : Charles H.,
Mary Elizabeth, Francis Asbury, Roswell Douglas,
Martha Frances, Alice May and Frederick Jonathan.
Charles H., is the subject of the next section of this
article. INIary E., died unmarried, in 1899. Francis
A., married Emma K. Smith, daughter of Hon.
Perry Smith, of Chicago, and died in 1889. Roswell
D., artist, married Edwina Dean Lowe, of St. Louis,
Missouri, and died in Rome, 1894. Martha F., mar-
ried W. S. Bradley, of Fairfield, Vermont, now at
Dover. Alice M.. married Dr. Frederick W. Payne,
of Boston. Frederick J., married Isabella Dootsen,
and died in 1902, at New Bedford, Massachusetts.
(VII) Hon. Charles Henry Sawyer, eldest child
of Jonathan and Martha (Perkins) Sawyer, was
born in Watertown, New York, March 30, 1840.
He was educated in the public schools of Watertown,
New York, and Dover, New Hampsliire, the removal
of his father and family to the latter place having
been made in 1849, when Charles H. was about nine
years old. When seventeen years of age he entered
the Sawyer Mills as an ordinary operative to learn
the business of flannel making in its different
branches, acquiring a thorougli knowledge of all the
processes through which the material passes from
the raw state to the finished product. At twenty-
six he W'as made superintendent of the mills, at the
time when the company was extending its sphere of
operations and adapting its machinery to the manu-
facture of a high grade of woolens for men's wear,
and upon the incorporation in 1873 was made agent,
and from 1881 to 1898 was president of the company.
At an early age Mr. Sawyer's ability and posi-
tion made him conspicuous and an available party
leader. He was offered, accepted and was elected
to seats in both branches of the city council of Dover,
and in 1869-70, and again in 1876-77, he was elected
to the lower house of the New Hampshire legisla-
ture, where he served his constituency in such a
manner as to secure their hearty approval and at-
tract the attention of the state. He was appointed
on the stafi^ of Governor Charles H. Bell, in 1881,
and was a delegate to the National Republican Con-
vention held in Chicago, 1S84, when James G. Blaine
was nominated for the presidency. Though a polit-
ical career was not the course j\Ir. Sawyer had
started out in life to pursue, circumstances had
made opportunities for him, and his service in public
life had been such as to make him conspicuous
among the Republicans of the state as an available
and sagacious leader, and in 1886 he was nominated
for governor by nearly a three-fourths vote of the
delegates to the gubernatorial convention. There
was no choice by the people and the legislature
elected him. During his term of office various cen-
tennial celebrations were held which he, as the ex-
ecutive head of the state, attended. Notably among
these was the centennial celebration of the promul-
gation of the Constitution of the United States, held
at Philadelphia; the centennial celebration of the
inauguration of President Washington in New York,
and the laying of the corner stone of the Bennington
Monument at Bennington, Vermont.
During Governor Sawyer's term of office arose
the memorable struggle over the "Hazen Bill," a
measure designed to facilitate the leasing of certain
railroads. One powerful railroad corporation cham-
pioned the bill, another opposed it, and arrayed on
one or the other of the sides were all the politi-
cians in the state, and much feeling was displayed.
It was proved by testimony given before a legis-
lative committee that questionable methods had been
used both for and against the measure. In view of
these facts when the bill reached the governor he
vetoed it, not basing his action upon any objections
to its intrinsic merits, but upon the unfair methods
used in support of it, and active on the principle
which prompts courts of justice to refuse to help
either of the parties to an illegal proceeding; the
court refused "not for the sake of the defendant,
but because they will not lend their aid to such a
plaintiff." The governor in summing up his objec-
tions to justify his refusal and express his dis-
approval of the methods of the parties said in his
veto message : "The most effectual way to check
such practices is to have it understood that no bill
attempted to be passed by such means can become a
law. When the promotors of a measure see fit to
offer bribes to members, they cannot be allowed
to excuse themselves on tlie ground that their
offers were not accepted. If it comes to be under-
stood that successful attempts of this nature will
not imperil the passage of a bill, such offers will
become much more frequent. If the offer is ac-
cepted, neither party will be likely to disclose the
fact. If it is rejected, it is, in this view, to be con-
sidered of no consequence, and hence no harm
could be done to the prospects of the bill. The bare
statement of such a doctrine is its best answer."
This CQura.gcous, wise and patriotic stand in favor
of legislative purity taken by the governor was
wortliy of the commendation of every fair-minded
io6
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
person in the state; but instead of approbation it
drew a storm of denunciation from certain sources,
especially from newspapers retained to advocate the
passage of the bill.
Governor Sawyer has been connected with many
business enterprises, both in Dover and in other places,
and in most of them he has been a leading member:
He is an attendant of the First Church in Dover
(Congregational), and is a prompt and generous
giver whenever it needs financial support. Since
1S65 he has been a member of the Free and .A.ccepted
Masons, has been twice master of Strafiford Lodge,
No. 29, Free and Accepted Masons, of Dover, and
is also a member of Belknap Chapter, Royal Arch
Masons, No. 8, of Orphan Council, No. i. Royal
and Select Masters, and of St. Paul Commandery,
Knights Templar, of which he was for many years
eminent commander.
Mr. Sawyer married, in Dover, February 8, 1865,
Susan Ellen Cowan, daughter of Dr. James W. and
Elizabeth (Hodgdon) Cowan, of Dover. Their chil-
dren are: William Davis, Charles Francis, James
Cowan, Edward and Elizabeth Coffin.
(VIII) William Davis, eldest son of Charles H.
and Susan Ellen (Cowan) Sawyer, was born No-
vember 22, 1866. He was educated at Phillips
Academy, Andover, and was graduated from Yale
College, class of 1889. He was connected with the
Sawyer Mills until 1899, when they were acquired
by the American Woolen Company. He was a mem-
ber of the Republican State Committee of New
Hampshire, 1890-99, and delegate to Republican
National Convention at St. Louis in 1896. Re-
ceived degree LL. B. from New York Law School
and admitted to New York bar, 1901. Corpora-
tion counsel. City of New Rochelle. New York, 1903.
In general practice of law at 26 Liberty street. New
York City. Member of New Hampshire Society, of
the Cincinnati, Colonial Wars, secretar}' of New
Hampshire Society of New York. Member Uni-
versity, Republican and Yale Clubs of New York
City and Republican Club of New Rochelle, of which
latter he has been president.
He married, November 12, 1890, Susan Gertrude
Hall, daughter of Hon. Joshua G. Hall, of Dover
(see Hall), and has children: Jonathan, born Au-
gust 21, 1891 ; Elizabeth Bigelow, born Januarv 24,
1898.
(VIII) Charles Francis, second son and child of
Hon. Charles H. and Susan E. (Cowan) Sawyer,
was born in Dover, January 16, 1869. He obtained
his education in the public schools of Dover, at
Phillips Academy, Andover, and in Yale College,
where he took a course in the Sheffield Scientific
School. Immediately after leaving college he en-
tered the Sawyer Woolen Mills, where he was em-
ployed in subordinate positions until 1895, when he
was appointed general superintendent, which po-
sition he held until 1899. The mills were then sold
to the American Woolen Company, and Mr. Sawyer
was appointed resident agent, and he has ever since
filled that place. He is a staunch Republican, and
as a member of that party has served in both
branches of the city government. In 1S99 he became
a member of the state militia, was lieutenant and
later captain on the First Brigade staff, holding the
latter office until 1895, when he resigned. He was
made a Mason in 1S90, and is now a member of
Moses Paul Lodge, No. 96, Belknap Royal Arch
Chapter, No. 8, Orphan Council, No. i. Royal and
Select Masters, St. Paul Commandery, Knights
Templar, all of Dover, and is a thirty-second 'degree
Mason, Ancient and .Accepted Scottish Rite, Con-
sistory of New Hampshire.
He married, in Honolulu, January 26, 1893, Ger-
trude Child Severance, daughter of Hon. Henry W.
and Hannah (Child) Severance, of San Francisco.
(VIII) James Cowan, third son of Hon. Charles
H. and Susan E. (Cowan) Sawyer, was born JNIarch
30, 1872. Educated at Phillips Academy, Andover,
and graduated from Yale in 1894. Is treasurer of
Phillips Academy, at Andover, Massachusetts, and
is a director of the Andover National Bank and the
Merrimack Mutual Fire Insurance Co.
He married, June 10, 1897, Mary Pepperrell Frost,
daughter of George S. Frost. Their children are :
George Frost, born June 25, 1902, and Charles^
Henry, born October 20, 1906.
(VIII) Edward, fourth son of Hon. Charles H.
and Susan E. (Cowan) Sawyer, was born July 24,
1874. educated at Andover and graduated from Yale
in 1898. Is president and treasurer of the Atlantic
Insulated Wire & Cable Company, operating a large
plant at Stamford, Connecticut. Member of Uni-
versity and Yale Clubs of New York City, and Su-
burban and Stamford Yacht Clubs of Stamford,
Connecticut.
He married, April 28, 1906, Leslie, daughter of
the late Phineas Sprague Tobey, of Boston.
(VIII) Elizabeth Coffin Sawyer, born March 8,-
1880, lives at home. She was educated at Mrs.
Stearns' School, Amherst, Massachusetts, and is
corresponding secretary of the Colonial Dames of
New Hampshire.
(V) William, probably son of Caleb (2) and
Betsey (Townsend) Sawyer, born in Boxborough,
Massachusetts, in 1772, was a farmer and cooper by
occupation. He moved to Bethlehem, New Hamp-
shire, where he lived till his death which occurred
in 1859, when he was eighty-seven years old. He
married Dolly Burt, daughter of Simeon and Mary
(Clark) Burt, born in Lunenburg, Massachusetts,
December 14, 1781. died in Bethlehem, New Hamp-
shire, April 17, 1844. They were the parents of
eight children.
(VI) Eli Davis, son of William and Dolly (Burt>
Sawyer, was born in Bethlehem, New Hampshire,
June 4, 1815. and died November 29, 1905. In 1854
he went to live at Littleton, New Hampshire, and
was a hotel keeper there for many years. He was-
a Democrat and took a prominent part in political
affairs. August 9, 1845, he was appointed pay-
master of the Thirty-second Regiment, New Hamp-
shire militia. He wjts elected selectman in 1863 and
re-elected the three years next following. He mar-
ried, December 19, 1848, Sarah Oakes Pierce, daugh-
ter of John and Rebecca (Cushman) Pierce, born in
Bethlehem, February 22,. -1830. She was a descend-
ant of the famous Robert Cushman, who preached
the first sermon in Plymouth. Massachusetts, 1620.
There were six children of this marriage : Elmah
G., born November, 1849, died October 12, 1850;
John Pierce, October 12, 1851 : Frank Pierce, June
28, 1854, died in Littleton, February 6, 1855 : Hat-
tie Grace, October 30, 1857 ; Charles Martin Tuttle ;
and William Henry. The three older children were
born in Bethlehem and the others in Littleton.
(VII) Charles Martin Tuttle, son of Eli Davis
and Sarah Oakes (Pierce) Sawyer, was born Feli-
ruary 18, 1865. was educated in the public schools
of Littleton, studied law with W. W. Haralson and
Luke Moore, was admitted to practice law in De-
kalb county, Alabama, February 9, 1896, and has
since that date been practicing his profession at
Fort Payne, Alabama, where he has been a member
of the city council for two years. He is fraternally
a Mason and an Odd Fellow, and in politics a Demo-
crat. He married. September 30, 1888, Annie Frances,
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
107
Harper, and they have two children : Sarah Pierce
and Hattie Grace.
(VII) William Henry, youngest child of Eli
Davis and Sarah Oakes (Pierce) Sawyer, was born
in Littleton, August 18, 1867. His literary edu-
cation was obtained in the public schools of Little-
ton. He studied law in the office of Bingham,
Mitchell & Batchellor. Graduated from the law
department of Boston University in 1890, and was
admitted to the bar of New Hampshire July 25th of
the same year. He opened^ an office in Concord
soon after and has since practiced there. From 189S
to 1905 he was associated in business with Joseph
S. Matthews. Mr. Sawyer's attention takes a
broader range than that which comes within the
mere practice of the law. He looks to general
principles and the results of litigation. Along these
lines was the address he delivered in 1895 before
the Grafton and Coos Bar Association, entitled
"Historical Review of the Legislation of New Hamp-
shire, regulating the Sale of Intoxicating Liquors,"
which attracted considerable attention among the
lawyers at that time. Mr. Sawyer is a Democrat,
and a member of Capital Grange, No. 113, Patrons
of Husbandry. He has been a member of the South
Congregational Church of Concord many years, and
has been superintendent of its Sunday school. He
married, November iS, 1891, Carrie Blanche Lane,
daughter of Benjamin Franklin and Julia (Farr)
Lane, born in Littleton, April 6, 1867. They have
four children : Howard Pierce, born August 13,
1892 ; Helen Lane, March 13, 1895 ; Marion Farr,
July 22, 1896; Robert Cushman, March 13, 1899.
The branch of the large family of
SAWYER Sawyer mentioned in this article is
descended from an early settler in
western New Hampshire, but the defective records of
the towns where the family lived in Revolutionary
times have not furnished data to connect it with
other branches.
(I) Ephraim Sawyer was a non-commissioned
officer in the Revolutionary war. He appears as
sergeant on the pay roll of the second company in
Colonel Ashley's regiment of militia, which company
marched from Westmoreland, Chesterfield and Hins-
dale to Ticonderoga on the alarm of May 8, 1777,
Waitstill Scott, captain ; time of service one month
and ten days. He was an ensign in Captain John
Cole's company in Colonel Ashley's regiment of
militia, which company marched from Westmore-
land (on the alarm, June 28, 1777), and according
.to the pay roll served thirteen days. He was a
sergeant in Captain Kimball Carlton's company, in
Colonel Moses Nichols regiment and General Starks
brigade of New Hampshire militia, which company
marched from Chesterfield and towns adjacent, July
22, 1777, and served two months and two days; all
of which appears on the pay roll. His name is also
on the list of soldiers raised by the state of New
Hampshire to fill up the Continental army in 1779.
He enlisted July 6. 1779, for one year;, was engaged
from the town of Westmoreland ; and served in the
Sixth Regiment of militia. The muster and pay
roll of officers and men belonging to Colonel Samuel
Ashley's regiment of militia in the state of New
Hampshire, who marched from the county of Ches-
shire on the requisition of Major-General Gates
to re-inforce the army at Ticonderoga, contains his
name ; it gives him the title of corporal, and states
that he was engaged October 21, and returned No-
vember 16, 1776. service twenty-six days.
(II) Rev. Ephraim (2), son of Ephraim (l)
Sawyer, was a minister of the gospel of the Metho-
dist denomination. He moved to Wilkes Barre,
Pennsylvania, where he spent the latter part of his-
life.
(Ill) John, son of Rev. Ephraim Sawyer, was
born in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, 1815, and
died 1865. He was a millwright by trade, and re-
sided in Washington, in Wyoming county. He was-
a stirring energetic man, and held several town offi-
ces. He married Amy Lypham, who was born in
Bavaria, Germany, 1827, daughter of Peter and
Catherine Lypham, of Washington, natives of Bavaria,.
Germany. Peter Lypham was with Napoleon on
his fateful march to Moscow and other campaigns,
and saw much service. He was a cavalry man, and
in one battle all but twelve of the company to which
he belonged were killed or captured. He was one
of those who escaped. His face was much scarred
by sword cuts received in battle. He was a farmer,
and settled with his wife in Washington, Pennsyl-
vania, about 1815. He died in 1870. aged about
seventy. At the death of her husband Mrs. Sawyer
was Iqft with a family of eight children, the eldest
eighteen years of age and the youngest an infant-
Their names are : Frances E., married Clark B.
Hall, of Manchester, New Hampshire. Catherine,
married Will C. Brenton. Hattie E., married Albert
P. Smith. Stephen D., lives in New York state.
John W., resides in Davenport. Washington. An-
drew J., mentioned below. Margaret Isabel, mar-
ried Dr. O. H. Johnson, of INIanchester. Dora,
married Walter Seymour, of Newark, New Jersey.
One child died young. IMrs. Sawyer, realizing that
her children would be better off and better able to
assist in supporting themselves on a farm than they
were in town, prchased, in 1865, a place near Dimock,
and there her younger children grew up. Being a
woman of superior ability and a good manager, she
succeeded in raising her children well, giving each
a good education and seeing them all well settled
in life. She is still living and resides with her
daughter, Mrs. Brenton.
(TV) .Andrew Jackson, seventh child of John and
Amy CLypham) Sawyer, was born in Washington,.
Pennsylvania, June 8, 1859, and was educated in the
common schools of Dimock, the high schools at
Montrose and the Pennsylvania College of Dental
Surgery, graduating from the latter with the degree
of Doctor of Dental Surgery in the class of 1882.
Immediately after taking his degree he opened an
office at White Haven. Pennsylvania, where he prac-
ticed his profession one year. He then practiced in
Newmarket, New Hampshire, six years. In 1889
he settled in Manchester, and now (1907) has been
a successful practitioner there for eighteen years,,
and numbers among his patrons many of the prin-
cipal citizens of the town and surrounding region.
For three years past, he has been secretary ofthe
State Board of Registration in Dentistry. He is a
member of the New Hampshire Dental Society, of
which he has been vice-president and president, and
has been chairman of its executive committee; also
a member of the North Eastern Dental .Association,
and the Vermont State Dental Association. He
was brought up a Baptist, but now attends the Con-
gregational Church, and is a contributing member
of the Young Men's Christian .Association. He is a
member of Washington Lodge. No. 61, Free and
Accepted IMasons; Mt. Horeb Royal Arch Chapter,
No. 11; Adoniram Council, No. 3, Royal and Se-
lect Masters : Trinity Commanden,-, Knights Tem-
plar, and Bektash Temple of the Ancient Arabic
Order of the Mystic Shrine. Dr. Sawyer was one
of a company of sixty persons constituting a club
organization by the members of De Molay Com-
io8
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
niandery. Knights Templar, of Boston, which visited
points of interest in England, France, Belguim,
Switzerland, Germany and Italy, in the fall of 1906.
He married, in Newmarket, September, 1900,
Elizabeth Small, horn July 2, i86r, daughter of the
late Congressman William and Ellen M. (Burt)
Small. They have one daughter, Marion. Mrs.
Sawyer is a member of the Congregational Church,
and also of the Current Events Club.
This is an adopted name taken by
SAWYER one born Peacock. It is claimed that
the Peacock family is of French de-
scent, and that it dates its origin in England from
the Norman Conquest, 1066. In all probability it
profited through favor of the Conqueror and attained
considerable prominence. In 1444 Reginald Pea-
cock was appointed bishop of St. Asaph, and five
years later was transferred to the see of Chichester,
but during the decline of transubstantialism he suf-
fered official degradation, was subjected to banish-
ment in 1457 and his books were publicly burned.
He died in i486.
The first of the name in America, of whom there
is any record, was John Peacock, who settled at New
Haven, Connecticut, in 1638 or '39. William Pea-
cock, probably of Nazing or some nearby parish in
the neighborhood of Stanstead on the border of
Hertfordshire, came in the ship "Hopewell," Cap-
tain Bundock, from London in 163S, in company
with the Eliots. the Ruggleses and other Roxbury,
Massachusetts, settlers. A' Richard Peacock, glazier,
who was made a freeman in Roxbury. May 22, 1659,
was not, as far as can be ascertained, a relative of
AVilliam. The latter was twelve years old when lie
arrived in Roxbury. He married, April 12, 1653,
Mary Willis, and was the father of William, died
young; another William, and Samuel. William
Peacock (2), son of William and Mary (Willis)
Peacock, was born in Roxbur>', July 6, 1657. He
married. August 3, 1681, Sarah Edsall, and had
Mary, Sarah, Elizabeth, William and Samuel. The
third William Peacock was born in Roxbury in
1688.
Thomas Peacock, said tn have been descended
from the same family as that of Bishop Peacock,
previously mentioned, was born in Ireland, of Eng-
lish parents, abotit the year 1730. Emigrating to
New York he settled first on Long Inland and later
in Newburg. In the war for national independence
he sided with the Americans and served under Gen-
eral Washington. He lived to be ninety-eight years
old, and his death occurred in Maryville, New York,
July 3, 182S. In October, 1777, he married Margaret
Anderson, a native of Scotland. Although the
writer is unable to identify with certainty the early
ancestors of the Amherst Peacocks, about to be
considered, it is quite probable that they are the
posterity of William Peacock, of Roxbury.
(I) William Peacock settled in .'\mher5t. New
Hampshire, prior to the Revolutionary war, and he
died in that town, October 20. 1824, aged seventy-
five years. The christian name of his wife was Abi-
gail, and he reared a familv of five children, namely:
Abigail, born in 1771 : William, who w-iU be again
referred to: Daniel, born in 1776; Betsey, born in
177S: and Sally, born in 1783.
(in William (2), second child and eldest son
of William and Abigail Peacock, was born in Am-
herst, October 24, 1773. He was a prosperous
farmer, residing in the southerly part of the town
of Amherst, near the Hollis line, and his death oc-
curred June 5, 1846. On November 2, 179S, he mar-
ried Huldah Hood, born in Topsfield, Massachu-
setts, November 28, 1775, and died September 17,
1861. She became the mother of ten children, name-
ly: William, see succeeding paragraph; Kendall,
born in 1798; Henry and Huldah, twins, born in
1800; Freeman, born in April. 1802; John, born in
1804; Rufus, born in 1807; Nancy, born in 1809;
Julia Ann, born in 1815; and Ezra Wilmarth, born
in 1818.
(HI) William (3), eldest son and child of Wil-
liam and Huldah (Hood) Peacock, was born in
Amherst, December 13,^1796. He was a fanner and
a mechanic, residing for a time in Milford, and also
in Brookline, but the greater part of his life was
spent in his native town, where he died in 1886, at
the advanced age of ninety. He married Fanny
Burnham. and of this union there is one son now
living. (N. B. By a special act of the legislature
the latter has changed his family name from Pea-
cock to Sawyer. He changed his name because of
confusion in mail).
(IV) Andrew Freeman Sawyer, son of William
and Fanny (Burnham) Peacock, was born in .\mherst,
March 11, 1835. He pursued the usual studies
taught in the public schools, and when old enough
to begin the activities of life he served an appren-
ticeship at the blacksmith's trade, which he followed
as a journeyman for some years. Abandoning the
forge in order to engage in the lumber business he,
in due time, became an extensive manufacturer in
Amherst, operating three sawmills. twO' of which
were propelled by water-power and the other by
steam. He also carried on a generfil store, and
for many years was one of the leading business men
in Amherst. In 1890 he established his residence in
Nashua, where he engaged in mercantile business
and he also entered the real estate business, making
a specialty of purchasing farms and selling the lum-
ber therefrom on the stump. For the past ten
years he has devoted his energies exclusively to
real estate. Mr. Sawyer was made an Odd Fellow
in Milford, this state, and still affiliates with his
mother lodge. In his religious belief he is a Chris-
tian Scientist. He married Harriett E. Bartlett,
daughter of Lemuel Bartlett, of Londonderry, and
the only child of this union was Anna Eveline, who
became the wife of Charles H. MacKay, of Bridgton,
Maine, and died leaving one child, Fred L. Mac-
Kay.
This family of Sawyers is supposed
S.\WYER to be of German origin. The date of
the arrival of the immigrant ancestor
is not known. The name has undergone consider-
able change in its orthography in America.
(I) Jabez Sawyer, who was born in Salem,
Massachusetts, married Hannah Emerson, of New-
bury, Massachusetts, and settled in Bradford, New
Hampshire. There he and his wife spent their re-
maining years. They had four children : Jerome,
Charles P., Frederick T... who is the subject of the
following sketch, and Harriet M.
(II) Frederick T. Sawyer, son of Jabez and
Hannah (Emerson) Sawyer, was born in Bradford,
May 13, 1S19. and died in Milford, July 14, 1898,
aged seventy-nine. He spent his boyhood in Brad-
ford, and there started in life on his own account
as a clerk in a general store. In 1840 he went to
Nashua, and was similarly employed for some years.
About 1845 he formed a partnership with a Mr.
Roby. and under the firm name of Roby & Sawyer,
they engaged in the manufacture of scythes in
Chelmsford, Massachusetts, until 1850. In 1854
Mr, Sawyer went to Milford, New Hampshire,
where for two years he w-as employed as station
C^Ly?^ cl/z^cco^ fi. ^a
CL'U^^
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
109
agent of the Nashua & Lowell railroad. At the
end of that time he and the late William R. Wallace
formed the firm of Wallace & Sawyer, dealers in
general merchandise, which did a prosperous busi-
ness for some years. In 1869 the firm dissolved
and Mr. Sawyer was made cashier of the Souhegan
National Bank, an office which he filled to the time
of his death with efli-ciency and conscientiousness
that was a credit to him and gave satisfaction to
bank officials and patrons alike. From the date of
its organization till his death he was a director of
the bank. October ig. 1874, the Souhegan National
Bank was robbed in the following manner : About
one o'clock in the morning six men, masked and
heavily armed, eft'ected an entrance into Mr. Saw-
years' residence on the east side of the river and
bound and gagged him and the members of his fam-
ily. Leaving three of their number there, the re-
mainder of the robbers took Mr. Sawyer across the
river on a footbridge to the bank, and by torture
compelled him to open the vault. There the rob-
bers seized spoils tO' the value of one hundred and
thirty-five thousand dollars, mostly non-negotiable
bonds. They then conveyed Mr. Sawyer to his
home, bound him in a chair and fastened it to the
floor. The children of the family were locked in
closets ; and about three o'clock in the morning the
robbers departed. As soon as they were out of
hearing Fred W. Sawyer, then a boy of twelve
years, broke out of his place of confinement, gave
the alarm, and then liberated the other members of
the family. The burglary made a great sensation,
and the selectmen of the town offered a reward of
three thousand dollars, and the bank a like sum.
for the capture of the criminals, but they were never
caught. A few months later the most of the stolen
bonds were recovered by the bank on payment of
a reward for their return. Mr. Sawyer was elected
town treasurer in 1871, and continued to fill that
office by consecutive annual elections the remainder
of his life, a period of twenty-seven years. He was
also notary public for many years. Iii politics he
was a Republican, but his political belief was not of
the rancorous type that denies the existence of any
merit in other parties. He was elected to the state
legislature in 1864, and re-elected in 1865. He was
elected moderator in 1873. Air. Sawyer's long resi-
dence in Mil ford, nearly forty-five years, had given
him an intimate acquaintance with the people of
that town. He was a man of sterling character,
good judgment, familiar with the best business
methods, attentive to duty, a firm, true friend and a
valued citizen. He married, January y, 1859, Sarah
S. Lovejoy, who was born in Amherst, August 22,
1833, died October, 1905, daughter of William H.
and Hannah (Shedd) Lovejoy. Four children were
born to them : Bertha Caroline, Frederick Willis,
Chester Ayer, and Gertrude. Bertha C, born June
22, i860; married, July 28, 1881, David S., son of
John and Sophia (Dolbear) Blanpied, and resides in
Newton, Massachusetts. Frederick W. is mentioned
below. Chester A., born July 16, 1868. is a finisher
in a Nashua furniture factory. Gertrude W., born
August 4, 1874; married, April 17, 1900, George D..
son of James T. and Florence (Derby) White, of
New York City, and resides in Brooklyn, New
York.
(Ill) Frederick Willis Sawyer, second child and
eldest son of Frederick T. and Sarah S. (Lovejoy)
Sawyer, was born in Milford, April 16. 1862, and
educated in the conmion schools of Milford and at
Chauncey Hall School in Boston. Flis first busi-
ness position was as clerk for the Palmer Manu-
facturmg Company of New York City in 1880-81.
In the latter year he went to Boston and became ex-
change clerk in the Blackstone National Bank,
where he was employed part of that and the
following year. He then returned to Milford and
became assistant cashier in the Souhegan National
Bank, and served in that capacity until the death of
his father in 1898, when he succeeded to his father's
place as cashier of the bank and as town treasurer.
In private and public business Mr. Sawyer has
proved himself a worthy successor of his honored
father, and has been called to serve the public in
political life. He is a Republican, and in 1901, and
again in 1903, he was elected to the state legislature.
He was the author of the bill requiring United
States flags to be placed on the public school build-
ings of New Hampshire, and carried the measure
through the house. He had a place on important
committees, and was chairman of the coinmittee on
banks. In religion he is a Congregationalist, and
is a liberal contributor to the support of the
church of that denomination in Milford, and its
auxiliary societies. He is a Thirty-second Degree
Mason; a member of Benevolent Lodge, No. 7, of
which he is a pastmaster; of King Solomon Royal
Arch Chapter, No. 17, of which he is a past high
priest; of Israel Hunt, Council, Royal and Select
Masters ; oi St. George Commandery, Knights Tem-
plar; and of Edward A. Raymond .Consistory,
.Thirty-second degree. Mr. Sawyer is (1907) de-
puty grand master of New Hampshire. He mar-
ried, October 26. 1893, Bertha M., widow of Joseph
W. Hyde, -and daughter of Aaron S. and Martha
A. (McCluer) Wilkms, born in Amherst, Decemljer
17, 1863. They have three children: Grace Miriam,
bora August 10, 1894; Marguerite, February 19,
1899; and Donald Frederick, February 12, 1900.
The virility, energy, industry and
CURRIER moral stamina which characterized
the pioneers of New England have
been distinguishing traits of the family herein noted.
They were early in Massachusetts, aided in clearing
away the wilderness, in the establishment of religion
and education, and in the material development of
a nation. One of her ablest Governors was given to
New Hampshire by this blood.
(I) Richard Currier, millwright and planter,
the emigrant ancestor, was born about 1616 in Eng-
land, and was not very remotely removed from an
ancestor who took a surname from his occupation.
He was among the founders of Salisbury, Massachu-
setts, receiving land there in 1641 and 1642. He
w-as a commoner and taxed there in 1650, but soon
after removed to Amesbury, where his name heads
the list of first commoners in 1654-55. He received
lands in 1654, 1658-59. 1662, 1664 and 1668. He was
a large landholder and dealer, and many deeds made
by him are on record. One was made in 1685 and
acknowledged the day of his death. He was the
second town clerk of Amesbury, and was authorized
in 1656 to build a saw mill in company with his
predecessor, Macy. In 1675 Richard Currier owned a
saw mill right. His name heads the list in seating
the Amesbury meeting house in 166^, among those
to "Set at the tabell." He appears to have been a
member of the Salisbury Church ten years later.
Evidently he was one of the most prominent men
in the new town of Amesbury. Though sixty years
old at the time of the Narraganselt war, he appears
to have been a soldier in that struggle. He died in
Amesbury, February 22, 1687. The baptismal name
of his first wife was Ann, and they w-ere probably
married in England. She was living in 1662, and
probably in 1667. as Goodwife Currier was assigned
a scat in the .Amesbury Church in that year. He
no
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
■was married (second), October 26. 1676, to Joanna
Pindor, who had previously been successively the
■wife of Valentine Rowell and William Sargent.
She was a member of the Salisbury Church in 1687,
and died in October, 1690, Richard Currier's chil-
dren were : Samuel, Hannah and Thomas.
(II) Thomas, youngest son of Richard and
Ann Currier, was born March 8, 1646, in Salisbury,
and resided in Amesbury, where he received a
"'township" of land in 1666. He subscribed to the
oath of fidelity in 1670, and was town clerk in 1674
and later. He made his will August 25. 1708, and
lived more than four years after, dying September
2.1, 1712, in Amesbury. He was married December
9, 1668, to Mary Osgood, daughter of William and
Elizabeth Osgood of Salisbury. In 1697 William
Osgood deeded to his daughter, Marj^ one-fourth
•of his saw mill in Salisbury. She died November
2, 1705. Their children were: Hannah, Thomas,
Richard, Samuel. Mary, Anne, William, John,
Joseph, Benjamin, Ebenezer and Daniel. (Mention
of Richard and Joseph and descendants forms part
of this article).
(III) Thomas (2), eldest son and second child
of Deacon Thomas (i) and Mary (Osgood) Cur-
rier, was born November 28, 1671, and died in Ames-
bury, Massachusetts, in 1749 or 1750. He was dis-
missed from Salisbury to Amesbury Church Febru-
ary 8, 1700. He was married, September 19, 1700.
to Sarah Barnard, born March 23, 1676-77, daughter
of Nathaniel Barnard, of Nantucket.
(IV) Ezekiel, son of Thomas and Sarah
(Barnard) Currier, was born in Amesbury, Mass-
achusetts, April 29, 1707; married, January 15, 1733,
Mehitable Morrill, born March 20, 1709-10, daughter
of John and Mary (Stevens) Morrill.
(V) William, son of Ezekiel and Mehitable
<Morrill) Currier, was born May 12, 1737, and died
in Plymouth, New Hampshire, in i8og or 1810.
Previous to 1760 he settled in Concord, New Hamp-
shire, and lived there more than thirty-five years.
He was a surveyor of highways, surveyor of lumber,
constable and tithingman, and one of the signers in
Concord of the association test. He is believed to
have been the William Currier who served in Cap-
tain Marston's company in the Rhode Island ex-
pedition in 1777. In the same company was Bruce
Walker, his son-in-law. In 1794 William Currier
removed from Concord to Plymouth, and lived in
that' town until his death. While living in Concord,
in 1760, he married Mary Carter, born in South
Hampton, New Hampshire, May 6, 1742, daughter
of Daniel and Hannah (Fowler) Carter. Their
children: Mehitable, who married Bruce Walker,
of Concord, and afterward of Hebron, New Hamp-
shire. He was a soldier of the Revolution. Daniel,
mentioned below. John, born October 4, 1770, and
lived in Concord. He married (first) Bridget
Chamberlain, and (second) Betsey Cochran. Mary,
who married Samuel Abbott, of Concord, and re-
moved to Erie county. New York. Henry Morrill,
born in Concord, died in Plymouth, March 24, 1815.
Ruth, who became the wife of Richard Holden.
Nancv, married Joseph Kimball.
(VI) Daniel, second child and eldest son of
William and Marv (Carter) Currier, was born in
Concord, October 26, 1766, and in 1795 removed to
Plymouth, w'here the remainder of his life was
spent. He died June 4, 1848. He is remembered
as a substantial citizen, and a successful farmer on
what is known as the lower intervale. In 1784 he
married (first) Mary Smith, of Bow, New Hamp-
shire. She was born August 11, 1763. and died
September 19, 1832. After the death of his first
wife Mr. Currier married Joanna Pillsbury. All his
children were by his first wife, viz. : Abigail, born in
Concord, married Noah Chapman. Nathaniel, born
in Concord, October 6, 1791. Moses, born in Plym-
outh, April 18, 1794. Daniel, born 1797. died 1847.
William, born March 21, 1800, died March 13, 1897.
Samuel, born June 11, 1802, died May 2, 1897. Mary,
born August 27. 1805, married Alfred Kelley ; died
November 30, 1893.
(VII) William, fifth child and fourth son of
Daniel and Mary (Smith) Currier, was born in
Concord and died in Holderness. He was a farmer
in the locality in which his father lived, but later
on left Plymouth and took up his residence in Hold-
erness, where he lived from 1848 to the time of his
death. During the last twenty years of life he was
totally blind. On February 22, 1827, William Cur-
rier married Sophia Robinson Doyen, born in Pem-
broke, New Hampshire, daughter of Nathaniel and
Deborah (Smith) Doyen. Their children : William
Wallace, born 1S28, died about 1844. Edwin Bruce,
a farmer now living in New Hampton, New Hamp-
shire. Mary Annis, married Alson L. Brown, son
of Joseph Brown, and lives at Whitefield, New
Hampshire. Ann French, married Frank B. Cox,
and died in Laconia, 1S97. Maria George, married
Alphonzo F. Jones, and lives at Plymouth. New
Hampshire.
(VIII) Edwin Bruce, second child and son of
William and Sophia Robinson (Doyen) Currier,
was born in Plymouth, New Hampshire, September
9, 1830, and was educated in the common schools of
that town. Like his ancestors for several genera-
lions before him his chief occupation has been that
of farming, although he is an extensive cattle raiser
and owner of considerable timber land. He re-
moved from Plymouth to Ashland about 1857, and
in the latter town held the offices of selectman and
collector of taxes. He is now a resident of New
Hampton. He is a member of the Free Will Bap-
tist Church, and in politics is a Republican. Mr.
Currier married Mary A. Smith, who was born in
New Hampton, 1833. They had children : William
Crosby. Jessie Maria, May Etta, John Sherman,
Nettie Louise. Alson Brown, Jennie Augusta, Fred
Edwin and Alice Maude.
(IX) John Sherman, son of Edwin Bruce and
Mary A. (Smith) Currier, was born in Ashland,
New Hampshire, July 10, 1864, and was given a
good education in the public schools of Ashland,
New Hampshire, and the New Hampton Institute.
After leaving school he was for eight years book-
keeper for a paper mill company, and since then has
devoted his attention to farming pursuits. He is a
member of the Congregational Church and poli-
tically is a strong Prohibitionist. Mr. Currier has
been twice married ; first, in Tilton, Mav 12, 1888,
to May Louise Nichols, daughter of James and
Elizabeth Nichols. She died October 27. 1899. He
married (second), in Salmonton, New Hampshire,
May 20, T903, Vienna Smith, daughter of Zebulon
Smith. She was born in Gilford. New Hampshire,
April 12, 1878. They have one child, George Smith,
born April 27, 1904.
(Ill) Richard (2), second son and third child
of Thomas and Mary (Osgood) Currier, was bOrn
•April 12, 1673, in Amesbury, where he was a yeo-
man and died February 8, 1748. It is evident that
he was a careful and painstaking man, for his will
was made nearly four years previous to his death.
He was married August 29, 1695. in Salisbury, to
Dorothy Barnard, who was born about 1677, daugh-
ter of John and Frances (Hoyt) Barnard, and
granddaughter of Thomas Barnard, fhe patriarch
A.^
—c.CA.'lyU^ ^
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Ill
of that family in Amesbury. She was the only
child of her parents in 1718, and no record of other
children appears. She survived her husband nearly
seventeen years and died March 2, 1765. in her
ninety-hrst year. Her children were : David, Jon-
atkan, Hannah, John, Dorothy. Richard, Miriam,
Aaron, Barnard, Mary and Moses.
(IV) Richard (3), fourth son and sixth child
of Richard (2) and Dorothy (.Barnard) Currier,
was born February 12, 1708. He was married No-
vember 25, 1731, in the second Salisbury Church, to
Sarah ^Morrill, and they settled in South Hampton,
Xew Hampshire. Among their children were :
James, Ruth, Barnard, John and Richard. (Barnard
and descendants receive mention in this article).
(V) James, son of Richard (3) and Sarah
(Morrill) Currier, was a native of Massachusetts,
but the date of his birth is not at hand. He went
from Newburj'port, Massachusetts, to Salisbury,
New Hampshire, where he erected the dwelling-
house now or formerly occupied by I\Irs. Farnum,
and he built the first grist-mill in Salisbury, which
stood opposite the mills now owned by John Shaw.
He afterward removed to Enfield, New Hampshire,
where he spent the remainder of his life. The chris-
tian name of his first wife, who died November 13,
1S02, was Lydia, and he was again married, but
neither the christian or the surname of his second
wife appears in the records consulted. He was the
iather of Nathan, Gideon and perhaps others.
(VI) Nathan, son of James Currier, remained
on the homestead farm in Salisbury and died No-
vember 6, 1844. On May 13, 1802, he married Sally
Carter, of Canterbury, New Hampshire, who died in
Wilmot, this state, December 7, 1845. The children
of this union were : Nathan, who will be again re-
ferred to; Thomas W., who resided in Wilmot; and
Sarah E., who became the wife of Jesse Stevens,
and died May 24, 1851. Thomas W. Currier, who
died in Wilmot, married Elmira Bixby. She sur-
vived him and became the wife of Cyrus Hobbs, of
Wilmot.
(VII) Nathan (2), eldest child of Nathan (i)
and Sally (Carter) Currier, was born in Canter-
bury, iNIarch 4. 1S05. He was a prosperous farmer.
His death occurred August 31, 1851. On October
4. 1835, he married Mary Jane Frazier, daughter of
Benjamin Frazier, of Salisbury. She became the
mother of three children, two of whom are now liv-
ing, namely : Marj' Jane and George Washington.
Mary Jane Currier married John Allen Cross, and
has one daughter, Anne, who married Euzeb G.
Hood, of Nashua. The mother of these children
died in Weare, New Hampshire.
(VIII) Dr. George Washington Currier, only
son of Nathan and Mary J. (Frazier) Currier, was
born in Wilmot, March 8, 1S41. He attended the
public schools of Wilmot and Andover Centre, and
was graduated from Crosby's Academy, Nashua, in
1864. He studied medicine at the College of Physi-
cians and Surgeons in New York City, and after the
completion of his professional preparations he lo-
cated for practice in Nashua. He was prominently
identified with the medical profession of that city
for upward of thirty years, or until his retirement
some eight years ago, and he is now engaged in the
drug business as a member of the firm of Blanchard
& Currier. He is extensively interested in the
financial affairs of the city and is president of the
Nashua Trust Company.
Dr. Currier has always evinced an earnest inter-
est in public educational affairs, and at one time
was a member of the school board. He was made a
Mason in iS'X) and has been a very active and earn-
est worker in the several bodies continually since.
He was at the head of the several local bodies sit-
uated at Nashua, and grand high priest in 1879;
grand master of the Grand Lodge in 1888-89 ; grand
commander in 1891 ; was made an honorary member
of the Supreme Council in the Ancient Accepted
Scottish Rite in 1887; an active member in 1889 and
deputy for New Hampshire in 1891, which office he
has held continually since that time. To his wise
judgment and earnest endeavors the Rite is largely
indebted for its present prosperous and harmonious
condition throughout the state. He was the first to
advocate the building of a Masonic Temple at
Nashua, and spent nearly a year of his time in or-
ganizing a corporation and building the beautiful
Alasonic Temple at the corner of Main and Pearl
streets, which has been the home of the Masonic
bodies since 1890. TwO' years later, with two others,
he erected the building which bears his name im-
mediately adjoining the Masonic Temple. Both
these buildings have added greatly to the beauty of
the city and have proved to be a profitable invest-
ment for the owners. Although he has retired from
active business, he is still treasurer and manager of
berth these building associations, president of the
Nashua Trust Company, a trustee of the Masonic
Home at Manchester, and was appointed on the
board of trustees of the New Hampshire Agricul-
tural College at Durham by Governor McLane in
1906. His first wife, who was before marriage Abby
S. Walker, died in 1888, and he subsequently mar-
ried Emily V. Walsh.
(V) Barnard, second son and third child of
Richard and Sarah (Morrill) Currier, was born Jan-
uary 23, 1752, in South Hampton, and seems to have
passed his life in that town. His wife's name was
Abigail, but the vital records of New Hampshire
do not show her maiden name. They do give the
births of the following children : Sarah, Ephraim,
Molly, Barnard and William.
(VI) William, youngest child of Barnard and
Abigail Currier, was born November I, 1785, in
South Hampton, and settled in Danville, New
Hampshire. He married Sally Haynes, of North-
field, New Hampshire, who was born 1790 and died
April 18, 1856. He died August 6, 1854, at the age
of sixty-nine years. A record of five of their chil-
dren has been found, namely: Stephen H., Samuel
M., Thomas, Charles H. and John.
(VII) Stephen H., eldest child of William and
Sally (Haynes) Currier, was born in Danville, New
Hampshire, and engaged for some years in trading
with the Indians. For over half a century he lived
at Penacook, being a portion of the time on the
Concord side. No mention of him appears in the
vital records of the state. He married Clarisa El-
liott, of Northfield, New Hampshire, who lived to
a great age.
(VIII) John Albert, son of Stephen H. and
Clarisa (Elliott) Currier, was born July 14, 1848,
and resided for many years in Northfield, New
Hampshire, whence he removed in 1870, to Manches-
ter, and died there February i, 1896. He was mar-
ried in Penacook, to ]\Iary Elizabeth Ludlow; she
had one son, Arthur. Mrs. Currier is still living,
residing in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
(IX) Arthur, only child of John A. and May
E. (Ludlow) Currier, was born August 13, 1868, in
Northfield, New Hampshire, and was but two j-ears
old when his parents settled in Manchester. He at-
tended the public schools of that city, and on attain-
ing his majority apprenticed himself to learn the
machinist's trade with the .Amoskeag Corporation.
At the completion of his term of three years, he
112
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
continued some time as a journeyman with the
same employers. On September II, 1895, he en-
tered the service of the Dodge Needle Company as
machinist, and by his efficient activity and faithful-
ness quickly earned promotion. In 1900 he was
made superintendent of the factory, and now has
about forty men- under his supervision. He is a
thoroiigh mechanic and nothing is so small as to
escape his eye, not even a needle. Mr. Currier
takes an intelligent interest in the progress of events
and endeavors to perform his share of the duties of
a citizen. That his nature is a generous one, is
denoted by the fact that he has allied himself with
the great Masonic fraternity, Washington Lodge,
No. 61, of Manchester, having been raised to the
third degree, June 13. 1902. He was married, De-
cember 30, 1896, to Mabel D. S'haw, daughter of the
late Arthur Shaw and his wife, Ella (Kelly) Shaw.
Mr. and Mrs. Currier have had three children : Lillian,
Olive May, and Arthur S. The first died in in-
fancy. The others were born respectively in 1902
and 1905.
(HI) Joseph, sixth son of Thomas and Mary
(Osgood) Currier, was born about 1685, in Ames-
bury, and spent his life in that town, where he was '
a "yeoman." His will was executed July 21, and
proved Decen»ber 5, 1748. He was married De-
cember 9, 1708, to Sarah Brown, elder daughter
of Ephraim and Sarah Brown of Salisbury. She
was born ]March 5, 1687, in Salisbury, and probably
survived her husband. Their children were : Na-
than, Joseph, Ephraim, Abner, Sarah, Hannah, Anne,
Mary and "Merriam."
(IV) Abner, fourth son of Joseph and Sarah
(Brown) Currier, was born October 25, 1716, in
AmesbuTy and resided in the west parish of that
town. Administration of his estate was granted
March 30, 1768, and the division was made the
next year. He was married February 16, 1737, to
Mary Harvey, and both renewed the covenant about
1738 and were received in the Second Amesbury
Church June 12, 1763. The widow was living in
1769. Their children were: Dorothy, David, Jo-
seph, Abner, Mary, Moses, Jonathan, Sarah and
Jacob.
(V) David, eldest son of Abner and Mary
(Harvey) Currier, was born May 4, 1740, in Ames-
bury and settled in Bradford soon after 1769. He
may have lived a short time in Boxford, JNIassachu-
setts, as family tradition says he went from there
to Peachain, Vermont, about 1787. The balance of
his life was spent in Peacham. He was married
May 30, 1780, in Boxford, Massachusetts, to Eliza-
beth Peabody, who was born February 14, 1758,
in Boxford, a daughter of Jonathan (2) and Mary
(Ramsdel) Peabody. Jonathan (2), son of Jona-
than (i) and "Alliss" Peabody, was born in Box-
ford and was married February 20, 1752, in that
town to Mary Ramsdel.
(VI) David (2>, son of David (l) and Eliza-
beth (Peabody) Currier, was born June 25, 1795,
in Peacham, Vermont, where he resided.
(VII) Lyman Currier, son of David Currier,
was born August 16, 1838, in Peacham, Vermont,
where he received his education in the .public
schools. He was a stone cutter by occupation. He
learned the trade of stone mason, and alter living
in Peacham and Danville, Vermont, moved to Con-
cord, New Hampshire, where he worked at his
trade for ten years. He then removed with his
family to Andover, New Hampshire, where he was
a resident for thirty yeafs, and died July 29, 1907.
He was a man of quiet and unassuming nature,
though of social disposition, and hospitable to all.
He was a lover of inusic, and for many years held
the position of chorister in the church at Andover,
which he attended as long as his health would
permit. Although not a full inember of this so-
ciety, he was an earnest worker in its behalf, and
was much respected by all. He was a Republican
in politics. He was married, September 2, 1802,
to Lucy Maria Smith, \vho was born July 6, 1839,
in Cabot, Vermont, daughter of Benjamin and Bet-
sey (Grant) Smith. He was survived by his wife
and three sons, Elbert D. of Franklin, and Eugene
B., and Harry L. of Andover. An only daugliter
died in infancy. Betsey (Grant) Smith was born
June 25, 1S04, in Berlin, Vermont, a daughter of
Thomas and Lydia Grant. Thomas Grant was born
September 29, 1778, in East Windsor, Connecticut,
a son of Azariah and Abigail Grant, and was mar-
ried, February 28, 1801, to Lydia, daughter of James
and Sarah Crowninshield. She was born in 1778
in Killingly, Connecticut.
(VIII) Elbert David, son of Lyman and Lucy
M. (Smith) Currier, was borji August 7, 1867, in
Concord, New Hampshire. He attended the public
schools of his native town until his parents moved
to Andover, same state, about 1877, and was sub-
sequently a student of the village school there, and
attended the School of Practice in Wilmot, and
finished his schooling at Colby Academy, New Lon-
don, New Hampshire. He made a special study
of organ and vocal music and art under private
teachers, and for a little more than a year he was
employed in Gillett's Copying House, Concord. He
began work as a photographer in Andover, New
Hampshire, in 1886, and there continued until 1899.
Going to Boston, he continued his professional work
until the summer of ipoi. In October of that year
he purchased the studio of George Hale, in Frank-
lin Falls, New Hampshire, and has since continued
business there. He is a member of the Village
Congregational Church of F'ranklin, New Hamp-
shire. He is a steadfast Republican in political
principle. He is a member of the Photographers'
Association of New Hampshire. He was married
October i, 1902, in Hebron, New Hampshire, to
Lucy May Hardy, daughter of David P. and Sarah
D. (Fox) Hardy. (See Hardy, IX.)
It is extremelv difficult to
MOODY CURRIER express in "words the
value to the world 6f
such a man as Moody Currier, Governor of N(^w
Hampshire, and long one of the most successful
and prominent men of the commonwealth. As a
business man, a scholar and philanthropist, he ren-
dered distinguished service to his native state and
to humanity in general. Born amid conditions of
poverty and misfortune, he rose superior to en-
vironment and achieved a success in his chosen lines
which is vouchsafed to but few men even when
blessed with every advantage at the start. His
example will ever remain among those most worthy
of emulation, as an inspiration and encouragement
to ambitious youth everywhere. His fame was not
confined to one state, but extended over many, and
the great final reckoning of mankind alone can tell
the benefits to the world of his unblemished life.
He was born April 22, 1806, in Boscawen, Merri-
mack county, and died at his home in Manchester,
August 23, 1898, in his ninety-third year. To him
was given length of days and wisdom of a high
order. His boyhood was passed in an agricultural
community where books were rare, but he used his
few leisure hours in the pursuit of knowledge.
Compelled to labor diligently and almost incessantly
in ami Luc)
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NEW HAMPSHIRE.
i'3
in order to live, from a very carl}- age, he yet
established tlie basis of that wide inforraatioii wliich
made his mature years so bright and useful lo both
himself and the country. A few weeks at the
rural winter school enabled him to gain a footing
at the base of the tree of knowledge, and by his
own efforts he secured a preparatory training at
Hopkinton Academy, and he finally entered Dart-
mouth College, where he paid his way by leaching
and farm work, being graduated from the classical
course in 1834. tie was the honor man of his
class, delivering the Greek oration, and none dis-
puted his title to honors so nobly earned, lie now
set about preparation for adnnssion to the bar, en-
gaging as a means to that end, in the work of
teaching, for which he was litted by nature, and
like all his undertakings, this was carried on with
enthusiasm and thoroughness. He was employed
in a school at Concord, was principal of the Hop-
kinton Academy and of the Lowell (Massachu-
setts) High School. Having pursued his legal
studies successfully while teaching, he was ad-
mitted to the bar at Manchester in the spring of
1841 and immediately set about the practice of his
cliosen profession, locating in that city. For two
years he was associated with Hon. George W.
Morrison, and subsequently pursued his profession
alone, acquiring a handsome and valuable prac-
tice and continuing until 1848, when he entered
the held of finance, for which he was so admirably
fitted. He was the moving spirit in the organization
of the Amoskeag Bank, of which he was cashier
until its reorganization as a National Bank, be-
coming at that time its president. This responsiule
position he held until failing health compelled his
resignation in 1892. He was the first treasurer and
subsequently president of the Amoskeag Savings
Bank, and was the founder and one of the di-
rectors of the People's Savings Bank. In the broad
field of industrial and financial development, he was
a master, and his connections extended to nearly
every useful and growing institution of his home city.
He was a director of the JNianchester Mills cor-
poration; was treasurer of the Concord Railroad
Company, and of the Concord & Portsmoutli rail-
road ; was chosen president of the Eastern rail-
road in New Hampshire in 1877; was a director of
the Blodgett Edge Tool Company and director of
the Amoskeag Axe Company during its existence ;
was president and director of the Manchester Gas
Light Company ; and was for many years treasurer
of the New England Loaij Company,^ the first to
issue debenture bonds.
It was natural that such a forceful mind should
take an active interest in the conduct of public
business, and we find him on record as clerk of
the state senate in 1843-44, to which position he was
chosen as a Democrat. The slavery agitation caused
him to join the Free Soil party, and he was among
those who aided in the establishment of the Republi-
can party in 1856. In that year he was elected to
the Senate, and was president of that body in the
latter part cf its session in the succeeding winter.
In 1860-61 he was a member of the Governor's
Council, and as chairman of the committee charged
with filling the state's quota of soldiers for the
Union armies, he rendered the state and nation
most valuable service. In 1876 he was chosen as
presidential elector, and was urged to become a
candidate for governor in 1879. To this he would
not then consent, but in 1884 he became his party's
leader and was triumphantly elected to that high
office. His administration was characterized by
dignity, success and honor to all concerned. Be-
i— 8
side an intimate knowledge of Greek and Latin,
he possessed a knowledge of French, Spanish,
Italian, German, and other modern languages, in
which he read frequently in order that his ac-
quaintance with them might not lapse. In recogni-
tion of his learning and distinguished services, both
Dartmouth and Bates College conferred upon him
the degree of Doctor of Laws. While teaching
in Concord he edited a literary journal and, for some
years after locating in Manchester, he edited and
published a newspaper. He was an able w'riter
of both prose and verse, and was a deep student of
religious and scientific questions. His state papers,
published since his death, furnish edifying reading
for those who appreciate pure and classical Eng-
lish. In speaking of Governor Currier, a local his-
torian says : "A distinguished classical scholar,"
he was "learned in the literature and proficient in
many of the languages of modern Europe. * * *
For elegant expression and polished style and fit-
ness for the occasion, his address accepting in
behalf of the State the statue of Daniel 'Webster has
never been excelled." His proclamations, though
without formality or dogmatism, were religious in
lone and moral in sentiment. The following short
stanzas disclose the soul of a poet, and are given
as one of the gems from Mr. Currier's pen :
''When one by one ttie stars go out.
And slow retires the night,
In sbinint; robes the sun appears
And pours hisKolden light.
So. one by one, we all depart.
And darkness shrouds the way;
But hope lights up the sacred morn
Of Life's eternal day."
JNIr. Currier was ihrice married but left no oft'-
spring. His first wife was Lueretia Dustin ; the
second was Mary Kidder; the third. Hannah A.
Slade, daughter of Enoch and Penelope (Welling-
ton) Slade (see Slade), survives him and treasures
most worthily his honored memory. The best
summary possible of the noble life and services of
Governor iMoody Currier is supplied by the follow-
ing paragraphs, which were written by one who
knew intimately all the phases of his long life and
noble character :
"The long list of New Hampshire's successful
and eminent men contains few if any names that
are entitled to precedence over that of ex-Governor
Moody Currier, who died at his residence ' in this
city Tuesday noon, and there is certainly no other
whose career illustrates more strikingly the rewards
that are open to ability, integrity, industry and
perseverance. His home reflected his large means,
great learning and cultivated tastes. His house and
grounds were ornaments of the city and the delight
of all admirers of substantial architecture and
floral beauty. His family idolized him and in his
declining years ministered to him with the greatest
watchfulness and tenderest care. He lived almost
a century with his mental faculties unimpaired and
enjoyed as few can the old age which crowned his
long life. He leaves to his family and friends a
record which is to them a precious legacy and to all
an inspiration. He was the most learned man
with whom we were ever acquainted. For more
than eighty years his books were the constant com-
panions of his leisure hours. He never read merely
for amusement, but always for instruction. Prob-
ably in all his life he did not read ten works of
fiction. He read slowly, passing nothing wliich he
■ did not understand, and when once he had finished
a volume he never forgot what it contained. His
114
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
knowledge of the Bible surpassed that of ahiiost
any New Hampshire man of his time. He could
read and write several languages, ancient and
modern, and was a master of pure English. He
knew science, art and literature. He was versed
in philosophy, astronomy, geology, botany, and na-
tural history. He was a mathematician of a high
order. The geography of the world was in his
■mind and the worlds history was familiar to him.
He was always informed upon current events and
new inventions were the subjects of his constant
study. He studied social, moral, theological, in-
dustrial and political problems, and was always able
to discuss them intelligentlj'. His mind was a store-
house of rich and varied knowledge upon nearly
every subject. And yet he never displayed his learn-
ing, and only his intimate friends knew how pro-
found and extensive it was.
"•A.s a financier he had no superior in the state.
In the investment and management of capital his
judgment was seldom at fault. The moneyed insti-
tutions which he founded prospered from the first
and grew steadily in size and strength until they
stood unshaken monuments to his courage, wisdom,
prudence and skill against panics and depressions
and all other adversities.
"Among all the corporations in which he has
been a controlling director there is not one which
has proved a disappointment to those whose money
was invested in it. There are no wrecks along
the paths through which investors followed Moody
Currier. He was a public-spirited citizen. He
helped lay the foundations of Manchester and build
the superstructure upon them, and whatever in his
judgment promoted her prosperity commanded his
support. He never gave because others did. He
never tried to buy notoriety. He never placated
opposition by bribes, but for the causes in which he
believed he had a willing hand and an open purse.
He was a man of very decided opinions and there-
fore a strong partisan. From the birth of the
Republican party he was one of its most courageous
leaders, wisest counselors and most liberal con-
tributors. He held many public positions and dis-
played in all of them the same ability which was
so conspicuous in his private affairs.
"During the war of the rebellion he was a
member of the governor's council and in this po-
sition his financial and executive ability con-
tributed immensely to the advantage of the state
and nation. Probably New Hampshire was more
indebted to him than to any other man for her
honorable record in providing money and men
in response to the repeated calls of the govern-
ment.
"As governor of the state he won a national
reputation. His state papers are the classics of
our official literature, and all his acts were such
as to steadily strengthen him in public confidence
and esteem.
"He was a generous patron of art and literature.
In his religious views he was a liberal. Far from
being an infidel he rejected the creeds and cere-
monies and superstitions of past ages and found
his religious home in the Unitarian Church, of
which he was a firm supporter. He was not an
effusive or demonstrative man. His self control
was perfect at all times and under all circumstances.
He W'as always calm, deliberate and quiet. He
never sought popularity. He never contributed to
sensations. He was always the thoughtful, earnest,
steady-going, self-reliant and reliable citizen. Un-
til wathin three days before his death his mind was
as strong, as well balanced and as active as ever.
He was an ardent lover of nature and a worshiper
of her truth and beauty. He hated shams, hypocrisy
and pretenses and abominated Pharisees and dema-
gogues. He had strong likes and dislikes. He
remembered his friends and did not forget his
enemies. His companionship was delightful and
helpful to all who appreciated solid worth and en-
joyed sound instruction. None could be much
with him without growing wiser. His advice was
sound. His example showed the road to honorable
success and was an invitation to whoever was
strong, ambitious and determined."
MRS. MOODY CURRIER.
(Written by Moody Currier in 1895.)
Mrs. Moody Currier was the youngest daugh-
ter of Enoch Slade, Esq., a distmguished citizen
of Thetford, Vermont, and sister of General Samuel
Slade, an eminent lawyer of St. Johnsbury, in the
same state. She received her early education in
Thetford Academy, at that time one of the most
famous institutions in New England. Here many
of the sons and daughters of New Hampshire and
Vermont resorted to prepare for college, or to
obtain a higher education than, could be gained
elsewhere. In this celebrated school Miss Slade
early found herself ranking among the foremost,
not only in the ordinary studies, but also in the
higher branches of Greek, Latin and mathematics,
which she pursued far into the college course.
After leaving the academy with the highest repu-
tation . for scholarship, Miss Slade went to Boston,
where, under distinguished teachers, she continued
her studies in music, French and other branches
of polite literature, thus adding a metropolitan
finish not easily acquired in rural institutions. After
her marriage, in connection with her husband, she
continued her literary and scientific pursuits, keep-
ing up with the progress of the age, adopting in
their broadest and most liberal sense the best
thoughts of modern research. Although she has
never given to the public any of her literary pro-
ductions, her education and critical tastes would
warrant success in such an undertaking. She does
not seek distinction by a display to the world of
her charities and benefactions, which are many, and
known only to those who receive them. She be-
lieves that the proper sphere of woman is her
home, which she renders happy, and adorns by
devoting to it the best energies of her life. By
her care and watchfulness she threw around her
husband's declining years a mantle of joy and glad-
ness.
Among the English patronymics adopted
B.\KER from callings, this is one of those early
planted in New England, and has con-
tributed in many ways to the advancement of
civilization and all that improves the race. In all
the profession and honorable walks of life it has
been well known, and is especially conspicuous to-
day for the achievements and discoveries of modern
times. The most widely known and honored is
the discoverer and founder of Christian Science,
Mary Baker Eddy. One of the most beloved of the
past generation was Bishop Osman Baker, of Con-
cord.
(I) John Baker was a freeman in Charlestown,
Massachusetts, 1634.
(II) Thomas Baker, supposed to be a son of
John, was born in Kent, England, and settled in
Roxbury, Massachusetts, where he was a respected
and honored citizen. His name is given in the
list of members of First Church, Roxbury, 1650.
He was a friend and loyal supporter of Rev. John
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NEW HAMPSHIRE.
I i:
Eliot, the apostle to the Indians. He purchased
an estate at Boston Neck, and there built the rirst
tide mill. His death occurred January 28, 1683,
and the church records written by his pastor refer
to him as the "godly father Baker, buried January
JO, 1683."
(Ill) John (2), son of Thomas Baker, was
born 1644, and died 1722.
(,1V) Thomas (2), son of John (2) Baker, was
born May 26, 1676, in Roxbury, and was married
May 28, 1702, to Sarah Pike. He lived in Rox-
bury, a respected citizen, and died May 10, 1761.
His second wife, Hannah, died JNIarch 6, 1776.
(.V) Captain Joseph, son of Thomas and Sarah
(Pike) Baker, was born January 25, 1704, in Rox-
bury, and was one of the early settlers in Pembroke,
then called Suncook, New Hampshire. This town-
ship was granted to the soldiers who served under
the gallant Captain John Lovewell, who was re-
nowned in the annals of the Indian wars, and fa-
mous in song and story in early colonial days.
Hannah Lovewell, born July 23, 1721, in Dun-
stable, the daughter of Captain Lovewell, became the
wife of Captain Joseph Baker, May 31, 1739. She
inherited' one-third of her father's estate, includ-
ing tlie lands assigned to him in Pembroke. Cap-
tain Baker bought from her brother the other two-
thirds and thus became full owner. He married
(second), November 11, 1790, Mrs. Morrill, of
Canterbury. His first wife bore him eleven chil-
dren. (Mention of Lovewell and descendants ap-
pears in this article.) Captain Joseph Baker was
a private in Captain Thomas Tash's company in
the regiment commanded by Colonel Jtihn Hart,
enlisting April 27, and serving until November 21,
1758. His regiment was raised for the Crown
Point expedition, but a part of it went to Louis-
burg, and the others, under Lieutenant-Colonel
Goffe, did duty on the western frontier. On May
31, :758, while on this expedition, he was ap-
pointed by Governor Benning Wentworth the cap-
lain of the foot company (in Colonel Z. Lovewell's
regiment), located at Suncook, New Hampshire.
Captain Baker was the surveyor of several town-
ships in southern New Hampshire, and was one of
the foremost men in his neighborhood in all that
made for the welfare of the province.' Pie was a
member of the committee -of safety of Pembroke
in 1774. He was also a member of the third pro-
vincial congress of New Hampshire, which met at
Exeter, April 21, 1775, and was active in helping the
province take its stand for the new republic. He
was an ardent supporter of religion, and was a
deacon of the Congregational Church in Pembroke.
CVI) Joseph (2), eldest son of Captain Joseph
O) and Hannah (Lovewell) Baker, was born in
Pembroke, New Plampshire, Novemlber 7, 1740,
and died February 27, 18x6. He removed about
1762 to Bow, where he was collector of province
taxes in 1764, and selectman in 1771 and 1804. He
was a member of the committee of safety of Bow
ill 1777. and was a soldier at Fort Washington
(Portsmouth Harbor), in the revolution. In the
tax list of 1790 he appears as one of tjie heaviest
taxpayers in the town. He married Mary Ann
Moore, of the same town, probably in 1762. She
was born probably in Pembroke, and died January
27, 1835. Both were buried in the River Road
•cemetery. Their children were : John, James,
Daniel, Jesse, Hannah, Joseph, Mary Ann, Philip
C. and Mark. (Mention of Philip C. and the last
named and descendants appears in this article.)
.(VII) James, second son and child of Joseph
(2) and Mary Ann (Moore) Baker, was born in
Bow, March 8, 1765, and died May 24, 1808. He
married, November 14, 1793, Judith Whittemore,
who was born in Pembroke, November 5, 1771,
daughter of Aaron and Sarah (Gilman) Whitte-
more of Pembroke. Aaron Whittemore was a
soldier in the revolutionary war, and the first set-
tled minister in Pembroke. Sarah Gilman was a
daughter of Peter Gilman, one of the early New
Hampshire families. She died March, 1840. James
and Judith Baker were buried in the River Koad
cemetery. Bow. Their children were : I. Aaron
Whittemore. 2. Luke. 3. Harriet, who married
Philip Sargent of Bow. 4. Susan, who married
Peter Whittemore, of Salisbury, New Hamp.^hire.
. 5. Lydia, who married Plenry M. Moore, of Con-
cord. 6. James, a successful leather merchant in
Boston. James married (first) Olive Greenleaf, of
Wiscasset, Maine. After her death he married
(second) her sister, Rachel Greenleaf, by whom
he had one daughter, Evelyn Greenleaf, now a well
known literary critic and playwright, wife of Dr.
John. P. Sutherland, of Boston. (Luke and de-
scendants are mentioned in this article.)
(VIII) Aaron W., eldest child of James and
Judith (Whittemore) Baker, was born April 10,
1796, and was only twelve years old when his father
died. The farm was new and rough and required
hard and continuous labor. This Mrs. Baker and
her small children were compelled to render. Thus
from boyhood Aaron W. Baker was accustomed to
the hardest of farm voDrk. Early morning found
him in the field, and darkness closed the labors of
the day. His advantages for education were very
limited. During the winter time only could he
secure even an irregular attendance upon the pub-
lic schools. By the instruction there received and
by his home studies he acquired a fair common-
school education. To this he added a knowledge
of vocal music, which he taught for several terms.
He had a good voice, which he retained until old
age. As he attained manhood he helped his brothers
and sisters to better educational op^portunities than
he enjoyed, and by constant labor improved and
enlarged the cultivated portions of the farm. He
bought out the heirs and became its owner. In his
latter years he added to it until his farm included
nearly all the land originally owned by his father
and grandfather and many acres besides.
In politics Mr. Baker was first a Whig. When
the Democratic party became the exponent of more
liberal principles he joined it, and when it became
allied with the slave power of the south he as
promptly abandoned it. He was an original Abo-
litionist, and acted with the Free Soil party from
its organization. When the Republican party was
formed he, with the Free Soilers generally, united
with that party and he ever after remained a Re-
publican. In religion as in politics, he was though-
ful, studious, and progressive. He was trained in
the faith of orthodox Congregationalism, and until
middle life never attended any other preaching, but,
as he read his Bible and pondered over the great
questions of duty and destiny, he found both heart
and mind protesting against its harsh doctrines and
inadequate statements of goodness, mercy, and love
of the Infinite Father. He became a Univcrsalist.
His wife, w-ho had been educated a Baptist, joined
him in his studies and reflections, and she, too,
became a Univcrsalist. Both died, consoled and
sustained by that cheering faith. He passed away
July 12, 1876, and his widow May 20, 1881. Long
before total abstinence, or even temperance prin-
ciples were popular, Mr. Baker became their earnest
advocate. He aided the circulation and adoption
ii6
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
of temperance pledges, and by his influence many
signed them. By example and encouragement he
assisted in their maintenance and helped to render
social or habitual drinking disreputable. In all the
transactions of his life Mr. Baker was noted for
his honesty, integrity, energy and faithfulness. He
followed his convictions of duty, the logic of events
and of principles, to their legitimate conclusions,
and did not flinch from their results. He enjoyed
society, liked company and loved his friends and
relatives. Although in the political minority of
his town, he held the offices of selectman and treas-
, urer and other positions of responsibility and trust.
He was married, March lo, 1825, to Nancy Dustin,
a descendant of the "heroine, Hannah Dustin. Their
children were four sons: P'rancis i\l., Rufns, John
B., and Henry M.
(IX) Henry Moore, youngest son of Aaron
W. and Nancy (Dustin) Baker, was born in Bow,
January 11, 1841. He attended the public schools
of Bow, which he left to attend, lirst Pembroke
Academy, then Hopkinton Academy, and hnally the
New Hampshire Conference Seminary at Tilton,
where he completed his preparation for college, and
entered Dartmouth in. 1859. There he sustained the
character of an industrious and well beloved stu-
dent, and graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1863.
Three years later he received the degree of JNIaster
of Arts. Immediately after leaving college he en-
tered the office of Judge Minot, of Concord, where
he began the study of law. A year later, 1864, he
was appointed to a clerkship in the War Department
at Washington, D. C, from which he was after-
ward transferred to the Treasury Department,
where he tilled different positions of trust and re-
sponsibility until 1874. While a clerk he continued
his law studies, a part of the time at the Law
Department of the Columbian University, from
which he graduated in 1SG6, and was soon after
admitted to the bar of the supreme court of the
District of Columbia. In 1882 he was admitted to
practice in the supreme court of the United States.
In 1874 he resigikd his clerkship and opened a law-
office in Washington, where there is a large number
of lawyers. To succeed there a lawyer must possess
a good legal mind, be studious, exercise care in
the preparation of his cases and energy in the
prosecution of them, and be ever on the elert for
any advantage that may offer itself. That Mr.
Baker possessed all the qualifications required is
proved by the success he attained. He early made
for himself a reputation that brought a large
clientage and an extensive and profitable business.
"His practice ranged from cases in the inferior
courts and before the departments to final appeals
taken to the supreme court of the United States.
Large sums of money and valuable property were
involved in some of the litigation which fell to
his lot to conduct to a successful termination. In
two of his cases in the United States court of
claims there were at stake directly not less than
one hundred and eighty-four thousand dollars, while
indirectly the amount exceeded half a million.
Another case carried to the supreme court of the
United States determined the title to three millions
of property. He is considered a safe counselor and
a good advocate. His success in his profession is
due to his industry, to his perseverance, and to his
thorough knowledge of legal principles. He has a
good standing at the bar of the District of Co-
lumbia, which includes in its membership men of
national reputation."
During his residence in Washington Mr. Baker
maintained his legal residence in Bow, and never
failed to attend the annual town meeting, regard-
less of the expense in time and money such at-
tendance might necessitate. A Republican from.
boyhood, he has alwavs been a staunch supporter of
his party and an aggressive campaigner. All the
time he was in practice in Washington his law-
office was headquarters for all New Hami)shire
Republicans who gathered at the capitol and wanted
to hold political conferences. There arrangements
were made to insure the attendance of all New
Hampshire clerks at closely contested elections at
home.
In 1886 Mr. Baker was made judge advocate general
of the New Hampshire National Guard, with the rank
of brigadier-general, and filled that office two years.
In 1890 he was nominated by acclamation as the
candidate of his party in the jNIerrimack district
for the state senate. In the campaign which fol-
lowed he w-as recognized as one of the principal
contributors to the success of the Republican ticket
in the commonwealth and its control of the legis-
lature. An evidence of his popularity was the num-
ber of votes he received, which amounted to a
plurality of one hundred and fifty and a majority of
seventy-five, wdiile in his .district the candidate for
governor received only a plurality of seventy-,six
votes. In the senate he was chairman of the ju-
diciary committee, and a member of several other
important committees, as well as chairmaii of its
joint special committee on the revision, codification,
and amendment of the public statutes. His critical
judgment and efficiency made him one of the lead-
ers of his party in the upper house. The great
mass of crude and unwise legislation which found
its way from the house into the senate in that
particular session was very much feduced in volume
through Senator Baker's efforts. In regard to one
measure in particular, he made the ablest speech
of the session, on the bill to give the Mount Wash-
ington railway the right to buy land and conduct
a hotel on the summit of Mount Washington. This
speech was afterward printed in pamphlet form
and widely circulated. It was delivered March 18,
1891, and" is a good illustration of the Senator's
ability to oppose measures he can not approve.
Senator Baker's successful canvass in his sena-
torial district and his wise course as a legislator
made him the logical candidate of the Republican
party in the Second Congressional district, where
the strength of the Democracy was so great that
none by a man of first class ability and reputation
could oust them from their stronghold; hence, in
1892, he was made the nominee of his party for
congress, and went into the contest determined to
win : and win he did, although it was a Democratic
year throughout the country. Mr. Cleveland was
elected president and a strong Democratic house,
in which j\Ir. Baker became one of the active and
aggressive minority. He frequently participated in
the general discussions of the house, and the Con-
gressional Record shows his views as sound upon
every important subject of legislation, where Demo-
cratic unsoundness and heresy were rampant dur-
ing Mr. Cleveland's term of four years. iNIr.
Baker's ■ ten years experience in the departments
of war and the treasury, and his experience gained
in the practice of law in Washington, gave him a
knowledge of methods, customs and usages i)OS-
sessed by only a few on their first entry into con-
gress, aiid materially aided him in the performance
of his official duties.
In 1894 he was a candidate for re-election, and
where he had received a plurality of three hundred
and twenty-nine votes, he made a gain of thirteen
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
117
liimdred per cent. In the Fitty-third Congress he
was assigned to tlic committees on ngriciilture and
militia. In the Fifty-fourth Congress he became a
member of the committees on judiciary, and the
election of president, vice-president, and representa-
tives in congress. He was chairman of one of the
standing sub-committees of the judiciary committee.
His principal speeches were in opposition to the
repeal of the federal election laws, on the methods
of accounting in the treasury department, in favor
of the purchase and distribution to the farmers of
the country of rare and valuable agricultural and
horticultural seeds, on the tariff, on protection not
hostile to exportation, on the necessity of adequate
coast defense, on the criminal jurisdiction of the
United States supreme court, and on civil service
reforms, many copies of which were printed in
pamphlet and extensively circulated. Mr. Baker
has been frequently heard on the stump, and is
noted for his fair and argumentive speeches. He
endeavors to convince rather than to amuse. Wher-
ever his voice or intluence is needed to advance the
principles of his party, he is present. He stand?
firmly for the right as after a careful study and
investigation he sees it, but is always respectful and
considerate of the opinions and feelings of others.
H-e seeks harmony and not discord in the party,
and is a safe counselor at all times.
"On November, 1902, Mr. Baker was elected
delegate from Bow to the convention to revise the
constitution of New Hampshire, and in the work of
that convention he took a conspicuous and honorable
part, not only in introducing amendments, but in
the discussions, and work on committees.
"The first amendment he offered was to article
six of the Bill of Rights, with the design to se-
cure absolute equality to all in the state as to re-
ligious belief, not inconsistent with the peace and
safety of the state. His proposition was adopted in
a modified form. His second proposition was to
restrict the legislature so that it should be unable
to pass any local, special or private laws, where
a general law applicable to all persons and con-
ditions could be made applicable. This was not
adopted, owing to the short time the convention
had to consider it. Had this been adopted it would
have saved the state a good deal of expense, and
the legislature much time. His third proposition
wa_s to so amend the constitution that all future
amendments should be prepared and submitted to
the people by the legislature, instead of by con-
vention as now. This was not adopted. j\Ir. Baker
favored the district systerri for choice of representa-
tives, and advocated a substantial reducton of th5
house and a proportional increase of the senate,
but these views did not tmd favor with the ma-
jority. He advocated all these propositions with
great force and clearness of statement. He also
advocated strongly the amendment granting women
suffrage, and making plurality instead of majority
the rule for electing public officers. Mr. Baker
was chairman on rules, and a member of the com-
mittee on future amendments to the constitution
and other matters. In all his work and arguments
he displayed a clear and comprehensive knowledge
of parliamentary law, and held his own equal to
the best in debate."
In 1904 and again in 1906 he was elected to
represent Bow in the lower house of the legislature,
and in each session he championed the measures
to which he gave his support with the same
earnestness and sincerity that always marks his
course. In the season of 1905 he was on the com-
mittees on national affairs and judiciary, and in
1907 he was chairman of the judiciary committee,
and in that position proved very efficient in ex-
pediting the consideration of meritorious measures
and in retiring unwise and unimportant bills. He
favored the erection of a new state house, the
enactment of a law restraining the sale of liquor
by druggists in no-license places, the passage of.
a law providing for woman suffrage, a tax on rail-
road earnings, and the abolition of the present rail-
road free pass system and introduced a bill for that
purpose.
Air. Baker's active participation in the affairs
of the state have. led him in many cases to search
for the underlying causes and fundamental prin-
ciples of things, and in this way he has become
a profound student of many features of New Eng-
land history, and has responded to requests to de-
liver historical and literary addresses on several
important occasions. On the occasion of the celebra-
tion of Forefathers' Daj', December 22, 1889, he
delivered an able and scholarly address on "The
Pilgrim Puritans," in All Souls' Church, Washing-
ton, D. C, in the presence of a large and apprecia-
tive audience. In this he clearly delineated the
causes which made the settlers of Plymouth Pil-
grims, and showed the powerful and controlling
influence which the principles they promulgated have
exercised over New England, and finally over the
whole American Nation. In June, 1902, he delivered
at Concord before the New Hampshire Society of
the Sons of the American Revolution an address
on the subject: "New Hampshire at Bunker Hill,"
taking for his motto "Justia, et praeteria nihil."
In this discourse he showed the falsity of the
claims put forth by Massachusetts that that colony
furnished the most of the men and was entitled to
the lion's share of the glory for the part she took
in the battle. Mr, Baker showed by figures whose
correctness could not be challenged that New Hamp-
shire furnished two-thirds of the men and did more
than three-fourths of the successful fighting, de-
stroying or putting to fight the flower of the British
troops in that action.
Mr. Baker has cultivated an inherent love of
literature and many an otherwise idle hour he de-
votes to the perusal of the classics, ancient and
modern. He is a member of the New Hampshire
Society ; is a Son of the American Revolution, and
the president of the New Hampshire Society ; a
member of the New Hampshire Club ; has been
president of the Alumni Association of Dartmouth
College ; also of the Alumni of Pembroke Academy.
He resides on the ancestral acres in Bow, which
he cultivates (sometimes with his own hands) with
the same care, skill and success, that his fore-
fathers before him did. He pays the largest tax
in the town, is heavily interested in industries out-
side of the town, and is accounted a man of large
means. He is a member of Bow Grange. No. 189,
Patrons of Husbandry, and frequently attends its
meetings, in which he takes as much interest as
any other member. He is not a member of any
church, but gives of his means to further church
work and to every deserving petitioner for charily
as his needs require.
CVIII) Luke, second son and child of James
and Judith (Whittcmore) Baker, was born in Bow,
February 9, 1798, died in Dunbarton, August 27,
1884, and is buried at East Weare. His father died
when he was ten years old, and he and his brother
Aaron were obliged to carry on the farm and sup-
port the large family of children. In his early life
he built a mill for carding and coloring wool and
fulling cloth at Bow Mills, which he operated until
ii8
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
about 1837, when he removed to Dunbarton and
was a farmer in the northwest part of the town
for the remainder of his life. He married (first),
May 23, 1823, Ann, daughter of Moses Carter, of
Concord, who was born- March 19, 1801, and died
April 6, 1833. She is buried in the Wheeler ceme-
tery in Bow. He married (second), January 19,
1834, Martha, daughter of Alexander and Margaret
(i\loore) Gilchrist, of Goffstown, who was born
December 5, 1804, and died March 14, 1879. She
is buried in East Weare. (See Gilchrist, IV.)
Luke Baker had four children by his first wife,
Ann Carter, viz.: i. James Wallace, who died
young. 2. .Moses Carter, born in Bow, January 25,
1825, a successful grain merchant in Chicago ; he
married Laura A. Morse, of Akron, Ohio, and died
in Chicago in 1893. 3. Adaline W., born in Bow,
March 12, 1827, married Henry A. Sargent, of
Hillsborough, New Hampshire. She is now living
in Concord. 4. Luke N., born in Bow about 1829,
married Laura A. Abbott, of Concord. He died
in San Francisco, California, in 1892. He was a
carpenter by trade. The following children were
born to Luke and JMartha (Gilchrist) Baker:
I. James A., born June 17, 1838, enlisted in the
Sixteenth Regiment New Hampshire Volunteers,
and died in the service in General Bank's army at
Brazier City, Louisiana. 2. Frances Ann, born July
19, 1841 ; she never married and is now living in
Concord. 3. Helen M., the subject of the next para-
graph.
(IX) Helen M., second daughter and tliird
child of Luke and Martha (Gilchrist) Baker, was
born in Dunbarton, March 4. 1843. She received
a good common school education, and for many
years in her early life taught school in Dunbarton,
Weare, Goffstown and Bradford, Vermont. She
married at Dunbarton, April 15, 1869, John H.
Burroughs, of Bow (see Burroughs. IV). She
is a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church.
(VII) Philip Carrington, sixth son and eighth
child of Joseph (2) and Mary Ann (Moore)
Baker, was born INIarch 16, 1782, in Pembroke, and
resided in Bow, whence he removed to' Sanbornton,
New Hampshire, and there died ]\Iay 10, 1837.
He was by trade a shoemaker, and was also en-
gaged in farming. On September 25, 1835, he
purchased a farm in Sanbornton, one mile north
of the square, and moved upon it in the spring
of 1836. He was married December 10, 1806, to
Mary Dow, of Concord, who was born March 24,
1780, and died June 28, 1865. Their children were :
Clarinda, Timothy Dow, Amos Morgan and JNIary
Ann.
(VIII) Clarinda, eldest child of Philip C. and
Mary (Dow) Baker, was born August 3, 1808, in
Bow, and became the wife of Fenner H. Emerson
.of Sanbornton (see Emerson).
(VH) Mark, youngest son of Joseph and Mary
Ann (Moore) Baker, was born May 2, 1785, in Bow.
He lived in the place of his birth until 1836, when
in order to better educate his children he removed to
Sanbornton, New Hampshire. He was always a
constant attendant and a faithful servant of the
church. He was a close friend of Governor Pierce,
the father of President Franklin Pierce. He was
married in May. 1807, to Abigail Ambrose, in Pem-
broke, a daughter of Deacon Nathaniel and Phcbe
(Lovejoy) Ambrose. He married (second), in 1850,
Mrs. Elizabeth (Patterson) Duncan, of London-
derry, who died June 6, 1875. surviving her hus-
band nearly ten years. Mark Baker passed away
October 6, 1865, in Tilton. He was the father of
six children.
Abigail Ambrose, wife of Mark Baker, was bom
in Pembroke, April 18, 1784. She died at Sanborn-
ton Bridge (now Tilton), New Hampshire, No-
vember 21, 1849. From an extended article which
appeared in the press of that day, is extracted the
following eloquent tribute to her rare virtues bv the
Rev. Richard S. Rust, D. D. :
"The character of Mrs. Baker was distinguished
for numerous excellencies, and these were most
happily blended. She possessed a strong intellect,
a sympathizing heart, and a placid spirit. Her
presence, like the gentle dew and cheerful light,
was felt by all around her. She gave an elevated
character to the tone of the conversation in the
circles in which she moved, and directed attention
to themes at once pleasing and profitable. The oft-
repeated expressions of that sainted spirit on the
hearts of those especially entrusted to her watch-
care can never be effaced. No sacrifice was esteemed
too great, could it subserve their interests. Kind
and conciliatory in manner, wise and prudent in
counsel, at all times cheerful and hopeful, she was
the presiding genius of a lovely circle and a happy
home. The bereaved husband laments the loss of
a devoted wife, mourning children an affectionate
mother, the church one of its brightest ornaments,
and the community one of its most valued mem-
bers." Her children were : Samuel Dow, Albert,
George, Sullivan, Abigail Beman, Martha Smith
and Mary (Mrs. Eddy), all of whom are mentioned
at length below.
(VIII) Samuel Dow Baker was born July S,
1808, in Bow, and died September 23, 1868. His^
first wife was Eliza Ann Glover. His second wife
was Mary Ann Cook. She was for many years a
well known missionary. She was principal of the
Pine Ridge Seminar}', Indian Territory, and wrote
the "History of tlie Judsons."
(VIII) Albert Baker was born in Bow, New-
Hampshire, February 5, 1810, and died October 17,
1841, at the early age of thirty-one years. He was
graduated from Dartmouth College in 1834. with
the reputation of being one of the finest students-
who had ever attended the institution. He im-
mediately entered the law office of Franklin Pierce,
afterward president of the United States, and then
a resident of Hillsborough. He studied with Mr.
Pierce two years, and then spent a year in the
law office of Hon. Richard Fletcher, of Boston. In
1837 he began the practice of law in Flillsborough.
Ini839 he was chosen to the state legislature, and
re-elected in 1840 and 1841. In an appreciative
and extended review of his brilliant career. Gov-
ernor Isaac Hill, in the Nezu Hamj^shire Patriot,
among other things said : "Mr. Baker was a young-
man of uncommon promise. Gifted with the high-
est order of intellectual powers, he had trained and
schooled them by an intense and almost incessant
study during his short life. He was fond of in-
vestigating abstruse and metaphysical principles, and
he never quit them until he had explored every
nook and corner, however hidden and remote. Had
life and health been spared to him, he would have
made himself one of the most distinguished men
in the country."
(VIII) Colonel George Sullivan Baker was-
born August 7, 1812. He married I\Iartha Dew
Rand, and died November 21, 1867, in Sanbornton.
They had one child, George Washington Baker
(now surviving).
(VIII) Abigail Beman Baker was born Janu-
ary IS, 1815. She was married to Alexander H.
Tilton, a large woolen manufacturer, from whose
family the town of Tilton, New Hampshire, was
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
119
named. Tlicy had tliree cliildi'cii : Albert Baker,
Alfred Edwin, and Abbie Evelyn, all deceased with-
out issue.
(VIII) Martha Smith Baker was born January
16, 1819. She married Luther C. Pilshury, of Cou-
corn. They had two children, Mary B., and Ellen
C, both deceased without issue. Mr. Pilsbury was
widely and favorably known because of his eminently
successful work in the conduct of slate prisons.
He was deputy warden of the New Hampshire
state prison at Concord, and warden of the Xew
York state prison.
(VHI) Mary Baker Eddy (See frontispiece, VoI._
III). Great nations fulfill great missions. Greece is
synonymous w'ith philosophy, Rome with adminis-
tration, France with liberty. For the achievement
of its appointed task, history records that there
has always been provided the right leader. Greece
had her Socrates, Rome her Caesar, France her
Lafayette. The accepted mission of our loved Re-
public is the enthronement of right, the fulfilment
of the Master's prayer, "Thy kingdom come. Thy
will be done in earth as it is in heaven." Among
a large body of careful thinkers there is a growing
conviction that the commonwealth of New Hamp-
shire is the birthplace and the home of the befitting
leader, through whom the sacred mission of our
great nation is finding its consummation.
The historic White Mountain State is rich in
all that typifies spiritual leadership. Her endur-
ing granite is a fitting symbol of that strength of
character and heroic firmness which characterizes
every great leader. Her heaven-kissing mountains
typify that lofty idealism which alone can lift mor-
tals from the valleys of selfishness and sin to the
uplands of true manhood. Her placid lakes and
swift flowing rivers, with their clear crystal waters,
betoken the purity of thought which eliminates
sordid materialism and establishes the spiritual life
manifested by the great Master.
Mary Baker Eddy's earliest progenitor in New
Hampshire was John Lovewell, the grandfather of
her great-grandmother, Hannah Lovewell Baker,
the heroic wife of the gallant Captain Joseph
Baker, the original ancestor of that name in the
Granite State. John Lovewell was one of the fore-
most men in the colony. He was merchant, mill
ow-ner and landed proprietor. New Hampshire his-
tories say that he was an ensign in the army of
Cromwell, and that he came to America in 1660
because of the restoration of Charles II. His deep
religious convictions are shown by Hhe following
anecdote recorded of his in the "Town History of
Dunstable'': "One Sabbath morning Parson Swan
forgot the day and ordered his hired men to their
work. They objected, telling him it was Sunday. He
would not believe it, but finally said, 'If it is Sun-
day we shall soon see Father Lovewell coming up
the hill ;' and sure enough, punctual as the clock
to the hour, the aged man, then more than a hun-
dred years old, but who never missed a Sunday,
was seen making his way to church."
It is related of the celebrated Hannah Dustin,
who was captured by the Indians at Haverhill,
Massachusetts, in 1697, and escaped by killing her
captors, ten in number, that in her lonely wander-'
ings down the Merrimack, from the mouth of the
Contoocook in Concord, New Hampshire, the first
house she reached was the home of this ancestor of
Mrs. Eddy.
Ancient manuscripts quaintly relate, "Between
1752 and 1756 died John Lovewell at the great
age of one hundred and twenty years, the oldest
person who ever deceased in New llanipshire."
Mrs. Eddy's great-great-grandfather, the illus-
trious Captain John Lovewell, son of the former,
is famed in colonial song and story for his valor
and patriotism. The safety of the entire New
Hampshire colony was menaced by the rapine and
butchery of the cruel savages. In the crisis, when
others had failed and all efforts resulted only in
disaster. Captain Lovewell organized a brave com-
pany, went forth into the wilderness, met and de-
feated the enemy, and bestowed lasting peace upon
the struggling colony. The peace was, however,
dearly bought, for the intrepid warrior sacrificed his
life for his country's welfare. The grateful com-
monwealth of Massachusetts bestow-ed upon him
and his brave band of heroes the town of Pem-
broke (now in New Hampshire), and hither Cap-
tain Joseph Baker brought his bride Hannah, the
fair daughter of the well loved Captain Lovewell,
who inherited her father's broad acres in the val-
ley of the iMerrimack.
Hannah Lovewell Baker, Mrs. Eddy's great-
grandmother was a worthy daughter of her heroic
sire. A tribute to her character is quoted from the
"History of Pembroke," page 59 : "These were
times that tried men's souls. They were led to de-
velop those strong and sterling qualities of char-
acter, which made conspicuous the nobilities of their
manhood and patriotism. Nor were the women
behind the men in the display of those qualities.
We give an illustration. It is said that Hannah, the
daughter of the brave Captain John Lovewell, and wife
of Captain Joseph Baker, was washing by a spring
Or stream, when an alarm was given of the pres-
ence of Indians in the neighborhood. The men oil
their way to a place of safety, found her at work,
and urged her to flee for shelter. But she was
resolute and persistent. Having work in hand, she
would not move until she had finished, Indian or
no Indian. The men in their hurry to reach the
fort left her. Telling there the story, a rescuing
party was sent after her, and found her leisurely
comin,g to the garrison with her basket of clean
clothes."
We have already transcribed the written records
of the historic 'Baker family in New Hampshire.
The brief sketch herein given is an eloquent witness
to a race of men who were lovers of liberty, heroic
defenders of their homes and native land. They
were of that class of sturdy, self-reliant men wdiose
self-sacrificing labors gave birth to these United
States of America, and whose indomitable energy
and strict integrity established and have preserved
those inalienable rights which have found a glorious
expression in the free school, the free ballot, the ■
free press and the free church. Both sides of Mrs.
Eddy's family were founders of local churches. Her
mother's father was Deacon Nathaniel Ambrose, and
through his generosity and labors was founded the
North Congregational Church of Pembroke, New
Hampshire, known as Deacon Ambrose's Church.
The historian also tells us that so largely was the
Baker family interested in founding the ?iIcthodist
Church of that town that "with propriety it might
have been called the Baker Meeting House."
High on file hills of Bow. above the misls of
the winsome valley of the Merrimack, somewhat
apart from the dusty highway, in a home where
family prayers began each day's activities, where
a mother's love was radiant as the summer sun-
shine, gentle as the falling dew that bathes the
roses of June, was born the Discoverer and Founder
of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy. She was
the last welcomed member in this family of three
sons and three daughters. The Baker homestead
120
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
was a favorite resort for leaders in church and state.
The clergy found here a . cordial welcome, and
teachers and scholars, governors and at least one
president of the United States, were wont to fre-
■quent it. From birth Mary Baker was different
from other children. It was her joy to be in the
mother's presence, and the slightest wish of her
loved one called forth immediate obedience. She
was as shy and retiring as the fawn of the wood-
land, as meek and modest as the arbutus of spring,
as pure and chaste as the blue skies of New Hamp-
shire. So little tainted was the child with the things
of earth, so true and loving, so kind and gentle,
that a well-known minister of the Gospel said of
her that "she was sanctified before she had birth."
Yet she was always doubting her own goodness,
and praying for deliverance from the bondage of
sin.
As ]\Iary Baker grew older, in so far as her
strength w'ould permit, for she was a frail child,
she became the helper and the friend of all. To
her tender care the father entrusted the neglected
nestlings and the motherless lambs, and under her
gentle ministration they grew well and strong. With
her less fortunate playmates she gladly shared her
childish treasures and even her wardrobe, so for-
getful of self, so thoughtful of others, so rare and
radiant was the spirit of this child.
She was gifted with unusual and extraordinary
mental powers. Her father believed that her brain
was too large for her body, and so kept her much
■out of school, but she seemed to gain knowledge
intuitively. A private tutor declared that she had
mastered studies, which, as a matter of fact, she had
never entered upon, so quick was she in compre-
hension. She was blessed with a marvelously re-
tentive memory. No more than a second reading
of a long poem was needed in order that she might
repeat it entire. On returning from church she
-was able to recall the leading points of the sermon,
which she pondered throughout the week. At ten
years of age she was a reader of philosophical
works which puzzled her elders. The son of Rev.
Enoch Corser, A. M,, who was a neighbor friend,
lias written of her, "She was about fifteen when I
first knew her. She and my father used to con-
verse on deep subjects frequently, too deep for me.
She was always pure and good, and she stands
out in my mind as my father's brightest pupil."
In 1836 Mark Baker moved his family from Bow
to Sanbornton, New Hampshire, to give them w'ider
educational advantages. Mary Baker hfccame a
pupil in the Sanbornton .•\cademy. Among her
teachers were Professor Ira Sanborn, author of
Sanborn's Grammar. Rev. Enoch Corser, A. M.,
Sarah J. Bowdell Lane, and her scholarly and dis-
tinguished brother. Albert Baker, Esq., a foremost
member of the New Hampshire bar. At ten years
of age she was as familiar with Lindley Murray's
grammar as she was with the Westminster Cate-
chism, and the latter she read every Sunday. Her
favorite studies were natural philosophy, logic and
moral science. In addition she received lessons
from her brother Albert in Latin, Greek and
Hebrew. She was happy in readftig the great
masterpieces. The Bible, Milton, Shakespeare, Mrs.
Hemans, and Young's "Night Thoughts," were help-
ful in forming her clear and forceful style of writ-
ing and speaking. At an early age she evinced
marked literary ability. In childhood her thought
naturally expressed itself in poetry,' and verses
flowed from her pen with all the sparkle and free-
<\<<m of mountain streams. Her modesty and re-
liiciance to appear before the public caused her
to write under different noms des filuinc. At si.x-
teen years of age she was a regular contributor to
public press and magazine. Her writings were
of such a high order of merit that selections ap-
pear in a volume of Prose and Poetry from well
known New England authors, published in 1850,
twenty-five years before the publication of her text-
book of Christian Science, "Science and Health with
Key to the Scriptures." During her residence in
the south she wrote frequently for southern maga-
zines, and on her return to the north, so widely
and favorably known had she become as an author
of merit, that her compositions were eagerly sought
by leading magazines both north and south. Those
who study her writings are impressed .by the
thorough familiarity with the best in literature,
which is therein displayed.
Mrs. Eddy early allied herself with the moral
forces arrayed for the public good. The "National
Encyclopedia of American Biography" says of this '
religious reformer: "Her spiritual ideal is in-
separable from her life, and reflects the true di-
vinity, not in creeds and codes, but facts and quali-
ties inherent in her own noble character. Her life
is one of noiseless charities, of gentleness and
tenderness of indefatigable toil and unparalleled
self-immolation ; yet she unsparingly rebukes sin
in all its forms and phases."
Her brother Albert was one of the earliest
temperance workers and orators of New Hampshire.
He gave the first address and drew up the first
temperance pledge in the- state. Mrs. Eddy signed
it, and when in Lynn, Massachusetts, while a mem-
ber of the Good Templars, reformed many drunk-
ards, and saved the Women's Branch of the Temple
of Honor from being a complete wreck, in one year
adding to its number seventy-five members. When
the civil war broke out she rendered loyal service
in behalf of the brave soldiers. Her effective labors
were recognized by General Benjamin F. Butler,
and his aide-de-camp wrote ; "The General be-
lieves that with tlie aid of such women the war
would soon be over."
It was not a flower-strewn pathway over which
^Irs. Eddy passed to her great discovery. The
story of those eventful years suggests the poet's
lines:
"The good are better made by ill.
As odours crushed are sweeter still,"
In the springtide of a noble womanhood she
was claimed as the bride of a southern gentleman.
Major George W. Glover, of Charleston. South
Carolina. Major Glover was a successful archi-
tect, in charge of large government contracts. He
was a Master Mason, and was the soul of honor.
While superintending his important interests in Wil-
mington, North Carolina, he was stricken with a
fatal fever, and the bride of a few months was left
a widow.
Faithful and true were the jioble-hearted Ma-
sonic brethren of the south. They reverently per-
formed the last sad rites for their departed brother,
and tenderly cared for his stricken widow. No
service was left undone, no detail forgotten. With
all the chivalry of southern gentlemen, with all the
historic devotion of true Masons, they satisfactorily
adjusted all business affairs, provided for her needs,
accompanied her to the railway station, a com-
mittee journeyed with her to the north, and only
bade her farewell when she was within the shelter
of her father's home. Mrs. Eddy wrote tenderly
of this trial hour in her Dcdic:itory Messatio to
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
121
the church at Atlanta. "Did that midnight shadow,
falling upon the bridal wreath, bring the recom-
pense of human woe, which is the merciful design
of divine Love, and so help tct evolve that larger
sympathy for suffering humanity which is emanci-
pating it with the morning beams and noonday
glory of Christian Science."
Four months after her return to the north, her
only child was born, George Washington Glover.
Into her night of sorrow there came this glad ray
of sunshine. She loved her child as only a true
mother loves, and gave to him her heart's de-
votion. Her long continued illness necessitated the
placing of the child in the hands of a nurse. Un-
known to the invalid mother, the child was removed
to the distant west. Through a false report he was led
to believe that his mother was dead. At the breaking
out of the civil war he served with distinction, and
at its expiration he was appointed United States
marshal of Dakota. Learning by a strange provi-
dence of his mother, he returned to Boston with
his family, and they were her welcome guests.
Though he went back to the west to superintend
his business enterprises, he has returned from time
to time to find the mother's love unchanged.
Mrs. Eddy's second marriage was not so for-
tunate as the first, and from it she was compelled
to seek a legal separation, which was granted her.
One motive of this union was to provide a home
for her child. In this desire she met with disap-
pointment, as her husband was not willing to carry
out her wishes in this respect. He has since ac-
knowledge that his wife was a pure Christian
woman, that he was wholly to blame for the separa-
tion, and that if he had done as he ought he might
have had a happv home.
Nor were these fiery trials the only ones through
which she passed. The furnace of affliction spared
not this gentle woman in the preparation for the
mighty mission entrusted to her keeping. When
most she needed her beloved brother Albert's pro-
tecting care, death parted them. Close were the
ties which bound them. ' Theirs was a mutual love
for the best in literature, and a common interest
in profound philosophical and metaphysical subjects.
llis manly strength was her strong support ; her
versatile and brilliant gifts were his delight. With
a bright career before him, recognized as one of
the ablest lawyers of New Hampshire, esteemed
as a statesman of spotless integrity, beloved by his
friends and honored by his foes, -such was Albert
Baker, and bj' none was his loss so deeply felt as
by his sister jMary. Reiiiembering her long life
of devotion to the cause of her great Master, one
is led to ask if this great sorrow may not have
brought its teaching that "there is a friend that
•sticketh closer than a brother."
In a peaceful spot in the village cemetery of Til-
ton, New Hampshire, there is a simple shaft with
the name of Abigail Baker, died November 21,
1849. What the world owes to the sainted mother
buried there is little known. It was she who helped
she child Mary to that undying love for the sacred
Scriptures, and first inspired her with the faith
that God is "a very present help in trouble." This
mother was her refuge and strength, her shield and
support. Yet in the hour when she seemed of
most help, she was taken from her. Jesus taught
his disciples that his departure would bring to
them the Comforter. Likewise the departure of the
beloved earthly mother may have led the Discoverer
of Christian Science to rely more i;losely upon
'Go<], the infinite Mcllier Lnvc. I'mfnundlv true
are Shakespeare's words when applied to Mary
Baker Eddy : "Sweet are the uses of adversity."
Concord's ex-mayor and former postmaster, the
Honorable Henry Robinson, who has long known
Mrs. Eddy, has eloquently written of her: "From
infancy her life has been a marked one. Even in
girlhood she was far in advance of others of her
age. One of the favorite pictures in her home is
that of Jesus, the youth, debating with the wise
men, and as she stood for a moment near it, the
thought came to the writer's mind — how much like
the Great iNIaster."
In childhood's sunny hours, mysterious voices
called her as they did the child Samuel. Their
meaning was not then revealed. To the higher
voice she has listened, and with loyal obedience has
given earnest heed.
When four or five years of age she attended
school. A childish game was played by the little
ones at this time, in which they separated them-
selves into groups and confided to each other their
hopes and expectations. When it was Mary's turn
to answer, she would say decisively, "/ sJiall Zi'rite
a book," and no amount of disapproval from her
school mates, who thought this a very stupid am-
bition, could make her change this decision. At
an early age she wrote verses which express
thought that are akin to the teaching of Christian
Science.
When the hour arrived in which she was to
unite with the Christian Church, her loving, Christ-
like nature rejected the rigid Calvinistic doctrine
of foreordination and election. So disturbed was
she at the direful fate to which her own brothers
and sisters were relentlessly consigned that she was
thrown into a fever. Her mother turned her
thoughts to God in prayer, and the answer came
in a great peace and calm. She had been healed
through no earthly agency. Perfect love had cast
out fear and God was found a present help.
Though reasoned with by pastor and deacons,
the youthful applicant for church membership con-
tinued steadfast in her conviction of the loving-
kindness of God. When brought before a church
meeting and questioned as to her attitude, she
replied. "1 can only answer in the words of the
Psalmist, 'Search me, O God, and know my heart.
Try me and see if there be any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.' " With tears
in their eyes, pastor, deacons and church members,
despite her strict adherence to her convictions,
unanimously welcomed her into the church coven-
ant.
Mrs. Eddy's brother Albert was an earnest stu-
dent of metaphysics, and she shared his researches
and investigations. The material philosophy of the
age did not satisfy those advanced thinkers, and
together they were working their way out of the
old toward the new. With a hope to improve her own
health, Mrs. Eddy studied Homoeopathy. She was
deeply impressed by the fact that the higher the
attenuation the better seemed the results. She saw
that the less there was of the material medicine
the better the healing. She found that patients were
cured with unmedicated tablets, or with a tea-
spoonful of water given every hour; even thoiigh
devoid of the drug. Her aversion to the dissecting
room prevented her from obtaining an expert
knowledge of surgery and from completing her
course, but her experiments in Homeopathy were
valuable in directing her attention to the proposition
that all causation is mental.
While Mrs. Eddy was an inmate of Dr. A'ail's
Hydropathic Institute in New Hampshire, in the
122
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
j-ear 1862, a patient, therein considered incurable,
left the institute, and a few weeks later returned
apparently well. He said he had been healed by
one P. P. Quimby, of Portland, Maine. This inci-
dent led ]\Irs. Eddy to visit Portland and receive
treatment from Mr. Quimby. His methods seemed
at first to bring relief, but he failed to heal the case.
She found him to be a magnetic practitioner. In
response to a question as to how manipulation
could benefit the sick, he replied substantially :
"Because it conveys electricity to them." He was
not an educated man, and could give no intelligent
explanation of his cures. There is absolutely no
room for skepticism as to the author of "Science
and Health with Key to the Scriptures." In all
history there is not one fact more indisputably at-
tested, not one more certainly verified, than the
fact that the Discoverer and Founder of Christian
Science is also the sole author of its text-book.
History records that Mrs. Eddy"s sincere de-
sire has been to make the healing ministry of
Christ Jesus and his church available for present
human needs. From earliest childhood she was a
devout student of the Bible, and pondered earnestly
the Tilaster's mighty works and his command to his
followers to heal the sick. In the life-giving words
and healing Gospel of the great Physician, she
sought long and prayerfully for the balm where-
with he cured diseases and overcame death.
God surely meant that the search of this faith-'
Tul disciple should be richly rewarded. J\Irs. Eddy
thus speaks of her discovery of Christian Science
in her book, "Retrospection and Introspection" :
"It was in Massachusetts, in February, 1866, that
I discovered the Science of Divine jNIetaphysical
Healing, which I afterwards named Christian
Science. The discovery came to pass in this way.
During twenty j-ears prior to my discovery, I had
been trying to trace all physical effects to a mental
cause ; and in the latter part of 1866 I gained the
scientific certainty that all causation was mind, and
every effect a mental phenomenon. My immediate
recovery from the effects of an injury caused by
an accident, an injury that neither medicine nor
surgery could reach, was the falling apple that led
me to the discovery.
Mrs. Eddy did not retain for personal advan-
tage this spiritual under standing of God — the cura-
tive principle of sickness and sin — through whom
all the healing in Christian Science is wrought.
She spent the next three years after her healing
in retirement, studying the Bible and finding therein
the principle and rule of her own healing. She
then tested this pathological system in every pos-
sible way, and gladly revealed the divine way to
students who at length spread the good tidings.
Eager that the world might farther and more freely
possess the sacred discovery entrusted to her keep-
ing, in 1875, after long years of profound study of
the Bible, she sent forth on its mission of love
the text-book of Christian Science, "Science and
Health, with Key to the Scriptures."
Thus Mrs. Eddy, in the latter half of the nine-
teenth century, discovered the Science of Christianity
which she named Christian Science. She healed
the first case in this century by Christian Science.
She taught the first student in Christian Science'
Mind-healing. She was the author and publisher
of the first books on this subject; obtained the first
charter for the first Christian Science Church,
originated its form of government and was its
pastor; and donated to this church the land on
which in 1894 was erected the first church edifice
of this denomination in Boston ; obtained the first
and only charter for a Metaphysical medical, college-
^was its first and only president ; was editor and
proprietor of the first Christian .Science periodical^
and has established all its succeeding periodicals;
organized the first Christian Scientist Associaticit
and gave it the Christian Science Journal; founded,
the Board of Lectureship; planned and established
the Christian Science Publication Committees in this
and foreigh lands; inaugurated the denominational,
form of Sunday services, Sunday school, and the
entire system of teaching and practicing Christian
Science. (See "Miscellaneous Writings," page
382.)
In 1889 Mrs. Eddy closed the ]\Iassachusetts
Metaphysical College, notwithstanding that hundreds
of applicants were awaiting admission, and retired
to Concord, New Hampshire. Her purpose in doing
this was to secure seclusion and time in which to
revise Science and Health, and further extend her
field of labor. Later she established a Board of
Education, based on the College, which board is
now in active operation.
Forty eventful years have passed since Mary
Baker Eddy made her great discovery of Christian
Science. Its garnered harvests include more than
a million persons healed of sickness and advancing
spirituality. Forty years ago there was but one
Christian Scientist. To-day it has representatives
in every state and territory of America, and in
seventy-five foreign countries. Her first church was
organized in 1879. To-day (1906) it has more than
a thousand worshipI)ing congregations in this and
foreign lands. The text-book of the denomination
has reached its four hundredth edition of one thou-
sand copies, and Mrs. Eddy's writings havd a
circulation approaching one million copies. The
Publishing House in Boston distributes more than
five million pages of printed literature each month,
and there were published during the past twelve
months three times as many copies of "Science and
Health" as were sold during the first twelve years-
of its history.
The Mother Church in Boston, The First Church
of Christ, Scientist, was built in 1894, at a cost
of more than $200,000. To this church Mrs. Eddy
gave the land, valued at $20,000. The church edifice
became entirely inadequate to accommodate the
throng of worshippers, and in 1906 the magnificent
extension to The Mother Church of Christ, Scien-
tist, was completed, which seats over five thousand
persons, and two million dollars were already paid
for it. Both structures were not only dedicated
free of debt, but in each case, before the day of
dedication, the treasurer requested that no more
contributions be forwarded, as sufficient funds were
already in hand to meet all obligations.
This religion is confined to no state or nation.
Its churches and members are to be found through-
out the United States and in Canada, England,
Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, Switzerland,
Italy, Holland, Denmark, Australia, China, India,
South Africa, South America, the Bahamas. Hawaii,
Cuba, the Philippine Islands, the Republic of Mexico,
Alaska, and in many of the English colonies.
Beautiful and commodious edifices for worship are
owned and occupied by this rapidly growing de-
nomination in nearly all the large cities of the
United States and Canada. Chicago has six large
churches, with five handsome edifices. The city
of Greater New York has nine churches and five
church buildings, two of which are distinguished.
Concord, New Hampshire, has a strong organization
and a beautiful granite church, a gift from Mrs.
Eddy, which cost- over two hundred thousand dol-
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
123.
lars. :Mrs. Eddy located this church, bought the
land, started the building, and paid for it, part of the
money having been contributed to her for this especial
purpose by Christian Scientists in all parts of the
world, who wished to have a share in the work.
There are influential Christian Science Churches in
San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Jose, Minneapolis,
Milwaukee, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Washington,
Cleveland, Detroit, St. Louis, Buffalo, Pittsburg,
Cincinnati, Atlanta, Providence. Toronto, and many
other places on this continent. There are three
firmly established churches in London, England ; its
First Church was recently completed a fine edifice
at Sloane Terrace, S. W. The organization at Man-
chester, England, also has its own church edifice.
Besides her manifold activities in guiding and
supervising her church of more than forty thouiand
comnumicants, Mrs. Eddy has been a prolific writer.
Her literary output comprises books, sermons, essays,
poems, magazine articles, editorials, etc. Her chief
books, in addition to the text-book of the denomi-
nation, "Science and Health with Key to the Scrip-
tures," are, "Miscellaneous Writings ;" "Christ and
Christmas," an illustrated poem ; "Retrospection and
Introspection;" "Pulpit and Press;" "Unity of
Good;" "Rudimental Divine Science;" "Xo and
Yes;" "Messages to the Mother Church;" "Christian
Healing;" "People's Idea of God;" and "Manual of
the Mother Church."
.\lthough the youngest among the great Christian
denominations, it is seen that Christian Science is
completely organized and widely and firmly estab-
lished. Among Mrs. Eddy's helpers and followers,
in this and in other lands, are eminent men and
women, who have rallied to her standard from llie
ranks of religion, business, the professions, and tlie
nobility.
Mrs. Eddy has been from early years a devoted
member and loyal supporter of the Evangelical
Church. She was received into the Congregational
Church in Tilton, New Hampshire, July 26, 18,58.
She continued her membership therein for tliirty-
seven years, and her relations with this historic
communion have ever, been cordial and fraternal.
After Mrs. Eddy had left the state and confessed
to him the enlargement of her spiritual sense in the
direction of her discovery of the power of Christi-
anity to heal the sick, and after she had submitted
to him her published work, "Science and Health,"
for examination, the Rev. Theodore C. Piatt, pastor
of this church, under date of January 13, 1875.
gave to her the following letter of dismissal : "This
certifies that Mrs. Mary M. Glover is a member of
this church in good and regular standing. At her
own request she is dismissed from this and recom-
mended to any evangelical church in Lynn. When
received there, her particular connection with us will
cease."
In the year 1878 Mrs. Eddy was called to preach
in Boston, at the Baptist Tabernacle of the Rev.
Daniel C. Eddy, D. D., by the pastor of that church.
She accepted the call, and during her ministry there
the congregation so increased that the pews were
not sufficient to seat the audience, and benches were
used in the aisles. At the close of her engagement
she parted with her friends there in Christian fellow-
ship, although not in full unity of doctrine. She
W'as ordained a minister of the Gospel in 1879, and
the same year organized the Fir.-t Cliurch of Christ,
Scientist, in Boston. Massachusetts, and became its
pastor. In 1895, by the unanimous wish of the entire
membership of the church, she was made the Pastor
Emeritus.
In 1877 Mrs. Eddy was vniited in marriage to
Asa Gilbert Eddv. in I.vun. Massachusetts, bv the
Rev. Samuel Barrett Stewart, and it was a richly
blessed and spiritual union. She has thus honored
his hallowed memory : "Dr. Eddy was the first
student to announce himself publicly as a Christian
Scientist and place those symbolic words on his
office sign. He forsook all to follow in this line of
light. He was the first organizer of a Christian
Science Sunday school, which he superintended. He
also taught a special Bible class ; and he lectured so-
ably on spiritual topics that clergymen of other
denominations listened to him with deep interest.
He was remarkably successful in mind-healing, and
untiring in his chosen work. In 1882 he passed
quietly away, with a smile of peace and love resting
on his serene countenance."
In her pioneer days there were noble men and
women who cordially extended to Mrs. Eddy the
right hand of fellowship. When "Science and Health
with Keys to the Scriptures" was assailed by some
mistaken critics, A. Bronson Alcott, the founder of
the Concord School of Philosophy, sought out and
introduced himself to the author, saying, "I have
come to comfort you." The distinguished clergy-
man and scholar. Rev. A. P. Peabody, D. D., while
chaplain at Harvard University, and occasionally
supplying Mrs. Eddy's pulpit in Boston, in a letter
to her wrote : "Do not liesitate to call on me for any
assistance that I can give }'0u. I enjoy speaking to-
your people; they are good listeners and earnest
seekers."
!Mrs. Eddy's teachings beget a clearer understand-
ing and a better appreciation of the Bible, of God,,
and of Christ Jesus. She has repeatedly said : "There
never was, is not now, and never will be but one God,
one Christ, one Jesus of Nazareth. To think of or
speak of me in any manner as a Christ, is sacrilig
ious. Such a statement would not only be false,
but the absolute antipode of Christian Science, and
would savor more of heathenism than of my doc-
trine. All Christian Scientists deeply recognize the
oneness of Jesus — that he stands alone in word and'
deed, the visible discoverer, founder, demonstrator,
and great Teacher of Christianity, whose sandals
none may unloose."
The effect of iMrs. Eddy's writings is to beget
peace and harmony. She is not and never W'as a-
believer in. Spiritualism or Mesmerism, but she and
her followers have no contention with those holding
opposite views. Her teachings exalt the home,
strengthen the sacred attachment between husband
and W'ife, promote harmony and unity in the family,
and tenderly provide for the children, of whom
Jesus said, "Of such is the kingdom of heaven."
Mrs. Eddy is the gladly accepted Leader of
Christian Science, because of her eminent fitness
and her long-tested qualifications. During forty
years of successful leadership, every enterprise she
has inaugurated has prospered. She has many
times sought to resign to others the post she has so
illustriously filled, but no one has yet been found to
whom could be assigned the sacred task. In the
"History of Christian Science," Judge Septimus J.
Ilanna writes : "Mrs. Eddy exercises no power
over her church apart from compliance with its
by-laws which the church adopts, and she declines
to receive even a salary. Her large income is the
result of her growing popularity as an author and
the increasing demand for her books all over the
continent. Self-deification or worship she abhors
— as all know who have a true knowledge of her,
and whose honesty keeps pace with their convictions.
The hundred of thousands who "adhere to her do
this simply from love, because of the benefit they
have received from her work."
I'or more than forty years Mrs. Eddy has given
124
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
her entire time to this great ethical and religious
reform. Except for a short drive each afternoon,
she takes no time for recreation or social enjo>'ment.
But it is not to be inferred that Mrs. Eddy lives an
isolated life. She is citizen and friend, alive to
the public interest, and greatly beloved in Concord
Under her incentive and generous support some
good roads have been "substantially advanced, public
institutions have been liberally remembered, and
many there are among the worthy poor who "rise
up and call her blessed."
Mrs. Eddy is a life member and associate of the
Victoria Institute, London, England ; a life member
of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Washington, D. C. ; a life member of the Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, Boston ;
a member of Mr. Comstock's Society for the Sup-
pression of Vice, New York.
JNIrs. Eddy's charities are numerous and gener-
ous, but quiet and unobstrusive. She has silently
given to numberless institutions and to a host of in-
dividuals of which no public mention has been or
ever will be made. To the JMother Church of Christ.
Scientist, she donated the real estate and all the
property of the Christian Science Publishing House,
valued at $90,000. She gave to the church in New
Berne, North Carolina, for its church home, three
thousand dollars. She presented the city of Concord
with five thousand dollars for good roads, and she
is continually giving to its various institutions,
without regard to , sect or creed. To perform gra-
tuitous tasks she has deferred remunerative work
for months at a time. She has healed the sick and
the sinner without price, and in her classes has taken
many free students. Her secretary has said that
for many years her benefactions averaged annually
more than eighty thousand dollars. She is simple
in her tastes and habits, punctual and systematic in
ler work.
The standard modern biographical works, en-
cyclopedias and dictionaries contain carefully pre-
pared reviews of Mrs. Eddy and of Christian
Science. A few appreciative extracts from these
works conclude this brief and incomplete biography
of Mary Baker Eddy. A recent biographical work
truly says of her : "The organization, nature, con-
stitution and government of The ilother. Church of
Christ, Scientist, its Tenets, its Church ^Manual and
its special form of public service, are all of Mrs.
Eddy's devision. They are in most respects unique,
without precedent in church economy, proofs of
her wisdom and evidence of her ability as a leader.
While the business of the Church of Christ, Scient-
ist, is conducted by a board of directors, the in-
spiration and fountain head of the series of remark-
able steps which have brought Christian Science to
the front so unswervingly and so rapidly, can be
traced to this modest and unassuming, but strong
and resourceful woman. Tt is impossible to investi-
gate the far-reaching effects of the majority of her
acts, without coming to the inevitable conclusion
that she has been and is divinely directed.''
A thoughtful reviewer thu*: succinctly writes :
''Christian Science is a religious' system based upon
spiritual interpretation of the Scriptures. Its pur-
pose is not to supplant primitive Christianity, but
to render it more practical by reason of an enlarged
and more comprehensive understanding of God."
A careful writer observes : "The work of this
great religious leader are the outcome of her pure
and holy life. All that characterizes true citizen-
ship, unsullied patriotism and spotless Christian vir-
tue, are as native to Mrs. Eddy as the granite to
New Hampshire hills."
The "Encyclopedia Americana" thus concludes
a discriminating article upon Mrs. Eddy : "Be-
loved and honored by all who know her, Mrs. Eddy
lives in modest retirement in her country home in
Concord, New Hampshire, where, with unabated
vigor and with untiring devotion, she continues to
direct that beneficent movement with which her
name will ever be associated.''
(VI) Captain Lovewell, son of Captain Joseph
(i) and Hannah (Lovewell) Baker, was born
September 18, 1743, in Pembroke, where his life
was passed, in the enjoyment of the respect and
confidence of his fellows. He was married, Sep-
tember 25, 1766, to Alary Worth.
(VII) Richard, son of Captain Lovewell and
Mary (Worth) Baker, was born February 17, 1771,
in Pembroke, and was married, October 27, 1793, to
Lydia Robinson. Soon after his marriage he set-
tled in Goshen, this state, where he engaged in farm-
ing and ended his days.
(VHI) Lovell (2), eldest child of Richard and
Lydia (Robinson) Baker, was born September II,
1794, in Goshen, and was a farmer in Croydon. He
died about 1858, in Chesterfield, New plampshire.
He married Nancy Lane, who was born November
22, 1796, and their children were : Rufus, Albert
and Lydia. The daughter married, successively,
Jonathan Tasker and Elbridge Hubbard, and died in
Chesterfield, New Hampshire. Rufus was a farmer
in Croydon, and died in Lebanon.
(IX) Albert H., second son and child of Lovell
and Nancy (Lane) Baker, was born July 14, 1825,
probably in Croydon, and before 1852 was a resi-
dent of the town of Concord. He was employed
in a kit factory at West Concord, and became su-
perintendent of the establishment. On account of
failing health he returned to the paternal farm in
Croydon, where he died January 25, 1863, in his
thirty-eighth year. He was an attendant of the
church at Croydon Flat. He was married, January
27, 1852, in Concord, to Alvira Humphrey, who was
born in Croydon, a daughter of John and Charity
(Darling) Humphrey of Concord. She died before
her husband, passing away June 17, 1S62, aged
thirty-one years. They were the parents of a son
and daughter. The latter. Harriet, was adopted
by Jesse Gibson, and now resides in Derry, unmar-
ried.
(X) Stillman Humphrey, eldest child of .Mbert
H. and Alvira (Humphrey) Baker, was born Sep-
tember 28, 1853, ill Croydon, and was left an orphan
soon after he was nine years old. After the death of
his mother, he was taken by an uncle for whom he
was named. Stillman Humphrey, of Concord, and
attended school at intervals until he was fifteen
years of age. He began to earn his way by working
in a mill at the age of thirteen years, and has ever
since manifested the energetic and independent char-
acter thus developed. He is to-day one of the most
substantial citizens, of his home town. At the age
of fifteen years he went to Hillsboro Bridge and took
employment in a general store, where he continued
three years. When only nineteen years of age he
engaged in business on his own account, forming
a partnership with a practical tailor to carry on a
clothing store. He went to New York and perfected
himself in the details of the tailor's trade, and soon
added to his business the sale of ready-made goods.
After twelve years of successful business, he was
forced to abandon it on account of ill health. He
went to Jamaica, West Indies, where he soon estab-
lished himself in business, and rapidly regained his
vigor. His energy and success soon led to more
advantageous conditions, and he was induced to
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
12 =
go to Port Limon, Costa Rica, where he engaged in
tlie interest of the Philadelphia Fruit Company, in
shipping fruit to the United States. Having closed
up a successful business, he returned to Hillsboro
Bridge, where he has resided since. Here he en-
gaged in real estate and auctioneer business, with
great success, and is still so interested, though his
public duties take up much of his time. He has rilled
most of the town offices, including selectman, and
was representative in 1893. He was chairman of the
committee on public improvements of the house.
For the last ten years he has been one of the county
commissioners of Hillsboro county, and for six
years chairman of the board. He is a member of
Harmony Lodge, No. 38, .Ancient Free and Accepted
Masons, of Hillsboro. and Valley Lodge, No. 43,
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of the same
place. He has passed the principal chairs of the
latter lodge and also of the local encampment of
the same order. Like most selfmade men, ^Ir.
Baker sympathizes with all honest effort, is genial
and approachable, honest and industrious, and en-
joys the respect of all who are privileged to know
him. He is a worthy representative of worthy sires.
He was married, September 28, 1887, -to Mary Belle
Abbott, who was born April 20, 1861, in Henniker,
this state, a daughter of Edwin R. Abbott, a widely
known hotel manager and proprietor. During the
administration of the celebrated "Jim" Fiske, IMr.
Abbott was manager of hotels along the line of the
Erie railroad, and was later manager of the Profile
House in the White Mountains. Mr. and Mrs.
Baker have a son and daughter, namely, Albert
Humphrey, born May 6, 1890, and Dorothy Ellen,
May 26, 1893.
(Second Family).
(I) Joseph, son of Geoffrey Baker, was
BAKER born June 18, 1655, in England, and
came to America about i6"0. settling in
Connecticut. He is the ancestor of many men dis-
tinguished in the professions and other pursuits.
He was married January 30, 1677, to Hannah Cook
Buckland.
(H) Joseph (2), son of Joseph (i) and Hannah
C. (Buckland) Baker, was born .April 13. 1678, and
was married, July 8, 1702, to Hannah Pomeroy, who
died leaving sons Joseph and Samuel. The father
married (second), Abigail Bissell, who was the
mother of John, Hannah, Jacob, .\bigail (died
young), Ebenezer, Daniel, Heman, Titus and Abi-
gail.
(III) Heman, son of Joseph (2) -and Abigail
(Bi-sell) Baker, was born .April 27. 1719, and mar-
ried, November 24, 1747, Lois Gilbert. They lived
in Tolland, Connecticut, and their children were:
Heman, Anna, Deborah, John, Oliver, Abigail, Lois,
Delight and Lydia.
(IV) Oliver, third son and fifth child of Heman
and Lois (Gilbert) Baker, was born October 5. 1755,
in Tolland, Connecticut, and received a medical
education. He was a physician and farmer, locating
in Plainfield, New Hampshire, where he died Oc-
tober II, 181 1. He was married, March 23, 1780, to
Dorcas Dimmick, who was born September 23, 1760,
and survived him thirty-eight years. Their children
were : Heman. Diantha, Zina, Lina, Oliver, Saman-
tha, Dimmick, Dorcas, Lodemia, Elizabeth and Mary.
(V) Dimmick, third son and seventh child of
Oliver and Dorcas (Dimmick) Baker, was born
March 18, 1793, in Plainfield, New Hampshire,
wher£ he was a properous farmer, merchant and
stock dealer. He was a member of the Congrega-
tional Church, and an ardent Republican in politics.
He died March 19, 1876. He was rnarried June
2, 1822, to Hannah Colby, who was born Feb-
ruary 7, 1794. in Plainfield, New Hamp-
shire, and died March 17, 1856. They were the
parents of five children : Elias, Edward D., Han-
nah H., Helen F. and Cyrus E. The Baker home-
stead is located near Kimball L'nion Academy, and
all Dimmick Baker's children received a liberal
education at that institution. The property is now
(1907) owned by the fifth generation.
(VI) Hannah A., eldest daughter and fourth
child of Dimmick and Hannah (Colby) Baker,
was born October 4, 1S32, in Meriden, New Hamp-
shire, and became the wife of Francis M. Cutting.
(See Cutting, VIII).
(Third Family.)
There were several brothers of this
BAKER name who settled in Massachusetts in
the early period of the formation of
that colony. The bearers of this name have con-
tributed their share to the growth and develop-
ment of many states in the union.
(I) Cornelius Baker, a blacksmith, was living
in Salem, Massachusetts, as early as 1658, and in
1668 removed to Beverly, Massachusetts. He mar-
ried, April 26, 1658, Hannah Woodbury, of Salem,
daughter of John Woodbury, a pioneer settler of that
town. Their children were : Hannah, Samuel, Cor-
nelius, Jonathan, .Abigail, Priscilla, Bethiah and
Jabez.
(II) Jonathan, third son and fourth child of
Cornelius and Hannah (Woodbury) Baker, was
born 16(39, and resided in Beverly, where he had a
house and land and was a weaver by occupation.
He died in 1706. His widow, Mary, married
(second), November 21, 1710, Samuel Balch. Jona-
than Baker's children were : Robert, John, Mary,
Jonathan and Cornelius.
(III) Robert, eldest child of Jonathan and Mary
Baker, was born Ap-ril 23, 1698, in Beverly, and lived
in that town and in Salem. He died 1775. He mar-
ried, July I, 1723, Abigail Trask, and their children
were: Jonathan, Robert (died young), Benjamin,
Nathan, Abigail, Mary, Anna, Simeon, Lydia, Rob-
ert and Hannah.
(IV) Jonathan (2), eldest child of Robert and
Abigail (Trask) Baker, was born ]March 15, 1724,
in Salem, ^lassachusetts, and resided for a time in
Beverly. In 1758 he removed from Beverly to Haver-
hill, Massachusetts, where he continued to reside
nearly half'a century and died March 9, 1805. While
living in Beverly he was called Jonathan Baker,
Junior, to distinguish him from' an uncle living in
ihe same town. He married, April 22, 1745. Mary
Conant, born April 15, 1722. daughter of Daniel and
Lucy (Dodge) Conant. Her children were: Be-
thiah, Benjamin (of Salisbury, New Hampshire),
Lydia, Simeon, Asa, Anna, Abigail and Sarah.
(V) Abigail, fifth daughter and ninth child of
Jonathan (2) and Jlary (Conant) Baker, was born
May 26, 1767, in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and
married, in 1788, John Smith, of Beverly, ^lassachu-
setts. (See Smith, I).
(Fourth Family.)
This is a Connecticut family, but there
BAKER seems to be no record to indicate from
what portion of that state this branch
came. The name Osman is a common one among
the Connecticut Bakers, and there is no question
that the pioneer of this line in New Hampshire be-
longs to that stock.
(I) Osman Baker, the first of whom any
knowledge is possessed by his descendants in New
Hampshire, is said to have been a seafaring man
who retired from the ocean after amassing a good
property and .spent the remainder of his life in (Ton-
necticut.
126
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
(II) Osman, son of Osman Baker, was born
1734, in Connecticut, and came from that state on
horseback to Charlestown, New Hampshire, before
1767. His possessions were carried in a pair of
saddle bags and among other items he had the fore-
sight to carry glass and nails for use in construct-
ing a house. He immediately began clearing land
and made him a home in that town, where he passed
the remainder of his life. He was a colonel of the
militia, served as town clerk and county treasurer,
and was many years a deputy sherifif. He was in-
terested in the establishment and progress of
schools, and in the temperance movement. During
his last years he was engaged in the mercantile busi-
ness, and died August 18, 1802. He was married in
Charlestown,_ March 2, 1767, to Mary Farnsworth.
daughter of 'Aaron and Hannah (Baron) Farns-
worth, who were also pioneers in Charlestown. She
was born January 29, 1732, in Groton, Massachu-
setts, and died September 19, 1796, in Charlestown.
Their children were : Jonathan, Isaac, John and
Elizabeth. The elder son was a prominent citizen
of Charlestown. and a major of the militia.
(III) Isaac, second son and child of Osman
(2) and Mary (Farnsworth) Baker, was born in
Charlestown, New Hampshire, February 7, 1770,
and died October 16, 1847. He studied medicine
and became one of the prominent physicians of his
day. He settled in Marlow, New Hampshire, and
he and his wife are said to have been people of
more than ordinary cultivation and intelligence, and
their home was one of quiet refinement and unos-
tentatious wealth. He married, May 7. 1797, Abi-
gail Kidder, who died July 16, 1832, daughter of
James and Deborah (Wood) Kidder, of Spencer,
Massaichusett?, and granddaughter of Ezra and
Anna (Chapin) Wood, the former a colonel dur-
ing the war of the Revolution. Dr. Isaac and Mrs.
Baker had children : Betsey, Willard, Abigail, Isaac
Kidder and Osman Oleander.
(IV) Osman Cleander. third son and fifth and
youngest child of Dr. Isaac and Abigail (Kidder)
Baker, was born in Marlow, New Hampshire, July
30, 1812. His early education was acquired in the
public schools of his native town and in the Chester-
field Academy, and in 1828 he became a student at
Wilbraham . Academy, Wilbraham, Massachusetts.
He joined the Methodist Episcopal Church in April
of the same year, and soon began to seriously con-
sider the study of theology, with a view of adopting
this as his life work. He matriculated at Wesleyan
University in Middletown, Connecticut, in the fall
of 1830, but owing to an attack of illness was un-
able to complete his course at this time. Later he
again took up his studies, completed them, and the
degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon him
in 1837 ; later he received the degree of Doctor of
Divinity. When the seminary in Newbury, Ver-
mont, was _ opened in 1834, he was elected to a
professorship and served the institution in that
capacity for a period of five years, and upon the
resignation of the principal he was elected to fill
that honorable and responsible position. He was
noted for his clear and concise methods of teach-
ing, bringing to his work a devotion and thorough-
ness which made him at once the master as well as
the friend of his pupils. The church, however, was
the great object of his desire. He was already a
member of the New Hampshire conference, and in
1844 he applied for a pastoral appointment and was
given one at Rochester. Later he was transferred
to the Elm Street Church in Manchester, and was
appointed presiding elder of the Dover district.
Before his term of office had expired he was elected
to a professorship in the Biblical Institute, which
had just been removed (in 1847) from Newbury,
Vermont, and located as an independent institution
in Concord, New Hampshire. He had been the
prime mover in organizing the theological depart-
ment in Newbury, and in the board of trustees that
elected the first faculty in Concord it was said
"Professor Baker has done more to organize and
give shape to this new institution than any other
man ; and he is now looked to as one of the chief
men to fashion its future." It was the first theolo-
gical school of the church, and was the parent of
similar institutions, still in existence at Boston,
Evanston. Illinois, and Madison, New York. His
business ability was recognized in Concord, where
he resided for over twenty years. He was a di-
rector in the State Capitol Bank and his counsels
were sought far and wide. During the five years
he spent with the Biblical Institute he accomplished
a vast amount of literary work. While visiting the
Kansas, California and Oregon Conferences, early
during his Episcopal duties, he wrote and published
a series of letters descriptive of that portion of the
country, particularly of whatever pertained to the
missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church. At
the general conference held in Pittsburg, Pennsyl-
vania, in 1848, he was elected a member, and at the
general conference held in Boston, Massachusetts,
in 1852. he was elected bishop. For his work in the
Episcopal Church he possessed almost every quality
necessary to render his labors successful. He was
possessed of rare judgment, keen sympathy, and a
refinement of feeling which was combined with ease
and dignity of bearing. He was a most superior
presiding officer, and none were his equals in
knowledge of parliamentary laws and usage. As a
preacher his discourses were strong, clear and con-
vincing, and couched in the most elegant English.
The greatest work of his life was the establishment
of the Biblical Institute. Among his later publi-
cations, "Baker on the Discipline" involved extended
research and critical judgment, and is considered a
standard work in his denomination, a lasting monu-
ment to his memory, and a rich tribute to his intel-
lectual worth. Fourteen years after his election to
the Episcopacy, in June, 1866, W'hile traveling in
Colorado to meet the conference at Empire City, he
was stricken with partial paralysis, particularly of
the vocal organs. He had traveled si.x days and six
nights over a difficult and dangerous stage route,
with little rest prior to his attack, but he recovered
partially and was able to visit and attend his home
church in Concord until within a few days of his
death, which occurred December 20, 1871.
Rev. Baker married, at Lempster, New Hamp-
shire, July 24, 1834, Mehitabel Perley, of that town.
(See Perle}-, VI). They had children: i. Maria
Louisa, born November 3, 1837. ' 2. Louisa Maria,
December 22, 1841. 3. Osman Perley, May 16, 1844.
These three died in childhood. 4. Mary Frances,
October 20, 1848, died a few weeks after the death
of her father, March 27, 1872, She was a fine mu-
sician, both vocal and instrumental, and married
Rev. Edward F. Pitcher. 5. Osma Cornelia, March
7, 1855, married. May 22. 1883, Shadrach Cate Mar-
rill, _M. D. (See Marrill, VIII). She is a talented
musician. She is a charted member of the Strat-
ford and Women's clubs of Concord, is a member
of the Baker Memorial Church, and very active in
church work. She is a trustee of the Margaret
Pillsbury Hospital.
(Fifth Family).
(I) John Baker, his wife Elizabeth, and
BAKER two sons, John and Robert, came from
Bristol, England, about the year 1720,
locating first in Charlestown, Massachusetts, and
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
127
latter settling in Concord, same province. In addi-
tion to the two sons who accompanied them from
tlie mother country they had eight children born
on this side of the ocean.
(II) Robert, second son and child of John and
Elizabeth Baker, w'as born in England, in 1720, and
consequently arrived in New England during his in-
fancy. He was reared in Charlestown and Concord,
from which latter place he went to Marlboro, Mass-
achusetts, and about the year 1775 removed to West-
minster, probably residing there with one of his sons.
The christian name of his first wife was Lydia, and
slic died leaving one child. For his second wife he
married Elizabeth Adams, daughter of Dr. George
and Judith Adams, of Le.^ington, and a sister of
Daniel Adams, of Westminster. His children were :
Patience,, Elizabeth, Jonas, John, George and Na-
than,
(III) George, third son and fifth child of Robert
and Elizabeth (Adams) Baker, was born either in
Concord or Marlboro. About 1775 he settled in
Westminster, locating in that part of the town which,
ten years later, was included within the limits of
Gardner. He married Mary Pratt, of Framingham,
who, according to the record at hand, "seems to
have died soon," and his second wife was before
marriage Dinah Pannenter, daughter of Joshua and
"Perces" Parmenter, also of Framingham. She was
a desce\,idant in the eighth generation of John Par-
menter, one of the first settlers in Sudbury, Massa-
chusetts, through: (II) John, (IV) Amos, (V)
Phineas, (VI) Amos, (VH) Joshua. She became
the mother of si.x children, namely : Artemas, Perces,
tieorge, Nancy, Dinah and Amos.
(IV) Amos, youngest son and child of George
and Dinah (Parmenter) Baker, was born in Gard-
ner, July 23, 1794. When a young man he engaged
in the lumber business at Bethleliem, New Hamp-
shire, whence he removed to Whitefield, this state,
and was similarly occupied some four years. The
remainder of his active life was devoted to farming,
and his death occurred August 22, 1870. For a
period of forty years he was an active member of
the Methodist Episcopal Church. He married (first),
ilary , of Bethlehem, and had three children :
George P., of Whitefield, aged eighty-eight in 1907;
James Isaac and Delia C. For his second wife he
married Phebe Guernsey, of Whitefield. For his
third wife he married Christina Bray, daughter of
Nicholas Bray, of Harrison, Maine, and had a family
of seven children, namely : Mary Jane, who died
;it the age of twenty-one years ; ^lartjia F., Albion
P., Julia E., deceased; Amos F., also deceased;
Timothy T. and William G. His wife died March
10, iS8g.
(V) William Gardner, youngest son and child
of .-Vmos and Christina (Bray) Baker, was born
in Whitefield, July 15, 1S53. Having concluded his
attendance at the Whitefield high school, at the
age of seventeen he took a position as a store clerk,
,;utd two years later engaged in business for himself.
In 1875 liE settled in Lancaster and conducted the
store which is now occupied by the postofficc until
1881, when he disposed of the business and purchased
a farm. In connection with agriculture he deals
in real estate, cuts and hauls timber for manufacture,
and operates a stone-crusher, which supplies the
material for macadamizing the principal highways.
In 1902 he purchased an interest in a granite shop,
wliich was carried on under the firm name of Hartley,
Baker & Cummings until Mr. Timothy T. Baker
acquired Mr. Hartley's interest, since which time
the firm has been known as Baker, Cummings &
Baker. This concern is now carrying on quite an
extensive business, handling granite and marble of
an excellent quality. His fraternal affiliations are
with the Independent Order of Odd Fallows. In his
religious belief he is a Methodist, and he is offici-
ally connected with that church.
Mr. Baker married for his first wife Ella M. Mc-
Intire, daughter of James Mclntire, and she bore
him one son, Fred W. His present wife was before
marriage Alice C. Cummings, daughter of George
W. Cummings, born in Northumberland, but reared
in Lancaster. The children of this union are : Carrie
Ella and Amy Bray. Fred W. was graduated from
Dartmouth College in 1903, where he was a mem-
ber of Chi Phi fraternity ; he is now a student at
the Harvard Law School, and is already one of the
honored men of his class. Carrie Ella, who was
valedictorian of her class at the Lancaster Academy,
is a graduate of Boston University; she was presi-
dent of the Society of Gamma Delta and was elected
a member of the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity. She
is now teaching school in New Jersey. Amy Bray,
who is a graduate of the Lancaster Academy, was
also valedictorian of her class ; she is now a student
at Boston University.
This old New England name has been
IIOVEY prominent in many ' sections of the
United States, and was especially active
in the settlement and development of the colony
of Massachusetts. It has been identified with New
Hampshire from an early period, and is still con-
nected with various worthy lines of endeavor in this
jtate.
(I) Daniel Hovey, born about 1618, probably in
England, was an inhabitant of Ipswich, Massachu-
setts, as early as 1637. He was one of Major Deni-
son's subscribers in 164S, and had a share in Plum
Island and other lands in 1664. He is found of
record as a voter in town affairs in 1679, and died
April 24, 1692. The account of his executor shows
his estate to have been valued at si-x hundred and
six pounds and ten shillings, out of which were paid
debts amounting to more than two hundred and
twenty-seven pounds. His will was made March
,21, 1692, at which time he describes himself as "aged
seventy-three and going into seventy-four." His
wife was Abigail /Andrews, but ro record appears of
their marriage. Their children were : Daniel, John,
Thomas, James, Joseph, Nathaniel, Priscilla and
Abigail. The elder daughter became the wife of
John -Vyer, and the younger married Thomas
Hodgkins.
(II) John, second son and child of Daniel and
.-Vbigail (Andrews) Hovey. lived at Topsfield, Mass-
achusetts, where he was one of the early settlers.
He married (first), August 13, 1665, Dorcas Ivory,
of Topsfield. Her surname has come down through
the generations to the present time as a baptisimal
name. She died before 1712, and in that year he
married Mercy Goodhue. He died in 1787, and his
descendants have continued to reside in Topsfield
to the present time. His children were : John,
Dorcas, Elizabeth, Susanna, Luke, Ivory and Abi-
gail, besides one that died without naming in 1671.
(Luke and descendants receive mention in this
article).
(III) John (2), eldest child of John (i) and
Dorcas (Ivory) liovey, was born December, 1666,
in Ipswich or Topsfield, and lived in the latter town,
wliere he died May 31, 1751. He married, Jamiary
II, 1691, Mary Dwinncll, born January 2t, i668, in
Topsfield, daughter of Michael Dwinnell. Slic died
May 7, 1737. Their children were: Dorcas, John,
died young; Mary, John, Joseph and Susanna.
128
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
(IV) Joliii (^), eldest son and second child of
John (2), and Mary (Dwinnell) Hovey, was born
August 27, 1699, and lived in Boxford, Massachu-
setts, where he died March 14, 1787. His wife Mary
(whose surname has not been discovered), died
September 22,, of the same year. Their children
were : John, Richard, Abigail, Mercy and Susanna.
(V) Richard, younger son and second child of
John (,3) and Mary Hovey, was born August 3, 1733,
in Boxford, jNIassachusetts. He was a noted keeper
of honey bees, and resided in his native town, where
he died February 14, 1818. He married, November
10, 1/57. Sarah Wood, of Andover, Massachusetts,
who died Jaiuiary 18, 1818, less than a month before
her husband. Their children were : David, Sarah,
Richard, Jonathan, John, Betty, Stephen and Han-
nah.
(VI) Richard (2), second son and third child of
Richard (i) and Sarah (Wood) Hovey, was born
February 4, 1762, in Boxford, Massachusetts, and
was one of the first settlers of Peterboro, New
Hampshire. He served three months in the war for
National Independence, and was at West Point when
Benedict .\rnold committed his odious act of high
treason. In 1789 he married Rebecca Roberts, who
died May 25, 1807. aged thirty-seven years. May
29, 181 1, he married for his second wife Mrs. A-en-
ath Hall (nee Baxter), a widow of Francestown,
born in Methuen, Massachusetts, November 10, 1769.
He died May 10, 1842, and his second wife died
November 26, 1853. The children of his first union
were : Sarah, Stephen, Joseph, Jonathan and Re-
becca and Robert, wdio were twins. His second wife
bore him one son, Timothy L.
(VII) Stephen, second child and eldest son of
Richard and Rebecca (Roberts) Hovey, was born in
Peterborough. June 19. 1794. He was a farmer and
in 1839 moved to Carroll, New Hampshire, but sub-
sequently resided for a year in Littleton, this state.
In 1845 '"^ removed to Lancaster and his death oc-
curred in that town, March 15, 1S49. He married
Martha McPherson, of Francestown, a native of
Scotland, and the "History of Peterborough" states
that he was the father of seven children : Oracy,
Joseph, Luther, Martha Jane, Betsy, Richard and'
Jonathan.
(VIII) Richard, son of Stephen and Martha
(INIcPherson) Hovey. was born in Peterborough,
September 7, 1S34. Left fatherless in his boyhood
he began at an early age to make himself useful as
a farm assistant, and his education was acquired in
the district schools. When sixteen years old he
became a blacksmith's apprentice, and after learning
the trade he established himself as a blacksmith and
tool-makcr in Lancaster. In 1872 he entered the
employ of tlie Fairbanks Standard Scales Company,
at St. Johnsbury, Vermont, in the same capacity, and
he continued in the service of that well-known con-
cern for thirty-five years, relinquishing the activities
of life after having labored at the forge and anvil for
a period of fifty-four years. During his earlier years
as a journeyman he forged the iron work for the
old Tip Top House on the summit of Mount Wash-
ington. Mr. Hovey is a member of North Star
Lodge, .-Vncient Free and Accepted Masons ; and
North Star Chapter, Royal Arch Alasons ; and North
Star Commandery, Knights Templar. He also be-
longs to St. Johnsbury Lodge, Independent Order
of Odd Fellows. His religious affiliations are with
the Congregationalists.
Mr. Hovey married. December 27, 1857. Ruth
Greenleaf, daughter of Bennett Greenleaf, of White-
field, this state, and a distant relative of John Green-
leaf Whittier, the poet. Their only child, Lucy, is
now the wife of Frank Spooncr, M. D., of Lan-
caster. (See Spooner).
(Ill) Luke, second son of John and Dorcas-
(Ivory) Hovey, was born in Topsfield, May 2,
1676, and died in Boxford, Octoljer 31, 1751. aged
seventy-five years. He moved to Boxford after the
birth of 'his first child, and built the Hovey house,
which was taken down by a descendant in the latter
part of the nineteenth century. It was situated on
the Bradford road, aboilt a quarter of a mile north-
of the Second Church. The site 'chosen for his
residence was on the southerly slope of a hill at the
base of which was a stretch of meadow and pond.
He was a prominent citizen in both the religious-
and the secular aifairs of the town, and was a mem-
ber of the board of selectmen in 1 708-09- i9-36-:i3-
48. Until September 25, 1702, tlie Boxford people
continued to belong to the Topsfield' Church. Or
this day the church convened "to consider the ap-
plication of sundry persons belonging to Bo.xford,.
who had asked their dismissal from the church
preparatory to being organized into a church in their
own town" Upon this application the church voted
to dismiss the Boxford people when they should have
paid up all arrears. The result was that on the 4th
of the follnwing month Luke Hovey and others-
were dismissed and formed the proposed new-
church. In June, 1735, various inhabitants of Box-
ford petitioned to be set oflf into a second precinct.
In the same month the petition was granted, and irs
the 'house of representatives, Wednesday, July 2,,
I73S> it was ordered "that Mr. Luke Hovey, one of
the principal inhabitants of the new precinct, be
authorized and empowered to assemble the free-
holders and other qualified voters, as soon as may be,
in some convenient place, to make choice of principal
officers to stand till the anniversary meeting, i\Iarch
next." Luke Hovey and other members of the
Hovey family were among the earliest members of
the church which was incorporated in this precinct.
Luke Hovey married, October 25, 1698, Susana
Pillsbury, who was born February, i. 1677, and died.
December 22, 1767, aged ninety years, ten months
and twenty-one days. She was the daughter of
Moses Pillsbury. Their children were: Susanna^
Dorcas, Hannah. Elizabeth, Luke. Abigail, Joseph
and Abijah. Luke, Jr.. was prominent in the town
in Revolutionary times; Joseph was a soldier of
many campaigns, and rose to be a brigadier genera!
of militia; Dorcas died in .\ugust, 1793, aged ninety-
two.
(IV) Aljijah, third son and ninth child of Luke
and Susanna (Pillsbury) Hovey, was born Decem-
ber 9, 1719, in Boxford. where he died in 1783, aged'
si.xty-four. He married Lydia Graves, of Haverhill,
Massachusetts.
(V) Solomon, son of Abijah and Lydia (Graves)
Hovey, was born in Boxford, November 18. 1748.
and died in Bo.xford. September 19, 1825, aged'
seventy-seven. He was prosperous in his business.
He married Jerusha Wyman, of Burlington.
(VI) William, son of Solomon and Jerusha
(Wyman) Hovej', was born December 27, 17S5. in
Lunenburg, and died in Cambridge, February 19,,
1852, aged sixty-seven. He lived in Cambridge the
greater part of his adult life and was a flourishing
bookseller there. He married Sally Howe, who was
born September 24, 1793. in Northboro, and died in
Cambridge, December 15, 1874. aged eighty-one
years.
(VII) Charles, son of William and Sally (Howe)
Hovey, was born in .•\cton. November 17, 1817, and
died in Lowell, May 4, 1886, aged si.xty-nine. He
was one of the early settlers and business men of
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
129
the city of Lowell, and for half a century the firm
of Carlton & Hovey, druggists, of which he was the
junior partner, was a leading concern in Lowell and
did a large business with the Sandwich Islands.
Mr. Hovey was prominent as a business man, and
equally so in church affairs. For forty years he was
treasurer of St. Ann's Church (.Episcopal) and one
of its most trusted advisors and liberal supporters.
He married Katherine Smith, who was born in Dover,
New liampshire, Septembei- 15, 1824, daughter of
Joseph and Mary ^Emerson) Smith, of Dover.
The children of this union were : Henry E., Kate
S., Alice C, Charles W. and William C.
(.VIHJ Rev. Henry Emerson, eldest child of
Charles and Katherine (Smith) Hovey, was born in
Lowell, Massachusetts, November 23, 1S44. After
leaving the public schools of his native city he
passed through Trinity College, Hartford, Connec-
ticut, graduating with the class of 1866. From this
he went to New York City where he matriculated
in the General Theological Seminary, from which
he graduated in 1869, and in the same year vvas
ordained deacon in St. Ann's Church, Lowell. The
following year he was ordained priest of the Church
of the Holy Trinity of Brooklyn, New York. In
1869-71 he was rector of St. John's Church, New
York harbor; 1871-73 rector of the Church of the
Ascension, Fall Kiver, Jvlassachusetts ; 1873-S3, rec-
tor of St. Barnsby's Church, Brooklyn, New York;
and from 18S3 to the present time (1907) rector
of St. John's Church, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
For thirty-seven years Air. Hovey has sustained the
rectorate of various churches, and by his devotion
to the work of his calling and the persistent and
effectual exercise of his natural gifts as a preacher
of the word and a church worker, he has attained a
place of much influence not only among the members
of his own church and faith, but among the members
of other churches and among those who are mem-
bers of no church. He has always been among the
foremost to comfort the sick and relieve the dis-
tressed, and by reason of these things he has been
made president of the Cottage Hospital, and presi-
dent of the Chase Home for Children, which he
has served faithfully and still holds. He is a mem-
ber of the Sons of the Revolution, having a right
to his honor as a descendant of Captain Nehemiah
Emerson of th« Tenth Massachusetts Regiment,
who took part in the great struggle for freedom.
He was made a Mason in 1879.
He was married in St. George's Church, New
York City, to his distant cousin, Sarah Louise Fol-
som, daughter of Charles J. and Sarah (Downing)
Folsom. They have six children : Sarah W.,
Catherine E., Ethel VV., Louise F., Ethel D. and
Charles E.
The American family of Clement is
CLEMENT traced back to the immigrant an-
cestor Robert, who being a wealthy
man, came to these shores in his own ship to Ips-
wich, Alassachusetts in 1638. The social position
of the family in the old country is indicated by the
fact that one of the judges of Charles the First was
Gregory Clement, and the wife of William Penn,
the founder of Pennsylvania, was a Clement. Job
Clement, the oldest son of Robert, was the first
of the family to settle in New England, and it was
probably on his recommendation that the father and
mother and their family followed him. Their finan-
cial condition had enabled thcni to live in comfort
and enjoy luxuries in the old country; but in Amer-
ica, to which they had come, no doubt that they
might enjoy religious freedom and worship God
i— 9
according to the dictates of conscience, they found
a vast wilderness in a state of nature, inhabited by
savage beasts and more savage men. They must
have shared with the hardships and privations of
the pioneers of their time and locality. They lived
in a log house, hastily and rudely constructed, the
interstices filled with mud and utterly insuflicient
against the rude blasts of winter, and though they
must have been hourly reminded of the absence of
the comforts they left behind in their native home,
they never thought of giving up what they had found
here for what they had left there. They were hardy
and energetic leaders of men and in Newbury they
engaged m tanning and in the town of Flaverhill,
where they were pioneers, they were the. first to
construct and operate that very essential thing in a
new country, a grist mill. The first of the immi-
grant Clements was the first representative of
Haverhill in the general court in 1645 and held that
office several consecutive years. The Clements of
succeeding generations have inherited the good quali-
ties of their forbears, and have maintained excellent
reputations for good judgment, good morals and
patriotic faithful citizenship and a personal and
family pride which has kept them afront of the times
in thought and action. Clement signifies mild, and
the name seems generally to express the charactec
of this family whose ways are peace and industry.
(I) Robert Clement, from whom many of the
Clements of this country trace their descent, was
born in England in the year 1590. He lived in
Coventry, Warwickshire, England, and came to
this country in 1642, landing in Salisbury, Massa-
chusetts. He went to Haverhill, Massachusetts,
with his wife and four of his children, his daughter
I\Iary, the youngest child, remaining in England
until 1652. Robert settled near the mouth of Mill
Brook, Haverhill, Massachusetts, and built the first
grist mill in the town. He was prominent and iii-
fiuential in the colony, and was one of the five to
take the deed of the town from the Passagut and
Saggahew Indians, in 1642. He was the first repre-
sentative of the town to the general court, in
1645, and held the office nine consecutive years, be-
ing then succeeded by his son John. He was
county commissioner and associate judge, appointed
and empowered by the general court to administer
the oath of fidelity to the inhabitants of Haverhill ;
appointed to set off the public lands, 'designate their
limits, etc. He was a man of great force of char-
acter and energy, combined with executive ability;
as is proven by the offices he held. He presented
a petition to the general court, from the inhabitants
of Haverhill, for the grant of an island lying in
the i\Ierrimack. This petition was granted, and
the land is still called Clement's Island. He died
on the ground where he had first settled, September
29, 1658, at the age of sixty-eight years. His
estate amounted to about five hundred and fifty
pounds. He married in England, but the place at
which his marriage occurred and the name of his
wife cannot be traced. His children were: Job,
John, Lydia, Robert, Sarah and Mary.
(II) Robert (2), third son and fourth child
of Robert (i) Clement, was born in England about
1624, and came to this country with his father in
1642. He was a cooper by trade, and made Haver-
hill, Massachusetts, his home. His residence was
situated where the Exchange Building now (1906)
stands. He was a large land owner, and a man of
influence in the community. He held several town
offices, among them being that of recorder of deeds
and all legal papers. At the September court, in
1660, he asked to be appointed administrator o£
I30
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
the estate of his brother John. This is the first
record of administratorship in Haverhill. His death
is not recorded, but it is known that he was living
in 1684. He married, December 8, 1652, Elizabeth
Fane, daughter of John Fane, and their children
were: John, born 1655; Daniel, 1656; Abraham,
1658; Hannah, 1660; Fane, of whom later; Na-
thaniel, 1664; Robert, 1665; Lydia, 1667; Mary,
1669; Jonathan, 1672.
(III) Fane, fourth son and fifth child of Robert
(2) and Elizabeth (Fane) Clement, was born in
Haverhill, March 2, 1662. He was a ship carpenter
by trade, and settled in Newburyport, Massachu-
setts. He was thrifty and industrious and became
a land owner of prominence. He was the .first
owner of the Clement farm in West Amesbury,
now Merrimack. This he deeded to his son, Jona-
than, in March, 1719. There is no record of his
death. He married (first), 1688, Sarah Hoyt, of
Amesbury, Massachusetts, and their children were:
Jonathan, of whom later; Sarah, born 1697; Tim-
othy, May I, 1699; Joseph, April I, 1701. He mar-
ried (second), Mrs. Dorothea Freez, March 7, 1717,
and they had one child: Benjamin, born January
7, 1718.
(IV) Jonathan, eldest child of Fane and Sarah
(Hoyt) Clement, was born in Newburyport, Massa-
chusetts, January 11, 1696. He was a ship carpenter
by trade but later turned his attention to farming
and settled in West Amesbury, Massachusetts, about
1725, on the tract of land which had been deeded
him by his father. On this land he built a large
and commodious two-story house which is still
in good preservation. This farm is now in the
possession of one of his descendants, and the
original deeds are still in existence. Jonathan died
on this farm in December, 1761. He married, No-
vember 3, 1721, Mary Greenleaf, of Newburyport,
who died September 7, 1791. Their children were :
Mary, born September II, 1722; Jacob, of whom
later; Jonathan, January 29, 1725; Prudence, 1727;
Sarah, who married a Greeley.
(V) Jacob, second child and eldest son of
Jonathan and Mary (Greenleaf) Clement, was born
on the Clement farm in West Amesbury, May 2,
1724. He was a man of considerable note in the
community, and was appointed crown constable in
1766. His death occurred on the home farm, where
he was living, December 10, 1796. He married Han-
nah Chellis, of Danville, New Hampshire, who
died, after a lingering illness, November 25, 1796.
Their children were : Stephen, born February 12,
1751 ; John, of whom later ; Moses, March 22, 1755 ;
Hannah, November 17, 1757; Sally, March 30, 1759;
Anna, January i, 1763; Jacob, July 3, 1765.
(VI) John, second son and child of Jacob and
Hannah (Chellis) Clement, was born in West Ames-
bury, Massachusetts, March 17, 1753. He removed
-from Amesbury to Salisbury, New Hampshire, in
2789, was one of the first settlers in that town
and was held in high esteem. His household effects
were transported by a team of oxen, while his wife
rode on a horse. After the revolutionary war, the
title of captain was conferred upon him because of
■militia service, and he was always so addressed.
He sold his farm, in 1803, to Samuel Eaton, for
twenty-five hundred dollars, removed to Warner,
New Hampshire, and purchased a farm there, lo-
cated on Tory 'Hill. During the revolutionary times
this farm was the property of a Tory family, hence
■the name. His death occurred April 12, 1827, and
■was caused by heart disease. His estate was settled
in 1828. The farm was sold several times, being
ifinally purchased by John W. Clement, a grandson
of Captain John, thus bringing the property again
into the possession of the Clement family. He was
a man of influence in his township. He married
Elizabeth Stevens, of Atkinson, New Hampshire,
who died February 6, 1827, at the age of seventy-
six years, and they had children : Hannah, born
September i, 1776; Joseph, August 15, 1777; Abigail,
1779; Moses, March 20, 1780; John, of whom later;
Nancy, September 7, 1784; Mary, December 3, 1788;
Sally, June 22, 1791 ; Betsey, 1794; Lois, July 15,
1798. Moses was a physician in Coeymans, New
York, where he died December 3, 183 1.
(VII) John (2), third son and fifth child of
John (i) and Elizabeth (Stevens) Clement, was
born, probably in West Amesbury, Massachusetts,
May 27, 1782. He settled in Warner, New Hamp-
shire, and purchased a part of the farm of his
father on Tory Hill, and erected a number of build-
ings on this land. He had the reputation of being
very prudent and industrious, and was much re-
spected. He died December, 1859, in his seventy-
eighth year. He was remarkably spry in his last
years, and prided himself in his activity. He mar-
ried, first, November 24, 1812, Rachel Rowe, daugh-
ter of John Rowe, of Wilniot, New Hampshire.
None of their children lived to maturity. She
died August 9, 1820. He married, second, Janu-
ary 10, 1822, Lydia Watson; who died January 17,
1854, aged sixty-five years. She was the daughter
of Caleb Watson, of Salisbury, New Hampshire
(see Watson). Their children were: Rachel R.,
born March 25, 1824, and became the wife of Mar-
cellus M. Flanders, and (second) George S. East-
man; John W., of whom later; Lydia H., born April
13. 1831, died in her sixth year. Mrs. Eastman
died in 1900, leaving a daughter, Clara S.
(VIII) John Watson, only son and second child
of John and Lydia (Watson) Clement, was born
August 2, 1827, in Warner. He was educated in
the common and select schools of his native town,
•and settled in Grantham, New Hampshire, in 1851,
and bought a farm on Howe Hill. He came to
Warner, New Hampshire, in 1853, in order to take
care of his father and mother on Tory Hill. He
bought the southern half of the old homestead in
December of the same year, and thus brought this
into the family again. He was a farmer, and made
a specialty of grafting and fruit-growing. He and
his cousin, Daniel C. Colby, in the winter of 1845,
and succeeding winters, traveled about the country,
exhibiting and putting into operation the Morse
telegraph, which was one of the great wonders of
the age. He was in the mercantile business for
three years, from 1878 to 1881, in the old Robinson
store, but since that time has devoted himself to
farming. He bought property in Warner village in
1880, and, in 1882, a farm near St. Johnsbury, Ver-
mont, which he sold after occupying ten years as
a summer home. He has filled a number of public
offices: Deacon of the Congregational Church; on
the board of selectmen in 1868-69; represented the
town in the general court in 1873-74. Mr. Clement
has given much time to research in the history of
his family, and the family tree shown in an ad-
joining page was designed and drawn by him. At
a family reunion held at the Revere House in
Boston, June 26, 1891, he read a paper giving a
thorough account of the founding of the family in
America. This was much appreciated and ap-
plauded. He was married. May 8. 1850, to Almira N.
Sargent, youngest daughter of Moses Sargent, of
Grantham, New Hampshire. They had two chil-
dren: Luther J., the elder, mentioned below;
Moses, born July 2, 1856, died August 28, 1856.
vh^Tun-J<^. V''j I'' '10 1^ run., an'\.niuvv) Su -^.o^v^vi^/
COAT OF ARMS AND FAMILY TREE.
THE LATTER ORIGINATED AND DRAWN BY J. W. CLEMENT.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
131
(IX) Luther John, elder and only surviving
son of John W. and Ahnira N. (Sargent) Clement,
was born August i, 1852. His education was ac-
quired in the district and select schools, Contoo-
cook Academy, and Simonds Free High School.
When he w?s but seventeen years of age, he com-
menced teaching school during the winter, and also
gave instruction in writing and drawing. He then
went to Boston, where he obtained a clerkship with
the Boston & Maine Railroad Company, returning
to Warner in 1S75, and purchasing the Palmer
property on Tory Hill. He sold this in 1878 and
removed to the village, where he opened a grocery
and general store in partnership with his father,
under the firm name of J. W. & L. J. Clement.
Later this was sold out to Upton Brothers. In
1881 he went to Littleton, New Hampshire, where
he was the head clerk in a large store, and later
went into the meat business in Bethlehem. He went
to Whitefield, New Hampshire, in 1S87, and pur-
chased a farin there in 1897, which he subsequently
sold. He now resides in Whitefield village, where
he is in the meat and grocery business. Between
1889 and 1897, he lived for a time in Dalton, New
Hampshire, where he bought a farm, and was
elected selectman for thrfie years. He was elected
representative to the general court there in 1895.
He was town treasurer of Warner in 1878-79. He
married, November 3, 1874, Ella J. Savory, only
daughter of John Savory, of Warner. Their chil-
dren are: i. George Morris, mentioned below.
2. A daughter, born 1884, died in infancy. 3. Mur-
ray L., May i, 1886, now a street car conductor in
Boston. 4. Millard Fane, August 28, 1887, now
attending the Polytechnic College at Worcester,
Massachusetts.
(X) George Morris, eldest child of Luther J.
and Ella J. (Savory) Clement, was born January
13. 1S77, and resides in Whitefield, assisting his
father in business. He was married, November 18,
1899, to Ida May Webb, of Whitefield. Their
children are: Ella Mae, born June 17, ipoi ; and
Harold John, July 22, 1904. Mr. Clement is promi-
nent in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
The first definitely known of this
CLE?\IENT line in America was Godfrey Cle-
ment, who became a freeman at
Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1634, and prior to
the year 1700 no less than fourteen other immigrants
named Clement had established themselves in dif-
ferent parts of New England. Although , the original
American ancestor of the Clements of North Weare
has not thus far been definitely determined, it is
quite probable that they are descended from Robert
Clement, who was born in Coventry, Warwickshire,
England, in 1590, and arrived in Massachusetts
about 1642, settling in Haverhill, He was one
of the first settlers to purchase land of Passage
and Saggahem, the Indian chiefs of that locality,
and he was prominently identified with the early
settlement of Haverhill, serving for the first nine
years of its existence as its representative to the
general court, in which capacity he was succeeded
by his son John.
(I) Carlton Clement, a descendant of Robert,
went to Weare, from Dcering at about the beginning
of the last century, accompanied by his brother
Richard, and two or more sisters, and purchased the
south end of lot No. 43, range 6. After residing
there a few years he returned to Deering. The
maiden name of his wife was Kczia Dow.
(II) Jonathan Dow, son of Carlton and Kezia
(Dow) Clement, was a native of Deering. When
a young man he settled on what is now known as
the Hodgdon farm in South Weare. He married
for his first wife Charlotte Merrill, of Deerhig,
who bore him two children, Jonathan Dow, Jr.,
born in 1827, married Vienna Dickey, and settled
in Antrim; and Charlotte M., who became the
wife of Horace O. Gould, of Hillsboro. For his
second wife he married Cynthia I. Hanson, of
Madbury, New Hampshire, born in August, 1800,
and of this union there was one son — Moses H.
(III) Moses H., only child of Jonathan D.
and Cynthia I. (Hanson) Clement, was born in
South Weare, June 29, 1839. At an early age
he learned the shoemaker's trade but soon relin-
quished it and served an apprenticeship at the ma-
chinist's trade, and settling in North Weare he
followed it there for the rest of his life. He
was at one time a member of the Society of Friends
but married outside of the sect and did not take
the necessary steps to secure his reinstatement. He
died December 15, 1893. He was twice married,
first to Aura A. Dow, daughter of Josiah Dow of
Weare, and she died in 1862, leaving one daughter,
Julia E., who was born September 29, 1859, and died
in Februao', 1863 ; second, to Eliza C. Dow, who
bore him six children, namely: Loren D., who
will be again referred to; Orison, born August i,
1867 (died March 28, 1868) ; Archie W., born Janu-
ary 31, 1870; Arthur, born December 13, 1873
(died October 9, 1876) ; Frederick D., born October
5, 1877; and Bertha, born July 10, 1887.
(IV) Loren Duane, eldest child of Moses H.
and Eliza C. (Dow) Clement, was born in North
Weare, September 4, 1865. After concluding his
attendance at the public school he served an ap-
prenticeship at the machinist's trade and followed
it as a journeyman some three years. He then en-
tered the employ of J. H. Wallace, a well-known
toy manufacturer of North Weare, and after the
death of the proprietor, which occurred a year later,
he undertook the management of the business in
the interest of the widow. He subsequently pur-
chased the business and carried it on with profitable
results until the destruction of the plant by fire
in 1902, causing a loss of about five thousand dol-
lars. He immediately rebuilt upon a much more
extensive scale which enabled him to install ma-
chinery and other equipments of a more modern
type, thereby providing facilities for the constantly
increasing expansion now going on in his business.
At the present time he is employing twenty opera-
tives, who are turning out toys of a unique as
well as of an attractive and superior quality, and his
products find a ready sale in the various centers of
trade throughout the United States.
In politics Mr. Clement is a Republican. He
attends the Friends' Meeting. He was married,
December, 1887, to Miss Belle Simpson, daughter
of Jonathan Simpson, of Orange, Vermont, and
has one son, Moses M., who was born March 27,
1894.
The subject of this sketch is born
CLEMENT of a family which was among the
hardy pioneer stock of Salisbury,
New Hampshire, and endured the hardships and
privations with the early settlers whose courage
and endurance were often tested by the severity
of winter cold and the attacks of the savages who
infested that locality for years after its first set-
tlement.
(I) John S. Clement was born in Salisbury, of
pioneer parents, and there he married Lucinda
Elliott and raised a family.
(II) Nathan B., son of John S. and Lucinda
(Elliott) Clement, was born in Boscawen, and
13^
NEW HAMPSHIRE
died in 1868. He was a machinist. He married
Augusta Dana, daughter of Augustus Dana, who
was a soldier in the Revolution. Four children
were born of this marriage.
tni) Wallace Ballard, son of Nathan B. and
Augusta (Dana) Clement, was born in Manchester,
January 24, 1866. He received his earlier education
from private tutors in iVianchester, Bedford and
Mont Vernon. He later attended the Franklin
Street School in Manchester, and the McCoUom
Institute in Mont \'ernon, and went from the last
named school to Harvard and to Vale Universities.
He began the study of law in the office of the late
James F. Briggs, where he read one year, and
subsequently pursued the study one year in the
office of United States Senator Henry Burnham.
In 18S8 he was admitted to the bar and opened
an office in Manchester, where he has since been
engaged in the general practice of law. Mr. Clement
has a suave manner and a kindly disposition that
make friends for him wherever he goes. He mar-
ried, in Manchester, Etta Augusta Canis, who was
born in Manchester, September 3, 1860, daughter
of Augustus and Frances (Durginj Canis, and
great-granddaughter of Canis, who was
a soldier with Napoleon in the famous Russian
campaign. Two children have been born of this
imion : George A. Canis, and JNlamie E.
This was an early name in Alassachu-
COREY setts and it has been identified with the
development of that state and of New
Hampshire. Its bearers have been people of high
character and great moral worth, and may be
fitly spoken of with commendation in the annals
of New Hampshire. Many of the family were men
of prominence about Boston during the eighteenth
century. In the early records the name is variously
spelled Cory, Coree, Couree and Corey. Several
bearing the name were soldiers of the Revolution.
James Corey, of Groton, Massachusetts, was killed
in the battle of Bunker Hill. Ephraim Corey, of
Groton, was a captain in the Revolutionary army,
as was also Timothy, son of Isaac Corey, of
Weston.
(I) The first on record in this country was
Giles Corey, who was residing in Salem, Mas-
sachusetts, in 1649, with his wife Margaret. Their
daughter Deliverance was born there August 5,
1658. The mother died previous to 1664, and on
April II of that 3'ear Giles Corey married (sec-
ond) Mary Britz. She died August 28, 1684, at
the age of sixty-three years, and he had a third
wife, Martha, who was admitted to the church in
Salem Village (now Danvers), April 27, 1690. She
was the victim of the terrible witchcraft delusion
in Salem, and was apprehended in March, 1692,
and hung on the following Thursday. In a very
short tmie her husband was also arrested and was
imprisoned, in April. He was kept in confinement
and moved about from one jail to another, going
to Boston and back again to Salem, and was finally
executed on September 19, 1692, in the most hor-
rible manner ever used on the continent. He was
pressed to death, being the only one who ever
suffered that form of execution in Massachusetts.
He was a member of the first church of Salem,
from which he was excommunicated the day pre-
ceding his death. Such was the tenacity of the
execrable witchcraft delusion in Salem that this
sentence was not expunged from the church record
until twenty years after, and a period of eleven
years elapsed before justice was done to the memory
of his wife in the Danvers church. Though a
petition for relief appears in the Essex records
on behalf of the children, no mention of their names
is found except of Martha, who made the petition
in behalf of the family, and Deliverance before
mentioned. It is probable that there were several
sons. Jonathan and Thomas Corey ar? mentioned
as having been at Chelmsford at an early period.
(II) Thomas, probably son or grandson of
Giles Corey, resided in Weston, Massachusetts.
The time of his arrival does not appear on record.
He was married there to Hannah Page, who was
born Februar\' 10, 1678, in Concord, daughter of
Samuel and Hannah Page, and granddaughter of
John and Phebe Page, emigrant ancestors to Water-
town, Massachusetts. He died in Weston, March
22, 1739. Their children were Joseph, Thomas,
Samuel, Ebenezer, Jonathan, Hannah, Abigail and
Isaac. With the exception of the oldest all were
baptized at one time, December 29, 1723, in Weston,
the youngest then being several years of age.
(HI) Isaac, youngest child of Thomas and
Hannah (Page) Corey, was born about 1717, in
Weston, and resided in that town, where five chil-
dren are recorded from 1740 to 1751. He was
married April 12, 1739, to Abigail Priest, who was
born July 31, 1719, in 'Watertown, daughter of
James and Sarah Priest. Their children were
Isaac, Timothy, Eunice, Nathan and Elisha.
(IV) Nathan, third son and fourth child of
Isaac and Abigail (Priest) Corey, was born May
18, 1747, in Weston, and did honorable and valuable
service as a soldier in the Revolutionary war. He
was a minuteman and was present at the battle of
Concord. He subsequently served an enlistment
beginning April 25, 1775, under Captain Asa Law-
rence, in Colonel William Prescott's regiment,
which continued ninety-eight days. In 1777 he
served two months and nme days including travel-
ling in Rhode Island under Captain John Minot
and Colonel Josiah Whitney. He served nine
months beginning from the date of enlistment at
Fishkill, New York, June 17, 1778; in the muster
roll his age was given at thirty-three years and
his height as five feet nine inches ; there was,
however, an error as to his age as he was then only
thirty-one years old. He probably passed the re-
mainder of his life in Groton. He was married,
December 27, 1770, to Mary Green, born August
15. 1751. a daughter of Eliah and Sarah (Parker)
Green.
(V) Nathan (2), son of Nathan (l) and Mary
(Green) Corey, resided in Pepperell and in Brook-
line, New Hampshire. He was married to Devard
Wright, who was born February 10, 1776, in Pep-
perell, daughter of David and Prudence (Cum-
mings) Wright. Prudence Cummings, the mother
of Mrs. Corey, was the heroine of an episode dur-
ing the Revolution which indicates the brave char-
acter of the women of those days who ably seconded
their husbands, fathers and brothers in the struggle
for independence. Through her efforts a British
officer was apprehended at the bridge in Groton,
an incident which is well known to readers of the
American History. The children of Nathan (2)
Corey were Devard, Susan Jane, Mary Jane, Wilkes
Wright. The eldest daughter became the wife
of James Parker, and the mother of Judge Ed-
ward E. Parker, of Nashua. (See Parker, VI.)
(VI) Wilkes Wright, only son of Nathan (2)
and Devard (Wright) Corey, was born January
10, 1813, in Brookline, New Hampshire, and was
a good townsman and prosperous farmer there all
his life. He served as town treasurer and select-
man, and was otherwise prominent in the conduct
A ^.^/(JL^h^-^
VMPSHIRE.
Tid son of Wilkes
, ...attiick) Corey, was
•-■d in 1902 in t!rL.okliiie.
! 1 ihat town. He was a
1 ■' ..1 good intellect and made the best of his
"I'l J luuilics. He filled many important town offices
and was representative in the legislature. He was
married to Sarah Jane Sawtellc, daughter of E.
and Mercy A. (Peterson) Sawtclle, of Brookline.
They had six children: Herbert, who died young;
I"!'- i, Herbert S., Walter Ellsworth, whose sketch
i 1 .' 5 , and Walter E.
(\'ni) Walter Ellsworth, son of Charles N.
and Sarah Jane (Sawtelle) Corey, was born in
Brookline, New Hampshire, Xovenil. r S r.SKi
He was educated in the public sci
entered a grocery store a.s clerk.
he has held since 1903. He :-
Independent Order of Old 1
he is a Republican. J:
Helen B. Lawrence,
of Pepperell, Massacli'
Lawrence Ellsworth.
Til.
-MERRILL on
bir
dent of France, ai
of a blackbird displayed ui
The earliest generations < i
used a seal on which is dispUiVcd t.iroc
In the persecutions following the revocati
Edict of Nantes, a Merle, being a Prote<tu:it
to E^ngland to tave his life, and cast his tot
the Puritans. Some of the family still rein.uii
in France and are still Huguenots, the most dis-
tinifiii'ihed member of recent years being Merle
I ' .\i'.'i.u;i)e, the historian. As the Huguenots were
"t 1, ( licst people of France, so their descendants
111 I .:irind and America have been numbered with
lio ii.'it industrious, the most thrifty, the mn<;'.
moral, and the most law abiding of i
(I) Nathaniel Merrill, born in E:
dietj in 'Newbury, Massachusetts, Maicii jo, 1D55.
With his brother John he emigrated from England
■ 1 came to Massachusetts, landing at Ipswich
It 1633. He removed to Newbury- in 1635, at
lir'.t --. !ili ,ii,>n( of the town, and settled on land
f the Parker and Plum rivers.
owncil by a descendant, Tyler
Alarch 8. 1655, he gives
pen payment by him 't'
.lary 18,
of John
•>ich (.set-
Ill Mcrril'
rch, 01
1712.
Their chil
.A'
J'
(■' ... , :i
this article;.
(HI) Jonath: li . hilj of
Abraham and A born
January 19, 167(1 Brad-
ford from 1699 Uj i;oj. en of
Amesbury, and about 1715 New
Hampshire. He married have
been Brown), who died in 1759.
Their children were: SaiMn, u;aui and
Nathaniel (twins), Judith and 1
il^'i =;.-r, ::-.T,it Abrah,-i!ii ' ■:■'■! third
I and Ms . May
■ ' ?■' S'ew . . for a
' isetts, and j'iai.'iow. New
childreti •.'.•er<" born in
Xew
1 the
til
Til. ,1
hetabb
M;,tv.
tl>
?t.'icn;!.
I weaver
1 le sub-
134
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
of whom was Sherburn. Samuel ]\Ierrill was a man
of sterling integrity, industrious, hard working, and
the hardships of pioneer farm life on the rugged
hills of New Hampshire broke down a naturally
strong constitution. Both he and his wife were de-
voted Christians and members of the Free Will
Baptist Church. Sherburn, now sixteen years of
age, found himself thrown upon his own resourcces,
and, young as he was, he assumed the responsibility
of helping to care for his mother and younger
brothers and sisters. An account of his struggles
for the next ten years would be the history of many
in those days in New England. It suffices to say,
that he despised no honest labor, was industrious
and careful in his associations. In 1833, after a
serious illness, Sherburn decided to make a voyage
to New Orleans on a merchant ship owned and com-
manded by his future wife's uncle. Captain Samuel
Merrill. They left Boston on January 15, 1834.
Sherburn had invested a large part of his savings in
furniture which he hoped to sell at a profit in the
South. The eighth day out, they encountered a
severe gale which disabled the brig and left them at
the mercy of the waves. Having lost their reckoning,
they drifted about until the ■morning of the thirteenth
when the ship struck the northern reef of the Ber-
mudas, in a heavy storm. They took to the boats
and after several hours were picked up, taken to the
Islands and kindly cared for, having lost all but their
lives. JNIarch 31, 1836, in Boston, Massachusetts,
Mr. Merrill married Sarah Blackstone Merrill,
daughter of William Merrill of Noblesborough,
Maine, a woman of strong character, superior in-
tellect, and refined tastes. They settled in Wood-
stock, New Hampshire. During the next few years
Mr. Merrill met with some successes and many
failures in his business enterprises, but through all,
he showed such pluck, such determination to succeed
that, at last, fortune began to smile upon him. In
1847 he went to Colebrook, New Hampshire, bought
a water-power at Factoryville and contracted for
lumber to build a starch mill. At the same time he
contracted with the farmers to plant and deliver
potatoes the following year at the projected mill.
In 1848 Mr. Merrill began the manufacture' of potato
starch, which he continued until 1884. At one time
owning in whole or in part seven different mills.
This business was not only profitable to himself,
but it developed and enlarged the resources of the
farmers of Colebrook and the adjoining towns. In
1852 he moved his family to Colebrook, where he
made a permanent home. In 1859 ^Mr. Merrill
bought a store at Colebrook, and became a member
of the firm of Cummings & Co. He continued in
trade under the firm names of S. R. IMerrill, S. R.
Merrill & Co., S. R. & S. S. Merrill, Merrill Brothers
& Co., until 1880. This house did a large and profit-
able business. In early life, Mr. Merrill took an active
interest in the old militia system. He was captain of a
company from 1841 to 1849. He was promoted to
the office of major of his regiment in 1850. and the
following year was made colonel. In politics he
was always a strong Democrat, and at various times
rendered good service to the Democratic cause in
New Hampshire, but he preferred to give his time
and attention to his business, rather than to seeking
and holding office. He, however, frequently served
as delegate to state and congressional conventions.
He represented Woodstock in the legislatures of 1850-
1851, Colebrook in 1872-1873, his senatorial district
two terms, from 1879 to 1883. He was a member of
Governor Goodell's council, 1889-1891. Although at
the beginning of his term of office he was seventy-
nine years old, he performed its duties in an efficient
and energetic manner. Mr. Merrill was interested
in the advancement of education and religion. For
many years he was trustee of Colebrook Academy
and was one of the trustees of the Methodist Society
of his town. Sarah Blackstone (Merrill) Merrill,
wife of Sherburn Rowell Merrill, died at Colebrook,
September 27, 1877. Of their six children five lived
to maturity. The first of these : Lucretia Frances,
born at Woodstock, New Hampshire, April 7, 1838,
married Edward Norris Cummings, son of Archelaus
and Mary Fletcher Cummings of Colebrook, New
Hampshire. He resided at Colebrook, New Hamp-
shire, and Lynn, Massachusetts, and was a merchant.
He died at Lynn, February I, 1901. Their children
are: l. Edward, born at Colebrook, New Hampshire,
April 20, 1861 ; graduated at Woburn high school,
1879; Harvard College 1883; professor of sociology
at Harvard University 1891-1900; a Unitarian clergy-
man, settled in 1900, at the South Congregational
Church, Boston, Massachusetts ; married, 1891, Re-
becca Haswell Clarke, Roxbury, Massachusetts.
Their children are : Estlin, born at Cambridge,
Massachusetts, October 14, 1894; Elizabeth Frances,
born April 29, 1901, Cambridge. 2. Jane, born at
Colebrook, New Hampshire, December 27, 1863 ;
graduated Lynn high school, residence Lynn and
Cambridge. 3. John, born at Colebrook, New Hamp-
shire, May 18, 1868; graduated at Lynn high school,
1887 ; Harvard College, 1891 ; Ph. D. at Chicago Uni-
versity ; instructor at Harvard College, department
of Political Economy; in 1902 became assistant pro-
fessor of Political Economy at Chicago University ;
married December 3, 1900, Carrie Rebecca Howe,
of Indianapolis, Indiana ; their daughter, Frances
Ellen, born at Chicago, Illinois, August 18, 1901.
Sarah Louisa, the second, born at Woodstock,
New Hampshire, December 14, 1840, died at St.
Paul, Minnesota, October 12, 1S71 ; married at Cole-
brook, April 14, 1859, Ira Allan Ramsay, son of
Robert Ramsay; lawyer at Colebrook, New Hamp-
shire, and St. Paul, Minnesota. He died at St. Paul,
November 18, 1871. Their children were : Sherburn
Merrill, Ira Allan, and Louis.
Ellen Louvena, the third, born at Woodstock,
New Hampshire, January 5, 1843; married January
7, 1863, Joseph Erastus Lombard, son of Dr. Lyman
and Betsey (Loomis) Lombard, Colebrook, New
Hampshire; business, farmer; their children: i.
Darwin, born June 9, 1864, Colebrook, New Hamp-
shire; married January 7, 1891, Rosa, daughter of
Alfred and Sarah (Chase) Capen ; their daughter,
Ellen, was born at Charlton City, Massachusetts, May
13, 1894; residence, Colebrook, New Hampshire^
business, merchant. 2. Lyman, born at Colebrook,
New Hampshire, November 6, 1869; married De-
cember 5, 1891, Angeline, daughter of Fayette and
Martha (Reed) Marshall. Their children are:
Merrill, born April 6, 1894 ; Marshall, born April 18,
1898. Residence, Colebrook, New Hampshire ; busi-
ness, merchant.
Caroline Hatch, the fourth, born at Woodstock,
New Hampshire, August 14, 1845 ; married Irving
W. Drew, November 4, 1869. (See Drew, IV).
Mary Jane, the fifth, born at Woodstock, October
22, 1846, died at Boston, Massachusetts, November 6,
1906; married Tune, 1869, William Henry Shurtleff,
son of Otis and Eliza (Penmoyer) Shurtleff. Law-
yer, residence Colebrook and Lancaster, New Hamp-
shire. Died at Lancaster, April 18, 1902. Their chil-
dren are: i. Merrill, born at Colebrook, March 10,
1870; graduated at Holderness School, 1888; Dart-
mouth College, 1892; married June 14, 1S97, Emily
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
I3S
Porter, daughter of Horace and Abby (Stnall)
Porter, Lancaster, New Hampshire. Lawyer, of the
law firm of Drew, Jordan, Shurtleff & Morris, Lan-
caster, New Hampshire. Their children are : Porter,
born April 28, 1898; JNIerrill, born June 11, 1902.
2. Harry, born at Colebrook, June 25, 1871 ; married
September, 189S, Louisa Wright, of Battle Creek,
iMichigan. Residence, Lisbon. Business, merchant.
A boy, Sherburn Samuel, died in infancy.
In 1879 Mr. IMerrill married Mrs. Sarah Butler
McDole. She died at Concord, New Hampshire, iri
March, 1906. All his life 2ilr. Merrill was an in-
defatigable worker ; he gave the strictest attention
to all the details of his diversified business interests;
he was frugal and prudent in his way of living; he
was public spirited, and took a keen interest in town,
state and national affairs. By care and temperate liv-
ing he retained good health and an unimpaired in-
tellect to the ripe age of eighty-one years. He died
April 9, 1891.
The following tribute to his worth is quoted from
a letter written by former Governor Goodell, in
whose council Mr. Merrill served the last two years
of his life. 'Tf ever a man deserved the title of
Honorable, he is that man. A good, great, broad,
honorable, honest man is gone." "He served his day
and generation well."
(,V) Nathaniel, youngest son of Abraham (2)
and i\Iehetable (Stevens) Merrill, was born Sep-
tember IS, 175s, in Derryheld (Manchester), and re-
sided there. He settled in what is now called Halls-
ville, ill East Manchester, where he engaged in agri-
culture. He was a soldier of the Revolution, serving
three years, 1777-8-9. He married (first), Mary,
daughter of Israel and Mary Young, who was the
mother of five children ; and his second wife was a
widow, Mrs. Anna Davis. His children were :
Lovina, Israel, Mehitable, Ezekiel, Nathaniel and
Rebecca.
(VI) Israel, eldest son of Nathaniel and Mary
(Young) Merrill, was born June 24, 1788, in !Man-
chester, where he was a farmer, and died March 31,
1872. He settled on the east bank of the Merrimack
river, just below Amoskeag Falls, and was employed
by a boating company on the river, and subsequently
on his own account, covering a period of many years,
and was universally known by the title of Captain
Merrill. It is said that he possessed a more compre-
hensive knowledge of the- JNIerrimack river, its depths
and currents, between Lowell and Concord, than any
other man of that period. There is a record of a
boat race — his boat and another — covering the entire
distance from Boston to Concord, and Captain Mer-
rill won the contest by only the "length of a boat or
so." He was pilot of the steamer which made its
first trip to Concord, in 1817. A man of great muscu-
lar strength and wholly without fear, he rescued
numerous persons from drowning, to the imminent
danger of his own life. The Massachusetts Humane
Society presented him an elegant and valuable gold
medal, suitably inscribed, for saving the lives of two
men and a boy on one occasion. This is still pre-
served by his descendants. After boating on the
river was superseded by the railway, he purchased
a farm on the Merrill road, in what is known as the
Harvey district of Manchester, where he resided
until his death. He was a devoted member of the
Congregational Church, and was warmly interested
in the general welfare and prosperity of his home
town. He was married January 30. 1816, to Nancy
Farmer, of ALinchester, who died July 15. 1854.
Their children were : Mary Ann, Henry Clinton
(died young), infant daughter died young, Israel,
Henry Clinton, Eliza Jane, Sophia Maria, Williaiii.
Parker and Ann Johnson.
(VII) JMary Ann, eldest child of Israel and
Nancy (Farmer) Merrill, was born July i, 1817,
and became the wife of Rev. Elisha Adams. (See
Adams, VII).
(III) David, fourth son and eighth child of
Abraham and Abigail (Webster) Merrill, was born
February 20, 1677, in Newbury, and resided in that
town and Amesbury. He was married December
18, 1706, to Mary Morse, daughter of Benjamin and
Ruth (Sawyer) Morse and granddaughter of An-
thony Morse, of Newbury (see Morse). David
Merrill died about the beginning of the year 1760,
surviving his wife more than five years, she having
passed away August 18, 1753. Their children were :
David, Stephen, Benjamin, Moses, Eliphalet, Mary
and Abraham.
(IV) Eliphalet, fifth son and child of David
and Mary (Morse) Merrill, was born about 1717,
residing first in Amesbury, and later in Kensington
and South Hampton, New Hampshire. According
to the records of Amesbury he was married, July
10, 1736, to Lydia Clough, who must have died
within a very short time. The records of South
Hampton show his marriage June 7, 1744, to Mary
Clough. Neither of these appear on the roll of
members of the South Hampton church, but all of
their children were baptized at that church as shown
by the records. In the records of all the baptisms
the mother's name is given as Anna, and since this
is multiplied so many times it is assumed that the
name was erroneously entered at the time of their
marriage. Their children were: Joseph, Eliphalet,.
Mary, Thomas, Sarah, Nathaniel, Enos, Parker,
Lydia and John.
(V) John, seventh son and youngest of the ten
children of Eliphalet and Anna (Clough) Merrill,
baptized August 23, 1766, in South Hampton, re-
moved from that town in early life to the town of
Weare, New Hampshire, and lived on Barnard
Hill. He was married in South Hampton, January
21, 1796, to Anna Perkins, and they were the parents
of several children. According to the history o£
Weare there were only four, three of whom were
born in Weare.
(VI) Enos, eldest son of John and Anna (Per-
kins) Merrill, was born in South Hampton in 1803,
and died in Concord in January, 1896, aged ninety-
three years. He accompanied his parents to Weare,
was in trade in East Weare for many years, and
was the first postmaster at that place. He re-
moved to Concord, and in company with Mr. Harris
formed the firm of Harris & Merrill, dealers in gen-
eral merchandise. Some years later he removed to
Boston, where he was a successful merchant. After
retiring from business he returned to Concord and
resided w'ith his son. He was a man of integrity,
and highly respected. In politics he was a Whig
and afterward a Republican, and was a member
of the city council while residing in Boston. He
was a member of the Baptist church, and a deacon
of that organization in New York. He married
Harriett Cross (see Cross), daughter of David
Cross, of Manchester, and they had four children,
all born in Weare : Darius, Horace K., Nelson,
and Harriett.
(VII) Darius, eldest son and child of Enos and
Harriett (Cross) Merrill, was born in Weare, Au-
gust II, 1827, and died in Concord, March 29, 1900.
aged seventy-three years. He attended the common
schools, and was some years a clerk in a book-
store conducted by his uncle, Nathan Merrill, in
136
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Charlestown, Massachusetts. Soon after his return
from a sojourn of some years in California, he en-
listed September 5, 1861, in Company D, Seventh
Regiment New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry, and
was mustered into service as a private December
31. On JNIarch 12, 1863, he was appointed quarter-
master sergeant, and served in that capacity until
he was mustered out, December 27, i86x In June,
1865, he was appointed to a clerkship in the United
States pension office at Concord, where he served
thirty-three years. In 1SS7 he was deputy secre-
tary of state of New Hampshire. He was an at-
tendant of the Baptist Church and in political senti-
ment a Republican. He was a very methodical
and reliable man and highly esteemed as a citizen.
His pleasant manner and fraternal spirit made him
many friends. He was past master of Eureka
Lodge, No. 70, Free and Accepted Masons, of Con-
cord, and was its treasurer twenty-six years. He
was treasurer of the Masonic Association fourteen
years. He married, January 15, 1866, Sarah Ann
D. Peabody, born in jNIeredith, February 11, 1837,
daughter of Asa and Sallie (Young) Peabody.
Asa Peabody was born in Meredith in 1805. and died
there in 1857, aged fifty-two years. He was a car-
penter by trade. Sallie Young was born in Gilman-
ton in 1798, and died in Laconia in 1864. aged
sixty-six years.
(II) Nathaniel (2), third son and child of Na-
thaniel (i) and Susanna (Jordan) Merrill, was
born about 1638, in Newbury, and died in that town
January i, 1683. He subscribed to the oath of
fidelity and allegiance in 1668 and again in 1678.
His will was made December i. 1682, and probated
on April 10 following. This will disposes of lands
in Haverhill, and his sons Nathaniel and Peter were
the heirs. He was married October 15, 1661, in
Newbury, to Joanna Kinney. Their children were:
John, Nathaniel, Peter, Joanna (died young), Jo-
anna, Hannah and Mary.
(III) Jonathan, eldest child of Nathaniel (2)
and Joanna (Kinney) Merrill, was born January 16,
1663, in Newbury, and lived for a time in that town,
removing thence to Haverhill in 1697. He was in
Bradford in 1699, returning to Haverhill the next
year. He was a house carpenter and no doubt
moved about somewhat on account of his occupa-
tion. Administration of his estate was granted July
9. 1705. and his widow was administratrix. He
married Lucy Webster, daughter of John and Ann
(Batt) Webster, of Haverhill, and granddaughter
of John Webster, of Ipswich. (See Webster.) She
was still living in Haverhill in 1718. Their children
were: Nathaniel, Abel, Lucy. Abigail. John, Han-
nah, Stephen, Enoch and Nathan. (John and de-
scendants receive notice in this article.)
(IV) Nathaniel (3). eldest child of John and
Lucv (Webster) Merrill, was born July 26, 1687,
in Newbur}', and resided in Haverhill. His will,
made in 1837, mentions his wife Ruth (Walling-
ford) and children: Daniel, Nathaniel, James,
Anne. Lucy and Sarah.
(V) James, third son of Nathaniel (3) and Ruth
(Wallingford) Merrill, settled in that part of
Haverhill which be'-ame the town of Atkinson, New
Hampshire, He was married in Atkinson, in 1759,
to Mary Emerson, of Atkinson, and their children,
recorded in that town were : James, Nathaniel,
Joshua. John, Stevens, Sarah, Ruth and Jeremiah.
(VI) Stevens, fifth son and child of James and
Mary (Emerson) Merrill, was born January 22,
1767, in Atkinson, and settled in Thornton, New
Hampshire, where he was a farmer and cattle
dealer. He owned a farm of one hundred acres,
and took a great pride in raising sheep. He was
a Democrat in politics, and a Calvinist Baptist in
religion. He married and had nine children :
George, Thomas, Daniel, Edward, Priscilla, May
and Charles Stevens, and two who died in infancy.
Stevens Merrill died in Laconia.
(VII) Charles Stevens, son of Stevens Merrill,
was born in Thornton, New Hampshire, October
6, 1800. He was educated in Weare, New Hamp-
shire. He engaged in farming and owned a farm
of one hundred acres in Woodstock. He was a
successful stock raiser, and took great pride in his
cattle. He was a Democrat in politics, and be-
longed to the Free Will Baptists. He married
Nancy, daughter of Edward Dowse, who was born
at Thetford, Vermont, May 3, 1807. They had
nine children : May, Emily, Daniel, Charles, Palmer
Wood, Jane, Nellie N., widow of Eben Blake, George
and Lucy. Charles Stevens Merrill died November
9, 1S81. and his wife died November 29, 1895.
(VIII) Palmer Wood, third son and fifth child
of Charles Stevens and Nancy (Dowse) Merrill,
was born in Woodstock, New Hampshire, February
8, 1838. He was educated in the district schools
of Woodstock, after which he took up farming
and lumbering. For twenty-five years he did an
extensive lumber business, and owned a hundred-
acre farm. At present his farm, near Lakcport,
New Hampshire, has but sevent)' acres, and he has
gone into stock raising. He operates a small milk
route, deals in cattle, and takes great pride in horses.
He is a Democrat and belongs to the Baptist Church.
He married, November 27, 1864, Marie S, Davis,
born at Gilford, New Hampshire, August 13. 1S39.
They have three children : Mamie A., born Febru-
ary 4, 1868, married Sidney Buchannan, of Lebanon,
New Hampshire; Laura B.. born November 6, 1871,
married Frank Johnson, of Maiden, Massachusetts;
Herbert, born May II. 1875, married ]\Iabel G. Pit-
man, has three sons — Raymond H., Glendon S., and
Stanley A.
(IV) John, second son and fifth child of Jona-
than and Lucy (Webster) JNIerrill, was born April
2, 1696, in Newbury, and was reared in Bradford
and Haverhill. He went to York, Maine, for a
short time, and was there in 1718. Soon after this
he settled in Concord, New Hampshire, where *he
was one of the pioneers and was an active and
useful citizen of the infant colony. He maintained
a ferry over the Merrimack river, and built his
house at the lower end of Main street, where the
roads part. The location of the house is described
as on a hill. This was probably at the corner of
Main and West streets. The original well con-
tinued in use as late as fifty years ago. !Mr. Merrill
was chosen a deacon of the church December 17,
1730, and was ever thereafter known by the title
of Deacon Merrill. He married Lydia Haynes, and
the baptism of his first three children is recorded
in Haverhill. The names of his children were :
Moses, Thomas, John, Hannah (died in infancy).
Jonathan, Hannah, Nathaniel, Sarah, Ann, Abigail
and Lydia. He had forty-three grandchildren bear-
ing the name of Merrill. Among his descendants
were seven ministers, two lawyers and two physi-
cians.
(V) John (2), third son of John (l) and Lydia
(Haynes) Merrill, was born November 25. 1725.
in Haverhill. JNIassachusetts, and died in 1760, in
Bow, New Hampshire. He was a farmer, and had
land lying in Concord, Pembroke and Bow. He
married Rebecca Abbott, daughter of Captain Xa-
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NEW HAMPSHIRE.
137
thaniel and Penelope (Ballard) Abbott, of Concord,
and they were the parents of four children, all born
in Concord, namely : Rebecca, Lydia, Penelope and
John.
(VI) John (3), youngest child of John (2)
and Rebecca (Abbott) Merrill, was born June 14,
1756, in Concord, and resided in that town and
in Bow. He married Sally Robertson, of Bow, and
their cliildren were: John, Moses, Eben and James.
(VII) James, son of John (3) and Sally (Rob-
ertson) Merrill, was born June 17, 1793, in Bow.
He was a successful farmer, also a carpenter and
wheelwright. He married. April 18. 1816, Suian
Silver, of Bow. They had nine children, the first
three born in Bow, three in Wentworth, the seventh
in Wilmot and the ninth in Salisbury : Moores
Corliss, born in Salisbury, New Hampshire, .\ugust
18, 1817; Elihu, born July 22, 1820, married Harriet
M. Batchclder in 1849; Willard, born December 2,
1822, died in 1833; Lydia. born August 7, 1824,
married B. P. Fifield, in 1S47 ; Judith, born Alay
15, 1827, married M. L. Walker, son of Israel and
Phoebe Cross Walker, in April, 1847; Mehitabel
M., born May 2, 1829, married E. Busiel, in 1846;
Benjamin, born May 12, 1831, married Abigail E.,
daughter of Thomas K. and Susan Swett, January
20, 1856; one child who died in infancy; James H.,
born July 10, 1837, married Eliza Jane Sleeper,
April 24, 1859.
(VIII) Moores Corliss, eldest of the nine chil-
dren of James and Susan (Cilley) Merrill of Bow,
was born in Salisbury, New Hampshire, August 18,
1817. He was educated in the common schools of
Salisbury. He was a successful farmer all his life.
In 1840 he bought a hundred-acre farm in North
Sutton, and carried it on until his death, September
iSi 1873. 3t the comparatively early age of fifty-
six. He was a Democrat in politics, and at one
time was a member of the Know-nothing party.
He attended the Baptist Church, and was respected
and bleed by all who knew him. He married i\Iary
Jane Cunningham Tucker, daughter of Jonathan
and Susannah Rowell Tucker, on Christmas Day,
1844. She was born February 16, 1819, and sur-
vived her husband twenty-one years, dying Febru-
ary I, 1894, aged seventy-five. They had one child,
John Taylor Merrill.
(IX) John Taylor, only child of IMoores Cor-
liss and Mary J. C. (Tucker) Merrill, was born
in North Sutton, New Hampshire, May 16, 1847.
He was educated in the common schools of North
Sutton. In early life he learned the carpenter's
trade, in which he became very competent. He did
much work for the late John Hay at his summer
home on Lake Sunapee. John T. Merrill's farm
has one hundred and seventy-five acres, and he
has carried on a successful dairy business. He is
a Democrat in politics. He has been constable for
several years, and in 1890 was ta.x collector. He
was selectman for several terms, in 1900 was chair-
man of the board, and received every vote in town
but two. While selectman he made several im-
provments in town. He built a fine iron bridge over
the river at South Sutton and completed a cemetery
there. He is on the board of health at South Sut-
ton, and was formerly a Granger. For many years
he taught singing-schools in the surrounding towns.
For fifteen years he was leader of the old Kear-
sargo Band of Wilmot, New Hampshire. He mar-
ried, January i, 1871, Eflie VioIe.t Johnson, daughter
of Joseph and Hannah (Peaslee) Johnson. She
was born August 24, 1854. They have six children:
Carl Gilmore, born May 3, 1872, married Luvie
Edith Hazen of North Sutton on March 19, 1905.
Elwin Lee, born December 25, 1882, married on De-
cember 25, 1904, Genevieve M. Ellis ; they have
one child, Clara G.,'born April 18, 1906. The other
four children of John T. and Effie V. (Johnson)
JMerrill are: Fred Elgin, born September 28, 1885;
Reba Effie, born July 17, 1886, died the same year ;
Orra Johnson, born July 5, 1889; Ethel Olive, born
April I, 1899.
(II) Abel, fourth son and youngest child of
Nathaniel (l) and Susannah (Willerton) i\Ierrill,
was born February 20, 1644, in Newbury, Massa-
chusetts, and died October 28, 1689. He was mar-
ried February 10, 1671, to Priscilla Chase, who was
born in Newbury, March 4, 1649, daughter of Aquila
and Anne (Wheeler) Chase (see Chase V). Anne
Wheeler was the daughter of John Wheeler, of
Hampton, New Hampshire, who was born in Salis-
bury, England, and moved to Newbury, where he
was granted land in 1646. He was a mariner, and
is said to have brought the first vessel over the
Merrimac bar. The children of Abel and Pris-
cilla ]Merrill were : Abel, Susannah. Nathan,
Thomas. Joseph, Nathaniel, Priscilla and James.
(III) Nathan, second son and third child of
Abel and Priscilla (Chase) Merrill, born in Nevv-
burj', April 3, 1676, died in 1742, resided in West
Newbury. He married (first), September 6, 1699,
Hannah Kent, born September 10, 1679. After her
death he married (second) Elizabeth Willet. The
children by the first wife were : Hannah, John,
Priscilla, Nathan, James, Stephen, Mary, Richard
and Sarah.
(IV) Nathan (2), second son and fourth child
of Nathan (i) and Hannah (Kent) Merrill, was
born May i, 1706. and died November 22, 1745. He
married. November 22, 1731, Dorothy Carr, born
in Salisbury, and they had six children : Richard,
Nathan, Moses, Joseph, John and James.
(V) Richard, eldest child of Nathan (2) and
Dorothy (Carr) Merrill, who was born in New-
bury, November 6, 1732, and died in 1791. was a
housewright. He married, 1755, Mary Pillsbury,
of Newbury, and they were the parents of eleven
children : Mary, Dorothy, Nathan, Eunice, Rhoda,
and Hannah (twins), Sarah, Joseph, Anne (or
Sally Anna), Lydia and Lois.
(VI) Nathan (,3), eldest son and third child of
Richard and Mary (Pillsbury) Merrill, was born
in Newbury, January 6, 1761, and died August 29,
1836. He was in the war of the revolution, and
served as a private in Captain Moses Little's com-
pany of minutemen, which marched to Cambridge
on the alarm of April 19, 1775. He was also in the
service in Rhode Island in 1778. He moved to
New Hampshire in 1804, and established a tavern
on the turnpike near Bakers river in Rumney. He
married 1785, Sarah Lowell Merrill, born March
II. 1765. died July 13, 1822, granddaughter of Ben-
jamin Lowell, and they had nine children: Mary,
Nathan, Sally. Priscilla, Henry, Lydia, Phoebe,
Jeremiah, and George.
(VII) Captain Jeremiah, third son and eighth
child of Nathan (3) and Sarah Lowell (Merrill)
Merrill, was born September 7, 1803. in Newbury,
and when a young child was taken by his parents
to Runniey. New Hampshire, where he spent nearly
his entire life, and died October 30, 1851. He ob-
tained a better education than was usual at that
time, and was a school teacher and civil engineer.
The followin.g is a copy of the certificate issued to
him by Dudley Leavitt, the noted almanac-maker
and a leader in educational work of his time :
138
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
In August, 1826, before he was twenty-three
years old, Mr. Merrill was commissioned a lieu-
tenant in the Third Company, Fourteenth Regiment
of New Hampshire Militia, and on April 28, 1828,
he was commissioned captain of the same company.
This position he resigned at the end of four years.
July I, 1834, he was commissioned captain of a
rifle company of the same regiment. His superior
ability and attainments made him a man of large
influence in his town, and his untimely demise was
widely regretted. He was married November I,
1831, to Mary Ann George, who was born No-
vember 2, 1812, in Plymouth, daughter of Robert
and Sarah (Dearborn) George, and died Septem-
ber 14, 1877. She was a teacher in early life, and
was a lady of retinement and many Christian vir-
tues. She survived her lamented husband almost
twenty-six years. Their children were : Byron
(died in infancy), Byron G., Adelaide, Jennie and
Henry.
(VIH) Byron Gustavus, second son and child
of Jeremiah and Mary Ann (George) Merrill, was
born in Rumney, April 21, 1834, and died at Frank-
lin, Pennsylvania, May 12, 1902. He was born and
grew up on a farm, and was educated in the com-
mon schools. It is said that he was a well grown
boy before he saw a locomotive, and at the first
sight of one his mind was instantly made up as to
what his life work should be — employment con-
nected with railroads. When the Boston, Concord
& Montreal railroad was surveyed he entered the
employ of that road as a rodman, and later served
as a fireman on an engine and machinist in its
shops at Lakeport, where he was associated with
James T. Gordon, later master mechanic of the
Boston & Maine. In 1862 he was employed by the
Boston Back Bay Company, under James Foss, on
the work of filling in the Back Bay district in Bos-
ton. From July I, 1865, he served as master me-
chanic of the Syracuse & Binghamton railroad for
a few years. In 1871 he became interested in oil
wells at Franklin, Pennsylvania, and in June, 1872,
he was in partnership with Dr. Gibson ("Doc", in
Mark Twain's "Innocents Abroad"). In 1875 he
became superintendent at Franklin of the mechani-
cal department of the Galena Oil Company. Being
one of the best qualified experts on lubricating oils
and their proper use, he travelled and sold very
large quantities of oils for his employers. His last
service for the company was as consulting mechani-
cal expert. For thirty years preceding his death
Mr. Merrill was a legal resident of Concord, New
Hampshire, and during that time took an active
part in municipal afliairs, and was elected a member
of the board of aldermen from ward six in 1876
and 1877. Together with Mayor George A. Pills-
bury and Hon. George A. Cummings he was
charged in 1876 with superintending the construc-
tion of the sewerage system, expending some fifty-
two thousand dollars in that work. Mr. Merrill
considered Concord his home, and regularly re-
turned there to vote until 1899. He began life as a
farmer boy, and achieved success by his own efforts.
Mr. Merrill married (first), January 23, 1856,
Esther Houston, of Plymouth, born July 6, 1835,
died September 29, 1861, daughter of Gilmore and
Sarah (Griffin) Houston; and (second), August
8, 1869, Martha J. Hall, of Belmont, born December
23, 1842, died May 18, 1874. There was born to
the first wife one child, Adelaide Louisa, whom her
father cherished with deep and unfailing tender-
ness, and who has erected and given to his native
town a handsome and costly library building, as
a monument to his memory.
The following tribute to the character and worth
of Mr. Merrill is taken from the resolution adopted
by his co-workers of the Galena-Signal Oil Com-
pany, immediately after his decease :
"His nature was cast in no common mould. He
began life in poverty, and by his own efforts gained
great wealth. Injustice never tainted his business
transactions, and he had an honest title to all he
gained. The secret of his business success lay in
the fact that nature gave him a clear and discern-
ing mind and an infle.xible will. His industry was
tireless and obstacles in his path only urged him
forward. He admitted few men to his confidence
and friendship, and his true qualities were known
only to his close friends. He was absolutely honest
and scorned flattery and deceit. He knew his rights
and maintained them, but his nature was kindly.
Bereft of his wife in early manhood, he cherished
his daughter, his only child, with deep and un-
failing tenderness. He took leave of life as be-
comes a brave man. In his final illness when suf-
fering with pain, he kept a cheerful temper and a
smile often lighted his face. We offer this tribute
to our departed brother and have comfort in the
knowledge that we do it in absolute sincerity and
truth."
(I) James A. Merrill was born in Corinth, Ver-
mont, September 13, 1835. After the conclusion of his
studies he served an apprenticeship at the cooper's
trade, and locating in Brookline, New Plampshire,
he followed it as a journeyman until the commence-
ment of the Civil war. Enlisting as a private in
Company C, Sixteenth Regiment, New Hampshire
Volunteer Infantry, he spent the major part of his
term of service in Louisiana, and after his return
from the army he resumeld his trade in Nashua.
In Masonry he had advanced as far as the Blue
lodge. He married Mary Law, daughter of John
and Ellen Law, and had a family of six children,
four of whom are living, namely: Ida, wife of H.
G. Manville, of Nashua ; Kate F., wife of Bert
Harwood, also of Nashua ; Fred C, of Nashua ;
and Frank H., who is at the present time serving
as secretary of the Young Men's Christian As-
sociation in Norwich, Connecticut.
(II) Fred Corydon, son of James A. and Mary
(Law) Merrill, was born in Nashua, December 9,
1872. He attended the public schools, including
the high school, and after completing his studies
entered the service of the Boston & Maine Rail-
way Company, in the office of the freight depart-
ment, in which he remained for a period of four
years. He became bookkeeper for the Roby &
Swart Manufacturing Company, and later secretary
and superintendent of the company, who conduct
an extensive box factory and are dealers in dressed
lumber, and still retains that position. Mr. Merrill
is one of the most active and progressive young
business men in Nashua, and is highly esteemed by
his associates. He is a member of the Methodist
Episcopal Church.
He married Rosy Clement, daughter of C. H.
Clement, of Derry, this state.
This is one of the many Scotch-Irish
COX families which have contributed to the
general development of New Hampshire,
and its descendants are now widely scattered
throughout the country.
(I) Edward Cox, the immigrant ancestor, set-
tled in Londonderry, New Hampshire, and was sub-
sequently a resident of Nottingham West, now
Hudson. His wife's name was Molly Mitten.
(II) Charles, son of Edward and Molly (Mit-
BYRON G. MERRILL
^: ,#•
^ ^'§^
\.>A\.W
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
139
m Hudson,
crness, New
, who was
. _r family of
uas, son of Charles and Ma
i-u.\, was born August 11, 1782, in Holder-
.iiid was a farmer residing in that town, where
t.< M.v;d May 3, 1830. He was married May 28,
1807, to Miriam Dearborn, daughter of Samuel
and Abigail (Ward) Dearborn, of Plymouth, New
Hampshire. She was born August 10, 1787, and
died April i, 1873, in New Hampton, New Hamp-
shire. After the death of Thomas Cox, she mar-
ried (second), in 1834, Ezekicl Hoyt, of Sandwich,
A ' 1 I she survived more than eleven years. The
rcn of Thomas Cox were: Mary (died young),
Daiacl Harris, Mary, Charles, Abigail, Walter
Elair, Eliza Ann, Caroline, Abigail Dearborn and
Amanda.
(IV) Walter Blair, third son and sixth child
of Thomas and Miriam (Dearbnrt '1 Cr.\, ivi, I,nru
April 15, 1816, in Holderiics-.
stead and later in his nali . c
October 5, 187S. He wa
for years took an activ
of public affairs in 1
representative of th:i:
He was married, Juno -
who was born July 24. ;
ter of Eliphalet and '
children who attair
Cliarles Edson, meii.. .... ,.,„,,. ..^ —
Levi Fifield, of Worcester. Atmie B. Harry. Shic
Ernest.
(V) Charles Edson, eldest son of Walter B.
and Nancy (Nutter) Cox, was born in Holderness,
in December, 1848. After concluding his studies at
the New Hampshire Institute he turned his atten-
tion to mercantile pursuits, and for a number -of
years was a produce commission merchant in Man-
chester, devoting his energies principally to the
handling of beef. For four and one-half terms or
a period of nine years he served as warden of the
New Hampshire state prison, and resigning that
position he retired permanently from active busi-
ness pursuits. Mr. Cox resides in Manchester,
where he is highly esteemed for his unimpeachable
integrity as well as other commendable qualities,
and he was at one time the Republican candidate
for mayor. He is far advanced in the Masonic
order, affiliating with several of the higher bodies,
including the Order of the Mystic Shrine, and he
is a prominent member of the Free Will Baptist
Church, contributing liberally toward its support.
He married Evelyn Mary Randall, daughter of
Thomas B. and M.-i'- i Tii-kering) Randall, the
jtter a daughter of xring, was descended
in one of New . o's most prominent
i.".! families. Mr. and Mrs. Cox are ll*
= of four sons, namely: Walter, a re?;d<-
nchestcr and a weli-kncwn equine c--
.S , who is residinar in l,^wrpnee, Mn^
College, where he ' '.jree in 1803.
and that of Masttr . he not only
acquired distinction for gcuciai ^Cn^Jiarship, but at-
tained high rank in Latin, physics and chemistry,
u;l honors in i s and was vale-
•f his class. time after con'
ci'iui.!!.; ins cl'' " "■ .'iici ne '.■.'. '■" ot
the fo.'ce of , in the - '1
school, bn' - ,,,: jiursuits n.^i^..> •...i^.a ..an
as a stt, : to the legal profession, and
v-l ..
l.nvii;
taught
school
ndies
-h
he relinqu-, .-_ .-
for one or more t
in Boston. His cii
while a law student ai trie Losioa Ui
the class of 1896, resulted i.T his rect
dition to the degree of Bachelor -ot L^wi, the
coveted Magna cum Laude, and his Graduation was
followed immediately by his ^ ' to the Suf-
folk county bar. Becoming ;• 1 the Boston
i. . r._.., Qf Butler, Cox & ..;....., the senior
■ which, Hon. William M. Bniler, was for
.'.^T-,- nresident of the Massachu.sctt5
practice of his profession with
'.vlnch rnj.^t invariably lead
gh fully equipped
law business he
corporation, in-
■ an. In 190J
from ward
ir; wa^
c state
!n 1906
:Lh Suf-
In the
ii.'Wcr house he was chu.
pnhate and chancery, s:
ni
committee on relations 1
ployers, and as a men
cities
he r.
but acu-i .is
house. While ;,
the ii-'-- : ■■
of b
cxei
1
ship
:. and education.
Ar V
he was p.ppointed
'li;
I-
Ot the
■K. Na-
;., LL. B., s
i'icnce 01
he afi
:ind professi^iia> si
tor learn-
'nrinfr his
A^^ a slicvt
I40
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
He is supposed to have been a son of John Dulton,
and to have been born soon after 1620. He was
accepted as an inhabitant of Billerica, November 22,
1669, and Hved on the south side of Fox brook
by an old road long since abandoned, leading to
the "great plain." His first wife, Susannah, died
August 27, 1684, and he married (second), Novem-
ber ID, 1684, Ruth Hooper, said by one authority
to have been a daughter of William Hooper, of
Reading, and by another to have been his widow.
Hooper died about 1678, and left both widow and
daughter by that name. All of Mr. Button's chil-
dren were born before his arrival in Billerica, the
last five in Woburn. They were ; Thomas, born
September 14, 1648; Mary, Susannah, John, Eliza-
beth, 1658-59; Joseph, Sarah, James, and Benja-
min, 1667.
(II) John, second son and fourth child of
Thomas and Susannah Button, was born March 2,
1656, probably in Reading, and lived in Billerica,
on the north side of the Andover road. He died
April 7, 1735, and was survived more than three
years by his widow. He married, September 20,
1681, Sarah, daughter of Daniel Shed, one of the
early residents of Billerica. She died February
27, 1721, and he married in May, 1721, Ruth Frost,
probably widow of Dr. Samuel Frost. She died
July iS, 1738. His children were: Sarah. John,
died at three days old; Hannah, Abigail, Samuel,
John, Jonathan and James.
(III) Jonathan, fourth son and seventh child
of John and Sarah (Shed) Dutton, was born
February 10, 1700, and resided in Billerica. He
married, June 22, 1722, Sarah Levistone, daughter
of John and Margaret (Ross) Levistone, natives of
Scotland. His children were : John, Sarah, Jona-
than, David, Mary and Joshua.
(IV) Jonathan (2), second son and third child
of Jonathan (l) and Sarah (Levistone) Dutton,
was born March 29, 1727, and resided in Billerica.
(V) Jonathan (3), son of Jonathan (2) Dut-
ton, was born July 4, 1750, and was drowned in the
Merrimack river in 1785.
(VI) Deacon Roger, son of Jonathan (3)
Dutton, was born September 8, 1785, and died May
28, 1855, in Hooksett, where it is supposed that he
was also born. He was a cooper nearly all his life,
and resided first in the southern part of the town
of Hooksett, and later settled in the village of
Hooksett. During the last years he attended the
toll bridge at that point. He was one of the first
deacons of the Congregational Church of that place,
and was a highly respected citizen. His wife, Rachael
(Sawyer) Dutton, died there ^larch 22, 1850, at
the age of sixty-four years. She was born Oc-
tober 5, 1785. Their eldest child, Rachael, mar-
ried Seth K. Jones, and has descendants now re-
siding in Concord. Jacob S., the second, is the
subject of the succeeding paragraph. Eben died in
Epsom, where some of his descendants are now
living. Rebecca died unmarried. Betsey became
the wife of Rev. Joseph \V. Tarleton, a Congre-
gational clerg}-man. and died in Epsom.
(VII) Jacob Sawyer, eldest son of Deacon
Roger and Rachael (Sawyer) Dutton, was born May
29, 181 1, in that part of Chester which is now
Hooksett, and died January 18, 1863. He married,
October 25. 1829, Alice Hanscomb, of Barrington,
this state, born November 25, 1810, in Dunbarton,
New Hampshire, and died March 21, 1882, in Hook-
sett. Their eldest child, Roger, is now a resident
of Cadyville, near Plattsburg, New York. Daniel
Sawyer, the second, receives extended mention be-
low. Jacob Sylvanus is further noticed in this
article. Mary E. is the widow of Benjamin A. Ham,
and lives at Winthrop Beach, Massachusetts. Mr.
Dutton was a farmer, his land lying south of the
present Pinnacle Park, and he resided in the house
now occupied by Nathaniel Clark in Hooksett,
which was built more than a hundred years ago.
He was an attendant of the Congregational Church,
and a straightforward Democrat in political affilia-
tions.
(VIII) Daniel Sawyer, second son and child
of Jacob S. and Alice (Hanscomb) Dutton, was
born November II, 1834, in Hooksett, where he
passed his life and died January 14, 1889. He
learned the trade of collar-maker, and was em-
ployed at it during his active life. He was an
industrious and successful man, and engaged in
the manufacture of horse collars upon his own
account for many years. He was an attendant of
the Congregational Church with his wife, though a
Universalist in religious faith. He was a steadfast
supporter of the principles of the Republican party,
and did some service to his native town in various
capacities, being many years prudential school com-
mittee of the town. He married, November i,
1855, Susannah Dorman Ham, born August 15, 1837,
in Newfield, Maine, daughter of John, Jr., and
Paulina H. (Dorman) Ham, both of whom were
natives of that town (see Ham, VII).
(IX) John Calvin, only child of Daniel S.
and Susannah D. (Ham) Dutton, was born De-
cember 19, i860, in Hooksett, and has always re-
sided in his native town, receiving his education
in the local schools. At any early age he was
accustomed to assist his father and thus acquired
habits of industry which have formed the foundation
of his success, and his intelligent observations and
persistent efforts have enabled him to take up and
successfully fill the responsible positions which he
now holds. For ten years he was employed by
S. D. McAfee & Company in a grocery store, and
for the succeeding seven years was employed by
the Hooksett Manufacturing Company about its
mills. With a natural taste for machinery, he
observed the working of the mills and became fa-
miliar with the operation of various heavy ma-
chines. Under several employers he has been en-
gaged about the electrical plant at Hooksett. and
helped install what is now the plant of the I\Ian-
chester Traction, Light & Power Company, and
for the last nine years has had charge of its
dynamos. Mt. Dutton has always taken an intelli-
gent interest in the progress of aflfairs, and has
been active in furthering the best interests of
his native town to the extent of his ability. In
1886 he served as selectman, and has been town
clerk continuously since 1887. During the last
three years he has also acted as treasurer of the
town, and treasurer of the school district in which
he resides. He has been a member of the town
board of health from its organization, and repre-
sented the town in the legislature in 1907-08. He
is a supporter of the Congregational (Thurch, and
was a regular attendant upon its worship until the
duties of his present position prevented. He is a
member of Friendship Lodge, No. 19, Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, of Hooksett. having been in-
itiated in January, 1882, and has passed the principal
chairs, and is now ser\'ing as treasurer of the Lodge,
having filled that position since April 24, 1889.
For about twenty years he has been a member of
Jewell Lodge, No. 94, Free and Accepted Masons,
of Suncook. ]\Ir. Dutton is an enthusiastic be-
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
141
liever in and supporter of the political principles
promulgated by the Republican party. He is a well-
informed and intelligent citizen, and his services as
a citizen and ofiicer are appreciated by his com-
patriots.
(VIII) Jacob Sylvanus, third son and child
of Jacob S. and Alice (.Hanscomb) Dutton, was
born in Hooksett, December 30, 1837. He left
school at fifteen years of age and took employment
in the cotton factory at that place and worked there
a number of years. In 1858 he became an employe
in Hill's harness shop in Concord, where he re-
mained seven years. At the end of that period he
bought the Elm House, an establishment of forty
rooms, which stood on the corner of Maine and
Pleasant streets, where he provided "bed and
board, for the traveling public for tw'elve years.
Subsequently he resided in New York six years
and again kept the hotel two years. For the pur-
pose of widening ]Main street the building was
tlien condemned and torn down. He then built on
the site of the old hotel the present Dutton Block.
The same year he also built a block on Beacon
street, and in 1887 purchased his present residence
on Lyndon street. In 1905 he built another resi-
dence on Lyndon street. Mr. Dutton is a Republi-
can, but occasionally, in a spirit of fairness and
liberality, casts a ballot for a candidate on the
Democratic ticket. He was made an Odd Fellow
in 1866, joining White Mountain Lodge, No. 5,
of which he is still a member, and was one of the
first members in Concord of the Patriarchs Militant
of that order. He attends the North Congregational
Church.
September 18, 1856, he married Nancy L. Dow,
daughter of Israel and Abigail Dow, born Febru-
ary 27, 1S38, near VVilmot. Three children were
born of this marriage: i. Hattie, January 20, 1866,
died young. 2. Edward William, September 18,
1S68, is a nurse in Concord. He married Grace
Ordway, daughter of John Ordway, of Loudon, aiid
they have a son Earl and a daughter Louise, both
living in Concord. 3. Nancy Bertha, born July
5, 1877, at Corning, New York.
Tradition states that Roger Ama-
AMIDON downe was a French Fluguenot, w'ho,
after the revocation of the Edict of
Nantes, was compelled to flee from France, and
that he went to England and spent several years,
and finally emigrated to America. Nothing is
known of the place or date of his ^ birth or of
his parentage. The majority of his descendants
spell the name Amidon, while others of the family
spell it Amadon, Araedon, Amidown, Ammidon and
Ammidown. In the records of Plymouth Colony
and Rehoboth the name generally appears in the
form of Amadowne.
(I) Roger Amadowne is first mentioned in the
records of Salem, Massachusetts, in 1637, where on
the 25th day of the loth month he is allotted half
an acre of the marsh and meadow land then divid-
ed among two hundred and twenty-four persons.
He is next found in Weymouth in 1640, where a
portion of the town record reads : ''Sara, daughter
of Roger Amadowne, born 10(6) 1640." Three
years later he is next noted in Boston as follows :
"Lida, daughter of Roger and Sara Amadowne
27 Feb. 1643."
In the year last mentioned a company of per-
sons from Weymouth formed a settlement at Reho-
both. In 1648 Roger Amadowne appears at Reho-
both, being the forty-third on the list of proprietors.
He resided in that part of the town which after
the division was called Seekonk, and in the record
he is referred to as "Goodman" Amadowne. July
18, 1648, he was granted by Rehoboth a house lot
between Walter Palmer's house lot and the mill.
June 3, 1662, he was granted a tract of land by
the Plymouth court, and June 7, 1665, he was
granted fifty acres lying at a place called the Ten
Alile river. In 165S he was granted more land,
and in 1671 had a grant of one hundred acres. In
1057 his name appears on the list of freemen, and
in 1658 he first served on the coroner's jury, in
which capacity he afterwards served several
times.
The name of Roger Amadowne's first wife was
Sarah, and she died at Rehoboth, June 30, 16O8.
He married (second), December 27, 1608, Joanna,
daughter of George and Jane Harwood. he died
(probably), November 11, 1673, and was buried
November 13, 1673. His wife Joanna survived him
and died July I, 171 1. His children by the first
wife were : Ebenezer, Sarah, Lydia, Hannah ; and
by the second wife: Philip, Henry and -Ue-
hitable.
(,11) Philip Amidown, eldest child of Roger
by his second wife, Joanna, was born at Rehobotn,
January 2b, 1670, and died at Oxford, iNlarch 15,
1747, aged seventy-seven. He resided at Rehobotn
until alter the death of his first wife, when he
removed to Mendon. In 1704 his minister's rate
at Alendon was one shilling, and he had a share in
the sixth division of the lands there in 17 13. In
1717 he removed to Oxford, wdiere he died ten
years later. In 1720 he and his wife united with
the church on its organization in Oxford. In 1730
he served as selectman, and in 1735 as constable.
He married (first;, at Rehoboth, i\lay 2y, 1O98,
i\iehitable Perry, born at Rehoboth, April 30, 16S0,
and died there July 4, 1O99, daughter of Samuel and
iSIary (Millard; Perrj-. He married (second;, Sep-
tember 16, 1700, Ithamar Warfield, born March 28,
1676, daughter of Deacon John and Hannah (Ran-
dall) Warfield, of Mendon. Philip Amidown had
by his first wife one child, Henry; and his second
wife, eight : Roger, Ichabod, Mary, Philip, Ephraim,
Ithamar, John and Hannah.
(ill; Lieutenant Ichabod, second son and child
of Philip and Ithamar (Warfield; Amidown, was
born in May, 1704. He was a farmer and resided
in Mendon. He served as selectman in 1756, was
on the grand jury in 1758, and as he is called lieu-
tenant in the records of the town, he was prob-
ably an officer in the militia. He married. May
7, 1732, Margery Aldrich, born March 14. 1714,
and died in 1753, daughter of Jacob and .Margery
(Hayward) Aldrich, of JNIendon. Their children
were: Ichabod, tlannah, JMargery, died young;
Ebenezer, jNlargery, Mary, Philip, Hannah and Ja-
cob, whose sketch follows.
(FV) Jacob, youngest child of Ichabod and
Margery (.A.ldrich; .-^midon, was born at Mendon,
Massachusetts, September 15, 1753, and died in
Chesterfield, New Hampshire, February 11, 1839,
aged eighty-six. His name appears in the catalogue
of Harvard among the graduates of the class of
1775. He enlisted in the patriot army and served
during a large part of the Revolutionary war. For
twenty-eight months he was a prisoner of war on
a British prison ship. The Revolutionary war rolls
of Massachusetts give his record : "Jacob .Ammi-
don, jMendon, Private in Captain Andrew Peter's
Company, Colonel Joseph Read's Regiment ; muster
roll dated August I, 1775; enlisted May 13, 1775;
served two months and twenty-four days; also
company return dated Roxbury, September 25, 1775.
142
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
In another paragraph Jacob Ammidown's record
reads: Captain's clerk; list of prisoners sent from
Newport, Rhode Island, in the prison ship, "Lord
Sandwich," and landed at Bristol, March 7, 1778."
His name was placed on the pension roll in 1833.
December 23, 1782, he purchased in Chesterfield,
New Hampshire, a portion of lot No. 5, in the
Eighth Range, and probably settled in the town soon
afterwards. He resided near the Central Village
on the farm after owned and occupied many years
by his son Otis, and built the house now owned
by the Methodist Society in Chesterfield, and used
as a parsonage. He probably engaged in trade for
a time after settling in Chesterfield, as he was
styled "trader" in the deed of the land he pur-
chased in the town. In 1785 he was chosen town
clerk, and held the office by successive elections
till 1800. He was selectman in 1785 and 1797. He
married Esther Ladd, born September 26, 17O2, and
died March 26, 1S52, in the ninetieth year of her age.
She was the daughter of Timothy and Rachel
(Spencer) Ladd, of Chesterfield. Their children
were: Lucretia, Harriet, died young; Rachel, died
young; Otis, Rachel, Jacob and Harriet.
(V) Otis, fourth child and eldest son of Jacob
and Esther (Ladd) Amidon, was born in Chester-
field, April 26, 1794, and died there July 22, 1866,
aged seventy-two. He lived on the homestead his
father bought, and was engaged in agriculture. For
many years he was prominent in the affairs of town
and church. He served as selectman from 182S
to 1831 inclusive, and represented his town in the
general court in 1833-35-38-56. For a long time he
held the office of justice of the peace, the duties
of which he was well qualified to perform, and he
was one of the veteran "squires" of the town, as
well as one of the most substantial and influential
citizens. He married, March 16, 1825, Nancy Cook,
born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, February 3,
1795, and died in Hinsdale, New Hampshire, De-
cember s, 1868, aged seventy- four (nearly). Her
parents were Benjamin and Ann (McNeil) Cook.
The children of this marriage were: Charles Ja-
cob and four others who died in infancy.
(VI) Charles Jacob, son of Otis and Nancy
(Cook) Amidon, was born in Chesterfield, April
23, 1827, and died in Hinsdale, August 21, 1900,
aged seventy-three. He was educated in the pub-
lic schools of Chesterfield and at the Chesterfield
Academy, where his attendance was protracted. In
early manhood he was a successful teacher, but in
1849 he formed a partnership with Henry O. Cool-
idge, then one of the most prominent business men
in (Cheshire county, and the firm engaged in busi-
ness at Chesterfield Center. In 1851 this partner-
ship was dissolved and Mr. Amidon settled _ in
Hinsdale, where he was engaged in merchandising
for ten years. In 1862 Dr. Frederic Boyden, Syl-
vester Bishop and Mr. Amidon formed a co-partner-
ship under the style of Boyden, Bishop & Amidon,
and began the manufacture of woolen goods. In
the course of time the senior partners died and
Mr. Amidon became the sole owner of the busi-
ness, and when his sons, Philip F. and William O.,
grew up, he associated them in the enterprise with
him under the firm name of C. J. Amidon & Sons.
After 1894 they operated the mills at Wilton as
well as those in Hinsdale. From the start the
business had paid, and while other factories have
had to shut down or suspend operations, those con-
trolled by this company have always kept going.
The number of persons now employed at Hinsdale
is one hundred, and they produce annually three
hundred thousand yards of cashmerettes, which re-
quire in the course of a year for their manufacture
three hundred thousand pounds of wool and three
hundred and fifty thousand yards of cotton warp.
The Wilton woolen mills employ one hundred and
twenty persons and manufacture goods for both
men's and women's wear.
Mr. Amidon's well known executive ability and
good judgment caused him to be called to the set-
tlement of many estates, and to give expert advice
in intricate cases where estates or personal property
was involved. He was honored with a place in
the directorate of various banks, and served as
president of the Hinsdale Savings Bank for many
years. When he resigned that position many places
of honor and trust were offered him, but most of
them were declined. He was postmaster of Chester-
field in 1849-50; postmaster of Hinsdale from 1861
to 1872 ; state bank commissioner, 1855-56, under
Governor Metcalf and the following year under
Governor Haile; representative in the state legis-
lature from 1861 to 1865 inclusive, and in 1876-77
and 1883 ; member of the constitutional convention
in 1876; elected state senator in March, 1878; re-
elected at the following November election, and
in 1879 and 1880; and was at different times moder-
ator and selectman. He was one of the committee
of five appointed in 1889 to draw plans and make
estimates for the new State Library at Concord,
and he had the satisfaction of having the plans,
which he had assisted in formulating, adopted by
the legislature and seeing the handsome structure,
so creditable to the state, dedicated in 1895.
Mr. Amidon reached his majority in 1848, and
cast his lot politically with the Whigs. After the
dissolution of the Whig party it was followed by
the Republican party, and with the majority of his
political faith he joined the new organization. His
influence in town affairs was felt at once, and in
a short time he wielded influence in state politics.
He proposed the name of William Haile as a candi-
date for governor, and had no small part in ac-
complishing his election. He was also largely in-
strumental in bringing out the late United States
Senator, J. W. Patterson, then a Dartmouth pro-
fessor, as a candidate for congress and securing
his election.
During Mr. Amidon's lifetime the following
spontaneous and sincere tribute was paid to him
by the editor-in-chief of this work in a letter to a
friend : "Among his associates in state service,
Mr. Amidon has been quickly recognized as an
able, clear-headed man. His services have been
valuable. Good judgment directed by an honest pur-
pose have given him power that commanded uni-
versal esteem and respect. In every public position
he has filled he has been foremost in influence, and
his good common sense has attracted attention.
Among his friends he is loved as a thoroughly
honest, upright man, and he is a firm friend to
those he deems worthy of such regard, but he
will not tolerate anything that approaches treachery
or double-dealing. He is a faithful, sincere, truth-
ful, honest man, and has a clear head and a vigorous
intellect. He might have held many more positions
of public trust but he has never sought honor — all he
has enjoyed were freely tendered, and many pos-
sible honors have been declined. He is an ex-
ample of the self-made man of New Hampshire."
Mr. Amidon was a charter member of Golden
Rule Lodge, No. 'jy. Ancient Free and Accepted
Masons. In his religious views he was conformed
to no creed. He tried to do right as his life history
shows. He endeared himself to his fellow citizens
by giving substantial aid and encouragement to
1^1 I
■"niKure
COltM Bip.
I'A
f I
I I •
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
143
many projects for benefiting his town, by generous
donations to charities, and by assisting to build
up the town schools and the library. Hinsdale
had one of the finest town halls in the state, which
was destroyed by fire, and to Mr. Amidon was due
much of the credit for its erection.
He married, May 11, 1851, Mary J. Harvey,
born in Chesterfield (see Chesterfield History),
daughter of Loring and Elizabeth Harvey. Four
children were born of this union : Philip Francis,
Mary Elizabeth, Esther Maria and William Otis.
Philip F., mentioned below. Mary Elizabeth, born
July 13, 1859, married, October 28, 1886, Dr. R. B.
Whitridge, of Boston, Massachusetts, and died Sep-
tember, 1888. Esther Maria, born February ^ 4,
1862, died August 7, 1865; William Otis, is subject
of a later paragraph,
(,Vn) Philip Francis, eldest child of Charles
J. and J\lary J. (Harvey) Amidon, was born in
Hinsdale, June 27, 1852. He attended the public
schools until he was eighteen years of age, and
then entered his father's factory, and from that time
to the present has been intimately associated with
the textile industries. From being a partner in
business with his father and brother, he became,
on the death of his father, the sole proprietor of
the mills, both at Hinsdale and Wilton, and con-
ducts a large and profitable business. In political
sentiment he is a Republican, and as such has been
honored with a seat in the state legislature, where
he served in 1889-90. As a Mason he has attained
the Thirty-second degree. He is a member of
Unity Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows,
of which he is an honored member.
He married, June 24, 1S91, Mrs. Annie Estey
Fulton, born at Philadelphia, August 6, 1854, daugh-
ter of James F. and Emily H. Estey, of Brattleboro,
Vermont. Since 1894 Mr. Amidon has resided at
Wilton.
(VII) William Otis, younger son and fourth
child of Charles J. and Mary J. (Harvey) Amidon,
of Hinsdale, was born in that town, November 24,
1864. After finishing his attendance at the common
and high schools in Plinsdale, he went to Boston
where he attended the Bryant & Stratton Com-
mercial School from which he graduated in 1887.
He then was admitted as a partner with his father
and brother, Philip F., in the manufacture of
woolen goods at Hinsdale and Wilton. He re-
mained a member of the firm of C. J. Amidon &
Sons until 1899, when he retired from it to en-
gage in the insurance business. He had, the agency
for several large companies, and did a large and
prosperous business for three years, at the same time
conducting a retail clothing and furnishing goods
store. He sold out the insurance business in 1902, and
the following year engaged in banking to accom-
modate the citizens of the town, who had no bank-
ing facilities in the village before that time. His
correspondent bank is the Keene National Bank.
He sold out his store in 1905, and since that time
has devoted himself to banking and loaning entirely.
He does a good business and has the confidence,
respect and patronage of the community. He is a
man of pleasing personality, open-hearted, generous
and public-spirited, and a favorite in business, so-
cial and fraternal circles. He is a member of
Golden Rule Lodge, No. yj, Free and Accepted
Masons, of Hinsdale ; Royal Arch Chapter, of
Keene ; Royal and Select Masters of Keene ; Hugh
de Payens Commandery, of Keene; and Aleppo
Temple of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Mystic
Shrine, of Boston. He attends the Universalist
Church. He married Minnie Johndrou, who was
born in North Adams, Massachusetts, March 22,
1879, and they have one child, Isadore.
This family is of Scotch origin, and
MARTIN its ancestor, like many other Scots
of his time, migrated to London-
derry, Ireland, whence a descendant came to
America with the Scotch-Irish who settled New
Hampshire.
(I) William Martin came with his family
to America in 1724 and settled in Londonderry.
(II) William (2) Martin, the son of W'illiam
(i) Martin, was born in Ireland in 1712. and died
in Pembroke, January 21, 1800, aged eighty-eight
years. He came from Londonderry to Suncook
before the incorporation of Pembroke. He took
a deed of fifty-nine and one-half acres of land
of the Masonian proprietors dated June 9, 1763.
He married Hannah Cochran, who was born in
1723, on the passage to America, and died April
13, 1788, aged sixty-five. Their children were:
Mary, James, Nathaniel, William, Robert, Samuel
and Hannah.
(HI) Samuel Martin, sixth child and fifth son
of William and Hannah (Cochran) Martin, was
born May 24, 1762, and died July 6, 1828, aged
sixty-six. He was a shoemaker and lived in Ep-
som. He married, June 6, 1790, Sarah, daughter
of Major James and Mary (McDaniell) Cochran,
of Pembroke. She was Ijorn in 1770, and died
April 3, 1849, aged seventy-nine. Their children
were: Mary, Thomas, James, Noah (who was a
doctor and governor of New Hampshire, 1852-54),
Elizabeth, Caroline and Nancy.
(IV) Thomas Martin, second child and eldest
son of Samuel and Sarah (Cochran) Martin, was
born in Pembroke in 1798, and died in Allenstown,
in 1S75, aged seventy-seven. He was a brickmaker
and lived twenty years in Boston, Jilassachusetts.
He served two terms in the war of 1812. In politics
he was a Democrat, who was a very popular man
in his party, and served as tax collector and repre-
sented Allenstown two years in the legislature.
He married Sarah Brown Pilhbury, daughter of
Dr. John Pillsbury, who was born in Candia and
died in Allenstown at eighty years of age. They
had two children : Annie S., and Carrie M., who
is mentioned in the next paragraph : Annie was
born in Allenstown in 1832 and died in Pembroke
in 1887, aged fifty-five years.
(V) Carrie M. Martin, younger of the two
daughters of Thomas and Sarah (Brown) Martin,
and niece of Governor Noah Martin, was born in
Allenstown, December 31, 1835, and married Jer-
ome B. Harvey. He was born in North London-
derry in 1834 and died there August 12, 1881. He
was brought up a farmer, and was engaged in
farming for many years. For fifteen years he lived
in California and worked in the mines. He resided
in Manchester for a considerable time and while
there was a dealer in wood. In religion he was a
Baptist; in politics a Democrat. Mrs. Harvey has
resided in Allenstown for years.
When our heathen ancestors
JENNINGS adopted the Christian faith they
assumed Christian names as evi-
dences of their conversion. On account of the
prominence in the early Church of St. John the
Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, the name
lohanan, or loannes. afterward shortened to Ian.
lohn, or John, became a favorite. When the Saxon
suffix ing, signifying son, was added, it gave the
patronymic laning or Janing, that is John's son,
144
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
which finally became Jennings, which form has pre-
vailed for many centuries, though the name is
spelled in more than thirty ways in the early
records of Massachusetts. Men of this race have
engaged in every war and in most of the pursuits
of peace in this country, and have done their duty
in a manly way. Fifty-five were patriot soldiers
in the revolutionary war from Massachusetts. One
of the first two Englishmen who ever descended
Lake Champlain was a Jennings. A colonial gov-
ernor of New Jersey, the first governor of Indiana,
a governor of Florida, and other men of promi-
nence have borne this patronymic. Several of the
name settled in Massachusetts in very early times.
Richard Jennings put himself apprentice to Robert
Bartlett, of Plymouth, in 1635, for nine years. He
is said to have lived at Sandwich, whence he re-
moved to Bridgewater, where he had a family of
children. He may have been the ancestor of the
Jennings family of Sandwich, but the records of
Duxbury, which was the parent town of Bridge-
water, having been destroyed by fire prior to 1654,
it is impossible to determine the matter with cer-
tainty at this time. Freeman, the historian of Cape
Cod, says : "The Jennings family, long time promi-
nent and highly respectable in this town (.Sandwich),
have become extinct here; but lands are still called
after their name," Tradition has it that the family
came from Bennister, in Devonshire, England.
(I) John Jennings, the first of the family of
whom there is authentic information, was living
at Sandwich in 1667, and died there June 18, 1/^2,
at an advanced age. February 23, 1675, John Jen-
nings was among the sixty-nine residents of Sand-
wich "who were able to make it appear that they
had just rights and title to the privileges of the
town." July 4, 1678, the name of John Jennings
was not on "the list of those who have taken the
oath of fidelity." "Peter Gaunt, William Newland
and John Jenkins in the name of all the rest of the
townsmen of Sandwich that are of their religion do
declare their dissent against the town's disposing
of any privileges that belong to them as townsmen
of lands." The absence of the name of John Jen-
nings from the list of those who took the oath of
fidelity, the fact that he was a witness to the will
of two Quakers — Lydia Gaunt, 1691, and Isaac
Gaunt, 1698 — and the further fact that the inventory
of his estate shows that he had at the time of
his death "Quakers' books as we suppose may be
valued by that people two pounds," it seems that
he was a friend to the Quakers, and perhaps a
member of that sect. August 18, 1681, the town
voted John Jennings and two others "all the bog
meadow, leaving out the springs for the neighbor-
hood," near Dexter's Island. June 25, 1702, the
name of John Jennings appears on the "record of
inhabitants of the town of Sandwich entitled to their
share in the division of lands as per vote of March
24, 1702." July 16, 1708 (,0. S.) John Jennings,
cordwainer, was appointed administrator of the
estate of his son John, late of Sandwich, mariner,
■who had lately died intestate in England. John
(i) Jennings died intestate and his estate was ad-
ministered by his son Isaac. The inventory
amounted to forty-five pounds, fifteen shillings, six
pence. JNIay 15, 1690, he was elected constable, then
an important office. He seems to have been an
honest and honorable man who minded his own busi-
ness and was sometimes called in to help other
people with theirs. John Jennings married, June
29, 1667, Susanna ; and after her death, Ruhamah.
The surnames of his wives are unknown. His
children by the first were : Remember (or Re-
membrance), and Ann; and by the second: John.
Isaac, Elizabeth (died young), Elizabetli; and
Samuel. These children, as shown by the Sand-
wich records, were born between September 17
1668, and February 28, 1685 (N. S.) (A sketch of
Isaac is found in the next paragraph, and that of
Samuel farther down.)
(II) Isaac, second son and child of John and
Ruhamah Jennings, was born in Sandwich, July
3.. 1677. He married, first, July 10, 1700, Rose
Goodspeed, who died December 21, 1721 ; and sec-
ond, Hannah . The children by the first
wife were : Elizabeth, Experience, John, Rose,
Isaac, I\Iary, Benjamin; and by the second wife:
Hannah, Lois, and Eunice, born between 1701, and
1729.
(III) Isaac (2), second son and fifth child of
Isaac (i) and Rose (Goodspeed) Jennings, wa^
born in Sandwich, April 24, 1714, and died October
2, 1796, aged eighty-two.
(,1V) Samuel, son of Isaac (2) Jennings, was
born November 16, 1743, and died December 10,
1797.
(V) Joel S., son of Samuel Jennings, was
born in Pembroke, Massachusetts, May 4, 1771, and
died in Georgia, February 20, 1841. He married
Lucy Barnes, born February 22, 1769, daughter of
Abraham Barnes, who, on account of his upright
character and moral rectitude, was called pious
Barnes.
(VI) Samuel, son of Joel S. and Lucy (Barnes)
Jennings, was born in Pembroke, May 19, 1804.
died September 23, 1877. He was a farmer, and
lived on the old homestead of his ancestors. He
married Sarah Atwood Morse, born September 24,.
1809, died in 1898. The children of this marriage
were: Samuel D., Charles H., Lucy I., and Willard
H., whose sketch follows.
(VII) Willard Harvey, youngest child of
Samuel and Sarah A. (Alorse) Jennings, was born
in Warwick, Massachusetts, September 3, 1846.
His educational advantages were limited to at-
tendance at the district school of a small country
town. He came to Winchester, New Hampshire,
as a companion and assistant to an aged aunt who
had by inheritance, for those days, a modest fortune.
In a short time he became her trusted agent for
the care and management of her estate, demon-
strating his business ability, though still a mere
youth, and at her death the property had increased
in a very notable manner. In connection with
this work Mr. Jennings began to transact business
on his own account, and advanced step by step until
he acquired a general competency and a reputation
for business sagacity that placed him among the
leading business men of Southwestern New Hamp-
shire and Southeastern Vermont. While to some
extent he devoted himself to matters purely financial,
yet in a broader way his prosperity was the result
of his various lumbering enterprises, he bought a
large amount of land in New Hampshire, Vermont
and Massachusetts, from which he constantly cut
the timber and manufactured it into lumber, thus
placing him among the lumber kings of that section
of New England. He was a director in the Win-
chester National Bank, and a member of the Board
of Trade. F'rom 1862 until his death Mr. Jen-
nings resided in Winchester. While he was a
stalwart Republican, he had neither time nor in-
clination for office holding, although his name was
frequently mentioned for the highest positions in
the gift of his fellow citizens. He was an at-
tendant of the First Congregational Church of
Winchester, and one of the most generous of its
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NEW HAAIPSHIRE.
145
supporters. As a giver of good gifts he was
peculiar to the extent of desiring always to conceal
his personal identity, and many a worthy cause
that was aided by his generous benefactions never
knew of the source.
ilr. Jennings married, December 23, 1875, Jen-
nie G. Buffum, born in 1854, daughter of Sampson
Wilder and Mary (.TowerJ Butfum, the former of
Richmond, New liampshire, and the latter of Lan-
caster, JNlassachusetts. Mr. and Mrs. Jennings had
one child. Lucy, a graduate of Mount Holyoke
College, class of 1905. At the same educational
institution both Mrs. Jennings and her mother,
Mary (Tower) Buffum, attended, the last named
having been a pupil of that remarkable educator of
the early nineteenth century, JNIary Lyon.
Mr. Jennings died March 4, 1907. The funeral
services were conducted at his late home bj' Rev.
\V. S. Ewell, pastor of the Congregational Church.
The interment was in Evergreen cemetery. The
following resolutions were adopted at a meeting
of the directors of the Winchester National Bank
held }ilarch 4, 1907.
Whereas, It has pleased God in His infinite
wisdom to .remove by death our associate, Willard
H. Jennings, who was a director of this bank, and
ever watchful and faithful in the discharge of his
official duties — whose integrity and honesty were
ever beyond suspicion ; therefore be it
Resolved, That we, the members of the Board
of Directors, express our deep sorrow at the loss
of our associate, to the Bank, to ourselves, to the
comnnmity in which he lived, and to the public
generally ; and be it
Resolved, That we extend to the bereaved family
our sincere and heartfelt sympathy; and direct the
clerk to send copies of these resolutions to the
afflicted family, and cause them to be published, and
spread upon the records of this bank.
(II) Samuel, second son and fourth and young-
est child of John and Ruhamah Jennings, was born
in Sandwich, February 28, (19 O. S.) 1685, and died
there May 13, 1764. in the eightieth year of his age.
He was impressed into the British navy, and in
escaping from it had the terrible adventure which
he narrates in the following letter to his pastor.
Reverend Doctor Stillman :
"Honored Sir : According to your request, when
I was at your house above a year ago, I have
now taken in hand to give you an account of that
disaster which befcl me in the West Indies, which
was after the following manner. It was in the
year 1703, I think in the month of October, that
I as impressed on board a frigate, in Carlisle Bay,
called the Milford, which was a station ship for the
Island of Barbados; and after four or five months
continuance on board said ship, I became exceeding
restless about my way of living; and I shall give
you some of the reasons that made me so. And
first, I observed that many times when men were
sick of fevers and other distempers, they were
beaten to work, when men that were drunk were
easily excused, though they were commonly a third
of our number when there was w'ork to do. And
one time, being sick myself of a fever, so that
my legs would .scarce carry me without help of
my hands, I was commanded up to work ; I told
the officer I was sick and could not work ; he said
I lied, and thereupon drove me, with several others
in the same condition, upon deck (some of whom
died the next day), then I went to the captain and
told him that I, with some others were beaten to
work, though we were sick and not able to work :
He said we were rascals, and the doctor said we
i — 10
were not sick; whereupon we were forced to stay
on deck for some time, and had now and then a
blow, but did not and could not work. Secondly,
I observed that industry and idleness were equally
rewarded with blows ; for they would begin at
one end of a parcel of men pulling a rope, and
whip till they came to the other end, without mind-
ing who pulls and who does not. And thirdly,
I found that my continuance in such a wicked
family had brought me to a smack of their fa-
miliar sin, viz., swearing, though I was but very
awkward at it, and my conscience would menace
me for it. And I found also that the desire of
strong drink had gained somewhat upon me, though
I was not drunk with it all, and had totally left the
use of strong drink before I left the ship. Now
the consideration of these and some other difficulties
which I found in this place I lay obnoxious to,
made me undertake that dangerous way of escaping
by swimming; for I considered the danger be-
fore I set out; but on the 26th day of March, 1704,
I had drawn up/a resolution that I would rid my-
self of this compam', or lose my life when night
came. I found it something difficult to get away
undiscovered, there being centinels afore and abaft,
with muskets loaded to shoot any one that should
attempt to run away, and likewise a guard boat to
row round the ship all night. I watched them till
about ten o'clock at night, at which time, finding
the centinels pretty careless, and the guard boat
ahead of the ship, I went down between decks, and
having begged of God to carry me through that
dangerous enterprise and deliver me out of those
distresses, I went out of a port and swam with my
shirt and breeches on right out to sea, before the
wind, till I was clear of the ship and guard boat,
and then turned along the shore awhile, and then
wheeled more toward the shore, but the seas beat
over my head so fast I could hardly swim, and I
thought beat me more out to sea, whereupon I
turned and swam right against the wind toward
the shore, and after a considerable time got to onfe
of Captain Gillam's buoys, and rested myself a
while, and if I had known the ship I would have
gone on board, but I aimed to swim to a brigantine
that lay in the road belonging to Boston. Then I
put off from Captain Gillam's buoy, and had not
swam far before I saw a Shark just as he took hold
of my left hand, he pulled me under water in a
moment, at which I was very much surprised, and
thought of a knife which I used to carry in my
pocket, but remembered I had left it on board; then
I kicked him several times with my right foot, but
that proved ineffectual, I set my foot against his
mouth, intending to haul my hand away or liaul
it oft', and then he opened his mouth a little and
catch'd part of my foot into his mouth with my hand,
and held them both together. Then I cried unto
God (mentally) that he would have mercy on my
soul, which I thought would soon be separated
from my body; but still I did not leave off striving,
but punclied him with my right hand,' though to very
Ihtle purpose; at last being almost drowned (for I
was all the while under water) I had almost left
off striving, and expecting nothing but present death ;
all at once my hand cnme loose and also my foot,
and so finding myself clear of the fish I got up to
the top of the water, and having a little cleared my
stomach of water, I called out for help, and swam
towards the nearest ship, and I quickly heard them
mustering to fit out their boat, which encouraged
me to continue my calling for help, thinking tliere-
by they might find me tlie sooner, it being very
dark; they came to me with all speed and took me
146
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
into their boat, and carried me to the ship's side,
where I saw they had a lanthorn, but the blood
turning just at that time, caused me to be extreme
sick at my stomach, and my sight also left me, but
I answered Captain Gillam to many questions
while I was blind ; then they fastened a rope about
me and hauled me into the ship and carried me into
the steerage, and after a while recovering my sight,
I asked if there was any doctor on board, they said
yes, and pointed to ]\Ir. Peter Cutler of Boston, he
then being Captain Gillam's doctor, I asked him
to cut off my mangled limbs if he saw it needful,
and he spake to the captain about it, but he would
not allow of it, but sent advice to the Milford of
what had hapened, and the lieutenant sent a boat and
carried me on board again, and the doctor being
ashore, he sent for doctor Cutler and another doctor,
who came on board, and after a glass of wine they
ordered I should be tied, but upon ray earnest solic-
itation they forebore to tie me, and then doctor
Cutler performed the first amputation, which was
my arm, and the other doctor cut o^' part of my foot.
I endured extreme pain all the while, and after they
had dressed those two wounds, they dressed three
other fiesh wounds, which I received at the same
time, and the next day I was carried on shore,
where I remained without appetite and so full of
pain, that I thought I did not sleep three hours in
three weeks ; but at last thro' God's great goodness,
the pain left me and my appetite was restored, and
my wounds healed wonderful fast, so that in about
four months my foot was healed up and I
could go on it ; but it broke out again, and
I could not thoroughly heal it till I got
home to New-England. I was about nineteen years
of age at the time of this disaster. I received much
kindness from many gentlemen belonging to New-
England, as well as from those of Barbados, under
those difficulties, all which I desire gratefully to
acknowledge. But above all, I would acknowledge
the great goodness of that God that supported me
imder and carried me through those distresses, and
has provided for me ever since, so that neither I,
nor mine, have wanted the necessary comforts of
this life, notwithstanding my inability of body for
many employments. Thus having run through the
most observable passages of that disaster, I shall
conclude, desiring your prayers to God for me, that
so signal a deliverance may not be lost upon me ;
and that I may, by believing and yielding obedience
to the gospel of Jesus Christ, become a subject of
eternal as well as temporal salvation.
"Your humble servant,
'•SAMUEL JENNINGS.
"Sandwich, August 8, 1716."
After his return from Barbadoes, Samuel Jennings
probably devoted himself to the acquisition of a
superior education in consequence of his being
maimed. He was a grammar schoolmaster in 1710,
selectman in 1712, representative 1714-17-21, town
■clerk 1721-51 (thirty years), town treasurer 1719-51
(thirty-two years), surveyor of lands, trader, and
possessed a large estate. The Sandwich town records
show that "In 1710, Mr. Samuel Jennings was the
school master. He was voted twenty pounds, and
it was provided that 'those who send shall pay ad-
ditional and board.' " He was still employed in
1712. In the same year the north part of the town-
ship of Falmouth, included in what was denominated
""the New Purchase," was ordered to be laid out ;
and "Thomas Bowerman and Philip Dexter were
appointed to lay out said lands, and were to asso-
ciate with them, in the performance of their duty,
some suitable person. They called to their aid Mr.
Samuel Jennings of Sandwich — an accomplished sur-
veyor and good scholar, whose able and neatly-
prepared report of the proceedings amply justify the
encomium we bestow," says the historian. Feb-
ruary 10, 1717, he was one of a committee of three
appointed by the General Court to determine the
controversy and settle the bounds between the town
of Barnstable and the Indians, which the committee
did. He married, first, January 20, 1713, Remember
Smith, daughter of Shubael and grand-daughter of
Reverend John Smith, who was pastor of Sandwich
from 1675 to 1688. She died January 23, 171S,
aged about twenty-eight years ; and he married,
second, Deborah Newcomb, who died February 10.
1753- The children of the first wife were: Lydia and
Ruhamah; and of the second wife: Samuel', Esther
and John, whose sketch follows.
(Ill) John (2), third child and second son of
Samuel and Deborah (Newcomb) Jennings, was
born in Sandwich, September 3, 1734, and died in
Winthrop, !Maine. as stated in Winthrop Records,
March 10, 1800, aged sixty-five. After the outbreak
of the Revolution a colony from Sandwich, Massa-
chusetts, founded the town of New Sandwich, now
Waj'ne, in Maine. John Jennings, an ardent Loyal-
ist, or Tory, was one of the first to secure land there.
In 1778, or earlier, he and his son Samuel went by
water to Hallowell, and thence on foot through
the woods to New Sandwich, where John selected
land bounded on the south by the water since called
from him, the Jennings stream, and Pocasset, now
Wing Pond. Here they felled a possession, and
John returned to Sandwich, leaving Samuel to fell
more trees during the summer. The next summer
Samuel was also sent to make further improvement.
The next year, John and his son John (Samuel
being elsewhere) went from Sandwich and built a
log house and extended the clearing. The greater
part of the land John Jennings then settled on has
since been the property of his descendants and in
the Jennings name, and is now one of the finest
farms in Kennebec county. Vestiges of the first
house and one built later and apple trees he planted,
are still to be seen. The following spring John re-
moved to Wayne with his family. They went on
a vessel to Portland, and from there John and his
son Samuel ascended the Kennebec in one of his
old whale-boats. From Hallowell they made their
way on foot, driving before them the sheep and
swine they had brought from Sandwich. The swine
were subsequently taken to an island in the Andros-
coggin pond in Leeds, where in the following July
the outcry of the animals gave notice of trouble. The
settlers living near hastened to the island and dis-
covered that bears had killed the hogs, and escaped.
From this circumstance the island has since been
known as Hog Island. Having no salt, the neigh-
bors smoked the meat of the slaughtered animals,
which was a substantial part of the bill of fare of
Mr. Jennings' family the following winter. In the
autumn John Jennings returned to Sandwich, to
settle his afi'airs, and l.eft his family in the care of
his son Samuel, who proved himself worthy of the
trust committed to him. John returned the next
spring to Wayne where he lived until 1799. A
short time before his death he was carried to Win-
throp, where he died at the house of his daughter,
Deborah Chandler, and was buried in the cemetery
in Winthrop village. He married, in Sandwich.
April 19, 1759, Hannah, born June 4, 1732. widow
of Jonathan Sturgis and daughter of William and
Bathshua (Bourne) Newcomb, of Sandwich. They
had : Deborah, Samuel, John, liannah, Bathsheba,
Sarah. Nathaniel, and Mary, all born in Sandwich,
Massachusetts.
(IV) Samuel (2), second child and eldest son
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
147
of John (2) and Hannah (Newcomb) Jennings, was
born in Sandwich, November 15, 1/62, and died in
Leeds, Maine, March 23, 1842, in his eightieth year.
He accompanied his father on his iirst visit to New
Sandwich, and was left there to continue the worlc
of clearing the farm they there began, and returned
to Sandwich later, on foot, with others. The next
spring he was sent back alone, to further improve
the place. He boarded with Job Fuller, the earliest
white settler in Wayne (1773), and exchanged work
with Eben Wing. They secured only a poor "burn"
of the timber on the ground, and the turf still left
was deep ; and they had to use the bag in which
they brought their dinner to carry sand from the
shore of the pond to cover the corn they planted.
Samuel soon wearied of this style of farming, and
arranged with a neighbor to care for the crop and
again trudged back to Sandwich, and made the best
excuse he could to his father for thus leaving the
place in the wilderness of JMaine. The next spring,
when the time for going to New Sandwich drew
nigh, Samuel seized an opportunity when his father
was away and went to Plymouth, and thence to
Boston where he met some acquaintances and en-
listed on board a privateer which made a successful
cruise, capturing three prizes, Samuel returning to
Boston as one of the crew of the third one. Samuel
Jennings also served as a private in Captain Simeon
Fish's company. Colonel Freeman's regiment, 0:1 an
alarm at Falmouth in September, 1779. The next
year he went with his father and his family to
Wayne. Samuel (3) Jennings, in his account of
the family at this time says, "They thought it rather
hard times to live on smoked meat and keep their
cattle on meadow hay. In the early spring, when Sam-
uel found the neighboring settlers could not pay in corn
for certain little utensils they had bought of his
father the year before, he went to Littleborough,
now Leeds, some ten miles away, and worked a week
for Thomas Stinchheld, chopping and piling logs for
a peck of corn a day. On Sunday, he was set across
the Androscoggin pond by the Stinchfield boys in
a canoe, and carried his bushel and a half of corn
on his back to his home, where he and his burden
were warmly welcome by the other members of the
family. On the day when Samuel completed his
twenty-first year he refused to "tote' a bag of corn
on his back through the woods to mill. His father
was angry, disowned him, and turned him out of
doors, adrift in the world. But while the father was
absent hunting that day in Port Royal, now Liver-
more, Samuel and his brother John seeing a bear
swimming in the pond, dispatched it With an ax,
dressed the carcass, and hung it up on a pole. The
father returning from his hunt without game and
seeing the supply of bear meat, inquired who killed
it. Being told that Samuel had done it, he withdrew
his_ objections to Samuel, who continued to live at
the* homestead."
In 1784 Samuel, accompanied by his brother John,
took up a large tract of land, mostly rich intervale,
on the bank of the Androscoggin river in Leeds,
where the hamlet of West Leeds now is. This is
still owned by his descendants in the male line.
Somewhat later he returned to Sandwich and mar-
ried. Leaving his wife there, he went to Hallowell,
Maine, where he worked for his brother-in-law,
John Beeman, for four dollars a month. In the
spring of 1787, Mrs. Jennings with her infant son
Samuel, went to Hallowell and thence to Wayne,
where she was met by her husband. On their jour-
ney to Leeds they crossed the Androscoggin pond
in a birch canoe ; the wind blew a gale, the waves
beat over the canoe, compelling the mother to sit
in the bottom of the bark boat with her babe in
her arms, while the father, alternately paddler and
bailing, urged his canoe forward. The shore was
reached at last, and at the house of Thomas Stinch-
held they were warmed and refreshed, ;heir clothing
dried, and again on foot they made their way
through the woods to their home. Samuel Jennings
was a prosperous and inllucntial farmer in Leeds.
He married, in Sandwich, Massachusetts, in 1785,
Olive Tupper, daughter of Enoch and Mehitable
(.Davis) Tupper, and they were the parents of Sam-
uel, who was born in Sandwich ; and Perez S., who
was one of the earliest born children in Leeds.
(V) Samuel (3), eldest of the two sons of
Samuel (2) and Olive (Tupper) Jennings, was
born in Sandwich, Massachusetts, February 7, 1787,
and died at the village of North Wayne, Maine,
March 29, i8f6, in the ninetieth year of his age.
He lived with his parents until after his marriage.
There was no school in Leeds until after he was
twelve years old, but he nevertheless obtained a
good education and throughout his life was a con-
stant reader of the Bible and historical works. In
his youth he profited by his access to a small library
in Leeds. In the fall of 1809 he settled on a large
farm at the west edge of North Wayne, where the
active portion of his life was passed with the excep-
tion of si.K years between 1826 and 1S32, when he
lived in Leeds. From 1852 to 186S he lived with
his son Seth, and after that time at a place he bought
on the north side of North Wayne. He was a liberal,
social and law-abiding citizen and a man of good
judgment. In early life he was a member of the
Methodist Episcopal Church and one of its choir.
He was a Whig until the dissolution of the Whig
party, and thereafter a Democrat.
He married (.first), in Middleborough, Massa-
chusetts, January 14, 1809, Phebe IMorton, who was
born in Middleborough, JNIassachusetts, May 15, 1791,
and died at North Wayne, October 26, 1858, aged sixty-
seven years. She was the daughter of Seth (2) and
Priscilla Morton. (.See Morton, VI). He married
(second), November, 1868, Laura (Rackley) Gil-
more, widow of Ansel Gilmore, of Turner, who sur-
vived him and died while on a visit to Livermore,
September 20, 1S82, in her seventy-fifth year. The
children of Samuel and Phebe, born between iSiO
and 1837, were : Olive (died young), Olive, Louisa. La-
vinia (died young), Cleora, Samuel M., Lovias, Gran-
ville T., Perez S., Seth W., Martha, V'elzora and Mary
Plelen. Of these Louisa, Granville, Velzora and
Mary died in 1843, the last three of typhus fever.
(VI) Seth Williston, tenth child and youngest
son of Samuel (3) and Phebe (Morton) Jennings,
was born in Leeds, April 18, 1826, and died at North
Wayne, INIarch 10, 1882, aged fifty-six years. He
attended school until eighteen years of age, and then
was a seafarer for about five years, making a whaling
voyage in the middle Atlantic and later voyages to
ports of Cuba and the southern and eastern coasts
of the United States. After 1S49 he engaged in
farming, residing just east of North Wayne, and
also carried on the manufacture of soap. His little
farm was one of the best kept and most carefully
cultivated in the town, and the orchards he planted
and the stone walls he built upon it were memorials
of his industry. He was an untiring toiler and a
true-hearted and generous friend. In political be-
lief he was a Democrat. He enlisted for service in
the Civil war, April 5, 1865, and was a private in
the 30th company, unassigned infantry. He mar-
ried, (first), June 14, 1849. Delia JNlalenville Gil-
more, who was born in Turner, June 14, 1829,
and died in Wayne, September 14, 1865 aged thirty-
148
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
six years. She was the daughter of Ansel and
Laura M. (Rackley) Gilmore, of Turner, and grand-
daughter of Elisha Gihnore, of Raynham, iSlassa-
chusetts, who was a Revolutionary soldier. She was
an intellectual woman of artistic temperament and
scholarly taste. He married (second), September
29, 1866, Elvira Elizabeth Haskell, who was born
July II, 1839, daughter of John and Mary (Johnson)
Grindle of Bluehill, Maine, widow of John H. Has-
kell of Jay, who died in the United States Military
service in 1862. She married (third). May 30, 1897,
Calvin J. C. Dodge, whom she survives. The chil-
dren of Seth W. and Delia M. Jennings were :
Julius Caesar, Octavius Lord, Laura Emily, Delia
Josephine, and an unnamed infant.
(VH) Julius Caesar, eldest child of Seth W. and
Delia M. (Gilmore) Jennings, was born at North
Wayne, February 11, 1853. After completing the
common school course he attended the Maine Wes-
leyan Seminary, at Kents Hill, where he made lan-
guages his principal study. October 18, 1870, he
started west, and from 1871 to 1875 resided with
his uncle. Dr. Perez S. Jennings, at Clinton, Mis-
souri, teaching school a large part of the time, and
reading law in the office of Charles B. Wilson, Esq.,
an ex-Confederate soldier, for two years, 1874-5.
He afterwards taught school and was superintendent
of city schools at Covington, Indiana, and was prin-
cipal of schools at Ingalls, Cimarron and Spearville,
Kansas. In June, 1879, he was admitted to the bar
at Clinton, Missouri, and practiced law seven years
in Henry county. In 1886 he went to Gilliam county,
Oregon, whence he removed the following year to
Ingalls, Kansas, where he practiced law until 1891,
taking a conspicuous part in the county seat contest
between Ingalls and Cimarron, and serving a short
time as county attorney. In 1891 he engaged in
completing the History of the City of Omaha, Ne-
braska, where he spent . nearly two years. The
greater part of the time since that date he has been
connected, in various capacities, with the production
of city and county histories and biographical work,
principally in Milwaukee, Chicago, and other cities
and various counties of Illinois, and in New York
City; and lastly in Concord, New Hampshire, where
for two years he has assisted in compiling the
present work. He is a member of the New Hamp-
shire Society of Sons of the American Revolu-
tion; Ingalls Lodge, No. 426, and Ingalls Rebekah
Lodge, No. 287, Independent Order of Odd Fellows,
of Ingalls, Kansas; Alpha Camp, No. i. Woodmen of
the World, of Omaha, Nebraska; and Spearville
Lodge, No. 13, of the Occidental Mutual Benefit
Association, of Spearville, Kansas.
(VII) Octavius Lord, second son and child of
Seth W. and Delia M. (Gilmore) Jennings, was born
at North Wayne, May 9, 1855. While yet a boy he
entered the employ of the North Wayne Tool Com-
pany, where for some years he spent his time when
not at school, learning the business of scythe mak-
ing. Subsequently he worked at his trade at Oak-
land, and was employed in a grocery store in Port-
land, and at the Oceanic Hotel an Peak's Island.
Later he resumed work at his trade and was em-
ployed at Fayette and Oakland, Maine, and New
London, Scytheville and East Lebanon, New Hamp-
shire. In 1889, he removed to Concord, and has
since been employed in the car construction depart-
ment of the Boston & Maine railroad. The winter
of 1891-2 he spent at Magnolia Springs, Florida.
In 1900 he built a pleasant residence on Rockingham
street. Concord, where he now lives. Fie is a mem-
ber of Harmony Colony, No. 160, United Order of
Pilgrim Fathers ; and is past councilor of Nathan-
iel White Lodge, No. 7, of the United Order of
American jNlechanics, and member of the StSte
Council of that order. In politics he is an indepen-
dent voter. He married, in Oakland, Maine, July 11,.
1877, Alice Emma Goodwin, who was born in Bel-
grade, Maine, May 15, 1857, daughter of Charles N.
and Emma C. (Ellis) Goodwin, a descendant of
Daniel Goodwin, the immigrant. Two children
have been born of this marriage : Carl Edgar, jNIay
7, 1S81, who died young; and Octavius Earl, born
at East Lebanon, New Hampshire, April 4, 1885.
There appears to be considerable differ-
BECK ence on the part of past writers of Beck
family history in respect to the immigra-
tion of him who by all of them is conceded to have
been the ancestor of the family, in the year 1635.
These differences are best pointed out by our quot-
ing from the writings of those who have made in-
vestigations of the matter, and placed themselves
on record. Coffin says "Henry Beck came from,
Hertfordshire, England, in the ship "Angel Gabriel,'
which was cast away, at Pemaquid, August 15, 1635."
Savage, in an account of later date than that of
Coffin, says that "Henry Beck, of Dover, came in the
'Blessing,' 1635, aged eighteen," and that he em-
barked at London late m July, "as I saw in the
records of the London custom house for that year,"
which fact, he asserts, is far more probable than the
tradition of his coming in the "Angel Gabriel," which
was wrecked at Pemaquid in the middle of August.
The "Blessing" did not reach Boston before October.
Continuing, Savage also says "Part of the same
story is that he was from Hertfordshire, which is
so near London, whence sixteen ships -brought
passengers to Boston, that we can never believe that
he would have gone to the other side of the King-
dom for the voyage of the 'Angel Gabriel,' begin-
ning at Bristol, 22 June."
(I) Henry Beck came to America in 1635, in one
or the other of the ships mentioned, and was pro-
genitor of the Beck families of New Hampshire,
whose representatives are numerous in the state.
In allusion to his origin on the other side of the At-
lantic, Henry Beck, of Greenland, said in a written
record of date about a century and one-half ago,
"My grandfather Henry Beck was born In the
Paresh of geywareck in warickshear In old england."
Henry Beck, the immigrant, married Ann Frost, of
Piscataqua, New Hampshire, and had four sons :
Joshua, Thomas, Caleb and Henry ; and one daugh-
ter, Mary, who married Deacon W'hite. It is said by
Coffin that Henry, the immigrant, lived to be one
hundred and ten years old, but it evident that the
death record of some later member of the family
was mistaken for his. He settled at Strawberry
Bank (Portsmouth), where he had a grant of ten
acres of land, January 13, 1652, and probably spent
his last days in New Castle. December 14, 1658,
he subscribed five shillings for the support of the
ministry, in Portsmouth, and this rate was in force
many years. Numerous records show that he was
a prominent citizen, active in public affairs. In
August, 1652, he was a grand juror at Strawberry
Bank, and served in like capacity at court in Dover,
June 30, 1657, and April 28, 1659. He was a petit
juror at Portsmouth, June 25, 1656, and June 26,
1660, and at Dover, June 25, 1667. On June 28, 1657,
"henrie beck" of Sagamore Creek (Portsmouth),
sold to Thomas Laiton, of Dover, land in Dover.
Henry and Ann Beck sold land in Portsmouth to
Joseph Walker, September i, 1668. They deeded to
Thomas Beck (their son) land, buildings and per-
sonal property January 6, 1679, all then being of
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
149
Portsmouth. It would seem that he then removed
to Great Island (Newcastle), for he is credited
with residence there August 11, 16S5, when he deeded
iiouse and land there to Richard VVelcome, of Star
Island. At the time of his arrival in 1O35 he was
eighteen years of age, and it is prohable tnat he re-
tired from active life at the time of the last noted
sale. Administration on his estate was taken April
26, 16S6, his widow Elizabeth being administratrix,
which indicates that he had a second wife.
(.11} 'ihomas, second son of Henry and Ann
(Frost) Beck, was born about 1D57 in t'ortsniouth,
.and is supposed to have passed his life in that town.
He married Mary Frost, and their children were :
Thomas, Joshua, Abigail, Henry, Mary, Samuel and
Hannah. He died November 7, 1734, aged seventy-
seven years, and his widow passed away February
-25, 1753, aged ninety-four years.
(Hi) Flenry (2), third son of Thomas and Mary
(Frost) Beck, was born about 1695, in Portsmouth,
■where he resided. He took a deed of land and house
in that town from Samuel Moore in 1725. His
wife's name appears as Jane in the records of
several transactions. They united with Thomas and
Elizabeth Beck in selling land in Rye, January 12,
1744. They sold land and buildings in Barrington to
George Foss, March 31, 1747. He removed to Green-
land as early as 175(3, for he is called of that town
in a deed given for land, buildings and other prop-
erty in Portsmouth, September 13, 1756. in 1741
he was constable of Portsmouth, and on April 25,
1746, he purchased from Nathaniel Lang one-half a
pew in the South Church at that place. He was
evidently a man of means, and planned to settle his
children comfortably. On October 22, 1765, he took
deed from Samuel and Mary Gate, of Portsmouth,
to land and buildings in Rumford (Concord), New
Hampshire. This land is in the northeastern part
of Concord, near the Loudon line. Jane, wife of
Henry (2) Beck, was a daughter of John and Judith
Gate, of Greenland. Their children were: Mary,
^largaret, John, Nathaniel, Hannah, Elizabeth and
Henry.
(IV) Henry (3), youngest child of Henry (2)
and Jane (Gate) Beck, was born January 27, 1739,
presumably in Portsmouth, and died January 30,
1811, in Canterbury. Three days after the purchase
of land in Concord by his father, the son received
a deed from his father of forty-two acres, and it is
presumable that the young man settled thereon very
soon after, probably in the spring of 1766. His
eflfects were conveyed on a sled drawn by, oxen. He
was a most industrious and thrifty man, and cleared
up and made an excellent farm. Like most others,
he was often forced to take refuge from Indians in
the garrison at East Concord. After residing a few
years in Concord, he and his wife became converts
of the Shakers, who were just becoming established
in Canterbury, and about 1790 they sold their farm
in Concord and purchased land in Canterbury. Deeds
Jiow preserved show that purchases were made in
1791-2-3 amounting to two hundred acres. In 17S9
Henry (3) Beck still owned land in Concord. Be-
coming dissatisfied with communal life among the
Shakers, they built a house on their land,
one mile south of the Shaker village, and there spent
the evening of their days. Before leaving Green-
land Mr. Beck was married January 20, 1762, to
Alice Thompson, of that town. She was born De-
cember 15, 1742, in Greenland, and died January 20,
1841, in Canterbury. His brother. Lieutenant Joshua
Thompson, served in the Revolution, and was affec-
tionately embraced by General Lafayette on the oc-
casion of the latter's visit to Concord in 1825. The
children of Henry (3) and Alice Beck, mentioned
in the Beck record, were as follows : "Sarah Beck
was Born December the 28 17(33 of a w'eniday;
Hanah Beck was Born Augt the first 1767 of a Sat-
urday; Moley Beck was Born April 18 of a tusday
1769 Deceased July the 25-1781; Anne Beck was
Born April the 13 of a Saturday in 1771; John Beck
was Born June th 4 of a thursday 1773; Margret
Beck was Born June th 4 of a thursday 1773 ; Chads
Beck was Born maj'e the 29 of a monday 1775;
Clement Beck was Born November the 3 Day of
tusday In the year 1780; Henry Beck was Born
October the 2 Day of a tusday in the year 1783;
Poly Beck was Born April the 8 Day of a tusday
in the year 1785." John, Sarah and Anne remained
with Shakers, and the last two died at Canterbury.
Elder John was a leader among and highly respected
by the Shaker community. He was born in Con-
cord, New Flampshire, June 4, 1773, and entered the
Shaker Society at Canterbury, New Hampshire, July
II, 1792. In 1796 he signed the church covenant, in
company with many others'. His father professed
faith at that same date, and made a deposit of $277.15
in the treasury of the community. Several brothers
and sisters also joined the society at the same time.
On the 25th of November, 1806, Elder Beck, moved
to Enfield, New Hampshire and was appointed the
Elder Brother in the Church Family. John Beck
proved himself well worthy of the confidence that
was placed in him and became an able and efficient
Elder. 'All who knew him, loved him, not only for his
work's sake, but he was beloved by all as a man of God,
and a genuine brother in the gospel. He remained
in the Ofiice of Elder of the church, until his death
which occurred September 3, 1844. aged seventy-one
years two months and nineteen days.
(V) Flenry (4), ninth of the ten children of
Henry (3) and Alice (Thompson) Beck, born Oc-
tober 2, 1783, in East Concord, died October 28, 1874,
in Canterbury. He w^s a very hard worker, and
gave little thought to public concern, though he
was a public-spirited citizen. He devoted his ener-
gies to clearing up the forest, and recouping the
fortunes of the family which had become impaired
through the donations made by his parents to the
Shakers. He purchased from time to time adjoining
lands, and became the proprietor of a very large
farm. He was known as a superior judge of live
stock, and always kept about him fine horses and
cattle and other farm animals. His long life of
ninety-one years showed the benefit of- plain and
frugal living, with plenty of out-door exercise. He
was married, December 25, 1805, to Polly (Mary)
Whitney, of Canterbury, daughter of Leonard Whit-
ney and his first wife, whose maiden name was
Wheeler. She was born "July the 18 Day of a
tusday In the year 1787," and died September 25,
1857, in her seventieth year. Their children, as in-
dicated by the record, were : "Melinda Beck was
Born May the 6 Day of a wensda In the year 1807 ;
Catherrine Beck was born January the 9 Day of a
tusda In the year 1810; Albert Beck Was born may
the 6 Day of a Wensda In Year 1812; John Beck
Was Born January the 31 Day of a friday In Year
1817 ; Thompson Beck Was born the 6 Day of a Sun-
day In year 1819; Abiel Beck was born In March
the 19 Day of a mondau In Year 1821 ; Margaret
Beck was born may the 20 Day of a tusday In Year
1823 ; Lowel Beck Was Born /Vugust the 27 of a
Saturday in year 1825 ; Diantha Beck Was born De-
cember the 15 Day of a monday in year 1828; Alvin
Beck was born November the 28 Day of a Sunday
in year 1831."
'(VI) Thompson, third son of Henry (4) and
I^O
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Polly (Whitney) Beck, was born June 6, 1819, in
Canterbury, and died in that town December I,
1901. He was a substantial farmer, and most ex-
emplary citizen. In 1874, he bought what is known
as the Ames farm in the "Baptist" district, which
he cleared and enlarged and brought under an ex-
cellent state of cultivation. Like his father he at-
tended strictly to his own affairs, was industrious
and successful, and by frequently adding to his
domain became the possessor of about five hundred
acres of land. He paid little attention to politics,
and was not identified with any church, but was
esteemed and respected for his upright character.
He was married, April i, 1858, to Delia C. Fernald,
daughter of Thomas and Polly (Blanchard) Fer-
nald, of Loudon. (See Fernald, VI). She was
born March 28, 1828, in Loudon, and died October
2, igo6, in Canterbury. Her character is thus de-
scribed by her pastor. Rev. John Vance : "Early in
youth she gave herself to Jesus, and through a long
life walked with him, uniformly consistent and
spiritual. She was truly .and in every sense a good
woman. She was baptized at the age of fifteen by
Jeremiah Clough, and united with the Free Baptist
Church in Canterbury. She was a devoted wife and
loving mother, and has left her only son John, the
only one in the family now living, the fragrance of
a christian devotion. To us, as a church, she was
especially dear. Her modest, retiring disposition,
her quiet, unassuming manner, her ever ready as-
sistance in every department of labor, her testi-
monies in the meetings, and her Christ-like example
endeared her to us all, so that we now sorrow in-
deed, but not as those who have no hope ; for we
know the time will come when we shall meet again,
clad in immortal vigor, in the kingdom of our bles-
sed Jesus. Mrs. Beck lived such a sweet christian
life in her home that this bereavement is to her son
like parting with that which is dearer than life it-
self; and to him we give our heart-felt sympathy,
and pray that God may comfSrt him in this hour of
deepest sorrow." The children of Thompson and
Delia C. Beck are noted as follows : John A. re-
ceives further mention below. Fanny E., born April
12, 1861, in Canterbury, died June 11, 1894. Nellie,
born November 24, 1863, died January 15, 1S78.
Charles receives further mention below.
(VII) John A., son of Thompson and Delia C.
Beck, was born on the old home where his ancestors
lived for four generations before him, October 10,
1859, and in 1874 removed with his parents to the
Ames farm, so called, where he now lives. Although
his father lived to attain a ripe old age and was
owner of a farm, the great improvements which the
place has received during the last thirty years are
in a large measure due to the constant and hard
work of his sons, the eldest of whom now fills the
place formerly occupied by their father. The farm
bought in 1874 has been increased to five hundred
acres, and the Beck farm, as now known in Canter-
bury, is one of the best in the town. Air. Beck
never married. When a boy he attended the town
schools and gained a good early education. He has
a studious, practical mind, is a careful reader of the
current news of the day, and is a home man, with
his interests chiefly centered in the farm where the
best years of his life have been spent. Like all of
his ancestors he adheres to the Democratic party
and is consistent in asserting his principles. John
A. Beck has filled the offices of tax collector, and
served in the legislature, 1903-4.
(VII) Fannie E., daughter of Thompson and
Delia C. Beck, was a faithful daughter and sister,
very industrious and strict in principle, and much
beloved in the family circle, as well as in the com-
munity. The death of her sister was a severe blow
to her and undoubtedly shortened her life. The
younger daughter was a favorite of the whole family,
and in her death a most promising life was ended.
Possessing a strong mind and deeply religious
nature, she exercised great influence over those about
her.
(VII) Charles, youngest child of Thompson and
Delia C. Beck, was born September 14, 1865, in Can-
terbury, and spent most of his life upon the farm
where his father and mother died. He passed away
there September 30, 1906. In early youth he spent
some time in moving about, and saw something of
the world, spending some years in Boston. In i88l
he returned to his native town and settled upon the
ancestral acres. One who knew him well said of
him: "Mr. Beck had a modest, retiring disposition,
and lived in a quiet, unassuming manner. His life
was such that it established him pleasantly in the
good will of the public, and added respect to the
affection with which he was regarded by his nearer
friends. Mr. Beck was a kind, good-hearted man,
loyal and true, charitable in consideration of others,
and always mindful of the bonds of blood. His de-
votion to his mother in the years of her failing health
was indeed warm, loving and sympathetic.
This name suggests the Flemish
FLANDERS origin of one who settled in Eng-
land during the time the English
were assuming surnames. This family was estab-
lished in Massachusetts early in the colonial period.
It is the general belief that the Salisbury settler
mentioned below was the ancestor in common of
all who bear the name in New England.
(I) Stephen Flanders and his wife Jane emi-
grated from England, and settled in Salisbury',
Massachusetts, some time between the years 1640
and 1646. He was admitted a townsman in Febru-
ary, 1650, but there is no record of his admission
as a freeman. His will was made April 4, 1684.
and he died June 27 of that year. His wife died
November 19, 1683. Their children were: Stephen,
Marv. Philip. Sarah, Naomi and John.
(HI Stephen (2). eldest child of Stephen and
Jane Flanders, was born in Salisbury, Massachu-
setts, March 8, 1646, and died October 6. 1744. at
the advanced age o<f ninety-eight years. December
28. 1670, he married Abigail Carter, daughter of
Thomas and Mary Carter, of Salisbury. She waS'
born February 11/ 1653. Stephen Carter resided in
Salisbury, and was the father of eleven children,
namely: Thomas (died in infancy), Stephen,
Thomas. Daniel, Joseph, Philip (died young),
Sarah, Philip, James. Jeremiah and Abigail. (Men-
tion of Joseph and descendants appears in this
article).
(III) Stephen (3). second son of Stephen (2)
and Abigail (Carter) Flanders, was born January
3T, 1672." in Salisbun,', and resided in that town, in
Amesbury, and in South Hampton, New Hamp-
. shire. It is probable that he found himself in the
latter town after the establishment of the Province
line in 1741. which cut it off from Amesbury. He
ioined the South Hampton Church in 1743-44, and
died October 4 of the latter year, in that town.
He was married June 20, 1706, in Amesburv'. to
Sarah, daughter of Henrv and Mary (Haddon)
Blaisdell, of Amesbury. She was born November
Tt, 1671. in that town, and died January 20, 1733-
Their children were: Stenhen, A^a, Samuel, Mar-
garet Sarnh, Mary and Nathaniel.
(IV) Stephen' (4), eldest child of Stephen (3)
^^Q/2^^
NEW HAINIPSHIRE.
and Sarah (Blaisdell) Flander?, was born March 6.
1707, in Amesburv, and resided in Kingston. He
was married (first), June 27, 1726, in Salisbury, to
Sarah Perkins; and (second), in 1733, to Ehzabeth
Stevens, of Hampton. They were probably the
parents of the next mentioned.
(V) Ezekiel Flanders, who was undoubtedly a
descendant of the family hereinbefore traced, was
baptized January 4, 1730, at Kingston, New Hamp-
shire, and was married in South Hampton, same
state, January 15. 1756, to Sarah Jones. Their
children were : Zebulon, Lois, Sarah and Moses,
as appears by the records of South Hampton.
There may have been others.
(VI) Zebulon, eldest child of Ezekiel and
Sarah (Jones) Flanders, was born February 2,
1757, in South Hampton, New Hampshire, and was
one of the earliest settlers of Warner, this state,
where he moved with his family soon after the
Revolution. His brother Moses came to Warner at
the same time, and their descendants still live at
the North Village, where they ancestors first set-
tled. The Flanders name has always been numer-
ous in Warner, but this line is not to be confused
with the posterity of James Flanders, a settler who
came from Danville, New Hampshire, held con-
siderable public office in the early days of the town,
and left a large family of sons. Zebulon Flanders
was married June 2. 1777, to Hannah French, at
Salisbury, Massachusetts, and they had nine chil-
dren : Nathaniel. Ezekiel. mentioned below : Ben-
jamin F., Levi, Timothy, Hannah, John and Wash-
ington.
(Vn) Ezekiel (2), second son and child of
Zebulon and Hannah (French) Flanders, was born
at Hampton, New Hampshire. He married Ger-
trude Heath, and they had children: Heath, whose
sketch follows; Hannah, Abiah. Sarah, Gertrude,
David H., Susannah, Joseph C. and Melissa.
(\Tn) Heath, eldest son of Ezekiel and Ger-
trude (Heath) Flanders, was born October 30,-
1803. probably at Warner, New Hampshire, where
his father moved in early life. He was educated in
the common schools of his native town and be-
came a stone mason, working in Quincy and Cape
Ann. Massachusetts. In 1843 Mr. Heath moved
from 'Warner to Stewartstown, New Hampshire,
where he carried on a farm till his death. He be-
longed to the Democratic party, in which he took an
active interest, and held many minor and town
olifices. He attended the Baptist Church. In 1828.
Heath Flanders married Fanny O., daughter of
John and Sally (Ward) Davis, of Bradford. New
Hampshire, and they had seven children : Hiram
Davis, mentioned below ; Sarah, widow of David
Tewksbury, of Colcbrook; Gertrude, deceased;
Carrie, deceased ; Elwin H., who lives in Cole-
brook : Mason, living in Colcbrook : and Fanny,
who died at the age of four years. Heath Flanders
died in Stewartstow-n. New Hampshire, May 23,
1S71 : and his wife died in September, 1S86.
(IX) Hiram Davis, eldest child of Heath and
Fanny (Davis) Flanders, was born at Warner,
New Hampshire,' October 4, 1S.30. He was edu-
cated in the common schools, and at the age of
thirteen moved with his father to Stewartstown,
where he now owns a farm of one hundred acres.
He makes a specialty of butter, and supplies most
of Northern Coos with a superior quality of this
product. Mr. Flanders is a Democrat in politics,
and served as selectman in 1869, 1870 and 1871, and
as representative to the legislature in 1877 and 1878.
He was also supervisor of elections in his tow-n for
four years, and served on the school board for a
considerable period. Although approachmg the
fourscore mark, Mr. Flanders is a healthy and
vigorous man with the erect carriage and vigorous
voice that belong to middle life. He possesses a
jovial and humorous disposition, which have doubt-
less contributed to his length of days and excellent
physical condition. On April 26, 1855. Hiram
Flanders married Julia, daughter of Stephen and
Maud Harris, of Vernon, Vermont. They had
four children: Kate Emma, born March 2, 1859.
died April 13, 1901 ; Fanny Maria, born July 16,
1863. died December 17, 1S64; Ezekiel Fay, born
September 26, 1858, married Lucy A. Orin; and
Fred H., born August 4, 1873.
(I) David Pollard Flanders was born in Bos-
ton, about 1797. His father was. an inspector of
ships in Boston. One day David and his brother
were guilty of some boyish prank for which they
feared punishment. In order to escape chastise-
ment they ran away from home and never returned.
They remained for a time in Dorchester, but the
brother later went into some town fartheV north,
and the two brothers were lost to each other and
did not meet again until many years after, when
David accidentally discovered his brother in Ca-
naan. David P. Flanders was a man of much en-
terprise, and in middle life was the owner of a val-
uable farm at the west foot of Kearsarge mountain,
and made a specialty of raising potatoes and
shearing sheep. One year during the war of the
Rebellion he sold one thousand bushels of potatoes
for $1,000. He also bought cattle which, as was
the custom in his day, he drove across the country
to the Brighton (Massachusetts) market. He was
very fond of horses. He was an influential citizen
and held various town offices. In politics he was a
Whig and Republican. He was one of the wealth-
iest men in Wilmot, and left property valued at
fifteen thousand dollars. Some years before his
death he moved to the village of Wilmot Flat, where
the last years of his life were spent in quiet re-
tirement. He was well known and familiarly
called "Uncle Dave." He married Sarah Houston,
a native of Glasgow, Scotland. He died in 1878.
aged eighty-one years, and his wife died in 1886,
aged eighty-six years. Their children were: James,
Hiram, David and Frank F. James is mentioned in
the next paragraph. Hiram was killed about 1894
in a railroad accident at West Andover. David is
a physician in Bejfast, Maine. Frank F. died aged
about thirty.
(II) James, oldest child of David P. and Sarah
(Houston) Flanders, was born in Wilmot. New
Hampshire. 1820, and dfed August 13. 1869, aged
fortv-nine years. When a young man he bought a
small place which he cultivated, and also assisted
his father on his farm and in carrying on his va-
rious enterprises. Afterward he became a carpenter
and built houses and other buildings in his neigh-
borhood in addition to his farm work. He was a
useful and popular citizen, and was often called
upon to serve the public. He was a captain in the
militia, an esteemed member of the Baptist Church,
active in church work, was superintendent of the
Sundav school, was a musician and sang in _ the
choir, "and was usually a member of the committee
which arranged for a pastor. He was equally active
in educational matters, and for many years w^as
superintendent of the school committee. In nolitics
he was a Republican. He married Mary M. Dal-
ton. born near Dover. New Hampshire, 1S27. and
died at the home of her daughter, in Andover,
March, 1896, at sixty-nine years. They had six
children: Nellie M., Francis H., Thcmas H. Ben-
1^2
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
ton, Charles F., Ervin J., Ervina M. (twins).
Nellie M. married Weare D. Tuttle, of East An-
dover; Thomas H. Benton died the same year his
father died, aged nineteen.
(Ill) Dr. Charles Fremont Flanders, fourth
child and third son of James and Marj' (Dalton)
Flanders, was born in Wilmot, New Hampshire,
November i6, 1856. At the age of thirteen years
he was left to the sole care of his mother by the
death of his father. After attending the public
school of his own locality, Charles Flanders re-
ceived nearly three years' instruction at East An-
dover Academy, and at eighteen j'ears of age grad-
uated from the high school of Franklin. He then
studied mediicine in ths office of Dr. W. W. Sleeper,
and also continitcd his studies in chemistry and
Latin in the high school the ensuing winter. The
next spring he went to Manchester and continued
his medical studies under the supervision of Dr.
John West, for the three following years. During
this time he attended one course of lectures in the
medical department of Dartmouth College in 1877-
78. In order to provide himself with money for
his necessary expenses during this time, he opened
Deacon Eaton's bookstore mornings and clerked
there nights and kept his books. In 1878 he went
to Raymond, where he took charge of a drug store
for John A. Willy, and added to his earnings by
drawing teeth and such like practice as a medical
student might do, and in this way earned many a
dollar which was of use to him when he returned
to Dartmouth College. There he continued his at-
tendance two years more, and in the fall of 1880 re-
ceived his diploma and the degree of M. D. Re-
turning to Manchester he began the practice of med-
icine with Dr. William ]\I. Parsons, at the request
of the latter. This relation continued five years.
Since the expiration of that time Dr. Flanders has
been alone in practice. He is a member of the
medical staff of the Elliot Hospital. His course in
his profession has been markedly successful, as is
demonstrated by the number of patients he sees
both at their homes and at his office daily. His
success in a financial way has been proportionate
to his success as a physician, and he is to-day
ranked among the largest taxpayers and best finan-
ciers of the medical profession in Manchester. He
has kept in touch with the latest developments in
medical science by post-graduate courses in the
New York Polyclinic at various times. He is a
member of the Hillsboro Medical Society, the
American Medical Association, and the Manchester
Academy cjf Medicine. In politics he is a Repub-
lican. He is a member of the Calumet Club. He
inherits from hi.> Grandfather Flanders a strong
love for horses, and handles them with unvarying
success. In 1905 he visited Cuba, and while there
bought a two hundred acre tract of land at Mariano,
in the suburbs of Havana.
He married. January i, 18S4, at East Andover,
Bertha S. Batchelder, of Andover, born December
18. 1850. and died in Manchester. December 26,
1800. She was the daughter of William A. and
Adaline (Shaw) Batchelder, and a sister of Gov-
ernor Nahum J. Batchelder (see Batchelder IX).
She left three children : Dalton, Robert and David
J. ^He married (second), March 3. ifX>2, Lillian
C. Turner, daughter of Lyman and Cynthia Turner,
who was born at Cowansville, Province of Quebec,
April 12, 1871. She was a graduate nurse of El-
liot Hospital, and is a member of the Hanover
Street Congregational Church. Her father has
charge of the bridge construction of a section of the
Canadian Pacific railroad.
(III) Joseph, fifth son and child of Stephen
and Abigail (Carter) Flanders, was born March
28, 1677, aid died December 29, 1730, at the age of
fifty-three years. He was three times married, but
the maiden surnames of two of his wives cannot be
ascertained. The Christian name of his first wife,
who died in 1702, was Esther. That of his second
wife, whom he married in 1703, was Hannah. She
died May 5, 1714. On October 3, 1716, he married
for his third wife Mary Thompson. By his first
imion there was one daughter, Ann. The children
of his second " marriage were : Ezekiel. Joseph,
Nehemiah and Ebenezer. Those of his third mar-
riage were : Phineas, Mary, Jeremiah and Moses.
(IV) Nehemiah, third child and son of Joseph
and Flannah Flanders, was born February 18, 1709.
In February, 1733, he married Sarah Hackett, and
was the father of six children, namely : Jarvis,
Hezekiah, David, Nehemiah, Olive and Levi.
(V) Levi, youngest child of Nehemiah and
.Sarah (Hackett) Flanders, was born February 26,
1754. The place and date of his death is unknown
to the writer, nor is there any available record of
his marriage, but it is known that he had one son,
whose name was Caleb.
(VI) Caleb, son of Levi Flanders, resided in
Danbury, New Hampshire. He married Mehitable
Searles, and had a family of thirteen children : Wil-
liam, Jo'hn (died young), Lorenzo, Fliram, Charles,
Frank, Samuel, George, John, Frances, Dorothy,
Nancv and Daniel W.
(VII) Daniel W., child of Caleb and Mehitable
(Searles) Flanders, was born in Danbury, March
24. 1818, and died in Enfield, New Hampshire,
.\pril 19, 1900. He was a prosperous farmer and a
useful citizen, acting with the Republican party in
politics, and taking an earnest interest in the gen-
eral welfare of the community. He was a mem-
ber of the Masonic order. On June 7, 1846. he mar-
ried Lavinia H. Bean, born in Danbury, August r,
1853, and died in Enfield in 190^. She became the
mother of one son, Henrv Willis Flanders, of
Enfield.
(VIII) Henry Willis, only child of Daniel W.
and Lavinia IT. (Bean) Flanders, was born in Dan-
bury, December 22, 1855, Having completed his
education at the New Hampshire Conference Sem-
inary at Tilton, he engaged in the lumber business
and has followed it continuously to the present time.
He is now a member of the firm of Wells & Flan-
ders, who operate a saw-mill on Mascoma river, and
cuts an average of one million feet of lumber per
annum, giving steady employment to several men.
Politically Mr. Flanders is a Republican, but takes
no active part in political affairs, beyond his elective
privileges. Fle was married in 1883 to May Holt,
dau.ghter of Nathan S. and Amanda (Jennie) Holt,
of Enfield. Mr. and Mrs. Flanders have no chil-
dren.
The records of Essex county, Massa-
AYER chusetts, have frequent mention of this
name, under very many forms, such as :
Aars, Aers, Aier, Aiere, Aiers. Air, Aires, Airs,
Ares. Aries, Ayeres, Ayers, Ayhaire, Ayre, Ayres,
Eaire, Fairs, Fares. Eayer. Eayr, Eayre, Fires,
Eyer, Eyers, Eyre. Eyrs and Heires.
(I) The ancestor of most of the name" in New
England, and the earliest one who lived in Essex
countjf was John Ayer. It is supposed that he
came from England, and he was living in Salisbury,
Massachusetts, as early as 1640. He removed to
loswich in 1646. and the next year to Haverhill, and
died there March 31, 1657. His will was made
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
i.x'
March 12. 1657, and probated October 6 following.
He was survived by his wife Hannah, the mother
of his chihiren, who died October S. 168S. having
been a widow for more than thirt}' years. Their
children w-ere : John, Rebecca, Robert, Thomas,
Peter, Mary, Obadiah, Nathaniel and Hannah. The
€lde«t received the homestead by will.
en) Cornet Peter, fourth son and fifth child
of .Tohn and Hannah Ayer, was born about 1633,
perhaps in England, and was made a freeitlan in
Haverhill, in May. 1666. He was a farmer in that
town, which he represented in the general court in
i6S,^, 1685, r68o-0o, and otherwise active in town
affairs, and in the Indian wars. He was married
November i, ifi.TO, to Hannah Allen, who was born
Jun?, 1/^12. in .Salisbury, dau.ghter of William and
Haniiah CGoodale) Allen. She survived him nearly
thirt5--one years, dying his widow December 22.
1729. at the age of eighty-seven years. He died in
"Boston in .January, 1689. Their children, all born
in Haverhill, were : Ruth, Hannah, Abi.gail, Mary,
Martha. Samuel, William. Rachel and Ebenezer.
CTH) Captain Samuel, eldest son and sixth
child of Cornet Peter and Hannah (Allen") Ayer.
Avas born September 28, 1669, in Haverhill, in which
town he lived and was a yeoman. He was a man
of property and among his possessions was a negro
slave, named Lot. He succeeded his father as a
member of the committee for the control of the
common lands of the town. His efficient leadership
in the Indian wars did much to prevent savage out-
rages. He died January 2, 1744. He was married
November 21, 1693, to Elizabeth Tuttle, of Ipswich,
who survived him nearly nine years and died No-
vember 29, I7.=;2. Their children were: Hannah,
Peter. Samhel. William. Ebenezer, Elizabeth. Simon
and Sarah. (Mention of Simon and descendants
appears in this article).
(IV) Lieutenant Ebenezer. fourth son of Cap-
tain Samuel and Elizabeth (Tuttle) Ayer, was born
February 18, 170.=;, in Haverhill, and settled in
Mcthuen. Massachusetts. Upon the establishment
of the Province line, in 1741. his homestead be-
came a part of Salem. New Hampshire. The fol-
lowing inscription is found on his tombstone in
that town: "Here lies ye body of Lieutenant Eben-
ezer Ayr: he departed this life March 3, 1763. aged
57 years." He was married March 29, 1726. to
Susanna, daughter of Robert and Susanna (At-
wood) Kimball, of Bradford, Massachusetts. She
was horn !May 25. 1707. and died September 26,
1749, havin.g been the mother of ten children, five of
whom died young. By a second wife Elizabeth,
Lieutenant Ayer had five c'hildren. His widow
died January 2. T7P6, aged seventy-one years. The
five surviving children of the first wife, and the five
of the second wife, in order of a.ge. were: Ebenezer,
Peter, Timothy, Joseph. Isaiah, William, Elizabeth,
Samuel. Philip and John.
(V) Major Ebenezer. eldest son of Lieutenant
Ebenezer and Susanna (Kimball) Ayer, was born
March 22, T727. in that part of Methuen which is
now Salem. He settled in Pepperrellborough. now
Saco. Maine. In early life he was one of Captain John
Lovewell's men in the memorable Indian fight at
Pequaket, and was engaged in other expeditions.
He was in the ill-fated excursion of Benedict
Arnold, through the wilds of Maine, in the winter
of i77.S-7<'). After the Revolution he did not re-
turn to Saco. He was married July 4, T754, to
Hannah (Plaisted) Scammon, widow of James
Scammon. They were undoubtedly the parents of
the next mentioned.
(VI) Moses Ayer was born March 17, 1757, in
Saco, Maine, and was an active resident of that
town. By his wife. Mary (Tyler), born August 10.
1759, he had the following named children, born in
Saco. Maine : Elizabeth, John, Sarah, Hannah,
Abigail, Andrew, Moses, and Tristam, w-hose sketch
follows.
(VI) Tristam, eighth child of Moses and Mary
(Tyler) Ayer, was born in Saco, February
19, 1799. and died December 21, 1851, in Bux-
ton, Maine. He' was married August 20,
1820. to Frances Moses, of Buxton, Who was
born January 24, iSoi, and died June 13, 1870,
in Buxton. They had children named as follows :
Mary A., William, Sarah E., John L., Maria G.,
Lyman G., Frances J. and Charles H.
(VII) John Lyman, fourth child and second
son of Tristam and Frances Ayer, was born June
17. 1829, and died February. 1903, at Plymouth,
Massachusetts. He w-as a paper maker and mill-
wright by trade, and was employed in a paper fac-
tory at Wells River, Vermont. Later he w'orked
in a saw mill, and at the lumber business in Haver-
hill. Massachusetts, and vicinity. In 1890 he re-
turned to Wells River and worked ten years for
the Adams Paper Company. This concluded the
active period of his life, and he afterward lived re-
tired at Plymouth, Massachusetts. He married, in
Haverhill, New Hampshire. Melissa Pike, and they
were the parents of sons., John T. and Charles J.
(VIII) Charles James, son of John L. and
Melissa (Pike) Ayer, was born in Haverhill, New
Hampshire. November 24. 1858. He was educated
in the schools of Haverhill, and graduated from
Newbury Academy in 1878. Following that he
traveled six years in western states. He then re-
turned to Haverhill, and became a clerk in the .gen-
eral merchandise establishment of A. F. Pike, which
he bought a year later and carried on successfully
for thirteen years. In 1897 he removed to Plym-
outh. New Hampshire, and has since been engaged
in the real estate and insurance business. Since
settling in Plymouth he has enjoyed a large meas-
ure of prosperity. He is a Republican in political
sentiment, and as such was elected town treasurer
of Haverhill. Since locating in Plymouth he has
been a member of the school board of that town,
was a member of the general court in 1905, and is
now (1907) serving his fourth term as a member
of the board of commissioners of Grafton county.
He is a member of Grafton Lodge. No. 46, Free
and .'\ccepted Masons, of Haverhill : Penngewasset
Royal Arch Chapter, No. 13 ; and Omega Council,
No. 9. Royal and Select Masters, of Plymouth : St.
Gerard Commanderv, Knights Templar, of Little-
ton: and Edward A. Raymond Consistory. Thirty-
second degree, of Nashua. He married. September
23. 1888. at Piermont, New Hampshire. Lillian
Estelle Cawley, who w-as born in Haverhill, Jan-
uary 2. 1858, dau.ghter of Chase S. and Mary
(Morse) Cawley. O'f Haverhill. Six children have
been born of this union : Leslie Carlisle (died
young) : Doris Lysle, born December 2^, 1890:
Percy Morse, November 2, 1892 : Max Ellsworth
(died young) : Roland Chase (died young) ; and
Shirley, April g. 1901. The first four tjorn in
Haverhill, and the last two in Plymouth.
(IV) Simon, son and seventh child of Captain
Samuel and Elizabeth (Tuttle) .^yer, was born De-
cember 26, 1709. in Haverhill, and was a farmer,
residing in that town. He was married December
20, 1733, to !Marv Webster, who survived him eight
years and died January 24, 17S2. He died Januan.'
J. 1774. Their children were: Samuel (died young).
Simon, Elizabeth and Mary, twins (both 'died
154
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
young), Simon, Stephen, Moses, Elizabeth, Mary,
William and Abigail. (Mention of Moses and de-
scendants forms part of this article).
(V) Stephen, fourth son and sixth child of
Simon and Mary (Webster) Ayer, was born De-
cember I, 1744, in Haverhill. Massachusetts, where
he lived imtil 1771. He removed to Dunbarton,
New Hampshire, where he was engaged in clearing
and tilling land. He was a tanner by trade. He
was married April 18, 1769, to -Sarah Gray, of An-
dover, Massachusetts, who was born March 13, 1740.
They had two children born in Haverhill, and five
in Dunbarton, namely: Thomas, Nanna. Elizabeth,
Daniel. Polly, Hepzibah, Sarah and Susannah.
(VI) Susannah, j-oungest child of Stephen and
Sarah (Gray) Ayer, was born January i, 1781, in
Dunbarton, and became the wife of Jonathan Clif-
ford, of that town (see Clifford, VH). They re-
sided on the Ayer homestead in Dunbarton.
Chase's History of Haverhill. Massachu-
setts says that in 1700, one-third of the
inhabitants of that town bore the^ narne
of Ayer. The name has long been prominent in
the Merrimack valley. A worthy represenltative
was Rev. Franklin D. Ayer, D. D., who was born
in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, December 19, 1832,
graduated from Dartmouth College in 1856, and for
thirty years (1867-1897) was pastor of the First
Congregational Church at Concord, New Hamp-
shire. The name is well, known in a commercial
way in connection with the patent medicine business
at Lowell. Massachusetts.
(I) Thomas Ayer, was born at Gilford, New
Hampshire, and owned a farm of one hundred
acres in that town. He was a Republican in poli-
tics, and attended the Free Will Baptist Church.
He married Sally Gale of Gilmanton. They had
four children : Sarah, Thomas P., Joseph and Ste-
phen S.
(II) Stephen Smith, son of Thomas and Sallie
(Gale) Ayer, was born in Gilford, in 1828. He was
educated in the common schools of Gilford, at the
New Hampton Literary Institute, and academies of
Wolfboro. after which he taught several years at
Gilford. He took up farming on a tract of fifty
acres. He was a Republican in politics. He was
chosen selectman, town treasurer and representa-
tive to the legislature from Gilford, and assessor in
Laconia. He was an Odd Fellow and filled all the
chairs. He attended the Free Will Baptist Church.
He married Mary Elizabeth Rowell. daughter of
Jacob and Elanor Rowell, born in Gilford in 1827.
She died in Laconia, May 28, 1906. They had four
children : Ardall, Claribel, George, mentioned be-
low, and James, who died in infancy. Stephen S.
Ayer died at Laconia, O'ctobcr 21, 1899.
(III) George, third child of Stephen Smith
and Mary Elizabeth (Rowell) Ayer, was born Oc-
tober 19. 1S64. in Gilford. He was educated in the
common schools of Laconia and at Tilton Seminary,
after which he learned the trade of a machinist in
Boston, where he remained three years. Later he
was fireman on the Concord & Montreal railroad
for five years. In 1896 he bought a farm of forty
acres in Lakeport, which he sold, in May, 1900, and
now resides in Lakeport. He is a Republican in
politics, and was selectman for nine years. He
was a representative to the legislature in 1904. He
attends the Free Will Baptist Church. He is un-
married.
Ayres. Avers, Ayars. Ayer, Ayre,
AYERS Eayers, Eyer, Eyre, etc., are some of
the forms of this ancient name dating
back to the nineteenth centurv. Among the theories
of its origin extant is the following legend : When at
the battle of Hastings, 1066, William the Conqueror
was flung from his horse and his helmet beaten into
his face, he was rescued and mounted by a faithful
follower named Truelove. "Thou shalt no longer
be called Truelove," said the Duke, "but Eyre, or
air, for thou hast given me the eire I breath." True-
love was given lands in Derbyshire, a coat-of-arms
displaying leg and thigh in armor cut off, and an
honorary badge still worn by all the Eyres in Eng-
land. What representative of the name first brought
it to New England it is difficult to determine, but it
is probable that the determination to hazard the
future in the great New West came to several at
about the same time.
(I) It is definitely known that in the middle of
the eighteenth century three brothers — Jonathan.
John (Dependence?) and Perkins Ayers — lived in
Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Reliable family pa-
pers state that their father settled in Portsmouth,
his two brothers going to Haverhill and Newburj',
Massachusetts. Probability points to John Ayers.
who married Mary Hunking in 1722, who was on
the list of taxpayers in 1727 and a New Hampshire
soldier in the siege of Louisburg in 1745, as the
Portsmouth pioneer. The records of Portsmouth
show these brothers prominently active in civil and
religious affairs, bearing their share of personal and
official responsibility in the development of the new
country. They were engaged in shipping and in
the various industries connected with the leather
trade, at that time an important commercial in-
terest. Perkins Ayers was one of the leading char-
ter members of the Third Congregational Church,
organized in 1758, with tlie Cambridge platform for
discipline and the New England confession of faith
for doctrine, by a number of persons withdrawing
from the Congregational churches of Portsmouth.
The names of Jonathan and Perkins, with their
sons, were subscribed to the Association Test of
1776: "We, the subscribers, do hereby solemnly en-
gage and promise that we will, to the utmost of
our Power, at the Risque of our Lives and For-
tunes, with Arms, oppose the Hostile Proceedings
of the British Fleets and Armies, against the United
American Colonies." It is related in the "Ports-
mouth Rambles" that an incendiary wave swept over
the community in 1813, an attempt being made to
fire the barn of Mr. Perkins Ayers, living in School
street, opposite the school house.
Jonathan, born in 1722. married Alice Sherburne,
daughter of Edward Sherburne, the mayor of a
garrison in Portsmouth. That she had the courage
of her convictions is shown by her withdrawal
from the Congregational Church, of which she was
a member, to unite with the more liberal church
mentioned above. For this heresy, refusing to be
reclaimed, she was punished by excommunication.
September i, 1795. Of her nothing more is found
recorded except that "she lived and died and was
hurried in Portsmouth." Jonathan died in Can-
terbury in 1801. The children of Jonathan and
Alice Sherburne Ayers were: i. Joseph, subject of
the next paragraph. 2. Statia, married Captain
Thomas Manning. 3. Abiguil, married Captain
John Salter. 4. Alice, married John Simes. 5.
Sally, unmarried. 6. Phebe, died young. 7. Mary
Anne, married Converse. 8. Jonathan, Jr.,
married Dorothy Deering ; afterwai-d moved to
Northfield; had ten children. 9-10. Henry and Ed-
ward, went to England.
(II) Joseph, the eldest son of Jonathan and
Alice (Sherburne) Ayers, w-as born August 15,
1745, in Portsmouth, where he was still living in
1776, as shown by his signature to the Association
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
155
Test. He lived in Moultonborough in 1779-1782,
serving in 1781 as selectman. Returning to Ports-
moutli, he moved his family to Canterbury about
1785 or '86, with such supplies as could be taken by
an ox-team. Among his assets were two hogsheads
of molasses and as many of rum — ^considered in
those days as necessary supplies. In his family
were three slaves — Deborah, an aged negro woman,
and her two grandsons, Prince and Caesar. Mr.
Ayers became the owner oif one thousand acres of
land in Canterbury, and spent the remainder of his
life in improving it. The large colonial house sit-
uated on a hillside, with adjacent barns and gran-
aries, indicated his agricultural interests. In a time
of poor writing and worse spelling, his penmanship
and orthography evidenced an education above the
average. Ahead of his times in his ideas of public
utilities and improvements, he was the founder of
the first public library in the section of the county
in which he lived.
Joseph Ayers married (first) Sarah Bickford,
of Portsmouth. December 14, 1767. They had one
son. Joseph Sherburne, and two daughters. He
married (second). October 11, 1770, Miriam Frost,
of Kittery. Maine, born May 17, 1743. She was the
daughter of Charles and Sarah (Pepperrell) Frost.
Charles Frost was desicended from the emigrant
Nicholas Ffrost, born April 28, 1585, in Tiverton,
England, married Bertha Cadwalla, born July 3,
1610, settled at Sturgeon Creek, INIaine. 1636, died
July 20, 1663. Charles Frost (2), son of Nicholas
and Bertha Cadwalla Frost, born July 3, 1631, at
Tiverton, married Mary Bowles, of Kittery. He
was known as Major Charles Frost, and was killed
by the Indians, July 4, 1697. Charles Frost (3).
born April 17, 1687. married (first) Sarah Wain-
wright; (second) Mrs. Jane Pepperrell, the widow
of Andrew Pepperrell. Charles Frost (4) married
Sarah Pepperrell, daughter of Andrew and Jane El-
liot Pepperrell, and granddaughter of Hon. and Col-
onel William Pepperrell, who was the founder of
the Pepperrell family in America. Of Welsh origin,
William Pepperrell was a native of Tavistock parish,
near Plymouth. England. He came to the Isles of
Shoals about 1660, and afterward settled in Kit-
tery. From his success as a fisherman after-
ward as a shipwright came his extensive shipping
and commercial interests. As generous and public-
spirited as he was successfid, he was a most valued
citizen, always engaged in some public ser\'ice.
From 1690 to 1725 Mr. Pepperrell was justice of the
peace: 1715 he was made judge of common pleas,
and continued on the bench many yeats. He was
commander of Fort Pepperrell, erected in 1700. and
paid largely for its support. In 1714 Kittery Point
wa=; made a port of entry, and the command of a
larger fort above the point gave Mr. Pepperrell the
rank of captain.. As commander of militia he rose
to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. William and
Margery (Bray) Pepperrell, whom he married
about 1680, were among the original members of
the church organized in 1714. Of their eight chil-
dren two were sons. Andrew (mentioned above),
born July i, 1681, died I7I.'?: William, Jr.. com-
mander at the siege of Louisburg, and afterward
Sir William Pepperrell, born June 27, 1695, died
July 6, 1759.
The children of Joseph and IMiriam (Frost)
Ayers were: l. Jonathan, born September 14, 1771
Csee below). 2. Polly, born February 26, 1774.
djed the following September. 3. Sarah, born at
Kittery, November 8. 1775, died December 26, 1776.
4^ .\ndrew Pepperrell, born August 31, 1777, died
Decemlier 5, 1787. 5. Statira Manning, born in
Moultonborough, New Hampshire. May 24, 1779.
6. Eliza, born May 2, 1782, Moultonborough. _ 7.
Abigail, born January 8. 1785, Portsmouth, died
January 20, 1788. 8. Miriam, born May 16, 1787, at
Canterbury. Joseph Ayers died April 28, 1812;
Miriam (Frost) Ayers died December 20, 1834.
(III) Jonathan (2), the eldest child of Joseph
and Miriam (Frost) Ayers, still a lad when his
father removed to Canterbury, grew up on the
homestead, succeeding to its possession and adding
an equal acreage, largely in valuable timber land.
A gentleman of the old school, liberal in religion,
in church attendance constant, in politics an ardent
Whig, keen in his sense of justice, in intelligence
broad, he stood high in the esteem of his fellow
townsmen, serving them in the legislature, as justice
of the peace, and as trustee of the library founded
by his father. He married Hannah Haines, born in
Greenland, May 30, 1780, the daughter of Samuel
and Hannah (Johnson) Haines, who moved from
Greenland to Canterbury. Samuel Haines was a
soldier of the Revolution, and descendant of Dea-
con Samuel Haines, who emigrated to New England
in 1635 and later settled in Greenland, where Sam-
uel the soldier was born August 26, 1747. Of his
five sons three were college graduates — Samuel
(1803), and Stephen, Dartmouth, Charles Glidden,
Middlebury, 1817. The last mentioned praicticed
law in New York, was appointed by Governor
Clinton attorney general of that state in 1825. Died
the same year, aged thirty-three years. The chil-
dren of Jonathan and Hannah (Haines) Ayers
were : Mary Jane, born ]\Iay 30, 1780, Canterbury,
married John B. Chase. 2. Alice Sherburne, born
December 12, iSoS. married Nathaniel Kenison. 3.
Jonathan, born February 18, 181 1, married March
22, 1838. Mary Rogers, of Norlhfield, born in Derrj^
June 20. i8ii. 4. Joseph Sherburne, born January
14, i8t3, married (first), December 17, 1835, Lucy
Caroline Emery, of Loudon, and (second). 1861,
Martha B. Lyford, Canterbury. =;. Charles Haines,
born June 10. 1815, married (first), October 4, 1838,
.'Mmira D. Gerrish. and (second), October 19, 1854,
Ellen l\Iaria Gerrish. 6. Augustine Haines, born
May 23, 1819. died April 7. 1845. 7. Eliza Haines,
born June 25. 1821, died June 3, 1885. 8. Henry
Sherburne, born .A.pril 13. 1823. died August 26,
1S44. Hannah Haines died December 17. 1823.
Mr. Ayers married, December 19, 1825, (second)
Mrs. Susan (Stevens) Hacket. born July 23. 1789,
died August, 1882. Jonathan Ayers died September
5, 1840.
(IV) Jonathan (3) was of versatile talent
and commanding presence. With a leaning to-
ward mechanics, he built a sawmill with dam,
canal and shop, but impelled by stron.e religious
convictions he soon after moved to Gilmanton,
where he studied for the ministry. After preach-
ing two years with marked success in the Congre-
gational Church in London, his health suffering
from sedentary life, he returned to his farm and
sawmill in Canterbury. Active in political as well
as religious life, he held many town offices, and was
twice a Democratic member of the legislature. As
surveyor he was authority on boundary lines in
Canterburv and adjoining towns, and was assistant
engineer in locating the Boston. Concord & Mon-
treal railway. As justice of the peace his legal
knowledge was of great value, and in the great civil
struggle his influence was exerted to uphold the
national administration. He married, March 22,
i8.-!S. Mary Rogers, born in Derry, June 20, iSri,
daughter of Thomas Dorman and Mary (Mc-
Gregor) Rogers. Thomas Rogers was the son of
156
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Major William Rogers, of Newbury, Massachu-
setts, who served in the war of the Revolution from
1775 to his discharge in 1781. He was a direct de-
scendant of John Rogers, of London, the compiler
of the Matthews Bible, the first authorized version,
prebendary of St. Paul's Church, and the first
martyr of Queen Mary's reign.
Mr. Rogers, born January 11, 1777, in Newbury,
settled in Londonderry, and was deacon of the Pres-
byterian Church for many years. He married Mary
McGregor, great-granddaughter of Rev. James Mc-
Gregor, one of the original settlers of London-
derry, and first pastor of the first Presbyterian
Church in New England. Mr. McGregor was not
only the religious leader of the colony, but through
his statesmanship and wide official acquaintance he
was instrumental in procuring valid titles to the
soil and in securing preservation from Indian
depredations. Deacon Rogers and family removed
to Northfield, where he died October, 1839. Mary,
his wife, died 1S41. Mary Rogers was educated in
Derry, afterward removin.g with her father to
Northfield. Her intellectual ability was of a high
order, her influence during several years of teach-
ing was inspiring. She was among the early ad-
vocates of the anti-slavery movement and of the
temperance cause. Missions were also dear to her.
Jonathan Aj^ers died ■ in Concord, June i, 1871.
Mary Rogers Avers died January 25. l8g7. Their
children were : i. Augustine Rogers, born Gilmanton,
September 28, 1839; see forward. 2. Helen Mc-
Gregor, born Loudon. December 26. 1843 : see for-
ward. 3. Mary Adelaide, born Canterbury. June
27, 1850. 4. Samuel Haines, born Canterbury, Oc-
tober 16, 1853. died December 2, 1890.
(V) Augustine Rogers, eldest child of Jon-
athan (3) and Mary (Rogers) Ayers, was born in
Gilmanton, September 28, 1839. He was educated
in the common schools of Canterburj', and in the
New Hampton Seminary. He remained on the
homestead farm with his father until 1862. when he
enlisted as a private in Company G, Fifteenth New
Hampshire Volunteers, a nine months' regiment, and
was at the sie.ge of Port Hudson, Louisiana, where
Tie was wounded at the first assault, returning as a
sergeant. In 1863 he took employment in a store
in Concord, where he remained until 1S65, when he
went west as far as Minneapolis. He returned in 1S67
and was employed two years as a clerk in a grocery
■store in Concord. In 1869 he formed a partnership
with Charles W. Stone, and under the firm name of
Stone & Ayers they conducted a general store in
'Concord for the next three years. After disposing
of his interest in this business he became partner
with A. S. Hammond, buying the carpet store of C.
'G. Pressey. which they conducted for the following
eight years, when Mr. Ayers bought his partner's
interest. After carrying on the business alone for
■eleven years more, Mr. Ayers disposed of the stock
and removed to North Boscawen, where he has
since been engaged in various branches of agricul-
ture. He has a farm of three hundred and twenty-
five acres, seventy-five of which is intervale and
two hundred and fifty in ■woodland. For five years
he devoted his attention to breeding fast horses and
registered Holstein cattle, and afterward turned his
-energies to fruit culture and the production of milk
for the city market. Mr. Ayers is a member of the
'South Congregational Church of Concord, where he
Iiolds his residence, and votes as he shot, or in
other words, he is a Republican. He is a member
of the Grand Army of tlie Republic, of Capitol
Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, and is overseer of
Merrimack County Pomona Grange. He married,
June 4. 1873, Clara Maria Kimball, born in Law-
rence, Massachusetts, March 20. 1848, only child of
Hon. John and Maria (Philips) Kimball. Mr.
Kimball, identified with the history of New Hamp-
shire in politics and finance, is a descendant of
Richard Kimball, who settled in Watertown, Mass-
achusetts, in 1634, and of Joseph (6), who moved
from Exeter, New Hampshire, to Canterbury in
1793. Mrs. Ayers' childhood was spent in Concord,
where her parents moved. She was graduated from
the high school in 1865, and three years later from
Wheaton Seminary. Norton, Massachusetts. A de-
voted wife and mother, Mrs. Ayers is also fitted by
education and endowment for social service. An
active member of the Woman's Relief Corps, she
has held corps, department and national office. An
efficient worker and leader in the Woman's Chris-
tian Temperance Union, she was for three years
president of the county organization. A member of
the Congregational Church, she has been president
of Merrimack County Woman's Board of Missions,
and is now county director of the Heme Missionary
Union. In the Grange she has been a useful mem-
ber, holding responsible office, and as state presi-
dent of the Sunshine Society sends joy to many
households. To lend a hand to any good work
Mrs. Ayers never refuses. Children of Augustine
and Clara (Kimball) Ayers:
(i) Ruth Ames, born March II, 1875, was grad-
uated from high school in 1893; after a year at
Wellesley College took a special course in English
at Cornell University. Being impressed with the
importance of manual education, she entered the
Sloyd Training School in Bftston, and is now teach-
ing in the manual training department of education
in Newton Center. Massachusetts.
(2) John Kimball, born July 9, 1S76, was edu-
cated in Concord and Franklin. At the age of
twenty-one he went to Denver, Colorado, and the
next year to the Klondike, where he was success-
fully engaged in mining for six years. His health
becoming undermined by his strenuous life, he re-
turned home in August, 1904. and died September 7.
(3) Helen McGre,gor, born October 26, 1878, was
educated in Concord high school, 1897 ; Wheaton
Seminary, 1900. Alarried. October 10, 1905, Robert
J. Graves, a successful physician of Concord; one
child, Katharine Graves, born August 3, 1906.
(4-5) Joseph Sherburne and Josiah Phillips,
died in infancy.
(6) Augustine Haines, born March I, 18S3.
graduated from Dartmouth College, 1906; Thayer
School Civil Engineering, 1907. He at once re-
ceived an appointment in the civil engineering de-
partment of the Pennsylvania railroad, but soon re-
signed to accept a more desirable position as in-
structor in hydraulics in the Lhiiversity of Wis-
consin.
(7) Benjamin Kimball, born March 28. 1888, is
a member of class 191 1, Dartmouth College.
(V) Helen McCjregor, daughter of Jonathan
(3) and Mary (Rogers) Ayers, born in Loudon,
December 26, 1843. was reared in Canterbury. Her
education, begun in the country school, was con-
tinued under instruction of her father, and after
academic preparation in the Tilton Seminary and
Boscawen Academy, her work as a teacher began at
the age of fifteen, in her home district. The report
of that first school read : "Miss Ayers's literary
qualifications are of a high order and with more ex-
perience she will become what she earnestly desires
to be. a good teacher." This promise it was her
ambition to fulfill, and in her two decades of faith-
ful work in the grammar schools of Concord, New
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
157
Hampshire, Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Denver,
Colorado, her ideals were high both for herself and
her pupils. In later lite Miss Ayers has been active
in church, social and club life, holding positions of
honor and giving valuable service. In the Wo-
man's Relief Corps she has been patriotic instructor,
national and department secretary-.
(V) Mary Adelaide, daughter of Jonathan and
Mary (Rogers) Ayers, was born in Canterbury,
June 27, 1850, educated at Tilton Seminary and
Concord high school, taking high rank, graduating
in 1S70, was a successful teacher in Concord for four
years, when she married William M. Leaver,
youngest son of Rev. Thomas Leaver, late rector of
St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Concord. Of magnetic
presonality and decided executive ability, Mrs.
Leaver's usefulness extends to church and philan-
thropic interests ; especially worthy of mention is
her service as secretary of the Woman's Auxiliary
Y. M. C. A., and president of the Woman's Board
of Missions of the Congregational Church, to which
she belongs. The three children of William and
Mary (Ayers) Leaver were born and educated in
Concord: i. Thomas McGregor, born October 30,
1875, was graduated from the high school, 1893 ; is
now in charge of the Philadelphia branch of Baker,
Ayling & Co., bond brokers, Boston, Massachusetts.
2. Mary Llewellyn, born December 15. 1879, grad-
uated iSgg, studied music under the instruction of
John Herman Loud, Boston, the noted piano and
organ master, and is now a teacher of piano and
organist of the Congregational Church in Penacook.
3. Henry Ayers, born August 23, 1883, on leaving
high school in 1905, took a position in a wholesale
commercial house in Boston. He has recently gone
to the northwest with the view of locating there.
(V) Samuel Haines, son of Jonathan and Mary
(Rogers) Ayers, was born in Canterbury, October
16. 1S53. Removing to Concord, he was admitted
to the high school in advance of requirements the
youngest member but one of his class. At fifteefl
he was employed in a store, gaining a quick insight
into business. In 1872 he entered the general
ticket office of the Northern Pacific railroad, in the
employ of George G. Sanborn, formerly of New
Hampshire, and two years later went to Toledo,
Ohio, becoming passenger accountant of the Toledo,
Wabash & Western railroad. Removing with the
Wabash offices to St. Louis, Mr. Ayers continued
with the Wabash system till called back to Toledo
in 1882 as auditor and secretary of the newly in-
corporated Wheeling & Lake Erie railroad, holding
during the same period other positions of trust.
Strong in intellectual ability, he was always a stu-
dent,"'his reading covering a wide range of subjects.
He gave much time to the study of railroad law, in
which he was deeply interested. Mr. Ayers mar-
ried. October 7, 1877, Amanda Ridenour, of Toledo,
daughter of Dr. William T. Ridenour. He died in
Denver, December 2, 1890, aged thirty-seven years.
The children of Samuel and Amanda (Ridenour)
Ayers are : i. Augustine Ridenour, born in To-
ledo, October 26, 1878. He was graduated with
honor from Cornell Universit)', 1900. having spe-
cialized in electric and railroad engineering, became
an employe of the Lake Shore & Michigan South-
ern Railroad Company, and is now the general
foreman of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern
shops at Elkhart, Indiana. 2. Helen Beach, born
January 11. 1880, in Toledo, was educated in the
high school, was a special student at Radclifl'e Col-
lege, 1900, after which she took the normal course
at the Toledo Training School for Teachers. She
lives at Colorado Springs, Colorado, with her
mother. 3. William Tarleton, born in St. Louis,
July 28, 1881 ; was educated in Toledo High and
Manual Training School, class 1899. He is secre-
tary and treasurer of a company manufacturing
parts of automobiles, in which he is a stock holder.
4. Oliver Garrison, born in Toledo, July 5, 18S3;
went west at an early age. and opened a successful
business in Seattle, Washington.
In the very early settlement of
CARLTON Southwestern New Hampshire this
name bore an honorable and con-
.spicuous part. It was also among the first in Mass-
achusetts, and is traced from a very old English
ancestry.
(I) Edward Carlton w-as a freeman and promi-
nent citizen of the town of Rowley, Massachusetts,
for several years. His wife's name was Ellen, and
the first recorded birth in the town of Rowley was
that of their son, Edward. The senior Edward re-
turned with his family to England and there died
before 1678.
(II) John, son of Edw'ard and Ellen Carlton,
went with his father from Rowley to England, but
came again to this side of the water, and resided
for a time in Rowley. He subsequently lived in
Bradford and Haverhill, and died in the latter
to-\vn, November 22, 1668. He married Hannah
Jewett, daughter of Joseph Jewett. She survived
him, and was married (second) to Christopher
Babbidge. John Carlton had sons, Thomas and
Edward, besides other sons and daughters.
(HI) Thomas, eldest son of John and Hannah
(Jewett) Carlton, resided in Bradford, Massachu-
setts, where he was probably born. His wife's
name was Elizabeth, and their children were:
Thomas, BetUiah, George, Elizabeth and John.
(IV) George, second son and third child of
Thomas and Elizabeth Carlton, was born Septem-
ber 26, 1702, in Bradford, Massachusetts, and lived
in that town until about 1767, when he removed to
Boxford. He married, November 9, 1725. Mary
Hale, born May 27, 1705, a daughter of Samuel and
Martha (Palmer) Hale. She died in Boxford, No-
vember 28, 1780, and was survived over two years
by her husband, who died February 13, 1783, in that
town. Their children were: Samuel, George,
Thomas, Oliver, William, Mary and Sarqh.
(V) Deacon Oliver, fourth son and . child of
George and Mary (Hale) Carlton, was born Sep-
tember II, 1732, in Boxford, Massachusetts, and
settled in the northwestern part of Amherst, New
Hampshire, now Mont Vernon, where he died in
1800. He was an active and useful citizen in the
formative peridd of his section, and served as dea-
con of the church and in various civil official sta-
tions. He married Emma Washer, daughter of
Johrt Washer, of Amherst. They had these chil-
dren who lived to maturity, namely : Deacon John,
Enoch, Stephen Snd Olive.
(VI) John, eldest child of Deacon Oliver and
Emma (Washer) Carlton, was born in Amherst.
October 22, 1762. and died December 20, 1838, aged
seventy-six. He was a prominent citizen of the
northw'est parish, now the town of Mont Vernon,
and a deacon of the church. He was married
(first), March 8, 1781, by Abel Fiske, to Judith
Weston, born in Amherst, March 30, 1763, daughter
of Daniel and Mary (Hart.'^horn) Weston. She
was a descendant of John Weston, the immigrant,
who settled in Reading. Massachusett.s, before 1653.
She died, and he married (second), March 30, 1825,
Tabitha (Wilkins) Gilmore. She was a grand-
daughter of Rev. Daniel Wilkins, and was born Oc-
158
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
tober 28, 1774, and died in South Marlow, Septem-
ber 16, 1848, aged seventy-four. The twelve chil-
dren of John ^nd Judith Carlton were: Clarissa,
Judith, Emma, John, Mary, Daniel Weston, died
young; Daniel Weston, second of the name, also
died young; Achsah, George, Lucy, Oliver and
Daniel.
(VII) John (2), fourth child and eldest son of
John (i) and Judith (Weston) Carlton, was born
July 26, 1787, and died January 14, 1868, aged
eighty-one. He lived all his life in Mount Vernon,
and was a man of means.
(VIII) John E.. son of John Carlton, was-
born on his father's farm in Mount Vernon, Au-
gust 8, 1826, and died May 29, 1898. As a young
man he was employed in the manufacture of fancy
boxes. Subsequently he bought a farm in the
southern part of Mount Vernon, where he engaged
in agriculture until his death. He married, June
14, 1848, Amanda Wilson, born in Norwich, New
Hampshire, January 29. 1827, daughter of William
Wilson. Nine children were Ijorn of this marriage:
Ella A., John W., of Manchester; Charles F., Lilla
A., who married William F. Eastman, of Nashua ;
Elmer E. ; Joseph G., who is mentioned below ; Wil-
liam S., of Manchester ; Fanny L., wife of George
F. Averill, of Medford, Massachusetts; Charles G.,
of Nashua.
(IX) Joseph George, fourth son of John E.
and Amanda (Wilson) Carlton, was born in Mount
Vernon, May 20, 1863. As a boy he learned farrn-
ing, and is now engaged in that employment, in
connection with lumbering. He has a farm of one
hundred and sixty acres, which he cultivates, and
also operates a saw mill. His fellow citizens have
recognized his fitness for public employment, and in
the service of the public he has fillednhe offices of
road commissioner, supervisor, selectman (six
years), and representative to the state legislature.
He married, in Mount Vernon, November 25, 1891,
Minnie B. Spaulding, born in Milford, New Hamp-
shire, September i, 1869, daughter of Otis and Han-
nah E. (Swimington) Spaulding. They have five
children: George O., born April 29, 1894; Elmer E.,
April 25, 1896; Alwin C, April 7, 1897; Oliver W.,
April 10, 1901 ; Abbie T., December 7, 1902.
The Carlton line of this sketch is
CARLTON probably descended from the pioneer
American ancestor, Edward Carlton,
who sought religious freedom in the wilds of New
England in the early settlement of the country.
(I) Samuel Carlton was born in Claremont, Sul-
livan county. New Hampshire, about 1750, and lived
for a time in Lyme, New Hampshire. He was mar-
ried, November 6, 1781, in Bow, to Rebecca Mc-
Collister.
(II) James Augustus, son of Samuel and Re-
becca (I\IcCollister) Carlton, was born in Bow,
Merrimack county and died August 2, 1846. He re-
sided in Bartlett, where he was a farmer and in-
fluential citizen, who served for a number of years
as selectman. He married Mary E. Heath, of
Barnet, Vermont, who died 1869. They had chil-
dren : Silas, Rodney, Andrew McColIister, Otis,
Mary, Betsey and Almira.
(III) Andrew McColIister Carlton, son of James
A. and Mary E. (Heath) Carlton, was born in
Bartlett, May 10, 1816, and died November 12, 1887,
in Conway.. He lived some years in Eaton and then
moved to Conway, where he was successfully en-
gaged in agriculture, owning a farm of one hundred
and seventy-five acres. He was a man of domestic
turn, had no desire to ramble, was willing to earn
by hard labor every dollar he got, and so spent a
life time in tilling the soil tliat gave him an honest
return for every day he devoted to cultivating it.
He married, in 1S44, Nancy Mary West, who was
born in Barnet, Vermont, daughter of Samuel and
Salina West, of Lyme, New Hampshire. Five chil-
dren were born to them : James A., who resides in
Crawford county, Kansas. Lena West, who married
William Hammond, and resides in Lawrence, Mass-
achusetts. Sarah Jane, who married Horace ]\I.
Thompson, and resides in Portland, Maine. Elijah
B., whose sketch follows.
(IV) Elijah Burbank, third child and second son
of Andrew M. and Nancy M. (West) Carlton, was
born in Conway, July 6, 185 x. He acquired a practi-
cal education in the common schools by the time he
was seventeen years old, and during the eight years
following he was employed in teaming for the
Fabyans, Crawford and others. Then leaving that
business he carried on general farming and lumber-
ing for five years in the town of Eaton. In 1881
he removed to Conway and bought a store and stock
of goods and embarked in the grocery business,
which he carried on alone until i8g6, when he took
into partnership his son-in-law, Frederick Thorns,
and since that time the business has continued under
the tirm name of Carlton & Thoms. Mr. Carlton
has been prosperous, and keeping in vieyv certainty
of profit in the rise of lumber has for some years
owned more than one thousand acres of farm and
timberland which is rapidly appreciating in value.
Although his school life was brief, he has had always a
love for books and learning, and by study and obser-
vation has become a very well informed citizen, en-
ergetic, enterprising, and interested in whatever is
beneficial to the town. In politics he is a Republi-
can. He has served seven successive years as select-
man, and six years of that time has been chairman
of the board. He has been a member of the school
board, and is now serving his third term as county
commissioner. Since 1902 he has been assistant
treasurer of the Conway Savings Bank. He is a
valued member of the Methodist Church, of which
he is one of the chief financial supporters. Fra-
ternally he is a member of Mt. Washington Lodge,
No. 87, Free and Accepted JNlasons, of North Con-
way; of Swift River Lodge, No. 84, Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, of which he is a past grand ;
and of Chatque Tribe, No. 23, Independent Order of
Red Jilen, of Conway. Elijah B. Carlton married,
July 4, 1872, Lorena L. Sanborn, who was born
November 28, 1856, at Baldwin, Maine, daughter of
Benjamin and Eliza Sanborn, of Conway. They
have four children : Nannie W., who married George
W. Russ, and lives in Conway, one daughter Blanche.
Andrew N., who resides with his parents; he mar-
ried Alice Bickford, and has one daughter Lurene.
Minerva, who married Frederick Thoms. Sarah J.,
who married Charles W. Page.
This old Colonial family has
BARTLETT branches extending to every state
in the Union, and has produced
numerous representatives who have occupied po-
sitions of distinction, not only in New England
but in many of the central and western states.
There are several other families of the name repre-
sented in this country, but this one is believed to
be the earliest and most prominent. The name is
found under various spellings in the New England
records.
(I) Richard Bartlett, the immigrant ancestor,
was a shoemaker, born about 1575, in England, and
came to America with si.x children, and settled in
GOV. JOSIAH BARTLETT HOUSE, KINGSTON.
BUILT 1774.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
159
Newbury, Massachusetts, in or before 1637. He
died there May 25, 1647, four days after making his
will. In 1612 he purchased a "Breeches Bible," which
has been preserved and is in possession of his de-
scendants. In this appears the record of births of his
children. They were: Joane (or Joanna), John,
Thomas, Richard, Christopher and Anne.
(II> Richard {2), third son of Richard (i) Bart-
lett, was born October 31, 1621, in England, and
came w'ith his parents to America. He died in New-
bury in 1698, having made his will April 19, 169S ;
this was proved July iS, 1698. He subscribed to
the oath of allegiance at Newbury in 1678, and was
representative of the town the next year and also
later. The baptismal name of his wife was Abigail,
but her family name has not been preserved. They
were the parents of the following children : Samuel,
Richard, Thomas, Abigail, John, Hannah and Re-
becca. (Mention of Richard and descendants ap-
pears in this article).
(HI) Samuel, eldest child of Richard and Abi-
gail Bartlett, was born February 20, .1646, in New-
bury, and died in that town, May 15, 1732. He
was evidently a careful and painstaking man, as
his will was made almost twelve years previously on
August 9, 1720. It was probated seven days after
his death. He subscribed to the freeman's oath in
May, 1773, and to the oath of allegiance at Newbury
in 1768. He inherited land in Amesbury from his
father, and probably engaged to some extent in till-
ing the soil. He is alluded to in the records as
acordwainer. He was married. May 23, 1671, in New-
bury, to Elizabeth, daughter of WiUiam Titcomb.
Their children were: Elizabeth, Abigail, Samuel,
Sarah, Richard, Thomas, Tirzah and Lydia.
(IV) Thomas, third son and sixth child of Sam-
uel and Elizabeth (Titcomb) Bartlett, was born
August 13, 1681, in Newbur}-, where he continued
to reside. He was married, February 14. 1710, to
Sarah Webster, daughter of John (3) and Bridget
(Huggins) Webster, and granddaughter of John (2)
and Ann (Batt) Webster. (See Webster, II).
She was born December 28, 1685, in Newbury and
was not living in 1732. Her husband was alive in
1720, and probably much later. Their children were :
Israel, Tabatha, Enoch, Dorathy, Nehemiah, James,
Thomas and Sarah.
(V) Israel, eldest child of Thomas and Sarah
(Webster) Bartlett, was born April 30, 1712, in New-
bury, and was one of the early settlers of Notting-
ham, New Hampshire, where he was a farmer and
died May 5, 1754, He was married May 7, 1738,
to Love Hall, daughter of Esq. Joseph Hall, and they
were the parents of six children, namely : Joseph
H., Sarah, Thomas, Israel, Mary D. and Josiah D.
(VI) Thomas (2), third child and second son
of Israel and Love (Hall) Bartlett, was born Octo-
ber 22, 1745, in Newbury, Massachusetts, and died
in Nottingham, New Hampshire, January 30. 1805.
His death was caused by heart failure, and occurred
while he sat in his chair reading his Bible. He
had previously been in apparent good health. Gen-
eral Bartlett was educated in the public schools of
Massachusetts, and was especially apt in mathe-
matics, which led him to the study of surveying.
He was employed for many years in surveying the
lands through the tangled woods of Nottingham,
and his estimate of the number of acres in any tract
was very accurate. His nature was very positive,
and when he had once formed an opinion nothing
could change him. He was something of a student
of the law, and after the Revolution he was much
employed in the drawing of writs and with prosecu-
tions before the justices of the peace. In due time
he was appointed associate judge, and his familiarity
with the courts made his services valuable in this
capacity. He was clear-headed, and was ever found
on the side of justice. He was elected chairman of
the board of selectmen of Nottingham, in 1769,
w-hen he was but twenty-three years old and was
annually re-elected to that position with the ex-
ception of the years 1782 until 1802, a period of
thirty-four years. He was elected town clerk in
1776. and continued to serve in that capacity until
1802: a period of twenty-seven years. In neatness
of penmanship, clearness of statement and careful
spelling, the records are the equal of any in the
state. These records were made in the midst of
arduous labors in other capacities in the care of his
personal alifairs. No man in Nottingham was ever
more popular with the people or more honored by
them than was General Bartlett, and he never be-
trayed the confidence placed in him. A little be-
fore seventeen hundred and seventy he built a store
at the northwest corner of the square in Notting-
ham, and in this he conducted a general merchan-
dise business until his death. When the people of
Nottingham began to talk about resistance to the
tyranny ol the mother country, their meetings were
invariably held at this store, and were warmly wel-
comed by its proprietor. At that time General Bart-
lett was a lieutenant in the militia, and he always
had the latest news from Portsmouth and Boston
concerning the important events that preceded the
attack of the British forces on the Americans at
Lexington and Concord. General Bartlett w'as not
an orator or much given to speech-making, but he
was a good talker and was able to express his views
in a forcible manner whatever the occasion. The
drilling of troops by his cousin. Dr. Henry Dear-
born, later a colonel in the Revolutionary war, took
place in front of the Bartlett store on the square.
On the 20th of April they received news of the bat-
tle of Lexington, and before sunrise had organized
a company with Dearborn as captain, and started
on the march to Cambridge
General Bartlett began his military service as a
private, and was subsequently a minor officer in the
Tenth foot company of the Fourth regiment of the
Province militia, beginning about 1767. He became
a first lieutenant June 11, 1771, being then twenty-
five years of age. His commission, signed by Gov-
ernor John Wentworth, is preserved by his grand-
son, Hon. John C. Bartlett, of Lee. In 1775, in the
fourth congress of New Hampshire, he was the
representative from Nottingham, and was then
called Lieutenant Thomas Bartlett. He was an in-
timate friend of General John Sullivan, and helped
to secrete powder stored by the colonists which was
later used in the prosecution of the Revolutionary
war. He was later known as Major Bartlett. and
on July 4, 1776, was appointed by the provincial legis-
lature as muster master for certain sections of the
state. With others he joined General Washing-
ton's army in Pennsylvania, and assisted in the cap-
ture of the Hessians at Trenton, and participated
in the battle at Princeton, New Jersey. Among
the officers in charge of the regiment raised by New
Hampshire in the summer of 1777 to reinforce the
army of the north was Colonel Thomas Bartlett.
He was subsequently a general of the state militia.
He was a man of fine appearance, with dark hair,
dafk eyes, a high forehead and fine face. He was
of medium height, stout built, weighing about two
hundred pounds. His manners were kind and
courteous and he was universally esteemed. He
was married August 19, 1773, to Sarah Cilley, born
October 16, 1757, daughter of General Joseph Cilley,
i6o
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
of . Nottingliam. (See Cilley, IV). She survived
her husband more than twenty-eight years, dying
December 7, 1833. They were the parents of eleven
children: Israel, Joseph, Thomas, Jonathan. Brad-
bury, Sarah, Josiah, David, Betsey, Jacob and Patty
Cilley.
(VII) David, seventh son and eighth child of
Thomas and Sarah (Cilley) Bartlett, was born
April 29, 1789, and died April 10, 1868; he was a
farmer. He married. Feb. 14, 1816, Susan Cilley,
born October 8. 1788. Their children were: Jane,
Greenleaf Cilley, Jonathan, and David F.
(VIII) Greenleaf Cilley, eldest son of David
and Susan (Cilley) Bartlett, was born in Notting-
ham, Rockingham county, May 7, 1822, and died
April ID, 1893. He obtained a limited education in
the common schools, afterward read law in Epping,
and was admitted to the bar in 1847. From that
time until 1855 he practiced in Salem, and then re-
moved to Derry. where he attained prominence as a
lawyer, became a leader of the Republican party,
and was representative for Derry two years in the
state legislature. For several years before his death
his son Greenleaf K. was his partner in law, the
firm name being G. C. & G. K. Bartlett. He was
for many years a member of St. Marks Lodge, No.
44, A. F. and A. M., and was buried with Masonic
honors.
He married. May 4, 1854, Charlotte K. Kelly,
who was born in Salem, January 26, 1826. and died
April 13, 1896. Their children were : Frederick D.^
Greenleaf K., Charles, William, Jennie S., and
Abraham Lincoln.
(,IX) Charles, third son and child of Greenleaf
C. and Charlotte J. (Kelly) Bartlett, was born in
Derr>- Village, April 9, 1859. and educated in the
common schools and at Pinkerton Academy, grad-
uating from the latter institution in 1875. He soon
afterward became owner, editor and publisher of
the Derry News, which he carried on until 1903.
He is a director of the Derry Electric Light Com-
pany, the Derry National Bank, and was one of the
projectors of the Chester & Derry Electric Rail-
road, of which he is vice-president and superin-
tendent. He was elected town treasurer in 1895,
and has ever since held that office. February 20,
1883, he was appointed postmaster at Derry Village,
and served until 1885. In June. 1889, he was ap-
pointed to the same office and served through Presi-
dent Harrison's administration. He was reap-
pointed in 1897, and has since held the office under
the administrations of McKinley and Roosevelt. He
is a member of Rockingham Lodge, No. 29, Knights
of Pytliias, and attends the Congregational Church.
(IV) Deacon Daniel, fourth son and fifth child
of Richard (3) and Hannah (Emery) Bartlett, was
born August 8, 1682, in Newbury, Massachusetts,
and resided there, where he was a weaver, and was
also styled "yeoman." His association with the
church is indicated by his title. His death resulted
from the extraction of a tooth. His wife's name
was Abigail, to whom he was married before 1705,
and she died May 4, 1756. Their children born in
Newburj-, were : Daniel, Margaret, Joseph, Abigail,
Lydia, Sarah, Mary and Martha (twins), and
Elizabeth.
(V) Daniel (2), eldest child of Daniel (i) and
Abigail Bartlett. was born March 22, 1705. in New-
bury, and resided in that town, in the portion which
was incorporated in T764 as New^buryport. He was
a weaver, and was also styled "yeoman." He was
married (first), January 7, 1731. to Alice Sargent,
of Amesbury, and was married (second), before
1740, his wife's name being Hepzibah. He was
married (third). Decembers, 1760, to Sarah Tewks-
bury, of Amesbury. He died September 28, 17S6,
aged eighty-one years, and was survived Ijy his
third wife. His children, all born in Newbury,
were : Lydia, John, Abigail, Hannah, Elizabeth,
Daniel, Jacob, Alice and Molly.
(VI) John (3), eldest son and second child of
Daniel (2) and Alice (Sargent) Bartlett, was born
December 30, 1733, in Newbury. He settled in
Deering, New Hampshire, where he was one of the
pioneers, and where he passed most of his active
life. He was married, January 18, 1763, to Hephzi-
bah Stevens. The records of Deering show four
children: Solomon, John., Daniel and Lydia.
(VII) Solomon, eldest child of John and
Hepzibah Bartlett, was born November 27, 1764, in
Deering, New Hampshire, where he passed his life.
He married Anna Stevens, and was the father of
twelve children : Hepzibah, married Putney :
Abigail, married Putney; Sarah, married
Ebenezer Lock; Mary, married Jesse Brown; John,
married Sarah Sanborn; Solomon, married (first)
Hannah Hadlock, and (second) Lucy Lock; Esther,
married Benjamin Lcverin ; Rebecca, married Jesse
Collins ; George, married Polly Simons ; Irena, mar-
ried Stephen Rowell ; and Greeley, married Sarah
Ann Gove.
(VIII) John (4), sixth child and eldest son of
Solomon Bartlett, was born in Deering, and re-
moved thence to Sunapee, New Hampshire, where
he was a pioneer resident, and where he died at
the age of eighty-two years. He married Sarah
Sanborn, and following is a brief account of their
children: Ann, the eldest, died at the age of
twenty-two years, in Claremont. Solomon died in
Sunapee. John Z. is the subject of the succeeding^
paragraph. His twin sister, Sarah J., is the wife
of John Felch, now living in Sunapee. Abbie mar-
ried Thomas P. Smith, and now resides in New-
port. Charles H., a distinguished citizen, long cleric
of the LInited States district court; and George H.,
present state senator from his district, are men-
tioned at length below.
(IX) John Zeron, second son and third child
of John (2) and Sarah (Sanborn) Bartlett, was
born May 26, 1830. in Sunapee, where most of his^
life was passed. His education was supplied by
the common schools of Sunapee and Newport. He
engaged in teaching early in life, and continued for
several terms in the home vicinity. During a large
share of his life he was a foreman in the ham fac-
tory at Sunapee. and resided in the village. At the
same time he tilled a small farm, and in later years
that was his chief occupation. This was located
near the village of Sunapee. Mr. Bartlett was a
student, and bv private study and extensive reading-
through his life became very well informed, and
his opinions were respected in the community where
he lived. He was a steadfast Republican in political
principle, and for many years a leading worker for
the party in his town, which he ably represented in
the legislature in 1809, and at various times filled
the principal offices of the town. He was a member ' 1
of the Masonic order, and a working member of
Lake Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, of Sunapee.
Tie died January 28. igo6, at the home of his son,
in Lafavette, Indiana. He w-as married November
23. fSsS, to Sophronia A. Sargent, of Sunapee,
daughter of Hiram and Sarah (Elliott) Sargent, of
that town (see Sargent, VII). She was born Mrv
13. 1830, in Sunapee, and still resides there. Fol-
lowing is a brief mention of their children : Sarah
Ann is the wife of Charles B. Aiken, of St. Johns-
bury, Vermont; Fred L. resides at George's Mill?,
C n^-Jc4 W uyiZtlZt.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
i6i
Sunapee; John H. is the subject of the succeeding
paragraph; J. Delmar resides in Lafayette, Indiana;
and Mont L. in Concord, New Hampshire.
(X) John Henrj', second son and third child of
John Z. and Sophronia (Sargent) Bartlett, was
born March 15, 1869, in Sunapee, where his youth
was passed. After the usual attendance at the pub-
lic school of his native town he was a student at
Colby Academy, and entered Dartmouth College in
1890,' graduating in 1894. After leaving college he
engaged in teaching, and was thus employed four
years, during two years of which time he was prin-
cipal of the high school at Portsmouth, New Hamp-
shire. In the meantime he pursued the study of
law with Judge Calvin Page, of Portsmouth, and
was admitted to the bar in 1898. Since that time
he has been actively engaged in the practice of his
profession, and is an associate of Judge Page. He
has taken an active part in political movements, be-
ing allied with the Republican party, and was ap-
pointed postmaster of Portsmouth on December 13,
1899. At the expiration of his term he was re-
appointed, and is now serving his second term. He
is a member of Governor McLane's staff, with the
rank of colonel. He retains his interest in educa-
tional matters, and this has received recognition
by his election as a trustee of Colby Academy. He
is a trustee and director of the Portsmouth Trust
and Guarantee Bank, a savings institution. Colonel
Bartlett affiliates with the Unitarian Church, and is
a Knight Templar Mason of DcWitt Clinton Com-
mandery, of Portsmouth. He is a member of the
Warwick Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, of Ports-
mouth, of the Knights of Pythias, and of the Ath-
letic and Portsmouth Clubs. He was married June
4. 1900, to Agnes Page, who was born August 21,
1871, in Portsmouth, a daughter of Judge Calvin
and Arabella J. (Moran) Page (see Page, VIII).
Colonel and Mrs. Bartlett have one son, Calvin
Page, born October 8, igoi.
"(VIII) Hon. Charles H. Bartlett, fourth son
and sixth child of John (4) and Sarah J. (San-
born) Bartlett, was horn in Sunapee, October 15,
183.3, and died in Manchester, January 25, 1900,
aged sixty-seven years. Being a farmer's son. his
lot in 3'outh was much like that of most sons of
well-to-do farmers who have grown up in a similar
environment. He attended the district school while
the winter session lasted, and the remainder of the
year he assisted in doing the farm work. From
childhood he devoted a liberal share of his leisure
moments to the perusal of such books as were ac-
cessilile to him. As he grew older his love of
books and desire for education increased, and after
leaving the town school he attended the academies
at Washington and New London. Here he made
the best use of his time, and obtained a good practi-
cal education and developed a precocious mind,
showing a remarkable facility in both prose and
poetic composition, and contributing to the current
literature of the day. After completing his studies
in the schools he turned his attention to the study
of law, which he pursued first in the office of Met-
calf & Barton, at Newport, and subsequently with
George & Foster, in Concord, and with Morrison &
Stanley, in Manchester. In 1858 he was admitted
to the Hillsborough county bar, and began the prac-
tice of his prO'fession at Wentworth. In 1863 he re-
moved to Manchester, where he formed a partner-
ship in the law with James N. Parkier. Esq., which
continued until the retirement of Mr. Parker from
active business, a period of about two years.
Mr. Bartlett's mild and equable temper and
sauvity of manner, combined with his ability to dis-
i — II
charge the duties of public office, early made him a
favorite with the public men of the state, the ma-
jority of whom at an early age he knew personally.
In 1S61 he was a clerk of the New Hampshire sen-
ate, and there began life in the service of the public
which in various capacities extended over a period
of more than thirty years. His incumbency of this
clerkship continued until 1864. The two years next
following he was private secretary to Governor
Frederick Smyth. In 1866 and 1867 he was treas-
urer of the State Industrial School. In the latter
year he was appointed to the clerkship of the United
States district court, a position he filled with felicity
and ability until 1883. In the year 1867 he was also
elected city solicitor of Manchester, but declined to
become a candidate for re-election the following
year. He was elected mayor of Manchester in 1872,
but resigned the office February 18, 1873, thus com-
plying with the Federal law forbidding United
States officials to hold state or municipal office.
His last official act as mayor was to turn over his
salary to the Fireman's Relief Association. He was
appointed United States commissioner in 1872. and
held that office until his death. In 1882 he was
elected to the state senate, his popularity as a citizen
and an officer being attested by an unprecedented
majority over his opponent in this race. This elec-
tion to the senate required in 1883 his resignation as
clerk of the district court, a position he held for
sixteen years. Upon the assembling of the senate
he was the unanimous choice of his party for presi-
dent of that body, over which he presided during
liis term of service. In iSoo and l8gi he was major
of the Amoskeag Veterans. He was a member of
the constitutional conventions of 1876 and 1889. In
1881 Dartmouth College, in recognition of his
scholarship and distinguished services to the state,
conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts.
Mr. Bartlett's career during the major part of
his life was that of a public official whose acts were
known to the general public from day to day; and
during all that long period at no time did he lose
ground ; on the contrary, continued service gave
him greater experience and his popularity increased.
It has been said of him : ".A.s an official he was
tactful, faithful, and honorable. Fertile in resource,
remarkably equipped for positions of distinction]
he won and held fame in many walks of life.
Possessing oratorical gifts of rare power, his voice
was often heard from the platform in political cam-
paigns and on numerous public occasions." His
orations were not only listened to with great at-
tention, but when printed they were read with
avidity by a large number of his fellow citizens
who were charmed with the sense and sentiment of
his discourses, as well as by the charms of his ora-
tory. As a Republican and a member of the domi-
nant party for the greater part of his official life in
the state and nation, his abilities justified any am-
bition he might have entertained for official posi-
tion, but he persistently declined all overtures for
advancement to the highest honors within the gift
of his party in the state.
Mr. Bartlett married, December 8, 1858, Hannah
M. Eastman, who was born in Croydon. New Hamp-
shire, 1840, daughter of Moses and Lois (Ryder)
Eastman, of Croydon. She died July 25, 1890, aged
fifty years. They had one son. Charles Leslie, who
died at the age of four years, and one daughter,
Carrie Bell, who married Charles H. Anderson, of
Manchester (.see Anderson, V).
(VIII) George H.. Bartlett, of Sunapee, New
Hampshire, treasurer of the United States Hanie
Company, state senator from the seventh senatorial
i62-
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
district of New Hampshire, and one of the foremost
business men of Sullivan county for many years,
was born in the town of Sunapee, September 28,
1841. fifth son of John (4) and Sarah (Sanborn)
Barllett. His young life was spent at home, where
he received his early education in the district
schools, and afterward was a student at Colby Acad-
emy, New London, New Hampshire, completing his
literary education in that institution.
After leaving school he went to Manchester,
New Hampshire, and spent two years at work mak-
ing boxes in a sash and blind factory, then returned
to Sunapee, and soon afterward became connected
with the manufacture of what then was known as
the "Concord hame." This business was started m
186s in a small way with limited capital and little
e.xperience by the tirni of Cowles & Buzzell, and at
the death of the junior partner, which took place
soon afterward, Mr. Bartlett succeeded to his in-
terest, and from that time has been identified with
the operations of the concern through all its various
changes, and has been a material factor in its sub-
sequent growth and remarkable success. In the
course of vears it has become necessary at various
times to enlarge the plant and increase its output
to meet the demands of the trade, until the finn
became the most extensive manufacturers in its line
in the country. In 1882 Mr. Cowles was succeeded
in the finn by Irving G. Rowell, upon which the
style changed to Bartlett & Rowell, and so remained
until January, 1896, when the concern was in-
corporated as the Consolidated Hame Company.
Still more recently, however, by a merger of inter-
ests, the company has become a part of the United
States Hame Company, a corporation organized
under the laws of the state of New York, and hav-
ing factories at Sunapee and Andover, New Hamp-
shire, Buft'alo, New York, and Tell City, Indiana.
Of this company Mr. Bartlett is treasurer. ^ The
greater corporation is capitalized at one million
six hundred thousand dollars, operates four exten-
sive plants, and employs under normal conditions
about eight hundred workmen. It has become one
of the greatest industrial enterprises of the country,
and had its inception largely in the little name
works started something more than forty years ago
by the partnership in which Senator Bartlett was
one of the earliest factors.
It will be seen from what has been stated that
Senator Bartlett has led an active life in carrying
the business enterprise w^ith which he has been so
long connected, yet he has found opportunity for
all demands on his time and resources adequate for
every emergency; and he has found time, too, to
take an earnest interest in public affairs in his home
town and county, and also in the state. He is a
Republican of unyielding loyalty to his party and
the principles it upholds, and occupies a prominent
place in party councils in the state. During the
legislative session of 18S0-81 he was sergeant-at-
arms of the senate, and from 1888 to 1892 was
treasurer of Sullivan county. For several years
also he was a member of the Sunapee school board.
He represented the town of Sunapee in the lower
house of the legislature in 1901-2 ; was a member of
the state constitutional convention in 1902; and in
1905 was elected to a seat in the state senate. For
many years he has been a member and a trustee of
the Methodist Episcopal Church of Sunapee, and
for more than twenty-five years has been superin-
tendent of its Sunday school. He is a trustee of
Ne\v London Academy (Baptist) and Tilton Semi-
nar • (Methodist).
Mr. Bartlett married, in 1865. Sarah A. Cowles,
of Claremont, New Hampshire, daughter of Levi
and Polly Cowles. Two children have been born
of this marriage : Ernest Prescott, and Mary Inez,
who is the wife of Dr. E. C. Fisher, of Sunapee.
Ernest P., married Beatrice S. Weri-y, of Palperro,
Cornwall, England. Four daughters have been born
of their marriage — Ellen, Esther, Elsie and Ethel.
(VH) John, second son of John (3) and Hep-
sibah (.Stevens) Bartlett, was born 176O. in Deering,
New Hampshire, and settled in South Weare, where
he passed his life. He married Mary Simons.
Their children were: Betsy, ilehitabel, Eunice,
Daniel, Phoebe, Enoch, Mary, John, Hannah, Lydia,
Louisa and Lewis.
(VIII) John (5), third son and fifth child of
John (4) and Mary (Simons) Bartlett, was born
Januarj' 22, 180S, in Weare, and inherited the
paternal homestead on which he resided. He died
there March 12, 1872. He was married to Lurena,
daughter of Ebenezer and Miriam (Barnard)
Bailey (see Bailey, VI). She was born January
20, 1807, in Weare, and died July I, 18S0. Their
children were : Sarah Frances, deceased ; Franklin,
in Goffstown. with son; John P., and Eben B., of
Goft'stown, a farmer.
(IX) John Paige, second son and third child
of John (5) and Lurena (Bailey) Bartlett, was
born in Weare, February 4, 1841. He attended the
academies of Francestown, Meriden, and Mont
Vernon, and in i860 entered Dartmouth College,
from which he was graduated with the class of
1864 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Soon
after leaving college he entered the ofiice of Mor-
rison, Stanley & Clark, oi Manchester, where he
read law until February, 1867, w'hen he was ad-
mitted to the bar, and in the March following, re-
moved to Omaha, Nebraska, and opened an office.
He was soon after appointed commissioner of the
United States circuit court, and held that position
during 1867 and 1868, then a part of Wyoming,
office in Cheyenne. In the latter year he returned
to Omaha, Nebraska, then the capital of tlie state,
and terminus of the newly finished transcontinental
Union Pacific railroad, and consequently one of the
newest and most lively cities in America, teeming
w-ith a nondescript population, and oft'ering unusual
attractions and opportunities to a young, active and
ambitious lawyer. There he proved his natural
ability, skill, and knowledge of the law in successful
competition with Judge Woolworth, Judge Savage,
General Cowan, and John M. Thurston, later coun-
sel for the Union Pacific railroad, and United States
senator. His success was such as to attract the
attention of the members of his party, and he was
nominated and elected city solicitor, and filled that
office from 1869 to 1871. He continued in practice
there until 1874. when he returned to New Hamp-
shire and opened an office in Manchester, where his
qualifications soon placed him conspicuously before
the public. In 1875 he was chosen city solicitor,
and was soon after appointed judge of the police
court, filling that position during the years 1875-76.
Since that time he has devoted his attention to the
successful conduct of his private practice, which is
of generous proportions. He is now one of the
oldest members of the Manchester bar in point of
years of service. He has been an active leader in
politics, and was chairman of the Democratic state
committee in 1890 and 1892. In 1895 he was a
member of the state senate, and in iSgg of the
lower house of the legislature, and was a member
of the committees on judiciary and banking. At
the close of the session he assisted in the investiga-
tion of the accounts of the state treasurer. From
1904 to 1906 he was secretary of the Democratic
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NEW HAMPSHIRE.
165
State committee. For over thirty years he has
taken the stump for the candidates of his party
without missing a single campaign.. For twelve
years he was president of the Manchester Opera
House Company, and exerted Jiimself to supply the
theaire-going public with select and wholesome
amusement. He was one of the promoters of the
Bar Association at Cheyenne, Wyoming, in 1867,
and was its first president, and also one of the or-
ganizers of the Southern New Hampshire Bar As-
sociation.
He is a member of Washington Lodge, No. 61,
Free and Accepted Masons, of Manchester, of which
he is a past master. December 13, 18S9, he became_
a member of the Benevolent Protective Order of
Elks, then first introduced into the city, and was
made exalted ruler of Manchester Lodge, No. 146,
which was formed that night. He has since been
prominently identified with the order, and has
represented the grand lodge of New Hampshire in
three national conventions : At Cleveland, Ohio, in
1890; at Buffalo, New York, in 1892; and at New
Orleans, Louisiana, in 1898. He was district de-
puty of the order for New Hampshire three years.
He is a member of the Amoskeag Veterans, and
was the first president of the Granite State Club.
He married first. November 29, 1866, Fannie
M. Harrington, who was born in Manchester,
New Hampshire, 1844, and died there in
1887, daughter of Hon. Edward W. and
Fannie (Moore) Harrington, of Manchester;
second, April, 1888, Mrs. Lucy (Knight) Crosby,
widow of George F. Crosby, and daughter of
James and Sarah (Mead) Knight, of Lyndonville,
Vermont. She has a daughter by her first husband
^S. Grace Crosby, a teacher in a grammar school
in Rhode Island.
(IV) Stephen, eighth child and seventh son of
Richard (3) and Hannah (Emery) Bartlett, was
born in Newbury, Massachusetts, April 21, 1691.
He was taught the trade of shoemaker, and worked
at that occupation several years. Being very in-
dustrious he accumulated property rapidly, built a
large house a short distance above Amesbury Ferry,
and reared a large family of children. After spend-
ing his younger days in Ferry street, he bought a
farm in the northwest part of Amesbury, called
"the Lion's Mouth," on which he built and where
he spent the remainder of his life ; leaving his house
at the Ferry to his oldest son Stephen. He was
elected deacon of the First Amesbury Church in
1731. He married, December 18, 1712, Hannah
Weljster. of Salisbury, whose father, John (3), son
of Jolin (2) Weljster (q. v.), was "wealthy in
landed property." Their children were : Hannah
(died young), Stephen, Joseph, Hannah, Mary,
Simeon, Josiah and Levi.
(V) Joseph, second son and third child of
Deacon Stephen and Hannah (Webster) Bartlett,
was born April 18, 1720, in Amesbury. in which
town he resided through life. He is spoken of in
the records as a cordwainer and yeoman. He died
some time time during the year 1753, administration
upon his estate being granted to his widow June 18
of that year. Fie was married December i, 1743,
to Jane Colby, and they were the parents of four
sons : Levi, Nicholas, Joseph and Ichabod.
(VI) Levi, eldest child of Joseph and Jane
(Colby) Bartlett, was born April 25, 1745, in Ames-
bury. in which town he passed his life. He was a
cordwainer and also a shipwright, and the records
show that he was still living in Amesburj- in 1791.
He was married June 23, 1768, in Salisbury, Mass-
achusetts, to Apphia Osgood, and they were the
parents of two sons and one daughter: William,
Jane, and Ichabod C, mentioned below.
(VII)) Ichabod Colby, youngest child of Levi
and Apphia (Osgood) Bartlett, was bom probably
not in Amesbury, and while still a mere lad went
with his mother, after the decease of his father, to
Boscawen, New Hampshire. Either there or else-
where he attempted to learn the cabinet maker's
trade, which proved too difficult for his strength.
He next entered the store of Andrew Bowers, in
Salisbury, where he remained until 1800, and then
went to Bristol (then a part of Bridgewater and
New Chester), towns divided by the river which
runs through Bristol village. He commenced busi-
ness as a country merchant, at first on the New
Chester side, and afterward more extensively on
the Bridgewater side, in a building standing on Uie
common. He married, in 1801, Ann Sleeper, who
was then eighteen years of age. He died March
20. i860, aged eighty-one; and she died October 8,
1869, aged eighty-six. Their children were : Mary,
Jane, Levi, Frederic (died young), Gustavus, Anna,
and Frederic.
(VIII) Gustavus, fifth child and third son of
Ichabod C. and Ann (Sleeper) Bartlett, was born
in Bristol, October 22, 1810, and died in Milford.
December 11, 1893, aged eighty-three. He went to
Lowell, Massachusetts, where he was a merchant.
In 1867 he retired from mercantile life and re-
moved to Milford, New Hampshire, and bought a
farm on the Wilton road, where he was engaged in
agriculture about ten or fifteen years. He married
first, November 25, 1834. Clarinda J. Taylor, who
was born JNIarch 9, 1815, daughter of Nicholas M.
and Sally (Eastman) Taylor, of New Hampton.
She ■ died in Bristol, November i, 1837. He mar-
ried second, November 24, 1839, Martha, sister of
his first wife, who was born June 17. 1820, and died
October 23, 1856. He married third, December 3,
1S61, Susan A. N. Jones, widow of Henry D. Jones,
and daughter of Joseph and Phila H. (Millen)
Nichols, who was born in Alexandria, New Hamp-
shire, July s, 1832. She is a Mayflower descendant,
and is the founder of Milford Chapter. Daughters
of the American Revolution, of which she was the
first regent. She is also secretary of the Historical
and Genealogical Society of Milford. She is also a
member of the Women's Relief Corps, Grand Army
of the Republic, the Woman's Club, and several
other societies.
The following named children were born to
Gustavus Bartlett: Mary L., Ichabod C, Mary
Clarinda, Sarah Eastman, Clara Anstris, Anna
i\Iinot, and Charles Henry.
Charles Henry, who was born in Bristol. Novem-
ber 3, 1862, is a civil engineer, and lives in Boston,
Massachusetts. He married, December 17, 1890,
Gertrude, daughter of Joseph C. and Frances Carr
(Morrill) Jones, of Claremont.
(V) Moses, second son and eighth child of John
and ^lary (Ordway) Bartlett, was born January 2,
1714, in Newbury, and resided in that town, where
he was styled "yeoman." He died in 1804, his will
being dated June 14, 1800. and was proven May 14,
1804. He was married May 17, 1744, to Judith
Rogers, of Newbury, who died between 1771 and
iSoo. Their children all born in Newbury, were:
Moses. John, Judith, Abial, Hannah, Mary and
Flumphrej'.
(VI) Abial, third son and fourth child of Moses
and Judith (Rogers) Bartlett, was born September
16, 1751. in Newbury, and settled in Deerfield, New
Hampshire, where he received land from his father,
by the latter's will. He subsequently resided in
164
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Rumney, New Hampshire, where he was a farmer
and lumberman in comfortable circumstances. He
was one of the signers of the association test in
Deertield in 1776, and served as a soldier in that
struggle, being a member of Captain Simon iSIars-
ton's company, Colonel Joseph Senter's regiment,
in the Rhode Island service in 1777. His five chil-
dren were : Joseph, James, Abial, Aloses and John.
(.VII) John, youngest child of Abial Bartlett,
was born in 1793, in Deertield, and resided for a time
in ^leredith. Before 1836 he settled in the south
eastern part of the town of Epsom, where he had a
good farm. In religious faith he was a Baptist.
He married Abigail Smith Bartlett, daughter of
John and Mary (Smith) Bartlett. She was born
May 9, 1797, in Deertield, and died in Epsom, m
1875. They w'ere the parents of four children, three
of whom were born in Meredith : Mary, who became
the wife of Lorenzo Hoyt of Candia ; James L., born
May IS, 1831, is a farmer residing in Epsom; John
G., is the subject of the following paragraph. Joseph
W., born in 1836, was a liverjman and farmer m
Suncook, and died in Concord in 1889.
(.VIII) John Oilman, third son and child of John
and Abigail S. (.Bartlett) Bartlett, was born Septem-
ber II, 1833. in iieredith, Xew Hampshire, and was an
infant when his parents removed to Epsom. He re-
ceived his education in the district schools of Epsom,
and Pembroke Academy. At fourteen years of age
he learned the shoemaker's trade. In 1857 he went
to Pembroke and bought a stock of shoes, hats and
kindred goods, and started m business for himself.
He subsequently dealt in wood, coal and ice, and he
also established the first milk depot in the village of
Suncook. He disposed of the store and continued
the other lines for some years, and finally sold out
the fuel business and engaged in the hardware trade.
During the greater part of this time and up to the
present he did a good business in writing fire insur-
ance. Mr. Bartlett is one of the most enterprising
citizens of Suncook, and did more than any other
individual to build up the village. Among his en-
terprises were a five-story hotel and an opera house,
both of which were destroyed by fire. He built a
tw-o-story brick block, and a three-story brick build-
ing which contained an opera house, and this was
also destroyed by fire. He was the first to erect a
brick building on the main street in Suncook. He
sustained a loss of $15,000 by the destruction of
his hotel, and ten years later the loss of the opera
house building w-as $19,000. In 1875 he bought a
tract of fifteen acres of land on the Allenstown side
of the village, and this he laid out into lots, nearly
all of which have since been sold. Upon one of these
he built a tasty two-story brick dwelling house which
he now occupies. Mr. Bartlett has always carefully
considered his plans, and feels reasonably sure of
success before taking up any undertaking. In con-
sequence of this he finds himself more than usually
successful and in good financial circumstances. He
is the possessor of a fine business block and numer-
ous tenement houses in Suncook. He has served
six years as town collector, and has endeavored to
bear his portion of the duties belonging to a good
citizen. At the age of eighteen years Mr. Bartlett
united with the Free Will Baptist Church of Epsom.
On attaining his majority he moved to Suncook,
and at that time took a letter from the church and
became a member of the First Methodist Episcopal
Church of Suncook, and ever since that time has
filled some official station in that body, being many
years steward and is now a trustee and- secretary of
the board of trustees. For many years he was su-
perintendent of its Sunday school, and has always
had a class in the Sunday school. He is an earne^t
laborer in every movement calculated for the up-
lifting of humanity and is a very strong advocate
of temperance. He is a member of Jewell Lodge,
No. 94, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of Sun-
cook, and of Howard Lodge, No. 31, Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, of that town, of which he
is a past noble grand. He is also a member of
Hildreth Encampment No. 17, of the latter order.
He married (.first), June 5, 1861, Persis A. Colby,
daughter of Jesse and Sally (.Austin) Colby, of
Bow. She was born in Bow, October 18, 1836, and
died October 12, 1872, aged thirty-six. He married
(.second), June 7, 1877, Nellie Shackford, who was
born in Allenstown, July 7, 1843, daughter of Na-
thaniel and Abigail (.Bailey) Shackford of Allens-
town. She is the great-granddaughter of Theodore
Shackford, who settled in Allenstown before the
3'ear 1800. By the first marriage he had one son,
Jesse, who was born July 19, 1864. He was a very
able young man and highly esteemed. He went to
Denver, Colorado, and accumulated property very
rapidly until his sudden and unexpected death, which
w-as caused by being thrown from a vehicle while
returning from his ranch to Denver. He died May
27, 1S90.
(ill) Richard (3), second son of Richard (2)
and Abigail Bartlett, was born February 21, 1649.
in Newbury, where he resided through life, and died
April 17, 1724. By occupation he was a cordwainer
and currier. He was married, November iS, 1673,
in New'bury, to Hannah Emery, daughter of John
and Mary (Webster) Emery, and granddaughter of
John (i) Emery, of Newbury. She was born April
26, 1654, in that town and died there May I, 1705.
They were the parents of the foUow-ing children:
Hannah, Richard, John, Samuel (died young),
Daniel, Joseph, Samuel, Stephen, Thomas and Mary.
It is probable that Richard (3) Bartlett was married
a second time, as the records show a person of that
name, widower, of Newbury, who married, Novem-
ber II, 1718, in Amesbury, Abigail, daughter of John
Prowse, who was probably the widow of Israel
Dimond. One of his sons, Joseph, was the father
of Mary Bartlett, who became the wife of (jovernor
Josiah Bartlett, of New Hampshire. (Mention of
Daniel and descendants forms part of this article).
(IV) John, second son of Richard (3) and Han-
nah (Emery) Bartlett, was born September 23, 1678,
in Newbury, and was baptized there on the 27th of
the following month. From 1700 to the death of
John (2), in 1708, he was called John "Tertius," and
after that, John (2), or John Jr. He died in 1741.
By occupation he was a tanner and weaver, and
spent his life in Newbury. He was married, No-
vember 18, 1702, in Newburj-, to Mary Ordway, who
died April 6, 1755. Their children were born from
the years 1703 to 1712. From 1736 to 1741, he was
known as John Sr. (Mention of his son Aloses and
descendants appears in this article).
(V) John (2), son of John (i) and Mary (Ord-
way) Bartlett, was born September 2, 171 1, in New-
bury, and resided in Salisbury, Massachusetts, until
1743, when he removed to South Hampton, New
Plampshire. It is quite possible that his removal
thither consisted simply in the location of the
province line in 1741, which cut South Hampton off
from Massachusetts, and added it to New Hamp-
shire. He married, January 17, 1734, Zipporah
Flanders, who was born March 4, 1716, daughter of
Philip and Joanna (Smith) Flanders, of Kingston,
New Hampshire.
(VI) Stephen, son of John (2) and Zipporah
(Flanders) Bartlett, was born in Amesbury. He
JOHN G. BARTLETT.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
165
u-as a farmer, and removed to Plymouth, New
Hampshire, in 1778, and made a farm on the hill
road to Hebron, where he died May 23, 1823. He
married (first), September 8, 1776, Elizabeth Barn-
ard, who was a daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Barn-
ard. She was born in Amesbury, Massachusetts,
August 31. 1754, and removed to Plymouth with her
parents. She died July 20, 181S, and he married
(second), February, 1819, Dorothy (Bagley) Thorn-
ton, widow of William Thornton and daughter of
Winthrop Bagley. She was born in 1787, and died
December 25, 1849. The children of Stephen and
Elizabeth were: Sargent, Joseph, Elizabeth, Sarah,
Stephen, David, died young, and Daniel.
(VII) Joseph, second son and child of Stephen
and Elizabeth (Barnard) Bartlett, was born in
Plymouth, February 19, 1779. He was a farmer,
and removed in 1803 to Grotgn. where he died,
January 3, 1868. He was a Republican, and a mem-
ber of the Congregational Church. He married,
January 7, 1803, Joanna Buzzell, who was born in
1780, and died May 11, 1806; they had two children:
Eliza and George Wadsworth, born April 21, 1806.
He married (second), October 19. 1806, Abiah Che-
ney, born June 17, 1786, died April i, 1851, daughter
of Isaac and Abiah (Hankins) Cheney, of Hopkin-
ton; the children of Joseph and Abiah (Cheney)
Bartlett were : Jonathan, born July I, 1807 ; Jo-
seph, born June 4, 1810, both in Groton ; Enoch C,
see 'forward; Leonard, born September 13, 1821 ;
Martha Jane, born November 3, 1828.
(VTII) Enoch C, third son and child of Joseph
and Abiah (Cheney) Bartlett. was born in (jroton,
August 21, 1813, and died in Goffstown, June 4, 1892.
He was educated in the district schools and at Thet-
ford Academy. He was a farmer in Groton, and
went from there to Goffstown with his son, Lucien.
He was a Whig until the formation of the Repub-
lican party, when he joined that organization. He
married, May 13, 1852, Sophronia Curtis, born May,
1812, daughter of John Fallensbee, of Brentwood. •
She died February 6, 1877. They had two children :
Lucien W., see forward; and George IL, born De-
cember 7, 1854, married Mary Harris, and they had
a daughter, Ruth, born in Manchester, April i, 1889.
(IX) Lucien Woodbury, elder of the two sons of
Enoch and Sophronia (Curtis) Bartlett. was born
in Groton, September 16, 1853. His occupations
are farming and lumbering. He also engaged in
the retail milk business, running a wagon to
Manchester. He bought the farm he now
occupies in 1883, and has added improve-
ments to it, among which is a new barm He is a
member of the Congregational Church, and affiliates
politically with the Republican party. He is a man
of character, and has served two years as selectman.
He married, November 21, 1883. Olive Powers, born
in Hebron, New Hampshire, daughter of Wesley
and Olive (Price) Powers, of Hebron. She is a
member of the Baptist Church. They have two
children, Frank W. and Mabel P.
(Second Family).
The various spellings of this name
BARTLETT found in the New England records
are common in several families
early established here. The ancestors of the family
herein traced was not as early in New England as
some others of the name. A large proportion of the
early representatives of this family were resident
upon the Massachusetts coast and engaged in sea-
going affairs. It has contributed several able clergy-
men and other professional men, and has borne its
share in the development of Western civilization.
(I) William (l), Bartlett was a resident of
Frampton, Dorsetshire, England. It is not probable
that he came to New England, but it may be that he
did. A William Bartlett appeared in the Salem court
in 1653, and there was a William of Newbury in
1661. A deposition made July 16, 16S4, shows that
Robert Bartlett of Marblehead was a son of Wil-
liam Bartlett of Frampton, England.
(II) Captain Robert Bartlett was born about
1638, in England, and was a resident of Massachu-
setts in 1666. He settled in Marblehead as early as
1669, and was a yecnian and fisherman, possessing
land 'in Manchester. He was married (first), before
1669, to Mary Walton, and to his second wife, Re-
becca Boobyer (widow of William Pinson), Decem-
ber 24, 1702. She was living at the time his will
was made, February 2, 1714. This was proved June
27) 1717. Their children were: William, Nathaniel,
Martha, John, Josiah and Abigail, all born of the
first w^ife.
(III) WilHam (2), eldest child of Captain
Robert and Mary (Walton) Bartlett, was a husband-
man and fisherman, and lived in Marblehead. His
will, dated i\Iarch I, 1735, was proved April 14 fol-
lowing. His house and other property were devised
to his youngest son. He was married, December 27,
1688, in Marblehead, to Sarah Purchase, who was
living at the time of his death. The children were:
Nathaniel, William, Elizabeth, Robert, John, Josiah,
Sarah and Thomas.
(IV) Nathaniel (i), eldest child of William (2)
and Sarah (Purchase) Bartlett, was baptized Sep-
tember 16, 1694, in Marblehead, and passed his life
in his native town. Fie was a mariner and inn
holder, and conducted the famous Fountain Inn in
jNIarblehead from 1721 until his death. In 1731 he
extended his business by the purchase of the Sun
Tavern, for which he paid nine hundred .pounds.
He was a prosperous, man, and among his properljy
were included two negro slaves. No record of his
first marriage appears, and his children were prob-
ably born of the first wife. He was married (second),
March 6, 1746, to a widow, Jane Merret, and admin-
istration was granted on his estate September 12,
1749. His widow was married (second), in 1750-1
to a Mr. Jackson, and she was still living in 1756.
Among Nathaniel Bartlett's children were : Nathan-
iel, Mary and Sarah.
(V) Nathaniel (2), son of Nathaniel (i) Bart-
lett, was baptized in the First Church of ^larble-
head, April 9, 1721. He resided in Marblehead, and
succeeded to the ownership of his father's inns,
which he managed. Administration of his estate
was granted July 17. 1752. He was married, De-
cember 24, 1745. to Hannah Riddan. She was mar-
ried (second), March 22, 1753, to Samuel Rogers,
of Wenham, Massachusetts, and removed to Marble-
head and continued the tavern business of his wife.
The children of Nathaniel (2) Bartlett were: Na-
thaniel. John and William.
(VI) William (3), youngest child of Nathaniel
(2) and Hannah (Riddan) Bartlett, was baptized
at the First Church of Marblehead, December 16,
1750. and resided in that tow-n. where he was prob-
ably a farmer. The record in Marblehead states
that he died February 10, 1823, in his eighty-third
\'ear, "at the farm." He was married, December 13.
1773. to Tabitha Green, who w-as baptized December
14. I755i a daughter of Peter and Elizabeth (Harris)
Green. She died March 20, 1838, "aged eighty-
nine." They had children baptized at various periods
ranging from 1775 to 1795. In three instances two
were baptized at once, so that only an approxima-
tion of their respective ages can be secured. They
were: Betsey, died young; John; Peter; Betsey,
1 66
NEW HA^^IPSHIRE.
died young; Betsey Harris; Eleanor; Robert; Tabi-
tha; Devereux Dennis and Thomas. All except the
second were baptized at the Second Church of
]\Iarblehead. John was baptized August 6, 1780, at
the First Church.
(VII) Robert, son of William (3) and Tabitha
(Green) Bartlett, was baptized January 27, 1793.
in the Second Church at Marblehead, and the record
states that he was then aged three years. In all ac-
counts of him heretofore extant, his birth has been
given as occurring in 1793. some authorities say in
New Hampshire and others in Massachusetts. Noth-
ing can now be learned apparently concern-
ing his early life. It is apparent that
that he received a fair education, and the
first that we know of him after his birth is the fact
that he appears at Warwick, Massachusetts, as pastor
of the Universalist Church there, which was insti-
tuted February 25, 1814. He would thus be about
twenty-four years old at this time. He remained
there a few years only, and was married there in
1815, to Huldah Wescott. Their intentions of mar-
riage were recorded October 28, 1815, and both
were of Warwick. Mr. Bartlett became a very active
and efficient worker in his church, and did very
much missionary work in New Hampshire and some
in Vermont. He preached as pastor in Gilford,
Langdon, .A.lstead, Jaffrey, Marlboro, and other New
Hampshire towns. He died in Boston. January 20,
1882, aged nearly ninet3'-two years. For many of
his last years he suffered with the infirmities of age,
and death come to him as a great relief. It is said
of him, "In his early and middle life he was a vigor-
ous preacher, and his name was once familiar as
a household word in the Universalist homes of New
Hampshire and Vermont, where he labored as an
evangelist for many years. Although he did not
have the culture of the schools, being almost wholly
self-taught, he was yet an' ardent student of the
Scriptures out of which he gathered a theological
equipment of no mean order. Earnest and effective
in the work of the ministry, he deserves to be classed
among those pioneers of Universalism to whom is
due the tribute of graceful recognition. 'Other men
have labored, and we are entered into their labors.' "
His children, a part of whom were born in Gilford,
were : Elbridge Gerry, Emily, Josiah, Eliza. John,
Hulda, Robert G., Ma'hala, Minerva, Charles C. and
Mary Ann.
(VIII) Josiah. third child and second son of
Robert and Huldah (Wescott) Bartlett. was born
in Langdon. June 17, 1820, and died in Boston, De-
cember, 1885. aged sixty-five years. He was a farmer
by occupation throughout his entire life, and oper-
ated farms in Manchester. Dorchester and Moul-
tonborough. He married Lydia C. Flint, who was
born in Acton. jMassachusetts, and died in Moulton-
borough, April 16. 1882. They had nine children:
Fred A., Frank (died vonng), Frank, Ralph W.,
Clifton J.. Orville G., Bert J., Lulu B. and Leona E.
(IX) Ralph Walter, fourth son and child of
Josiah and Lydia C. (Flint) Bartlett. was born in
.'Vshby. JMassachusetts, December 20, iS?8. At the
age of six months he was brought to New Hamp-
shire by his parents, who settled in Manchester,
where they resided about four years. In 1863 the
family removed to Dorchester, where Ralph W.
Bartlett was educated in the common schools, and
afterward engaged in farming. In 1896 he removed
to Gilford and bought a farm of sixty acres near the
village part of the town, about three miles from
Laconia, where he is engaged in general farming.
Mr. Bartlett is a member of the Baptist Church,
and in politics is a Democrat. He married, in
Worcester, Massachusetts, April 27, 1895, Grace L.
Bryant, who was born in Northwood, New Hamp-
shire, daughter of Rev. Henry and Abby (Witham)
Br}'ant, of Lewiston, Maine. They have four chil-
dren : Mariam G., Lawrence H., Gladys J. and
Mildred.
(Third Family.)
(I) Laurence Bartlett, a mariner,
BARTLETT was a resident of Marblehead,
Massachusetts, where he was mar-
ried, December 11, 1739, to Anne Underwood, who
soon died, leaving a daughter Anne, born in 1741.
Mr. Bartlett was married (second), September 27,
1743. to Mary Ingalls, who was born 1719, daughter
of Eleazer and Sarah (Glasey) Ingalls.
(II) Laurence (2), son of Laurence (i) and
Mary (Ingalls) Bartlett, was born 1745, in Marble-
head, and was baptjzed July 21 of that j'ear. He
was a mariner and wa6 in the Revolution, serving
first as a soldier and later as a sailor. He served in
1775 under Captain Thomas Grant's company. Col-
onel John Glover's regiment, near Salem, and later
was with the army at Boston. In 1777 he was a
gunner on the brigantine "Freedom" and was a
prisoner in March, 1778. He was married, July 11,
1765, to Mary Bowden, who was born in 1744, in
Marblehead, daughter of Abijah and Mary (Tucker)
Bowden. Their children were: Abijah B., Hannah
and Laurence.
(III) Abijah Bowden, eldest child of Laurence
Bartlett, was born in 1772 (baptized October 13),
and was a seaman in the United States navy in
the War of 1812, being wounded in an engagement.
The town records of JMarblehead state that "he died
June 13, 1813, in the hospital at New York." He
was married, September 16, 1792, to Elizabeth Bart-
lett, and their children born between 1797 and 1809
were:_ Mary, Abijah, George W., Benjamin and
Abigail. His widow lived to be ninety-si.x years old,
and died in Nashua at the home of her son, who
procured a special act of congress by which she
drew a pension for the loss of her husband.
(IV) George W., son of Abijah B. and Elizabeth
Bartlett, was born in Marblehead, Massachusetts, in
1800, baptized February 9, and died in 1842. In
his youth he was a seaman, and as such visited many
foreign countries. After marriage, at the request of
his wife, he forsook the sea. For some years he
worked in the cotton mills at Newton, and afterward
was a merchant in Nashua, New Hampshire. He
was a Whig in politics, and in religious faith a
Baptist. He married Jane Nickerson, who was bgrn
in Newton, Upper Falls, IMassachusetts, and died at
the home of her son, in Pembroke, in 1S99, aged
ninety-four years, six months, and nineteen daj'S.
Eleven children were born of this marriage, among
whom were : Eliza, George, Mary, John F., Ben-
jamin B., Henrietta and Susan. Four others died
young.
(V) John Franklin, son of George W., and Jane
(Nickerson) Bartlett, was born at Newton, Upper
Falls, Massachusetts, November 15, 1836. He be-
gan work in the cotton mills at the age of seven,
and continued there until seventeen, and secured
such schooling as he could when not at work in the
mill. In 1853 he apprenticed himself to a machinist
in Lowell, where he worked three years. From
Lowell he went to Boston and worked at his trade
about six years, and then bought a house in Sun-
cook, New Hampshire, where his family took up
their residence. For a year or two he worked in
Manchester and Hooksett. Then he kept a restaur-
ant for a time in Suncook. In 1876 he mined a por-
tion of the year in the Black Hills, Dakota. Return-
XEW HAMPSHIRE.
167
ing to New Hampshire he engaged in the grocery
trade, which he carried on for eight 3-ear3. He
then spent another year clearing the wood lot which
he owned. In 1893 he was appointed postmaster of
Suncook, and tilled that office fonr years, during that
time not being in trade, but giving his attention to
the duties of the office. He has filled various town
offices. In 1875 he was selectman, in 1S76 tax col-
lector, and was re-elected to the latter office in 1899-
1903-04-06, and also served as town treasurer in
1877-80, and in the New Hampshire legislature in
the session of 1889. Since the close of his term as
postmaster he has not been actively engaged in busi-
ness, but has been a partner in a store part of that
time.
When he came to Suncook in 1857, there being
no Baptist Church in that place, he took a letter
from the Free Baptist Church of Epsom and joined
the First Methodist Church in Suncook, since which
1 'time he has been an honored and official member,
class leader, and superintendent of the Sunday school
for several years. He has been a trustee of the
church for more than forty years and its secretary
several years. He has been a teacher in Sunday
school forty years or more, and has always taken
an active part in promoting the cause of temperance,
I believing this to be the duty of every Christian man
I and woman. He is a member of Jewell Lodge, No. 94,
[ ■ Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and Hiram
Chapter, Royal Arch I\lasons. He is a past
grand of Howard Lodge, No. 68, Independent Order
of Odd Fellows, of Suncook; past chief Patriarch
of Hildreth Encampment, No. 17; and was a charter
member of General Stark Canton and ilary Gordon
Bartlett Rebekah Lodge, No. 69. ilr. Bartlett has
been a busj' man all his life and now, though seventy
years old, devotes most of his time to the cultivation
of a two acre lot about his house, and there the ex-
tent, neatness and order of his garden are testi-
monials to his industry and constant care, none be-
ing better kept.
He married (first), in Lowell, JMassachusetts,
October 31, 1S58, Mary Elizabeth Gordon, who was
born in Suncook, November 29, 1836, daughter of
Joseph Quincy and Lydia Fowler (Hayes) Gordon.
She was born in Chichester, and died in Allenstown,
August S, 1894. Mary Gordon Bartlett Rebekah
Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, which
was instituted in 1897 was named in honor of Mrs.
Bartlett, who was a lady of many admirable traits
of head and heart. The following is an account of
her ancestry in Pembroke :
(I) Joseph Gordon was born November 5, 1763,
and died May 20, 1832. He was a farmer, and re-
sided in Pembroke. He married, September 27,
1S09, Lovely Woodman, who was born December 23,
1776, and died August 3, 1853. Their children were :
Alma Woodman and John Quincy Adams.
(II) John Quincy Adams, second child and only
son of Joseph and Lovely (Woodman) Gordon, was
horn in Pembroke, November 18, 1812, and died
February 20, 1877. He resided in Pembroke and
was engaged in farming. He married, January 10,
1833, Lydia Fowler Hayes, who was born in Aliens-
town, February 29, 1812, and now (1906) resides
with her daughter, Cora Lynda Gordon, in I\Ian-
chester, New Hampshire. They had eleven children:
George Washington, l\Iary Elizabeth, Emma
Frances, John Quincy (died young), Annie Ruth,
John (died young), Calvin Webster, Lydia Caroline,
Eugene Irving, Charles Fremont and Cora Lynda.
Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett:
Ada E., born in Lynn, Massachusetts. December 10.
1S59, married Dr. James B. Pettengill, and lives
in Amherst. Henrietta, who was born February 11,
1862, married George W. Fowler of Pembroke.
George Franklin, who is mentioned at length below.
Mr. Bartlett married (second), in Pembroke, Oc-
tober 30, 1898, jNIary A. Langley, who was born in
Deerfield, March 31, 1856, daughter of Isaiah and
Sarah B. (Dow) Langley, of Deerfield.
(VI) George Franklin, youngest child of John F.
and Mary E. (Gordon) Bartlett, was born in Allens-
town, March 4, 1S6S. He attended the common
schools and Pembroke Academy, and finished his
studies with a course in the Manchester Business
College, from which he graduated in 18S8. He
was a clerk in a store in Boston for a time, but
after having a severe attack of sickness he did not
choose to return to his place, but engaged in busi-
ness for himself in Suncook, where he carried on
trade fourteen years. For three years past he has
been in the emplov of George Y. (Seorgi. of Suncook.
He is a Baptist, and votes the Democratic ticket. He
married, in Concord, March 27, 1889. Viola A.
Pao-e, who was born in Concord, April i, iSOb,
daughter of Benjamin F. and Ophelia Page. I hey
have three children : Edith May, born m Pembroke.
August 23, 1S96; Doris Page, March 21, ibgb; and
Gordon Edward, July 4, 1902.
(Fourth Family.)
The Bartletts of New England are
BARTLETT numerous and of various stocks.
The immigrant ancestor of the
family of this article has left no record of the place
of his nativity or the date of his arrival in America
but it is probable that he was born in England, and
had been in Massachusetts only a short tmie before
I66S. , , , • XT
(I) Joseph Bartlett was an early settler mAew
Cambridge New Town or Newton, Massachusetts.
The cellar hole of his dwelling house was still vis-
ible upon the hillside occupied by the Baptist Theo-
logical Seminary near the railroad station in New-
ton Centre, when Francis Jackson wrote the His-
tory of Newton" in 1854- Joseph Bartlett mort-
o-a<^ed his house and four acres of land to Thomas
Prentice, senior, in 1675. He married October 27,
1668 Mary Waite, and they had six children : Mary.
Joseph and Mercy (twins), Elizabeth, and probably
John and Sarah.
(II) Joseph (2), second child and eldest son
of Joseph (I) and Mary (Waite) Bartlett, was
born in Cambridge. March S. 1/63. and died June
i7;o aged seventv-seven years. He married (first)
Hannah , and thev had: Thomas, Benjamin,
Elizabeth. Joseph and Ebenezer. The first wife
died December. 1730; and he married (second),
1732 Mercv Hyde, who died in 1734.
' (IID Ebenezer (son of Joseph (2) Bartlett,
probably) of Newton, was bom in 17" and died
in 178S, aged scvcntv-seven. He married (first),
June "4, 1736. Ann Clark. Avho died in 174^- He
married (second) Anna Ball. The children of the
first wife were: Eunice, Sarah, Mary, Enoch (died
young), and Enoch. The children of the second
wife were: Jonathan, Anna Mercy, Elisha, Esther,
Moses. Thaddeus. Mary. Sarah. Stephen, Abigail,
and Peregrine. Enoch, Moses, Thaddeus, Stephen,
Jonathan and Peregrine settled in Bethel, Maine,
on the Androscoggin river.
(IV) Jonathan, sixth child of Ebenezer Bart-
lett, and first by his second wife, Anna Ball, was
born March 16, 1746. In 1779 he went to Bethel'.
Maine, with Nathaniel Segar, the pioneer, and after-
ward settled on the south side of the river, below
Bean's Corner, where a grandson lately lived. He
married Mary Shaw, of Frycburg, and died .-Xpril
1 68
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
14, 1798. Their children were: Anna, Elijah, Elias
and Samuel.
(V) Elias, third child of Jonathan and Mary
(Shaw) Bartlett. was born in Bethel. Maine, Au-
gust 10, 1791. He married (first) Eliza, daughter
of Nathan Adams, and (second), Judith, daughter
of David Farnum, of Rumford, who survived him
and married Rev. Dan Perry. The child of the
first marriage was Eliza. There were six of the
second wife: Sylvia, Porter, Marj', Elias Shaw,
Jonathan Madison and Harriet.
(VI) Elias Shaw, fourth child of Elias and
Judith (Farnum) Bartlett, was born in Bethel. No-
vember 26, 1823. He was a farmer, and resided on
the ancestral acres, was a member of the board of
selectmen several years, and held other offices. He
i-iarried Hester Ann Bartlett, who was born in
Bethel. November 24, 1827. She was the daughter
of Elhanan and Joanna (Willis) Bartlett, and
granddaughter of Stephen, who was a brother of
Jonathan (V). The children of this union were:
Elhanan P., Mary E., James M., F. Dayton,
Olivette, Zemas Willis, Flora E., and Elias S.
(Vn) Fremont Dayton, fourth child and third
son of Elias S. and Hester (Bartlett) Bartlett, was
hern in Bethel, Maine, April 30. 1856. He attended
the common schools and Gould Academj', and at
eighteen years of age entered the employ of the
Berlin Mills Company in Berlin, New Hampshire,
as a marker, and when not thus employed attended
school fall and spring, and taught in the winter.
Honest, acceptable work and plenty of it wrought
him promotion through the grades of surveyor and
yard foreman to the position of superintendent of
the plant. His business qualifications have brought
him to public positions. He is a director and vice-
president of the Berlin Building and Loan Associa-
tion. He was elected on the Republican ticket to
the board of selectmen two terms, during one of
which he was chairman. He was also tax collector
one year, and member of the board of education
from 1885 for eleven successive years. By his in-
dividual efforts the schools of the city have been
much improved. June 24, 1S94, he was appointed
justice of the police court but resigned. He is
much interested in fraternal orders, and a member
of the following: Sabatis Lodge, No. 95, Free and
.Accepted Masons, of which he is a past master:
North Star Royal Arch Chapter ; and North Star
Commandery. Knights Templars, all of Berlin ; Mt.
Abram Lodge, No. 31. Independent Order of Odd
Fellows of Bethel, Maine, and Coos Lodge, No.
25, Knights of Pythias, of Berlin, of which he is a
past chancellor commander. He married, Septem-
ber 12, 1880, Martha Veil Brown. They have three
children: Leon Oscar. Harry Elhanan, and Nellie
Evelyn. Leon married ]\Iay Jones, and they have
one child, Evelyn L.
John Joseph Bartlett, wholesale
BARTLETT grocer. Concord, was born in
Bradford, New Hampshire No-
vember 31, 1855.
His father, John Flaherty, was born in the city
of Galway. Ireland, about 1S31, and came to Amer-
ica in 1848, landing in New York. He removed
shortly to New Hampshire, and was employed for
some time by a drover of Warner, named Joshua
George. From there he went to Bradford, and was
in the employ of Joshua Jewett, a drover. Subse-
quently he worked upon the estate of Hon. Mason
W. Tappan. He assisted in the construction of the
old Passumpsic, Concord and Claremont railroads,-
and was afterward one of those who tore up the
rails between North Weare and Henniker, one
Sunday, when Governor Gilmore was the chief
executive of New Hampshire. Mr. Flaherty mar-
ried, in New York City, in 1850, Maria Lyons, a
native of county Galway, Ireland, wlio came to
New York when a young girl. Five children were
born of this marriage: ]\Iaria, who died young;
John J. ; Margaret, now a Sister of Charity ;
Thomas, and Peter. Mrs. Flaherty died at the
birth of her youngest child, in 1861. Mr. Flaherty
died in March, 1905, at Elizabethport, New Jersey,
where he had spent all the latter part of his life.
Thomas Flaherty married Mary O'TooIe, of
Newark, New Jersey, and they had children : Sadie,
Stephen, Frank and Aloysius. Thomas died about
1895. , , ,
At the age of five years, John Joseph Flaherty s
mother died, and her children for a time found
homes with strangers. John was bound out to a
family to remain till he was twenty-one years old,
and in exchange for his services was to receive his
board and clothes and one hundred dollars when he
came of age. Misfortune in the fam.ily of his
adopted parents caused him when ten years old to
go to live in the family of Parker and Eleanor Bart-
lett, farmers in Francestown, who wer.e kind and
loving foster parents to the homeless boy, who then
assumed the name of Bartlett.
Parker Bartlett was born in Deering, New
Hampshire, November 20, 181 1, and died April 6,
1896. He married, April 9, 1840, Eleanor Bartlett,
born April 22. 181 7, died August 27, 1899; and they
had children: Rothcous Edson, "born June 10, 1841 ;
Rosilla Arlett, April 23, 1843 ; Erastus Harvey,
March 17, 1846; John, April 11, 1848; and Sarah
Elizabeth, .A.pril 23, 1854.
After staying some years with the Bartlett fam-
ily, John Bartlett went to visit his father and other
members of the family in Elizabethport, New Jer-
sey. He scon discovered that it was the intention
of his father to keep him there and not allow him
to return to New Hampshire. But after three years
had passed, the youth found his love for the Bart-
letts and the granite hills so strong that he left
New Jersey without taking leave of his relatives,
and made his way as best he could to his former
home. He had very little money, but he had a
strong body and a brave heart, and by abstemious
living and hard walking he reached Warner again,
where he w-as w-armly welcomed. The succeeding
three years he worked for Erastus H. & A. J. Bart-
lett, excelsior manufacturers, in Warner. Every
day after work hours he studied such books as were
necessary to promote his education, and recited his
lessons to one of the Bartlett brothers, who kindly
assisted him in his efforts to learn. At the age of
twenty he went to Manchester, and after attending
the business college there three months he found
himself in possession of the fundamental elements
of a business education. Returning to Warner he
worked in the general store of A. C. & E. H. Car-
roll, as clerk, for six years. In 1881 he came to
Concord and was employed by Patterson, Davis &
Company, dry goods dealers, who had a store where
David Murphy is now. From this time forward he
never had time to ask for a job. After a year with
this firm he was with J. Frank Hoyt, grocer, as
clerk, for five years. In March, 1887, he took a
position as traveling salesman with the wholesale
grocery house of Dickermann. Leavitt it Company.
This house afterward took the name of Dickermann
& Company, and under this name was incorporated
in 1902. I\Ir. Bartlett became a stockholder at that
time, and since 1903 has been president of the com-
pa'nv.
John J. Bartlett early in life learned whatsit
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
169
was to be poor and lonely, and almost friendless,
but his natural disposition to be cheerful, indus-
trious, and useful made him staunch, true, and un-
failing friends. His energy and industry have made
him one of the foremost tradesmen in Concord and
he ranks among the leading citizens of the capital
city.
He was made a' Mason in 1S77, and became a
member of Harris Lodge, No. 91, Ancient Free and
Accepted Masons, at Warner, of which he is now
(1906) junior warden. He is a member of Trinity
Royal Arch Chapter, No. 2, Horace Chase Council,
No. 4, Mount Horeb Commandery. Knights Temp-
lar, all of Concord, and of which last he is captain
general. He is also a member of Edward A. Ray-
mond Consistory, of Nashua, New Hampshire, and
has attained the Thirtj'-second degree in Masonry.
In church relations he affiliates with the Unitarians.
He is a Republican, and takes a warm interest in
politics, but has no time for political office holding.
Mr. Bartlett married. October. 1S80, Carrie Palmer,
daughter of James M. and Eliza (Durgin) Palmer,
of Sutton, born June 25, 1857.
The origin of this name in England
AVERY has not thus far been fully determined,
some authorities stating that it was
derived from Aviarus, which means a keeper of
birds, while others assert that the storehouse in
which the forage for the king's horses was deposited
was called the avcry prior to the conquest. It is
quite probable, however, that the Saxon personal
name Alberic, which became Latinized into Alberi-
cus. was softened during the Norman rule into
Aubrey and finally acquired its present form of
spelling.
(I) Christopher Avery, who probably established
the name on this side of the ocean, was born in Eng-
land about the year isgo, and is thought to have
come from Salisbury. Wilts county, in the "Arbella,"
which arrived at Salem, Massachusetts, June T2,
l6.;o. About 1644 he went from Boston to Glouces-
ter, where he was made a freeman in 1652, and he
served as selectman there for the years 1646-52-54,
and also officiated as constable and clerk of the
market. In 1658 he sold his land in Gloucester
and returning to Boston purchased a small lot on
what is now Devonshire street, the site of which
is now occupied by the central portion of the Bos-
ton postoflfice. This property he sold for forty
pounds in 1663 and removed to New London. Con-
necticut, where his son had previously settled, and
there he purchased of Robert Burrow^s, in 1665, a
house and lot containing an orchard. He was ad-
mitted a freeman of the colony in i66g, but some
two years previous had claimed exemption from
watching and training duties on account of old
age. His death occurred in New London probably
March 12. 1679. He was married in the old coun-
try hut his wife did not accompany him to America,
and in 1654 he was relieved of a fine which had been
imposed for living apart from her. he having given
good and sufficient reasons for her absence.
(II) Captain James, only son of Christopher
Averj-, was born in England, about the year 1620,
and came with his father to Salem in the "Ar-
bella." In or prior to 1650 he went from Gloucester
to New London, where he was granted land, shared
some three years later in the Pocketannuck grants.
in what is the town of Ledyard. and in 1656 settled
permanently in the present town of Groton, erecting
a dwelling house which he occupied for the remain-
der of his life. This dwelling is still in a good
state of preservation and is occupied by some of his
descendants. He was a selectman in Groton for
twenty years, was twelve times elected representa-
tive to the general court, and was equally prominent
in church affairs. His military title was acquired
in the colonial militia, and an item in the records
states that in 1678 he was granted by the commis-
sioners the sum of forty pounds for his services in
assisting the government of the Pequot Indians
"for sundry years past." Captain Avery died Au-
gust 18, 1700. His first wife, whom he married No-
vember 10, 1643, w-as Joanna Greenslade, of Boston,
who was admitted by letter from the church in
Boston, to that in Gloucester in 1644, and her death
occurred after 1693. July 4, 169S, he married for
his second wife the Widow Abigail Holmes, who
was the mother of his daughter-in-law. She had
already been twice married, first to Samuel Cheese-
boro, of Stonington. who died in 1673, and second
to Joshua Holmes, who died in 1694. Her daugh-
ter, Abigail Cheeseboro, became the wife of Cap-
tain Avery's son John. Captain Avery was the
father of nine children, namely: Hannah, James,
Mary, Thomas, John, Rebecca, Jonathan, Christo-
pher and Samuel, all of whom were of his first
imion.
(III) Samuel, youngest son and child of Cap-
tain James and Joanna (Greenslade) Avery, was
born in Groton, August 14, 1664. He was active in
public affairs, having served as moderator at the
meeting in 1704 at which the town was legally or-
ganized, and from 1705 until his death, which oc-
curred May I, 1723, he officiated as first townsman.
He seems to have inherited from his father a taste
and capacity for the military ser\'ice, and for a
number of years was captain of a "train band" on
the east side of Groton. He was married in Swan-
sey, :Massachusetts, October 25, 1686, to Susanna
Palmer (born in 1665. died October 9, i747),
daughter of Williafn and Ann (Humphrey) Palmer.
She bore him eleven children, namely: Samuel,
Jonathan, William, Mary, Christopher, Humphrey,
"Xathan, Lucy, John, Waitson and Grace.
(IV) John, seventh son and ninth child of
Samuel and Susanna (Palmer) Avery, was born
in Groton. September 17. 1705. He came to New
Hampshire when a young man, settling in Stratham,
and he died September 9, 1792. He was married in
this state, probably in the spring of 1724, to Brid-
get Higgins, who w-as born June 17, 1702, and died
June 23. 1798. They had a family of seven chil-
dren, five of whom were sons, and the names of
the latter were : Samuel, John. Jeremiah and Josh-
ua and Josiah twins. (Joshua and descendants re-
ceive mention in this article.)
(V) Samuel, eldest child of John and Bridget
(Higgins) Avery, was born about 1719-20, and
settled in Barnstead, New Hampshire, where he
died in 1705. No further record of him appears.
(VI) The records contain mention of Benjamin
Avery of Barnstead, who is assumed to have been
a sen of Samuel. About all that appears about
him is a mention as parent of his children, or part
of them.
(VII) Moses, son of Benjamin Avery, w-as
born 1759, in Barnstead, and settled in Ellsworth,
New Hampshire, where he died in 1824. He mar-
ried Betsey Colbath of Barnstead.
(VIII)' Stephen, son of Moses and Betsey (Col-
bath) .A.very, was born 1786, in Ellsworth, where
he lived through life, and died October 3, 1873. He
married Bridget Moulton.
(IX) Caleb Avery was born in Ellsworth, New
Hampshire, about the year 1820. He w-as an in-
dustrious farmer, and spent much of his life in
I70
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Rumney, tliis state. He married Lucinda Willey,
a native of that part of Rumney which is known
as Thorington, and she bore him five children,
namely : Stephen, Annette, Jackson, Imogene and
Dora.
(X) Stephen, eldest son and child of Caleb and
Lu'cinda (Willey) Avery, was born in Rumney,
May, 1848. He was under the legal age for enlist-
ment at the commencement of the civil war in
1861, 'but being determined to enter the army he
enlisted without the consent of his parents by de-
claring to the recruiting officer that he was of the
required age, and he was enrolled in the Sixth Regi-
ment New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry. At the
battle of Bull Run he received a severe wound in the
hip, which confined him in the hospital for six
months, and at the expiration of that time he was
honorably discharged on account of physical dis-
ability. For a period of fifteen years after his re-
turn from the army he was in charge of a ladder
factory in Rumney, and going from there to La-
conia he became proprietor of the Elmwood Hotel.
He was subsequently for some time a travelling
optician, residing for a time in Burlington, Ver-
mont, whence he removed to Barre, same state,
and he died December 25, 1894. In 1863 he mar-
ried , who was born in Rumney in 184S.
and she died in Laconia. While residing in Barre
he married for his second wife Mrs. Ruth , a
widow. She survived him.
(XI) Oscar Jackson, son of Stephen Avery,
was born in Rumney, May 16, 1865. Having con-
cluded his attendance at the State Normal School
in Plymouth, he engaged in the trucking business at
Laconia. He next entered the grocery and provision
trade, in which, under the firm name of Peirce &
Avery, he transacted profitable business for four
years, and selling his interest in that establishment
he went to Johnstown, New York, where for the
ensuing two years he was in charge of a force of
men engaged in laying asphalt pavement. Return-
ing to his native state he spent some time travelling
in the interest of his father's ODtical business, but
finally located permantly in Effingham, the home
of his wife. For several years he has been engaged
in lumbering, cutting an average of a million feet
annually, and he owns and controls many hundred
acres of timber land in the Pine River section. He
is now closing up his affairs with a view of retiring
from active business pursuits. In politics Mr. Av-
ery is a Republican, and while residing in ,
he served as street commissioner. Since settling
in Effingham he has been prevented by business
pressure for participating actively in public affairs.
In 1906, however, he was a candidate for represent-
ative to the legislature, with a good prospect of
being elected, but owing to illness and death in his
family he withdrew from the contest. He was
mainly instrumental in securing the establishment
of a postoffice in his neighborhood, and upon being
requested by the department to name the new office,
he selected that of Pine River. He also started a
petition which resulted in the extension of the
rural free delivery system to that locality. Per-
ceiving the advantage of telephone connection with
the bvisiness centres, and being unable to obtain a
sufficient number of subscribers to induce the com-
pany to extend the line to the desired point, with
his characteristic enterprise, he caused five miles
of wire to be strung at his own expense, thus se-
curing the much needed means of quick communica-
tion with the outer world. In his religious faith
he is a Baptist. At Effingham, Mr. Avery was
united in marriage with Bell Granville, daughter of
John \'. and Olive I. (Huckins) Granville, of that
town. Her parents were industrious and thrifty
farming people, and she comes of a race which
is noted for longevity, her mother having lived to
be nearly one hundred years old. The old Gran-
ville residence, which Mr. and Mrs. Avery now oc-
cupy, is a landmark in Effmgham, and was erected
by her ancestors one hundred and one years ago.
It was substantially constructed of excellent mater-
ial, and the spacious dining-room is ceiled with
finished boards measuring from eighteen to thirty-
six inches in width. During the summer of 1907
jNIr. and Mrs. Avery traveled through the western
states, and they visited some of the principal cities,
including the national capitol.
(V) Joshua, fifth son and sixth child of John
and Bridget (Higgins) Avery, was born October
23, 1740, in Stratham, and died November 25, 1829.
November 28, 1768, he married Hannah Clark, w-ho
was born December 18, 1747, and died February
i.S, 18,38. Their children were: Daniel. Anna,
Hannah, Joshua, Mary, John and Samuel.
(VI) Samuel (2), youngest son and child cf
Joshua and Hannah (Clark) Avery, was born in
Stratham, May 9, 17S5. He attended Phillips Acad-
emy, Exeter, and for some time after leaving that
institution he continued to reside in his native town,
.^bout 1813 he went to reside with his elder broth-
er, Daniel, at Meredith Bridge (now Laconia),
and shortly after his marriage, which took place
January 13, 1814, he settled in Wolfboro. Possess-
ing some four or five hundred dollars he purchased
a piece of land containing a small one-story house,
a barn, a store and a carpenter shop. The two latter
he immediately utilized by opening them for busi-
ness. The store was destroyed by fire in 1824, but
he erected another, in W'hich he continued in trade
for many years, and was succeeded by his sons.
In addition to the coopering business he was at
different times engaged in blacksmithing, shoe-
making, harness-making, milling and farming. In
company with Messrs. S. and D. Pickering and
Hon. Nathaniel Rogers he for some time conducted
a woolen mill. Although beginning life with prac-
tically no capital and compelled to struggle for
many years under the disadvantage of impaired
health, he attained success in business, becoming
one of the most prominent residents of Wolfboro.
As a young man he was officially connected w-ith
the state militia, holding a lieutenant's commission
in a -Stratham company. In Wolfboro he served
four terms as a member of the board of selectmen
and five terms as town clerk. He rendered im-
portant financial aid to the Wolfboro and Tufton-
boro Academy, of which he was a trustee, during
the infancy of its existence, making possible the
success that it ultimately attained, and it was his
custom to provide board for some of its students
who were struggling to obtain an education.
Among the latter was the Hon. Henry Wilson,
vice-president of the United States, whom Mr.
Avery also assisted financially in obtaining an edu-
cation. In various other ways he was instrumental
in forwarding the interests and general welfare of
the town, and his death, which occurred October S,
1858, was universally deplored as a severe loss to
the community.
Mr. Avery married Mary Moody Clark, born
August 25, 1795, daughter of Joseph and Comfort
(Weeks) Clark, of Greenland, this state. (See
Clark V.) She became the mother of three chil-
dren, namely: Augustine Decatur, who will be
again referred to; Joseph L., who will be again
referred to ; and Ann Eliza, born November 25,
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
171
1819. The latter became the wife of Rev. Leander
Thompson, who was for some years a missionary
in Syria. Mrs. Mary M. Avery died March 6, 1876.
(VII) Augustine Decatur, son of Samuel and
Mary M. (Clark) Avery, was born in Wolfboro,
New Hampshire, Octobei- 16, 1814. He occupied
the old homestead of his parents. Thoiigh never
seeking public office and often declining to be a
candidate, he had from time to time filled variotis
positions of public trust. Like many others of his
kindred, he was in his younger days interested in
military tactics and for some time was lieutenant in
a military company. He was town clerk and town
treasurer, each time for several years ; representa-
tive to the legislature for three years; county com-
missioner for two terms. Besides his interest, for
many years, and in connection with his brother in
the village store which his father early established,
he was regarded as an enterprising and model
farmer, having in company with his brother a large
and one of the best conducted farms in New Hamp-
shire. The life and business of the brothers, Au-
gustine D. and Joseph L. Avery, was always so
intimately associated, and to some extent even
identified that much that should be said of one
might also be said of the other. They married sis-
ters: were connected in their business; were inter-
ested in the same general objects as leaders in the
community, as prominent members of the Congrega-
tional Society, as friends of education, good morals
and good order, and to a considerable extent sus-
tained the same municipal and other offices. He
married, December 26. 1854, Sarah E. Libby. daugh-
ter of Dudley Levitt and Sarah Ann (Wiggin)
Libby. Children: Mary Elizabeth, born November
16, 1855, died October 20, 1856. Dudley Libby, Au-
gust Ti, 1857, died June 24, 1874. Samuel Augus-
tine, March ^. 1S60. died August 27. 1861. Samuel
March 14, 7862. Belle, born ^March 27, 1866, un-
married. He died November 10, 1903.
(VIII) Samuel, son of Augustine D. and Sarah
E. (Libby) Avery, was born March 14, 1862, on
the old homestead upon which he now resides. He
is interested in farming and fruit raising. He was
married July 15, 1905, to Mary Chapman Banfield,
daughter of Everett H. and Anne S. (Fiske) Ban-
field.
(VII) Joseph Lorenzo, second son and child of
Samuel and Mary M. (Clark) Avery, was born in
Wolfboro. January 12. 1817. He was educated at
the old Wolfboro and Tuftonboro Academy. En-
tering his father's store as a clerk at an early age,
he continued in mercantile business fdr a mmiber
of years, but finally relinquished trade in order to
devote his time exclusively to his extensive farm-
ing interests, and still owns a valuable agricultural
estate. During the construction of the Wolfboro
Railroad he acted as treasurer of the corporation
which permitted him to serve without furnishing
the customary bond, and for many years he has been
a trustee of the Wolfboro Savings Bank, which he
assisted in the organizing, a trustee of the old Wolf-
boro and Tuftonboro Academy and continued on
the board after the reorganization as the Brewster
free school. In public affairs he was formerly quite
prominent, serving as town clerk and town treas-
urer. In his j'oungcr days he evinced the same
fondness for military affairs which characterized
his ancestors, being at one time captain of a cav-
alry company, was appointed a member of Gov.
ernor AA'cston's staff with the rank of colonel. His
religious affiliations are with the Congregationalists.
Politically he is a Democrat. On January 8, 1857,
Mr. Avery married Helen Maria Libby, who was
born in Tuftonboro, .April 31, 1835. daughter of
Dudley Levitt and Sarah Ann (Wiggin) Libby.
(See Libby.) She bore him two sons: Joseph
William, August 14, 1867 (died October 16, of the
same j'ear) ; and Joseph Clifton Avery.
(VIII) Joseph Clifton, second son and child of
Joseph L. and Helen M. (Libby) Avery, was born
in Wolfboro, June I. 1874. He pursued his pre-
liminary studies in the public schools and was
graduated from the Brewster Free Academy. He
is interested in the dairy industry, for which the
homestead farm is admirably adapted, and in addi-
tion to conducting a profitable milk route he is en-
gaged in the insurance business. He married Mina
Hodge, daughter of William P. and Sarah (Mack)
Hodge. Mr. and Mrs. Avery have two children:
Helen and Howard.
(I) David H., probably son of Benjamin Avery,
of Barnstead, was born June 25. 1765.
He settled upon a farm in Barnstead. New
Hampshire, later moved to Rumney, and lived
to the advanced age of eighty-seven years, his
death having occurred August 12, 1852. In 1786
or 1787 he married Susanna Willey. who was born
May II. 1764. and died in May, 1S53, aged eighty-
nine years. They were both buried on the farm
where' they lived, in Campton. Their children
were: Samuel, born September 14, 1788; Thomas,
November 13, 1789; Lois, May 20, 1791 ; Deborah,
September 17, 1792; Betsey, May 3, 1794: Levi,
March 27. 1795 Susanna, March 17, 1797; David,
May 25, 1800: Elias Smith, the date of who=e birth
will be recorded presently; Hannah, September i,
1803 ; and Ezra, August i?, 1805.
(II) Elias Smith, fourth son and ninth child of
David H. and Susanna (Willey) Avery, was born
August 28, 1801. In early life he resided in Cam-
bridge, Massachusetts, from whence he removed in
1834 to Campton, New Hampshire, where he pur-
chased a farm located in the eastern part of that
town, and he died there July 14, 1^77- About the
year 1827 he was married in Cambridge to Louisa
"Sophronia Buckman. who was bcn-n February 29,
1808. She survived her husband some fifteen years,
her death having occurred January 10, 1892, and
they were both interred in Campton. They were
the' parents of eleven children:' .Alfred Augustus,
born in Cambridge. .August 28, 1828; Charles Hcn-
rv, born in Cambridge, February 22. 183T : Louisa
Maria, born in Cambridge, July 21, 1833. died Sep-
tember 3, 1834: George Edwin, born September I5-
1835. in Campton, which is also the birthplace of
the succeeding children ; Amariah, who will be re-
ferred to at length presently; John Spencer, born
September 22, 1830 ; James Franklin,' bnrn Novem-
ber 27. 1841, diedAugust 2;, i8j=;: Harriet Augusta,
born .Anrii T, 1844; Franklin Winfield, born Jidy
17, 18.16; James Scott, born September 7, 1848;
r.nd IMary Holman. born January 26. 18.S2. Al-
fred A., wbo served in the Civil war. spent several
years in Wisconsin, and is now residing in Stone-
hTui, Massachusetts. His first wife, whom he mar-
ried in Wisconsin, died childless. His second wife
was before marriage Mary Jane Butterfield, of
Stoneham. Charles H. .Avery, who resided in Wis-
consin for upwards of a quarter of a century, died
in Manchester, New Hamnshire, May 78, 7902.
He also ser\'ed in the Rebellion. He was married
in Lowell. Massachusetts, to Mary Holman. of
Dixfield. Maine, who bore him three children:
Louise Sophronia. who became the wife of .Arthur
O. Johnson, of Manchester: .Ada Frances, wife of
Henry Peltnn, of Oshkosh, Wisconsin : and George
Henry, who married .Annie L. Derby, of Manchester.
172
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
George Edwin Avery enlisted in Company I,
Twelfth Regiment, New Hampshire Volunteers,
for service in the Civil war. He was captured by
the enemy in the battle of Gettysburg and confined
in Libby prison, from which he was at length lib-
erated on parole, but was unable to survive the
effects of his long period of starvation and exposure
suffered while a prisoner of war. He died in Wash-
ington. District of Columbia, October 30, 1863, and
was buried in the national cemetery at Annapolis,
Maryland. John Spencer Avery enlisted in Com-
pany E, Eighth Regiment, New Hampshire Vol-
unteers, with which he served three years in the
Civil war, and was honorably discharged at the
conclusion of his term of service, returning to
Campton. For his first wife he married Adaline
Benton, daughter of Zenas Benton, of Campton.
She died October 20, 1868, leaving one son Benton
Henry. He subsequently removed to Manchester,
and on April 17, 1872, married for his second wife
Emma Lucinda Rexford. whose parents will be re-
ferred to later. She died September 28, 1888, and
he afterwards married a third wife, who bore him
one daughter. Marion. Harriet A. Avery is the
wife of Leonard P. Benton, now a retired shoe
manufacturer of Stoneham. Her children are :
Edna Alice, wife of W. P. Fletcher, of Stoneham;
and Herbert Leonard, who died January 10, 1S76.
Franklin Avtry, who is engaged in the real estate
and insurance business in Manchester, married
Hannah Quinn, of Hooksett, this state, and had
four children: Edith. Edwin, Willis F. and Ben-
jamin Harrison. James Scott Avery, tenth child
of Elias and Louisa S. (Buckman) Avery, is still
residing at the old homestead in Campton. He
married Henrietta Rutherford, daughter of Fran-
cis A. and Rhoda (Richardson) Rutherford, and
has one son, Lester Martin Avery, who is residing
with his parents. Mary H. Avery, eleventh child
of Elias S. and Louisa S. (Buckman) Avery, is
now a resident of Stoneham.
(HI) Amariah, fourth son and fifth child of
Elias S. and Louisa S. (Buckman) Avery, was born
in Campton, September 14, 1837. He was educated
in the public schools and resided at home until
attaining his majority. With the exception of a
short period spent in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and
Hooksett, New Hampshire, he has been a resident
of Manchester from 1859 to the present time, and
the active years of his life have been devoted to
the wool-spinning industry. For nearly fifty years
he has been closely identified with the Manchester
Manufacturing Corporation, and has worked his
way forward from an apprentice to the responsible
position of overseer of the worsted spinning de-
partment, having served in that capacity with
marked ability and faithfulness for the past thirty-
one years. He is a past worshipful master of La-
fayette Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and also
affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows. In his religious belief he .is an Episcopalian.
On July 3, 1863, Mr. Avery married Ellen Ame-
lia Golden, who was born in Sutton, Canada, Sep-
tember 12. 1838. She died April 12. 1872. His sec-
ond wife, whom he married November 14, 1877,
was Annie Laurie Rexford, daughter of Myron
Newell and Martha (Boynton) Rexford, of Stan-
stead, Province of Quebec. She is a sister of Em-
ma L. Rexford. previously mentioned as the second
wife of John S. Avery. The children of his first
marriage are : Nellie Louisa Jane, wife of Fred D.
Bullard. of Manchester, and they have one child,
Helen Mary ; and Helen Amoretta Margaret Eliza,
wife of Maurice Hoffman, also of Manchester, one
child, Maurice Harold Frederick. Those of his
second union are: Laurie May Belle, who resides
at home; Earle Rexford, who is in business in Wor-
'cester, Massachusetts ; Ray Longfellow, now a
cadet at the United States Military Academy, West
Point, and Maude Alice, who has not yet completed
her education.
In early Colonial records in New
WILMARTH England the name of Wiimarth,
as now known, is frequently given
as Wilmot and sometimes as Wilmuth, but how-
ever mentioned it probably refers to some branch
of the Wiimarth family. One eminent authority
in treating of the early history of the family in
the colony of ]\Iassachusetts mentions Thomas Wil-
mot, of Braintree, as one of the "petitioners for
the grant of a plantation on lands of Pumham,
1645, tliat the Indian chief had sold to Gorton and
his fellow believers, which our rulers for this
mischief had confiscated," and also refers to him as
"probably the same man who at Rehoboth married,
June 7, 1674, Mary Robinson, living there June 27,
167S," etc. The same authority also suggests that
Thomas Wilmot "expanded" his name to Wiimarth,
recording his name as "senior," and as such was
admitted as townsman, 1673, a"d that his chil-
dren then were Thomas, Elizabeth, Mary, Mehitable
and Ann.
Whatever importance may be attached to this
somewhat fragmentary record of an ancient family
of Massachusetts is uncertain, but the fact remains
that the Wilmarths of New Hampshire of the line
here considered are descendants from Thomas Wil-
mot and his wife Elizabeth, and that Thomas Wil-
mot, Jr., whose wife was Mary Robinson, was the
grandfather of John Wiimarth, who came from
Attleboro, Massachusetts, and settled in Newport,
New Hampshire, when only eight families were
living in tlie town.
(I) Thomas Wilmot, the first of the Wilmots
or Wilmarths from whom the Wilmarths of New
Hampshire trace descent, had a wife Elizabeth, who
bore him children.
(II) Thomas, Jr., son of Thomas and Eliza-
beth Wilmot, married Mary Robinson, a daughter
of George Robinson and Joanna Ingraham, his
wife. George Robinson served under Major Wil-
liam Bradford in the expedition against the Nar-
ragansett Indians during the winter of 1675-76, in
the early part of King Philip's war.
(III) Samuel, son of Thomas Wiimarth, Jr.
(or Wilmot) and Marj- Robinson his wife, married
Elizabeth Chub, and had children.
(IV) John, son of Samuel and Elizabeth
(Chub) Wiimarth, left his old home in jMassachu-
setts and came to New Hampshire when all the re-
gion was a wilderness, and guided his course to
Newport by the means of marked trees. He built
one of the first framed houses in Newport and
was a man of consequence in the town, although
he does not appear to have been particularly promi-
nent in public affairs. While living in Massachu-
setts he married Phebe Briggs, who came with him
to Newport, as also did their eight children, whose
names were Daniel, Nathan. Elkanah (who after-
ward went to Troy, New York). Hartford (who
settled in Vermont), Phebe (who married John
Brown), Eunice (who married George Comstock),
Mary, and Selah (who married Luther Comstock
and settled in Canada).
(V) Daniel, son of John and Phebe (Briggs)
Wiimarth, was born March 12, 1768, and died Oc-
tober 16, 1835, aged eighty-seven years. His prin-
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
U3
cipal occupation was farming, although considerable
o£ his time was given to mechanical work. He
married, February 19, 1795, Nancy jMunroe, of
Rehoboth, Massachusetts, born October 5, 1766, and
died March 24, 1854, aged eighty-nine years. Their
children were: Jonathan M., born May 21, I79t>',
David, July 7, 1797; Lucretia, February 23, 1798;
Daniel, October Ij, 1800, and Nancy, August 16,
1806.
(VI) Jonathan Munroe, eldest son and child
of Daniel and Nancy (Munroe) Wilmarth, was
born in Newport, New Hampshire, May 21, 1796,
and spent the greater part of his active life at his
home place near the Oak street bridge in that
town, where he engaged in farming and mechanical
employments. His thrift and industry secured him
a competency, and his understandmg of business
affairs frequently made him the choice of his fellow
townsmen for public office. He was selectman in
1839, 1841 and again in 1863, and treasurer of
Sullivan county in 1857-58. He also was one of
the board of directors of the Warner Bank and
otherwise was interested in business enterprises in
the town and county. During the Civil war he
acted as recruiting officer, and by encouragement,
advice and material help did much to keep the full
quota of Newport men in the service. Mr. Wil-
marth died December 12, 1885. He married (first),
December 29, 1825, Lucy Cheney, born at Dover,
Massachusetts, November 9, 1800, and died at New-
port, March 21, 1851, daughter of Joseph and Su-
sannah (Wadsworth) Cheney (see Cheney, VI).
Married (second), January 22, 1852, Mrs. Eleanor
L. Woodward, born at Fittsiield, Vermont, Sep-
tember 2, 1817. His children, by both marriages,
were as follows : Ellen C, born July 6, 1827, mar-
ried, July II, 1850, Daniel Nettleton (see Nettle-
ton). Ann M., November 3, 1829, married Quincy
A. Gilmore. James C, August 24, 1833, died Oc-
tober 6, 1834. Henry M., January 25, 1836, died
February 27, 1885. Allen M., April 20, 1838, died
in 1840. Thomas W., September 3, 1843. Lucy
Ella, October 18, 1S53 (see Bradley). Mary Emma,
March 5, 1856.
The Streeter family in New Eng-
STREETER land belonged to the agricultural
class of the community during that
long period when the owners of farms were the
leaders in the affairs of their various states. At
the present day the trend of the family is away from
the farm in the direction of business and professional
life.
(I) Stephen Streeter, the pioneer ancestor of
the American branch of the family, was probably
born in Goudherst, Kent, England, about 1600,
and was a resident thereof until his leaving for
America about 1639 or 1640, and he is found of
record in Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 1642. In
1644 he is of record as a householder at Charles-
town, Massachusetts, where he took the freeman's
oath. May 29, 1644. He and his wife Ursula united
with the church, JMarch 21, 1652. His decease quite
probably occurred shortly afterward. As shown by
his will he was a shoemaker by trade. The family
of Stephen and Ursula Streeter consisted of seven
children, as follows: Stephen, who died in 16S9;
Sarah, Samuel, John, who was a soldier in King
Philip's war; Hannah, Rebecca, and Mary, who was
born subsequent to the death of her father," about
1652.
(II) Stephen (2), eldest child and son of
Stephen (i) and Ursula Streeter, resided in Charles-
town, Watertown, Muddy River (now Brookline)
and Cambridge. He inherited from his father one-
half the Charlestown homestead, which he and his
wife Deborah, then residents of Muddy River, sold
in 1679. In l58i they sold land in" Charlestown,
formerly the property of his father, to Richmond
Russell. Nothing more is known of his personal
history, and no w-ili or administration is found on
record. He died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1689,
and his wife was admitted to the church in full
communion at Cambridge, July 13, 1701. Their chil-
dren were : Stephen, born June 20, 1667, at Water-
town. Sarah, born at Watertown, October 2, 1669.
Samuel, born probably at Muddy River. John, born
probably at Aluddy River. Rebecca, born Septem-
ber 3, 1683, at Cambridge. Deborah, born Septem-
ber 25, 1685, died April 7, ' 1689, at Cambridge. Jo-
seph, born September 18, 1687, died October 22,
1736. Benjamin, born November 25, 1689, died April
23, 1690.
(III) Samuel, third child and second son of
Stephen (2) and Deborah Streeter, was "probably
born at Muddy River, now Brookline. He prob-
ably removed from Cambridge to Attleboro about
1706, as the Attleboro town records show pur-
chases to have been made by him January 15, 1706-
07; May 19, 1713; January 19, 1716-17; and a sale
of land by him there April I, 1713. On August
30, 1717, he purchased land from T. Williard in
Sudbury, and later the records show him to be at
Framinghani, where he died in 1752. He made his
will April 23, 1751, and the same was probated
September iC, 1752. Mr. Streeter married (first)
Deborah, who died November 13, 1708. He mar-
ried (second) Mercy. His children were: Mary,
baptized February 2, 1696-97. Sarah, baptized
February 2, 1696-97. Stephen, baptized September
4, 1698. Samuel, baptized January 7, 1699-1700.
j\lercy, baptized May 14, 1704. Susanna, baptized
April 28, 1706. Joseph, born May 10, 170S. Deb-
orah. Elizabeth.
(IV) Stephen (3), third child and eldest son
of Samuel and Deborah Streeter, was baptized Sep-
tember 4, 1698. He resided in Framingham, from
whence he removed to Douglass, Massachusetts,
where he died September 22, 1756. On December
14, 1744, he purchased of Sutton committee, so
called, one hundred and sixty acres. He married
Catherine Adams ; they covenanted together at" a
church in Framingham, February 7, 1725. Their
children were: Esther, born January 13, 1724-25.
Stephen, born February 14, 1726-27, died January
8, 1812. Abigail, born January 15, 1728-29. Eliza-
beth, born January 9, 1729-30. John, born Febru-
ary 14, 1731-32, died August 24, 1810. Ursula, born
November 9, 1733. Adams, born December 31,
1/35. died September 14, 1786. Zebulon, born March
24, 1739, died October 14, 1808. Naphtali, born
March 6, 1741. Samuel, born January 16, 1743.
Mary, born April I, 1747.
(V) Rev. Zebulon, eighth child and fourth son
of Stephen and Catherine (Adams) Streeter, was
born in the town of Douglass, Massachusetts, March
24, 1739- He and his brother Adams were two of
the great lights in the early days of the Universalist
Church of New England. He resided in Douglass,
Massachusetts, where his first three children were
born. He also resided in Winchester, New Hamp-
shire, where his other children were born; and
his final residence was at Surry, New Flampshire,
where he purchased land in May, 1777. He married,
July 16, 1760, at Oxford, Massachusetts, Tabitha
Harvey, born in 1736, and their children were :
Benjamin, born April 21, 1762, died January 18,
1844. Daniel, born June 23, 1764. Benoni, born
174
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
June 22, 1766, died September 2, 1793. Hannah.
Lucy, born January, 1771. Jesse, born October 25,
1773, died May 5, 1835. Eliah, born 1774, died
1806. Elijah,' born July 3, 1775. David, born De-
cember 2, 1777. Tabitha. Rev. Zebulon Streeter
died at Surry, New Hampshire, October 14, ,1808;
his wife also died in the same town, January 25,
1S13, aged seventy-six years.
(.V'l) Benjamin, eldest child and son of Rev.
Zebulon and Tabitha (Harvey) Streeter, was born
in Douglass, Massachusetts, April 21, 1762. He
removed from Douglass, Massachusetts, to Concord,
Vermont about 1782. In 17S7, while a resident of
Concord, Vermont, he purchased of Zebulon
Streeter, of Concord, Vermont, one right of fifty
acres of the proprietary lands in that town. Sep-
tember 2, 1794, he took the freeman's oath, and
February of the same year was chosen selectman
and fence viewer. He married, October 18, 1792,
Lucy Farnsworth, born February 17, 1764, died in
Concord, Vermont, February 10, 1842. He died
at East Charlestown, Vermont, January 18, 1844.
Their children were : Hannah, born in Concord,
Vermont, October 14, 1797, died February 21, 1814.
Daniel, born July 24, 1799, died January 8, 1873.
(VII) Daniel, second child and only son of
Benjamin and Lucy (Farnsworth) Streeter, was
born in Concord, Vermont, July 24, 1799. He mar-
ried Mary Jackson, born in Canterbury, New Hamp-
shire, August 30, 1799, died in Island Pond, Ver-
mont, March 28, 1872. He died in the same town,
January 8, 1873. Their children were : Charles,
born in Concord, Vermont, October 2, 1S24, died
April 7, 1865. Hannah, born in Concord, Vermont,
January 18, 1826. George, born March 30, 182S,
died in infancy. Daniel, born in Concord, Ver-
mont, March i, 1829. Mary Jane, born in East
Charleston, Vermont, September 9, 1831, died May
5, 1853. Samuel C, born in East Charleston,
Vermont, April 18, 1834. Norman, born in East
Charleston, Vermont, July 18, 1840, died Septem-
ber ir, 1856. Henry, born in East Charleston,
Vermont, July 18, 1842, died August 14, 1842.
(VIII) Daniel, fourth child and third son of
Daniel and Mary (Jackson) Streeter, was born in
Concord, Vermont, lilarch i, 1829. He was edu-
cated at the public schools, and worked on the
home farm till he was twenty-one years old. He
then went to St. Johnsbury, Vermont, where he
learned the brass moulder's trade and worked at
that till 1853. Owing to impaired health, he went
to East Charleston, Vermont, where he cultivated
a farm for ten years. From 1863 till 1871 he was
employed at the Fairbank scale works as moulder.
Mr. Streeter then engaged in the shoe business till
1879. In 1904 he removed to Concord, New Hamp-
shire, and now resides in that city near his chil-
dren. He married Julia Wheeler, born August 26,
1831, daughter of Lemuel and Ruth (Clifford)
Wheeler. Their children are : Frank Sherwin, born
August 5, 1853. Anna May, born in St. Johnsbury,
Vermont, May i, 1867. Celia, born in East Charles-
ton, Vermont, December 27, 1857, died September
16, 1859.
(IX) Frank Sherwin, eldest child of Daniel
and Julia (Wheeler) Streeter, was born in East
Charleston, Vermont, August 5, 1853. His youth
was passed in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, where
he attended the public schools and the St.
Johnsbury Academy. He entered Bates Col-
lege as a freshman in 1870, but joined the
class of 1874 at Dartmouth in sophomore year.
Immediately following his graduation in 1874 from
Dartmouth, Mr. Streeter served for one year as
principal of the high school at Ottumwa, Iowa, and
at the e-xpiration of this period of time he relin-
quished teaching for the study of law, the practice
of which he chose as his life work. At Bath, New
Hampshire, July, 1875, he entered the law office
of the late Chief Justice Alonzo P. Carpenter, and
in March, 1877, was admitted to the New Hamp-
shire bar. After devoting six months to the prac-
tice of his profession in Orford, New Hampshire,
he removed to Concord and formed a partnership
with John H. Albin, which connection continued un-
til September, 1879, when he became a law partner
of William M. Chase under the firm name of Chase
& Streeter. This partnership was dissolved in 1891,
on the appointment of Mr. Chase as associate jus-
tice of the supreme court. In 1892 Mr. Streeter
formed another partnership, which since 1894 has
been Streeter, Walker & HoUis, and which was
succeeded by that of Streeter & Hollis.
Mr. Streeter made his mark as a lawyer in what
is known as "the great railroad fight of 18S7," when
he was one of the counsel for the Old Concord
railroad. The ability which he showed in that con-
test led to his being made one of the general counsel
of the Concord &: Montreal railroad, and on the lease
of that road to the Boston & Maine railroad, he was
made chief counsel for New Hampshire for that
corporation. His practice mainly for corporations
is very large. In 1893 Mr. Streeter was elected
as an alumni trustee of Dartmouth College. At
the beginning of Dr. Tucker's administration in
INIarch, 1893, he appointed Mr. Streeter chairman of
the committee on buildings and improvements, and
the great work of building the various structures
which has physically recreated the college in the
last twelve years have been carried on by the com-
mittee of which Mr. Streeter has been the head.
The value of his services to President Tucker and
and the board of trustees in that decade from 1893,
which witnessed such a great advance in the affairs
of the college, was recognized by his election in
1900 as life trustee of the college. An equally great
public honor was accorded to Mr. Streeter, in 1902,
when he was made president of the New Hampshire
Constitutional Convention, a body that meets only
three or four times in the course of a century.
In politics Mr. Streeter is a Republican, and is
regarded as exercising a very potent influence in
the affairs of that party in New Hampshire. In
1S92 he presided over the Republican State Con-
vention which nominated Governor John B. Smith,
and in 1896 he was sent as a delegate at large to
the National Convention at St. Louis, where he
served on the committee on resolutions and was
a strong factor in securing the platform declaration
in favor of the gold standard. In 1904 he was
chosen a member of the Republican National Com-
mittee from New Hampshire. Mr. Streeter is a
member of Eureka Lodge of Masons, also of Mount
Horeb Commandery of Knights Templar, of Con-
cord. He is also a Thirty-second degree Mason.
He is a member of the Wonolancet Club of Con-
cord, of which he is president, and one of the most
active spirits in the somewhat famous Snow Shoe
Club, whose entertainment of distinguished men
is widely known. He is also a member of the
Derryfield Club of Manchester, and of the Univer-
sity, Algonquin and Union clubs of Boston.
Mr. Streeter married, November 14, 1877, Lilian
Carpenter, daughter of the late Hon. Alonzo P.
Carpenter, chief justice of the supreme court of
New Hampshire. They have two children : Julia,
born September S, 1878, a graduate of Bryn Mavvr
College, in the class of 1900, and Thomas Winthrop,
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
175
born July 20, 18S3, a graduate of St. Paul's School,
Concord, New Hampshire, in 1900, of Dartmouth
College in 1904, and who is at present in the Harvard
Law School.
This is a modification of one of
STANIELS the ^ old New Hampshire _ names,
continuously associated with the
history of the state almost from the first settlement
within its borders. By some it is now spelled Stan-
ion. The immigrant ancestor was probably a Dutch-
man who became attached to the Puritan colony in
Leyden and accompanied one of their expeditions to
the new w^orld. He was the ancestor of a numerous
progeny, and the sturdy characteristics of his time
are still conspicuous in his descendants.
(I) Anthony Stanyan, "glover," is found of
record at Boston in 1641. He was born about
1611. and came to Massachusetts in the ship "Plant-
er," in 1635. He was town clerk at Exeter in 1647,
and settled at Hampton the next year. He was one
of the leading men of the latter town, and was dig-
nified with the title of "Mr.," a designation given
only to the most respectable. He was chosen one
of the selectmen March 25, 1649, and was again
elected in 1662, 1668 and 1676. In 1630 seats were
assigned to him and his wife in the church, and
in the same year he drew share No. 63 in the ox
common. Pie was a man of some substance, as
indicated by his tax in 1653 of one pound, two shill-
ings and four pence. He was at that time a com-
missioner of the rates and was chosen to examine
into the merits of the case of Maurice Hobbs
against the town, and the next year was made one
of the agents to manage the case on the part of
the town. Two years later he was one of a com-
mittee to "seek out help for the ministry." In 1665
he acted as agent of the town in exchanging its
land for other with Nathaniel Weare. In July of
that year he was constable, and in October was
chosen to lay out" the farm of Mr. Cotton at Hog-
pen plain. He was chosen July 12. 1667, to keep
the ordinary. March 3, 1670, he had a grant of one
hundred and sixty acres of land. He was one of
the signers of the Weare petition, and was repre-
sentative in 1654 and 16S0. He deeded his estate
to his son shortly before his death, which oc-
curred in 1688. His home was south of Taylor's
river, and the inventory of his personal estate
amounted to forty-five pounds, eighteen shillings
and two pence. His first wife, Mary, whose fam-
ily name is unknown, died between 1650 and 1655.
He was married (second) November i, 1655, in
Salisbury, Massachusetts, to Ann, widow of Wil-
liam Partridge, of that town. She died July 10,
1689. The records show that he had two children,
John and Mary. The latter married John Picker-
ing, of Portsmouth.
(II) John, son of Anthony Stanyan. was born
July 16, 1642, in Hampton, and died there Septem-
ber 27, 171S, the home being in what is now Hamp-
ton Falls. In his will he takes especial pains to
ensure the retention of his property in the Stanyan
family. He was selectman in 1692, 1699, 1701 and
1709. and representative in i/OS. He was regarded
by his contemporaries as a very good man, and is
believed to have been a Quaker. He proposed that
some of the common lands be set off to the Quak-
ers for a parsonage, and this was done February
19, 171 1. He was married December 25, 1663, to
Mary Bradbury, of Salisbury, and they were the
parents of eight children, namely : Mary, James.
Jacob (died young), Joseph, Mehetabel, Ann, Jacob
and Betsey.
(III) Jacob, fourth son of John and Man,'
(Bradbury) Stanj-an, was born JIarch 31, 16S3, in
Hampton, and succeeded his father on the home-
stead. He was selectman of Hampton Falls in
1723 and 1746. His first wife, Dorothy, died No-
vember 16, 1723, aged about thirty-nine years. They
were married October 29, 1704. The christian name
of his second wife was Lydia and she was the
rnother of his youngest child, Sarah. Those of the
first wife were : Elizabeth. Mehetabel, John, Mary,
Joseph, Jacob, Dorothy, and Rachel and Ann,
twins.
No record appears anywhere in New Hampshire
concerning the lives of John, Joseph and Jacob,
sons of Jacob Stanyan, of Hampton. One of these
was possibly the father of the next mentioned.
They^ probably settled in some of the towns of
Rockingham county, where records are faulty or
have been destroyed, possibly in Brentwood. The
name disappears entirely from the records of Hamp-
ton, soon after the middle of the eighteenth cen-
tur\-.
(IV) Jonathan Stanyan was probably born soon
after 1700, and may have been a son of Jacob and
Lydia Stanyan. He is first found of record in
Chichester, New Hampshire, where he died No-
vember II, 1777. He was active in the Re\-oIution-
ary struggle. The first record of his service ap-
pears in the list of commissioned officers of Colonel
Thomas Stickney's regiment, March 5, 1776, where
his rank is given as lieutenant. He was in Cap-
tain Sanborn's company, a body of men raised in
Colonel John McCleary's regiment of militia "to
Joyn General Stark -at Bennington, or the Com-
manding officer there or thereabout." He was mus-
tered and paid by Thomas Bartlett, muster and pay
master for said men September 9, 1779, his advance
wages being six pounds. He is credited to Chiches-
ter as an ensign on the pay roll of Nathan San-
born's company, in Colonel Stephen Evans' regi-
ment, which regiment marched from the state of
New Hampshire in September. 1777, to re-enforce
the Continental army at Saratoga. This pay roll
extended from the 8th day of September of that
year to the i6th day of December following, at
which latter date Ensign Stanyan had perished in
the service of his country. He was a selectman of
Chichester in 1775, and in the following j-ear was
a member of the committee of safety for that town.
Tradition says that he lost a leg in the army be-
fore his death. No record appears of his wife or
children, except that the family record makes John
Stanyan his son. The records of the pioneer period
in Chichester are very meagre. He may have
lived in that tovi'n several years before the time of
the Revolution.
(V) John, son of Jonathan Stanyan, was born
September 24, 1763, possibly in Chichester, and died
in that town August I, 1847. He was a successful
farmer, and reared a large family. Several of his
sons changed the orthography of the name to Stan-
iels, and other retained the original spelling. He
was married September 22, 1785. in Epsom, to Abi-
gail Langmaid, who was born in 1767, probably in
Chichester, and died February 23, 1846, in her
eightieth year. His children were : Polly Lang-
maid, Jonathan, John. Carpenter, Samuel, James,
Edward Langmaid, Hazen, Sally, Charles, Hiram
and Jeremiah. Those who changed the orthog-
raphy of the name to Stanicls were Carpenter,
James, Edward Langmaid, Hazen and Charles.
Mary became the wife of William Martin, of
Canaan. Their daughter Abigail married Horace
Chace, of that town. (See Chase, X.)
(VI) Edward Langmaid, son of John and Abi-
gail (Langmaid) Stanyan, was born February 3,
1/6
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
iSoo, in Chichester, and died December 6, 1S64. in
Roxburj-, Massachusetts. He was reared upon
the home farm in Chichester, and received the or-
dinary education supplied by the common schools of
his native town. Going to Boston he there engaged
for some years in the grocery business, and subse-
quently removed to Lowell, Massachusetts, where
he was for many years a druggist, until failmg
health compelled him to abandon active business
life. He was a man of quiet, domestic tastes, and
did not assume to mingle in public affairs. He
was a member of the Masonic order, and was a
highly respected citizen. He was married (.first)
January i, 1825. to Harriet Richardson, of Med-
ford, Massachusetts, who died in 1837, and they
had three children: Harriet, Augustus and Caro-
line, all of whom are now deceased. The first died
unmarried. Augustus was for many years a drug-
gist in Lowell, and was the originator of "Hoyts
German Cologne" which had a great popularity
and very wide sale. The younger daughter became
the wife of Captain James M. Upton, of Boston,
where she died. Edward Langmaid Staniels was
married (second), November 11, 1840, to Ruth
Bradley, daughter of Isaac and Abigail (Tay)
Eastman, of East Concord (see Eastman, VI). She
was born March 22-, 1812, and is still living at East
Concord, where she took up her residence in 1869,
in the house where she was born. She has one
child who is the subject of the next paragraph.
(VII) Charles Eastman, only child of Edward
Langmaid and Ruth Bradley (.Eastman) Staniels,
was born December 27, 1844, in Lowell, Massa-
chusetts, and received his preliminary education
there and in Pembroke Academy. He graduated
from the Washington grammar school of Rox-
bury, Massachusetts, and was later a student for
two years at the Roxbury Latin School. While in
school he enlisted in March, 1862. in the Fifty-
sixth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers, for
service in the Civil war. Being a minor at this
time, and his fatlier being in feeble health and
feeling the need of his son's assistance, he pro-
cured the rejection of the latter from the service.
The son then engaged in the wholesale gent's fur-
nishing goods in Boston, and in 1865 went on the
road as a commercial salesman. He soon became
general agent for an establishment in South Boston
which was engag:ed in the manufacture of paper
collars, and continued this connection until 1874.
He subsequently became associated as junior part-
ner in the firm of G. D. Dows & Company, manu-
facturer of soda water apparatus in Boston. After
two years he sold out his interest in this concern,
and returned to the emplojmient of the paper col-
lar manufacturers. On account of failing health
he was obliged to practically abandon business for
a period of about two years, and most of this time
was spent in Concord. In 1886 he became general
agent for New Hampshire and Vermont of the
Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, and
this association has been continuous to the present
time. To this occupation he brought a ripeness of
experience; an energy and business ability which
built up the business in his charge to a large de-
gree.
On his rejection for service in the Civil war, he
became a member of the Old Tiger Regiment of
Militia in Boston, and received a commission. Dur-
ing the draft riots in 1864, he was in command of
the detachment guarding the armory at Boyleston
Hall for a period of ten days. He continued his
connection with this organization until his removal
from Boston. His interest in military affairs, hcav-
ever, has been continuous, and for many years he
has been a member of the Amoskeag Veteran.-:,
the leading military organization of New Hamp-
shire. He entered as a private in 1892, and rose
through the gradations until he was major com-
manding from 1903 to 1906, and refused a further
election to that office, fie is still an active mem-
ber, and is in almost continuous service on various-
committees, as well as in the regular work of
the organization. He is a past president of the
State Society, Sons of the American Revolution,
and also a past president of the White Mountain
Commercial Travelers' Association, a very large
body in New England. He was a member of the
executive committee of the National Life Under-
writers' Association for twelve years, and for many
years has served as secretary and treasurer of the
Republican city committee of Concord. He is a
member of the board of trustees of the Public Li-
brary of his home city, and is a member of the
East Congregational Church of Concord.
Major Staniels was married October 22. 1874,
to Eva Florence Tuttle, of Boston, who was born
March 11, 1852, in Lowell. Massachusetts, daughter
of Gilman and Charlotte (Hackett) Tuttle, both of
old New Hampshire families. The following chil-
dren have been born to Major and Mrs. Staniel: i.
Charles Tuttle, born May 22, 1876, was married
June 14, 1900, to Elsie Marie Fuller, and they are
the parents of two children, namely: Ruth Celia,
born April 7, 1901 ; and Dorothy Eva, July 31,
1905. 2. Mabel Ruth, born February 14, 187S,
was married June 2, 1906, to Jay Roy Spiller, and
resides in Concord. Thej' have a daughter, Miriam
Florence, born September 15, 1907. 3. Grace, bom
September 30, 1880. died (Dctober 21, of the same
\'ear. 4. Roscoe, born February 14, 1886, died Sep-
tember 23, 1902.
The Nuttings are a New England
NUTTING pioneer family which was founded
in Massachusetts at an early date in
the history of that colony and it was transplanted
in New Hampshire considerably more tlian a hun-
dred years ago. Its representatives foujght in
the early Indian wars, were enrolled in the Con-
tinental army during the American Revolution,
and supported the cause of the Union in the san-
guinary civil strife of 1861-63.
(I) John Nutting, who came from the county
of Kent, England, was residing in Woburn, Mas-
sachusetts, as early as 1650, and was one of the
petitioners for the town of Chelmsford, whither
he went in the spring of 1653. In 1661 he removed
to Groton, Massachusetts, as one of its original
proprietors, and his dwelling constituted one of the
five garrison houses. He was killed in an attack
upon the town March 13, 1676, by a band of In-
dians under the notorious John Monoco. August
28, 1650, he was married in Woburn to Sarah Eggle-
ton, who returned there after her husband's deatli.
She was the mother of seven children: John,
James and Mary, who were baptized in Chelms-
ford ; Deborah, Sarah, Ebenezer and Jonathan,
who were born in Groton.
(II) John, son of John and Sarah (Eggleton)
Nutting, was born in Woburn, August 25, 1631. The
christian name of his first wife whom he married
December II, 1674, was Mary, and on January 3,
1707-08, he married for his second wife Mary Park-
er. He was a lifelong resident of Groton, and the
father of: John, Daniel. Jonathan and Eleazer.
(III) Eleazer, son of John and Mary Nutting,
was born in Groton. but the date of his birth is not
(L .€ljSya/^ujj^
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
177
at hand. June 23, 1789, he married Abigail Davis,
who was born in Groton, July 24, 1699, daughter of
John and Mehitabel Davis. He had Abigail, Pa-
tience, Eleazer, Sarah and perhaps others.
(IV) Eleazer, third child and eldest son of
Eleazer and Abigail (Davis) Nutting, was born in
Groton, January 21, 1725-26. He resided in Gro-
ton his entire life, which terminated November 10,
1791. March 22, 1749-50, he married Sarah Farns-
worth, who was born in Lunenburg, Massachusetts,
November 27, 1727, daughter of Isaac and Sarah
(Page) Farnsworth. She bore him one son and
several daughters.
(V) Eleazer, only son of Eleazer and Sarah
(Farnsworth) Nutting, was born in Groton, Sep-
tember, ir, 1760. He was a soldier in the Revo-
lution, and the description roll states that he was
five feet and five inches in stature, and of dark
complexion. He married Sarah Kemp, who w'as
born in Groton, February 5, 1764, and resided a few
years in Pepperill, JNIassachusetts. In 1786 he went
to Society Land, now Bennington, New Hampshire,
from whence he removed six years later to Frances-
town, this state, and occupied a farm located on the
county road in the vicinity of the White mill. He
subsequently removed to Danville, Vermont, where
his wife died August 26, 1S24. and he married a sec-
ond time, October 11, 1826, to Susannah Pettengill,
who died March 2, 1S39. His death occurred in
Norwich, Vermont, January 7, 1851.
(VI) Allen, son of Eleazer and Sarah (Kemp)
Nutting was born in Francestown, September 6,
1810. He resided in Danville for a time, but re-
turned to Francestown and remained there until
his death, which occurred February 15, 1888. He
was a farmer, a Congregationalist in religious faith
and a Democrat who supported Abraham Lincoln
and his war policies. His marriage took place
April 28, 1835, to Mary Hopkins, who was born
in Francestown, May 25, 1815, daughter of Ebe-
nezer and Lucy (Deane) Hopkins, and a descendant
on the paternal side of sturdy Scotch-Irish ances-
tors. She bore him three sons and five daughters,
namely : Rosamond Lucy, Abbey, Ebenezer Hop-
kins, Maria Dole, George Dean, Charles Eleazer,
Ella Floretta and Clara Belle. The mother died
October 8, 1S93.
(VII) Ebenezer Hopkins, son of Allen and Mary
(Hopkins) Nutting, was born in Danville, June
16, 1840. His education was acquired in the pub-
lic schools, select schools and Francestown Academy.
In 1852 he went to Manchester, New ^Hampshire,
where he found employment at the Amoskeag
milh. In 1861 he enlisted as a private in Company
C. Fourth Regiment, New Hampshire Volunteers,
was subsequently promoted to the rank of sergeant
and served three years with credit in the war of
the Rebellion. Shortly after his return from the
front he resumed his connection with the textile
industries as an employe at the -Amoskeag mills, and
w?5 for a time employed in tlie Manchester post-
office. After one and a half years as second hand
in the weaving department of the New Market
Mills, in July. 1867, he went to Hooksett as over-
seer of weaving in the Hooksett, now Dundee,
mills. In April, 1874, he was appointed agent of
the Hooksett ^lanufacturin.g Company. Here op-
portunity presented itself for the exercise of his
business ability, which proved exceedingly bene-
ficial to the corporat'ion, and he continued in that
capacity until October, 1897. W'hen Ife retired per-
manently from active manufacturing. For a num-
ber of years Mr. Nutting has acted as agent of the
Blood estate, which comprises numerous and varied
i — 12
interests in Manchester, and the intrusting of these
properties to his exclusive management fully at-
tests the implicit confidence in which he is held.
He is prominent in Grand Army circles, having
been elected post commander of Louis Bell Post.
Manchester, though business demands prevented
his acceptance of the office. He is an active mem-
ber of St. James Methodist Episcopal Church, hav-
ing joined the church in Hooksett in 1874. Politi-
cally he is a Republican, and was representative
from Hooksett about the year 1891.
On August 17, 1867, he married Perlena Rovi'e
Perkins, of Brownfield, Maine, daughter of William
and JMercy (Dutch) Greenlaw, and widow of Os-
borne Perkins, a Union soldier. Mr. and Mrs. Nut-
ting are the parents of four children : Elmer W.,
who will be again referred to. Charles E., a sales-
man for Henry W. Parker & Company, Manchester.
Frederick, teller at the Mechanics Savings Bank,
Manchester. Mary, who is residing at home.
(VIII) Elmer W., eldest son and child of Ebe-
nezer H. and Perlena R. (Perkins) Nutting, was
born in Hooksett, October 7, 1871. After graduating
from the Francestown Academy he pursued a com-
mercial course at a Business College in Boston,
at the conclusion of which he accepted a clerk-
ship in the Second National Bank, Manchester, and
was subsequently advanced to the position of teller.
In 1899 he severed his connection with the Second
National Bank to enter the employ of Messrs. Hay-
den, Stone & Company, bankers and brokers, Bos-
ton, and is at the present time occupying a re-
sponsible position in the executive department of
that establishment. He was at one time actively
concerned in the interests of public education in
Manchester, having served with ability upon the
school board, and although his business prevents a
continuation of his former activities, he nevertheless
retains an earnest interest in that direction, as
w-ell as in all other matters relative to the welfare
of the city. He is a member of the Franklin Street
Church.
Mr. Nutting married Mary C. Merrill, daughter,,
of Samuel C. Merrill. She is a prominent club
woman, trustee and auditor of the Elliott Hospital
and a member of the Daughters of the American
Revolution. The children of this union are:
Georgia Merrill, Merrill Carpenter, Elmer W., Jr.,
and another child who is no longer living.
The following sketch of Joseph Wood
WOOD and his son, Captain Joseph Wood, the
centenarian, is taken from the New
Hampshire Weekly News of Lebanon, New Hamp-
shire :
Joseph Wood, the father of the centenarian,
was born in Mansfield, Connecticut, in 1725, and
married Anna Palmer, born in 1728. He was one
of the proprietors of this town, and brought the first
oaken tree that was transplanted from Mansfield, (Con-
necticut, to the new town of Lebanon. He emi-
grated with his wife and children then born, and
arrived at his adopted home about 1765, or 1766.
His good judgment and clear foresight secured a
large proportion of those beautiful interval lands
lying on the east side of Connecticut and south of
the Mascoma rivers, extending easterly on the hill-
side, including a fair portion of the upland. He
built his first house on the south side of the King's
highway, so called, which was laid out by the pro-
prietors of the town, and ran easterly from the in-
terval land through Lebanon, "passmg by the Porter
place, the Aspinwall hill, the Abel Storrs and the
Colonel Constant Storrs farms, to the Enfield line.
1/8
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
The location of the house was about seventy rods
easterly from the present residence of Oliver L.
Stearns. It was here where he began to clear the
land and prepare a new house for his family, and
where the younger portion of his children were
born. When he first commenced his labors in the
forest he was often frightened from his work by
strange noises, which he supposed were from wild
animals, and was seriously inclined to seek some
other place for a settlement. After a few days of
anxiety he ascertained that his neighbor, Zalmon
Aspinwall. was the wild animal of the woods, who
from mere sport had been practicing some of his
wonderful imitations of the wolf and wild cat, thus
amusing himself at Mr. Wood's expense. Being
convinced that no danger was apprehended of a
serious nature, Mr. Wood concluded to go on with
his work, and did so, without any further distur-
bance.
Mr. Wood possessed a strong constitution, was
industrious, persevering and labored with a will
and the power of a strong arm to fell the forest
trees and open a farm, and with the assistance of
some of his boys who were old enough to help
him, he succeeded after a few years in accomplish-
ing his purpose. Improvements and additions to
his farm were made year after year, which with the
extra help and increase of his family made it nec-
essary to enlarge his present house or build anew.
He finally concluded to erect a new one on the west
side of the river road, near the intersection of the
King's highway. He built it with a view to make
it answer a double purpose, for a tavern and a farm
house. Its completion was followed by the removal
of his family from the old to the new house, which
was soon opened as a tavern, and which was prob-
ably the first one established around that part of
the town. Like other taverns in that early day, it
was no doubt rude in conveniences and uncere-
monious in its management ; but nevertheless it was
truly the travelers' home, where the landlord was
glad to welcome a customer and the weary traveler
was happy to find a resting-place. It seems that
the bar-room was occasionaly a jolly place. One
day a traveler called at the tavern, and while par-
taking of some refreshments at the dinner table
the sound of a fiddle was heard in the bar-room,
and some footsteps began keeping time to the music,
and as the fiddle increased to quick time, so the
footsteps moved with greater violence. Mrs. Wood,
who was present, threw up her hands and said, "it
was a disgrace to the house, but she was glad to
know that no one of her boys would be guilty of
such a sinful amusement." At that moment the
door flew open and one of her younger boys rushed
into the room saying. "Mother ! mother ! brother
John's dancing in the bar-room as hard as he can,"
which caused her to exclaim, "then he must be
crazy."
Mr. Wood continued his farming and tavern-
keeping until 178Q, at which time, according to the
record of taxes, he went into business w'ith his son
Jfoseph, Jr., and they paid taxes together up to the
year 1797. The old gentleman died on the 2d day
•of November, 1798, aged seventy-three, and Joseph,
Jr., by previous arrangement with his father, came
in possession of a large portion of his property.
Joseph, the elder, had been successful in accumulat-
ing a handsome fortune, and was a generous father
to all his children, giving to each an equal share in
land, farm, money, or education, excepting the
larger portion secured to Joseph, Jr., which caused
a little uneasiness in the minds of the less favored
children.
As early as 1768, he held the ofiice of constable.
was also elected one of the committee for laying
out the school money and conducting the schools.
He was also actively engaged in die subject of re-
ligion, but according to a vote of the town. May 22d,
1769, for the purpose of establishing a gospel ad-
ministration, he was selected as one of the com-
mittee to procure a minister, and was also otherwise
honored by the town. He was among the first who
joined the Congregational Church under the pas-
torate of the Rev. Isaiah Potter.
He excelled in his judgment of the value of lands
and other property, and thereby was successful in
' nearly all his business transactions during life.
His wife was one of the strong women of that age,
and possessed an active, independent mind, and it
is said that she was as much entitled to credit for
her judgment and prudence in acquiring property as
her husband.. She was always pleasant and sociable
among her friends and neighbors, and often very
amusing in her stories and conversation. They
were both well prepared in "the land of steady hab-
its," to become pioneers in a new country, and to
bear together the hardships of a life journey
through the forest land. They raised a large fam-
ily, seven boys and three girls, who, by their works,
have proved an honor to themselves and to their
father and mother.
The following disagreement is supposed to be
the only one that ever transpired between Mr. Wood
and his wife. When they were cosily enjoying an
evening's rest, a scratching was heard in the ceiling
of the old house, and Mr. Wood said, "it was a
rat," and Mrs. Wood said "it was a mouse," and
the same expressions were repeated back and forth
several times, until Mrs. Wood declared, with em-
phasis not to be misunderstood, that "if he con-
tinued to say it was a rat, she would not live with
him another day." "Well," said Mr. Wood, "call
it a mouse then ; but Wood know^s it is a rat." Mrs.
Wood was occasionaly humorous. At one time
she complained of a great trouble in mind, and her
friends tried to console her, and expressed much
sympathy for her apparent bad state of feeling,
and urged her seriously to tell her great trouble.
She finally said mith mock solemnity, "it was be-
cause her husband did not own all the land that
joined him."
The old lady, after her husband's decease, still
continued her residence in her old home with her
son Joseph, excepting occasional visits among other
children. She was an old fashioned woman in
strength of body and mind, and enjoyed life and
health until March 11, 1813, when she died at
the age of eighty-five. The children of Joseph and
Anna Palmer W^ood are as follows :
1. Rev. Samuel, born in Mansfield. Connecti-
cut, about 1753. married Eunice Bliss, of Lebanon,
in 1781 ; children none.
2. Mariam, born in Mansfield, Connecticut, in
1755, married Stephen Colburn, of Hartford, 'Ver-
mont, in 1779 ; children, ten.
3. Jane, born in ^Mansfield, 1757, married Asa
Colburn, of Tunridge, Vermont ; children, ten.
4. Captain Joseph, born in Mansfield, Connect-
icut, November 8, 1759, and married Sarah Currish
Boscawen, 1782; children, eleven.
5 Captain Ephraim, born in Mansfield, Con-
necticut, 1761, married Martha Jackson, of Bosca-
wen, in 1785 : children, eleven.
6. Anna, born in Mansfield, Connecticut, 1764;
married Elias" Marsh, of Sharon, Vermont, in 1796;
children, seven.
7. Captain Roger, born in Mansfield, Connnect-
icut, 1766: married Achsah Tilden, of Lebanon, in
1795 : children, six.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
179
S. Captain John, born in Lebanon, 1768, mar-
ried Persis Hyde, in 1796; children, eleven.
9. Rev. Benjamin, born in Lebanon, in 1770,
married- Betsy Dustin ; children, eight.
10. Rev. Luther, born in Lebanon, in 1772, mar-
ried Wealthy Marsh ; children, nine.
Total number of grandchildren, eighty-three.
As a history of all the Wood family woidd be
too extensive for a newspaper publication, the writer
has selected the Captain Joseph Wood, Jr.. branch
as being more intimately connected with his father's
famih'. The old stock of Woods seem to have pos-
sessed tb some extent a martial spirit, and also a
spirit of religious devotion, four of whom bore the
title of Captain, and three were honored with the
prefix of Rev., and all were professors of religion
and belonged to the Congregational Church.
Captain Joseph Wood, Jr., the centenarian,
son of the first settler Joseph, was born in Mans-
field. Connecticut, in 1759. and came to Lebanon
with his father when about seven or eight years of
age. He lived and worked with his father and
brothers on the farm, and grew up in the family
until free to act for himself. Having received an
education sufficient to warrant him in accepting the
position of a school teacher, he could not do other-
wise than comply with a request from Boscawen
to teach school in that town. Providence seems
to have favored him in this new calling; for while
engaged in teaching, he became acquainted with
Miss Sarah Gerrish, daughter of Colonel Henry
Gerrish and his wife, Martha Cloiigh, of Boscawen,
which resulted in a mutual attachment, and they
were married in the year 17S2.
Their first settlement was on the farm now
owned by Hazen Purmort. An old log house was
the only domicile on the land, and it is said that
when Mrs. Wood was first introduced to her new
habitation, her foot slipped and she fell prostrate on
the floor. It was indeed an unpleasant introduction
for a young bride, but eventually it proved the
truth of the old adage, "that a bad beginning makes
a good end." This little farm of about eighty
acres had a pleasant location and was a good piece
of land. At one time he raised a large crop of
wheat, and being destitute of a "barn he thrashed
it in the field, leaving the straw upon the ground,
which enriched the land to such an extent that the
spot was bright and green and easily distinguished
from a distance, even when Mr. Wood was getting to
be an old man. S. S. Barrows said that when passi■^g
along the road to East Lebanon with the. old gentle-
man one day, he called his attention to the still
green spot and spoke of the yield of grain as the
most bountiful he ever saw.
After a few years of labor on the Purmort farm,
he disposed of his interest in it and purchased one
hundred acres of land situated on the south side of
tjie road adjoining the Deacon Porter farm. He
removed to that place and commenced anew his
farm life. His income from that source being lim-
ited, he felt obliged to connect other kinds of busi-
ness with it, and so he traded some in lumber,
bought and sold grain, and speculated generally.
During the first years of his married life it is
said that he was not very rich in this world's goods,
but was rich in judgment, in a persevering indus-
try and in the hope of a future independence, but
richer still in the possession of a good and sensible
wife to manage the household affairs. She was
well qualified for a good helpmeet in those early
days. She not only did her duty in the house,
but sometimes she did more than that outside of
her department. The convenience of an oven was
desired, and when the bricks were procured she
laid them into an oven with her own hands, and
perhaps as well as any man could do it. It was
located on a wood foundation and lasted many
years, but it was eventually destroyed by fire. The
experience and good judgment of Mr. Wood in-
sured him a growing addition to his income from
year to year, and his knowledge of the value of
the land, of cattle and horses, and almost every
kind of property, was superior to men generally,
and he continued to improve his farm and to pros-
per in other business until the increasing age and
failing strength of his old father made it necessary
that some one of his sons should assist him in his
business. An arrangement was finally concluded in
the year 1789, as before related, and Joseph removed
his family to the house of his father, and the two
families were united and remained so during the
life-time of the old gentleman.
After his father's death in 1798, Joseph suc-
ceeded to a large portion of his estate, including the
homestead. Previous to the death of his father
he sold to Deacon Porter, November, 1796. his old
farm on the hill, where he established his second
home, and here the larger number of his children
were born. After his final settlement in the house
of his father, his labors increased by adding more
and more to his real estate He purchased the
Markham mills, located on the Mascoma river, now
owned by Messers Martin, Wood and others, which
together with his farm, tavern, lumber, turnpike and
other duties, etc., gave him an exercise of brain and
muscle which would have broken down a com-
mon constitution. But he had the power and
faculty of organizing and simplifying the different
branches of his business in such a manner as to
keep the wheels of labor moving with great advant-
age to his interests, and thus he passed along the
tide of time, multiplying his possessions, many
years. His youngest son, Samuel, who had been
his assistant from his youth to manhood, became
partially interested in business with his father,
and remained so until about 1837. A few months
previous to that time, the father and son were at
work in the field one day, when the old gentleman
said to his son, "I am getting along to near four-
score years, and I don't want any more trouble or
anxiety in regard to business," and proposed to
Samuel to take some steps toward a permanent
settlement in life. The suggestion seemed reason-
al}le and was consonant, no dought, with Samuel's
feelings, for he readily complied with his father's
wishes, and soon persuaded a young lady to become
his wife, who was duly introduced into the "old
Wood mansion." At that time a further arrange-
ment was made with Samuel which relieved his
father from all duties and all interest in regard to
the real estate, while a handsome sum in personal
securities still remained in his hands, to give a gen-
tle exercise to his mind in the care, collection and
distribution of his interest and dividends. Captain
Wood, like his old father, in a division of a portion
of his property, gave to each of his sons, -when
they left the parental roof, a farm valued at three
thousand dollars, or that sum in money, and to
each of his daughters he gave, for a "setting out,"
the sum of one thousand dollars. In a final dis-
tribution by will, each heir received nearly one
thousand dollars more. One of the daughters, not
meaning to find fault or impugn the justice of her
father, says that "he always liked the boys better
than the girls. He gave them more and allowed
them at home a free and easier life, while the
girls had to spin and weave and do house work
from morning till night."
It appears that he was desirous of extending his
i8o
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
line of Josephs into posterity, and as an induce-
ment to continue and preserve the family name
he offered a premium of a yoke of steers or a 'colt —
whichever might be chosen — to every grandson who
should be christened "Joseph Wood" ; and his wife,
womanlike, not to be outdone by her husband, of-
fered as a premium a string of gold beads to every
granddaughter who should be christened "Sarah
Wood" ; and thus their children were encouraged
to obey the injunction of scripture, "to go forth
and multiply," and consequently among the eleven
branches of their family there were eleven Josephs
and ten Sarahs. And each Joseph, who lived to
make a choice, preferred a colt, and each Sarah re-
ceived a string of gold beads — a rich present then,
a choice one now, and beautiful as a relic of olden
time, and particularly interesting as well as fash-
ionable in this our centennial year.
Captain Wood was apparently careless in his
business, but only in appearance. When adding a
column of figures, he would often miscall them,
but the sum total would always be correct. He
seemed to have a ledger in his brain ready posted,
from which, by intuition, his mind could strike a
balance at will.
The extent and variety of his farming, milling
and lumbering, obliged him to employ many work-
men, and he found it necessary to be up early in
the morning and arouse the family ; and to do so
he raised a large fire shovel and let it fall upon a
stone hearth, which proved as efficient as a Chinese
gong-
When repairing his mill at one time, a large
team was required to draw some heavy stone. Eight
yoke of oxen were hitched together for the pur-
pose, and when on their way to the quarry a chain
caught in the crevice of a ledge ; and when the
teamsters began to back the oxen, the Captain, in
a loud voice, ordered them to drive on, saying it
would be cheaper to drive on than to lose time
backing the team. The Captain ^yas a large, stout
man, and yet he worked more with his head than
with his hands. He was fond of hunting, and in
early days was often successful in killing deer.
During the Revolutionary war he was attached
to the army, and stationed at Stillwater, but just
previous to the battle at that place his time of
service expired and he was on his way home, and
thus esicaped the conflict and perhaps saved his
life.
The old gentleman was one of the substantial
pillars of the Congregational Church of Lebanon,
and his heart and hand were always open when as-
sistance was required to promote its interests or
its influence. As an inhabitant of the town he
shared with others in building the first old meeting
house in 1772, in the second about 1780 and in the
"old meeting house on the common" in 1792. In
the afternoon of his life, when a division of the
old meeting house was decreed, he gave liberally
toward building the new Congregational Church in
the Centre village in 1S2S. where the Rev. Phineas
Cooke officiated about twenty years in succession,
and was followed by the Rev. Charles A. Downs,
about twenty-five years in the same order, and
where the Rev. Mr. Ayers and others ofliciated up
to 1875. And towards the sundown of his long
life, when the increase of population in the western
portion of the town required a better convenience
for the enjoyment of religious privileges, then a
new society of the same order was formed at West
Lebanon, and the generosity of Mr. Wood was again
manifested in the erection of another church edifice
at the same place; and he also donated one thous-
and dollars to the church. He was also interested
in the subject of education and gave one thousand
dollars towards establishing Tilden Ladies' Semi-
nary, and was always generous in his contributions
for worthy purposes.
He held sundry town offices, was selectman sev-
eral years, moderator, etc., and was one of the
proprietors, directors and builders of the Fourth
New Hampshire Turnpike. He became a member
of the Congregational Church about 1780, and his
wife in 1800. It is worthy of note that Mr. Wood
attended the first commencement at Dartmouth
College, and in fact every one for seventy years in
succession, missing but two or three during life. A
short time before his death he visited the cemetery
with his son Samuel, who had been improving their
lot and erecting a monument. As the old gentle-
man looked upon it he said, "It is all right" ; and
then in the words of Dr. Watts he said:
" Ye living men come view the ground
Where you must shortly lie."
His hundredth birthday was publicly celebrated
in his favorite church near his home in West Leb-
anon, and a few weeks later his funeral obsequies
took place amid a large concourse of relatives and
friends. And thus passed away the first and last
centenarian in town. Their children were as fol-
lows :
Sarah, eldest daughter, was born August 24,
1784, and married Joel Dimick, of Hartford, Ver-
mont, a farmer. They settled in that town, and
prospered in worldly wealth and were blessed with
a large family of children, having had fourteen,
eleven of whom are married and are now living
in Hartford and other parts of the country.
Joel, their oldest son, married Emily Waterman,
February 11. 183X, and settled in Hartford. Ver-
mont, where she died in 1875, childless. Joel is
now living with his brother Samuel, in Bradford,
Vermont.
Calvin married Miss Marsh, and is now living
in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She had one child
that died. The writer remembers Calvin when he
commenced the fur trade in Boston, and traded with
him more than forty years ago.
George married, and lives in Sherburne, Ver-
mont, and has two children, of whom his mar-
ried.
Jeremiah married and lives in New York, and
has six children.
Samuel married and lives in Randolph, Ver-
mont. He has flne daughter.
Bartlett married and lives near the homestead
in Hartford. He has three daughters.
Sarah married Tracy Hazen, of Hartford, and
has three sons and two daughters.
Mai-y married Lucius Gerrish, of Tilton. She
has one daughter.
Charles D. married Miss Russell, and has a
family of six children living in Somerville, Massa-
chiisetts. He died April 28, 1876, aged forty-six.
Joseph married and lives in Hardwick, Vermont.
He has a son and a daughter.
Harriet married Milton Gerrish, of Franklin,
and lives in Northfield. She has three children.
Olive married Charles Gerrish, and lives in St.
Charles. Minnesota, and has three children.
Martha was born June 16, 1786, and January 23,
iStt, she married Jedediah Dana, born July 15,
1780. He was a son of William Dana, one of the
men who first spent a winter in Lebanon. He lived
and died in West Lebanon, August 4, 1853, aged
seventy-three. His wife died March 8, 1856, aged
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
iSi
sixty-nine. Their children were as follows : Mary,
born November 7, iSir, married Almond Evans
and settled in Oxford, she died leaving two chil-
dren, one of whom is married. Sarah, born in
1S13, married Mr. Pendleton, of Illinois, and died
there. Dyer, born in 1813, was killed by falling
from a tree. Joseph, born in 1817, went west, mar-
ried, and is dead. Samuel, born in 1819, was
drowned. Emma, born in 1S21, married Dr. Lewis,
of Connecticut, and settled in New York City; she
has two children. William, born 1823, is married,
and lives in Illinois, and has ten children. Samuel,
2nd, born in 1827, was a physician ; he married Miss
Reynolds, and settled in New York City; he has
two children. Jane, married, went west, and has
three children. Charles, born February 22, 1830,
married Laura Gillett, of Hartford, Vermont ; they
are now living in a nev/ house located on that
pleasant spot in West Lebanan. where her father's
house stood in olden time. The}' have two sons
and two daughters.
Joseph Wood, Jr., was born April 20, 1788,
and married Sarah Dana, of Pomfret, Vermont.
She died leaving one son Joseph, who died young.
He married again. Man.-, daughter of the Hon.
James Smith, of Grantham, and settled in Meriden,
where they both died several years ago, leaving one
?on, James, who married Frances, daughter of
Benjamin Cutler, of Meriden, and they are now
living in that place.
Polly was born August 16, 1789, and married
Samuel B. Gerrish. of Boscawen, September 7.
1806. They began life in that town in a house at
the east end of Main street, where they kept tavern
many years. "In days of yore,'\it was one of the
most celebrated stopping places on the road from
Montpelier to Boston. The bar-room was the trav-
eler's fireside, the "depot flip and toddy and pepper
and cider." It was also a work-shop and a "home
of industry," where axe-helves and whipstocks were
turned out in great abundance, and made legal
tender in making change for tavern bills. "Pod"
teams would put up early or drive late to get
there, because they could "eat, drink and be mer-
r\'" and enjoy a wholesale freedom in a jolly
place. If a teamster stopped there on his return
from market, it was known all along the road, by
his axe-helves and whipstocks. that he had patron-
ized Bartlett Gerrish's tavern. After a while a
change of times came over the business of the coun-
trv, and Mr. Gerrish removed with his family to
Hartland. ^''ermont, where they resided several
years. Finally they settled in Lebanon on the Ben-
jamin Crocker farm, in the Wills Kimball district,
where they lived until his death in 1866. aged eighty-
four years, and where his widow is still living and
enjoying fair health at the age of eighty-seven
vears. Judging from her present appearance she
is as likely to live and celebrate her centennial
birthday as was her father at the same age. Their
children are as follows :
Sarah, who married Orlando Sargent, of Wood-
stock, Vermont, and finally settled at East Lebanon,
where he died December 22, 1855. aged fifty-two.
His wife died February 2, i860. They left three
children, Orlando. Mary and Justus.
Joanna married Mr. Currier, then George Gates,
and was the wife of Humphrey Wood at the time
of her death. •
Mary remains at home wilth her mother, un-
married.
Susan married Humphrey Wood, and they are
row living on Elm street.
Joseph W. married Eunice, daughter of the Hon.
Sylvanus Hewes, of Lyme. He seems to have in-
herited many of those peculiar traits of character
which his grandfather possessed in early life. The
desire to buy and sell and speculate and to own
lands, even like his old grandmother, who felt bad
"because her husband didn't own all the land that
joined his." His acres almost surround our vil-
lage at the present time, and he appears to have
enough of every thing also. They have two chil-
dren, Charles and Kittle.
Samuel married Clara Dearborn, and died Jan-
uary 3. 1854, aged twenty-six.
George married and went west.
Charles married Anna Foster, daughter of Hor-
ace Foster. She died Aug. 4, 1874, aged thirty-two,
leaving one child. He married (second), Lydia
Gates, with whom he is now living.
Henry G., second son of Joseph, was born July
4, 1791, and married Betsey Gerrish, of Boscawen,
and settled on the farm now occupied by his son
Jeremiah, which is the same one that belonged to
his uncle Luther Wood in earlier days. He was
a good farmer and left a handsome property. He
died in January. 1873, aged eighty-one, and his
wife died in 1859, aged sixty-two. Their children
were as follows: Betsey, who married Oliver L.
Stearns, of West Lebanon, April 7, 1840. They had
eight children : Albert, married Harriet Towne, Oc-
tober 5, 1868; Melinda, married Charles Emerson,
April 28, 1868; Nettie, married Leonard Estabrooks,
October, 19, 1868; Ella, married George H. Worthen
November 8. 1872; Bertha, Jessie and Abbie are at
home. Daniel died young.
Sarah married Sanford Ha^en, of Hartford,
Vermont, April 7, 1840. They had ten children:
Curtis, married Frances Farnsworth, December 8,
1868; Leonard, married Maggie Porter, September
23, 1873 ; Lucy, married Eben Marshall. June i,
1869; Frances, married James Wiggin, January i,
1873; J"lia. married Charles Gale, May 25, 1875;
%.mes, Emma, Ellen, Frederick and Wilbur are un-
married.
Joseph married Frances Whittier, February 26,
1856. and have one daughter, Florence, at home.
Moses married Sarah Church, July 4, 1858,
went west and died there November 9, 1870, leav-
ing three young children — Grace, Nellie and Bessie.
"Henry "G., Jr., married Louisa Farnsworth,
March 29, i8so, and had two daughters, Mary Alice
Wood and Belle.
Jeremiah married Ellen Dickinson March 25,
1S55. and had twelve children: Frank, Annie,
Sadie. George, Ella. Josie, Daniel and Nellie, are
now living; Willie, Lizzie and Fannie died in 1869.
and Mabel in 1875.
Hannah was born August 13, 1794, and mar-
ried Haynes Jewett, December 7, 1815. He was
the son of James Jewett. one of the first settlers in
Enfield. He was a blacksmith, and commenced
business in Captain Joseph Wood's neighborhood,
where he found his wife. They lived many years
in a red house, on the bank of Connecticut river,
north of the Mascoma. They finally settled in
Scytheville. and their homestead is the same which
is now owned and occupied by his son Joseph and
is the one where the old gentleman died. Their
children were as follows :
Joseph married Cynthia, daughter of John Ela,
a farmer, who lives on the old homestead of his
father in Scytheville. Their children were John
and Edna.
Sarah married Sylvanus Buiell, of Norwich,
Vermont. He kept a hotel in that town several
years, and finally settled in Parma, New York.
IS2
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
While unloading hay the binding pole fell upon his
head, fracturing his skull, which proved fatal. He
left his widow with four children. After a few
years she married again.
Haynes married Lydia Sprague, of Hingham,
Massachusetts, now living in St. Charles, Minne-
sota. They have three children.
Calvin married Louise Kendall, of Woodstock,
Vermont. He lives and keeps a livery stable in
Lebanon. He is a hunter and has a pack of hounds,
and has been complimented by a note in a public
gathering as the "happiest man* in town. They
have three daughters : Ada, who married George
Perkins ; Nellie, and Sarah, at home, and all liv-
ing in their father's house on Bank street.
Olive was born April i6, 1796, and married Le-
ciester Emerson, of Reading, Vermont, and is still
living at the age of eighty. They have had five
children.
Susan, born March 29, 1798, and September 16,
1824, s'he married Luther Alden, born August 19,
1797. Mr. Alden was a cabinet maker and carried
on that business many years at Lebanon Centre.
Many of the older inhabitants have specimens of
his work in the form of old fashioned side-boards,
etc. He finally gave up his trade, turned farmer
and settled on the old Dr. Parkhurst or Priest
Foord farm, near West Lebanon, where, in con-
nection with his farming, he cultivated grapes and
other fruits with success. He was a son of Daniel
Alden, one of the early settlers in town, and
brother of Ezra, lately deceased. Their children
were as follows : Joseph, married Jeanette Tucker,
of Hartford, Vermont, now living in Nebraska,
and has four children.
Sarah married James Hubbard, of West Leban-
on. She died in 1873, leaving one son and four
daughters — Ida, Eva, Lucy Susan and Fred.
Charles went west, married and settled in that
country. He has one child.
Fannie seems to have adopted the "better" part
and lives at home with her mother.
Mr. Alden is still in her usual health, aged
seventy-eight.
Jeremiah, son of Joseph, was born in the year
1803. He lived with his father during his minority,
built a house with the assistance of his father, and
when completed for occupation he married Mary
L., daughter of Stephen Kendrick, Esq. She was
born February 2, 1806, and became his wife Decem-
ber 27, 1S26. After their settlement the house'
was opened and kept as a tavern several years.
But that business eventually proved unprofitable,
and it was closed as a public house. Its location
was south of the lower bridge on the Mascoma
river and is the same now owned and occupied by
Joseph Wood. Jeremiah died December 26, 1B39,
aged thirty-six. Their children were as follows :
Joseph born in 1827. died in 1842, aged fifteen.
Sarah married Lucius Groves, November 13,
1844, 3"d they are now living in Concord. They
have two sons and one daughter.
Charlotte married Martin Baker in September,
1856. They have one child.
Jeremiah, Jr.. married and settled in Minnesota,
and had three children.
Lizzie inarried William Moses and had eleven
children, six of whom are living.
.'Vfter the decease of Mr. Wood, his widow mar-
ried Arnold Porter of Lebanon, July 6, 1850, and
in the year 1851 her husband died, at the age of
seventy-three, leaving his wife a widow the second
time. She is now residing with her daughter, Mrs.
Moses, on Elm street.
Emma was born in October, 1806, and rnarried
Egbert B., Kendrick. He owns and lives in the
"Rising Sun" house in Lebanon. Their children
were :
Joseph, born September 25, 1829, died August
28, 1848.
Sarah, born February 14, 1831, married Samuel
Chamberlin, June I, 1849, and settled in Three
Oaks, Michigan. Both died several years ago, leav-
ing three children — ^Lee, Martha and Helen.
Emma D., born January 27, 1835, married N. B.
Marston, in i860. They have had three children —
Harry, George and Ina.
Clara, born December 14, 1836, married Thomas
Marston in 1865, and had one son. Charles.
Richard, born July 14, 1840, died April 16, 1S67.
Unmarried.
Frances B., born January 27, 1842, died young.
Frank, born March 25, 1845, married Belle Goff,
of Hartford, Vermont, February, 1867. No children.
Harlan, born October 29, 1848, married Ellen H.
Huse, of Enfield, February, 1872. One child.
Mr. Kendrick, the father, is a close reasoner
upon many subjects and particular a weather wise
man. His observations and records are made and
preserved with great care, and many years of ex-
perience have enabled him to judge very correctly,
so much so that he is a fair match for "Old Prob-
ability."
Samuel, the youngest son, who had always
lived with his father, was born in September, 1807,
and married his cousin, Lydia Gerrish, daughter
of Isaac Gerrish, of Boscawen, in 1837. The fam-
ilies formed one household until the death of old
Mrs. Wood, which occurred August 24, 1839, at the
age of seventy-three. Samuel continued in posses-
sion of the old homestead and the old gentleman
lived on with him during life.
January 8, 1866, Samuel's wife died at the age
of forty-eight, leaving two children — Joseph, who
died young and Sarah Augusta, born in 1846. She
graduated at Tilden Ladies' Seminary, and Septem-
ber 5, 1866, she married her cousin, the Rev.
Edward Thurber, of Monroe, Michigan, a Congre-
gationalist minister. They spent the first two years
in Walpole, Massachusetts, and then removed to
Syracuse, New York, where he continues his min-
isterial duties to the present time. Two children.
Deacon Wood married the second time, Mrs.
Mary Gerrish Thurber, September 5. 1871, widow
of Jefferson Thurber, Esq., of Monroe, Michigan,
and mother of the Rev. Edward Thurber. She has
two daughters with her and the Deacon, with his
family, is now quietly residing in the old homestead
at West Lebanon.
Recapitulation.
The first column contains the names of Captain
Wood's children, eleven in all.
The second column gives the number of Cap-
tain Joseph Wood's grandchildren.
The third column gives the number of Captain
Joseph Wood's great-grandchildren.
Sarah 14 33
Martha 11 23
Joseph, Jr 2 o
Polly 8 6
Henry G 6 36
Hannah 4 12
Olive . . 5 o
Susan 4 10
Jeremiah 5 18
Ennna 8 8
Samuel 2 2
69
148
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
183
In all lands and in all ages circumstances
ADAMS have created opportunities for gifted
men to distinguisli themselves above
their fellows. In some instances inherited talent
has made it possible for men in successive genera-
tions of the same family to fill high positions in
the same general line, as in finance, literature or
statesmanship. This is true of the Rothschilds of
Germany, the Lees, the Harrisons, the Asters and
the Adamses, in the United States. In the case
of the last named family, like that of Daniel Web-
ster, it is not certainly known from what part of
the mother country they came, or when they landed
in America. But latent natural ability was developed
in the individual when his opportunity came and
his environment demanded it ; and that ability
coupled with strength of character made the
Adamses, Samuel, John, John Quincy and others
of the stock, the great leaders they were. This
ability to see opportunities and this strength to per-
form great labor was not a fortuitous gift to the in-
dividual, but is a characteristic that has often de-
veloped in this great family — for nearly all the
."Kdamses of New England are of one stock. Its
individual members have, as a rule, been persons
of ability, industry, energy, honor, honesty, sobriety,
of genial disposition, good neighbors and steadfast
friends, persons of substance and influence. From
this sturdy family that landed on the shores of
New England nearly three centuries ago have
come a host, who as yeoman, bankers, manufactur-
ers, lawyers, doctors, clergymen and statesmen have
served well in the situations they have been called
to fill.
(I) Henry Adams, of Braintree, is called thus
because he was one of the earliest or first settlers
in that part of Massachusetts Bay designated "Mt.
Wollaston," which was incorporated in 1640 as the
town of Braintree, then including what is now
Quincy. Braintree and Randolph, Massachusetts.
He is believed to have arrived in Boston with his
wife, eight sons and a daughter, in 1632 or 1633,
but whence he came is a matter of conjecture, ex-
cept that he was from England. The colonial au-
thorities at Boston allotted to him forty acres of
land at "the Mount," for the ten persons in his
family, February 24, 1640. The name of his
wife is not known, nor where or when she died.
Henry Adams died in Braintree, October 6, 1646.
It is known that he w-as a maltster a-s well as a
yeoman or farmer, and a plain, unassuming man
of tact and ability who came to America for a
better opportunity for his large family. His sons
were : Lieutenant Henry, Lieutenant Thomas. Cap-
tain Samuel, Deacon Jonathan. Peter. John, Jo-
seph and Ensign Edward. (Mention of Peter and
Joseph and descendants appears in this article.)
(II) Captain Samuel, third son of Henry Ad-
ams, w'as born in England in 1617. He was admit-
ted a freeman May 10, 1643. After resiSing in
Charlestown for a time he went to Concord, and
in 1633-54 penetrated the wilderness to what is
now Chelmsford, where he was granted a large
tract of land in 1656 with the exclusive privilege
of erecting and operating a saw-mill, provided he
would sell boards at three shilling per hundred feet.
He was also granted the exclusive right to operate
a grist-mill. He was commissioner of the court in
1667. His death occurred in Chelmsford. January'
24. 1688-89. His first wife, who was before mar-
riage Rebecca, daughter of Thomas Graves, died
October 8, 1662 or 64, and on May 7, 16S8, Ke mar-
ried Esther Sparhawk, daughter of Nathaniel
Sparhawk of Cambridge. She survived him many
years and died at an advanced age November 4,
1745- The children of his first union were : Samuel
(died young), Rebecca, Thomas and Catherine,
tw-ins, (the latter died young), Catherine, Susanna,
Mary, Nathaniel (died young), Martha and another
Nathaniel. Those of his second wife w-ere : Samuel,
Joseph, Benjamin and Esther.
(III) Captain Joseph Adams, second son of
Captain Samuel and Esther (Sparhawk) Adams,
was born in Chelmsford, November 27, 1672. He
possessed considerable real estate in Chehnsford.
His will was made January 20, 1717, and his death
occurred two days later. The Christian name of his
wife was Mary. She bore him nine children : Sam-
uel, Joseph, Benjamin, Esther, Mary, Rebecca, Jonas,
Sybil and Hannah.
(IV) Benjamin Adams, third son and child
of Captain Joseph and Mary Adams, was born at
Chelmsford in December, 1701. He died in the
prime of manhood October 30, 1738-9. The christian
name of his w'ife was Olive, and the names of his
children w'ere : Olive, Benjamin, Oliver, William
and Abijah.
(V) Oliver Adams, second son and third child
of Oliver Adams, was born in Chelmsford, October
27, 1729. He served in the war for national inde-
pendence. In the Massachusetts rolls he is credited
with having been a private in Colonel Loami Bald-
win's regiment JMay I, 1775, and from September-
27, to October 20, 1777, he served in Captain John
Ford's company of Colonel Jonathan Reed's regi-
ment. December 2, 1756, he married Rachel Proctor
of Chelmsford (see Proctor), and his children were:
Rachel, Olive, Sybil, Hannah, Oliver, Nabby and
Colonel Benjamin. .
(VI) Oliver Adams, fifth child and eldest son
of Oliver and Rachel (Proctor) Adams, was born
in Chelmsford, January 7, 1767. In his youth (1788
or 9), he went to Rindge, New Hampshire, to reside
with his sister Sybil, wife of Moses Hale. He sub-
sequently married Betsey j\Iarshall of Chelmsford,
and owned and occupied the farm which, at a more
recent date, became the property of Willard C.
Brigham. He was an industrious and respected
citizen. His death occurred in Rindge, December 29,
1813. His first born child died in infancy. Hi-
other children were; Marshall and Fanny, who
married Thomas Baker of Johnson, Vermont. Mrs.
Betsey Adams married for her second hu.sband
Jonathan Parker of Chelmsford and she died some-
time in 1852.
(VII) Deacon Marshall Adams, son of Oliver
and Betsey (Marshall) Adams, was born in Rindge,
March 14, 1801. After serving an apprenticeship in
the cloth dressing mill of Deacon Ebenezer Brown
he went to New Boston, this state, where he success-
fully engaged in the w'oolen manufacturing business
until 1852 ; and then turned his attention to agri-
culture. He was a deacon of the Presbyterian Church
in New Boston, and as one of its most substantial
and upright citizens was highly esteemed by his
fellow townsmen. He was married May 9, 1826, to
Sarah G. Richards, born in Newton. Massachu.^etts.
October 21, 1S03, daughter of Thaddeus and Dorothy
(Coolidge) Richards, who settled in Rindge in 1820.
■They were the parents of thirteen children : Mar-
shall C, Sarah Elizabeth, William Richards, John
R., Frances B., Mary N., Joseph G., Henry Parker,
Charlotte R., James C. Ellen M., Charles A. and
George A., all of whom have been noted for their
high moral character.
1 84
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
(VIII) Joseph G. Adams, fourth son and seventh
child of Deacon Marshall and Sarah G. (Richards)
Adams, was born in New Boston, December 12, 1836.
When a young man he engaged in mercantile busi-
ness at Natick, Massachusetts, whence he removed
to New Ipswich, New Hampshire, and he finally
settled in Manchester. As a merchant he was up-
right, conscientious, attentive to his patrons and
therefore successful. His citizenship was typical
of his race and breeding. In politics he was a Re-
publican. His religious affiliations were with the
Congregationalists. May 10, 1858, he married Martha
W. Perry, daughter of Samuel and Martha (Stone)
Perry. She became the mother of six children, five
of whom: Eugene F., William S. (of Nashua),
James G., Charles J. and Grace P., are now living.
The latter is now the wife of Charles E. Sanborn of
Somersworth, New Hampshire.
(IX) Eugene Francis Adams, eldest son of Jo-
seph G and Martha A (Perry) Adams, was born
in Natick, October 14, 1859. His education was
obtained in the public and high schools of Natick,
which he attended for eleven years without missing
a day, and was concluded with a commercial course
at a business college. His practical training for the
activities of life was acquired in a country store.
In 1881 he came to Manchester and for the ensuing
two years was in charge of a grain mill. Accepting
a position as bookkeeper for Swift & Company in
New York City he retained it for three years, and
during that time attained a very high place in the
estimation of the firm, who regretted his leaving
them. In 1887 with his brother, William S., he went
to western Nebraska and took up three claims con-
taining four hundred and eighty acres in all and
raised cattle and horses. During his three years
residence there he was elected and served as elder
of the Lacota Presbyterian Church, Upon his re-
turn to Manchester, New Hampshire, he engaged
in the hay, grain and feed business, which had been
in the family for a period of fifty-seven years, and
continued in that line of trade successfully for
about tvyenty years, the last twelve of which he has
been with his brother a member of the firm of
Adams Brothers. In politics Mr. Adams is a Re-
publican, and while residing in New Ipswich was
elected town clerk, and also ser ed as first assistant
foreman of Tiger Engine Company, No. i. He is
affiliated with the Ancient Order of United Work-
men, ^ and holds the responsible position of
financier of Anioskeag Lodge, No. i. of Man-
chester, and grand receiver of the Grand Lodge of
New Hampshire since its was founded. He also has
served as president of the Workmen's Benefit Asso-
ciation of New Plampshire. In religious affairs he
is an active participant, being assistant superintend-
ent of the Hanover Street Congregational Church
Sunday School for the past eight years.
In 1892 Mr. Adams married Annie P. Felch,
daughter of William P. Felch. She was a music
teacher of recognized ability, and was interested in
Sunday school work. She died September 9, 1906,
aged fifty-six, leaving one daughter, Beulah, born
March 9, 1894.
(11) Peter, fifth son of Henry Adams, born in
England, in 1622, died about 1690' in Medfield, came
to America with his parents and brothers and sisters
about 1632 or 1633. In 1652 he removed from Brain-
tree to Medfield vv'ith his wife and eldest son. His
house was burned with others by the Indians in
1676. He married Rachel (surname unrecorded),
and they had eleven children : John, Rachel, Dr.
Peter, Hannah. Mary. Jonathan, Jonathan, Ruth,
Joseph, Dr. Samuel and Henry.
(Ill) John, eldest son and child of Peter and
Rachel Adams, born in Braintree, Jilassachusetts,
in 1651, died February 26, 1724, was a farmer. He
is said to have married, 1677, Dorcas (, Watson)
Dwight, daughter of John Watson, of Roxburj-, and
widow of Timothy Dwight, and removed to Canter-
bury, Connecticut, "not to Ipswich." Certain it is
that he married, April 2, 1685, Michal Bloice, of
Watertown, jNIassachusetts, recorded at Watertown
as "Mychall," daughter of Richard and Mychall
(Jennison) Bloice, also "Bloyce," born April 3, 1664.
Their children, all born at Medfield, were : Samuel,
Mary, Patience, Ruth, Josiah, Captain John, Isaac,
Richard, Joshua, Abigail, Bethia and Captain
Michael.
(IV) Captain John Adams, sixth child and third
son of John and Michal (Bloice) Adams, was born
in Medfield, December 14, 1695, and died January
16, 1762, in his sixty-sixth year. His last years were
spent in the North Society of Canterbury, Connec-
ticut, west of Buck Hill. He married, 1733, Mrs.
Abigail (Cleveland) Brown, daughter of Josiah and
Abigail (Paine) Cleveland, born in (Canterbury,
June 3, 1715, died December 19, 1782, in her sixty-
eighth year. Their nine children, all born in Canter-
bury, Connecticut, were : Lois, Mary, Captain John,
Lydia, Deacon Cornelius, Deacon Ebenezer, Abigail,
Samuel and Ruth.
(V) Samuel, eighth child and fourth son of
Captain John and Abigail (Cleveland) Adams, was
born in Canterbury, May 16, 1753, and died in Wil-
liamstown, Vermont, November 23, 1827, aged
seventy-eight years. He served in the army of the
Revolution seven years and was one of the body
guard of General Washington. In 1786 he removed
to Putney, Vermont, and in 1803 to Williamstown,
where he was a farmer. He married. May II,
1777, Betsey Litchfield, born in Canterbury, 1756,
died in Williamstown, August 4, 1820, aged si.xty-
four years. They were the parents of twelve chil-
dren: Samuel, Jr. (born in Canterbury), Elisha,
Elijah, Luther (died young), Betsey (born in Put-
ney, Vermont), Polly (died young), John, Abigail,
Luther, Parker, Polly and Louisa.
(VI) Luther, ninth child and si.xth son of Sam-
uel and Betsey (Litchfield) Adams, was born in
Putney, Vermont, October 29, 1791, and died in
Randolph, Vermont, February 20, 1872, aged eighty
years. He had a small farm and was a carpenter
and bridge builder. He married, in Brookfield,
Vermont, December i, 1814, Lydia Reed, daughter
of Jonathan and Polly (Humphrey) Reed, born in
Brookfield, September 20, 1795, died December, 20,
18S1, aged eighty-six. They had ten children, as
follows : Rev. Elisha, Rev. Henry Wright, Luther,
Jr., Richard Reed, Hon. Bailey Frye, Maria Lydia,
Laura Lucinda, Albert Cornelius, Adelaide Cor-
nelia and Mary Frances. Elisha and Mary Frances
were born in Williainstown ; all the others in Brook-
field.
(VII) Rev. Elisha Adams, D. D., eldest son
and child of Luther and Lydia (Reed) Adams, was
born in Williamstown, Vermont, July 29, 1815, and
died suddenly of apoplexy at Concord, New Hamp-
shire, August 15, 18S0. He was educated in Norwich
University, and Newbury Seminary. He was ad-
mitted a member of the New Hampshire and Ver-
mont Methodist Episcopal conference in 1836, and
held numerous stations; was presiding elder of the
Dover district, 1849-1853; of the Claremont district,
1860-1862; and of the Concord district, 1863-1S66.
From 1858 he made his home in Concord, New
Hampshire, where he was elected a member of the
board of education in 1868 and president in 1871.
I
*
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
l8:
He was the building agent of the Methodist Semi-
nary at Tilton, New Hampshire ; was extensively
known and highly respected and esteemed. He was
a high degree member of the Masonic fraternity
at Concord, and commanded a large influence
wherever he was known.
He married (first), in Manchester, June ig, 1838,
Mary Ann Merrill, daughter of Captain Israel and
Nancy (Farmer) Merrill, died in Concord, Decem-
ber 8, 1868. Alarried (second), January 13, 1870,
Sarah Jane Sanborn, daughter of James and Lydia
(Prescott) Sanborn, born in Concord, June 20, 1S28.
The children of the first marriage were : Henrietta
Maria, born in Bradford, Vermont, August 28,
1839, married, January 4, 1871, at Concord, New
Hampshire, Charles A. Bradeen, of Waterford,
Maine, born March 27, 1838, residence Toledo, Ohio.
She died August 14, 1876. Henry Clinton, born in
Danville, Vermont, May 21, 1842, died at Tilton,
jNIay I, 1850. Sarah Jane, born in Corinth, Vermont,
February i, 1844, married, October 2, 1871, in Con-
cord, New Hampshire, John Chamberlain Ordway,
of Concord. (See Ordway, VII). Clara Belle, born
in Manchester, New Hampshire, November 13, 1854,
died December i, 1854.
(II) Joseph, seventh son and child of Henry
Adams, was born in England in 1626. He was a
maltster by trade; was made freeman in 1653, and
held the olfice of selectman in 1673. He died in
Braintree, December 6, 1694, aged sixty-eight. He
married in Braintree, November 26, 1650, .A.bigail
Baxter, who was the daughter of Gregory and
Margaret (Paddy) Baxter, of Boston. She died
in Boston, August 27, 1692, aged fifty-eight. Their
children were, Hannah, Joseph, John (died young),
Abigail, Captain John, Bethia, Mary, Samuel, Mary,
Captain Peter, Jonathan and Mehitable.
(III) Joseph (2), eldest son and child of Joseph
(i) and Abigail (Ba.xter) Adams, was born in
Braintree, December 24, 1654, and died in Brain-
tree, February 12, 1737. Joseph Adams and John
Bass were credited to Braintree for services in the
war with the Indians, August, 1676. Joseph Adams
was selectman in 1673 and in 1698-99. He married
(first), February 20, 1682, Mary Chapin, born Au-
gust 27, 1662. She died June 14, 1687, and he mar-
ried (second), Hannah Bass, daughter of John and
Ruth (Alden) Bass. She was born June 22, 1667,
and died October 1705. He married (third), Eliza-
beth Hobart, daughter of Caleb Hobart, of Brain-
tree. She died February 13, 1739, aged seventy-one.
The children of the first wife were Mary and Abi-
gail ; by the second wife, Rev. Joseph, Deacon John,
Samuel, Josiah, Hannah, Ruth, Bethia and Captain
Ebenezer ; and by the third wife Caleb.
(IV) Rev. Joseph (3), eldest son and child of
of Joseph and Hannah (Bass) Adams, and uncle
of John Adams, second president of the United
States, was born in Braintree, January 4, 168S. He
graduated from Harvard College in 1710; was or-
dained and settled in Newington, New Hampshire,
November 16, 1715, and remains as pastor for sixty-
six years. He was a man of culture and spotless
character and was very influential and widely known.
He was called by Hon. Jeremy Belknap "my old
friend, the Bishop of Newington." He died in New-
ington, May 21, 1783, in his ninety-fifth year. He
married (first), October 13, 1720, Mrs. Elizabeth
Janvein, dau.chter of John and Elizabeth (Knight)
Janvein, of Newington, New Hampshire. She died
February 10, 1757, and he married (second), Jan-
uary 3, 1760, Elizabeth Brackett. of Greenland,
New Hampshire. The children by the first marriage
were: Elizabeth, Dr. Joseph, Ebenezer, Deacon
Benjamin and a daughter. (Mention of Ebenezer
and descendants forms part of this article).
(V) Dr. Joseph (4), second child and eldest
son of Rev. Joseph (3) and Elizabeth Knight (Jan-
vein) Adams, was born in Newington, January 17,
1723, and died in Barnstead, March 22, 1801, aged
seventy-eight. He was graduated from Harvard
College in 1745 ; became a physician, contrary to his
father's wishes, and settled in Newington, but re-
moved in 1792, to Barnstead, where he lived the
last nine years of his life. He married Joanna Gil-
man, daughter of Major Ezckiel Gilman, of Exeter,
commander of the New Hampshire forces at the tak-
ing of Louisburg in 1745. Their children were:
Ezekiel Gilman, Captain Joseph, Ebenezer, Dudley,
Gilman, William, John, Elizabeth, Abigail, Ben-
jamin, Nathaniel and Polly.
(VI) Ezekiel Gilman, eldest child of Dr. Joseph
and Joanna (Gilman) Adams, was born in Barn-
stead, November 17, 1749, and died in Gilmanton,
August 27, 1831, aged eighty-two. He was a house
carpenter by trade, and a useful and influential man
in the communities where he lived. He settled some-
time after his marriage in Gilmanton. He married
(first), December 24, 1771, Mary Hoyt, of Newing-
ton. She died May, 1798, and he married (second),
November 17, 1801, Drusilla Ewer, born in 1780,
daughter of Captain Ewer, of Barnstead. She died
in April, 1877, aged ninety-seven. The children of
Ezekiel and Mary (Hoyt) Adams were: William,
Mao', Nancy, Ezekiel, Elizabeth and John, and
those of Ezekiel and Drusilla (Ewer) Adams were:
Rufus, Thoda, Jeremiah, Abigail, Ezekiel, Drusilla
and Sarah B.
(VII) William, eldest child of Ezekiel and Mary
(Hoyt) Adams, was born in Newington, New-
Hampshire, baptized July 17, 1774, and died in 1842,
aged sixty-eight. He was a carpenter and resided
in Barnstead all his life. He supported the Whig
party, while his religious belief was that of the
Congregational denomination. He married Hannah
Jacobs, who lived to about the age of eighty years.
Their children were : John, Samuel H., Alfred
Ezekiel and Deacon William Clark.
(VIII) John, eldest child of William and Han-
nah (Jacobs) Adams, was born in Barnstead, in
1800, and died November 28, 1877. When a young
man he learned the carpenters trade, which with
farming was the main occupation of his active life.
He resided in Barnstead until his death. In politics
he was a Whig. He married Sally Seward, daughter
of George Seward, of Barnstead. She was born in
1803, and died December 5. 1877. She was a mem-
ber of the Congregational Church. They had
thirteen children, eight sons and five daughters :
Peabody H., William Henry, Albert, Hannah, Sarah,
Jane, Frank, Mary, Nancy, George W., Nathaniel
Wilson, Samuel and .A.lvah O.
(IX) Peabody Hodgdon,' son of John and
Sallv (Seward) .A.dams, was born in Barnstead,
April 22, 1820, and at the age of fourteen removed
to Loudon. There he learned the carpenter's trade
and worked at that and farming about fourteen
years. In 1865 he removed to Pittsfield, where he
bought a farm located on Concord Hill, where he
resided until 1876. In 1874, with his son Frank W.,
he formed the firm of P. H. Adams & Company,
which has carried on a profitable general mercantile
business for thirty-one years past. Mr. Adams, by
constant use of his strength and energies, has suc-
seeded in accumulating a competency and fills a
place of influence in the community where he re-
sides. He is a Republican in politics, and attends the
Free Will Baptist Church of which Mrs. .\dams was
1 86
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
a member. He was selectman in 1870-71-72, and
is one of the directors of Pittsfield National Bank.
He married, March 15, 1847, Martha S. Wells, born
April 28, 1822, daughter of Stephen and Eliza
(Treton) Wells, of Loudon. She died October 17,
1893, aged seventy-one. They had three children :
Elizabeth, Abbie A., who died young, and Frank W.
Elizabeth, born in Loudon, July 21, 1848, married,
October 21, 1869, Clarence Johnson, and died in
Washington, D. C, December 31, 1899. They had
two children, Edward (now deceased) and Scott.
Frank W. Adams, born in Loudon, February 7,
1857, married Hattie Marston, born in Pittsfield,
October, 1856, daughter of John and Mary (Brown)
Marston, of Pittsfield. They have one child, Abbie
A., born March I, 1883.
(V) Ebenezer, third child and second son of
Rev. Joseph and EJizabeth (Knight) (Janvein)
Adams, was born in Newington, September 4, 1726,
and died in Barnstead, November, 1764, aged thirty-
eight. He married, January 13, 1757, Louisa Down-
ing, who died September 16, 1820, aged eighty-nine.
Their children were Samuel and Elizabeth.
(VI) Samuel, only son of Ebenezer and Louisa
(Downing) Adams, was born in Newington, March
7, 1758, baptized March 12, 1758, and died April 24,
1821, at the age of sixty-three. He is said to have
graduated from Harvard College ; he was town clerk
of Newington for many years. He married. May 19,
1782, Lydia Coleman, who was born March 15,
1761, and died in 1847, at the age of eighty-six. Their
children were : Samuel, Ephraim C, William C,
Olive C, Elisha H., Ebenezer, George, Lydia, Rufus,
Eliza Ann and Oliver.
(VH) George, seventh child and sixth son of
Samuel and Lydia (Coleman) Adams, was born in
Newington, March i, 1797, and died in Eastport,
Maine, December 15, 1880. He married, March 21,
1824, Mary Higgins, of Eden, Maine, and settled in
Eastport. Their children were: Eliza A., George
C, William M., Sarah E. and INIary L.
(Vni) Mary L., youngest child and third da\igh-
ter of George and Mary (Higging) Adams, was
born in Eastport, April 7, 1832 ; married, October
24, 1S51, Edward R. Bowman, of Eastport, and died
at Belmont, New Hampshire, June 2, 1890, aged
fifty-two years. Edward R. Bowman, son of John
Lisenby and Anne (Batson) Bowman, and grandson
of Andrew Bowman, was born January i, 1829. and
died in Eastport, Maine, October 20, 1898, aged al-
most seventy years. By occupation he was a sea
captain. He enlisted September 30, 1862, as a
seaman, and served one year on the "Circassia" and
the "Ossipee." October 21, 1863, he was discharged.
He re-enlisted in the same year, for three }-ears,
and served as boatswain on the "Ticonderoga" and
also as quartermaster. He was present December 24,
1864, at the first attack on Fort Fisher, North Caro-
lina, where his left leg was broken. For gallantry
at that attack he was awarded a medal by the
government. He was discharged from the service,
while in the hospital at Norfolk, Virginia, March
22, 1865. Edward R. and Mary L. (Adams) Bow-
man had four children : Marietta Bowman, born
October 10, 1882, who married Edwin C. Bean (see
Bean, VH) ; Harold A., Edward W. and George R.
(Second Family.)
An ancestor of the Adamses now in
ADAiSIS hand went to New London early in the
last century, going there from Massa-
chusetts, and tradition asserts that the emigrant an-
cestor was of the famous Adams pedigree referred
to in an article on the Adams family of Manchester,
(which see).
(I) Robert Adams, tailor, was born in England
in 1602, and emigrated to Massachusetts Bay in
1635. settling first in Ipswich. One tradition says
that he came from Devonshire, while another, of
equal value, states that he was of Holderness in the
county of York. He was accompanied by his wife,
who was before marriage Eleanor Wilmot. and two
children. He was residing at Salem in 1638-39, and
in 1640 removed to- Newbury, where he accumulated
considerable property including a large farm. His pros-
perity denotes the possession of that keen intelli-
gence, inherent energy and indomitable perseverance
so common among the Adamses of New England,
which in some measure substantiates the claim that
he was a cousin of Henry Adams, of Barntree.
the progenitor of two presidents of the L^nited
States. Robert died in Newbury. October 12. 16S2.
His first wife, Eleanor, previously referred to. died
June 12, 1677, and on February 2, 1678. he was
married a second time to Mrs. Sarah (Glover)
Short, widow of Henry Short. Her death occurred
October 24, 1697. His children, all of whom were
of his first union, were : John and Joanna (born
in England), Abraham, Elizabeth, Mary, Isaac. Jacob
(died young), Hannah, and another Jacob.
(II) Sergeant Abraham, second son and third
child of Robert and Eleanor (Wilmot) Adams, was
born in Salem, INIassachusetts, in 1639. He was
practically a life-long resident of Newbury and
quite prominent in the local militia, serving as cor-
poral from 1685 to 1693, and was made a sergeant
in 1703. He died in August. 1714. November 10.
1760, he married ?^Iary Pettingill, born July 6. 1652.
daughter of Richard and Joanna (Ingersoll) Pettin-
gill. She died September 19. 1705. The ten children
of this union were : Mary. Robert, Captain .'\bra-
ham, Isaac, Sarah, John, Dr. Matthew, Israel, Doro-
thy and Richard. (The la=t named and descendants
receive mention in this article).
(III) John, fourth son and sixth child of Ser-
geant Abraham and INIary (Pettingill) Adams, was
born in Newbury, March 7, 1684. He settled in that
part of Rowley which is now Georgetown, Massa-
chusetts, owning a farm on the north side of Pen-
tuckit Pond, and died there May 8. 1750. He was
twice married (first), January 22. 1707, to Elizabeth
Noyes, Tj'ho died childless, December 23. 1708 ;
(second), November 17, 1713, to Sarah Pearson,
who died December 10. 1754 or 56. She was the
mother of eight children: Sarah, Elizabeth. Me-
hitable. John, Man,', Benjamin. Hannah and iMoses.
(IV) John (2), eldest son and fourth child of
John (i) and Sarah (Pearson) Adams, was born
in Rowley. April 12. 1721. About the year 1780 he
settled in New London. New Hampshire, where his
death occurred September 28, 1803. His first wife,
whom he married August 3, 1748, was Sarah (or
Mary) Brocklebank. June 10, 17S.S, he married
Elizabeth Kilborn. of Rowley, and on September 3,
1764. he was married for the third time to ?ilrs.
Meribah Stickney. born in Bradford, Massachusetts,
March 14. 1727, daughter of Jonathan and Rebecca
(Hardy) Tenney. She was the widow of Samuel
Stickney. She died in New London, July 2T. 1803.
The children of the first union were : Captain
John, born September 29, 1749. Benjamin. February
19, 1751. Sarah, March 23, 1753. Lois.^ November
15. 1754. Those of the second marriage were:
Elizabeth, born January 29. 1756. Jane, May 25,
1757- Solomon, March 4, 1759. Jedediah, January
18, 1761. Mary, November 23. 1763. By his third
wife: Moses, born July 21, 1765. Jonathan, Sep-
tember 27. 1767.
(V) Solomon, third son and child of John (2)
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
187
and Elizabeth (Kilborn) Adams, was born in West
Rowley, March 4, 1759. He served as a soldier in
the Revolutionary war from July 2 to December,
1780, five months and twelve days, and later in life
was granted a pension. He subsequently settled in
New London, and died in that town March 18, 1834.
In 1779 he married Molly Bancroft, his first wife,
and his second wife was Mary Sargent. His first
wife bore him seven children : Alexander, Solomon,
Mary and Susan, who were born in West Rowley ;
Abigail, Eliza and Emily, who were born in New
London. Those of the second union were : Peter,
Daniel, Lois. Zebedee, Augustine, Chloe and Sarah.
(VI) Solomon (2), son of Solomon (l) and
Molly (Bancroft) Andrews, was born in West
Rowley, February 28, 1780. He resided for some
years in Springfield, New Hampshire, but returned
to New London about 1824, and died there June 22,
1851. He married Mary Collins, daughter of Jo-
seph Collins of Springfield. She died in 1879, aged
eighty-si.x years. Their children were : Mary E.,
Miranda, now ninety-one years old (1907). Smith,
born October 16, 1816, Dennis H., born in Spring-
field, November 16, 1819, deceased. Joseph C, born
July 31, 1824. Norrman B., born in New London,
December 22, 1828.
(VII) Joseph Collins, second son and fourth
child of Solomon (2) and Mary (Collins) Adams,
was born in New London, July 31, 1824. Learning
the shoemaker's trade he followed it during 'the ac-
tive period of his life in connection with farming, and
was an upright, conscientious man and a useful
citizen. In politics he acted with the Republican
party, but his habitual reserve prevented him from
seeking public ofince. He died in New London, Oc-
tober 18, 1899. November 29, 1857, he married Ann
Eliza Wiggin, of Springfield, daughter of John and
Elizabeth Wiggin, and reared two sons : Elmer Ells-
worth, born March 30, 1862 ; and Herman S., the
date of whose birth will be recorded presently.
Elmer E. Adams who was associated in mercantile
business with his brother, is quite prominent in local
Republican politics and has served as postmaster in
New London from 1894 to the present time. He is
aflSliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows and treasurer of the local lodge. He was mar-
ried November 6, 1896, to Minnie Richardsqn, daugh-
ter of Sargent and lilaria Richardson, of Sutton,
this state. They have one son, Myron R. Adams,
born June 13, 1897. Mrs. Elmer E. Adams is ac-
tively interested in church societies.
(VIII) Herman Solomon, youngest son of Joseph
C. and Ann E. (Wiggin) Adams, was born in New-
London. February 3, 1871. His education was ac-
quired in the public schools and he began the activi-
ties of life in the insurance business. He later
worked at carriage painting and prior to that was
employed in a scythe manufactory. Some years later
he became associated with his brother in carrying
on a large general store, and this business has proved
successful. The Adams Brothers also conducted the
undertaking business. He was local representative
of several well-known insurance companies, includ-
ing the New Hampshire Fire, Capitol State, Home
(or New York), Niagara. Continental, jNIetropolitan
Plate Glass and New York Underwriters. For
eight years he has served with unusual ability as
town clerk, and was actively identified with the Re-
publican party. He was an Odd Fellow and occupied
some of the chairs in Heidelburg Lodge, No. 92, also
a member of the Knights of Pythias. He attended
the First Baptist Church. He was a musician of no
mean order, was leader of the New London Cadet
Band ten years, and also leader of Ardell Orchestra.
On September 12, 1895, Mr. Adams was joined in
marriage with Flora Everett, daughter of Frank M.
Everett, of Concord. They have had two children :
Pearl Donna, born October 22,, 1901 ; and Beth Hale,
born January 7, 1904, died March 2 of the same year.
Mr. Adams died March 22, 1907.
(III) Richard, youngest child of Sergeant Abra-
ham and Mary (Pettingell) Adams, was born in
Newbury, November 22, 1693. He was a husband-
man and died in his native town, November 2, 1778.
He married December 12, 1717, Susanna Pike, of
Newbury, who died in that town, October 17, 1754.
Their children, all born in Newbury, were: Mary;
John, died young ; Hannah ; Enoch ; Richard ;
Susanna ; John ; Daniel ; Moses and Edmund.
(IV) Edmund, youngest child of Richard and
Susanna (Pike) Adams, was born in Newbury, Oc-
tober 24, 1740, and was a yeoman residing in that
town until 1781, when he removed to Londonderry,
New Hampshire. He married (first), in Newbury,
November 22, 1764, Hannah Thurston, who died
September 12, 1807. He married (second)
Kimball, a widow. He died in that part of Lon-
donderry now known as Derry, January 18, 1825.
His children, all born in Newbury, were : James,
see forward; Jane, died young; Amos; Patietice :
Jane; Hannah; Edmund; Richard; Benjamin, and
Jacob. The last named died August 15. 1822. He
bequeathed all his property, consisting of some fif-
teen thousand acres, to found a college for women,
being the first man to entertain this idea. The
institution was known as the Adams Female Acad-
em\- of Derry.
(V) James, eldest child of Edmund and Han-
nah (Thurston) Adams, was born in Newbury,
May 5, 1765, and died in May, 1853. He was a
blacksmith, and settled in East Derry, New Hamp-
shire, about 1780. .where he lived three years. He
then removed to Londonderry, where he remained
until the death of his father, and then settled on
the original homestead of the family on the east
side of the town. This place has been in the
possession of the family since 1780. After his last
removal James Adams devoted all his time to farm-
ing. He married Anna, daughter of Jonathan Grif-
fin, a Welshman who resided in Londonderry, and
had children: John, Benjamin, David, Hannah, Ed-
mund, jMary, Sarah and Rebecca. (Edmund and
descendants are mentioned in this article).
(VI) David, third son of James and Anna
(Griffin) Adams, was born October 15, 1797, in
Londonderry, New Hampshire, and at the age of
twenty-one journeyed on horseback to Lockport,
New York, where among strangers he settled and
took up blacksmithing as a trade. In a fe^v years
he returned to Londonderry with a span of horses
and a lumber wagon, making the journey in three
weeks. After a brief visit he returned with his
horses, part of the way riding in his cart and then,
after hitching his horses to a canal boat, proceed-
ing in the boat. After reaching his new home he
bought a fann and made farming his life work,
buying new fields until he had three hundred acres.
He died January 30. 1868, in Lockport. In 1840
David Adams married Adelia Maria, daughter of
Jasper and Elizabeth (Delamarter) Griffis. She
was born in Hoosick, Rensselaer county. New York,
Januar\- 25, 1808, and died June 3, in Lockport.
Jasper Grifiis was born in 1760 at Petersburg, New
York, and died July 20, 1825, and Elizabeth Dela-
marter was horn January 7, 1767. at Petersburg,
and died July 25, 1850: both died in Niagara
county. David and Adelia Adams had two chil-
dren— Anna, born October 4, 1844, and married
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Myron Tracy ; and Daniel Simmons, whose sketch
follows.
The family of Dr. Daniel Simmons
ADAMS Adams, of Manchester, New Hamp-
shire.
CVII) Dr. Daniel Simmons Adams was bom
in Lockport, New York, May 3, 1846. He attended
the district schools of that town and later the
Lockport Union Academy and Pinkerton Academy
of Derry, New Hampshire. He was for two years
at Genesee College, Avon, New York, one year in
the medical department of the University of New
York, and for two years in the College of Physi-
cians and Surgeons of Columbia University. New
York, from which he received the degree of Doctor
of Medicine. February 28. 1S72. He was for one
year in the New York Hospital, ending his term of
service there in the fall of 1872. In September of
that year he removed to Manchester, New Hamp-
shire, where he was a successful -Dhysician and
valued citizen until his death. thirt>'-five years later.
As a surgeon Dr. Adams was well and favorably
known throughout the state of New Hampshire,
and was often called upon to give expert testimony
before the superior court. He was one of the lead-
ing members of the surgical staff of the Elliott Hos-
pital, holding this position since its organization in
1890 until his death. A brilliant and skillful oper-
ator, he brought manv patients to the hosnital. not
only from his own city but all parts of the state.
He was consulting surgeon to the Children's Home
and Woman's Aid Home; also a member of the
medical and surgical staff of the Masonic Home of
Manchester. Dr. .^dams joined the New Hamp-
shire Medical Society in 187.^. and was an active
and prominent member for thirty-four years. He
served this society as treasurer, president and presi-
dent of its board of censors for twelve years, and
at all times took a zealous interest in the welfare
of the organization. Dr. Adams was a member of
the American Medical Association, and was a dele-
gate to the International Medical Congress at
Washington, D. C, in 1887. For years he was as-
sociate supreme medical examiner of the Royal
Templars Insurance Order, headquarters at Buf-
falo. New York. In December, iqo6, he was made
president of the New England Alumni Association
of New York City Medical Colleges.
In politics Dr. Adams was a Republican, though
he had little time to participate in party affairs.
He was a member of the Hanover Street Congre-
gational Church. He was much interested in.
fraternal organizations, particularly the Masons,
being a member of Trinity Commanden', Knights
Templar; Bektash Temple, Nobles of the Mystic
Shrine; Edward A. Raymond Consistory, of
Nashua, and Ruth Chapter, Order Eastern Star, of
Manchester. He was also a prominent member of
.Tames E. Shepard Colony of the United Order of
Pilgrim Fathers. His extensive practice, that in-
cluded all sections of the city and much of the
country- round about, gave him considerable out-
door life, but he was an ardent sportman. and he
delisfhted whenever his work permitted a brief va-
cation, to hunt big same in the wild lands of Maine,
Nova Scotia and Canada. He was one of- the best
hunters in Hillsborough county, and he had an
ardent love for outdoor life in all its forms.
On November 17, i§70. Dr. Adams married Cora
Anna, daughter of Andrew and Margaret A. Fox,
of Auburn, New HamYishire. She. died February
22, 1808. leaving no children. On Tune i.'^, iqoo.
Dr. Adams married his second wife, May Gertrude,
daughter of James and Sarah (Fox') Benson, of
Manchester, who was born July 24, 1876.
Dr. Adams' death occurred at his home, 440
Hanover street, Manchester, on January 12, 1907.
at the age of sixty years. He had been in poor
health for ten months, but the news of his death
in the prime of his career was received _ with _ pro-
found sorrow by his brother physicians,_his patients,
and the townspeople generally. His widow is now
living in Manchester.
(VI) Edmund, sixth child and fourth son of
James and Anna (Griffin) Adams, was born in
Londonderry, February 22, 1802. and died in Derry,
December 10, 1868. He was educated in the com-
mon schools and was a farmer, but in the latter
part of his life became a well-read lawyer and a
good councillor, was a broker and held town
offices. He married. October, 1828, Jane March,
born in 1804, died June 10, 1833. She was a native
of Wa'pole. New Hampshire, and was the seventh
of a family of thirteen children. Three children
were born of this marriage : Lucian, see forward ;
(George W.. died April, 1S32; and Daniel, deceased.
(VII) Rev. Lucian, eldest and only living child
of Edmund and Jane (Marsh) Adams, was born
on Bartley Hill, Londonderry, July 28, 1829. After
attending the common schools he prepared for col-
lege at Pinkerton and Kimball Union academies,
being graduated from the latter in 1853. He then
matriculated at Dartmouth, which conferred upon
him the degree of Bachelor of .'Vrts in 1858. Thence
he went to Phillips Andover Theological Seminary,
from which he was graduated in August, 1861. His
first charge was the Central Congregational Church
at Haverhill, Massachusetts, where he remained
but a short time and then became pastor of the
Congregational Church at Petersham, Massachu-
setts, where he labored three years. Mr. Adams
entered the ser\'ice of the Board of Foreien Mis-
sions of the Congregational Church, in 1864. and
sailed from New York for Turkey, "March 4, 1865,
where he took charge of the missionary work of
the American Board of Foreign Missions and con-
tinued in this field of labor until 189,=;. when he re-
signed. During this time, covering thirty-one years,
he had devoted himself to his mission and accom-
plished a large amount of good. He visited the
four principal divisions of the world, crossed the
Atlantic eight times, and traveled extensivelv in
the principal countries of Europe, including Scot-
land. England, France and Italy. His retirement
from missionary work occurred when he was sixty-
one years of age, long after most men retire from
less arduous labor. After his return to America
he settled in Derry Village, where he spends enough
of his time at manual labor to ensure good health,
and a great deal of the remaining time is spent in
filling various pulpits of the neighborhood, and in
the company of his books, of which he has a well
selected library of both secular and relisious works.
He married (first), in Springfield. New Hamp-
shire, November 20, 1862, Susan A. Adams, born in
that town. September 16, 1833. died in Turkey. No-
vember t8. 1866. daughter of Hon. Daniel and
(Williams) Adams, of Sprin,rfeld. She had been
a classmate of Mr. .^dams at Mendeth. from which
she was graduated in August. 1854. Mr. Adams
married (second), in Turkey, October 11, 1867,
Dora Frances, born in Newington. Connecticut. De-
cember 20, 1840, daughter of Pratt Frances, of
Newington. She was graduated from the Mount
Holyoke Female Seminary in the class of 1863. and
soon afterward went to Wilmington, North Caro-
lina, where she taught in the first contraband school
^. c3, d^jic^^vt^
^^ S' ^:^-t^^:^^>>^
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
189
in the country, ever conducted under military pro-
tection. General Benjamin F. Butler being her spon-
sor. She then went to Turkey, where she per-
formed efficient service in the missionary field. She
died in Turkey, February s, 1891. By his first
marriage Mr. Adams had one child: Lucian, who
died in infancy. By his second the children were:
I. Helen A., born in Turkc}-, August 3, 1871. Has
been for a number of years a nurse in the Johns-
Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, and^ is
now superintendent of the maternity and operating
wards. 2. Edmund Francis, born in Turkey, June
8, 1874. Was graduated from Harvard University
in 1896, as valedictorian of his class. For five
years he had charge of a large stock farm and is
now a lawyer in Boston, Massachusetts. 3. Walter
Sidney, born in Turkey, December 20, 1876. Was
graduated from Dartmouth College as valedictorian
of the class of i8g8. He subsequently took a course
at the University of Chicago, where he received the
degree of Doctor of Philosophy; then took a post
graduate course of nearly two years in a college in
^Iunich, Germany. He had charge of the Yerkes
Observatory of the University of Chicago, at Geneva
Lake, and is now professor in charge of the Carne-
gie Astronomical Observatory, Wilson mountain,
Pasadena, California. He was a Fellow of the
Royal Astronomical Society of Great Britain be-
fore he was thirty years of age.
The Adams family of Winchester was
ADAMS established there anterior to the Revo-
lutionary war, and at least one of its
members, if not more, participated in that struggle.
(I) Noah Adams, who was a pioneer settler
in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, went there from
New England, and although the meagre records at
hand fail to mention the locality from whence he
came, they indicate that he may have emigrated
from Connecticut. He participated in some of the
important events which occurred in Pennsylvania
during the war for national independence ; sur-
vived the atrocious Wyoming Massacre; and about
the year 177S he and his family made their way
through the wilderness to Connecticut.
(n) Amos, son of Noah Adams, was born in
Wilkes-Barre, Augt:st 16, 1773. When five years
old he accompanied his parents on their long and
perilous journey through the woods to Connecticut,
and subsequently went to Winchester, New Hamp-
shire. In early life he learned the tailor's trade.
Physically he was strong and active. ^His mental
faculties were well developed and, considering his
limited opportunities for attending school, he ac-
quired a good education, chiefly through his own
per.sistent efforts. These attainments made him ex-
ceedingly valuable to the community as a master,
and he also practiced medicine with excellent re-
sults. His robust constitution enabled him to
ward of? in a great measure the infirmities that
usually indicate the sunset period of life, and at the
time of his death, which occurred in Winchester,
July 3. 1871, at the ripe old age of nearly ninety-
eight years, he was a remarkably well preserved
man. He possessed a vivid recollection of the ex-
citing events connected with his early boyhood in
Pennsylvania; the horrors of Indian warfare; the
gruesome spectacle of seeing the savages enter the
garrison with v.hite men's scalps hanging from
their shoulders : the sufferings from a lack of water
and other vital necessities during the long tramp
through the forest, on which occasion the travelers
were marked in such a manner as to protect them
from hostile Indians : and even as a nonogenarian
he frequently related these incidents to interested
listeners. It is generally believed that he was the
last survivor of the Wyoming Massacre. The
maiden name of his wife, to whom he was married
October 15, 1798, was Mary Fassett. She was born
in Richmond, New Hampshire, January 3, 1778,
and died in Winchester, March 13, 1829. Their
children were : Joab F., Lite. Noah, Asa, Eliza-
beth A., David A., Anna, Lucy. Mary, Dennison C.
Amos Adams married (second) Thaiikful Hiscock,
by whom there was no issue.
(III) Noah (2), son of Amos and Mary (Fas-
sett) Adams, was born in Winchester, June 2, 1S04.
Learning the cooper's trade he followed it in con-
nection with farming, and his entire life was spent
in his native town. His death occurred October
30, 1853. On May 29, 1832, he was married by
Jonathan Blake. Jr., to Eunice Stearns, born in
Warwick, Massachusetts, March 17, 1809. The
children of this union are : Mary E. and
Ebenezer S.
(IV) Ebenezer Stearns, son of Noah (2) and
Eunice (Stearns) Adams, was born in Winchester,
February 27, 1833. He began his education in his
native town, continued his studies in Warwick,
Massachusetts, and concluded them in Richmond,
New Hampshire. He assisted his father upon the
farm until the latter's decease, when he acquired
possession of the homestead and has ever since re-
sided there, devoting his energies largely to agricul-
ture with profitable results, and also to palm leaf
hat manufacturing. He removed from the home-
stead farm to his present place of residence in 1894,
since which time he has been living in retirement.
In his palm leaf hat manufacturing business Mr.
Adams put the leaf out to the braiders to make into
hats. He had as many as a hundred braiding for
him at times. The hats were sold at Winchester,
Fitchburg and North Dana, but principally to Hon.
N. L. Johnson, of Dana, Massachusetts. Mr.
Adams used to go. through the state of Vermont
putting out leaf at the stores and buying hats at
'wholesale for him. He began this business about
fifty years ago. He has rendered his share of
service to the town in a civic capacity, having been
a member of the board of selectmen for four years,
is a justice of the peace, and in politics is a Demo-
crat. His fraternal affiliations are w'ith the Ma-
sonic Order.
On January 27, 1861, Mr. Adams was married in
Richmond to Rosetta Palmer, born in that part of
Reading, Massachusetts, wdiich is now Wakefield,
July 2. 1S39, daughter of Elihu- Horsford and
Nancy (Drew) Palmer. One daughter born of
this marriage, Ethel M., wife of Reuben E. Ham-
mond, of Winchester. A son born of this marriage,
Clarence Adams Hammond, died at the age of three
years.
Mary E. Adams, sister of Ebenezer S. Adams,
married Daniel R. Spaulding,. of Fitzwilliam, and
thirty years later, A. G. Beebe. also of Fitzwilliam.
Zenas Adams was born at Goflfstown,
ADAMS New Hampshire, in 1787, and in early
life went to reside in Manchester. In
T835 he removed to Pembroke, where he died in
September, 1853. The major part of his life was
devoted to agricultural pursuits. He emphasized
his patriotism by serving as a soldier in the second
conflict with Great Britain (1812-15), and he ac-
quired an honorable record in the arm)'. He mar-
ried Lj'dia Baker, who was born in Manchester,
Noveinber 22. 1793. Their children were : ^fary
Jane. Idetta, Nathaniel Baker, Elizabeth ^IcCurdy
and Lucy .\nn.
(II) Natlranicl Baker, only son of Zenas and
190
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Lydia (Baker) Adams, was born in Goffstown, Oc-
tober 13, 1823. The active period of his life was
spent upon a farm in Pembroke, and his death oc-
curred in that town June 6, 1883. He was married-
December 22, 1853, to Eleanor Batchelder French,
daughter of Moses French, of Deerfield. this state,
and was the father of five children : Charles Sum-
ner, who will be again referred to ; Mary Ella, bom
May 16, 1859; Jessie Fremont, born March 30, 1862,
married Mailand E. Prescott, son of John M. and
Mary (Lake) Prescott, of Pembroke; John Frank,
born August 3, 1S64; and George French, born
February 16, iS57, died in Boston, April 22, 1892.
(in) Charles Sumner, eldest son and child of
Nathaniel B. and Eleanor B. (French) Adams, was
born in Pembroke, February 5, 1857. He was reared
and educated in his native town, and from his
youth to the present time has been engaged in gen-
eral farming in Pembroke. He owns one hundred
and sixty acres of fertile land which he cultivates
with profit, and ranks among the progressive and
well-to-do farmers of that section. Politically he
supports the Republican party, and his religious
affiliations are with the Congregationalists. He is
actively interested in the Patrons of Husbandry and
a member of the local Grange, No. 11. On August
6, 1885, Mr. Adams was joined in marriage with
Nellie Jane Cate, daughter of Andrew Jackson
Gate, of Allenstown. New Hampshire. Mr. and
Mrs. Adams have four children : Nate, born Jan-
uary, 1887; Kate, born September, 1890; Pearl,
born August, 1894; and John, born April, 1902.
(I) Hon. Francis M. Adams was
ADAMS born in Boston, February, 1816. He
was educated in the Boston public
schools, graduating from the Latin School, and
took high rank as a scholar, displaying a special
aptitude for the study of modern languages. When
a young man he entered the Boston police depart-
ment, but subsequently withdrew in order to accept
an appointment as messenger for the governor's
council, in which capacity he served three succes-
sive administrations, and he afterwards occupied a
similar position in the supreme court. About the
year 1850 he entered the service of Suffolk county
as a deputy sheriff, and retained that office through
successive reappointments for the remainder of his
life, which terminated in December, 1883, as the re-
sult of an accident. In his personal appearance Mr.
Adams was exceedingly attractive. Tall of stature
and powerfully built, his commanding presence was
emphasized by an ease and natural grace of car-
riage which universally won the admiration of all
with whom he came in contact, and his personal
characteristics were equally commendable. He com-
prehended his duties as a public official from the
basis of lofty ideals, and his invulnerable integrity
insured their prompt execution. Prominent among
his many admirable qualities was his bountiful love
for his family and his zealous devotion to their wel-
fare and comfort. His chief delight consisted in
the imparting of his knowledge of languages and
other branches of polite learning to his children,
whose love and affection for their parents was only
equalled by their respect and veneration, and these
were in no small measure shared by his friends, of-
ficial co-workers and fellow citizens in general. He
is still remembered by the older residents of Bos-
ton, who speak of him in terms of the highest re-
gard, and a veteran official at the Suffolk county
court house in reference to him, said: "The recall-
ing of Mr. Adams to my mind awakens in my mem-
ory many pleasant recollections of him." In poli-
tics he was in early life a Whig, and subsequently
a Democrat. Mr. Adams married Susan Hinckley
Nye, who was born in Barnstable, Massachusetts,
July 12, 1823, daughter of Captain Nathan and
Sarah H. (Hinckley) Nye, the former of whom, a
well-known shipmaster of his day, was lost at sea
during a voyage from France to Rochelle, New
York. Mrs. Adams' mother, who was a descendant
of Thomas Hinckley, the first governor of Barn-
stable Plantation, devoted considerable time and
energy to church work, and accomplished much in
propagating the principles of Christianity. Hon.
Francis M. and Susan H. (Nye) Adams were the
parents of six children : Mary E., William H.,
Helen M., Annie C, Elizabeth L., and Frederick
G., died aged fourteen years.
(II) Captain William Hinckley Nye, second
child and second son of Francis M. and Susan H.
(Nye) Adams, was born in Jamaica Plains, Mass-
achusetts, October 22, 1851. At thirteen years of
age he enlisted in the United States navy as an ap-
prentice. In September, 1867. he was transferred
from the United States frigate "Sabine" to the
sloop-of-war "Ossipee," belonging to the North
Pacific squadron. In this vessel he sailed to Alaska,
and was a witness to the formal transfer of Alaska
by the Russian government to the United States,
and is now (1907) one of the four survivors of those
who were present on that occasion. He subse-
quently entered the merchant marine service, en-
gaged chiefly in the Californian trade, and attained
the rank of captain. During the fifteen years he
spent as a mariner he made fifteen trips around
Cape Horn, three around the world, and visited
nearly every point of commercial importance on
the globe. After leaving the sea and the perils of
a sailor's life he settled in Campton, New Hamp-
shire, engaged in mercantile business, and is now
proprietor of the largest general store in the village
of Campton, where for the last twelve years he
has served as postmaster. He is active in political
affairs, and popular as well, and served as a member
of the New Hampshire legislature from Campton,
igoo-oi. He is well up in Masonry, being a mem-
ber of Olive Branch Lodge, No. 16, Free and Ac-
cepted Masons, of Pemigewasset ; the Royal Arch
Chapter; Omega Council, Royal and Select Mas-
ters ; and Pilgrim Commandery, Knights Templar,
of Laconia, and Edward A. Raymond Consistory.
He is also a member of Bektash Temple, Ancient
Arabic Order of the Mystic Shrine, of Concord.
He married, July 10. 1879, in Campton, Sarah Flor-
ence Cook, who was born in that town October 18,
1854, daughter of Joseph and Eliza (Kenrick)
Cook, and granddaughter of General Moody Cook,
also of Campton. Four children have been born of
this union: Helen Eliza, February 15, 1880; Lucy
Cook, March 20, 1S82. who died August 12, 1884;
Marion Frances. May 8. 1885 ; and Ida E., January
19, 1887. All were born in Campton except Helen
E., who was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
(I) Philip Adams was born in 1825,
ADAMS in Gaspe Basin, Providence of Quebec,
and was a hunter and fisher most of
his life. In 1874 he removed to Haverhill,
New Hampshire, and settled on a farm which
he tilled until a few years before his death,
which occurred in Haverhill. In politics he
was a Democrat, and in religious faith an
Episcopalian. He married Rosanna Cremere.
who was born in Guernsey, Province of Quebec,
and died in Haverhill. They were the parents of
fourteen children : Philip, Rosanna, Beamon, Nich-
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
191
olas, Thomas, Elizabeth, William, Alfred, Joseph,
Ambrose, John, Agnes, Isaac, and Patrick. The
last two children died young.
(II) John Benjamin, tenth child and eighth
son of Philip and Rosanna (Cremere) Adams, was
born at Gaspe Basin, Province of Quebec, April
3, 1864, and came with his parents to Haverhill,
New Hampshire, when eiglit years old. He was
educated in the common schools of Haverhill, and
later apprenticed himself to a builder, whose trade
he learned. Three years later he removed to
Laconia, where he worked at his trade for hire the
ensuing ten years, and then went into business for
himself. For fourteen years he carried on business
successfully. He attends the Baptist Church, votes
the Republican ticket, and is a member of Lodge
No. 5, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of
Laconia. He married Nellie Brown, who was born
in Canipton, June, 18G0, daughter of David Brown,
of Campton.
The very numerous family of this
EASTMAN name which has spread throughout
New England and many of the
middle and western states is the progeny of a pioneer
of Salisbury, Massachusetts, and many of the later
generations in New Hampshire are descended from
the first of the name at Concord, who was the
principal settler of this town. This family has many
prominent representatives in its various generations.
The earliest known record of the ancestry of the
Eastmans of this country is the will of John East-
man, of Ramsey, county of Southampton, England,
dated September 24. 1602.
(I) Roger Eastman, as -investigation shows,
was the first of the name in America. He was born
in Wales, in 161 1, and died in Salisbury, Massachu-
setts, December 16, 1694. He came from Langford,
county of Wilts, sailing from Southampton, April,
163S, in the ship "Confidence," John Jobson. master,
bound for Massachusetts Bay Colony. On the'
ship's papers he was entered as a servant of John
Saunders. It is believed that his real rank was
higher than appears, but was concealed on account
of the emigration laws or for political reasons. The
name has been spelled and mis-spelled in divers
ways, Easman being one of the commonest diver-
gencies. Roger Eastman received lands in the first
division in Salisbury in 1640-43, and his minister's
tax in 1650 was eight shillings and three pence.
From Salisbury the members of this family dis-
persed in various directions, the major part settling
in the southern towns of New Hampshfre and the
northern towns of Massachusetts. Members of the
third generations pushed farther north and settled
on the Merrimack. Roger Eastman married Sarah
Smith (the surname is uncertain, however), who
was born in 1621, died in Salisbury, Massachusetts,
March 11, 1697. They were members of the church
in -Salisbury in 1694. Their children were: John,
born January 9, 1640; Nathaniel, March 18, 1643;
Philip, October 20, 1644; Thomas, September 11,
1646: Timothy, September 29, 164S; Joseph, No-
vember 8. 1650; Benjamin, December 12. 1652;
Sarah, July 25, 1655 ; Samuel, September 20, 1657 ;
and Ruth, January 21. 1661. (Alention of Philip,
Benjamin, Samuel and descendants occurs in this
article).
(II) John, eldest child of Roger Eastman, -ivas
born January 9, 1640. in Salisbury, and died there
March 25. 1720. He subscribed to the oath of al-
legiance and fidelity in 1677, w-as made freeman in
1690, and represented Salisbury in the general court
of Massachusetts in 1691. He w-as married Octo-
ber 2T, 1665, to Hannah Heilie, who lived but a
short time thereafter. He was married (second),
November S, 1670, to Mary, daughter of William
Boynton, of Rowley. She was born May 23. 1648,
in that town and received from her father the gift
of a farm, as did each of his six other children.
He w-as a teacher, also a tailor and planter and was
a large holder of lands in Essex county. John
Eastman's children were : Hannah, John, Zach-
ariah, Roger, Elizabeth, Thomas (died young),
Thomas and Joseph. (Mention of Roger and Jo-
seph and descendants appears in. this article).
(HI) Zachariah, third child and second son of
John and Mary (Boynton) Eastman, was born in
Salisbury, August 24, 1679, and died in Ipswich,
where he lived most of his life, November 18, 1732.
He married first. May i, 1703, Martha Thorn, of
Ipswich, who was admitted to the church in Salis-
bury, July 28, 1706. She died June 6, 1718, and he
married second. Phebe West, w-ho died March 3,
1723. He married third, September 3, I72V(, De-
borah Pillsbury, widow of Reuben W'hittier, by
whom he had seven children. The children by the
first wife were : Jeremiah, Martha, Abigail, Jacob,
and Ruth; by the second wife: William, Mary, and
Benjamin; by the third wife : Timothy, and a daugh-
ter who died young.
(IV) Jeremiah, eldest child of Zachariah and
Martha (Thorn) Eastman, was born in Ipswich
(Massachusetts), March 30, 1704, and settled in
Byfield. He married, February 10, 1725, Lydia
Brown^ daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Brown)
of Salisbury. Their children were : Lydia, Han-
nah, Martha, Jeremiah. Meriam (see below-), Mary,
Ephraim, Phebe, and Benjamin.
(V) Miriam, fourth daughter of Jeremiah and
Lydia (Brown) Eastman, was born February 28,
1740, in Byfield, and. became the wife of Josiah (3)
Sawyer. (See Sawyer, V).
(V) Jeremiah (2), fourth child and eldest son
of Jeremiah and Lydia (Brown) Eastman, was born
in Byfield, Massachusetts, November 28, 1732, and
died in Deerfield, New Hampshire, in 1802. He
resided for a time in Kingston, and removed, in
1762, to Deerfield, New Hampshire, where he set-
tled on a large tract of land on the southeast shore
of Pleasant Pond. Pie was one of the foremost
men of his town, and an ardent patriot. In 1772
and in 1774 he was a member of the board of se-
lectmen, in 1775 he was elected town clerk, and
held that office continuously for twenty-five years ;
from 177s 'o 1781 inclusive he was elected a dele-
gate to represent the parishes of Deerfield and
Northwood in the congress at Exeter. He w-as
elected to the general assembly at Concord, in the
years 17S3-4. He was also one of the signers of
the Declaration made April 12, 1776, in response to
a call from the committee of safety. He was a
member of the church in Deerfield, and as active in
church matters as in other public affairs. He was
one of the conmiittee to fix the site of the meeting
house in 1776, and in 1779 one of the committee to
build a church. His will is dated March 27, 179S.
He married Hannah Quimby, and they w-ere the
parents of several children: Jacob, Ephraim, Ben-
jamin. Sarah, Lydia, Enoch, and Jeremiah.
(VI) Ephraim, third son and fifth child of
Jeremiah and Hannah (Quimby) Eastman, was
born March 15, 1768, baptized in Deerfield, May i,
176S, and died in 1853. He removed about 1792 to
.Vndover, where he spent the remainder of his life.
He married, October, iSoo. Lydia Robie. of Weare,
who was born April 2^^, 1777, and died July 26, 1843,
daughter of John and Mary (Eastman) Robie.
192
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Their children were: Mary, Versa! Ransom, Royal
Friend, Hiram, Butler. John Langdon, Ephraim,
Lydia, George, Jeremiah, and James Monroe.
(VII) Royal Friend, third child and second
son of Ephraim and Lydia (.Robie) Eastman, was
born March 30, 1805, and died April 9, 186S. He
was a farmer and resided in Andover. He married
first, November. 1833, at Andover, Sophronia Mayo,
born in Andover, January i, 1S14, died August 22,
1840, daughter of John and Lydia (Laha) Mayo,
of Andover. He married second, Nancy A. Lang-
ley, who was born January I, 1815, and died March
4. 1896. Two children were born by the first wife :
Helen Mar, who never married; and John Robie,
whose sketch follows.
(VIII) John Robie, only son of Royal F. and
Sophronia (Mayo) Eastman, was born in Andover,
July 29, 1836. He attended the common schools,
and the academies at Andover and New London,
passing from the latter to Dartmouth College,
where he w-as graduated ; from the Chandler Scien-
tific School in 1862 with the degree of Bachelor of
Science, after two years' attendance there. In 1877
his Alma Mater conferred on him the honorary de-
gree of Doctor of Philosophy. From 1853 to 1862
he taught school several terms, and in that way
earned money to defray to a considerable extent
his expenses in school. After leaving Dartmouth
he passed the required examination and was ap-
pointed assistant in the United States Naval Ob-
servatory at Washington. D. C, November 7, 1862.
The assistant astronomer of the Naval Obser\-atory
recommended his promotion, and on February 17,
1865, he was appointed professor of mathematics in
the United States Navy, with the rank of lieutenant-
commander, a position he held until his retirement
in 1899. He was employed in astronomical ob-
servations, computations and research for thirty-
six years, from 1862-1898. He prepared most of
the published work in the annual volumes of the
government observatory from 1874 to iSg8. He
was in charge of the meridian circle work at the
observatory from 1874 to 1891 ; observed total solar
eclipses August 7, iS6g, at Des Moines, Iowa; De-
cember 23, 1870, at Syracuse, Sicily ; July 29. 1878,
at West Las Animas, Colorado; and May 28, 1900,
at Barnesville, Georgia. He was in charge of the
eclipse party at West Las Animas, Colorado, and
of the party which observed the transit of Venus at
Cedar Keys, Florida, in 1882. He prepared and
edited the second Washington Star Catalogue, which
which contains the results of nearly eighty thous-
and observations made at the United States Naval
Observatory, between 1866 and 1891. He was re-
tired for age July 29, 1898, with the rank of captain
in the United States Navy, but retained on active
duty until October 12, i8gS. Was promoted, June
29, 1906, to rank of rear admiral in the United
States Navy, on the retired list. Returning to New
England he has resided in Andover, New Hamp-
shire. He is the author of "Transit Circle Ob-
servations of the Sun. Moon, Planets and Comets."
published in 1903, and for some time has been pre-
paring a history of his native town, which is now
(1907) nearly completed. In 1905 he was a repre-
sentative from Andover in the New Hampshire
legislature. In 1907 he was appointed member of
the New Hampshire state board of equalization.
He was the first president of the Washington
Academy of Sciences, 1898: president of the Phil-
osophical Society of Washington, 1889: vice-presi-
dent of the American Association for the advance-
ment of Science, in 18S7 and 1892 ; and in the latter
year was president of the Cosmos Club, of Wash-
ington. He was president of Dartmouth Alumni
Association in Washington for several years, and
has been an alumni trustee of Dartmouth College
since 1900. In politics he is a gold-standard Dem-
ocrat. Professor Eastman has been from early
manhood a deep thinker and an industrious student,
and his professional accomplishments have brought
him much credit in the world of science. He is a
dignified, courteous gentleman of tall, erect and
commanding figure, and though past seventy-one
years of age, he possesses the springy action of
youth; and when on his farm, drives his oxen while
holding the plow, and turns a furrow with scientific
accuracy, an accomplishment few men attain.
He married. December 26, 1866, Mary Jane Am-
brose, of Boscawen, who was born March 6, 1840-,
daughter of Samuel A. and Dorothy (Atl-dnson;
Ambrose.
(III) Roger (2), third son and fourth child
of John and Mary (Boynton) Eastman, was born
February 26, 1682, in Salisbury, and resided in
Amesbury, Massachusetts. His will was made and
probated there in April, 1743, and his widow's will
about ten years later, which indicates approximatelv
the time of their deaths. He was married January
S. 1710, to Hannah Kimball, daughter of John Kim-
ball (see Kimball, III). Their children were:
Roger, Hannah, John, Mary, Jonathan, Nathaniel,
Abigail, Miriam and Samuel". (The last named re-
ceives mention, with descendants, in this article).
(IV) Roger (3), eldest child of Roger (2) and
Hannah (Kimball) Eastman, was born April 12.
1711. in Amesbury, Massachusetts, and settled in
that town. When the province line was established
in 1741, his farm w^as proven to be in Newton, New-
Hampshire. His will was made March 24, 1771,
and allowed September 19, 1791. His wife's name
was Rachel and their children were : Thomas, Ste-
phen, Ichabod, Samuel, Isaac, Nicholas, Hannah,
Judith and Jennie. (Mention of Ichabod and Sam-
uel and descendants appears in this article).
(V) Stephen, second son of Roger (2) and
Rachel Eastman, was born March 27, 1744, in New-
ton, New Hampshire, and died in Lyndon, Vermont.
He resided in New-bury until 1778, and then re-
moved to Bow, New Hampshire, where he pur-
chased a tract of land at the base of Wood Hill.
He signed the association test there. After he was
eighty years old it was his custom, on each Sab-
bath, regardless of weather, to walk six or eight
rniles and return. He was a shoemaker by occupa-
tion, and wished his son and namesake to follow
that trade, but this was distasteful to the latter and
he started out at the age of fifteen years to clear-
and till his father's farm. At first this was a great
grievance to the father, but the family seemed to-
prosper from this time on and he ultimately deeded
his farm to the son in the hope and expectation
that the latter would support himself and wife in
their old age. It is quite apparent that both father
and son were self-willed and stubborn. When the
time came to build a new house there was a dis-
pute as to which way it should face, and the son
soon left his parents and went to Vermont. He
still retained the deed of the farm, and after living
a few years in Vermont he decided it was best for
his father and 3'ounger brother, who was then liv-
ing at home, to remove to Vermont. Finding it
impossible to persuade them he sold the farm on
which they lived and they were compelled to move
therefrom, and so reluctantly accepted the home
provided for them in Lyndon, Vermont. They
were, however, prosperous and the removal proved
to be a good thing. Stephen Eastman was married
I
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
193
in 1767 to Anna Colby, who was born August 17,
1747, in Amesbun-, daughter of Abraham and Eliza-
beth Colby (see Colby, IV). Their children were:
Elizabeth (died young), Hannah, Elizabeth. Jane
Worth, Stephen, Rachel, Eli, Anna, David and
Mary.
(VI) Hannah, second daughter and child of
Stephen and Anna (Colby) Eastman, was born Oc-
tober 13, 1769, in Newton, and became the wife of
David (3) Hammond (see Hammond, VI).
(V) Ichabod, third son and child of Roger
(3) and Rachel Eastman, was born May 22, 1749,
in Newton, New Hampshire. He was a carpenter
and joiner, and settled in Weare among the early
residents of that town, where he did a very success-
ful business. He usually had several apprentices in
his emplo}-, and did much building in that vicinity.
He died there September 3, iS^S. in his seventy-
seventh year. His wife. Mary Whittle, of Merri-
mac, was born 1750, and died in Weare. September
22, 1817. Their children were : Molly, Abigail,
Sally, Rachel, Fanny, William, James and Ichabod.
(VI) Jaires, second son and seventh child of
Ichabod and Mary (Whittle) Eastman, was born
January 13, 1788, in Weare, and resided in that
town. His wife was Elsie Gove, and the names of
their children were: Sarah, Mary, Leiia, Hannah
(died young), Hannah, Charles F., Johnathan,
Squires G., Elsie, James and Ezra.
(VII) Hannah, fifth daughter and child of
James and Elsie (Gove) Eastman, was born June
2, 1S31, in Weare, and became the second wife of
Reuben Shepardson, of Lempster. (See Shepard-
son, VIII).
(V) Samuel, fourth son and child of Roger
(3) and Rachel Eastman, was born October 3, 1747,
in Newton, New Hampshire, and died March 2,
1841, in Weare same state in his ninety-fourth year.
He was a farmer and came to this town with his
two brothers. He married Sarah Currier, of New-
ton, who died in Weare, June 2r, 1S21. He re-
moved from Newton to Weare subsequent to 1776.
Their children were : Molly, Sarah, Philip, Ruth,
Anna, Lydia, Jane, Samuel, Thomas, Betsey and
Moses.
(VI) Thomas, third son and ninth child of
Samuel and Sarah (Currier) Eastman, was born
17S4. in Weare, passed his life in that town and
died November 26, 1870, aged eighty-six years.
Like his father he was a farmer there. He mar-
ried (first) Asenath Hoyt, who died in 1823, aged
twenty-seven years. He married (secpnd) Abiah
Muzzey, who died in 1853, aged sixty-seven years.
He had two sons by the first wife, Francis and
Samuel. Thomas Eastman lived on the farm set-
tled by his father and was a soldier in the War of
1812. He was stationed at Portsmouth, but saw no
active service.
(VII) Francis, elder son of Thomas and
Asenath (Hoyt) Eastman, was born May 12, 1820.
in Weare, and resided at South Weare. He was a
farmer and cattle drover and did some lumbering.
He took an active part in town affairs, serving on
the school board, and as fax collector and select-
man. He adhered to the Democratic party in poli-
tical contests. He was active in building the South
Weare Congregational Church, and was always a
li1)eral supporter of its services and served many
years as deacon of the church. He added by pur-
chase to the original homestead and was the owner,
in all. of twelve hundred acres of land. He was
married February g, 1851, to .^bbie G. Tewksbury,
daughter of George H. and Dolly (Green) Tewks-
bury. She was born July 25. 1827. They were the
i— 13
parents of five childrert: Willie T., died aged one
year ; Mary Elizabeth, who became the wife of
Samuel W. Holburn, of Hillsboro Bridge; Frank
L., John P., deceased, and George Henry.
(VIII) Frank Leslie, second son and third
child of Francis and Abbie G. (Tc\vksbur5') East-
man, was born December 18, 1857, in South Weare,
where he now resides. His education was supplied
by the common school adjacent to his home, and
his attention was very early turned to agriculture.
He was accustomed to perform such duties as are
required of farmers" sons and in due time came to
count as a full hand in the labors of the farm. In
connection with his younger brother, John P., who
is now deceased, for some years he carried on the
farm of eight hundred acres, on which he lives.
Upon the decease of his brother he purchased from
the heirs their . interest in the farm and has since
added to his possessions by the purchase of neigh-
boring farms, so that his estate now includes two
thousand si.x hundred acres, of which four hundred
acres (the old Gibson farm) is in the town of
Francestown, and the remainder is in the town of
Weare. Mr. Eastman is a large producer of corn,
and in 1906 cultivated twenty-five acres of that
product. He deals extensively in lumber and oper-
ates a steam saw mill in Francestown. His herd
of one hundred and twenty-five cattle is composed
chiefly of Holstein blood, and he also maintains a
flock of eighty-five Shropshire sheep. His farm
and lumber operations require the use of about
twenty-five horses which he maintains, and his
stock includes two fine blooded stallions, one of
whom, "Arcadias, II," at the age of two years, in
Ma)-, 1907, weighed thirteen hundred pounds, the
other, known as "Dand Slacher," has covered a
hundred miles of road in a day and has never shown
weariness. Like his ancestors, Mr. Eastman ad-
heres to the Democratic party in politics. He served
as selectman of Weare three years, 1901-04-05, and
is one of the directors of the Weare Mutual Fire
Insurance Company. He has held various offices
in the town and has always taken an active part in
promoting the progress and welfare of his native
place. He has the largest farm in the town, if not
in the state. He was married February 27, 1879, to
Lucy F. Dodge, daughter of Charles B. Dodge, of
Antrim, New Hampshire. They have only one
child, Charles F. Eastman, (IX) born May 22, 1883.
He graduated from the Bryant and Stratton Busi-
ness College in 1902. He was married October 5,
1903, to Ethel Bailey, daughter of W. S. Bailey, of
North Weare. They have one son, Scott F., (X)
born April 24, 1907.
(VIII) (ieorge Henry, youngest child of
Francis and Abbie G. (Tewksbury) Eastman, was
born July 23, 1865, in South Weare, and has passed
his life chiefly in that town. His primary educa-
tion was supplied by the district school of his na-
tive town, and for two terms he was a student at
Francestown Academy. As a boy upon his father's
farm, his attention was very early applied to agricul-
ture and that has been his life calling with the ex-
ception of four years when he was engaged in the
grocery business with A. M. Eastman, of Manches-
ter. At the age of twenty-five years he returned to
Weare, and settled upon what was known as the
Lucius Tuttle place near the old homestead in South
Weare. on which he now resides. Here he repaired
tlie buildings extensively, adding to the barn, wliich
is now ninety by thirty-six feet, and also to other
buildings ; he then added to the house which is now
twenty-six by twenty-four containing six rooms fur-
nished in a fine manner. He has since added
194
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
by purchase to his property, until he is now
the owner of about eight hundred acres. He
is extensively engaged in cattle raising and
usually has from eighty to one hundred
head of cattle on his place. He is a large
producer of milk for the Boston market. He is
also engaged in fruit culture and has an orchard of
two hundred trees. Mr, Eastman is a reader and
keeps well informed on improved methods of agri-
culture as well as other subjects of general interest.
He is a member of Wyoming Grange, of South
Weare ; has held many offices and is now serving
a second term as master. In politics he is a Dem-
ocrat and is now serving as selectman of the town,
and is active in promoting the welfare of the com-
munity. He is an attendant of the Union Church
at South Weare, composed of Congregationalists
and Universalists. He was married (first), iSSg,
to Elsie Smith, daughter of Daniel G. Smith, of
New Boston. She died March 13, 1890, and he
married (second). Myrtle M. Atwood, daughter of
Solomon D. Atwood, of New Boston. His only
child died in infancy and he has adopted Thomas
J. Eastman, a nephew, whom he is rearing to suc-
ceed him in life.
(VH) Samuel C, youngest son of Thomas
and Asenath (Hoyt) Eastman, was born November
10, 1821, in Weare, and passed his life in that town.
He was educated in the common school and also at-
tended the high school. In early life he was a
teacher in Weare and neighboring tovvfns. He was
a man of much natural ability, and was an active
and progressive citizen. He served as justice of
the peace, as selectman two years, represented the
town in the legislature in 1849-50, and was state
librarian in 1851-52. He was a Democrat in poli-
tical principle, and was a man of generous, nature
and a true friend, and was universally respected
and esteemed by his contemporaries. He was al-
ways prominent and active in the town affairs of
Weare. He was married July 3, 1845, to Fidelia
Nichols, daughter of Simeon and Sarah (Mackey)
Nichols, and granddaughter of Humphrey Nichols
and his wife, Ruth (Sargent) Nichols, of Ames-
bury. Massachusetts. She was born September,
1822, and died March 10, 1857, of consumption,
aged thirty-four years and five months. They were
the parents of two sons, George Franklin and Mor-
rison W. ; the latter resides at Dorchester, Massa-
chusetts.
(Vni) George Franklin, elder son of Samuel
C. and Fidelia (Nichols) Eastman, was born Sep-
tember 17, 1846, in Weare, where he has continued
to reside, his home being at South Weare, on the
old homestead. He attended the common schools
near his home and was a student for three years at
the Francestown Academy. Upon attaining his ma-
jority he was employed in 1867-68 on the Chicago,
Rock Island & Pacific railroad. In the latter year
he returned to Weare, and bought the farm of two
hundred acres on which he resides at South Weare.
He is engaged in general farming and producing
milk for the market. He is a director and agent
of the Weare Mutual Fire Insurance Company, the
largest town insurance organization in the state.
Like other members of his family in Weare, he is
an adherent of the Democratic party. He has been
much employed in public services, being selectman
of the town four years, from 1886 to 1890, and was
representative in 1890-91. Mr. Eastman is a mem-
ber of Pacific Lodge. Free and Accepted Masons,
of Francestown, and has passed all the chairs. He
was married, 1870, to Emmeline Currier, who was
born in Weare, in 1846, daughter of Levi and
Philena (Philbrick) Currier, of South Weare. Levi
Currier was a son of Levi and Nancy (Gordon)
Currier, and .grandson of Moses and Mehitabel
(Barnard) Currier. Mr. Eastman and wife have
five sons and a daughter : Eugene S., the elder, is a
graduate in the homeopathic course of the Boston
University Medical School, and after two years of
hospital practice in Boston and the Metropolitan
Hospital of New York, is now residing and prac-
ticing in Boston. Irving A., the second, graduated
at Gushing Academy in 1896, and the Boston Dental
School in 1S98. He is a practicing dentist in Bos-
ton. He is a member of all the Masonic bodies up
and including the Thirty-second degree. Luther, G.
is a graduate of the Manchester high school and
of the Boston University Medical School and is
now a homeopathic physician and was connected
with the Boston University Hospital one year.
Byron L. was a graduate of the Manchester high
school and is a graduate of Fauffs' Dental School.
He was engaged in the practice of dentistry in
Boston, where his death occurred. Nettie V. grad-
uated at the Manchester high school and also from
Gushing Academy, and is now engaged in teaching.
Oliver B., who is now attending school.
(IV) Samuel, youngest child of Roger (2) and
Hannah (Kimball) Eastman, was born about 1730,
in Amesbury, and settled in Hawke, now Danville, m
New Hampshire. Family tradition says that he I
served in the French war and also in the Revolu- ■
tion, and died of fever at Charlestown, Massachu-
setts, and was buried near the public square in that
place. No trace of his grave is now discoverable.
There is no record of his wife, but the family tradi-
tion says he left a widow and five children. The
names of four of these are preserved : Thomas,
Samuel, Ichabod and Stephen.
(V) Stephen, fourth son and child of Samuel
Eastman, was born in Hawke, now Danville, New
Hampshire, in 1748. He was a Revolutionary
soldier, having enlisted April 30, 1775, as drummer
in Captain Moses McFarland's company. Colonel
John Nixon's regiment. He served eight months
in all, according to his autograph signature on an
order dated Winter Hill, December 20, 1775. After
the close of the war. in 1787 or 1788, he moved with
his family to Canaan, New Hampshire, where he
spent the last ten years of his life. On March I,
1769, Stephen Eastman married Miriam Quimby,
of Kingston. New Hampshire, and they had three
children : A daughter, name imknown, one who
married (first) Mr. Harris, and (second) Mr. Al-
len, and lived in Lyme, New Hampshire; and James,
whose sketch follows. Stephen Eastman died at
Canaan, April 8, 1797.
(VI) James, third child and only son of Ste-
phen and Miriam (Quimby) Eastman, was born in
Hawke, now Danville, New Hampshire, April 28,
1780. He moved to Enfield, New Hampshire, which
became his permanent home, and married Polly
French, who was bom December 20, 1787, and died
July 13. 1874. They had eleven children: Ira 0.,
Sophronia, whose sketch follows ; Miriam, Rev.
Larnard Lamb, Rhoda F., Rev. Stephen, James,
Richard B., Jonathan F.. Mary F., and Moses F.
James Eastman died December 17, 1851.
(VII) Sophronia, second child and eldest
daughter of James and Polly (French) Eastman,
was born July 31, 1808. She was twice married:
(first) to Mr. Richardson, and (second) to Daniel
Lowe Smith, of Enfield. (See Smith, Fifth Fam-
ily. II).
(Ill) Joseph, youngest child of John and Mary
(Boynton) Eastman, was born June 23, 1692, in
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
195
Salisburj-, and died October 8, 1761, in Hopkinton,
New Hampshire. He lived for a time in Salisbury,
Massachusetts, but later removed to Concord, New
Hampshire, where he was an early settler. In 1746
he, with his two sons, Samuel and Joseph, were in
Jeremiah Stickney's garrison in Concord. Late in
life he moved to Hopkinton. He was married
June 10, 1714, to Abigail Merrill, daughter of John
and Lucia (Webster) Merrill, of Newbury and
Haverhill, Massachusetts. One authority gives date
of his marriage as March 23, 1715- Their children
were : Samuel, Thomas, Jonathan, Joseph, Abigail,
Benjamin, Enoch. Stephen and Mary.
(IV) Joseph (2), fourth son and child of Jos-
eph (i) and Abigail (Merrill) Eastman, was born
May 26, 1720, in Salisbury. He passed his life in
Concord, New Hampshire, where he died 1815, at
the age of ninety-five years. He was a member of
the celebrated "Rogers Rangers" and was also a
soldier in the Revolution, as was his son William,
who served in the same company. He married
(first) Elizabeth Jackman, and after her death he
married Abigail Eastman, daughter of Joseph and
granddaughter of Ebenezer Eastman (see Ebenezer,
HI). She was born May 27, 1741, and survived
her husband more than sixteen years, dying Decem-
ber 2, 1831, in her ninetj'-first year. To distinguish
her from others she was known to her neighbors as
Widow Deacon Joseph Eastman. There were two
'children of the first marriage: William and Eliza-
betli. The children of the second wife were :
Henry, James, Dorothy, Nathan, Naomi, Polly and
Sarah.
(V) William, eldest child of Joseph (2) and
Elizabeth (Jackman) Eastman, was born February
12, 1758, in Boscawen, New Hampshire, and was
a soldier of the Revolutionary war, serving in the
same company with his father. He passed his life
on a farm on Horse Hill in Concord, where all his
children were born. His wife's name was Phoebe
Elliott, and their children were : Betsey, Sally
Rhoda, Joseph, John, Hannah, William, JMiriam,
Mary, Priscilla and Thomas.
(VI) Miriam, fifth daughter and seventh child
of William and Phoebe (Elliott) Eastman, was
born December 6, 1799, in Concord, and died in
Hopkinton, September 17, 1S69. She became the
wife of Joseph Barnard, of Hopkinton (see Barn-
ard. VI).
(II) Phyip, third son of Roger (i) and Sarah
(Smith) Eastman, was born in Salisbury. Mass-
achusetts, October 20, 1644. The name, of his first
wife is unknown ; by her he had one daughter. He
married (second), August 22, 1678, Mary Morse,
born September 22. 1645, widow of Anthony Morse,
and daughter of Thomas and Eleanor Barnard, of
Newburyport. Massachusetts. He married (third)
Margaret . His children were : Susannah,
born in Haverhill. Massachusetts, 1673. and died in
the one hundredth year of her age. She was twice
married, and twice captured by Indians. Hannah,
born in Haverhill, Nc^-ember 5, 1679. Ebenezer,
January 10, i6Sr. Philip, August 18, 1684. Abigail,
in 1689. Philip Eastman first lived in Haverhill,
Massachusetts, where his house was burned by In-
dians, March 15, 1697, some of the family being
captured and others dispersed. He also was cap-
tured at the same time, but finally escaped. Later
he settled in Connecticut, where his son had pre-
ceeded him. A full record of the family has never
been found. It is known, however, that he served
in King Philip's war. On the town record of
Woodstock, Connecticut, where he settled, mention
IS made of Philip Eastman as being represented by
his heirs in the distribution of lands as laid out
among the proprietors in 1715; mention is also
made of his buying a piece of land in Ashford, a
town adjoining Woodstock. He died prior to the
year 1714. (Mention of his second son, Philip, and
descendants appears in this article).
(Ill) Ebenezer, third child of Philip Eastman,
was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, February 17.
i6Sr. The first is from the Haverhill records and
ought to be correct. He married, March 4, 1710,
Sarah Peaslee or Peasley, daughter of Colonel
Nathaniel and Judith (Kimball) Peasley. Captain
Eastman was the first settler in Concord, New
Hampshire. There are many interesting facts con-
cerning the part Mr. Eastman took in the settlement
of the town that was to become the future capital
of the commonwealth. The services he rendered,
and the affairs of trust and honor committed to
his charge were many, and always faithfully and
honorably administered. Having considerable prop-
erty, and coming as he did at the earliest period of
settlement, with six sons, the eldest of whom was
fifteen years of age and able to perform the work
of a man. Captain Eastman became in a few years
the strong man of the town. In 1731 I'is house and
home lot were in better order and he had more
land under cultivation than any other person in the
settlement. At the age of nine years his father's
house was destroyed by Indians, and at nineteen
years of age he joined the regiment of Colonel
Wainwright in the expedition against Port Royal,
Nova Scotia. In 171 1, when about twenty-one years
of age, he had command of a company of infantry
which embarked on a transport forming a part of
the fleet under Sir Howenden Walker in the ex-
pedition against Canada. In the ascent of the St.
Lawrence river, tradition says, the weather was
very rough and the fleet had orders to follow at
night the great light at the admiral's masthead.
To do so in doubling a certain rocky and dangerous
cape would bring sure destruction to any ^hip so
doing, but Captain Eastman, having previous knowl-
edge of the state of things and supported by his
men, by force, compelled the captain of the ship to
deviate from the admiral's instructions and thus
saved the ship and all on board, while eight or nine
other vessels and about a thousand men perished
by following the orders of the admiral.
Captain Eastman went to Cape Breton twice,
the first time, March I, 1745, in command of a com-
pany, and was present at the reduction of Louis-
burg, June 16, 1745. He returned November 10,
1745. Early in the next year he went again, and
returned home July 9, 1746. He was also a captain
in Colonel Sylvester Richmond's regiment of Mass-
achusetts, February 6, 1744. On settling in Pena-
cook (Concord) his "house lot" was number 9, sec-
ond range, on Main street. In the second survey,
in 1727, he had lot No. 16. containing four and a
half acres, on "Mill Brook Range," east side of the
river, where he finally settled and had a garrison
around his house. At the time of the massacre in
Pcnacook, August 11, 1746, Captain Eastman and
family were in a garrison on the east side of the
river. Subsequently he erected on or near the spot
a large two-story house, but before it was finished
he died. This house is still standing and is oc-
cupied by Colonel J. E. Pecker as a residence.
Captain Eastman was an extensive farmer, and in
1729 took a lease of the farmjand of Judge Sewall,
containing five hundred acres, with the island, for
a period of thirty years, for which he was to pay
rent as well as to greatly improve the property. He
died July 28, 1748, and the inventory of property he
196
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
then left amounted to seven thousand nine hundred
and twelve pounds, ten shillings and six pence.
Their children were : Ebenezer, Philip, Joseph,
Nathaniel, Jeremiah, Obadiah. Ruth and Moses,
eight in all. (Mention of Nathaniel and Obadiah
and descendants occurs in this article).
(IV) Joseph, third son and child of Ebenezer
and Sarah (Peaslee or Peasley) Eastman, was born
June 10, 1715, in Haverhill, Massachusetts. He re-
sided in Concord, New Hampshire, where he was
known as Captain Joseph. In 1775 he commanded
a company at Crown Point. He signed the associa-
tion test in 1776, and was constable in 1731, and
selectman in 1732. He was with Colonel Gerrish at
Ticonderoga in the Revolution. His tax in 1778
was nine pounds nine shilling and four pence, which
goes to indicate that he was possessed of consider-
able property. He died in 1803. He married Abi-
gail Mellen, who was born in 1720, and died March
13, 1801. Their children were: Mary, Abigail,
Moses, Sarah, John and Jennie.
(V) Moses, eldest son and third child of Jo-
seph and Abigail (Mellen) Eastman, was born March
3, 1743, in Concord, and lived in that town, where
he died in 1796. He was married April 23, 1769,
to Lucretia Tyler, daughter of Moses and Miriam
(Bailey) Tyler, of Bradford, Massachusetts, born
in Pembroke, New Hampshire, 1748, and died April
16, 18T5. After the death of Mr. Eastman she mar-
ried Captain Reuben Kimball, of Concord. Her
children were : Hannah, Salome, Charles, Nancy,
Warren, Lycurgus and Lucretia.
(VI) Charles, eldest son and second child of
Moses and Lucretia (Tyler) Eastman, was born De-
cember II, 1774, in Concord, and lived and died in
that town. He married (first) Sally Bradley, and
(second) Persis Chamberlain, who died August
12, 1857. His children were: Lucy, Eliza. Maria,
Sarah, Lycurgus and Lucretia.
(VII) Eliza, second daughter and child of
Charles Eastman, was born April 21, 1801, and died
March 18, 1855. She married Joshua Emery (see
Emery, VI).
(IV) Nathaniel, fourth child of Ebenezer (i)
and Sarah (Peaslee or Peasley) Eastman, was born
at Haverhill, Massachusetts, March 10. 1717. He
was in Colonel William's regiment at the battle of
Lake George in 1755. was wounded in the knee, but
still continued to fight. He also served in "Rogers'
Rangers." He was a Revolutionary soldier in Cap-
tain Ebenezer Webster's company at Ticonderoga
in 1777. He resided at Concord, New Hampshire,
and his town taxes in 1778 were eight pounds, nine
shillings. He married Phebe Chandler, and their
children were: Nathaniel, Mary, Elizabeth, Jacob,
Rhoda and Levi.
(V) Nathaniel (2), eldest son of Nathaniel (i)
and Phebe (Chandler) Eastman, was born in Con-
cord, New Hampshire, October 9, 1755, and died
May 7, 1839. He was a Revolutionary soldier and
Avas at Ticonderoga in 1777. He married, at Con-
cord, New Hampshire, Ruth Bradley, who was born
in 1757, died November 4, 1841. She was a very
gifted woman in conversation, and was one of the
pioneer members of the First Baptist Church in
Concord. Their children were : Isaac, Phebe.
Bradley, Timothy, Ruth, Ebenezer, Abraham and
Seth.
(VI) Isaac, eldest child of Nathaniel (2) and
Ruth (Bradley) Eastman, was born June 10, 1780. in
Concord, where his life was spent. He was made a
menrber of Blazing Star Lodge, Free and Accepted
Masons, in 1814, and was its master eleven years from
1834, and also served as tyler of the Grand Lodge
of the state. In those days Freemasonry was under
a ban, and for some time he kept the books and
records of the lodge concealed in a cellar, to escape
expected attacks upon them. He was prominent in
the local militia, joining when a young man and
rising from ensign to major general. He was a
farmer by occupation and lived to a good old age.
He was married in 1807 to Abigail Fay, who was
born in \Voburn, Massachusetts, a daughter of
Major Samuel Fay, who raised and commanded a
company at the battle of Bunker Hill. She died in
October, 1869, aged over eighty-eight years. Their
children are accounted for as follows : Samuel,
receives extended mention below. Ruth Bradley,
born IMarch 22, 1812, was married November 11,
1840, to Edward Langmaid Staniels (see Staniels,
VI), and now resides at East Concord. Abram
Bradley was an engine builder, and was killed by a
boiler explosion at Hartford, Connecticut, in his
forty-third year. Charles Smith was a druggist
and lived and died in Concord. Isaac C. died in
Lowell.
(VII) Samuel, eldest child of General Isaac and
Abigail (Fay) Eastm.an, was born in East Concord,
August 30, 1807, and died in East Concord, April
22, i860. He learned the blacksmith trade and
worked at that business in his native town in the
summer of 1830, and then went to Meredith Bridge,
where he remained until May, 1831. July 9 of that
year he went to Chicopee, ^lassachusetts, to work
at the machinist's trade, but on account of ill health
returned to Concord, where he remained till 1843,
when he went to South Hadley, Massachusetts, and
later to the armory in Springfield, Massachusetts,
and moved his family there in October, 1845. He
worked at Harford, Connecticut, for a time, and in
March, 1855, returned to Concord, where he spent
the remainder of his life. He married, April 15,
1838, Mary Brown, of North Hampton. She died
April II, 1883. Their children were: Mary Frances,
Lucius and Leodora Elizabeth, next mentioned.
(VIII) Leodora Elizabeth, youngest child of
Samuel and Mary (Brown) Eastman, was born in
East Concord, August 11, 1847, and married, August
30, 1878, William H. Alexander. (See Alexander,
V)-
(IV) Obadiah Eastman, sixth son and child of
Captain Ebenezer (i) and Sarah (Peaslee) East-
man, was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, De-
cember II, 1721, and died IMarch 28, If67. in Salem,
New Hampshire, where he was long time resident.
He was a worthy and substantial citizen and a good
business man, and was chosen selectman of the town
ten times, beginning in 1752. In the same year he
was chosen treasurer, and in 1764 moderator. The
following is among the old town records : "Salem,
Feb. ye 14th, 1764, bid off to Henry Lancaster, the pue
next to the broad alley upon the women's side, right
before Mr. Samuel Hazeltines pue, for one hundred
and sixty and one pounds, which I resign to Obadiah
Eastman, his giving the town security, as witness
my hand, Henry Lancastft-." "Executed by me,
Obadiah Eastman." He married in 1744. Mehitable
Watts, daughter of Jolin and Sarah (Dustin) Watts,
and granddaughter of Hannah Dustin. Sarah was
about eight years old when her mother was cap-
tured by the Indians. Mehitable Eastman is said
to have married again, but there is no record of it.
The children of this union were : Hannah, Obadiah,
Timothy, Caleb, Anna, Ebenezer and Simeon.
(V) Obadiah (2), second child and eldest son
of Obadiah (l) and Meliitable (Watts) Eastman,
was born in Salem, New Hampshire, April 27, 1747,
and died in Benton, New Hampsliire, January 10,
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
197
1812. lie was an early settler in Benton, formerly
Coventry, and located on what is now High street,
about a mile from Warren Summit depot. He was
chosen surveyor of Salem in March, 1767; fence
viewer, March 31, 1779; and petit juror, July 13,
1780. Soon after his removal to Coventry he was
chosen one of the committee to divide the town into
lots, and was its first surveyor. He called the first
town meeting in Coventry. He joined the Rhode
Island army in the Revolutionary war, in August,
1778, and was discharged the 25th of the same
month. August Si he was a corporal in Captain
Jesse Page's company. Colonel Jacob Gale's regi-
ment. In iSgj Ira Whitcher erected a stone at his
grave bearing the inscription : "Erected in 1S92, by
Ira Whitclier, in memory of one of the first settlers
of Coventry." He married, in Salem, November 19,
1767, Mehitable jMerrill, daughter of Peter Merrill,
who was born in Salem, April 16, 1747, and died in
Benton, December 27, 1815. Their children were:
Jesse, Sarah, Obadiah, James, Moses, Ruth and
Peter.
(VI) James, fourth child and third son of Oba-
diah (2) and Mehitable (.Merrill) Eastman, was born
in Salem, February 21, 1780, and died in Clinton-
ville, New York, June 5, 1864, aged eighty years.
He married (.first), August 28, 1790, Elizabeth Boyn-
ton, who was born October 8, 1778, and died Jan-
uary 25, 1813; (second), December 22, 1792, !Mary
Boynton, his first wife's sister, who died December
10, 1841. His children were ; Jesse, Rosella, Louisa,
Nancy, Sylvester, Betsey, iNIoses, Philena, James,
Ruth" and Sarah Jane.
(VII) Sylvester, fifth child and second son of
James and Alary (Boynton) Eastman, was born in
Coventry (Benton), August 3, 1814, and died there
January 19, i860. At the age of twenty-one he went
with a lumber company to Alabama; while cuttmg
cypress trees, a limb fell and crushed the fore part of
his skull. He was unconscious for so long a time
that the physicians had but little hope of his re-
covery. Portions of the skull and brain were re-
moved. After many days he became conscious and
returned to his home in Benton, wdiere he was ap-
parently fully recovered. Years afterward, while
carrying a bag of grain up stairs, he accidentally
hit the healed wound, again cracking the skull, as
was found on examination after his death. Soon
after the last injury he was seized with fits, which
occurred with greater frequency until he died. His
condition required the constant care of his wife,
who was devoted to hitn. She was a, woman of
remarkable energy and strength, and although he
was a man weighing over two hundred pounds she
■ often lifted him from the floor or ground and placed
him on a bed unaided. Her strength and care'
made the remainder of his life comfortable. He mar-
ried, iNIarch i, 1841, Louisa Whitcher, who was born
in Benton, December 23, 181 1, and died May 4, 1889,
daughter of William and Mary (Noyes) Whitcher.
Mr. Eastman was a farmer, and after living in Pier-
mont and Benton in this state he removed to New
York and spent his last years in Clintonville. The
children of Sylvester and Louisa were : George
Edward, Ruth Jane and William Whitcher.
(VIII) Ruth Jane, second child and only daugh-
ter of Sylvester and Louisa (Whitcher) Eastman,
was born in Benton, September 7, 1845, and married
in Benton, March 2, 1870, Charles Addison Veazey,
of Benton. (See Veazey, IV).
(Ill) Philip (2). second son and fourth child
of Philip (i), and third child of his second wife,
Mary (Barnard) Eastman, was born August 18.
1684, in Haverhill, Massachusetts, where he grew up.
As a young man he went to Ashford, Connecticut,
and there he lived and died. He was an active man
in that town, and was lieutenant of the training
band in 1733. In that year and the two succeeding
years he was justice of the peace for Windham
county. He was admitted a proprietor of Ashford
in 1715, and was chosen to lay out the highways in
that year. In 1732 he represented Ashford in the
Connecticut assembly, and continued its representa-
tive for several years. He was the agent of the town
in presenting a petition to the county asking for
exemption from taxes on account of a severe drouth.
He was married October 20, 1715, to Mary Eastman,
who was born March 29, 1690, a daughter of Na-
thaniel and Elizabeth (Hudson) Eastman, and a
granddaughter of Roger Eastman, and was there-
fore a cousin of her husband. Their children were :
Samuel, Timothy, Ebenezer, Ruth, Jonathan, Peter,
Hannah, Elizabeth and Abigail.
(IV) Jonathan, third son and fourth child of
Philip (2) and Mary (Eastman) Eastman, was born
June 3, 1724, in Ashford, Connecticut, and was
there reared to manhood. Early in life he settled
in Walpole, New Hampshire, where he was a farmer.
In his old age, about 1787, he removed to Enfield,
and joined the Shakers and there died. A fire which
destroyed the records of that conTmunity has made
it impossible to get a full account of his family. It
is not known how many of his children' joined the
Shakers, but one, Jonathan, certainly did and left
them at the age of fourteen years. Jonathan, Sr.,
married Elizabeth Pearse, and their children in-
cluded : Samuel, James, Comfort, Isabelle and Jon-
athan. Their births may not have occurred in the
order here given.
(V) Jonathan (2), son of Jonathan (i) and
Elizabeth (Pearse) Eastman, was born April 28.
1774, in Walpole, New Hampshire, and died in
Littleton, New Hampshire, September r. 1858. From
the age of fourteen years he sustained himself and
spent most of his life in Danville, Vermont, where
all of his children except the first one were born.
Before going there he resided in Northfield, New-
Hampshire. He was a carpenter, and much of the
building about Danville was done by him. His
last days were spent with his son Cyrus, in Little-
ton. He married Sally Heath, who was born Feb-
ruary 3, 1773, in Epsom, New Hampshire, and died
in Danville, Vermont, Alay 16, 1837, being survived
by her husband twenty-one years. ■ Their children
were : Abial, Susan H., Ebenezer, Malinda, Cyrus
(died young), Alason H., Sarah, Cyrus and Jona-
than F.
(VI) Cyrus, fifth son and eighth child of Jona-
than (2) and Sally (Heath) Eastman, was born
March 15, 1814, in Danville, Vermont, and died at
Littleton, Xev/ Hampshire, Alarch 31, 1896. He set-
tled early in life in Littleton, where he was an active
citizen and filled many local offices. He served a
term as member of the governor's council. Most
of his life was devoted to mercantile pursuits. He
was married, November 28, 1839, in his native town,
to Susan French Tilton, who was born November
20, 1813, in the same town, and died in Littleton,
January 20, 1866. She was a daughter of Joseph
and Betsy B. Tilton, natives respectively of Dan-
ville and Littleton. Their children, all born in
Littleton, were : Lucia Wait, Charles Franklin
Martha Ann and Laura B. The eldest daughter be-
came the wife of Harvey P. Ross, of Bath, New
Hampshire, whom she survives, and now resides in
Bath ; Charles Franklin receives extended mention
below : Martha Ann and Laura B.
(VII) Charles Franklin, only son and second
1 98
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
child of Cyrus and Susan F. (Tilton) Eastman,
was born October i, 1841, in Littleton, and received
his primary education in the public schools of that
town. He was subsequently a student at Kimball
Union Academy, jMeriden, New Hampshire and at
Eastman's Business College at Poughkeepsie, New
York. Returning to Littleton in 1866, he engaged
in the mercantile business as a member of the
firm of Eastman, Tilton & Company. The style
of this firm was changed in March, 1867, to C. &
C. F. Eastman, being composed of Cyrus and
Charles F. Eastman, father and son. Their store
was located near the railroad station and was a
center of busy trade. The proprietors were also
interested in the starch manufacturing business at
several points in Maine, including: Perham, Wash-
burn, Madawaska and New Sweden. In 1885 Charles
F. Eastman was made e.xecutor and trustee of the
Taft estate, in association with Messrs. Charles H.
Greenleaf and Samuel C- Eastman. This is an ex-
tensive property, and has been managed continuously
by these gentlemen to the present time. In 1888
Charles F. Eastman became a director and loan
agent of the National Bank of Littleton. He was
vice-president from 1889 to 1895 and was a director
and loan agent for several years of the Littleton
Savings Bank, and has been president of the same
since 1895. Since 1888 he has been treasurer of the
Profile and Flume Hotel Company, which is ex-
tensively engaged in conducting summer resorts.
Independently of these interests Mr. Eastman has
been extensively engaged in a general real estate
business. He is a director and president of the
L'nion Hall Company, and is attorney for the C.
Eastman heirs. He takes an active interest in fra-
ternal matters, and was worshipful master of Burns
Masonic Lodge in 1892-3, and eminent commander
of the Commandery in 1895-6. He has attained the
thirty-second degree in Scottish Rite Masonry, and
has been most excellent senior grand master, grand
high priest, and deputy grand master, and is past
grand master of Washington Chapter, Princes of
Jerusalem. In politics J\Ir. Eastman is a stanch
Democrat, and wields a strong influence in the
councils of his party. He was married (first),
September 15. 1875, to Mary Ida, daughter of Rich-
ard Taft. She was born October 3, 1850, in Lincoln,
New Hampshire, and died April 19, 1887, in Little-
ton. Mr. Eastman was married (second) March 4,
1891, to Mary Rebecca, daughter of John D, Colby
then of Lowell. Massachusetts. She was born .\pril 9,
1857, in Manchester, and died May 9, 1899, in Bos-
ton, Massachusetts. There are two children of the
first wife, namely : Richard Taft and Ida Taft.
The son was born January 2, 1881, in Littleton, and
was three years a student at Philips Andover
Academy, and two years at Dartmouth College. He
returned to Littleton and was his father's assistant
in business for about three years. He then settled
on a farm in the town of Littleton, some six miles
from the village, where he now resides. He was a
member of the board of education of L'nion School
District for fifteen years, treasurer of the district
nine years, was selectman of the town four years
and chairman of the board the last two years ; com-
missioner of Littleton Village district and treasurer
five years; representative to the general court, 1893-
4. He married Elizabeth H. Hartshorn. Ida Taft
Eastman, was born December 28, 1886, and is now
a student in Vassar College.
(II) Benjamin, seventh son and child of Roger
and Sarah Eastman, was born December 12, 1652,
in Salisbury, Massachusetts, and died prior to March
4, 1728. He subscribed to the oath of allegiance in
December, 1677, and was made a freeman in 1690.
He was admitted to the church in Salisbury, July
3, 1681, and his first wife, Anne, June 16, 1695. His will
was made August 13, 1725, and was probated March
4, 1728. He was a tanner by trade. He was mar-
ried (first), April 5, 1678, to Anne Pitts, widow of
Samuel Joy. She died December 13, 1698, and Ben-
jamin Eastman was married (second), April 4, 1699,
to Naomi Flanders, daughter of Stephen and Jane
Flanders, pioneer residents of Salisbury. She was
born December 15, 1656, and died July 24, 1718.
Benjamin Eastman was married (third) October 5,
1719, to Sarah, widow of Samuel Carter, a daughter
of Ephraim Brown. This was her third marriage
as well as Mr. Eastman's. In his will he mentions
his first wife and, his second and the estate she
brought him. His children were : Benjamin, Ed-
mund, Jeremiah, Joseph (died young), and Joseph.
(III) Joseph, youngest child of Benjamin East-
man and only child of his second wife, Naomi
(Flanders) Eastman, was born July 17, 1700, and
v.'as baptized September i, same year, in Salisbury.
He lived in that town until 1732, and before 1734
removed to Boscawen, New Hampshire. The Essex
deeds show that he sold a piece of land with mill
privilege in Contoocook to Joseph Coffin, of New-
bury, the deed being dated Alay 21, 1743. The name
of his first wife has not been discovered. He was
married (second), September 24, 1724, to Mrs.
Dorothy (Linsey) Quimby. She was the mother of
all his children, namely: Elizabeth, Sarah, Naomi,
Benjamin, Eleanor, Timothy, Jeremiah, and, Su-
sannah.
(IV) Eleanor, fourth daughter and fifth child
of Joseph and Dodothy (Linsey) (Quimby) East- M
man, was born April 16, 1732, and was first married B
to Timothy Johnson. After his death she became
the wife of Dr. Benjamin Buzwell, of Hopkinton.
(See Buzwell, V).
(IV) Benjamin (2), fourth child and eldest son
af Joseph and Dorothy (Linsey) (Quimby) East-
man, was born in Salisbury, lilassachusetts, March
9, 1730, and died probably in Concord, New Hamp-
shire. He was a tanner and shoemaker. After his
marriage he removed to Concord. He married
Dorothy . . They were the parents of six
children, all born in Concord: Benjamin, Miriam,
a daughter, name unknown ; Josiah, Edmund and
Jeremiah.
(V) Benjamin (3), eldest son and child of Ben-
jamin (2) and Dorothy Eastman, was born in Con-
cord, January 18. 1752, and died in Barnard, Ver-
mont, July 3, 1818, aged sixty-seven. He operated
his father's tannery for a time, and then removed to
Barnard, Vermont. He married, in Concord, August
lOi 1775. Susannah Clement, who was born in Con-
cord, January 18, 1757, and died in Barnard, Ver-
mont, October 6, 1838, aged eighty-one. Their ten
children were : Ruth, Susannah. Jemima, Mary,
Martha, Benjamin C, Timothy, Hannah, Levinia and
Harriet.
(VI) Rev. Benjamin Clement, sixth child and
eldest son of Benjamin (3) and Susannah (Clem-
ent) Eastman, was born in Canterbury, New Hamp-
shire, June 16, 1788, and died in Concord, July 12,
1858, aged seventy. He was a Methodist, and was
admitted to the New England conference in 1825.
He was ordained deacon by Bishop Hedding, at
Lisbon, June 10, 1827; and elder by the same, at
Portsmouth, June 14, 1829. As a pastor he filled
many appointments, as by the church rules at that
time ministers remained but one or two years in
a place. His appointments were : Barnard. Ver-
mont. 1825 ; Weathersfield, Vermont, 1826-27 ; LTnity,
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
199
1828-29; Nortlifald and Gilmanton, New Hampshire,
1830; Rochester, 1831-32; supernumerary, 1833;
Henniker and Deering, 1834-35; Henniker, 1836;
supernumerary, supplying Grantham, 1837-38; sup-
plying Grantham and Newport, 1839, and
North Charleitown, 1840-41; Grantham, 1842 ; super-
annuated, 1843 ; withdrew from conference,
and without charge, at Concord, exctpt two
years at Deering, 1844-58. He married (first),
Rebecca Gamage, who was born in Frye-
burg, Maine, March 17, 1794, and died in Concord,
New Hampshire, October 5, 1832. He married
(second) in Concord, New Hampshire, Mary Eliza-
beth Warren, born August 2, 1807; she was known
as "Mother Eastman" in the Methodist Church,
of which she was a member. She was a most es-
timable woman, gifted in exhortation and praj'er.
Eleven children were born to Mr. Eastman, six by
the first wife, and five by the second. They were:
Charles Gamage, William Henr3% Martha Amelia
Charlotte Helen, ISfary Arabel, Benjamin, Abncr
Chase, Laura Washburn, Susan Phelps, AUeyn
Baldwin and Robert Francis.
(VH) Rev. William Henry, second son and
child of Rev. Benjamin C. and Rebecca (Gamage)
Eastman, was born in Barnard, Vermont, Decem-
ber 27, 1815, and died in Lisbon, New Hampshire,
October 24, 1899, aged eighty-four. He was a mem-
ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and after
pursuing a course of study was ordained a minister
of that church. After preaching a few years he
became a member of the Advent Church, and
preached the doctrines of the Adventists as long as
he lived. He married (first), in Grantham, New
Hampshire, January 15, 1844, Pauline Sibley Winter,
who was born in Grantham, January 14, 1821, and
died there April 19, 1878, daughter of Reuben and
Mahala (Putnam) Winter. He married (second),
Diantha Wheeler, of Lisbon, born in J.Iarshfield,
Vermont. There was born of the first marriage
one child, Edwin G.. whose sketch follows.
(VHI) Edwin Gamage, onlv son of Rev. Wil-
liam Henry and Pauline Sibley (Winter) Eastman,
was born in Grantham. New Hampshire, November
22, 1847. He was educated in the public schools,
at Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, and at Dart-
mouth College, 'class of 1874, and received the de-
gree of A. ]\f. in 18S9. He read law with Hon.
A. P. Carpenter, of Bath, New Hampshire, and was
admitted to the bar in 1876. September 22 of that
year he began the practice of his profession in E.x-
eter ; was associated with the late General Gilman
Marston, and became his partner in 1878. In 1876
he represented Grantham in the general court, and
in 1889 was a member of the state senate from the
twenty-first district. He served with marked suc-
cess as solicitor for Rockingham county two terms,
1883 to 1888. Upon the death of Hon. Daniel Barn-
ard, in 1892, Mr. Eastman was appointed attorney-
general of the state, and has since held that position.
In 1902 he was a member of the constitutional con-
vention. After the death of General IMarston in
1890, the law- firm of Eastman. Young & O'Neill was
formed, Mr. Eastman being the senior member.
This firm was dissolved in 1898. In 1902 the law
firm of Eastman, Scammon & Gardner was formed,
of which ^Ir. Eastman has since been a member.
Mr. Eastman's natural adaptation to his profession,
and his unremitting attention to it, have placed him
in the front rank of the New Hampshire bar. He
has a thorough knowledge of the law and rules of
practice, and a logical and practical way of handling
a case that make him strong as an advocate and
formidable as an opponent. His practice has been
large, and he has been connected with many of the
most important causes adjudicated by the courts
of the state in recent years. In the legislative de-
partment of the state government his course has
been positive and straightforward, such as to merit
the approval of well-informed, right-thinking citizens.
In political sentiment he is a progressive Republi-
can ; in religious affiliations a Congregationalist.
He is vice-president .and a director in the Exeter
Banking Company, vice-president and a trustee of
the Union Five Cent Savings Bank, and a director
in the Exeter Manufacturing Company.
He married (first), in Newport, Ivlarch 14, 1877,
Elma E. Dodge, who was born in Grantham, Oc-
tober 22, 1849, and died October 19, 1880, daughter
of Leander F. and Sally Ann (Colby) Dodge, of
Grantham, New Hampshire. He married (second),
i\Iarch 16, 1885, at Exeter, Morgie A. FoUinsby,
who was born in Boscawen, June 16, 1858, daughter
of William W. and Ann (Noyes) Follinsby, of Bos-
cawen. To the first wife there was born one child,
Helen May, August 24, 1878. By the second wife
there are two children: Ella Follinsby, born Feb-
ruary 5, 1888; and Edwin Winter, June 18, 1S94.
(II) Samuel, ninth child and eighth sou of
Roger Eastman, was born September 20, 1657, in
Salisbury, JMassachusetts, and died in Kingston,
New Hampshire, February 27, 1725, in his sixty-
eighth year. Lie took the oath of allegiance in Salis-
bury in 1677, and was admitted freeman in 1690.
About 1720 he removed from Salisbury to Kings-
ton, where he was one of the grantees of the town.
September 26, 1725, he was dismissed from the
church in Salisbury to join the church in Kingston.
He married (first), November, 1686, Elizabeth
Scriven, who was baptized and admitted to the
church in Salisbury, October 8, 1690. He married
(second), September 17, 1719, Sarah Fifield, who
was born in Kingston, August 3, 1726. His children,
all by the first wife were : Ruth. Elizabeth. Mary,
Sarah, Samuel, Joseph. Ann, Ebenezer, Thomas,
Timothy Edward and Benjamin.
(III) Samuel (2), fifth child and eldest son of
Samuel (i) and Elizabeth (Scriven) Eastman, was
born in Salisbury, January 5, 1695, and died in
Kingston, December 20, 1753. He married, Novem-
ber 7, 172S, Mrs. Sarah (IJrown) Clough, widow
of Ezekiel Clough. Their children were : Samuel,
Shuah, William, Ezekiel, Elizabeth, Ebenezer and
Nehemiah.
(IV) Lieutenant Ebenezer. sixth child and fourth
son of Samuel (2) and Sarah (Brown) (Clough)
Eastman, was born in Kingston, New Hampshire,
April 24, 1746, and died in Gilmanton, October 27,
1794. Lieutenant Ebenezer Eastman commanded
a company in Stark's brigade at the battle of Bunker
Hill. His wife learned on the Sabbath following
the battle, while at church, of the cannonading heard
in the direction of Boston, and, alarmed for the
safety of her husband started for the scene of action
riding on horseback through the forest, guided by
blazed trees, carrying her babe about half way of
her journey, and there leaving it with friends. Con-
tinuing her journey, she arrived at Charlestown,
where she found her husband safe and sound. "Mary
Butler's Ride," the poem by Benjamin F. Taylor,
describes this incident. Lieutenant Eastman was
a farmer in Gilmanton. He married, in 1773, Mary
Butler, who was born in 1756, and died December 10,
18,^6, aged eighty. Their eleven children were : Abi-
gail. Ebenezer. Stephen, Samuel. Nehemiah, Sally,
Ira Allen, Polly, Shuah, Dolly and William. (Men-
tion of Stephen and Samuel and descendants appears
in this article).
200
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
(V) Ebenezer (2), second child and eldest son
of Ebenezer (i) and Mary (Butler) Eastman, was
born in Gilmanton, January 12, 1777, and resided
in Gilmanton. He married, Jilarch 17, 1803, Deborah
Greeley, daughter of Samuel, and they had five
children : Ebenezer, Mary, Arthur ^IcArthur, Wil-
liam Pitt and Adaline.
(VI) Colonel Arthur Mc.-\rthur, third child and
second son of Ebenezer (2) and Deborah (Greeley)
Eastman, was born in Gilmanton, June 8, iSlo, and
died in Manchester, September 3, 1877. He married
Elizabeth Moulton, who was born in Pittsfield. New
Hampshire, November 11, 1815, and died in jNIan-
chester. New Hampshire, November 19, 1899. They
had two children : Fanny, who w'as born March 31,
1839, and married C. G. Colgate, of New York City;
and Julia, who is the subject of the next paragraph.
(VH) Julia, second daughter and child of Arthur
McArthur (2) and Elizabeth (?iloulton) Eastman,
was born in New York City, March 29, 1843, and
died in February, 1879. She married William L.
Simmons, of Lexington, Kentucky, and they were
the parents of three children : Lyle Eastman Sim-
mons, born in New York Citj', May 23, 1864; Julia
Eastman Simmons, born August 10, 1S74, died
January 12, 1878, in New York ; Ethel Eastman
Simmons, born in New York, December 26, 1878.
(VHI) Ethel Eastman, third child and second
daughter of William L. and Julia (Eastman) Sim-
mons, was born in New York City, December 26,
1878, and married, October 17, 1899, Dr. John H.
Gleason, of Manchester, New Hampshire. (See
Gleason).
(V) Stephen, third child and second son of
Ebenezer and Mary (Butler) Eastman, was born in
Gilmanton, November 21, 1778, and died September,
1847. His life was spent in the town of his birth.
He married, August 21, 1807, Hannah Page, daugh-
ter of Deacon Winslow Page, and they had three
children : Ira Allen, Henry Franklin and Artemus
Stephen.
(VI) Ira Allen, eldest of the sons of Stephen and
Hannah (Page) Eastman, was born in Gilmanton,
January i, 1S09, and died March 21, 1881. He grad-
uated from Dartmouth College in the class 1829;
was speaker of the New Hampshire house of repre-
sentatives in 1S37 and 1838; was elected to the
twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh congresses; was
judge of the court of common pleas from 1844-1849;
was judge of the supreme court from 1849 to 1859;
trustee of Dartmouth College in 1859. In 1858
he received from his alma mater the degree of LL.
D., and his picture adorns one of the walls of that
great seat of learning. He married, February 20,
183J, Jane, daughter of John N. Quackenbush of
Albany, New York. They had two children: Anna
Quackenbush and Clarence.
(VII) Anna Quackenbush, eldest child and only
daughter of Ira Allen and Jane (Quackenbush)
Eastman, was born in Gilmanton. January 3, 1836,
and married, October 7, 1858. Judge David Cross,
of Manchester. (See Cross, VII).
(V) Samuel Connor, fourth child and third son
of Lieutenant Ebenezer and !Mary (Butler) East-
man, was born in Gilmanton, March 12, 1780, and
died November 8, 1S33. He resided in Gilmanton,
and is said to have been a doctor. He married
Dorothy Kimball, who was born June 12, 1789, and
died February 4, 1859. She was the daughter of
Trueworthy and Hannah (Gilmon) Kimball of Gil-
manton. Slie married (second), June 3, 1843, James
Lane, who was born August 15, 1780, and died No-
vember 6. 1865. The children of S-muel C. and
Dorothy Eastman were: Wealthy, William Butler,
Charlotte and Mary Ann, who is next mentioned.
(VI) Mary Ann, fourth and youngest child of
Samuel C. and Dorothy (Kimball) Eastman, was
born in Gilmanton, October 17, 1826, and married in
Pittsfield, August 31, 1S47, Nathaniel Greeley Foote.
(See Foote).
The pioneer New England family
DANFORTH of Danforth has descended from
the immigrant, William Danforth,
who is believed to have come to this country in the
ship "Griffin." Unable to longer endure the oppres-
sion of a tyrannical king, he came for the sake of
liberty to a land strange and wild, inhabited by
fierce and formidable animals, and by men even
fiercer and more formidable. He was a man of ex-
cellent character, possessed a good property, was
much respected by his fellow citizens, and left be-
hind him a race, many of whom have emulated his
his virtues and held prominent positions among their
fellows.
(I) William Danforth, the earliest known an-
cestor, was of Framingham, England, and had a
wife Isabel; he died in 15x2. Their children were:
Paul, James, Reynold, Isabell and Elizabeth.
(II) Paul, eldest child of William and Isabel
Danforth, was born at Framingham, and died in
1538. tlis wife's name was Katheryne, and they had:
Nicholas, Thomas, Robert, Richard, Isabell, i\iar-
garet, Agnes and Olive.
(III) Nicholas, eldest child of Paul and Kath-
eryne Danforth, was born in Framingham, where he
died in 1585. He married Alice, and they had :
Thomas, Anne, Johane, Margaret, Elizabeth and
Olive.
(IV) Thomas, "yeoman," eldest child of Nicholas
and Alice Danforth, was born in Framingham. He
married, January 24, 1585, Jane, daughter of Thomas
Sudbury, of Kellshall, county of Suffolk. She was
born March 21, 1601. Their children were: Nicho-
las, died young; Nicholas, Robert, died -young;
Robert, Mary and Jane.
(V) Nicholas (2), the immigrant, second son
and child of Thomas and Jane (Sudbury) Danforth,
was born in Framingham, where he was baptized
March I, 1589. His father and maternal grandfather
are each styled "yeoman," yet he possessed wealth
and exhibited qualities that show him to have been a
man of standing. The church registers show that
Nicholas was one of the leading men, being a
"church warden" in 1622, at least. He w'as also a
member of the "Court Baron" or the "Borough Leet
Jury," in 1629. The marriage registers are wanting
from 1615 to 1620, the period which included his
wedding; the baptismal register gives the christian
name of his wife as Elizabeth. Some time before
his death (1625) King James created a new title
of rank, that of baronet, which he granted to any
who would pay a high price. As a last resource to
raise money, which he greatly needed, his successor,
Charles I, compelled all persons who had an income
of forty pounds or more derived from landed prop-
erty to accept knighthood (thus incurring feudal
obligations and payments), or purchase exemption
by a heavy fine. Mr. Danforth, when compelled
to elect which he would do, chose to pay the fine
rather than accept the title. The famous Rev. Cot-
ton Mather, in speaking of him says : "j\lr. N. Dan-
forth ; a gentleman of such estate and repute in the
world that it cost him a considerable sum to escape
the knighthood K. Charles I imposed on all of so-
much per annum ; and of such figure and esteem
with church that he procured that famous lecture
at Framingham in Suffolk, where he had a fine man-
nour;_ which lecture was kept by Mr. Burroughs,
and many other noted ministers in their turn ; to
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
20I
whom, especially to Mr. Shepherd, he proved a
Gains, and especially when the Laudian fury
scorched them." He was for a time in harmony
with the "standing order," until he became a sym-
pathizer with the Puritan party, and this sympathy
was the cause of his migration to America, for he
doubtless lost prestige among his friends in the
Episcopalian Church, when they discovered his charge
in religious views. Nicholas Danforth and his wife
Elizabeth had children: Elizabeth, ilary, Anna,
Thomas. Lydia, Samuel and Jonathan. Elizabeth
died and was buried in Framingham, "22 Feb. 1628,"
three years after the birth of her youngest child.
After the death of his wife, Nicholas Danforth,
tiring of the conditions under which he lived, took
his children and came to New England, and settled
in Cambridge, in 1634. He is mentioned in the town
records of Cambridge as a proprietor in 1635. He
bought lands and houses of John White. John Tayl-
cott, William Spencer, and Edward Stebbinge, and
of Rev. Thomas Hooker, in October, 1635, and
May, 1616, all these gentlemen having removed to
Connecticut. His residence was on what is now-
called Bow street, near i\It. Auburn street. He was
chosen a deputy or representative to the general
court in 1635. JMarch 3, 1636, he was, with others,
"deputed to sett out the bounds of the newe plantacon
above Charles Ryver" (Concord). The committee
reported 13 April, 1636. In September following he
was appointed to • similar duty, "to measure and
sett the bounds of Roxberry ;" and to sett those
between Dedham and Dorchester, November 15,
1637. When the important committee to "take order
for a colledge at Newetowne" was selected November
20, 1637, j\Ir. Danforth was one of those selected.
Another land boundary was submitted to him with
associates 6 (l) 1637-8. He was also one of the
eleven men (one in a town) whom the court by its
vote March 12, 1638, allowed "to sell w-ine & strong
water" — "No man else to sell by retaile without li-
cense from the counsell." So great was the pres-
sure upon the government to provide places where
these articles could be bought, and so many the
abuses of the retail traffic, that they sought to place
the traffic in the hands of their first citizens. He
died in April, 1638. He left valuable property, but
no will or description of his property remains.
(VI) Captain Jonathan, youngest son of Nicolas
(2) and Elizabeth Danforth, was born in Framing-
ham, England, and baptized ?ilarch 2, 1628. When
about six years of age he came with his father and
brothers and sisters to Cambridge, wdiere he was
brought up. When he reached manhood he entered
heartily into the scheme of the Cambridge people
to build up the new town of Billerica, and there
he constructed a house which was still standing in
187S. He was selectman, town clerk, representative,
and captain of the militia company. He became a
land surveyor and laid cut farms, towns, and high-
ways; was called to do this service to several other
towns and counties ; transacted a large amount of
business in town and state. "His descriptions fill
two hundred pages in his clear, handsome writing
in the Billerica volume of Land Grants. Many of
his plots are preserved in the state archives. At
the age of eighty-two years he made his will, April
23, 1712, and it was probated October 27, 1712. In
it he disposes of the property left to him after having
made deeds to sundry pieces of land to his children
in former years. In the inventory of his estate he is
called "Captain Jonathan Danforth, Gent." He mar-
ried (first), in Boston, "22nd-9th month. 1654."
"Elizabeth Pewter, the daughter of Good Powter, de-
ceased, of Billerickey;" recorded also in Billerica.
The bride's father was John Poulter, who came
from Rayleigh, England, about 1651, with wife i\Iary
and children John and Elizabeth. Elizabeth Dan-
forth, born perhaps in Rayleigh, September, 1633,
died in Billerica, October 7, 1689. Captain Dan-
forth married (second), November 17, 1690, Esther,
daughter of Elder Richard Champney, of Cam-
bridge, and widow of Josiah Converse, of Woburn.
She died soon after her husband, April 5, 1713. He
and his two wives were buried in the old cemeterv in
Billerica. His children, all by the first wife, were:
Mary, Elizabeth, Jonathan, John, died young; John,
Lydia, Samuel, Anna, Thomas, Nicholas and Sarah.
(VII) Ensign Jonathan (2), third child and eld-
est son of Captain Jonathan and Elizabeth (Poul-
ter) Danforth, was born in Billerica,' February 18,
1659, and died January 17, 1711, aged fifty-two. He
lived east of Long street, opposite his father's place. He
gave his personal property to his wife, December
30, 1710. He married, June 27, 1682, Rebecca,
daughter of Jacob Parker, of Chelmsford. She
was born May 29, 1661. and died March 25, 1754,
aged ninety-three. Tlieir children were : Rebecca,
Thomas, Jonathan, Elizabeth, Samuel, Nicholas, Ja-
cob, Sarah and John.
(VIII) Samuel, fifth child and third son of En-
sign Jonathan (2) and Rebecca (Parker) Danforth,
was born September 16, 1692, and died about 1749.
On the estate of Samuel Danforth, of Billerica,
yeoman, administration was granted August 17,
1749, to Samuel Danforth. Jr. The inventory in-
cluded "one right in a township granted to the
soldiers that weare in the Narraganset wars."
He married, August 5, 1714, Dorothy Shed, born
January 14, 1692, daughter of John and Sarah
(Chamberlain) Shed. They had twelve children:
Dorothy, Rebecca, Samuel, died young; Joseph,
Samuel, Thomas. Benjamin, Sarah, John, Joshua,
Lucy and Jonathan.
(IX) Lieutenant Joseph, fourth child and second
son of Samuel and Dorothy (Shed) Danforth, was
born in Billerica, June 20, 1720, and died March 30,
I79S- He removed to that part of Dunstable, now
Tyngsborough. where he became a leading citizen.
"Joseph Danforth, of T3'ngsborough, gent." made
his will December 20. 1794, and it was probated
April 21, 1795. He married Mary A. Richardson,
born May 26, 1722. and died December i, 1789.
Their ichildren were : ^lary, Abigail. Hannah, Jo-
seph. Josiah. Rebecca, Lucy and Rhoda.
(X) Josiah, fifth child and second son of Lieu-
tenant Joseph and Mary A. (Richardson) Danforth,
was born in Dunstable (Tyngsborough). January
18, 1757, and died there March 8. 1838, aged eighty-
one. He resided on the old homestead, was a
prominent man in the affairs of the town, and held
the office of justice of the peace for many years.
He married, November 10, 1777, Sarah Blo'dgett,
born in 1755. and died in 1S42, aged eighty-seven.
Their ten children were : Sarah and Josiah, twins,
died young ; Joseph. Sarah, Hannah, Josiah, Cath-
erine, John, -A-sa and James.
(XI) Asa Danforth. M. D., ninth child and
fifth son of Josiah and Sarah (Blodgett) Danforth,
was born in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts, .August
18, 1795. and died in N^'orway, Maine, June 16, 1883.
He received a good English education, studied med-
icine under the tutorship of Dr. Thomas, of Tyngs-
borough, attended medical lectures at Dartmouth
College, and at Harvard, and July 20, 1S20, was
granted by the censors of the Massachusetts jMedical
Society a certificate authorizing him to practice
"physick and surgery." The following year he
settled in Norway, Maine, and commenced the prac-
202
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
tice of his profession, and spent the remainder of
his life there. "No citizen of Norway," says the
historian of that town, "was ever more highly or
deservedly respected than Dr. Danforth. He was
pre-eminently the good physician. Ever genial,
sympathetic and kind hearted, his partners not only
had confidence in him as a physician, but could
safely regard him as a faithful friend. His practice
was large in Norway, and in all the country round
about his name was a household word. He prac-
ticed medicine in the town for more than half a
century. He also engaged in the paper manufac-
ture at the Falls, was the pioneer to manufacture
paper from wood, and took a deep interest in every-
thing pertaining to the welfare of the village and
town. He served one term in the Maine legisla-
ture. This was in 1852, and he was a union candi-
date. He married, December 6, 1824, Abigail C.
Reed, of Norwa}', born January 11. 1801, and died
December 8, 1874, daughter of Hon. William and
Elizabeth Reed. Their children were : William
Reed, Josiah, Joseph Heni-y, Sarah Elizabeth, Fran-
cis Augustus, John, James and Asa.
(Xn) Joseph Henry, third son and child of Dr.
Asa and Abigail C. (Reed) Danforth, -was born
in Norway. Maine, April 8, 1829, and died at North
Stratford, Ne^v Hampshire. September 29, 1890.
He was educated in the public schools and at the
Norway Academy. For a time he was a clerk in
the store of J. B. Brown, a successful merchant of
Steep Falls, Norway, and during the period of the
construction of the Grand Trunk Railroad, he,
with his elder brother, William R., carried on a
merchandise business, moving their store as the
work of construction progressed, until it reached
Coos, on the Connecticut river, in the town of
Stratford, and there they settled and engaged per-
manently in business. The brothers were partners
in an extensive and profitable lumber business, which
they carried on together until William removed to
Saxonville, Massachusetts. Joseph H. was post-
master at North Stratford (Coos) for twenty-five
years from the time of his appointment, during
the early part of President Lincoln's administration.
He was a Republican, a prominent and highly re-
spected man, and a successful merchant. He was
too busy to seek political positions, was not a mem-
ber of any church, but was one of those men who
have the respect and confidence of a community
and attract friends and secure the business. He
knew the value of schools and churches, and after
the destruction of the Baptist Church by fire, he
assisted materially in the rebuilding, and always
tontributed liberally towards its support. For
many years he was one of its trustees. He mar-
ried, November 16, 1857, at Portsmouth, New
Hampshire, Drusilla R. Wiley, born in Fiyeburg,
Maine, January 28, 18.^3, daughter of America and
IMary C. (Chandler) Wiley. She sur\'ives' him.
Three children were born to them : Ola Henry.
Harley Hall and Zilla May. Ola H., and Harley
H. are mentioned below. Zilla May was born No-
vember 1, 1872, and died August 31, 18S4.
(Xni) Ola Henry, eldest child of Joseph H.
and Drusilla R. (Wiley) Danforth, was born in
North Stratford, June 19. 1858. He was educated
at Lynden Biblical and Literary Institute at Lyn-
den, Vermont. He is a thirty-second degree Ma-
son. He has resided since 1891 in Oldtown, Maine,
where he is engaged in the manufacture of woolen
goods. He married, October 24, 1S85, Annie
Gray, born in Oldtown, September i, 1858. daugh-
ter of Alexander and Mary (Barton) Gray.
They have two children : Joseph Henry, born
Jilay 6, 1888, and Herbert Gray, December 9, 1889.
(XIII) Harley Hall, second son of Joseph and
Drusilla R. (Wiley) Danforth, was born in North
Stratford, May 13. 1864. He was educated at Eaton's
School for Boys at Norridgewock, Maine. He was
a thirty-second degree Mason. He afterward re-
sided in Gorham, New Hampshire, and Boston
(Dorchester), Massachusetts, where he died May
14, 1905. He married Jennie Grant, born in Nor-
way, Maine, daughter of James and Charlotte
(En Earl) Cirant. and they had one child, Pauline
En Earl, born in Gorham, July 15, 1896.
(Second Family.)
Danforth is an early name in
DANFORTH Massachusetts annals. From two
unrelated ancestors in the seven-
teenth centuiy a nniltitude of descendants . have
sprung, whose character for energy, diligence, so-
briety, economy, courage, patriotism and good citi-
zenship has been such as to make the name an
honored and respected one.
(I) William Danforth or Danford, as it was
commonly spelled in the old colonial records, was
at Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1660, or before. Not
far from 1675 he removed to Byfield (village) in
Newbury and the remainder of his life and those
of several of his children seem to have been passed
within hailing distance of Byfield meeting house,
so that the family is properly termed "The New-
bury Family." William Danforth took the oath of
allegiance along with other Newbury men, in 1678.
There is a record of an abatement of his tax in
1788. He sold land that had been granted to him
by the proprietors, July 15, 1709, and March 27,
1721, he sold a woodlot. He died after that date,
but when his wife died is not known. He married
(first), in Ipswich, March 20, 1670, Hannah, daugh-
ter of the pioneer Robert Kingsman, or Kinsman.
She was born in Ipswich, aboiit 1644, and died in
Newbury, October 18, 1678. He married (second)
Sarah, daughter of Francis and Ann Thurloe (or
Thorla). The children by the first wife were: Wil-
liam (?) and Mary, and by the second: Rich-
ard, John, Jonathan, Thomas, Francis and Joseph.
(II) John, second son and child of William and
Sarah (Thurloe) Danforth, was born in Newbury,
December 8, 1681, and died October i, 1772, "in
his 93d year; he had been very helpless for a year
past." He seems to have spent most or all of his
life in Newbury. The name of his first wife is un-
known. He married (second), November 24, 1713,
Dorcas White, who was a member of the Byfield
church in 1744. and died March 26, 1788. "aged
90 or 91." His children were: Nathaniel, Thomas,
William, Samuel, John, Oliver, Moses, Sarah, Mary
and Elizabeth.
(III) William (2), third son and child of John
Danforth, was born in Newbury, in 1708, and was
a settler at Boscawen. New Hampshire, as early as
173.3. snd aided in the erection of a saw mill. He
owned at one time the mill at the head of King
street. He was one of the "Contoocook" soldiers
who petitioned Governor Wentworth, November 29,
1743, to g'^'C John Rollins a captain's commission.
He married a sister of Richard Flood, one of the
first settlers of the town. Their children were:
William, Jedediah, Mary and Susan.
(IV) William (3), eldest child of William (2)
and ■ • (Flood) Danforth, was born in Boscawen,
August 18, 1748, and died October 13. 1838, "aged
92." He was a corporal in Captain Sanmel At-
kinson's company "at Coos in Haverhill. New
Hampshire. December i, 1776." He was also ser-
geant in Captain Peter Kimball's company. Colonel
I
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
203
Stickney's regiment, "in General Stark's brigade,
made out of the Thirteenth Regiment, New Hamp-
shire militia, July 20, 1777, which joined the Con-
tinental army at Bennington and Stillwater." For
his services he received a pension. He was re-
ported on the pension rolls of the year 1S34, as "of
Merrimac county, New Hampshire, 86 years old."
He married Olive Elliott, who died November 12,
1840, "aged 92." Their children were: Mary, Enoch,
Ruth, William, John, died young; John, and Ed-
mund, who* is mentioned next below.
(V) Edmund, youngest child of William (3) and
Olive (Elliott) Danforth, born in Boscavven, July
8, 1791, died October 24, 1854. He was a farmer.
He was a member of the Congregational Church.
He married, September 3, 181S, Rhoda Clough,
and they were the parents of eight children : Haman,
Rhoda, died young; Enoch, George Sullivan, Reu-
ben Clough, Charles Spaulding, Edmund, and Ro-
sctta R., next mentioned.
(VI) Rosetta R.. youngest child of Edmund and
Rhoda (Clough) Danforth, born March 11, 1843,
married Josiah C. Shaw. (See Shaw, HI.)
This name figures conspicuously in the
HAM records of Southeastern New Hampshire
and Southwestern Maine, all of which
was Massachusetts territory at the time of its plant-
ing in New England. Most of its bearers have
teen engaged in agriculture, and have been in-
dustrious, upright and respected citizens. Their
descendants are still very numerous in the region
referred to. William Ham was an English immi-
grant, and was settled in Exeter, New Hampshire,
as early as 1646, removing thence to Portsmouth,
New Hampshire, in 1652. He had a grant of fifty
acres of land from the last named town in 'that
year, located at what is now called Freeman's Point,
just above Portsmouth Bridge. He subscribed one
pound for the support of the ministry in Ports-
mouth in 1658, and this sum, as compared with
other subscriptions would indicate that he was a
man of some substance. He had at least two chil-
dren. His son Matthew had a grant from the town
of Portsmouth in 1654, and another in 1660. His
daughter Elizabeth married a Cotton. He died in
1672. and his will is recorded in Exeter. His son
William was at that time deceased, and he be-
queathed his property to Elizabeth Cotton, and to
his grandsons, William, Thomas and John. It
seems he had a grandson Matthew, whom he did
not mention in his will.
(I) John, probably a son of Wiiiiam Ham.
was born in 1649, and appears on the tax list ot
Dover in 1665. His first homestead was at "Toie
end," near the second Falls of the Cocheco in Dover,
He removed to another site below Garrison Hill,
and there died in 1727. His will is recorded in Ex-
eter. He was a juryman in 1688, was town clerk in
1694, and had tlie title of Lieutenant. He married,
in 1668, i\Iary. daughter of John Heard, of Dover.
She died in 1706, having been the mother of the
following cliildren: Mary, John, Samuel, Josepli,
Elizabeth. Tripliena. Sarah, Martha and Benjamin.
(II) John (2), eldest son of John (i) and Mary
(Heard) Ham, was bnrn in 1671, and lived on tlic
first homestead of his father near the second Falls nf
Cocheco. He also bore the title of Lieutenant and
liad one full share of tlie common lands, which were
divided among the freeholders of Dover ii^ 1732.
He was assessor and lot layer in 1735. and died June
II, 1754. His wife, whose Christian name was
Elizabeth, died in 17,^9. Their children ■were:
John, Ephraim, Elizabeth, Mar\% Samuel. Nathaniel,
Joanna, Dodovah and Patience.
(III) Samuel, third son of John (2) and Eliza-
beth Ham, was born in 1708, and had one-third of
a full share of the common lands of Dover in
1732. He was baptized "on a sick bed" August 26.
1739, and died before the close of that year. The
christian name of his wife was Lydia, and their
children were : Samuel, Stephen and Lydia.
(IV) Samuel (2), eldest child of Samuel (l)
and Lydia Ham, was baptized August 26, 1739, at
the same time that his father received baptism upon
his death bed. Samuel (2) married (first) Sarah
Wingate, and second, Sarah Morse. His children
were : Sarah, Lydia, Samuel, Jeremy W., George
J., William, Mehitable and Ebenezer.
(V) Samuel (3), eldest son of Samuel (2)
Ham, was born about 1766, probably in Dover, and
appears to have resided for a time in Portsmouth.
He was married there, but the family name of his
wife is not preserved. Her baptismal name was
Betsy. On April 30, 1789, they settled in Shapley,
Maine, where they remained during the rest of
their lives. Their children were : William, Jacob,
Thomas, John, Betsy, Abigail, Daniel, Samuel and
Benjamin.
(VI) John (3), fourth son and child of Samuel
and Betsey Ham, was born December 25, 1779, in
Portsmouth, and was ten years of age when his par-
ents removed to Maine. He married Polly Patch,
who was born in 1784, in Shapleigh. Their children,
born in Newfield, were : Nancy, David S., Lavina,
Eliza, John, Jacob, Charles, Polly and Susan.
(VII) John (4'), second son and fifth child
of John (3) and Polly (Patch) Ham, was born
April 19, 1814, and died September 22, 1865, in
Biddeford, Maine. He was married November 27,
1834, to Paulina H. Dorman, and resided in New-
field, where he was a miller. She was born March
I, 1802, and died December 14, -1848, a daughter of
Charles Dorman. who was born in Kennebunk, and
was a pioneer settler of Newfield. He was a ship
carpenter, and was twice married, tlie name of his
first wife being Susanna (surname unknown.) His
second wife was Abigail Libbey, the mother of
Paulina H. Her children were : Mary A., Su-
sannah D., Benjamin A. and John C. The second
became the wife of Daniel S. Dutton, of Hookset,
New Hampshire (see Dutton, VIII).
This name is generally spelled Done on
DOW all original records in Massachusetts,
Where u and v were usually exchangeable.
The Dnws of early New England or at least a large
part of them are descendants of an early set-
tler of Watertown, Massachusetts, and Hampton,
New Hampshire.
(I) The first of whorp record is now found, was
John Dow. who resided at Tylner in the county of
Norfolk, England. His death occurred during the
month of July, 1561, as indicated by his will, which
was executed on the seventh and proved on the
twenty-third of that month.
(II) Thomas, son of John 'Dow. resided at Run-
ham in the county of Norfolk with his wife Mar-
garet. They had sons Henry and Christopher, and
two daughters whose christian names are not pre-
served.
(III) Henry, elder son of Thomas Dow, re-
sided in Runham and had a wife Elizabeth. He
died about the end of the year 1612 or the begin-
ning of 1613. His children included Thomas,
Henry, Edward, Mary, Frances and William.
(IV) Henry (2). second son of Henry (i)
and Elizabeth Dow, was born about 1608, in Run-
ham, and was there married February 11, 1631,
to Joanne, widow of Roger Nudd, who was then
204
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
lately deceased. Having decided to emigrate to
New England, he applied for permission, and was
duly licensed April ii, 1637. His examination
showed that his age was then twenty-nine j-ears,
and that his wife was thirty years of age, and
that their four children and a servant (Anne Man-
ning, seventeen years old), accompanied them, "who
are desirous to pass into New England to inhabit."
He first settled in Watertown, Massachusetts, where
his wife died and was buried June 20, 1640. He
was married (second), in 1 641, to Margaret Cole,
of Dedham, Massachusetts. About the close of
1643, or the beginning of 1644, he removed to
Hampton, in what is now New Hampshire, where
he had previously purchased a house and several
parcels of land for a farm. This estate remained
in the hands of his descendants until 1S54. He was
selectman of Hampton in 1651, was deputy to the
general court of Massachusetts in 1655-56. and in
1658 was placed on a committee to examine all
grants of highways. This work was still unfin-
ished when he died April 21, 1659. His widow mar-
ried (second), October 23, 1661, Richard Kimball,
of Ipswich, Massachusetts. The children of Henry
Dow were: Thomas (died young), Henry, Simon,
Joseph, Daniel. Mary, Hannah, Thomas and Jere-
miah, besides the third, who died in infancy, un-
named). (Joseph and descendants are mentioned
in this article.)
(V) Simon, third son and child of Henry (2)
and Hannah (Page) Dow, was born March 4,
1667, in Hampton and passed his life in that town,
where he engaged in agriculture. He was mar-
ried (first) November 5, 1685, to Sarah, daughter
of Thomas and Mary (Eastow) Marsten, and
granddaughter of Captain William Marsten, the
patriarch of that family. (See Marsten.) She was
born November 20,' 1665, and died March 8. 1698.
He was married (second) May 29, 1700, to Me-
hitabel, daughter of Isaac and ^lary (Cass) Green
and granddaughter of Henry Green of Hampton.
(See Green.) She survived him and married (sec-
ond) Onesiphorus Page. There were four children
of the first marriage and four of the second, name-
ly : Mary, Hannah, Simon, Sarah, Isaac, Jonathan,
Mehitabel and Henry.
(VI) Simon (2), eldest son and third child of
Simon (i) and Sarah (Marsten) Dow. was bom
December 5, 1690, in Hampton and probably re-
sided in that town where he died February 20,
1764. He was married January 8, 1713, to Mary
Lancaster. Their children were : Sarah, Simon,
Richard, Jeremiah, Hannah, Mary and Noah.
(VII) Jeremiah, third son and fourth child of
Simon (2) and Mary (Lancaster) Dow, was born
December 10. 1723. and resided on what is known
as Shaw' Hill in Hampton and was a farmer. He
was married, September 25, 1746, to Abiah, daugh-
ter Oif Thomas and Dorcas (Fanning) Brown of
Hampton. She was born December 25, 1721, in
Hampton. They were the parents of: Jeremiah,
Elizabeth Allen, Richard, Betty Allen, Benjamin
Brown and Simon.
(VHI) Benjamin B., third son and fifth child
of Jeremiah and .Abiah (Brown) Dow, was born
1759. and baptized May 13 of that year. He resided
in Kensington and was married May 12, 1789, in
that town, to Tahitha Blake. Their children were :
John, Tahitha, Elizabeth, Sarah, Lydia, Lucy, Abi-
gail and Benjamin.
(IX) Benjamin (2), youngest child of Benja-
min (i) and Tabitha (Blake) Dow, was born Feb-
ruary II, 1810, in Kensington, New Hampshire,
and resided for a time in the town of Epping, sub-
sequent to which he removed to that part of the
old town of Gilford which was set off to form
Laconia. He is remembered as a man of good
education, a school teacher of excellent capacity
and considerable experience, and also as an indus-
trious farmer. In 1853 his reason was temporarily
unseated through intense religious enthusiasm and
after being restored to comparative health he
found employment as watchman at Meredith Bridge
(Laconia). He died in Lakeport in 1879. His wife
was Mary A. Everts, daughter of Josiah Everts of
INIoultonborough, New Hampshire, and by whom
he had eleven children, the first and second and
tenth and eleventh of whom died in infancy. Those
who grew to maturity were as follows : i. George
W., ■ a steamship engineer on the Pacific and of
whom nothing has been heard in many years. 2.
Sarah, who became the wife of F. F. French, of
Lynn, Massachusetts, and is now a widow living
in that city. 3. Helen G., married W. H. Smith
and is now dead. 4. John H., a prominent busi- '
ness man of Lakeport, New Hampshire. 5. Charles
G., who lived and died in Laconia. Georgiana, who
married Joseph .4yer and is now dead. 7. Leander,
now living in Concord, New Hampshire.
fX) John Henry Dow, sixth in the order of
birth of the children of Benjamin W. and ]Mary
A. (Everts) Dow, was born in the town of Guilford
May 3, 1843, and since ten years old has made
his own way in life. Soon after his father's mis-
fortune he began working and made his way against
every obstacle until he reached a position in business
life that placed him beyond the necessity of further
endeavor, but he is still engaged in active pursuits
and today stands among the foremost men of Lake-
port. For seven years he was an employee in the
carding room of the old Belknap mill in Laconia,
and in the second year of the civil war. August
12, 1862, enlisted in Company F, Twelfth New
Hampshire Infantry, entering the service as a
private, and afterward being appointed corporal
and then sergeant. At Cold Harbor he was wound-
ed in the leg. but remained in service until the end
of the war and was mustered out in Concord in
July, 1865.
Soon after his return home Mr. Dow went to
Lynn, Massachusetts, worked there at shoemaking.
and later at the same occupation in Hartford. Con-
necticut. About 1870 he returned to New Hamp-
shire and worked a few months in a mill, and then
for the next six or more years carried on a gen-
eral grocery and meat business in Lakeport. For
the last twenty-five years he has been proprietor of
an extensive coal, wood and ice business at ihit
place, and has also been agent for Standard Oil
Company for past fifteen years. At one time he
took considerable interest in general and local pol-
itics, hut the extent of his political holdings has
been the office of roadmaster, which he filled three
years. On February 20, 1871, Mr. Dow married
.Mice L. Sanborn, daughter of Levi Sanborn of
New Hampton, New Hampshire, by whom he has
one son, Charles H. Dow.
(XI) Charles Henry, son and only child of John
H. and Alice L. (Sanborn) Dow, was born in Lake
Village, New Hampshire, November 4. 1S72, and
received his education in common schools and New
Hampton Academy. After leaving school he be-
gan work with his father and later served four
years as deputy sheriff of Belknap county. He also
gave considerable time to the study of law, but
did not apply for admission to the bar. He then
returned to Lakeport. and became permanently as-
sociated in business with his father, under the firm
I
ISRAEL DOW.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
205
name of John H. Dow & Son, a relation wliich is
still maintained. On March 4, 1903, Mr, Dow mar-
ried Lillian Page, daughter of Ezra Page of La-
coma, and has two sons, Sheldon Page Dow, born
February 8, 1906. John Henry, born April 9, 1907.
(V) Joseph, third son and' child of Henry and
Joanne Dow, was born, March 20, 1639, in Water-
town, Massachusetts, and resided in Hampton,
where he was a sergeant of militia. His home was
close to the Salisbury line in what is now Seabrook,
and there he died, April 4, 1703. He was married
December 17, 1662, to Mary Sanborn. Their ichil-
dren were : Joseph, John, Mary, James, Hannah,
Henry, Jeremiah, Josiah, Thomas, Charity, Samuel
and Aaron.
(VI) Samuel, eighth son and eleventh child of
Joseph and Mary (Sanborn) Dow, was born June
4, 16S7, in Hampton and resided in Salisbury. He
was married February 17, 1711, to Sarah Shepard,
daughter of Samuel and Mary (Page) Shepard.
She was born August 11, 1689, in Haverhill.
(Vn) Samuel (2), son of Samuel (i) and
Sarah (Shepard) Dow, was born about 1716. in
Salisbury and resided in that town. His, wife's
name was Mercy, but her family name is not on
record.
(Vni) Elijah, son of Samuel (2) and Mercy
Dow, was born in Salisbury, February 22, 1746, and
probably passed his life in that town. The Chris-
tian name of his wife w-as Hannah.
(IX) Jacob, son of Elijah and Hannah Dow, was
born November iS, 1780, in Salisbury, jNIassachu-
setts, and removed thence to New Hampshire about
1S16. He died February 20. 1864. He resided in
the towns of Raymond and Deerfield and had chil-
dren in each of those tow-ns. He was a millwright
and carpenter and a thorough mechanic.
(X) Israel, son of Jacob and Judith Bartlett
Dow, was born in Salisbury, New Hampshire,
January 18, 1815, and died while on a visit to his
daughter at Brattleboro, Vermont, in 1898. He resided
with his parents until he attained his majority
and obtained his education in the schools of Deer-
field and Raymond. His inclination was to a me-
chanical line and by the time he was tw'enty-one
years of age he was skillful in this direction. At the
time the project of building the mills of Manches-
ter was being agitated, Jilr. Dow seeing an opening,
went to Manchester in 1838, and obtained employ-
ment at once, working at his trade. He was active-
ly engaged in building the first mills erected there,
working especially in that department relating to the
construction of the wheels and lockgates of the
canal. He first worked on the Stark corporation,
but for the most pari was employed on the Amos-
keag, although during his long residence there he
served as master -mechanic of the Manchester print
works for two years, and for a little over a year
worked on different mill jobs in Lowell and Law-
rence, Massachusetts. It w-as at this latter place,
when the mills were first being constructed, that
he wa.s employed to hang the shafting, and it is
said that his hands put up the first line of shafting
which was ever turned by water power in the city
of Lawrence. During the war, when the Langdon
corporation was extending its plant by building
over the old Elodgett paper mill and changing it
to a cotton mill, it was Mr. Dow who superintended
the work. While on the .^moskeag corporation, in
1855, he superintended the laying of the water
pipes to the Amoskeag reservoir at the head of
Brook street from the river and from the reser-
voir to and through the mill yards to supply the
plant with w^ater. He resigned his position on the
Amoskeag on his seventieth birthday. During his
long and bu,sy life Mr. Dow was called upon to
represent his fellow citizens in the legislature
bodies of the state, and he served in that capacity
in 1857 and 1858 from ward seven, then knowti as
"Squog," and as senator from the Amoskeag dis-
trict in 1883.
Mr. Dow w-as a man whose attention was given
to his daily employment. His natural love for the
kind of work he engaged in made labor a pleasure
and the construction of mills and machinery a de-
light to him. constituted as he was, full of natural
ability and ambition, he rapidly rose in the esti-
mation of his employers and was soon placed in
the highest position they had at their disposal in
his line of emploj-ment, and they never had occa-
sion to regret it. In political affairs he was equally
careful and diligent in the discharge of his duties,
but political life, though he appreciated the honor of
it, ne^er gave him the satisfaction which he found
in iMiustrial employment. Mr. Dow was connected
with the Manchester fire department in the ten
years from i860 to 1870, and for two years was chief
the department. He was also a member of the
Amoskeag Veterans, and at one time captaui of that
organization. He was fond of company and took
pleasure in fraternal association. He was a mem-
ber of Lafayette Lodge, Free and Accepted Ma-
sons, No. 41 ; Mt. Horeb Royal Arch Chapter, No.
11; .^donirani Council, No. 3, Royal and Select
Masters, and Trinity Commandery, Knights Temp-
lar, of Manchester.
July I, 1846, Israel Dow and Lavinia Hobbs,
who was born July 22, 1822, at Sandford, Maine,
daughter of Thomas Hobbs. were united in mar-
riage at the bride's home in Great Falls. Upon
returning to Manchester they started housekeeping
in what was then known as Overseers' block, on
Mechanic street, where they resided about a year.
Mr. Dow then built a house on the west side, and
it was there their children were born. July i,
1896, Mr. and Mrs. Dow celebrated their golden
wedding at their home on the North River Road.
Their house .and grounds were handsomely dec-
orated for the occasion, and a throng of friends
called to congratulate them on their attainment of
fifty years of wedded felicity, and to bring them
fitting tokens of their esteem. Mr. Dow survived
this date two years, and Mrs. Dow died the same
year. They were the parents of four children :
Anzonette, died young: Julietta, died young; Perry
H., Edna M., now Mrs. John Morse, of Brattle-
boro. Vermont; and Herbert, died young.
(XI) Perry Hobbs, only son of Israel and La-
vinia (Hobbs) Dow, was boui in Manchester, July
8, 1854. His education was obtained in the com-
mon schools, and in 1871 he graduated from the
Manchester high school. He went directly from
the high school into the engineering and draughting
department of the Amoskeag corporation, then su-
perintended by Edwin H. Hobbs, and in these de-
partments he has ever since remained, and is now
(1906) in the thirty-fifth year of his service. Upon
the death of Mr. Hobbs, in 1890, he succeeded to
the position of civil engineer of the corporation.
In the time he has been connected with the Amos-
keag corporation most of its large mills have been
built or rebuilt.
Air. Dow, though busy with the many projects
of his employer, has been somewhat active in local
and state politics. He served as ward clerk four
years, was on the Manchester school board four
years, and in i88g represented ward one of his
native city in the New Hampshire house of repre-
sentatives. In iSgr he was elected to the state
senate, and served on the committees of the judic-
206
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
iary, banks, manufacturing, of which he was chair-
man, and of towns and parishes. He is active in
furthering the city's material interests, and has
served on many committees for that purpose. He was
one of the organizers and for some years a director
and treasurer of the Derryfield Sash and BHnd
Company, one of the largest of the kind in the
state ; and was vice-president and a director of the
Manchester Building & Loan Association up to
January, 1907. He is the owner of a farm of two
hundred acres, formerly part of the old Blodgett
farm, situated three miles north of Manchester on
the west bank of the Merrimack, on which are lo-
cated the golf grounds of the Intervale Country Club.
His professional ability and standing, his high in-
tegrity and social nature have made him a favorite
in various circles of the leading citizens of Manches-
ter. ,
He is a member of the Free Masons, and holds
membership in the following organizations of that
order: Washington Lodge, No. 61; Mt. Horeb
Royal Arch Chapter, No. 1 1 ; Adoniram Council,
No. 3, Royal and Select Masters ; Trinity Com-
mandery. Knights Templar, of Manchester, and
Aleppo Temple, of the Ancient Arabic Order of
the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Boston. He
joined the Derryfield Clivb in his twenty-first year,
and was the first member elected following its for-
mal organization. He was elected president of this
club in 1S91 and has now served sixteen years. In
addition to the clubs mentioned of which he is a
member are the Intervale Country Club, and the
Cygnet Boat Club, of which latter he is commodore.
He married, July 25, 1877. in Manchester, Susan C.
Cook, who was born Sept. 10, 1855, daughter of
Captain Harvey and Susan Cook, of Provincetown,
Massachusetts. Three children have been born
of this union : Bertha, who died at six and a son
who died in infancy, and Clinton I., born April 12,
1886, a graduate of St. Luke's school. Wayne. Penn-
sylvania, and also a student of Dartmouth Col-
lege one year, class of '08, and now his father's as-
sistant.
(Second Family.)
This line is, no doubt, connected with
DOW the one previously given, descending from
John Dow of Tylner, England.
(I) Thomas Dow, who was probably a brother
of Henry (2) Dow, was an early settler of New-
bury, Massachusetts, and removed thence to Haver-
hill, where he died May 31, 1654, at the age of
about thirty-nine years. His will was made two
days before his death and was proved April 8, 1656.
He left a wddow, Phcebe, and children John,
Thomas, Stephen, Mary and Martha. The widow
was married November 20, 1661, in Haverhill to
John Eaton of Haverhill.
(II) Stephen, third son and child of Thomas
and Phrebe Dow, was born March 29, 1642, in New-
bury and subscribed to the freeman's oath in Haver-
hill in 1668. He died in that town July 3, 1717.
His will was made on the first day of that month
and w'as proved on the seventeenth. He was mar-
ried (first) September 16. 1663, in Haverhill to
Anne Storie of Salem (probably Anne Stacy), and
she died February A, 1715. He w-as married
(second). February 7, 1716, to Joanna Hutchins.
She survived him more than seventeen years, and
died October 29, 1734. His children, all born of the
first wife, were : Ruhamah, Samuel, Hannah,
Stephen, Martha, and John.
(Ill) Stephen (2), second son and fourth child
of Stephen (i) and Anne (Storie) Dow, was born
September 10, 1670, in Haverhill, and was still
living in that town in 1717. He was married, De-
cember 14, 1697, to Mary Hutchins.
(IV) Richard, son of Stephen and Mary
(Hutchins) Dow, was born February 15, 1706, in
Haverhill, and was there married, February 28,
1728, to Phoebe Heath. She was born June 2$,
1705, in Haverhill, daughter of Joseph and Hannah
(Bradley) Heath. It is probable that Richard
lived in that part of Haverhill w'hich was cut off
in 1741 from Massachusetts, and became a part of
New Hampshire. The records of Salem, New
Hampshire show the births of the following chil-
dren of Richard and Phoebe (Heath) Dow; Reu-
ben, Oliver, Richard and Asa.
(V) Oliver, second son and child of Richard
and Phcebe (Heath) Dow, was born July 28, 1736,
probably in Haverhill, and resided in Salem. New
Hampshire. His wife's name was Hannah, but
the vital records of New Hampshire fail to show
her family name. They give the names of four
children, namely : Phcebe, Hannah, Ellice and
Simeon, the last named born in Hopkinton, which
would indicate that Oliver Dow removed from
Salem .to Hopkinton before 1774.
(VI) Ellice (or Alice), third daughter and child
of Oliver and Hannah Dow, was born September I,
1768, in Salem and was married, March 24, 1791.
to Benjamin Leach of Londonderry. (See Leach.)
Nothing can be found in the vital records of New
Hampshire toi show the parentage of Benjamin
Leach.
Herman A. Dow, of Warner, is one of
DOW the most extensive farmers and cattle
dealers in the Granite State, and followed
in the footsteps of his father, who in addition
to large business interests in other directions owned
and cultivated an extensive agricultural estate. Un-
der the stimulating influence of modern conditions
his progressive ideas, inherent energy and indo-
mitable tenacity of purpose "are brought into full
play, and it is to such enlightened farmers as Mr.
Dow that the state of New Hampshire may look
for the preservation and still further advancement
of her agricultural supremacy.
(I) Amos Dow came to New Hampshire from
Amesburj-, Massachusetts, settling in the vicinity
of Davisville, and was an industrious tiller of the
soil. His wife was before marriage Mary Brown.
(II) Samuel Harris, son of Amos and ^lary
(Brown") Dow. was born in Hopkinton, June 10,
1818. From the time of his majority he was led
onward by a spirit of enterprise into various im-
portant business undertakings, which included farm-
ing, contracting, lunrbering and the prepartation
of fire-wood for railroads, when that fuel was used
exclusively on locomotives. For a period of many
years he supplied the Northern Railroad with from
three thousand to five thousand cords of wood an-
nually, and his lumbering operations were equally
extensive. As a contractor his reputation for re-
liability was of a high standard, and he erected
several of the finest buildings in the city of Con-
cord. His farm in Warner, containing one thou-
sand acres of arable land, was conducted upon the
same sound business basis as that which character-
ized his other enterprises, and was therefore the
source of more than ordinarj' profit. As a business
man he ranked among the foremost of his day, and
his ability was of the kind which enriched the
community as well as himself. Politically he acted
with the Republican party. Samuel H. Dow was
three times married. First to Harriet Currier,
daughter of Daniel and Clara (Felton) Currier.
I
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
207
Second to his first wife's sister, Matilda Currier;
and on July 29, 1857. he married for his third wife
Emily Rand, who was born May 17, 1S38, daughter
of Smith and Marion (Goodhue) Rand of Hopkin-
ton, this state. The children of his first union are
Frances C, born November 13, 1847, and married
Oscar L. Rand, of Canaan, now living retired.
They have had three children: Oscar S., born in
Bristol. December 3, 1873, died February 2, 1902;
Herman S., born in Canaan, October 15, 1879,
died there April i, 18S1 ; Blanche E., born in
Canaan. March 22.. 1866. Harvey S., born August
16, 1S49, married Bertha E., daughter of Eleazcr
and Emiline Barney, died October 8, 1890. Chil-
dren, four: Edith Mariam, born January 29, 1878;
Pearl Emmeline, born January 29, 1880; Florence
Bertha, born April 28. 1883 ; Archie Samuel, born
December 2, 1885, died in infancy-. Those of the
third marriage are : Herman A., who will be again
referred to; and Emily G., who was born January
13, 1861. She married Fred H. Savory, (q. v.)
(HI) Herman Adelbert Dow, was born' in
Warner September 8, iiSsS. He was educated in
the public schools including the Warner High
School, and acquired a knowledge of farming and
lumbering under the direction of his father. He
has advanced along the same progressive lines fol-
lowed by his able predecessor, and has proved
himself a worthy successor. He owns and culti-
vates a farm of two thousand acres devoted to
general farming and stofk raising; keeps on hand
an average of one hundred and fifteen head of
cattle; and is widely and favorably known as an
extensive breeder of live stock. His buildings,
which are the largest as well as the best in that
section, are kept in excellent repair, and the march
of improvement is visible on every hand. Six ex-
perienced assistants are regularly employed upon
the estate, which, to the passing observer presents
an air of prosperity, plainly denoting the sub-
stantial character of its owner. In politics he is a
Republican, but has never indulged in official as-
pirations, believing that he can most effectively
serve the community by keeping the wheels of
business constantly in motion.
Mr. Dow married IMiss Stella G. Wright, daugh-
ter of Henry P. and Sarah A. (Holmes) Wright of
Bradford. ^Ir. and Mrs. Dow have two children —
Samuel Harris, born December 13, 1890: and Har-
old Wright, born September 27. 1897. Mrs. Dow is
deeply attached to her home and children, and prac-
tically her only interests are those centered in her
pleasant family circle.
This line is descended from the
GILCHRIST ancient Scottish clan Killcreast.
They lived in Ayr (Ayrshire) the
next county north of Glasgow prior to the conquest
of Scotland by William the Conqueror in 1071.
At the time of the Reformation they became Pres-
byterians under John Knox. In about 1602 many
of this family with other Scots were induced by
James I of England to settle in the North of Ire-
land. Here they lived for more than a century.
(I) In about 1725 Robert Gilchrist and his
brother William emigrated to America. Robert
went directly to the Scotch-Irish settlement in
Londonderry, New Hampshire and William remain-
ed at Andover, Massachusetts, till 1740. Then he
went to Chester, New Hampshire, where Robert
had moved and settled on twenty acres of cleared
land he had bought in T732. Robert married Agnes,
daughter of William Kelso, of Londonderry, who
was the son of William Kelso, of Hampton, New
Hampshire. Robert died in 1746. His will was
probated September 26, 1746. His wife Agnes died
in 1758. Robert and Agnes (Kelso) Gilchrist had
six children: John, born March 18, 1731, died
174S. Alexander I., who is mentioned below. Wil-
liam, born January 8, 1736, died in Goffstown, New
Hampshire, 1815. Agnes, born IMay 28, 1738, mar-
ried her cousin, John Kelso, of Londonderry. She
was the grandmother of John Page, governor of
New Hampshire in 1841-42. Elizabeth, born Au-
gust 8, 1740. Robert, who was born October 8,
1743, enlisted in the "old war" and was killed.
(II) Alexander, second child of Robert and
Agnes (Kelso) Gilchrist, was horn October 8,
173.3. and died April 22, 1820. He married Mar-
tha Shirley of "Shirley Hill," Goffstown, in 1757.
Iilartha (Shirley) Gilchrist died March 17, 1815.
Alexander and his wife Martha were both buried
in the old cemetery at Goffstown Centre. Their
children were: i. Robert, born 1759, married
Martha, daughter of John Craige, of "Shirley Hill."
For his second wife he married Mary, daughter of
Deacon Thomas Shirley, of Shirley Hill. Robert
was with General Stark at Bennington. He died
in 1S18 and was buried at Goffstown Centre. 2.
Mary, born in 1763, died March 19, 1821. 3. Samuel
("Cap't Sam"), born January 12, 1764, died Au-
gust 31, 1818, and was buried at (joffstown Centre.
He married Sarah, daughter of John Aiken, of
Bedford. 4. John, born May 8, 17^5, died Sep-
tember 8, 1855. 5. Janet, born June 12, 1768, died
at Bedford, New Hampshire, November 9, 1839;
married William Riddle, of Bedford, September
29, 1791. 6. Alexander, who is mentioned" below.
7. James, born July 25, 1775, died young. 8. Da-
vid, born December 24, 1777, married Hannah,
daughter of Robert Kennedy, of Goffstown, De-
cember 31. 1805. He died November 20, 1S47.
(III) Alexander ■ (2), sixth child of Alexander
(i) and IMartha (Shirley) Gilchrist, was born in
1772, and died July 28, 1844. He married Margaret,
("Peggy"), daughter of Deacon Robert Moore,
of "Shirley Hill," Goffstown, in 1799. Margaret
Moore was born April 26. 1779. Her father, Rob-
ert Moore, was the youngest son of James Moore,
of Londonderry, was born in Londonderry in 1746
and married, January, 1778, Mary (Jameson) Todd,
widow of John Todd, who was killed in the Rev-
olution in 1776. He was the Dunbarton line of
Jamesons. Alexander and his wife Margaret lived
on the home farm on Shirley Hill until about 1812,
when they moved to Dunbarton, where they lived
for the remainder of their lives, about two miles
from East Weare. Their children were : i. James
born September 26, 1800, married Ann Brown Dick-
ey, of New Boston, September 23, 1S30, died .'Xpril
12, 1872. 2. Jane, born November 21, 1S02. married
(first) Andrew Gray, of Groton, Vermont: (sec-
ond), Ira Low, of Bradford, Vemiont. 3. Martha,
who is mentioned below. 4. Mary, born January
2, 1S07, died January 3. 1S52, unmarried. 5. Jonathan,
born Octber 2, 1810, died April 26, 1874, unmarried.
Margaret (Moore) Gilchrist died April 29, 1S43,
aged sixty-four years. She and her husband Alex-
ander are buried in the cemetery at East Weare,
New Hampshire.
(IV) Martha, third child of Alexander (2)
and Margaret (Moore) Gilchrist, was born on
Shirley Hill, Goffstown, December 5, 1804, and died
March 14, 1879. She married Luke Baker, of Dun-
barton, January 19, 1834. (See Baker, VII.)
Before the general adoption of sur-
D.WIS names in Great Britain the Welsh
people were accustomed to distinguish
(hose bearing the same christian name from one
208
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
another by adding the father's name with a pos-
sessive, as "Harry's." "David's," and these were in
time shortened and slightly varied, thus formnig the
verv frequent names among those people, of Wil-
liams, Jones, Harris and Davis. The family whose
history is herein outlined was among those early
planted in New England, and has furnished citizens
to New Hampshire and other states, who have been
noted for energy, probity, ability and high moral
character.
(I) Philip Davis, a native resident of Wales,
born in 1590. had three sons, Gideon, Philip and
Francis. They were born, respectively, in 161S,
1617 and 1620. In 1638 these sons, all minora,
were sent by their father to America, and they
sailed as servants to others. They left South Hamp-
ton. England, in the ship "Confidence," John Job-
son, master, and two of them arrived at Portsmouth,
the' eldest having been lost at sea.
(II) Francis Davis settled at Amesbury, Massa-
chusetts, about 1640, probably coming from Hamp-
ton, this state. He was married about 1650 to Ger-
trude Emerson, of Amesbury.
(III) Fraocis (2), son of Francis (i) and Ger-
trude (Emerson) Davis, born about 1655. married
(first) Mary Taylor, daughter of Walter Taylor,
and she was the mother of his first three children.
No date of her death appears. Francis Davis was
married October 20, 1680, at Portsmouth, to Mary
Wells, who was born June 14, 1658, in New
Foundland, and died May 21, 1733. m Amesbury.
He took the oath of allegiance December 20, 1677,
before "Colonel Fiske of Salem. His children were :
John, Gertrude, Thomas, Francis, Samuel, Philip
and Ephraim. (Francis and descendants receive
extended mention in this article.)
(IV) Thomas, second son and third child of
Francis (2) and Mary (Taylor) Davis, was born
probably about 1685, and resided in Amesbury. He
was married December 15, 1709, in Amesbury, to
Deborah Martin, daughter of John and Mary
(Weed) Martin, of that town, and granddaughter
of George Martin, the patriarch of that family in
Salisbury and Amesbury. She was born August 8,
1689, and was the fifth daughter and sixth child of
her 'parents. Thomas and Deborah were the par-
ents of: Abigail, Thomas. Mary, Sarah, Amos,
Merribah, Moses and Timothy.
(V) Moses, third son and seventh child of
Thomas and Deborah (Martin) Davis, was born
January 16, 1722, in Amesbury. He resided for a
time in that town and was afterward of the Ames-
bury district in New Hampshire (now Newton-).
Perhaps he did not change his location, but he was
transferred to New Hampshire by the adjudication
of the Province line. He is found of record as
in Biddeford, Maine, in I7S3, and of Pelham, New
Hampshire in 1763. His farm extended into
Dracut. Massachusetts, and he is supposed to have
been living as late as 1785. He was married in
1748 at the first Amesbury Church, to Mary Whit-
tier ' daughter of John (2) and Elizabeth Whit-
tier, of Methuen, granddaughter of John Whittier,
and great-granddaughter of Thomas Whittier, of
Newbury and Haverhill, the patriarch of that family
in America. Their children were: Mitchel, Eben-
ezer, Moses, Timothy and probably others.
(VI) Moses (2), who was probably the third
child of Moses (i) and Mary (Whittier) Davis,
was born somewhere on the coast (according to
tradition at Cape Ann, Massachusetts), m 1760.
The eldest son of his parents was born about 1753'
which makes this tradition appear correct. He is
supposed to be buried at Norwich, Vermont. He
may have remained at Cape Ann after his father
removed to Pelham and Dracut. The family
tradition says that he removed to Dracut in 1776,
settling in that part which is now Lowell. In 1806-
07 he returned to Hanover, Grafton county. New
Hampshire, and in 1813 to Norwich, Vermont. He
was a farmer, and his farm in Vermont he made
in the virgin forest. After 1813 he dealt in horses,
buying in Vermont and selling in Boston. It was
on one of these journeys that he died, April 21,
1829, aged sixty-nine years. He was an industrious,
enterprising and thrifty man. He was a soldier in
the Revolution, and the following is his record as
furnished from the records at Washington, D. C. :
"Moses Davis was living at Cape Ann, Mass-
achusetts, when hostilities commenced at Lexing-
ton: 'and at the siege of Boston he engaged to
serve eight months under Captain Prescott in Col-
onel Brown's regiment, and was stationed at least
a portion of the time at Prospect Hill ; and it was
stated by one witness that he served at Bunker
Hill, but whether he was in the battle at that place
was not otherwise expressed. After he removed
to Dracut he is reported by the selectmen as having
served two months, from September, 1776, probably
under Colonel Brewer, in the vicinity of New York
City. He also served six weeks from September,
1777. under Colonel J. B. Varnum at Fishkill-on-
the Hudson River; there in April, 1778, he volun-
teered for eight months, and marched to the historic
camp of Valley Forge, Chester county, Pennsylvania,
and in June, 1780, he volunteered for six months,
marched to or near West Point, New York, and was
attached to the Massachusetts regiment commanded
by Colonel Michael Jackson. During his last term the
traitor Arnold deserted to the enemy while in conT-
mand of West Point, during the absence of Washing-
ton, and IMajor Andre, the spy, was captured Septem-
ber 23, 1780, and Davis was detailed for one or two
nights as sentinel over IVIajor Andre before the execu-
tion, October 2, 1780. The aggregate of this service
was over two years." He married, April 6, 1785. at
Dracut. Middlesex county, Massachusetts, Sarah
Sawyer, who w-as deceased January 14, 1853, aged
eightv-six. Their children were : Nathan, Moses,
Reuben, Sally, Milton, Ira, Parker, Polly. John,
Persis.
(VII) Dr. Ira Davis, sixth child and fifth son
of Moses and Sarah (Sawyer) Davis, was born in
Dracut, in iSoi, and died in Norwich, March 2,
1872, aged seventy-one years. When about five
years old he was taken by his parents to Hanover,
New Hampshire, and at twelve years old to Nor-
wich, Vermont, and at the latter place 'his adult life
was spent. Growing up in the midst of a commun-
ity of farmers in a pioneer region, he had aspira-
tions for a more extended sphere and a greater de-
gree of influence and usefulness than would be his
if he remained on the farm. He had a natural love
for study and after getting what literary education
circumstances permitted, he turned his attention to
the study of medicine, in which he had a long and
successful career, during a large part of which he
was intimate with the widely known Dr. Dixi
Crosby. He was a man of much ability which was
manifested in many waj-s. He was one of the cor-
porators of Norwich University, which was founded
November 6, 1834, and this was the nucleus for the
present Norwich University of Northficld, Ver-
mont. He was one of the executive committee and
one of the medical examiners of the school ; and
was also one of the editors of the Vennoni En-
quirer in years preceding and foillowing 1830. A
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
209
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, he de-
voted much time and a goodly portion of his money
to the furthering of plans for the benefit of his
church and in other philanthropic and charitable en-
terprises. In politics he was a strong partisan
Democrat, popular with his party, and was re-
warded for his labors with the office of postmaster
at Norwich, which he held for years. He was also
representative three or more terms. Dr. Davis was
a strong man, strong in his likes and dislikes, and
energetic in whatever he undertook. He always
tried to be right, and generally was, and his in-
fluence was always felt in every enterprise he
joined. He was not active for several years before
his death, being affected with paralysis. By his
first wife he had one son. He married (second)
Rhoda Slack, by whom he had several children who
grew up, one of whom, Bella C, is now connected
with the state district police department of Mass-
achusetts. He was married (third) in Lawrence,
Massachusetts, October 12, 1858, by Rev. Warren
F. Evans, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
to Lucy A. L. Crar>', of Norwich, Vermont, who
was born April 25, 1827, died in Manchester, June
5, 1894, daughter of James and Lavinia (Stow'ell)
Crary, of Norwich, by whom he had two children
grown up : Curtis W., the truant officer of the pub-
lic schools of Manchester, and George M., whose
sketch follows.
(VHI) George Moses Davis, M. D., second
son of Ira and Lucy Ann Lavinia (Crary) Davis,
was born in Norwich, Vermont, January 30, 1864.
In 1872 the mother and two sons moved to Man-
chester, New Hampshire. Here George M. attended
the common .schools : he then entered the office of
the Manchester Mills, first serving as messenger
boy, and later in other capacities. While thus em-
ployed he began the study of medicine, employing
all ' his spare time for this purpose. In 1884 he
matriculated at Dartmouth Medical School, from
which he graduated Doctor of Medicine in 1888.
During a portion of his course he was at the State
Hospital at Tewksbury, Massachusetts. After grad-
uation he returned to the State Hospital as assist-
ant physician, and filled that place one year. He
then began practice in Bedford. New Hampshire,
where he remained four years. He then removed
to Merrimack, New Hampshire, and remained two
and a half years, and in 1895 removed to Manches-
ter and there became the professional associate of
Dr. Henry Boutwell. In 1903 he was appointed
medical referee for the county of Hillsborough ; he
was on the staff of Brigadier-Generaf Daniel M.
White, of the New Hampshire National Guard, as
hospital steward for three years: he is one of the
staff physicians to the ^Ma^onic Home and Sacred
Hospital. He is a member of the New Hampshire
Medical Society and American Medical Association,
a member of Lafayette Lodge, No. 41, Free and Ac-
cepted Masons : Mount Horeb Royal Arch Chapter,
No. II; Adoniram Council, No. 3, Royal and Select
Masteis of Manchester: and Bclctash Temple, Or-
der of the Mystic Shrine, of Concord. Politically
he is a Republican, and a member of the school
board of Manchester.
February 24, 1891, Dr. Davis married Mabel L.
Davis, dauglitcr of Reuben and Minerva (Maxim)
Davis, a native of Norwich, Vermont.. They have
two children: Hilda Lena, born June 10, 1892, in
Bedford, New Hampshire, and Harold Irving, born
December 24, 1893, in Merrimack, New Hampshire.
(IV) Francis (3), third son of Francis (2)
and Mary (Wells) Davis, born about 1687, was
married September 6, 1716. to Joanna Ordway, of
i— 14
Haverhill, 2\Iassachusetts, probably a daughter of
Hananiah and granddaughter of James Ordway, of
Newburj-. He died October 9, 1753, and was sur-
vived by his wife. Their children were : Gideon,
"Gartret," Anna, Francis, Philip and Joanna. (Fran-
cis (4) and descendants receive extended notice in
this article).
(V) Gideon, eldest child of Francis (3) and
Joanna (Ordway) Davis, was born June 8, 1718, in
.\mesbury, and resided in West Amesbury. He
was baptized April 18, 1742, in the Second Amesbury
Church, and died June 2, 1793. He was married
June 7, 1744. to Elizabeth Hoyt, daughter of Jacob
and Joanna (Ring) Hoyt. She was born in Ames-
bury and died in Warner, in 1797. Jacob was a
son of Lieutenant Thomas Hoyt, who was a son of
Thomas (see Hoyt, II). Gideon and Elizabeth
Davis had six children, namely : Ruth, Gideon,
Robert, Francis, Elizabeth and Anna. (Francis re-
ceives mention, with descendants, in this article).
(VI) Gideon (2), second child and eldest son
of Gideon (i) and Elizabeth (Hoyt) Davis, was
born in AmcsJjury. December 28, 1747. About 1783
he removed from Amesbury, Massachusetts, to
Warner, New Hampshire, where the remainder of
his life was spent. His wife's name was Ruth
(Cheney) Davis, and they were the parents of eight
children : Molly, John, Robert, Ruth, Gideon, Anna,
Moses and Olive.
(VII) John, eldest son and second child of
Gideon (2) and Ruth (Cheney) Davis, was born in
.Amesbury, January 24, 1775, and was taken to
Warner by his parents when about eight years old.
He was a mechanic, passed the remainder of his
life in that to-wn, and erected all of the earliest
buildings in the town. He married Rachel Bennett,
of Sandown, New Hampshire, and they had chil-
dren : Zaccheus, John. Rachel, Sally.
(VIII) Zaccheus, eldest son of John and Rachel
(Bennett) Davis, was born in Warner, February 6,
1806, and died August 19, 1854. He learned the
carpenter's trade and was a successful builder for
years. He owned and occupied a farm of generous
proportions, which he conditcted with profit. In
religious faith he was a Methodist, and in politics
held to that almost universal concomitant of the
Methodism of his time — Abolitionism. It need
hardly be said that his faith was of the kind that is
never shaken. He married Lucinda Pervear, born
March, 1812, died March, 1881. daughter of Na-
thaniel and Mary (Bennett) Pervear, of Sandown.
They had four children: Albert P., Mary, Charles
and Zaccheus.
(IX) Albert Pervear, eldest child of Zac-
cheus and Lucinda (Pervear)' Davis, was born in
Warner, May 2, 1835, and acquired steady habits
and strong muscles on his father's farm. After
completing the studies taught in the conmion
schools, he attended several of the principal acad-
emics of the state, and prepared to enter Dartmouth
College. The death of his father at that time de-
volved the care of the family and the farm upon
him. and he was compelled reluctantly to forego
the advantage of a college course. His education
enabled him toi teach successfully, and for several
years he was superintendent of the Warner high
school. He also engaged to some extent in cutting
and marketing lumber. In 1870 he look up the
study of law and was admitted to the bar in 1876,
since which time he has been engaged in the practice
of his profession. Before starting in the law he
obtained the agency for several good companies,
and built up a good business in insurance, to which
he has added an extensive and profitable business in
2IO
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
real estate and loan brokerage. His ability and steady
application to his various employments have brought
him financial success and civic honors. He is a Repub-
lican, and as such has been elected to various offices.
He has served as a member of the school board many
years, was sheriff, member of the constitutional con-
vention in 1890, and member of the legislature in 1891.
He is a member and a liberal supporter of the
Methodist Church. Mr. Davis married, 1854,
Lavona Harvey, born November S, 183S, daughter
of Abner and Mary (Fisk) Harvey, of Warner.
They have two children : Ida, born September IS,
1855, married W. W. Wheeler, of Boston; Wood-
bury E., born September 5, 1857, now engaged in
business at Warner, New Hampshire, married, De-
cember 30, 1884, Emma Annis, born January 19,
1864, daughter of Paine and Sarah (Gallup) Annis,
of Warner.
(VI) Francis (5), third son and fourth child
of Gideon and Elizabeth (Hoyt) Davis, was born
May 21, 1754. in West Amesbury, and was baptized
twelve days later in the Second Amesbury Church.
He removed to Warner, New Hampshire, in 1780,
and died there about 1797. His intention of mar-
riage to Judith Foster, of Newbury, was published
September 20, 1780. Their children are recorded in
Warner, as follows : Hannah, William Foster,
Elizabeth, Judith (died young), Susanna, Anna,
Francis and Judith.
(VII) William Foster, eldest son and second
child of Francis (s) and Judith (Foster) Davis,
was born July 11, 1783, in Warner, where he passed
his life, engaged in agriculture, and died December
27, 1861. He married Susannah Collins, of Warner,
who was born December 23, 1792, and passed away
July 4, i860. Their children are accounted for as
follows : Mary S. became the wife of Samuel S.
Locke, and died in Belmont. Massachusetts. Louisa
married Puffer, and died in Lowell, same
state. Susan died when two years old. Alice P.,
wife of William Merrick, died in Warner. Nancy
was twice married, her first husband being
George, and the second Josiah P. Nelson; she died
in Warner. Nathan C. died before two years old.
Belinda R. died in her fourth year, and Judith F.
when one year old. Lucinda F. died unmarried.
Francis Evans, the last, is the subject of the follow-
ing paragraph.
(VIII) Francis Evans, second son and tenth
child of William Foster and Susannah (Collins)
Davis, was born July 3, 1832. in Warner, and died
in that town February 26, IQ05, aged seventy-three
years. He received a limited education, such only
as the home district afforded, and continued to live
all his life on the ancestral homestead, being of the
fourth generation on the place. He was a man of
most amiable disposition, and had no enemies.
With great industry, he tilled his inheritance, and
gradually added to his holdings until he was in
possession of two hundred and ten acres at his
death. Many deeds are on record, showing pur-
chases ranging from a fraction of an acre to fifty
acres, and in time ranging from 1855 to 1883.. The
cost ranged from thirty dollars for one and one-half
acres to sixteen hundred dollars for thirteen acres.
This last item was purchased from 'his father, and
probably included the homestead buildings. One
parcel of thirty-three-fortieths of an acre cost forty-
two dollars. Other parcels included one of twelve.
two of twenty, one of twenty-four, one of thirty,
and one of fifty acres. The farm lies two miles
south of Warner village, near the Henniker road.
In his earlier years Mr. Davis gave much attention
to the rearing of sheep, in which he was successful,
and his later years were devoted chiefly to dairying.
His judgment was sound, and he made a success of
whatever branch of farming he engaged in, and his
farm showed some fine specimens of Holstein cat-
tle. These brought handsome prices when sold at
the settlement of his estate, as did also his real es-
tate. Mr. Davis held settled convictions on ques-
tions of public policy, and was a staunch Repub-
lican in political views, but never desired official
station. He was progressive in ideas, and affiliated
with Warner Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, as an
instrument of improvement and advantage of
agriculture. He is also a member of the Univer-
salist Church.
He was married to Harriet Flanders, of Warner,
born January 9, 1836, and died November 13, 1858.
Mr. Davis was married (second), April I, 1S60, to
Mary Whitcomb, of Warner, daughter of Imri and
Mary D. Whitcomb (see Whitcomb, VII). Mr.
Davis married (third) Carrie Chase, daughter of
Moody and Araminta (Marshall) Chase, of Hud-
son, New Hampshire. Moody Chase was a son of
William Chase, of Pelham. There was one child of
the first marriage, namely, Harriet, now the wife
of Clement H. Rooker, residing in Brookfield,
Missouri. They have a son and daughter, Frank
and Ruth. JVIaiy (Whitcomb) Davis was the
mother of two sons : Eugene H., the eldest, died
December 26, 1899. He married Ella Bean, of
Penacook, who survives him.
(IX) Everett Lendall. younger son of Francis
E. and Mary (Whitcomb) Davis, was born June
27, 1863, in Warner, where he grew up, receiving
the educational training afforded by the common
schools. Soon after attaining his majority he went
to Concord and took employment as coachman and
handy man with J. H. Abbott, the noted carriage
manufacture. He remained in this position four
years, and in 18S9 purchased the business of Charles
Bean, of Penacook, who was engaged in teaming.
With the, energy characteristic of his ancestry, Mr.
Davis was prompt to fulfill his undertakings, and
has built up from a small beginning' one of the
flourishing industries of Penacook. By his courtesy
and fidelity to business he has made friends in busi-
ness circles, and does most of the heavy teaming
of the village, serving the mill, merchants and in-
habitants generally. He employs twenty-six horses,
with corresponding complement of men, does a
prosperous wood and coal business, and has the
only ice business in the village. He takes an in-
terest in the vital affairs of the town and village,
and bears his share of official responsibilities. For
eight years he served as road agent, was supervisor
of the check list six years, is now a member of the
precinct lighting committee, and has represented
ward one in the city council since 1894. He is
ardent in support of Republican principles, and
attends and sustains the Baptist Church. He holds
membership in Contoocook Lodge, No. 26, Inde-
pendent Order of Odd Fellows ; in Winneperkct
Encampment of the same order, as well as in Can-
ton Wildey, No. i. of Concord. He was married
October 14, 1891, to Nellie Wales, of Concord, a
daughter of Edward and Marianna (Williams)
Wales. Marianna Williams was a daughter of
James Madison and Mary (Clough) Williams, of
Warren, New Hampshire. Mrs. Davis was bom
June 7, 1870, in Lebanon, New Hampshire, and is
the mother of Lendall Evans Davis, born January
30, 1898.
(V) Captain Francis (4). second son and
fourth child of Francis (3) and Joanna (Ordway)
Davis, was born in West Amesbury, October 26,
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
211
1723, and was baptized July II, 1742. He is menr
tioned in ancient records as junior until about I7S0.
In 1765 he bought of Samuel Hadley, of Amesburj',
one-half share of a township granted to Hadley,
with others, by the general court "in consideration
of my being a soldier in the Narragansett War."
The same year he bought of Joseph Peaslee, of
Amesbury, a similar right in "township first in
number and second range," (Warner, called No. l).
In December. 1767, he and his wife sold their home-
stead in Amesbur}'. The history of Warner states
that he moved to Warner about 1767-73. At any
rate, he was one of the earliest settlers in that lo-
cality now known as Davisville. and was the fore-
most man in that town from the time of his arrival
to the time of his death. His name appears on al-
most every page of Warner's history from 1768
until 1785, being prominent in all town affairs, in
church matters, and in all industrial, mechanical,
milling and landed interests. He was the foremost
military man of the town, his commission as cap-
tain of the militia being dated 1773, and signed by
John Wentworth. He had three sons in the Revol-
ution, two of whom were at Bunker Hill. He was
a man of the strictest integrity, and possessed the
confidence of his fellow townsmen in an eminent
degree. His was the first grist mill in the township.
He was one of the committee to secure the incorpor-
ation of the town, which was incorporated in Sep-
tember, 1774. and assisted in the division of the lots
in the township, and was chairrtian of the committee
of safety in 1775. In Harriman's History of War-
ner" is this paragraph : "In this first legislative
body, chosen by the suffrages of a free people,
Francis Davis appears the accredited representative
of the town of Warner. It is a distinction .and an
honor to be remembered with pride bj- his numer-
ous descendants."
Captain Davis was at this time in the vigor of
his manhood, being about fifty-three years of age.
The legislature was composed of men of rare
ability, John Langdon being speaker of the assem-
hly, and Meshach Weare president of the council.
In 1781 he was chosen delegate to the constitutional
convention which formed the constitution that was
in force, with slight amendments, until 1878, a
period of ninety-four years. He was chosen rep-
resentative the last time in 1784, and served in two
sessions in that legislature, one at Concord, in June,
the other at Portsmouth, the October following, and
■whilst on his way home from this session he lost
his life, November 26, 1784. A heavy, rain had
swollen Beaver brook, in Derry, so much that the
bridge which was safe at nightfall, had been swept
away when he arrived later in the evening. The
horse which he rode plunged into the stream, and
Mr. Davis was drowned. When the body was
found several days later, a mark on the temple
showed that the horse had struck him with his foot
while struggling in the water; otherwise he would
undoubtedly have swam ashore, as he was an ex-
pert swimmer. He was buried at Davisville, and
just one hundred years after his death, a monu-
ment was erected at his grave, bearing this in-
scription. "Captain Francis Davis, the Pioneer, and
Warner's first Tcpresentative. Born October 26,
1723 : Died November 26, 1784." He married, in
Amesbury, September 3. 1745, Elizabeth Farren, and
they were tlie parents of these children: Gartret
(Gertrude), Zebulon. Joanna. Wells. Ichabod,
Francis. Elizabeth, .^quila, Paine and Nathan.
(-\quila and descendants receive notice in this
article.)
(VI) Zebulon (i), eldest son and second child
of Francis (4) and Elizabeth (Farren) Davis, was
born June 2, 1748, and baptized June 5, of the same
year. He removed to Warner, where he spent the
remainder of his life, and died July 17, 1795. He
married Hannah Currier, born August 5, 1750, bap-
tized August 12, daughter of Nathan and Mehitable
(Silver) Currier, of Amesbury, West Parish, and
they had thirteen children : Elizabeth, Sarah,
Stephen, Joanna, Anna, Alpheus, Zebulon, Molly,
Polly, Abigail. "Mittie," "Rocksene" and Lydia.
(Zebulon and descendants from the subject of later
paragraphs of this article).
(VII) Alpheus, second son and sixth child of
Zebulon and Hannah (Currier) Davis, was born in
Warner, September 10, 1782, and died there Novem-
ber II, 1847. He owned a large area of land, and
raised cattle and sheep in large numbers, and was
also the owner of the grist mill at Warner, which
he successfully conducted for many years. He mar-
ried. August 9, 1809, Abigail Watts Davis, born
March 24, 1790, died February 4, 1869, daughter of
General Aquila and Abigail Davis, of Warner (q. v.)
Their children were : Mary, Henry, Charles ;
Stephen Bartlett, Nathaniel, Daniel. Edwin, Mary,
Paine, and George H., whose sketch follows:
(VIII) George Hardy, youngest child of Al-
pheus and Abigail Watts (Davis) Davis, was born
in Warner, September 11, 1833. He obtained what
education he could in the district schools, and then
further prosecuted his studies in the academies of
Washington and Sanbornton. At the age of twenty
he went to Manchester, where he was employed a
year in a foundry. At the end of that time he went
to Lowell, Massachusetts, where he learned the art of
stone-cutting and remained two years. Subse-
quently he spent a few months in Cambridge, and
then went to Concord. New Hampshire, where he
worked as an artisan from 1856 to 1861. A year
later he formed a copartnership in the business of
cutting stone with James Dunnigan, and under the
firm name of Dunnigan & Davis they were engaged
in that industry until 1877. Mr. Davis worked at
his trade to some extent until 1905, when he re-
linquished it entirely. He is a member of the
Democratic party, but not a partisan. He is a
member of the Sons of the Revolution, and of the
veteran firemen, and attends the Universalist
Church. He married (first), November 4, 1858,
Caroline M. Collins, born in Enfield, New Hamp-
shire, October 29, 1839, died in Concord Novem-
ber IS, 1863. Her father, Willard L. Collins, was
born June 16, 1803, and died July 18, 1857. His
wife, Eleanor (Burnham) Collins, was born March
19. 1808, and died October 27, 1896. Mr. Davis mar-
ried (second), November 23, 1864, Martha J. Dun-
bar, born in Springfield, New Hampshire. April i,
1838. daughter of Marshall and Ruth (Clough)
Dunbar, of Springfield. Two children were born
of the first marriage : Cera Frances, born June 19,
1859. married Rodney F. Robinson ; and Ferdinand
Gilbert, born in Lowell. Massachusetts, January 31,
1S61, married Francis G. Spaulding, born April 7,
i86s.
(VII) Zebulon (2), third son and seventh
child of Zebulon (l) and Hannah (Currier) Davis,
was born in Warner, February 11, 1784.
(Vn General .'\quila Davis, fifth son and
ninth child of Francis (4) and Elizabeth (Farren)
Davis, born in West Amesbury, June 27, 1760,
migrated with his father to Warner. He enlisted
as a soldier of the Revolution at the age of seven-
teen years, and saw much hard service, being pres-
ent at the surrender of Burgoyne, and was honor-
ably discharged May 10, 1780. After the Revolu-
212
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
tion he took an active part in the state militia, com-
manding the Thirtieth Regiment from 1799 to 1807,
and was brigadier-general of the Fourth Brigade
from 1807 to i8og, and in 1812 raised the first regi-
ment of men for one year enlisted in the state, of
which regiment he was chosen colonel. He was a
man of sound judgment and of marked ability, and
was often chosen a representative from his town.
He resided in the homestead built by his father, his
new brick residence not being completed at the time
of his death, which occurred February 27, 183S,
while ou a journey to Sharon, Maine, where he had
large landed interests. He was buried with Ma-
sonic honors at Davisville. He was married August
10, 1785, in Warner, to Abigail Stevens, and they
had the following children : Paine, Sarah A. (mar-
ried Virgin), Abigail W. (married Alpheus
Davis, q. v.), Theodore S., Nathaniel A., Persis H.
(married Currier), Nathan, Charles, Aquila
and James. (Nathaniel A. and descendants receive
extended mention in this article).
(VH) Paine, eldest child of General Aquila
and Abigail (Stevens) Davis, was born in Warner,
February 2, 1786. He was a farmer in Warner,
where his life was passed. He married Mary Dow,
and they had five children: Harriett, Albert, Theo-
dore S., James Andrew, whose sketch follows, and
one that died in infancy.
(Vni) James Andrew, third son and fourth
child of Paine and Mary (Dow) Davis, was born
in Warner, September 20, 1819, and died there Sep-
tember 6. 1900. He was a farmer and lumberman,
and well-to-do financially. Though not a church
member, he attended the Baptist Church. He mar-
ried, November 4, 1847, Marcia Ann Davis, bom
in Warner, September 24, 1820, daughter of Zebulon
and Elizabeth Davis (see Davis — ), and they had
two children: Kate H., and Fred W., the subject
of the next paragraph.
(IX) Fred Willis, only son of James A. and
Marcia Ann (Davis) Davis, was born in Warner,
July 14, 1852. After working several years in a saw
mill, he turned his attention to electrical power,
and entered the employ of the Contoocook Electric
Light Company, and for twelve years has had
charge of its dynamo, which is located in Webster.
Like his father he is a Republican. He is a member
of Harris Lodge, No. 91, Ancient Free and Ac-
cepted Masons, of Warner, of which he has been
senior warden. He married. November 22, 1876,
Lillian Noycs, born in Cambridge, Massachusetts,
November 15. 1854, daughter of David and Martha
Jane (Fiske) Noyes, of Hopkinton, New Hamp-
shire.
(Vn) Nathaniel A., third son and fifth dhild
of General Aquila and Abigail (Stevens) Davis,
was born June 29, 1794. in Warner, and was some-
thing of a rover in his young manhood. After re-
ceiving such education as the primitive schools of
his native town afforded, he learned the trade of
silversmith, and traveled through the south, work-
ing at this occupation in various cities, spending
considerable time at New Orleans. Returning to
his native town he came into possession of the
waterpower at Davisville, by purchase from his
brother Charles, about 18.30. and continued to
operate a grist mill there until 1865. when he sold
out to a paper manufacturer. He died October 24,
t866. Mr. Davis was a natural mathematician, and
became skilled as a land surveyor, in which he was
often employed, and also managed and settled many
estates. He was looked up to as the qualified and
executive man of his nei.ghborhood and was called
" 'Squire Natt." Of charitable and kind nature, he
.was respected and held in high regard by rich and
poor. Although his town had a normal Democratic
majority of one hundred and fifty votes in political
contests, he was repeatedly chosen selectman. He
was a Whig in early life, a strong Abolitionist and
naturally was among the original supporters of tire
Republican party. He was a man of temperate
habits. Mr. Davis was married June 11, 1829, to
Mary Clough, who was born May 7, 1S08, in Web-
ster (then part of Boscawen), and died September
•29, 1892. Her parents were Stephen Clough, born
July II, 1774, and Betsey (Emerson) Clough, born
April 20, 1776. The foiTner died March 20, 1825,
and the latter June 16, 1861. Mr. and Mrs. Davis
had children, accounted for as follows : Stephen C.
and Walter Scott, mentioned below ; Gilman, who
died in Sacramento, California; Lucretia, residing
in Davisville ; Mary E., widow of Augustus B.
Wadsworth, living in Warner village ; Stillman S.,
of Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Henry C. (The
last named receives extended mention in this arti-
cle). Lucretia, a twin of Stephen, died at the age of
ten years and six months.
(Vin) Stephen Clough, eldest child of Na-
thaniel A. and Mary (Clough) Davis, was born
March 28, 1830, in Warner, on the old homestead
at Davisville, where he passed his boyhood and
youth. He attended the public school of his na-
tive town and at Contoocook, and Gilmanton Acad-
emy. Tilton Seminary, Hancock Seminary and Wash-
ington Academy, all in New Hampshire. He was
early accustomed to labor in his own behalf, and
from fourteen years of age lived on the farm of
his uncle, Charles Davis, whose assistant he was.
On attaining his majority he abandoned both school
and farm and went to Lowell, Massachusetts, to
begin life on his own account. He spent one sum-
mer in stone cutting, and then entered the service
of Otis Allen, who owned and operated a lumber
yard on the site now occupied by Mr. Davis, on
Middlesex street, Lxjwell. By the application of
his native energy and ability, the young man famil-
iarized himself with the details of the business and
made himself useful to his employer. He soon
came to hold a confidential position, and so was
prepared when the owner wished to retire to take
the business off his hands. In association with
Newman Storer, under the firm name of Davis &
Storer, he leased the plant in 1866. and they suc-
cessfully operated it until it was destroyed by fire
in 1S70. At this time it was largely devoted to the
manufacture of boxes and interior and exterior
finishings for buildings, and had extended very
largely since the first connection of Mr. Davis with
it. After the fire Mr. Davis purchased the plant
and business, and in 1872 admitted Benjamin F. Sar-
gent to partnership in the enterprise. With the
growth of Lowell the business expanded, and Mr.
Davis has reaped the reward of his enterprise, in-
dustry and good business management. The firm
of Davis & Sargent became widely known among
builders and conducted a very successful business
until 1903, when the concern was incorporated as
the Davis & Sargent Lumber Company, with Mr.
Davis as president and general manager. Mr. Sar-
gent died in April. 1905, and the entire care of the
business has since fallen upon Mr. Davis. His long
experience, his upright management and his kindly
nature have contributed to the growth and pros-
perity of the establishment, and have maintained
its prestige to the present time. It gives steady
employment to forty people, and is one of the in-
stitutions that have contributed to the growth and
fame of Lowell. Mr. Davis is a man of quiet tastes
I I I
I
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
^tic habits. He has sought no public
but has endeavored to perform his
citizen, and as such Served two years as
of the city council. He is a steadfast
' ■ ■ 'pie, and always sus-
vote. He is an at-
;l ■ l 11 1 > i.MaiiMi ^luirch. He was married
ry I, 1K55, to M. Alnette Green, who was born
,hr- I,. ;.-{ii in Wilton, New Hampshire, a
< and Nancy (Steele) Green.
i of two children. Carrie Alnette
ilie first is the wife of Edward H.
iiig in Lowell, and the other is at
i.cr parents.
Walter Scott, second son and child of
V and Mary (Clough) Davis, was born
, July 29, 1834. One of his earliest and
cssive experiences was falling into the
ver at Davisville, and being rescued by
N'-uian, when about to sink the third
iJcd the summer and winttr tenns
1 the age of three ; ■ •'■•r: .r,. on,!
icnled the knowledge and
there by several terms in
after he was ten .vc.;:
fourteen years old ho ^
'.■ ^'jvfii dollars
thus earned hz v'
• • ' w Academy
in winter afi
the mac'
driers di ■
cess pn.-i
not srivc
Rolliiis ■.
means ■ '
capacity oi n
W. S. Davis
tmueu the proccir
pleted. t'TiUfii rh-
213
the day and the
r.-, but this pro-
1 a day, and did
[ )avls and Leston
. and by
ry the
. T :N UOUI'l'.U In 1870
vncr of the mill, and
-,- r T);\ Is >", ,1' I, .' :i
I.e. 'i'ii>; l.•.hu.^gc u:ls .-.o
vesticre of the old mill cx-
using the water at a distance of
rii,, - :■: l,,.-,.„. tl,,. n,;!l ■..:.] vran=... . : ...^ .... ,.
ite of the water-wheel
.. wires as easily as if
(1 there, l-iiteen persons were em-
f",n.~- of "rr^w ■■'^■i^i'mod daily. The
.'isiness. saw-
!!v for their
yu Academy, in 1850; a term
!i '!*.-2 and three terms at .
He always had a ic;.
latir*. and for many -
■ i J 11 adv.l.'jn l^"'
0 kept in touch
^jii.^i I'l.u.m.di .MU1H.11C5 of learning.
as a teacher was excellent, but at twenty
'u' Irii! an opportunity to start in mer-
;, and in the winter of 1S54-55
r.ip with Samuel H. D'j.v under
ic liini 11 w & Davis and engaged in the
\rk. lumii- jod business, on a large scale,
' proved profitable until i860. The general
^ion precedinsr the outbreak of the Rebellion,
1 tiie I ' 'lom invesfinj,' in a large
.inncry a; chusetts, together with a
• "■ lock all Mr. Davis's .sav-
uife and young child and
I'lf extent of his loss,
following five years
; d all his losses. In
ii Paine Davis formed a part-
• i-n' name of 'W. S. Davis &
the bark, wood and lum-
inti added. In 1866 the
::>;-y!!... urri- taken down and a large
.■ mill was built, with machines for saw-
•• ' ■' ■ ;. laths, etc. In 1869 this
0, and a new one was at
of W. S. Davis & Com-
iissoived in 1872, the senior partner re-
mill'; and Paine Davis the farm. In
■;d George W. Dow, of Brisloi,
.as Daw & Davis, and boucht
■- -;i i:ic. burned paper mill at Davi.svilk,
iiilt a strawboard mill with a capacity' of
-five hundred 11
r time, their 1
. .• ?un. This pr. „.,... .,■ . ........ . . , .. , u,,ii
■am dr\'in5j \v:i« su'istitutcd. In 7872
'ill
.,f-
ild
■n-
■a\
■il-
uinuer machini. ar.u tlirci. laifcc d.icri
a Four.
214
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
and was elected by a handsome majority, making a
net Republican gain of ahnost a thousand over the
vote of 1882. As a senator he was active, and took
a prominent part, serving upon several important
committees, and was instrumental in procuring the
passage of several important measures, and in de-
feating others, and was the only senator who re-
fused to vote for the bill entitled "Purity of Elec-
tions Bill." He presided over the senate on several
occasions, discharging the functions of the offtce
with marked ability, and winning the esteem and
approval of his associates to a degree that has ever
since been to him a pleasant memory. Mr. Davis
became a member of Harris Lodge, Free and Ac-
cepted Masons, of Warner, of which he afterward
served as worshipful master ; he was also a mem-
ber of Woods Royal Arch Chapter, of Henniker;
and Horace Chase Council, No. 4, Royal and Se-
lect Masters, of Concord.
He married, May 3, 1857, Dollie Jones, who
was born in Warner, daughter of Daniel, Sr., and
Judith (Trussell) Jones, of Webster. Six children
were born to them: W. S. Bertine, March 3, i860,
died May 19, i860; Horace J., December 11, 1862;
Chassie H., July 25, 1865, died April 25, 1869;
Nattie A., April 23, 1868, died May 5, 1869; Mamie
A., August 26, 1870; Charles, October 14, died Oc-
tober 17, 1874.
(VHI) Henry Chase, youngest child of Na-
thaniel A. and Mary (Clough) Davis, was born Oc-
tober 31, 1850. in Davis ville, and now resides in the
house built there in 1775 by his great-grandfather,
Captain Francis Davis. He attended the common
schools and spent two terms at an academy at Con-
toocook. At the age of sixteen years he evinced
the ambition and executive ability which have char-
acterized his life by taking charge of his late fa-
ther's farm at Davisville, and this arrangement con-
tinued four years. When twenty years old he en-
tered the paper mill of Dow, Davis & Comapny, in
which his elder brother was a partner, then oc-
cupying the waterpower at Davisville, having
bought it from his father five years previously. In
1S72 Henry C. Davis acquired a one-eighth interest
in the mill, and four years later bought the interest
of George W. Dow in the business, and in 1878 be-
came owner of one-half the establishment and its
style then became Davis Brothers. This power
was extensively used in the manufacture of paper
until 1903, since which time it has laih dormant.
In 1885 a nephew of Henry C. Davis, Mr. Horace
J. Davis, of Contoocook, bought the interest of the
former in the business, and in 1897 the former
again became joint owner with the latter, the plant
then being operated by the Davis Strawboard Com-
pany until 1902, when it was sold to the United Box
& Paper Company and was shut down a year later.
Mr. Davis has long been engaged in the purchase
and sale of lands and lumber, and in 1906 he helped
organize the Davis Paper Company, of which he is
president. Cost of plant, one hundred and fifty
thousand dollars. It is located at West Hopkin-
ton. He follows the political precepts of his father,
and sustains Republican principles in matters of
public policy. He supports and attends the Con-
gregational Church of Warner, and is a Thirty-sec-
ond degree Mason, affiliating with Harris Lodge, of
Warner, Mt. Horeb Commandery of Concord, and
the Nashua Consistory. He served two years as
master of Harris Lodge. He has acted as select-
man of ^ Warner, for twenty years as moderator, was
three times elected representative of Warner, and
is now serving as senator from district No. 9.
Mr. Davis was married May 22, 1877, to Alice
Whittier, of Webster, daughter of Captain Moses
and Olive (Eager) Whittier, of that town, where
she was born, 1857, and died November 26, 1S95,
at her home in Warner. Mr. Davis married (.sec-
ond), January 24, 1898, Sarah Bartlett Davis, daugh-
ter of Paine and Esther (Babcock) Davis, of
Warner. Of the first marriage the following chil-
dren were born : Marion Sargent, died at the age
of twenty-four years ; Shirley, died at seventeen
years; Cassie F., died at sixteen; Olive Winifred,
residing with her maternal grandparents in Web-
:^ter: Henry Russell, residing in Contoocook; and
Nathaniel Francis, a Dartmouth student, in the
class of 1907.
(Second Family.)
There were several of this name very
DAVIS early in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and
the descendants of all are very numer-
ous now throughout New Hampshire. The line
herein traced was long identified with Haverhill and
has furnished many good citizens to the state.
(I) James Davis, of Haverhill, was born about
1583-88, and died January 28, 1679, in Haverhill.
He was one of the first settlers of that town, having
removed from Newbury in 1640. He was one of the
first selectmen of Newbury, and was perhaps a
brother of Thomas Davis, who was. also very early
in Haverhill. The names of James Davis, Senior,
and his son Ephraim appear on a paper in the court
of Ipswich, February, 1659, accusing John Godfrey
of witchcraft. His will was made March 17, 1676,
and a codicil added July 17, 1678. By this it would
appear that he was a careful business man and did
not wait for his final illness before disposing of his
estate. His wife's name appears variously on the
records as Cicely and Sissilla. She died May 28,
1673, 'II Haverhill. Their children were : James,
John, Judith, Ephraim, Samuel and Sarah. (Men-
tion of Samuel and descendants forms part of this
article).
(II) John, second son and child of James and
Cicely Davis, was born about 1623, probably in Eng-
land, and settled on Oyster river, in the town of
Dover, about 1652. He was admitted a freeman
there in 1666. His death occurred between April i,.
1685, and May 25, 1686, the respective dates of mak-
ing and proving his will. He was married (first),
December 10, 1646, in Haverhill, to Jane Peaslee,
daughter of Joseph and Mary Peaslee, of Amesbury.
She died January 12, 1684. The surname of his
second wife, Mary, has not been preserved. Their
children were: Mary, Sarah, John, Hannah, Jane
(died young), Moses, Joseph, James, Jane, Jemima
and Judith. (James and descendants receive notice
in this article).
(III) Moses, second son and sixth child of John
and Jane (Peaslee) Davis, was born December 30,
1657, in Dover, and lived in Haverhill previous to
1686, about which time he removed to Dover. He
took the oath of allegiance and fidelity in Haverhill
in 1667, and was killed by Indians in Dover, June
10, 1724. He was married in Haverhill, January 16,
1681, to Ruhama Dow, daughter of Stephen and
Ann (Storey) Dow, of Haverhill. (See Dow, II).
She was born January 24, 1664, in Haverhill, and
was still living in 1717. Their children were : John,
Moses, Jabez and Ebenezer.
(I"V) John, eldest child of Moses and Ruhama
(Dow) Davis, was born September 4, 16S2, in
Haverhill, and resided in that part of Oyster River
which is now Durham, New Hampshire. He died
before 1749. He was married about 1703-06 to Abi-
gail, daughter of John Meader. She was baptized
November 15, 1719, at Oyster River, and died about
1736. Their children were : John, Joseph, Nathan-
iel, Hannah, Elizabeth, Abigail and Judith.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
215
(V) Nathaniel, third son and child of John and
Abagail (Header) Davis, was born about 1710, and
was baptized at the same time that all his brothers
and sisters were, January 28, 1721, at Oyster River.
He belonged to the second foot company of Dover
in 1740, and he and his wife owned the covenant at
the Dover First Parish Church, December 30, 1741.
He married Hannah Davis, who was baptized June
25, 1726, at Oyster River, daughter of Samuel and
Martha Davis, of Madburj', and granddaughter of
James Davis. The last named was a brother of
Moses Davis, her husband's grandfather. Nathan-
iel Davis resided in what is now Madbury, where
land was laid out to him in November, 1749. His
children were: Anna, John, Eleazer, Elijah, Solo-
mon, George and Lemuel.
(VI) Eleazer, second son and third child of
Nathaniel and Hannah (Davis) Davis, was born
about 1743, in Dover, and there baptized, May 22,
1746. He resided in Madbury and subsequently in
Alton. In 1799 he bought the Island in Lake Win-
nipiseogee, once owned by Governor Wentworth
and subsequently known as Davis' Island. He was
married April 11, 1771, to Sarah Cook, and their
children were : Mercy, Hannah, Hezekiah, Nathaniel,
Sally, Eleazer, Benaiah, John and Charlotte.
(VII) Nathaniel, second son and fourth child
of Eleazer and Sarah (Cook) Davis, was born Sep-
tember 22, 1777, in Alton, New Hampshire, and
settled in that part of Gilmanton (now Belmont),
which is known by the distinguishing name of Ladd's
hill. Nathaniel Davis married and it is said that
he had a large family of children.
(VIII) Josiah, son of Nathaniel Davis, was born
in the year 1801. His wife was Mehitable Smith,
who was a daughter of Edward Smith, of James-
town, New Hampshire, and who bore her husband
eight children: Mary, married (first), John Bar-
ker, (second), George Hunkins, (third), David
Brown. Josiah, who married twice, his second wife
being Lois Jewett. Edw'ard S., who died young.
John Page, now living in the city of Laconia, New
Hampshire. Charles O., w'ho married Mary Jewett.
Nathaniel S., who married Frances Graves, and is
a farmer now living in Sanbornton, New Hamp-
shire. James M., married Clara Sargeant, and
lives in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Frank, who died
at the age of about forty years.
(IX) John Page, fourth child and third son of
Josiah and Mehitable (Smith) Davis, was born in
Epping, New Hampshire, February 15, 1831. At the
age of sixteen years he was apprenticed to learn
the trade of blacksmith, served three years and after-
ward worked as a journeyman until the beginning
of the Civil war. (Dn August 12, 1862, he enlisted
as sergeant in Company H, of the Twelfth New
Hampshire Infantry, and followed the fortunes of
a soldier's life without serious mishap until at the
battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on July I, 1863,
he received a severe wound in the right arm. At
the time he was third sergeant of his company and
when wounded was acting orderly. His wound was
of a character that unfitted him for further service,
and in October of the same year he was discharged
for disabilities. On returning home Mr. Davis
again took up work at his trade and managed to
earn a comfortable living until an accident, which
was itself the result of the weakened condition of
his arm, caused total blindness and since 1867 Com-
rade Davis has not once seen the light of day. But
notwithstanding this second misfortune he has
turned himself to various kinds of employment,
such as sawing wood, collecting physician's bills
and raising swine for the market, for he comes of
an industrious family and early was taught to
depend upon himself and to make his own way in
life. "Mr. Davis is a member of John L. Perley Post,
No. 37, Grand Army of the Republic, and attends
the Methodist Church. He married (first), in 1851,
jNIary C. Maloon, who was born in Charlestown,
Massachusetts, daughter of John B. Maloon. She
died November 3, 1876, leaving two children. He
married (second), Ellen M. Aldrich, a native of
North Haverhill, New Flampshire, and who died
September 6, 1893. His children, both by his first
marriage ; John R., born February 2, 1852, married
Etta Page, of Laconia, and has three children : Frank
R., born 1872; Clarence R., August 22, 1876, and
Josephine, August, 1882. Josephine R., born Au-
gust, 1S55, married William Wilkinson. The grand-
father of John Page Davis, whose name was Edward,
served for five years in the Revolutionary war. Na-
thaniel S. Page served in Company I, Twelfth New
Hampshire Infantry, in the Civil war, and was
wounded in the hip at Chancellorsville. Charles O.
Page served in Company G, Twelfth New Hamp-
shire Infantry, making three brothers serving in
the same regiment.
(III) James (2), fourth son and eighth child of
John and Jane (Peaslee) Davis, was born May 23,
1662, at Oyster river and received his father's home-
stead by will. He conveyed his garrison success-
fully in 1694, and was a magistrate. With his wife
he was admitted to the first Church of Dover,
November 24, 1723. His death occurred about 1749.
His will was made October iS, 1748, and proved
September 27, 1749, and in it he mentioned five
sons and four daughters. His wife's christian name
was Elizabeth and she was baptized at Oyster
River, November I, 1719. Their children were :
James, Samuel, Thomas, Daniel, Sarah, Hannah,
Elizabeth, Ephraim and Phoebe.
(IV) James (3), eldest child of James (2) and
Elizabeth Davis, was born July 10, 1689, in Dover,
and was baptized at the same time with his mother,
November i, 1719, at Oyster river. He was ad-
mitted to the First Church of Dover, May 21, 1727,
and continued to reside in that town. He was mar-
ried (first), November 5, 1728, to Ruth Ayer, of
Haverhill, daughter of Samuel and Mary (Johnson)
Ayer, of Hampton. She was born March 21, 1699,
and died April 28, 1730. James Davis was married
(second), April 14, 1743, to Elizabeth Pane, of York.
His first wife was admitted to the Dover Church by
letter from the First Haverhill Church, May 13,
1729. She left one child, Ruth. The children of
the second wife were : James, Mary, Daniel, Thomas
and John.
(V) Thomas, third son and fourth child of
James (3) and Elizabeth (Pane) Davis, was born
September 7, 1750, in Dover, and was baptized two
months later. He probably settled in Farmington,
New Hampshire, where the births of his children are
recorded. His wife was Joanna Keating, and their
children were : Daniel, John, Elizabeth, Mary,
James, Anna, Moses and Ephraim.
(VI) Ephraim, youngest child of Thomas and
Joanna (Keating) Davis, w'as born May 18, 1787,
in Farmington, and when a young man resided for
a time in Epsom. After his marria.ge he removed to
Wendell, now Sunapee. with an o.x team, through
what was mainly a wilderness. He purchased two
lots of land, which he cleared and made into a
farm, on which he and his wife were buried. He
married, in Epsom, Lydia Locke, of Epsom, by
whom he had children : Abraham, Theodore, Ira
Sanborn, Francis, Jeremiah, Drusilla, Michael M.
and Josiah Conant.
(VII) Theodore, second son and child of Ephraim
and Lydia (Locke) Davis, was born in Ep-
2l6
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
som, March 27, 1808, and died in Sunapee, March
3, 1878, aged seventy. He obtained what education
he could in the common schools, and was bj' occupa-
tion a farmer. He married Hannah Richardson,
of VVeare, New Hampshire, who was born April 29,
1806, and died in Croydon, July, 1869, aged sixty-
three years. Their children were : James Wallace
and David, who grew up and married, and three
others, who died young.
(VHI) James Wallace, son of Theodore and
Hannah (Kichardson) Davis, was born on his
father's farm in Wendell, April 29, 1833. He lived
on the homestead until 1867, when he moved to
Croydon, where he bought a farm of one hundred
and forty acres, which he much improved. Mr.
Davis was a man of practical business, and served
two years as selectman and one term (1894-95) i"
the legislature. He married, in Croydon, August 10,
i860, Melvina Clark, who was born in Croydon,
June 7, 1838, daughter of Hiram and Adeline
(Fisher) Clark, of Franklin, Massachusetts. Hiram
Clark was the son of Nathan and Sophronia (Met-
calf) Clark. James W. and Melvina (Clark) Davis
have one son, Edgar Wallace. Mrs. Davis died Oc-
tober 16, 1906.
(IH) David, son of Theodore and Hannah
(Richardson) Davis, was born in Wendell, 183S,
died 1876, aged about forty-one years. He vras
always a farmer by occupation, living in Wendell,
now Sunapee, all his life ; he died there 1876. He
married, February 14, 1861, Franccnia Davis (not
a relative), daughter of Jesse Davis, of Springfield.
The children of this union are : Willie, who married
Nettie Rowell, and lives at Sanford, Maine. Nettie,
who married Ellsworth Cummings, of Croydon.
Delia, who married Henry Sawyer, a lumberman
of Croydon.
(IV) Edgar Wallace, only child of James and
Melvina (Clark) Davis, was born in Sunapee, Au-
gust 19, 1863. He has always resided on the home-
stead. He was educated in the public schools and
at Kimball Union Academy, graduating from the
latter institution with the class of 1884. After leav-
ing school he taught about ten terms of school in
New Hampshire and Vermont, and also carried on
farming. In addition to his cultivable land, he owns
four hundred acres of timber. He has taken a lead-
ing part in the public affairs of Croydon, and has
been a member of the school board, and since 1901
has been chairman of the board of selectmen. He
is a member of Blue Mountain Grange. No. 232,
Patrons of Husbandry, of Grantham. He married,
in Newport, October 10, 1899, Jennie L. Armstrong
Fitzgerald, who was born in Hopkinton, New York,
May 13, 1867, daughter of Francis and Elizabeth L.
(Greg or (jrey) Fitzgerald.
(II) Samuel, fourth .son and fifth child of
James and Cicely Davis, was born probably in New-
bury, and resided in Amesbury and Haverhill. He
subscribed to the oath of allegiance and fidelity in
Amesbury, December 7, 1667, and appears of record
in Haverhill in October, 1672. He died in Haverhill,
September 10, l6g6. His will was made in Ames-
bury, September 7, and proved September 29, 1696.
He was married December 17. 1663, to Deborah
Barnes, daughter of Williain and Rachel Barnes,
of Amesbury. She was born April i, 1646, and
survived him more than twenty years, dying January
14, 1719. Their children were : Samuel, Deborah,
Rachael, Joseph, William, Rebecca, Ephraim, .Sarah,
Amos and Mary.
(III) Joseph, second son and fourth child of
Samuel and Deborah (Barnes) Davis, was born
May 3, 1673. in Haverhill, and resided in Amesbury.
His will was made March 2, 1744. and proved April
II of the following year. He was married June 14,
1689, to Jemima Eastman, daughter of Nathaniel
and Elizabeth (Hudson) Eastman, and granddaugh-
ter of Roger Eastman, the patriarch of the East-
man family. (See Eastman). She was born Au-
gust 25, 1677, in Salisbury, and survived her hus-
band. Their children were : Nathaniel, Joseph,
Jemima, Rebecca, Elizabeth and Samuel.
(IV) Samuel (2), youngest child of Joseph and
Jemima (Eastman) Davis, was born April 27, 1714,
in Amesbury, and resided in West Amesbury, where
he was probably a farmer, lie was married, January
^3: 1750, to iMiriam Gardner, and both were living
in 1758. No record of their death appears. Their
children were : Jemima, Samuel and Elizabeth, as
appears by the Amesbury records.
(V) Samuel (3), only son of Samuel (2) and
Miriam (Gardner) Davis, was born January 31,
1753, in Amesbury, and baptized on the second of
September following. He settled in Pelham, New
Hampshire, where he engaged in agripulture. He
was married, January 5, 177S, to Sarah Wyman,
and their children were : Jonathan Gardner, Sam-
uel, Sarah, Miriam, Rebecca, Hannah, John, Wil-
liam, Amos, Deborah and Grosvenor.
(VI) Samuel (4), second son and child of Sam-
uel (3) and Sarah (Wyman) Davis, was born Feb-
ruary 20, 1777, in Pelham, New Hampshire, and
was an early settler in what is now Hudson, then
known as Nottingham West, where he passed his
life.
(VII) Moses, son of Samuel Davis, was born in
Nottingham West, September 20, 1816. For many
years he was engaged in the marble and granite
business at Nashua. At one time he held the office
of coroner. In his religious belief he was a Baptist.
He married Bethana W. Allen, daughter of Samuel
Allen, of Northfield, Vermont. She bore him three
children : Albert A., a resident of Nashua. Anna
E., wife of John N. Hannon, of Nashua. Henry
H., see forward. Moses Davis (father) died in
Nashua, January 3, 1888.
(VIII) Henry Hamilton, youngest son and child
of Moses (s) and Bethana W. (Allen) Davis, was
born in Nashua, February 3, 1851. He was edu-
cated in the public schools, and began the activities
of life at an early age, acquiring his initial business
training in the office of R. P. Hall & Company of
Nashua. He readily familiarized himself with the
keeping of mercantile accounts, and for the past
thirty-six years has been employed as a bookkeeper
in his native city. In 1891 he helped to organize
the People's Building & Loan Association and is now
(1907) its president. In March, 1893, the Edgewood
cemetery was incorporated. Mr. Davis being one of
the original trustees, and for several years has been
president of the board. In politics Mr. Davis is a
Democrat, but is absolutely free from party pre-
judice, a fact which was sometime since substanti-
ally emphasized by his election to the board of
aldermen in a strongly Republican ward. He is now
a member of the board of park commissioners, and
for more than thirty years has served in the capacity
of notary public and justice of the peace. He is a
Sir Knight Mason, and a member of the Guards
Club. Mr. Davis married Angle R. Batchelder,
daughter of William A. Batchelder, of Hudson,
New Hampshire. The children of this union are:
Lula F., wife of Herman D. Parrish. Nira B.,
resides with her parents.
(Third Family.)
Descendants o£ John Davis continue to
DAVIS live in the town of Ipswich or those
adjoining for generations, taking an
active part in military a< well as civic affairs, wliich
I
I
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'^v<
/^^.
<^^yi^/^
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
217
fact, together with the close proxraity of those towns
to the New Hampshire Hne, associated them more or
less with the early history of New Hampshire, par-
ticularly in the Colonial and Revolutionary wars.
(I) John Davis, of Ipswich, Massachusetts,
shoemaker, herdsman, was before the General Court,
April 10, 1638, evidently for the purpose of taking
the freeman's oath. His name appears in the town
records of Ipswich among those "That have right
to comonage there the last day of the last month,
1641." On April 15, 1642, he entered into an agree-
ment with the town of Ipswich to keep the cow
herd on the north side of the river, this herd to
consist of "two parts (2-3) of the cows." Then
follow the conditions of the agreement. If the owner
of any cow failed to pay the keeper according to
agreement, he was to "forfeit one pound of butter
upon a cow." The payment was to be made in
"corne'' at three shillings a bushel, and a quarter
of a pound of hemp was to be given in part pay-
ment. The following item appears under date of
1642 : "It is ordered that Mr. Firman and Thos.
Scott, the late constables, shall forthwith pay to
John Davis iiii s. for going with the Deputy Gover'r
to Cape Ann O-4-O." On i\larch 25, 1643, John
Davis and William Symonds made a second agree-
ment with the town of Ipswich to keep the cow
herd on the north side of the river, the herd to con-
sist of two parts (.2-3) of the cows, as in the
previous year. Under date of October, 1643, appears
tlie following record : "Mr. Browne his note of
^uch as have forfeited for not returning their powder
-iccording to an order of the Towne." Twenty-five
names are down for forfeits, ranging from £Yi to
i2. John Davis's forfeit was ii. On December 19,
1648, John Davis with other citizens subscribed as
his share two shillings toward the pay of Major
Dennison, their military leader. Davis sold land
at Jabaque (Chebacco), Ipswich, in 1648, and on
October 26, 1651, he was granted half an acre of
ground adjoining his own land in consideration of
the highway leading to Chebacco being laid out
through his land.
In a work entitled "Ipswich," by Thomas Frank-
lin Waters, (page 22) appears an interesting item,
from the note-book of Thomas Lechford concerning
a contract made by John Davis, joiner, to build
a house for William Rix in 1640. It was to be
si.xteen feet long and fourteen feet wide "with a
chamber floare finisht summet and joysts, a cellar
floare with joysts finisht, the roof and, walls clap-
boarded on the outsyde, the chimneys framed with-
out daubing, to be done with he wan timber, price to
be l2\y In 1656 John Davis bought of Richard
Windon his house, barn, orchard and land in Glou-
cester, Massachusetts. He removed his family there
although he himself appears to have retained prop-
erty in Ipswich and lived there at different times
as late as 1687. In a deed he calls his wife's name
Alice. They had two sons : James and Jacob.
James Davis, the elder, was appointed by the
general court ensign of the trainband in 1681, and
in 1689 received his commission as captain. No
means now exist for ascertaining what active service
he performed in these offices, but we find that in
1693 he was "very sickly" in consequence of sickness
he received in the countrj^'s service in Sir Edmund
Andros's time, and that he received in 1699 from the
general court a grant of Straitsmouth Island for
the charge and expense he had been at and the time
he had spent in the late wars with the French and
Indian enemy. He was repeatedly elected to the
office of selectman, and for eight years served the
town as its representative. His deatli took place
May I, 1715. A granddaughter of Captain James
Davis married the Rev. Moses Parsons, and had
among their children Theophilus Parsons, the dis-
tinguished chief justice of the supreme court of
Massachusetts.
(II) Jacob (i), youngest son of John Davis,
lived at Gloucester, Massachusetts. In 1662 he had
a grant of land at the head of Long Cove, and in
1682 he with others had a grant of the stream at
the head of Little River on which to set up a saw
mill. On January 20, 1661, he married Elizabeth
Bennett. They had nine children, of whom two
were sons, Jacob and Aaron. Jacob Davis (father)
died September 2, 1685, leaving an estate consisting
of house, upland and meadow, half of a sloop and
four canoes, cattle, sheep and swine, farming tools,
saddle and pillion, gun, cutlass and belt, etc.
(III) Jacob (2), son of Jacob (i) and Elizabeth
(Bennett) Davis, lived in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
He carried on the mill built by his father, and also
had a fulling mill. In 1708 he had a grant of land
near his mill at the head of Little' River (West
Gloucester), on which he was "to erect a bigger
house." This house is undoubtedly the venerable
dwelling we still see there (1907), one of the few
left in town, illustrating the architecture of that
period. On September 14, 1687, he married Mary
Haskell, and had eight children : Moses, William,
Aaron, Joseph Mary, Elizabeth, Jacob and Jacob
again, the first Jacob having died in infancy. Joseph,
lived in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, from 1753
to 1760. Jacob Davis (HI) died February i, 1716,
aged fifty-five years.
(IV) Aaron, third son of Jacob and Mary (Has-
kell) Davis, lived in Attleboro, Massachusetts. On
November 3, 1725, he married Phebe Day, and their
children were : Zebulon, Aaron, Elizabeth, Phebe,
Eliphalet and Timothy. A great-grandson of Tim-
othy, also Timothy by name, was representative in
congress for two terms from the Sixth Massaclius-
etts District.
(V) Zebulon (i), son of Aaron and Phebe
(Day) Davis, came to Gloucester from Attleboro
in his minority, about 1745. About 1770 he and his
family, with the exception of his son Eliphalet (.who
remained in Gloucester, engaging in foreign com-
merce ; he was treasurer of the town, and attained
the rank of general in the militia), removed to
Bakertown, now Poland, Maine. Zebulon Davis
was a member of the first board of selectmen after
the town was incorporated. He was a patriot of
the Revolutionary war. While a seaman he was
captured by the British and held prisoner at Halifax
for two and a half years, during which time he suf-
fered great hardships. He married, March 12, 1752,
Mary Bray, and their children were : Zebulon,
Moses, Eliphalet, a daughter (name unknown) and
William. Zebulon Davis, the father, died at Poland,
IMaine, in 1820, aged about ninety years.
(VI) Zebulon (2), eldest child of Zebulon and
Mary (Bray) Davis, was born July 14, 1753, in
Gloucester. He settled in Center Minot, Maine,
having, in common with the other early settlers,
much trouble in securing the title to his farm. On
August 31, 1776. he married Tryphosa Herrick, at
Gloucester, and their children were : Polly, Phebe,
Zebulon, Samuel, William and Benjamin. He died
August 8, 1S38.
(VII) Benjamin, youngest son of Zebulon and
Tryphosa (Herrick) Davis, was born March 14,
1796. He also settled in Center Minot, Maine, near the
home of his father. He was a soldier of the War
of 1812. He married, May 29. 1823. Sarah Chandler,
and their children were: Richmond, Irene C, Sarah
E., Benjamin 1"., Clarissa A., Luther E., Charles H.
2l8
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
and Ellen M. Benjamin Davis died November 2,
1874.
(VIII) Richmond, eldest son of Benjamin and
Sarah (Chandler) Davis, was born September 29,
1824, at Minot, Maine. In his early life he was en-
gaged in manufacturing shoes, but for the greater
part of his life followed the occupations of farming
and lumbering. He lived at various times in Me-
chanic Falls, Oxford, Greenwood, Bethel and Graf-
ton, Maine. He was selectman of the latter town
for many years. He died there August 21, 1893,
and was buried at Middle Intervale, Bethel, Maine.
He married, November 17, 1851, Sarah M. True, of
Mechanic Falls, Maine (see True 8), and their
children were : Ella E., Edward A., Charles H.,
Sumner P., John True and Gerald B.
Sarah Maria (.True) Davis, wife of Richmond
Davis, and daughter of Captain John True, of Me-
chanic Falls, Maine, was a descendant of Henry
True (i), who married Israel Pike, about 1642, and
settled in Salisbury,, Alassachusetts. The children
of Henry and Israel (Pike) True were: Henry,
John, Mary, Lydia, Joseph, Benjamin and Jemima.
The proposed match of Jemima True and John Carr
was broken off by his father because, in 1692, an
aged woman, Mrs. Bradbury, was convicted of be-
witching the said John Carr, whereupon he became
melancholy and at times insane, dying prematurely.
(2) Henry, eldest son of Henry and Israel
(Pike) True, was born March 8, 1644. He was a
house carpenter. He took freeman's oath, 1675 ;
was a member of Salisbury Church, 1677; bought
common rights of Francis Dove in 1677; signed peti-
tion of 1680; was representative in i68g; commis-
sioned captain, October 29, 1696; elected deacon
of Salisbury Church, July 25, 1700. The following
order issued by Captain Henry True for the relief
of the distressed garrison at Exeter, New Hamp-
shire, is peculiarly interesting: "To Sergnt Tho.
Bradbury of Salisbury, this is to desire & Impower
you to take the care & conduct of ye men above
named (Referring to one half of the company of
militia of Salisbury) & forthwith according to order
to march them to Exeter to reli the distressed who
are at this time in danger by 3'e Enemy, & be very
kerfuU of yourself & men in your march. Given
under my hand in Salisbury this tifth day of July
in ye Eight yere of her maiesstes reign Annoque
Domini 1710. Signed, Henky True Cap."
Captain Henry True married, March 15, 1667,
Jane Bradbury, and their children were : Mary,
William, Henry, Jane, John, Jemima and Jabez.
Captain Henry True died September 8, 1735.
(3) William (i), son of Captain Henry and Jane
(Bradbury) True, born 1670, married Eleanor
Stevens, in 1692. Their children were: Benjamin,
Mary, Hannah, William, Jane, Eleanor, Henry,
Winthrop, Samuel, Judith and Judith (2), the first
Judith having died young. William True (father)
died March 8, 1733.
(4) Benjamin, eldest son of William and Eleanor
(Stevens) True, was born January 10, 1693. He
married, December 26, 1717, Judith Morrill (or
Merrill), and their children were: Hannah, Ben-
jamin, Mary, Betty, Reuben, Judith, William and
Daniel.
(5) William (2), son of Benjamin and Judith
(Morrill or Merrill), True, was born August i,
1737. He was a soldier of the Revolutionary war.
He removed to Maine, bought land in Bagley's
Gore, Royalsborough, 1785, and in 1787 he bought
additional land. He was for many years deacon of
the Congregational Church. He married, January
16, 1764, Miriam Clough, of Salisbury, and their
children were : Abel, Betsy, Jonathan, Samuel and
Daniel. He died in Durham, Maine, November i,
1816.
(6) Samuel, son of William and Miriam
(Clough) True, was born April 15, 1771. He lived
in Cherryfield, Maine, and later in Mechanic Falls,,
same state. He married. May 28, 1792, Lucy Cur-
rier, of Durham, and their children were : Wil-
liam, John, Samuel, Henrj' and Clarissa.
(7) John, son of Samuel and Lucy (Currier)
True, was born about 1805. He married Polly
Caldwell, and settled in Mechanic Falls, Maine.
Their children were : John A., Addison E., Samuel
H., Sarah M. and Mary A.
(8) Sarah Maria, daughter of John and Polly
(Caldwell) True, was born in Mechanic Falls,
September 29, 1833, died at Bethel, Maine, April 10,
1875. She married, November 17, 1851, Richmond'
Davis, as aforementioned.
(IX) John True Davis, of Portsmouth, New
Hampshire,, while not a native of New Hampshire,
having been born in Bethel, Maine, has resided
in Portsmouth since 1889, becoming actively asso-
ciated with the affairs of the city in its civic, social,
religious and mercantile life. He is descended
from early Puritan stock on the part of both parents.
John True, son of Richmond and Sarah M.
(True) Davis, was born in Bethel, Maine, February
23, 1867. He received his education in the town
schools, Gould's Academy, and the Portland Busi-
ness College, graduating from the latter in 1889.
The same year he came to Portsmouth, New Hamp-
shire, and entered the employ of J. 'V. Huston,
wholesale produce merchant, remaining with him
until 1897, when he succeeded Mr. Huston in busi-
ness, enlarging the same and adding a wholesale
grocery deparment. His brother Gerald B. Davis
has been associated with him in business for several
years. John True Davis is a member of the present
city government of Portsmouth (1907), represent-
ing ward 4 therein. At the time of this writing
(March, 1907) he is the acting mayor of Ports-
mouth. He is the present master of St. Andrew's
Lodge, No. 56, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons,
a Scottish Rite Mason, thirty-second degree, a mem-
ber of Osgood Lodge, Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, a trustee of the Methodist Church, and a
director in the local Young Men's Christian Asso-
ciation. He is also an honorary member of Lodge
Edinburgh Defensive Band, No. 151, Ancient Free
and Accepted Masons, of Edinburgh, Scotland.
The following is a copy of the certificate of mem-
bership :
Scottish Constitution.
Lodge Edinburgh Defensive Band, No. 151
(Instituted 1782)
Masonic Hall
II Graham Street
Lauriston. Edinburgh, isth May 1906.
Excerpt from minutes of monthly meeting of
above lodge held in Masonic Hall, 11 Graham
Street, Edinburgh.
"On the motion of Bro. George S. Goldston, R.
W. M., seconded by Bro. Colin C. Plain, I. P. M.,
it was unanimously agreed to confer honorary mem-
bership on Bro. John True Davis, W. M., St. Andrews
Lodge, No. 56, Portsmouth, N. H., American Con-
stitution, as a mark of appreciation and esteem ii»
which he is held by the Brethren of above lodge,
for the great interest he has taken in causing the
fraternal feeling to spring up between the two lodges
of separate constitutions."
Signed, George S. Goldston, R. W. M.
James Duncan-, Secretary.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
219
The following extracts from the "Historical
Sketch of The Lodge of Edinburgh Defensive Band,
No. 151," by A. A. Murry, R. W. M., of Lodge
Canongate-Kihvinning, No. 2, will explain somewhat
the interest and fraternal feeling which exists be-
tween the two lodges referred to above :
"The Defensive Band or Regiment was raised
in the time of the American rebellion. In the course
of tlie struggle the numerous privateers of the
Americans became dangerously troublesome and not
a few of them infested our shores, so that even the
shortest coast voyages were accomplished with diffi-
culty. Chief among these nautical marauders was
the redoubtable Paul Jones, with whose romantic
story every schoolboy is now familiar as being for
a time the terror of our seaboard population, and
the newspapers of the period abound with thrilling
stories of escapes, captures, and destruction of ship-
ping. Edinburgh, with good reason, was not free
from alarm. On one occasion an express galloped
into the city with the startling announcement that
three ships of war had been seen in the morning
taking prizes off Eyemouth, and that very evening
the vessels could be seen by the citizens steering
slowly up the Firth of Forth. Preparations for re-
sistance were pushed on with the greatest vigor.
It being evident that the shipping of Leith was
threatened, three batteries — two at the citadel and
one at Newhaven — were erected in about twelve
hours, and mounted with thirty heavy guns, besides
carronades and howitzers.
"In addition to this, each of the incorporated
trades of Leith applied for a hundred stand of arms,
which were given out from the armory of Edin-
burgh Castle. When morning dawned the warships
were discovered nearly opposite the port close to
the island of Inchkeith. Fortunately, however, the
danger was dispelled by a tremendous gale from
the southwest, which drove the vessels out to sea.
This experience having awakened the citizens of
Edinburgh to a sense of insecurity, they, to defend
themselves, applied successfully to the War Office
for permission to raise a regiment of volunteers.
It was called the Edinburgh Defensive Band of
Volunteers, and paraded in public for the first time
on September 22, 1781. Several hundred of the
bankers, merchants and professional gentlemen in
the city joined the body, which was under the com-
mand of the Lord Provost as honorary colonel and
Andrew Crosbie as lieutenant-colonel. The regi-
ment was kept up until the termination of the war,
when the American Colonists gained ^ their inde-
pendence. In 1782 about fifty of the corps, being
Free Masons, applied to the Grand Lodge of Scot-
land for a charter, which was granted, authorizing
them to meet as a Lodge of Free and Accepted
Masons under the protection of the Grand Lodge
of Scotland." Hence it will be seen that Paul Jones
was indirectly responsible (although in a peculiar
manner) for the calling into .xistence of Ix5dge
Edinburgh Defensive Band, No. 151.
Another interesting fact in that the "Ranger," in
which Paul Jones sailed as master, was built and
fitted out at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, under
his supervision. A few years since St. Andrews
Lodge, No. 56, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons,
of Portsmouth, had occasion to relieve a distressed
brother Mason of Lodge Edinburgh Defensive Band,
No. 151, which led to an interesting correspondence
between the two lodges and the exchange of his-
torical data. Hence the reason for conferring hon-
orary membership on John True Davis, W. M., of
St. Andrews Lodge, by Lodge Edinburgh Defensive
Band. The incident was also the indirect means of
bringing to light several interesting historical facts
hitherto not widely known.
i^lr. Davis married, November 24, 1897, Alice
Marion, daughter of James and Amanda (Rand)
Bassett, of Newmarket, New Hampshire. They
have two children : Merle Evelyn, born January 16,
1900, and Philip Bassett, born May 21, 1907. •
(Fourth Family.)
Numerous representatives of this family
DAVIS were settled in Essex county, Massachu-
setts, at an early date, and their descend-
ants are now scattered throughout the Nation, bearing
a worthy part in the spread of intelligence and
moral development.
(I) John Davis, a yeoman or planter, was
among the early residents of Newbury, Massachu-
setts, and died there November 12, 1675. He and
his wife were members of the Newbury Church in
1674. He appears to have hired a farm from Sam-
uel Hall in 1662. He was born about 1612. His
will, presented September 26, 1676, mentions his
wife, "Elnor," and five sons and a daughter. The first
child, Mary, died young. The others were: John,
Zachary, Jeremiah, Mary, Cornelius and Ephraim,
(mention of the last named and descendants appears
in this article).
(II) Jeremiah, third son and fourth child of
John and Eleanor Davis, was born June 21, 1648,
in Newbury, and resided in that town and in Ames-
bury. He took the oath of allegiance in Newbury in
1678, and removed to Amesbury about 1690. He
died in the latter town December 10, 1716, and his
estate was divided the following year. He was mar-
ried March 5, 1689, to Mary Huntington, daughter
of John and Eliabeth (Hunt) Huntington, of Ames-
bury, and granddaughter of William Huntington, a
pioneer planter of Salisbury and Amesbury. She
was born November 15, 1667, and was married
(first) March 24, 1687, to Abraham Joy, who died
June 27, 1687. The children of Jeremiah Davis were
Mary, Jeremiah, Elizabeth, Juditli and Joanna.
(HI) Jeremiah (2), second child and eldest
son of Jeremiah (i) and Mary (Huntington) Da-
vis, was born July 16, 1692, in Amesbury, and dwelt
in that town and Kingston, New Hampshire. He
bought land in Amesbury in 1729, and was a resi-
dent of Kingston in 1760. He was married in Ames-
bury, July I, 1729, to widow Esther "Pin," of that
town, and their children were ; Judith, Jonathan
and Jeremiah.
(IV) Jonathan, elder son and second child of
Jeremiah (2) and Esther Davis, was born June 15,
1732, in Amesbury, and married Sarah Blaisdell of
that town, probably a daughter of Christopher and
Sarah (Nichols) Blaisdell of West Amesbury. She
was baptized July 12, 1747, at Second Amesbury
Church. Their children were: Jonathan, David,
Flannah, Sally, Nabby, Philip, Polly and Phebe.
Jonathan (i) Davis settled in Sutton, New Hamp-
shire, where he died about 1800. His wife lived to
the age of ninety years.
(V) Jonathan (2), eldest shild of Jonathan (i)
and Sarah (Blaisdell) Davis, was born November
9, 1766, in Sutton, and died in 1850. He was married
in 1793 to Lucy Parker, who was born February 12,
1777, daughter of Hezckiah (i). Their children
were : Adam, Esther, Sally, Hannah, Tryphema,
Jonathan, Amos, Lucy, Hezekiah, Mary and Elisha
Parker.
(VI) Jonathan (3), second son and sixth child
of Jonathan (2) and Lucy (Parker) Davis, was
born March 21, 1803, in Sutton, and resided in
Vermont and various New Hampshire towns. He
was first married in Vermont to Dorcas Johnson,
220
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
who left no children. He married (second), Abi-
gail M. Dodge, and subsequently lived in Charles-
town, New Hampshire.
(VH) John Kimball, son of Jonathan and Abi-
gail M. (Dodge) Davis, was born at Orford, New
Hampshire, in 1839. He was bound out when a
boy and had small chance for an education. He
worked for a time with the Church Family of
Shakers at Enfield. He was a Democrat in politics,
and attended the Methodist Church. John K. Davis
married Martha Rush, daughter of Oiarles Rush,
and they had one child, Harry Kimball Davis, whose
sketch follows. John K. Davis died in 1S97, aged
fifty-eight years.
(Vni) Harry Kimball, only child of John K.
and Martha (Rush) Davis, was born at Enfield,
New Hampshire, May 8, 1867. He received a com-
mon school education at Enfield, and for fifteen
years made brooms and shoes and managed a grist
mill at Enfield Center. In 1894 he came to the
neighboring town of Lebanon, and for nine years
worked in the shipping department for Carter &
Son, manufacturers of workingmen's clothes. In
October, 1905, he went into business for himself in
a store devoted to newspapers, books and period-
icals. He attends the Methodist Church, and is
extensively connected with fraternal organizations.
He belongs to the Encampment, Rebekah and Grand
Lodges, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, to
the subordinate, Pomona, State and National
Granges, to Red Men, Macoma Tribe, No. 36, and
to McKinley Lodge, No. 68, Knights of Pythias.
In Masonic circles he belongs to Franklin Lodge,
No. 6, Saint Andrew's Chapter, No. I, Washington
Council, No. 10, all of Lebanon ; Sullivan Com-
mandery, No. 6, of Claremont, New Hampshire,
and to Belctash Temple, Ancient Arabic Order
Nobles of the Mystic Shrine of Concord, New
Hampshire ; also to Eastern Star, Kimball Chapter.
Mr. Davis has been a member of the fire department
for nine years, was assistant foreman and is now
foreman of Eagle Chemical, No. 4. He is a Re-
publican in politics, and is a member of the Langdon
Club of Lebanon. Harry Kimball Davis married,
July 9, 1892, Florence Mabel Currier, daughter of
William W. and Elonia F. (Heath) Currier, of
Enfield, New Hampshire.
(II) Ephraim, youngest child of John and
Eleanor Davis, was born September 29, 1655, in
Newbury, and lived in that town. His will was
made December 8, 1718, smd proved January 6 fol-
lowing, and by this document his wife's baptismal
name is known to have been Elizabeth. She was
probably living in January, 1739, as a widow Davis
was then a member of the Newburj' Church. Their
children were : Elizabeth, John. Mary, Ephraim, Jo-
seph, Benjamin, Nathaniel, Samuel and Enoch.
(III) John (2), eldest son and second child of
Ephraim and Elizabeth Davis, was born May 17,
1692, in Newbur}', and resided in Haverhill, Massa-
chusetts, and Hampstead, New Hampshire. He set-
tled in Haverhill, about 1717, and removed to Hamp-
stead after 1740, dying there between November 15,
1756, and January 26, 1757. By occupation he was
a weaver. He was married (first). June 29, 1715,
to Hannah Heath, daughter of Josiah and Hannah
(Starling) Heath of Haverhill. She was baptized
and, with her husband, admitted to the First Haver-
hill Church, July 19, 1719. and both were dismissed
to help form a church in the North Precinct of
Haverhill, November i, 1730. His second wife bore
the name of Sarah, as shown by his will. His
children, probably all born of first marriage, were :
John (died young), Hannah, Obadiah, Josiah,
Ephraim, Elizabeth (died young), Lemuel, Eliza-
beth, Mary, Samuel (died young), John and Samuel.
(IV) Obadiah, second son and third child of
John (2) and Hannah (Heath) Davis, was born
July 14, 1720, in Haverhill, and was baptized when
three days old. He lived in Hampstead, and served
in the Crown Point expedition in 1757. He was mar-
ried about 1747 to Sarah Colby, who was probably a
daughter of Joseph Colby of Hampstead, by his
second wife, JNIary, who was a widow when he
married her. Obadiah Davis's children were :
Obadiah, Elizabeth, Ruth, Rachel, Moses, Abigail,
John, Samuel, Hezekiel and Caleb, besides the
fourth, a son, who died unnamed.
(V) John (3), eighth child and fourth son of
Obadiah and Sarah (Colby) Davis, was born No-
vember 7, 1761, in Hampstead, and was probably
the John Davis who served from that town in the
Revolutionary army. He settled in Derryfield, New
Flampshire (now Manchester), and was married
there September 20, 1784, to Anna Smith. Their
children were : !Moses, Ednah, Lydia, Mood}', John
and Hazen.
(VI) Hazen, youngest child of John and Anna
(Smith) Davis, was born July 15, 1794, in Man-
chester, and for many years was employed on the
Merrimack river in rafting and boating. After
quitting the river he settled in ^Manchester, and
owned and cultivated a farm about the site of the
present city waterworks pumping station. Later
he went to Londonderry, then to Manchester Center,
then to Hallsville (now East Manchester), and in
1849 to Auburn, where he bought a farm upon which
he resided until his death at the age of eighty
years. He was a Democrat, and was a member of
the school committee and a highway survej-or. He
was a soldier of the War of 1812, and served at Rye
Beach, Maine. He married Lucy Tucker, who was
born in Antrim, and died in 1848. She was a Con-
gregationalist and one of the constituent mem-
bers of the First Congregational Church of Man-
chester. They had eight children : Ann, Edna,
Sophronia, John, Lydia, Hazen, Moses and Josiah.
(VII) Moses Boyce, seventh child and third son
of Hazen and Lucy (Tucker) Davis, was born in
Londonderry, February 22, 1841 and was educated
in the public schools of Manchester and Auburn.
At the age of eight years he was taken from Man-
chester to Auburn and there grew up, living on his
father's farm until he was twenty-four years old.
In August, 1862, he enlisted as a private in Company
E, Fifteenth Regiment New Hampshire Volunteer
Infantry, and served eleven months, being dis-
charged in August, 1863, participating in the famous
siege of Port Hudson, on the lower Mississippi
river. After his discharge from the army he re-
turned to the farm, remaining there until 1869,
from which time until 1877 he was foreman on a
farm in Quincy, Massachusetts. He then bought a
farm in Woburn, same state, and conducted it until
1894, when he sold out and returned to Auburn,
where he has ever since been engaged in farming.
He is a trustee of the Auburn cemetery. Since 1894
he has been a member of the Congregational Church,
has been a director, and is now chairman of the
board, treasurer of the society, and sexton of the
church. He is an active member of Chester Post,
No. 74, Grand Army of the Republic. In politics
he is a Republican. He married, in Auburn, No-
vember 26, 1865, Frances L. Calef, who was born in
Auburn, 1848, daughter of James and Susan (De-
meritt) Calef, of Auburn. They have had five chil-
dren: Henry H. and Harry James (twins), died in
infancy. Albert E., married Marv B. Grant, and
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
221
they have two children : Beatrice Viola and Violet
Eloise Davis. Minnie F., married, November 13,
1907. Arthur Newton West, of Chester, New
Hampshire, George E.
(Fifth Family.)
This is the patronymic of one of the
DAVIS Colonial families of Billerica, where the
early men of this line were leading citi-
zens in the church, and consequently in the affairs
of the town.
(.1) Joseph Davis removed from Reading to
Billerica, JIassachusetts, where May 10, 1693, he
bought the township lot, which had been John
Poulters, and in late years has been known as the
1. C Kimball place, on the north side of Andover
street. In 1699 he bought the Fox farm of Mr.
Daniel's agent, Thomas Cooper, and there, north
of Foxhill, made his home, long known as the Davis
place. He was a deacon in the church, and as such
was a man of authority. He died September 30,
1747. aged eighty. He married in Billerica, June 18,
1691, Rebecca Patten, daughter of Thomas Patten.
She died February 13, 1751. Their children were:
Rebecca, Hannah, Joseph, Elizabeth, Benjamin,
Mary, Sarah, Susannah, Joshua, Esther and Thomas.
(.II) Joshua, ninth child and third son of Joseph
and Rebecca (.Patten) Davis, was born in Billerica,
October 20, 1714, and died there January 18, 1777.
He was like his father, a man of character and in-
fluence and deacon in the church. He married,
October 24, 1739, Hannah Jaquith, of Wilmington,
who died August S, 1800. Their children were :
Joshua (died young), Hannah, Joshua. Joseph (died
young), Rebecca, Joseph, Benjamin, Timothy, Jona-
than and William.
(III) Joshua (2), third child and second son of
Joshua (I) and Hannah (Jaquith) Davis, was born
in Billerica, October 25, 1743, and died probably in
1780, as his name disappears from the ta.x list at
that date. He married. May 25, 1769, Betty Blood..
who after his death married Benjamin Baldwin.
There is a record of only one child, Betty, born
November 12, 1779. It is probable, however, that
there was another child, John, born 1774, whose
birth does not appear of record in Billerica.
(IV) John Davis was born in Billerica, Massa-
chusetts, in 1774, and died in Hooksett, New Hamp-
shire, in 1886, aged ninety-two years. He was a
cultivator of the soil, and owned an elegant farm
of two hundred acres which constituted his home-
stead and is now known as the Davis Dairy Farm.
In politics he was a Republican. He and his wife
were members of the Congregational Church in
Manchester as early as 1849. He married Sarah
Bassett, and they had eight children : John, Lester,
Albert F., Joseph, Mary, Elizabeth, Sarah and Julia.
(.V) Albert F., son of John and Sarah (^Bassett)
Davis, was born in Billerica, Massachusetts,, May
II, 1840, and died in Hooksett, January 11, 1905.
He was educated in the public schools of !Man-
chester. He came to Hooksett in 1848, settled on his
father's homestead farm and built the elegant man-
sion which is now one of the best houses in the town.
In politics he was a Republican, and as such was elec-
ted and filled the office of selectman, tax collector
and member of the school board. He served six
years in the last named place, and just before his
death had been elected to serve another term. He
had been a member of Friendship Lodge, Independ-
ent Order of Odd Fellows, of Hooksett, since De-
cember, 1876, and was a member of the Daughters
of Rebekah. He married in 1S62, Adelia A. Bartlett,
born in Burlington, Vermont, November 27, 1839.
The thirty-ninth anniversary of their w-cdding was
celebrated in sucli a way as to be a prominent social
feature in Hooksett. Mrs. Davis is the daughter of
William Bartlett, and granddaughter of Eben Bart-
lett, who was born and died in Jericho, Vermont.
He was a farmer, and a member of the Congrega-
tional Church. His children were six in number :
William, Samuel, Eben, Lorinda, Belle and Cather-
ine.
William Bartlett, son of Eben Bartlett, was born
in Jericho, January i, 1809, and died in the same
town in 1S66. He was a Republican, and a mem-
ber of the Congregational Church. He married
Mahala White, born in Jericho, October i, 1809,
died at the Davis Home in Hooksett, in 1901. Their
children were ; Catherine, Mary and Adelia A.
(I) Sam.uel Davis was a farmer in Kittery,
Maine, where he was highly respected and influ-
ential in town affairs. During the War of 1812 he
was one of the garrison of the fort at Kittery. Soon
after his marriage he removed to New Durham,
New Hampshire, where his children were born, and
where the remainder of his life was spent. He married
Abigail, daughter of William Tibbitts. Their chil-
dren were : Caroline, Lavina, Edmond, Harriet
and Samuel. Caroline married Jeremiah Pinkham,
of Farmington, New Hampshire. Lavina married
Benjamin Wingate of the same town. Edmond
married his second cousin, Betsey Davis. Harriet
became the wife of Alfred Trask, of Milton, Samuel
is the subject of the next paragraph.
(II) Samuel (2), youngest child of Samuel (l)
and Abigail (Tiljbitts) Davis, was born in New
Durham, New Hampshire, October 22, 1821, and
died December 10, 1887. Samuel (l) was a believer
in the eflicacy of good schooling, and largely through
his influence his children were well educated, and
taught school. Samuel graduated from Gilmanton
Academy. In order to acquire his education he be-
gan to work for wages at an early age and at
twelve was accustomed to drive a team from New
Durham to Portsmouth. His entire early life was
a busy one and he did much hard labor before he
was twenty-one years old. His father died at that
time, and he took the farm and carried it on for
the remainder of his life. When about twenty-five
years of age he married Caroline Hayes, who was
born in Alton, New Hampshire, 1830, and died May
21, 1903, aged seventy-three years. She was the
daughter of Joseph and Betsey (Brewster) Hayes,
her mother being a sister of John Brewster, who
founded the Brewster Free Academy of Wolf-
borough. They had four children: Abbie (died
young), Edward (died young), Wilbert S., who is
mentioned below ; George Albert, born in 1871, who
married Louise, daughter of Jonathan and Ariana
Hayes.
(III) Wilbert Samuel, third child of Samuel (2)
and Caroline (Hayes) Davis, was born in Farming-
ton, February 17, 1864. He was brought up on the
farm of his grandfather, William Tibbitts, a place
which has been in the possession of the Tibbitts
family since its progenitor settled and began clear-
ing it. He graduated from the New Hampton
Literary Institute and Commercial College in 1885,
and the funds necessary to pay his expenses through
school he earned by canvassing for books and by
teaching school. In 1887 he entered Bowdoin Col-
lege, graduated from its medical department in 1891,
and began his medical career in Alton soon after-
ward. In 1893 he removed to Sanbornville. There
he has worked hard, kept in touch with the progress
made in his profession, and now has a busy practice
which pays him well. Soon after locating in San-
bornville he found it necessary to his convenience
to have a drug store and proceeded to establish one.
wliich in general appearance and in the amount and
222
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
quality of stock carried would be a credit to a much
more pretentious town. He is a Republican; pension
examiner; on board of health of Wakefield; a mem-
ber of New Hampshire Medical Association, and
Carroll County Medical Society. Dr. Davis is a
member of Unity Lodge, No. 62, Free and Accepted
Masons, of Union, and Royal Arch Chapter, of
Wolfborough; also Syracuse Lodge, No. 27, Knights
of Pythias, of Sanbornville. November 19, 1885,
Wilbert S. Davis married Annie J. Montgomery,
of Barrington, who was born in Strafford, August
29, 1865, daughter of Charles F. and Elizabeth
(Locke) Montgomery, of Barrington. They have
two children: Bessie Montgomer}', born June 17,
1887, in Strafford, graduated from Brevi'ster Acad-
emy in 1907. Charles Samuel, born March 16, 1889,
is a student at the same institution.
(I) Joseph Davis was born in Durham, New
Hampshire. He resided a large part of his life in
West Newfield, Maine, where he was engaged in
farming, and died there. He married twice; his
second wife was Mary Jane Bullock, of Roj'alston,
Maine. Among the children by the first wife was
Winthrop. The children of his second marriage
were : Joseph B., Hannah, iMehitable, Wescott and
Darius.
(II) Darius, youngest child of Joseph and Mary
J. (Bullock) Davis, was born in West Newfield,
Maine, 1822, and died in Conway, New Hampshire,
in 1899, aged seventy-seven years. After completing
his education at Parsonsfield Academy, Parsonsfield,
Maine, he served four years in the United States
navy, from sixteen to twenty years of age; dis-
charged in France. On his return from naval
service he worked in a cotton mill in Lowell, Massa-
chusetts, and then settled in Ossipee, New Hamp-
shire, where he was a partner in trade with Satchel
Dore, and later with his brother-in-law, Josiah Dur-
gin. For ten years Mr. Davis was head of the firm
of Davis & Durgin, general merchants, and after-
ward carried on the business alone. He was suc-
cessful in the acquisition of property, and in addi-
tion to his store owned a farm. Late in life he built
the Davis House at East Wakefield, which he man-
aged for some years until he sold out to his son
Frank W., and removed to Conway, New Hamp-
shire, where he died. He was a man of good habits
and agreeable conversation and popular with his
fellows who elected him selectman, in which office
he served with satisfaction to his constituency and
credit to himself. He married Ruth Bean Durgin,
who was born in 1824, daughter of Josiah and Doro-
thy Durgin, of West Newfield. She died in 1884,
aged sixty. They had six children : Frank W., who
has e.xtended mention below. Herbert D., who died
young. Ella M., who married Ivory S. Loud, of
West Newfield, who was station agent at East
Wakefield, New Hampshire, for many -years. Emma
F., now deceased, who married Frederick Hayes,
a druggist of Manchester. Clara E., wife of Albert
O. Robinson, station agent at Sanbornville. Her-
bert D., the second of the name, who was station
agent at Conway, New Hampshire, now with his
brother, Frank W.
(III) Frank Wescott, eldest child of Darius and
Ruth Bean (Durgin) Davis, was born in West New-
field, March 11, 1851. He attended the academies at
Limington, Maine, and obtained a good education,
and then worked in stores in Haverhill, Massachu-
setts. In 1S72 he was appointed the first telegrapher
at East Wakefield, where he remained until 1873.
He then became station agent and telegrapher for
the Boston & Maine Railroad Company at Conway,
New Hampshire, and discharged his duties with
fidelity for twentj'-two years — 1873 to 1895. In 1875
he engaged in the grain business at Conway, which
he carried on four years. In 1878 he bought a one-
third interest in the store of Palmer & Robinson.
Six months later he bought out the interest of
Mr, Robinson, and three years later became sole
proprietor of the store and business. January i,
1S85, he took as a partner in business H. B. Fifield,
and the firm of Davis & Fifield was formed which
continued for twelve years. In 1897 they divided
the stock, each taking certain lines, and in 1898
Mr. Davis took his son Philip into partnership and
the firm name became F. W. Davis & Son, now
F. W. Davis. They conducted a large business in
hardware, furniture, and men's furnishing goods.
Mr. Davis built what is known as the Fifield Store
in 1879, erected the store he now occupies in 1894,
and owing to increased patronage built an addition in
1897. In addition to his mercantile business Mr.
Davis is interested in the Conway Savings Bank,
of which he is a trustee. In politics he is a Republi-
can, and in 1887 was a Conway representative in the
state legislature in which he served on the com-
mittee on banking. He is a parish member of the
Congregational Church and deeply interested in the
work of that body. He married, October 10, 1875,
Lucy Maria Shackford, who was born in Conway,
July 19, 1850, daughter of Samuel B. and Lydia
(Pendexter) Shackford. They have three children:
Philip S., who is mentioned below; Ruth Burnham,
INIrs. Dr. Home (see Home, III), and Maidee
Lydia. Mrs. Davis and her daughter Ruth B. are
members of the local chapter of the Daughters of
the American Revolution.
(IV) Philip Shackford, eldest child of Frank W.
and Lucy M. (Shackford) Davis, was born in Con-
way, June 6, 1876. He was educated in the common
schools and at Wolfboro Academy, Wolfboro, Bur-
dett's Business College, Boston, and Harvard Col-
lege, spending one year at the last named institution.
He was a partner in business with his father three
years, and then bought out the shoe department of
the enterprise. He now conducts a livery stable in
Conway. He is a member of Mt. Washington Lodge,
Free and Accepted Masons, of North Conway, and
of Signet Royal Arch Chapter, of North Conway.
Pie married, February 21, 1900, Georgianna Ethel
Burroughs, who was bom December 20, 1881, daugh-
ter of Isaac and Mary Burroughs, of Intervale.
They have one child, Philip S., born September 4,
1903.
Another line of the Parker family
PARKER of New England, which in its various
generations has been represented by
men of surpassing ability and moral worth, is traced
through New Hampshire from an entirely independ-
ent origin from those hereinbefore noticed, as fol-
lows:
(I) Deacon Thomas Parker, who was born in
England in 1609, came to New England in the
"Susan and Ellen" in 1635, and settled first in Lynn,
Massachusetts. He was admitted a freeman in 1637.
About the year 1663 he moved to Reading, and re-
sided there for twenty years, or until his death,
which occurred August 12, 1683. The christian
name of his wife, who died January 15, 1690, was
Amy, and his children were : Hannaniah, Thomas,
Joseph (died young), Joseph, Mary, Martha, Na-
thaniel, Sarah (died young), Jonathan, Sarah and
John.
(II) Sergeant John, youngest child of Deacon
Thomas and Amy Parker, settled on Cowdrey's hill,
Reading (now Wakefield), Massachusetts, and died
in that town, February 21, 1699. He was married
(first), in Cambridge, November 13, 1667, to Han-
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
223
mall, daughter of Deacon Thomas and Rebecca Ken-
dall. She was born about 1642, and died in 1689.
The christian name of his second wife was Thank-
ful, and they were married December 28, 1690. He
was the father of thirteen children, namely : John,
Thomas (died young), Hannah, Rebecca (died
■young.), Kendall, Abigail (died young). Jonathan,
Daniel, Abigail, Hannaniah, Rebecca, Thomas and
Elizabeth. (Jonathan and descendants receive ex-
tended mention in this article).
(HI) John (2), eldest son of Sergeant John and
Hannah (Kendall) Parker, was born in 1668, in
Reading, and settled in the west parish of that town,
building the third house in the parish. He was mar-
ried in 1691 or 1694 (record illegible). The christian
name of his wife was Elizabeth, but no surname is
recorded. His children were: Elizabeth (died
young), John (died young), Abigail. John, Ben-
jamin, Elizabeth (died young), Elizabeth, Joseph
(died young), Joseph and Thomas.
(IV) Benjamin, third son and fifth child of
John (2) and Elizabeth Parker, was born in 1703,
in Reading, and resided for some time on the pa-
ternal homestead. He afterwards exchanged this
with his brother John for a home on Franklin street,
where he passed the remainder of his life. He was
married in 1726 to Sarah Foster, who died in 1741,
and he married (second), Sarah, daughter of Jona-
than and Barbara Parker. The children of the first
wife were: Benjamin. Sarah, Phebe, Elizabeth,
Reuben, William and Lydia ; and there were two by
the second wife, namely, Elisha and Simeon.
(V) Reuben, second son and fifth child of Ben-
jamin and Sarah (Foster) Parker, was born in
1735, i'l Reading, and settled in Richmond, New
Hampshire, locating in 1765 on what has since been
known as Parker hill. He was the first settler on
the west half of lots three and four, range nine
of that town, and was probably the first blacksmith
in the town. He died January 10, 1825, at the age'
of ninety-two years. He was married (first), June
19. 1759. to Sarah, daughter of Thomas Wooley.
She died December 20, 1779, and he married
(second), Esther Townsend, of Townsend, Massa-
chusetts, who died October 20, 181 1. The children
of the first wife were : Reuben, Charles, Sarah,
Silas, Benjamin, Amos, Jonathan. Edmund, and
Mary and Phebe (twins). Those of the second wife
were : Townsend, Esther, Jacob, John and Samuel.
(Jonathan and descendants receive mention in this
article).
(VI) Silas, son of Reuben and Sarah (Wooley)
Parker, was born in Richmond, New Hampshire,
in .August, 1765. He was a farmer, tanner and shoe-
maker. In 1796 he removed to Lisbon, New Hamp-
shire, and settled on Sugar hill, where it is said
that he erected the first tannery in New Hamp-
shire north of Haverhill, and there for many years
he carried on a tanning business which after him
came to his son and grandson. He was called
"Iaw}-er" and -was moderator of the town for twenty-
five years. He was an excellent type of the old-
time New England pioneer, and his wife, whom he
married in 1788, was a model helpmeet, a woman
of amiable disposition, with always a pleasant and
cheering word for those about her. She was Lydia.
born May 14, 1770, a daughter of Rufus Whipple.*
Silas and Lydia Parker lived in that period of our
*In the Richmond compaDv of Colonel Doolittle's regiment
enrolled Jrne 13. 1775. are the names of Sergeant Rufus Whipple.
Azari.Th Cvnistock : nd John Wooley. This company took part
in the battle of Bunker Hill In Captain Oliver Capron's com-
pany in Colonel Samuel Ashley's regiment, which marched to
the relief of Ticopderrt:a in 1777. were Ensign Rufus Whipple.
Drummer Jol n Wooley. Reuben Parker and Israel Whipple.
Reuben Parker and John Wooley were in a Winchester company
country's history when it had hardly recovered from
the long Revolutionary struggle, when tire people
were chiefly farmers with limited means, and few
were able to afford their children educational ad-
vantages, even those of the district school. The
devoted couple reared their family of six sons and
one daughter in a school of stern virtue, careful
frugality, and that unflagging industry always re-
quired in the home life of the plain farmhouse, sup-
plemented by that limited but intensely practical
learning which has produced for many generations
men and women of sound, clear and vigorous minds.
The husband died in Lisbon, October i6, 1834, and
his wife survived him- nearly thirty years, dying
August 30, 1863, aged ninety-three }-ears.
(VII) Hon. Levi Parker was a man of more than
ordinary ability and strength of character, whose life
was devoted in large part to the service of the com-
munity and state. He was the eldest son of Silas
and Lydia (Whipple) Parker, and was born in
Richmond, New Hampshire, November 2, 1792.
When he was four years old his parents removed to
Lisbon. In due time he succeeded to the tanning
business which his father had established, and which
he conducted with great ability throughout his life.
He took a deep and intelligent interest in public
affairs and exerted a great influence for good in
the community, his words and counsels ever being
regarded with respect and confidence. He was elec-
ted to and served in every office in the gift of his
townsmen, and his duties were ever performed with
that strict fidelity and great ability which character-
ized his whole life's conduct. When first called to
official position he was comparatively a young man,
and his public career covered a long period of
forty years. He was selectman in 1823, a member of
the board for eighteen years, town clerk in 1830-
31, and treasurer in 1856. He represented Lisbon
in the legislature in 1836-39-40-51-52, and proved
himself a most capable member of that body, aiding
in the formation and enactment of many salutary
laws tending to promote ^ the development of the
industrial resources of the state. He was chosen
councilor for his district to serve with Governor
Gilmore (Republican) at the time of the Civil war
(1862-63) when men of responsibility, discretion
and sagacity were sorely needed, and the governor
said of him that "no one in his council was more
ready to assist by word and deed in subduing the
rebellion, or to render aid to the families of those
who periled their lives for the safety of the country."
He was a lifelong Democrat, and believed with Jef-
ferson that "a strict adherence to the constitution
was the one thing needful to the perpetuity of the
Union." Mr. Parker was a man of great piety, and
the religious element in his character imbued his
acts. In early life he was a Free Will Baptist, in
later years an Adventist, but his house w'as always
open to all ministers of the gospel of Christ. The
poor and needy always found in him a friend, the
stranger and wanderer was never turned empty from
his door; his roof sheltered and his fire warmed
many a poor wayfarer, and of such as he the Lord
spoke when he said : "For I was an hungered, and
ye gave me meat ; thirsty, and ye gave
me drink ; I was a stranger, and ye took
me in ; naked, and ye clothed me. Inasmuch
as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my
at the battle of Bennington. Israel Whipple was a member of
the committee of safety, inspection and corres"Ondence in 1T77.
Thomas Wooley was the father of Sarah, who matried Reuben
Parker. John Wooley was a brother of Sarah Wooley Parker.
A7ariah Cumstock was the maternal grandfather of Lydia Whip-
ple, who married Silas Parker, son of Reuben Parker. Rufus
Whipple was the father of Lydia Whipple Parker. Israel Whip-
ple was the brother of Lydia Whipple Parker.
224
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
brethren, ye have done it unto me." The memory
of this noble, patriotic, generous-hearted, whole-
souled man, who was ever ready to promote and
further any movement for the good of his fellow-
men, is cherished and honored by his townsmen,
and his christian character and counsel have left
a strong impress upon his descendants.
Mr. Parker married, in March, 1814, Phebe Ball,
a very devoted christian woman, well educated and
efficient, ever ready to attend the sick and suffering,
and to sympathize with the afflicted, and heartily
seconded the generous hospitality of the husband.
She was a model wife, mother, friend and neighbor,
and a saintly Christian, with pronounced gifts as a
religious exhorter. The children of Levi and Phebe
(Ball) Parker were: Silas, El^azer B., Levi Pratt,
Cliarles, Chandler, and Phebe Ann, who married
Lindsey Aldrich. Mr. Parker died at Sugar Hill,
February 6, 1865, aged nearly seventy-three years,
and his wife died in February, 1872, in the eightieth
year of her age.
(VIII) Charles Parker, whose active career ex-
tends over more than half a century, and who was
one of the most conspicuously useful men of Grafton
county. New Hampshire, and who displayed in his
character all the excellent traits which were becom-
ing to his splendid ancestry, was a son of Hon. Levi
and Phebe (Ball) Parker, and was born in Sugar
Hill, New Hampshire, May 21, 1826. He was edu-
cated in the public schools of Lisbon, New Hamp-
shire, Newbury (Vermont) Seminary, and Phillips
Academy at Danville, Vermont, but his larger edu-
cation was self-acquired through his innate love of
reading, tenacious memory, and ability to grasp the
ever new questions of the day as they arose. Almost
to the last he kept himself thoroughly informed in all
matters affecting the material, political, religious
and social welfare of the community and state.
Soon after attaining his majority (in 1847) he mar-
ried, and the same year entered upon a mercantile
and manufacturing career in partnership with James
R. Young, in Lyman, New Hampshire, Mr. Young
soon after opening a store at Lisbon, the firm being
Parker & Young. He was so occupied until 1864,
when the business at Lyman was disposed of and
Mr. Parker removed to Lisbon, where they greatly
increased their mercantile business. The partner-
ship was terminated by the death of Mr. Young in
18S4, when the manufacturing business was incor-
porated under the name of the Parker & Young
Manufacturing Company, of which Mr. Parker be-
came treasurer and general manager, and he acted
in that capacity until his death, August 25, 1895,
in his seventieth year. The business of this com-
pany was primarily founded by Mr. Parker, and to
its development he gave the best of his great ability
and stirring enterprise, bringing it to a foremost
place among the manufacturing interests of New
Hampshire. From a small beginning it became the
large manufactory of piano sounding-boards in
the world, now using nearly twenty-five millions of
feet of lumber annually, employing five hundred
operatives, and its product reaching every market
in the United States and Canada. Its success was
achieved in face of what would have been, to a
man of less determination, insuperable difficulties.
The establishment was three times destroyed by
fire, involving great financial loss and temporary
cessation of business, but each time, through Mr.
Parker's indomitable resolution, it was immediately
rebuilt and upon a larger scale, with more modern
and ample equipment. Following each disaster and
at other times, Mr. Parker received flattering in-
ducements to re-establish his factory in other towns,,
but his loyalty to his village and his personal interest
in its people would not permit of his listening to
such overtures. He conducted his large affairs in
no mean, sordid spirit, but with a genuine enthus-
iasm, taking pride in the excellence of his manufac-
tures, and in being able to afford means of liveli-
hood to a large nuinber of families in whose wel-
fare he ever took a warm personal interest. So
alive was he to the latter consideration that he was
never known to have difficulties with his employees,,
who regarded him as a friend and benefactor as
well as an employer. In all his wide range of deal-
ing he was known in commercial circles as the
soul of honor, and his word went unimpeached, no
matter how great the magnitude of the occasion.
He had a large faculty for properly estimating
conditions, and his judgment was unerring in plan-
ning for the future, where a feebler or less resolute
mind would have hesitated and lost opportunity. He
gave himself diligently to his business affairs, al-
most to the last, and signed the business checks of
the company up to the very day of his decease.
Mr. Parker was thus a public benefactor in the
conduct of a great business, he was also a promi-
nent figure in every other department of the life of
the community. He was constantly the foremost one
in conceiving and carrying out objects for its moral
and material advancement, and his words of coun-
sel and encouragment were always accompanied with
his means. Educational institutions had in him an
earnest advocate, and he was liberal in his aid to
churches, though he was not a member until the
year previous to his death, when he was received
into the First Congregational Church of Lisbon.
Yet his nature was ever deeply religious, and for
many years he had been a member of the choir of
the church with which he became connected thus
late in life. He possessed a powerful j-et very sweet
baritone voice, which was always heard with pleas-
ure in church or social gatherings, and he was also
an excellent musical critic, and passionately fond
of instrumental and well as vocal music. He had
a genuine affection for children ; his home was the
constant visiting place of his neighbors' children,
and in his driving about he was seldom unaccom-
panied by some little one. He was the personifica-
tion of benevolence ; the friendless, the poor and the
needy found in him a benefactor and helper, and no
one hungry or athirst ever went away from his
door unrefreshed. He was gentle and considerate in
all his intercourse with men, and he endeared him-
self to all. He was a Republican in politics. For
more than thirty years he served as a justice of the
peace, and was a member of the New Hampshire
legislature in 1862 and 1863, and again in 1887.
Mr. Parker was married, in 1847, to Amelia
Emmeline Bennett, a lady of rare personal attrac-
tions, culture and refinement. She was born October
24, 1827, in Dummerston, Vermont, a daughter of
Adin and Angeline (Houghton) Bennett.* Four
*Adin Bennett was born in 1800. and died in 1830. His parents
were Samuel Bennett. Jr.. son of Samuel and Sally Bennett, and
Hepzibah Foster, whose children were Adin and Sophrona. Adin
Bennett married Angeline Houghton, born August 26. 1>^01, and
died May 6. 18S'l. and tlleir cliildren were Milo Gettibone, Emery
Seymour (died in fifth yeary, Edwin Oscar, bnrn December l.\
1824. died October 30. 1902. and Amelia E., who became the wife
of Charles Parker. Angeline Houghton was a daughter of Sol-
omon and Martha (White) Houghton, whose children were Henry,
Nahuni. Luther, Calvin. Calvin (2). both of whom died in infancy,
Rufus and Orison (twins), Polly, Dorothy. Patty and Angeline.
Solomon Houghton had brothers. Nahum and Philip, and four
sisters, three of whom married three Whitneys, two being broth-
ers and one a cousin, and they lived at or near Marlboro, Ver-
mont. Martha White was a daughter of Jane White, who came
from Ireland. The name of Jane White is registered in the
Houghton family Bible, which is in the possession of a great-
granddaughter residing in Franconia, New Hampshire. There is
quite a romantic story attending her coming to America, in the
early history of our country.
NEW HAMPSHIRK
children were born of this marriage, three of whom,
with the mother, are now living: Mrs. Albert B.
Woodworth, of Concord, New Hampshire (.see
Woodworth, VII) ; Mrs. Thomas J. Walker, of
Manchester, New Hampshire ; and Colonel Harry E.
Parker, of Bradford, Vermont. Mr. Parker died at
his home in Lisbon, August 25, 1895. The sad
event was distressful to the entire community, and
the scenes at the funeral were touchingly signifi-
cant of its deep affection for the lamented dead.
Mr. Parker's former pastor, the Rev. Mr. Lees, paid
a fervent tribute to his memory, and the Rev. J. W.
Wathen followed with brief but appreciative re-
marks.
(III) Jonathan, fourth son and seventh child
of Sergeant John and Hannah (Kendall J Parker,
was born in Reading in 16S1, and resided in that
town, where he died in 1746. In 1700 he married
Mehitable Bancroft, who died in 1703, and in 1706
he chose for his second wife Barbara Elsley. The
names of his children were : jNlehitabel, Sarah,
Mary (died youngj, !Mary, John, Hannah, David,
Amy, Hephzibah, Daniel and Elisha. (Daniel and
descendants are mentioned at length hereinafter).
(IV) John, son of Jonathan and Barbara (Els-
ley) Parker, was born in Reading, July 16, 1716. He
lived in his native town for a time and then settled
in Methuen, where he died April 20, 1788. He mar-
ried. May 26, 1740, Hannah Upton, born 1723, daugh-
ter of Joseph and j\lary Upton.
(V> Lieutenant John (2), son of John (i) and
Hannah (Upton) Parker, was born in Reading,
December 18, 1742. He was a man of prominence
in military matters, and a soldier of the Revolution.
In the "JNlassachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the
Revolutionary War" we find the following record :
"John Parker (also given John, Jr.), Andover
private. Captain Thomas Poor's company of minute-
men, Colonel James Frye's Regiment, which marched
on the alarm of April 19, 1775 ; service to April 25,
1775) five days; reported enlisted January 31, 1775,
also Captain Thomas Poor's company. Colonel James
Prey's Regiment ; return of men in camp at Cam-
bridge, October 6, 1775 ; also, order for bounty coat
or its equivalent in money dated Cambridge, No-
vember 13, 1775."
"John Parker (also given John, Jr.), Andover,
second lieutenant, Captain David Whittier's
Fifteenth (Methuen) Company, Fourth Essex
county Regiment of Massachusetts Militia ; list of
officers chosen by the several companies of said
regiment, as returned by Samuel Johnson and others,
field officers, dated Andover, March 26, 1796; or-
dered in council April 3, 1776, that said officers be
commissioned; reported commissioned April 3, 1776;
also, Lieutenant, Captain Samuel Johnson's com-
pany. Colonel Wigglesworth's Regiment ; pay ab-
stract for travel allowance from Albany home, sworn
to March 7, 1772. Two hundred and ten miles travel
allowed said Parker ; also petition addressed to the
to the council, signed by Samuel John.son, Colonel,
Fourth Essex county Regiment, of Massachusetts
Militia, stating that officers for two companies in
his regiment had been chosen, and requesting that
they be commissioned ; said Parker chosen second
lieutenant, Captain Samuel Johnson, Jr's (late Cap-
tain John Peabody's) First Andover Company; or-
dered a council August 7, 1777, that said ofticers be
commissioned ; reported commissioned August 7,
I777-" Methuen Records (marriage) "Per me,
Richard Whittier, Town Clerk, This may certify
whom it may concern. Jchn Parker, Jun.. and
Lydia Morrill, Ixith of Methuen have been published
on Jany 6th, 1770 and so on as the law directs."
i— 15
He died in Methuen, October 19, 1813. (From
Methuen town records and monument in Dracut '
cemetery).
(VI) Winthrop, son of Lieutenant John and
Lydia (iNIorrill) Parker, born in Methuen, April 22,
1780, and died August 27, 1829, was a lifelong resi-
dent of that town. He married, April 2, 1805, Lydia
Hall, born October 4, 1778, died March 27, 1825.
Their children were: Julia, Riley H., Stephen H.,
Winthrop A., Marian,' Lydia H., Achsa, Harriett
and Rhoda.
(VII) Stephen Hall, son of Winthrop and Lydia
(Hall) Parker, was born in Methuen, December 16,
i8og, and died in North Andover, April 19, 1865.
When a young man he went to Bow, New Hamp-
shire, and learned the trade of cooper. He removed
to Andover, Massachusetts, where he became a
prosperous merchant and leading citizen of the town,
an active man and widely know'n. In politics he
was a Whig, and later a Republican, took an in-
terest in public aff'airs and filled various town offices,
and was postmaster at the time of his death. In
church aff'airs he was a leader, and for many years
was deacon in the Congregational Church. Mr.
Parker was one of those selfreliant, diligent, pro-
gressive, sensible men whose presence in a com-
munity counts for much good. He married, in Con-
cord, New Hampshire, January 26, 1842, Anne M.
Abbot, daughter of Rev. Joshua Abbot, of Concord.
(See Abbot, V). She was born in Concord, October
21, 1813, where she now (1906) resides, at the age
of ninety-two. They were the parents of three chil-
dren : Charles S., Henry Winthrop, now of the
Des iMoines Novelty Company, of Des Moines,
Iowa ; and Frank A., who died young.
(VIII) Charles Sullivan, eldest child of Stephen
H. and Anne M. (Abbot) Parker, was born in An-
dover, now North Andover, Massachusetts, Oc-
tober 21, 1845. After attending the public schools he
took a course at Phillips Andover Academy, from
which he graduated at the age of eighteen. Pre-
ferring mercantile life, he spent two years as an
employee of Alexander Strong & Company, promi-
nent wholesale shoe dealers, of Boston. He left
that place to return to his father who needed his
assistance in his business, and lived only a short
time after his son's return. Charles S. Parker, then
being a minor, did not succeed to his father's busi-
ness, which was sold out, and he went to Lowell and
was a clerk for the dry goods house of Cook &
Taylor two years, and he was also employed in the
same line in Lawrence. In 1868 he engaged in the
clothing business for himself at Lawrence, carrying
it on through the financial panic of 1873, until
the spring of 1875, w-hen he became the traveling
representative of a Boston house which dealt in
gentleman's furnishings. This firm failing in 1876
he went to Concord, New Hampshire, and took a
place as bookkeeper with the Page Belting Com-
pany, for which he subsequently became a travel-
ing salesman. In 1886 he gave up that place and
became general agent and manager of the life and
accident department of the Aetna Life Insurance
Company, for the state of New Hampshire, positions
which he still holds. He is also a director in the
Page Belting Company. In 1872 he was made a
;\lason in Tuscan Lodge. Ancient Free and Accepted
IMasons, Lawrence, Massachusetts. He afterwards
transferred to Blazing Star Lodge, Concord, New
Hampshire, of which he is a past master. He is
also past commander of Mount Horcb Conimandery,
Knights Templar, a member of Trinity Royal Arch
Chapter, No. 2, of Horace Chase Council, No. 4.
Royal and Select Masters, all of Concord, and of
226
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Edward A. Raymond Consistory, Ancient Arabic
Scottish Rite, thirty-second degree, of Nashua. He
is a member of Monadnock Lodge, No. 145, and of
Kearsarge Encampment, Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, of Lawrence, and has passed the chairs in
both bodies. He is a charter member of the Wono-
lancet Club, in which he takes an active interest.
Mr. Parker is an upright citizen, a representative
man in his line of business, competence, quickness,
energy and fairness being pr»minent features of his
character.
He married in Lawrence, Massachusetts, May 24,
1870, Kate AL Shetler, daughter of George E. and
Almira M. (Hogle) Shetler, of that city. They
have two children, Alice F. and Elizabeth A. The
family are members of the First Congregational
Church. Mrs. Parker is a member of various clubs,
and interested in works of education and chanty.
(IV) Daniel, ninth child and second son of
Jonathan and Barbara (Elsley) Parker, was born in
Reading in 1725. He served in the Reading com-
pany which was attached to Colonel Green's regi-
ment, according to a roster dated April 17, 1775.
He married Sarah Parker, who was probably a
descendant of Deacon Thomas, the immigrant. A
diligent research for a record of his children dis-
closes but one child, a son.
(.V) Daniel (2) son of Daniel (l) and Sarah
(Parker) Parker, was born in Reading, in 1752. He
served in the Revolutionary war and participated in
the capture of Ticonderoga. In 1780 he married
Sarah Richardson, who bore him seven children,
one of whom was Jonathan.
(VI) Jonathan, son of Daniel (2) and Sarah
(Richardson) Parker, was born in Reading, Novem-
ber 26, 1783, and died April 22, 1865, aged eighty-
one years. The following sketch of him from the
pen of Hon. James Dinsmoor, of Sterling, Illinois,
found in the "History of Windham" 1= so lifelike
and apparently so true that it is reproduced here :
"He purchased of Rev. Samuel Harris the Isaac
Dinsmoor farm, southwest of Jenney's Hill, occupied
by G. W. Hanscom, moved on it April 25, 181 1,
and continued to reside there till his death. He
was a cooper by trade, and for many years he
worked at his trade in the winter months. He was
a thrifty farmer, devoting much attention to fruit
culture, and while not devoid of taste, the useful
was always made to dominate over the ornamental.
He was a well read man, thoughtful and self reliant ;
kept himself well informed on the current topics
of the day, and possessed a well balanced mind, so
that his advice was often sought and taken by fellow
townsmen. In his manners he was a 'rough dia-
mond,' but the attrition of intellectual contact
brought out a fund of good sense, pleasantry and wit,
which well repaid the labor. In figure he was tall
and awkward. No one could eyer accuse him of
making or following any fashion in his personal
dress. His eccentricities were very great, so much
so that he failed to exert as much influence in the
community as he otherwise would. He, however,
represented the town in the legislature in 1822, 1823,
1824, and in 1849 and 1850, with credit to himself
and his constituents. He was economical and con-
servative in all public matters.
"Up to about 1828 there had been no means of
heating the church at Windham. The church was
owned and controlled by the town, and for such a
startling innovation as putting a stove in the meet-
ing house, a vote of a majority, in town meeting
assembled, was necessary. At this time some rest-
less, aggressive mortals had a town meeting called
to see if they would 'vote to put in two stoves to
heat the meeting house.' " Mr. Parker opposed the
plan as a useless extravagance and deleterious to
health. The aggressive element, as usual in such
matters, was dominant, and two huge wood burning
stoves were placed in the church. Mr. Parker's
pew was on the wall side in the gallery. For some
time after he used to go into his pew, raise the
window, take oft' his coat, and sit in his shirt
sleeves, to avoid the heat of the "cussed stoves."
"He was fond of composition, and used to pride
himself on his ability to detect a grammatical er-
ror in a sentence although he had studied English
grammar but half a day in his life as he used to
say. He said he 'could tell whether it jingled right
or not, but knew nothing about grammar.' His
wife was a most gentle and amiable woman, ever
taking his oddities as bits of pleasantry to be phil-
osophically enjoyed by her."
He married, April 23, iSii, Susan Bancroft,
born in Reading, Massachusetts, and died in Wind-
ham, New Hampshire, January 16, 1857. They
had the following named children : Sophia, Sarah,
Deacon Milo, Anna, Daniel, Ward, Susie, Anna,
Laurens, Olin and Emery. (Mention of Ward and
descendants forms part of this article).
(VII) Daniel, fifth child and second son of Jon-
athan and Susan (Bancroft) Parker, was born in
Windham, April 14, 1818. In 1845 he settled in
Bedford and during the succeeding forty years was
one of the most prominent business men in that
town, manufacturing brick, which he shipped to
Nashua and Lowell by boat, and at one time he was
associated with Humphrey Moore in the real estate
and lumber business. He also devoted considerable
attention to farming. He died October 9, 1886.
In politics he supported the Republican party, and
his religious aftiliations were with the Presbyterian
Church. He married Mary E. Way, daughter of
John and Mary (Hayner) Way of Amsterdam,
New York. She became the mother of seven chil-
dren, namely: Simeon L., born October 21, 1847;
Mary R., January 30, 1849, died August 12, i860;
Daniel, August 20, 1850, resides in Philadelphia ;
Lauren, April 10, 1854, died August. 8, 1854; Charles
L., April 10, 1861, died August 17, 1864; Peter and
Perham (twins), November 16, 1862. The mother
of these children is still living.
(VIII) Perham, youngest son and child of Dan-
iel and Mary E. (Way) Parker, pursued his pre-
liminary studies in the district schools and completed
his education at the Magaw Institute. He began
the activities of life in the meat business, which he
followed for nine years, at the expiration of which
time he became associated with Everett Parker in
the manufacturing of lumber, operating a portable
saw-mill and transportating it from place to place
as occasion demanded. He has invested quite large-
ly in real estate, and is at the present time one of
Bedford's most able and well-to-do-business men.
In politics he is a Republican and has held all of
the important town offices with the exception of
town clerk; represented his district in the state
legislature with marked ability in 1893 ; and has been
a member of the board of selectmen for the past
four years. He is affiliated with Souhegan Lodge,
Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He attends
the Presbyterian Church. On September 22, 1891,
he was joined in marriage with Mrs. Annie (Allen)
Hamilton, daughter of Abraham and Mary (Ston-
ners) Allen, of Manchester. They have one daugh-
ter, Rhoda J., who was born May 29, 1892.
(VII) Ward, sixth child and third son of Jona-
than and Susan (Bancroft) Parker, was born in
Windham, October 18, 1819, and was educated in
^^^-^^ J^^^-;£&^
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
227
the common schools. In 1839 he removed to Bed-
ford, New Hampshire, and engaged in manufactur-
ing brick and getting out lumber, which he success-
fully followed till 1852, when he turned his atten-
tion to farming, in which he was engaged for several
years. He is spoken of as an enterprising, pro-
gressive and prosperous man. Originally a Whig,
he became a member of the Republican party at an
early date, and afterward followed the political
teachings of Abraham Lincoln. He was one of the
selectmen of Merrimack in 1854-61-62-65-66-67, and
was a member of the constitutional convention in
1876, and representative in 1877. He was a mem-
ber of Thornton Grange, Patrons of Husbandry,
and one of its organizers, and a life member of the
State Orphans' Home. He died February 16, 1904.
He married, JMarch 25, 1850, Phebe Ann Strew,
daughter of Jiloses and Anna (.Sylvester^ Strew,
born at Barnet, Vermont, October 22, 1822, and
they had one child, Everett E.
(VIH) Everett Edward, only child of Ward
and Phebe Ann (.Strew) Parker, was born at Mer-
rimack, April 12, 1856. He attended school till
nineteen years of age, and then turned his attention
to farming and lumber dealings, in which he has
ever since been engaged. Well endowed with pat-
rimonial benefactions at the start Mr. Parker has
always been an alert, energetic and prosperous busi-
ness man and a leading citizen of the community
where he has spent his life. In politics he is a Re-
publican, and has often been honored with positions
of trust and honor by his fellow townsmen. He
was elected selectman in 1883-84-85-99, and again
in 1907. For si.x years he served as moderator, and
was a member of the legislature in the year 1895.
He is a charter member of Souhegan Lodge, No.
98, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Merri-
mack, in which he has filled the chairs. He is also
a charter member of Thornton Grange, No. 31, Pa-
trons of Husbandry, instituted in 1873 and in which
he has filled the chairs. He is a member of Wash-
ington Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons ;
Trinity Commandery, Manchester; Edward A. Ray-
mond Consistory, Nashua, and Bektash Temple,
Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic
Shrine, Concord. Fond of history and desirous of
broadening his knowledge of the world by contact
with it, he has trevelled extensively. In 1894 he
and Mrs. Parker made a tour through England,
Ireland, Scotland and France, and in 1905 to the Pa-
cific coast. Kr-erett E. Parker married (first)
August 8, 1884, Clarie F. McGillivray, of Merri-
mack, born February 12, 1864, daughter of John
and JIartha J. (Gage) McGillivray, who died Au-
gust 8, 1897, and (second) October 8, 1901, Har-
riet M. IilcGillivray, a sister of the first wife, born
January 27, 1871, who was educated at Magaw In-
stitute and is a member of Thornton Grange. Both
these ladies were teachers before marriage.
(Second Family.)
This name has borne no inconspic-
PARKER uous part in the settlement and devel-
opment of New England and of New
Hampshire, and is now found in all parts of the
country and of this state. Not all of its bearers
have been traced to a common origin, but most are
known to have descended from the Puritan Fathers
of the New England colonies. The name has been
honored in all generations, has been especially well
known in military annals, and those who bear it in
this region have held up its prestige. It has been
associated with civil reforms, as well as active in
military operations.
(I) Captain James Parker was born in England
about 1617, and came to America about 1638-39. He
was a subscriber to town orders in Woburn in 1640,
and was made a freeman in that town m 1644. He
was one of the grantees of Billerica, Massachusetts,
and lived a short time in that town. He was one of
the original proprietors of Groton, in which town the
major part of his active life was spent. He was
one of its first selectmen, chosen in 1662, was made
deacon of the church in 1663, and was sergeant and
later captain of the militia. He was an extraordinary
man, and active in all that pertained to the welfare
of the community, being especially prominent in
military afifairs. He was moderator at most of the
town meetings, and a member and chairman of the
important committees, laying out lands, highways
and boundaries. In 1693 he was representative in
the general court, under the charter from William
and Mary. He lived to be eighty-four years old,
and his will was made May 25, 1700. He was mar-
ried in Woburn, in 1643, to Elizaiaeth Long, and re-
sided in Woburn, Billerica, Chelmsford and Gro-
ton. Five of his children were born in Woburn,
five in Chelmsford, and one in Groton, the last be-
ing the ofifspring of his second wife, whom he mar-
ried late in life, being eighty-one years old when
the child was born. Their names were as follows :
Elizabeth, born 1645; Anna (or Hannah), 1647;
John, 1649; Joseph, 165 1 ; James, 1652, killed by
Indians in 1694; Josiah, 1655; Samuel, 1656; Joshua,
1658; Zachariah, 1659; Eleazer, 1660; Sarah, 1667.
(II) Captain Josiah, fourth son and sixth child
of James and Elizabeth (Long) Parker, born in 1655,
in Chelmsford, and married Eliza Saxon (or Sax-
ton), of Boston. He lived in Chelmsford, Groton,
Watertown and Cambridge. His children were :
Eliza, John, Sarah, Josiah, Joshua and Thomas.
(III) Rev. Thomas, youngest child of Captain
Josiah and Eliza (Saxton) Parker, was born De-
cember 7, 1700, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and
graduated from Harvard College at the early age
of eighteen years, in 1718. This fact indicates that
he had an excellent mind, and the records of his
work prove it further. In 1719 he was called to
the pastorate at Dracut, Massachusetts, and became
the first settled minister there in 1720, at a yearly
salary of eighty pounds. He was a most amiable
man, a musician, and often played the clarionet at
his door in the evening. He died March 18, 1765,
closing a long and useful ministry. The epitaph
upon his tombstone reads as follows : "A gentle-
man of shining mental Powers, Adorned with Pru-
dence, Benevolence and Curtesie of manners. A
warm and Pathetic Preacher of ye Gospel, a most
watchful pastor of ye Church in Dracut for ye space
of 44 years. Accomplished with learning, Pluman
and Divine, & adorned by ye social virtues." He
was married in 1720 to Lydia Richardson, of Chelms-
ford, who survived him over thirty-two years and
spent her last days with her children in Litchfield,
New Hampshire, where she died September 25,
1787, aged eighty-five years, two months and twelve
days. Their children were: Thomas, born 1721;
Lydia (died young) ; Lydia (married Thomas VVhit-
ing of Concord) ; William, Elizabeth, Lucy (mar-
ried an Abbot) ; Sarah, John, Matthew and Dr.
Jonathan. (John and Matthew and descendants re-
ceive mention in this article.)
(IV) Matthew, fourth son and ninth child of
Rev. Thomas and Lydia (Richardson) Parker, was
born (probably) 1730, in Dracut, and lived and
died in Litchfield. His children were: Thomas,
Matthew, Nathan, James, William, Rachel, Betsey,
Fanny, Dolly, Lydia and Polly. (Nathan and James
and descendants are noticed in this article. Several
228
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
of Rev. Thomas Parker's sons were among the pio-
neer settlers of Litchfield. John being chosen a select-
man at the first annual March meeting in 1750.
Thomas was town and proprietors' clerk from 1744
to 1748, in 1750 and 1755 to 1759. Jonathan was town
clerk from 1778 to 1780 and in 1782. William was
selectman in 1754. There were others of the name
in that town early, one Alexander Parker being a
selectman for many of the first years, and was signer
of a petition for the establishment of a church in the
present town of Litchfield, the west side of the river
being a part of the town at that time, March 28,
1746.
(V) Deacon Matthew, second son and child of
Matthew Parker, was born 1764, in Litchfield, where
he died November 22, 1826, aged sixty-two years.
He was a prominent farmer of the town, a large
landholder and highly respected citizen. In politics
he was a Whig, and he was actively identified with
the Congregational Church of Litchfield. He was
married in 1790 to Sarah, daughter of Judge James
Underwood, of Litchfield, a leading citizen of the
town. Judge Underwood was a scion of an old and
prominent family that held large amounts of land
and kept slaves in the early days. Deacon Mat-
thew Parker's children are noted as follows: Betsey,
the eldest, became the wife of Rev. David L. Nich-
ols, of West Amesbury, now Merrimac, Massachu-
setts. He was principal of academies in Bradford,
Massachusetts, and Kingston, this state, where he
died. She afterwards resided with her mother in
Litchfield, where she died. James Underwood, the
second, was an attorney in Merrimack, New York
City and Manchester, and died in the latter place.
Nathan, the third, is the subject of the following
sketch. Others died in infancy.
(VT) Nathan, son of Deacon Matthew and
Sarah (Underwood) Parker, was born in Litchfield,
New Hampshire, November 21, 1808, and died in
Manchester, May 7, 1894. Nathan Parker lived in
his native town until he was seventeen years old,
during which time he attended the public schools
and the academy at Henniker. He first engaged in
business in Merrimack, but in 1840 removed to
Manchester, then a town of five thousand population,
where he soon had a large trade. Manchester was
then fast developing into an industrial center, and
he furnished large quantities of goods to the cor-
porations and to persons engaged in erecting factor-
ies and in other extensive building operations. In
1845 Mr. Parker was chosen cashier of the Man-
chester Bank, then organized, and held this position
during the existence of the bank. In 1865 the Man-
chester National Bank was organized, succeeding
to the business of the Manchester Bank, and Mr.
Parker was elected its president, and retained that
place until his death. The Manchester Savings
Bank was established in 1846, and he was elected
treasurer, and held the position until 1883, when he
resigned, but remained a member of the board of
trustees. During the greater part of this long period
he practically conducted the afl'airs of these banks,
and their success, permanence and prosperity were
in a great degree due to his skillful, prudent and
far-seeing management. Mr. Parker was not only
largely engaged in banking, but he was also engaged
in the development and management of the railroads
of New Hampshire. He was a director of the Con-
cord railroad from 1867 to 1871, and treasurer of
the road from 1873 to 1890, when the corporation
was consolidated with the Boston, Concord & Mont-
real railroad, forming the Montreal corporation.
He was also a director of the Manchester and Law-
rence railroad, and at one time its president. As
treasurer of the Concord railroad, the management
of its financial affairs was substantially governed
and controlled by his advice, and the steady progress
and great increase in value of that important rail-
road property, and its influential position among the
corporations of the state, were largely' due to his
conservative and judicious direction.
Mr. Parker was a man of great industry, and
gave the closest and most faithful attention to every
detail of business. There were elements of earnest-
ness and determination in his character which caused
him to follow out and accomplish, however arduous
and difficult, every undertaking in which he engaged.
He was conservative, cautious and prudent, and no
man brought more conscientious and untiring at-
tention to the performance of every duty and dis-
charge of every obligation. He possessed an analyti-
cal and logical mind, and from long experience ac-
quired the habit of thorough and careful investigation
of every subject which he had to consider, and having
decided what was right hejiossessed great confidence
in his own judgment and generally adhered to.
his own conclusions. He seemed to be by nature pe-
culiarly fitted to manage financial afl'airs, and banking
seemed to be the employment to which he was most
adapted. The confidence of his fellow financiers and the
public generally was a thing he fully possessed, and
lie discharged every obligation and trust with that
absolute exactitude that satisfied himself and
those for whom he acted. His advice in financial
matters was often sought and proved almost invari-
ably a thing of value to those who took it.
In disposition Mr. Parker was modest and re-
tiring. He was a stanch Republican, but had no
political ambition to satisfy by attaining some high
oiifice. His service to his party was as much or
more of a concession to its demands as it was an
honor to him. In the early years of his residence in
Manchester he served as one of the first board of
selectmen. In 1855 and 1856 he served as a mem-
ber of the New Hampshire state senate, and could
have been its president, but he was unwilling to
accept the position. He was elected to the New
Hampshire house of representatives in 1863, and was
a member of the governor's council in 1879 and
1S80. Mr. Parker married, September, 1S37, Char-
lotte M. Riddle, of Merrimack, granddaughter of
Captain Isaac Riddle, a wealthy farmer, mill owner
and contractor of Bedford, and daughter of
Riddle, died in October, 1859, leaving one son,
Walter M. Parker.
(VII) Walter Matthew, only child of Nathan
and Charlotte M. (Riddle) Parker, was born July
18, 1850, in a house which stood on the site of the
present postofiice building in Manchester. Here he
grew up and went through the public schools, and
fitted for college under private tutors. He entered
Dartmouth College in 1867, and was graduated with
the class of 1871. Immediately after graduation he
entered the Manchester National Bank as a clerk,
and has worked his way through the gradations
to the present position at its head. For many years
he was cashier, and succeeded his father as presi-
dent upon the death of the latter, in 1894. Ihe same
conservative and prudent management has character-
ized his career as governed the life of his father,
and he is a worthy successor of one who was held
in the highest regard among the business men of
Manchester. Mr. Parker is a member of the Second
Congregational Society of Manchester, and one of
its staunch supporters. He believes that the prin-
ciples of the Republican party are best calculated
to preserve the integrity and prosperity of the coun-
try, and gives them his hearty endorsement and
fe ?*io"^
for »>«!■!■*■
*rasP»'
:;, Tm««'
"■';c!liB*'
: '■: ill! i*"
: Eita
f I I
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
229
unflagging support. He has served as a member of
the school board and common council of Manchester,
and was representative m the legislature m 1883.
He has been active in the establishment of numerous
industries that are calculated to build up and benetit
the city. He is a director and treasurer of the
Manchester Gas Light Company, director and vice-
president of the New Hampshire Fire Insurance
Company, an organization of which Manchester and
the state may well be proud, and a director of the
Concord and Montreal Railroad Company. Mr.
Parker was married, July 29, 1S96, to Christina
Holmes, who was born March 9, 1S60, in Cape Bre-
ton, Nova Scotia, a daughter of Joseph Holmes, of
English blood. A daughter completes the family of
Mr. Parker, namely, Charlotte, born June 4, 1897.
(.V) Nathan, third son and child of Matthew (i)
Parker, was born January i, 1767, in Litchfield
(probably), and died August 31, 1849, in Merrimack,
where he settled, in April, 1798. He was an extensive
farmer and also kept a hotel and stage station at
Reed's Ferry. AIL of his sons in turn kept hotel,
and most of them settled on land around him. At
one time he caught immense numbers of pigeons
ill nets, which he sold in Boston, and on account
of the large number marketed during several years
was nick-named "Pig:eon Parker." He was a mem-
ber of the Presbyterian Church, and was respected
as a good citizen. His wife, Mary McQueston,
was descended from an old Scotch-Irish family of
Londonderry. She was born April 16, 1776, and died
June 4, 1861, in her eighty-fifth year. Their eldest
son, William, is a resident of Manchester. Frances,
the second child, married Leonard Walker, a farmer
of Merrimack. The others were : Nathan, Matthew,
Adeline Eliza, Elkanah Philip, James, Harriet.
Thomas and Marietta Rollins. Adeline became the
wife of Enoch Merrill, a merchant of Nashua,
where she died. Harriet married Robert French,
a farmer of Merrimack, as was John Wheeler, hus-
band of the youngest daughter.
(VIj Thomas, sixth son and ninth child of Na-
than and Mary (McQueston) Parker, was born at
Reeds Ferry, February 20, 1815. His early years
were spent at farm work and in attending school un-
til he was seventeen years old. Soon after 1837
he removed to Chelmsford, Massachusetts, where
he purchased and conducted a hotel for five years.
Returning to Reed's Ferry he took up his abode on
the paternal homestead, where he was engaged in
farming the following four years. He ,then re-
moved to Suncook where he was employed as a
glass-cutter. Again returning to Reed's F'erry he
settled on the place he occupied until his death, and
where he built a barn in 1852, and a dwelling the
following year. He was engaged in farming at
Reed's F'erry, and in the manufacture of extension
tables at Merrimack. In the fall of each year from
1850 until after the year 1870, he engaged in catching
wild pigeons, which were then found in the vicinity
of his home in immense numbers. On some occa-
sions he had on hand as many as one thousand dozen
pigeons, which his grandfather Parker, took
to the Boston market on horseback. He was a
Whig and later a Republican, and served four terms
as selectman. He was for many years a member
of the Congregational Church, in which he was a
deacon. He died, March 27. 1885, on the place
which is now the home of his daughter, Mary E.
Parker. He married, October 19, 1837, Margaret
Nesmith, of Londonderry, daughter of James and
(Corning) Nesmith. She died December 29.
1893. Their children were: Mary E., wdio lives
on the old place; Thomas A., died March 11. 1905;
Charles W., lives in Illinois ; James A., died Feb-
ruary 26, 1886; Nathan, also deceased; Francis B.
and Eugene H., who live on the homestead, and
Edwin M., ne.xt mentioned.
(VII) Edwin Monroe, seventh son and eighth
child of Thomas and Alargaret (Nesmith) Parker,
grew up on his father's farm and attended the com-
mon schools. He graduated from Dartmouth Col-
lege in 1884, and spent the two following years in
the Vermont Medical College at Burlington, Ver-
mont. He then returned home and remained there
three years, and then continued the study of medi-
cine the next three years at the Boston Surgical
College (now Tufts College), and completed his
education by taking a four years course in Harvard
Medical College. In 1893 he began the practice of
medicine at South Yarmouth, Massachusetts, where
he has since resided, and now has a large and pros-
perous practice. He is a Republican in political
sentiment, and has tilled the offices of member of
the school board one term, and town clerk two
terms. He is a member of the Congregational
Church at Merrimack, and also of Free and Accepted
^Masons, of Merrimack, of which he is a past master.
He married, October 30, 1902, JNIaud M. Allen,
daughter of Captain James and Mary (Crowell)
Allen.
(V) James, son of Matthew Parker, born 1774,
married his cousin Betsey, daughter of William
and Nabby Parker. She was born September 23,
1791, in Bedford, where they resided. He died March
26, 1822, and the widow subsequently married James
Walker. (See Walker, IV). James Parker's chil-
dren were : Henry C. and Jannet M.
(IV) William, son of Rev. Thomas Parker,
married Mehitable Baldwin, of Boscawen, and re-
sided in Litchfield, where he was killed by an ac-
cident in a saw mill yard. His children were:
Betsey, who married John Barber, of Boscawen;
Polly, who married Jonas Barnum, of Dracut ; Wil-
liam and John. The last named went to sea and was
drowned.
(V) William, son of William and Mehitable
(Baldwin) Parker, was born January 21, 1755, in
Litchfield, and died in Bedford in 1819. He was a
soldier of the Revolution from Litchfield, and set-
tled in Bedford in 1785. He was by trade a shoe-
maker, and first set up his shop on a small piece
of land in what is now West Manchester, near school
No. 5. He was industrious and prospered, made
purchases of land and became known as the "Father
of Squag." He built a small tavern which was liber-
ally patronized by travelers on the road from Con-
cord to Boston, and this in time was enlarged. He
also began the purchase of lumber, which he rafted
down the river to Newburyport, and his operations
in this line grew to be quite extensive. He estab-
lished a store, and in 1796-97 his tavern and store
were very largely patronized. He became a partner
in the lumber trade with his cousin, William Parker,
of Goftstown, known as "Farmer Bill," and the
latter was largely indebted to the former for his
start in life. William Parker married his cousin
Nabby Parker, who was born October 25, 1865, in
Litchfield, daughter of Captain John Parker, (q.
v.). She died in June, 1846. They were the parents
of ten children: Susan, the eldest, w-as the wife of
Jonathan Palmer. Daniel was a lumberman and
lived and died in Bedford. William receives ex-
tended mention below. Betsey married James Par-
ker. Isaac, Robert, Gilman and John resided in the
vicinity of their father. Mary married L. F. Harris.
Edward was also a resident of Bedford.
(V\) William, son of William and Nabby Par-
230
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
ker, was born April 28, 1789, in Bedford, now Man-
chester. He became the owner of a valuable tract
of land on the river road in what is now Hooksett,
once known as "the Todd place, ' now occupied by
Shirley. His farm included about eighty acres of
intervale and extensive timber tracts on the hills.
He also kept a popular hotel, which was the resort
of many who traveled upon that thoroughfare.
This was located about two miles south of the
present village of Hooksett. Mr. Parker married
Susan Whittle, who belonged to one of the leading
families of Goffstown. Her brother William Whittle,
was for many years a prominent citizen of Man-
chester. Mr. Parker died at the age of about sixty-
five years. He had two daughters, Susan and Ade-
line. The former became the wife of John Shirley
and resided in Hooksett, and the latter married
Nathaniel Mitchell. (See Mitchell, VI).
(IV) John, third son and seventh child of Rev.
Thomas and Lydia (Richardson) Parker, was born
1738, in Dracut, settled in Litchfield, New Hamp-
shire, and was chosen selectman at the first annual
March meeting in 1750. Before 1775 he moved to Goffs-
town. He was a soldier of the Revolutionary army,
and commanded a company of rangers at the battle
of Bunker Hill under General Montgomery in 1776.
He died at the age of eighty-four years, in Goffs-
town, in 1822. Following is a brief account of his
children : Lydia, married Thomas Whittier ; Nabby,
was the wife of William Parker, of Bedford, son
of William, son of Rev. Thomas ; Polly, married
John Boes, and went to Maine ; Sally, wife of James
Martin; Lucy became the wife of John Tufts, of
Litchfield, and was the grandmother of Martha
(Tufts) Parker, of Manchester. John married
Letty Moore; William settled in Goffstown, and re-
ceives further mention in the following paragraph.
(y) William, youngest child of John Parker,
was "born in Goft'stown, 1775, and passed his life in
that town. He was a farmer and lumberman and
also engaged in merchandising, and was successful
as a business man, as most of the Parker family
were and are. He died August 9, 1839, at the age
of sixty-four years. He was a staunch Whig, in-
terested in good government and the progress of his
country and town. His religious connections was with
the Congregational Church. His first wife, Hannah
Aiken, died September 30, 1818, in Goffstown. She
was a daughter of Captain James Aiken, of London-
derry and Bedford, New Hampshire, a scion of the
old Scotch-Irish stock that settled his native town.
The children of this union were : Rodney, George
W., Caroline and Margaret Ann. Mr. .Parker was
married (second), to Mrs. Hannah McGaw, widow
of John McGaw, and daughter of David and Mary
(Woodman) Adams. She was born August 22, 1788,
in Derry, New Hampshire, and died February 26,
1869, in Goffstown. She was a descendant of the
Adams family which has twice furnished a chief
executive to the nation. She was a woman of su-
perior character and ability, whose Christian in-
fluence over her family was most ennobling. Her
ancestry is traced from one of the pioneers of New-
bury, Massachusetts. Robert Adams, through (2)
Abraham, (3) Abraham, all of whom are fully de-
scribed under appropriate headings in this work.
(IV) Samuel, son of Abraham (2) and Anne
(Longfellow) Adams, married in 1747, a widow,
Mary Brown, born Jewett, and had four sons in the
Revolutionary army, namely: Samuel (2), David,
Josiah and Stephen.
(V) David, fourth son of Samuel and Mary
(Jewett) Adams, was born December 15, 1754, and
settled in Derry, this state, as did his eldest brother.
Samuel. He was married, September 22, 1778, to
Mary Woodman, as above indicated.
William and Hannah (Adams) Parker had four
children: Hannah A., born November 13, 1819, died
unmarried.; John McG., born September 17, 1822, is
the subject of the following paragraph; David
Adams, born October 25, 1824, resided in Goffstown,
was twice married, and left two children — William
A. and Alice, wife of Irving Porter, of Medford,
Massachusetts. William H., born August 6, 1831,
died in infancy.
(VI) John McGaw, second child and eldest son
of William and Hannah (Adams) (McGaw) Par-
ker, was born September 17, 1822, in Goffstown, and
became one of the most extensive business men and
largest landholders of the town. His primary edu-
cation was supplied by the local school, after which
he was a student at Hopkinton and Derry academies
and at Concord, New Hampshire. He continued
the management of the store left by his father for
some years, until it was disposed of by the heirs.
In partnership with his brother, David A. Parker, he
established a store at Parker's Station in 1843, and
continued there until 1872, when the business was
removed to the village of Goft'stown and there con-
tinued until they were succeeded by their sons. For
nearly fifty years the brotliers conducted extensive
lumber operations, being reckoned among the largest
in their section of the state, and this business was
closed up by John McG. Parker after the death of
his brother, in 1895. He continued the cultivation
of the homestead farm, which was a part of his
landed possessions, throughout his active life, and
died September 17, 1902, upon the farm where his
widow resided, and she survived him three years,
dying October, 1905.
Always interested in the national progress, Mr.
Parker acted with the Whig party, as representing
his ideas of the best national policy, until the forma-
tion of the Republican party in 1856, in which he
was an active factor. He was a member of the state
senate in 1858-59, and represented the town of
Goft'stown in the lower house in 1869. He was a
member of the executive council during the admin-
istration of Governors Cheney and Prescott, and his
substantial worth and sound business capacity were
recognized by his retention for a period of twenty-
two years upon the state board of equalization. Mr.
Parker was married, November 25, 1854, to Letitia
C. Stinson, of Dunbarton, New Hampshire, second
daughter of Captain Charles and Susan (Cochran)
Stinson, of that town. Mr. and Mrs. Parker were
the parents of three sons, Charles Stinson, Henry
Woodman and Frank A. The first and last are
in business at Goffstown, and the other in jSlan-
chester. The mother died October 8, ipoj, at her
home at Parker's Station, at the age of seventy years.
She was much interested in the work of the Con-
gregational Church, to which she contributed liber-
ally of her time and means.
(VII) Charles Stinson, eldest son of John Mc-
Gaw and Letitia C. (Stinson) Farker, was born
November 3, 1855, in Goffstown, and received his
education in the district schools of that town. He
was very early accustomed to assist in conducting the
business of his father's store, and at seventeen years
of age gave his entire attention to that and to the
farm owned by his father. He has ever since con-
tinued in his line, having succeeded his father, in
company with his brother, in the conduct of the
store. They are also extensively interested in the
lumber trade and in addition to this operate a grist-
mill at Goffstown, besides dealing to a considerable
extent in real estate. They still retain the old home-
'. T
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
stead at Parkers. They also operate a mill in the
town of Weare and are doing an extensive and
profitable business. Mr. Parker is a member of the
Congregational Church, and has been for twenty-
five years an Odd Fellow. He is a steadfast Re-
publican in politics, and has been active in promoting
the progress of the town and community. In 1887
he was representative from Goitstown in the legis-
lature. He was married, September 15, 1S86, to
Bessie Brackett, daughter of Edward Brackett, of
Winchester, Massachusetts. She was educated at
the Normal school at Winchester in her native state,
and for four years attended the normal school in
Palmer, Massachusetts, graduated therefrom and
was three years engaged in teachmg. Like her hus-
band she is an active member of the Congregational
Church. Their children are: John E., Will. F.,
Harry S. and Mary S.
(.VII) Henry Woodman, second son of John
McGaw and Letitia C. (Stinson) Parker, is a native
of Goffstown, and received his education in the
public schools of that town. At the age of twenty
years he went into business with his brother Charles,
under the name of Parker Brothers, hi Goffstown,
and there operated a general store about eight years.
Early in 1889 he bought the interest of Roger Dodge
in the firm of Drake & Dodge, of Manchester, and
the firm became Drake & Parker. After one and
one-half years Mr. Drake died, and Mr. Parker be-
came the sole proprietor of the business. Since
this time he has continued successfully and carries on
an extensive wholesale grocery and coffee roasting
business on Granite street in ]\Iaiichester. He is a
director of the Merchants' National Bank and a
trustee of the Hillsborough County Savings Bank.
Mr. Parker is a member of Trinity Commandery,
Knights Templar, of Manchester, and has had the
thirty-second degree of Free Masonry, being affiliated
with Edward Raymond Consistory of Nashua. He
continues to reside on the old homestead at Parker's
Station in Goffstown, where his mother recently
passed away. Mr. Parker is an earnest Republican
in political principle and endeavors to support his
party, believing that its success means the welfare
of the country, and represented Goft'stown in the
legislature in the session of 1907. He is essentially
a business man. Of genial nature and pleasant
manners, he enjoys the friendship and patronage of
a large number of people in and about Manchester.
He married, June 6, 1906, a Miss Margaret Fairback,
of St. Louis, Missouri. He resides winters in Man-
chester but at the old home in Goffstown in the
summer.
(Third Family.)
As previously stated in this article,
PARKER the name of Parker is widely distrib-
uted, and traced to different individ-
uals among the Puritan fatliers. The lines here-
inbefore traced are from Captain James Parker, and
we now take up the history of one of his brothers.
■There were five of them— Jacob, James, Joseph,
Abraham and John. The last named settled about
1653 in Shawsheen, now Billerica.
(I) Abraham Parker is supposed to have been a
native of Marlborough, Wiltshire, England, whence
he came to this country about 1639. He settled in
Woburn, Massachusetts, and was there married,
November 18, 1644, to Rose Whitlock. He was ad-
mitted a freeman the next year, and was among
those (including three of his brothers) who settled
Chelmsford about 1653. His homestead was set off
to him September 29, 1662, consisting of thirty-four
acres near the center of the town. He was one of
about twenty persons that signed a petition to the
general court, dated August 30, 1653, served as con-
stable, tythingman and surveyor of ways, and his
name appears on the records .as a member of various
committees for town purposes. He died at Chelms-
ford, August 12, 16S5, having made his will si.^ days
previously. It was proved three years later, before
Sir Edmond Andros. His widow died November
30, 1O91. Tradition says that she was the first to
bake bread in Chelmsford. The value of her estate
was placed by "prisers" at one hundred and twenty-
five pounds. The wills of herself and husband are
on file in the Middlesex and Suffolk records, respec-
tively. James Parker of Groton, her son-in-law and
executor, was killed by Indians ; and her son, Moses,
was appointed in his stead, to act as administrator
of both hers and her husband's estate. TlTeir chil-
dren were: Anna (or Hannah), John, Abraham
(died before two years old), Abraham, Alary, Moses,
Isaac, Elizabeth, Lydia and Jacob. The first four
survivors were baptized in 1656 by Rev. J. Fiske of
Chelmsford.
(II; jMoses, fourth son and sixth child of Abra-
ham Parker, was born about 1657, in Chelmsford
(the uncertainty as to date is owing to the worn
condition of the records) and was a farmer in that
town, like his father. In 1718 he subscribed one
pound toward the twenty pounds desired to be raised
by subscription to build the first school house in
Chelmsford. He served on a town committee in
1726, and died October 12, 1732. He was married,
June 19, 1684, by Samuel Adams, commissioner, to
Abigail Hildreth of Chelmsford. Their children
were : Abigail, Moses, Aaron, Elizabeth, Joseph,
Benjamin and Mary. According to Chelmsford
records, the second was "killed with thunder" July
28, 1702. The fifth was lieutenant of a snowshoe
company formed in 1724 to operate against the In-
dians, and was styled Captain at his death, in 1738.
His son, Lieutenant-Colonel Moses Parker, was
wounded at the battle of Bunker Hill, and died a
prisoner in Boston, July 4, 1775, aged forty-three
years.
(III) Aaron, second son and third child of Moses
and Abigail (Hildreth) Parker, was born April 9,
1689, in Chelmsford, and was married about 1712
to Abigail Adams. He signed the covenant at the
organization of the church in the west parish of
Chelmsford in 1727. This is now Westford, in which
town he served as selectman several years and was •
also assessor. He was a farmer, and died December
19) I775> in fi's eighty-seventh year. His children
were : Aaron, Samuel, Moses, Abigail, Mary, Lucy,
Elizabeth, Isaac, Joseph and Esther.
(IV) Samuel, second son and child of Aaron and
Abigail (Adams) Parker, was born January I, 1717,
in Chelmsford west parish, where he passed his life.
He was married, January 22, 1738, to Sarah, daugh-
ter of Joshua Fletcher. She died October 12, 1746,
and he was married. May 12, 1748, to Mrs. Mary
Robbins, daughter of John Proctor, of Chelmsford.
She died November 22, 1757, and he married (third),
the widow of Ephraim Fletcher. His children by
the first wife were : Samuel, Sarah, Joseph, Silas
and Leonard; by the second wife, Mary, Jonathan,
Abel, Elizabeth and Lydia.
(V) Joseph, second son and third child of Sam-
uel and Sarah (Fletcher) Parker, was born May
20, 1742, in Westford, Massachusetts, and settled
in the town of New Ipswich, New Hampshire about
1766. He is of record as a taxpayer in that town in
1763. He owned and lived on three different farms
in that town, and was a man of affairs, especially
distinguished in military operations. In a militia
company formed in 1771, he was corporal. When
232
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
reorganized in 1775, he was captain of Company
8, Colonel Wyman's regiment. In General Whip-
ple's brigade, raised in. 1778 to operate against the
British in Rhode Island, he was major in Colonel
Hale"s regiment. The history of New Ipswich says :
"Captain Parker seems to have been litted by na-
ture for the part he was to act in this town.
* * * He was a most daring and energetic
man * * * He commanded a company of militia,
and was prompt to march wherever his services
were needed. * * * He was at Cambridge, Ti-
conderoga, Rhode Island and the taking of Bur-
goyne. * * * He was very popular among his
soldiers." He was married July 18. 1763, to Su-
sannah Fletcher of Westford, and died September
22, 1807, in New Ipswich, aged si.xty-tive. He had
nine children, namely: Joseph, Zechariah, Amos,
Susanna, Asa, John, Betsey, Sally and Lydia.
(VI) Joseph (2) eldest child of Joseph (i) and
Susanna (Fletcher) Parker, was born August 13,
1767, in New Ipswich, this state, and was married
there May I, 1792, to Sarah Wright. She was born
October 2, 1769, in that town, daughter of Simeon
and Sarah Wright. Ten years after, with their five
children, they moved to Lempster, New Hampshire,
and settled on the farm where Hosea W. Parker
was born. Here four more children came to
them, and here he died March 14, 1825. His chil-
dren were: Sally, Jeremiah, Joseph, Benjamin,
Jonas, Almena, Hiram, William Bateman and
George Washington.
(VII) Benjamin, third son and fourth child of
Joseph (2). and Sarah (Wright) Parker, was bom
August 24, 1798, in New Ipswich, and was four
years old when taken by his parents to Lempster.
He resided on the homestead, consisting of one
hundred and fift\' acres, and was a prosperous farm-
er and potash manufacturer, respected as a good
citizen. He was a Universalist, and was largely
instrumental in the construction of a chapel of the
sect in East Lempster. A consistent Democrat, he
always stood for his principles, and was frequently
called upon to serve the town in official capacity.
He was many years selectman and represented the
town in the state legislature. He passed away at
the early age of forty-seven years, December 18,
1845. He was married September 9, 1S24. to Olive
Nichols, who was born in 1799 in Lempster, daugh-
ter of Timothy Nichols. Their eldest child, Emily
L., is the widow of Ransom P. Beckwith, now re-
siding in Claremont. Hiram, the second, is the
subject of the succeeding paragraoh. Hosea W.,
the third, receives extended mention in this article.
(VIII) Hiram, elder son and second child of
Benjamin and Olive (Nichols) Parker, was born
July 3, 1830, in Lempster. He attended the district
school of his native town and also the high school.
He was early accustomed to the labors of the farm
and thus acquired habits of industry and economy
which have made the New England Yankee pre-
eminent wherever he has chosen to reside. In 1847,
tw-o years after the death of his father, he assumed
the responsibilities of the farm and remained in
entire charge of it until 18S7. In that year he re-
moved to the village of Lempster. and in association
with his son. Fred C. Parker, who had already. estab-
lished a business there, he conducted the mercantile
business, under the name of H. & F. C. Parker.
Subsequently he purchased the interest of his son
and has ever since continued to conduct the store
alone. He carries a large stock of general mer-
chandise, such as is demanded by the people of the
neighborhood, who find this depot a great accom-
modation. In October. 1894, Mr. Parker took charge
of the postoflSce, under President Cleveland's ad-
ministration, and has ever since conducted it. He
has always been an active citizen and has borne an
important part in the conduct of town aiTairs. For
thirteen years, he served as selectman, being chair-
man of the board most of the time, resigning that
position previous to 1900. He has served many years
as treasurer of the town and served on the school
board for six years. He was representative in the
legislature in 1863-4 ^"d served nine" years on the
state board of agriculture. Mr. Parker has always
been an ardent supporter of the Democratic party,
and wields a large influence in the county and state.
Both he and his wife are members of the Univer-
salist Society, of which he is secretary. He is ac-
tively interested in the Patrons of Husbandry, and
is past master of Silver Mountain Lodge, No. 196.
and is a member of the Pomona Grange of Sullivan
county. Besides his extensive mercantile business
he continued to conduct his farm until 1905 when
he sold it and has thus escaped some of his cares.
He was married, October 11, 1854. to Helen G.
Moore, wdio was born in Lempster, June 16, 1836,
a daughter of« Charles and Anna (Beckwith) JNIoore.
Charles Moore was a native of Bolton, Massachu-
setts, and was one of the early settlers in Lempster.
He died in 1870, and his wife twelve years later,
in 1882. She was a native of Unity, New Hamp-
shire, and they were the parents of four children :
Harriet, the eldest, became the wife of Dr. J. X.
Butler of Lempster ; George, resided in LInity for
some .years and is now a resident of Weathersheld,
Vermont; ETelen G. is the wife of Hiram Parker as
above noted ; Charles Austin is a commercial
traveler, residing in Rutland, Vermont. Hiram
Parker and his wife had four children : Fred C,
Frank B., Jennie L. and Carl Austin. The second
died when three years old. Fred C, the eldest was
born June 27, 1858, and now resides in Concord.. He
is a traveling salesman employed by Dunham Bros.,
of Brattleboro, Vermont. Jennie L., the daughter
was born November 10. 1864, and graduated from
the Claremont High School. She is now the wife
of Herbert F. Ohnstead, formerly of Lempster, now
an undertaker and dealer in musical instruments at
Newport. Carl Austin, youngest son, was born .\pril
28, 1879, i" Lempster. He graduated from Kimball
Union Academy at Meriden, and subsequently
learned the carpenter's trade. Besides working at
this occupation he assists his father in the store part
of the time. He was married, October 17, 1903, to
Mattie Morgan, of Lempster, and has a daughter,
Helen Louise, born November 26, 1904.
(VIII) Hosea Washington Parker, third and
youngest child of Benjamin and Olive (Nichols)
Parker was born May 30, 1833, in Lempster, and was
but twelve years old when his father died. He was
early accustomed to labor in his own behalf, and the
habits thus formed have contributed much to his suc-
cess in his chosen field of endeavor. The common
school supplied his first instruction and awakened an
appetite for learning. He was so fortunate as to
enjoy a few terms of instruction in Washington
Academy, under the noted teacher. Professor Dyer
H. Sanborn, meantime aiding his brother in tilling
the home farm. He entered Green Mountain Liberal
Institute at South Woodstock, Vermont, and Tufts
College in 1855. During this time he had engaged
in teaching as a means of carrying forward his col-
lege training, and left during the second year at
Tufts, to take up the study of law, under Edmund
Burke of Newport. He completed his preparation
and was admitted to the bar of Sullivan county in
1S59. He has been admitted before all the courts df
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
233
the United States, having been introduced before
the national supreme court by IMontgomery Blair,
attorney general of the United States, while the
court was presided over by an eminent native of
New Hampshire, Salmon P. Chase. (See Chase).
It is safe to say that he has tried as many causes
before juries in the last forty years as any attorney
in the county. Mr. Parker began his practice in
his native town, but soon moved to Claremont, and
has occupied the same suite of offices for the last
forty-seven years. He has been twenty-two years
a trustee of Tufts College, and is now president of
the board. This institution conferred upon him the
degree of Master of Arts in 1883. For the last
forty-six years he has been superintendent of the
Universalist Sunday school at Claremont, and he has
been a trustee of the Free Public Library of the
town over twenty years. He was a member of the
high school board fifteen years, and served as chair-
man of the town water board. These facts indicate
his interest in all that pertains to the best life of a
community, and the esteem, confidence and respect
in which he is held by his fellow citizens. He is
much interested in Masonic work, and was eminent
commander of Sullivan Commandery. Knights
Templar, twenty years. He is always active in the
general conventions of the Universalists. and was
three times president of its national general con-
ventions, at Lynn and Boston, J^lassachusetts, and
at Chicago.
Like his father, Mr. Parker has always acted
with the Democratic party, and this has somewhat
curtailed his opportunities for public service, though
he has frequently been chosen as moderator of town
meetings. He is devoted to his principles and party,
and has been active in its, counsels throughout his
adult life. His first political speeches were made
in opposition to the so-called Know-Nothing orga-
nization, which was at one time in the ascendency
in this state. He has served almost constantly as
a member of the state central committee, is nearly
always a delegate in State conventions, over two
of which he has presided, and has been a delegate in
two National conventions. In 1868. he was a mem-
ber of the New Hampshire delegation at the na-
tional Democratic convention in New York, and sup-
ported General Winfield S. Hancock as candidate for
the presidential nomination, and had the satisfaction
of helping to place him on the ticket at the con-
vention of 1880, in Cincinnati. IMr. Parker was
cliosen a legislative representative of his native town
in 1859, and was re-elected the following year. He
was on the committees on education and railroads,
and was active in the work of legislation, both in
committee room and upon the floor of the house,
attacting to himself the favorable notice of his con-
temporaries and his constituency, as well as the
public at large. He was the nominee of his party
for state senator in the old tenth district, but was
defeated through the overwhelming strength of the
opposing party. He was the opponent of Hon. Jacob
Benton in the contest for election of congressmen
in 1869, and was defeated by a narrow margin. Two
years later he was again nominated in the third
district, and defeated his opponent, through the dis-
trict was normally Republican by a large majority.
In both these contests he carried his home town,
normally Republican, by large majorities. He
served in the Forty-second Congress, and was
re-elected by increased majority in 1873. He was a
faithful representative of the people, and was active
in opposition to every plunder scheme, while advo-
cating revenue reform and the application of the
proceeds of public land sales to popular education.
He was a member of the committees on education
and labor. During his second term he rendered the
public signal service in opposing the renewal of
sewing machine patents, which would continue a
monopoly that was ready with almost unlimited
funds to purchase special privileges. It was through
the persistent opposition of Mr. Parker that the com-
mittee finally voted by one majority not to report in
favor of extending the patents, and in a few months
machines were being offered at two-thirds of former
prices. Mr. Parker was appointed one of the co-
masters by the judge of the superior court for Mer-
rimack county to hear evidence and pass upon the
competency of Mary Baker Eddy, in the celebrated
Eddy suit.
Mr. Parker was married. May 30, i86x, to iliss
Lovisa Southgate of Bridgewater, Vermont, daugh-
ter of Mark and Lovisa (Curtis) Southgate of that
town. She was born there November 18, 1831, and
died September 14, 1904, in Claremont. She was
a graduate of Green Mountain Liberal Institute,
and taught school some years in North Carolina,
before her marriage. Their only child, Lizzie S.,
is the wife of Rev. Lee S. McCollester. D. D., pastor
of a Universalist Church at Detroit, Michigan. She
is a graduate of Smith College (1888). Dr. McCol-
lester is a learned man. graduate of Tufts College,
and has studied much abroad, having visited Europe
five times. His children are Parker, born September
5, 1890; and Catherine McCollister, born July 4,
1893. The elder is a graduate of the Detroit High
School, and is a talented musician and performer
on the 'cello.
(Fourth Family.)
(I) William Parker, a tanner, came
PARKER over from England in the latter part
of the seventeenth century. He took
up his abode in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, buy-
ing out Matthew Nelson's tannery on March 10,
1699. and then and there establishing himself in the
tanning business, in which he continued during the
remainder of his life. Some four years later, on
February 26, 1703, he married Zerviah Stanley',
daughter of Matthew Stanley, of Topsfield, Mafsa-
chusetts. Four children were born of this marriage:
William, Katherine, John, and a daughter whose
name is unknown. Zerviah, the wife of William
Parker, died August 18, 1718, aged fifty-three years,
and on September 15, 1719, he married Lydia Hart,
who survived him, and to whom he bequeathed
fifty pounds in money. William Parker was a man
of energy and ability, and the numerous transactions
in land in which he was interested indicate a pros-
perous condition of his afiairs during his life in
Portsmouth, where he continued a resident until his
death in 1737. At his decease the management of
his business fell to his son John Parker, the eldest
son, William having then adopted the profession
of the law. From John Parker were descended
Rev. Noah Parker, the first Universalist minister
settled in Portsmouth; William B. Parker, judge
of the municipal court of that town; Lieutenant
John Parker and Commander William A. Parker, of
the United States navy. Of the eldest son, William
Parker, we quote from the sketch written of him
by his son-in-law, Nathaniel Adams, author of the
"Annals of Portsmouth :"
(II) "The Honourable William Parker departed
this life .'\pril 29, 1781, aged seventy-seven. He was
born in this town in the year 1703, (December 9),
received the rudiments of his education in one of
the public schools, and at the age of fifteen became
apprenticed to his father, who was a tanner. He
made himself thoroughly acquainted wiih that busi-
234
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
ness, but relinquished it soon after he came of age,
and was employed for several years as master of one
of the public schools. In his leisure hours he pur-
sued the study of the law, and was admitted to the
bar in the year 1732. When the commissioners met
at Hampton (.1/37.) to settle the line between this
provmce and Massachusetts, they apponited him their
clerk. He afterwards received a commission from
Governor Belcher to be register of probate, and
his knowledge of the law enabled hmi to discharge
the duties of that office with great ability. He was
also appointed surrogate judge of admiralty, and
was for many years the only notary public m the
province. In 1765 he was elected one of the repre-
sentatives to the general assembly, and was re-
elected every year afterwards until 1774. In Au-
gust, 1771, he received a commission appointing him
one of the justices of the superior court
of judicature for the province, which office
he held until the commencement of the Revo-
lution, when the royal authority ceased here,
and all who held offices under the King were
obliged to relinquish them. Judge Parker was es-
teemed a well-read and accurate lawyer; he had
diligently studied the law, not only as a profession
but as a science. While at the bar he was con-
sulted and his advice relied upon in the most im-
portant cases which came before the courts. But his
studies were not confined entirely to the law. He
gave much attention to the belles-lettres, in which
he made great proficiency. lu 1763 the corporation
of Harvard College conferred on him the degree
of Master of Arts, and in their vote they directed it
to be expressly mentioned in his diploma, pro incritis
suis, although he never had a public education."
Bell, in the "Bench and Bar of New Hampshire,"
thus refers to Judge Parker : "The descendants of
Judge Parker have no occasion to go beyond him-
self in pursuit of ancestral honors and true family
worth. Judge Parker was not only a selfmade man,
but cherished a high ideal. In his profession he
was not content with superficial or mere practical
knowledge, but he made himself master of the law
as a science. In his practice his thoroughness was
the cause of his employment by clients of discern-
ment in all their important concerns. He was re-
tained and his opinions chiefly relied upon in the
principal cases in the courts, and by common consent
he was allowed to be at the head of his profession
in New Hampshire."
In 1728 Judge Parker married Elizabeth Grafton,
who became the mother of his large family of eleven
children, the first of whom was Zerviah Stanley
Parker, who married William Earl Treadwell, an
officer in Colonel Moore's regiment in the Louisburg
expedition of 1745. Her death occurred in 1750.
The eldest son of Judge Parker was named William
Parker. He studied law with his father, graduated
at Harvard, and began practice in Exeter, New
Hampshire, in 1755. In 1775 he was delegated to the
second provincial congress in Exeter, and in 1777
was elected a member of the general assembly. He
succeeded his father in 1776 as register of probate
for Rockingham county, and held this office for
thirty-seven years. He was also judge of the
court of common pleas at Exeter from 1790 to 1807.
He reared and educated a family of seven children,
one of whom. Dr. William Parker, was a surgeon
in the Second New Hampshire Regiment, war of the
Revolution; another son was Nathaniel Parker, law-
yer and secretary of state of New Hampshire in
1809. The second son of Judge William Parker was
John Parker, of Portsmouth, first United States
marshal of this state, and one of the presidential
electors for the state in 1787. Elizabeth Parker, the
second daughter of Judge Parker, married Captain
Nathaniel Adams, of Portsmouth. Their son, Na-
thaniel Adams, was clerk of the supreme court, and
author of the "Annals of Portsmouth." Another
daughter of Judge Parker, Mary Parker, married
Hon. David Sewall, of York, Maine, judge of the
supreme court of Maine, and for thirty years of
the United States district court; while his fourth
daughter, Lydia, married Samuel Hale, of Ports-
mouth, New Hampshire, and their son, John Parker
Hale, became the father of Hon. John P. Hale,
United States Senator, Free Soil candidate for the
presidency in 1832, and minister to Spain. Judge
Parker's daughter Katherine died unmarried in 1817,
and his youngest daughter, Sarah, married Hon.
Christopher Toppan, of Hampton, New Hampshire,
a member of the governor's council in 1786. The
third son of Judge Parker was Rt. Rev. Samuel
Parker, graduate of Harvard, elected rector of
Trfnity Church, Boston, in 1779, and bishop of the
Eastern Diocese in 1804. Hon. Samuel S. Parker is
a direct descendant from the fourth son of Judge
Parker, Matthew Stanley Parker.
(III) Matthew Stanley Parker was born in
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Feptember 28, 1749.
Pie received a good education, and at the age of
twenty-four years, on April 12, 1773, married Ann,
daughter of Captain Henry Rust of Portsmouth.
Soon after marriage he removed to Wolfboro, New
Hampshire, where he had previously purchased two
hundred acres of land upon Wolfboro Neck, and
upon which he erected a log house and began the
life of a pioneer. Later he resided at what is now
known as Wolfboro Falls, having charge of lumber
mills there and also of the Governor Wentworth
farm at Smith's Pond, now Lake Wentworth. Mat-
thew S. Parker was one. of the foremost citizens of
Wolfboro in colonial days, holding from one to three
town offices every year but one of. his residences
there. He was elected a member of the general as-
sembly from that town in 1779. During the struggle
for independence he was an active patriot, serving
upon a committee in Wolfboro for the raising of
men for the American army, although his father
had for the most of his life held office under the
crown. The "History of Carroll County" states
that "he was far better qualified for the transaction
of legal business than any other person then living
in Wolfboro." That he enjoyed the confidence and
esteem of his fellow-townsmen is well known. His
usefulness and bright prospects were cut short by
death on September 7, 1788, his wife having died
two years previous. Matthew S. Parker was the
father of seven sons and a daughter. The eldest,
John Toppan Parker, born February 16, 1774, died
in 1808. The second son, Henry Rust, born June 16,
177s, died October 12, 1777. William Sewall Parker,
third son, was born November 22, 1776. He becarne
a bookseller in Troy, New York, and died there in
1836. He was the father of fifteen children. The
fourth son of Matthew Stanley Parker was Henry
Rust Parker, great-grandfather of the Hon. Samuel
S. Parker. Matthew Stanley Parker, of Boston, bom
July 30, 1779, and for thirty years cashier of the
Suffolk Bank, Boston, was the fifth son, while the
sixth was Samuel Hale Parker, born in 1781, and for
many years a book and music publisher. Nathaniel
Adams Parker, seventh son, was born April 20, 1783,
and died in December, 1801, while the daughter,
Nancy Rust Parker, born in 1784, married Rev. J.
Crosby, of Charlestown, New Hampshire, and died
December 9, 1813.
(IV) Henry Rust Parker, fourth son of Mat-
NEW HAMPSfllRE.
235
thew Stanley Parker, was born in Wolfboro, New
Hampshire, February 6, 177S. He received a com-
mon school education, and when ten years of age,
both of his parents being dead, he went to live with
Colonel Henry Rust, of Wolfboro, his grandfather.
With Colonel Rust he grew to manhood, follow-
ing the vocation of a farmer, and finally marrying
Hannah Rust, granddaughter of the Colonel. Later
in life he was for some years a retail merchant in
Wolfboro, and for a time proprietor of a hotel
in South Wolfboro. Henry Rust Parker was one
of the founders of the Wolfboro Academy, and
was known in his day as a man of sterling integrity
and character. He died September iS, 1848, aged
seventy years, and his wife on June 6, 1870, aged
eighty-five years. Their children were : John Top-
pan Parker, the father of Dr. Henry Rust Parker,
ex-Mayor and a resident of Dover, New Hampshire ;
Samuel Sewall Parker, grandfather of Hon. Samuel
S. Parker; Eliza Parker, who died at the age of
seventeen years ; and Matthew Stanley Parker", of
Wolfboro, father of Sewall Hale Parker, of Farm-
ington. New Hampshire, and of Andrew E. Parker,
a former merchant of Dover.
(V) Samuel Sewall Parker, second son of
Henry Rust Parker, was born in Wolfboro, New
Hampshire, November 9, 1807. He was educated in
the common schools and at the Wolfboro Academy.
Although reared as a farmer, yet his education and
ability were such that he was employed more or
less to teach in the schools of his town, particularly
where former teachers were found unablf or in-
competent to cope with the muscular youth who in
those days attended the country schools. For a
number of years he was associated with his father
in mercantile pursuits, and also held the offices
of town clerk, selectman and road commissioner for
his town. On November 16, 1827, he married Jane
T. Cate, daughter of Joshua N. Cate, of Brook-
field, New Hampshire, a soldier of the Revolution.
Six children were born of this marriage, four of
whom survive, viz. : Charles F. Parker, of Wolfe-
boro, for many years treasurer of the Wolfeboro
Savings Bank; Harry Stanley Parker, of Farming-
ton, father of the subject of this sketch; John W.
Parker, of Wolfboro; and Samuel W. Parker, of
Boston, formerly of the firm of Drake & Parker,
of the Grand Pacific Hotel, Chicago. Two daugh-
ters, Elizabeth J. and Hannah J., born respectively
in 1835 and 1838, died in infancy. Samuel Sewall
Parker died on November 21, 1848, and his wife
one June 9, 1887.
(VI) Harry Stanley Parker, of Farmington,
New Hampshire, one of the surviving sons of
Samuel Sewall Parker, was born in Wolfboro,
February 18, 1832. He received a common school
education, and in early life learned the trade of a
shoemaker.. On March 30, 1854, he married Hester
A. Stevens, daughter of Captain Manly Stevens, of
Lisbon, New Hampshire, and soon after purchased
a farm in Wolfboro and settled there. Later he
moved to Farmington, New Hampshire, where for
the greater part of his active life he has been en-
gaged in some branch of the shoe industry. For
many years he was an active and interested par-
ticipant in the political afifairs of his town, and was
honored by his fellow townsmen by a seat in the
New Hampshire legislature in 1869, and again in
1877-78. lie also served the town for many years
as moderator, and was a member of the board of
education for three years. In 1885 he was ap-
pointed postmaster of Farmington by President
Cleveland, which ofiicfe he conducted for four years.
His honesty and ability, genial manners and ready
wit have for many years rendered him a popular
man in his own town, and few citizens of Farming-
ton enjoy the friendship of a larger number of
people than does he. He is still an active and ener-
getic man of seventy-six years, the oldest charter
member of Harmony Lodge, Knights of Pythias,
and a Mason of fifty-two years' standing. The
children of Harry S. and Hester A. Parker numbered
ten, only four of whom are now living. The eldest
son, Samuel Sewall Parker, of Farmington, is men-
tioned further on. Mrs. Nellie S. P. Nute, of
Farmington, born June 26, 1857, and wife of Eugene
P. Nute, United States marshal of New Hampshire,
is the second in order of birth ; Harry W. Parker,
born March 4, 1859, and who died August I, 1884,
was the third; and Percy F. Parker, a merchant of
Spokane, Washington, born December 8, i860, the
fourth. The fifth child was Manly S. Parker, born
August 10, 1861, and who died December 28, 1864.
Effie N. Parker, born June 16, 1S65, died November
9, 1869, and twins, born May 3, 1868, lived but one
month. Ned L. Parker, born December 17, 1S69,
is a merchant and resident of Farmington, while
Willis R. Parker, born December 7, 1872, died on
August I, 1881. The mother of this family, a very
sympathetic and devoted woman, died on April 15,
1892, aged sixty-four years.
(VII) Hon. Samuel Sewall Parker, lawyer and
ex-member of the New Hampshire senate (1904-05),
eldest child of Harry Stanley and Hester A. (Stev-
ens) Parker, was born in Wolfboro, New Hamp-
shire, May 9, 185s, and received his early education
in the common schools, whence he passed- to the
Wolfboro Academy and the New Hampshire Insti-
tute. Early in life he learned the trade of a shoe-
cutter. In 1887 he began the study of law with George
N. Eastman, of Farmington, and continued it with
Joshua G. Hall, of Dover, finishing his studies with
Judge Robert J. Pike. He was admitted to the bar
in 1890, and in August of the same year began prac-
tice in Farmington, where he has ever since re-
mained, building up among his neighbors and fellow
townsmen an unusually large and lucrative con-
nection. He is a Republican in politics, and in
1904 represented District No. 5 in the New Hamp-
shire senate, serving two years, during which time
he was chairman of the committee on incorporation,
and a member of the judiciary committee and the
committees on revision of laws, banks and forestry.
He was one of the founders of the Farmington
Public Library Association, of which he is and has
been for ten years president. He is a member of
Woodbine Lodge, No. 41, Independent Order of
Odd Fellows, and Henry Wilson Grange, of which
he is treasurer. He is also president of the Co;i-
gregational Society of Farmington. Mr. Parker ia
an active, public-spirited citizen, energetic and liberal
in support of whatever pertains to the welfare of
his own town, as well as that of the state and nation.
Studious, a great reader, somewhat of a traveler
in his own country, and a life-long student of
geology, he occasionally delivers interesting talks
to local organizations upon this and kindred sub-
jects. Imbued with the progressive spirit of the age,
he is an earnest advocate of modern methods in
schools, libraries, churches and other institutions.
Kind and obliging, cheerful and optimistic, yet of
quiet and unassuming manners, he is widely known
as an honorable and upright man of fixed principles
and sterling character.
On May 10, 1879, Mr. Parker married Mary E.
Home, born August 26, 1855. in Farmington, daugh-
ter of Jacob P. and Amanda (Colbath) Home, of
Farmington, the latter a second cousin of the late
236
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Hon. Henry Wilson, vice-president of the United
States. j\Irs. Parker graduated at the Farmington
high school, attended the New Hampton Institute,
and for a number of years previous to her mar-
riage taught in the Farmington public schools. She
is a member of the Congregational Church. Mr.
and Mrs. Parker have no children.
(Fifth Family.)
Immigrants by the name of Parker
PARKER who came to America in the first
century of the history of New Eng-
land were numerous ; most of them were active,
industrious and progressive citizens, and a goodly
number of them were men of local prominence.
Various men of this name are mentioned in the
early records of Maine. Basil was in York in 1649,
was recorder of the province, and was made one
of the council. He died before October 18, 1651.
John Parker, of Saco, 1636, purchased, 1650, Parker's
Island, now Georgetown, on the east side of the
Kennebec river, near the mouth. Tradition says
he was from Biddeford. county of Devon. Eng-
land, and died before June, 1661. By his wife Mary
he had Thomas, John and Mary, but all may have
been born in England, though tradition makes John
born at Saco in 1634. John Parker, of Kennebec,
son of John, of Saco, bought of the Indians in 1659,
a large tract of land on the west side of the Ken-
nebec, opposite his father's island, now Phipps-
burg. He may be the one who swore fidelity at
Pemaquid in 1674. August 20, 1660, he went to
Boston to marry JNIary, daughter of Daniel Farr-
field. By her he had besides four daughters two
sons, Daniel and James. John and his son James
were driven by the Indians from their places, and
took refuge at Falmouth, where both were killed
at the second destruction of that town. May, i6go.
It is not improbable that from' this ancestor, John,
the following Parker line is descended :
(I) John Parker appears first in the history
of Maine in the year 1733, when he went from Cape
Cod, Massachusetts, to Purpoordock (Cape Eliza-
beth, now South Portland), Maine, to superintend
the construction of the first church (First Church
of Christ, now North Congregational). It is al-
most certain that he spent the remainder of his
life at Cape Elizabeth, and that he and his wife,
whose name is not known, and his family were
buried in the old churchyard. His sons and their
descendants for generations, strong, hardy, adven-
turous men, were warriors, and many of them
perished in great storms and went down to watery
graves. John, the eldest son, was a sea captain
who died at sea, leaving six children, among whom
Wiis a son Andrew, a sea captain, who met his death
in the same way as his father did. Ebenezer, who
is mentioned below. Jacob, who always lived at
Cape Elizabeth, and died unmarried in 1823.
(II) Captain Ebenezer, second son of_ John
Parker, of Purpoordock, was a sea captain, and
for many years "adventured upon the ocean," but
spent his later years in a quiet, reposeful sort of
way on land. He and his family lived for many
years in the "Old Milldam House," Cape Elizabeth,
which was still standing in 1895. He also lived at
one time on Standish Neck, in Standish. For some
time before his death he was engaged in curing fish.
He and his wife spent their last years with their
daughter, Eliza (Parker) Miller, at Cape Elizabeth.
He married Esther Higgins, who died December
27, 1807. He died in 1819. Both were buried at
Cape Elizabeth. They had four children : Eliza,
who married Peter Aliller; Eleazer, mentioned be-
low ; Esther, who married a Mr. Higgins ; Hannah,
who married a Mr. Parker; Isaac, who died young.
(III) Eleazer Higgins, second child of Eben-
ezer and Esther (Higgins) Parker, was born at
Cape Elizabeth in 1770, and died at Standish Neck,
Maine, from the effects of a bite of a wild cat,
January, 1814, aged forty-four years. He was a
cooper, and resided at Standish Neck. He married
Elizabeth Rand, who died at North Gorham, Maine,
April 4, 1858. Both were buried at North Gor-
ham, Maine. They had seven children : Esther,
when a child, was bitten by a wild cat, 1813. and
died six weeks later; Lydia, married Josiah Moses;
Isaac, born July 20, 1800, died September 26, 1S79;
he married Anna Flood ; Susan, born 1804, mar-
ried Ebenezer Hicks, and died September 4, 1873;
Jeremiah is the subject of the next paragraph;
Emily, married Silas Floyd ; Joseph W., born Sep-
tember 12, 1813, married Mary P. Lombard.
(IV) Jeremiah, fifth child and second son of
Eleazer and Elizabeth (Rand) Parker, was born
at Standish Neck, September 20, 1807, and died in
North Gorham, Maine, (formerly called Great Falls,
Maine), November 12, 1890, aged eighty-three. He
resided at North Gorham, and was a dealer in
lumber, a manufacturer of clothing, and a grocer,
having a store in the village for about forty years.
He was state surveyor of lands, and was in the
service of the government in the time of the Civil
war. Fie was a member of the Universalist Church,
and was one of those who paid the principal part
of the expense of building the Universalist Church
edifice ^t South Windham, Maine. He married
(first) Sally Nason, who whom he had children:
Irving W., who married Hannah Nutting; Walter
Scott, drowned in boyhood; ]\lary Ann, who mar-
ried Elias R. Howard, and died in April, 1907;
Amanda, unmarried ; Jane, who married Charles
A. Whipple. He married (second) Ellen A. Plum-
mcr, and they were the parents of children : Emma
A., who married William Verrill; Dow N., who
died young; Daniel P., who married Sarah M.
Foster ; Jeremiah, who married Lizzie Towle ; Al-
mon M., who married Martha Jordan ; Nellie M.,
who died young; Howard, the subject of the next
paragraph; Lizzie R., wife of Warren Churchill;
Lydia M.. whr. married Leslie Higgins; Nina G.,
wife of Charles Swett; Pitt F., who married Har-
riet Briggs.
(V) Howard, fifth son and seventh child of
Jeremiah and Ellen A. (Plummer) Parker, was
born in Gorham, Maine, April 17, 1863, and edu-
cated in the public schools of his native town.
At the age of nineteen he entered the machine shop
of Foster & Brown, at Westbrook as an apprentice,
and there learned the machinist's trade. Four years
later he went to St. Johnsbury, Vermont, where he
was employed by the Fairbanks Scale Company
for eleven years. In 1897 he began the manu-
facture of machinery at Bellows Falls, Vermont,
under the name of the Bellows Falls jNIachine
Company. This he carried one until 1900, when
he organized the Improved Paper Machine Com-
pany, of Nashua, manufacturers of paper mill rria-
chinery, of which he is general manager. This
company employs sixty-five men. Mr. Parker's in-
ventive talent has developed improved paper-mak-
ing machinery much in advance of that used before
his inventions were made. He fs a man of pleasing
personality and great energy, and much of the
success of the company, of which he is at the head,
had been achieved through his efforts. He is
prominent in fraternity and a member of Sabatis
Lodge, No. 95. Free and Accepted Masons, of
Berlin, New Hampshire ; Abenaque Royal Arch
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
237
Chapter, and Bellows Falls Council, Bellows Falls,
Vermont; St. George Conimandery, Knights
Templar, of Nashua ; and Vermont Consistory,
Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret, of Burlington,
Vermont, in which he has received the thirty-second
degree. He is also a member of Caledonia Lodge,
No. 6, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of St.
Johnsbury, Vermont. He married, January 5, 1887,
at Westbrook, Maine, Nellie M. Day, who was born
May 23, 1867, daughter of Albert and Martha
(Quimby) Day, of Westbrook. She is an active
member of the Congregational Church, and of the
Woman's Club of Nashua.
(I) Josiah Parker was born in Reading, Massa-
chusetts, May 8. 1760, and died in Amherst, New
Hampshire, September 28, 1845, aged eighty-five.
He was a farmer. He married Abigail Peacock,
of Amherst, who was born June I, 1771, and died
September 27, 1843, aged seventy-two. Their chil-
dren were : Abigail, Josiah Merrill, Sarah, Hannah,
Thomas B. and Lydia W.
(II) Thomas B., fifth child and second son of
Josiah and Abigail (Peacock) Parker, was born
in Amherst, New Hampshire, October 15, i8ro, and
died September 8, 1892, aged eighty-one years and
eleven months. He was a farmer and cooper, and
resided in the easterly part of Amherst. He pos-
sessed much musical talent, having a remarkably
rich, strong, and flexible voice and was for many
years leader of the choir of the Baptist Church in
Amherst. He was also exceptionally skillful in the
use of tools, having been endowed by nature in
this direction to a remarkable degree. He mar-
ried Mary Hildreth, who was born August 20,
1816. and died August, 1S82. Their children were :
Henry M., Alfred, Martha E., Charles S. and
Sarah.
(III) Charles S., third son and fourth child of
Thomas B. and Mary (Hildreth) Parker, was born
in Amherst, September 15, 1843. He was educated
in the cominon schools, and for a time drove a mar-
ket team between Amherst and Manchester. He
learned the blacksmith's trade, at which he worked
some time, and has been a carpenter and farmer.
In 1893 he removed to Milford, where he is engaged
in raising vegetables for market. He is also a
partner with his son in the firm of C. S. Parker
& Son, grocers, in Milford. While a resident of
Amherst he filled the office of auditor twenty-two
years, and was selectman five years. Mr. Parker
is an industrious and moral man and a good citizen.
He married, April 28, 1880, Harriet M. Grater, who
was born July 5, 1845, daughter of Jaiiies H. and
Salinda (Hildreth) Grater, of Amherst. Her an-
cestors came from Barcelona, in Spain. They had
I wo children: Leon H., born October 14, 1883.
and IMinnic C, who died August 6, 1884. Mr.
I'arkrr ilicil J.-muary 26, 1896.
(I) Nicholas Snow was the founder in
SNOW America of this branch of the Snow
family. He is supposed to have come
from London and to have been the son of Nicholas
Snow, a citizen and armorer of that place. He
came to Plymouth', Massachusetts, in the "Ann," in
1623, and had a share in the division of land in 1624.
His lot lay to the east of the "heighway from Plym-
outh to the Eele River," and next door to Stephen
Hopkins. In 1644 he and others were sent by the
church to examine and buy of the natives. Eastham,
then called Nauset. A year later he, with six com-
panions, called "Gov. Prince's Associates," settled in
Eastham, where they were of much aid in keeping
the surrounding Indians friendly. He was the usual
stern Puritan pioneer, of fair education, and was of
much note. He was freeman in 1633, town-clerk of
Nauset from 1646 to 1662, deputy from 1648 to 1651,
and selectman, 1663-1670. He died November 15,
1671, leaving twelve children. Nicholas married, in
Plymouth, Constance Hopkins, daughter of Stephen
Hopkins, and half-sister of Oceanus Hopkins, born
on the "Mayflower." Constance came over in the
"Mayflower"' in 1620, with her father. Stephen was
one of the four councilors of Miles Standish in the
second and later exploring parties. He shared in
tlie land division of Plymouth, and owned and oc-
cupied a strip of land running on Main street from
Leyden to Middle street, and six acres on "Wat-
son's" or Mill Hill, called by the Indians "Can-
taughcantiest," or "Planted Fields." Constance died
1676-77.
(II) Mark, eldest child of Nicholas and Con-
stance (Hopkins) Snow, was born in Plymouth,
May 9. 162S. and died in Eastham, 1695, leaving
eight children. He had as good an education as the
colony afforded, and succeeded his father as town
clerk of Eastham and held the office 1663-1675.
He also held the office of deputy three
years, and was captain of a military company formed
at Eastham. He married Jane Prince (or Prence),
in 1660, who was born in Plymouth, 1637, and who
died in Eastham, 1703. She was the daughter of
Governor Thomas Prince and Mary Collier, daugh-
ter of William of Duxbury, the distinguished leader
of the settlement of Eastham. He was born in Eng-
land, 1599, son of Thomas Prince, of Lechlade,
Gloucestershire, and came to Plymouth in the "For-
tune," in 1621.
His lot in Plymouth fronted on the north side of
North street, below the Winslow house. In 1634
he was chosen governor of the colony, and in 1635
assistant. He was the principal of the six settlers
of Eastham, in 1644, owning two hundred acres of
the best land, extending from the bay to the Atlan-
tic, his house standing about forty rods to the east
of the road. In 1657 he was chosen governor for
the third time, at a salary of fifty pounds, and by
special grant allowed to remain in Eastham, instead
of in Plymouth (where under the law the governor
was bound to reside). In 1665 he returned to
Plymouth. He was a strong Puritan, and took
severe measures against the Quakers, which act was
the only stain on a difficult but long and steady
magistracy of eighteen* years, for which he was ex-
cellently qualified. His strong influence was exerted
to establish grammar-schools and an educated and
regular ministry. He founded the church at East-
ham, which was the means of converting many na-
tives. He died March 24, 1678, leaving eight
children.
(Ill) Thomas, fifth child and second son of
Mark and Jane (Prince) Snow, was born at East-
ham, August 6, 1668, and died probably at Harwich
between 1732 and 1748. He evidently moved to
Harwich before 1699. He left nine children. His
second wife was Lydia (Sears) Hamblin. who died
in 1748. She married Thomas, September 30,
1706 (?), and was admitted to the Puritan Church
July 7, 1707. She was the daughter of Paul Sears,
who was born in Yarmouth, 1637-38, and died in
Yarmouth, February 20, 1707-08, and of Deborah
Willard (married 1658). He inherited most of the
property of his father, Richard Sears (his mother,
Dorothy Thacher, of Plymouth, married 1632), a
member of the Plymouth colony court in 1662, and
a man of great property. Richard died at Yarmouth,
August 26, 1676.
238
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
(IV) Thomas (2), seventh child and third son
of Thomas (i) Snow, and second child of his wife
Lydia, was born in Harwich, January 15, 1709. He
probably married Rachel Nickerson, at Harwich,
February 19, 1730.
(V) Thomas (3), son of Thomas (2) and
Rachel (Nickerson) Snow, believed to have been
born at Harwich about 1730, early took to the sea,
and later became captain of a whaling vessel. Or
one occasion, while personally in command of a
boat in pursuit of a whale, the infuriated animal
turned upon his captors and demolished the boat.
While submerged by the spray and foam created by
the movements of the animal, the captain, feeling
his foot strike something solid, gave himself a push,
and swimming came to the surface of the water
close to the whale's head. He was always of the
opinion that the solid object which his foot struck
was the whale's lower jaw. He was very fond in
his old age of telling this incident of his sea-life to
his grandson Joseph, who repeated it many times to
the subject of this sketch. Thomas acquired con-
siderable property in his avocation and retired from
it during the impending troubles of the colonies with
the mother country. In 1777 he moved his family
of five (later of si.x) from Cape Cod to Falmouth,
now Portland, Maine, with the intention of setting
his three sons up in business. But Continental
currency, into which he had turned all of his prop-
erty, rapidly depreciated after the time of his sales
so that a thousand dollars would barely buy a
bushel of corn. This loss obliged him in 1778 to
seek a home in the wilderness. He became the sec-
ond settler in the northern part of Gorham, Maine,
near White Rock, on lots 68 and 78. where a barn
built by him, known as "The Old Snow Barn," still
(1907) stands, about one mile east of Sebago Lake.
■This building was built of hewn timber and broad
pumpkin pine boards, hauled from tide-water.
Thomas Snow died about 1825, leaving six chil-
dren. He was probably thrice married, his first wife
being Rebecca Snow, (January, 1752) ; his second,
Hannah Lincoln (January 31, 1760); and his third,
Jane Magne, who was born in 1735, and died March
5, 1837. at the age of one hundred and two.
(VI) Gideon, third child and second son of
Thomas (3) Snow, came with his father to Gorham.
He married Joanna Edwards, December 28, 17S8,
who was the mother of his only son ; and upon her
death in about 1792 married Susan Parsons, who
was the mother of his two daughters. This second
wife became insane. With his home thus broken up
by misfortune, he placed his children with his father,
Thomas Snow, and sought employment in the other
states. He was never again heard from.
(VII) Joseph, son of Gideon and Joanna (Ed-
wards) Snow, was born in Gorham, March 21, 1791,
and was brought up by his grandfather Thomas.
He enlisted in the War of 1812, and was sent to the
defense of Portland, which the British ships were
expected to attack. In June, 1815, being of age, he
set out for himself and sought a home in the wilderness
of northern New Hampshire, purchasing wild land
in the eastern part of Eaton, Carroll county. Alone
he went first to make his clearing, carrying on his
back his provisions, which consisted principally of
corn. On the last, day he found himself with three
pints of boiled corn, sixty rods of fence to build,
and forty-eight miles to travel to reach his house in
Gorham. Next spring he burned over his clearing
and built thereon a log house. Subsequently this
land came to be known, from a later occupant, as
"the Bryant farm." Joseph Snow was the first of his
name to settle in Eaton. In 1822 he exchanged this
clearing for a site on the Snow brook, where Snowville
(Eaton) now stands. Here, utilizing the water-
power, he built first a grist-mill in 1825, then a saw
inill in 1827, hauling the boards from Tamworth on
the snow. Of such importance was his mill to the
community growing about him, and such was his
energy, that when it burned to the ground in 1830,
it was rebuilt and in running order in the remark-
ably short space of fourteen days. He also actively
engaged in shoemaking, blacksmithing and farming
for the support of his family of eleven children.
Physically he was a giant, not only large of
stature but possessed of unusual strength and en-
durance. He often worked at his shoe bench at
night in order to pay his men to work with him in
his mill the following day.. As a boy he had no op-
portunity for an education, but after coming, to
Eaton, realizing the necessity in his business of a
knowledge of figures, he hired a schoolmaster to
come from a distance to teach him the "three essen-
tials." His early hardships and enforced self-re-
liance imparted to him strong traits of character
that marked his whole life. He stood for all that
was best in the community, never seeking office nor
notoriety, but by common consent was recognized
as an example of industry and uprightness. He was
a very earnest Christian Baptist, his home being the
center of religious worship in his community. He
was a Whig, and was for many years a justice of
the peace and town liquor agent, then a position of
trust. He died September 29, 1876, aged eighty-
five.
He was married to Hannah Flood, of Gorham,
Maine, in 1814, and had by her one son. Silas. His
second wife was Sally Atkinson, born in Buxton,
Maine, December 11, 1798, and married, December
12, 1816. By her he had ten children: Hannah,
Alvan, Apphia, Joseph, Sally, Susan, John, Mary A.,
Edwin and Jane M. Sally Atkinson was the
daughter of John Atkinson and Olive Haley (died
1823). John Atkinson was born about 1767, of
English descent, and died June or July, 1S44. He
exchanged his farm in Buxton for four hundred
acres of wild land in Eaton, in 1813, in order to
keep his son, who had been a privateer, from the
war. His house on the "Atkinson farm" was a two-
story frame building, with a rock chimney and oven,
and three rooms downstairs. The lumber was hauled
from Tamworth on the snow. Sally died October
10, 1S76. aged seventy-seven.
(VHI) Edwin, youngest son of Joseph and
Sally (Atkinson) Snow, was born in Snowville,
Eaton, October 15, 1S36, and was educated in the
town schools of Eaton and at North Parsonsfield
Academy. He remained at home and took care of
his parents in their declining years, succeeding to
the ancestral estate. In 1856 he opened a general
store at Snowville, in company with his brothers,
whom he bought out in 1859. In 1856 they built a
new and larger combination saw and grist-mill
(still existing, 1907), and after i8go he bought out
his brothers' interest in this. From 1873 to 1878 he
was a member of the firm of Snow & Brooks, and
was extensively engaged in buying and selling cattle
throughout Maine and eastern New Hampshire.
After 1856 he was continuously engaged in lumber-
ing, including the wholesale manufacture of shook,
in connection with his saw-mill and store. From
a small beginning he gradually added by purchase
to his timber lands, until they reached their present
extent. He cut according to modern scientific ideals,
carefully selecting the large timber and leaving the
undersized. He also kept an open market for lum-
ber and farming produce. In his various occupa-
< -c/-
H
t*'^^^
•^■if*"^
*ii^
^^
Scic.^ g^
^Z-O-z^
NEW HAl^-IPSKIRF.
-:>-^ I
He was a kad. r
whole life,
:r many years.
iuslice of the
ridviser of his
• d for his in-
proiiioter of all pub-
lovcincnts in hi? town, and brought about, the
■it :t hard fight, the other by his own exer-
iii sacrifices, the present highways from Eaton
vrjficld. Maine, and Conway, New Hampshire,"
>:vely.
- ''^dfrator he presided over the town meet-
iVr I, my vears. He was selectman of Eaton
! ''^^' ! to i8i56, from 1878 to T882. from iRS'' t.>
-t. and in IQOO, holding the office of chairnr
but the first year. He served on th" tniTP
education from 1895-07. He wa"
■?, and town treasufr in T.'*77 ?-
Y), and po<;tmaster
ved the county of
: 1-1876, as auditor m ■
"imi'^sioner i888-i8or. T
legislature in iS*"'- '■
(O-TfKX), serving o'
nmittees. He ,;rr' ■
•ntast over the
'ited his distrii
)4 he was appointti
equalization, and
en he was the old' of .service
the board. His ' '\ knowl-
r values, and pui>.;c ;; ,'ji!n;"ii-f- made him a
' man for the place. He was a member of
ristian Baptist Church.' He was a charter
■ and past grand in Trinity Lodge. No. 6.1,
, ■ dent Order of Odd Fellows of ."^nowville,
-i a member of Mt. Cliocorua EncAmpment, NV'
Silver Lake, of Madison He was also a metn
■ of Carroll Lodge. No. 57. Ancient Free and Ac-
ted Masons, of Freedom. New Hampshire.
He married Helen M. Perkins. O.-fohcr 14, 1857,
!>no\vville. and their children, born at Snowville.
' : '' I'if^ H. Snow, March 10, 1850; Isabelln
7. t86t ; Leslie P. Snow, October Ti;
. • rtha C. Snow. September 4. 1877. Helen
'. February t, iSqq. Nellie Snow married
J. White, a contractor and builder of nig
Michigan ; Isabella Snow rnarried Dr.
1 W. Atkinson, a physician, now of Fryc-
■g, Maine. (For anceftry of Helen M. Perkins
for her daughters' families, see forward). Tn
'•. Edwin Snow married Martha Jane Harmon
survives him.
'"^""^ Le.slie Perkins Snow, the subject of *'
received his preparatory education at ■
d Rridgeton academies, graduating fror-
'ti the class of i88t. After a year sni
■■^ at Snowville he ( I'ern! T);i
-aduatintr (dej:
of 1886. In
ta Delta Chi, .m
Vew England
tinued the bu
tions and dur'-
T the town
i .-r of rear'
'lire, 1887-
ler for t'-.
1800. "ipen''
, _:;d Colorado, -i
but almost ii
Ttmouth Cr'
I of Arts) in
vas a member
d as president
'■rt fraternity.
' er during
He pre-
' " town
1 the
ti, D. C.
w, and 2:
viiow the C
ton, IX C, ■'
fr.r.b- ,.
I.
tii
took 1
was a
New 1.
member tr, '"
(Joseph 1,
older meniM. , . .. ... ,.. ,:, ,,] ,.
up a large and successful p;
place. LTpon the deatli of Ju^-Im •
the business was continued
•Trlfr the old firm name. Sir>-
ster, in 1900. Mr. Snow has by I
a e(<.-(-es~ful practice.
I's name has been associated vyitli
;r in the firm of E. Snow & Son,
continuously engaged in carrying
ore, mill, and lumber manufactur-
He was for several years a niem-
of W. N. Snow & Co., nianufac-
^.-. i>,u-' sleighs at 'i" ~:'m., place.
enterpr s de-
to bw
..'.■dcii oi Ll.c I r
ice 190J, and r
tiie Aged (of wiir. p
promoters) since its
also trustee for --
a director of llv
ary, 1899, and b. ; - . , . .
since February 25, 1902. He 1-
tl.reo b.?ii;e-. 'ncluding his ;■
?t. He is a mc
It Order of Odd
villc, Xt;.v -c: Humane
Free and Ma.sons ; " >
Royal Arcli Jiarors; Orient
Sf'cct Afasters ; Palestine Coi
•: — 1„^^ Rochester, New }:,niipM if ; ain -■
1 Temple, Mystic Shrine, Concord. New
He
Hrunr-
cl-
i
of Haverh'll. Ne\\-
R- her h.' '„.r rwo
i;land ^about
240
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
grandson William Chase came to Yarmouth in
America, in 1689. Susie E. Snow died June 6,
1892, and Mr. Snow married Norma C. Currier,
sister of his hrst wife, in June, 1894.
(The material for this sketch has been oblig-
ingly furnished by Conrad Edwin Snow.)
. Peter, being one of the twelve
PERKINS Apostles, his name was a favorite
one for centuries among Christians.
It issumed the form of Pierre in France, whence
it found its way into England and there took the
diminutive form of Perkin. This gradually and
naturally became Perkins and, in time, was bestowed
upon or assumed by one as a surname. Many of
the name were among the early settlers of New Eng-
land, and their descendants have borne honorable
part in the development of modern civilization in
the Western Hemisphere.
(I) John Perkins was born in Newent, Glou-
cestershire, England, in 1590. On December i,
1630, he set sail from Bristol in the "Lyon," William
Pierce master, with his wife (Judith Gater), five
children, and about a dozen other companions.
They reached Nantasket, February 5. 1631, and set-
tled in Boston. He was the first of that name to
settle in New England.
He was one of the twelve who accompanied
John Winthrop, Jr., to settle in Ipswich, where he
was made freeman May 18, 1631. By another
authority he did not move until 1633. On April
3, 1632, 'Tt was ordered'' by the General Court,
"that noe pson wtsoever shall shoot att fowle upon
Pullen Poynte or Noddles Ileland ; but that the
sd places shalbe reserved for John Perkins to take
fowle wth netts." Also, November 7, 1632, John
and three others were "appointed by the Court to
sett downe the bounds betwixte Dorchester and
Rocksbury." He at once took a prominent stand
among the colonists, and in 1636 and for many years
afterwards, represented Ipswich in the general
high court. In 1645 he was appraiser, and signed
the inventory of the estate of Sarah Dillingham.
In 1648 and 1652 he served on the grand jury. In
March, 1650, "being above the age of sixty he was
freed from ordinary training of the Court." He
made his will (probate office, Salem, Massachusetts),
March 28, 1654, and died a few months later, aged
sixty-four.
(II) Jacob, the fifth child and third son, was
born in England in 1624. He was chosen sergeant
of the Ipswich military company in 1664, and was
afterwards known as Sergeant Jacob Perkins. By
his father's will hg came into possession of the
homestead and lands upon his mother's death. At
this place there is a well still known as "Jacob's
Well." He was a farmer, and his name frequently
appears in the records of conveyances of farming
lands. He died in Ipswich, January 27, 1699-1700,
aged seventy-six years. He married first, Elizabeth
(Lovell?) about 1648. By her he had nine chil-
dren. She died February 12, 1685, at about fifty
years of age. Jacob afterwards married Damaris
Robinson, a widow, who survived him.
(III) Jacob (2), fifth child and second son of
Jacob (i) Perkins, was born August 3, 1662, and
died November, 1705. His father Jacob gave him
a deed of land (to which a Thomas Lovell was
witness, March 7, 1687). December 27, 1684, he
married Elizabeth Sparks, daughter of John Sparks.
They had three children. She died April 10, 1692.
He again married, January 5, 1693, Sarah Tread-
well, who was executrix of his will. By her he
had five children.
(IV) Jacob (3), first child of Jacob (j)
Perkins (and Elizabeth), was born February 15,
1685. He went to Cape Neddick, now York, Maine,
to reside, and there died. He married first, Lydia
Stover, and had by her three children. On October
17. 1717. he married Anna Littlefield, daughter of
Josiah Littlefield, and had by her eight children, three
of whom were Elisha, Josiah and Newman.
(V) Josiah, eighth child and sixth son of
Jacob (3) Perkins, and fifth child of Anna, was
born about 1740, and was a farmer in Wells, Maine.
He married Susan Allen, and had ten children, two
of whom were Jonathan and Jacob.
(VI) Jonathan, sixth child and third son of
Josiali and Susan (Allen) Perkins, was a farmer in
Wells, Maine, and married Lydia Perkins, his cousin,
daughter of Newman and Sarah (Sawyer) Perkins.
They had eight children.
(VII) Stephen Perkins, the first child, was born
in Wells, Maine, February 4, 1789. In 1812 he
moved from Wells to Conway, New Hampshire,
and bought for five hundred dollars, of Sulvanus
S. Clark, "100 acres more or less" of land situated
in the eastern part of Eaton, New Hampshire, being
the first of this name to settle in Eaton. The
deed, dated November 16, 1812, is recorded in the
Strafford county records. Here, on a most pic-
turesque elevation, he made his first clearing and
built a log house. In the spring of 1813 he brought
his family. This farm came to be one of the finest
in the town. Afterwards he built a new set of
buildings. He was by trade a very good carpenter
and did much of the work himself. In politics
he was first a Whig, then a Republican. He was
a member of the board of selgctmen for fifteen years,
1823-33 inclusive, and 1836-39 inclusive. In 1845
and 1846 he was representative to the state legisla-
ture. He was a man of unusual physical presence.
Those who remember him describe him as "tall,
spare, straight as an Indian, with dark hair and
eyes." For many years he was by common consent
the leading citizen of Eaton, presiding over the
deliberations of the town meetings and controlling
the political events of the locality. He was held
in high esteem in the community because of his in-
tegrity and his business training. His advice was
often sought by his fellow citizens and he came
justly by his title of "Squire." He was justice
for forty years. Both he and his wife were Free-
will Baptists. He died in Eaton, May 28, 1862,
aged seventy-three. He married, September 28,
1809, his cousin, Philomela Perkins, daughter of
Jacob Perkins (born 1764) who was the seventli
child of Josiah Perkins. Jacob Perkins was a
farmer in Wells, Maine, and married Elizabeth
Perkins, his cousin, daughter of Elisha and Eliza-
beth Perkins. They had seven children, two of
whom, Stephen W. and Joseph E., became promi-
nent and leading citizens of Eaton. Stephen and
Philomela Perkins had three children. Philomela
died September 28, 1863. aged seventy-four.
(VIII) John W. Perkins, second child and
only son of Stephen, was born in Eaton, June
7, 1813. He received his education in the common
schools of Eaton and Wells, Maine. He lived at
the home of his parents until twenty-six years of
age, helping to clear up the farm. Then, on De-
cember 19, 1839, he moved to a farm, two miles west,
previously owned by Charles T. Hatch, where he
lived until March 22, 1875, when he removed to
the Rice estate, Brownfield Center. Maine. In 1880
he sold the Rice estate, having (1877) bought the
Timothy Gibson farm, west of Brownfield village.
Here he remained until his death. He was an
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
241
industrious and successful farmer. The broad and
massive but neatly laid stone walls about his farm
in Eaton still stand as monuments to his industry.
Strictly temperate in all things, he was a man of
sterling qualities, whose word was always to be
depended upon, a good adviser, and highly respected
by all who knew him. He was justice of the peace
from 1858-1875, but although many times importuned
by his townspeople to accept otttce, he refused all
political favors. He was a Republican. He was a
practical student of natural history, and knew the
habits and traits of every wild animal or bird that
frequented his farm. He read much, and those who
conversed with him found his mind a store-house
of general information. Both he and his wife were
members of the Freewill Baptist Church at Eaton
Center. He died November 4, 1897, aged eighty-
four. He married, December 17, 1839, Caroline
Nason (.born May 22, 1824), daughter of Ephraiin
and Sally VVolcott Nason. Sally was born April
7, 1800, in Holderness, New Hampshire, and mar-
ried December 3, 1819 (died September 21, 1S7S)
Ephraim, son of Ephraim and Eleanor Dam Nason,
was born in Gorham, Maine, November 19, 1792,
and died October 16, 1875. His father, Ephraim
Nason, came from Cape Elizabeth to Gorham.
Ephraim, Jr., came to Eaton, New Hampshire,
September, 1815, and settled on what was then
known as Kenniston Hill, in the extreme eastern
part of the town, a location commanding a fine view
of the surrounding country, including the White
Mountain range. He was a farmer, and was in
politics a Republican. He was very tall and a
champion wrestler. He had eleven children. John
and Caroline Nason Perkins had three children —
Helen M., Alvin F., and Clara A. Caroline died
j\lay 6, 1901, aged seventy-six.
(.IX) (I) Helen M. Perkins was born jNIay 16,
1842; and on October 14, 1857, married Edwin Snow.
They had four children — Nellie H., Isabella, Leslie
P. and Bertha C.
Nellie H. married Andrew J. White, of Eaton,
December i, 1877. They resided at Snowville until
1882, when they moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Since 1S95 they have resided at Big Rapids, Michi-
gan. Mr. White is a general contractor and builder
and has planned and built many important buildings
in the two last named cities. They have the fol-
lowing children: Wallace E. (June 24, 1881), J.
Leonard (September 24, 1886), Marion L. (August
19, 1897), and Ralph S. (January i, 1906). Wallace
E. is at Spokane, Washington, is married (January
I, 1906) and has one child, Wallace E., Jr. (1907;.
Isabella married Leonard W. Atkinson, M. D.,
of Cambridge, Massachusetts, July 3, 1884. Dr.
Atkinson received his education at the Cambridge
Latin School, and is a graduate of the Boston Uni-
versity School of IMedicine (1884). He has prac-
ticed medicine at Cherry Valley, Worcester and
Winchendon, Massachusetts, and at Conway, New
Hampshire. He is now located at Fryeburg, Maine,
where he has a large practice. They have the fol-
lowing children: Leona Belle (October 15, 1888),
Rachel (November 26, 1894), Muriel (October 31,
1898;, Kenneth Kinsman (December I, 1901), Roger
Wolcott (June i, 1905).
Leslie P. Snow is the subject of the foregoing
Snow sketch.
Bertha C. Snow is unmarried.
2. Alvin F. Perkins was born in Eaton, No-
vember 4, 1S47. He was educated in the common
schools of Eaton and Brownfield, Maine, and at
North Parsonstield Seminary. He was a farmer in
early life, and followed a mercantile business in
1—16
connection with it after his removal to Brown-
held in the fall of 1874. He is a Republican, and was
a member of the board of selectmen of Eaton in
1872-74, and treasurer in 1873. He was supervisor
of schools in 1888 and chairman of the board of
selectmen of Brownfield, Maine, 1895-96. His home
(1907) is at Browntield, on the place previously
occupied by his father. He united with the Con-
gregational Church at Brownheld in 1880. He mar-
ried, on September 30, 1875, Clara J. Giles, daugh-
ter of Thomas R. and Jane M. Giles. She was
long a school teacher in Eaton, and a member of
the FVee Baptist Church at South Eaton. She
died in Brownfield, Maine, September 3, 1877. On
January i, 1884, JNIr. Perkins was again married to
Rachel A. Lowell, daughter of Mial J. and Rachel
Storer Lowell, of Hiram, Maine. They have
one child, Beatrice A. Perkins (born October 4,
1885), who married Byron G. Anderson of Port-
land, July I, 1905, and who has two children, Roland
G. (born July 11, 1906) and Reginald P. (born
July 14, 1907). They reside in Brockton, Massa-
chusetts.
3. Clara A. Perkins, born at Eaton, September
25, 1853, married David P. Cutting, of Manchester,
and settled in Freedom, New Hampshire, where
Mr. Cutting built a home in 1887. Fie was en-
gaged in the undertaking business until 1902, when
lie sold out his business and became a traveling
salesman. They have resided in Laconia since 1903.
(The material for this line has been kindly fur-
nished by Alvin F~. Perkins.)
(Second Family.)
This is an old Colonial family, in
PERKINS the veins of whose members are
strains of blood of some of the ablest
of the New England leaders. The majority of
the members of this family have been noted for
their energetic industry, attention to details, fidelity
to the causes they espoused, unfiinching courage and
preparedness for the issue when the day of trial
came. These characteristics have made the family
locally prominent for generations, and produced
within it one of the brilliant figures of the great
Civil war.
(I) The Rev. William Perkins, born in Lon-
don, England, August 25, 1607, who came to this
country and settled at Topsfield in New England,
traced descent from George Perkins and Catherine,
his wife, of Abbots Salford, in the county of War-
wick, England. He married at Roxbury, August
10, 1636, Elizabeth Wootton. He left in his own
handwriting a curious document which is preserved
among the Topsfield records. It contained a list
of his children and their marriages, accompanied
by comments. The first two children were born at
Ro.xbury, the next three at Weymouth, one at
"Gloster," and the remaining four of his ten chil-
dren were born at Topsfield. He records his daugh-
ter Sarah's marriage to John Bradstreet, Esq.,
nephew of Major-General Dennison; and of "Tobi-
jah Perkins, my second son," to a daughter of
Major-General Dennison. Rev. William Perkins
seems to have been a prominent man, making several
voyages to England, leaving a bequest to Harvard
College, and such records as indicate position. His
death occurred May 21, 16S2.
(II) Timothy, ninth child and fifth son of the
Rev. William Perkins, was born at Topsfield, Au-
gust II, 1658. He married, August 2, 1686, Edna
Hazen, of Rawley, and died in 1728. The record
speaks of a deed of land of fifty-five acres in An-
dover given to "son Timothy" by Timothy and Edna
Perkins, May 23, 1727. This part of Andover was
242
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
incorporated June 20, 1728, with part of Salem,
Topsfield, and Boxford into the town of Middleton,
Massachusetts. Timothy and Edna Perkins had
eight children.
(III) Timothy (2), eldest son of Timothy (i)
and Edna Perkins, was born September 21, 1787.
He married (first) Ruth Dorman, who died March
12, 1713, leaving a daughter Ruth, who was bap-
tised in Springfield, August 29, 1714.. He married
(second) Hannah Buxton (or Buckston), of Salem,
by whom he had six children. The Buxtons were
early settlers of Salem, in what is now Peabody,
and some of the original land and "Buxton Hill''
are still owned by the family.
(IV) Timothy (3), the second son of Timothy
(2) and Hannah (Buxton) Perkins, W"as born De-
cember 9, 1716, and baptized at Topsfield, December
22, 1716. He married (first) Phoebe Peters, and
had five children by her. The eldest daughter,
Sarah, was the mother of ]\Irs. Jonathan Lovejoy,
of Sanbornton, mentioned more than once in Daniel
Webster's letters, as the "Handsome wife of my
friend William Lovejoy," and grandmother of Mary
Lovejoy, also very handsome, who married her
third half cousin, Tarrant Augustus Perkins, son
of Roger Eliot Perkins, and brother of Hamilton
Eliot Perkins, about 1834. Timothy Perkins married
(second) Hannah Trowbridge, a direct descendant
of Increase Mather, first president of Harvard Col-
lege. She was born July 28, 1740, died January 8,
1826, aged eighty-six years. Mr. Perkins died Janu-
ary 6, i8og, aged ninety-three years. They had
thirteen children, among whom were Roger Eliot
Perkins, a younger brother Brinsley, and a sister
Catherine, who married Dr. Lerned, of Hopkinton.
CV) Roger Eliot, son of Timothy (3) and Han-
nah (Trowbridge) Perkins, was born July 11, 1769,
and died April 14, 1825. He married, December 10,
1796, Esther M. Blanchard, born in Milford, New
Hampshire, May 4, 1774, died December 8, 1824,
daughter of Captain Augustus Blanchard, who served
in the Revolutionary war. Roger Eliot Perkins
moved from Salem and settled in Hopkinton, New
Hampshire. His brother Brinsley and sister Mrs.
Lerned also lived there. Mr. Perkins at the tirne
of his death was one of the largest landholders in
New Hampshire. He gave each of his children a
good education, and although not a church member,
gave liberally to the churches. Mr. Perkins was a
cousin of the late Madame Peabody-, wdio was a
daughter of the Rev. William Smith, of Salem;
and his wife, Esther M. Blanchard, was a cousin
of the late Madame Endicott. Mr. Perkins' parents
who came with him from Middleton, Massachusetts,
to Hopkinton, New Hampshire, repose with him
and his wife and younger children in the tomb which
he built in the graveyard at the latter place. His
children were : Harriet Trowbridge, born Decem-
ber 31, 1797, died in May, 1873; married Joseph
B. Towne (she has been characterized as a wonder-
fully good and saintly woman) ; Jonathan Blanch-
ard, April 28, 1799; Caroline Lovell, May i, 1801 ;
]\Iarinda Hubbard, April 22, 1803. died October 16,
1804 ; Hamilton Eliot, November 23, 1805 ; Hamlet
Houghton, April 30, 180S; Tarrant Augustus, Au-
gust 17, 1809; Esther Marinda, June 15, 1812, died
January 31, 1820.
CVI) Hamilton Eliot, son of Roger Eliot and
Esther M. (Blanchard) Perkins, was born at Hop-
kinton, New Hampshire, November 23, 1806, and
died January 16, 18S6, aged seventy-nine years. He
married. May 14, 1833, Clara Bartlett George, born
September 3, 1811, daughter of John and Ruth
(Br:dley) George, of Concord, New Hampshire,
and great-granddaughter of Captain Benjamin
Emery, "Gentleman," one of the first settlers of
Concord, who commanded a company at the battle
of White Plains in the Revolution (see Emery,
Y). Clara Bartlett George died March 31. 1900,
aged ninety years. Hamilton E. Perkins, after re-
ceiving his primary education at the schools about
home, attended Norwich University in 'Vermont, and
Phillips Exeter Academy. He afterward attended
the law school of Harvard College, receiving a train-
ing that fitted him for a business life. He lived
some time at Contoocook, where he owned mills
and was engaged in various industries, and held
the ofiice of postmaster. In 1844 he moved with
his family to Boston and engaged in the African
trade, owning and employing several ships. In
1857 he returned to Merrimack county, and in 1856
settled in Concord where he lived the remainder
of his life. In 1855 he was elected judge of the
probate court and filled that office sixteen years.
The children of Hamilton E. and Clara B. (George)
Perkins are as follows : Harriet Morton, born
February 17, 1834; George Hamilton, October 20,
1835, died October 28, 1899; Susan George, No-
vember 18, 1838; Roger Eliot, May 24, 1S41, died
February 6, 1867; Francis Augustus, September 30,
1842, died November 18, 1842; John George, March
27, 1844, died October 16, 1844; Plamilton, July 23,
1847; and Frank, April 13, 1849, died June 26,
1866.
(VII) Harriet Morton, eldest child of Hamilton
E. and Clara B. (George) Perkins, was born Febru-
ary 17, 1834, and married William Lawrence Foster,
a judge of the supreme judicial court of New
Hampshire. She died in Concord, 1899, leaving a
family of sons and daughters.
evil) George Hamilton, second child and eldest
son of Hamilton E. and Clara E. (George) Perkins,
was born in Hopkinton, October 20, 1835, and died
in Boston, Massachusetts, October 28, 1899. He
lived in the country and enjoyed the outdoor life
of a country boy until he was about eight years old,
when he accompanied his father's family to Boston
where he spent the next three years. Then re-
turning to Merrimack county he engaged in the
sports and learned the lessons that fall to the
lot of a vigorous lad who grows up under circum-
stances embracing life on a farm or in a small town.
He was always busy, sometimes in mii^chief, per-
forming the tasks set for him to do, taking interest
in every beast and bird, and often reluctantly learn-
ing the lessons a watchful and loving mother re-
quired him to learn. He attended the academy of
Hopkinton somewhat irregularly during his early
years, and later studied at Gilmanton. When
fourteen years of age Hon. Charles H. Peaslee, at
that time a member of congress, urged George's
parents to accept for their son an appointment to
the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis,
which they finally did. While there he wrote many
letters home, always showing the greatest attach-
ment to home and everything connected with it.
This love for home and friends was one of the
strongest impulses of his nature through life. He
graduated at the Naval Academy in 1856. and was
ordered to the sloop of war "Cyane." Captain Robb.
The ship went to .\spinwall. Central America, where
trouble had grown out of the filibustering expedition
of General Walker. Here he saw a great deal that
was new, and learned much that was useful to him
in after life. In this ship he also cruised as far
north as Newfoundland and back to Hayti, when
he was transferred to the "Release," and made a
voyage to the Mediterranean, and afterwards to
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NEW HAMPSHIRE.
243
South America, with the Paraguay expedition. At
Montevideo he was transferred to the "Sabine,"
returning to the United States for his passed-mid-
shipman examination. This being over he was
ordered to the west coast of Africa as acting
master of the United States steamship "Sumpter."
On that station he saw a good deal of dull, mo-
notonous, and trying service, where there were only
a few small white settlements on a coast thousands
of miles in extent, the elements of danger from
storm and disease always being great. In June,
1861, he was made acting first lieutenant, a great
compliment under the circumstances to a young man
of twenty-four. He makes a calculation about this
time, and finds that since they left New York they
had run over fifty thousand miles. The "Sumpter"
s.oon returned to the United States, and the young
officer was ordered to the United States steam gun-
boat "Cayuga" as first lieutenant, a berth which he
wrote home he found "as onerous as it was hon-
orary." The "Cayuga" was ordered to report to
Commodore Farragut at Ship Island, and was soon
one of the great fleet prepared to attack New
Orleans. In the attack on that city, which occurred
April 24, the "Cayuga" led, and Lieutenant Perkins
had the honor of piloting the vessel, and his quick
observation and skillful management in steering the
vessel took the "Cayuga" past Forts' Jackson and
St. Philip in safety, though masts and rigging were
badly shot through by the rain of projectiles hurled
at her. Once past the forts she was attacked by
eleven of the enemy's vessels, but made such a great
fight that she crippled and took the "Governor
Moore," the ram "Manassas," and a third vessel.
Then with the arrival of the remainder of the fleet
the day was won. The "Cayuga" led the way to
New Orleans, and there Commodore Farragut or-
dered Captain Bailey to go on shore and demand the
surrender of the city. He selected Lieutenant
Perkins to go with him, and they two went ashore
and pa.ssed through a howling, frenzied, threatening
mob of citizens to the City Hall and performed their
mission. Doubtless they would never have returned
alive to the ship if Pierre Soule had not worked a
ruse to attract the mob while these two brave offi-
cers were taken to the boat landing in a carriage.
Lieutenant Perkins' action in the battle at the
forest and the events that followed marked him as
one of the coolest and bravest men in the navy and
brought him unstinted praise.
He next commanded the "New London," and
then the "Pensacola" on the Mississippi and along
the coast. He was next appointed to the command
of the "Chickasaw," a new and untried monitor.
' In the battle of Mobile Bay, which followed on
August 5, Captain Perkins pitted his vessel against
the rebel ram "Tennessee," disabled her, and forced
her to surrender, having shot away her smokestack,
destroyed her steering gear, and jammed her after
ports, rendering her guns useless, while one of the
shots wounded the rebel commander. Admiral
Buchanan. This brilliant action of Lieutejiant-Com-
mander Perkins elicited the highest encomiums
from his companions in arms from the admiral
down, and from the newspapers. He had obtained
leave to visit his home before he assumed command
of the "Chickasaw," and only volunteered to com-
mand her in the attack on the fleet, but he was
not detached until July 10, 1865. The winter follow-
ing he was superintendent of ironclads in the harbor
of New Orleans, and the next year, in May, 1867,
he was sent on a three years' cruise in the Pacific
as first lieutenant of the "Lackawanna."
After this cruise he was ordered on ordnance
duty in Boston, March 19, 1869, and continued in
that position until March, 1871, when he took the
new steamer "Nantasket" on her trial trip to New
York. January 19, 1871, he was appointed com-
mander in the navy. In March, 1871, he was or-
dered to command the "Relief," which carried stores
from the United States to France, at that time
suft'ering from famine resulting from the disorders
of the Communists. After an absence of six months
he returned to the Boston navy yard, but was soon
after transferred to the position of lighthouse in-
spector of the second district, and continued to
reside in Boston, which had now become his home.
In 1877 he was ordered to China to take command
of the United States steamer "Ashuelot." He per-
formed the routine duties of his station until Oc-
tober, 187S, when he received orders to cruise as
far south as Bangkok, and to visit various ports
in Japan, China and the Philippines. While lying
at Hong Kong, General Grant and party arrived
on their trip around the world, and Captain Perkins
was ordered to convey them from Hong Kong to
Canton and back, which proved a very enjoyable
voyage to all. After his return Captain Perkins
gave up his command of the "Ashuelot" to Com-
mander Johnson, who had been appointed to suc-
ceed him and returned to the United States. In
March, 1882, Captain Perkins received his appoint-
ment as captain in the navy by regular promotion.
In the year 1884-85 he made a year's cruise in
command of Farragut's famous old "Hartford,"
then flagship of our Pacific squadron. This cruise
included the Pacific ports of North and South
America and Honolulu. He retired from service in
1891 as captain after forty years faithful service
upon the active list of the United States Navy,
and by special act of congress, in January, 1896, was
honored with the rank, of commodore.
Lieutenant-Commander Perkins was married in
1870 to Anna Minot Weld, daughter of William F.
Weld, of Boston, Massachusetts. Of this marriage
there was one child, Isabel, who is now the wife of
Lary Anderson, and lives at Brookline, Massachu-
setts, and Washington, D. G. Commodore Perkins
died at his home in Boston, October 29, 1899, and
was buried in the cemetery at Forest Hills. A
magnificent monument to the memory of Commo-
dore Perkins was erected by his widow and daughter
in the State House enclosure, facing State street,
Concord, and presented to the state of New Hamp-
shire with appropriate exercises, April 25, 1902. In
the presence of many persons of ofiicial and social
prominence, and more than ten thousand citizens,
the statue, the work of Daniel C. French, of New
York City, and unveiled by Mrs. Lary Anderson,
escorted by her uncle, Mr. Hamilton Perkins, of
Boston. In behalf of the donor, Rear Admiral ■
George E. Belknap, United States navy, presented
the statue to the state of New Hampshire, which
was accepted in behalf of the state by His Excellency
Chester B. Jordan, governor of New Hampshire.
Beneath the statue is the following inscription :
GEORGE HAMILTON PERKINS.
COMMODORE UNITED STATES NAVY.
Born at Hopkinton, New Hampshire,
October 20, 1835.
Died in Boston, Massachusetts, Octo-
ber 28, iSgg.
Entered the Navy as Midshipman, Octo-
ber I, 1851, and served his country
with Honor Forty-eight years.
Genial and lovable as a Man — Able and
244
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Resourceful as an Officer — Gallant
and Inspiring as a Leader — His in-
trepid conduct at the Passage of
the Forts below New Orleans — His
Heroism in the surrender of that
City — His Skill and Daring on nota-
ble occasions on the Mississippi
River and in the Gulf of Mexico —
His achievements in Mobile Bay
when as Commander of the Chicka-
saw He compelled the surrender
of the Tennessee won from the
Navy unqualified admiration and
from Admiral Farragut these words :
"The Bravest Man That Ever Trod
the Deck of a Ship."
The inscription in front of the Statue :
Forts Jackson and St. Philip,
April 24, 1862.
Capture of the Gov. Moore and Three
Ships of the Montgomery Flotilla,
Below New Orleans,
April 25, 1862.
Capture of the Chalmette Batteries,
April 25, 1S62.
Surrender of New Orleans,
April 25, 1862.
Skirmishes on the Mississippi River,
July, 1862.
Port Hudson and Whitehall's Point,
July, 1863.
Capture of the Mary Sorley,
August S, 1864.
Battle of Mobile Bay,
August 5, 1864.
Capture of the Tennessee,
August 5, 1864.
Fort Powell,
August 5, 1864.
Fort Gaines,
August 8, 1864.
Fort Morgan,
August 23, 1804.
(VH) Susan George, second daughter and
third child of Hamilton Eliot and Clara Bartlett
(George) Perkins, of Hopkinton and Concord, New
Hampshire, was born in Contoocook, New Hamp-
shire, November 18, 1838. The spacious old mansion,
which was her birthplace and early home, still stands
near the river in the village of Contoocook, which
is part of the township of Hopkinton. When Miss
Perkins was six years of age her father moved
to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where they lived for
two years ; but with this exception the house near
the river continued to be the family home till 1856,
when Judge Perkins moved to Concord, New Hamp-
shire. Miss Perkins obtained her early education
at Maria Eastman's private school in Concord, at
the Hopkinton Academy, and at the Convent in
Georgetown, D. C, where she remained two years.
She early manifested musical ability, and she had
constant training from the age of six years, an
unusual opportunity for that period. A member
of a large and hospitable family, Miss Perkins's
earlier years were much given to social visiting and
entertaining in Concord, Boston, and other places.
But as time went by, her intellectual gifts and exe-
cutive ability found more scope. She was able,
by good management and wise handling of her
affairs, to provide a competence for herself before
she received the inheritance with which she has done
so much public good in her later years.
A brilliant talker, an elegant letter-writer, with
a voice of unusual charm, Miss Perkins was always
the life of any social circle of which she was a
member. She was skillful in arranging tableaux
and amateur theatricals, and- many are the church
affairs and charitable entertainments which she has
brought to a successful issue. She has an extensive
acquaintance with the best literature and a know-
ledge of the world ; these acquirements with her
keen wit, clear judgment and incisive utterance
make her always an interesting companion. In 1886,
after the death of her father, she bought her present
home at the corner of North Main and Chapel
streets in Concord. She has constantly enlarged
and improved the buildings and adorned the grounds
till the place is now one of the most attractive in
town. Her tulip-beds in the spring are a delight
to the eye.
Upon the death of her brother, Commodore
George Hamilton Perkins, Miss Perkins found her
resources greately increased, and it was then that
the qualities of her brain and heart became more
fully manifest. The judicious apportionment of her
fortune has given full scope to her organizing mind
and to the practical and ideal elements of her na-
ture. Her private benefactions are numberless, and
her public gifts have been so many that she may
in truth be called the Helen Gould of this region.
One of her earliest gifts was of two scholarships
of three thousand dollars each — one to Norwich
University, Northfield, Vermont ; and one to
Phillips Academy at Exeter, New Hampshire. These
scholarships were in memory of her father, who was
educated at these institutions. In 1902 she built the
Roger Eliot Foster Memorial and gave it as a parish
house to St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Concord.
This and other gifts to that church amount to about
thirty thousand dollars. In 1904 she built, at a
cost of about eight thousand dollars, the beautiful
granite, mortuary chapel at Blossom Hill cemetery,
and gave it to the city as a memorial to her mother,
Clara B. Perkins. In 1906 she built a gymnasium
for St. Mary's School in Concord, of which insti-
tution she is one of the trustees, and on which she
has expended many thousand dollars. During the
last few years Miss Perkins has given away about
fifty thousand dollars for philanthropic purposes
of which this brief recital conveys but an inadequate
idea. She is intensely public-spirited, and devoted
to the town where most of h:r life has been spent.
Although somewhat handicapped by ill-health and
averse to holding outside oflices, she is active in
furthering the best interests of Concord, and never
fails to respond to any plan for civic betterment.
She is a member of the New Hampshire Historical
Society.
Miss Perkins became a communicant of St. Paul's
Episcopal Church in early youth; she has always
been loyal to that faith, though her wide outlook
upon life and her far-reaching sympathies have
not been confined by ecclesiastical bounds. In build-
ing the parish house Miss Perkins was actuated by
a desire not only to benefit the church, but by a
wish to perpetuate the memory of a beloved nephew,
whose education she had superintended, and to
whose welfare she was devoted. Roger Eliot Foster,
youngest son and child of Judge William Lawrence
and Flarriet Morton (Perkins) Foster, was born
in Concord, New Hampshire, September 12, 1867.
He died in the same city March 26, 1900. A youth
of many accomplishments and singular personal
charm, he was cut off in the prime of young man-
hood just when the brightest prospects seemed open-
ing before him.
In 1903 and 1904 Miss Perkins made an ex-
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
245
tended tour of Europe, remaining abroad for four-
teen months. On this trip she was accompanied
by two devoted attendants, James and Mary Powers,
who have long formed a part of her household.
After her return she reopened her house, and in her
pleasant home, surrounded by a large circle of
friends, she passes busy days planning for the good
of others. Had her abilities been concentrated in
any one channel or devoted to her own personal
advancement, she might have won a name for her-
self. As it is she has lived a life of service for
others, and her brilliant gifts have been consecrated
to helping the world.
(VII) Roger Eliot, fourth child of Hamilton
E. and Clara B. (George) Perkins, was born May
24, 1841, and died February 6, 1S67. He graduated
from the high schools of Concord, and then studied
medicine in the office of Dr. Gage, of Concord. He
afterward took a course in medicine, and graduated
from the medical department of Harvard Uni-
ersity, and started to practice in St. Louis," jNIissouri.
He was there for a short time, and died at the
threshold of a bright career as a practitioner.
(VII) Hamilton, seventh child of Hamilton E.
and Clara B. (George) Perkins, was born July 23,
1847, and at the age of fourteen was appointed to
the United States Naval Academy, from which he
graduated four years later as a midshipman. He
served in the navy until 1885, when he resigned,
having attained the rank of lieutenant. He was
then appointed freight agent of the Boston & Albany
railroad, which place he filled till the road became
a part of the Vanderbilt system. He married Eliza-
beth B. Bliss, daughter of William Bliss, president
of the Boston & Albany railroad. He lives in
Boston.
(VII) Frank, youngest child of Hamilton E.
and Clara B. (George) Perkins, was born .'\pril
13, 1849, and died June 26, 1866. He attended the
high school of Concord and the business college, and
started upon a business career. Shortly afterward
he was taken sick, and died after a brief illness, at
the age of eighteen years.
(Third Family.)
The line .herein traced belongs to
PERKINS New Hampshire from the beginning
of permanent settlements within the
present state. It has furnished to New Hampshire
many worthy and useful citizens and is still ably
represented in the state (another line of simul-
taneous arrival follows).
(I) Abraham Perkins, the founder of this
line, was found in New England almost simultane-
ously with William Perkins of Ipswich and Tops-
field, Massachusetts. Abraham Perkins was born
about 1613, and was admitted freeman at Hampton,
Massachusetts (now New Hampshire), May 13,
1640. In the preceding January he received from
the town a grant of eighty acres of land, and in
1646 he was the possessor of three shares in the
commons. He seems to have been a man of intelli-
gence and business capacity, and he was often em-
ployed to transact both public and private affairs
in the town. His handwriting, as preserved, re-
sembles more nearly the modern writing than most
of the ancient manuscripts. He was town marshal
in 1654. He seems to have remained, through life,
where he first settled, and died suddenly .'August
31, 1683, aged seventy years. His wife Mary sur-
. vived him more than twenty-two years and died
May 29, 1706, at the age of eighty-eight years.
Their children were : Mary, Abraham, Luke,
Humphrey (died young), Timothy (died young),
James, Jonathan, David, Abigail, Timothy, Sarah
and Humphrey. It has been claimed that his eldest
son was the first white child born in Hampton.
There was one other who was baptized earlier but
it is not certain whether or not he was born there.
Isaac Perkins is supposed to have been a
brother of Abraham, but nothing in the records
appears to verify it. Both appear about the same
time in Hampton, and the house lots assigned to
them adjoined each other, each containing five
acres. Isaac's house was nearly on the site of the
present Baptist parsonage, and he lived there for
more than ten years. In June, 1652, he purchased
of Rev. Timothy Dalton, for fifty pounds, a farm
lying next to the Salisbury line, in what is now
Seabrook, and he removed thither soon after. He
died in November, 1685. His wife's name was
Susannah, and their children were: Lydia, Isaac,
Jacob, Rebecca, Daniel, Caleb, Benjamin, Susannah,
Anna, Mary, Ebenezer and Joseph.
(II) Caleb, third son and fifth child of Isaac
and Susannah Perkins, resided in Hampton. He
was married, April 24, 1677, to Bethiah, daughter
of Thomas and Ann (Knapp) Philbrick and grand-
daughter of Thomas Philbrick, the pioneer of the
family in New England. She was born December
IS. 1654. Their children were: Rhoda, Benjamin
and Anna.
(III) Benjamin, only son of Caleb and Bethiah
(Philbrick) Perkins, was born May 11, 1680, and re-
sided in Hampton Falls. He was married March
I, 1710, to Lydia McCrease and their children were:
Joseph, Lydia, Jonathan and Abigail.
(IV) Joseph, eldest child of Benjamin and
Lydia (McCrease) Perkins, was born May s, 17 12,
and resided in Hampton Falls. He was married
October 31, 1734, to Elizabeth Dow. Their chil-
dren were : David, Lydia, Daniel, Sarah, Benjamin
and Hannah.
(V) David, eldest child of Joseph and Eliza-
beth (Dow) Perkins, was born October i, 1735,
in Hampton Falls, and settled in Epping, New
Hampshire, where he lived for a time. He signed
the association test there in 1776. Soon after the
Revolution he settled in Windsor, New Hampshire,
and cleared land on which he built a cabin. His
wife was Mehitabel Swett.
(VI) James, son of David and Mehitabel
(Swett) Perkins, was seven years of age when his
parents settled in Windsor. There he grew up
and was married to Hannah Preston, daughter of
David Preston of Windsor. They were the parents
of five children : Julienne, the first, become the wife
of Robert Kelso of New Boston (see Kelso) ;
Franklin, married a Coolidge of Hillsboro; Mahala,
became the wife of Oliver Swett, and resided in
Antrim; James W., the subject of the following
paragraph; Simon, married Jane Gibson, and resided
in Hillsboro.
(VII) James Warren, second son and fourth
child of James and Hannah (Preston) Perkins,
was born November i, 1821, in Windsor, and died
October 8, 1899, in Antrim. In early life he was a
follower of the sea, and covered nearly all of the
globe in his travels. He made his home in Windsor
until 1862, and was active in the conduct of town
affairs, holding various offices, and was a repre-
sentative to the general court before the civil war.
In 1862 he purchased a farm in .\ntrim, now occu-
pied by his son, and there continued to reside until
his death. Fle was a deacon of the Presbyterian
Church in Antrim. He was married to Mary Jane
Somes of Haverhill, Massachusetts, who was born
April 8, 1828, in Edgecomb, Maine. She died Au-
gust 21, 1851, in Windsor, and Mr. Perkins subse-
246
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
quently married Aurilla W. Stacy of Stoddard, New
Hampshire, who was born October I, 1829, and
died March 5, 1895, i" Antrim.
(VIII) James Elroe, only child of James W.
and Aurilla W. (Stacy) Perkins, was born Sep-
tember 23, 1858, in Windsor, and was but four years
of age when he removed to Antrim with his parents.
He received his education in the public schools of
that town, and was early compelled by the failing
health of his father to take charge of the home farm.
This is a large farm, and under his management
has been greatly improved and supplied with new
and modern buildings. Mr. Perkins is an exten-
sive dealer and trader in lumber and cattle, and
continually maintains upon his farm a large stock
of neat animals. He is interested in the progress
of the state and nation, and has taken an active
part in the conduct of town affairs. He has served
as selectman, and for many years as a member of
the school board, and is now deputy sheriff of Hills-
boro county for Antrim. He has been connected
with many well known law cases in New Hampshire.
In political sentiment he is a Republican. His
acquaintance is wide and his pleasant and genial
manners have made a host of friends for him.
He was married December 20, 1881, at Harris-
ville. New Hampshire, to Mary M. Stoddard, who
was born in Nelson, New Hampshire, October 14,
1861, daughter of Prentiss W. and Mary A. (At-
wood) Stoddard, of Nelson, New Hampshire. Mr.
and Mrs. Perkins were the parents of three chil-
dren. The eldest, Lester Ellsworth, was born March
30, 1884, and attended the high school of Antrim.
On account of failing health he was obliged to
leave school and spend much of his time in Florida,
from which he received much benefit. He resides
at home and assists his father in the care of the
farm and his business. Arthur Dean, born Febru-
ary 20, 1SS6, w-as a robust boy, but was seized with
appendicitis, and died June 17, 1894. Archie Dean
was born November 7, 1894, and is now a student at
school.
(Fourth Family.)
Within a few months after the set-
PERKINS tlement of Hampton, New Hamp-
shire, two brothers (according to
tradition), Abraham and Isaac Perkins, joined the
community and were assigned adjoining house lots
of five acres each.
(I) The house of Isaac Perkins was located
near the site of the present Baptist parsonage in
Hampton, and he resided there more than ten years.
In June. 1652, he purchased from Rev. Timothy
Dalton, for fifty pounds, a farm adjoining the Salis-
bury line, now in Seabrook. There he died in
November, 1685. His wife's name was Susannah,
and their children were : Lydia, Isaac, Jacob, Re-
becca, Daniel, Caleb, Benjamin, Susannah, Hannah,
Mary, Ebenezer and Joseph.
(II) Caleb, third son and fifth child of Isaac
and Susanna Perkins, lived in Hampton, and was
married April 24, 1677, to Bethia. daughter of
Thomas and Ann (Knapp) Philbrick, of Hampton.
She was born September 11. 1651, and was the
mother of Rhoda, Benjamin and Ann Perkins.
(III) Benjamin, only son of Caleb and Bethia
(Philbrick) Perkins, was born May 11, 1680, in
Hampton, and resided at Hampton Falls. He was
married March i, 1710, to Lydia Mc Crease, and
. they were the parents of: Joseph, Lydia, Daniel,
Mary, Jonathan and Abigail.
(IV) Joseph, eldest child of Benjamin and Lydia
(McCrease) Perkins, was born May 5, 1712. in
Hampton Falls and passed his life there. He was
married October 31, 1734, to Elizabeth Dow, prob-
ably a daughter of Jonathan and Sarah (Weare)
Dow. Their children were : David, Lydia, Daniel,
Sarah, Benjamin and Hannah.
(V) Benjamin (2), third son and fifth child of
Joseph and Elizabeth (Dow) Perkins, was born
October 17, 1746, in Hampton Falls, and settled in
Wakefield, this state, where he was probably a
farmer. No record of his marriage appears in New
Hampshire, but the record of his children's births
appearing in Wakefield, show her name to be Abigail.
Their children were: Benjamin, John, William,
David, Josiah, Joseph, Caleb, Bradbury and Ruth.
(VI) John, second son and child of Benjamin
(2) and Abigail, Perkins, was born April 26, 1767,
in Wakefield, and located in New Durham, New
Hampshire, where his life was passed. The maiden
surname of his wife was Kenniston.
(VII) David Kenniston, son of John Perkins,
was born in New Durham in 1797. He resided in
his native town and in ]\liddleton until 1829, when
he went to Whitefield, settling in the eastern part
of that town. In 1839 he removed to Manchester,
where followed the stone-mason's trade until his
death, which occurred December 4, 1862. He mar-
ried Margaret Runnels, who was a real daughter of
the Revolution. The Runnels family came originally
from Ayrshire, Scotland. John Runnels settled in
Dover, New Hampshire, in 1718. His son Abraham,
who is referred to in the records as a brave Scotch
patriot, served as a soldier in the Continental army,
as did also his five sons. One of the latter was the
father of Mrs. Margaret Perkins. Her mother was
before marriage Margaret Randall, daughter of
Elder Benjamin Randall, known as the patriarch of
the Free Will Baptist denomination. David K. and
Margaret (Runnels) Perkins were the parents of
nine children, namely: Nathaniel, Samuel K., iMary
Ann (became Mrs. James Eastman and is no longer
living), Mannasseh H., Nathan R., William Dana,
Joan (Mrs. Moses Drew), David and another child
who died in infancy.
(VIII) William Dana, fifth son and sixth child
of David K. and Margaret (Runnels) Perkins, was
born in Manchester, New Hampshire. When a young
man he went to California, where he became promi-
nently identified with public affairs, serving as state
librarian and as railroad land agent. He was also
interested in mines. His death occurred in Cali-
fornia. He married Elizabeth Cram, and besides
William D. Perkins, who will be again referred to,
they were the parents of Dana and William.
_(IX) Wilham Dana (2), son of William D. and
Elizabeth (Cram) Perkins, was born in Cornish,
September 26, 1850. He attended school in his native
town and began life as a farmer, but later entered the
railway service, in which he remained some three
years. He was subsequently for a few years em-
ployed as a machinist in Lancaster, and after re-
linquishing that occupation he resumed farming in
Jefferson. He is quite active in civic affairs, being
at the present time second selectman, and in politics
he acts with the Democratic party. Mr. Perkins
married Miss Elizabeth Holmes, daughter of Amasa
and Eliza (Moore) Holmes. They had four chil-
dren, namely: Alice, Austin. Florence and Carl.
His wife died and he was again married.
(VI) Timothy Perkins was probably a descend-
ant of the Hampton family, but defective records
make it impossible to trace him. The record of his
birth appears in the town of Jackson. He was
married October 9, 1792, at Conway, to Mary (Polly)
Gentleman. Their children were: John Y., Lemuel,
George, Paul, Silas, Abbie, Betsy, Mary and Lydia.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
247
(VII) John Y., eldest child of Timothy and Mary
(Gentleman) Perkins, was born December 9, 1793,
in the town of Jackson, Carroll county, New Hamp-
shire, and resided for a time in Jefferson, Coos
county, where some of his children were born. He
was an early settler of the town of Stark, where he
died November 9, 1873. He married Nancy Potter,
of Concord, New Hampshire. They had eleven
children, five boys and six girls, as follows : Gentle-
man, Richard, Samuel, John W., JNIartin Van Buren,
Mary Jane, Martha, Alice, Susan, Sarah and Rhody.
(VIII) Richard, son of John Y. and Nancy
(Potter) Perkins, was born in Jackson, in 1824, and
died April 26, 1S69. About 1835 he went with his
parents to Berlin, where he learned the millwright
trade, and was employed by the Winslovv Company,
now the Berlin Mills Company, for fourteen years.
He was a quiet industrious citizen, and a regu-
lar attendant at the Methodist Episcopal Church.
He married Lavina Blake, who died in April, 1869,
daughter of Israel and Mary (Blake) Blake. They
had six children : Elliott, went west May, 1876 ;
Addie, married Ira S. Hawkins; Dora, married
Thomas Wentworth ; Lizzie, married Richard Went-
worth ; James B., who is mentioned below; Sadie,
married Edward LeClair.
(IX) James Buchanan, fifth child and second son
of Richard and Lavina (Blake) Perkins, was born in
Berlin, June 6, 1857. He was educated in the public
schools. He engaged at various occupations until
he went to learn the trade of a carpenter. In 1880
he became millwright for the Berlin Mills Company,
and master mechanic and builder in 1887, since
which time he has superintended the construction
of all the company's building and has not lost a single
hour from his employment in all that time. He was
made a Mason in the Gorham Lodge in 1878. He is
one of the trustees of the Methodist Episcopal
Church of Berlin, and was master mechanic and
chairman of the building committee at the time o.f
the building of the church. He married, December
15, 1888, at Berlin, New Hampshire, Roxana F.
Coffin, who was born in Berlin, 1852, daughter of
Lowell and Sarah M. (Fuller) Coffin, of Boston,
Massachusetts. Five children have been born to
them: Inez M., Stella G. (deceased), infant (de-
ceased), Robert G. and Lillian E.
James Perkins removed from Leominister, ^fass-
achusetts, and settled in Croydon, New Hampshire,
in 1815, and built the grist mill, saw mill and carding
machine at the Flat, and was a successful business
man. He married Annie French, and they were
the parents of four children.
(II) Marshall, son of James and Annie (French)
Perkins, was born in Croydon, May 13, 1823, and
died in Marlow, June 17, 1902, aged seventy-nine
years. He was educated in the common schools, and
at Kimball Union Academy, Aleriden, New Hamp-
shire, and then went to Dartmouth College, from
which he graduated. He studied medicine and
graduated from Cambridge Medical College. Soon
after he settled at Marlow, where he resided until
his death. He was a successful physician, a highly
respected and useful citizen, a Republican in politics,
active in party affairs, and was superintendent of
schools, and served as moderator at town meetings
for many years. He entered the United States service
September 23, 1862, as assistant surgeon of the
Fourteenth Regiment, New Hampsliire Volunteer In-
fantry, was mu?tered in the fullowing day. and
served until he was mustered out July 8, 1S65. He
married, December 30, 1S52, Harriett Adelaide Fiske,
who was born in Marlow, April 8, 1834, daughter of
Hon. Amos F. and Eliza (Stone) Fiske, of Marlow
(See Fiske, XVI). They were the parents of nine
children : James Marshall, a leading merchant of
Marlow. Annie E., who married Hiram D. Upton,
banker of Manchester. Hattie F., wife of Dr. Abram
Mitchell, of Epping, New Hampshire. Waldo H.,
merchant in Marlow. Mattie, who died young.
Daniel, who died young. Kate L. Charles A., men-
tioned below. Jessie M., wife of Dr. W. A. Brady,
of New York City.
(Ill) Charles Amos, eighth child and youngest
son of Dr. Marshall and Harriett Adelaide (Fiske)
Perkins, was born in Marlow, April 24, 1873. He
was educated in the schools of Marlow, and at
Phillips Exeter Academy, from which he was gradu-
ated with the class of 1892. After graduating he
went to Manchester and entered the office of Hiram
D. Upton. He began the study of law, and in 1902
passed his examination and was admitted to the bar.
He at once entered upon the practice of law, and has
a good and constantly growing practice in the city
of Manchester. He is a Republican and takes an
active part in political matters. He was elected
president of the Calumet Club in 1905, and re-elected
in 1906. He is also president of the Ragged IMouu-
tain Fish and Game Club.
Charles Amos Perkins married, December 31,
1902. Mabelle C. Ardenning, born May 20, 1876,
daughter of George L. and Anna (Stevenson) Ar-
denning, the former of whom was born in London,
England, and was a cotton commission merchant,
and the latter was born in Geraldine, Province of
Quebec. Mr. and Mrs. Ardenning had five children :
Leila R., married Michael D. Nolan, a lawyer, of
Troy, New York. Mae C, wife of Charles A. Per-
kins. Maude J., married Augustine Gonzalez.
Howard E., Florence P. Mr. and Mrs. Ardenning
reside in Brooklyn, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Per-
kins have one child, Arthur Fiske Perkins, born
July 22, 1906.
(I) William Perkins, son of Edward Perkins,
was born in Newbury, New Hampshire, in 1800.
Pie owned a farm of two hundred and fifty acres
in that town. He was a Democrat in politics, and
attended the Baptist Church. He was thrice married.
His first wife was Myra (Morse) Perkins, daughter
of Daniel ^Morse. She died April 3, 1848. They
had two children : Daniel and Myra. William
Perkins' second wife was Betsy (Ely) Perkins,
daughter of Closes Bly. They had two children:
William Francis and Salona B. His third wife was
Abigail M. (Cross) Perkins. There were no chil-
dren. William Perkins died June 17, 1873.
(II) William Francis, only son of William and
Betsy (Bly) Perkins, was born in Newbury. New
Hampshire, December 8, 1849. He was educated in
the common schools of Newbury. In 1882 he went
to Warner and settled on a fine farm of one hundred
and fifty acres, where he carries on a general farming.
He also runs a milk business. He is a Democrat
in politics, and attends the Baptist Church. He
married, August 17, 1875, Sarah, daughter of Rufus
and Harriet (Cross) Page, of Derry, New Hamp-
shire. They were married August 17, 1S75. They
have two children: Susan I., born February 10. 1878;
and Rufus, January 30, 1886, who died January g,
1901.
(VI) Oliver Lowell, son of Abncr and Rachel
(Ring) Perkins, was born July 22, l8ir, at Pitts-
field. On September 5, 1836, he married .\bigail
Choate Sanborn, daughter of Jesse and Charlotte
(Batchelder) Sanborn, who was born January 27,
1816. (See Choate V and Sanborn VIII). To this
union were born six children, five daughters and one
son: Emily .-\manda, Mary Ellen, Clara Ann, Almira
248
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Lorena, Charlotte Rachel and Edward Oliver. Emily
A. Perkins, born September 19, 1839,. was married to
Charles Wiggin, of Meredith, New Hampshire, on
September 10, 1862, and died October 17, 1887.
Mary Ellen Perkins was twice married: (first) to
George Minor on June 21, 1870, and after his death,
she married, June 29, 1904, Henry J. Perkins, of
plampton, this state, where she now lives. Clara A.
Perkins married, January 3, 1868, John Y. Lane,
son of Anthony Knapp and Sally (Yeaton) Lane,
of Chichester, this state and are now living in Con-
cord. They had two children : Eveline, born No-
vember 10, 1870, who married William Adams and
lived in Gardner, Massachusetts, and Herbert L.,
born February 28, 1874, and died on August 6th of
that year. Almira Lorena Perkins, born August 3,
184s, was married January 2, 1868, to Charles H.
Lane, and died February 24, 1897. (See Lane, VH).
Charlotte R. Perkins, born August 20, 1847, was
married November 21, 1894, to Ira W. i\Iorgan,
of Suncook, where she now lives. Edward Oliver
Perkins, the youngest child and only son, was born
July 20, 185s, and lives on the old home farm
first owned by his great-grandfather, Jonathan Per-
kins (IV). The latter came from Hampton, this state,
about 1785, and took up the land which was heavily
covered with timber at that time. On March 4,
1886, Edward O. Perkins married Lucy Young, of
Gilmanton.
The name of Wallace was one of
WALLACE the most numerous among the im-
migrants to this country during the
first half of the seventeenth century. George came
from London in 1635, a"d settled at Rumney Marsh,
now Chelsea, Massachusetts. Robert was in Ips-
wich, Massachusetts, in 1638, and William in Charles-
town, Massachusetts, in 1642. James Wallace came
somewhat later to Warwick township, Pennsylvania,
and Peter Wallace to Virginia. There were other
early immigrants bearing the name of Wallis. In
fact, the two spellings seem interchangeable, but all
came from the same Scotch ancestry. The New
Hampshire Wallaces did not get here till the
eighteenth century, but they were among the pioneers
of the state. They came in the Scotch-Irish migra-
tion, which founded the town of Londonderry.
Among the sturdy settlers there were no less than
four men by the name of Wallace. John and
Thomas were brothers ; another Thomas was their
uncle, and the relation of Joseph is undetermined.
(I) Thomas Wallace was born near Burt Mills,
county Antrim, in the north of Ireland, in 1673. His
parents went from Scotland to Ireland about 1619.
He married, in 1704, Barbary Cochran, born in 1677.
She lived to the age of ninety-four, dying Septem-
ber 2, 1771. Thomas Wallace died at Londonderry,
New Hampshire, August 22, 1754.
(II) James, supposed to be the son of Thomas
and Barbary (Cochran) Wallace, came to London-
derry, New Hampshire, in 1732, and was married
December 18, 1742, by Rev, Mr. Davidson, of that
town, to Mary, daughter of James and Elizabeth
(Fulton) Wilson, who were married in Ireland.
There is an interesting romance connected with
Mary Wilson, or "Ocean-born Mary," as she was
usually called, which is one of the cherished tradi-
tions of Londonderry and Henniker, New Hamp-
shire. In 1720 a company of emigrants on their
passage from Ireland to this country were captured
by pirates. While the passengers were prisoners,
Mrs. Wilson was delivered of her first child, which
so moved the pirate band, particularly the captain,
who had a wife and family, that he permitted the
emigrants to proceed on their voyage. He asked
that the child should be named Mary, after his wife,
and he made Mrs. Wilson many valuable presents,
mostly articles of wearing apparel. Among them
was a handsome silk gown, pieces of which can be
seen in Henniker to-day. Mary Wilson's father died
soon after they landed in Boston, and the mother
brought her baby to Londonderry, New Hampshire,
which had been their intended destination. Jilrs.
Wilson afterwards married James Clark, great-great-
grandfather of Horace Greeley. She died in 1732,
but Mary continued to live in the family until her
marriage in 1742. "Ocean-born Mary" appears to
have been a general favorite, and for a whole gen-
eration the people of Londonderry held an annual
Thanksgiving in commemoration of her delivery
from the pirates. Mrs. Mary (Wilson) Wallace
lived with her son in Henniker during the last years
of her life, and she died there, February 13, 1814.
Cogswell's "History of Henniker" speaks of her as
"being quite tall, resolute and determined; of strong
mind, quick of comprehension, sharp in her conver-
sation, with a strong brogue, and full of humor ; was
of florid complexion, bright eyes, and elegant in her
manners to the last of her life." James and Mary
(Wilson) Wallace were the parents of four sons:
Thomas, born November 5, 1745 ; Robert, whose
sketch is given in the next paragraph; William,
January 17, 1760; and James. May 8, 1762. It is
interesting to note that the three younger brothers
married three sisters, Jannette, Hannah and .-\nna
Moore, daughters of Robert and Mary Moore, of
Londonderry, New Hampshire. These three brothers
all became prominent and respected citizens. Wil-
liam Wallace lived in Londonderry where he became
a stock-raiser, teacher, surveyor and justice of the
peace. He was of commanding presence, being six
feet, four inches in height, and weighing two hun-
dred and forty pounds. It is said that when his
brother, Judge Robert Wallace, built his house, he
made the rooms unusually high-studded. Upon be-
ing asked the reason, he replied that his brother
William was very tall. "As I want him to visit me.
I have the rooms made high." James Wallace, like
his brother William, also settled iii Londonderry.
He was possessed of the fine n-.ental and moral traits
characteristic of the family, and was a valuable citi-
zen during his short life. He died December 22,
1794, at the age of thirty-two.
(Ill) Robert, second son and child of James and
Mary (Wilson) Wallace, was born in Londonderry,
New Hampshire, September 5, 1749. Upon his mar-
riage in 1776, he moved to Henniker, New Hamp-
shire, which became his permanent home. He at
once became one of the leading men of the town.
His influence during the Revolution was marked,
and it was due to him more than to any other one
person that the town responded promptly to all
demands upon it whether for men or money. In 1782 .
he was elected to represent Henniker and Hills-
borough for a term of two years in the state legis-
lature and in 1784 was re-elected for another term.
He was selectman between 1779 and 1791, inclusive,
and for ten of these years he was chairman of the
board. He was one of the councillors of the state
from 1788 to 1803, a period of fifteen years. In
1791 he was a delegate from Henniked to the con-
vention to frame a constitution for the state. He
was one of the committee of ten chosen to prepare
and report at an adjourned session the alterations
and amendments to be submitted to the people. As
some of the ablest men in the state were members of
the convention, and as this committee was the most
important one selected, the choice of Mr. Wallace
&i^.ctrJU> ^^aJli^'uuJ
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
249
shows the esteem in which he was held by his fellow
members. In 1803 he was appointed a judge of the
court of common pleas for Hillsborough county,
which then included Henniker. He held this po-
sition for ten years. He owned a large and highly
cultivated farm in the southwest part of the town,
upon which he built a fine old-time mansion where
he exercised unstinted hospitality. Cogswell's "His-
tory of Henniker" says of him : "Although in public
life continually for nearly a third of a century, his
home and its inmates were never forgotten. There
his brightest traits of character were shown, and
his best humor, with his broad Scotch accent was
exhibited. No one was turned from his door, but
all alike were welcome. As he rode to church, and
upon other occasions, in almost royal style, every-
body did him homage, and all received from him a
pleasant recognition in return. At his death the
whole population of Henniker were sincere mourn-
ers, for the town had lost one of its most upright and
honored citizens." On February 5, 1776, Robert
Wallace married his first wife, Jannette, daughter
of Robert and Mary Moore, of Londonderry, New
Hampshire. They had eight children, of whom four
'lived to maturity : James, whose sketch follows ;
Robert Moore, born January 6, 1779; Mary, March
I, 1781, died September 16, 1783; Thomas, March I2,
1783; William, April 19, 1785, died i\Iarch 20, 1813 ;
John, August 3, 1787, died April 16, 1790; John,
April ig, 1790, died April 21, 1799; Mary. August
8, 1792, married Peter Patterson, and lived in Perry,
Leicester and Warsaw, New York. Mrs. Jannette
(Moore) Wallace died August i, 1794. Judge Wal-
lace subsequently married for his second wife, Mrs.
Betsey Eaton, of Weare, New Hampshire. Judge
Wallace himself died January 30, 181 5, at the age of
sixty-five years.
(IV) James, eldest son and child of Judge
Robert and Jannette (Moore) Wallace, was born
in Henniker, New Hampshire, November 29, 1776.
He was one of the first merchants of the town. He
also built a portion of the structure now used as
a hotel in which lie kept the first public house in the
village. He had the same uprightness of character
that distinguished his father. He married on March
31, 1799, Susanna, daughter of Captain Jonas and
Susanna Bowman, of Henniker. They had seven
children : James, born in 1800. died July t6, 1827 :
Robert, May 10, 1802 ; Jonas, April 20, 1803 ; John,
December iS, 1804, died February 28, 1826; Mary,
1805, married a Mr. Chapin; Jannette, 1807, died
April 19, 1829; Susan, July 24. 1810," married J.
Proctor Darling. James Wallace died March 6, 1812.
His widow afterwards married Dr. William Dins-
more, of Henniker; she died January 11, 1856.
(V) Jonas, third son and child of James and Sus-
anna (Bowman) Wallace, was born April 20, 1803,
at Henniker, New Hampshire. He was a merchant
most of Iiis days, and in 1826 erected the three-story
brick block that was burned fifty years later. For
several years he was commanding officer of the cav-
alry belonging to the Twenty-sixth Regiment. He
represented Henniker in the legislature in 1858 to
1859. "He was an upright and valuable citizen, and
enjoyed the confidence and respect of his fellow-
townsmen to a great degree." Jonas Wallace mar-
ried, November 26, 1821. Nancy, daughter of Hon.
Joshua and Polly (Proctor) Darling, of Henniker.
They had six children, four daughters and two sons ;
both of the latter died in childhood. The children
were : Annette, born May 30, 1822 ; married Ed-
ward Richards, of Roxhury, Massachusetts. Sep-
tember 17, 1845. James, October 10. 1823, died Sep-
tember 20, 1825. Helen Maria, January 12, 1825,
married Cyrus N. Campbell. John, December 22,
1827, died September 26, 1829. ^Mary Darling, April
16, 1832, became a teacher. Elizabeth Ballantine,
January 4, 1836. Mrs. Nancy (Darling) Wallace
died April 29, 1841. Jonas Wallace married her
sister, Mary Darling, on June 7, 1S42. There were
two children by the second marriage: Frederick
Cleveland, born March 11, 1844, died September i,
1845. Robert Moore, whose sketch follows. Jonas
Wallace died I\Iarch 21, 1877. Mrs. Mary (Darling)
Wallace died June, 1905. She was born in Henniker,
but her father, Joshua Darling, came from Kings-
ton, New Hampshire.
(VI) Robert Moore, younger of the two sons
of Jonas and Mary (Darling) Wallace, was born
in Henniker, New Hampshire, May 2, 1847. He was
the only one of his father's four sons who lived be-
yond the age of two years. He was educated in the
common schools and at Henniker Academy. He en-
tered Dartmouth at the age of sixteen, and was
graduated in the class of 1867. He studied law with
Mason W. Tappan, of Bradford, New Hampshire,
and was admitted to the bar in 1870. He began
practice in Milford, New Hampshire, with Senator
Bainbridge Wadleigh. This partnership continued
till 1879, when Senator Wadleigh moved to Boston.
Robert W. Wallace was representative from Mil-
ford in 1S77 and 1878, and a member of the consti-
tutional convention in 1889. He was county solicitor
for Hillsborough county from 1883 to 1893. In the
latter year he was made an associate justice of the su-
preme court by Governor Smith's staff, during 1893.
In 1901 upon the establishment of the dual court
system in New Hampshire, Judge Wallace was made
chief justice of the superior court. Judge Wallace
sustains the high character of his ancestors. He
had attained distinction as a lawyer before he was
raised to the bench. "He excelled as an advocate
as well as examiner. Diligent preparation rendered
him an affective opponent, and a ready mastery of
the law obtained by deep study and minute reten-
tion, added to his legal equipment." He attends the
Congregational Church. He belongs to the Masons,
and also to the Odd Fellows. Judge Wallace mar-
ried, August 25, 1874, Ella M. Hutchinson, daughter
of Abel F. and Deborah H. Hutchinson, of Milford,
New Hampshire. They have had five children : Ed-
ward Darling, born June 19, 1875, "ves at Kansas
City, Missouri. Twins, born and died January 12,
1S7S. Robert Burns, born in 1884, a member of the
class of 1907, Dartmouth College. Helen H., born
in June, 1891. Mrs. Wallace is active in church and
social life, and has been president of the Woman's
Club at Milford.
Mrs. Wallace belongs to one of the old New Eng-
land families, being ninth in descent from Richard
Hutchinson, who emigrated to Salem. Massachusetts,
in 1634. There are several early settlers of this name
which was frequently changed to Hutchins by drop-
ping the final syllable.
(Second Family.)
On its arrival in America this name
WALLACE was not in the form now chiefly
used in New Hampshire. It was at
the time spelled Wallis. This form is still used by
numerous descendants, although it is more generally
employed in the form which appears at the head
of this article. It is used in both forms by both
English and Scotch families. The family herein
traced is first found in Stow, Massachusetts, whence
it was brought to New Hampshire.
(I) John Wallis is found of record as a resident
of Townsend, Massachusetts, in 1731, at which time
he was of middle age. He was born about 1676.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
The first record there is that of a deed of land con-
veyed to him by John Kemp, November 12, 1731. In
March, 1733, he purchased lands of Thomas Philips
and others. His title proved worthless, and in con-
sideration of his loss the proprietors of Townsend
granted him one hiuidred and ninety acres near
jMount Grace. He served as selectman in 1747 and
was one of the sixteen original members of the
church of Townsend. He died there, May 20, 1763,
aged eighty-seven years. In a deed of land to his
son Isaac, dated 1761, he included the conveyance of
his pew in the Townsend meeting house "in the
south side of the house at the left hand of the south
door going in," and providing that possession of the
pew should not be given until after his decease. No
record of his marriage appears. He was survived
by his wife Elizabeth, who died January 25, 1765,
aged seventy-two years. She may have been a
second wife, and it is certain she was the mother of
his younger children. He had nine in all, namely:
John, Matthew, Susanna, a daughter whose chris-
tian name was not preserved, Jonathan, Isaac, Wil-
liam (died young), David and William. (Mention
of Jonathan and descendants appears in this article).
(II) Matthew, the second son of John Wallis,
was born April 3, 1721, in Stow, ^Massachusetts, and
v/as about ten years old when his father removed
to Townsend. On attaining manhood he settled in
Raby, now Brookline, New Hampshire, and was a
farmer and a cooper. He served in a Massachusetts
regiment as a soldier in the Revolution, and his
death occurred in 1778, in Brookline. He was mar-
ried in HoUis, May 6, 1755, to Jean Leslie. She
survived him and is on record as having paid the
taxes on the homestead until the oldest son arrived
of age in 1772. They had five children: Jane (who
married George Woodward), John (who lived in
Brookline and in Vermont), Sybel, Matthew and
Jonas.
(III) Matthew (2), second son and fourth child
of Matthew (i) and Jean (Leslie) \\'allis, was born
about 1778, in Brookline, and was a farmer residing
in that town. He served as a town officer and was
captain of the local militia. He died September ig,
1843. He was married January 15, 1799, to Betsy
Mcintosh, daughter of James Mcintosh, of Brook-
line. They had ten children, namely ; Clarinda
(who married Alpheus Shattuck), Eliza (wife of
John Colburn), James, Asha, Jane (who married
Asia Shattuck), Grace (wife of Benjamin C. Jakes),
Waldo, David, William and Augustus. The last
named was the wife of Colonel Otis Wright, of
Nashua.
(IV) William, ninth child of Matthew (2) and
Betsy (Mcintosh) Wallace, was one of the first
to adopt the present form of spelling the name. He
was born November 29, 1816, in Brookline, and
there grew up and passed his life, and died Septem-
ber 25, 1885. He was a stone mason by trade, and
was also employed as a railroad man in the southern
states. He married Catherine McDonald, daughter
of Eri and Fanny (Wright) McDonald, and they
were the parents of thirteen children only three of
whom are now livin.g. namely : Bryant William,
the eldest, resides in Nashua. Mary A., is the wife
of John David Hobert, of Maiden. Massachusetts.
A sketch of the third, Elmer W., follows.
(V) Elmer Wright, youngest of the three living
children of William and Catherine (McDonald)
Wallace, was born in Brookline, New Hampshire,
November 14, 1853. He was educated in the com-
mon schools, and learned the trade of paint mixing.
He continued in that work till 1897. when he bought
the farm consisting of one hundred acres on which
he has since lived. He was a member of the state
legislature m 1907-08. On November 24, 187S, he mar-
ried Jennie E., daughter of Levi and Cynthia (Ho-
bart) Rockwood, of Brookline, New Hampshire.
She was born March 26, 1856. They had one child,
Ellen Augusta, born December II, 1879, and died
when eighteen months old.
(II) Jonathan, third son and fourth child of
John Walhs, was born about 1730 and resided in
Townsend, Massachusetts, where he was proprietor's
clerk for twenty years, selectman eleven years and
a representative two years. He was married Oc-
tober 7, 1755, to Mary Barstow, of HoUis. She
died September 6, 1797, and he was married
(second), June 7, 1801, to Milicent (Farrar) Con-
ant, widow of Daniel Conant. She died May 3, 1843,
aged eighty-seven years. Three of his fourteen
children died in infancy. The others were : Eliza-
beth, Sarah, Mary, Hannah. Jonathan, S'ybel, Jo-
seph, Benjamin, Reuben, Rebecca and Asa.
(HI) Benjamin, third son of Jonathan and Mary
(Barstow) Wallis, resided in Townsend, and mar-
ried Rebecca Whitney.
(IV) Sybel, daughter of Benjamin and Rebecca
(Whitney) Wallis, was born September 2, i8og, in
Townsend, Massachusetts, was married, May 20,
1830, to Edwin Smith, of Medfield, and died De-
cember II, 1893, in Milford, New Hampshire. (See
Smith, VII).
(Third Family.)
The people of this family have been
WALLACE distinguished in America for nearly
two centuries by their sterling worth
and successful business careers. The name is among
the oldest of those brought to New Hampshire from
Northern Ireland, which came originally out of
Scotland to that Island. Its bearers were distin-
guished in the old country for their braver_v, forti-
tude, industry and firm adherance to principle.
(I) James Wallis was a weaver and farmer, and
was found in the colony of Scotch-Irish emigrants
who gathered at Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1718,
and the years immediately following. His homestead
of forty acres was in the adjoining town of Leicester,
and is described in an ancient deed as bounding
on Worcester. In 1758, while in the possession of
his son, this farm was annexed to Worcester. James
Wallis died in Leicester in 1746 or early in 1747. His
widow, Mary, declined the administration of the
estate and requested the appointment of Hugh
Thompson. She alleged that he had then no rela-
tives in this country. A brother Oliver, who was a
wheelwright, lived near him, but died about 1735.
His widow resided with her son James in Colerain,
where she died in February, 1769, aged seventy
years. Their children were : Agnes, James and
John.
(II) John, younger son of James and Mary
Wallis, was born in 1736, in Leicester, Massachu-
setts, and settled in Colerain where he was a farmer
and a good citizen. He is credited upon the ISIassa-
chusetts Revolutionary War Rolls with several years
of service under various enlistments. A considerable
part of this service was performed by his eldest son
and namesake. In the muster roll of Captain Mc-
Clellan's company of Colonel Wells' regiment of
nine months recruits, in 1777. the senior John is
thus described: "stature, five feet and six inches;
hair gray, age forty-one." There is a tradition re-
lated by his descendants that he came to New Hamp-
shire at the age of sixty years, with four of his chil-
dren, and ultimately died in Franconia. Nothing can
be discovered in the records of either Colerain_ or
Franconia to establish or refute this. He was married,
dL^^_^
I M '\
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
;5i
:„ Massachusetts, October ,ir, 1761. to A
No account of his chil '
;e four who came to ^'
■le probable that there v. :. vi.n . -. lu..
lohn, William, David an J Nancy. The last
.■as the wife of David Bronson, ar'' v i ' •'•
■:(i. ."■' ''It this time the spelling of
;)c . Kinged to its present form.
) David, third son of John and AgBcs (Lind-
illnre, was born April 18, 1770, in Colerain,
-. and died April i, 1853, in Littleton,
:re. He was one of the original pro-
01 t ranconia, this state, where he resided
years and removed to Littleton about 1800.
vupa'
■^1 he was a farmer, and !'- ■
'":eful
'-UC'i
' ! citizen. He was mar:
iiber
■ r
Vancy Palmer, who was
1 ;,
ler of Aaron and Mary
December, 1851, am! w..
about sixteen mor. h?
y, .Daniel, Mahal a, D-.v-i ■
ii and Nancy.
nts appears 11
!zey, eldc-
. allace, v
lis nanv
le family
Home & Hall, anfl also at Furbcr's in 1
' ' ' ' ' ' 'T^covery o.'
; of the ■ ;.
1 ' . i. , ■ -'nd wci/L
fields in t! He mel
-' ■ • '■ ' ■■ , ,., .r.-d after
; a year spent in (
wliere he was en:;
leaiiier business until 1858. In that
brother formed the firm of E. G
tanners and curriers, each takin-
partnient of the business. At
six or eight hands, but in a few year^ 1
out the concern which had been owned 1
Richards, a:' _ 1 . ... enlarged ■'
After the o .vil war t':
selves wiili . . .^ . .. ..; skir- ■ ■•
which there was no market, i
this stock without loss thev -:
and soon after began the
sralp with a skilH'd and '
!>. The '
".mi! it ii
'-ss on a small
n.' manager of
^rew con-
:ind in the
K acres of
was in two
..y one
with
,, , ,.f
I
-crvcU as
.-'1 as a 1.
:. :' .;'i time ll.
~t .'. ,; were spL.
■.e died in
i, to Abu:
'vell. She M,- ..; ■ n ,
(second), Fcbruar
died Dpi-'-'i'i I- '■
■d), June
•V of EU
.rs and died in
were: Fanny :
twins, and Nancy, His ■
of one child, Mary. His
' !i,n, namely: Olive, julu;
;'i All were born in Berw
•' Gowell, first born -
(1 Abigail (Gowell
earn the trade
fortv dollars -
aren
and
jy ■• ■ ig extra hours aie
' t. , — 'ver a hvndr.'d d.->ll
cosliip. After
i:her Edwin, v
'".'11 rifzer G. !(
and took
- While ii, ,,
.' tanning calf st
spared from
work their way
(1 bright studei
'o divide the ■
ind themselves
- school d;
'crs on tl)'
- ; 'Sed HI i':^ '■ . ;!.er 1 -::i'"
'r succes.s. Lbencxc r G.
'.J i.\.ui.iic5ier ana worKed at his trade in the tannery
thev
interests
and was
Ure.sl in iJiil.iiic aiuwii. I,.
-cn
1 in
.t and
jf Con-
i^ochcstcr
ctor in the
ad. His in-
,iys been positive
2.^2
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
and he has been elected to various positions in the
government of his home city and the state. In poli-
tics he is a Republican. He represented Rochester
in the lower house of the legislature in 1893 and
1903, and was a member of the senate from the twelfth
district in 1897, and has been a member of the Roch-
ester city government for nine years. He is a mem-
ber of Humane Lodge, No. 21, Free and Accepted
Masons; Temple Royal Arch Chapter, No. 20; and
Palestine Commandery, Knights Templar
He married (first), in Rothester, May 23, 1883,
Rosalie K. Burr, of Rochester, who was born in
Mercerville, 1857, daughter of M. L. and Julia E.
Burr. She died September 23,, 1888. He married
(second), October 24, 1894, at Watertown, Fannie
Swift Chadbourne, of Watertown, Massachusetts,
who was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, 1867,
daughter of Henry R. and Sarah Lydia (Green)
Chadbourne, of Watertown. One son, Louis Burr,
was born of the first wife. He is now a student in
Dartmouth College. The children by the second
wife are: Sarah Josephine, Eben, Dorothy, Ruth
and Kathryn.
(VI) Sumner, second son of Ebenezer G. and
Sarah E. (Greenfield) Wallace, was born in Ro-
chester, March 7, 1856. He acquired his primary
education in the public schools of Rochester, was
prepared for college at the South Berwick Acad-
emy, entered Dartmouth College in 1873, and grad-
uated in 1877. Sumner and Albert Wallace were
both bred up to the shoe business of their father
and uncle, and on the death of Ebenezer G. Wal-
lace in 1893, his sons succeeded to his interests
which have been carried on with the same careful
attention and constant success that characterized
them under their father's administration. Besides
his large business in Rochester, Sumner Wallace
has interests in various other places. For a time
he was a director in the First National Bank of
Carroll, Iowa, and in the Union National Bank of
Omaha, Nebraska, and a number of other financial
institutions in the west. He was a director in
the Concord & Montreal railroad, and in the Man-
chester & Lawrence railroad. He is a director in
the Great Falls Manufacturing Company, the
Springfield (Missouri) Railway & Light Company,
the Newport & Providence Railway Company, The
Hot Springs (South Dakota) Water. Light & Power
Company, and president of the Standard Rivet
Company of Boston, the Austin (Texas) Traction
Company, and the Loan and Banking Company of
Rochester, of which he was one of the organizers,
vice-president till 1894, and since that time presi-
dent. In manufacturing, financial, political and so-
cial circles, Mr. Wallace, like his father before
him, stands for progress. He takes a lively interest
in the affairs of his city, and gives generously to
all deserving enterprises of a charitable, religious
or an educational character. In politics he is a
Republican, and represented his town in the legis-
lature in 1885. and was member of Governor Rol-
lin's Council from the first district. He is a mem-
ber of Humane Lodge, No. 21, Free and Accepted
Masons, and of Temple Royal Arch Chapter, No.
20. He is also a past grand of Kennedy Lodge, No.
57, Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
He married, January 30, 1884, at Farmington,
Harriet Z. Curtis, who was born in Farmington,
January 30, 1S63, daughter of Ellison O. and Ma-
tilda A. (White) Curtis. Of this union was born
one child. Scott, July, 1886. who died October,
1901, of injuries received while playing foot ball
at Groton Lawrence Academy. Airs. Wallace died
July 13, 1907.
(IV) David (2), fourth child of David and
Nancy (Palmer) Wallace, was born in Littleton.
New Hampshire, January 15, 1806. He was reared
to agricultural pursuits, and left home at the age
of eighteen years. Subsequently settling in Bristol,
Maine, he devoted the active period of his life to
that occupation. He attained the ripe old age of
eighty-four years, and his death occurred January
21, 1890. In 1844 he married Mrs. Margaret Jones,
nee Perkins, daughter of Solomon Perkins, of
Bristol, Maine, and widow of Deacon J. Jones of
that city. She bore him three children : Lorana,
Alonzo S., M. D., and Maria E., all now living.
(V) Alonzo Stuart Wallace, M. D., second
child and only son of David and Maragaret (Per-
kins) (Jones) Wallace, was born in Bristol, Maine,
February 17, 1847. His early education was ac-
quired in the public schools, the Lincoln Academy,
New Castle, Maine, and the East Maine Con-
ference Seminary at Bucksport. At the age of thir-
teen years he began to follow the sea during the
summer season, and when seventeen years old was
second mate of a bark. It was his firm intention,
however, to first prepare himself for educational
pursuits and then to earn a sufficient sum by teaching
to defray his expenses through college. He there-
fore devoted his winters to study, and so earnest
was he in his endeavors to obtain rapid advance-
ment, that at one time it was his custom to travel
on foot ten miles to school on each Monday morn-
ing and return in the same manner each Friday
evening. At the age of eighteen he began to teach
in his home town, teaching two terms a year, from
early fall to late spring, for a period of about three
years. At the age of twenty-one he was elected
superintendent of Bristol schools. In 1S69 lie
secured a position as instructor at the city reforma-
tory on Deer Island, Boston Harbor, where he at-
tracted the attention of Dr. Durgin, then port
physician and now chairman of the board of health
of Boston, who advised him to enter the medical
profession. In 1872 he was a medical student at
Bowdoin College. He was sub-^equently, however,
by an urgent request of the reformatory manage-
ment, induced to return to Deer Island, but shortly
afterward resigned in order to resume his studies
and, entering Dartmouth College, he was graduated
in 1874. Accepting a position at the Insane Hos-
pital in Northampton, Massachusetts, he remained
there some eight months, at the expiration of which
time he was appointed assistant port physician at
Boston and subsequently became chief port physician.
Resigning that post in 1879, he engaged in private
practice in Brookline, New Hampshire, and after
remaining there for a period of nine years, he re-
moved to Rochester, New Hampshire, where he
practiced one year and some months. In 1889 he
located in Nashua, where he found a much wider
and far more interesting field of operation, and he
is now conducting an extensive practice in that city
in both medicine and surgery. In addition to his
regular practice he is connected with the Nashua
Emergency Hospital. Dr. Wallace's professional
society aflSliations are with the Massachusetts State,
the New Hampshire State, and the Nashua medical
societies. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, be-
longing to Ancient York Lodge, Meridian Sun
Chapter, Royal Arch, Israel Hunt Council, Royal
and Select Masters and St. George Commandery,
Knights Templar; he is also a member of the local
lodge. Knights of Pythias, and of the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, being major of the local
canton. Patriarchs Militant. In his religious belief
he is a Congregationalist. He married Mary Fran-
XJVWll^VUA,
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I I I I
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
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ces Maynard of Lowell, Massachusetts, daughter of
Charles Maynard. Dr. and Mrs. Wallace are the
parents of four children : Arthur Lowell, M. D.,
an account of whom will be found below ; Edith,
a graduate of Mount Holyoke College, was a pro-
fessor two years at Western College, Oxford, Ohio;
Edna June, who is residing at home; and Ina, who
is attending the Nashua high school.
(VI) Arthur Lowell Wallace, M. D., eldest
child of Dr. Alonzo S. and Mary Frances (Maynard)
Wallace, was born in LowelJ, iSIassachusetts, Oc-
tober 12, 1877 (see Wallace, V). Alter being
graduated from the Nashua high school he entered
Dartmouth College, taking his bachelor's degree
with the class of 1900, and he was also a student
in medicine there, being graduated with the medical
class of 1903. His professional preparations were
completed in Boston, where he acquired much valu-
able experience and observation during a season
of regular attendance at the Massachusetts Gen-
eral and the Children's hospitals, and upon return
to Nashua he became associated in the practice with
his father.
Dr. Wallace has already demonstrated his pro-
fessional ability, and is undoubtedly destined to
obtain high rank as a physician. In 1904 he served
as city physician, is at the present time treasurer of
the Nashua Medical Society, and in addition to that
body he is a iiiember of the New Hampshire State
and the Hillsboro County Medical societies and the
American Medical Association, and a member of
the staff of the Nashua Emergency Hospital. He
also belongs to the Knights of Honor, United Order
of Golden Cross and United Order of Pilgrim
Fathers. He is clerk of the Good Will Institute.
He married Dorotha Goss, of Wilder, Vermont,
and has four children : Helen Morey, Maynard
Stuart, Ruth and Miriam (twins).
(Fourth Family.)
(I) Joseph Wallace emigrated
WALLACE from the north of Ireland about
the year 1726, and settled among
his compatriots in Londonderry, New Hampshire.
He was accompanied by his wife, Margaret, his
brother John, his sister Jean, and cousin Thomas.
The latter married Jean and settled in Bedford.
These Wallaces were the descendants of a Wallace
who went from Argyleshire, Scotland, to the north
of Ireland about the year 1650. Joseph and Mar-
garet Wallace, the emigrants, were the parents of
several children, all of whom, except their eldest,
were born in America.
(II) William, eldest son and child of Joseph
and Margaret Wallace, was born in Coleraine, Ire-
land, April or July 20, 1720, and was therefore a
lad of six years when he came to New Hamp-
shire. He settled in Milford, this state, where he
died May 24, 1793. In 1752 he married Mary
Burns, daughter of John Burns, who was also an
emigrant. She was born in Ireland in 1730, and
died in Milford, May 8, 1815. Their children were :
Joseph, who married Letitia Burns, settled in Mil-
ford and reared a family. John, who married
Mary Bradford and was the father of ten children.
Mary, who became the wife of Israel Burnham, of
Lyndeborough, New Hampshire, and had one child.
William, who died unmarried. James.
(III) James, youngest son and child of Wil-
liam and Mary (Burns) Wallace, was born in
Milford, October 17, 1766, and died there July 23,
1828. September 19, 1786, he married for his first
wife Betsey H. Kimball, who was born in Amherst,
New Hampshire, December 28, 1766, died October
13. 1S07, daughter of Major Ebenezer and Elizabeth
(Fuller) Kimball. His second wife, whom he
married February 22, 1817, was Sophia Tuttle, of
Littleton, Massachusetts, who was born February
22, 1780, and died in Milford, November 6, 1854.
His children, all of his first union, were : James,
Betsey Holton (died at the age of eleven years;,
Polly, Elisha Fuller, Royal, Caroline, Rodney, Bet-
sey Holton and Jane.
(IV) James (2), eldest son and child of James
and Betsey H. (Kimball) Wallace, was born in
Milford August 24, 1787, died August 7, 1831.
He went to Pembroke, New Hampshire, prior to
1S15, and was in trade there; moved to Canaan in
1817 and was in trade there. June 2, 1811, he mar-
ried Mary Flint, who was born June S, 1791, daugh-
ter of John and Betsey (Fuller) Flint, of Middleton,
Massachusetts, and she died October 17, 1866. Their
children were : John Flint, born in Greenfield, New
Hampshire, April 7, 1812, was a sailor and died
about 1853. William Allen, who will be again
referred to. Oscar Flint, born in Canaan, March
14, 1818, died JMay 27, 1842. Amelia Melvina, born
December 14, 1820, died in California, March 20,
1868. Sophia Jane, born May 13, 1823, died July
5, 1842. Rodney Hilton, born F"ebruary 22, 1S26,
died April of the same year. Harriet Olivia, born
January 22, 1830, died June 4, 1904. (N. B. Amelia
Melvina Wallace was the wife of Daniel G. Cum-
mings and left one daughter, Clara Amelia, who
was born Alarch 14, 1846, and became the wife of
George E. Rice. Mrs. Rice died in Japan, November
19, 1900, and her husband died there December
17, 1901.)
(V) William Allen, third son and child of
James and Mary (Flint) Wallace, was born in
Pembroke, September 28, 1815. He prepared for a
collegiate course at Plymouth, but instead of enter-
ing college learned the printing business and subse-
quently became a journalist. For some time he
was proprietor and editor of the Massachusetts Spy,
which he sold in 1S48, and going to California in
1850 became the owner and editor of the Los
Angeles Star. Selling that property he edited a
Spanish newspaper for a time and then became
connected with the Alta California of San Fran-
cisco, of which he was the Washington correspond-
ent during the Civil war. After the close of the
rebellion he returned to his native state, and settling
in Canaan turned his attention to agriculture. His
pen, however, could not be wholly neglected, and
it was his custom to vary the monotony of farm life
by writing for the newspapers and attending to
other literary work. He collected material for a
history of Canaan and also for a genealogy of the
Wallace family, but was not spared to complete
them. Politically he was a Republican and served
with ability at town clerk. His fraternal affiliations
were with the Masonic Order. William Allen W^al-
lace died in Canaan, February 15, 1S93. He was
married January 8, 1865, to Mary Duncan Currier,
who v/as born in Canaan, November 20, 1838, and
died December 25, 1898. She bore him one son,
James Burns, of Canaan.
(VI) James Burns, only son of William A.
and Mary D. (Currier) Wallace, was born in
Canaan, August 14, 1866. He attended the public
schools and Canaan Union Academy, the New
Hampshire State Agricultural College at Hanover,
also a preparatory school in St. Johnsbury, Ver-
mont, and was graduated from Dartmouth College
in 1SS7. Deciding to enter the legal profession he
pursued the regular course at the Columbia Law
School, New York City, and was admitted to the
New York bar. Locating in the metropolis he
254
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
practiced there until 1906, when he returned to
Canaan, and is now conducting a general law busi-
ness in that town. Mr. Wallace was admitted to the
New Hampshire bar in 1900, and is at the present
time serving at judge of the Canaan police court,
as a member of the school board and a trustee of
the public library. He is much interested in local
history and genealogy, and is engaged in completing
the works begun by his father. In politics he sup-
ports the Republican party. He is a prominent
Mason, being a member of St. Andrew's Chapter
and Washington Council, of Lebanon, Sullivan Com-
mandery, of Claremont, and Bektash Temple, Order
of the Mystic Shrine, of Concord. In 1880 Mr.
Wallace was united in marriage with Alice Hutchin-
son, who was born June 22, 1867, daughter of
Lucius B. and Alice M. Hutchinson, of New York.
According to tradition, William
PARKINSON and Esther (Wood) Parkinson
were natives of Scotland. They
were kin to the Scotch Livingstones, who settled
in New York and New Jersey. In 1741, they were
residents of Londonderry, Ireland. There and in
that year their oldest child Henrj' was born. In
1744 they came to Londonderry, New Hampshire,
and later removed to Princeton, New Jersey, but
the date of their removal is not known. In June,
1776, William Parkinson united with others in Lon-
donderry in pledging "to the utmost of their power
and at the risque of their lives and fortunes, with
arms to oppose the hostile proceedings of the
British fleets and armies against the United Ameri-
can Colonies." Whether this was William senior or
junior is uncertain. William, Senior, had five sons
born in this country : Aaron, Jonathan, Reuben,
Sylvanus and William and five daughters : Esther,
Elizabeth, Katherine, Mary and Susan.
(II) Henry Parkinson was born 1741, in Lon-
donderry, Ireland, and died in Canterbury, New
Hampshire, May 28, 1820, aged seventy-nine years.
He removed with his parents to Londonderry, New
Hampshire, in 1744, and was a graduate of Prince-
ton in 1764, and is supposed to have been a teacher
there for some time. In the spring of 1775 he was
at Londonderry. Soon after the news of the battle
of Lexington had been received, Captain George
Reid marched with a company of nearly one hun-
dred men from Londonderry and joined the Ameri-
can forces at Medford. Henry Parkinson enlisted
as a private in that company, which was embodied
in the First Regiment of New Hampshire. John
Stark was elected colonel, and Judge Nesmith is
authority for the statement that Parkinson was
chosen quartermaster at Stark's request. The two
men, of the same race, companions in youth, were
friends through life. While both lived it was their
rule to visit each other annually.
The provincial congress at Exeter commissioned
Stark, June 3, 1775. The original manuscript of
Parkinson's commission shows plainly that the same
date was first written and "July 6" substituted. On
the back is recorded : "Mr. John Caldwell, is to
have the pay for doing the duty of quartermaster
until this day, July 6, 1775." Kidder's "History of
the First Regiment" names both Caldwell and Park-
inson as quartermasters, June 17th ; Frothingham's
"Siege of Boston" names Caldwell only. All the
facts indicate that Parkinson was elected to the office
when the regiment was organized, but for some
unknown reason Caldwell acted as his substitute
until July 6th. Tradition has given Parkinson credit
for being at the battle of Bunker Hill, but record
evidence is conflicting.
The first regiment of New Hampshire became the
Fifth in the Continental service. In that he received
a new commission as lieutenant and quartermaster
from the Continental congress, signed by John
Hancock, January i, 1776. During the siege of
Boston, Stark's regiment was stationed on Winter
Hill. In March, 1776, he was ordered to march with
that and the Twenty-fifth, via Norwich, Connecticut,
to New York. In May following he was ordered
to proceed by the way of Albany to Canada to
reinforce our army. At the mouth of the Sorel he
met it on the retreat. It is recorded that, in evacuat-
ing St. John's, "Colonel Stark with his staflf was
in the last boat that left the shore." They were in
sight when the advance guard of the enemy arrived
amid the smoking ruins. Stark was subsequently
stationed successively at Crown Point, Ticonderoga,
Chimney Point and Mount Independence, the last
so named because his regiment was there when the
news of the Declaration of Independence was re-
ceived. Shortly before the battle of Trenton, De-
cember 26, Stark joined Washington at Newton,
New Jersey. He had to march more than two hun-
dred miles, and it is recorded that his regiment was
so "ill-supplied, ill-clothed, and so poorly shod that
the march could be traced by their tracks in blood."
This regiment, in the battle of Trenton, led the van
of Sullivan's division. It also fought bravely in the
battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777. In March, 1777,
Stark indignantly resigned. Probably from sympa-
thy with him, Parkinson's resignation soon followed.
He records that "it was accepted about the first of
June, 1777." In the spring of 1777 he contracted with
parties to clear land for him in Francestown. The
records of that town show that in 1779 he was
chairman of its committee of safety, and that he was
town clerk for three years ending March, 1781. He
removed to Pembroke in 1781, and his home was
there about three years. "He maintained a superior
school at Concord from about 1784 to 1794." The
remainder of his life was spent in Canterbury. He
owned a farm on which he built a home and a mill.
His life work was teaching the classics and higher
English. ITe married, September 17, 1777, Jenett
McCurdy, of Londonderry. They were the parents
of nine children — three sons and six daughters. Two
of the sons were : The late Henry Parkinson, of
Nashua, and Robert, a student and teacher like
his father.
(Ill) Sophia, daughter of Henry and Jenett
(McCurdy) Parkinson, was married, October 4, 1803,
to Daniel Jones of Canterbury. (See Jones, VI).
This is a name conspicuous in American
MORSE and English annals, and has been traced
with tolerable accuracy to the time of
William the Conqueror. The line herein followed
begins definitely in Essex, England and was brought
to America early in the seventeenth century.
(I) The first known was the Rev. Thomas Morse,
of Foxearth, in the county of Essex, England.
(II) Samuel, son of Rev. Thomas Morse, was
born in 1585, and embarked for New England at
London in 1635. He settled first at Watertown,
Massachusetts, and soon removed to Dedham. and '
subsequently became one of the original settlers of
Medfield, where he died April 5, 1664. His wife
Elizabeth probably died the next year. Their chil-
dren were : John, Daniel, Joseph. Abigail, Samuel,
Jeremiah and Mary. All were born in England,
and emigrated with their parents. (Joseph and de-
scendants receive mention in this article).
(III) John, eldest son of Samuel and Elizabeth
Morse, was born in England, in 161 1, and came to
I
'^^^LuJ^^i^^^ /^LcK^^i^^^tC^^L^
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
-00
America with his parents in 1635. He resided in
Dedham until 1654, when he removed to Boston and
established himself there as a merchant tailor. In
165s he visited England for the purpose of obtain-
ing an inheritance. He died prior to 1670. The
christian name of his wife was Annas, and his chil-
dren were : Ruth, Ezra, Abigail, Ephraim, Bethia,
Joseph and others.
(IV) Joseph, third son and sixth child of John
and Annas Morse, was born in 1640. He went to
Medficld, settling in the vicinity of "Death's Bridge,"
and he died in 1689. In 1668 he married Priscilla
Colburn, who survived him and died in 1731. She
was the mother of ten children, namely : John (died
young), Joseph (graduated from Harvard College
in 1695), John, Priscilla (.married Benjamin Grant),
Maria (married Nathaniel Heaton), jNIoses, Deborah
(married William Ridcej, Israel, Nathaniel and
Aaron.
(V) Nathaniel sixth son and ninth child of
Joseph and Priscilla Morse, was born at Medlield,
in 16S5. He inherited his father's homestead, and
died in 177S, at the advanced age of ninety-three
years. In 1720 he married Sarah Coolidge, of Sher-
born, who died in 1776, aged eighty-one. Their chil-
dren were: John, Eli, Caleb (died young), Daniel,
Sarah, Caleb, Joseph, Abigail (married Henry Bul-
lard) and Priscilla (married Amos Mason).
(VI) Deacon Eli, second child of Nathaniel and
Sarah Morse, was born in Medheld, September 22,
1722. He settled in Dublin, New Hampshire, on lot
13, range 5, and followed the trade of weaver in that
town. He married Sarah Cheney of Sherborn, Mass-
achusetts, and was the father of Isaac, Peter, Thad-
deus and Sarah, who married Andrew Allison.
(Thaddeus and descendants are mentioned in this
article).
(VII) Peter, second son and child of Deacon
Eli and Sarah (Chenary) Morse, was born in Sher-
born, December 15, 1761. In 1793 he settled upon a.
farm in Dublin, and in addition to agriculture en-
gaged in lumbering. His death occurred November
15, 1S23. In 1794 he married Deborah Cobleigh, of
Tempi eton. New Hampshire. She bore him seven
children, namely : xA.lona, bom November 17, 1795,
became the wife of Samuel Stone; Justus, Decem-
ber 13. 1797, married Eliza Morse ; Peter, February
10, 1800, married Hannah Gleason ; David, born
June 13, 1802, married Betsey Smith ; Nathan, who
will be again referred to; Betsey, August I, 181 1,
became the wife of Daniel Townsend; and Mary,
October 12, 1814, became the wife of George Taylor.
(VIII) Nathan, fourth son and fifth child of
Peter and Deborah (Cobleigh) Morse, was born in
Dublin, November 17, 1806. Learning the shoe-
maker's trade he followed it for some time in Nel.son,
this state, and removing to Stoddard he was engaged
in general farming for the remainder of his life. He
served as selectman in Stoddard. In his religious
belief he was a Universalist. He died in 1854. In
1S30 he married Jane Robb, and was the father of
eight children, namely : Nathan R., born February
20, 183 1 ; Edward, (see next paragraph); Mary J.,
Mav 6, 1834; Martin Van Buren, M'. D., July 3, 1835;
Ellen C, March 26, 1838: Sylvia S.. December 21,
1839; Martha, August 3, 1841, deceased; and George,
June 1843. Nathan R., was practicing medicine in
Salem, Massachusetts, at the time of his death. Mary
J., became the wife of Albert J. Henshaw, and re-
sides in Keene. Martin Van Buren Morse. M. D.,
is a well known physician in Manchester. Ellen C,
resides in Boston, She and also her sister Martha
made teaching their life work. Sylvia S., became the
wife of George Newton, and resides in Stoddard.
(IX) Edward, second son and child of Nathan
and Jane (Robb) Morse, was born in Stoddard,
October 4, 1832. He was educated in the public
schools. When a young man he entered the service of
the Contoocook Valley railroad, as agent at Hills-
borough Bridge, and acted as such for a short time.
He later worked for the Nevif York Central & Hud-
son River Railway Company for a short time. Re-
turning to Stoddard he turned his attention to agri-
culture, becoming an extensive farmer and cattle
dealer. During the Civil war he purchased large
numbers of sheep. He wintered as many as four
hundred for two consecutive winters and lie was a
successful dealer in cattle and sheep, selling on one
occasion a ton of wool for more than two thousand
dollars. He also raised excellent crops which he dis-
posed of advantageously. In 1872 he sold his farms
of seven hundred acres, and going to West Salem,
Massachusetts, erected a business block, which he
still owns, and after his return to New Hampshire
he superintended the building of a large furniture
factory in Wilton. Having become interested in the
glass works at Lyndeboro he managed that enter-
prise for two seasons, and accepting the position of
agent in the service of the corporation which was
extending the railway from Greenfield to Keene, he
had full charge of the engineers engaged in con-
structing the line from Greenfield to the terminal
point. After the completion of this line he served
as a conductor for some time, and was popular with
the traveling public. In 1875 he established his resi-
dence in Nashua, and engaging in the real estate
business has ever since devoted his attention to the
buying, selling and renting of real estate. In poli-
tics Mr. Morse is a Democrat, and for a period of
five years was a member of the board of assessors.
Possessing a pleasing personality and a natural love
for genuine humor, he has gained an extensive ac-
quaintanceship, and his numerous anecdotes, a goodly
portion of which relate to his railroad experience,
are both amusing and interesting. He is a thirty-
second degree and Sir Knight Mason. Mr. Morse
married Josephine Upton, daughter of Elison and
Sarah (Scott) Upton, of Stoddard, and has three
children living, namely : Ida, who is now Mrs.
George E. Balcom, of Nashua ; Minnie, who became
the wife of Elery B. Albee, of Nashua; and H.
Martin Morse, M. D., a practicing physician of Peter-
boro. this state.
(VII) Thaddeus, third child of Eli and Sarah
Morse, was born June 23, 1763, and died in Dublin,
September 30, 1841. In 1790 he married Betsey
Mason, daughter of Thaddeus Mason. She died
December 15, 1845. The children of this union were:
Betsey (married William Greenwood), Asenath,
Hannah (married Asa Morse), Thaddeus, Sally
(married Moses Adams), Louisa (married Moses
Crombie), Harriet (married John Gleason) and
Joseph.
(VTII) Joseph (2), second son and youngest
child of Thaddeus and Betsey Morse, was born in
Dublin, June 26 or 27, 1815. In addition to follow-
ing the shoemaker's trade he cultivated a farm, and
the last twenty years of his life was spent in retire-
ment. He died April 9, 1904, at the age of nearly
eighty-nine years. He was married. May 2, 1839,
to Jane Warren, who was born September 19, 1818,
and died in 1890. Of this union there were but
two children: Emily L., born in 1S40, and Charles
W. Morse. Emily L. Morse married Granville B.
Gilchrest, of Dublin, now of Peterboro.
(IX) Charles ■ Willis, youngest child of Joseph
and Jane Iilorse, was born in Dublin, December 8,
1848. After concluding his attendance at the Dublin
2;6
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
public schools he entered the employ of K. C. Scott,
of Peterboro, proprietor of the Fetcrboro Transcript,
and made himself useful in the printing office and
the bookstore connected with it for one year. He
then went to Harrisville, where for a similar length
of time he was clerk in the store of William A.
Jones, and he then went to Keene, entering the dry-
goods store of R. B. Fuller. He shortly after ac-
cepted a position in the wholesale dry-goods estab-
lishment of N. VV. Farley, Boston, but m less than
a year he returned to Keene and entered the employ
of Messrs. Nims & Crossiield. From a subordinate
position he has worked his way forward to the
responsible post of secretary and treasurer of the
Nims-Whitney Company, which operates one of the
leadmg door, blind and sash manufacturing plants
in southern New Hampshire, which was incorporated
January l8, 1896, and cf which Mr. Morse is one
of the principal stockholders. Mr. Morse has served
in the Keene common council for three years, and
as a member of the board of aldermen for four years.
In politics he is a Republican. He is a member of
the Order of the Golden Cross. His religious affilia-
tions are with the Unitarians. On November I,
1870, he married Miss Angle M. Page, of Amster-
dam, New York, daughter of Amos and Mary Page,
formerly of Amsterdam, latterly in Keene. Mr. and
Mrs. Morse have two children : Florence L. and
Howard W. Morse, the latter in the office employ of
Nims, Whitney & Company.
(HI) Joseph, third son and child of Samuel
and Elizabeth Morse, was born in l6iS- He went
from Dedham to Medfield, and while he was clearing
land and erecting a dwelling house his family re-
sided in Dorchester. He died in 1654, prior to the
completion of his residence. In 1638 he married
Hannah Phillips, and was the father of Samuel,
Hannah (married James Flood, of Boston), Sarah,
(married Nathaniel Lawrence, of Groton), Dorcas
(married Benjamin Clark), Elizabeth (married Peleg
Lawrence, of Groton), Joseph, Jeremiah, and another
child who died young. His widow married for her
second husband Thomas Boyden, and resided for a
time in Medfield. She died at the home of her
daughter, Mrs. Flood, in Boston in 1676.
(IV) Jeremiah, tliird son and seventh child of
Joseph and Hannah (Phillips) Morse, was born in
1651, and died in 1716. He was a wheelwright by
trade and resided in the southerly part of Medtield.
His wife, who was before marriage Elizabeth Ham-
ant, died in 1733. Their children were : Elizabeth
(died young) ; Jeremiah, Elizabeth, Mary (married
Henry Leland of Sherborn), Timothy, Benjamin,
Samuel, Abigail, Jedediah and John.
(V) Samuel (2), fourth son and seventh child
of Jeremiah and Elizabeth (Hamant) Morse, was
born at Medfield, in 1694. He followed the black-
smith's trade, and having inherited the homestead
he resided there until his death, which occurred in
1756. In 1716 he married for his first wife Sarah
Star, who died in 1722, and his second wife, who was
Abagail Asher, of Dedham, died in 1767, aged
seventy-three years. The children of his first union
were: Samuel, Sarah (died young) ; and Bethsheba.
Those of his second marriage were: Abigail, mar-
ried Eliakim Morse; Mary, married Nathan Clark;
William; Margaret, married (first) Benjamin Dun-
ton, and (second) Adam Peters, and Sarah, mar-
ried Elijah Allen.
(VI) Samuel (3), eldest child of Samuel (2)
and Sarah (Star) Morse, was born at Medfield in
1718. He went from Medfield to Hubbardston,
Massachusetts, where he served as a selectman and
as representative to the general court and he died
in Royalston, that state, April 20, 1787. February i,
1759 he married Catherine Clark, who survived him
many years, dying January 17, 1813. The children of
this union were : Samuel, William, Thaddeus, Cath-
erine, married Silas Wheeler of Hubbardston, Sarah,
Joses and Nathan C.
(VII) Samuel (4), eldest child of Samuel (3)
and Catherine (Clark) Morse, was born in Royal-
ston, November 30, 1759. He died August 4, 1853,
a nonagenarian. His marriage took place April 14,
1785, to Esther Woodward, who died April i, 1834,
aged seventy-two years. She bore him nine children,
namely: Russell, Samuel, James, John, Ricnard,
Asa, Joel, Lavina, married Joshua Browning, and
Lucretia, who became the wife of Sewell Mirick
of Princeton, Massachusetts.
(VIII) Russell, eldest child of Samuel and
Esther (Woodward) Morse, was born in Hubbard-
ston, July 12, 17S6. He was married July 30, 1808,
to Betsey Wait. He died in Royalston, October 25,
1869. Their children were : Caroline, Nelson, Esther,
Elizabeth, Russell, Mary and Emeline.
(IX) Nelson, second child and only son of Rus-
sell and Betsey (Wait) Morse, was born in Royal-
ston, February 18, 1810. In early life he was a
farmer in his native town, whence he removed to
Keene, New Hampshire, and became a well known
auctioneer. In 1854 he served as sheriff of Cheshire
county. He died in Keene, January 3, 1883. His
wife was Sarah W. Flagg, of Fitzwilliam, New
Hampshire, born August 3, 1813, married June I,
1839, died November 20, 1879.
(,X) Julius Nelson, only child of Nelson and
Sarah W. (Flagg) Morse, was born in Royalston,
August 5, 1840. His education was acquired at the
public schools of Fitzwilliam and Keene. At the age
of sixteen years he entered the office of the Cheshire
Republican, then conducted by Horatio Kimball, and
in 1865, in company with William B. Allen, he pur-
chased that journal of which he became editor. He
was later sole proprietor, and continued its publi-
cation until 1878. He was subsequently local Asso-
ciated Press agent, also correspondent for the Boston-
Globe, Boston Herald, Concord Patriot, Manchester
Union, Springfield Republican, and the I'alley
Record. He was a trustee of the Guarantee Savings
Bank, secretary of the Cheshire County Fish and
Game League, secretary of the Keene Humane So-
ciety, and member of the executive committee of the
Rural Improvement Association. He was a Master
Mason. For some time he was senior warden of
St. James (Protestant) Episcopal Church. Mr.
Morse died February 2, 1896. He was a public
spirited citizen and bequeathed the sum of one thou-
sand dollars to be applied to the Simmons Fund, the
interest of which is to be applied to the relief of the
aged and infirm poor, and five hundred dollars to the
St. James Charitable Fund and one thousand dollars
to the Bishop of New Hampshire Support Fund, and
five hundred dollars to the Ladies' Charitable So-
ciety of Keene, and his homestead upon his wife's
decease to St. James Church.
On October 18, 1874, Mr. Morse married Annie
Maria Chase, who was born in Chester, New Hamp-
shire, June I, 1843, daughter of Henry Franklin
Chase. (See Chase, X).
(Second Family.)
This name is inseparably connected with
MORSE the invention of the electric telegraph
and is otherwise distinguished in rela-
tion to science, literature and all the influences that
make for the betterment of the condition of mankind.
Its bearers are to be found in remotely separated
districts of the United States, and they have been
J(cyPu^^^
^::JIm, S^^yOUU cA) Jfy/z-S^-^y
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
257
noted fur their maintenance of tlie standard; set up
by their Puritan fathers.
(I) Anthony Morse, of Newbury, Massachusetts,
came from Marlboro, Wiltshire, England, and settled
in Newbury in 1635 with his brother William, both
registering as shoemakers. He sailed in the ship
■■James" from London, England, April 5, 1635. He
built a house about one-half mile south of the old
cemetery, in what is called Newbury Old Town, on
a slight eminence in a lield which is still called
Morse's field. Traces of his house are visible a few
rods from the ro'ad. His will is on file in Salem,
Essex county, Massachusetts. His first wife was
named Mary and his second wife Ann. The latter
died JNlarch 8, 1680, in Newbury, and he died there
October 12, 1686. His children were : Robert, Peter,
Joseph, Anthony, Benjamin, Sarah, Hannah, Lydia
(.died aged three), Lydia, Mary, Esther and Joshua.
(.Mention of Anthony, Benjamin and Joshua and
descendants appears in this article).
(H) Joseph, third son and child of Anthony and
Alary jMorse, was born about 1634-5, probably in
Wiltshire, England, as his father set sail for America
in the ship "James," from London, April 5, 1635.
He grew up at Newbury, Massachusetts, where his
people settled. He was a blacksmith and land owner
in that town, and also at Piscataqua. Inventories of
his estate taken after his death showed that he
owned a house with adjacent land and two black-
smith shops at Piscataqua, and a smith's shop and
tools at Newbury. About 1667 Joseph Morse mar-
ried Mary , and they had five children : Ben-
jamin, born about 1668-9, married (first), Sus-
anna Merrill ; (second), Mercy Bell. Joseph. (2),
whose sketch follows. Joshua, born in 1S75, married
Elizabeth Doten, and settled in Plymouth, Massachu-
setts. Sarah, died in infancy. JNlary, a posthumous
child, born January 21, 167S-9, lived fifteen days.
Joseph jNIorse, the father, died January 15, 1678, at
the early age of forty-three.
(HI) Joseph (2), second son and child of Joseph
(1) and Mary Morse, was born at Newbury, Massa-
chusetts, October 28, 1673. He was thrice married.
His first wife was Lydia Plummer, whom he married
at Haverhill, Massachusetts, January 4, ifSSS-p. She
died in Newbury, November 8, 1689, leaving a six
days old baby, Lydia, who married John Titcomb, in
April, 1712. Joseph (2) Morse's second wife was
Elizabeth Poor, daughter of John Poor, of Newbury,
whom he married January 30, i6gi-2. The date of
her death is unknown, but judging from the births
of her children it must have occurred between 1698
and 1702. The five children probably belonging to
the second wife were: Joseph, whose sketch fol-
lows; Daniel, born March 8, 1695, married Sarah
Swain; John, born October 22, i6g6, died young;
another John, born October 22, 1697; and Mary,
born January 10, 1698-9, married Samuel Kenne.
Joseph (2) iNIorse's third wife was Joanna, but her
maiden name has been lost. The six youngest of his
twelve children, probably by the third marriage,
were: Elizabeth, born August II, 1702, married
Joseph Poor; Judith, born April 9, 1705, died in
childhood; Edmund, born November 2, 1707, married
Mary Ciriffin ; Jonathan, born March 14, 1710, mar-
ried (first), Mary Merrill, (second), Sarah Sawyer;
Elioch, born September 17, 1712, married Martha
Goodhue; and Sarah, born January 24, 1715, married
George Goodhue. Joseph (2) Morse, the father,
died in 1741, between May 19, and September 27 in
his sixty-eighth year. He left a widow, Joanna
Morse.
(IV) Joseph (3), eldest son and child of Joseph
(2) I\lorse, and eldest child of his second wife,
i— 17
Elizabeth Poor, was born at Newbury, Massachu-
setts, October 28, 1693. He lived in Newbury, and
married there, April 2, 1724, Mary, daughter of Ben-
jamin and Ann Coker. Joseph (3) and Mary
(Coker) Alorse, had two children: Moses, born
March 26, 1725 ; and John, mentioned below.
(V) John, youngest son of Joseph (3) and Mary
(Coker) Morse, was born at Newbury, Massachu-
setts, October 17, 1728. On June 20, 1754, he married
Elizabeth Holgate, of Haverhill, that state. They
lived at first in Newbury, but afterwards moved to
Deerfield, New Hampshire, where their daughter,
JNlary jNIorse, married Aaron (2) Rollins about 1788.
(See Rollins, V).
(II) Lieutenant Anthony (2), fourth son and
child of Anthony (i) Alorse, was born in England.
He lived in Newbury, and served as lieutenant in
the militia. His will was made before that of his
father and caused some confusion as to the identity
of the two. He was married (first). May 8, 1659,
to Elizabeth, daughter of Richard and Agnes (Cof-
fey) Knight, who died July 29, 1667, and he married
(second), November 11, 1(569, Mary, daughter of
Thomas and Eleanor Barnard. She was born Sep-
tember 27, 1645. Mr. Morse died February 22, 1677,
in Newbury, and his widow subsequently married
Phillip Eastman, of Salisbury, jNlassachusetts, and
remo\ed with her husband and children to Wood-
stock, Connecticut. Mr. Morse's children were off-
spring of his first wife, namely : Ruth, Anthony,
Elizabeth, John, Peter, Joseph and Sarah.
(III) Ensign Anthony (3), son of Lieutenant
Anthony (2) and Elizabeth (Knight) Morse, was
born December 31, 1(362. He was always known as
Ensign Morse. His will was drawn March 5, 1705,
and by its provisions his wife Sarah was to enjoy
the whole of his estate until his eldest son became
of age. He was married, February 4, 1(585, to Sarah,
daughter of Joseph and Susannah (Kingsbury) Pike.
She was born (Dctober 12, 1666, and died in 1717.
His death is recorded in the Town Book as occurring
May 16, 1710. Their children were; Sarah (died
young), Sarah (died one year old), Anthony, Sarah,
Stephen, Elizabeth, Timothy, Thomas, Mary and
John.
(IV) Mary, youngest daughter of Ensign An-
thony and Sarah (Pike) Morse, was born March 18,
1704, and was married September 7, 1724, to Joseph
Chase. (See Chase, VII).
(IV) Deacon Stephen, sixth child and third son
of Ensign Anthony (3) and Sarah (Pike) Morse,
was born in Newbury, jMassachusetts, December 28,
1695. He resided in Newbury and was deacon of the
Second Church, now known as the First Church
of West Newbury. He married, 1725, Elizabeth
Worth, and they were the parents of Thomas, Ste-
phen, Elizabeth, Judith, Sarah and Anthony.
(V) Stephen (2), second son and child of Ste-
phen (i) and Elizabeth (Worth) Morse, was born
in Newbury, in 1728, resided in Newbury, and died
there June I, 1753. He married, j\Iay 26, 1749,
Judith Carr, and they had one child, the subject of
the next paragraph.
(VI) Captain Stephen (3), only child of Stephen
(2) and Judith (Carr) IMorse, was born in Newbury,
filay I, 1751, and died in Haverhill, New Hamp-
shire, April 29, 1825. He was styled captain, and
lived for years in Haverhill. New Hampshire. He
married, 1777, Sarah Bailey, who was born No-
vember II, 1761, daughter of Moses Bailey. Their
children were : Elizabeth Noycs, Stephen Bailey,
Sally, Clarissa (died young). Moses Noyes, Joseph,
Clarissa, Sophia and an infant.
(VII) JNIoses Noyes, fifth child and second son
2S8
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
of Stephen (3) and Sarah (Bailey) Morse, was born
at "Briar Hill," Haverhill, New Hampshire, October
18, 1784, and died in Haverhill, February 9, 1859.
He was a farmer and resided on the old Morse
homestead the most of his life. For many years
he drove a "pod" team between Haverhill, New
Hampshire, and Portland, Maine, and between
Haverhill, New Flampshire and Boston, Massachu-
setts. He was a man of few words, fearless, and
fond of good horses. He married, May 15, 1806,
Hannah G. Sanborn, who was born October 16, 1786,
at Bath, New Hampshire, and died at Haverhill,
December 23, iS5i, aged seventy-five years, daughter
of John and Susie (Simpson) Sanborn. Their chil-
dren were : Alden Edson, I\Iary Ann, Hazen San-
born, Sophia C, Susan S., INIary Ann, Moses B.,
Susan K., Stephen S., John Franklin and Hannah
Sanborn.
(VIH) John Franklin, fifth son and ninth child
of Moses Noyes and Hannah G. (Sanborn) Morse,
was born in Haverhill, June 8, 1828, and died in
Bath, December 10, 1897. He was a farmer and re-
sided on the homestead until 1865, when he moved
to North Haverhill Village, and in partnership with
Parker M. Childs purchased the general store of
Jerome Cotton, which they conducted two or three
years. The firm then dissolved ana Mr. Morse car-
ried on the business alone until early in 1870, when
he sold out to Morris E. Ivimball. He removed to
Lisbon, where with his brother Stephen and E. C.
Knight he engaged in the manufacture of excelsior.
Some years later he withdrew from this business
and moved to Lisbon Village, where he was in trade
until about 1883. He then went to reside in Bath,
where he died. He married (first), Ruby S. Johnson,
who died without issue; (second), June 15, 1854,
at Haverhill, Susan W. Johnson, who was born in
Bath, New Hampshire, February 18, 1S35, daughter
of Carleton and Ruby (Sawyer) Johnson, of Bath.
Their children were : Harry iloses and Frank
Orville.
(IX) Harry Moses, son of John Franklin and
Susan W. (Johnson) Morse, was born in Haverhill,
March 22, 1857. He was educated in the public
schools of Haverhill and Lisbon, and in 1878 began
the study of law in the office of John L. Foster, Esq.,
where he read a year. The two years following he
pursued his studies in the office of Judge Edward
D. Rand, and was admitted to the bar in Concord,
August 31, 18S0. Soon after his admission to prac-
tice he formed a partnership with Edward D. Rand,
which under the firm name of Rand & Morse con-
tinued until the death of i\Ir. Rand in 1885. Subse-
quently he became associated with George F. IMorris,
Esq., and as Morse & Morris they practiced together
until 1S92. In 189s Mr. Morse went to California,
where he remained four years and on his return
to New Hampshire settled in Littleton, where he
has since had an active and successful practice. He
was superintendent of schools of Lisbon eight years ;
member of the constitutional convention from Little-
ton in 1903 and is a member of the board of trustees
of the public library, and special justice of the police
court. He married, December 31, 1889, Helen Oakes,
who was born in Franconia, January 31, 1863, daugh-
ter of John Norris and Mercy (Priest) Oakes, of
Franconia.
(II) Deacon Benjamin, fifth son and child of
Anthony Morse, was born March 28, 1640; the date
of his death is not known. He was deacon of the
First Church of Newbury. Some time before his
death he made a deed of gift to his son Philip,
by the terms of which the son should pay certain
.sums to his sisters after the death of their parents.
This deed was executed November 22, 1707. Ben-
jamin Morse married, August 26, 1667, Ruth Sawyer,
who was born September 16, 1648, daughter of Wil-
liam and Ruth (Binford) Sawyer. They had: Ben-
jamin, Ruth, Joseph, William, Sarah (died young),
Philip, Sarah, Anne, Hannah, Samuel and Esther.
(III) Deacon William, fourth child and third
son of Deacon Benjamin and Ruth (Sawyer) iMorse,
was born January 23, 1674, resided in Newbury, and
died !May 20, 1749, in the seventy-fifth year of his
age. He executed his will August I, 1744, and it
was probated May 25, 1749. To liis wife he gave
all his household goods, &c., and to his son Moses
the west end of the residence he then occupied,
arrd the remainder of his estate after his mother's
decease. William Morse married. May 12, 1696,
Sarah Merrill, who was born in Newbury, October
I5> 1677. daughter of Daniel and Sarah (Clough)
Merrill. The date of her death is not known. They
had twelve children: Daniel, Ruth, Peter, Benjamin,
William, Sarah, Martha, Anne, Moses (died young),
Miriam, Hannah and Moses.
(IV) Peter, third child and second son of Dea-
con William and Sarah (Merrill) Morse, was born
in Newbury, October 5, 1701. The date of his death
is not given, neither is that of his wife. He married,
March 30, 1726, Thomasine Hale, who was born
September 10, 1700, daughter of Henry and Sarah
(Kelly) Hale, and settled in Hampstead, New
Hampshire. The children of this union were :
Edmund, Judith, Martha, Peter, Benjamin and
Moses.
(V) Lieutenant Peter (2), fourth child and
second son of Peter (i) and Thomasine (Hale)
Morse, was born July 7, 1739, and died February 23,
1821. He married (first) Anna Currier, who died
in April, 1781, aged forty-eight; and a second wife,
name unknown, who died at Hampstead, January 12,
1812, aged seventy years. His children, all by the
first wife, Anna, were : Peter, Sarah, Lois, Anna,
Hannah, Childs, James, Caleb, Nathan, Abigail,
Stephen and Joseph.
(VI) Caleb, eighth child and third son of Lieu-
tenant Peter (2) and Anna (Currier) Morse, was
born in Hampstead, September 28, 1770, and died
August 4, 1850, aged eighty. After serving an ap-
prenticeship at the hatter's trade, he removed to
Salisbury in 1796, and settled on a farm which was
afterwards occupied by his descendants, whera he
carried on business for a number of years. He then
built a house east of Bogbrook, on the rangeway,
where he managed the grist mill for Josiah Green,
and resided in a house just south of the mill. Later
he took a partner named Page, and carried on the
hatter's trade in a place which he bought nearby. He
married, in 1789, Mary Healey, of Dunbarton, a
descendant of one of the early families of Chester,
where she was born April 5, 1776, her parents re-
moving to Dunbarton in 1780. She died November
5, 1856, aged eighty. Their children were : Stephen,
Healy, Elizabeth, Mary A., Caleb, James M. and
Abigail.
(VII) Captain Stephen, eldest child of Caleb and
Mary (Healey) Morse, was born in Salisbury, May
16, iSoo, and died November 15, 1887, in the eighty-
first year of his age. He completed his education
under Samuel I. Wells, at Salisbury Academy, and
was a clerk for Thomas R. White, who removed
his stock to Warner, whither young Morse ac-
companied him, and remained in his employ three
years. Mr. Morse then went in trade for himself,
continuing for three years, but failing health com-
pelled him to take outdoor exercise, and the follow-
ing three years he was engaged in the construction of
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
259
the Northern railroad. At the age of thirty-nine
he returned to Salisbury. He married, April 27,
1827, Judy Burt Smith, who was born at Fort Inde-
pendence, Boston Harbor, November 4, 1804, and
died at South Natick, Massachusetts, May 31, 1893,
daughter of Captain Joseph Smith, who was military
instructor of the militia of New England. Their
children were : John C, Charles G., Mnvy A., Frank
R. and Lizzie E.
(VIH) Charles George, second son and child
of Captain Stephen and Lucy B. (Smith) Morse,
was born in Warner, September 15, 1832, and died
in Newmarket, July 11, 1902, aged seventy. He was
a cabinet maker and worked for the H. H. Amsden
Manufacturing Company, of Penacook, thirty-one
years. During the latter part of his life he was a
farmer in Salisbury and Durham. His political
faith was of the Jacksonian pattern. He was a
valued member of his party, and was one of the
selectmen of Salisbury, filling the office of chairman
of the board for a time. He was also a member of
the school board, and justice of the peace. _ In re-
ligious faith he was a follower of John Calvin. He
was a member of the Contoocook Lodge, No. 26,
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Penacook, in
which he was a past grand, and also belonged to the
Patrons of Husbandry. He married, November 5,
1856, Lucy J. Calef, who vifas born in Salisbury, New
Hampshire, January 18, 1837, daughter of Benjamin
and Rachel (.Blaisdell) Calef. The former was born
July 13, 1786, in Salisbury, New Hampshire, and died
May 18, 1854, in that town. The latter was born
October 2, 1792, in Salisbury, and died September 4,
1872, in Penacook. Mrs. Morse resides at Packers
Falls, New Durham. They had five children : Charles
Alfred, Alma Jane, Lucy Ann, Alfred and Joseph.
Alma Jane and Charles A., only survive.
(IX) Charles Alfred Morse, M. D., eldest son
of Charles G. and Lucy J. (.Calef) Morse, was born
in Salisbury, New Hampshire, September 8, i8S7-
He acquired his literary education in the public
schools of Concord and at Penacook Normal Acad-
emy. In 187S he began the study of medicine with
Dr. E. E. Graves, of Boscawen, with whom he r«ad
for three years, and in 1879 entered Dartmouth Col-
lege, and with the class of 1882 graduated from its
medical department with the degree of M. D., and
soon after began a successful practice at Newmarket,
where he has since continuously resided and prac-
ticed. He is very active, and has taken a prominent
part in the medical, political and social organizations
in the state of New Hampshire. He is a mernber of
the American j\Iedical Society ; the Rockingham
County District Medical Society ; New Hampshire
State ]\Iedical Society, was a member of the board of
examiners of the medical department of Dartmouth
College four years, and on November 23, 1897, de-
livered the address to the graduating class of the
medical department of that institution. His ex-
perience in politics covers a wide range. He is a
Democrat, and was postmaster at Newmarket during
both administrations of President Cleveland. He
has been superintendent of schools, and judge of the
police court; was a member of the lower house of
the general court in 1891-92, and of the senate in
1899-1900; was twice a candidate for member of
the governor's council in the first district, and a
candidate for congress in 1906. He was chairman of
the board of selectmen in 1906, and moderator of
the town meetings. He is president of the Rock-
ingham County Democratic Club ; member of the
Democratic state committee ; and was one of a com-
mittee of five to meet Hon. William Jennings Bryan
and Governor Folk, of Missouri, at the Hotel
Gotham on their recent visit to New York. His
membership in fraternal and social organizations
includes the following : Pioneer Lodge, No. i,
Knights of Pythias, of Newmarket, of which he is a
past chancellor, and the Grand Lodge, Knights of
Pythias, of New Hampshire, of which he is a past
grand chancellor; he is also assistant surgeon gen-
eral with the rank of colonel on the staff of Gen-
eral Chauncey B. Hoyt, Uniform Rank, Knights of
Pythias. He is past grand of Swampscott Lodge,
No. 8, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of New-
market, is a member of the Amoskeag Veterans of
Manchester, and the University Club of Concord.
For ten years he was captain of the fire department
of Newmarket. In all matters athletic he is an
enthusiast, and gives much encouragement to all
athletic sports. His circle of acquaintances is neces-
sarily wide, and in the various organizations of
which he is a member he is called to act as toast
master on almost all occasions where the presence
of that ofiicial is necessary, and with the experience
of years he has become an adept whose skill con-
tributes in no small degree to the pleasure of the
occasion. His many worldy missions have not kept
him from recognizing his duty to the Almighty,
and for thirty years he has been an exemplary mem-
ber of the Calvinist Baptist Church, and a generous
contributor to its aid.
Charles Alfred Morse married (first), Septem-
ber 5, 1883, Annie Evelyn Sanders, of Epsom, who
was born August i, 1858, in Newmarket, and died
April 12, 1885, daughter of William A. and Sarah.
(French) Sanders, of Newmarket. He married
(second), October 27, 1887, Gertrude May Davis,,
who was born in Durham, October 27, 1868, youngest
daughter of Captain David O. and ]\Iartha (De-
Merritt) Davis, of Durham. He had by the first
wife one child, Annie L., born in Newmarket, June
24, 1884. She graduated from the Newmarket high
school and from the Mary Hitchcock Memorial
Hospital of Hanover, and is a trained nurse. The
children of the second wife are : Alice Gertrude,
born April 23, 1889, a member of the senior class
of Robinson Female Seminary, Exeter. Dorothea
DeMerritt, October 21, 1896.
(II) Joshua, youngest child of Anthony Morse,
was born July 24, 1653, 'n Newbur}', Massachu-
setts, and died in that town March 28, 1782. His
will shows him to have been possessed of smith's
tools and land at Piscataqua. He was married about
1680 to Joanna, daughter of Thomas and Mary
(Smith) Kimball, of Bradford, Massachusetts,
where she was living at the time of the marriage.
She died April 10, 1691, in Newbury, leaving the
following children : Hannah, Joshua and Anthony.
(III) Anthony, youngest child of Joshua and
Joanna (Kimball) Morse, was born April ii, 1686,
in Newbury, and spent his life in that town. His
marriage occurred in 1710 (the intention being pub-
lished in April) to Judith, daughter of Dr. Caleb
and Sarah (Pierce) Moody, who was born Febru-
ary 12, 1683, in Newbury. He died about 1729, his
estate being inventoried February 22 of that year,
and administered nine days later. His children
were: Caleb, Joshua, Moses, Moodj', Anthony, J-u-
dith and Joanna.
(IV) Moses, third son and child of Anthony
and Judith (Moody) Morse, was born February 28,
1715, in Newbury, and resided in West Newbury.
He was married (first), December 16, 1742, to Anne
Sawyer; and (second), September i, 1759, to .Mrs.
Sarah, widow of Bernard Erickett, and daughter of
Ezekiel and Ruth (Emery) Hale. She was born
December 10, 1720. There were seven children of
26o
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
the first wife and three of the second, namely:
David (died young), Francis (M. D.}, David,
Molly, Judith (died young), Joseph, iNIoody, Ezekiel,
Ruth and Judith.
(V) Judith, youngest child of Moses and Sarah
(Hale) (Brickett) JMorse, was born iSIarch i, 1766,
in West Newbury, Massachusetts, and became the
wife of Lieutenant Amos Abbott (see Abbott, V).
So far as can be ascertained this branch
MORSE of the Morses is not related to those
of the family whose history has previ-
ously been traced.
(I) Cady Morse and wife Catherine had four
children: James, whose sketch follows; Luther,
Lucinda and Jane.
(II) James, eldest child of Cady and Catherine
Morse, was born in Hartford, Vermont. He had
a common school education, and became a farmer.
He was a Republican in politics. He died in 1876;
his wife Catherine died in 1899. He married
Catherine McCabe, and Ihey had five children :
IMary, Minnie, Charles, William, and Frank Cady,
whose sketch follows.
(III) Frank Cady, second son and child of
James and Catherine (JNIcCabe) Morse, was born at
Hartford, Vermont, December 2, 1S66. He was
educated at the high school in Quechee. and at the
academy at South Woodstock, both in his native
state. From the age of seventeen he has worked
Jn a woolen mill, since 1900 has been with the
American Woolen Mills Company, and since 1902
has been superintendent of their mills at Lebanon,
New Hampshire, having the oversight of between
four and five hundred hands. Mr. Morse is a Re-
publican in politics, and belongs to the Knights of
Pythias and to the Red Men's Lodges in Lebanon,
having been through the chairs in the latter or-
ganization. On February 25, 1895, Frank Cady
Morse married Nellie View, daughter of Oliver
and Mary (Parent) View, of Woodstock, Vermont.
They have one child, Harold M. Morse, born March
2S> 1897.
The immigrant of this name to whom many
DAY citizens of New England to-day trace their
ancestry came to this country impelled,
doubtless, by a desire for religious freedom, about
the time of the greatest exodus from England to
these shores on that account.
(I) Anthony Day, aged nineteen, was one of
the passengers on the "Paule," Leonard Betts, mas-
ter, which sailed from London, England, July 16,
1635, bound for Virginia. He had a certificate of
conformity to the Church of England, issued by
the minister at Gravesend. Where he landed, and
where he spent the first ten years of his residence
in America are not known, but the records of
Gloucester, Massachusetts, show that Anthony Day
sold land to John Pearce about the year 1645. He
also purchased a house and lot of Edward Marshall
in that town in 1657. He died April 23, 1707, at
the age of ninety. He married Susanna Matchett,
who survived him ten years, dying December 10,
1717, aged ninety-three. They had seven children:
John (1657), Ezekiel (died young), Ezekiel, Na-
thaniel, Elizabeth, Samuel, and Joseph, whose births
are recorded, and Timothy, who was probably born
before the settlement in Gloucester.
(II) Timothy, son of Anthony Day, was born
in 1653, and died April 8, 1723. He was made a
freeman in 1690, married. July 24, 1679, Phebe
Wildes, and had a son born February 20, 1682. He
lived during the period of the terrible witchcraft
delusion. The records show that on September 24,
1692, Mary, wife of Hugh Rowe, Phebe, wife of
Timothy Day, and Widow Rachel Vinson, all of
Gloucester, were released from Ipswich prison, on
bonds for their appearance, having been confined
there for witchcraft.
(III) Timothy (2), son of Timothy (i), died
September 16, 1757. His wife's baptismal name was
Jean.
(IV) Abner, son of Timothy (2) and Jean Day,
was born August 12, 1716, married Susanna Jilar-
shall, in 1739, and died in 1763.
(V) Eliphalet, son of Abner and Susanna
(Marshall) Day, was born February 11, 1754, and
died in 1826. He was a farmer in North Stratford,
where he married Thirzah French. They had three
children : Nahum D., Schubert, and .A-bner L., who
is next mentioned.
(VI) Captain Abner Langdon, third and young-
est child of Eliphalet and Thirzah (French) Day,
was born in Stratford, March 24, 1795, and died
in North Stratford, September 13, 1S35. He was
a prosperous farmer and a captain in the militia.
He married (first) a Miss Wait, by whom he had
a son Silas, and a daughter Ann. He married (sec-
ond) Susan Bradley, who was born in Shelburne,
New Hampshire, died 1872, daughter of John and
Bethsheba Bradley, of Shelburne, New Hampshire.
Seven children were born of this union : Abner L.,
Susan E., Samuel A., Nahum D., Eunetia E., Albert
M. and Volney F. Abner L., married Lucia Lyman,
and they had four children. Susan E., married
George T. Brabrook, of Boston, and had one child.
Samuel A., married Amanda Thayer, and had five
children. Nahum D., married Mary Curtis, by whom
he had four children. Eunetia E., married (first)
Horace C. Campbell, by whom she had three chil-
dren; (second) Charles D. Waterhouse, by whom
she had one child. Albert M., never married. .
(VII) Volney French, son of Abner L. and
Susan (Bradley) Day, was born September 14,
1835, one day after the death of his father. The
circumstances of the family required him to rely
foi> his support and education upon his own re-
sources, and he found employment on farms and in
hotels. Flaving acquired a knowledge of vocal and
instrumental music, and being an acceptable per-
former on the violin he found employment as a
musician during a part of the year in the summer
hotels in the White Mountains. During the period
of the Civil war he was employed at the old White
Mountain House, near Fabyans. In 1867 he engaged
in the boot and shoe trade in Colebrook, and carried
on a profitable business until 1870, when a fire de-
stroyed his stock and store. Before the ashes and
foundation of his late store were cold he began pre-
parations to build, and within thirteen weeks he
rebuilt his store on the old site and was again ready
for business. Some time afterward he added a
line of dry goods and»ladies' garments to his stock.
In 1869 he was appointed postmaster of Colebrook,
and held that office six years, and then resigned
and quit business on account of impaired health.
After two years of rest he resumed business in 1877,
and carried on the principal dry goods store in the
village until 1894, when on account of an accident
to his right eye he retired from trade. During the
last two years he was in business his brother Albert
M., formerly buyer for A. T. Stewart, of New York
City, was associated with him. In 1899 Mr. Day was
one of the organizers of the Farmers' and Traders'
National Bank, which started with a capital of
$50,000. He served as vice-president of this institu-
tion a few months, when Albert Eastman resigned
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
261
the prcsidenc}-, to which !^Ir. Day was then elected,
and in which place he has ever since served. He
is an extensive holder of real estate, in which he
is a dealer. Politically he is a Republican. For a
number of years he was president of the Coos ^lu-
sical Association. He married, April 19. i860, at
Groveton, New Hampshire, Ellen F. Denison, who
was born at Burke, Vermont, June 12, 1841, daughter
of Daniel B. and Mary (Bnndy) Denison, of Strat-
ford, natives of Burke, Vermont. Her father was
formerly a hotel keeper of that place, and later
removed to Upper Canada. Mr. Day is a past
grand of Excelsior Lodge, No. 72, Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, and he and Mrs. Day are
members of Rebekah Lodge, No. 30. They are mem-
bers of the. Congregational Church, and have taken
part in the work of its choir for over thirty years.
The Straw family is one of the pioneer
STR.\W families of the United States, and one
of those which have enabled her to
attain and maintain the proud supremacy she now
holds in the world. This family has been well and
prominently represented in the professions and in
all the honorable callings of life. When our coun-
try needed men to defend her just rights, the mem-
bers of the Straw family were ever ready to lay
aside their personal affairs and respond to the call
to arms, and, in this way, help build up the glorious
history of our land.
{}) William Straw, supposed to be the first
of that name to settle in America, came to this
country as nearly as can be learned about the year
1635, and located in Salisbury, Massachusetts. He
came from Nottinghamshire, England. He married,
first, Mehitable , and they had three chil-
dren : Dorothy ; William, born May 22, 1686 ; and
John, 1688. He married, second, Margaret ,
and had two children : Samuel, of whom later ;
and Lawrence, born May 13, l6gg. William Straw
died in 1712.
(H) Samuel, eldest child of William and Mar-
garet Straw, born August 13, 1692, in Salisbury,
Slassachusetts. He married, December 12, 1717,
Elizabeth Diniond, and among his children were
sons Jacob and Ezekiel. (The latter and descendants
are mentioned at length in this article.)
(HI) Jacob, son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Di-
mond) Straw, was born May 21, 1733, and died
November 5, 1807. He married Lydia Ordway. of
Rumford, and lived in Hopkinton, new Hampshire.
Among liis children was a son named Samuel.
(IV) Samuel, son of Jacob and Lydia (Ord-
way) Straw, born April 4, 1761, died August 6,
1S44, in Hopkinton. Lie married Mary Flanders,
and was tlie father of a son named Daniel.
(V) Daniel, son of Samuel and jMary (Flan-
ders) Straw, w-as born April 15, 1792, and died
August 14, 1847. He married, August 22. 1819,
Lydia Ann Felch, born December 2, 1795, died De-
cember 23, 1879. About the year 1845 they lived in
Hooksett, afterward Manchester, New Hampshire,
and among their children there was a son whose
name was Daniel Felch.
(VI") Daniel Felch, son of Daniel and Lydia
Ann (Felch) Straw, was born July 2r, 1823, and
died April 14. 1896. He was born on a farm at
Hopkinton, and spent his life until he had attained
the age of twenty-three years in the occupation of
farming. He then went to Manchester, New Hamp-
shire, and for a short time was engaged in the
retail grocery business in connection with his brother,
Monroe J. Straw. He retired from this in order
to engage in the jewelry business, in which he
established himself and conducted very successfully
until his retirement from active business life, a
few years before his death. He had been educated
in the public schools and attended Pembroke
Academy, which was under the directorship of
Principal Kinsman. He was for a time paymaster
in the militia of New Hampshire. He affiliat'ed with
the Democratic part.v, and was a man cf prominence
and influence in the community. In religious faith
he was a Unitarian. He was a member of Washing-
ton Lodge, No. 6r, Ancient Free and Accepted
Masons, of which he had been master; and eminent
commander of Trinity Commandery. Mr. Straw
married, January 20, 1850. Lucretia Ann Kenney,
born January 22, 1829, died November 5, 1894. She
was the daughter of Enoch and Susanna (Brown)
Kenney. of Whitefield. New Hampshire, who were
the parents of eleven children. Mr. Enoch Kenney,
born in I781, died -A.pril 15, 1868, was one of tlie
first settlers in Whitefield, New Hampshire, and
lived on and cultivated the same farm for more than
fifty years. He married, Susanna Brown, born in
Lancaster, New Hampshire. Among their children
was Amos Gale Straw, the subject of this sketch.
(VII) Amos Gale Straw, A. M.. M. D., son of
Daniel Felch and Lucretia Ann (Kenney) Straw,
was born in ]\lanchester. New Hampshire, Febru-
ary 9. 1864, Dr. Straw received his early education
in the public schools of Manchester, New Hampshire.
He entered Dartmouth College in 1S83, pursuing
the classical course, and was graduated from that
institution in 1887, receiving the degree of Bachelor
of Arts. He was elected to membership in the
Phi Delta Kappa, and three years later Dartmouth
College conferred on him the degree of blaster of
Arts. He matriculated at the Harvard Medical
School in 1887, and in 1890 received his degree of
Doctor of Medicine. He then returned to his
native city and settled down to the practice of his
profession. Here his indefatigable study and de-
votion to the science of medicine have met with a
well-deserved reward, and Dr. Straw is in possession
of an extensive and lucrative practice. He was for
many years attending physician at the Elliot Hos-
pital and was president of its staff; he is now con-
sulting physician; is secretary of the board of United
States examining pension surgeons ; pathologist of
the Notre Dame Hospital ; local bacteriologist of
the Manchester Board of Health ; and was for
five years surgeon of the First Regiment, New
Hampshire National Guard. Dr. Straw is a man
whose extensive reading and careful research into
the various branches of his profession have made
his opinion one to be sought and highly valued,
not only by laymen but also by his colleagues. Dr.
Straw devotes all his spare time to furthermg the
interests of the science in wdiich he is engaged and
to the cause of humanity. He is highly respected
and esteemed and has a host of friends and ad-
mirers in professional as well as social circles. In
politics he is a Republican, and has served ' for
four years in the Manchester city council, and as
representative to the general court for a term of two
years. Both he and his wife are members of the
First Congregational Church of Manchester. He
is a member of the Masonic fraternity in all its
branches, and is past exalted ruler of the Benevolent
and Protective Order of Elks. He is also a mem-
ber of the following named organizations : Ameri-
can Medical Association; Hillsborough County
Medical Society ; ^Manchester Medical .Association ;
and the New Hampshire Medical Society.
Dr. Straw married. November 12, 1901, at Car-
lisle, Pennsylvania, Zatae Leola Longsdorff, born
252
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
April l6, 1866, daughter of William H. and Lydia
R. (Haverstick) Longsdorff. Her father was a
physician, and was for many years treasurer of
Cumberland country, Pennsylvania. On the break-
ing out of the civil war he recruited a company of
cavalry, went to the front as its captain, and at-
tained the rank of major of cavalry before the
close of the war. Mrs. Straw received her early
education from private instructors, entering Wel-
lesley College in 18S3. She afterward entered
Dickinson College, at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, gradu-
ating from the classical department in 1887. with
the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and was the first
woman to graduate from that college. She then
entered the Woman's Medical College of Phila-
delphia, in 1887, obtaining her degree of Doctor
of Medicine from that institution, and in 1890 the
degree of Master of Arts from Dickinson College.
She was appointed interne at the Women's and
Children's Hospital, in Boston, and left that position
to take charge of the Government Hospital at Fort
Hall, Idaho. Returning from the west, she was
married, and has since practiced medicine in j\lan-
chester. New Hampshire. Dr. and Mrs. Straw are
the parents of two children — Enid Constance, born
at Manchester, New Hampshire, May 13, 1900, and
Zatae Gale. November i5, 1906.
_(ni) Ezekiel, son of Samuel and Elizabeth
(Diamond) Straw, was born probably in Salisbury,
Massachusetts. He died in Salisbury, New Hamp-
shire, in 181 1. The name of Ezekiel Straw appears
among the names of men belonging to Weare's
regiment, mustered for service in 1759, who receipted
to Captain Samuel Leavitt, muster master and pay-
master to the forces raised at Hampton Falls for
the Canada expedition, under date April 28, 1759.
He married first, Martha Gould, at South Hampton,
New Hampshire, ^lay 18, 1758; second, Beth (Hoyt)
Colby.
(IV) Ezekiel (2), son of Ezekiel (l) and
Martha (Gould) Straw, was born in Hopkinton,
February 20, 1763. and died September 22, 1818.
He served in the revolution. His name appears
on the pay roll of a company of volunteers com-
manded by Captain Joshua Bayley, of Hopkinton,
Colonel Kelley's regiment, General Whipple's bri-
gade. This command was part of the body which
made an expedition to Rhode Island in 1778, Au-
gust 9 to August 27, He was allowed for one hun-
dred and thirty miles travel. Ezekiel Straw's name
also appears on the list of one hundred and eighty-
four men detached from several regiments of militia
and mustered September, 1779, by Colonel Went-
worth to serve for the defense of Portsmouth, two
months unless sooner discharged. He was detached
from Captain Sias's Company, and this term of
service began September 27, 1779. He married
Elizabeth Brown.
(V) James Brown, son of Ezekiel (2) and
Elizabeth (Brown) Straw, was born in Hopkinton,
March 11, 1794, and died in Lowell. Massachusetts,
August 14, 1830. The records of the town of
Warner show that in 1823 it "Struck off the col-
lection of Taxes, at one cent 5 mills on the dollar,
to James B. Straw." The records of the year 1824
give "James B. Straw, collecter." With his brother
Stephen he removed from Warner to Lowell, Mas-
sachusetts, where he worked in the cotton mills
of the Appleton Company as surveyor and overseer.
He married Mehitable Fiske March 14, 1819 (see
Fiske. XIII).
(VI) Governor Ezekiel Albert Straw, eldest
son of James B. and Mehitable (Fisk) Straw, was
born in Salisbury, December 30, 1819, and died Oc-
tober 23, 1882. His early education was secured in
the public schools of Lowell, Massachusetts, whither
his father had moved his family after a few years
residence in New Hampshire. Later he became a
student in the English department of Phillips An-
dover Academy, where he gave special attention to
practical mathematics. He left the academy in 1838.
The Nashua and Lowell railway was then in process
of construction, and he became assistant civil en-
gineer on this line. July 4, 1838, he came to Man-
chester at the request of the consulting engineer of
the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, to take the
place of the regular engineer who was ill and unable
to work. He came expecting to remain in Man-
chester only a few days, but made it his home ever
afterward. At the time of his arrival in Man-
chester the canal was unfinished, and no mill had
been built on the east side of the river. Among
his first assignments were the surveying of the lots
and streets in what is now the prinicipal part of
the city, and assisting in the construction of the
dams and canals. At the end of six years (1844)
he had acquired so full a knowledge of the pro-
cesses and needs of the business that the Amos-
keag Company sent him to England and Scotland
to obtain information and machinery necessary for
making and printing muslin delaines. The know-
ledge and skill he brought back with him enabled
the Manchester Print Works to first introduce this
process in the United States. Mr. Straw remained
with the Amoskeag Company in the capacity of civil
engineer until July. 1851, when he took the position
of agent of the land and waterpower department
of the company. At that time the mills and machine
shops were under separate agents. Five years later,
July, 1S56, the first two were united and put in
charge of Mr. Straw ; and in July, 1S58, all three
were combined under his management and he took
entire control of the company's operations in Man-
chester.
Mr. Straw being so prominent in the construc-
tion of the mills, then, as now, the most important
feature of the city, it was very natural that he
should be appointed a member of the committee to
provide plans and specifications for the rebuilding
of the town house in 1844, and one of the first ■
commiftee appointed to devise plans for the intro- ■
duction of water works into the city. He was con- '
nected with all the subsequent measures for sup-
plying the city with water, and in 1871, when the
board of water commissioners was appointed to take
charge of the present water works, he was made
its president, and held that office for many years.
In 1854 li^ ■^vas chosen a member of the first board
of trustees of the Manchester public library, and
held that office for a quarter of a century. He was
elected assistant engineer of the Fire Department
in 1846, and repeatedly re-elected to that po-^ition.
His public service to the state at large began in
1859. when he was elected representative tn the state
legislature. He was re-elected in each of the four
ye*rs next following and during the last three served
as chairman of the committee on finance. He was
elected to the state senate in 1864. returned in 1865,
and made president of that body. The same year he
was chosen on the part of the senate one of the
commissioners to superintend the rebuilding of the
state house. In 1869 he was appointed by Governor
. Stearns a member of his staff. In 1872 he had
been employed almost continually in the service of
the state for thirteen years, and had been in one
way or another connected with all the questions of
public interest in that time. In that year the Re-
publican party elected him governor of the state,
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I • •
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
263
and re-elected him the following year. In 1870
the commission to arrange for the Centennial Ex-
position in Philadelphia in 1876 was appointed, and
President Grant made Governor Straw member of
that committee from New Hampshire.
From the organization of the Xamaske Mills, in
1S56, till their dissolution, Mr. Straw was the
the treasurer and principal owner, and after 1854
tmtil near the end of his business career the sole
proprietor. In 1874 he was chosen a director of
the Langdon jNIills. He was president and a director
of the Blodget Edge-Tool Manufacturing Company
from its organization in 1855 till its dissolution in
1862, and during the existence of the Amoskeag
A.xe Company, which succeeded it he was a director.
He was one of the first directors of the jManchester
Gas-Light Company, when it was organized in 1851,
and was chosen its president in 1855, holding the
office until January 29, 1881. In i860 he was elected
a director of the Manchester & Lawrence railroad,
and in 1871 was elected president of the corporation,
resigning in 1879. Upon the organization of the
New England Cotton Manufacturer's Association he
was chosen its president, and was also president of
the New Hampshire Fire Insurance Company from
its organization, in 1869 to 1880, when he resigned.
He was one of the founders of the First Unitarian
Society, in 1842, its clerk and treasurer from that
time until 1844, its president from 1853 to 1857,
and was chairman of the committee which built
the present house of worship. In 1879 Mr. Straw
was compelled by ill health to resign the manage-
ment of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company,
and after a prolonged sickness he died October 23,
1882.
In the "History of Hillsborough County," Gov-
ernor Straw's biographer said of him. "Mr. Straw
was emphatically a great mati, not only in his
profession, in which he towered far above nearly
all others, but in all the various positions to which.
he was called. He was not known as a brilliant
or a sharp man. He had little need of the helps
which men gain by dazzling or outwitting friends
or foes ; for there was a massiveness about him,
a solid strength, which enabled him to carry out
great plans by moving straight over obstacles which
other men would have been compelled to remove or
to go around. His mind was broad, deep and com-
prehensive; he had rare good judgment, great self
reliance, and a stability of purpose which seldom
failed. He was peculiarly fitted for the manage-
ment of vast enterprises. His plans were far-reach-
ing and judicious, and his executive ability was
equal to the successful carrying out of whatever
his mind projected and his judgment approved."
Clark's "History of Manchester" (1875) says: "Gov-
ernor Straw, in our judgment, is the ablest man in
New Hampshire. In a room full of people, the
judges of our courts, the managers of our railways,
the professors of our colleges, he would take the
lead of all. He is conversant with more subjects
than any other man we know of, whether art or
science, manufactures or financial themes. He is a
great reader and his tenacious memory makes all
he reads his own. Not long after he came to this
city, the Amoskeag Company began to look upon
his as competent to manage its whole business and
it gradually fell into his hands. In time the other
corporations, the city and state looked to him for
advice, and for many years he has been the fore-
most man in Manchester and for the past few years
the leading man in shaping the policy of the state.
Of great mental capacities, he is able to turn off
a vast amount of work with the greatest ease. He
never seems in a hurry, though probably surroimded
by more business than any other man in the state.
He never looks to others for his opinions, and,
though willing to fall into line with his friends and
his party in nonessential things, he cannot be
swerved from his ideas of what is right by political
considerations or fear of unpopularity. He enjoys
truth and takes pleasure in doing what his judg-
ment dictates. A very generous man, liberal in his
gifts to the poor and to all charitable institutions,
to him more than to any other man is Manchester
indebted for its great prosperity."
Ezekiel A. Straw married, April 6, 1842, at Ames-
bury, Massachusetts, Charlotte Smith Webster, who
died in Manchester, March 15, 1852. To them were
born four children : Albert, who died in infancy;
Charlotte Webster, the wife of William H. Howard
of Somerville, Massachusetts ; Herman Foster,
superintendent of the Amoskeag Company's Mills
in Manchester; Ellen, the wife of Henry Thompson,
of Lowell, Jlassachusetts.
(VII) Herman Foster, second son and third
child of Ezekiel A. and Charlotte Smith (Webster)
Straw, was born in Manchester, New Hampshire,
December 31, 1849. He enjoyed the advantages of
an excellent education, attending first St. Paul's
School, and later Harvard College. He became as-
sociated with his father in business in August,
1872, and under his direction carefully mastered all
the details connected with the manufacture of cotton
goods. He occupied the various positions, having
charge at different times of nearly every branch of
the business, and in 1885 was made agent of the
Amoskeag Manufacturing Companj-, which is to-day
(1907) the largest manufacturing concern in the
world, and employs over thirteen thousand hands.
He married, September 18, 1873, Mary Oreslow
Parker, of Boston, ^lassachusetts, and they are the
parents of: i. William Parker, superintendent of
the Amoskeag Mills. He married Josephine Perkins
and has children : Ezekiel Albert and Mary Parl^er.
2. Henry Ellis, who was graduated with honor from
Harvard College in the class of 1905, and is now
a member of the class of 1907 of the Harvard Law
School. 3. Herman Foster, Jr., who is now fourteen
years of age.
To honor one of tlie disciples chil-
PEIRCE dren, especially in Catholic countries,
were named Peter, but Peter was never
a pleasant name to English ears, as it reminded
Britons of a tax, Peter's Pence, which was one of
all least liked, as they saw none of its fruits. The
French form of the name is Pierre, which being
introduced into England became Piers, Pierce, Pears,
Pearse, Peers and Parr, and ultimately these became
surnames. The Pierce family of America is almost
entirely the progeny of one man. One of their
number, writing of the Peirces, says: "Young
ducks do not take to the water more naturally
that the Peirce family throughout the country do
to democratic principles. Indomitable perseverance
is also a trait which marks their character in every
department of life, and has generally crowned their
efforts with ultimate success, though attained after
repeated and sometimes mortifying failures."
(I) John Pers (for so the name was spelled)
of Norwich, Norfolk county, England, weaver, with
his wife Elizabeth and four children, came to New
England in 1637. crossing the ocean in cither the
"John and Dorothy" of Norwich, or the "Rose" of
Yarmouth. William .-Xndrews, Sr., was master of
the former, and liis son of the latter vessel. The
register of certain emigrants to New England pre-
264
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
served in the Englisli exchequer contains the fol-
lowing : "April the Sth 1637. The examination of
John Pers of Norwich in Noff (Norwich in Norfolk)
weaver ageed 49 j-eares and Elizaheth his wife
aged 36 j-eares with 4 children John Barbre Eliza-
beth and Judeth and one sarvant John Gedney aged
19 yeares are desirous to passe to Boston in New
England to inhabitt." It seems probable that John
Pers had been preceded to New England by his older
child, and that the four named were probably the
youngest of the family. Elizabeth was probably ten
years older than she is here represented.
John Pers was granted one lot in Watertown, and
purchased three other lots before 1644, one of these
lots being his homestead of twelve acres. He was
admitted freeman in March, 1639. He was born
(probably) in 1588, and died August 19, 1661. His
wife was born in 1601 (if not in 1591), and died
March 12, 1667. Their children were : Anthony.
Esther, jNIary, Robert, John, Barbre, Elizabeth, and
Judith.
(II) Anthony, eldest child of John and Eliza-
beth Pers, was born in England, in 1609, and died
in Watertown, JNIassachusetts, jNIay 9, 1678. He
married in England, and came to America previous
to his father. He settled in Watertown, and owned
land in that portion of the town near the Cambridge
line. His homestead on the north side of the road
from Cambridge was afterwards the residence of
his sons Joseph and Benjamin. Anthony Perse, ac-
cording to the Watertown Record Book, owned a
homestead of ten acres, and also a farm of eighty-
six acres of upland in the third division. "He was
a grantee of two lots in Watertown, one of which
was four acres." He afterwards purchased six
acres adjoining it on the west, a grant to his father.
He was admitted freeman September 3, 1634. He
was the ancestor of nearly all the families bearing
the name afterwards in Watertown, Waltham, Wes-
ton, Lincoln, Lexington and Concord. His will
was dated September 6, 1671. His inventory
amounted to three hundred three pounds, eleven
shillings and one pence, a good sum in those days.
He married his first wife JNIary in England. She
died in 1633, and the same year he married second
Ann, who died January 20, 1683. Llis children were :
John, Mary (died young) (by the first wife) ; Mary,
Jacob, Daniel, ^Martha, Joseph, Benjamin, and Ju-
dith (by the second wife).
(Ill) Joseph, seventh child and fourth son of
Anthony and fifth child of Ann Peirce, was born
in Watertown, probably in 1647, and resided in
Watertown. He was admitted freeman April 18,
1690. He died intestate before December 22, 1713.
His first wife's name was Martha. Lie married
second, June 15, 1698, Elizabeth (Kendall) Winship,
of Cambridge, daughter of Francis Kendall, of Wo-
burn, and widow of Ephraim Winship, of Cam-
bridge. She was born in Woburn, January 15,
1652. Mr. Winship resided at Cambridge Farms,
where he was one of the pioneers, and his situation
as well as that of his associates is faintly shadowed
in a memorandum connected with the settlement of
his estate. "His honored father-in-law, Jilr. Fran-
cis Kendall, of Woburn, in said county, demands
the following debts, viz : that his son-in-law,
Ephraim Winship, in the time of the former war,
called King Philip's, came to his house for shelter,
for fear of the Indians, because his living was then
in the woods remote from neighbors, and he brought
with him his ancient mother-in-law — Reigner, a
widow of whom he is to take care; and that the
said Francis Kendall did keep the said widow
Reigner for said Ephraim Winship with provisions.
more than a year and a half, at eight pounds per
year," etc. December 22, 1713, Elizabeth Peirce,
widow, of Watertown, and Jacob Peirce (son of
Josepli), of Weston, were admitted to administer
on the estate of Joseph Peirce late of Watertown,
deceased, intestate ; giving bonds in the sum of
four hundred pounds, with Joseph Sherman, of
Watertown, and Joseph Peirce, of Lexington. The
inventory amounted to three hundred and sixteen
pounds and ten shillings. His children, all by the
first wife were : Joseph, Francis, John, Mary, Ben-
jamin, Jacob, Martha, Stephen, Israel, and Eliza-
beth.
(IV) John (2), third son and child of Joseph
and Martha Peirce, was born in Watertown, ^lay
27, 1673, and died in Waltham, in 1744. aged sev-
enty-one. He settled and resided until his death in
Waltham. He married November 5, 1702, Elizabeth
Smith, who was' born January 15, 1673, and died
in Watertown, September 20, 1747, aged seventy-
four. They had seven children : John, Jonas,
Ezekiel, Samuel, Elizabeth, Daniel, and Jonathan.
(V) Jonas, second son and child of John (2)
and Elizabeth (Smith) Peirce, was born December
20, 1705, and after marriage resided in Lexington
and Westminster. He married, January 4, 1727,.
Abigail Comee, by whom he had eight children :
Jonas, Nathan, Elizabeth, John, Thaddeus, Solomon.
Abigail and Mary.
(VI) Jonas (2), eldest child of Jonas (i)
and Abigail (Comee) Peirce, was born July 7, 1730,
and died June 27, 1819, aged eighty-nine. He re-
sided in Weston, Massachusetts, and Springfield,
Vermont. He married first, Sarah Bridge, who
died September 17, 1772; second, February 11, 1773,
Lydia Gregory, who was born October 29, 1736.
The children of the first wife were : Matthew.
Jonas, Asa, Thaddeus, ]\Iolly, Anna, child (died
young) ; and by the second wife, Isaac, Abigail, and
perhaps Jonas.
(VII) Asa, third son and child of Jonas (2)
and Sarah (Bridge) Peirce, was born in West6n,
Massachusetts, January 25, 1762, and died in Dublin,
New Hampshire. He settled in Dublin about 1786,
and died a few years later. He married Betsey
Pike, by whom he had two sons, Asa and Jonas. His
widow married second, Thomas Davidson, and re-
moved to Jaffrey.
(VIII) Jonas (3), second son of Asa and Betsey
(Pike) Peirce, was born in Dublin, April 18, 1788,
and died May 28, 1S57, aged sixty-seven. He was a
prosperous farmer. He married first, September I,
181 1, Lucinda Bailey, who was born in Lancaster,
July 22. 1791, daughter of Benjamin and Lucinda
Carter Bailey, of Jaffrey. She died in 1838, and he
married second, September 11, 1838, ^Irs. Polly
Bowers, who died JNIarch 2, 1875, aged eighty-five
years. His children were : Asa, Abigail, Addison,
Jonas. Benjamin, Amos, Dexter, Betsey and Emily.
(IX) Benjamin, fifth child and fourth son of
Jonas (3) and Lucinda (Bailey) Peirce, was born
in Jaffrey, July 11, 1821, and died there, Novem-
ber 17, 1904. aged eighty-three. He was educated
in the common schools of Jaffrey, and Melville
Academy and at the age of twenty-three years left
the old homestead in Jaffrey and went to Boston,
where he engaged in the flour and grain business
and accumulated a large estate. In 1866 he re-
turned to Jaffrey and spent the remainder of his life
there, residing on the Shedd farm, off road 36.
In 1S77 he built the Granite State Hotel, which was
an addition of much importance to East Jaffrey.
Mr. Peirce was a man of prominence in town affairs,
and held many positions of trust. He represented
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
26:
Jaffrey in the legislature in 1870 and 1S71, and was
a member of the constitutional convention of 1876.
He was one of the directors of the Monadnock
National Bank, and vice-president of the Savings
Bank of East Jaffrey Village. He married. May
12, 1846, Lucinda Stratton, who was born Au-
gust 24, 1823, daughter of Isaac and ^Betsey (Bailey)
Stratton, and a descendant in the fourth generation
from David Stratton, all of whom had resided on
the same homestead in Jaffrey, She died June 17,
1888, aged sixty-four years. Five children were born
of this union, three of whom died young; George A.
was born October 5, 1848, and died January 27,
1907.
(X) Ada, youngest child of Benjamin and Lu-
cinda (Stratton) Peirce, was born in Roxbury,
Massachusetts, June i, 1857, and married Julius E,
Prescott, of Jaffrey (see Prescott, IX).
The Sanborn family is one of those
SANBORN early families, wdiich, being prolific
and composed of individuals able to
take care of themselves, and having descended from
not one but three original immigrant ancestors,
now numbers a multitude, many of them like their
forbears being leaders of men and filling positions
of honor, trust and profit, worthy successors of the
men who transformed the New England wilderness
into one of the richest areas in America. John
William and Stephen Sanborne (for so they spelt
the name) were sons of an English Sanborne (prob-
ably William of Brimpton, Berkshire) and Anne,
daughter of the Rev. Stephen Bachiler. Anne Bach-
iler's husband died about 1630, as is shown by the
records. The three sons of Anne Sanborne are
said to have come to America with their grand-
father Bachiler (a prominent preacher of New Eng-
land (see Batchelder) in 1632, but apparently their
mother did not come over, nor have we any trace
of the sons til! 1639 in Hampton, New Hampshire.
William and descendants are mentioned at length
in this article.
(I) Lieutenant John Sanborne was born in 1620
(Deposition in Norfolk County Files). He was
probably in Hampton, New Hampshire, in 1640,
since he was then granted a house lot and a tract
of land there. In 1643 h's name is signed to a
Hampton petition, and from that date the records
contain frequent mention of him. His house in
Hampton was next to that of Stephen Bachiler and
nearly opposite the old meeting house. On Febru-
ary 2. 1657, he was chosen selectman, atjd was six
times afterwards selected to fill the same office, al-
though not a freeman until Ma}% 1666. In 1664 he
was chosen ensign, and October 15, 1679, was com-
missioned lieutenant of Hampton forces. In 1685
he was chosen representative to the next general
assembly. His inventory dated October 20, 1692,
places the value of his property at £294, 14 shillings.
Dowes' "History of Hampton" says he served as
lieutenant in King Williams' war, i68g. He died
October 20, 1692. ieutenant John Sanborne mar-
ried tw'ice. (First) Mary, daughter of Robert Tuck,
of Cjorlston. Suffolk, and Hampton. New Hamp-
shire. She died December 30, 1668. (Second)
Margaret (Page) Moulton, widow of William
Moulton, and daughter of Robert Page, of Ormsby,
Norfolk, England, and Hampton, New Hampshire,
Hi? children were : John, Mary, Abagail, Richard,
Mary, Joseph, Stephen, .Ann, Dinah, Nathaniel, Ben-
iamin and Captain Jonathan. (Mention of Richard,
Joseph. Nathaniel and Jonathan and descendants ap-
pears in this article).
(II) John (2), eldest son of Lieutenant John
(i) and Mary (Tuck) Sanborne, was born about
1649. He was made a freeman April 25, 1678. He
married, November 19, 1674, Judith Coffin, daugh-
ter of Tristam Coffin, of Newbury. She was born
December 4, 1653, and died May 17, 1724- John
Sanborne died September 23, 1727. Their children
were: Judith, Mary, Sarah, Deborah, John. Tris-
tam, Enoch, Lydia, Peter and Abner, ten in all (the
last named receives mention, with descendants, in
this article).
(III) Tristam. born in 1684-85, was the sixth
child of John and Judith (Coffin) Sanborne. He
lived in Kingston, and was selectman there in 1725
and after, and was representative from there in
1734-36-37. For thirty years he was deacon, and
an authority says he was an ensign. He was a
grantee of Stevenstown. His house was burned by
Indians, so he built a garrison house on the site.
He married, April 23, 1711, Margaret, daughter of
William Taylor, of Exter, born 1688, died April 3.
1771. He died January 7, 1771. His will, dated
1753, proved March S. 1771, mentions his wife, Mar-
garet; children, William, (who had the homestead)
Peter, Abraham, Tristam and Jetho. In a convey-
ance of land in 1763 he is described as Tristam San-
born, of Kingstown, Gentleman. The children were :
Peter, Jetho (died young) Abraham, Tristam, Jetho,
William, an unnamed child, Judith, and an unnamed
daughter.
(IV) Abraham, third son and child of Tristam
and Margaret (Taylor) Sanborn, was born March
2. 1717, in Kingston. New Hampshire, and resided
in that town. He was one of the signers of the
association test in 1776, and died February 21, 1780.
He was married January 6, 1737, to Abigail Clif-
ford, daughter of Samuel Clifford, of Hampton.
She died, February ig, 1797. Their children were :
Joseph Clifford, Sarah (died young). John, Deborah,
Sarah (died young), Sarah, Judith, Shuah, Isaac
and Abraham,
(V) John, second son and third child of .\bra-
ham and Abagail (Oifford) Sanborn, was born
February 9, 1741, in Kingston, and settled in San-
dow. New Hampshire, where he was one of the
signers of the association test. He was a soldier
of the Revolution, enlisting May 15, 1782, and prob-
ably did not see much service as the struggle was
then nearly at its end. He died April 10, 1797.
His wife was Elizabeth Sargent, of Chester, New
Hampshire, said to be of Scotch descent, which
is probably an error. Their children were : Abi-
gail, Abraham, Winthrop, Sarah, Moses, Elizabeth
and Jethru.
(VI) Abraham (2), eldest son and second child
of John and Elizabeth (Sargent) Sanborn, was
born June 29. 1759, in Sandow, New Hampshire.
He removed to Salisbury, New Hampshire, when
he was only sixteen years old, in 1775. He spent
the season there and in the fall returned to his
parents in Sandow and continued thus to spend the
summer upon his land until it w-as in a suitable
condition for tillage. He then built a house and
settled permanently in the town where he died No-
vember 25, 1843. His farm consisted of two hun-
dred acres, and the buildings upon it, which he erect-
ed, are still standing, though tliey have been much
remodeled. He was married (first) in 1783 to Lois
Taylor, of Nottingham, who died before 1807. In
that year he married Sarah Levering, who died
.August 29, 1850, aged eighty-two years. There were
seven children of the first wife and nine of the
second, namely : Reuben. John, Sarah. Moses (died
at twenty-five years of age), Eliza, Polly, Sewell,
Samuel L... Mehitabcl, Lois, .Abraham Sargent,
266
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Isaac, Jacob. ]\Io5es, Aaron and Benjamin Franklin.
(Mention of Sewell and descendants forms part of
this article).
(VII) John, second son and child of Abraham
(2) and Lois (Taylor) Sanborn, was born June 6,
17S6, in Salisbury, where he lived and died and was
a successful farmer. His place was north of the
original homestead in the north range, and his first
house was destroyed by fire in 1847. He died Au-
gust 10, 1857. He was married, March 12, 1809, to
Elizabeth, daughter of Benjamin Shaw, of Weare.
She was born October 4, 1783, and died April 16,
1847. Their children were Louisa, (died young),
Harriet (died in infancy), Harriet, Moses C, Lou-
isa, James Wallace, Caroline, Abraham, Mahala J.,
Ebenezer Cummings. Ira Shaw and Eliza.
(VIII) James Wallace, second son and sixth
child of John and Elizabeth (Shaw) Sanborn, was
born February 23, 1822, in Salisbury, and passed his
life in that town where he died September 12, 1S77.
He was educated in the common schools, and was
always by occupation a farmer. He was the owner
of three hundred and fifty acres of land, including
part of the original homestead cleared by his grand-
father, and part of which was known as Clough
farm. He was a regular attendant of the Baptist
Church, and in politics was a sincere and consistent
Democrat. He was married, March i, 1849. to
Mary J. Shaw, daughter of John and Abigail (Ni-
chols) Shaw, of Salisbury. She was born August
2g, 1827, and died September 26, 1888. Their chil-
dren are located as follows : George S., the eldest,
is a resident of Salisbury. Etta C. is the wife of
Warren H. Carter and resides in Manchester, New
Hampshire. Buron Wallace is the subject of the
following paragraph. Fred S. resides with the last
named. Gerrish S. is a resident of Salisbury. Rus-
sell Warren also resides in that town. John F. is
a farmer residing at Potter Place, New Hampshire.
Georgia E., died in infancy. Berton F. is mentioned
below.
(IX) Buron Wallace, second son and third child
of James W. and Mary J. (Shaw) Sanborn, was
born September 2g, 1856, in Salisbury, and was ed-
ucated in the public schools and a private school of
that town. His attention was early turned to farm-
ing by the requirements of his surroundings, and he
has ever followed that occupation. He purchased
the old homestead in West Salisbury of the heirs,
and in 1893 purchased a farm of two hundred acres
of land in the same neighborhood, on which he lives.
He is also the owner of more than six hundred acres
of land in Andover. He is extensively engaged in
lumbering and in the raising of cattle. He also
maintains a flock of two hundred grade sheep and
is a breeder of improved Chester white hogs. In
the interims of farm labor he does some dealing in
meat and is one of the busy men of the town. His
success is deserved because of his industry and
shrewd management. He has served seme dozen
years as a selectman of the town, during more than
half of which period he was chairman of the board.
He has served two years as road commissioner and
is at present town surveyor. He was two years tax
collector and represented the town in the legisla-
ture in 1892-93. Mr. Sanborn is a consistent Demo-
crat in politics, and is a member of Bartlett Grange,
No. 104, of Salisbury. He is also a member of the
Junior Order of United American Mechanics, of
Wannomake Tribe, Improved Order of Red Men,
of Franklin. He was married, November II. 1882,
to Minnie B. Heath, daughter of Harrison V. and
Ruth C, (Lovcrin) Heath. She was born July 5.
1866. Their children are : George Buron, born
March 13, 1884; Lizzie C. October 25, 1885; Ned
Dickinson, May 21, 1888. The daughter is a teacher
in the public schools of Salisbury.
(IX) Berton F-, ninth and youngest child of
James W. and Mary J. (Shaw) Sanborn, was born
in Salisbury, May 10, 1870, and was educated in the
common schools. Brought up to a practical knowl-
edge of agriculture, he has made that his life em-
ployment to a large extent. In 1906 he bought a
farm of two hundred acres at Salisbury Heights,
seventy acres of which is in a high state of cultiva-
tion,* and has since been engaged in farming and
lumbering. In politics he is a staunch Democrat.
He has served as constable four years, and road
supervisor two years. He married at Franklin, May
10, 1903, Lelia C. Shaw, who was born in Concord,
July 3, 1874, daughter of Moses G. and Melissa
(Heath) Shaw. Mr. and Mrs. Sanborn are mem-
bers of the Baptist Church. Their children are :
Eveline Burnham and Shirley Burton.
(VII) Sewell, youngest child of Captain Abra-
ham Sanborn and his first wife, Lois Taylor, was
torn at Salisbury. New Hampshire, October 16, 1801.
He lived at Bristol, this state, and in November,
1829, married his first wife. Harriet Bean, of Sal-
isbury, who died March 17, 1846, leaving seven chil-
dren : Mary, born November 4, 1830, married Joel
Gerdy. of Bristol; Harriet, May 19, 1S33, married
Eben Trask, of Salem, Massachusetts ; George, died
young ; William H. H., whose sketch follows ; Ira
Chase, July 29, 1841, married Alberta S. Crowell,
and lived in Wolcott, Vermont ; Sylvanus, June 12,
1843 ; and Horace, May 10. 1845. On December 5.
1847, Sewell Sanborn married his second wife, Mrs.
Phebe Fogg, and they had two children : Gusta-
vus B., born September 4, 1848; and Phebe, May
21, 1851. Sewell Sanborn died October 30, 1866.
(VIII) William Henry Harrison, second son and
fourth child of Sewell and Harriet (Bean) San-
born, was born at Alexandria, New Hampshire. Oc-
tober 15, 1839. He early showed the Sanborn ener-
gy and will in his struggles to obtain an education.
He worked on farms in summer, and attended
.S'chools in winter, and after he had moved to La-
moille county, Vermont, where he worked on a
farm, he walked back and forth during spring and
fall to his New Hampshire home, so that he might
save all his money for additional schooling in the
winter. He finally graduated from Kimball Union
'Academy at Meriden, and after that taught school
for several years. He then became interested in
lumbering and the management of saw-mills, and
followed that occupation till bis last illness, which
lasted three years. William Henry Harrison San-
born married. April 21, 1871, Fedora E., daughter
of John Calvin and Elizabeth (Gale) Golden, of
Bristol, and they had three children: Gertrude E.,
who died in infancy; Herman H., w'hose sketch
follows ; and Raymond Ernest. Raymond Ernest
Sanborn was born April 29, 1877, in Alexandria,
New Hampshire, and attended school in Franklin,
this state. He married Alice Hammond, daughter
of Charles and Eldena (Wicum) Hammond, of
Bristol. They had four children: Katherine E.,
Ernest. Wesley and Fedora. William H. H. San-
torn died June 14, 1882, at the early age of forty-
three.
(IX) Herman Harrison, elder son and second
child of William H. H. and Fedora E. (Golden)
Sanborn, was born at Alexandria, July 25, 1874.
He lived with his grandfather Golden, till ten years
of age, and was then bound out, but the thirst for
an education was in his blood. He attended the
public schools, as he was able, and later became a
I
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
267
student at the Moody School at Mount Hemion,
Massachusetts. In early life he had an opportunity
to take a place in a saw-mill, which he accepted
He continued in this work for some years, both
building and managing mills. During the summer
months he conducted a job printing oftice with the
aid of a hand press which he managed to procure.
He soon learned to set type and became so much
interested in the work that he gave up the mill
business and carried on a farm, meanwhile doing
any printing that he could get. He was appointed
postmaster at North Sanbornton, New Hampshire,
in 1S97, and held the office four years. Later he
opened a job printing office and devoted all his time
to it. Early in igo6 he moved to Sanbornville and
took charge of the Carroll County Pioneer, the
leading weekly paper in the county. The Pioneer
is popular and has as large a prepaid circulation
as is enjoyed by any contemporary publication in a
town of equal size. At the death of Mr. Dorr, who
had been the editor for many years, Mr. Sanborn
bought out the entire plant and assumed the editor-
ship. In politics he is an Independent Democrat.
Mr. Sanborn is a member of the Roman Catholic
church. He is unmarried.
(III) Abner, fifth son and youngest of the ten
cliildren of John (2) and Judith (Coffin) Sanborn,
was born April 27. 1694, at Hampton, New Hamp-
shire. He married, October 31, 1715, Racliel, daugli-
tcr of Caleb Shaw and lived in Hampton Falls. He
died January iS, 1780. They had thirteen children :
Caleb, born July 25, 1716 ; Elizabeth, married Jo-
seph Smith, of Exeter. New Hampshire; Rachel
married Jeremiah Bennett ; Daniel, John, Juditli.
Abner, mentioned below : Jethro, born and died in
172S; Deborah, born in 1729, and died in- 1730; Pe-
ter, died young; Timothy, Mary, married (first)
Ephraim Philbrick, of Hampton Falls, and (second")
William Blaisdell ; Coffin, born December 17, 1737-
(IV) Deacon Abner, fourth son and seventh
child of Abner and Rachel (Shaw) Sanborn, was
born at Hampton Falls, August 3, 1726. He lived
in Hampton Falls, and as selectman of that town
signed the statement of men fit for service in 1775.
On June 12, 1746, he married Lucy, daughter of
Joseph Lowell, of Hampton Falls, who was bap-
tized March 31, 1728, and died April 2r, 181 1. Her
husband. Deacon Abner Sanborn, died April iS,
iSii, just three days previous to his wife. They
had eight children: Sarah, born May i, 1747. mar-
ried (first) Jacob Satterly, and (second) James
Mann. Rhoda, married Deacon Jonathan Perkins,
of Pittsfield. Lowell, mentioned below": Phebc,
born 1753, died 1757. Levi. Xh^cip'i'li'S. David.
Phebe, born July 16, 1769. married Samuel Brown.
(V) Deacon Lowell, eldest son and third child
of Deacon .A.bner and Lucy (Lowell) Sanborn, was
born in Hampton Falls, June 30, 1751. He early
moved to Guilford, then a part of Gilmanton. New
Hampshire, and signed the test there. .\t the age
of twenty he married, July 22, 1771, Rebecca Jud-
kins. of Brentwood. New Hampshire, who died July
21. 1848. He died September 14, 1823. They had
eleven children : Richatd, born 1772, died young.
Richard, born 1773, died young. Lucy, married
(first) William Ranlett, and (second) Joseph Sy-
monds. of Northfield, New Hampshire. Richard.
Lowell. Elisha J. Theophilus. Samuel Oilman,
mentioned below. Rachel, married Samuel Dustin.
of Sanborton, New Hampshire. Rebecca, married
Moses Welch Weeks, of Sanbornton. Mary, mar-
ried F.leazcr Davis, of Alton, New Llampshire.
(\l) Samuel Oilman, seventh son and eighth
child of Deacon Lowell and Rebecca (Judkins) San-
born, was born in Oilmanton, New Hampshire,
March 20, 1787. He was a farmer, and lived most
of his life at Guilford where he died September 18,
i86g. He married, October 22, 1S09, Sarah, daugh-
ter of Samuel B. Mason, of Ouilforcl. She was born
in Moultonboro, New Hampshire, July 13, 1789,
and died at Guilford, February 19, 1871. They have
children: Winborn A., born December 13, 1810,
lived in Guilford, where he was representative sev-
eral terms, married Lavinia Hoyt, October 20, 1835.
Sarah, born January 10, 1815, died young. John
G., born February 21, 1S16. George, mentioned be-
low. Freeman L., born October 21. 1825, married
(first) Maria Rich, and (second) Anne S. Stevens,
of Newbur>-port, Massachusetts; he died July 6,
1853, in California, leaving two children, Sarah M.
and Ella F.
(VII) George, fourth child and third son of
Samuel Oilman and Sarah (Mason) Sanborn, was
born in Guilford, New Hampshire, October 27, 1820.
He was educated in the schools of Franklin. New
Hampshire, at Harvard Medical College, and at
Dartmouth, receiving the degree of M. D. from the
latter institution in 1850. He practiced medicine for
seven years in Sandwich, New Hampshire, and then
moved to the neighboring town of Meredith, wdiere
he was the leading physician until his death in 188S.
In politics he was a Democrat. He represented
Meredith one term in the state legislature, and held
several town offices. On February 22, 1847, he mar-
ried Sophronia D. Stockbridge, daughter of George
and Jemima (Leighton) Stockbridge, of Alton, New
Hampshire. She was born October i, 1821, and is
still living in Meredith. They had one child, George
Freeman, a sketch of whose life follows. Dr.
George Sanborn died November 10, 18S8.
(VIII) George Freeman, only child of Dr.
George and Sophronia D. (Stockbridge) Sanborn,
was born August 17, 1857, at Meredith, New Hamp-
shire. He was educated at New Hampton Academy,
and at Tilton Seminary in his native state. He be-
gan the study of medicine, but was obliged to give
it up on account of ill health. He then started a
drug store, which he is still conducting. He also
carries on an insurance business and a coal business.
In politics he is a Democrat. He has been select-
man for six years, and represented his town in the
state legislature of 1885. He is a member of the
Royal Arcanum, and belongs to the Manchester
Lodge of Elks. He belongs also to the Amoskeag
Veterans of Manchester, one of the three military
companies in the country which wear the Continen-
tal uniform. He attends the Congregational
Church. On December 10, 1884, George F. San-
born married Charlotte J. French, daughter of John
B. and Lucy Abbie (Merrill) French, who was born
at Raymond, Maine, January 5, 1857. They have
one child, Royden Winborn, born at Meredith, May
3, 1886. He is a graduate of Holderness School.
He is in business with his father.
(II) Richard Sanborne was born in Hampton,
New Hampshire. January 4, 1655, and was made
freeman there in 167S. He was a farmer in Hamp-
ton and a soldier there in the garrison at Oyster
River in 1696. He gave to his son John, in 1712,
land which had been bequeathed to Richard by his
father. Richard Sanborne married (first) Ruth
Moulton, daughter of William Moulton, of Hamp-
ton. She died I\Ia\- 3, 16S5, and he married (sec-
ond) Mary Boulter, widow of Nathaniel Boulter,
Junior, of Hampton, and daughter of Abraham
Drake, of Hampton. Children : Mary, born Sep-
tember 30, 1679. died unmarried in 1770. John,
November 6, 16S1. Ruth, 1684. Shubael, 1694.
268
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
(The last named receives mention witli descendants
in this article).
(III) Ensign John Sanborn was born in Hamp-
ton, November 6, 1681, and died September 3, 1727.
In private life he was a farmer, and early became
owner of a large tract of wild land in the locality
known as North hill, and he developed it into one
of the best farms in the town. In 1708 he was a
soldier from. Hampton in the Indian wars, and in
1724 was made sergeant of a company of thirty-one
men who served in Lovewell's war; later he was
commissioned ensign. In addition to his lands in
Hampton Ensign Sanborn was grantee of a large
tract in Chester, and was selectman of that town
from 1724 to 1726. On Angust 8, 1701, he married
Sarah Philbrick, daughter of Lieutenant James Phil-
brick, of Hampton. After her husband's death Sarah
married Lieutenant Thomas Rawlins, of Stratham.
She died May 30, 1761. Children of Ensign John
and Sarah (Philbrick) Sanborn: Daniel, born Feb-
ruary 17, 1702. Benjamin, November 8, 1703.
Phebe, February 6. 1706, married Nathaniel Pease,
of Exeter. Richard, May 29, 1708, twin with Na-
than. Nathan, May 29, 1708, twin Avith Richard.
Elisha, .\pril i, 171a. Ebenezer, March 4, 1712.
Sarah, I\Iay 22. 1714, married (first) Ford,
(second) Matthia Weeks. .\bagail, October 24,
1716, married Thomas Sinclair, of Meredith. Ruth,
March 18, 1719, married Joseph Bean. John, May
S, 1721. Hannah, February 3, 1723, married Deacon
Stephen Dudley. James, April 5, 1724. Mary,
March i, 1726, married William Mead of Meredith.
(Mention of Ebenezer and descendants appears in
this article).
(IV) Deacon Daniel Sanborn was born in North
Hampton, February 17, 1702, and was a wealthy and
prominent man in that town. He also was one of
the grantees of Sanbornton and the fifth signer on
the petition of 1748. He died in 1786 and his will
was probated in 1787. He married, January 14,
17-25, Catherine Rollins, and they had eleven chil-
dren: Phebe, born December 13, 1725, died 1797;
married Reuben Gove Dearborn. Anne, February
21, 1737, died' May 4. 1771 ; married Elisha Thomas.
Catherine, June r. 1728: married Foss. Dan-
iel, May 17, 1731. Sarah, 1733, died 1742. Rachel,
April 25, 1736 married (second) Gideon Piper.
Thomas, May 17, 1738. Moses, June 8, 1740.
Aaron, February 8. 1743. Sarah, baptized February
24, 1745; married Jewett. Abijah, March 4,
1748.
(V) Squire Daniel Sanborn was born in North
Hampton, May 17, 1731, and early became identified
with the history of Sanbornton, where he was
chosen surveyor in 1752 and built the first mill there
in 1764. In 1775 he was a delegate to the fourth
provincial congress and soon afterward was com-
missioned major of the Third Regiment of New
Hampshire troops in service during the Revolution.
He held many important offices in Sanbornton, and
in 1 771 was commissioned by Governor Wentworth
the first justice of the peace, being the only incum-
bent of that oflSce for many years. He also was the
first town clerk of Sanbornton and served in that
office more than twenty years. In 1751 Squire San-
born married Lucy Hobbs, who was born in 1734
and died July 15, 1813. He died in iSoo. Thev
had children: Marah, born March 7, 1752; married
Major Josiah Miles. Comfort, November 4, 1753,
died in 1754. Lucy, April 22, 1755. married James
Gate, Jr. Benaiah, June 2, 1757. Jonathan Hobbs,
May 3, 1759. Catherine, March 2. 1761, died unmar-
ried 1778. Daniel, September 4, 1762. James, April
4, 1764- John, June 12, 1766. Sarah", March 15,
1768, married Nathan Smith, of Sanbornton. Eli-
sha. May 17, 1770. Anna, April 26, 1773, died 1777.
Thomas, February 9, 1775, died 1776. Enoch Ely,
May 20, 1777, died March 6, 1795. Moses, Novem-
ber II, 1779. .•\nna, 1782, died 1784.
(VI) Dr. Benaiah Sanborn was born in North
Hampton, studied medicine with Dr. Moore of Bol-
ton, Massachusetts, began his professional career
in Sanbornton in 1779 and was an active practition-
er for more than fifty years. His practice is said
to have been very extensive, and by his energy and
promptness he retained the principal business of the
town for many years. In 1833 he visited his last
patient and for some years before his death, August
30, 1841, it is said that he experienced all the im-
becilities of a child. On March 15, 1781, Dr. San-
born married Huldah Smith, born January 20, 1760,
died April i, 1858, daughter of Deacon Christopher
Smith, of North Hampton. Their children : Chris-
topher Smith, born October 29, 1782. Molly, Octo-
ber 19, 1784, married George W. Sanborn. Abigail,
November 29, 1786, died 1792. Comfort. May 2,
1789, married John B. Perkins, of Sanbornton.
Huldah, July 6, 1791, married Thomas Eastman, of
Laconia. Abigail, May 6. 1793. died in 1803. Es-
ther, June 20, 1795. Daniel, September 13, 1797.
Anna, January 9. 1800, died 1803. Almira, 1S03,
died same year. Pamelia (tvv'in with Almira), born
1803, died same year. Captain Benaiah, born
March 22, 1805, married Hannah H. Perkins.
(VII) Colonel Daniel Sanborn was born in San-
bornton, September 13, 1797, and died in that town
July 23, 1878. He was well educated and taught
school -several years in Sanbornton and Gilmanton.
For three years he was in trade at Meredith Cen-
tre, but returned to Sanbornton in 1825. At the
death of his youngest brother he took possession of
his father's homestead, but from 1S53 until the time
of his death lived on what is known as the Colby
farm. At one time he was colonel of a regiment
of state militia, hence the military title by which
he was afterward addressed. He was a member of J
the Congregational Church for forty-four years. Col- f
onel Sanborn married, February 21, 1822, Harriet,
daughter of Edward Ladd, of Gilmanton. She was
born March 6, 1803, and died May 24, 1885. Their
children : Emeline B., born September 22, 1823,
married (first) David Allen, of Newport, New
Hampshire, who died in 1851, married (second) .Al-
fred Burleigh, of Sanbornton. Hannah Ladd, June
7, 182s, married Arthur C. Taylor, of Sanbornton,
Eliza Ann, July 18, 1828, married Jacob Wadleigh,
of Laconia. Lucy Jane, August 31, 1830, married
Jonathan L. Moore, of Laconia. Mary Simpson,
February 10, 1833, married Edwin Sanborn. Lu-
cinda M., April 15, 1835, married Barnard H. Bur-
leigh. William Henry, October 4, 183S, died June
9, 1878. Otis Stackpole, August iS, 1S41. Esther,
January 15. 1847, married Frank F. Libbey, of La-
conia.
(VIII) Otis Stackpole Sanborn was born in San-
bornton, August 18, 1841, and was educated in the
Sanbornton public schools and Laconia Academy.
He afterward taught schools in the towns of San-
bornton and Belmont, then worked for a time in a
mill and eventually turned his attention to farming
in Sanbornton, where he now lives. He has beert
variously identified with public affairs, is a strong
Republican and represented his town in the state
legislature in 1902. For twenty years he has been
a member of the school ccmmittee. On .\ugust 30,
1871, Mr. Sanborn married Maria F. Lamprey, of
Belmont. New Hampshire. She was born in Gil-
manton (now Belmont), May 31, 1844. Four chil-
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
269
<Jren have been born of this marriage : Harry Clin-
ton, May 2. 1873. Mabel Taylor, November 19, 1875.
Cris Boutwell, January 7, 1879. Clifton Roscoe,
September 30, 1880.
(IX) Harry Clinton Sanborn was born in San-
bornton, May 2, 1873, and was educated in the
public schools of his home town and New Hamp-
ton Institute, taking a business course at the latter
and graduating in 1893. Having finished his school
course he secured a position as provision clerk in a
grocery store, where he gained a thorough under-
standing of the business and its methods, he be-
came proprietor of a general grocery and provision
store in Laconia, New Hampshire, and there is no
question of the fact that he is one of the most
extensive dealers in his line of trade in that city.
He is a member and one of the officiary of the Con-
gregational Church, an Odd Fellow, and in politics
a Republican. Mr. Sanborn married, — •
iSqq, Gertrude M. Whitten, who was born in La-
conia, July 16, 1871.
(IV) Lieutenant Ebenezer, seventh child and
sixth son of Ensign John (2) and Sarah (Phil-
brick) Sanborn, was born in North Hampton,
I\Iarch 4, 1712, and died April g, 1794. He was a
tanner and bookbinder, and resided in Hampton and
North Hampton. He was a prominent citizen, and
held the offices of town clerk, selectman and sher-
iff, and is said by one authority to have held a lieu-
tenant's commission in a troop of dragoons in the
French war. He was one of the grantees of the
town of Sanbornton. He is said to have been a
very large and powerful man and his size and ap-
pearance, no doubt, had something to do with him
being made a military officer. He married. May i,
17,^5, Ruth Sanborn, who was born in Hampton,
August 15, 1715, and died July 20, 1804, daughter
of Hon. John and Ruth (Roby) Sanborn, of Hamp-
ton. Hon. John was an intimate friend of Governor
Benning Wentworth. was many times representative,
and the town of Sanborton of which he was one'
of the proprietors was named in his honor. The
children of this union were : John, Anna, Josiah,
Ruth, Elizabeth, Benjamin, Ebenezer (died young),
William and Ebenezer.
(V) Colonel Josiah, third child and second son
of Lieutenant Ebenezer and Ruth (Sanborn) San-
born, was born in North Hampton, August 21, 1738,
and died in Sanbornton, January 19. 1809. He was
an early settler of Sanbornton, was a tanner and
.shoemaker there, and there signed the association
test. He was first lieutenant in Company 3, Colonel
Badger's regiment, 1776; lieutenant in Captain John
Moody's company, Colonel Baldwin's regiment, and
marched under Washington for New York, Septem-
ber 30, 1776; was lieutenant in Captain Ebenezer
Smith's company, from Meredith, in the Ticonder-
oga expedition, July, 1777 : first lieutenant in the
company raised for the defense of the northern
frontier in 1781 ; and was afterward commissioned
colonel in the New Hampshire militia. He mar-
ried (first), January 22, 1762, Anna Dalton, who was
born November 5, I'M, and died July 27, 1797:
(second), November 21, 1799, Widow Prudence
Haines, of Canterbury, who was born in Greenland,
May 20, 1753, and died May 27, 1843. aged ninety
years and one week. His children, all by the first
wife, were: John. Josiah, Ebenezer, Samuel, Chris-
topher, Joseph Warren and Chase Taylor.
(VI) Chase Taylor, seventh and youngest child
of Colonel Josiah and Anna (Dalton) Sanborn, was
born in Sanbornton, November 23, 1776, and died
in Campton, May 13, 1862, aged eighty-six. He was
a farmer and spent his early life in Sanbornton, and
was at one time postmaster there. He removed to
the village of West Campton, where he engaged in
general shoemaking and farming. He resided there
until his death. He married, December 3, 1804,
Martha Haines, who was born in Canterbury, Sep-
tember 13, 1786, and died June 30, 1842. They had
three children : Chase, James Brackett, and Thom-
as Jay, whose sketch follows.
(VII) Thomas Jay, third and youngest child of
Chase T. and Martha (Haines) Sanborn, was born
in Sanbornton, i\Iay 23, 1812, and died in Campton.
He was a farmer in early life, then had a small
tavern and general store which he carried on about
ten years. He moved to West Campton, purchased
and lived on a farm of two hundred and fifty acres,
made additions to his home, and did a quite thriv-
ing summer hotel business up to the time of his
death. He was postmaster in Sanbornton and
Campton twenty-five years, being the first postmast-
er at Campton. He married Relief R. Morrison,
daughter of Joseph W. Morrison, of Plj-mouth.
They had but one child, Edward H., whose sketch
follows.
(VIII) Edward Hervey, son of Thomas J. and
Relief R. (Morrison) Sanborn, was born in San-
bornton, August 18, 1844, and was educated in the
public schools at West Campton, Plymouth, and
at New Hampton Academy. He was employed for
three years as clerk by Webster, Russell & Com-
pany, of Plymouth, and for eight years as a trav-
eling salesman for Brownson, Hayden & Company,
of Chicago, wholesale dealers in gentlemen's fur-
nishings, his territory covering Minnesota, Wiscon-
sin, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Missouri.
He next traveled for three years over the same ter-
ritory in the same line of business for the Damon
Temple Company of Boston, Massachusetts. Re-
turning to Campton, he was associated with his
father in the sunmier hotel business for twenty-five
years. After the death of his father he sold the
property in Campton and settled in Plymouth,
where he now resides. He has been a successful
man, has a good real estate and insurance business,
and resides in a handsome, well furnished home.
He is an ardent Republican, and held while a res-
ident of Campton the offices of town clerk, town
treasurer, member of the board of selectmen, of
which he was chairman seven years, representative
and was moderator of the town meeting. He is a
Mason of high degree, and holds membership in the
followin.g organizations of that order: Olive Branch
Lodge, No. 16, Free and Accepted Masons, Ply-
mouth; Pemigewasset Royal Arch Chapter, No. 13,
Plymouth ; Omega Council, No. 9, Royal and Select
Masters, Plymouth ; Pilgrim Commandery, Knights
Templar, Laconia ; Edward A. Raymond Consis-
tory, thirty-second degree, Sublime Princes of the
Royal Secret, of Nashua ; and Bektash Temple, An-
cient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of
Concord. He is also a member of Plymouth Lodge,
No. 66, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Plym-
outh.' He married, October 17, 1877, at Rumney,
New Hampshire, Julia E. Robinson, who was born
April 15, 1854, at Thornton, a daughter of William
P. and Julia R. (Foss) Robinson, of Campton vil-
lage. One child, Thomas J., of this union, died in
infancy.
(Ill) Shuabel, second son and fourth child of
Richard and Ruth, was born 1694, in Hampton, and
resided in that town, where he died May 3, 1759, of
apoplexy. He was born June 7, 1716, to Man%
daughter of Abraham and Sarah (Hobbs) Drake
cf Hampton. She was born February 4, 1693. and
died August 16, 1775. Their children were: Shua-
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
bel, Mary, Betsey, Elizabeth, John, Sarah and Na-
thaniel.
(IV) Shuabel (2), eldest son of Shuabel (i)
and Mary (Drake) Sanborn, was baptized June 2,
1717, in Hampton. His home was in that town but
he spent considerable time in the military service.
He was at the siege of Louisburg in 1745, and died
in the army during the French war, September,
1756. His wife's name w'as Jane and their children
were: Deliverance, Benjamin, Mary, Simon (died
young), Jane, Sarah and Simon.
(V) Benjamin, eldest son and second child of
Shuabel (2) and Jane Sanborn, was born August
I, 1738, in Hampton, and moved from that town to
Canterbury in 1771. He lived in that town fifty
years and died September 19, 1821. He married
(first) Jane Mason and (second) a Towle. His
children were: Shuabel, Comfort, Sally, Molly and
Abraham.
(VI) Shuabel (3), eldest child of Benjamin and
Jane (Mason) Sanborn, -was born June 18, 1764, in
Hampton, and passed most of his life in Canter-
bury, where he was a farmer and where he died,
May 6, 1842. He was married, January 20, 1790, to
Phoebe, daughter of Jacob Smith, of Sanbornton.
She was born September 30. 1771, and died January
24, 1852. Their children were: Betsey, Benjamin,
Smith, Hannah, Polly, Shuabel, Abraham, Jeremiah,
Joseph, Hazen, Phoebe and Sylvanus..
(VII) Betsey, eldest child of Shuabel and
Phoebe (Smith) Sanborn, was born December 18,
1790, and became the wife of Captain David Mor-
rill, of Canterbury (see Morrill, VII).
(II) Joseph Sanborne (or Sanborn), sixth child
of Lieutenant John and Mary (Tuck) Sanborn,
was born in Hampton, New Hampshire, March 13,
1659, and died between 1722 and 1724. He resided
in the town of Hampton Falls, on the farm now
owned by his descendant. Miss Sarah Sanborn.
December S. 1692, Joseph Sanborn, "cordwinder,"
for a valuable consideration bought of John Gove
twenty-five acres of upland and three acres of
marsh. April 4, 1694, Joseph Sanborn bought for
forty-five shillings twenty-five acres of land "with
all the timber trees, wood and underwood," "south
of Tailers River." June 15, 1722, "Joseph San-
born of the South Parish in Hampton farmer" gave
to his son Joseph of the same parish land in addi-
tion to land formerly given to him. June 13, 1722,
Joseph Sanborn gave his son Abraham an acre of
salt marsh and confirmed a former gift of land to
him. June 14, 1722, Joseph (Sanborn) gave to his
son David all his right in the new town called Ches-
ter, for his portion of his estate. June 13, 1722,
Joseph gave to his eldest son Reuben, of Hampton
Falls, a tract of upland ii\ Hampton and an acre
of salt marsh. June 13, 1722, he also gave to his
son Edward upland and two acres of salt marsh.
Joseph Sanborne married December 8, 1682, Mary
Gove, daughter of Captain Edward Gove, of Hamp-
ton. After Joseph's death, she married a Mr. Mor-
rill, of Salisbury, from whom she separated and re-
turned to Hampton Falls to live on the old home-
stead. The children of Joseph and Mary (Gove)
Sanborne were : .Abigail, Huldah, Reuben, Edward,
Abraham, Mary, Joseph and David.
(III) Lieutenant Joseph (2), seventh child and
fourth son of Joseph (i) and Mary (Gove) Sanborne,
was born in Hampton Falls, July 22, 1700, and died
January 26. 1773. In later life he was called Lieu-
tenant Joseph. In 1724 he served under Sergeant
Jonathan Prescott. and again under Captain Weare.
In 1746 he was allowed eight pounds for thirteen
men under his command on a scouting party. He
was a grantee of Chester. In 1743 he built on the
homestead the house which is now owned by his
descendant. Miss Sarah Sanborn. The old records
show copies of various deeds made by him. July
21, 1761, "Joseph Sanborn of Hampton Falls, Gent,
for £4,000 old tenor pd. by my son Abraham of
Brentwood, yeoman," sold fifty-two acres of land
to said Abraham in Brentw.ood. On the same day,
for i3 000 old tenor, he transfers to his son Joseph
land "beginning at the middle of my dwelling house
and running east" twelve acres, and eight acres in
another place. On the same date, for three thousand
pounds old tenor, he deeds his son Benjamin twenty
acres. On November I, 1764, Joseph and his wife,
Dorothy, for two hundreds pounds paid by David
Batchelder conveyed said Dorothy's right of dower
in the estate of her former husband, Benjamin Hil-
liard. Joseph Sanborn married, (first) Januao' 18,
1722, Lucy, daughter of James Prescott, of Hampton
Falls. She died March 9, 1723. He married (sec-
ond) Susanna, daughter of Benjamin James of
Hampton Falls. She died June i, 1761, and he mar-
ried (third) Dorothy (Roby) Hilliard, widow of
Benjamin Hilliard. His children were : Lucy, Jo-
seph. Susanna, Benjamin, John (died young), Mary
and John.
(IV) Joseph (3), second child and eldest son of
Lieutenant Joseph (2) and Susanna (James) San-
born, was born in Hampton Falls, May 14, 1726, and
died in 1812. aged eighty-six years. He seems to
have lived in Brentwood in 1759, for his children
were baptized in Epping as of Brentwood. He is
said by Dr. Charles H. Sanborn to have lived with
his father until 1769, when he sold his share of the
Hampton Falls property, and removed first to Brent-
wood, and thence to Wakefield, where he was one
of the signers of the test in 1775. His will, dated
1799, was probated in 1812. He married (first),
December 6, 1750. Sarah Lane, daughter of Samuel
Lane, of Hampton Falls; (second), October 17,
1768. Anna (Philbrick) Marston, daughter of Dea-
con Joseph Philbrick, and widow of Elisha Marston,
of Brentwood. His children w-ere: Elizabeth, Jo-
seph (died young), Sarah, Samuel, Joseph, Reuben,
Sussannah, Abigail, John, Elisha and James.
(V) Joseph (4), fifth child and third son of Jo-
seph (3) and Sarah (Lane) Sanborn, was born July
12, 1759, and died July 3, 1836, aged seventy-seven.
He lived first in New Hampshire, but moved to
Acton, Maine, with his brother in 1780. He mar-
ried in 1787 Sarah Veasey, who was born January
12, 1767, and died September 22, 1837. Their chil-
dren were : Jonathan, Joseph, Henry, James, Sam-
uel, Sarah, John, Eliza (died young), William,
Eliza, Calvin and Luther.
(VI) Henry, third son and child of Joseph (4)
and Sarah (Veasey) Sanborn, was born in Acton,
Maine, October 20, 1792, and died October 24. 1856.
He was a farmer in Acton, where he lived and died.
He married in Alfred, Maine, January, 1818, Eliza-
beth G. French, of Epping, who was born April 30,
1794, and died February 24, 1869. Their children
were : Ezra, John Oilman, Stephen M., Henry Vea-
sey, Mary E. (died young), Jonathan H. and
Mary E,
(VII) John Oilman, second son and child of
Henry and Elizabeth G. (French) Sanborn, was
born in Acton, May 30, 1822, and died in Wakefield,
New Hampshire, October, 1902, aged eighty. He
was a farmer and lumber dealer. In November,
1857, he moved to Wakefield, New Hampshire, and
afterward resided at Horns Mills. He carried on
lumbering in Ossipee and Conway, New Hampshire,
and Shapleigh, Maine. He married Mary Elizabeth
Garvin, who was born in .\cton, Maine, June II,
1824, and died in Horns Mills, New Hampshire. De-
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
'-/^
cembcr 12, 1891. She was the daughter of Moses
Garvin, of Acton. They had seven children : In-
fant, died unnamed ; Ida. Georgiana, Elvira H., John
I., Dyer Hook, Edith H., deceased ; Ida, born Au-
gust 19, 1852, married Henry A. Home, of Acton,
Maine. Georgiana, born March 30, 1854, married
J. W. Witham, of Acton. Elvira H., died young.
John I., mentioned below. Dyer Hook, now deceased,
was born May g, 1859, in Wakefield. He was a
painter by occupation, and lived in Sanbornville. He
married, June II, 1SS7, Minnie A. Wiggin, of Wake-
field. New Hampshire, who was born May 3, 187O.
They had two children : Ernest Ray and Ansel
Norris. Edith H. married Moses H. With, and had
four children : Effie, born March 26, 1886, married
James Gerrish, had one child ; Gardner, Estella and
Ray.
(VIII) John Irving, fourth child and first son of
John G. and Mary E. (Garvin) Sanborn, was born
in Acton, Maine, September 24, 1857, and at two
montlis of age was taken by his parents to Wake-
field, New Hampshire, where he grew up. He was
educated in the common schools of Wakefield and
at Lebanon Academy. At twenty-one years of age
he began life for himself, farming and lumbering
for about twenty years. In 1891 he removed to Wolf-
boro and engaged in mercantile business, after a time
succeeding F. L. Ham, dealer in clothing, boots and
shoes, and is now doing a flourishing business. In
politics he is a Republican. He is a member of
Morning Star Lodge, No. 17, Free and Accepted
Masons, of Wolfboro ; of Fidelity Lodge, Independ-
ent Order of Odd Fellows ; Kingswood Encampment
and Syracuse Lodge, No. 27, Knights of Pythias, of
Sanbornville. He married, March. 1S78, Ella C.
Grant, who was born in Acton, Maine, December,
1857, daughter of John and Charlotte (Durgin)
Grant. Their children are: Edna, born February
9, 1880, married Parry T. Herse\-, of Wolfboro.
(See Hersey). John G., December 11, 1882. Alice, .
August. 1886. Harlan Page, November S, 1889.
Luella C., April, 1892.
(II) Nathaniel, born in Hampton, January 27,
1666, was the fifth son and tenth child of Lieutenant
John and Mary (Tuck) Sanborne. He lived at
Hampton Falls first. In 1694 he was one of the
proprietors of Kingston. He was town clerk of
Kingston in 1695-96. In 1707 he served ten days in
Captain James Davis's company. He was one of the
grantees of Chester. He married (first), December
3, 1691. Rebecca Prescott, daughter of James Pres-
cott. of Hampton. She died August 17, -1704. He
married (second). Sarah ISIason, born 1663, died
September I, 1748. He died November 9. 1723.
There were eleven children, five by the first wife,
and six by the second : Richard, James, Rachel,
Jeremiah, Abigail, Nathan, Jacob, Eliphaz, Nathan-
iel, Jedediah and Daniel. (Nathan and descendants
are mentioned in this article).
(III) Richard, the eldest child of Nathaniel and
Rebecca (Prescott) Sanborne, was born in Hampton
Falls, February 27, 1693. He lived in Kensington,
and was one of Hilliard's scouting party in the
Indian war, 1712, and served under Major John
Gilman in 1722. He married (first), January 21,
1713. Elizabeth Batchclder, who died in 1753, aged
fifty-five years. He married (second), Judith (Gore)
Prescott, daughter of Ebenezer Gore, and widow
of Captain Jonathan Prescott, who died at Louis-
burg in 1746. Richard Sanborn died September 14.
1773. His children were : Jonathan, Aloses. Re-
becca, David, Mary, .^bigail. Jeremiah, Richard
(died young). Betsey and Richard.
(IV) David, third son and fourth child of
Richard and Elizabeth (Batchel'der) Sanborn, was
born June 9, 1721, in Kensington, and resided in
Sandown and Andover, New Hampshire. He served
in Captain Marston's company in the expedition
against Crown Point, in 1762, and signed the asso-
ciation test in Andover in 1776. He married Sarah
Waddell, and their children were: Sarah (died
young), Benjamin, David, Ephraim, Richard, Josiah
and Sarah.
(V) David (2). second son and third child of
David (i) and Sarah (Waddell) Sanborn, was born
April 19, 1753, and resided and died in Andover.
He married Sarah Fuller, who was born March 21,
1753, and died February 19, 1842, surviving her
husband, who died Alarch 13, 1826, by sixteen years..
Their children were : Jonathan, Peter, Johanna,
Olive, Josiah, Sarah, David and Hannah.
(VI) Peter, second son and child of David (2)
and Sarah (Fuller) Sanborn, was born November
21, 1781, in Andover, where he lived, and died Feb-
ruary 26, 1858. He married Ruth Nichols, who died
March 20, 1859. Their children were : Abigail,
Joseph, Peter, Betsey, Sarah, Stephen S., William,
Isaac, Ruth Maria, Caroline Underbill, Albert, Mary
and Mercy.
(VII) Stephen Smith, third son and fifth child
of Peter and Ruth (Nichols) Sanborn, was born
March 3, 181 1, and died at East Andover, October 11,
1865. He was married in 1834 to jNIary Shepardson,
who was born in Guilford. Vermont, September 4,
1812, and died at Potter Place, Andover, June 7,
1849. His wife, Mary Shepardson, was a daughter
of William and Harriet (Cambridge) Shepardson.
Harriet Cambridge was a daughter of William
Cambridge, a native of England who came to Amer-
ica in Colonial times, and during the Revolution
enlisted in a Rhode Island regiment in which he
served the cause of independence as a sergeant.
After the close of the struggle he settled in West-
minster, Vermont, whence he removed to Lempster,
New Hampshire, and died there in 1829. His re-
rfiains repose in East Lempster cemetery. His name
is on the pension roll in Concord, dating from 1818.
The Cambridge family was noted for the longevity
of its members. William Cambridge had two
brothers, one of whom died at the age of one hun-
dred and ten years and the other at one hundred
and five. The children of William Cambridge, seven
in number, lived to the average age of eighty-two
years, and two of them lived to be ninety-three and
ninety-eight respectively. j\lr. Sanborn married for
his second wife Mary Jane Ware, of Andover, who
survived him over twenty years, and died in Hen-
niker.
(VIII) Marietta E., only child of Stephen and
Mary (Shepardson) Sanborn, was born March 11,
1838, in Lempster, and became the wife of Jonathan
Stewart, of Concord. (See Stewart, II).
(Ill) Nathan, eldest child of Sarah Mason,
second wife of Nathaniel Sanborne, was born in
Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, June 27, 1709.
The first five of his children were born in that town,
and witli them and his family he removed to Epping,
New Hampshire, and was there in 1747. He was one
of the signers of the association test act. In 1733
he married Catherine Satterlee, who was born Febru-
ary 21, 1710, and died in Sanbornton, February 16,
1810, at the age of almost one hundred years. Na-
than's will, dated July 6. 1775, was proved April
21, 1784. Children of Nathan and Catherine (Sat-
terlee) Sanborn: Sarah, born February 15, 1734,
died young. Hannah, December 17, 173S, married
Joseph Cass as his third wife and was grandfather
of Lewis Cass. Nathaniel, December 17, 1737. Mary,
272
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
October 29, 1746, married Ebenezer Dow, of Epping.
Nathan, February 22, 1749.
(IV) Nathaniel Sanborn was born in Hampton
Falls, December 17, 1737. He lived first in Epping,
where he signed the test act, but later settled in
Meredith, New Hampshire. He married at South
Hampton, September 4, 1764, Polly French, of Kings-
ton, and had children: Judith, born October 4, 1765.
John, November 27, 1767. Asahel, January 20, 1770.
Stephen, jNIarch 12, 1772. Polly, 1776, married Ste-
phen Leavitt, of Meredith. Dudley, 1778, married
(.first), Susanna Swain, (second), Susan Bedee.
Jane, 1780, married Nathaniel Piper, of Sanbornton,
Rachel, 17S2, married Dr. Mark Harris. Hannah,
1784, died unmarried.
(V) Stephen Sanborn was born in the town of
Epping, JNIarch 12, 1772, and lived and died in
Meredith, where he was a mechanic. He married
Esther Thompson and by her had nine children :
Lieutenant John, born May 8, 1795, died unmarried
in Jvlaine in 1839. William, April 8, 1799. Nathan-
iel, June 5, 1801. David, April i, 1803. Simeon T.
W., March i, 1805, died unmarried in September,
1827. Eliza. August 15, 1807, married Alice Dickey,
of Maine. Moses, August 15, 1810. Judith, June 22,
1813, died unmarried August 12, 1844. Richard,
August 25, 1815.
(VI) Nathaniel, third child and son of Stephen
and Esther (Thompson) Sanborn, was born in
Meredith, New Hampshire, June 5, 1801, and was
a farmer in that town and also in Laconia, where
the later years of his life were spent and where he
died August 4, 1873. On December 25, 1825, he mar-
ried Sarah, daughter of Joseph Roberts, of Meredith.
She was born December 8, 1707, and died November
25, 1889. Their children: Mary R., born October 15,
1826, married John T. Jewell, of Laconia. Phebe
Ann, August 27, 1828, married J. S. Weeks, of La-
conia. Olive Esther, November 7, 1830, married
Langdon C. Morgan, Sarah Jane, November 6, 1833,
married D. W. Tenney, of Methuen, Massachusetts.
Joseph Noah, March 6, 1836, a farmer now living
ni Salmonton. Charles Francis, October 11, 1838,
married Clara Gray. Wesley Curtis, August 11,
1841, died September, 1869, married (first), Elmira
Duggan. Anna C, April 21, 1844, married Charles
A. Davis, of Falls River, Massachusetts. Frederick
Milton, February 8, 1856, married Jennie Sanborn.
(VII) Joseph Noah, fifth child and eldest son of
Nathaniel and Sarah (Roberts) Sanborn, was born
in Meredith, New Hampshire, March 6, 1836, and
has lived in Salmonton over forty years, where he
is a successful farmer and fruit grower. He also
has taken a commendable interest in public affairs
in the town and subsequent city, having served many
years a member of the school committee and super-
intendent of common schools and also has served
as selectman and moderator. Mr. Sanborn has
been married twice. His first wife, whom he married
April 28, 1857, was Esther P. Stockbridge, of Gil-
manton. who bore him one son. She w'as born No-
vember 10, 1839, and died April 18, 1861. He mar-
ried (second), February 22, 1862, Ruth Knowlton
Smith, of Sanbornton, born March 30, 1S36, daugh-
ter of David and Olive (Knowlton) Smith. (See
Smith IV). His children by both marriages: George
C, born in Gilmanton, New Hampshire, November
22, 1859, and now living in Lakeport, New Hamp-
shire, married December 9, 1885, Harriet A. Collins,
of Laconia, born August 22, 1864. Children : Harry
ArthuF, born November 11, 1886; Carl Collins, Feb-
ruary 24, 1S89; Mildred Laura, August 31, 1891.
Rev. Willis Joseph, born in Sanbornton, February
18, 1865, a clergyman of the Baptist Church married
Georgie Gumbart. Orrin Nathaniel, born July 19,
1866, married (first), Nellie Bowers, born in Alan-
chester, New Hampshire, June 2, 1854, died June,
1904, having bore her husband four children : Robert
J., Earl, Roy and Ernest. Mr. Sanborn married
(second), Mrs. Grace Hallowell. Olive E., born
February i, 1870, in Sanbornton. Wesley David,
born April 10, 1872, a business man of Laconia.
Mary A., born November 10, 1876, died July 2, 1893.
(VIII) Wesley David Sanborn was born in San-
bornton, New Hampshire, April 10, 1872, and re-
ceived his education in New Hampton and Tilton
seminaries. After leaving school he found employ-
ment as machinist in the works of the Huse Machine
Company of Laconia, worked there about three years
and then entered the service of the Citizens' Tele-
phone Company, remaining there only a short time
and later engaged with E. JNI. Bryant & Co. of Man-
chester, electrical contractors and f urnisht • s. Still
later he served for some time as superintendent of
construction for the Citizens' Telephone Company,
and in 1899 started in business on his own account
as an electrical contractor and dealer in electrical
supplies. JNIr. Sanborn is an active, energetic and
successful business man. He and his wife attend
the Free Will Baptist Church of Laconia, and he is
a member of Winnepesaukee Lodge No. 59, Inde-
pendent Order of Odd Fellows. He married (first),
August 26, 1897, Hattie Grace Lawrence, who was
born in Meredith, New Hampshire, April 24, 1872,
and died in Laconia, November 16, 1902. He mar-
ried (second), September i, 1904, Nellie R. Taylor,
who was born in Greensboro, Vermont.
(II) Captain Jonathan Sanborn was born in
Hampton, May 25, 1672, and afterward was one of
the leading men of Kingston, where he took an ac-
tive part in public affairs and acquired much fame
because of his qualities as an Indian fighter during
the wars from 1724 to 1726 and during which time
he gained the title of captain. He was one of the
grantees of Chester, New Hampshire, and owned
a considerable tract of land in that town. He mar-
ried, February 4, ' 1691-92, Elizabeth Sherburne,
daughter of Captain Samuel Sherburne, of Hampton,
and sister of Henry Sherburne, who married a sister
of the first Governor Wentworth and became a
provincial councillor. Captain Sanborn died June
20, 1741, but nearly twenty years before his death he
made a gift to his son Jonathan of certain property,
the memorandum of which reads thus: "June, 1772.
Capt. Jona Sambun of Kingston, as a free gift to his
son Jonathn Sambun of K. land on ye East side of
little River saw mill, it Being one quarter part of
sd Mill Grant ye mill yard Exceptd, and joyning to
Wm. Longs land on ye Southeast on ye Norwest to
ye mill Brook it being twenty-five acres also Eleven
acres lying on ye north side of ye above sd land."
Children of Captain Jonathan and Elizabeth (Sher-
burne) Sanborn: Elizabeth, born December 27, 1692,
married (first), April 7, 1714, John Ladd, of Kings-
ton; married (second), Thomas Webster. Samuel,
September 7, 1694. Achaicus, 1696. Margaret, bap-
tized March 20, 1698, married, January 9, 1714, Moses
Sleeper, of Kingston. Jonathan, April 28, 1700.
Love, August 30, 1702, married, January 8, 1720,
Rev. John Graham. Dorothy, died young. Doroth_v,
the second child so named, died young. Sarah, April
18, 1708, married Thomas Rollins, of Stratham.
John, December 19, 1710, died February, 1711. Ben-
jamin, January 22, 1712, died 1718. Mary, December
7, 1713, married Peter Samborne.
(III) Jonathan Sanborn was born in Kingston,
April 28, 1700, and afterward lived in that town.
He married (first), December 31, 1719, Theodate
NEW HAMPSHIRK
273
Sanborn; married (second), November 8, 1757, Han-
nah Griffin. His children : Timothy, born August
15, 1720. Sarah, baptized January 20, 1723, died
1735. Child, unnamed, died 1728. Love, June 10,
1726, married, December 5, 1744, Reuben Clough.
Samuel, Iilarch 12, 1730. Jonathan, 1732, died 1735.
Worcester, June 3, 1734. Joanna, baptized July 3,
1736, married, April 10, 1755, Robert Crawford.
Child, unnamed, died 1738. Jonathan, born Movem-
ber 23, 1738.
(IV) Jonathan, youngest of the children of
Jonathan and Theodate Sanborn, was born in Kings-
ton, New Hampshire, November 23, 1738, and died
in that town March 20, 1782. He married (first),
December 15, 1760, Sarah, daughter of Israel James,
of Kingston. She died May 27, 1767, and he married
January 26, I/CkS, Jlary Swett, who died June 3, 1817,
Two children were born of his first and one of his
second marriage : Jonathan, March 8, 1764. Israel,
February 3, 1767. Joseph, August 3, 1770.
(\') Jonathan, eldest of the two sons of Jona-
than and Sarah (James) Sanborn, was born in
Kingston, New Hampshire, March 8, 1764, and died
June 28, 1843. He married, April 25, 1787, Mary
Morrill, who was born October g, 1754, and died
March 17, 1845. They lived in Gilford. Their chil-
dren : Jonathan, born November i, 1787. John,
September 21, 1790, married, July 6, 1820, Joanna
Gilman. Joseph, June 28, 1792. Jacob, November
20, 1795.
(YI) Joseph, son of Jonathan and Alary (Mor-
rill) Sanborn, was born in Gilford, New Hampshire,
June 28, 1792, spent his life in that town and died
July S, 1866. He married, December 17, 1718, Ruth
Carter, born April 20, 1795, died in August, 1S68.
Their children : Lyman, born March 6, 1820, mar-
ried Emily Bartlett, who died 1893; he is also de-
ceased. Woodbury, born December 20, 1822, died in
Chelsea, Massachusetts, June g, 18S8; married Eliza
W. Bartlett, born July 25. 1822, died December 24,
1893. Joseph, born August 6, 1825, deceased, married '
Eliza Farrer, deceased, has one living daughter,
Francina. Jonathan Morrill, born March 6, 182S,
deceased, married Betsey Eaton, has one daughter,
Cora. Francis Orman, born May 16, 1832, a farmer of
Gilford, New Hampshire. Sarah Jane, born March
3, 1835, widow of Langdon Clark.
(VH) Francis Orman, son of Joseph and Ruth
(Carter) Sanborn, was born May 16, 1832, on the
farm on which he now lives in the town of Gilford,
New Hampshire, and which has been owned and oc-
cupied by his ancestors and his own family for more
than one hundred years. !Mr. Sanborn is a prudent,
industrious and successful farmer, and in politics is a
Republican. On October 22, 1870. he married Sarah
E, Fish, who was born June 27, 1842, and by whom
he has one son, Orman Alorrill Sanborn.
(VIII) Orman Morrill, only child of Francis
Orman and Sarah E. (Fish) Sanborn, was born in
Gilford, New Hampshire, April 9, 1874, and received
a good education in Tilton Seminary. His occu-
pation in business life is farming and dairying and he
is looked upon as one of the most thrifty and pro-
gressive farmers of the town. He is a member of
Belknap Grange, No. 52, Patrons of Husbandry, and
a member of the board of trustees of Gilford public
library. On November 28. i8g8, Mr. Sanborn mar-
ried Lizzie A. Wilson, daughter of Herman and
Alice (Hazelton) Wilson, of Jackson, New Hamp-
shire.
(I) William Sanborne, son of William, of
Brimpton, and Anne (Bachiler) Sanborne, was born
in Brimpton, England, about 1622, as appears from
the records of his death. His is the earliest San-
i— 18
borne record found in Hampton, Alassachusetts ■-
"November 27, 1639, Willi: Samborne (wth his con-
sent) is appointed to ring the bell before meetings,
on the Lord's day and other days, for wch he is ta
have 6d. pr. lott of evry one having a lotte wth in
the towne." In June, 1640, a house lot was granted
him on the road towards the sea, southwest of hi&
brother John's. He was selectman of Hampton,
1651-60-67-71-77-S3. He was not so prominent as
his older brother, but was often chosen on town
committees. He served in King Philip's war. At
Hampton Court, 8th 8th mo 1651 Wm. Satnborne
took ye freeman's oath, at Salisbury Court I4tl\
9th mo 1676 Wm. Samborne took the oath for a con-
stable. He was the owner of considerable land; and'
various conveyances to and froin him are on record.
Some years before his death he made gifts of land,
to his son William. He died November 18, 1692.
The inventory of his estate amounted to four hun-
dred and nine pounds and fifteen shillings. He married
Mary, daughter of John INIoulton, of Ormsby, Nor^
folk, England, and Hampton, New Hampshire.,
Their children were : Mary, Alehitabel, William,.
Josiah, Mercy, Mephibosheth, Sarah and Stephen.
(II) Josiah, second son and fourth child of
William and Mary (Moulton) Sanborne, was born
about 1654, and lived at Hampton. He was a well-
to-do inan ; is described in conveyances of land as
"planter" and "farmer" ; owned part of a saw mill
in 1693 )■ was representative from Hampton in i69S,_
and died in 172S. His will dated November 28,
1727, was proved 1728. He married (first;, Au-
gust 25, 1687, Hannah Moulton, daughter of Wil-
liam of Hampton. She died November 6, 1687. Hd
married (second) Sarah Perkins, widow of Jona-
than of Hampton. She died September I, 1748-
The children of the first wife were : William,
Hannah and Sarah ; and of the second wife : Jabez,
Keziah, Rachel, Jonathan, Reuben, Abner and
Richard.
(III) William Sanborne, oldest child of Josiah
and Hannah (Moulton) Sanborne, born in Hamp-
ton, New Hampshire, March 26, 1682, lived at
Hampton Falls, near Exeter, where the record shows
he was in 1709. In deeds he is described as "yeo-
man." He served in Captain Green's company in
the French war of 1712, and died April 3, 1718; per-
haps shot by the Indians, for in the records of Rev.
Mr. Cotton appears : "Eliz. Sanborn baptized, daugh-
ter of William Samborn, just after his awful death."
He married, December 20, 1704, Elizabeth Dearborn,
daughter of Henry Dearborn, of Hampton, and
great-great-aunt of Major General Henry Dearborn,
of the Revolution. The children of William and
Elizabeth Sanborn were : Ezekiel, Daniel, William,
Hannah, Joshua and Elizabeth.
(IV) Joshua, fourth son and fifth child of Wil-
liam and Elizabeth (Dearborn) Sanborn, was born
in Hampton Falls, March 16, 1715, and died in
Epping, where he had a long time resided, De-
cember, 1764. He married Abigail Sanborn, daugh-
ter of Jabez and Abigail (Marston) Sanborn. She
died December r6, 1811. Their children were:
Daniel, Phineas, Tristam and Joshua, twins.
(V) Daniel, eldest child of Joshua and Abigail
(Sanborn) Sanborn, was born in Epping, May 6,
1742. He lived and died in Epping, wlierc he signed
the test. He married (first) Hannah Folsom, of
Newmarket; (second) Priscilla Sanborn, born 1768,
daughter of Edward and Elizabeth (Rundlett) San-
born, of Epping; (third) Nabby Giles, ol Epping.
The children of the first wife were : Polly, Isa-
bella, Betsey, Daniel, Jonathan R., Tristam and
Joshua ; and by the second wife, Priscilla.
2/4
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
(VI) Tristam, third son and sixth child of
Daniel and Hannah (Folsoni) Sanborn, was born in
Epping, March 12. 1774. He removed to Boscawen
his wife and a few household goods on a sled
drawn by a yoke of steers, and settled on wild land
which he converted into a good farm and made his
home for many years. His first house was a log
cabin which was later replaced by a frame dwelling.
He was afterward a resident of Webster, after
the division of Boscawen, where he died April I,
1851. He married, March 17, 1797, Abigail Knight,
born May 10, 1776, died February 13, 1861, daugh-
ter of Joseph Knight, of Harvard, Massachusetts.
Their children were: Jesse D. (died young), John
Abidan, Joseph Knight, Heman, Sarah, Nancy
Eastman, Joshua, Daniel, Jesse D., Hannah and
Lois.
(VH) Heman, fourth child and son of Tristam
and Abigail (Knight) Sanborn, was born in Webster,
December 13, 1803, and died June 12, 1886, aged
eighty-two. He was educated in the public schools
and as Boscawen Academy. At the age of twenty-
one he walked to Boston, where he worked in a
stable one season. Returning to Boscawen he
worked on a farm for a time, and later bought a
farm in the village of East Concord, where he spent
his life. He was a man of influence in his town and
was selectman, councilman, and alderman, and for
years justice of the peace. He married (first),
July 14, 1812, Mary Ann, ^ daughter of Abraham
Bean, for many years high sheriff of Merrimack
county; (second), September 2, 1839, Clarissa Batch-
elder, of Loudon, who was born March I, 1802, and
died July 26, 1865; (third), May 8, 1866, Laura
Jones, of Warner. The children by the first wife
were : John Bean, Sarah Ann, Mary J. Coverly
and Abraham B. By the second wife there was one
child, Charles Henry.
(Vni) John Bean, eldest child of Heman and
Mary Ann (Bean) Sanborn, born in East Concord,
April I, 183 1, died September 26, 1901, was edu-
cated in the common schools, and at Pembroke
Academy. His youth was spent on his father's
farm, and at the age of twenty-one he bought a
place on East Penacook street, at the summit of
"The Mountain," upon which he resided the re-
mainder of his life. There he built a handsome
brick house, and rebuilt the barns. He was very
successful in his undertakings, and at the time of his
death owned eight farms containing one thousand
acres of land within six miles of the city of Con-
cord. He early engaged in the raising of fine stock,
making a specialty of Devon cattle, and Shropshire
and Southdown sheep. He was well known all over
New England, as he had exhibited his stock at all
the leading fairs for forty years before his death,
and won a large number of premiums. Since his
demise his sons have continued the business, and
kept up the reputation of their animals for excellence.
He was a well known citizen of Concord and promi-
nent in town affairs. He was a Democrat, having
cast his first vote for Franklin Pierce, in 1852, and
served in the city council, and was assessor two terms,
and chairman of his ward committee for many years.
He married (first), September 4. 1852, Hannah N.
Powers, of Alexandria, who died September 23,
185s; (second), April 2, 1857, Hannah A. Stone,
born April 12, 1830, daughter of Amos Stone, of
Boscawen. She died August l, 1898, aged sixty-
eight years, three months and seventeen days. By
the first wife he had two children. Sarah J. and
Nancy P., and by the second : John W., George
McClennan. Frank P., Charles H. and Harley H.
(IX) John Warren, eldest child of John B.
and Hannah A. (Stone) Sanborn, born in East
Concord, August 19, 1859, was educated in the com-
mon schools and at the Normal Institute at Read's
Ferry. The four years following his school course
he spent in Boston, engaged in teaming. Returning
to Concord he has since been successfully engaged in
farming and stock raising. Fie has a fine farm of
two hundred acres and makes a specialty of raising
Devon stock, his herd averaging over forty head.
These he exhibits with gratifying success at the
fairs throughout New England, and in 1906 took
numerous premiums at Trenton, New Jersey, York,
Pennsylvania, and Hagerstown, Maryland. He is
also engaged to some extent in lumbering. He is
a democrat, takes a part in political affairs; was
a member of the council in 1897 ; alderman two
terms 1901-02 and 1903-04; is also a member of
Rumford Grange', No. 109, and attends the East
Concord Congregational Church. He married,
March 19, 1881, Clara Ames, born July 4, 1861,
daughter of Harlow and Julia M. (Ladd) Ames,
of Lawrence, Massachusetts. They have had two
children, Mabel G., the elder, born December 4,
1882, is the wife of Harry B. Sanborn ;, she has had
two children. Louis, deceased and Mildred. Gert-
rude. Emma H., the younger, born October 28,
1902, died January 11, 1904.
(IX) George McClennan, second son and fourth
child of John B. and Hannah A. (Stone) Sanborn,
born in East Concord January 9, 1861, was edu-
cated in the schools of Concord aijd at Normal
Institute, Reed's Ferry. Brought up a farmer, he
naturally adopted that occupation on attaining his
majority, and now has a fine farm, keeps fifteen
cows and supplies a milk route in Concord. He is
a prominent man in matters pertaining to agricul-
ture; has been fair director twenty-two years, and
is a stockholder in the East Concord Grange Hall
Association. He is a member of Rumford Grange,
No. 109, in which he has held the office of over-
seer, and also of the Merrimack County Pomona
Grange, in which he has been many years assistant
steward. In politics he is a Democrat, has served
as selectman ten years, and held other town offices.
He and his family are members of the Congregational
Church of East Concord. He married, November
9, 1882, Abbie H. Smith, daughter of Ai Jackson
and Laura E. (Colby) Smith, of Canterbury. They
have three children : Clarence George, Genella
Smith and Percy Heman. The daughter graduated
at the Concord high school in 1906 and is now
a student at the Plymouth Normal School. Mrs.
Sanborn is active in church and grange circles; was
president of the Ladies' Benevolent Society, and is
Pomona in the County Grange.
(X) Clarence George, eldest child of George
McC. and Abbie H. (Smith) Sanborn, born in East
Concord, September 21, 1883, married Ora Belle
Batchelder, daughter of George L. Batchelder, of
Concord. He is overseer of Rumford Grange and
gate keeper of the County Grange.
(IX) Charles Henry, fourth son and child of
John B. and Hannah A. (Stone) Sanborn, was born
in East Concord, September 8, 1865, and educated
in the public schools. In 1888 he went to Los
Angeles, California, where he was successfully en-
gaged for two years in the livery business. After
a short visit to New Hampshire he returned to
California, and became the proprietor of a milk
route in San Francisco. The following year (i8gi)
he came back to New Hampshire, and has since that
time been extensively engaged in agricultural pur-
suits. He has a valuable farm of four hundred acres
and a large timber lot. On his farm he keeps fine
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
-/o
horses and a herd of twenty-five cows, supplying
from the latter a large amount of milk to patrons on
his route in Concord. He attends the Congregational
Church and votes the Democratic ticket, but does
not devote any time to politics. He married, Sep-
tember 29, 1S94, Harriet Houser, born July 7, 1865,
daughter of Marcus K. and Harriet (Richardson)
Houser, of Cornwall, Orange county. New York,
and Springfield, New Hampshire, respectively. The
Father was of Dutch ancestry and the mother of
English.
Soon after the conquest of Wessex by
DRAKE the Saxons, a family or clan called
Draco or Drago appears to have taken
possession of an old Roman and British encamp-
ment in what is now the Manor of Musburj", Ax-
minster, Devon county, England, which subsequently
became known as !Mount Drake. From this family
it is probable that all of the name in England and
Ireland are descended, as, although the crests of
the various families of Drake in later days varied,
their arms were the same, thus proving the common
origin of the family. That the famih' is of great
antiquity is shown from the fact that before the
Norman conquest, 1066, A. D., it was well estab-
lished in Devon county. In Domes Day Book six
places are mentioned as possessed by persons of the
name. We are told that "Honiton", one of them,
was well known to the Romans, and was held by
Drago, the Saxon, before the conquest. The name
Drago or Draco, the Latin for Drake, was in use
among the Romans, and signifies "one who draws
or leads," a "leader." The Romans obtained the
name from the Greeks, among whom it is found
as early as 600, B. C, when Draco, the celebrated
Athenian legislator, drew up the code of laws for
the government of the people, which bore his
name.
Ashe, an ancient seat adjoining Mount Drake,
was brought into the Drake Family by the mar-
riage, in 1420, of John Drake, of Mount Drake and
Exmouth (the first from whom lineal descent can
be traced), to Christiana, daughter and heiress of
John Billett, of Ashe, and remained in the family
about four hundred years. Of this family was
Sir Francis Drake, the celebrated navigator ; also
Samuel Drake, D. D., of eminent literary attain-
ments, who died in 1673, and whose equally eminent
son of the same name edited Archibishop Parker's
works, etc.; also Francis Drake, M. D,, surgeon of
York and F. R. S., a great antiquarian, .author of
"The History and Antiquities of York ;" and Doctor
James Drake, F. R, I., whose discoveries in anatomy
are not surpassed in importance by those of Hervey.
John Drake, of the council of Plymouth, one of the
original company established by King James in 1606
for settling New England, was of a branch of the
family of Ashe, several of whose sons came to this
country, including John who came to Boston in
1630, with two or more sons, and who finally settled
in Windsor ; and Robert, also two or more sons
and one daughter, who settled in Hampton, New
Hampshire. From these brothers are descended all
of the name in New England, and most if not
all of those bearing it in the middle, southern and
western states. We, however, meet with some
modern emigrants of the name, but they are not
numerous. Robert Drake was among the first who,
to avoid persecution fled to New England, driven
hither from fear of a revival of Poperj* in a later
reign. He was contemporary with Admiral Sir
Francis Drake, Kniglit, and was born the same
year that he returned from his great voyage around
the world, and was fifteen years of age when
that commander died.
(I) Robert Drake was born in the county of
Devon, England, in 1580, the year of the great
earthquake, came to New England with a family
before 1643, and took up his residence at Exeter,
New Hampshire, but removed from that place to
Hampton, in the same state in the beginning of
1651. Here he owned and left a considerable
estate. When he went to Exeter does not appear,
but he may have been of the Rev. John Wheel-
wright's company who settled there in 1638. His
house, which he bought of Francis Peabody, stood
on the same place now occupied by the Baptist
meeting house in Hampton. He was a man of
eminent piety, was one of the selectmen in 1654,
and was highly respected. He was sixty-three years
of age when he came to America, and was eighty-
eight at the time of his death, January 14, 1668.
His will, in which he describes himself as "searge
maker," was made in 1663. Two items in the in-
ventory taken January 23, 1667, show the difference
in values then and now. One hundred acres of land
of a second division westward was valued at eight
pounds ($40) ; four iron wedges and a pair of
beetle rings, ten shillings ($2.50). There is no
mention of his wife, and it is not known whether
she came to America or not. He had three children,
Nathaniel, Susannah and Abraham.
(II) Abraham, second son and third and young-
est child of Robert Drake, probablj' came to New
England with his father. He was a prominent in-
habitant of Exeter in 1643, and afterward in Hamp-
ton, whither he went, probably with his father. "His
residence was at a place since called 'Drake's Side,'
because at was on the westerly side of a considerable
swamp ; and his estate has been handed down in
the name to this day. (1845), and in the name of
Abraham, with a single exception, now over two
hundred years," says S. G. Drake, the historian
of the family. How long before 1643 Abraham
Drake was at Exeter has not been ascertained, but
in a petition which with twenty others he signed
and presented to the general court of Massachusetts,
in that year, against the encroachments of the
neighboring settlers, it is said, those people "know
we long since purchased these lands, also quietly
possessed them." In the settlement of the Ox-
Common at Hampton in 1651 he had one share.
In 1663 the town chose him to lay out four thousand
acres "west of Hampton bounds, and a way to Great
Pond." In 1665 he was appointed to lay out the
second division, and in 166S and 1669 he was chosen
to run down the town lines. He was selectman
in 1658, and perhaps other years, and in 1673 he had
the appointment of marshall of the county of Nor-
folk, in which office he probably continued until
the separation of New Hampshire from Massachu-
setts, in 1679. He was a man capable of any
business, a good penman, and forward in all public
service. In a tax list of 2d. 9 mo. 1653, of an
amount of fifty-three pounds, two shillings, ten
pence, his quota was ten shillings, two pence, the
whole number of persons taxed being seventy-three.
Abraham Drake, like his father, lived to a very
advanced age, but the time of his death is not yet
discovered. It appears from a pencil note in Mr.
Toppans manuscript that he was living in 1712, at
the age of eighty-four. His wife Jane died Janu-
ary 25, 1676. Abraham had by his wife Jane seven
children: Susannah, Abraham, Sarah, Mary, Eliza-
beth, Hannah and Robert.
(III) Abraham (2), second child and eldest son
of Abraham (i) and Jane Drake, born December
276
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
29, 1654, died in 1714, aged fifty-nine years, appears
to have been one of the wealthiest men of Hampton,
the inventory of his estate being nine hundred and
twenty-six pounds, five shillings. He was a promi-
nent man m the town, as his father before him
had been, and was selectman in 1696-1703-07-08.
His wife was Sarah, and they had five children :
Sarah, Abraham, Jane, Mary and Nathaniel. (The
last named receives mention, with descendants, in
this article).
(IV) Abraham (3), second child and eldest son
of Abraham (2) and Sarah Drake, was born in
December, 16S8, and died April 13, 1767, aged
seventy-eight. He married January 2, 171 1, Theodate
Roby. Her father, Judge Henry Roby, who fills a
conspicuous page in the early history of New Hamp-
shire, was a descendant of Henry Roby, who was at
Exeter in the beginning of its settlement, and one of
the petitioners before noticed. Theodate died April
12, 1783, aged ninety-one years. The children of
Abraham and Theodate were : Elizabeth, Theodate,
Abraham, Samuel, Sarah, Mary, Abigail, John,
Simon and Thomas. (Mention of Thomas and
descendants appears in this article.)
(V) Simon, fourth son and ninth child of Abra-
ham and Theodate (Roby) Drake, was born October
4, 1730, in Hampton, and died November 30, 1819,
in Epping, where he settled about 1752. That town
was then a wilderness, the first framed house being
built there only two years before. There was at this
time much trouble from the Indians, and during the
year that Mr. Drake settled there a party of savages
had killed Mr. Beard and two women about two
miles from his residence. He was a man of re-
markable exactness, and the method and neatness of
his farm was only equalled by his wife in all that
pertained to her department. He was a fine farmer,
and had a nice farm, which he left to his younger
son. His wife, Judith (Perkins) Drake, was born
April 18, 1736, and died November 30, 1819. Their
children were : James, Mary, Abraham, Josiah,
Simon, David, Theodate, Sarah, Samuel and Betsy. •
(VI) Major James, eldest child of Simon and
Judith (Perkins) Drake, was born November 14,
175s, in Epping, New Hampshire, and died in Pitts-
field, February 26, 1834. He settled in the last
named town when a very young man, being among
its earliest settlers, and commenced clearing a farm
from the wilderness. He was but nineteen years
of age, upon the outbreak of the war of Indepen-
dence, and abandoned his axe, shouldered a musket
and joined a company then being organized for the
Continental army. After sharing its fortunes in the
ensuing struggle, he was discharged and returned
to Pittsfield and resumed the work of clearing and
improving his farm, tie became major of a regi-
ment of the state militia, and was always one of the
town's most prominent citizens. He was for many
years a selectman, and long represented the town
creditably in the state legislature. For integrity
in all his dealings none could claim a higher place.
"He was of middle stature, of fine figure, head
round; and, in short, for a description of his person,
that of Sir Francis Drake would be almost perfect
■when applied to him." This resemblance extended
also to his mental and moral traits, for he was a man
of great force of character, possessing a strong will
and much determination, which qualities were tem-
pered by sound judgment. His physical ability has
seldom been equalled, and he was able to encounter
the most extreme fatigue with but slight inconveni-
ence. He became, eventually, the owner of several
good farms, all of which he acquired by his great
industry and economy. He was married December
17, 1781, to Hannah Ward, daughter of Lieutenant
Cotton and Hannah (Mead) Ward, of Hampton.
She was born October 31, 1763, and died December
17, 1848. They had twelve children, each of whom
lived to be over sixty years of age. Their com-
bined ages made a total of more than eight hundred
and seventy years, the average age being seventy-
two years, six months and sixteen days. Their
names were as follows : Cotton Ward, Sarah, Mary,
Hannah, Judith, Rachel, Theodate, Simon, Deborah,
Betsy, James and Noah Ward.
(VII) Colonel James, third son and eleventh
child of Major James and Hannah (Ward) Drake,
was born June 29, 1805, in Pittsfield, and died in
that town, April 7, 1870. He was born on the Drake
homestead, near the Quaker meeting house, and was
brought up to agriculture, which he followed suc-
cessfully for some years. He also dealt extensively
in live stock. He moved to the village of Pittsfield
and became president of the Pittsfield Bank, after-
wards the National Bank, and held that position
for the remainder of his life. He was an excellent
business man and acquired a handsome property.
He figured prominently in public affairs, serving as
selectman of the town and was a member of the state
senate in 1S47-48. In political struggles he sup-
ported the Democratic party. He early shov/ed a
fondness for military life, and rose from private to
that of colonel in the militia. He commanded the
eighteenth regiment with signal ability and credit
until the abandonment of the militia system. He
liad a good figure and authoritative voice, and mi\d<
a soldierly appearance, whether on foot or in the
saddle. His strict adherence to principle was con-
spicuous among his commendable qualities, and the
cause of morality and religion had in him a staunch
and generous supporter. His death occurred at his
home in Pittsfield Village. He was married, August
13, 1834, to Betsy Seavey, who was born October 14,
181 1, a daughter of George and Betsy (Lane) Sea-
vey, of Chichester, New Hampshire. (See Seavey).
She was an attractive and charming woman, well
educated, having finished her training at Hampton
Academy : she was possessed of an evenly balanced
mind with rare executive ability and self control,
was always mindful of the happiness and comfort
of others, was a church member, and hers was a life
of rare christian devotion. She died September 28,
1865, and was survived by her husband for more
than four years. They were the parents of three
children : Georgianna Butters, Frank James and
Nathaniel Seavey.
(VIII) Georgianna Butters, eldest child of James
and Betsy (Seavey) Drake, was born January 15,
1836, at the old Drake homestead in Pittsfield, and is
a woman of fine mental capacity and attainments,
endowed with the graces and virtues essential to
true womanhood, and is at home alike in the social
and the domestic circle. She was married September
I, 1858, to Josiah Carpenter, now president of the
Second National Bank in Manchester. Her musical
ability early found opportunity in social functions
and church work. In Manchester she is prominent
in charitable and patriotic work, being president of
the IManchester Children's Home and vice-president
of the Woman's Aid and Relief Society, two of the
oldest and leading charitable institutions of the city,
and is also connected with many other charities.
She is one of the charter members of the National
Society of Colonial Dames in the State of New
Hampshire,, and for six years held the office of
state regent in the National Society of Daughters
of tile American Revolution, from 1895 to 1901. She
then declined a re-election, and was made honorary
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
277
state regent for life. He regency covered a period
of unusual prosperity in the society in New Hamp-
shire, the chapters increasing from two to sixteen in
number under her judicious and zealous guidance.
For many years she has been a member of the Epis-
copal Church, and actively connected with the vari-
ous branches of its work at home and throughout the
diocese. With her husband she has devoted much
time to travel, and seldom spends winter in the
severe climate of New Hampshire. They have
traversed nearly every section of our own country,
and the countries of Europe and the Holy Land,
Asia and Africa having contributed memories^ of
various experiences and valuable information. Two
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter:
Georgia Ella, and a son who died in infancy. The
daughter was born October 13, 1859, and grew up
under most careful training and developed to woman-
hood, rich in intelligence and accomphshments, with
a cheerfulness and kindliness of temper which en-
deared her to all. She was married, March 27, 18S9,
to Frank M. Gerrish, and they went abroad for a
wedding tour. As in former ocean trips Mrs. Ger-
rish suffered severely from sea sickness, from the
effects of which she died, August 29, 1889, nhie
weeks after her return to the beautiful home which
her parents had erected and presented as a wedding
gift.
(VIH) Frank James, son of James and Betsy
(Seavey) Drake, was born November 3, 1842, on the
Drake farm in South Pittslield. He pursued his
studies at Pittsfield Academy and under tutors, and
graduated from Dartmouth in 1865. He engaged in
business in Manchester, New Hampshire, and died
suddenly of appendicitis at his summer home in
Barnstead, August 20, 1891. He was married June
7, 1869, to Harriet C. E. Parker, daughter of Hon.
James V. Parker. They were the parents of two
children : James Drake and Helen. The former died
in infancy, and the latter is iw^ the wife of Charles
Spalding Aldrich, of Troy, New York.
(Vill) Nathaniel Seavey, youngest child of
James and Betsey (Seavey) Drake, was born Sep-
tember 16, 1851, in the house which he now occupies
on ;\lain street, Pittsfield. His education was gained
in the public schools and completed at Pittsfield
Academy. Having turned his attention to a busi-
ness career, he engaged for two years in the cloth-
ing business, and afterwards was connected with the
United States and Canada Express Company, and
the American Express Company in Pittsfield, and
subsequently spent some time in their tjffices in
Concord, New Hampshire, and Boston, Massachu-
setts, llater he entered the employ of the C. B.
Lancaster Shoe Company and had charge of its
oflice, remaining with this corcern about twelve
years, until it removed to Keene, New Hampshire.
During the last six years of this time he was super-
intendent of the factory and its branches, and the
capacity of the plant was much enlarged. The busi-
ness was the largest ever carried on in Pittsfield,
involving a weekly pay-roll of about four thousand
dollars. Mr. Drake was one of the founders of the
Hill & Drake Shoe Company, afterwards known as
the Drake & Sanborn Shoe Company. In this con-
nection it is interesting to note that although Pitts-
field has the reputation of being a manufacturing
town, this shoe company, which employs some over
fifty people, was the first enterprise giving employ-
ment to over a dozen men that was conducted on
home capital. All the other manufacturing enter-
prises of the town have been and are still owned by
outside capital. In politics Mr. Drake is a Democrat.
He has served with abilitv as moderator and treas-
urer many years. He is a director of the Pittsfield
National Bank, and one of the trustees of the
Farmers' Savings Bank. Since the organization of
the Pittsfield Aqueduct Company, in 1884, and the
Pittsfield Gas Company, in 1S88, he has served con-
tinuously as clerk of these corporations, and is a
director in the latter company. Fie is a director of
the Pittsfield Board of Trade, an officer in Cata-
mount Grange, and a member of the Pittsfield
Library Association, and is ever most active in
promoting the welfare and highest interests of his
native town. At the present time he deals quite
extensively in real estate. His prominence in busi-
ness circles, together with his high social standing,
places him in the front rank among the leading
citizens of Pittsfield.
Mr. Drake was married, March 17, 1873, to
Mary A. R. Green, who was born July 3, 1857,
daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth (Chase) Green,
of Pittsfield. She is a lady of pleasing manners
and true womanly grace, sharing her husband's
popularity. They have two children ; James Frank,
born September i, 1880, and Agnes, April 2, 1883.
The daughter and both parents are members of the
Episcopal Church. After graduating as salutatorian
of her class from high school in her native village,
Agnes attended Lasell Seminary at Auburndale,
ilassachusetts, and received a diploma from there
in 1903. She was a member of the glee club of the
Delta Society, and was identified with Prize Com-
pany A, in the military drill, which is one of the
prominent features of this seminary. Since return-
ing to her home she has interested herself in the
furtherance of whatever tends to the betterment of
her native village, especially in its schools, and is
a zealous member of the board of education.
(IX) James Frank, only son and elder child of
Nathaniel S. and Mary A. R. (Green) Drake, was
born September i, 1880, in Pittsfield village, New
■ Hampshire. His early education was received in
the graded schools of his native town, after which
he entered Kimball Union Academy at Meriden,
New Hampshire, from which he received a diploma
in 1898. In the fall of that year he entered Dart-
mouth College and graduated therefrom with the
degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1902. He then took
a year of post-graduate study at Dartmouth in the
Amos Tuck School of Administration and Finance,
receiving in 1903 the degree of Master of Com-
mercial Science. After completing his post-graduate
work he went to Springfield, Massachusetts, to accept
the position of secretary of the Springfield board of
trade, which he still holds having received at the
end of each year, in the shape of increase in salary,
substantial recognition of the services he has
rendered. While in college he became a member
of the Theta Delta Chi Fraternity. Both as an
undergraduate and as an alumnus he has taken an ac-
tive part in all matters pertaining to its welfare,
serving as the representative of the Dartmouth
Charge at three national conventions of the fratern-
ity. From the time of his graduation he has been
actively interested in the prosperity of his college,
and through his efforts a considerable number of
young men have chosen that institution as their
Alma i\later. He is chairman of the executive com-
mittee of the class of 1902 of Dartmouth, in whose
hands is the control of all matters pertaining to the
class. For the past three years he has served as
secretary of the Dartmouth Alumni Association of
Western Massachusetts. He has been chosen by
Dartmouth College as one of a committee of nine
from the lindy of alumni to take charge of the work
of rai.sing a larger scholarship fund for the college.
278
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
He was the representative of Dartmouth College
at the meeting of college men held in Springfield.
May 17, 1906, to form a federation of college and
university clubs, and was chosen as one of the or-
ganization committee, which reported the result of
its work at another meeting held in Springfield.
December 13, 1906, when a permanent organization
known as the Federation of College and University
Clubs in the United States, was formed. He wa^
chosen treasurer of the Federation and a member of
its executive council.
Soon after his arrival in Springfield he became
connected with The Home Correspondence School
of that city, serving as the head of the commercial
department of that institution, which position he
still occupies. In December, 1904, in company with
an old school and college friend, he purchased The
Home Correspondence School and has since served
as secretary and treasurer of that corporation, the
friend above referred to being the active manager.
and Mr. Drake caring for the financial end of the
business. Under their administration the school has
prospered remarkably and to-day ranks as one of
the very best institutions of its kind in the country.
In addition to the business enterprise mentioned,
Mr. Drake has found time to interest himself in
some others which have brought him favorably
before the public. In 1905 and again in 1906 he suc-
ceeded in securing for Springlield the annual cham-
pionship football game between Dartmouth College
and Brown University, taking upon himself the
entire management of these contests — no small un-
dertaking— and carried them through in a highly
successful and creditable manner. His position as
secretary of the Springfield board of trade has
caused him to become connected with several other
enterprises of a public nature. In May, 1903, soon
after coming to Springfield, he became secretary of
the Connecticut River Navigation Association, an
organization which has for its object the opening of
the Connecticut river to navigation from Hartford,
Connecticut, to Holyoke, Massachusetts. In 1905 he
was chosen secretary of the McKinley j\Iemorial Com-
mission, a commission chosen by the citizens of
Springfield to take charge of a considerable fund
raised by popular subscription for the purpose of
erecting a memorial to the late President McKinley.
He also identified himself with the Independence
Day Association of Springfield, an organization that
has charge of the observance of Independance Day
in that city, and has taken an active part in the asso-
ciation's work.
For three years he has been a member of the
educational committtee of the Young Men's Chris-
tian Association of Springfield, which committee has
under its supervision a school of over a hundred
students with a competent force of instructors. He
is a member of the Economic and the Diversity
Club, the latter being one of Springfield's prominent
literary organizations. In June, 1903, he became a
member of the Country Club of Springfield and is
now serving as one of its executive committee and
for the third year as its secretary. He is a member
of the club's tennis team and an enthusiastic golfer.
In the fall of 1903 he was chosen a vice-president
of the Massachusetts State- Board of Trade and a
member of its e.xecutive council, positions which
he still holds. In politics he is a firm believer in the
principles of the Democratic party as were his
father and paternal grandfather before him. While
still a small boy he displayed an unusual interest
in matters political, and that interest he has always
maintained.
(V) Thomas, tenth child and fifth son of Abra-
ham (3) and Theodate (Roby) Drake, was born
July 8, 1733, and died August 16, 1816, aged eighty-
three. He settled in Epping, and owned lands ad-
joining the farm of his brother Simon, but finally
removed to Chichester, New Hampshire, where he
died. He married (first), June 27, 1763, Patience
Towle, and (second), Edgerly, of Epping
who died on the 15th and was buried on the 17th of
June, 1775, the day of the battle of Bunker Hill.
The children, all of the second marriage, and born
at Epping, were seven : Abigail, Josiah, Eliphalet,
Abraham, Daniel, Nancy and Sally.
(VI) Eliphalet, third child and second son of
Thomas and (Edgerly) Drake, was born Sep-
tember 18, 1765, and died July 9, 1839. He was a
farmer and spent his life in Chichester. He married,
in 1788, Judith Staniels, of Chichester, who was
born February 18, 1769, and who died May 24, 1861.
(VH) Thomas, son of Eliphalet and Judith
(Staniels) Drake, born in Chichester, February 14,
1796, died April 29, 1842, aged forty-two years, was
a successful farmer and stock raiser. He married
in Loudon, December 29, 1824, Anna Winslow, who
was born April 2, 1801, who died in 1872, apd who
was a daughter of Bartholomew and Hannah Win-
slow. \lr. Winslow died February 25, 1838, aged
eighty years. Mrs. Winslow died November 4, 1857.
aged ninety years. The children of Thomas and
Anna (Winslow) Drake were: Jacob P., who died
young, and James H., twins ; Jacob E., Hannah Ann,
Charles H., Colcord W. and James Henry (formerly
Henry F. ) and Sarah Ann (twins).
(VIII) James Henry, seventh child and fifth son
of Thomas and Anna (Winslow) Drake, was born
in Chichester, December 27, 1841. When he was
about three years old his mother moved with her
family to Concord, where she remained about seven
3'ears. and then moved to Manchester. James H.
was educated in the public schools of Concord,
Manchester and Loudon, and in New London and
Newport academies. In 1861 he entered the employ
of the Concord railroad as baggage-man in the (Ton-
cord depot, and soon after became a brakeman.
Subsequently he took a place with the Northern
New Hampshire railroad as brakeman, and later
as mail agent and expressman. He was promoted to
conductor in 1866, and served in that capacity until
1899, when he retired from railroad employment, hav-
ing been in service thirty-eight years, thirty-
three years of which time he had been a
conductor of a passenger train, running ni(3st
of the time between Concord, New Hamp-
shire, and White River Junction, Vermont. Soon
after leaving the railroad service Mr. Drake went
into business under the firm name of George L.
Lincoln & Company, of Concord, dealers in furni-
ture, from which he withdrew two years later, and
entered into partnership with Fred. M'arden, under
the name of Harden & Drake, shoe dealers, in which
line he is now actively and successfully engaged.
He is Independent in politics, and is not a member
of any club or secret society. James H. Drake mar-
ried, in 1887, Ellen F. Holt, born in 1843, a daughter
of William K. Holt, of Loudon. They have two
children: Helen, now a student at Vassar College:
and Benjamin, a student in the Concord high school.
(IV) Captain Nathaniel, youngest child of Abra-
ham (2) and Sarah (Hobbs) Drake, was born May
7, 1695, at "Drake Side," in Hampton, and lived
through life in his native town. He was married
(first) June I, 1716, to Jane Lunt, who died Decem-
ber 2, 1743, at the age of fifty-one years. He was
married (second). November 22. 1744, to Abigail
Foss, a widow, of Rye. His children, all born of
%^^^^^^i^^iS^-2^t^.,^:€^
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
279
the first marriage, were : Robert, Nathaniel, Jane,
Abraham, and Sarah and Mary (twins).
(V) Abraham (3), third son and fourth child
of Nathaniel and Jane (Lunt) Drake, was born
March i, 1726, in Hampton, and settled in what is
now Brentwood. He was married, March 5, 1752,
to Martha Eaton of Salisbury, Massachusetts.
(VI) Abraham (4), son of Abraham (3) and
Martha (Eaton) Drake, was born June 7, 1758, in
Brentwood, New Hampshire, and died in New
Hampton. He was married, January 27, 1782, in
New Hampton, to Anna Burnham, who was born July
26, 1756, in Lee, New Hampshire, daughter of
Joshua Burnham, and died February i, 1805. They
resided in New Hampton, where all their children
were born, namely: Polly (died young), Abraham,
Polly (died young), Joshua B., Joseph, Nancy;
Betsey S., Jeremiah M., Thomas, Polly and
Simeon D.
(VH) Joseph Burnham, tliird son and fifth child
of Abraham (4) and Anna (Burnham) Drake, was
born December 13, 1789, in New Hampton, and mar-
ried Polly (or Mary) Thompson. They resided
in New Hampton, where they had the following chil-
dren : Louisa, Nancy, John A., Betsey Dow, Joseph
Thompson, Francis M. and Abraham.
(VHI) Betsey Dow, third daughter and fourth
child of Joseph B. and Polly (Thompson) Drake,
was born November 4, 1822, in New Hampton, and
became the wife of Hiram Clark. (See Clark, IV).
George Allen Drake, business man of
DRAKE Dover, New Hampshire, is perhaps one
of the best examples of the purely self-
made man that can be found in Strafford county,
where he has lived something less than fifteen years.
He is a native of Illinois and was born at Chats-
worth in that state, April 10, 1868. His father,
Charles W. Drake, died when George was seven
years old, and within the next year he was left an
orphan by the death of his mother. During the next
five years he lived with the family of his brother
and went to school when it was possible for him to
do so, but in that respect his opportunities for ob-
taining more than an elementary education were very
limited, at the age of thirteen years he started out
to make his own way in life, turning his hand to
whatever he could find to do and often doing the
work of a boy much older and stronger than him-
self. At the age of eighteen he secured employment
on the Union Pacific railroad, where he worked about
two years, then went out to work on a ranch, and
also for a time was in the service of the T. &
S. railroad. In 1894 Mr. Drake came east and lo-
cated in Dover, New Hampshire, having saved the
money he had earned in railroading and ranching
in the west, and with that as a capital he was able
to start a general livery business in the city. This
he continued successfully about ten years, and in
July, 1905, purchased the stcain carpet cleaning works
formerly carried on by Daniel Page, and is still its
proprietor.
JNIr. Drake married, Carrie E., daughter of
Timothy Hussey, and has one son, Charles W.
Drake, born in Dover, December 18, 1899.
The only head of a family of this
SM.ALLEY name early in New England was John
Snialley, who came from Loudon in
1632, in the "Francis and James'' with Winslow, ar-
riving at Boston, June 5. He removed to Eastham
with the first settlers. His children were : Hannah,
John, Isaac and Mary, From John Smalley has
probably descended the family of this article.
(I) David Smalley, probably born in Harwich,
I\Iassachusetts, January 29, 1745, son of Jonathan and
Hannah (Weeks) Smalley, died 1796-97. He was a
Revolutionary soldier as stated in "New York in
the Revolution." He removed to Gilford, Vermont,
and later to Rockingham and settled in Bartons-
ville (village). In the Vermont Gazetteer he is
stated to have been elected surveyor of highways,
March 31, 1783; tithingman, ;March 13, 1786, and
surveyor of highways, March 5, 1787. He married
Mary Gaines and they had children: Jonathan,
David. Olive and Mercy.
(II) David, second son of David and ^lary
(Gaines) Smalley, born in Gilford, Vermont, 1780,
was a shoemaker, and later removed to Grafton. He
married, January 13, 1799, Electa Coates, died 1852.
Children : Erastus, Darius, David, Harrison, Charles,
Horace, Electa, Eliza and Sarah.
(III) Erastus, eldest son of David and Electa
(Coates) Smalley, was born in Grafton, Vermont,
January 21, 1800, died October, 1872, He was a
farmer and lived in Grafton until about 1868, when
he removed to Rockingham, where he settled on a
farm south of Saxtons river on the road to Bellows
Falls. He sold in a few years and bought near
Bartonsville. and there his death occurred. He
married Sally Beaman, and they had six children :
Otis B., Philena, William, Sarah, Orren E. and
Frank.
(IV) Orren Erastus, fifth child and third son of
Erastus and Sally (Beaman) Smalley, was born in
Grafton, Vermont, July 29, 1826, and died in Rock-
ingham, August 16, 1900. He was brought up a
farmer, but learned the blacksmith trade, and fol-
lowed that occupation the greater part of his life.
After his marriage he moved to Rockingham, where
he lived until 1S79, when he removed to Walpole,
New Hampshire, where he resided on the Track
farm seven years and cultivated the soil. In 1886 he
removed to Putney, resided on the twin farms
owned by Parker for two years, then returned to
Bartonsville and worked at his trade till he died.
In politics he affiliated with the Democratic party.
He was a believer in spiritualism, and took an
active interest in the church of that faith.
He married (first), at Rockingham, March 4,
1850, Elizabeth Roundy, who was born in Rocking-
ham, and died there in 1874. She was a daughter
of Ralph Griswold and Atlanta (Gilson) Roundy, of
Rockingham, who was married j\larch 23, 1830. He
married (second), Maloney Sherwin, widow of
Davis, of Springfield, Vermont. The
children of the first wife were : Ella, Sarah, Fred
Orren, William G., Lemuel W., Helen M. and May.
One child, Addie, was born of the second wife.
Ella married La Forrest Lawrence, and lived and
died in Northfield, Vermont. They had two chil-
dren : Leon F. and Frank. Sarah married Will
Hardy, of Haverhill, New Hampshire. She resided
in East Haverhill, New Hampshire, where she died
in 1887, leaving two children. Fred Orren is men-
tioned below. William G. lives in Marlborougli,
New Hampshire. Lemuel W. died in Walpole. in
1886. Helen M. married Frank Hardy, of East
Haverhill, New Hampshire, and died in 1885. May
married Will Cady, and they live in South Wal-
pole, Massachusetts. Addie married Louis Gammel,
of Rockingham. Vermont.
(V) Fred Orren, third child and eldest son of
Orren E. and Elizabeth (Roundy) Smalley, was born
in Rockingham, Vermont, December 9, 1857. After
leaving the common schools he was employed, in a
flour mill in Rockingham, Vermont, conducted a
livery stable at Galva, Illinois, ran on the Rutland
28o
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
i-ailroad as a brakeman, again worked m the flour
mill, and in April, 1884, moved to Claremont. New
Hampshire, where he carried on a farm until 1886,
when he removed to Walpole, New Hampshire, and
bought a farm on the river road, three miles south
of the village, where he has since resided. In ad-
dition to this farm he has leased and cultivated for
the past nine years an adjoining farm of eighty
acres. He carries on general farming and makes
a specialty of boarding horses through the winter.
Starting with two boarders he has increased the
ibusiness to the present time, when he has now about
eighty each winter. He keeps a herd of twenty
Holstein cattle. He also raises sweet corn for
canning to the value of about $500 annually. In
1896, seeing the advantage to himself and
to his neighbors of sending their milk to
Boston, he gave his time to the Boston Dairy
Company for a year, and organized milk routes
in New Hampshire and Vermont. He also
organized for the company a branch station in
Walpole called Halls Crossing, where milk is
loaded on the train for Boston. He has been sur-
veyor of roads for seven years, and in the year
1906 built a mile of state road. He is a lifelong
Republican, and was elected selectman on the Re-
publican ticket in 1904 and 1906. He is a member
of Walpole Grange, No. 125, Patrons of Husbandry,
of which he was master in 1905. He is also a mem-
ber of Mount Kilburn Lodge, No. 102, Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, of Walpole, and of Rebekah
Lodge, No. 89, Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Fred O. Smalley married in Springfield, Vermont,
December 20, 1883, Nora E. Lawrence, who was
born in Rockingham, Vermont, March 11, 1S64,
daughter of Martin S. and Laurenza E. (Davis)
Lawrence. Martin Lawrence was born in Windham,
Vermont, March 14, 1836, and has been state senator
one term, 1902-04, from Windham, Vermont, and
selectman in Rockingham for twenty-five years.
He died October iS, 1904- Laurenza E. Davis was
born in Grafton, Vermont, October 6, 1836, and is
the daughter of Josiah Davis who resided in Grafton,
Vermont, and was the son of Daniel Davis. Mrs.
Smalley is a graduate of Vermont Academy, Sax-
tons River, Vermont, class of 1883. She has been
lecturer of the Walpole Grange one year. The chil-
dren of Fred O. and Nora E. (Lawrence) Smalley
are: Dean Fred and Lee Lawrence. Dean Fred
was born in Claremont, New Hampshire, July 22,
1885, and is now a student in engineering department
at the New Hampshire State College of Agriculture
and Mechanic Arts, class of 1908. He was master
of Walpole Grange in 1904, and was the youngest
master in the state at that time. Lee Lawrence
was born in Walpole, April 23, 1887, and is a
student at the New Hampshire College of Agricul-
ture and Mechanic Arts, class of igog, engineering
department.
Jonathan Smalley was born at Pis-
SMALLEY cataway. Middlesex county, New
Jersey, April 10, 1683. In 1707 he
married Sarah Fitz Randolph, born Piscataway,
April 25, 1682-83. They had ten children: Isaac,
born October 5, 1708, John, Jonathan, Tilary. Sarah,
Hannah, Andrew. Martha, Elizabeth and Anna.
The family has been prominent in Connecticut, Mas-
sachusetts and Vermont. Dr. John Smalley was
settled over the First Church in New Britain, Con-
necticut, at its organization in 175S, where he re-
mained till his death, June i, 1820. "For more than
sixty years he had helped to form character and
to mould society." He was the son of Benjamin
and his second wife Mary. He was the only son of
his mother, and was born June 4, 1734, at Lebanon,
Connecticut. His father was English, and a weaver.
Dr. Smallcv was fitted for college by his pastor.
Rev. Eleazer Wheelock, afterwards the founder^ of
Dartmouth College. He was graduated from Yale
in 1756. The Smalley family has lived at Harwich,
Massachusetts, for four generations. The first one
was Benjamin, the son of Edward, of Portland,
Maine. Benjamin married Patience Baker, June 29,
1728. In Vemiont there have been several notable
names: David A. Smalley, of Burlington, was judge
of the United States district court for the district
of Vermont : he was appointed under the adminis-
tration of President Pierce. E. Marvin Smalley
published the Burlington Sentinel from 1859 to 1861 ;
the paper was previously owned by John G. Saxe.
Colonel H. A. Smalley mustered the Fifth Vermont
Volunteers at Saint Albans, in September. 1861.
Fred C. Smalley, son of Christopher and Virginia
(Guard) Smalley, was born in Shrewsbury. ^ Ver-
mont, November 18, 1866. He was educated in the
common schools, and at the Black River Academy
of Vermont, and at the Albany, New York, Busi-
ness College. After he had completed his educa-
tion he taught school for seven years in his native
town. In 1890 he entered the employ of the Ver-
mont Marble Company as bookkeeper, where he re-
mained for five years. He then worked for a Boston
firm for two years as traveling salesman. In i8g6
he went into the marble and granite business at
South Berwick, Maine, where he was president of
the S. J. Nason & Company business, which he con-
tinued until 1902. During this time, in 1898, he
went into partnership with his brother, Henry C.
Smalley, and Mr. White and purchased the granite
business of Solomon Foye at Dover, New Hamp-
shire. Under the firm name of Smalley & White
thev established branches at Rochester, New Hamp-
shire, and Waterville, Maine. In 1903 he sold out
his interests in Rochester and Waterville. In 1906
he purchased his partner's interest in Dover, and
also bought out Thomas G. Lester, of Portsmouth.
He is now conducting the two plants, and has the
largest marble and granite business in Strafford
county. He is a member of the Unitarian Church,
belongs to the Royal Arcanum, and is a Republican.
He married, August 9, 1899, Grace Hanson, daugh-
ter of Lewis B. and Nancy (Thurston) Hanson.
They have three children: Virginia G., born May
29, 1900: Elizabeth M., September 18, 1905; and
Frederick Christopher, August 22, 1906.
This is one of the families who
DEARBORN do enjoy the distinction of being
among the early colonists and
founders of the commonwealth of New Hampshire.
The Dearborns have always maintained the repu-
tation of being an intelligent, energetic and pro-
gressive race, and some of them have been per-
sons of distinction.
(I) Godfrey Dearborn, the patriarch of the
Dearborn family in the United States, was born in
England, and Exeter, in the county of Devon, is
said to have been the place of his nativity, but the
date of his birth and the time of his advent in Amer-
ica are unknown. He died in Hampton, New
Hampshire, February 4, 1686.
In 1639 Rev. John Wheelwright, with a company
of his friends, removed from the colony in Massa-
chusetts Bay to Exeter, in the province of New
Hampshire, "and founded a settlement. Supposing
themselves to be out of the jurisdiction of any ex-
isting company or government, they forrned and
signed amongst themselves a kind of social com-
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
281
pact, which bore the signatures of thirty-five per-
sons, of whom Godfrey Dearborn was one. His
signature to this document, like that attached to his
will more than forty years afterward, he executed
by making his mark. He seems to have been a man
of considerable standing and importance among the
colonists, which is proved by his being elected one
of the selectmen both of Exeter and Hampton. His
farm is said to have been situated within the pres-
ent limits of the town of Stratham. He had in 1644
a grant of meadow land "on the second run, beyond
Mr. Wheelwright's creek, toward Captain Wiggins."
In 1645, in connection with two other persons, he
had a grant of meadow "at the head of the Great
Cove Creek, about six acres, if it be there to be
found." Other land is mentioned as joining his
"on the east side of the river." In 164S he was
elected one of the "Townsmen" or "Selectmen."
Between 1648 and 1650 he removed to Hampton,
where he spent the remainder of his life. March
4, 1650, seats in the Hampton meeting house were
assigned to "Goodman and Goody Dearborn." On
his arrival in Hampton, Godfrey Dearborn settled
at the "West End," so called, on a farm ever since
occupied by his descendants. One house, built be-
tween 1650 and 1686, is still standing and constitutes
a part of the present dwelling. On his removal to
Hampton, Godfrey became a considerable landhold-
er, and a man of some importance in the affairs of
the town. In 1651 he drew share number one in
the great ox pasture, though he voted against the
division and entered his protest upon the record of
the town. In 1670 he had a grant of eighty acres
in addition to the extensive farm which he already
possessed in the vicinity of his dwelling. His tax
in 1653 was 15s. lod., and he was one of the se-
lectmen in 1655, 1663 and 1671. He made his will
in 1680. He married first in England, but the name
of his wife is unknown. She died some time be-
tween May 4, 1650, and November 25, 1662. at which
date Godfrey married Dorothy, the widow of Phil-
anon Dalton. She died between 16S0 and 1696. The
children, all by the first wife, were : Henry, Thom-
as, John, Sarah, and two other daughters whose
names are not known. (Thomas and descendants
are mentioned in this article).
(II) Henry Godfrey, eldest son of Dearborn, was
born in England about 1633, and came to this coun-
try with his father when about six years old. The
record of Hampton states : "Henry Dearborn, de-
ceased, January ye 18, -1724-25, aged 92 years." He
was one of the selectmen of Hampton in 1676 and
1692. He was also a signer of the petition tO' the
king in 1683. usually called "Weare's petition." He
married, January 16, 1666, Elizabeth Marrian, who
was born about 1644, and died July 6, 1716. aged
seventy-two years. She was a daughter of John
Marrian, one of the first settlers of Hampton. The
children of Henry and Elizabeth Dearborn were:
John. Samuel. Elizabeth, Sarah, Abigail, Elizabeth
and Henry.
(III) Samuel, second son and child of Henry
and Elizabeth (Marrian") Dearborn, was born Jan-
uary II, 1670. He has been called the pioneer of
North Hampton, and is said to have built the first
house in that town "north of the brook." He pur-
chased a large tract of land, selected a farm for
himself in the center, and sold out the remainder
to his brother John in such a manner as to leave
himself entirely shut out from the highway, ex-
cepting a lane which passed his brother's door.
This farm was at last account in the possession of
a lineal descendant. He was one of the petitioners
for act incorporating the town, but appears to have
kept himself, like his farm, very much retired from
the public, enjoying only domestic relations. He
married, July 12, 1694, Mercy Bachelder, who was
born December 11, 1677, daughter of Nathaniel
Bachelder and his second wife, Mary Carter Wyman.
a half sister to the wife of John Dearborn. Their
children were: Mary, Mercy (died young), Me-
hitable, Sarah, Mercy, Jeremiah, Elizabeth, Nathan-
iel, Henry, Samuel and Abigail.
(IV) Nathaniel, eighth child and second son of
Samuel and Mercy (Bachelder) Dearborn, was
born in North Hampton, January 21, 1710, and died
in Kensington about 1751. He moved to Kensing-
ton, where one line of his descendants still resides.
He married, December 2, 1731, Mary Bachelder,
who was born October 30, 1711. daughter of Samuel
and Mercy Bachelder. Their children were: Mary
(died young), Samuel, Henry, Mary, Nathaniel, Jer-
emiah, Elizabeth, Nathan, Edward and Rebecca.
(V) Edward, sixth son and ninth child of Na-
thaniel and Mary (Bachelder) Dearborn, was born
February 13, 1749, and died in Deerfield. June 16,
1792. He settled in Deerfield, but married in Ken-
sington, in 1770, Susanna Brown, who was bom Oc-
tober 15, 1751, and died December 8, 1813. The
names of the male children of this couple are:
Sewall. Nathaniel, Samuel, Henry and Edward.
(VI) Sewall, eldest son of Edward and Susanna
(Brown) Dearborn, was born in Deerfield, Febru-
ary 26, 1773, and died March 9, 1854. He was a
farmer, and a member of the Congregational Church.
He married, April 14, 1801, Sarah Dow, who was
born in Brentwood, April 22, 1781, and died in Deer-
field, October 31, 1878. She was the daughter of
Jabez and Anna (Jewell) Dow. of Kensington.
Their children were : Melinda, Samuel, Mary, Jo-
seph Jewell, and Edward Harrison.
(VII) Joseph Jewell, fourth child and second
son of Sewall and Sarah (Dow) Dearborn, was
born in Deerfield, March iS, 1818, and died there
February 19, 1890, aged seventy-two years. He was
a shoe dealer and did a prosperous business. He
was a man of fine executive ability, and was elected
to various positions of trust by the citizens of his
town. He was a Republican in politics, and filled
the offices of selectman, treasurer, and representa-
tive. In religious faith he adhered to the Congrega-
tional Church, to the support of which he was a
liberal contributor. He married (first), September
4, 1843. Sarah Jenness, of Deerfield, who was born
September 13, 1815. and died April 9, 1865. He
married (second), October 3, 1S67, Hannah Gookin
Chadwick, who was born February 12. 1832. and
died October 14, 1878. She was a daughter of Col-
onel Gilbert Chadwick, of Deerfield. He married
(third), September 16, 1880. Phebe Libbey Mclntire,
who was born March 16, 1841. The children by the
first wife were: Isabel, Anna St. Clair, Joseph
Henry, and Sarah Elizabeth Whitehouse. The chil-
dren by the second wife were: Annie Josephine
Chadwick, and Gilbert Chadwick.
(VIII) Joseph Henn', third child and only son
of Joseph j. and Sarah (Jenness) Dearborn, was
born in Deerfield, April 10. 1849. He prepared for
college at Pembroke, Phillips Exeter, and Phillips
Andover Academies, and went thence to Harvard
University, where he graduated in the class of 1871.
For some years he was a manufacturer of shirts in
Boston, but in 1S81 he removed to Pembroke, New
Hampshire, and settled on what is known as the
Whitehouse place, where he has an elegant resi-
dence, and is employed in farming. He is also a
large owner of real estate in Manchester, and is
the builder of the "Pembroke Block" in that city.
282
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Mr. Dearborn is a Republican in politics, and a
Unitarian in religion. He is a thirty-second degree
Mason, an Odd Fellow, and a member of the Pa-
trons of Husbandry. Mr. Dearborn is an enterpris-
ing and successful business man, a kind, obliging
and useful citizen. He has been concerned in the
advancement of the interests of Pembroke and Man-
chester since his settlement in the former place,
where he has served on the board of selectmen, the
school board, and represented the town in the legis-
lature. In Manchester he is an influential property
holder.
He married, November 9, 1880, Sarah Frances
Stevens, who was born in Concord, January 23.
1854, daughter of Colonel Josiah and Anne (Head)
Stevens, of Manchester. They have three children:
Jenness S., Joseph Jewell, and Sarah Elizabeth.
(H) Thomas, second son and child of Godfrey
and Dorothy Dearborn was born about 1633, and
lived at "Drakeside," in Hampton. He was mar-
ried December 28, 1665, to Hannah, daughter of
Edward Colcord, and their children were : Samuel,
Ebenezer, Thomas and Jonathan. (The last named
receives mention, with descendants, in this article).
(HI) Ebenezer. second son and child of Thomas
and Hannah (Colcord) Dearborn, was born Oc-
tober 3, 1679. in Hampton, and lived in North
Hampton until 1729-30, when he removed to Ches-
ter, being among the earliest settlers of the town.
He was married October 7, 1703, to Abigail, daugh-
ter of Joseph Sanborn, of Hampton. Their chil-
dren were : Ebenezer, Hannah, Mehitabel, Peter,
Benjamin, Thomas, Michael, Abigail and Mary.
(IV) Peter, second son and fourth child of Eb-
enezer and Abigail (Sanborn) Dearborn, was born
November 14. 1710, and resided in Chester, where he
died October 28, 1781. He was married December
2, 1736, to Margaret, daughter of Joseph Fifield, of
Kensington, and they were the parents of eight
children, namely: Hannah, Peter, Joseph, Mary,
Josiah, Asa. Sherburne, and Sarah.
(V) Josiah, third son and fifth child of Peter
and Margaret (Fifield) Dearborn, was born No-
vember 16, 1757, in Chester, and removed from that
town to Weare in 1790. He settled on the edge of
New Boston, and also 'bought a small farm one and
one-half miles from South Weare village, and lived
there for a time. He returned to his original loca-
tion in the town of New Boston, and died there
April 28, 1830. He was married August, 1779, to
Susannah, daughter of Samuel Emerson, of Chester.
She was born April 13, 1762, and died August 13,
1847. Their children were: Nehemiah, Susannah,
Henry, Josiah. Edmund, Samuel, David, Jonathan,
Peter, John, Moses and Sarah. (Moses and de-
scendants receive notice in this article).
(VI) Josiah (2). third son and fourth child of
Josiah (i) and Susannah (Emerson) Dearborn, was
born August 28. 178,;. After his marriage he re-
njoved to Croyden. New Hampshire, and followed
farming till 1825, when he returned to South Weare
and bought of the heirs the home and farm of his
father-in-law. then deceased, on which he lived hap-
pily until his death, September 17, 1840. He had one
of the finest farms in the town, the major part of it
under cultivation and was very successful as a
farmer. He was an old line Democrat in politics,
and was frequently honored with various oflSces,
serving three terms as selectman and also as as-
sessor. He was a member of the Universalist
Church. He was married September 13, 1818. to
Sarah, daughter of Abraham and Abigail (Perkins)
Green. She was born January 4, 1S97, and died
June 9, 1885. Their children were : Josiah Green,
Heman Allen and Armena.
(VII) Josiah Green, eldest child and only one
living of Josiah (2) and Sarah (Perkins) Dear-
born, was born March 20, 1829, on the farm on
which he now resides in South Weare. He attend-
ed the common schools of his native town, and was
subsequently a student at Francestown Academy
and graduated from Dartmouth College in the class
of 1867. He early began to teach and while pursuing
his collegiate course he defrayed his expenses by
his earnings as a teacher, being employed in the
public schools of Manchester and the city of Bos-
ton. Subsequent to graduation he went to Boston
as sub-master of one of the grammar schools,
and shortly afterwards he took an examination and
was as a result at once appointed one of the mas-
ters in the Boston Latin School, which position he
held for five years. He took up the study of law,
and in 1879 was admitted to the bar. For about
two years he served as superintendent of schools in
Manchester, and after his admission to the bar
practiced law in that city for some years, and dur-
ing this time was past master four years. He is a
trustee of the Merrimack River Savings Bank of Man-
chester, having served since 1889, and was one of
the incorporators of the Weare INIutual Insurance
Company. Mr. Dearborn adhered to the Republi-
can party in national contests until the close of the
war, was later a Democrat, but the issues of recent '
years have tended to alienate him from that party
and he does not now give allegiance to any political
organization. He is now serviing his third 3'ear as
a member of the school board of Weare, and rep-
resented that town in the legislature in 1853-54.
From 1S60 to 1865 he was registrar of probate of
Hillshoro county, and has been for the past seven
years county auditor. In 1874-75, the last years dur-
ing which the Democratic party was in power in
New Hampshire, he was state treasurer, and the
fine condition of the records which he left and his
thorou.ghly upright and satisfactory management of
the office are matters of history. That Mr. Dear-
born enjoys the confidence of his fellow citizens is
plainly indicated by this record. He was married
October 16, 1851. to Sabrina L. Hayden of Sharon,
Vermont. She was the daughter of Eli Hayden I
of Sharon, Vermont. She died August 14, 1880,
havin.g been the mother of four children, namely :
.-Adelaide S., the first died at the age of eleven years :
Julia A., became the wife of Luther C. Baldwin of
Providence. Rhode Island ; Cora M. is a teacher re-
siding in Providence, and Josephine G. is the wife
of G. F. Russel, a paper mamifacturcr of Lawrence.
Massachusetts.
(VI) Moses, tenth son and eleventh child of
Josiah (i) and Susannah (Emerson) Dearborn, wa*
born February 6, 1805, in New Boston. He attend-
ed the common schools, and learned the trade of
shoemaker. He worked at that trade, and at the
same time carried on farming in a small way. He
was a public spirited citizen, and always took an
intelligent interest in local affairs and the progress
of the nation. Politically, he was a firm Democrat
and held the office of postmaster during Buchan-
an's administration. Later he moved to Weare
and bought a small place one mile south of the vil-
lage, where he died in May, 1888. He was a mern-
ber of the Universalist Church. He was married in
1827, to Betsey Philbrick. daughter of Jeremiah and
Elizabeth (Evans) Philbrick of Weare. She was
born October 18, 1810, and died August 6. 1866..
Mr. Dearborn was married (second) to Olive C.
Evans, daughter of Osgood and Judith (Cilley) Ev-
ans. She was born in 1810, and died June 4. 1880,
without issue. The children of Moses and Betsey
Dearborn, were : Jonathan P., J. Harvey, Alva E.
L . < l»*.t; V.(l«.'11 » \lft »U.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
283
(died young) Susan E., Elsie J., Alva E., Horace
P., Hiram, Henry P., Clara T., William H.. Mary
A. B. and Sabrina P. The first of these resided for
a time in Manchester, and now makes his home in
South Weare. The second son resided for a time
in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and is now in
Providence, Rhode Island ; he was a soldier of
the civil war, in the Sixteenth New Hampshire regi-
ment, and was at New Orleans under General Ben-
jamin F. Butler, and at the battle of Port Hudson : he
saw much active and hard service during the war.
The third and fourth children died yoimg. Elsie
J. became the wife of George Simons, fruit raiser
and farmer at Weare Center. Alva E. is a resident
of Seattle, Washington ; he saw much severe fight-
ing in the Indian campaigns in Minnesota during
the civil war, and altogether served three years in
the army. Horace P. was a soldier in the civil war,
serving in the Ninth New Hampshire Volunteers,
and died at Falmouth, Virginia, January 27. 1863,
as the result of wounds received in the service.
Hiram died in his twenty-seventh year. Henry P.
resides at Newtonville, Massachusetts. The tenth
died in infancy, as did also the twelfth and thir-
teenth.
evil) William Hooper, eighth son and eleventh
child of Moses and Betsey (Philbrick) Dearborn,
was born May 8, 1847, in South Weare. After the
usual period of youthful study in the district schools
he became a student of Tilton and Francestown
academies, and subsequently entered Tufts College,
from which he graduated in 1873 with the degree
of B. D. In 1904 his Alma Mater conferred upon
him the degree of S. T. D. His first pastorate was
with the Universalist Church at Jamaica, where he
continued two years, and was subsequently sta-
tioned for the same period at .'\ugusta, Maine. For
the succeeding period of sixteen years he was pas-
tor at Hartford, Connecticut, and from there went
to Medford, Massachusetts, w-here he continued five
years. Flis last pastorate was in New York City.
He is retired from the active labors of the ministry.
He was married, in 1877, to Sarah H. Cushing. of
Augusta. Maine, daughter of John Cushing. Her
father was treasurer of the Maine Central railroad.
Mr. and Mrs. Dearborn had two children, Elsie N.
and Harold, both of whom are now deceased.
(III) Cornet Jonathan, youngest child of Deacon
Thomas and Hannah (Colcord) Dearborn, was born
at "Drake Side," in Hampton, November 18, 1686,
and died September 10. 1771, aged eighty-five. He
lived on his father's homestead. He married (first)
Mary, who died .'Vpril i, 1744, aged fifty-eight
years: (second), April 24, 1746, Sarah Waite, of
Amesbury, Massachusetts, who died October 22,
1762, aged seventy-three years. His children, all by
the first wife, were: Jonathan, Elizabeth, Nathaniel,
Daniel, Shubael, Abraham and Mary.
(IV) Shubael. fifth child and fourth son of Cor-
net Jonathan and Mary Dearborn, was baptized
January 30, 1719. He was a farmer and shoemaker,
and lived in Hampton until about 1770. when he re-
moved to the north fields of Canterbury. He owned
a homestead and also had land on and around Bay
street, which he sold in 1793 to Joseph Hancock for
three pounds. He was a soldier in King George's
war, and went out under Sir William Pepperell, and
was one of the three thousand men in the expedi-
tion to Louisburg. At the close of the war he
brought home with him a French musket which he
has obtained at Louisburg and used till the war was
over. He married, March 25, 1750, Sarah, daughter
of James Fogg, of Hampton. She was born in "i7,-?i.
Their children, all but the youngest, born in Hamp-
ton, were : Nathaniel. Shubael, John, Elizabeth,
Abraham, Jonathan, Mercy, Sarah and Mary.
(V) Shubael (2), second son and child of Shu-
bael (i) and Sarah (Fogg) Dearborn, was born in
Hampton, July 12, 1753, and died in the north
fields, February 19, 1802, aged forty-nine. He and
his wife were married in homespun and began
housekeeping in the north fields in a house with but
one pane of glass. A few years later he built a
new house, drawing the material, except the frame,
boards, and shingles, from Portsmouth with an ox
team. When he was twenty-one years of age the
Revolution began. His father, who was too old to
go to the war, presented the son with the gun he
had brought from Louisburg, and told him to use
it for his country and, should he return, to bring
it back in good order. The son went through the
war and brought back the musket as good as new.
Later it went into the service in 1812 in the hands
of Benjamin Glines, the father of Mrs. Shubael
Dearborn. The gun came back and is now in the
possession of Shubael Dearborn, of Concord. Shu-
bael Dearborn married, in 1779, Ruth Leavitt, of
Hampton, who died April 19, 1854. She was the
daughter of Jonathan and Ruth Leavitt. They had
two children: Jonathan and Shubael (the latter
receives mention, with descendants, in this article).
(VI) Jonathan, the elder of the two sons of
Shubael and Ruth (Leavitt) Dearborn, was born
in Northfield, in 1781, and died July 16, 1852, aged
seventy-one. He was rocked in a sap trough for a
cradle. He was a farmer, surveyor and civil en-
gineer, and was also surveyor to the town's poor.
He married Elizabeth Kenniston, of Northfield. who
was born in 1783, and died in 1866, aged eighty-
three. They had seven children : David, Ruth,
Shubael, Eliza. Cynthia. Emily and Jonathan.
(VII) Captain David, eldest child of Jonathan
and Elizabeth (Kenniston) Dearborn, was born in
Northfield, .April 14, 1804, and died November 3.
i88<), aged eighty-five. He was a blacksmith, and
resided on the paternal acres, where he erected a
new house near the old one. For some years he
was captain of the militia company in Northfield.
He and his wife went west and lived with their
son for some years, and then returned to the home-
stead where they died. She was Nancy (Clay)
Dearborn, of Wilmot, who was born at Wilmot,
1S07, and died November 23, 1892. aged eighty-five
years. She was the daughter of Jonathan Clay.
Two children w'ere born of this- marriage: Da-
rius S. and Oliver Dearborn.
(VIII) Dr. Darius Stearns Dearborn, the elder
of the two sons of Captain David and Nancy (Clay)
Dearborn, was born in Northfield, January 4. 1834.
He attended the common schools from which he
w'ent to Tilton Seminary and Francestown Academy.
He taught school in Illinois for some years, and
then returned to Northfield, and read medicine in
the oflice of Dr. Luther Knight, of Franklin. Having
thus laid the foundation for a medical education,
he became a student at Dartmouth, and attended the
first course of medical lectures ever delivered there
(1857). He attended the New- York Medical School
in 1S59, and then went to Illinois a second time, and
after practicing for a time in that state removed to
Brookline in 1875, and practiced there for the four
years next following. He then went back to the
west, but later returned to New Hampshire, and set-
tled in Mil ford, where he has been a successful
practitioner of medicine for twenty-six years. He
married, September 8, 1S75. Marion Janctte Adams,
daughter of Joal Adams, of Barry, Massachusetts.
She was a member of the Woman's Club. During
284
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
the time of the Civil war she was active in relief
work. She died October 19, 1899.
(VI) Shubael (3), son of Shubael (2) and Ruth
(Leavitt) Dearborn, was born in 1783. He lived in
the house his father built and kept things up in the
same prosperous style as his ancestors had done,
and was a thriving farmer who gave his large family
of children a good education and trained them up
to know how to do things and be industrious and
worthy men and women. He married (first), Nancy
Dearborn, who had one child Mary, who married
Stephen Haynes ; married (second), Sally Glines,
daughter of Benjamin Glines. She died in 1869,
aged eighty-six years. Her children were : Char-
lotte, who married David Fowler ; Statia, Abra
Ann, John Smith, who is mentioned below ; Har-
riet, who married David Clay; Josie, Frank B. and
Eliza.
(VH) John Smith, eldest son and fourth child of
Shubael -(3) and Sally (Glines) Dearborn, was born
September 8, 1824. He inherited the fine old home-
stead of his grandfather. He died December 2, 1896,
in Dover, having given up farming, and removed
there a few years before that. In 1900 the farm was
sold and passed out of the possession of the Dear-
born family, which had owned and occupied it for
one hundred and thirty years, four generations. Mr.
Dearborn was buried in the Northfield cemetery in
which lies the ashes of the three Shubaels who pre-
ceded him. He was an industrious and successful
farmer ; a good citizen in every way ; he never
sought ox held public office. He married, Decem-
ber 30, 1850, Flannah Haines, widow of Darius
Winslow. She was born May 20, 1824, and married
her first husband September 26, 1843. John Smith
and Hannah (Haines) Dearborn had two sons:
Mark Wilson and Thomas Haines. INIark Wilson
was born January 19, 1852, and married Elva Man-
son. To them were born two children : Ethel and
Henry. Thomas Haines is mentioned below. Mrs.
Dearborn is still living, at the age of eighty-three
years, healthy and active, and a pleasing conver-
sationalist.
(VIII) Thomas Haines, second son of John
Smith and Hannah (Haines) Dearborn, was born in
Northfield, August 21, i860. He was educated at
Tilton and at Exeter, besides the good training his
parents gave him at home on the farm which four
generations of his ancestors had cultivated, and
thrived on and made it one of the most productive
in that county. He is proud of the success of his
ancestors as farmers, and maintains an interest in
agriculture and stock raising, but somehow he did
not fancy farming as a vocation for himself, so
when he was sixteen years old his father consented
for him to go to Exeter and enter the employ of
his brother-in-law, W. H. C. Follansby, then a lead-
ing dry goods merchant in that town. There he
worked as a clerk for four years, learning the busi-
ness thoroughly from sweeping the sidewalks and
washing the windows in the morning, up to judging
of the quality and price of goods and what the
popular demand was likely to be. That four-years'
course of study with Mr. Follansby was better than
any commercial school could have afforded ; it was
all practical from A to Z. He enjoyed the work,
and has profited from it in his later years. Being
clerk and confidential assistant to Mr. Follansby
was all right and satisfactory, but young Dearborn
was ambitious to achieve fame and fortune on his
own account; this ambition led him, in 1S80, when
he was not quite twenty-one, to go west and try his
luck with those wide-awake New England people
who had gone before and were sending back glowing
reports about opportunities in the "Great West."
He went to Texas and engaged in stock raising,
making a specialty of sheep on a large ranch. Here
the granger traits of his ancestors had full play.
He enjoyed life on the ranch, and prospered for
two or three years, as the price of wool was suffici-
ently high to make sheepraising profitable; but when
the election of Grover Cleveland came in sight in
1884, the wool business in the west made a tremend-
ous slump; prices ceased to be profitable, and Colonel
Dearborn packed his trunk and started for the east.
He arrived in Exeter, rich in experience, if not
so rich as he expected to be otherwise, when he
obeyed Horace Greeley's advice "go West young
man, go West." It gave him broader views and a
knowledge of human nature which has profited him
much in business since 1884. In September of that
year he entered into two partnerships with the family
of the famous schoolmaster of E.xeter, Professor
Sperry French. On the isth of that month he was
united in marriage with Mr. French's daughter,
J\Iary Robinson French ; shortly after that he en-
tered into a business partnership with Mr. French's
son, Frank Newell French, and they opened a dry
goods store in Dover, under the firm name of
Thomas H. Dearborn & Company. Both partnerships
have remained in tact, happy and prosperous to the
present day; from the former have grown a beauti-
ful home and a lovely family of children; from the
latter a good degree of wealth and a business
reputation of honesty, honor and truth. Colonel
Dearborn attended strictl}' to business without med-
dling in political affairs up to 1900; that year he
was urged to serve as alderman from ward four,
and consented to occupy a chair in that branch of
the city councils two years, and was one of its most
valuable and level-headed members. When Gover-
nor Batchelder was inaugurated in January, 1903,
he appointed Mr. Dearborn colonel of his staff. In
1902 he was appointed one of the state Republican
committee of Dover, which .office he has continued
to hold to the present time. When the police com-
mission was established for Dover, Colonel Dear-
born was appointed one of its number, which office
he still holds. These various political positions
have brought Colonel Dearborn to the front as one
of the leaders of the Republican party. He has
not neglected his dry goods business during these
later years; not at all; business first, and politics
afterward ; but he has shown marked ability as a
party leader. In society matters he has niemiiership
in various orders. He is a member of the First
Church : member of the Society of the Sons of the
Revolution; Moses Paul Lodge of Masons ; Weco-
hamet Lodge of Odd Fellows : Wonalancett Tribe
of Red Men ; thirty-second degree Scottish Rite
Mason; the Mystic Shrine; Lodge No. 184. Benevo-
lent and Protective Order of Elks, of which he is
a past exalted ruler. He is also a member of the
Bellamy Club, the leading social club in Dover, hav-
ing spacious quarters in the Straft'ord Bank build-
ing.
Colonel and Mrs. Dearborn have four children,
namely : John Sperry, born January 13, 1887, died
June 5, 1896. Ruth French, August 28, 1889. Thomas
Arnold, April 13, 1897. Eleanor Follansby, May 12,
1899.
(I) Jonathan Dearborn resided in Danville, New
Hampshire, where he married a IMiss Hill, of Ches-
ter, and reared a family.
(ID James, son of Jonathan Dearborn, was born
in Danville.
(Ill) George W., son of James Dearborn, was
born in Danville, February 22. 1840, and died March
I
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
II, 1900, aged sixty years. April 8, 1864, he went
to Manchester to live and there spent the remainder
of his Hfe. He was employed in the grain store of
Horace Watts for three years, then in the hardware
store of Deacon Daniels, and finally in the
store of John B. Varick & Company, where he re-
mained until a short time before his death. He was
an honest, straightforward citizen, well known and
popular and noted for his amiable disposition and
acts of charity. He took an active part in politics
and was a member of the city government and
served in the legislature in 1887-8. He was a trustee
of St. Paul's Church, and Elliott Hospital. He
married January 4. 1863, Lydia A. C. Blair (or
Bean), daughter of a Methodist minister. She died
April S, 1906. They had one child, George, died
February 20, 1905.
This is among the noted Scotcli-
DINSMOOR Irish families which have contrib-
uted many prominent citizens to
New Hampshire as well as to other states. It has
been one of the most prolific of New England fam-
ilies, and many jurists, poets and other professional
men have been numbered among the descendants.
The first of whom we have any account in family
tradition was a landed proprietor of Auchen Mead,
in Scotland. His name has not been preserved,
but the accounts of him indicate that he was a man
of independent means and aristocratic nature.
(I) John Dinsmoor, a younger son, became of-
fended because his father required him to hold the
stirrup while an older son mounted his horse. Con-
sidering this a great indignity, he ran away from
home at the age of seventeen years, and proceeded
to county Antrim, Ireland, where he lived to the
great age of ninety-nine years, and was noted for
his piety and strength of character. He had f6ur
sons, the elder of whom, John, emigrated to Amer-
ica, the first one of the name to come to this coun-
ti-y. He was probably among the company that ar-
rived late in 1718. and was scattered along the coast
through the succeeding winter. Of his brothers we
have no account. He proceeded ultimately, after
great hardships and a narrow escape from burning
by the Indians, to Londonderry, New Hampshire,
where he received a grant of sixty acres of land.
(III) David, a grandson of John (i) Dinsmoor,
was born in 1714, and was a tailor by occupation,
which he followed in northern Ireland before com-
ing to this country. His employer, one Kennedy,
died, and David subsequently married the widow.
About 1745 they sailed from Londonderry, Ireland,
and landed in Boston after a voyage of three
months, during which they were put upon short ra-
tions. They brought with them a flax and linen
wheel, and the wife immediately began the manu-
facture of linen thread for sale. They soon moved
to Londonderry, and here the husband worked at
his trade. On May 8, 1747, he received a deed of
lot number twenty-two, fourth division of Chester,
which was in Derryfield. Eleven years later he pur-
chased the west half of lot number eiglity-four, sec-
ond part of the second division of Chester, on Vi'hich
he settled. His wife lived to a great age, dying in
1807 at the age of ninety-seven. The children of
David and wife were: Samuel, James, David,
Thomas, Arthur, Robert and Mary.
(IV) James, second child of David and Eliza-
beth Dinsmoor, was -born, 1743, probably in Lon-
donderry, and resided in what is known as the Eng-
lish Range in that town. He married Mary .Ander-
son, and they were the parents of David, Robert,
James, Samuel. Agnes, John, j\Iary and William.
(V) Robert, second son and child of James and
Mary (Anderson) Dinsmoor, was born June 6, 1774,
in Londonderry, and settled soon after attaining his
majority, in Dunbarton. New Hampshire. He mar-
ried Betsy Jameson, and they were the parents of:
AlonzO', Daniel Jameson and Mary Jameson.
(VI) Daniel Jameson, son of Robert and Betsey
(Jameson) Dinsmoor, was born in Dunbarton,
March 4, iSii, and died in Laconia, February 11,
18S9. in the eightieth year of his age. He was a
harness maker by trade, and lived in Laconia until
the time of his death. He was a Republican, and
attended the Unitarian Church. He married Caro-
line Stark.
(VII) Daniel Stark, son of Daniel J. and Caro-
line (Stark) Dinsmoor, was born in Laconia, Sep-
tember 23, 1837; and died in Laconia, March 24,
1883. He received his early education in the village
schools, and, Gilford Academy, where he exhibited,
among other qualifications, a marked ability in dec-
lamation. After completing the course at the acad-
emy he went to the New London Literary and Sci-
entific Institution, from which he graduated with
high honors in i860. For some time after gradu-
ating he read law in the offices of Honorable Wil-
liam Blair, George W. Stevens, Esq.. and Honora-
ble A. J. Vaughn, and was admitted to the bar in
1864. Upon the organization of the Laconia Na-
tional Bank, in 1865, he was chosen as its cashier,
and filled this position up to the time of his death.
He was frequently selected for political honors, and
held many important offices, such as county treas-
urer, register of probate, representative to the legis-
lature in 1875, and many minor offices. He was a
member of Governor Cheney's staiT, and in Novem-
ber 1882. was elected senator from the Laconia dis-
trict. He was prominent in Masonic circles, being
a past master of Mount Lebanon Lodge No. 32,
and a member of Union Chapter No. 7, R. A. M.
He was a man of forceful character, and influential
in town afifairs, much loved, and respected by the
early settlers, and even by the Indians, for his hon-
esty and uprightness. He was a descendant of Gen-
eral John Stark of revolutionary fame, "The Hero
of Bennington,"whose family name he bore. He mar-
ried in 1865, Amelia M. Whittemore, of Benning-
ton. The record gives their ages as twenty-
eight and twenty-five respectively. She was born
April 18. 1840, and now resides with her son. Two
children were born of this marriage : Amos Jame-
son, and Arthur Walker.
(VIII) Amos Jameson, second son of Daniel S.
and Amelia M. Dinsmoor was born in Laconia,
January 3, 1874. His education was obtained in the
Laconia common schools, at the Moody school at
Northfield, and at New Hampton Academy. He is
an expert bookkeeper, and has kept the books of
several large firms of Laconia. In 1902 he became
a partner in the firm of Lougee. Dinsmore & Parent,
the largest dry goods store in Laconia. He follows
in the political path his father and grandfather trod,
and is a staunch Republican, and takes a lively in-
terest in politics. He has been ward clerk three
terms, and a member of the city council four years.
He married. June 14. 1899, Mabelle Jackman Smith,
adopted daughter of John P. Smith, of Laconia.
They have two children : Harold J. and Francis J.
(I) Captain Thomas Dinsmore, a descendant
of John Dinsmore, of Londonderr>', perhaps a son of
Thomas, who was a son of (III) Davis, was born
November 20. 1789. It is possible that he was a
grandson of the John Dinsmore who was killed by
286
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
the Indians at Peterborough, New Hampshire, in
1754. He resided in Montpelier, Vermont, prior to
1814, in which year he came to Jaffrey. this state,
and he settled on what is known as the turnpike,
his property being designated as lot 4, range 6. He
was a carpenter by trade and followed that occu-
pation until his death, which occurred August S.
1839, at the age of fifty years. On July 17, 1810,
• he married Polly Moore, who was born in Whate-
ly, Massachusetts, December i, 1793. daughter of
John and Belinda (Bardwell) Dinsmore. She sur-
vived her husband many years, her death having
occurred February 15, 1875, at the age of eight}'-
one. Their children were : John, Austin, Jane,
Mary, Lucy, Martha and Nancy.
(II) John, eldest child of Captain Thomas and
Polly Moore (Dinsmore) Dinsmore, was born in
Jaffrey, October 6, 181 1. For a number of years
he followed the tanner's trade in Hancock, New
Hampshire, and in 1852 removed to Petersborough,
where he found employment in a cotton factory.
In 1875 he removed to Munsonville, New Hamp-
shire, and was residing there in 1889. He was mar-
ried October II, 1836, to Rowena M. Johnson, of
Hancock, w-ho died May i, 1884. She was the
mother of eight children : Martha A., who became
the wife of George S. Petts. Emily F., who be-
came the wife of Allen W. Nay, of Petersborough,
and afterwards of Rochester. New York. Ellen M.,
w^ife of Charles Wilson of Petersborough. John E.,
who will be again referred to. Jane E., twin of
John E., is the wife of James C. McDufifee, of
Hooksett, New Hampshire. Arvilla A. Alvin A.
Willis J.
(III) John E., fourth child and eldest son of
John and Rowena M. (Johnson) Dinsmore, was
bom in Hancock, May 3, 1845. Having learned the
machinist's trade he followed it in Worcester and
Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and in Petersborough,
this state. From 1875 to the present time he has
resided in Manchester, where he is known as a
skilled mechanic. He is a member of the Independ-
ent Order of Odd Fellows. In politics he acts with
the Republican party. October l, 1868, he married
Sarah Frances McDuffee, of Hooksett, and has two
sons: Clinton E., who is now state inspector of
electricity, residing in Nashua, and Dr. Herman H.,
mentioned below.
(IV) Herman H. Dinsmore, M. D., youngest
son of John E. and Sarah F. (McDufifee) Dins-
more, was born in Petersborough, November 10,
1873. He attended the public schools of Manches-
ter, was for three and one-half years a student at
Dartmouth College, but withdrew during his senior
year to enter the medical department of the Univer-
sity of Vermont, and was graduated in 1897. Hav-
ing concluded his professional preparations with a
six months course of practical experience and ob-
servation in the hospitals of New York Cit^', he
first located for practice in Brattleboro, Vermont,
and some five years ago removed to Enfield, New
Hampshire, where he is now residing. Possessing
much natural ability he applies it with excellent re-
sults and is rapidly attaining high rank in the med-
ical profession. In politics he is a Republican, and
although not active in public affairs has rendered
his share of service to the town as a member of the
board of health. He is a member of Titigaw Tribe,
Improved Order of Red Men, of Enfield, and of
Golden Rule Lodge, Knights of Pythias, of Man-
chester. On September 8, 1896. Dr. Dinsmore was
united in marriage with Martha L. Seaver, of Ma-
lone, New York, daughter of O. Seaver.
This name is probably a variation
DENSMORE of Dinsmore or Dinsmoor, the
more common forms. The Dins-
mores of Londonderry, New Hampshire, who came
from Londonderry, Ireland,' in 1719, are descended
from Achenmead near the river Tweed in Scotland.
Stratton upon Dunsmoor is not far off in Cumber-
land, whence the name originated. Governor Sam-
uel Dinsmoor, of Keene, New Hampshire (1766-
1835). and Governor Samuel (2) Dinsmoor, also of
Keene (1799-1869), w-ere descended from the Lon-
donderry stock.
(I) Joel Densmore was born in 1802-03. He
married and became the father of eight children :
Harry, George, Azro, John, William, mentioned be-
low ; Carrie, Fannie and Alma, who married George
Allen. Joel Densmore died in 1885.
(II) William, fifth son of Joel Densmore, was
born at Vershire, Vermont. He had a common
school education, and for several years was a farmer
in Chelsea, Vermont. He afterwards bought a ho-
tel in Pittsfield, New Hampshire, where 'he remained
till his death, about the year 1854. Mr. Densmore
attended the Free Will Baptist Church, and was a
Republican in politics. He married Lydia Ann Da-
vis, and they had three children : Milton, Jason,
whose sketch follows, and Edson.
(III) Jason, second son and child of William
and Lydia Ann (Davis) Densmore, was born in
Chelsea, Vermont, October 10, 1843. He was edu-
cated in the common schools of Washington, Ver-
mont, and at the age of eighteen entered the army
for the defense of the Union. He enlisted as a pri-
vate and was subsequently promoted to corporal of
Company G, Tenth Vermont Volunteers, and was
sergeant upon his return. He served tliree years,
and was in the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsyl-
vaiiia, Antietam, Cold Harbor and Petersburg. Af-
ter the close of the war he returned to Washington,
Vermont, and went to farming. In 1867 he moved
to Hanover, New Hampshire, and during 1870-71
carried on the Hanover town farm. He then came
to Lebanon where for thirteen years he ran a truck
team. In 1884 he began the manufacture of brick,
making a specialty of diamond and round-cornered
brick. He attends the Congregational Church, and
is a member of Franklin Lodge, No. 6, Ancient Free
and Accepted Masons; Order of the Eastern Star;
Mount Support Lodge, No. 15, Ancient Order of
United Workmen, and James B. Perry Post, No. 13.
Grand Army of the Republic, all of Lebanon. He
is a Republican in politics, and was special police
of the town for several years. On February 18,
1869, Jason Densmore married Maria E. Dimick,
daughter of Alfred B. and Lydia Dimick, of Lyme,
New Hampshire. There are two sons : Alfred J..
born July 5, 1885, and George A., born November
4, 1886, both of whom are now (1907) students at
Brown University. Mrs. Densmore died January
16, 1907, at Lebanon, New Hampshire.
The ancient family of Shepard-
SHEPARDSON son is descended from Daniel
Shepardson, who is the only
immigrant of that name mentioned by Savage in
his account of the early families of New England.
As he settled in New England before 1650 he is en-
titled to be called a pioneer.
(I) Daniel Shepardson, who may have come
from Yorkshire, England, landed at Salem. Massa-
chusetts, in the j-ear 1629. He moved with other
immigrants to Charlestown, and there he is recorded
as a citizen in 1632. He was a blacksmith, and
Ill
^tim
m^.
I.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
287
signed his will witli a cross, wliich was not an un-
usual thing in those days. He had a comfortable
home with three acres of ground around it, his black-
smith shop, and fifty acres of pasture and meadow
land in various parcels so that his widow, who had
the use of the property during her lifetime, was quite
well provided for as far as property was concerned
in those days. Like most Puritans he was intensely
superstitious, a believer in signs and omens, and
when one day, as he was working at his forge, a
stone fell from it and crumbled to powder, he rec-
ognized the evil portent and gave to his wife the
nails he was then making, saying, "They will come
in handy some day." The nails were kept, and
when he died they were used in making his coffin.
He was admitted to the church in Charlestown,
June 8, 1633. He resided for a time in Maiden,
where he died July 26, 1644. His wife's baptismal
name was Joanna. Her ante-nuptial surname and
the date of marriage are unknown. The widow of
Daniel Shepardson married (second) Thomas Call,
Sr., and died January 30, 1661. The children of
Daniel and Joanna Shepardson were : Lydia, Dan-
iel and Joanna.
(H) Daniel (2). only son of Daniel (i) and
Joanna Shepardson, was baptized June 14, 1641, and
succeeded his father as blacksmith at Maiden. He
was made a freeman of Middlesex county. May 29,
1674, and took the oath of fidelity December 15, of
the same year. His name appears among the names
of those who signed a petition to Sir William
Phipps, October 17, 1694, praying to be permitted
to establish a settlement at Attleboro, Massachus-
etts. He removed to that place, where he seems
to have had land as early as 1660. He was the
owner of fifty acres of land about half a mile from
"Old Town" on the Bay road. He was a man of
good character and business ability, and took a
prominent part in the town's affairs. With his re-
moval from Maiden the Shepardson family found
its home in a tract of land called "Rchoboth North
Purchase," which included what later became the
towns of Cumberland. Rhode Island, and Attleboro,
Norton and Mansfield. Massachusetts, places in
which the family had been represented almost con-
tinuously for more than two hundred years. He
lived to an advanced age and was long called "old
goodman Daniel Shepardson." He married, April
II, 1668, Elizabeth Call, daughter of Thomas Call,
Sr., and widow of Mr. Samuel Tingley. of Maiden.
This Thomas Call, Sr., was the second husband of
the widow of Daniel (r) Shepardson, and his son,
Thomas. Jr., married Lydia Shepardson," daughter
of Daniel (l). The children of Daniel (2) and
Elizabeth (Call) Shepardson were: Daniel, John,
Nathaniel, Elizabeth, Mary and Joanna.
(HI) John, second son and child of Daniel (2)
and Elizabeth (Call) Shepardson, was baptized Jan-
uary, 1671. He lived in Attleboro until about 1697,
when he removed to Rehoboth. He married, April
9, 1694, Elizabeth Fuller, who was born May 12,
1678, and baptized May 30, 1679, daughter of Jona-
than and Elizalicth (Wilmarth) Fuller, of Attle-
boro. Their children, recorded in Attleboro, were:
Ruth, Mehitablc, Sarah, Daniel, Amos and John.
(IV) Daniel (3) fourth child and eldest son of
John and Elizabeth (Fuller) Shepardson, was born
in Attleboro, March 16, 1700. He married in Attle-
boro (first) Hannah Richardson, December 9, 1725.
She died September 26, 1726, and he married (sec-
ond) Mary Washburn, May 9. 172S. Several of
the sons of this family removed to Guilford. Ver-
mont. Daniel Shepardson had by his first wife one
child, Daniel ; by his second wife four : John, Han-
nah, Zephaniah and Stephen.
(V) Lieutenant Zephaniah, second son of Daniel
(3) and Mary (Washburn) Shepardson, was born
in Attleboro, May 6, 1733, and died in Guilford,
Vermont, October 16, 1804. He resided in Attle-
boro until about 1770, and tlien removed to Guilford,
Vermont. He attended the first town meeting there,
May 19. 1772, and subsequently served as consta-
ble, overseer of highways and overseer of the poor.
In the records he is referred to as "Lieutenant."
He married (first) Ruth Hills, who was born July
I, 1733, and died October 16, 17S2; (second) De-
maris, widow of David ChurCh ; she died July 28.
1787, aged fifty-four. He married (third), June I,
1798, Lucinda Chase, of Halifax, Vermont. She
died in the "Chinesee" country, September 30, i8og.
His children, all by the first wife, were : Zepha-
niah, William. Ruth, Joseph. Jared, Demaris and
David. Two of these reached great age, one living
to be one hundred and five years old, and the other
to one hundred and ten.
(VI) Colonel William, second son and Child of
Zephaniah and Ruth (Hills) Shepardson, was born
in Attleboro, Massachusetts, July 25, 1756, and died
in Guilford, Vermont, February 18, 1804. He re-
sided in Guilford and was spoken of as "Colonel
Shepardson." His title probably came from service
in the militia. He married Grace, whose surname
is tmknown. In a little graveyard at Guilford are
two stones side by side; on one is cut the following:
"Colonel William Shepardson ; died Feb. 18, 1804,
aged 48 ; on the other : "Widow Grace Shepard-
son, died Feby. i, 1808, aged 48."
(VII) William (2), son of Colonel William and
Grace Shepardson, was born in Guilford, Vermont,
December 21, 1787, and died in Claremont, New
Hampshire, in 1830. He married, in Guilford, De-
cember IS, 1808, Harriet Cambridge, who was a
daughter of John Cambridge, an Englishman, who
came to America before the Revolution and was
sergeant in a Rhode Island regiment during that
struggle. He accompanied Benedict Arnold through
Maine in the terrible winter expedition against Que-
bec in 1775-76. After the war he resided in West-
minster, Vermont, and Lempster, New Hampshire,
dying at the latter place in 1829, aged seventy-one.
He was buried in the East Lempster cemetery. His
name is on the United States pension rolls after
1818. Llis wife died at the age of seventy-three
years. They had nine children, all living above
sixty-four years, and two living till ninety-three
and ninety-eight respectively. William and Harriet
(Cambridge) Shepardson had eleven children : Wil-
liam. Mary, Reuben, Eliza, Simeon, Hart, Grace,
Charles, George, Harriet and Lucy.
(VIII) Captain Reuben, second son of William
and Harriet (Cambridge) Shepardson, was born in
Guilford, Vermont, November 18, 1813. At the age
of nine he was taken to West Claremont, New
Hampshire. His father died and left him at six-
teen "years of age to be the main support of his
mother and her other younger children. For sev-
eral years he worked in Hartford, Vermont, and
later went to Cambridge Hollow, Lempster, New
Hampsliire. where he carried on business for him-
self till 1866. There he developed those qualities
of business shrewdness and enterprise' which char-
acterized his after life. .'\t the age of twenty-four
he bought mills which became under his control ex-
tensive carding, cloth coloring, finishing and hat
dressing works. To tliese he added lumber and
grist mills. In 1853 he built a residence in Clare-
288
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
mont, where he lived part of the time until 1866,
when he took up his permanent residence there.
About this time he bought the old slate stone mill
property, which is now the site of the Claremont
Electric Light plant. Here he erected large build-
ings and carried on lumber and tub manufactures and
carding. For several years prior to 1884 this proper-
ty was under litigation, which ended in Mr. Shepard-
son's favor and established some very important
points in law, and it will be found upon the statute
law books of today as the noted Shepardson case. In
1871 he added the file business, and about 1880 pur-
chased the Round Building, which he used for
carding and shoddy mills, selling the lower mills
or slate stone property shortly afterward. He con-
tinued in active manufacturing until eighty years of
age when, although his eye did not seem dimmed
nor his natural force abated, he retired from bus-
iness and for eleven years enjoyed the quiet of a
ripe old age in his home on Sumner street, where
after a short illness he died September _ 9, 1904,
having attained the patriarchal age of ninety-one
years. In personal appearance Mr. Shepardson was
a noticeable man, being over six feet in height and
of erect figure. The title of captain, which he car-
ried from his earlier militia days, was appropriate
in his military bearing. Although he would accept
no political office, he took a commanding part in
civic and educational affairs. His successful business
career and recognized integrity, together with his
many years of active life, made him a trusted ad-
viser and a foremost citizen. In politics he was a
staunch Republican from the founding of the party,
and always read with great interest the workings
of the government, taking the Boston Journal from
the time of its creation until his death. In early
life he attended the Episcopal Church, but in later
years his sympathies were more with the Universal-
ist Church. He married (first), December 28, 1837,
Dorothy (Barnard) Miller, a widow, who died Jan-
uary 5, 1S44, leaving two children : Emily M., born
February 6, 1839, married Bela Graves, of Unity,
died November 30, 1872, buried at East Lempster,
leaving four children : Stella M., Willie D., Frank
J. and Fred D. Frances J., born July IS, 1841, died
unmarried December 6, 1868, buried at Claremont,
New Hampshire. Mr. Shepardson married (sec-
ond), March 4, 1845, Hannah P. Eastman, w-ho died
July 24, 1858. She was a daughter of James East-
man of Weare (see Eastman, VI). Their children
were: (i) James W., born January 21, 1846, died
September 11, 1847. (-) Elsie Eastman, born July
10, 184S. married Levi R. Dole and has five children :
Lemuel, Ina, Herman, Guy and Levithu ; they reside
in Cornish. (3) Mary Eliza, born September 10,
1850, married Bela Graves (his second wife), has
three living children : Grace. Richard and Helen
Lucy. (4) Luella Armenia, born April s, 1852, mar-
ried Henry A. Eaton, of Springfield, Vermont. They
resided most of the time in Claremont. New Hamp-
shire: she died February 13, 1906. They had one
son, Carl Henry, who died in 1900, aged twenty-one ;
both he and his mother are buried in Claremont.
(S). Fred L., born July 9, 1854, died February 23,
1875. (6). Clara Belle, born February g, 1856, died
March 13. 1863. (7). Cora Nell, the youngest, was
educated in the public schools and high school of
Claremont, worked at photography for five years
and afterward studied art and music in Boston,
Massachusetts, for a time. She resided at home
with her parents, caring for them in the declining
years of their lives. She is unmarried and still
resides in the old Claremont homestead on Sumner
street. Since the death of her parents she has
taught art and music in the public schools of Wal-
pole, and is also a teacher in the art of painting on
china.
Mr. Shepardson married (third) a widow, Lucy
(Ball) McClure, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth
(Gould) Ball, of Acworth, New Hampshire. She
was born August 5, 1829. Thomas Ball was a
soldier in the war of 1812, and was the son of Sam-
uel Ball, a revolutionary soldier, who in turn was
the son of Thomas Ball, a soldier in the Indian
wars.
Mrs. Shepardson was a person of exceptional
ability and refinement, with keen wit and possessing
tact and cheerfulness in a remarkable degree. She
was a home-maker in the best sense of the tei-m,
and became an ideal mother to the bereft children,
who to this day hold her in fond remembrance.
She survived her husband but five months, dying
February 2, 1905, after weeks of intense suffering.
The Brooks family is one of the old-
BROOKS est in Massachusetts, and the ances-
tral home at Medford has been occu-
pied for many generations. Governor John Brooks
was born there about 1752. The family is less nu-
merous in New Hampshire, but representatives of
two of its branches came here in the eighteenth
and the nineteenth centuries.
(I) Thomas Brooks came from London and set-
tled in Watertown, Massachusetts, where he was
admitted freeman, December 7, 1636. He soon
moved to Concord, that state, where he was cap-
tain, constable and representative for seven years
beginning in 1642. In 1657 he purchased of the
commissioners for five pounds the right of carrying'
on the fur trade, and died in the same year. In
1660 Captain Brooks and his son-in-law, Timothy
Wheeler, bought four hundred acres in Medford.
Captain Thomas Brooks married Grace ,
whose family name is unknown, and they had five
children : Joshua, -Caleb, both of whom are men-
tioned below: Gershom, Mary, who married Captain
Timothy Wheeler ; and Hannah, who married
Thomas Fox. Mrs. Grace Brooks died May 12,
1664, and Captain Thomas Brooks died at Concord.
Massachusetts, May II, 1667, leaving an estate
whose inventory amounted to about four hundred
and fifty pounds.
(II) Deacon Joshua, son of Captain Thomas and
Grace Brooks, was born in Watertown 1636 and
died at Concord. In 1663 he married Hannah Ma-
son.
(III) Noah, son of Deacon John and Hannah
(Mason) Brooks, was born at Concord in 1665 (?),
and died there in 1738. His wife was before mar-
riage Dorothy Wright, born 1662 and died 1752.
(IV) Ebenezer, son of Noah and Dorothy
(Wright) Brooks, was born at Concord in 1691-2.
He came to Grafton, New Hampshire, and died in
that town in 1770. In 1714 he married Sarah Fletch-
er, who was born at Concord, in 1690, daughter of
Corporal Samuel and Elizabeth (Wheeler) Fletch-
er (see Fletcher).
(V) Deacon Simon, son of Ebenezer and Sarah
(Fletcher) Brooks, was born at Concord in 1722,
and died at Alstead, New Hampshire, in 1808. The
maiden name of his wife was Rachel Drury. She
was born in 1728, in Grafton, Massachusetts.
(VI) Jonah, son of Deacon Simon and Rachel
(Drury) Brooks, was born at Alstead. in 1767. He
married Anna Kidder, who was born 1772, in Scot-
land.
(VII) Lyman Brooks, M. D., son of Jonah and
Anna (Kidder) Brooks, was born at Alstead in
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
289
1796. When eleven years old he went to reside on
a farm in Lunenberg, Calendonia county, Vermont,
and remained there until attaining his majority.
His preliminao' preparations for the medical pro-
fession were begun under the direction of Dr.
Dewey, of Keene, continued under Dr. Adams, of
Keene, and completed in the medical department
of Dartmouth College, from which he was graduated
in 1S21. Locating in Marlow he remained there
two years, and removing to Acworth, he practiced
his profession successfully in that town for the rest
of his life, which terminated in May, 1865. The
maiden name of his wife was Mary Graham. She
was born 1S07, in Rutland, Vermont, and died in
Acworth 1890. (Their son, Dr. Nathaniel, receives
extended mention in this article).
(VIII) Lyman James, son of Dr. Lyman and
Mary (Graham) Brooks, was born in Acworth, June
28, 18.^2. After concluding his attendance at Kim-
ball Union Academy, Meriden, this state, he_ en-
tered the law department of the University of Al-
bany (New York), from which he was graduated
May 25, i860, and was immediately admitted to the
bar of that state, later becoming a memljer of the
New Hampshire bar. He was associated in prac-
tice with Ira Colby in Clarcmont for about three
years, or until appointed clerk of the Supreme Ju-
I dicial Court for the county of Sullivan, and he re-
r tained that position for nine years. He then went
to Michigan, and acquiring an interest in the East
Saginaw Manufacturing company, he held the re-
sponsible position of manager of that enterprise for
the succeeding ten years. Upon his return to New
Hampshire he assisted in organizing an industrial
enterprise at Charlestown, which was removed to
Keene some four years later, and became known as_
the Impervious Package Company. This concern, of
which he is treasurer, is now engaged in the man-
ufacture of wooden ware and transacts an extensive
business. Mr. Brooks is a Knight Templar Mason,
and a member of the Masonic bodies at Claremont.
On February 11, 1879, he married Louise Morrison,
who was born in Ro.xbury, New York, May 17, 1847,
and died April 9, 1907.
(IX) Clarence Morrison, son of Lyman J. and
Louise (Morrison) 'Brooks, was born in Charles-
town, March 29, 188 1. He was educated in the
Keene public schools, and after graduating from the
high school he turned his attention to civil engineer-
ing, joining the New York State Engineer Corps, be-
ing engaged in laying out and constructing improved
highways. After spending a year in that-occupa-
, tion. he entered the United States Military Academy
at West Point as a cadet, but withdrew at the^ con-
clusion of his freshman year and returned to Keene.
He was for a time assistant superintendent of the
Impervious Package Company's plant, and is at
present connected with the New Hampshire State
Highway Department. Mr. Brooks is a Free Ma-
son, being a member of the Social Friends' Lodge,
Hugh de Payens Commandery. and the Mystic
Shrine, He is interested in ornithology, and is an
associate member of the American Ornithologists'
Union, and a member of the Wilson Ornithological
Society.
<VIII) Dr. Nathaniel Grout, fourth son and
sixth child of Dr. Lyman and Mary G. (Graham)
Brooks, was born at Acworth, New Hampshire, Oc-
tober 14, 1838. He attended the common schools of
his native town, also a private school and Kimball
Union .Academy at Meriden. and was graduated
from the Albany Medical School at Albany, New
York, in 1861. He then served for six months in
the Albany City Hospital. Upon the breaking out
i— 19
of the Civil war lie enlisted as assistant surgei n in
the Sixteenth Regiment Vermont Volunteers, and
served through the entire war, being discharged in
March, 1865. At first he served under Colonel
Vesey, but after a year he was transferred to the
hospital at Brattleboro, Vermont, where the wounded
soldiers were brought. After the war he settled in
Acworth, his old home, where he practiced for ten
years, removing in 1874 to Charlestown, where he
was an e.xtensive general practitioner for thirty
years, or until increasing infirmities began to limit
his activity. Dr. Brooks is a member of the New-
Hampshire State Medical Society and the Connecti-
cut River Valley Medical Society, having been pres-
ident and vice-president of the latter organization.
Notwithstanding the demands of a busy professional
life. Dr. Brooks has found time to serve the public
weal in many other ways than as a physician. He
held the office of town clerk in Acworth ; and after
his removal to Charlestown he was superintendent of
schools, member of the Board of Health, and trustee
of the Silsby Free Library for many years. Dr.
Brooks is a Republican in politics, and was repre-
sentative in 1896-97, serving as chairman of the
committee on public health. In 1900-01 he was
elected to the state senate from the seventh district.
He served on the railroads and various other com-
mittees, and was chairman of the committee on the
New Hampshire State Hospital. When the Savings
Bank of Charlestown failed he was appointed a com-
missioner to adjust its affairs. He is interested in
fraternal organizations, and belongs to Faithful
Lodge, No. 12, .\ncient Free and .Accepted Masons
of Charleston, and has been through the chairs. He
also belongs to VV'ebb Chapter, Royal Arch Masons,
of Claremont, and to Sullivan Commandery. Knights
Templar, of the same town. He attends St. Luke's
Episcopal Church in Charlestown. On December
5, 1876, Dr. Nathaniel G. Brooks married Emma
■Preston, daughter of Thomas and .\deline (Piper)
Preston, who was born in Baltimore. Vermont, No-
vember 12, 1849. They had three sons : Lyman,
whose sketch follows ; Nathaniel Preston, and
Philip Preston. Nathaniel P. Brooks was graduated
from the Vermont Academy, where he fitted for
college, graduating from the University of Vermont
in 1903. He was a member of the Phi Delta Theta
Society in college, and also of a medical fraternity.
In 1907 he was graduated from the Bellevue Hospi-
tal Medical College. Philip P. Brooks is a grad-
uate of the high school at Bellows Falls. Vermont,
and is a member of the class of 1910, Dartmouth
College.
(IX) Lyman (2), eldest of the three sons ot
Dr. Nathaniel C. and Emma (Preston) Brooks, was
horn at Charlestown, N'ew Hampshire. He attended
Vermont Academy, and studied two years at the Uni-
versity of Vermont, taking the course in mechanical
engineering. He then went into the grain business,
which he conducted at Charlestown, up to the spring
of 1907, when he went to Boston, where he is en-
gaged in business as manager of the Popcorn
Produce Company. He is a Republican in politics,
and has been president of the local Republican Club
for three years. He was a delegate to the State
Constitutional Convention in 1902. He belongs to
Faithful Lodge. No. 12, Ancient Free and Accepted
Masons, of Charlestown; Webb Chapter, Royal
Arch Masons, of Claremont : Sullivan Commandery,
Knights Templar, of Claremont, and Mt. Sinai
Shrine, of Montpclier, Vermont. In college he was
a meml>er of the Phi Delta Theta Society.
(II) Caleb, second son and child of Captain
Thomas and Grace Brooks, was born in 1632. He
290
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
lived in Concord till 1680, when he moved to Med-
ford, and occupied the land bought by his father,
which is still held by his descendants. On April 10,
1660, he married (first) Susanna Atkinson, daughter
of Thomas Atkinson, of Concord, Massachusetts,
who was born April 28, 1641, and died in Concord,
January 19, 1669. They had five daughters: Susan-
nah : Mary, who died young : Mary, Rebecca and
Sarah. The second Mary was the only one who
lived to marry, and she became the wife of Na-
thaniel Ball. Caleb Brooks married for his second
wife, Hannah . supposed to have been a sister
of his first wife, who was born March 5, 1643-44..
They had two sons : Ebenezer, whose sketch follows ;
and Samuel. Caleb Brooks died at Medford, July
29, 1696, aged sixty-four years, and the inventory of
his estate amounted to six thousand, three hundred
pounds and fourteen shillings, a considerable for-
tune for those days.
(III) Ebenezer, elder son of Caleb and Han-
nah Brooks, of Medford, was born February 24.
1670-71, and inherited his father's house and home-
stead. About 1693 he married Abigail Boylston,
daughter of Dr. Thomas and Mary (Gardner)
Boylston, of Muddy River (Brookline), and grand-
daughter of Thomas and Ann Boylston, of Water-
town. She was dismissed from Cambridge Church
to Medford, in 1713. Ebenezer and Abigail (Boyls-
ton) Brooks had eight children : Caleb, Ebenezer,
Thomas, Samuel, Abigail, who married Thomas
Oakes ; Mary, Hannah, who married Nathaniel
Cheerer ; and Rebecca, who married Samuel Pratt.
Caleb, the eldest son, was the father of Governor
John Brooks. Ebenezer Brooks, the father, died
February ir, 1742, aged seventy-two; and his widow
died May 26, 1756, aged eighty-two.
(IV) Samuel (l), fourth son and child of
Ebenezer and Abigail (Boyl.-ston) Brooks, was born
at Medford, in 1709. and lived at the homestead of
his grandfather, Caleb. On April 2, 1747, he mar-
ried Abigail Hastings, of Waltham, and they had
eight children : Abigail, Anna, Mary, Samuel, Abi-
gail (2), Thomas, whose sketch follows: Abijah,
Philemon, who died young. The second Abigail
married Nathaniel Rand (2), and Anna married
David Wyer. Samuel (i) Brooks died in 1766, and
his widow survived him.
(V) Thomas (2), second son and fifth child of
Samuel (i) and Abigail (Hastings) Brooks, was
baptized June 5, 1756. He moved to Charlestown,
Massachusetts, where he owned a brick yard and
acquired a substantial property. He and his fam-
ily attended the Congregational Church, whose pas-
tor was Dr. Jedediah Morse, father of S. F. B.
Morse, the inventor of the electric telegraph. Mr.
Brooks during his later years bought an estate at
Lunenburg. Massachusetts, where he lived for a time.
On Iilay 9, 1786, Thomas (2) Brooks married Par-
nell Boylston, daughter of Richard and Parnell
( Foster) Boylston, of Charlestown, who was bap-
tized December 23. 1764. They had ten children :
Thomas, Parnell, Hannah, Abiiah, Mary, Samuel
(2). whose sketch follows; Sarah, Foster, Ann, and
John Boylston.
(VI) Samuel (2), third son and sixth child of
Thomas and Parnell (Boylston) Brooks, was born
in Charlestown, Massachusetts, March 6, 1795. He
attended the schools of his native town, but his edu-
cation was largely supplemented by reading the best
hooks, a habit he kept up till the end of his life. He
was a keen observer ,and possessed a singularly
philosophical and truth-loving mind. In his youth
he served an apprenticeship to Gerry Fairbanks, a
hatier, and the engraved certificate of his admission
to the Massachusetts Mechanic Association, August
7, 1816, consequent upon the acquirement of his
trade, is still preserved by his granddaughter. But
young Brooks had no desire to follow the hatter's
vocation : and, upon the completion of his training,
his eager desire to see and know led him to make an
extensive tour of the country. He visited all of the
nineteen states in the Union at that time, 1816, spent
the winter in Kentucky with his uncle, Abijah
Brooks, who had settled near Frankfort, and went
down the Mississippi to New Orleans. This year of
travel, unusual in those days, gave Mr. Brooks a
breadth of view and a knowledge of the South,
which most of his Northern associates never at-
tained. For some years after his return to Charles-
town, he was employed as accountant in Nathan
Adam's hide store. In July, 1835, he moved with
his family to Warner, New Hampshire, where he
bought a farm which he named Waterville, where
by means of modest patrimony he was enabled to
lead the independent life suited to his tastes. In
the fall of 1857 Mr. and Mrs. Brooks moved to
Concord, New Hampshire, to make their home with
their only surviving child, Mrs. John Abbott. Mr.
Brooks was a man of the highest ethical standards,
of liberal theological views, and with ideas far in
advance of his time. He possessed a cheerful tem-
perament and a large heart, and was very fond of
the game of whist. During most of his life he kept
a diary, which bears witness to his methodic habits
and fine penmanship.. In politics a staunch Dem-
ocrat of the Jef¥ersonian type, he would never be
hampered by office-holding. On September 10, 1826,
Samuel Brooks married Hannah Cogswell, daughter
of Emerson and Ann (Learnard) Cogswell, who
was born January 7, 1791, in Concord, Massachu-
setts.^ They had two children : Hannah Matilda,
mentioned in the next paragraph ; and Thomas
Emerson, born July 8, 1831, at Charlestown, Mass-
achusetts, died October 18, 1838, at Warner, New
Hampshire. Mrs. Samuel Brooks was skillful in
needlework, thorough in ho'Usekeeping, fond of
gardening, rigid in her standards of conduct, given
to hospitality and devoted to visiting the sick and
distressed. She died at Concord, New Hampshire,
January 13, 1869, aged seventy-eight years. Samuel
Brooks died at the same place, March 22, 1872,
aged seventy-seven.
(VII) Hannah Matilda, elder child and only
daughter of Samuel and Hannah (Co.gswell)
Brooks, was born at Charlestown, Massachusetts,
March 14, 1828. She was always called by her mid-
dle name, and in later years she dropped the "Han-
nah" entirely. On November 12, 1S56, she married
John Abbott, of Concord, New Hampshire. (See
Abbott, VI).
This family is of sturdly Puritan origin,
PIPER and its founder in America was forced
to seek refu.ge on this side of the ocean
in order to escape religious persecution in England.
(I) Nathaniel Piper, who was born about the
year 1630, came from Dartmouth in Devonshire as
early as 1653, and settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts,
where he died in 1676. His children were : Sarah,
Nathaniel, Mary (died young) ; Josiah, John, Mary,
Thomas, Margaret. Samuel, Jonathan and William.
(Jonathan and descendants receive mention in this
article). His widow, whose christian name was
Sarah, married for her second husband Ezekiel
Woodward, of Wenham, Massachusetts, and she was
living there in 1696.
(II) Nathaniel (2), eldest son and second
child of Nathaniel (i) and Sarah Piper, was born
Ill
4
O^o^^t^^yi^ /^--^^'t^fct^
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
291
June 25, 1658, in Ipswich, and inherited land there
from his father. He was among the commoners of
that town February 13, 167S. He had three sons,
Nathaniel. Thomas and Samuel, one of whom died
young and the other two settled in Stratham, New
Hampshire..
(HI) Thomas, son of Nathaniel (2) Piper, set-
tled in Stratham and had a wife, "Tabitha," and
had probably two sons, Samuel and John. But lit-
tle is known of the remainder of the family as the
records give no account of his marriage or family.
(IV) Captain Samuel, son of Thomas Piper,
was born at Tultonborough, New Hampshire, Feb-
ruary 2, 1771, and married Rebecca Copp, who was
born Aug:ust 10, 1769. They had six children,
Patty, born July I, 1795, married Nathaniel Chase.
Thomas (see below). Polly, born May 11, 1801,
married Luther F. Hall. Sukey, August 6, 1S03,
died March 13, 1805. Susan, November 7, 1807, mar-
ried Howard Blodgctt. Josephine, March 18, 1810,
married Thomas B. Blodgett.
(V) Thomas, son of Captain Samuel Piper,
was born in Tuftonborough, New Hampshire, May
8, 1798. He removed with his parents to Stewarts-
town. New Hampshire, and married (first) Emily
Williams, by whom he had one child, William Piper,
born December 13, 1825, died September 11. 1S96.
He married (second) Esther Beecher, December 28,
1826, by whom he had five children : Loring Gilbert
(see below). Emily W., married Frank Hodg-
don, of Lancaster, New Hampshire. Hiram M.,
who married Mary Carleton, of Stewartstown.
Esther P., w'ho married (first) James Hibbard, and
(second) Stephen Carleton. of Stewartstown. Ar-
villa P., who married (first) Samuel P. Pitkin, and
(second) Seneca S. Merrill, of Colebrook.
(VI) Loring Gilbert, son of Thomas and Esther
(Beecher) Piper, was born at Stewartstown, New
Hampshire. February 19, 182S. He married, May
10, 1863, Phebe A. Tibbetts, daughter of Joseph Y.
, Tibbetts. of Stewartstown. Her mother was Apha
Pickard, who was born May 28, 1809, and is still
living at the age of ninety-eight years, strong and
vigorous both in body and mind. Loring G. Piper
was educated at the common schools, and at an
early age engaged in buying and selling cattle. His
principal business was farming, at which he was
very successful. He became the owner of a large
river farm in Colebrook and managed it in a model
manner. He bought large herds of cattle and sheep
and took them to market, and in the early sixties be-
came engaged in the manufacture of potato starch
in Colebrook and later in Aroostook county, Maine.
He was a Democrat in politics and was one of the
strong men of Coos county. He was one of the
selectmen both in Stewartstown and Colebrook, was
county commissioner for three years and a member
of the legislature in 1883. He was a man of strong
common sense and much more than ordinary ability,
and his financial condition testified to his success.
He died November 4, 1896, respected by all the com-
munity. He had two children: Esther Apha. born
August IS, 1864, who married, May 25, 1S87, Charles
E. Clark, merchant, starch manufacturer and lum-
ber dealer at North Stratford, New Hampshire.
They have one child, Harriet Phebe, born April 16,
18S8. Joseph Thomas (see below).
(VII) Joseph Thomas, son of Loring and Phebe
A. (Tibbetts) Piper, was born in Colebrook, on the
farm where he now lives, July 21, 1873. He was
educated at the common schools, at Colebrook
Academy, and at Shaw's Business (College at Port-
land, Maine. During the later years of his life his
■ father, Loring G. Piper, was in poor health, and the
son, Joseph T., with ease and skill took upon him-
self the care of the farm, starch business and other
interests of his father and carried them along and
still carries them along with fidelity and wisdom.
He has recently been engaged quite extensively in
the manufacture and sale of lumber. He is unmar-
ried and lives at the home of his birth, looking after
his various interests and caring for his mother and
venerable grandmother.
(II) Jonathan, sixth son and tenth child of
Nathaniel and Sarah Piper, was born in Ipswich
(probably) in 1672. He went to Concord, Massa-
chusetts, in 1731, and his death occurred there May
II, 1752. He married. May 7. 1695, Sarah Leach,
of Boxford, Massachusetts, who died in Ipswich,
May 6. 1700, and on or about October 9 of that year
he married Alice Darby, of Beverly. She died in
Concord, April 23, 1758. Jonathan Piper was the
father of nine children : Samuel, Jonathan, Na-
thaniel, Josiah, John, Alice, Sarah, Mary and Joseph.
(HI) Joseph, youngest child of Jonathan and
Alice (Darby) Piper, was born at Ipswich, in 1718.
He married, November 18, 1743, Esther Wright,
daughter of Henry Wright, of Westford, Massachu-
setts. He died in Acton, whither he had removed
from Concord, December 19, 1802, and his wife died
April 7, 1808, aged eighty-seven years. Their chil-
dren were : Joseph, Philip, Esther, Sibyl, Jonathan,
Solomon, Rachel, Alice, Mary, Thomas, Silas and
Submit.
(IV) Solomon, fourth son and sixth child of
Joseph and Esther (Wright) Piper, was born in
Concord, October 20, 1754. He was living in Acton
when that quiet neighborhood was thrown into ex-
citement by the Lexington alarm, and he was one of
the patriots of that town who marched to Concord.
He subsequently participated in the campaign which
resulted in the surrender of General Burgoyne at
Saratoga, and he also served in the Rhode Island
expedition under General Sullivan. In 1785 he went
to Temple, New Hampshire, but removed to Dublin
in 1794, and he died in the last named town, De-
cember 20, 1847. He married, September 28, 17S8,
Susanna Pratt, who was born in Greenwich, Mass-
achusetts, November 3, 1768, daughter of Rufus
Pratt. She died June 27, 1844. The children of
this union were: Solomon, Rufus, Cyrus, Jonas,
John, Susanna, died young; another Susanna, Arte-
■nas, James. Emily, Hannah and Elvira.
(V) Cyrus, third son and child of Solomon and
Susanna (Pratt) Piper, was born in Temple, De-
cember 30, 1792. He resided in Dublin, where in
early life he followed the shoemaker's trade, but he
later kept a general store. He was succeeded in
business by his son, and his death occurred February
25, 1S77. He married Catherine Greenwood, who
died in , July, 1877. She bore him six children,
namely: Catherine, who married Henry Morse;
Martha, who became the wife of Leonard Snow ;
Cyrus, who will be again referred to ; Calvin, Eliza-
beth Jane, who married Everett M. Eveleth ; and
Ellen, who married Thomas S. Corey.
(VI) Cyrus, third child and eldest son of
Cyrus and (Catherine (Greenwood) Piper, was born
in Dublin, November 23, 1819. He completed his
education at the Peterborough (New Hampshire)
Academy and immediately thereafter was engaged in
teaching school. Entering the grocery business in
Boston as a member of the firm of Bliss & Piper, he
remained there some five or six years, whence he
returned to Dublin to purchase the general store
which had been carried on by his father for many
years. He later went to reside in Marlboro, this
state, and still later removed to the old Hastings
292
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
place in West Kcene, where he followed agriculture
some four or five years. He finally erected a resi-
dence on Washington street, Keene, and spent the
remainder of his life in retirement. He died in
Northampton, Massachusetts, January 10, 1888. His
first wife, whom he married September 12, 1844, was
Eliza Gleason, daughter of Phineas Gleason. She
died February 4, 1845. He was married a second
time, February 26. 1846, to Abigail, daughter of
John Wight, and she died in i860. His third wife
was Jerusha Allison, and they were married De-
cember 22, 1863. The Allisons are an old and
highly reputable New Hampshire family of Scotch
descent.
(I) Samuel Allison, who was born in the north
of Ireland in 1690, and was descended from Scotch
Covenanters, emigrated in 1718 and settled in Nut-
field (now Londonderry), New Hampshire. He was
called "Charter Samuel" on account of having been
one of the original incorporators, and his farm was
located in East Derry, January 13, 1760. Their chil-
dren were ; Janet, Rebecca. Martha and Samuel.
(II) Captain Samuel, son of Samuel and Kath-
erine (Steele) Allison, was born in Londonderry,
1722, and died there June S, 1792. He served in a
local military company raised for the defence of the
town against the French and Indians in 1744-45.
For a number of years he was a selectman and also
served as coroner of Rockingham county. He signed
the test in 1776. He married Janet McFarland, who
was born in Rowley, Massachusetts, daughter of
Andrew and Betty (Christy) McFarland. She died
in Weathersfield, Vermont, October 16, 1809. The
children of this union were: Katherine, died young;
Samuel, Janet, Andrew, Margaret, Susanna, died
young; Susanna, Katherine, John, James, Sarah and
Stephen,
(III) James, fourth son and tenth child of Cap-
tain Samuel and Janet (McFarland) Allison, was
born in Londonderry, February 22. 1767. He lo-
cated in Wheatfield, Vermont, and died there
February 23, 1805. He married Anna Moore, who
was born in Londonderry, April 23, 1765, and died
in Weathersfield, October 26, 1834. She was the
mother of three children: Janet, John and Samuel.
(IV) John, eldest son of James and Anna
(Moore) Allison, was born in Weathersfield, Feb-
ruary 26, 1790, and died there July 29, 1863. He
married. January i, 1824. Jerusha Sweet, of Han-
over, New Hampshire, who was born in 1795, and
died in 1829. In 1832 he married for his second wife
Mrs. Anna Porter, who was born in Bradford, Ver-
mont, December 16, 1800, and died Feb. 20, 1845.
The children of his first union were : Bolivar, James
Stockman and Jerusha. Those of his second mar-
riage are : Letitia, John Quinton, Almira, De Forest
and Cyntha Allen.
(V) Jerusha, youngest daughter of John and
Jerusha (Sweet) Allison, was born in Weathers-
field, July 23, 1829, and became the wife of Cyrus
Piper, Jr., as previously stated. She had two chil-
dren : Mabel Elizabeth, born February 2. 1865, died
while a member of the sophomore class. Smith Col-
lege, October 16, 1885 ; and Louis Allison Piper.
(VI) Louis Allison, youngest child of Cyrus
and Jerusha (Allison) Piper, was born October 14,
1866. From the public schools of Keene he went to
a preparatory school in Northampton, Massachusetts,
and was graduated from Harvard University in 1890.
He acquired his early business training in the Hol-
brook (retail) grocery store, Keene, and was later
transferred to the wholesale department of the same
firm as head bookkeeper, and still occupies that posi-
tion, and is a member of the firm, the Holbrook
Grocery Company. He is one of the progressive
young men of Keene and his future prospects are
practically assured. In his religious belief he is a
Unitarian. In 1891 he married Mary L. Nims,
daughter of Lanmau Nims, of Keene. Their chiU
dren are : Elizabeth A., Allison N., and Winthrop
De Forest Piper.
It has not been possible to trace the history of
this branch of the family for more than two gen-
erations.
(I) Dayton G. Piper was born in Hopkinton,
New Hampshire, May 29, 1824. He w-as a shoe-
maker in early life, and afterwards moved to Strat-
ford, in the north part of the state, where he con-
ducted a store until his death. He married Phebe
.•\nn Crown, daughter of John B. and Olive Crown,
of Stratford. There were two children : Julia Ann,
and Frank Nathaniel, whose sketch follows. Day-
ton G. Piper died at Stratford, in i860, at the early
age of thirty-six, and his widow died in 1862.
(II) Frank Nathaniel, son of Dayton G. and
Phebe Ann (Crown) Piper, was born at Stewarts-
town, New Hampshire, September 10, 1854. His
father died when he was si.x years old, and his
mother two years later, and the orphan boy was
cared for by his maternal grandfather, John B.
Crown, a well-known citizen of Stratford, and later
by an uncle in Hopkinton. Frank N. was educated
in the common schools of the towns where he lived,
and afterwards went to the Literary and Scientific
Institution at New London, and also to the Institute
at New Hampton. For several years he was en-
gaged in bridge construction for the Boston, Maine
& Eastern railroad. In 1875 he returned to Strat-
ford, where he taught school and engaged in farming
for- a few years. He then bought a farm and grist
mill at Stratford Hollow, which he carried on for
four years. In 1895 he bought his present place, a
fine farm of two hundred and twenty-five acres, half
a mile below Northumberland station. Mr. Piper
keeps thirty head of cattle, including ten cows and
five horses. Mr. Piper is a progressive farmer,
familiar with the most modern agricultural methods,
and his help have the assistance of the latest im-
proved machinery. In 1889, under President Harri-
son, he received an appointment as mail agent from
Island Pond. Vermont, to Portland, Maine, which
position he held for six years. His valuable farm
has since taken the bulk of his time. Mr. Piper is
an energetic man of business, and an esteemed citi-
zen. He has been a member of the school board,
both at Stratford and Northumberland, and was one
of the supervisors at the latter place. He w-as elected
on the Republican ticket to the legislature from
Northumberland in 1903. He is justice of the police
court at Groveton. He was made a Mason in
Island Pond Lodge, Ancient Free and .\ccepted Ma-
sons ; is now a charter member of Benton Lodge,
Guildhall. Essex county ; was district deputy grand
master; is also past master of Blue Lodge, and also
a past grand of Ammonoosuc Lodge, Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, of Groveton. At the
organization of Cape Horn Grange, Patrons of
Husbandry, Mr. Piper was a charter member, and
was its popular master for a year.
January 22. 1879, Frank Nathaniel Piper married
Isabella, daughter of James P. and Eliza Ann
Hayes, of Northumberland. They had five children :
Olive Crown, born March 10, 1S80, died July 23 of
that year ; Erwin James, born June 25, 1881, died
March 2, 1882; Ethel Ann, born November 8, 1887,
died February 20, 1889; Ruby Mildred, born August
13, 1889; Ruth E. B., born October 29, i8g8. Mr.
Piper and his wife are members of the Eastern Star,,
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
293
Olive Branch Chapter, No. I, Lancaster; Thirty-
second degree Lodge of Perfection, St. Johnsburj-,
and the Consistory at Burlington.
Several centuries ago when men, in
WRIGHT order to distinguish themselves more
readily, took surnames, many assumed
the name of the art or craft at which they worked.
"Wright" originally denoted a workman, an artificer,
a maker, and was a designation usually applied to
those who wrought in wood, as smith was applied
to those who worked in metal. It is highly probable
that almost every person bearing the name Wright
as his original surname is descended from an Eng-
lish ancestor who was an artificer. As the name
could have been and was assumed by any artificer
who chose to do so, it follows that there may be
numerous families whose origin is not identical.
Hence in this country there are several lines of this
name not of the same descent. The name appears
early in the Colonial records, and has been borne by
many distinguished citizens both in Colonial and
recent times.
( I ) ) John Wright, emigrant ancestor, was born
in England in i6or, and died in Woburn, Massachu-
setts, June 21, 1688, aged eighty-seven. He was
one of the first settlers of Woburn. and a subscriber
to the compact of 1640. He was a selectman ex-
cept two years, from 1645 to 1664, a representative
in 1648, and a deacon of the First Church of Wo-
burn. His wife Priscilla died April 10, 1687. Their
sons were ; John and Joseph.
(II) John (2), son of John (r) and Priscilla
Wright, was born in 1630, and died April 30, 1714,
aged eighty-four. He lived a few years in Chelms-
ford, but returned to Woburn. He and his brother
Joseph were presented to the grand jury for with-
drawing from the church, and in other ways giving
encouragement to the Baptists. He married, May
10. 1661, Abigail Warren, daughter of Arthur War-
ren, of Weymouth. She died April 6, 1726, aged
eighty-four. Their sons were : John, Joseph,
Ebenezcr, and Josiah. (Ebenezer and descendants
receive mention in this article).
(III) John (3). oldest son of John (2) Wright,
was born in Chelmsford in 1662. He married (first)
Mary Stevens, and (second) Hannah Fletcher. The
children of the first wife were: Jacob, died young:
I'lienezcr, Jacob, Henry. John and Mary; and by the
-(condwife: Hannah, Thomas, and Simeon. (Men-
tion of Thomas and descendants appears in this
article).
(IV) Jacob, fourth son and child of John (3)
and Mary (Stevens) Wright, was born in Chelms-
ford in 1698. He settled in the north part of
Chelmsford. By his wife Abigail he had: Sarah,
John, Ephraim, Mary, Sarah, Jacob, Pelatiah. Jo-
seph and Benjamin.
(V) Ephraim, third child and second son of
Jacob and Abigail Wright, was born in Chelmsford
in 1726. and lived in Westford, a part of ancient
Chelmsford. He married. May 2, 1751, Abigail
Whittemore. of Dunstable. She was born in 1730
and died March 24. 1814. They had ten children :
Abr.iham, .'\bigail, Ruth, Sarah, Ephraim, Nathan,
Lydia, Jotham, Hannah and Jacob.
(VI) Nathan, third son and sixth child of
Ephraim and .\bigail (Whittemore) Wright, was
born in Westford in 1763. He lived until aged in
Westford, and died in Lowell, in 1846. He married,
October 21, 1788, Betsey Trowbridge, who died July
16. 1835. They had nine children : Nathan. Parker.
Jotham Bruce, Edmond (died young). Edmoud,
John, Walter, Martin and George Sumner.
(VII) John (4). seventh son and child of
Nathan and Betsey (Trowbridge) Wright, was born
in Westford, November 4, 1797, and died in Lowell,
March, 1S69. He was graduated from Harvard
University in 1823 ; was preceptor of Westford Acad-
emy from 1823 to 1825 ; was subsequently principal
of a flourishing school in Worcester, and while
there became interested in business. He was also
educated, in the law, admitted to the Massachusetts
bar, and practiced in Worcester. In 1842 he becarne
agent of the Suffolk Mills in Lowell, and was in
successful management of that large corporation
twenty-six years. His responsibility was great, and
his cares were continuous. His heart failed, and
he resigned in 1868, and died in 1869. He was a
Whig in early life, and after the formation of the
Republican party he was one of its ardent sup-
porters. He was a state senator, and an earnest
promoter of the schools of Lowell. He professed
the Unitarian faith, and was a generous supporter of
the church of that order, which he attended. He
married Susan Prescott, daughter of Judge Prescott,
.a Harvard graduate, of Groton, Massachusetts.
They had three children : Mary Jane, born in Groton,
April 30, 1830, residing in Lowell, unmarried ; Wil-
liam P., is mentioned below: Samuel P., born in
Lowell, July 9, 1S39, married George D. Noyes, a
patent attorney of Boston, son of Professor Noyes,
of Harvard University.
(VIII) William Prescott, only son and second
child of John and Susan (Prescott) Wright, was
born in Groton, March, 1832. and died in Chicago,
Illinois, May 9, 1896, aged sixty-four. He grad-
uated from the Harvard Law School, was admitted
to the bar of Massachusetts, and for a time was a
clerk in the office of Judge Crosby, in Lowell. In
1856 he went to Chicago, wdiere he became a partner
with his cousins, George S. and Wallace Wright,
brokers, who had established themselves there some
time before. He afterward succeeded to the entire
business of the firm, which he carried on alone for
some years. In the latter sixties and before the
great fire in Chicago, he relinquished the banking
and brokerage business, and engaged in the negotia-
tion of loans, in which line he continued the re-
mainder of his life. He was a man of ability, possess-
ing good judgment and a vigorous mind. In man-
neV he was quiet and dignified, but in the home cir-
cle and among his intimate acquaintances he was
much loved for his social and agreeable manners.
He was a Unitarian in religious faith, a Repiiblican
and a member of the Masonic order, in which he
attained the Scottish Rite degrees. He married,
.\pri! 7. 1858, Lydia A. Keyser, born in Bristol, New
Hampshire. September 20, 1835, daughter of John
and .\bbie C. (Hall) Keyser, of Rumney. Four
children were born of this union : Susan Prescott,
born in Lowell, in 1862. died in infancy: Herbert
Hamilton, born in Lowell, September 21, 1868, edu-
cated in the common schools of Concord, was a clerk
in the freight department of the Boston & Maine
railroad, at Concord, until August 27, 1899, when he
enlisted for the Spanish war, in Company F, Twenty-
sixth United States Infantry, and served as quarter-
master-sergeant until he was discharged. May 13,
igor. His service was in the Philippines, and he
was stationed at Iloilo, and participated jn the follow-
ing named engagements and expeditions : engage-
ment at San Bias, November 26. 1899: Mount
Butuan. December 26, 1900: expedition under Gen-
eral Hughes. November 9 to 30, 1899: Panay, De-
cember 21. 1900, to January 4, 1901. Returning to
Concord, he has since been in the employ of the
Durgin Silver Plating Company. John Prescott
294
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Wright, born in Chicago, July 12. 1873, was edu-
cated in the public schools of Concord. After some
years as a clerk in the railroad offices of that city,
he went to South Africa and spent three years at
the mining camp of Germiston, six miles from
Johannisberg. He returned to New Hampshire, and
after completing the course in the Boston Univer-
sity of Law was graduated and admitted to the bar
of Massachusetts in 1905, and immediately began the
practice of law in Boston. Mrs. Wright was unable
to live in Chicago on account of the climate, and
since 1878 has resided in Concord.
(IV) Thomas, elder son and second child of
John Wright and his second wife, Hannah Fletcher,
was born at Chelmsford, Massachusetts, in 1707.
He was the ninth of his father's children, as there
had previously been seven others by the first mar-
riage. He married Elizabeth Parker, and they had
twelve children: Thomas, born in 1734; Abel, Will-
iam, Oliver, Reuben, Elizabeth, Sarah, Ebenezer,
Peter, who died at four; Hannah, Peter, mentioned
below; and Jonas. Thomas (2), Abel and Oliver
Wright moved to New Ipswich, Massachusetts.
Reuben Wright, born in 1740, died in the army in
1759-
(V) Peter, eighth son and eleventh child of
Thomas and Elizabeth (Parker) Wright, was born
at Westford, formerly a part of Chelmsford. Mass-
achusetts, in 1752. He was a farmer all his life, and
a commissary officer during the Revolution. Some
time after 1790 he moved to Stoddard, New Hamp-
shire, and his name first appears on the tax list of
that town in 1800. On September 13, 1781, as re-
corded by Rev. Matthew Scribner, Peter Wright
married Abigail Read, of Westford, Massachusetts.
She was the daughter of Lieutenant Thomas and
Susanna (Dutton) Read, and was born in 1757.
They probably reared a goodly family of children,
but the names are not recorded. Several of the
Wrights and Reads moved to New Hampshire to-
ward the close of the eighteenth century, settling
in Nelson, Stoddard and Fitzwilliam.
(VI) Jonathan H., son of Peter and Abigail
(Read) Wright, was born in Stoddard, New Hamp-
shire, probably about 1800. He was a farmer in
Cheshire county all his life, and attended the Univer-
salist Church. He married his cousin Rhoda, daugh-
ter of Benjamin Wright, and grandson of Peter
Wright. They had four children, three of whom
are living : Rhoda, wife of B. Brooks Akenton, who
lives in Stratford, New Hampshire ; Hiram H.,
whose sketch follows ; and Jefferson Van Buren,
who lives at Newport. Vermont. Jonathan H.
Wright died at Stoddard.
(VII) Hiram Hartwell, elder son and second
child of Jonathan H. and Rhoda (Wright) Wright,
was born at Stoddard. New Hampshire, March 7,
1823. He was educated in the common schools, and
was a farmer, drover and lumberman for years. He
moved from Stoddard to Stratford m 1850, and was
station agent on the Grand Tnmk Railroad for ten
years. He has served as selectman and moderator,
and was a member of the legislature in 1883-84. He
is a Democrat in politics. On June 21, 1854, Hiram
H. Wright married Ellen M., daughter of David and
Roxanna (Brown) Piatt, of Stratford. There were
three children : Jessie V., born November 27, 1855,
married George W. Bond, of Newtonville, Massachu-
setts. Fremont Hartwell, born April 14, i860, died
September 28, igo6 ; he resided in Auburndale, Mass-
achusetts. He married Jennie M. Waters, and their
children are: Jessie Bond born August 17, 1S8S, in
Tonawanda, New York ; Ellen Byron, born Septem-
ber II. 1890. in Strafford, New Hampshire; H. Hart-
well, born December g, 1892, in West Milan, New
Hampshire. Nettie J., born Februarj- 19, 1864, died
at the age of eight years
(III) Ebenezer, third son and child of John (2)
and Abigail (Warren) Wright, was born in 1693,
and lived in that part of Chelmsford which is now
Westford, Massachusetts He was married May 25,
1730, to Deliverance Stearns, and their children were:
Abigail, Hannah, Ebenezer. Caleb, Joshua, Zaccheus,
Joel, Silas, Amos, Lydia, Phineas and Olive. The
youngest son became a well known clergyman of
Bolton, Massachusetts.
(IV) Ebenezer (2), eldest son and third child
of Ebenezer (i) and Deliverance (Stearns) Wright,
was born January 29, 1734, in Westford. and resided
in Hubbardston and Templeton, Massachusetts,
dying in the latter town October 2, 181 1. He was
engaged in agriculture. He married Lucy Barrett,
who was born April 17, 1732, and died February 23,
1S04. Their children were : Joel, Ebenezer, David.
Thomas, Liicy, Zaccheus and Moses.
(V) Thomas, fourth son and child of Ebenezer
(2) and Lucy (Barrett) Wright, was born May 17,
1766, probably in Hubbardston. He settled in Fitz-
william, New Hampshire, purchasing from his
brother Joel lot number fourteen, in range twelve.
He continued to reside upon and till this until his
death. June 18, 1796, at the age of thirty years. He
was married February 7, 1792, to Jemima Knowlton,
of Templeton, who was born February 28, 1771, a
daughter of Ezekiel and Anna (Miles) Knowlton,
of Templeton. After the death of her husband slie
married (second), Bartlett Bowker, of Fitzwilliam.
To her first husband she bore two children, Lyman
and Betsey.
(VI) Colonel Lyman Wright, elder child and
only son of Thomas and Jemima (Knowlton)
Wright, was born March 8, 1793, in Fitzwilliam, and
died in Troy, New Hampshire, December I, 1866.
He learned the trade of taimer and currier in Tem-
pleton, and settled in Troy in 1815, purchasing the
Warren stand and Winch tanyard of David White
and Joshua Harrington. He soon built a new tan-
nery. Some years after he moved his building a
little and put on an addition which was afterward
burned. He carried on the tanning business for
several years, selling out to Francis Foster. In 1836
he built a saw mill which stood near the site of the
present Troy Blanket Mills, and also a dwelling
house. He resided in what was the Warren tavern,
and in 1841 covered the frame with brick walls, and
remodeled it. Colonel Wright was an active and
enterprising man, and besides attending to his
private affairs he filled a remarkably large number
of civil offices, and for over thirty-five years was at
all times the incumbent of one or more offices. He
was moderator from 1822 to 1855. both years in-
clusive, continuously with the exception of four
years, his whole term of serving aggregating thirty-
one 3'ears. He was representative in the New Hamp-
shire legislature in the years 1832-33-55-56 ; select-
man 1S27-28-45-46 ; town treasurer 1824-27 : member
of the school committee 1823 ; sexton, 1825 ; con-
stable, 1859. He also had various military offices.
He married, April 16, 1817, Betsey Bowker, born
August 29, 1794, who died June 21. 1880. She was
the daughter of Charles and Beulah (Stone) Bow-
ker. of Fitzwilliam. Their children were: Harriet
Mellen. Faustina Miles, Melancia Bowker and
Leonard, the subject of the next paragraph.
(VII) Leonard, youngest child and only son of
Colonel Lyman and Betsey (Bowker) Wright, was
born in Tro\', June 28, 1832, and died in Keene, Au-
gust II, 1897. He was educated in the public schools
of Troy and Fitzwilliam, and at Ludlow (Vermont)
Acadeniv. He learned the tanner's trade of his
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295
father, whose business he bought out in 1S53, and
carried on until 1865, when he sold out and removed
to Keenc. There he bought an interest in the store
of Gates & Randall, dealers in boots, shoes, hats,
caps, and clothing, the firm becoming after his ad-
mission, Randall & Wright. This store was in the
building now known as Wright's block. Later he
formed a co-partnership with Solon S. Wilkinson, the
firm being Wright & Wilkinson, and dealing in boots,
shoes, harness, trunks, etc. After six years Mr.
Wilkinson withdrew from the firm, and took the
harness department. Mr. Wright continued thebus-
iness alone for some time, but afterward took his son,
Frank H., into partnership. The firm of F. H.
Wright & Company was one of the largest dealers
in its line in Keene, carrying on both a wholesale
and a retail business. Mr. Wright was town clerk
of Troy in 1856, and councilman from ward five in
Keene in 1883. He was averse to accepting public
positions, and as a rule declined to be a candidate
for any political office. He was for many years one
of the leading Republicans of Keene. He was a
successful business man, being enterprising and dili-
gent in conducting his business, and was interested
in the growth and prosperity of his place of resi-
dence. He was an attendant of the Congregational
Church, and was a liberal supporter of his church
in Keene. He was a member of the Masonic fratern-
ity, entering the Lodge Temple in Keene in
1872. and also being a member of Cheshire Royal
Arch Chapter and Hugh de Payen Commandery of
Knights Templar. He married, October 23, 1855,
Mary Jane Eemis, born April 9, 1835, daughter of
Calvin and Deborah (Brewer) Bemis, of Rindge.
Mrs. Mary Jane (Bemis) Wright is great-grand-
daughter in the maternal line of James Brewer, who
was a soldier in the patriot army during the Revolu-
tionary war, being one of the famous Boston tea
party, and rendering subsequent service of dis-
tinction. Mrs. Wright is a member of the Daughters
of the American Revolution, Ashuelot Chapter, be-,
ing one of its earliest members. Mr. and Mrs.
Leonard (Bemis) Wright "had one child, Frank H.
Wright.
Calvin, son of Jonathan Bemis, of Marlboro, was
born in that town January 27, 1798, and died in
Troy, August g, 1872. He removed to Rindge in
1831, and had a farm near the Fitzwilliam line, on
the road to that town, where he lived about twenty
years. He also conducted an old time inn called the
Bemis Tavern. He removed to Troy, where he
spent the remainder of his life. He married, March
14, 1822. Deborah Brewer, daughter of As« and Deb-
orah (Sargent) Brewer, of Fitzwilliam, now in-
cluded in Troy. They were the parents of three
children: Eliza, Maria, and Mary Jane. Eliza, born
October 10, 1823, married. May. 8, 1845, Calvin Hast-
ings; A'laria. January 24, i82'6. married, March 31,
1847, Charles Perry : Mary Jane is mentioned above.
(Vni) Frank H. Wright, only son of Leonard
and Mary Jane (Bemis) Wright, was born October
10, 1858, in Keene, and was educated in the public
schools of that city. He began his business career
as a clerk with his father, and so continued for
about five years. Thereafter, until 1888, a business
was conducted under the style of Leonard Wright &
Son. At the end of that time the business was con-
ducted under the name of F. H. Wright & Company,
with Frank H. as sole manager, and it has thus con-
tinued to the present time. Mr. Wright is a mem-
ber of the First Congregational Church, and is
a Knight Templar Mason. He has served as coun-
cilman for Ward 3 of Keene. He was married June
18, 1SS5, to Mary E. Dort, who was born January 27,
1S60, daughter of Eli and Caroline (Cummings)
Dort. Their children are : Bertha Carolyn, Willard
Lyman, and Mildred Dort.
(Second Family.)
The Wright family of Keene had its
WRIGHT American origin in JMassachusetts,
but a diligent research of the records
has thus far failed to reveal with certainty the name
of its emigrant ancestor.
(H) Nathaniel Wright was residing in Lancaster
in the middle of the eighteenth century. The chris-
tian name of his wife was Martha, and he was the
father of eight children : Martha, James, Nathaniel,
Thomas and Ephraim (twins), Joseph, Lucy and
Anna.
(in) Lieutenant James,, son of Nathaniel and
Martha Wright, was born in Lancaster, iVIarch 22,
1749-50. In 1769 he settled in Keene, w'here he be-
came a prosperous farmer and an extensive real
estate owner. His descendants in the fifth genera-
tion are still occupying land which originally be-
longed to him. He lived to be sixty-one years old,
and his death occurred at Keene in 181 1. His first
wife was Elizabeth Rugg, of Massachusetts, and for
his second wife he married Mrs. Jemima P. Blake.
His children were : James, born 1776, married Lucy
Nims, of Keene, in 1S03, and died in 1851 ; Betsey,
born 1779, married Amos Towne, of Littleton, New-
Hampshire ; Martha, born 1784, married a !Mr.
Wilder; Polly, born 1788, remained single; and
Ephraim, the date of whose birth will be found in
the succeeding paragraph.
(IV) Ephraim, youngest son and child of Lieu-
tenant James Wright, was born in Keene in 1792.
He succeeded to the possession of the homestead
farm, located on Beech Hill, some two miles from
Keene Center, on the road to Hillsboro, and the
original dwelling house, which was destroyed by
fire-in 1S17, was immediately replaced by the present
residence. He was an able and useful citizen,
taking an earnest interest in all matters relating to
the general welfare of the community, and he died
respected and esteemed by his fellow-townsmen. He
married Sarah (.or Sally) Allen, of Surrey, who bore
him eight children: George K., born in 1S17 ; Henry,
Elizabeth J., Lucius, Bradley E., Joseph, Luther K.
and Charles. George K. Wright, who resides upon
the home farm, married Nancy E. Leonard.
(V) Charles, youngest son and child of Ephraim
and Sarah (Allen) Wright, was born at the present
homestead in Keene, October 25, 1835. He was
educated in the public schools, and in early lite
assisted his father in carrying on the home farm.
In company with his brother, George K. Wright,
he was engaged in lumbering to some extent, and in
1867 they felled and cut into fourteen logs a mam-
moth white pine tree which they hauled to Faulkner
& Colony's saw-mill, receiving for -them the sum
of one hundred and eighty dollars. These logs
contained nine thousand feet of lumber. The tree,
which was one hundred and twenty-one feet high
and measured eighteen and one-half feet in cir-
cumferance four feet from the ground, was esti-
mated by its ring to be about three hundred years old,
and "considered the oldest inhabitant in town." In
1870 Mr. Wright engaged in the retail meat business
in Keene as a member of the firm of Jackson &
Wright. Two years later he purcliascd his partner's
interest, and shortly afterwards became a member
of the firm of Nims, Wyman & Wright. The latter
was succeeded by that of Nims & Wright, which
transacted an Vxtensive business for the ensuing
ten years, at the expiration of which time the firm
went out of existence. In 1882 he became local
296
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
manager for Swift & Company, the well-known
Chicago packers and dealers in dressed beef, and
under the name of the Keene Beef Company he had
directed the business in that city continuously up to
the time of his decease, December 26, 1906. In his
younger days he took an active interest in the train-
ing of oxen, and when sixteen years old was awarded
iirst premium at the Cheshire county fair for the
best yoke of oxen trained by a boy. He also re-
ceived the first prize for the best plowing in the same
class. At the United States fair held in Boston
he was awarded a diploma for a pair of oxen weigh-
ing four thousand three hundred pounds. He was
chosen by the governor and council to represent
New Hampshire at the national, convention of Live
Stock Associations held at Chicago in 1902; was
in the succeeding year a delegate to the National
Live Stock Association meeting at Kansas City ;
and in 1904 he was appointed by Governor Batchel-
der a delegate to the gathering of the same body at
Portland, Oregon. At the last meeting he was
chosen a member of the executive committee, and
as one of the speakers he took for his subject "New
Hampshire's Connection with Live Stock Industry,"
which he treated in an able and interesting manner.
As a member of the common council for two years
and of the board of aldermen for three years he
labored diligently and effectively in behalf of sound
municipal government and as representative to the
state legislature from each of the two wards, two and
three, of the latter in i88g-go, and the former 1901-
and 1902; he has performed his duties with marked
ability along the same lines. He was also a delegate
to the constitutional convention held at Concord
in 1902. Politically he acts as a Republican of the
stalwart type. For eleven years he served as a trus-
tee of the Elliott City Hospital. He was a trustee
of the Keene Savings Bank, and a director of the
Ashuelot National Bank. In his religious belief he
was a Congregationalist, and served as chairman of
the board of trustees of the Court Street Church,
Keene. For his first wife Mr. Wright married, in
1869, Sarah Labaree, daughter of James and Har-
riet (Grout) Labaree, of Charlestown, New Hamp-
shire. She died in 1874, and he subsequently married
her sister, Katharine Labaree, September, 1875.
The principal subjects of the follow-
WRIGHT ing sketch are of Scotch birth, and as
the name shows descended from a
forbear who was so skilled in his calling that he
was referred to as "the wright."
(I) Wylie Wright, son of William and Grace
(Forrester) Wright, was born at Barrhead, si-x and
one-half miles southwest of Glasgow, Scotland, and
was educated in the public schools of his native town.
In 1S71 he came to the United States, and in the
same year, settled in Rochester, New Hampshire,
with his wife and two children, both born before the
parents came to America. While in Scotland, Mr.
Wright had been employed in the iron industry, near
Glasgow. On settling in Rochester he 'took employ-
ment in the Norway Plains Woolen Mills there, and
by faithful and efficient service worked up to the
position of foreman of the carding and spinning
department, and held that position until 1893. Since
that time he has filled different positions in the mills
at Rochester. He is very fond of nuisic, and holds
a member's certificate in the Tonic Sol-Fa College
of Music, London, England. In order that those
who desire might have the benefit of his musical
knowledge and training, he taught a free singing
class for years in Rochester. He married, in Scot-
land, in 1S66, Jane B. McPherson, who was born in
1846, died 1884, daughter of Douglas and Wilhelmina
D. McPherson, of Bathgate, Scotland. They have
had three children born to them : William, the
subject of the next section; Wilhelmina, who died
young; and Wilhelmina G., who was born in Roches-
ter, June 30, 1880, and married Claude JNI. Calvert,
and now resides in Waterbury, Connecticut. Wylie
Wright married (second), Hannah Lowe, of Roches-
ter. They have five children.
(11) William Wright, eldest child of Wylie and
Jane B. (McPherson) Wright, was born in East
Vale Cottage, Kelvinhaugh, Scotland, May 16, 1867,
and educated in the public schools of Rochester, New
Hampshire, from which he graduated in 1885. He
then entered Dartmouth College, from which he
was graduated with the class of 1891. The seven
years following he was first assistant principal in
the Rochester high school, and a portion of that time
he devoted to the study of law, having for his pre-
ceptor Elmer J. Smart, Esq. In December, 1897, he
was admitted to the bar of New Hampshire, and has
since practiced in the courts of the state. He is
a bright, active, popular young man, a Republican in
politics, and in 1905 was a candidate for mayor of
Rochester on a reform ticket, and failed of an elec-
tion by only eighty-si.x; votes, while running in oppo-
sition to one of the best known and staunchest busi-
ness men of the place. He inherits a love of music,
was a member of the Handel and Haydn Club while
in college, and is first tenor in the choir of St.
Thomas Episcopal Church, and is treasurer of the
Rochester Oratorio Society. He married, January i,
1895, Adeline Estes, who was born in Rochester,
April 23, 1867, daughter of Charles and JNlercy
(Varney) Estes, of Rochester. They have one
child, Wallace, born October 19, 1897.
This name is of Scotch origin, but
SANDERS has been long established in New
England and comes to New Hamp-
shire by way of Rhode Island. It has been identified
with the pioneer developement of western New
Hampshire, and is worthily associated with the more
recent history of the state.
(I) The first of whom we can find definite ac-
count at present, was Tobias Sanders, an early resi-
dent of Taunton, Massachusetts, who soon removed
to Westerly, Rhode Island. He received a grant of
land in that town in 1661, and represented the town
as Deputy to the General Court in 1669, 1671-2,
1680-1, 1683" and 1690. He died in 1695 and his
wife died the same year. She was Mary Clarke,
daughter of Joseph Clarke. Their children were :
John, Edward, Stephen, Benjamin and Susanna.
(II) Benjamin, fourth son of Tobias and Mary
(Clarke) Sanders, was born about 1680, and resided
in Westerly, where he died 1733. His widow, .\nn
subsequently removed to Charlestown, Rhode Island,
where she died in 1767, having survived him about
thirty- four years. Their children were : Mary,
Joshua, Daniel, Lucy, Tacy, Nathan and Ann.
(III) Daniel, second son and third child of Ben-
jamin and Ann Sanders, was born November i,
1719, in Westerly, Rhode Island. No record has been
preserved of his marriage, but his children are known
to have included : Anne, Joshua, Nathan, Augustus
and Daniel. He lived in Westerly, until after 1767.
There are abundant evidences that the family lived
at some time in the extreme southern portion of
New Hampshire, or northern Massachusetts. The
vital records of Salem, New Hampshire, show the
birth of children there and there were connections
of the family in Haverhill, Massachusetts.
(IV) Daniel (2), youngest child of Daniel (i)
'ri
^
c^
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
297
Sanders, was a pioneer resident of Grafton, New
Hampshire, wliere he cleared up a farm in the wilder-
ness and built a house. The vital records of the state
give no mention of any point concerning him, not
even his death being on record. The family tradi-
tion claims that he was born in Grafton which, of
course, is impossible, as there were no settlements
there early enough to bring about that condition.
(V) Daniel (3), sou of Daniel {2) Sanders,
was born and lived and died in Grafton, New Hamp-
shire.
(VI) Jason, son of Daniel (3) Sanders, was born
June 9, iSoS, in Grafton and continued to reside
through life in that town. He cleared up new land
and developed a farm and also operated a saw mill,
was an industrious and successful man. He was an
old line Democrat and adhered consistently to the
principles of his party throughout life. He was mar-
ried, December 12, 1830, in Grafton, to Betsy Stevens,
native of Rumford (.formerly Peru), Alaine. She
was the daughter of Jonathan and Elizabeth
(Elliott) Stevens, the latter born in Concord, New
Hampshire. Jason Sanders' birthplace is on Prescott
Hill, in Grafton, and the house in which he was born
was that in which his father and grandfather were
born in which he lived a short time after his mar-
riage. After the birth of his first child, he tore
down the old house and built a new one. His wife,
Betsey Stevens, was born September 14, 1809, and
died September 23, 1888. Their children were:
Sarah B., Polly A., George S., James S., Betsy A.,
Abby A., Oscar, Lucrecia, Jason, Emma and Wil-
liam.
(VII) George Sullivan, eldest son and third child
of Jason and Betsy W. (Stevens) Sanders, was born
January 26, 1835, in Grafton, New Hampshire, and
died November 19, 1879. He attended the common
schools of his native town and in early youth aban-
doned the school room for employment in the saw
mill and on the farm. He learned the trade of car-
penter, and was occupied part of the time with this
calling, giving his attention also, to some extent to
farming. He remained on the home farm for a time
and subsequently purchased another, near the Spring-
field line, on which he resided until his death. He
was a consistent Democrat, but shunned any offici;/
station. He was married, July 18, i86g, to Prudence
Sargent Parker, daughter of Amos and Ruth (Sar-
gent) Parker. She was born in New London, Os-
tober 13, 1838, and died in Wilmot, December 25,
1893. When she was seven years of age her parents
removed to the adjoining town of Wilmot, where
she resided until her marriage. Four years after the
death for her lirst husband she was married to James
Smith, of Bradford, New Hampshire; soon after,
they purchased the old Parker homestead, and re-
sided there until her death. Very early in life she
became a member of the Baptist Church. Her father
Amos Parker, was born August 4, 1788, and died
March 2, 1864. His wife Ruth Sargent, was born
April 30, 1797, daughter of Ebenezer and Prudence
(Chase) Sargent of New London, New Hampshire,
and sister of the late Judge J. Everett Sargent of
Concord, New Hampshire. (See Sargent).
(VIII) Loren Addison, only child of George S.
and Prudence S. (Parker) Sanders, was born July
S, 1874, in Grafton, where he began his education.
Later removing to Wilmot, he attended the public
schools there and at New London. In 1892, when
eighteen years of age, he went to Concord, where
he entered the employ of the Abbott-Downing Com-
pany. The same ambition that caused him to leave
his country home for a larger field of service led
him after a vear and six months residence to de-
cide upon the practice of medicine as a life work.
In 1893, to prepare himself for his chosen profes-
sion, he enrolled as a student in Tilton Seminary.
Here he applied himself diligently to his studies,
utilizing his spare time in earning money to defray
school expenses. After graduating from this insti-
tution he continued his studies in Bellevue Hos-
pital ^ledical College, New York City, which about
this time became merged with the medical depart-
ment of New York University. This college, by
reason of its excellent equipment and metropolitan
location, afforded exceptional opportunities for hos-
pital and dispensary work and student practice. The
training here secured in surgery and dispensary
work later proved invaluable. He graduated from
the New York University and Bellevue Hospital
Medical College INIay 16, 1899, and on July 15, fol-
lowing, entered upon the practice of his profession
at Concord, New Hampshire.
Dr. Sanders at once became associated in prac-
tice with one of the most eminent physicians and
surgeons in this state, Dr. Grenville P. Conn. His
early and continued success won him the confidence
of his professional associates as well as of a large
patronage, and he has enjoyed a lucrative general
practice. From the first he gave special attention to
surgery, in which department he has performed
many difficult and skillful operations, and is today
considered one of the ablest surgeons of the state.
He is one of the attending surgeons on the staff
of the Margaret Pillsbury General Hospital. He is
a member of the State Medical Association, of which
he was for some years assistant secretary, and for
the last eight years has been secretary and treasurer
of the Merrimack County Medical Society. Before
both of these associations he has read several papers
which have been published in their transactions and
also in other medical journals. He is a member
of the New York and New England Association of
Railway Surgeons and of the New Hampshire
Surgical Club.
Dr. Sanders is a member of Eureka Lodge No.
70, Free and Accepted Masons, of Concord, and in
religious affiliations is a Baptist. He takes an active
interest in local political and municipal affairs.
While a member of the Board of Health he vigor-
ously enforced the vaccination laws throughout the
schools. In politics he is a Republican. He has
served for two terms in the city common council
and is at present a member of the board of aldermen
from ward seven.
Dr. Sanders married, September 29, 1898, Mar-
garet A. Clough of Warner, New Hatnpshire, daugh-
ter of Reuben and Mary Elizabeth (Clark) Clough.
The Kendricks are descended from
KENDRICK an early settler in Boston. They
were devout Puritans and inter-
married with sturdy Puritan families. Included
among the latter is the well known Pierce family,
and Anna (Kendrick) Pierce, the mother of Presi-
dent Franklin Pierce, was a lineal descendant of
John Rogers the martyr.
(I) John Kendrick, born in England in 1605,
was a member of the church in Boston as early as
1639, and took the freeman's oath in 1640. In 1658
he purchased two hundred and fifty acres of land
in Cambridge Village (now Newton), and appears
to have settled there. He died August 29, 16S6. His
first wife, whose christian name was Ann, died in
Boston, in 1656, and his second w'ife, Judith, died
in Roxbury, Massachusetts, August 23, 16S7.
(II) John (2), son of John and Ann Kendrick,
was born in Boston, October 3. 1641. He became
298
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
a resident of Cambridge Village, March i, 1659, and
in 1677 he went to England, returning the following
year. ^ He died September 30, 1721, and was buried
on his eightieth birthday. October 23, 1673, he
married Esther Hall, who died September 14, 1723,
aged about seventy years. They were the parents of
twelve children, whose names are not at hand.
(HI) Caleb, son of John and Esther (Hall)
Kendrick, was born in Newton, iMassachusetts,
March 8, 1694, and died there March 31, 1771. He
married Abigail Bowen, of Roxbury, September 14,
1721, and her death occurred in Groton, Massachu-
setts, September 16, 1775. Their children were:
John, Benjamin, Esther, Abigail, Sarah, Caleb (.who
died in infancy), Daniel, Caleb and Anna.
(IV) Benjamin, second son and child of Caleb and
Abigail (Bowen) Kendrick, was born in Newton,
January 30, 1723-4. In 1749 he located in Monson,
Massachusetts, and resided there until September,
1770, when he removed to Amherst, New Hampshire,
where he died November 13, 1812. On March I,
1750, he married Sarah Harris, of Hollis, New
Hampshire. She was the daughter of Stephen Har-
ris, a granddaughter of Timothy Harris, of Rowley,
Massachusetts, and great-granddaughter of John
Harris, an English emigrant who settled in Rowley.
John Harris married 'a granddaughter of John
Rogers, the first inartyr of the reign of Queen
(Bloody) Mary, that was burned at Smithfield,
February 4, 1555. Mrs. Sarah Kendrick died May
27, 1818, at the age of eighty-seven years. She was
the mother of six children, two of whom, a son and
a daughter, died in infancy. Those who lived to
maturity were : Stephen, Sarah, Abigail and Anna.
(V) Anna, youngest child of Benjamin and
Sarah (Harris) Kendrick, was born in Amherst,
October 30, 1768. On February i, 1790, she became
the second wife of General Benjamin Pierce, and
was the mother of President Franklin Pierce. She
died December 7, 1838. (See Pierce, VI).
The name of Tuck is one of the oldest
TUCK in this country, and it has been borne by
men eminent in politics, banking and
philanthropy. The family has never been a numer-
ous one ; in fact, the first three generations in Amer-
ica hung on a single thread, having but one male
representative to continue the line. The ancestral
home of the Tucks was at Gorlston, England, a vil-
lage of about four thousand inhabitants, immediately
adjoining Yarmouth, although the two are in separ-
ate counties. The Honorable Amos Tuck, of Exeter,
who visited the place in 1872, was struck by its re-
semblance to Hampton, New Hampshire, where the
first immigrant settled, and thinks that he may have
been influenced in his choice of location by that cir-
cumstance. He says that "one looks out easterly on
the sea, and westerly on marshes, as at Hampton ;
and you hear the beach spoken of as at Hampton,
with its public houses, in which summer boarders
are accommodated. The people live partly by fish-
ing and partly by farming. * * * Xhe fishermen
ply their business in larger vessels than at Hampton,
and go largely to the 'Dutch Coast,' as they call it,
ninety miles distant. May it not be that familiarity
with that coast acquired by fishermen, led Robinson
with his flock first to Holland? I suggested this to
Doctor Palfrey, the historian of New England, who
regarded it as highly probable. I observed, on my
return from Yarmouth to London, that for genera-
tions the people have been damming back the tide-
water from the marshy land, with very great ad-
vantage and success. Many thousand acres, once
salt marshes, have been converted into fertile, arable
land, and the finest south-down cattle were pasturing
in large herds upon the richest grass on these mead-
ows. I believe it practicable to create immense agri-
cultural wealth in New England by similar defences
against the sea, and that at some time in the future
the work will be done."
(I) Robert Tuck, the first American ancestor,
came from Gorlston, Suffolk county, a town one
hundred and twenty-five miles northeasterly from
London, whose situation has been graphically de-
scribed in the preceding paragraph. The date of his
birth is not known. With his wife and four chil-
dren he came to New England about 1636, and lived
a short time in Watertown and Salem, Massachu-
setts. In 1638 he was a petitioner, with others, for
leave to settle at Winnacunnet, afterwards Hampton,
this state. The petition was granted in September,
and Robert Tuck, according to tradition, was one of
those who began immediate settlement. On Septem-
ber 7, 1639, he was made freeman. RobertTuck
owned several hundred acres in different parts of
Hampton, but his dwelling was located near the
meeting-house, about the center of the new settle-
ment. Here for many years he kept a tavern or
ordinary, as it was known then, being the earliest
public house in town. To keep a house of this sort
required a license from the county court, and it was
stipulated that the landlord, or vintner, as he was
styled, should furnish food and lodging for travel-
lers, and stabling for horses at reasonable prices ;
and in Hampton (then a half-shire town) enter-
tainment for the court and juries, and clients attend-
ing the court.
After living in Hampton fifteen years or more
Goodman Tuck had occasion to visit England on
business, and was gone a year. Meanwhile another
person was licensed to carry on the tavern. Upon
his return to America Robert Tuck re-opened his
ordinary without waiting for a new license, and for
so doing he was fined five pounds. Three pounds of
this was afterwards remitted upon his petition to the
general court, stating that he had broken the law
through ignorance, and from that time till the close
of his life Goodman Tuck kept the ordinarj- in
Hampton. Besides being a vintner, he carried on
other occupations. By trade he was a tailor, though
it is not known that he worked as such after coming
to New England. He was also styled a chiurgeon,
the primitive title for one who practiced primitive
surgery. The town records, under date of May 15,
1658, mention a "seaman lying in Town under
(Goodman) Tuck's hands at surgerie." At a term
of court held in Hampton, October 5, 1652, Robert
Tuck sued Thomas Davis and Steven Kent, de- ,
fendants, "for refuseing to pay him for the cure oi
an Indian to ye valine of twelve pounds." Judgmeng
was awarded in favor of Tuck to the amount of
"tenn pound damage and cost of court." Roberf
Tuck held several town offices. He was selectman
in 1648-49-52-57. He held the office of town clerk
for three years and two months, or until May 15,
1650. On October 2, 1649, he was appointed "ye
Clarke of ye writts for the Town of Hampton," which
meant clerk of the commissioners for small causes.
Although he seems to have been a man of consider-
able prominence, Robert Tuck was not a large tax-
payer. In 1653 seventy-three persons paid taxes to
the amount of fifty-five pounds, five shillings and
ten pence, of which Tuck's portion was fourteen
shillings and six pence, almost precisely the average.
When he came to this country Robert Tuck had
a wife, Joanna, whose maiden name is unknown, and
four children, all of whom he brought with him ex-
cept the eldest son. There is no record of the dates
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
299
of birth of any of the family. The children were :
Robert. Elizabeth, Mary and Edward. Robert re-
mained in England, where he married and had a son
William, who afterwards settled in Essex, Massa-
chusetts, and became the ancestor of the Tucks of
that county. Elizabeth Tuck married John Sher-
burne, of Portsmouth, this state, and had four chil-
dren. Mary Tuck married Lieutenant John Sam-
borne, of Hampton, a man of considerable promi-
nence, who had ten children.. The sketch of Ed-
ward Tuck follows in the succeeding paragraph.
Goodman Robert Tuck died intestate, October 4,
1664, and administration upon the estate, which
amounted to three hundred and eighty-five pounds,
seventeen shillings and two pence, was granted to
Joanna Tuck, his widow, and to John Samborne, his
son-in-law. About four years later John Samborne
was made sole administrator, on consideration that
he "doe engage to pay ynto ye aforesaid widdow
Johannah Tuck the full sum of fiueteen pounds pr
yeare during ye terme of her natturell life & yt she
shall enjoy out of ye aforesd Estate the yse of two
cowes & three acres of meadow duering her life
* * * & other necessary things for her house-
keeping." Evidently this contract was too indefinite
or was not faithfully carried out, for at the court in
Hampton on October 14, 1673, "the aged widow
Joanna Tuck complained that she wanted necessary
comforts which John Samborn * * * did not
take due care to furnish, though there was suflicient
estate in his hands to do it." The court ordered the
selectmen to make appropriate relief, the payment to
come out of the estate ; but the widow Tuck did not
long profit by this decree, for she died just four
months later, February 14, 1674. An inventory of
the goods and chattels left from her husband's es-
tate, after her decease, amounted to twenty-nine
pounds and eleven shillings. There remained of
his real estate the value of two hundred and four-
teen pounds and eighteen shillings, showing that
Mrs. Tuck during the more than nine years of her
widowhood had absorbed about one hundred and
forty-one pounds, not an enormous sum for the sup-
port of an elderly woman, even in those times.
(II) Edward, younger son and one of the four
children of Robert and Joanna Tuck, was born in
England, probably at the family home in Gorlston,
and came to this country with his parents and two
sisters about 1636. The date of his birth cannot be
ascertained, but judging from his marriage, he might
have been not far from ten years old upon his ar-
rival in America. The record of his life is brief,
for he died only four years after his marrijige, having
lived probably not more than thirty years. By such
a slender link was the Tuck name perpetuated in this
country. Edward Tuck lived in Hampton, New
Hampshire, either with his parents or on some part
of his father's estate, and in 1648 married Mary Phil-
brick, daughter of Thomas Philbrick (i), who had
settled in that town not long before. There were
two children : Edward, born September S, 1648. who
died young; and John, whose sketch follows. Ed-
ward's death occurred somewhere between his fourth
and sixteenth year, because he was living on April
12, 1653, when a decree was made for the distribu-
tion of his father's estate, but had died before April
II, 1665, when a decree was made in regard to his
grandfather's estate. Edward Tuck, the father, died
intestate, April 6. 1652, leaving an estate amounting
to twenty-seven pounds and ten shillings, according
to the inventory. About 1655 his widow married a
second husband, James Wall, a widower of Hampton,
whose house lot adjoined Robert Tuck's on the
north. Like her first husband, he lived only about
four years, dying October 3, 1659; she outlived him
more than forty years. By the second marriage
there were also two children, both daughters : Mary,
born January 8, 1656, who married John Marston;
and Hannah, born March 17, 1658, who married Ben-
jamin Moulton. The two sons of Edward Tuck ap-
pear to have been under their mother's care — the
elder until his death and the younger till he was ap-
prenticed to a trade. About the time that John
Tuck came of age, he had a lawsuit with John Sam-
borne, the administrator of his grandfather's estate,
which was tried at the Salisbury term of county
court, held April 8, 1673. According to the records,
Robert Tuck had promised to Mary Philbrick, at the
time of her marriage to his son Edward, that he
would give the latter half his lands in Hampton,
"wch prmise was made as an encouragemt, or
Joynture for to moue & prswade ye sd Mary, ye
mother of ye sd plaintiff, to marrie wth ye sd Ed-
ward, ye plaintiff's father." John Tuck further
states that the said marriage took place, but the land
has never been received from his grandfather's es-
tate, according to agreement, "by ye non-perform-
ance whereoff, both ye plaintiff & his mother are
much damnified." It is a satisfaction to know that
the jury allowed the plaintiff' full damages, but the
defendant, John Samborne, appealed to the next
court, and subsequent records have been lost.
(Ill) Deacon John, younger of the sons of Ed-
ward and Mary (Philbrick) Tuck, was born in 1652,
probably at the family home in Hampton, New
Hampshire. He lived to be ninety years of age, and
filled a considerable place in his day and generation.
He owned much land, which he cultivated, but he
was by trade a carpenter. He also built and oper-
ated two mills, and perhaps this business was his
chief occupation. At a meeting held on September
17, 1686, the following vote was passed: "Upon the
motion of John Tuck" to the Town, the Town have
acted by vote to grant him liberty to set up a grist
and fulling mill upon Nilus River." The stream,
thus classically designated, has its principal source
in Alder Meadow situated in the northly part of
Hampton, and flows into a pond caused by an in-
undation of the sea in February, 1724. Deacon
Tuck dammed the river and built his grist-mill, but
finding the flow of water insufficient for two mills,
asked permission in 1689 to build another dam, a
mile farther up the Nilus. Even this proved in-
sufficient in some seasons, and in 1729 Deacon Tuck
obtained permission to build two more dams, one
across the outlet of some springs, and the other to
confine the waters of "Nook Run," which by ditch-
ing could be made tributary to the Nilus. Traces
of these dams can be seen to this day.
Mr. Tuck and his wife united with the church on
February 28, 1697, about seven weeks after their
marriage. On June 19, 1715, he was chosen deacon
of the church, which office he held until his death,
more tlian twenty-seven years later. On May 22,
1715, he writes that he is beginning to read the
Bible through for the thirteenth time. Deacon Tuck
was highly esteemed both for his ability and in-
tegrity, and was often chosen to fill office. He was
ten times elected selectman of Hampton — in 1680,-82-
87-88-94-98 and in 1700-11-16-17. On July 5, 1714,
he was chosen town clerk, which office he held
about fifteen years and eight months. He was twice
elected a deputy to represent the town in the general
assembly of the Province, which included both
Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The first time
the assembly met at Newcastle, this state, and after
adjournment to Hampton, was dissolved bj- Lieuten-
ant-Governor Usher, having been in session only five
3C0
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
days. The second time that Deacon Tuck was a
member the assembly met at Portsmouth on May
13. '^T^T- Governor Samuel Shute. of Bbston, pre-
sided at the meeting, which lasted seven days, be-
ing prorogued to September 24. On the latter date
Lieutenant-Governor George Vaughan, of New
Hampshire, presided. There arose some contention
between the governors as to their respective rights
in dealing with matters in New Hampshire, and it
is noteworthy that the three Hampton delegates
stood out for their own section, even to the extent
of being brought before "the Councill board," and
giving bonds to keep the peace. Thus early did the
name of Tuck stand for the right of private judg-
ment.
On February 28, 1659, (Deacon) John Tuck mar-
ried Bethia Hobbs, daughter of Morris and Sarah
(Eastow) Hobbs, who was born in Hampton, Feb-
ruary 28, 1659. There were nine children : Bethia,
born July 28, 1682, married John Marston. Mary,
born January 27, 1684, married Deacon Samuel
Shaw, of Hampton Falls. John, born April 19, 1687,
died the next year. Samuel and Sarah (twins),
born April 30, 1689. Hannah, born April 10, 1692,
married Jonathan Dearborn. Edward, born Febru-
ary 7, 1694. Jonathan, whose sketch follows. John,
born August 23, 1702, was graduated from Har-
vard College in 1723, and was pastor at the Isles of
Shoals more than forty years. Mrs. Bethia (Hobbs)
Tuck, the mother of this family, died May 29, 1738,
in her eightieth year. Deacon Tuck outlived his
wife nearly four years, dying Januarj' 4, 1742, aged
ninety years.
(IV) Deacon Jonathan, fourth son and eighth
child of Deacon John and Bethia (Hobbs) Tuck, was
born at Hampton, New Hampshire, September 11,
1697. He was a farmer and miller and lived on the
paternal homestead. He carried on the grist-mill at
Nilus Brook, built by his father, and he used to walk
the distance, two and one-half miles from his house,
accompanied by an old white horse, which carried
the neighbor's bags of corn and grain to be ground.
Deacon Tuck was a Avell informed and influential
man, and is said to have been distinguished for his
extensive and accurate geographical knowledge. He
served as selectman of Hampton for eight years,
1734-39-42-45-48-63-64-65. He was twice chosen to
the general assembly — the first time on February 12,
I7S3, to fill out an unexpired term of somewhat
more than two years; and the second time for the
regular term of three years. He was a man of
mark in the town, though somewhat noted for his
eccentricities. He was chosen deacon to succeed his
father, and held the ofiice till his death, nearly thirty-
nine years later. The office in those days was next
in dignity to that of the minister, and the Tucks,
father and sen, filled it continuously for a period of
sixty-seven years. It is said that Rev. Ward Cotton,
who was pastor during part of that time, was a very
excitable man, whose fervor sometimes became
alarming.. It was then the custom of Deacon Jon-
athan Tuck to strike his shoe against the pew in
front, which signal never failed to calm the clerical
zeal.
On February 22, 1721, (Deacon) Jonathan Tuck
married Tabitha Towie, daughter of Benjamin and
Sarah (Borden) Towle, who was born at Hampton,
May I, 1697. There were ten children : John, born
December 15, 1721. Bethia, born March 17, 1723,
married (first) Anthony Taylor: (second) Jonathan
Garland. Benjamin, born July 29, 1724. Mary
born July 26, 1727, married James Taylor, brother to
Anthony. Jonathan, born May 19, 1729, died young.
Sarah, baptized May 16, 1730, died young. Samuel,
born March 20, 1731. Abigail, baptized June 23.
1734, died the next year. Jonathan (2), the subject
of the succeeding paragraph. Tabitha, baptized
April 15, 1739, married Philemon Blake. Mrs.
Tabitha (Towle) Tuck died August 12, 1766, in her
sixty-ninth year. Her husband. Deacon Jonathan
Tuck, outlived his wife nearly fifteen years, dying
February 3, 1781, aged eighty-three.
(V) Jonathan (2), fifth son and ninth child of
Deacon Jonathan (i) and Tabitha (Towle) Tuck,
was baptized October 10, 1736, at Hampton, New
Hampshire. He inherited one-half of the paternal
homestead, and occupied the south half of the dwell-
ing-house. On October 30, 1766, he married his first
wife, -Betse}', daughter of John and Elizabeth (Moul-
ton) Batchelder. who was born September i, 1742.
She died April 3, 1772, in her thirtieth year, leaving
one daughter, Betty, born April 8, 1768. Betty Tuck
married (first) Simeon Leavitt, of Kensington, New
Hampshire, and (second) John Parker, of Exeter,
an Englishman by birth. Jonathan Tuck's second
wife was Huldah Moulton, daughter of John and
Mary (Marston) Moulton. who was born in Hamp-
ton, September II, 1746. There were four children by
this marriage: Josiah, born April 19, 1773. Jon-
athan, January 30, 1776. Samuel, September 18,
1778. John, a posthumous child, born August 23,
1780, one month and three days after the death of
his father. Of these children. Jonathan was thrice
married, and lived at the Isles of Shoals, Ports-
mouth, New Hampshire, and Parsonfield and Port-
land, Maine. He died at Effingham, this state, at the
age of eighty-three. Jonathan Tuck, the second son,
was by trade a carpenter, but followed the sea the
last ten years of his life. He never married, and
died at Saint Bartholomew, West Indies. August 2,
1809, in his thirty-fourth year. Captain Samuel
Tuck married Abigail Carter, of Exeter, and spent
most of his life in Parsonfield, Maine, where he w'as
engaged in farming, dying at the age of eighty-two.
The sketch of John Tuck, the youngest child, is given
in the follow-ing paragraph. Jonathan (2) Tuck,
the father of this family, died July 20, 1780. at the
early age of forty-three. His widow outlived him
nearly forty-five years, removing some time after her
husband's death to Parsonfield, Maine, where she
died February 6, 1825, in her seventy-ninth year.
(VI) John (2), youngest of the four sons of
Jonathan (2) Tuck and his second wife, Huldah
(Moulton) Tuck, was born August 23, 1780, prob-
ably at the family home in Hampton, New Hamp-
shire. He was a posthumous child, born thirty-four
days after the death of his father. John (2) Tuck
continued to live in Hampton some years after his
marriage, and his two eldest children were born
there. In 1807 he removed with his family to Par-
sonfield, Maine, where his mother and some of his
brothers were already living, and he continued to
make that place his home till his death, being
principally engaged in farming. About 1800 John
(2) Tuck married Betsey Towle. daughter of Amos
and Sarah (Nudd) Towle, of Hampton, who was
born August 5, 1783. There were six children by
this marriage: Jonathan, born September 21. 1801.
Sarah, December 14, 1804, married John Hodgdon,
of Effingham, New Hampshire, and died of con-
sumption at the age of twenty-five. Betsey, born at
Parsonsfield, August 25, 1807, married John Hodg-
don, her deceased sister's husband. Amos, whose
sketch follows. Mary, October 12. 1814. married
Daniel Wiggin, of Parsonsfield. John, April 8, 1819.
The eldest son, Jonathan Tuck, was educated at
Hampton .Academy, taught school winters, lived
at Parsonsfield about twenty years where he was
i^uu^ ^2Im!
-^Y.|,.,j.. j.| ,i^j-.^« )..^«».> •,*!,» ^i\f«L'xi CI V^'»iVliVlV\'l*."»^iifiJ.v
yPW HAMPFJITRF.
.1. 1.540
;he first
.-.vi, j^ . ame of
,,ith, in J.'i. a, John
fitted li 1), but
luablc to I of ill
;. He livi.. ; where
■arried Haniei A. 'vvii;.giij, iii 1CJ44, uiid then
■. ed his eldest hroth'-r tf Biddtford where he
'.d in business ing. John (,2) Tuck,
; ther of this fa 1 suddenly at Far^ous-
April 2^, 1847, M iiis ixty-seventh year. His
V, Mrs. Betsey (Towle) Tuck, died at the same
on her seventy-seventh birthday, August S,
v\II) Amos, second son and fourth child of
li (2) and Betsey (, Towle) Tuck, was born at
;;onslield, Maine, August 2. iSro. Mi- '.-Iher,
.11 (2) Tuck, had moved w
ijinshire, where six generni jd
ived, because tlie elder !■
luch of the family pro:
•■ the yOUUK^:
' fyrnis of 1
-laine. The
extreme -
;■ ring on i 10 . ...^-
;, became inured to
1 seventeen Amo^ t
uiiboring town of Eliingham,
re he began to prcDrire for i--
'. hing during tli ■
. : to Hampton ;
1 .1 with his teaching u..
1. became a member I'r
nii'iith College. He was u it
of ■ iventy-tive. Among . as
H.Try Hibbard afterw,.;.:- in
ooriyrcss, and in the next t. ler
coiif;ressional contemixa;.. ;il-
worth, of Chicago, also ' r-
wards president of the t ■•>\x
i.irinies, subsequently Unucd 6u: • ifom
towa. Upon graduation Amos J it* on«
rm in the academy at Pembroke,
d during the following winter bi.
inpton Academy where he rcm.niK .
luing the study of law,, until the sp;
hat time he resigned his position to c...ii,..^ . . .
rs with Hon. James Bell, of Exeter, .susbc-
ly United States senator. Mr. Tuck was i.d-
. ■! to the bar in November, [838, and sli.irtly
vard became a partner of Mr. Bell, 'then ..c
jing lawyers of the state. This coi'
' for eight years, during which t:
ved an extensive practice.
I ; Mr. Tuck was chosen represent;
Hampshire legislatuie, and took ;ni ..' i; l-
revision of the statutes cnncred lliat year.
was a Democrat at that ;; eveii'.s
uig which soon put him ■ id with
- of his party. It was in . .,, ^ Frank-
c t-'ierii', afterward president, decided that Jchn
Hale, A ho had boldly di.ssenled from President
J.^'cr's |ir .losal to annex Texas, should be de-
'•r pii of ,1 re-nomination to ocn^ress. This de-
■ ' n 10 sacrifice Hale ;■ Tuck, who
if Hale was read i' i-irty on ac-
nis Anti-Slavery > fTuck)
with him. The cr it was
■ '• to organiztj an ' ;•- nt
. :y. At the Fcbruav in
.1 1845, Mr. Tuck > .., uf
juiiii L. Hayes, of Portsmo..,.., „ ...wyer whose
to i
lan.i
Den I
thev
name, \, \
Fogg, a :
wards bci
and proi>
Exeter cc.
lican party.
At lltl:
fOUJ-t
to \'
lay, w'': uiciples for which they
1 long been established, it is difficult
1 courage and /•eal must havi? animated
\A of reformers, wiio ji' v>--'"
roads to the coiivntion in
'■':.' ■ " ■ rds
"1
;he
Hampshire! Fror
"Go \
One
Th>
For
Torn the black seal of
And in the dear tones e
Oh, all undreamed-of, ;
The Tyrant'? a'ly prov
is another poctn of
[■> -Mi- t I'.ji-. i..'J y.
quoting; :
little known.
.:e(l
, or-
iing iW-w Haiiip-
. It 1-5 cr-^'iimed
■„■■. lie wvim
302
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
"Charley" was Charles G. Atherton, of Nashua,
who had introduced the gag-law, so called, into
the New Hampshire legislature : "Papers and
memorials touching the subject of slavery shall be
laid on the table without reading, debate or refer-
ence."
The Independent movement, which seemed so
hopeless at first, resulted in the election of John
P. Hale to the United States senate in 1846, and of
Mr. Tuck to congress in 1847. Each was the first
Anti-Slavery sentiment — Joshua R. Giddings, of
elected to his branch of the government. When
/\mos Tuck took his seat in December, there were
but two other men in the house holding distinctly
Anti-Slavery sentiment — Joshua R. Giddings, of
Ohio, and Dr. John G. Palfrey, of Massachusetts,
and both of these had been elected as Whigs. An-
other colleague in that congress with whom Mr.
Tuck formed a strong friendship was a plain, awk-
ward man from Illinois — Abraham Lincoln, whose
future greatness no one could have presaged at that
time. Mr. Tuck was twice re-elected to congress,
closing his term of service there in 1853. That was
the year when he'called a meeting of Anti-Slavery
men of all parties with a view to better co-operation
and united action. The meeting was held, October
12, 1853, at Major Blake's hotel, later the Squam-
scott House, in Exeter, and on this occasion Mr.
Tuck proposed the name Republican for the new
party. The credit for the christening is usually
given to Horace Greeley; but his suggestion was
not made till the next year; and the great honor of
the name belongs to Amos Tuck.
Mr. Tuck was a member of the presidential con-
ventions of 1856 and i860, helping to nominate both
Fremont and Lincoln, and he took an active part
in the Peace Congress of 1861. President Lincoln,
tendered a foreign mission to Mr. Tuck which was
declined, and later offered him the appointment of
naval officer at Boston, which was accepted. Mr.
Tuck held the latter position until removed by Presi-
dent Johnson in the fall of 1865. Subsequently he
was appointed to the office of land commissioner of
the Atlantic and Pacific railroad in Missouri, which
caused him to make his home in St. Louis for a
number of years. Between 1847 and 1857 Mr. Tuck
was associated in legal partnership with Hlon. Wil-
liam O. Stickney, of Exeter, and afterwards with his
own son-in-law, Francis O. French. Mr. Tuck traveled
abroad several times, and in his later years was en-
gaged with Austin Corbin of New York City, a
native of Newport, this state, in railroad construc-
tion on Long Island.
Amos Tuck was always greatly interested in the
cause of education. He served as trustee of Dart-
mouth College for ten years, of Phillips Exeter
Academy nearly thirty years, took an active part
• in the organization of Robinson Female Seminary
at Exeter, and was president of the board of trustees
for several years. An old student of the Seminary
writes in grateful appreciation as follows : "E.xeter
is deeply and lastingly indebted to Mr. Tuck's wisdom
and sagacity in the work of establishing Robinson
Female Seminary. He was elected president of the
first board of trustees, and spared neither time nor
pains to carry out the will of the founder to supply
'such a course of education as would enable its
scholars to compete and successfully, too, with
their brothers throughout the world when they have
to take their part in the actual duties of life.' Forty
years ago the idea of the equal education of the
sexes was new to many. Mr. Tuck's aim was 'to
make the Seminary do for girls what the Phillips
Academy does for boys ;' and to this end he planned,
with his co-adjutors, the course of study and selected
the corps of instructors ; and the more closely his
precedents have been followed, the greater has been
the genuine prosperity of the school. When the
present edifice was dedicated, in September, 1869,
many and flattering were the encomiums showered
upon the wisdom, judgment and indefatigable labors
of Mr. Tuck. When called upon to speak, he
modestly disclaimed the power attributed to him,
but could not deny the ceaseless industry; ending
by saying, 'The only reward I desire is the success
of Robinson Seminary and the gratitude of the
graduates of the first four years.' "
Amos Tuck was a man of fine personal appear-
ance, pure and upright character and exemplary
home life. A political opponent, who had business
relations with Mr. Tuck, said of him : "He impressed
me as no other man ever did; candid, honest, un-
contaminated by contact with evil, with a high and
noble purpose, magnanimous, kind, generous and
deferential, but firm to his convictions of duty as the
eternal hills. He was in every sense a gentleman. I
never e.xpect to meet his equal." He was generous
to his friends and to every good cause, and gave lib-
erally of his abundant means to schools, churches,
missions and temperance work. Theodore Parker
said of him : ."His face is a benediction." A fine mar-
ble bust of Amos Tuck, presented by his daughter,
Mrs. F. O. French, of New York, stands in the main
hall of the State Library at Concord. The bust is the
work of the noted sculptor, Daniel Chester French,
a cousin of Francis O. French, and himself a native
of Chester, this state.
Amos Tuck was twice married. His first wife,
and the mother of his eight children, was Sarah Ann
Nudd, daughter of David and Abigail (Emery)
Nudd, who was born October 13, 1810, at Hampton,
New Hampshire, and died February 21, 1847, at
Exeter. The children, all but three of whom died
in infancy, were Abby Elizabeth, born November 4,
1835. Charles, December 26, 1836. Ellen, April 4,
183S. Edward, June 6, 1841. Edward, August 25,
1842. Isabella, April 25, 1844. Charles, July 10,
1845. Amos Otis, August 26, 1S46. The children
who lived to maturity were Abby Elizabeth, Ellen
and the second Edward, whose sketch is given in
succeeding paragraphs. Abby E. Tuck, the eldest
child, married William R. Nelson, of Peekskill, New
York, and had three children : Laura, Ellen Tuck
and Mary Delavan. Ellen Tuck Nelson married
Henry W. Stevens, son of Lyman D. Stevens, of
Concord. (See Stevens, VII). Mary Delavan Nel-
son married Rev. George Brinley Morgan, son of
Henry K. Morgan, of Hartford, Connecticut. After
the death of her first husband, Abby E. (Tuck)
Nelson married Orrin F. Frye, member of the firm,
Rand, Avery & Frye, of Boston. Ellen, the second
daughter of Amos and Sarah (Nudd) Tuck, married,
March 5, 1861, Francis O. French, grandson of Chief
Justice William M. Richardson, of New Hampshire.
(See Richardson, VI). Mr. French was graduated
from Harvard College in 1857, became a lawyer,
and afterwards a distinguished banker in New York
City. The children of Mr. and Mrs. French were :
Elizabeth R., who married General Eaton, of Eng-
land. Amos Tuck, who married Pauline LeRoy, of
Newport. Rhode Island. Benjamin B., who died
young. Elsie, who married Alfred Gwynne Vander-
bilt, of New York.
Amos Tuck married for his second wife, October
10, 1847, Mrs. Catherine P. Shepard, widow of John
G. Shepard, and daughter of John Townsend, of
Salisbury, New Hampshire. She was born January
20, 1815, and died without issue October 10, 1876,
cy^'V/V-^-^^^K-jJ/CL *^ '^^'^^'^^
'•i^'^*'\f.'.f^.Aiti>}*-'^ijyy*f*A'fi,iVi^*^ii^^^^^
NEW HAMPP^TDTT
.303
¥
¥}
y-liilitli aniiivi.:-
'i suddenly (;
1:1 Dcccmbiir 11, >■-
s. lie is buried in
. ^.1 so well, where hi
where he or^janized \>
!u'r>ed to make hisl'-'rv
■ ) Edward T\
!i Ann CNir'f!
■ Amos
home in
'i sixt>--
he town
his life,
. lUs that
. liid of Amos
■ rn in Exeter,
iiiteii for college at
entering Dartmouth in
1 J1S59 a:; a scij;:oniore. The training which
received at Phillips Academy not only
0(i bim to enter college upc ' — d ?tand-
\d\t also qualified him (or a i • of work
ighout his course. .He grac . . rii Dart-
;ih in 1862 among the first men of his class.
ing one or more of tlu* !'n.; v. ■;■ r vr.o:i!ions,
■- allowed for teaching, ! :a a
.ch family of ct;I'r-c r^^
fter graduatir in
father's office ''l^
! his eyes he w
-If. was able, th
■ the United ^
" experiment 1
>r'. ice. Mr. Tuck .-.■
with high cr-edit, and '.^
n Paris. The ITon. V
Sid general ai
i?ter. Within
■.: Minister Daviou .im.1, an',
ed to this coun'rv with fh'
'v- in charge o:' '' (t)as=y.
Bigelow's api' ir Mr. '
appointed vice-c^ j - ; '' "
;'aris. In 1866 Mr. Tu
ion, to which "'■' '" ' ' ■
banking hou^
!%■ and Paris. ,
ns he spent a part of i-
a part of the time abroa'
-tner in the company, r
:S8i, when he retired frc
.fr. Tuck was married in :.'
';ch. London, to Julia .Stol!, d
• ■ ''- ". Esquire, of Philade. ;.•''•' :>"' '"■■'
Chester. England.
,„. ,r of Mr. Tuck both in I'- • ■■ !■•
'■■e and in banking has been rem'
lity of his advancement — within t .
^'raduation from College vice consul at )'
within twelve years head of the New \
f one of the largest and most honorable of
national banking hnuses of tb>* time, aiile ;■•
'f thirty-nine to retire fr
iiancy of his career has
atever of "high fir —
nt the result of gt',
h moral r. ■■■'-•■•'
a fine sc,
X'o wo'-_
iples and methods than the words ;n
forth the principles and methods which
! lo have adopted in the conduct of the
'■V- School of .Administration and Finance,
■nts a part of his benefaction to Dart-
ri'j'
ri..
nu
■^IJILIU
on
d
to th>? ,
h^'
,\
-■ r.: • t ■ ,
d:.
pc;
arid a -i.^i'.-iiCe
from one's \
'lure^t'- !'»'-
T
!o vary a
trir
!ie path of ii
,nij
ho;
■t ronfidenre ii
fi'-
int;
To
be ....,.^u ...
best form 0:
followed by
^ . . . . , _ . , ,
■ ^ . . . I. .. i
.... ..^.
ness in publ
c
.jr business relations as well
as in
those of pri\
ate
life."
Although
Ml
. Tuck ha;
:i from
active
business h» t
ett
ins his per-
■St in financial
afir
ed by his l;ei,a\.i
it contribut
ons to
th(
:)iisl. and Statist
as well as to The
' '
Tie is an i
ntiniate friend of
'1 whose projects he is
identi-
..* \T,. .,
"v his
5 in
of Mr.
Tuck
r:r\ li'c
of his
. ailc
■ter."
:tio:
id viev
• iryar.d 01 tiic cctan, to
i access from time imn
luu DC a mistortune
'be stir-
tf
:n ■:.<■ , induct of the Sr! -■' ' ■ -
--■-' -■ - have '
ac
■ my father's memory tl'
his
s.
■ f 'rust that certp.i" -
rin-
nc
'1 which he gi
■' to
to
"len, whether en'
i or
■,-;;
ness career, may not be lost
1 tne va-
I f I I
• »l I "
I I I
3C>4
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
sympathy with her husband in his benefactions, is
actively identified with the charities of Paris, and
maintains at Rueil, where their covuitry home "Vert-
Mont" is located, a beautiful hospital, with extensive
grounds, for the benefit of the town.
Mr. Tuck has kept alive his early interest in
literature and art. His leisure, if such it may be
called, is only the larger opportunity for the exercise
of a well trained mind. Though for many years a
resident of Paris, Mr. Tuck keeps his house in New
York, and is a member of the Metropolitan and
the Union League clubs. Few men are better in-
formed in regard to political as well as economic
and financial conditions in this country. Through
his long residence in Paris Mr. Tuck's home is one
of the social centers in the American Colony, and no
less recognized in the social life of the city. In 1906
he was made Chevalier of the French Legion of
Honor.
This name is sometimes spelled
KENDRICK Kenrick and Kenerick in the early
records. Several of the family set-
tled in or about Boston during the first half of the
seventeenth century. George Kendrick was at Scitu-
ate, Massachusetts, in 1634; John was at Boston in
1639, and Caleb was at Boston in 1652.
Stephen Kendrick was born February 24, 1770,
in Lebanon, New Hampshire, and was married there,
October 8, 1797, to Thankful Howe. Their chil-
dren were : Stephen, James Howe, Egbert Benson,
John Benson, Mary Lowell, George Samuel, Henry
Lane, Martha Thankful and William Lowell.
(I) Egbert Benson, son of Stephen and Thank-
ful (Howe) Kendrick, was born at Lebanon, New
Hampshire, May 4, 1802. He was educated in the
common schools of that place, and became a. carpen-
ter and painter. He was a Republican in politics,
attended the Congregational Church, and was a
member of the Masonic fraternity. On January i,
1828, Egbert Benson Kendrick married Emma Wood,
daughter of Captain Joseph and Sarah Wood. She
was born October 22, 1805. There are seven chil-
dren : Joseph Wood Kendrick, born September 23,
1829, died August 28, 1848; Sarah Wood Kendrick,
born February 14, 1831, died August 30, 1870; Emma
Jane Kendrick, born January 27, 1835, deceased;
Clarissa Royce Kendrick, born December 14. 1836,
died September 4, 1902; Richard Henry Kendrick,
born July 14, 1840, died April .16, 1867; Francis
Brown, born June 27, 1842, died January 8, 1843;
Frank Brown, whose sketch follows ; Harlan Page
Kendrick, born October 29, 1848, died about 1900.
Egbert B. Kendrick died February 15, 1887, at the
goodly age of eighty-five, and wife died Septem-
ber 30, 1877.
(II) Frank Brown, third son and sixth child of
Egbert Benson and Emeline (Wood) Kendrick, was
born at Lebanon, New Hampshire, March 25, 1845.
He was educated in the common schools of his na-
tive town, and learned the jeweler's trade, at which
he worked for twenty years. In 1867 he started in
business for himself, manufacturing watch keys
and watchmakers' tools, of which there are over
three hundred different kinds. The establishment
also makes electric motors and electric novelties. It
is one of the largest manufacturing plants of its
kind in the world, and employs over eighty people
the year around. I\Ir. Kendrick has a partner, W.
F. Davis, associated with him, and the firm name
is Kendrick & Davis, Besides his own factory Mr.
Kendrick has contributed much to the business pros-
perity of Lebanon. He built the mill for the Mas-
coma Flannel Company, of which Dr. George G.
Kennedy, of Roxbury, Massachusetts, was presi-
dent, and Mr. Kendrick himself was manager and
treasurer. He was also one of the builders of the
Everett Knitting Mill, of which he is president and
director. He is also vice-president and director of
the National Bank of Lebanon. Mr. Kendrick is
a Republican, and represented the town in the
legislature in the year 1889. On February 3, 1868,
Frank Benson Kendrick married Belle Mary Goff,
daughter of William Harrison and Eliza (Barker)
Goff, who was born in Barnard, Vermont, April 25,
1845, and died at Lebanon, November 28, 1906.
There are no children, but they have adopted two —
Leon W. Kendrick and Christine E. Kendrick. Mr.
Kendrick lives in ,a substantial brick mansion built
by his grandfather over one hundred years ago,
which faces the square in Lebanon.
(I) John Kenrick was born in Amesbury.
Massachusetts, December 17, 1764, and was killed
by accident in 1806. He married Sarah Colbj', born
in Amesbury, January 25, 1771. They were the
parents of nine children. After the death of her
husband, Sarah married David Marsh.
(II) Stephen, ninth and youngest child of John
and Sarah (Colby) Kenrick, was born in Haverhill,
Massachusetts, June 15, 1806, and died in Franklin,
New Hampshire, August 4, 1884, aged seventy-eight
years. John Kenrick dying the year of Stephen's
birth, he never knew what it was to have the advice
and counsel of a father, but he was not without
true and helpful friends. His stepfather was a
kind man and took an interest in the child and saw
that he went to the best schools until he was fifteen
years old. Stephen then went to Franklin, New
Hampshire, where he remained a short time and then
to Mclndoe's Falls, Vermont, where his brother
Timothy was a prominent citizen and prosperous
merchant. There Stephen was employed in his
brother's store and received valuable and systematic
instruction which proved of value to him in after
life. From that place he went to Bangor, Maine,
and then to Barnet, Vermont, where he engaged in
trade as a partner with James Howe. Then after
a short time he removed to Boscawen Plains, New
Hampshire. In 1831 he formed an advantageous
partnership with Mr. Brewer of Mclndoe's Falls,
where he continued in business until 1836, when he
removed to Franklin, New Hampshire, which he
made his permanent place of residence during the
remainder of his life. For many years he was
largely interested in various railroad projects and
contracts, in connection with Joseph A. Gilmore,
afterwards governor of New Hampshire, and John
A. Lyon. From those enterprises he derived much
profit, and became largely interested in the owner-
ship of several railroads. He was president of the
Concord S: Portsmouth railroad from about 1861 until
the time of his death. For many years before his
demise he was president of the National Bank at
Hillsborough Bridge, of which he was a large
stockholder. He was also trustee of the Franklin
Savings Bank. In the financial and prudential affairs
of Franklin he felt a deep interest, and occupied
various ofiicial positions, gifts of his fellow citizens.
He was elected selectman of the town and filled
that office during the years 1849-50-51-54 and 1872.
In 1859 and in 1861 he filled the office of representa-
tive in the New Hampshire legislature. For many
years he was a member of the Congregational Church
in Franklin, and was one of the most influential
and generous supporters. While Mr. Kenrick was
a citizen of Franklin he was concerned and well
informed in the important interests of the town,
state and nation. He had leisure and opportunity
I
^//^
'■■^'^V
•(iMl^.)*'^f*''
f/'A.i/^/C
J
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
305
to inform himself so as to discharge intelligently,
his own private trusts and duties, as well as those
belonging to the good citizen. The knowledge and
experience acquired by him in trade, banking and
railroad affairs, were of much value to himself and
useful to others.
He married, December 2g, 1S33, Clarissa A.,
youngest daughter of Captain Ebenezer Blanchard,
of Franklin, who survived him and died October
12, 1S93. Seven children were born to them : Eben-
ezer B., died young; Ebenezer B. {2), died young;
Stephen B., Charles C, John Smith, Dr. Timothy
Francis and Clarissa Ann. Four of these died
young; three, Stephen B., Charles Colby and Dr.
Timothy F., are mentioned below.
(Ill) Stephen B., third son and child of Stephen
and Clarissa A. (Blanchard) Kenrick, was born in
Franklin, April 9, 1842, and died at his home in
Clinton, Iowa, January 30, 1896. He went west
when a young man and was extensively engaged in
various railroad enterprises, and finally became gen-
eral superintendent of the Fort jMadison & North-
western railroad. He was a prosperous citizen and
a successful railroad officer. He married Lizzie A.
Rowe, of Plymouth, New Hampshire, who sur-
vnes him and resides in Clinton, Iowa.
(Ill) Charles Colby, fourth son and child of
Stephen and Clarissa A. (Blanchard) Kenrick, was
born in Franklin, April 8, 1844, and died October
6, 1903. He was educated in the common schools
and at the academies in Boscawen and New London.
He was a great lover of horses, and started out
when a young man in the livery business in Frank-
lin Falls, in which he was engaged until 1894. He
also carried on the business of breeding stock,
both before and after that time, making tine horses
and cattle a specialty, and owniing some of the
finest horses in the state. His interest in farming
was great and he carried on that vocation on a large
scale, employing" a number of men to perform the .
work. As a farmer he raised more hay and corn
than any other person in the town of Franklin. He
was a generous employer and a prompt paymaster.
He was extensively and profitably engaged in the
wood and lumber business for a number of years.
For some time before his death he was a stock-
holder and director in the Franklin Savings Bank,
of Franklin Falls. He was a man of good judg-
ment and had a keen aptitude for the real estate
business, and at one time had larger interests in that
line than any other man in the city. He built
and owned many of the finest blocks and dwellings
in B'ranklin and Franklin P'alls. In political mat-
ters Mr. Kenrick was a stalwart Republican, and al-
ways showed an active interest in political matters.
He represented Franklin in the lower house of the
legislature two years, and was also on the board of
selectmen several years, being chairman of the board
in 1886. He was elected state senator for the terms
of 1897 and 1898. He was prominently identified
with various fraternal orders and was a member of
St. Andrew's Lodge, Knights of Pythias, of which
he was also a cliarter member. He was also a mem-
ber of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He
was an enterprising, pro.-perous and substantial
citizen, and his influence was felt in the community.
He was full of activity and energj-, and was de-
cidedly one of the most widely known and successful
men in Franklin. He had many and various inter-
ests, and his spirit and energy were adequate to
whatever he undertook. He married, in Franklin,
August 5, 1894. Arabelle Rowe Morgan, of Gilford.
She was born November 26, 1849, daughter of James
and Luciuda (Harper) Rowe. Mr. and IMrs. Ken-
i — 20
rick have an adopted child, Florence M., born June
10, 1884.
(HI) Dr. Timothy Francis Kenrick, sixth son
and child of Stephen and Clarissa A. (Blanchard)
Kenrick, was born in Franklin, July 8, 1849, and
died in Naples, Italy, January 29, 1879, aged thirty
years. He graduated from Dartmouth College in
1871, and entered upon the study of medicine. He
received his degree from Bellevue Hospital Medical
College, New York, June i, 1874, and applied him-
self with much enthusiasm to the study of insanity
and the best methods of treating and managing those
aft'ected with that disease. His mild temper and
great power of self control, united with his skill
and learning, gave him signal success in this de-
partment of his profession. He was fortunate in
early securing the patronage and friendship of Dr.
I. W. Barstow, the eminent manager of Sanford
Hall Asj-lum, at Franklin, New York. Here was
the field of his labors until 1876, wdien he became as-
sistant surgeon in the New York State Lunatic
Asylum at Utica. There his success met the ex-
pectations of his friends, and his attainments com-
manded the respect and confidence of his associates
and the managers of the institution. His life was
sacrificed to the malarial climate of Naples, while
he was traveling for the benefit of the health of one
of his diseased and wealthy friends. His early and
premature death brought extreme sorrow to the
hearts of his parents and many friends,
The Drew (Drewe) family of England
DREW descends from an early noble Norman.
The line can be traced through centuries.
According to a preamble to the Drew pedigree,
given by the King of Arms. "The ancient and
knightly family of Drew of Devonshire are lineal
descendants from Richard, Duke of Normandy,
grandfather of William the Conqueror. Descendants
of this line are now residents at Drewscliffe, Devon.
On their escutcheon is an ermined lion, passant,
gules, langued and armed. The quarterings show
intermarriages with the Cliffords and other noble
families. Crest : a bull's head erased sable; in his
mouth three ears of wheat, or. Motto: Drogo,
noiiicii ct virtus arina dcdit." Members of this
family accompanied William the Conqueror to Eng-
land, took part in the battle of Hastings (1060),
and were granted lands in Devon, Hereford and
elsewhere. The grants are enrolled in the Dooms-
day Book.
(I) The first American ancestor of the Drew
family was a grandson of Sir Edward Drew, of
Drewsclift'e, Devonshire, who was knighted by Queen
Elizabeth in 1589. Of his descendants many may be
found in New England, among them Samuel Drew,
who was born at Shapleigh, Maine, about 1756. He
moved to Plymouth, New Hampshire, just before
the beginning of the revolutionary war. At the age
of nineteen he enlisted July II, 1775, in the company
of Captain James Osgood, of Colonel Timothy
Bedel's regiment of rangers, whicli soon joined the
Northern Continential armj- under General Mont-
gomery. This regiment participated in the invest-
ment and capitulation of the fortresses of St. John
and Chambly: continued with the army beseiging
Quebec, and after an arduous and perilous service
was discharged in December. 1775. While in the
field. November 26th. 1775, Samuel Drew and nine-
teen other men of Captain Osgood's company re-
enlisted in Captain Charles Nelson's company, one
of tlie four companies forming Major Brown's de-
tachment. This detachment was stationed on the ad-
vance line of the American army, and took part in
;o6
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
the attack on Quebec, in which General Montgomery
was killed. Major Brown's detachment remained
with this army successively under Generals Arnold,
Wooster, Thomas and Sullivan. The story of its
retreat in the following May and June and its arrival
at Crown Point in July, 1776, is a sad and familiar
page in the history of the American Revolution.
Samuel Drew served as a private two years and six
months, and was honorably discharged December 31,
1777. In Plymouth, January 29, 1779, he married
Elizabeth (Webber) Webster, daughter of Edmund
Webber, and widow of Amos Webster, who was
killed at the battle of Saratoga, October 7, 1777.
He removed from Plymouth to Bridgewater, New
Hampshire, in 1785. The citizens of Bridgewater
held their first town meeting at his residence. The
children of Samuel and Elizabeth were : Atnos
Webster, Benjamin, Elizabeth, Samuel, Sarah, Mary
and John. Samuel Drew died while visiting his son
Samuel, in New York state. Elizabeth, his wife,
died at the home of her son John in New Hampton,
New Hainpshire.
(II) Benjamin, second son of Samuel and
Elizabeth (Webber) Drew, was born at Plymouth,
New Hampshire, April 17, 1785. At Bridgewater,
July 6, 1807, lie married Sarah Harriman, daughter
of John and Sarah Heath Harriman, of Bridgewater.
He moved to New Hampton, New Hampshire, in
1811, and resided there until January, 1821, when he
removed to Stewartstown, New Hampshire. "Squire"
Benjamin Drew was a notable citizen. He was
elected to all the offices within the gift of his fellow-
townsmen ; he was selectmen for six years, and repre-
sentative to the general court of New Hampshire
in 1830-31. Charitable and generous, his superior
character and ability made him an influential and
useful man in the pioneer life of northern New
Hampshire. Benjamin Drew died October 5, 1869.
His wife, Sally Harriman Drew, died December
10, 1870. She was intelligent, strong, and was a
leader in the little community in which she lived.
Their children were : Amos Webster, Mary Harri-
man, Lucy, Sarah, Benjamin and Edwin Warren.
(III) Amos Webster, eldest son of Benjamin
and Sarah (Harriman) Drew, was born at Bridge-
water, April 5, 1808. He went with his father to
Stewartstown in 1821. November 15, 1835, he mar-
ried Julia Esther, daughter of Hubbard and Abigail
(Bumford) Lovering, of Colebrook, New Hamp-
shire. Mrs. Drew was born in London, New Hamp-
shire. She possessed great strength and nobility of
character, intelligence, and an amiable disposition
which endeared her to her family and many
friends.
Immediately after his marriage, Mr. Drew set-
tled in Stewartstown. He was a man of strong
common sense and sterling integrity, and had re-
ceived better than an average education, therefore
he was well equipped for the busy, useful life be-
fore him. He was town clerk of Stewartstown two
years, and selectman six years. In 1843 he went
to live at Colebrook. In that town he was elected
selectman six years and representative to the state
legislature in 1847-48. In 1850 he returned to South
Hill, Stewartstown, and made his home for many
years on a farm near the old homestead. In these
days, as in the years that followed. Garrison, Phil-
lips, Hale and others were agitating the slavery
question, and Mr. Drew, though a strong Democrat,
was not a believer in Negro slavery or "States
rights," as defined by the people south of Mason and
Dixon's line and their sympathizers. He voted for
the anti-slavery resolutions in the state legislature,
and advocated principles which for the succeeding
twenty years kept national politics much of the
time at fever heat. When the southern states be^
gan to secede, his hand and his voice were for
Union. In the spring of 1861, after Fort Sumter
had been fired upon, at a meeting held in the town
hall of Colebrook, swords were presented to Cap-
tain Smith and Lieutenant Hutchinson, who were
to command the company that had been raised in
that town. The meeting was full of good feeling
and patriotic fervor, and Mr. Drew's speech for
Union and Liberty made a marked and lasting im-
pression on his auditors. From that time until the
return of peace, he gave his best efforts to the
Union cause. At home, he kept full the quota of
his town, and November 11, 1863, he was appointed
special recruiting agent for Stewartstown, Clarks-
ville and Pittsburg.
Mr. Drew was the business man of the com-
munity m which he lived. He drew nrany wills,
deeds and other papers, and was frequently called
upon to act as commissioner, administrator or exe-
cutor in the settlement of estates. In 1852-53 he
was elected county treasurer ; in 1862-63 he was state
senator from the "Old Twelfth District ;" in Novem-
ber, 1871, he was appointed county commissioner for
the unfinished term of Isaiah N. Pickard, and after-
ward was twice elected to this office, serving as
county commissioner until May, 1876. He was
justice of the peace from 1848 to 1886, and coroner
from 1842 to 1873. In all these positions he per-
formed his duties with wisdom and judgment. In
neighborhood difficulties his counsel was often
sought and his advice was wise and helpful. March
25, 1834, Mr. Drew was commissioned ensign in a
state militia company by Governor Samuel Dinsmore.
The following year he served in the Indian Stream
War, a disturbance of considerable magnitude be-
tween the residents of Canada and the people of the
"North Country" over disputed boundaries. August 17,
1836, he was made lieutenant by Governor Isaac
B. Hill ; March 2, 1838, captain by the same authority;
and July 19, 1842, adjutant of the Twenty-Fourth
regiment, by Governor Henry Hubbard. He under-
stood military tactics thoroughly, was a good dis-
ciplinarian, and made a fine reputation as an officer.
His scrupulous honesty and high regard for per-
sonal integrity commanded the respect of all his as-
sociates. His public spirit and hospitality, his efforts
in behalf of education and local improvements, his
regard for law and order and good government, in-
spired the confidence of his friends and fellow
citizens. He read much, and by the fireside dis-
cussed with his wife and children politics, morals,
religion and other questions of the day, and his
fluency in expressing his ideas made him an inter-
esting and instructive talker and a convincing de-
bator. In religion, though a strong believer in the
ultimate salvation of all men "Through the good-
ness of God who makes no mistakes," he was toler-
ant of the beliefs of others.
Amos Webster Drew died at the age of eighty,
March 22, 1888. Julia Esther (Lovering) Drew, his
wife, died at the age of seventy-five, April 22, 1890.
Of their children five sons and two daughters lived
to maturity, i. Lucy Abigail, born May 4, 1843,
graduated at Kimball Union Academy, 1863 ; died
at Colebrook, October 23, 1886. 2. Irving Webster
(see below). 3. Benjamin Franklin, born June 29,
1848, married Alice Blodgett, August 7, 1875, at
Colebrook. Their daughter Josephine, born Octo-
ber 5, 1877, married Frederic C. Carlton, April 30,
1903, at Colebrook, New Hampshire. 4. Edwin
Warren, born June 28, 1850, married, April 23,
1884, Abby Crawford, daughter of Frank Crawford,
■'V''tri="i'/^.fi;;^t ;■'??•■'■•"•*'
.rP^
-■¥";-
lease ote#
. 1*1
.'dy-z-'-^-r-^'
1
I
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
307
of. Colebrook ; their
born March
time he has been
Kepuhlican.
He has a
17, 1886; Ellen, Dct.
a. October
well i-;triu(l rnmr:.
. •r,.l,., - ,„■
•-■nizcr and
J 10, 1890. 5. Julia Kj
I ried August 14, iXy-
: ;, niar-
a :.
on the
'•atford,
plal
, be con-
! New Hampshire, :■
lusetts;
sidt .
^^o^•ern-
i iheir children are
.'.lay 20,
mciu.
r prefer-
{ i.*<oi . Frederic Dn
0. Holman
meiu. Ml . 1
Kure in
J Ar:;;ur, born Aug-
Kited at St.
many cainpai.;
manv
jM Jn isliury Academ.'
I.
1 i^oUege 1S83;
triends i. '
■.■Id
H ;ied Mary Bci
Colonel Hazen
political
H !■ ':■:]. Colebrook,
,„.,,.,.:, re
7. Edward
candidate •■,,
H iitt. born ScpU-mber
-•4. >S5o;
married. June
he has persi,-:
S90, Katherine Sicible, of Dubuque, Iowa; home
la, Nebraska; died at Colebrook, New Hamp-
.:)o. May 19, 1901; their son, Glenn Everett, born
June 15, 1900, at Omaha, Nebraska.
(IV) Irving Webster, eldest surviving .son of
- VIS W. Drew, was born at Colebrook, New Hamp-
:;i'. January 8, 1845. He inherited from his New
L;iand ancestors strong intellectual p'
. i>i constitution. He fitted for coK
i Union Academy, and gradual '
l.c class of 1870. On the ■
-^.i^tve course, '*''■ ' "• ■ .■i.'..r-.
Kay & Ladd. .
dent. He wii-
1871.
William S. Ladd was ap^
supreme judicial court," Oclobei ji, 1
Drew succeeded him as a member o:
Ray & Drew, January i, 1872. In May, liirj. li'-'ii.
William Heywood was received into partnership
; . 'l.-r the firm name of Ray, Drew & Heywood.
1 -^ter B. Jordan, afterward governor of New
i Hampshire, succeeded Mr. Heywood in May, 1876,
and the firm name became Ray, Drew & Jordan. On
ihe admission of Philip Carpenter, January I. 1882,
it was changed to Ray, Drew. Jordan & Carpenter.
.Mr. Ray, having been elected to congrcv^ in 1880,
retired from the firm early in 1884. ^ 'Sr
removed to New York C^f\ in i88- ■'
time the firm was Drew
1893, when William P :
partnership of Drew, Jfir : 1 ■ M .ikkI'; jnnii}
I, 1901, Merrill Sburtleff came into the lirm of
i3rew, Jordan, Buckley & Shurtleff. Mr. Buckley
died January 10, 1906. The following March, George
F. Morris was admitted a member of the present
:Viiu of Drew, Jordan, Shurtlefif & Morris. At
iilicrent times this otlfice has given to the ptiblic
-ervicc a judge.'a congressman, a governor, and 1
~tate senators. But, however this law firnr has Ik.
01 Minted. Mr. Drew has been a conspicuously
• ' '.1 member. His career as !i lawyer has been
Ik
elected to the ... .
whose opinion is of wi 1
a record as a judicious >:
mentarian, a superior debat'
senator."
Mr. Drew was a delegate : uic
national conventions held at Cinci: and
in 1892 and 1896. In iS;.-^ iw .-..ir j.mi-
'■ major of the Third Regiment New i iam|.-
' ' ird, and served three years, lie
inoters and builders of the Upper
1 railroads, and has been a di-
icr since its organization. Mr.
if !!i!' L.TiK-,;.:t:r \',:niinal Bank,
:k Guar-
- been a
;V'r many
r; of ri)\
PUbi.v -;
history
brilliant ^ _
to win .success in the courts, i ■
outline of achievement in the r.y,.
the Man has chiselled the 1:
and honor. Mr. Drew is i\
New Hampshire as an able lavvyei, a ver.-
quent advocate, and ;i formidable oppoi
though
temper .
that his
Mr. Dn
hood, i
ac(< r ai
;e sometimes sharj
itnascus, he leaves i
r,' nature does ivn av.u.
' yment of mature man-
. ...^d strength to his char-
is intellect. His future is
' e of continued usefulness.
' circle at Lanca,ster he is a
, companion.
'ler 4, 1.S69, Caroline Hatch
icrburn R. Merrill f^f Cole-
lii..
ig and successful. I
-ix years of
i\c practice, he ha> di
iiiwers to the
iLSsion which lu
All the di-
■ ;.,
idiis of busiiie-
olitical con-
livi''
iiu have been 1
< onscien-
\
and thorough.
.ith stu-
>87.s
care and goc:-
. know -
at •
1 of the law and ;
nmand.
of •.;
I nstinctively finds tli
liich he
Mas
\ 1.. the weight of ai:
.quence
1 '
.^o-.ind rea.son. He i-
■•\g wit-
at 1
■^cs and developing d
e more
leg<
lit in managing a >
iig one.
law
1:1 advocate he is lo'
' -iia-
^
The number and ■:
he
alc<'.
i managed, in and out
r.llCSt
i,v^
- a'lility as a lawyer.
In politics, Mr. Drew
icratic
i until free •silver and
■ok
'&>.
-i.ision of that organizati' ■
.iiat
Mai.
. who by her i"
:,VA
has contribul'
I'l
Of their four • ■
,. 1 ■ ,
■rc'
■ )u^, ^r.u iir;icU;.«.3
. iii'i-ii I ' ■■ ..du-
ll School :oge
.■iiij J, '"^' ..i ifall,
lartmoull .rd Law
a nieml.. :.. ol" Power=
Their cliilurci are- Dorothy, born
-y^j, and tiichard Drew, May 19, 1904.
3o8
NEW HAMPSHIRE
(IV) Benjamin Franklin, son of Amos W.
and Julia Esther (Lovering) Drew, was born at
Colebrook, New Hampshire, June 28, 1848. He was
educated in the common schools and at Kimball
Union Academy, Meriden, New Hampshire. After
finishing his education he went out to Wisconsin
where he remained two years. He then came back
to New Hampshire and farmed for several years,
teaching school during the winters at Colebrook,
Columbia and Stewartstown, New Hampshire, and
Canaan, Vermont. Since then he has had a farm
and has carried on a store with his brother, Warren
Edwin Drew. Lately he sold out his interest and
is now trading in phosphates and farming ma-
chinery. In politics he is a staunch Democrat, but
seeks no office. He has served as postmaster of
Colebrook for six years — two years under Presi-
dent Hayes and four years under Cleveland. Mr.
Drew is a member of Evening Star Blue Lodge
and Council, chapter and comraandery, Ancient
Free arid Accepted Masons, and has held all the
chairs in Blue Lodge except that of master. He
belongs to North Star Chapter and Commandery
and to the Knights of Pythias. Benjamin Franklin
Drew married, August 5, 1875, Alice, daughter of
Tliomas B. and Josephine (.Piper) Blodgett, of
Stewartstown, New Hampshire. They have one
daughter, Josephine E., who married Fred Carleton,
of Colebrook.
(.IV) Holnian Arthur, fourth son and sixth
child of Amos Webster and Esther (Lovering)
Drew, was born in Stewartstown, August 21, 1857.
He prepared for college at Colebrook Academy and
afterward entered Dartmouth College, from which
he was graduated in 1883. Following that he read
law in the office of Drew, Jordan & Carpenter, at
Lancaster for two years, and thence went to Omaha,
Nebraska, where he was admitted to the bar in
1885, and practiced until 1888. He then returned
to New Hampshire and engaged in the retail hard-
ware business in Colebrook, and has since remained
in trade. Formerly a Democrat he left the party
of Bryan and free silver to support McKinley and
the gold standard in 1896, and has since been a
staunch Republican. In 1904 he was nominated for
the shrievalty of Coos county, and elected, and in
1906 was again elected to that office. Mr. Drew in-
herits from his paternal ancestors the quality of
executive ability, and has discharged the duties of
his office with promptness and commendable fidelity.
He is prominent in Masonic circles, and a member
of Evening Star Lodge, No. 37, of Colebrook;
North Star Royal Arch Chapter, No. 16, of Lan-
caster, North Star Council, No. 13, Royal and Select
Masters, of Colebrook ; North Star Commandery,
Knights Templar, of Lancaster ; and is senior grand
deacon of the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire. He
is also a member of Knights of Pythias, and of the
Independent Order of Foresters. He married, April
22, 1892, Mary Bedell, who was born March 7, i860,
daughter of Hazcn Bedell, of Colebrook (see
Bedell).
(HI) Warren Edwin, youngest child of Benja-
min and Sally H. (Flarriman) Drew, was born in
Stewartstown, December 10, 1827, and died on the
homestead where he had spent his life, March 10,
1894. He was educated in the district and private
schools of Stewartstown, receiving about the same
amount of mental training that other boys of the
neighborhood in similar circumstances received.
Being studious and having a retentive memory he
qualified himself to teach, and in the course of a
few years taught eight terms of school. He had been
a farmer bov. and as a man lie loved to till the soil.
and while not engaged in teaching gave his attention
to agriculture. There was no time in his life when he
was not a farmer, and in following that vocation
he made a good living and always had his farm
in a fine state of cultivation ; but his qualifications
for other affairs were well known to those who knew
him, and he was called to fill various political offices,
which he did in a manner so efficient as to receive
the approbation of those he served. He was su-
perintendent of schools of Stewartstown for eight
years, 1849 to 1857; town clerk three years, 1851
to 1854; selectman 1863-64-67-68-69-70-83-85; repre-
sentative in 1857-5S; county commissioner from 1861
to 1864; county treasurer from 1868 to 1870; a
member of the state board of equalization from the
time of its organization until the time of his death :
and a delegate to the constitutional convention of
1876. In political faith he vi'as a Democrat, a be-
liever in the precepts and traditions of Jefferson and
Jackson. Liberal in religious opinions and affiliating
with no church, he was yet a moral man of strictly
temperate habits. When the grange was instituted
he saw the benefit it might bring to the farmer,
and became a member of the organization and later
master. He married, March 28, 1852, Marietta Hall,,
who was born July 7, 1833, daughter of Luther
F. and Mary (Piper) Hall, of Stewartstown. Six
children were born of this union : John W., Walter,.
Carrie, Byron, Alice and Hattie H. John W. and
Walter are mentioned below; Carrie married Fred
H. Noyes ; Alice is the widow of Allen Dudley, and
resides in Colebrook; Byron receives further mention
in this article ; Hattie H. married James F. Carr, and
lived in Colebrook.
(IV) John Webster, eldest child of Edwin W.
and ^Marietta (Hall) Drew, was born in Stewarts-
town, April 25, 1854. After leaving the common
schools where he acquired his education, he became a.
clerk in the general store of Crawford & Frye, of
Colebrook, where he was employed about one and a
half years, and then for J. W. Cooper & Son in the
same capacity for an equal length of time. Having,
obtained a practical idea of merchandising, he then
bought an interest in the firm of Wentworth &
Capren, which two years later became Wentworth,.
Capren & Drew. This partnership continued three
years, and then Mr. Drew became sole proprietor
and carried on the business for the next five j'ears.
He then admitted his cousin, Warren Edwin Drew,
as a partner, and the firm became J. W. Drew & j
Company, later W. E. & J. W. Drew, and in 1901
John W. Drew again became sole owner of thej
business which he has since carried on alone. Mr.
Drew has been in the mercantile business for a num-
ber of years and has experienced the changes 1
incident to a long period of time, and is now a
prosperous merchant and one among the old and
time-tried traders of the town. Following the ex-
ample of his ancestors, he has always voted the-
Democratic ticket, but has never held public office.
He is a member of the three great fraternal societies;
is a member of Evening Star Lodge, No. 37, Free
and Accepted Masons, of Colebrook, Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, and Knights of Pythias. He
married, November 11, 1882, Bessie G. Marshall, of
Colebrook, who was born July 6. 1862, daughter of
John C, and Sarah (Gilman) Marshall.
(IV) Walter, second son and child of Edwin
W. and Marietta (Hall) Drew, was born March
27, 1857. He obtained his education in the public
schools of Stewartstown, at Colebrook Academy,
and at Kimball Union Academy, at Meriden. Later
he began the study of law in the office of William
H. Slnirtlefi'. which he cnnlinued there for two
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
309
years, and then tliree years more in the office of
James I. Parsons, of Colebrook, and for two years
he was a clerk to Mr. Parsons. At the age of
twenty-one he was chosen superintendent of the
public schools of Stewartstown, and occupied that
position from 187S to 18S2. Three 3'ears later he
was appointed deputy sheriff of Coos county and dis-
charged the duties of that office tive years. For
fifteen years he was a member of the school board,
and member of the board of selectmen live years,
two years of which time he was chairman. Dur-
ing President Cleveland's first administration he held
the office of deputy collector and inspector of cus-
toms at Colebrook four years. He was appointed
member of the board of trustees of the New
Plampshire College of Agriculture and ^Mechanic
Arts, a position he still occupies. He is also a mem-
ber of the Democratic state central committee. He
owns one-half the stock of the Colebrook Electric
Company, and the entire plant which furnishes the
power. He is an insurance broker and lumber dealer
and the agent of corporations, chiefly the ilaine
Central and Boston & Maine railroad companies, in
cases in which they are parties in litigation. Mr.
Drew's business ability is well known, and in the
councils of his party his opinions are of weight.
He is a member of Patrons of Husbandry, and also
of Knights of Pythias and of Uniform Rank Knights
of Pythias, in which he is prominent. He mar-
ried, March, 1873, in Colebrook, Iva Hortense Hurd,
who was born in Maidstone, Vermont, September
19, 1861, daughter of Dr. Stephen and ^lary Lovilla
(Morris) Hurd (.see Morris, IX j. She completed
her education in Colebrook Academy, and was a
teacher at the time of her marriage. She is an
able elocutionist, and taught that art in the public
schools of Stratford. Two children have been born
to this union ; Lucy Abby and Marietta. Lucy A.
graduated from the Colebrook high school, and at
sixteen years of age began teaching. She after- .
ward attended Colebrook Academy one year; Lan-
caster Academy one year; Portland (Maine) one
year; and completed the three year course in the
Boston School of Speech and Expression in one
year, and is now a teacher of elocution. Marietta
graduated in 1907 from the Colebrook Academy,
where she had the honor of being the valedictorian
of her class. Lucy A. and Marietta entered the
New Hampshire College at Durham in the fall
of 1907, the latter being the youngest student in
college.
(IV} Byron, third son and fourth child of
Edwin W. and Marietta (Hall) Drew, was born
on his present farm at Stewartstown, New Hamp-
shire, March 30, 1863. He was educated in the com-
mon schools of his native town and at Colebrook
Academy. Being the youngest son he remained on
the home farm, which contains about four hundred
acres. Like most of his kin he is a Democrat in
politics, and served as selectman in 1888, and from
1901 to 1906. He attends the Methodist Church, and
belongs to the Knights of Pythias, the Lnproved
Order of JRed Men, and the (irange. Byron Drew
is a man of whole-souled and generous disposition
with a cheerful temperament which makes him a
.general favorite in the community. Byron Drew
married, July 2, 1887, Cora, daughter of John and
Julia (Gansby) Gould, of Colebrook. Thev have
two children: Eva B., born Jilarch 29, 188S, and
Edwin Warren, June 2, 1902.
(Second Family).
The origin of this name cannot be ac-
DREW curately determined. It is to be met
with in England, Scotland and Wales,
and appears in tlie early records of New England.
The family now in hand was established in New
Hampshire subsequent to the American Revolution,
and is not the posterity of an early immigrant.
(I) Tradition says that Abednego Drew came
from England at about the beginning of the nine-
teenth century, and settling in Barrington, New
Hampshire, engaged in tilling the soil. The maiden
surname of his wife was Swain, and his children
were : Swain, Mary, married N. Brock, and Sarah
Ann (who became the wife of Andrew Meserve).
(II) Swain Drew, eldest child and only son of
Abednego Drew, was born at Barrington in 1816.
He was a blacksmith by trade and also cultivated
a farm. He married Matilda Hall, daughter of
David Hall, of Barrington, and she bore him four
children, namely: Alice, died at the age of two
years. Richard A., who will be again referred to.
Abednego, born May 19, 1839, died November 9,
1900. Elizabeth (Mrs. C. O. Baker, of Dover).
(III) Richard A. Drew, second child and eldest
son of Swain and Matilda (Hall) Drew, was born
in Barrington. February 12, 1838. The major por-
tion of his active life has been devoted to the car-
riage maker's trade in his native town, and he is
still living. He is a Republican in politics. In
1859 he married Elizabeth Tibbetts, daughter of
John Tibbetts. She died in 1884, and he subse-
quently married for his second wife Nellie Ford,
of Dover. His first wife was the mother of three
children, namely: John S., who is mentioned at
greater length in the succeeding paragraph. Annie,
wife of -Albert Hayes. Herman, died voung.
(IV) John Drew, eldest child of" Richard A.
and Elizabeth (Tibbetts) Drew, was born in Bar-
rington, January 4, 1862. He was educated in the
public schools of Barrington and Durham, and ac-
quired a knowledge of carriage-making under the
direction of his father. For a number of years
afterward he was emploj-ed as a journeyman car-
riage-maker, and he has also worked at the car-
penter's trade to some extent, in 1901 he pur-
chased the carriage manufacturing establishment of
Jasper Randlett. which has been located at No.
327, Centre avenue, Dover, for about forty-five
.years, and he is now transacting an extensive bus-
iness, producing vehicles of a superior quality and
also giving his special attention to repairing. Mr.
Drew is well and favorably known in business cir-
cles, and among the members of the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, with whom he affiliates.
In politics he is a Republican. He married Martha
Rundlett, daughter of Samuel and Sarah Ann
(French) Rundlett, of Durham.
Among the finest families that first
DENISON trod the soil of New England and
bore a conspicuous part in subduing
the savage and the establishment of the civilization
of its time, was that of Denison. Its representa-
tives are now found in every part of the United
States, and arc noted for fine minds and fine char-
acter. The ancestor of most of these bearing the
name had a most romantic career, and left an
indelible impress upon the formative history of New
England. He was of vigorous physical, as well as
mental makeup, and his posterity is numerous and
of credit to its noble origin.
(I) John Denyson was living in Stortford, in
Hertfordshire, England, in 1567, and died there,
of the plague, in 1582.
(II) 'VVilliam. son of John Denyson, was bap-
tized at Stortford. February 3, 1571, and was mar-
ried, November 7, 1603, to Margaret (Chandler)
Monck. He was well seated at Stortford, but hear-
ing of the promise of the New England colonies
decided to cast his lot with the Puritans there. His
3IO
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
eldest son, James Deiiyson. was a clergyman, and
remained in England. The parents, with three sons,
Daniel, Edward and George, crossed the ocean in
i6ji and settled at Roxbury, Massachusetts, in 1634.
They bore a prominent part in social and religious
life there. John Eliot, the apostle, was a tutor in
their family. William Denison died at Roxbury,
January 25, 1653, and his wife, February 23, 1645.
(III) Captain George, fourth son of William and
Margaret C. (Monck) Denison, was born in Stort-
ford in 1618, and was baptized there December 10,
1620. He married (about 1640) Bridget Thomp-
son, who was born September 11, 1622, daughter
of John and Alice Thompson, of Preston, North-
haniptonshire, England. Bridget died in 1643, leav-
ing daughters. Sarah and Hannah, born 1641 and
1643, respectively. After the death of his wife Cap-
tain Denison went to England and joined Crom-
well's army. He was severely wounded in the bat-
tle of Naseby, and was nursed back to health by
Lady Ann Borodel, at the home of her father, John
Borodel. As soon as his strength was restored he
married her, and in 1645 they came to New England
and lived in Roxburv'. Massachusetts, continuing
their residence there until 165 1, when they located
with their family in New London, Connecticut.
Captain Denison distinguished himself as a soldier
in the Pequot war, and again rendered valuable
service to the colony after his return from Eng-
land, rising to the rank of colonel. He was also
prominent in civil life. His children, born of the
second marriage, were: John, Ann, Borodel,
George. William. Margaret and Mary. (Mention
of William and descendants follows in this article).
(IV) John, eldest son of Captain George Deni-
son and his second wife, Ann Borodel, was born
July 14. 1646, and died in 1698. He was married
November 26, 1667, to Phebe Lay, who died in
1699.
(V) Robert,, son of John and Phebe (Lay)
Denison, was born September 7, 1673, in Stoning-
ton, and died there in 1737. He was married (first)
in l6g6, to Joanna Stanton, who died in 1715. and
he was married (second) in 1717, to Dorothy Stan-
ton, a widow.
(VI) Thomas, son of Robert and Joanna (Stan-
ton) Denison, was born October 20, 1709, in Ston-
ington, and was a clergyman. He affiliated first
with the Congregational Church, then became a Sep-
aratist, and subsequently a Baptist, and ended his
life in the Congregational affiliation. He preached
in New London and Windham Center, Connecticut,
and died in Pomfret, that state, October 24, 1787.
His wife was Elizabeth Bailey.
(VII) David, son of Thomas' and Elizabeth
(Bailey) Denison, was born October 30, 1756, in
Stnnington, and lived in Pomfret, Connecticut, and
Guildhall. Vermont, and died in the latter town
May 2^, 1838. He was married (first), December
9. 1779, to Sarah Spaulding; and (second), to
Ann Paine. His daughter Ann became the wife of
Anderson Dana (see Dana VI).
(VIII) John P., son of David and Ann (Paine)
Denison, was born September 8. 1808, in Guildhall.
Vermont, and passed the latter part of his life
in Wyandotte., Kansas, where he was still living
in 1880. In early life he was an associate judge in
Vermont, and a successful farmer. He was mar-
ried May 9, 1841, to Mary S. Cooper.
(IX) Henry Willard, son of John P. and Mary
S. (Cooper) Denison, was born May 11, 1846, in
Guildliall, Vermont. He worked on the farm, at-
tended the common schools, and also the academy
at Lancaster on the removal of the family to New
Hampshire. As a school boy he gave no evidence
of future greatness, leading the life of the com-
mon boy in games, pastimes and frolics. When
about fifteen years of age he entered the printing
office of The Coos Republican, and served his ap-
prenticeship at the case, and afterwards worked a
brief time in Philadelphia as a compositor. At this
time Charles A. Dana was 'Assistant Secretary of
War. Dana and Denison's father were cousins, and
Dana had spent a season during his college days
at the Denison homestead ; and, when young Deni-
son, becoming sick of his occupation, wrote Dana
for a job in Washington, he received this reply:
"Come on at once ; no son of John P. Denison
shall want for a position here if I can secure one
for him." On reaching Washington he entered the
Treasury Department at once. While a government
clerk he read law by night until he fitted for prac-
tice and was admitted to the bar.
While attending school in Lancaster he had
formed an attachment for Miss Nellie E. Cross,
the youngest daughter of Colonel Ephraim and Ab-
igail (Everett) Cross. Colonel Cross was a man
of some military reputation, acquired in the days of
Andrew Jackson, when the martial spirit of New
England was more apparent than prior to our civil
war, and then it was the colonel commanded the
Forty-second Regiment of New Hampshire state
militia.
Mrs. Ephraim Cross, the mother of Nellie
Cross, was a daughter of Judge Richard Clair Ev-
erett, of the New Hampshire bench, who as a boy
of seventeen had served as one of Washington's
body-guard and was also one of the General's mil-
itary family throughout the Revolutionary war.
Her three sons were all in the civil war. Colonel
E. E. Cross was colonel of the Fifth New Hamp-
shire Volunteer Infantry, long acting as a brigadier
and fell at Gettysburg, July 2. 1863, at the head of
his command. First Brigade, First Division, Second
Army Corps : Richard E. succeeded to the com-
mand of the regiment. Frank was a lieutenant in
the same regiment. A son also of Colonel Ephraim
by an earlier wife (Nelson Cross) rose to the rank
of major-general by brevet.
Miss Nellie Cross was a bright, attractive young
lady, and possessed considerable poetic talent. In
the fall of 1868 young Denison received the ap-
pointment of marshal to the consular court at Yo-
kohama. Japan, and in 1872 was made consul to that
port, and at the expiration of his consulship about
1876, upon recommendation of Honorable John A.
Bingham, \J. S. minister to Japan, was admitted
to practice before the courts in that country. Dur-
ing the term of his practice he returned to this
country and was united in marriage to Miss Cross,
at the home of General Nelson Cross, in Brook-
lyn, New York. Soon after marriage they returned
to Yokohama where after a lucrative practice at
the bar of four years, he was called by his Emperor
to the office of legal adviser to the foreign office.
By some it is presumed that his success in the set-
tlement of a suit against the government regarding
a mining claim was the reason for his being soon
thereafter called by the government to this prosition.
This office he has held since 1880, and although he
has three times tendered his resignation it has been
refused each time. He is now (July, 1907) on a
two years' vacation, during which he will attend The
Hague conference as one of the judges of that trib-
unal serving his Emperor his second term, having
received his second appointment last November as
the legal adviser of the foreign office. He has been
influential in directing the foreign policy of Japan
i
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
311
for a quarter of a century and to his efforts the
wonderful progress of the nation is more due than
to that of any other man. He is one of the best
authorities on International law of any living man
today. He has received first-class decorations of all
the orders which the Japanese government can con-
fer, and has refused three decorations tendered him
by foreign governments.
The man and the influence he exerts is best
given by an English correspondent of a London
journal, made at the close of the Portsmouth con-
ference: "He is a modest man, this Denison, one
who has always kept himself in the background,
and his work for a quarter of a century is merged,
unidentified, in the general accomplishment of the
government which he serves. Denison prefers the
satisfaction that comes from work well done, rather
than the praise of the world. He lives quietly in
one of the smaller official residences in Tokio, al-
most a recluse save to his intimate friends, to whom
he is said to bring a charming sinqilicity of man-
ner, a splendid measure of warmth and geniality,
and a delightful form of wit and humor.
"It is difficult to single out the particular achieve-
ments of this wonderful, silent, reserved man, who
stands forever in the background, but there has not
been an important foreign office for twenty years
in which he has not been consulted.
".^t the close of the war with China, Denison
received a gift of ten thousand dollars from his
Emperor, and the thanks of the royal family. Mr.
Denison's work in the affairs of the Japanese gov-
ernment with foreign powers will never be known,
nor will his influence among nations in bringing
about the late Russo-Japanese treaty ever be di-
vulged, but it is well known that his advice has
been adhered to in most cases of coinplications with
foreign powers and also in the late treaty of alliance
with Great Britain. He is one of the very few for-
eigners ever admitted to intimate approach of the
Emperor, and his house is filled with costly presents"
from his Imperial Majesty."
In person Mr. Denison stands a trifle over six
feet ; of commanding presence, one shoulder slightly
depressed. His face is rather mobile, but exceed-
ingly pleasant when lit up by a smile. He is as
gentle as a child, but very reserved and circum-
spect in his intercourse with strangers. His weight
is about 180 pounds. He uses a cane in walking.
He has no children. His wife is an invalid and
spends luuch of her time at the baths in Germany,
while her husband is busy "sawing wood," as he
terms his daily labors. He is thoroughly versed in
the history of Japan and full of Japanese reniinis-
censes.
(IV) Captain William (2), fourth son of Cap-
tain George and -Ann Denison, was born in 1655,
and married Mrs. Sarah (Stanton) Prentice, wid-
ow of Thomas Prentice (2), and daughter of Thom-
as Stanton. Captain Denison served in King Phil-
i|)'s war, and died March 2. 1715, and his wife died
August 7, 1713. Their children were: William,
Sarali and George.
(\') William (3), eldest son of William {2)
and Sarah Denison. was horn March 24. 1687. and
was jiinrricd May 10, 1710, to Mercy Gallup. He re-
sided in Stonington, wdiere he died February 24,
1724. an! his wife March 2, 1724, just a week apart,
aged thirty-seven and thirty-five years, respectively.
Their children were: Mercy, Sarah, Esther. Wil-
liam. Hannah, Bcnadam, Jonathan and Martha.
(VI) Bcnadam, second son of William (3) and
Mercy (Gallup) Denison, was born February 6,
I"-', in Stonington, and passed his life in that
town. He was married (first), February 3, 1742,
to .Anna Swan, who was born March 10, 1727, and
died November 29, 1751. He was married (second),
October 18, 1752, to Mrs. Sarah Avery Denison.
(VII) James, son of Benadam and Anna (Swan)
Denison, was born .August 26, 1745. in Stonington,
and died April 26, 1813, in the same town where
his life was spent. He was married September 29,
1773, to Eunice Stanton, who died April 19, 1813.
(VIII) Joseph .^dams Denison, M. D., eldest
son of James and Eunice (Stanton) Denison, was
born at Stonington. Connecticut, December 22,
1774. He studied medicine with Dr. Gallup, one
of the best known early and most influential of the
early settlers of Vermont. He became a resident of
Bethel, Vermont, in 1797, and practiced his profes-
sion in that town till 1815, when he removed to
Royalton, where he died September 5, 1855. He
was married, June 9, 1802. in Cornish, Xew Hamp-
shire, to Rachel Chase, who was bom January 10,
1774. and died .August 3, 1S58, in her eighty-fifth
year. She was a daughter of Dudley and Alice
(Corbett) Chase (see (Zhase IX). They had nine
children, three of whom died in childliood. The
six who reached adult age were: Joseph A.
George, an Episcopal minister, who died at Keo-
kuk, Iowa ; James, an attorney, wdio died at San An-
tonio, Texas; Alice (deceased), who married David
W. (iirant ; Rachel C, who resided in Royalton, and
Dudley C, a prominent lawyer of Royalton.
(IX) Joseph .Adams (2) Denison, M. D., was
born in Bethel, Vermont, He studied medicine with
his father, attended the medical school at Wood-
stock, Vermont, took a classical course at the Uni-
versity of Vermont, and a course of lectures at the
medical department of Yale College, He spent all
of his professional life in Royalton, where he died.
He married Eliza Skinner and had twelve children :
Eliza, Philander Chase, George Stanton, Eleanor
Porter, James, .Alice, Livcy, Franklin, Clara, Charles,
Susan and Fanny.
(X) James Denison, son of Joseph A. (2) and
Eliza (Skinner) Deni.son. was born in Royalton,
January 9, 1837, and was educated in the School for
the Deaf at Hartford, Connecticut. He is a fore-
most educator of the deaf, and for twenty-five years
has been a teacher in Kendall School for the Deaf
at Kendall Green, Washington, D. C. His profi-
ciency as an educator brought to him the honorary
degree of Master of Arts from Columbia College,
now George Washington University. In religious
faith he is an Episcopalian, He was married, De-
cember 26, 1859, to Elizabeth Lindsay, who was born
in Salem. Massachusetts, daughter of Richard and
Sophronsiby (Fiske) Lindsay, of Salem, She died
October 26, 1902. in W"ashingtoii, Si.x children were
born to this union as follows : George Stanton,
Elizabeth Lindsay, Edward Thayer. Richard Lind-
say (died an infant), Lindsay and Raymond Chase.
Lindsay is one of the five associate editors of the
Wczv York Sun, and has been at different times
editor of the Cosiiwfolitaii, Ezm-ybody's and Ridge-
ti'o.v'i magazines.
(XI) Raymond Chase Denison, M. D., youngest
child of James and Elizabeth (Lindsay) Denison,
was bom in Washington. D. C, October 31, T876,
and was educated at the Friends' Select School. Col-
umbia College, and George Washington LIniversity,
graduating from the latter institution in 1907. He
subsequently passed a year at Easton Dispensary,
\\'asln'ngton. He suffered from malaria and in 1000
removed to Berlin. New Hampshire, on account of
his health. There he has a good practice, and has
been county physician seven years. He is a mem-
312
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
ber of the Coos County Medical Association, the
New Hampshire Medical Society, and the American
Medical Association. He is a member of the Ber-
lin Lodge No. — , of the Benevolent Protective Or-
der of Elks, of which he is (1907) exalted ruler.
He married, June i, 1900, in Washington. ?ilarian
Elizabeth, daughter of Fred Herring, inventor of
the Herring safe, and manager of the Herring Safe
Company.
The Scotch-Irish who settled in south-
BURNS ern New' ?Iampshire in the early part
of the eighteenth century, though a
plain people, making no claims to anything but hon-
esty, industrious habits, and morality, possessed ster-
ling qualities and native ability. The Burns family,
in whose veins still course a strong current of
Scotch blood, is representative of the race as it ex-
ists today.
(I) Thomas Burns, the first known ancestor of
the family now in hand, was a native of Scotland.
The maiden name of his wife was Margaret Leslie.
(II) John, eldest son and second child of Thom-
as and Margaret (Leslie) Burns, was born in Scot-
land about 1 701, and resided for a time in the north
of Ireland. He left Londonderry for America in
1736, accompanied by his wife and three children,
and upon his arrival his family had been increased
bv the addition of another child, who was born dur-
ing the voyage. Locating in Nottingham West, now
Hudson, New Hampshire, he remained there ten
years, and in 1746 he went to that part of Dunstable
afterward Amherst and now Milford, as one of the
early settlers, transporting his family and house-
hold goods in a birch canoe up the Merrimack and
Souhegan rivers and into Nonandum brook to their
new home in the wilderness. He located on land
lying in the northwestern part of the old Dunstable
township, on the east side of the Brookline line,
and his first camp fire was kindled beside a large
rock, the identity of which has been preserved. The
farm which be cleared and improved is now owned
by C. R. Cutts. The name of bis wife does not
appear in the records. His children were: Mary,
born in Ireland, May, 1730: bcame the wife of Wil-
liam Wallace and died in Milford, May 8. 1815;
John, who will be again referred to ; George, born
in Ireland, 17.34: Jane, born at sea. 1736, became the
wife of Joseph Gould, whom she survived, and died
in Harvard, Massachusetts, June 10. 1834, at the
advanced age of ninety-eight years ; Betsy, born in
Nottingham West, 1738, became the wife of Ebe-
nezer Hopkins, of ^Milford. and died 1792; Sarah,
born 1743, married John Patterson, of Amherst, and
died October 28, 1795 ; and Thomas, mentioned
hereinafter.
(HI) John (2) second child and eldest son of
John (t) Burns, was born in Ireland, March 28,
1732. He cleared one hundred acres of the finest
land in Milford, and he served with the Twenty-
eighth Massachusetts regiment in the Revolutionary
war. The History of Milford states that he resided
on the farm which is now (or was recently) owned
by Michael Holland. He died in Milford, January
16, 1825. About 1761 he married Elizabeth, daugh-
ter of Jonathan and Elizabeth Jones of Wellington,
Massachusetts. His children were : John, Daniel,
Elizabeth, Moses, Joseph, Mary and Joshua.
(IV) Joseph, fourth son and fifth child of John
(2) and Elizabeth (Jones) Burns, was born in Mil-
ford, March 4, 1770. He resided upon a farm lo-
cated just south of Milford village, on the westerly
side of the Brookline road, recently owned by his
' grandson, George Duncklee, and he died there De-
cember I, T852. He married Nancy A. Farrington,
born March 24. 1766, died November 22, 1854, and
had a family of nine children : Joseph, Rufus,
Nancy, William Bela, Sophronia, Ira (died young),
Indiana, Ira and Ralph. All were born in Milford.
(V) Ralph, youngest son and child of Joseph
and Nancy A. (Farrington) Burns, was born in
Milford, November 6, 1805. He was a farmer, and
resided for intervals in Milford, Hebron, Brookline
and Hollis, and his death occurred suddenly in the
last-named town, March S. 1884. He was a mem-
ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In poli-
tics he was a Democrat. During his younger days
he was in the state militia, serving as a gunner in
an artillery regiment. April 15, 1830, he married
Elizabeth Duncklee Pierce, born in Merrimack, Sep-
tember 23, iSii, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth
(Duncklee) Pierce, the former of whom was a sea
captain, and descended from the same ancestn.' as
that of President Franklin Pierce. Of this union
there is but one son.
(VI) Brooks Pierce, only child of Ralph and
Elizabeth Duncklee (Pierce) Burns, was born in
Brookline, August 12, 1850. Fle was educated in the
public schools of his native town, and when a young
man turned his attention to tilling the soil, which
he followed in Flollis with good results for many
years. A short time since he established himself
in the grocery and variety business in Nashua, and
his prospects for success in that line of trade are
promising. He still retains his residence in Hollis,
owning and occupying, with his son. Bear Rock
farm, which has been his home ever since 1856.
In politics he acts independently, preferring to sup-
port candidates for public office who in his esti-
mation are the best qualified to serve, irrespective
of party.
On May 7, 1879, Mr. Burns was married in
Nashua to Harriet Josephine Lund, bom in Mil-
ford, October 22. 1855, daughter of Joseph and De-
borah (Crosby) Lund, Her father was an able me-
chanic. Mrs. Burns died in Hollis, April 7, 1886,
leaving four children : Bessie Crosby, born March
5, j88o; Lizzie Duncklee, born October 2, 1881 (be-
came the wife of Louis Dudley, a prosperous fanner
of Hollis) : Joseph Warren, born September 16,
1883, and Robert Brooks, born May 16. 1885. The
latter, who is now residing at Bear Rock Farm,
married Addie L. Keith. All were born in Hollis
and educated in the public schools.
In 1890 occurred the first annual reunion of the de-
scendants of John Burns, the immigrant, which was
held in an attractive grove located on his original
farm, in the immediate vicinity of the John Burns
Rock, previously referred to as the site of his first
camp fire. In 1904 Mr. Brooks P. Burns determined
to preserve the grove and rock as memorial to his
sturdy ancestor, and also as a permanent meeting
place for the future annual gatherings of his de-
scendants, who are now scattered from Maine to
California. He accordingly organized a stock com-
pany, which as the John Burns Park Association
is legally incorporated under the laws of New
Hampshire, and a sufficient sum has been realized
from the sale of certificates of stock among the
members to purchase the grove. The old Burns
Rock now bears upon its side a bronze tablet with
an appropriate inscription, which will henceforward
serve as a fitting monument to the first white settler
in the town of Milford. The president of this as-
sociation is Charles H. Burns, of Nashua.
(Ill) Thomas, third son and seventh child of
John (i) Burns, was bom in Nottingham West,
now Hudson, in 1740. He was a farmer, and resid-
^X^ J//^,
c^c-^—i^^
I I i
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
3^3
l-l;^abi;:li li,.:
isetts, died in
' ii'iiias, Betsey,
Samuel. Hann.ih ."
'TV) Sanr,;-!
nas and !'
.--ord, Septc... -,
.'817, was a tarnier ai
homestead. He was ■■
i\ Hill road,
T'fi^. .August
-, Mas-
1. were ;
Molly,
■'■a: child of
rnp, born in
. September 20,
; on his father's
in Mil ford from
1807 to 1817, dying in office, rie was a strong man,
'.nd filed of brain fever. His funeral was the largest
:;ver held in Milford. He married, Februarj' 12,
i8or, Abigail Jones, born in Milford, daughter of
Jonathan Jones. She was a woman of great .strength
of mind, and of most excellent character. She died
in Milford. November 19, 1S54. T'--- ■' ■' '- -
ivere : .Abigail, Eliza H., Freeman.
Charles A., two who died yo'ir ■ 1-'
ajid Emeline.
(V) Charles A., seconi
Samuel and .\bigail d
ford, January 19, iSoi'
July 25, 1857, wa=
read and thought ;
anti-slavery ideas
prominent worker
agitators which e.x:
at his house such
cipalion as Parker 1 . .
liam Lloyd Garrison ai
married, December 31,
born in Milford, June iJ^, tMo. daughter of .A'
jnd Betsey CBartlett) Hutchinson, She died S<
tember 4, 1885. Both were persons of the highest
character, and well known for their intelligence
and worth. Their children were: Charles Henn-,
Edward Alonzo, Annie Elizabeth.. Mark FordycV.
George Hutchinson, Samuel Albert, Fred Moii
Robert and Richard.
rVT) Charles Heniy, eldest child of G't!;
and Elizabeth (Hutchinson) Burns, liorn
ford, January 19, i8j5, spent his early ',:i
father's farm, and after acquiring w
was to be obtained in the common sc^i
ford, entered Appleton .Academy, at New-
it that time under the management of I
Ouimby, from which he graduated in 1854. I
;i'- ?.ge of seventeen to twenty-one he taught .sc'
■'I winter at Ashl)y, Massachusetts and in >
ii^uich and Lyndeborough. Deciding t», make
' his vocation in life, he pursued his lefni -•
:is office of Colonel O. W. Lull in Mi:i.
rqucntly attended the Harvard La^^•
which he graduated in the class of ;
of the same yeir he was admitted tc
.-. bar in Massachusetts, and in October t
ivas admitlcd to the New H?nin«hir.r-
v. 1859, he commenc'
1, where he has sii
•< his extended prai;.i i u
inty. and the state, has nei
f h\ riTice to Nashua. T.-
marked fitn
.•; progress w: ■ ; .
■, dsstireii. In the process of time he was
1 the highest order of cases, and for .the
'.I' iv.Ai;l\ -five years this class '->f litigation has
'.limed hi'- fiitire attention, F.-.r .< quarter of a
•'iry he ii.Tf hctn proii.i mected with
railroad legislation of making the
■■'■■- rirgunu-nts in mo.^t ■■■ 1^; nportanl hear-
■re legislative ci>nimittees, •^ 'lich have been
published in pamphlet form, and are now a part
-^f 'he rr.il-oad literature and history of the state,
practice has not been confined en-
•,i?f:S. however He has been engaged
11:
ha^
staiH, , iy I'.u. i
victio!'! ■ ■ oisoning
ccssfully ,vn. who
killing i; od. The
ter case ^' ' and (hi-
ed. A pecu,
of the partie.-
seventy-one, Mc <«ljo cU;i;gevi
with wife-murder, an^l •!.
Mr. Burns is r- n :!il -v.
the profession, bn 'ocacy.
- ' ' ■■ ■ - pubiu M d gifted vsmi. . .^■
ratorical • has by constant
,>ractico ni.ii-.. , ^If one of the lead-
id advocates ot the state, at the bar.
and on all those varied occasi< ns
akcr is c.illed upon to address the
IT— t i<^ lucid, his style incisive,
ant. He delivered
irner stone of the
'■cation of
ion of the
■ : at the
Matthew
:1 '.r;ii, -
...rk
u-as
;md
it part in shaping
'6 he was piTn^intf .1
icitor for
iilly reelec
the constitution oi Ihe
ig been changed s*! as
instead of appointive.
ven vears In iSSi he
cw 1
rie.
w;j-
wb
Concord, Scpit::ii>er 10, 1878, and on assuming tht
314
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
chair delivered a speech in favor of honest money
and national faith, and again at the convention of
the Greenback party, which had but recently won a
victory in Maine. The public mind was full of false
theories on financial questions, and this speech cre-
ated a deep impression throughout the state. Al-
though he did not enter the field as a candidate he
had strong support in the legislature of 1883 for
U. S. senator, receiving over forty votes. In all the
public positions he has been called to fill. Mr. Burns
has discharged the duties incident to them in a man-
ner to bring him the approval of the public and of
his own conscience.
Mr. Burns is interested in literature and his-
torical research and is a member of the New Hamp-
shire Historical Society and the New England His-
torical Genealogical Society. He was among the
founders of the Wilton Library, and has served as
chairman of the board of trustees of the institution
for a quarter of a century. In 1874 Dartmouth Col-
lege conferred the honorary degree of M. A. upon
him. He is an active member of the Masonic fra-
ternity, in which he has risen to the thirty-second
degree, and is a past master of Clinton Lodge, F.
and A. M., at Wilton, and a past high priest of
King Solomon Chapter, R. A. M., of Milford. He
has also served as district grand master of the grand
lodge. His part in the business world is known
by the fact that he is president of the First National
Bank of Nashua, and of the Guaranty Savings
Bank of the same city, and also of tlie Petersboro
railroad.
He was married January 19, 1856, to Sarah N.
Mills, of Milford, daughter of the late John Mills,
a prominent citizen of that town. Her mother was
Sarah (Putnam) Mills, a daughter of the late Aaron
K. Putnam, of Wilton. Four of the eight children
of Mr. and Mrs. Burns are living. Charles A., the
eldest, is a merchant in Boston. ( See notice in later
paragraph). Ben Emery, the second, is a law part-
ner of his father, and resides in Nashua : he married
Nina Isabel Herrick. of New York, and they have
tw^o children : .Arthur and Ruth. Sarah E., the
third, is the wife of W. A. Gregg, of Nashua, and
the mother of two children : Donald Burns Gregg,
a teacher in the military academy at Manley's, New
York : and James Donald Gregg. Blanche, the
fourth, resides at home with her parents.
Mr. Burns is the owner of a fine estate at Wil-
ton, on which is located a handsome modern resi-
dence. The entire home is finely furnished, and
herein he finds relaxation and repose from the cares
of his large and active law practice. In this home
is one of the finest libraries in this section of New
England. In this haven of rest was celebrated, Jan-
uary 19, igo6. the golden wedding anniversary of
Mr. and Mrs. Burns, and, incidentally, the seventy-
first birthday of the groom. This was one of the
most notable events of the kind in the state. It
was attended by more than six hundred guests,
and extended through the afternoon and evening.
Those present included statesmen, jurists and lead-
ing professional men of all classes, of the state, as
well as some of the poorest of his neighbors. All
alike received the hearty welcome that flows so
readily from the big, warm hearts of this worthy
couple. They were assisted in receiving by Gov-
ernor McLane. one of their neighbors. On a pre-
vious occasion when their silver wedding anniver-
sary was observed, they were assisted in receiving
by Governor Head. On the occasion of the golden
wedding anniversary, Mr. Burns had called together
to dinner all the living descendants of his father.
Thirty gathered around the board, and seventeen
of these were males bearing the name of Burns, a
pretty sure indication that the name will long live,
and 'tis hoped that those bearing it will emulate
the example so worthilj- placed before them by their
forebears.
Mr. and ilrs. Burns have been through life ac-
tive members of the Congregational Church, but
they have not confined their support to this alone,
for impartially they extend the helping hand to all
causes of Christianity.
(VH) Charles .^lonzo, eldest son of General
Charles H. and Sarah N. (Mills) Burns, was born
in Wilton, January 3, 1863. He acquired his educa-
tion in the common schools of Wilton, at St. Paul's
School, Concord, and the Chauncy Hall School,.
Boston, graduating from the latter with the class
of 18S1. He first entered into the business of man-
ufacturing cotton yam at the mills in Wilton, and
later connected himself with the Union Soapstone
Company of Boston, becoming" proprietor of the com-
pany in 1900. He conducts a soapstone, marble and
slate business operating quarries in Vermont. In
religious faith he is a Congregationalist, and is
chairman of the executive committee of the Con-
gregational church at Somerville, Massachusetts,
where he resides. He is a Republican and now
(1907) represents ward five in the Somerville board
of aldermen. He is a Mason and past master of
Clinton Lodge, No. 52, of Wilton. New Hampshire,
also a member of King Solomon Royal Arch
Chapter, Milford, New Hampshire, and Demolay
Commandery, Knight Templars. Boston. He mar-
ried, October 21, 1885, Lulie C. Jones, who was
born in Lyndeboro, New Hampshire, daughter of
Dr. William C. and Harriet Jones, of Lyndeboro.
She died August 25, 1896. Three children were
born to them : Robert A., Charles Henry, and, and
Elizabeth.
(VII) Ben Emery, youngest son and eighth child
of Charles H. and Sarah N. (Mills) Burns, was
born in Wilton, July 21, 1872. He attended the
common schools of Wilton, New Hampshire, and
a private school in Billerica, Massachusetts. In
1S91 he was graduated from Phillips Exeter Acad-
emy, then took a special course at Harvard Univer-
sity, and in 1894 entered the Boston L'niversity Law
School.from which he was graduated in 1897, and
admitted to the bar the same year in Suffolk county.
.\t once entering upon the practice of his profes-
sion, he spent two years in the office of General E.
R. Champlin, of Boston. He then went to Nashua
and became a partner in the law with his father,
the firm taking the name of Burns & Burns, and
doing a very large business. He is at present one
of the United States commissioners of New Hamp-
shire. Mr. Burns, like his father, is a loyal Repub-
lican, and interested in political affairs. He is a
conmiunicant of the Episcopal (Thurch. He is a
member of the University Club of Boston, the New
Hampshire Club of Boston, and of Rising Sun
Lodge. No. 39, .\ncient Free and Accepted Masons.
He married, in New Rochelle, New York, Novem-
ber 3, 1903, Nina Isabel Herrick, daughter of Wil-
liam H. and Harriet (Mollison) Herrick, of New
Rochelle. formerly of Oswego, New York. They
have two children: .\rthur and Ruth Herrick.
This name does not seem to be very
STORY numerously represented in the LInited
States, but it has always had valuable
representatives down through the generations from
the early settlen^ent of the Massachusetts Bay Col-
ony. It has been known in the professions and in
various occupations, and is still creditably repre-
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
315
sented in New England. One of its leading repre-
sentatives was reckoned among the most successful
newspaper men of the country, namely, Wilbur F.
Story, founder of the Chicago Times. A leading
representative in New England today, Fred M.
Story, whose sketch is found in this article, is very
actively identified with the great telephone interests
of New England.
(I) William Story, carpenter, came from Nor-
wich, Norfolk county. England, in 1637. as a ser-
vant of Samuel Dix, being then twenty-three years
old. He embarked April 8, 1637, and settled at Ips-
wich, Massachusetts. A deed on record shows that
he sold a lot of land in Ipswich previous to Febru-
ary 12, 1643, to William Knowlton. He purchased
two lots of land adjoining other land of which he
was then possessed, January i, 1655. He was a
subscriber to Major Denison in 1648. and owned
a share and a half in Plum Island in 1664. In 1679
he was a voter in town affairs, and at that time
was called William, Sr. He was a surveyor of high-
ways in 1662;. and was also called carpenter. The
records show that he was possessed of land in Oie-
bacco, November to, 1652. this land adjoining John
Webster on the northwest. On May 8, 1649, he pur-
chased a farm of ninety acres from Henry .'\rcher,
which land had been granted to Archer by the town
of Ipswich, and lying beyond Chebacco Falls. In
1671 he had permission to operate a mill on the
Chebacco river, and in February, 1672, Abraham
Perkins complained against him for taking a lot
of green "oke timber"which he drew from the farm
of said Perkins on the south side of Chebacco river
"either off the commons or my farm." His chil-
dren were : William, Mary, Hannali and Seth.
(II) Deacon Seth, second son of William Story,
was born in 1646, in Ipswich, and died there Oc-
tober 9. T732, aged eighty-six years. His wife's
name was Elizabeth, and their children were :
Zachariah, Sarah, Elizabeth, Martha, Seth and Da-
maris.
(III) Deacon Zachariah. eldest child of Deacon
Seth and Elizabeth Story, was born March 14. 1(^84.
in Ipswich, and settled in that part of the town
which became the town of Chebacco, where he died
February 16. 1774, near the close of his ninetieth
year. He married ( intention published July 14,
1714) Rachel Andrews, and they were the parents
of Jeremy, Lucy, Rachel, Nehemiah, Deborah. Isaac,
Nathan, Jessie and Jerusha.
(IV) Jeremiah, or Jeremy, eldest child of Deacon
Zachariah and Rachel (Andrews) Story, was born
May 21, 1715, in Chebacco, Massachusetts, where he
passed his life. He was a ship carpenter by occu-
pation. He was married (intention published May
-o. '737'> to Margaret Harris, and they became the
parents of five sons : Jeremiah, Zachariah, Nathan,
Thomas and Joseph.
(V) Nathan, third son of Jeremiah and Marga-
ret (Harris) Story, was a farmer, and like his father '
a ship carpenter. The following is the record of
Nathan Story as it appears in the Revolutionary
War Rolls of ^Massachusetts : Nathan Storj-, Man-
chester. Massachusetts, was a private in Captain
Moses Hart's company. Colonel Paul Dudley Ser-
geant's regiment: muster roll dated August i, 1775;
enlisted May 16, 1775: service twenty-six days: also.
Captain John Wiley's company, Colonel Sergeant's
(Twenty-eighth) regiment; company return (prob-
ably October, 1775): also, order for bounty coat
dated December 13. 1775: also sergeant. Colonel
Henry Jackson's regiment : Continental pay accounts
for service from May 27, 1777, to December 31,
1779: residence, Manchester; credited to the town
of Manchester ; also. Ensign Jabez Barney's com-
pany. Colonel Jackson's regiment, commanded by
( Lieutenant Colonel ) William S. Smith ; pay roll
for November, 1778: also Lieutenant Colonel David
Cobb's (2d) company, Colonel Jackson's regiment;
muster roll f&r April, 1779, dated Pawtucket ; en-
gaged May 27. 1777: term three years; also, Second
Company commanded by Lieutenant Thomas Ed-
wards, Colonel Jackson's regiment ; company re-
turn certified at Camp Providence. July 13, 1779;
engaged for the town of Ipswich ; also Lieutenant
Colonel Cobb's company. Colonel Jackson's regi-
ment: pay rolls for July and October, 1779: also
Colonel Jackson's regiment ; regimental return made
up to December 31. 1779, dated Camp at Providence.
(VI) William, son of Nathan Story, was a
farmer and a native of Essex. He moved to Hop-
kinton. New Hampshire, and became the ancestor
of the Storys of that town. He married Lydia
Knowlton. who was born February 20, 1784. daugh-
ter of Ezekiel and Elizabeth (Woodbury) Knowl-
ton. (See Knowlton VIII).
(VII) James Knowlton, son of William and Ly-
dia (Knowlton) Story, was born in Hopkinton. .Au-
gust 17, 1814, and was educated in the conunon
schools and at Hopkinton .Academy. From 1835 'o
1862 he was a traveling salesman, and sold cigars
and confectionery from his wagon throughout New
England. After 1862 he was a farmer in Hopkin-
ton. He was a stirring man and well liked, and
represented Hopkinton in the general court in
'S56-57. He married, in 1835, his second cousin,
Sarah Story, who was born in Hopkinton, January
4, 1815, daughter of !Moses and Sarah ((Thandler)
Story, granddaughter of Thomas, who was brother
of Nathan (3) of this sketch. Their children were:
David B., George M., Sarah .Annetto and James
Henry.
(VIII) David Burnham, eldest child of James K.
and Sarah (Story) Story, was born in Hopkinton.
January 19. 1836. He obtained his education in the
public .schools and at Hopkinton Academy. At the
age of eighteen ( 1854) lie became a butcher and
pursued that occupation until 1864, at one time be-
ing proprietor of a meat market at Cbncord. In
the latter named year he engaged in hotel keeping,
opening the Perkins House in Hopkinton village,
which was demolished by fire in the year 1872. He
then removed to Lake Village, now Lakeport, and
conducted the Mount Belknap House until 1876.
From that year until 1879 he conducted the Laconia
House at Laconia, and then liecame proprietor of
the Hotel Weirs, continuing until 1889, when he
assumed the management of Story's Tavern at The
Weirs. In 1S82 he was the proprietor of the Elm-
wood House, Laconia. He was a performer on dif-
ferent instruments, and was widely known as a mar-
tial and orchestral musician. Mr. Story is a Dem-
ocrat, active in politics and a frequent incumbent
of civil office, holding many minor oflices in differ-
ent towns besides being deputy sheriff of Merri-
mack county, 1871-73, deputy sheriff of Belknap
county from 1874 to 1877. selectman of Laconia in
18ST-82. and sheriff of Belknap county from 1883 to
1886. Mr. Story married, in Hopkinton, February 4.
1857, Sarah Jane French, who was born in South
Boston. Massachusetts. May 22. 1835, daughter of
Benjamin and Eliza (Stevens) French, and five
children were born to them, as follows: James
Henry. .-Kda Stevens, Fred. Williams, Charles Frank-
lin and Benjamin French Stor)\ Benjamin French
was born in Bow. 1792. a son of Asa French, who
was a farmer, and served in the Continental army
and the war of 1S12. Benjamin French was for
;i6
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
years a successful school teacher, and iri later life
a mechanic and farmer. He also participated in
the war of 1812.
(IX) Fred. Williams, third child and second son
of David B. and Sarah J. (French) Stoiy, was born
in Hopkinton, December 9, 1861. He was educated
in the public schools of Hopkinton, Lake Village
and Laconia. At an early age he displayed great
proficiency in music, playing in public at eight
years of age. In 1872 he was taken by his parents
to Lake Village, now Lakeport. He studied the vio-
lin at the Boston Conservatory of ?ilusic under Jul-
ius Eichberg. In 1875 he joined the Belknap Cornet
Band, and was a member of that organization until
it disbanded. In 1876 David B. Story organized
Story's Orchestra, and shortly afterward Fred. W.
became its leader and first violinist. This orchestra
was composed of some of the best amateur musi-
cians in the state, and gained an enviable reputation
in the north country for its rendering of light con-
cert and dance music. He was chosen president of
the Schubert Qub of Laconia four consecutive
years. The membership of this club included about
one hundred of the best singers and instrumental
performers in that city. He was also president of
the Laconia Dramatic Club.
In the spring of 1880 he removed to The Weirs
and was associated with his father in the manage-
ment of the Hotel Weirs, built that spring, and con-
tinued with him until 1885, when he purchased
from him the railroad cafe business which he car-
ried on in connection with a grocery store, dispos-
ing of both branches of business in 1895. During
this time he was also agent for the American Ex-
press Company. In 1888 he purchased the station-
ery store of W. F. Chase at Laconia, and enlarged
the business by adding pianos, music and musical
instruments, and carried on an extensive trade
throughout the central and northern parts of the
state. He disposed of the stationery department of
the business in 1897, and retired from the piano
■business, January i, 1898. He was appointed one
of a committee of three to construct the lines of
the Citizens' Telephone Company of Laconia, and
was soon afterward made general manager of the
concern, holding that position until November i.
1897. Irmuediately afterward he took a position
with the New England Telegraph & Telephone
Company, with headquarters at Boston, where he
continued until July I, 1900, when he was made
general manager of the Chesapeake & Potomac Tel-
ephone Company, with headquarters at Washing-
ton, D. C. He held this position until 1902, and
then resigned and returned to Boston to accept the
position of assistant to the vice-president of the
New England Telephone & Telegraph Company.
Later he was made vice-president and director in
the several subsidiary telephone companies controlled
hy the New England Telephone & Telegraph Com-
pany and operating throughout New England and
New York state. He had always affiliated with the
Democratic party, and during each of the Cleve-
land administrations served as postmaster at The
Weirs. For several years he held the office of
trustee of the Laconia Public Library. He is a
■member of Mt. Lebanon Lodge, No. 32, Free and
Accepted Masons: Union Royal Arch Chapter. No.
7: Pilgrim Commandery. Knights Templar, and
Mt. Washington Chapter, Order of the Eastern
Star, all of Laconia : Bektash Temple, Ancient
Arabic Order Nobles of the ^Mystic Shrine, of Con-
cord; and the Boston Athletic and the New Hamp-
shire Club of Boston.
Mr. Story married, December 6, 1887, at Con-
cord, Dolly Frances Wentworth, of Concord, who
was born in Concord. September 20, 1859, daughter
of Joseph and Sarah ■ (Jones) Wentworth (see
Wentworth).
This family, which comes of old English
CASS stock, is one of the oldest in New Hamp-
shire, and among the distinguished scions
who have sprung from it was General Lewis Cass,
of JNIichigan. The family has always been noted
for those qualities that have gone so far to put
New England in the front rank in the Union, that
is — industry, economy, prudence, patience, self-re-
liance, integrity of the highest character, and a
strong regard for religion.
(I) John Cass came to Hampton, New Hamp-
shire, in 1644, where he died April 7, 1675. It
is probable that two brothers, Joseph and Samuel,
came with him. John married, about 1648, Martha,
born in 1633, a daughter of Thomas Philbrick, of
Hampton. Their children were : Martha, born Oc-
tober 7, 1649. 2. Joseph, October 5, 1656. 3. Samuel,
July 13, 1659. 4. Jonathan, September 13, 1663.
5. Elizabeth, June 4, 1666. 6. Mercy, August I,
1668. 7. Ebenezer, July 17, 1671. 8. Abigail, Janu-
ary II, 1674.
(H) Joseph Cass, a son of John Cass, married,
January 4, 1677, Mary, born September II, 1657,
a daughter of Thomas Hobbs. She died July 3,
1692, after which he married Widow Elizabeth Chase,
daughter of Henry Greene. The children of the first
wife were: John, born August 11, 1680, died young.
Joseph, born 1685, died January 12, 1687. Mary,
February 26, 1687. John, August 19, 1689. By the
second wife may have been : Elizabeth, Joseph, born
about 1695. Jonathan.
(III) Joseph (2) Cass married Phoebe Nason,
November 28, 1720, both of Hampton. They had
Nason, born January 28, 1725, died 1804. (Mention
of a younger son, Moses, and descendants follows
in this article.)
(IV) Nason Cass married Hannah Chandler.
Their seventh child and fifth son was Chandler
Cass, who was nearly related to Hon. Lewis Cass,
of Michigan.
(V) Chandler Cass, born August 28, 1766, mar-
ried Dorothy Dyer. He was chiefly a farmer on the
site of the present village of East Andover, New
Hampshire. Children : Elizabeth, Benjamin, Mary,
Enoch. William, Dolly and Chandler.
(VI) Benjamin Cass, born January 10, 1789,
died May 14, i8ti6; married Sarah True, born Janu-
ary 6, 1789, died March 12, i860. Children: Sarah,
born August 9, 1814, died November 8, 1818; Wil-
liam, born May 27, 1816, died January 4, 1820;
Hannah T.. born November 9, 1819, died Novem-
ber 26, 1890; Benjamin Franklin, born March 21,
1822; John Wesley, born May 26, 1824, died April
15, 1832: William True, born February 7, 1826.
Sarah Hunter, born August 29, 1827. Joseph W.,
born July i, 1S18. Martha Elizabeth, born January
31, 183 1, died April 3. 1837.
(VII) William True Cass was born February
7, 1826, under the shadow of old Kearsarge Moun-
tain, in Andover, New Hampshire, son of Benjamin
and Sarah (True) Cass, and died May 26, 1901,
in Tilton, New Hampshire. His father was a farnler,
first in Andover, later in Plymouth for a few years,
and the boy greW' to manhood among the scenes of
a country life. He attended the country schools
and was a student at Holmes Academy, Plymouth,
for several years. In 1855 the family moved to a
farm in that part of Sanbornton which is now
Tilton. then known as Sanbornton Bridge. Here
u
II
i
(
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
31;
the future banker followed the vocation of farmer,
like his father and grandfather before him. He
worked for his uncle one year and carried on his
farm for one hundred and fifty dollars, paying his
wife's board out of that sum. He sawed his own
wood evenings, and in the winter season, when the
land could not be tilled, he worked days in a mill,
fulling cloth, and in that way lengthened out his
purse. But such was not long to be his work, for
in January, 1856, he was chosen cashier of the
Citizens' Bank of Sanbornton, and commenced his
new duties one afternoon, having spent the morning
at his labors in the mill. The bank was then but
a small affair, and had been in existence only a
short time. It occupied one room in the brick
dwelling which has been j\lr. Cass's residence ever
since he took possession of the bank and house to-
gether that January day. Although not familiar
with banking, he studied the books of the institution
until he had mastered them, and knew just how
to keep them, and even till his last days he proved
a good accountant and well versed in the best
methods. The business of the bank rapidly in-
creased, and in 1865 it was made a national bank,
with increased capital. Mr. Cass continued cashier
until 1889, when he resigned to accept the position
of president, which he retained until his death. He
was one of the directors of the bank almost from
the beginning of his connection with it. In 1870
the lona Savings Bank was established, largely
through the efforts of Mr. Cass, and he was made
treasurer, in which office he continued the remainder
of his life. He saw the institution grow from a
new bank with no deposits to nearly half a million
at the time of his death. At the latter date he
was the second oldest bank official in the state in
point of years of service, having been continuously
in the work for more than forty-five years. His
long experience in this connection gave him a wide
knowledge of affairs in general, and caused his
advice to be sought for upon many matters outside
of banking interests. He was for eighteen years
treasurer of the New Hampshire Conference Semin-
ary, and had been trustee of that institution for forty
years. He was also one of the board of three
trustees in charge of Park cemetery. He was for
two years treasurer of the town, served for several
years as moderator at the annual town meeting,
and had been supervisor of the checklist, but he never
sought political honors, and refused them whenever
possible. A man of quiet domestic tastes, he pre-
ferred the comforts of home to the excitement of
political life, and the pleasures of the outside world
never appealed to him to any great extent.
j\Ir. Cass became a member of the Methodist
Episcopal Church when only fourteen years of age.
He had been connected with the Methodist Episcopal
Church of Tilton during the entire period of his
life here, had been a class leader for forty years,
a member of the quarterly conference, and presi-
dent of the board of trustees for many years. He
was almost all his life a teacher in the Sunday-school,
and was at one time superintendent. He was always
actively interested in all that pertained to the church,
gave liberally to all its benevolences, and never
failed to be in his place at all the services unless
prevented by sickness. He was a very intelligent
Christian man. He loved the doctrines and polity
of Methodism, and delighted in strong, earnest,
evangelical preaching. He was always a generous
supporter of the benevolent enterprises of the
church. His knowledge of the Bible gave him an
aptness in prayer and speech that was very marked.
He held and practiced old-fashioned views of family
piety, constantly maintained his family altar and
exercised a generous christian hospitality. He com-
manded public confidence by his honest upright
dealings, so that his fellow citizens trusted him
without reserve. He finally allied himself with every
moral reform that promised the wellbeing of men,
and did not hesitate to speak out boldly in their
behalf. In politics Mr. Cass was a Democrat until
the Civil war. He then became a Republican, and
although loyal to party, he was not slow to see any
defects or weaknesses in party lines, and was always
ready to help correct the same. His state and his
country were always uppermost in his mind, and he
was careful to obey his convictions of duty. There-
fore, it was his custom to go to the party primaries
as a proper place to correct errors or advocate re-
forms. Mr. Cass married, September 18, 1851, ^lary
Emery Locke, who still survives him. She was born
at East Concord, New JTampshire, September 19,
1830. Their children were: i. Alfred Locke, born
October 28, i860, died September i, 1862. 2. Mary
Addie, born March 5, 1863, married Abel Wesley
Reynolds, October 29, 1889; children: Margaret,
born September 23, 1890, died November 8, 1890;
Alice, born December 30, 1893 ; Kenneth Cass, born
May 28, 1897; Chester Abel, born February 6, 1900;
Arthur Wesley, born April 27, 1902, died October
31, 1902. 3. Arthur T., born April 9, 1865, see
forward. 4. William Daniel, born January 27,
1872, died May 7, 1879. Mr. Cass died May 26,
1901. His death came suddenly, after an illness of
less than a week, of pneumonia.
(.V'lll) Arthur True Cass, son of William True
and Mary Emery (Locke) Cass, was born April
9, 1865. He was educated in the graded schools of
Tilton, and at the New Hampshire Conference
Seminary in that town, from which he graduated
with a thorough college preparatory training at the
age of eighteen years. He then became assistant
cashier of the Citizens' National Bank at Tilton,
upon whose books he had worked more or less
in making entries for several years previous. April
I, 1889, he was made cashier of the bank, which
position he has since held, serving" also for several
years as director. He is president of the Citizens'
Ice Company, of Tilton, and from 1885 to 1893 con-
ducted an extensive fire insurance business, which
the increasing pressure of his banking duties com-
pelled him to relinquish. He had been active in
politics and public affairs, having served as auditor
two years; town treasurer two years, and moderator
continuously from 1896 to 1902, six years. He
was chairman of the Republican town convention,
and is now on the executive committee and has
been president of the Republican Club of the town.
He was a member of the New Hampshire legislature
in 1901, and served as a member of committee on
banks. He took an active part in the debates of the
house, and acquitted himself with honor.
He has been a member of the board of education
five years; trustee of the Public Library eighteen
years. He has been a member of the Methodist
Episcopal Church for thirty years, and has been
the organist at the church since 1SS3. He is a trustee
of the church for six years past, and has been a mem-
ber of the official board since he was eighteen years
old, and a trustee of the New Hampshire Conference
Seminary. He is a member of Doric Lodge, No.
78, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of Tilton,
of which he has filled the chairs, and is a mem-
ber of Meridian Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, of
Franklin, Pythagorian Council of Laconia, Mount
Horeb Commandery, and Bektash Temple, ."Vncient
.•\rabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, Concord.
3i8
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
He is a member of the New Hampshire Historical
Society. Mr. Cass is a shrewd politician, a lead-
ing citizen, an earnest jNIethodist, a successful and
well known financier, an accomplished gentleman,
and socially prominent. He has travelled exten-
sively in this country and Europe.
He married, May i6, 1894, Mary Wallace Pack-
ard, born September 10, 1869, at South Boston,
Massachusetts, daughter of Liberty Dodge and Lucy
A. (Kingman) Packard. She is a graduate of La-
sell seminary, Auburndale, class of 1889, and also
of Emerson College of Oratory, Boston. She is a
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church : of the
Woman's Club of Tilton, and Liberty Chapter,
Daughters of the American Revolution, of Tilton.
of which she is vice-regent. Their children are:
Kingman Packard, born April i, 1898; William True,
May 27, 1899; Esther Elizabeth, April 10, 1903.
(IV) Moses, undoubtedly a son of Joseph (2)
and Phebe (Nason) Cass, was born ilarch 16, 1729,
probably in Hampton, and settled in Sanbornton,
New Hampshire, on February 8, 1792, removing
thither from Epping. He died in Sanbornton, May
9, 1817, aged eighty-eight years, and nearly two
months. He married (first) Molly French, who was
the mother of his first child; and (second) Hannah
Cilley, who was the mother of seven. His third
wife was Mrs. Sarah (Ring) Berry. He had six-
teen children in all, some of whom died in infancy.
The names preserved are : Levi, Jonathan, Samuel
(died young), Moses. Molly, Tabitha, Sally, Simeon,
Jacob, Miriam, Betsey, David and Samuel.
(V) Levi, eldest son of Moses and Molly
(French) Cass, was born in Epping. and died in
Epsom, at the age of seventy years or more. By
occupation he was a farmer. He was married, No-
vember 30, 1775, to Mary Sherburne, of North-
wood, and they had children including Sally, Eliza-
beth, Rachel, Levi and Samuel.
(VI) Samuel, son of Levi and Mary (Sher-
burne) Cass, was born August 17, 1786, in Epsom,
and died there October 31, 1863, aged seventy-
seven. He was a farmer. He was married, March
6, 1806, to Mary Chesley, born in Epsom, who died
there November 19, 1866. Their children were :
Sally, Elvira, Mary, Hannah, Susan. Moses, Levi,
and Samuel S., whose sketch follows.
(VII) Samuel Sherburn, youngest of the nine
children of Samuel and Mary (Chesley) Cass, was
born in Epsom, August 25, 1828. He attended the
common schools of his early youth for short periods
as he was able. Later he became apprentice to a
shoemaker, and three months later started in the
trade on his own account, receiving the prepared
material from firms in Massachusetts towns, and
making up the shoes at his home. He was engaged
in this work for twenty-five years. He then bought
a farm of fifty acres in Allenstown. to which he
subsequently added thirty-five acres, which he car-
ried on until 1S98, when he took up his residence
with his son Walter, in Suncook. He is a member
of the Oiristian Church, and of McLeary Grange,
No. 102. His political affiliations are with the
Democratic party, gold standard. He married, in
Pembroke, November 19, 1855, Lavinia Jellison Fife,
who was born in Chichester, June 29. 1829 (see
Fife), and died January 5, 1893. She was the daugh-
ter of Stephen and Mary (Fife) Fife, of Pembroke.
They had two children : Walter S. and Anna H.
The latter was born in Epsom, August 12, 1859,
and died in Allenstown, 1883.
(VIII) Walter Sherburn, only son of Samuel
S. and Lavinia J. (Fife) Cass, was born in Epsom.
August IS, 1857. He remained at home and at-
tended school and worked on his father's farm until
he was eighteen years of age, and then began life
for himself. After working on farms for seven
years he was a clerk in a grocery store in Suncook
four years. He then started in business for himself
and dealt in milk for twelve years. The succeed-
ing four years he was foreman in the gristmill of
Fowler Brothers. In October, 1903, he engaged in
the hardware business, which he has since conducted.
He has a strong hold on the public confidence, and
has held office for many years ; member of board
of selectmen, 1895-96-97; tax collector for the years
1891-92-93-94 and 1905-06, being now (1906) still
in office. He is a member of the Methodist Church,
and a Republican in politics. He is a thirty-second
degree Mason, and a member of the following named
organizations of that order : Past master of Jewell
Lodge, No. 94; member of Hiram Chapter, No.
24, of Suncook; Horace Chase Council, No. 4,
Royal and Select Masters ; Mount Horeb Com-
mandery. Knights Templar, Concord ; and Edward
A. Raymond Consistory, Sublime Princes of the
Royal Secret, Nashua. He is also a member of
Pembroke Grange, No. III. He married, January
10, 1885, Julia Etta Lewis, who was born in Pem-
broke, 1861, daughter of Joseph and Mary J. (Lear)
Lewis (see Lewis 11). They have children: Louis
W., born August 7, 1886; Anna AI., May 7, 1893;
and Raymond F., born 1896, died 1899.
The name of Westgate is un-
WESTGATE doubtedly of English origin, but
information bearing upon the his-
tory of the family prior to the settlement of New
England is wanting. The family on this side of the
ocean was founded in Massachusetts, and branches
were subsequently transplanted in Rhode Island,
Connecticut, New Hampshire and Maine.
(I) Adams Westgate, the first of the name
found in the colonial records, was a mariner, and is
said to have resided in Salem. Massachusetts, from
1647 to 1662. It is quite probable that his residence
there exceeded the fifteen years intervening between
those dates. The Christian name of his wife was
Mary, and he was the father of Robert, a son who
died unnamed, Thomas, two sons named Joseph,
both of whom died in early childhood ; also two
daughters named Mary who died young, and Benja-
min, who died in infancy.
(II) Robert, eldest son and child of Adam and
Mary Westgate, was born in Salem, July i, 1647.
He settled in Warwick, Rhode Island, and followed
agriculture there for the remainder of his life,
which terminated December 23, 1717. In 1687 he
was chosen constable (the record stated), and in the
year 1700 he contributed the sum of twelve shil-
lings toward the erection of a Quaker meeting house
at or near Mashapaug. His will in which he ap-
points his wife executrix, was dated September i,
1716, and probated January 10, 171S. His wife,
who bore the Christian name of Sarah, died Sep-
tember 23. 1723. Their children were: Catherine,
John, George, Sylvanus, Priscilla. Sarah, Rebecca,
Robert. John, James and Mary.
(III) George, second son and third child of
Robert and Sarah Westgate, was born in War-
wick, Rhode Island. April 24, 1688. He resided
in Tiverton, Rhode Island. October 5. 1727, he mar-
ried Elizabeth Earle, who was born September 6,
1699, daughter of John and Mary (Wilcox) Earle.
She survived him, and on November 14, 1757, mar-
ried for her second husband John Adams of Warren,
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
!i9
Rhode Island. George Westgate was the father
of five children, namely: George, John. Priscilla,
Mary and Earle.
(IV) John, second son and child of George
and Elizabeth (Earle) Westgate, was born in Tiver-
ton, February i, 1731. He went to Killingly, Con-
necticut, but instead of locating there permanently
he ascended the river and became one of the pio-
neer settlers of Plainfield, New Hampshire, where
he located about 1778. The journey north was
made during the winter season, his family and
household goods being transported on a sled drawn
by oxen, and he assisted in constructing the river
road (so called) in Plainfield. He died in that
town September 3. 1821. On June 6, 1756, he was
married in Tiverton by Samuel Hicks, a justice, to
Grace Church, and her death occurred in Plain-
field, April 27, 1831. She was a lineal descendant of
Benjamin Church, who was distinguished in King
Philip's war. Their children were: Betsey. John.
Lydia, Earle, Priscilla, George, Mary, Joseph. Wil-
liam. Benjamin and Hannah.
(V) Earle, second son and fourth child of
John and Grace (Church) Westgate, was born in
Plainfield, November 26, 1764. He was a lifelong
resident of Plainfield, a prosperous farmer, and a
deacon of the church. He died January 23, 1841.
The maiden name of his wife, whom he married
June 7, 1796, was Elizabeth Waite, daughter of
Nathaniel and Anne (Sweetser) Waite: she was
born July 7, 1767. in Hubbardston, Massachusetts,
and died in Plainfield December 16, 1825. The six
children of this union were : Elizabeth, John, Na-
thaniel Waite, Anne, George and Earle.
(VI) Hon. Nathaniel Waite Westgate, second
son and third child of Earle and Elizabeth (Waite)
Westgate, was born in Plainfield, January 26, 1801.
He was graduated from the Kimball Union Academy,
Meriden, in 1820, but impaired health prevented
him from pursuing a collegiate course, and for
some time subsequent to leaving the academy he
taught school. Deciding, after recovering sufficiently
to resume study, to enter the legal profession, he
read law in the office of Hon. Charles Flanders,
of Plainfield, and was admitted to the bar at New-
port in 1827. Locating for practice in Enfield, he
built up a profitable general law business and dur-
ing his residence there, which covered a period
of nearly thirty years, he evinced a profound inter-
est in all matters relative to the general welfare
of the community, especially in behalf of public
education, serving with ability as superintendent of
schools. He also served as town clerk and as post-
master. Receiving the appointment of register of
probate for Grafton county in 1856, he removed to
Haverhill, which he represented in the state legisla-
ture in 1861, and in the latter year was appointed
judge of probate, retaining that office until dis-
<iualified by constitutional limitation. Joining the
Republican party at its formation, he labored dili-
gently to propagate the fundamental principles of
that political organization, and was several times a
candidate for the senate on that ticket, but suffered
defeat at the hands of his Democratic opponents.
His official duties were disi^harged with a sincerity
of purpose which was so apparent as to cause the
inherent honesty of the man to be universally ad-
mired, and his personal character was highly com-
mendable. The sunset of his life was spent in
retirement at his home in Haverhill, and his death
occurred December 16, 1890. His first wife was
Lydia Prentice, daughter of Dr. Nathaniel Prentice,
of Spring-field, and his second wife, whom he mar-
ried November 14, 1842, was Louise Tyler, born in
Claremont, this state, March 30, 1818. daughter of
Hon. Austin and Almira (Kingsbury) Tyler, and
granddaughter of Colonel Benjamin Tyler of Wal-
lingford. Connecticut. She became the mother of
six children, namely : Tyler, who will be again re-
ferred to ; Nathaniel W., Jennie L., Frederick A.,
William F. and George H. William F., who was
born at Enfield in 1852, studied at the Chandler
Scientific School at Dartmouth College, graduated
class of 1875, prepared for the legal profession and
was admitted to the bar in 1880. He died April 23,
1902. He served as register of probate for Cirafton
county. Mrs. Louise Westgate died March 6,
1895-
(VII) Tyler Westgate. eldest child of Nathaniel
W. and Louise (Tyler) Westgate, was born in En-
field, New Hampshire, December 2. 1843. He re-
ceived his education at the Haverhill (New Hamp-
shire) and Kimball LInion (Meriden. New Hamp-
shire) academies, and was graduated from the latter
in 1864. He was assistant clerk of the supreme
court of Grafton county from April 11, 1865, to April
I. 1871, and was register of probate for the county
from April 7, 1871, to July, 1874, and again from
August, 1876, to June. 1879. In 1876-77 he was
clerk of the New Hampshire senate. He was post-
master at Haverhill from 1881 to 1885. and was
again made register of probate in July. 1889, holding
the office until 1890, when he was made judge of
probate, which he still holds. He was elected a
delegate from Haverhill. New Hampshire, to the
Constitutional Convention of 1902, his name being
on both the Republican and Democratic tickets.
Judge Westgate married August 30. 1881, Lunetia
M. Sawyer, of Malone, New York, who died Janu-
ary 16, 1884. leaving no issue. He was again mar-
ried, to Phebe J. Bean, of Livington, Maine, who
died January 28, 1894. He has two daughters — •
Louise Bean and Elsie Mae Westgate.
(VI) Earle (2), youngest son and child of
Deacon Earle and Elizabeth (Waited Westgate,
was born in Plainfield, December 17, 1808. His
active years were devoted to tilling the soil in his
native town, where he resided for his entire life,
and he died March 29, 1898. Strongly imbued with
the principles of Christianity, he labored deligently
in advancing the moral and religious welfare of his
community, and for a period of fifty years he acted
as a deacon of the Baptist Church. He married
Sarah Cole, who was born in Plainfield, Novem-
ber 24. 1815, and her death occurred January 18,
1876, having reared a familv of six children: Wil-
liam E., Martha E., Edith S".. Julia A.. Mary E. and
Daniel C.
(VII) Daniel Cole, youngest son and child of
Deacon Earle and Sarah (Cole) Westgate. was born
in Plainfield, June 4, 1857. His studies in the district
school were supplemented with a course in the higher
branches at the Colby Academy, New London, New
Hampshire, and upon leaving that institution he
adopted the independent calling of a farmer. Al-
though agriculture constitutes his chief occupation,
he is not confined to it exclusively, as a considerable
portion of his time has been and is still devoted to
the public service, in which he has acquired an
honorable record. For a period of six years he was
a member of the board of selectmen ; has served
four years as town clerk, and as town treasurer for
the same length of time; was a member of the New
Hampshire house of representatives in 1905 : and is
now county treasurer. In politics he is a Republi-
can. He was one of the charter members of the
local grange. Patrons of Husbandry, and officiated
as its master during the first five years of its exist-
;2o
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
ence; is at the present time on its agricultural and
educational boards ; and for the past six years has
been a member of the executive committee of the
State Grange. His religious aftiliations are with the
Baptists.
On June 13, 1878, Mr. VVestgate was joined in
marriage with JVIisS Clara J. Stone, daughter of
Solomon and Betsey (Reed) Stone. Mr. and Mrs.
Westgate have two daughters : Mary E., born No-
vember 27, 1879; and Bessie S., born October 15,
1883. Both are graduates of the Kimball Union
Academy, Meriden. ^lary E. is now the wife of
Harold W. Chellis, of Meriden.
The Robinson family is an ancient
ROBINSON and numerous one, both in England
and America. There are several
coats of arms belonging to different branches of the
name, but in all of them an antlered stag or buck
is prominent. The one which is borne by the
Robinsons of the north, from whom the early
American immigrants are descended, consists of a
gold field crossed by a green chevron with three
gold cinquefoils set between three bucks tripping
(an heraldic expression signifying that one fore-
foot is raised;. The crest is a green buck trip-
ping, with gold antlers and gold spots on his hide.
There are two John Robinsons of early record
from whom Jonathan Robinson may have descended.
Eminent genealogists and writers both within and
without the family differ on this point. Both are
here given.
(I) Rev. John Robinson, the founder of
Plymouth Colony, had three sons who came to
Plymouth with their widowed mother in 1631.
Their names were: John, born 1606; Isaac, 1610;
and Jacob, 1616. Isaac remained in Plymouth, but
of John and Jacob there is nothing known after
they "left Plymouth, and with others went away
to Cape Ann to find a better fishing station." The
first subsequent trace of a John Robinson in authentic
records is found in Newbury in 1640. Here he is
of record as one of the twelve men who settled
Haverhill (Pentucket). John Robinson appears on
the town books in 1646, and in 1645 he was of
"thirty two landholders." In 1650 forty-three free-
men in the town subscribed themselves "In favor
of the project of laying out the bounds of the
plantation," and the name of John Robinson heads
the list. His name appears on the town book of
Exeter as one of the first settlers between 1640 and
1680. On October 23, 1652, he was chosen "As one
of the overseers of work on the meeting house."
October 16, 1664, he was on a committee "To lay
out our highways when they should judge most
convenient." Various deeds show the whereabouts
of John Robinson, of Exeter, during these years.
In 1649 it was acknowledged by him that Daniel
Lad had bought six acres of accommodation of him,
granted by the town of Haverhill. In 165 1 he bought
land and a dwelling house in Exeter. August 5,
1651, John Robinson, of Haverhill, conveys to
Thomas Lilfurth, of Haverhill, "my accommodation
in Haverhill, viz : 10 acres to my houselot, 6 acres
of which were given , me by the town — also my
house, etc." (Signed John Robinson, Elizabeth
Robinson.) In 1654 he held some property "in-
cluding and granted me by Exeter," which he sold
to Henry Robie. In 1655 he bought of Joseph
Merrie, of Hampton, in New England, "A dwelling
house with 25 acres of land, etc." In 1660 he owned
"some land in Exeter which he sold to John Pful-
sham" (Folsom). In 1667 John Robinson, of Exeter,
sold to Samuel Leavitt a dwelling house and barn
and seven acres of land in Exeter "by the falls,"
signed, John Robinson and Elizabeth his wife; wit-
ness, Jonathan Robinson. His last recorded sale is
in 1674, when he sold his dwelling to Moses Gillman,
of Exeter, Eebruary 24, 1674, entered June 24, 1675
(a few months before his death). The record of
John Robinson as a public man so far as known is-
as follows: He "was one of the grand jury held
at Salisbury (the Shiretown), February 12, 1653,
also 1664-68 and 74," was on the trial jury at Sahs-
bury, February 11, 1654, and 1667; was chosen to
end small causes, 1668; was allowed by the court
to keep a ferry at Exeter, and to have a penny for
a passage (no date). There is no record of John's-
marriage, but the name of "Elizabeth his wife" ap-
pears to a deed of February 9, 1661, also June 24,-
1667, and in 1676 as co-administrator to his will
with his youngest son David. John Robinson died
September 10, 1675. The children of John and
Ehzabeth Robinson, recorded in Haverhill, are 1
I. John, born 1641, lived three weeks. 2. John, bom
1642, died young. 3. Jonathan, born May 16, 1645.
4. Sarah, born January 8, 1647, died 1648. 5. David,,
born March 6, 1649. 6. Elizabeth, born March 7,
1651.
There is a great deal of collateral evidence and
family tradition to support the opinion of some
of the family that they descend from Rev. Joha
Robinson. We deem it just that both sides should
have a hearing, and will only say that as yet no
indisputable evidence has been found for other con-
tention.
(II) Jonathan Robinson, son of John, was born
May, 1645. Bell's "History of Exeter" gives the
name of Jonathan Robinson as second on the town
books of Exeter, the first being that of his father
John ; the date of Jonathan is March 3. 1673 ; of
John, April 20, 1652. June 24, 1667, he witnesses
the Leavitt Lavel sale signed by John and Eliza-
beth his wife. In 1674 he buys land of Jonathan;
Thwing. In 1672 he was chosen "tithing man"
among the first elected in the town. In 1680 his
name appears in the Mason land suit ; in 1698 as-
one of the reorganizers of the church, and the same
year he was "one of the 26 subscribers to the Cov-
enant and Confession of faith." October 26-29,.
1696, he furnished the garrison (King William's
war, 1690-1713), and in 1710 he was one of a
scouting party in pursuit of Indians. His death
probably occurred shortly after this date, as the
following deed suggests that it takes the place of
a will. March 6, 1710-11, Jonathan Robinson, of
Exeter, deeded property to his wife, who is not
named, and to his children Joseph, John. David,
James, Jonathan, Easter and Elizabeth. Also to
Lida, daughter of his son John. (New Hampshire
Province Deed?, vol. 9, p. 65).
(I) John Robinson, the first American ancestor
of this line, with eleven others from Ipswich and
Newbury. Massachusetts, made the original settle-
ment of Haverhill, Massachusetts, in 1640. He was
a blacksmith, and removed to Exeter, New Hamp-
shire, in 1657. In the month of September, 167S,
a party of Indians made a descent upon Oyster
River, now Durham, this state, and killed four peo-
ple, besides burning two houses. The savages then-
proceeded to the neighboring town of Exeter, where
three of them placed themselves in ambush on the
road leading to Hampton. Soon afterward John
Robinson and his son appeared on their way to the
latter town. The father, according to tradition,
was carrying a warming pan. The Indians fired
from tlicir lurking place and shot the elder Robin-
son dead. They pursued the son into a swamp but
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
321
failed to catch him, and he reached Hampton about
midnight and gave the alarm. There is no record
of the name of John Robinson's wife ; but it is
supposed that David and Jonathan Robinson, who
lived at Exeter from 1657 to 1683 were his sons,
also Stephen, John and Christopher Robinson.
From them are descended all the Robinsons of Ex-
eter and the neighborhood, including William Rob-
inson, who founded the Robinson Female Seminary
at Exeter, opened in 1869, also the Summerville
Academy at Summerville, Georgia. William Robin-
son died at Augusta, Georgia, where he had rnade
his fortune, and the Exeter institution received
about a quarter million of dollars from his estate.
(II) Jonathan, probably son of John Robinson
of the preceding paragraph (or of John of Exeter,
if the latter. May 16, 1640), was born about 1649.
He took the oath of allegiance November 30, 1677,
at Exeter, New Hampshire, was "tythingmaster" in
1678, one of the selectmen in 1695, and joined the
church in 1698. About 1670 Jonathan Robinson
married Sarah ■ , and they had eight chil-
dren: John, born September 7, 1671 ; Sarah, Oc-
tober 29, 1673; Hester, August 12, 1677; Elizabeth.
September 6, 1679; Jonathan, July 9, 1681 : David,
July 28, 1684; James, December 7, 1686: and Joseph,
whose sketch follows. Of these sons John died be-
fore July 7, 1749, the date of proving his will;
Jonathan died about 1758; David removed to Strath-
am, New- Hampshire, and died after 1767. Captain
James Robinson, the seventh child, also removed
to Stratham.
(III) Joseph, fifth son and youngest child of
Jonathan and Sarah Robinson, was born May i,
1691, and removed to Haverhill, Massachusetts, Oc-
tober I, 1698. He was living in Exeter in 1710.
The name of his wife is unknown, but there were
five sons : Josiah, mentioned below : Benjamin,
Nathaniel, Jonathan and Joseph. It is possible that
a daughter Nancy belonged in this family. Joseph
Robinson's death occurred after 1767.
(IV) Josiah, eldest child of Joseph Robinson,
was born either in Newmarket or Epping. New
Hampshire, and about 1778 removed with his fam-
ily to Brookfield, this state, where he took up a
large tract of heavily timbered land and engaged
in farming. Before removing to Brookfield he had
been a tanner and shoemaker in Exeter. Josiah
Robinson by hard labor succeeded in clearing a farm
in Brookfield, and built a home which has been kept
in the family for four generations, being now oc-
cupied by his great-grandson, John Franklin Rob-
inson. On August 18, i7(5o, Josiah Robnison mar-
ried Anna Neal, youngest of the eight children of
Walter and Ann (Mattoon) Neal, who was born
November 13. 1736. They had eight children: Wal-
ter, whose sketch follows; Deborah, born March 21,
1763; Anna, born July 2, 1765; Betsy, born October
28, 1767: Josiah. born April 2, 1770; and Tristam
Heard, born June 7, 1772. Josiah Robinson lived
to an advanced age, and died July 14, 1805. at Wolf-
boro, New Hampshire. His w-idow lived till Oc-
tober 6, 1828.
(V) Walter, the eldest child of Josiah and Anna
(Neal) Robinson, was born at Newmarket of Ep-
ping, New Hampshire, .\pril 26, 1761. At the age
of sixteen he moved with his parents to Brookfield,
where he helped to clear the parental farm, which
he afterwards inherited. On July 10, 1784. Walter
Robinson married Mary Neal, daughter of Ebenezer,
who was born at Stratham, July t6, 1760. They
had eight children: Fanny, Richard Mattoon,
Clarissa Harlow. John Neal, Henry, Ebenezer
i — 21
Clark, Hannah and Noah, mentioned below. Wal-
ter Robinson died at Brookfield, September 22,
1822, and his widow died September 14, 1844.
(,VI) Noah, fifth son and eighth and youngest
child of Walter and Mary (Neal) Robinson, was
born on the homestead at Brookfield, New Hamp-
shire, October 28, 1804, and spent his life there
engaged in farming. A man of sound judgment and
sterling character, he commanded the respect and
esteem of his fellow-townsmen to an unusual de-
gree. He was a Democrat in politics, and served as
town treasurer for three years, town clerk for five
years, and selectman for nine years, during three of
which he was chairman of the board. He also rep-
resented the town in the legislature during 1842 and
1844. He took an active interest in the state mili-
tia, in which he served as ensign, captain and major.
On October 5, 1845, Major Noah Robinson married
Judith Cook, one of the seven children of Thomas
and Mary (Saflford) Cook. She was born in Wake-
field. New Hampshire, February 3, 1815, where het
family had lived for three generations. Noah and
Judith (Cook) Robinson had three children, all
sons: George Henry, John Franklin and Albert Os-
car, whose sketch follows. George Henry Robinson,
born July 24, 1846, married February 29, 1876, Nel-
lie M. Gove, and they lived at Plymouth, this state.
John F. Robinson, born May 31, 1850, inherited the
ancestral homestead, and married July 21. 1872,
Ruth F. Lindsay, of Lincoln, Maine. Major Noah
Robinson died January 28, 1880, and his widow died
September 19, 1899.
(VII) Albert Oscar, youngest son of three sons
of Major Noah and Judith (Cook) Robinson, was
born at Brookfield, New Hampshire, October 26.
1851. He was educated in the town schools of
Brookfield and in the academies of Wakefield, Ef-
fingham and Wolfboro. For a while he taught
school in the winter, and then began working in a
store and telegraph office at L'nion. New Hamp-
shire. At the end of a year and a half, March 25,
1872, he entered the employ of the Eastern rail-
road as telegraph operator, baggage master and ex-
press agent at West Ossipee. On October 12 of
that year he was transferred to the station at Wolf-
boro Junction, now Sanbornville. and was made
station agent and express agent there, which posi-
tion he now holds. He has also acted at 'times as
paymaster and clerk for the division superintendent
of the road, wdiich is now part of the Boston and
Maine system. For seven years he was director of
the Wolfboro Loan and Banking Company, and for
a time president. Through the dishonesty of a
trusted employee this bank was compelled to close
in 1904, subsequently paying depositors in full. (N.
' H. Bank Commissioners' Report, 1904. p. 13). Mr.
Robinson affiliated with the Democratic party till
1896, since which time h^ has acted with the Repub-
licans. In 1892 he represented Wakefield in the
New Hampshire legislature, and in 1894 was elected
town treasurer, also treasurer of the school district
in Wakefield, and held them for ten years. He has
also been a justice of the peace for about twenty
years.. At present he is one of the trustees of the
Gafney Memorial Fund in Carroll county. Mr.
Robinson is interested in fraternal organizations,
and is past master of Lenity Lodge, .\ncient Free
and Accepted Masons of Union, this state, and be-
longs to the chapter, council and commandery of
the York Rite, and is a Thirty-second degree mem-
ber of the .Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. He
is also a charter member and Past Chancellor of
Syracuse Lodge, No. 27, Knights of Pythias, at San-
322
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
bornvillc. He is a life member of the Robinson
Family Genealogical and Historical Association. On
December 24, 187s, ^-^Ibert O. Robinson married
Clara E. Davis, who was born at Ossipee, New
Hampshire, August 25, 1848. Both of her parents,
Darius and Ruth B. (Durgin) Davis, were natives
of Newfield, Maine. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson had
one child, Inez, born November 17, 1876, who died
June 17, 1884. Since then they have adopted a
daughter, Agnes W.. who was born February 26,
1898.
(Second Family.)
The line of this name herein treated
ROBINSON has been comparatively recently es-
tablished in New Hampshire, com-
ing from Glasgow, Scotland, where Alexander
Robinson was born in 1845. Mr. Robinson located
in Portsmcnth, New Hampshire, in 1852. Before
attaining his majority he enlisted in the United
States Navy, on board the gunboat "Ossipee," serv-
ing for a time in the Civil war. He then returned
to Portsmcaith and engaged in the brewing busi-
ness until 18S2, when he removed to Boston. Mass-
achusetts. He died in England, June 11, 1897, at
the age of fifty-two years. He was a Knight Tem-
plar and Thirty-second degree Mason, and a mem-
Ijer of the British Charitable Association. He held
a pew in St. John's (Protestant Episcopal) Church
of Portsmouth. He was married to Martha E.
Banks, a native of Portsmouth, daughter of Oren
Banks and Maria Griffin (Dore) Banks of that city.
They became the parents of four children : The
eldest, Alexander Charles, is an artist of consider-
able talent, and now resides in Belgium, where he
finds profitable employment for his brush. Albert
W., the second, is a resident of Boston, where he is
extensively engaged in the brewing business. Per-
cival M., the third, is the subject of the succeeding
paragraph. Mabel E., the fourth, resides in Boston.
Percival Marcellus Robinson was born June 2,
1872, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and received
his primary education in the public schools of that
city, and was subsequently two years a student in
the Boston High School. On leaving school, he
joined his father at Boston, going through every
'department of the brewing business in order to be-
■come master of its details. After the death of his
father, in 1897. with his brother he continued the
business established by his father, which was then
known as The Robinson Brewing Company, now a
part of the Massachusetts Breweries Company, of
Boston. In November, 1899, Mr. Robinson became
an owner in the True W. Jones Brewing Company
of Manchester, which was established in 1892 by
True W. Jones, who was deceased at the time Mr.
Robinson succeeded to his interest. The latter be-
came at once president and general manager of the
establishment, in which position he has continued
•until the present time, and the business has pros-
pered under his able management. He is a director
of the Manchester National Bank, and active in va-
rious ways in promoting the growth and welfare of
the city. He is a member of Washington Lodge.
Free and Accepted Masons, of Boston, and of the
Manchester I>odge of Elks, the Amoskeag Veterans,
and the Derryfield Club. He is a stanch and liberal
supporter of Republican principles and policies. Mr.
Robinson is recognized in commercial circles of
Manchester as a progf-essive and successful business
man. He was married November 6. 1895^ to Clara
Freeman Brennan. a native of New York City,
daughter of Philip and Clara (Savory) Brennan.
The family of Mr. and Mrs. Robinson includes two
children : Clara Dcre and Philip Alexander.
The name Robinson and its near
ROBESON allies constitute a numerous group.
All of them were originally derived
from the baptismal Robert. A few of the pa-
tronymics which can be traced to this common
source are : Robarts. Robins, Robinson. Roberts.
Robertson. Robison, Robson and Roby; also Dobbs,
Dobson, Dobbins, and Hobbs, Hobson and Hopkins.
Of all these names that of Robinson probably oc-
curs most frequently. In the present instance the
name of Robeson is derived from Robinson in the
most direct way. Robinson was the form for four
generations. Not until Jonas Robinson, of Le.xing-
ton, Massachusetts, came to Fitzwilliam. New-
Hampshire, about 1790, did he write his name
Robeson. Succeeding generations have preserved
this as a distinct patronymic; but for genealogical
purposes the family must be regarded as a branch
of the Robinsons.
(II) Jonathan, youngest of the four sons and
three daughters of William and Elizabeth (Cutter)
Robinson, was born April 20, 1682. He learned the
trade of a weaver, probably from his maternal imcle,
Isaac Williams, who lived on an adjoining farm. At
the age of twenty-four Jonathan Robinson married
and bought a farm in Lexington, Massachusetts, still
owned (1903) by some of his descendants. At that
time tlie region was called Cambridge Farms, being
composed of wood lots and hayfields which supplied
the adjoining town. Jonathan Robinson was ty-
thingnian in 17,^5, and in 1744 was on a committee
"to dignify and seat the meeting-house." Jonathan
Robinson married, June 19, 1706. Ruth, daughter of
Jonathan and Abigail (Shattuck) Morse. She was
born April 15, 1684, and was the granddaughter of
Joseph Morse, one of the original proprietors of
Watertown, Massachusetts. There were six chil-
dren: Jonathan (2), Ruth, Abigail, James, men-
tioned below, Lydia and Hannah. Jonathan Robin-
son died in 1735, and his widow died April 25, 1759.
Jonathan (2) was the great-grandfather of Governor
George D. Robinson, of Chicopee, Massachusetts.
(III) James, second son and fourth child of
Jonatlian and Ruth (Morse) Robinson, was born
August 30, 1715. The Lexington farm evidently
descended to him and he probably lived a quiet life
there. He was admitted to the church March 10,
1765. Little is recorded about him except that he
married three times. His first wife was Anna
Trask. who died within a year, leaving no children.
He then married Margaret . who died No-
vember S, 1767, leaving eight children. His third
wife was Elizabeth , who had three children.
The children of the second marriage were : Ruth,
Joseph, Silas, Asa, James, Rhoda, Ebcnezer and
Persis. The children of the third marriage were:
Jonas, whose sketch follows : Rhoda and Lydia.
Four sons of James Robinson served in the Revolu-
tion: Joseph. Asa. James (2) and Ebenezer. James
Robinson died August 12, 1774.
(IV) Jonas, eldest son and child of James
Robinson, and his third wife, Elizabeth, was born
May 18, 1770, at Lexington, Massachusetts. He
moved to New Hampshire in 1791. and after that
he spelled his name Robeson. He first began store-
keepin.g in Marlborough, where he remained about a
year. He then bought a small piece of land in the
north part of Fitzwilliam, half a mile from his first
location, on which he built a store. About 1S05 Mr.
Robeson and his brother-in-law. Reuben Ward,
opened a store in Fitzwilliam village. A year or
two later he built the three-story structure now
known as the FitMvilliam Hotel. A two-story ex-
tension on the west side was added to accommodate
I
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
323
the stores, and here he lived and carried on business
until his death in 1819. He seems to have been a
man of great energy and did much for the town
during his comparatively short life. Before coming
to Fitzwilliam he superintended the building of the
road from that village to Keene. He put up log
huts for the men to live in while they were doing
tlie work. He was the first postmaster in Fitz-
william, and he held the office for many years. He
was very active in the erection of the first meeting-
house in the village, and when it was burned he
rescued the Bible and before the fire was out he
had made plans for the rebuilding of the house. He
was representative to the legislature in 1819, and
was a major in the state militia. Jonas Robeson
was twice married. His first wife Avas Betsey,
daughter of Reuben and Sarah (Kendall) Ward,
who was born in Marlboro, New Hampshire, July
10. 1777. She was si.xth in descent from William
Ward, the immigrant ancestor who came to Sud-
bury. Massachusetts, as early as 1639. She died
March 2, 1807, leaving four children : Eliza Ann,
Jonas, Maria and John Ward. At the time of Mrs.
Robeson's burial the sexton records that the ground
was frozen thirty-seven inches deep. On March 21,
1815, Jonas Robeson married Susan, eldest daughter
and eleventh child of Colonel Joseph and Lois (Whit-
ney) Bellows, of Walpole, New Hampshire. (See
Bellows Family). By this marriage Major Robeson
became allied with one of the most noted families
of the state, a family into which his grandson after-
ward married. Susan Bellows was born in Lunen-
burg. Massachusetts, August 18. 1780. Upon her
marriage to Major Robeson she moved to Fitz-
william, where their two children were born : Abel
Bellowf, whose sketch follows ; and Mary Ann, who
died at tlie age of six years. Major Jonas Robeson
died at F'itzwilliam, August 24, 1819, only four years
after his second marriage; and his widow returned
to Walpole to live. About 1837 she built the dig-
nified old mansion at the north end of the common,
where fhe lived till the close of her life. She was
an excellent and conscientious woman, with more of
the Puritan sternness and decision of character than
was typical of the Bellows family. She died at Wal-
pole, October 3, i860, at the age of eighty years.
(V) Abel Bellows, eldest child and only son
of Major Jonas Robeson (formerly Robinson) and
his second wife, Susan Bellows, was born at Fitz-
william, New Hampshire, August 10, 1817. His
father died when he was but two and one-half years
old, and his mother returned to her old home at
Walpole. where Abel B. attended the public schools
and fitted for college probably by tutor. He was
graduated from Yale in the class of 1837, which
numljercd many distinguished men, notably William
M. Evarts and Chief Justice Waite. A. B. Rolieson
stood well in his class and had many warm friends
among its members. He was graduated from the
Medical School of the LTniversity of New York in
1839, and established himself in the practice of med-
icine in tliat city. .A.t the time of his death he was
chief physician at Bellevue Hospital, with wdiich he
had been connected a number of years. He had ac-
rpiired a large and valuable practice when his prom-
ising career was cut short by his early death before
he had reached the age of thirty-si.x. He was a
man of strong personality and warm affections, and
his death was caused by his devotion to his profes-
sion. He gave much of his time to the poor, and
he caught a severe cold, which resulted fatally,
while responding to a night call in a remote part of
the city. Dr. A. B. Robeson married, October 5,
1841, Susan Taylor, daughter of Rev. Nathaniel
William and Rebecca Maria (Hine) Taylor, who
was born in New Haven, Connecticut, September 13,
1S16. Her father, Dr. N. W. Taylor, was pastor
of the First Congregational Church in New Haven
from 1812 to 1S22, when he resigned to become
professor of didactic theology at Yale College. Dr.
A. B. and Susan (Taylor) Robeson had four chil-
dren : Henry Bellows, whose biography follows ;
William Pritchard. who became a banker in New
York, where he died December 15, 1896; Abel Her-
bert Bellows, who was graduated from Yale College
in 1869. and lives in Marcus, Iowa ; and Maria, who
married Rollin A. Loomis, of Springfield, Massa-
chusetts, where she died, June 19, 1888. Dr. Abel
P.. Robeson died in New York, March 22, 1853.
Mrs. Robeson died at New Haven, Connecticut,
March 17, 1856.
(VI) Henry Bellows, eldest son and child of
Dr. A. B. and Susan (Taylor) Robeson, was born
in New Haven, Connecticut, August 5, 1842. He
spent part of his boyhood in Walpole, New Hamp-
shire, at the home of his Grandmother Robeson,
and attended the public schools and the Walpole
.Academy. September 25, 1856, he was appointed
acting midshipman in the United States navy from
the second congressional district of Connecticut.
He was graduated from the Naval Academy at
."Xnnapolis in i860. He made his first cruise in the
steam frigate "Niagara," visiting China and Japan,
and returning early in i86r. At the beginning of
the Civil war the "Niagara" took part in the block-
ade off the southern coast. Robeson was made lieu-
tenant. July 16, 1862. and was ordered to the iron-
clad, "New Ironsides," which took part in the de-
fence of Fortress Monroe. Lieutenant Robeson
commanding the gunboat "Stettian." He led the
assault on Morris Island, and was the first to land in
the face of a heavy fire. In June, 1864. he was or-
dered to the steam frigate "Colorado," practically
taking the place of the executive officer, who was
dl at the time. This vessel took part in both bom-
bardments of Fort Fisher. Lieutenant Robeson led
one hundred and fifty men from the "Colorado" in
the attack on the sea front under a raking fire from
two heavy guns. In June, 1865, the "Colorado"
sailed for Europe, and visited the principal ports of
the continent. Lieutenant Robeson was commis-
sioned lieutenant-commander. July 25, 1866, and
served on the "Delaware," the flag-ship of Vice-Ad-
miral Rowan on an Asiatic cruise of three years.
He was afterwards on shore duty, part of the time
as instructor in electricity at the torpedo station in
Newport, Rhode Island, and later at the New York
navy yard. February 12, 1874, he was commission-
ed commander, and in 1876 was ordered to com-
mand the corvette "Vandalia," on the European
station. From December, 1877, to .^pril, 1878. the
"Vandalia" was at the disposal of General Grant
and party, who were then making the tour of the
world. The principal ports of the Mediterranean
were visited, and Commander Robeson formed a
high opinion of his distinguished guests, with whom
be was thrown into such intimate association. From
1879 to 1883 Commander Robeson served at the
Naval .\cademy at Annapolis as head of the depart-
ment of ordnance and gunnery. The ne.xt four
years he was in charge of tlie navigation office at
the New York navy yard. August 25, 18S7, he was
commissioned captain, and in 1S88 was made a mem-
ber of the advisory board in charge of the con-
struction of new cruisers. In 1S89 he commanded
the "Chicago," and then served for a few years on
shore duty. In 1895 he was appointed captain of
the yard at tlie naval station at Portsmouth, New
324
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Hampshire, where he remained for two and a half
years. February i, 1898, he was raised to the rank
of commodore, and in 1899 was promoted to the
grade of rear admiral and retired.
Henry Bellows Robeson married, in New York.
June II, 1873, Katharine (Nichols) Bellows, daugh-
\er of Rev. John N. and Mary (Nichols) Bellows,
tvho was born at Framingham, Massachusetts, July
8, 1846 (see Bellows Family, VH). Mrs. Robeson
owns the old family home at Walpole, New Hamp-
shire, which belonged to her mother, and in that
beautiful village, the ancestral domain of the Bel-
iows family. Admiral and Mrs. Robeson spent their
well earned leisure. They have no children. Mrs.
Robeson is a member of the Society of Colonial
Dames of New Hampshire.
The derivation of this name is a matter
ROBIE of conjecture, but Hon. Henry John
Roby, M. P., from Manchester, Eng-
land, gives reasons for thinking that the name is
taken from the hamlet of Roby, in the parisli of
Huyton, five or six miles east of Liverpool. Since
1403 the residence of the Robies can be distinctly
traced at Castle Donington, a small town in the
northern edge of Leicestershire. England, which lies
between the counties of Derby and Nottingham. The
name is variously spelled Robie, Roby. Robey. Ro-
bay. Robye, and Rooby, but was spelled Robie by
Thomas, the father of Henry, the immigrant. Dis-
connected statements in the records of Castle Don-
ington between 1402 and 1512, show the existence of
the family at that place between those dates. In
September, 1402-1403, John Roby was possessed of
a copyhold in the Manor of Castle Donington.
(I) John Roby, with whom the connected his-
tory of the family begins, took part in the court
proceedings of Castle Donington, in October, 1512.
In March, 1513, he was admitted tenant of two bur-
gages. In June, 1513, he was named at a court at
which William Roby and three others were admitted
to three curtilages. He died shortly before Christ-
mas, 1515. His children were: Thomas and
Emmot.
(II) Thomas Roby, son of John Roby, was
born at Castle Donington, in 1501. May 6, 1516, he
was admitted as son and heir of John Roby. to a
taft, a croft, and one yard of land, and a moiety of
meadow, at a rent of twenty shillings a year. In
1526 Emmote Roby was admitted to a cottage, to
the use of her brother Thomas, who in each of the
years 152", 15,32, 1536. was on the homage, and in
1537 was fined for withdrawing from the King's
Mill, and for breaking fold and taking out his sheep.
In 1538-40 he was mentioned in the court proceed-
ings. In 1542 he defended a suit in chancery, and in
1547 he was on the homage, and is also named as
breaking the King's pound. He married Elizabeth,
who, when married, sued for debt and was sued
for trespass, in the Manor Court, several times from
155s to 1562. He was buried at Castle Donington,
December 5. 1552, and his wife was also buried
there, February 22, 1565. Their children were:
Robert, John, Thomas, Edmond, William, Bartholo-
mewe, Michael and Marie.
(III) Thomas (2), third child and second son
of Thomas (i) and Elizabeth Roby, yeoman, was
engaged in litigation concerning land in Donington
Manor, in 1560-83-S7, and mentioned in the pro-
ceedings of the Manor Court in 1559-60-66, and
1586. He married first, November 25, 1569, at
Castle Donington, Joane Cowley, who was buried at
castle Donington, October 10, 1570. He married
second, April 22, 1583, at Castle Donington, Mary
Gatley. By the first wife he had a son Thomas ;
and by the second wife a daughter Elizabeth. He
was buried at Castle Donington, April 12, 1588. In
his will dated April 10, 1588, proved at Leicester,
September 12, of the same year, he speaks of his
wife INIary and his children Thomas and Elizabeth,
(both under age), his brother John and his nephew
John (under age), son of William, and makes be-
quests to John Gatley and Dorothy Gatley.
(IV) Thomas (3) Robye (or Robie or Roby),
only son of Thomas (2) and Joane (Cowley) Roby,
was under age April, 1588. He was on the homage
of the Manor Court in 1637 and 1646, and probably
other years. He died March 27, 1653. His will,
dated March 24, 1652. was proved at Westminster,
September 20, 1653. He married, October 6, 1606,
Mary Coxon, who was born April 20, 1586, and
buried at Castle Donington, April 26, 1641. She
was the daughter of John Coxon. The children of
this _ union were : Robert, Mary. Thomas, John,
William, Henrj-, Edward, Samuel, and eight others
who died young.
(V) Henry Robie, sixth child and fifth son of
Thomas (3) and Mary (Coxon) Robie, was born
at Castle Donington, February 12, 1619, and died
.'Xpril 22, 1688. in Hampton, New Hampshire, aged
sixty-nine. Early in 1639 he came to Dorchester in
Massachusetts Bay Colony, and next to Salem.
Soon after he went to Exeter, New Hampshire,
which was founded by Rev. John Wheelwright the
year before. This seems to have been his objective
point. At that time there were no constituted
authorities over the patent of New Hampshire, and
the Exeters, as the Plymouth colonists before them
had done, formed a voluntary combination for gov-
ernmental purposes, and this agreement, dated July
4, 1639, bears the signature of Henry Robie. In
May. 1643. he joined in the petition of the inhab-
itants of Exeter to the general court of Massachu-
setts, praying that their territory might be received
within the jurisdiction of Massachusetts Bay Col-
ony. January 16, 1644, he received from the town
a grant of ten acres of land, and February 10, 1648,
a further life grant of twenty acres; and April 22,
1649, lie and others were granted a mill site at Lit-
tle river. In 1649-50 he was selectman, and March
21, 1650, received a further grant of ten acres of
land. On May 13, 1650, as one of the committee of
the town, he signed the contract engaging Rev.
Samuel Dudley as minister. November 24, 1650, he
was given permission to enlarge his garden out of
the highway, and on January 2, 1651, he received a
further grant of sixty acres of land from the town,
and on the same day with John Oilman, dissented
from the vote of the town, releasing the Rev. Sam-
uel Dudley from payment of certain rentals due the
town, and on February 19, 1651, the town authorized
Henrj' Robie and two otiier townsmen "to vindicate
the credit and the reputation of (Rev.) Mr. Dudley,
against the reproachful speeches and calumniation
of John Garland, by proceeding against him in law,
according to the demerit of his offense." Soon
after 1651 he removed into the present adjoining
town of Hampton. He was selectman of Hampton
for the years 1656-60-65-81, and in 1660 was a mem-
ber of the committee to regulate the seating of the
people in the meeting house. On January i, 1661,
he was named as one of a commission to lay out the
road, from the Academy green to the Landing, and
in 1667 to settle the bounds of the highway between
Hampton and Salisbury. On October 12^ 1669, at
the session of the court, Henry Robie was allowed
to keep an ordinary in the town, and the court li-
censed him "to sell beere and wine and strong wa-
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
325
ters by retaile, and ye sd Robie doth binde himself,
in ye sum of £40. en condition not to suffer any
townsmen, men's children and servants to be tipling
in his house." He kept the ordinary for about ten
years, his license being renewed from year to year.
On October 18, 1669, he was attorney for the town,
in a matter before the court in Boston. In 1677 he
was sent to Hank the Indians, who were besieging
the Hampton settlement. His name and that of
his wife are recorded as members of the town
church on September 18, 1671. A royal decree,
made September 18, 1679, having ordered that there-
after the Massachusetts Bay Colony should have no
further jurisdiction over the towns of Dover. Ports-
mouth, E.xeter and Hampton, it became necessary to
establish a new government for the Province of
New Hampshire, to accomplish which Mr. Robie
was named as one of the electors from his town.
July 13, 1680, he was foreman of the grand jury,
and the same year one of the committee appointed
to prosecute persons stealing lumber from the town.
In 16S3, with other residents of Hampton, he peti-
tioned the colonial governor to be freed from head-
money, and the same year was elected a member of
the council from his towns. He was a justice of
the peace for many years, and February 6, 1683,
with three other justices signed the commitment
of Rev. Joshua Aloody, pastor of the church in
Portsmouth, for six months for refusing to admin-
ister the sacrament in accordance of the laws of
Great Britain. He was a standing juryman in the
trials of Mason against Richard Walderne and other
persons in New Hampshire for holding lands which
Mason claimed as proprietor of the province. His
first wife, Ruth, died May 5, 1673; and he married
(second), January 19, 167.1. Widow Elizabeth Gar-
land, daughter of Thomas Philbrick, who had prev-
iously been the wife of Thomas Chase, and of John
Garland. She died Feljruary 11, 1677. His third wife,
Sarah, died January 23, 1703. His children were:.
Thomas. John, Judith, Ruth, Deliverance, Samuel,
and Ichabod by the first wife : and Sarah by the
third wife. Two other children, Joanna and Alary,
may have been born to him.
(VI) John, second son and child of Henry and
Ruth Robie. was born in 1646. He settled in Haver-
hill, Massachusetts, in 1675-6, and built a cottage
there in a section of the town which is now in-
cluded in Atkinson, New Hampshire. He was a
soldier in King Philip's war. The Indians had made
many attacks on Haverhill, and on June 16, 1691,
John Robie set out to move his family, csnsisting of
seven children, to a place of refuge. His wife
Mary, whose last name has been lost, had died a
few days before, and his eldest child was not quite
eleven years old. John Robie was moving his fam-
ily in a cart and was about opposite the old burying
ground when he was attacked and killed by the In-
dians, who carried off the eldest child, Ichabod, into
captivity.
(VII) Ichabod, eldest child of John and Mary
Robie, was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, in
1680. He was captured by the Indians on June 16,
1691, but afterwards made his escape. He some- .
where learned the art of tanning, and settled in
Hampton Falls. New Hampshire, in 1705. He was
one of the committee to lay out the home lots in
Chester, New Hampshire, and he probably built a
house there, but it is thought that the place never
became his permanetit home. He acquired the title
of colonel, and seems to liave been a man of con-
siderable property, judging from some of the items
in his will. He served as representative for seven
years, from 1735 to 1742. On January 10, 1707, Col-
onel Ichabod Robie married Mary, daughter of
Joseph Cass. They had seven children : Anne
Ruth, John, Henry, Samuel, whose sketch follows
Mary and Sarah. Anne and Ruth died in the year
1725, Anne on January 27, and Ruth on February
28. It is probable that Mary also died young, as
she is not mentioned in her father's will. This will
was proved September 26, 1753. John (2), the eld-
est son, was given a silver-fitted sword and a silver-
headed cane. It is interesting to know that Colonel
Stephen Dearborn, who had married Ruth Robie,
fifth child of John (2) Robie, used this sword when
he commanded a company at the battle of Benning-
ton. Samuel Robie, whose sketch follows, received
his father's pistol and holsters, the cap and brass-
hilted sword and silver-headed riding cane. The
youngest son, Henry, got the homestead and tan-
vard. and was also residuary legatee.
(VIII) Samuel, third son and fifth child of Col-
onel Ichabod and Mary (Cass) Robie, was born Oc-
tober 17, 1717. He settled on his father's house lot.
No. 116, in Chester, and afterwards moved to Goffs-
town. New Hampshire. He was twice married. His
first wife was a Perkins, and they had three chil-
dren : Sarah. Lydia and Edward, whose sketch
follows. His second wife was Mrs. Phebe Butter-
field, and they had two children: Samuel and Polly.
In 1778 Samuel Robie sold his farm, including his
tanyard. to John S. Dearborn, taking his pay in Con-
tinental money. This depreciated so greatly that he
lost most of his property.
(IX) Edward only son and third child of Sam-
uel and (Perkins) Robie, was born in 1746. He
settled first in Candia, and then moved to Chester,
New Hampshire, where he was a farmer. In 1771
Edward Robie married Sarah Smith, daughter of
John and Sarah (Toppan) Smith, who was born at
Hampton, New Hampshire, December 16, 1754.
Mrs. John Smith, after the death of her first hus-
band, became the second wife of Colonel John Web-
ster, of Chester, and it was probably there that the
young people met. Edward and Sarah (Smith)
Robie had six children : Mary, John Smith, Edward,
Toppan, Sarah and Thomas Sargent. (The last
named and descendants are mentioned in this arti-
cle). Mrs. Edward Robie seems to have been a
woman of superior character and attainments, and
she was connected with the best New England fam-
ilies. Her father, John Smith, was graduated from
Harvard College in 1745, and her mother was the
daughter of Dr. Edmund Toppan, also a graduate of
Harvard, and the son of Rev. Christopher Toppan,
of Newburyport. Toppan Robie, fourth child of
Edward and Sarah (Smith) Robie, moved to Gor-
ham, Maine, where he accumulated much property,
and became one of the leading citizens. Although
rearing a large family, he gave during his lifetime
nine thousand dollars to the First Parish in (jor-
ham, two thousand for a soldiers' monument in that
town, five thousand dollars to the Congregational
Society in Chester, New Hampshire, besides many
smaller gifts. Edward Robie died December 26,
1837, at tlie age of ninety-two. and his wife died in
1843. aged eighty-nine.
(X) Edward, third child and second son of
Edward and Sarah (Smith) Robie, was born No-
vember 20, 1778, and died in Chester, September 12,
1857. He lived on the homestead, was a Whig and
Congregationalist. He married Mary B. Prescott,
daughter of John Prescott. of Deerfield. She died
in 1877. They had thirteen children : Asa, Henry
E.. Mary Jane. Sarah S.. Marj' .\., Barnard P.,
Emeline, Toppan. Clara. John P., Samuel P., Xancy
J. and William F.
32b
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
(XI) John P., tenth child of Edward and Mary
B. (Prescott) Robic, was born in Chester, Novem-
ber 25, 1828, and died October 18, 1900. He \yas
born and lived the greater part of his life and died
on the homestead. He was a Republican and a
member of the Congregational church. He married,
December 4, 1852, Rachel Nelson, who was born in
Newbury, Vermont, December g, 1829, and died
June 3, 1900, daughter of Jonathan Nelson. Their
children w-ere : Mary J.. John H., Elmer M., Her-
bert W.. Chauncey A. Mary J. married Edman J.
Wilcomb, of Chester. Elmer M. married Carrie
M. Denino. Herbert W. married Marie V. Friedlin, of
Norfolk, Virginia, March 9, 1901 ; she died Decem-
ber 16, 1904. Chauncey A. married Mary E. Tucker,
of Griswold. Connecticut.
(XII) John H., second child of John P. and
Rachel (N^elson) Robie, was born February ", 1855,
in Chester, and educated in the common schools.
After working one and one-half years in a general
store in Hampton Falls he was employed five years
as a brush maker in Manchester. He next worked
at farming in Brentwood five years, and then went
to Concord, where he worked at meat cutting ten
years. In 1S95 he removed to Chester, where he
has been in the meat business eleven years. He is
a Republican, and is a trustee of the public library.
He owns and lives on the old Robie homestead. He
married. August 27, 1884, Abbie J. Goldsmith, of
Concord, who w'as born November 30, i860, daugh-
ter of J. B. and Sarah J. (Foss) Goldsmith. She
graduated from Penacook Academy, and is a mem-
ber of the Congregational Church. They have two
children: Olive B., born February 14, 1894, and
Winnifred R., June 9, 1901.
(X) Thomas Sargent, youngest child of Edward
and Sarah (Smith) Robie, was born January 14,
1791, at Chester, New Hampshire. When a lad of
thirteen he went to Gorham, Maine, where he was
employed in the store of his brother, Captain Top-
pan Robie. till 1815, when the two brothers became
partners. Mr. Robie was a man of upright character,
and was honored for his piety and benevolence.
For many years be was deacon of the First Con-
gregational Church, of Gorham. and was intimately
associated with its first pastor, Rev. Thaddeus Pome-
roy. These two. pastor and deacon, were much at-
tached and worked harmoniously together for the
cause of Christ during many years. Deacon Robie
lived to see his three surviving sons in the Congre-
gational ministry. Although dying before he had
reached the age of fifty, Deacon Robic had become
an influential and prosperous citizen of his adopted
town. He was largely instrumental in the building
of the brick vestry to the Congregational Church in
1828, as he subscribed five hundred dollars for the
same. He was town treasurer of Gorham for many
years. On ^lay 21, 1820, Deacon Thomas S. Robie
married Clarissa Adams, daughter of Benjamin
Adams, of East Sudbury, Massachusetts. They had
nine children : Edward, whose sketch follows ; Lu-
cinda A., Thomas S., Benjamin A., Joseph Adams,
Catherine P., Lucinda E.. Thomas S. and Benjamin
A. Deacon and Mrs. Robie were greatly afiflicted
in the loss of their children. The second, third,
fourth and fifth died of scarlet fever within a space
of si.x weeks, their deaths ranging from July 31 to
September 13, 1832, and their ages from two to ten
years. The sixth child, Catherine P., died December
II, 1834, at the age of three years and eight months.
Of the four wdio lived to grow up, Edward the eldest
is mentioned below ; Lucinda E.. born February 8,
^833, lives with her brother Edward; Thomas S.,
born September 21, 1834, married Virginia D. Peldle-
ton, September 21, 1859, became a clergyman of
the Congregational Church, and died at Chicago,
IMarch 25, 1906; Benjamin A., born September 9, J
1S36, married Lucy Wiggin, and was pastor of the f
Congregational Church at Grafton, Massachusetts,
at the time of his death, September 16, 1900. Deacon
Thomas S. Robie, the father, died October 22, 1838,
aged forty-seven years, and his wife died July 27,
i860, aged sixty-eight.
(XI) Rev. Dr. Edward, eldest child of Deacon
Thomas S. and Clarissa (Adams) Robie, was born
April s, 1821, at Gorham, Maine. He graduated
from Gorham Academy in 1836, and from Bowdoin
College in 1840. For the next three years he was a
student at Andover Theological Seminary, and in
the fall of 1843 he matriculated at the celebrated
University of Halle, near Leipsic, Germany, where
he remained two years. In the winter of 1846, after
spending six months in Berlin, Dr. Robie returned
to America and became teacher of languages in
Gorham Academy. This once famous institution,
which has sent out so many distinguished graduates,
was founded in 1805, and Dr. Robie's uncle, Toppan
Robie, was on the board of trustees for half a cen-
tury. Dr. Robie's cousin. Governor Frederick Robie,
of Maine, is now president of the board. In 1848
Dr. Robie became assistant teacher of Hebrew at
Andover Theological Seminary, where he remained
three years. In 1852 Dr. Robie was ordained and
installed pastor of the Congregational Church at
Greenland, New Hampshire, where he has preached
continuously ever since. No other clergyman now
living in this state can show such a record as this,
and very few pastors in the early days when ministers
were settled for life by the town, were spared to
preach so long. Although Dr. Robie is in the
eighty-sixth year of his age, and the fifty-sixth of
his ministry, he performs all the duties connected
with the parish, and attends all conferences and
meetings of the association. His intellect is as
bright as ever, and he is an interesting converser.
During his pastorate he has taken two trips to
Europe for recreation, but those have been the
only gaps in his continuous service. Dr. Robie is
as modest as he is learned. In 1903 he wished to
preach on some subject in which he did not consider
himself thoroughly versed. Accordingly he went to
Boston, took a special course at Cambridge, and
returned with added stores of knowledge.
On December 28, 1852, Dr. Edward Robie mar-
ried Susan P. Jameson, daughter of Rev. Thomas
and Elizabeth (Lord) Jameson, who was born at
Effingham, New Hampshire, October 23, 1823. She
died at Greenland, June 12, 1878. There were no
children. Miss Lucinda E. Robie, Dr. Robie's only
surviving sister and near relative, now presides over
his home in Greenland.
(Second Family.)
This family is descended from a ancestor
ROBIE who settled in New England among the
earliest white inhabitants. Henry Robie
was born in England about 1618, and was in Dor-
chester, Massachusetts, in 1639. In the same year
he removed from there to Exeter, New Hampshire,
where he was a signer of the Combination. About
1650 he removed to Hampton, where he was a magis-
trate, a selectman and an innholder. His first wife,
whose name was Ruth, died May 5, 1673. He mar-
ried (second), January 19, 1674, Elizabeth (Phil-
brick) Garland, daughter of Thomas Philbrick, and
widow of John Garland. She died February II,
1677. He had a third wife, Sarah, who died January
I
/ '-'
'*X'lt'!?''l'/;Af(J;->*'''<^''!'*''''*^^"^?'* '^'^
NEW HAMPSirjT;-
3^7
-\ . , lie (ucu ni'in .'^. m^"^"- : rum mni im\i:
- : M 1 all, or nearly all OJ the Robies of New
jiuiLi^lilre.
(1) James Robic. i' i of the
ininiigrant, Henry R. i .i iliam, in
1734, and died in Naa. He
married Ami P--' nd Anna
(Smith) Boyi \\ }.
(H; Sanu 1 11 (Boynton)
Robie, was bi . 9, 1793. He
settled in Nci <lied May 10,
1846. He mar: i\,, May /, :.i.-i, r.unice Roberts,
daughter of Joseph Roberts. They had six children
born in New Hampton : Susan E., Mary R., Nancy,
James, Thomas and William R., next mentioned.
(HI) William Roberts, youngest child of Samuel
and Eunice (Roberts) Robie, was born in New
Hampton, January 14, 1832. He was a prosperous
farmer, and resided in his native town up to his
death, February 10, J907. Hv was a Republican in
have one .son, }larold William Robie.
They
1 tax collector a
'.entativc one term
politics ; filled the ofti'
number of year.s, and
from the town <■•'
court. He was a
Church; he was a'
of the Patrons of
October 5, 185S, a;,..
in Groton, daughter i
August 5, 187J. He nj;
1875, Martha G. Walker, w^
ton, April 2, 1836, daughter
Two sons were born of the lirst iu<ii>
Hastings and Charles Warren.
(IV) Samuel Hastings, elder
and Harriet M. (Chase) Robic
Hampton, August 9, 1'''^
printing in the comp'
County Journal, Plyiii..i ,. .
Meredith Review, was editor and one ■
tors of the Journal Transcript at
eighteen years, and is now editor an^l
the Chelsea (Massachusetts) Ei'ening
married, September 27, 1881, Lizzie O. Mill*.
(IV) Charles Warren, younger son of Will!;)i'i
R. and Harriet M. (Chase) Robic, was born in
town of New Hampton, New Hampshirv;, Jul
1866. He was educated in the country sc':
the high school at Meredith Village. 1 ;
1884, he entered the service of the American i... , r ■
Company at Plymouth, New Hampshire, where In-
remained until September i, 1887, at which i\ ">■
he was appointed to a position in the C!.flfice 01
American Express Company at Lowell, Massa
setts. May I, 1889, he was .transferred to the pu
sition of secretary to the ."superintendent ^f th-
Massachusetts divi.Mon of the American
Company at Boston, which position he
until July I, 1891, when he was *
Springfield, Massachusetts, as route ;..
ing auditov for the company. Deceim ,1.
was transferred back to Boston in the c:;
superintendent of the Massachusetts divisii
American Express Company, which positK'
copied until April r, 1906, when he was ,1,
assistant general manager of the company and pi.
in control of the New England branch of the b '
ness, and has since held that position. Mr. RobicV
natural fitness, untiring industry and energy, and
never failing vigilance over the company's inter. -
have placed him in the position he now deser>
holds. Early in liie he bc(- 1
Baptist Church of Mereditl.
is a nidillirr nf 111,. Now . »_.,,p .^ u.,.j uui^i
Boston clubs. He married September 4, 1890, Lizzie
The principal early
RICHARDSON tion to New Engi:
place in ipso, when ^everir.-u'
nil
h-~nEfht one
ships in all, but not
sand or perhaps
England to these
ancestors of the Kuhard.ci.i u»
Massachusetts. In whicii one,
of England he came, no o-.w. cai,
(1) Ezekitl kicliardson wa>
colonist of that name in New Kii.^. ......
wife became members of the church g
Charlestown, August 27, K'iv> \^\'.lrh aftt: . ,
came the First Church in md both w r^
dismissed from it with thi' others Oct. ' r
14, 1632, to form the present 1-irsi Cliurch < '
town, which assembled on November 2,
He was admitted freeman May 18, 1631. Sooi; aiur
his iivri-;,! in this country he and his wife settled
>wn where they shared the privations
■he early years of the Colony niemor-
' 1 much respected citizen,
in the town and church
tf^^,^ the general court
■-.' office of rcspecl-
, iny •( iiH"~!i v\!'l-r
■ -i: ,11 ',.■•.■
desired
5. 1640,
was .ju^tiiiudM. 011c niairieu i,secuna;, rtenry
Brooks, of Woburn, and died September 15, 1681.
328
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
The children of Ezekiel and Susannah Richardson
were : Phebe, Theophilus, Josiah, John, Jonathan,
James and Ruth. (Josiah and descendants are
mentioned in this article).
(II) Theophilus, eldest son and second child
of Ezekiel and Susanna Richardson, was baptized
in Charlestown, December 22, 1633. He was but
eight years old when he went with his father to
VVoburn, and resided there until his death, which
took place December 28, 1674, at the age of forty-
one years. His estate was settled in 1675, and its
inventory amounted to five hundred and tifty-nine
pounds. This indicates that he was a prosperous
man, and that the community had advanced in
material wealth. The items in the inventory show
that there were many comforts enjoyed at that time.
He was married May 2, 1654, to Mary Champney,
daughter of John and Joanna Champney, of Cam-
bridge. After his death she was married, February
25, 1684, to John Brooks, becoming his second wife. .
Theophilus Richardson's children were: Ezekiel
Mary, Sarah, Abigail, Hannah, John, Esther, Ruth
and Bridget.
(III) Ezekiel (2), eldest child of Theophilus
and Mary (Champney) Richardson, was born Oc-
tober 28, 1655, in Woburn, and resided in his native
town. The inventory of his estate as recorded
states that he died March 13, 1734, in his seventy-
ninth year. The inventory was made March 27,
1734, and includes no real estate, but his personal
estate was appraised at two hundred and twenty
pounds. He was married, July 27, 1687, to Eliza-
beth Swan, of Cambridge, and their children were :
Theophilus (died young), Elizabeth, Theophilus,
Ezekiel, Abigail and Aaron.
(IV) Theophilus (2), second son and third child
of Ezekiel and Elizabeth (Swan) Richardson, was
born January 7, 1692, in Woburn, and lived for
some time in that town. His latest years were
passed in Stoneham, where he died in the autumn of
1723, in his thirty-second year. Stoneham was then
a part of Charlestown, and the probate records says
he died at Charlestown "on his return from His
Majesty's service at the eastward." The Indians in
IMaine had been committing depredations on the set-
tlers, and Theophilus with others had gone to their
assistance. The inventory of his estate made in
December, 1723, includes only a small amount of
personal estate, and his widow made oath that she
had to "support herself and five small children, all
sick at home with the feaver,"_ He was married in
Watertown, April 24, 1711, to Ruth Swan, daughter
of Gershom Swan, probably a relative of his
mother's. She was married (second), April 6. 1726,
to Ebenezer Parker, of Stoneham. The children of
Theophilus (2) Richardson were: Martha, Ruth,
Edward, Richard and Aloses.
(V) Edward, eldest son and third child of Tlieo-
philus (2) and Ruth (Swan) Richardson, was born
March 17, 1716, in Woburn, and was a resident at
one time of Charlestown. His first two children
were born in Woburn, where he probably resided
until his removal to Watertown. From 1764 to 1771
he was an innkeeper in that town, and occupied a
house at the junction of Belmont and Mount Auburn
streets, since known as Bird's Hotel. He after-
wards resided in Lincoln, which was formerly a
part of Watertown, and died there in 1797, aged
eighty years. His will was made in 1797, and desig-
nates him as an inn holder of Watertown. This
was proved June 14, 1797. He was married, Sep-
tember 9, 1747, and was then said to be of Charles-
town, to Abigail Chenery, who was baptized May
19. 17^8, daughter of Ebenezer and Ruth Chenery,
of Watertown. She died in Lincoln, August 25,
1814, aged eighty-seven years. Their children were:
Edward and Moses (twins), Ruth, Richard, Peter,
Abigail, John, Ebenezer, Sarah, William, Elizabeth,
Lucy and Mary.
(VI) William, seventh son and tenth child of
Edward and Abigail (Chenery) Richardson, was
born October 5, 1765, in Watertown. The family
tradition is that he went west, and he probably did.
It is not likely, however, that he went any farther
than Lyndeboro, New Hampshire. As early as 1791
a William Richardson and his wife, Mary Pearson,
were residing in Lyndeboro. There is no record to
show whence he came, and there can be but little
doubt that this is the William Richardson born in
Watertown who "went west."
(VII) William (2), son of William (i) and
Mary (Pearson) Richardson, was born in Lynde-
borough. New Hampshire, July I, 1791. He was a
farmer, and in 1848 he moved to Milford, New
Hampshire, and lived on a place near the railroad
station, on the road to Wilton. He spent the last
ten years of his life there. On May 21, 1814, he
married Lydia, daughter of Squire Daniel Putnam.
She was born in Lyndeborough, August 9, 1796,
and was a descendant of a brother of the famous
General Israel Putnam, of Connecticut. William
and Lydia (Putnam) Richardson had ten children:
Hilary, born July 28, 1815, married Thomas Dunning,
of Nashua, New Hampshire, and died there, Feb-
ruary 25, 1841 ; Eliza, born November 14, 1816,
married Benjamin F. Hutchinson, of Milford; Wil-
liam Putnam, born September 11, 1818, married Julia
Godkin ; Caroline, born July 3, 1820. died in April,
1824; Hannah, born May 6, 1822, married Nathaniel
Marshall, of Nashua; John, born July 7, 1824, was
a mill overseer, married Jane Dwinel, lived at Me-
chanics Falls, where he died October 7, 1893 ; David
Gage, born i\Iarch 30, 1826, was a cabinet maker in
Reading. Massachusetts, married Susan Bancroft, of
Reading; Jonathan Pearsons, born April 2, 1828,
was a farmer, married Malvina Tyler, of Lynde-
borough, enlisted in the Civil war in 1861, and died
in prison at Danville, Virginia, November 18, 1864;
Lydia .-^nn, born February 25, 1830, married Eugene
Hutchinson, of Milford, and died in New Mexico,
January 12, 1886; Charles Atherton, whose sketch
follows. William Richardson, Junior, died at Mil-
ford, New Hampshire, May 20, 1858. His widow
died at Milford, January 9. 1865.
(VIII) Charles Atherton, fifth son and youngest
of the ten children of William and Lydia (Putnam)
Richardson, was born in Lyndeborough, New Hamp-
shire. February 15. 1839. He came to Milford with
his father, and was educated in the schools of that
town, including the high school, and at Hebron
Academy, Hebron, Maine. Immediately on leaving
school he enlisted in Company K, Fifth Maine
Volunteers, May 6, 1861, and served for three years
in the Army of the Potomac. He took part in nine
pitched battles, and was captured in the great battle
of Chancellorsville, May 3, 1863, and taken to Libby
prison. Fortunately he was liberated on parole after
an imprisonment of seven weeks, being one of the
last men to leave Libby in that way. He was dis-
charged July 27, 1864. He then came back to Mil-
ford and bought ninety acres of land, where he
has since lived. He is a thrifty farmer, and makes a
specialty of his potato crop. He enjoys traveling,
and has visited many parts of the country. In
politics he is a Republican, and he attends the
L'nitarian Church. On April 16, 1865, Charles A.
Richardson married .-^bbie Theresa, daughter of
Eugene and Phebe B. (Raymond) Hutchinson, of
1^^^, y^, /vi 'ff(rfj>tc^an.
AN;
I
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
329
Milford, New Hampshire. (See Hutchinson Family).
They have five children, all born in Milford, now
living in different and widely separated sections of
the country. George Henry, the eldest, was born
October 30, 1867, and married, October 9, 1895,
Dora, daughter of Lockhard (2) and Elizabeth
(Ward) Ba.xter, of Somerville, Massachusetts. He
is a life insurance inspector, and lives in Methuen,
Massachusetts. Ada Medora, the second, was born
June 10, 1869; she married, Alay 14, 1891, Kenneth,
son of Peter and Mary (Matherson) Huss, of
Boston, Massachusetts ; they live in Los Angeles,
California. Hattie Eugenia, the third, was born
August IS, 1872, is a teacher and lives in Denver,
Colorado. Henry Putnam, the fourth, was born
July 16, 1877, was for a time the superintendent of
the farm of the New Hampshire Agricultural Col-
lege at Durham, and is now living in San Francisco,
California. Arthur Charles, the youngest, born
June 16, 1882, married Lizzie Boutelle Makay, Oc-
tober 3, 1906, and resides in Ponemah, New Hamp-
shire.
(H) Captain Josiah, third child and second son
of Ezekiel and Susannah Richardson, was baptized
in Charlestown, November 7, 1635, a'ld died June
22, 1695, aged sixty. In 1659 he and his brother
James settled in Chelmsford, and there he became
early in life a leading citizen. He was chosen fence-
viewer in 1659, and was one of the committee in 1663
to unite with a committee from Groton to lay out a
highway on the boundar\- between the two towns.
He was admitted freeman March 11, 1674; was
chosen constable in 1667 ; was one of the board of
selectmen in 1668-73-77, 3"d from 1679 to 1688 both
inclusive and in 1694, fourteen years in all; and was
town clerk from 1690 to 1694. He was also captain
of a military company, when the members of a mili-
tary company were usually warriors.
Captain Josiah Richardson, Major Thomas
Henchman and William Fletcher were granted a.
tract of land upon which, in 1669, they built the
second saw mill in town. Some Indians, "from
the love they bore to" Josiah Richardson, of Chelms-
ford, granted him, January 19, 1689, a parcel of land
at the confluence of the Concord and Merrimack
rivers, bounded on the south by Speen's brook, and
included much of the site of the present city of Low-
ell. He left an estate of £697 5s 6d. He was married
at Concord, by Captain Simon Willard, of that
place, June 6, 1659, to Remembrance Lhiderwood,
who was born at Concord, February 25. 1640, daugh-
ter of William and Sarah Underwood. William
Underwood settled in Chelmsford in 1654, at ilie
very beginning of the plantation. The children of
Captain Josiah and Remembrance Richardson were :
Sarah, Mary, Josiah, Jonathan, John, Samuel, Re-
membrance and Susannah.
(Ill) Lieutenant Josiah (2), third child and
eldest son of Captain Josiah (i) and Remembrance
Richardson, was born in Chelmsford. May 18, 1665,
and died October 17, 1711, aged forty-five. He was
a farmer and lived near the Concord river, in
Chelmsford. He inherited the likely qualities of
his ancestors, and was a lieutenant in the militia.
He was town clerk in 1693-94. selectman, and holder
of other important town offices. He died without
a will, and his inventory, dated 1712, in the depreci-
ated currency of the time amounted to £514 4s. He
married, December 14. 1687. Mercy Parish, of Dun-
stable, a daughter of Robert and Elizabeth (Blanch-
ard) Parish, of Groton. She died April 25, 1743.
Their children were: Mercy, Josiah. Robert. Zacha-
riah, Hannah and William. (Mention of the last
named, with descendants, forms part of this article).
(IV) Captain Robert, third child and second son
of Lieutenant Josiah (2) and Mercy (Parish)
Richardson, was born in Chelmsford, October 2,
1693. He lived some years in Chelmsford, at least
till 1724, and then removed to Litchfield, New
Hampshire, where his wife's father lived. Four
Richardsons — Captain Robert, Stephen, Captain Wil-
liam and Jonathan — were prominent amongst the
early settlers of this town. In August, 1728, the
owners of "Brenton's Farm" (afterward incorporated
as Litchfield) all non-residents and sixteen in num-
ber, made application to one of His Majesty's justices
for the county of Middlesex, Massachusetts, for a
warrant to call a meeting to make a division of the
property according to their several interests. This
meeting was held in Charlestown on the 23d day of
the same month, and a committee consisting of Cap-
tain Robert Richardson, Joseph Blanchard and Ste-
phen Richardson was appointed "to survey and take
a plat particular of the enterval of the meadows &
of the other lands lying and contained in the afore-
said tract of land or farm" &c. The committee did
their duty properly and so reported. Captain Robert
Richardson was made collector, at a meeting of the
grantees held January 23, 1729. His assessment at
that time was in los, and only four men of the
twenty proprietors paid a larger amount. In 1725
Robert Richardson had a company of "snowshoe
men," some of whom went in pursuit of the Indians
after the "Pigwacket Fight," :\Iay 8, 1725. They
were skilled in woodcraft and Indian warfare, and
went because they were acquainted with the haunts
of the savages. Robert Richardson married Deborah
Parish, of Chelmsford, and they had, before leaving
Chelmsford, two children whose names were Phebe,
born in 1719, and Parish, born in 1724. The com-
piler of the "Richardson Genealogy" claims Timothy
and Luther Richard-son as undoubtedly later-born
sons of Robert, as was also Zachariah and undoubt-
edly Ebenezer whose sketches follow in this article.
(V) Zachariah, son of Robert and Deborah
(Parish) Richardson, removed from Litchfield be-
fore 1780, and became the first keeper of a public
house in the village of Francestown. His tavern
occupied the site of the present hotel. He owned
at one time nearly half the land on which the village
now stands. Deacon Jonathan Fiske and Dr. Sam-
uel Lolly bought land of him in 1787. He was un-
doubtedly a hardy pioneer, energetic and fond of
frontier life. He moved in 1810 or before, to Bath,
in Grafton county. New Hampshire, and later to
Topsham, Vermont, where he bought a large tract
of land which he cultivated. The name of Zachariah
Richardson appears on a muster roll of forty-two
men raised out of the Fifth Regiment of ^iilitia,
in the state of New Hampshire, by an order from
Major-General Folsom, on December 7, 1776, to re-
inforce the Continental army at New York, until
the first of March 1777; also, on an additional pay
roll of twenty shillings per month for Captain Wil-
liam Walker's company in Colonel David Gilmore's
regiment, raised by the state of New Hampshire
to reinforce the Continental army in the state of
New York, from December 5, 1776, to March fol-
lowing. Zachariah Richardson also belonged to the
Vermont militia, and held four offices. His wife's
name was Sarah. Their children were : Sarah,
Lydia. Robert. Thomas, Stoddard, William. Kendall
and Jacob. This child was one of the first persons
buried in the cemetery at Francestown. The entry
of his death was made June, 1780.
(VI) Robert Fletcher, third child and eldest son
of Zachariah and Sarah Richardson, was born in
Francestown, New Hampshire, October 17, 1778, and
330
XEW HAMPSHIRE.
removed with his father to Bath, New Hampshire,
and Topsham, Vermont. He was an extensive farmer,
enlisted and served to the close of the War of 1812.
On his return to Topsham he carried on, in connec-
tion with his farming, a large freight business be-
tween Topsham and Boston, a distance of one hun-
dred and seventy-five miles. He was also engaged
in the manufacture of salts. He married Betsey
Harding, who was a native of Bath New Hampshire.
Both were sturdy members of the Universalist
Church. Their children were : Robert, Lovisa, Lu-
cinda, Nelson, Dorcas, Lydia, Abigail, Dolly and
Irene.
(VH) Robert, first son and oldest child of
Robert Fletcher and Betsey (Harding) Richardson,
was born in Bath, New Hampshire, January 8, 1S05,
and died in Topsham, village of Waits River, Ver-
mont, April 6, 1889. He received only a common
school education, and was a farmer. In religious
views he was liberal, strictly a Congregationalist
in belief, but united with the Universalist Church
at East Corinth, as there were no Congregational
Churches as near him. He was married, at South
Hero, Vermont, November 20, 1831, to Rosina
Healey, who was born in Haverhill, New Hampshire,
November 16, 1808, and died in Topsham, Vermont,
June 4, 1872. Her parents were Nathaniel and Jane
(Tabor) Healey. The father was from Washington,
New Hampshire. He had been a school teacher and
carpenter, making the latter occupation his business
the most of his life. He moved to Topsham about
1848. Joseph Warren Healey and Nathaniel Healey,
brothers of Rosina Healey, were both liberally edu-
cated. The former was a prominent Congregational
clergyman in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and San Fran-
cisco, California. He held the honorary title of
Doctor of Divinity. He also traveled in Europe
after the Civil war in the interest of the freemen.
Nathaniel Healey died while in Europe for his
health. The children of Robert and Rosina (Healey)
Richardson were : Robert, Cornelius, Jane, Nathan-
iel, Henry, Mary, Coralinn and Evaline.
(VIII) Robert Fletcher, first son and oldest child
of Robert and Rosina (Healey) Richardson, was
born in Topsham, Vermont, September 18, 1832.
He was educated in the common schools of Tops-
ham, and at the Academy, Bath, New Hampshire.
At the age of twenty years he jjegan to learn the
printer's trade in Portland, Maine. After working
a short time as a journeyman he was made foreman
in the office of the Portland Transcript, and filled
that place for five years. In 1857 he removed to
Lowell, Massachusetts, and soon after to Topsham,
Vermont, where he bought a farm, on which he re-
sided for eight years. He then removed with his
family to Washington, Vermont, where he pur-
chased two farms, and has since resided carrying
on dairying and sheep raising to a considerable
extent. Robert Fletcher Richardson was a pioneer
member of the Republican party, and cast his first
vote for presidential candidate for John C. Fre-
mont, in 1856. He has always been regarded as a
man of superior qualifications. He has held the
office of selectman in Washington for twelve years,
much of the time, as chairman; justice of the peace
for twenty years, and lister and town grand juror
for many years. In 1888 he was elected by a larger
majority than had ever been given to any man in
the town, representative to the state legislature, and
served in this capacity in 1888-89. Owing to an
accident producing physical disability he has been
e.xempt from military service. The church and
the school are two institutions which Mr. Richardson
has always regarded as prime requisites of civiliza-
tion, and the corner stones of our modern social
fabric; and to each of these he has been a constant
benefactor as his means permitted. To the Union
Church of East Orange, Vermont, he gave quite
largely, both in its support and in the construction
of the new church building ; he also gave liberally
toward the support of the Green Mountain Semin-
ary and Minard Commercial College at Waterbury,
Vermont, and also aiding in building the church at
West Topsham, Vermont. He took great care to
educate his children, who have enjoyed unusual
school privileges for a rural community in Ver-
mont. Perhaps no family of equal size and dis-
tance from educational centers has been better edu-
cated in Vermont.
Of his two brothers, Nathaniel has been a promi-
nent furniture dealer and undertaker in Lancaster.
New Hampshire, and prominent in the administra-
tion of the affairs of the town. Henry C. served
four years in the Eighth Vermont Regiment, and
was seriously wounded on the morning of Sheri-
dan's famous ride. He has been engaged in busi-
ness and in farming, chiefly at Waits River, a vil-
lage in the town of Topsham, Vermont, where he
still resides. He also has been very prominent in
the affairs of the town. Robert Richardson was
married, in Low-ell, Massachusetts, June 9, 1S57, to
Rosetta Dexter, then of Lowell. Massachusetts.
She was born in Pomfret, Vermont, December 2,
1832, as the seventh daughter and ninth child of
Parker and Betsey (King) Dexter. Her father
was a clerk in a mercantile house in Albany, New
York, for some years. Later he became a mill own-
er, and also carried on extensive farming. He sub-
sequently moved to Vermont, first to Pomfret. then
to Topsham, where he engaged in farming and lum-
bering. The present De.xter homestead in Topsham
consisting of nearly one thousand acres, w'as largely
cleared by him and his help. He was a captain in
the Vermont militia, which position he held for sev-
eral years. He and his wife were members of the
Free Baptist Church at West Topsham, Vermont.
Twelve of their children grew up and reared fam-
ilies. Of these twelve all united with the same
church at West Topsham. The children of Robert
Fletcher and Rosetta (Dexter) Richardson are:
Herbert Ellis, Eulillia Caroline, Charles Henry,
Rosina Estella, and Florence Ida. All were present,
with their children, at the celebration of the golden
wedding of the parents, in Washington, Vermont,
besides one hundred fifty other guests, neighbors
and friends.
Herbert Ellis was born in Topsham, Vermont.
March 11, 1858, and was educated in the schools of
that town, Washington, and Chelsea ; he married,
December 15, 1883, Ella Florence Chamberlain, of
Lowell. Massachusetts. Mr. Richardson has been
for thirty years a commission merchant in Lowell.
They have no children now living. Tw'O children •
were born to them, Maud and Robert, but each died |
in infancy.
Lillia Caroline was born in Topsham, Vermont,
.August 19, i860, and was educated in the schools of
Washington, the normal school at Randolph, and
Montpelier Seminary, Montpelier, Vermont. She
graduated from the normal school with the highest
honors ; she led all her classes at Montpelier, but
before completing her course there, and while suc-
cessfully engaged in teaching, she fell prey to dis-
ease and died December i, 1884.
Charles Henry is mentioned below.
Rosina Estelle was born in Topsham, Vermont, '
March 26, 1864. She received her education in the
common schools of Washington, Barre Academy,
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
331
and Montpclier Seminary. She married, October
10, 18S8, Herbert David Scott, a silversmith of Con-
cord. New Hampshire, but now of Providence,
Rhode Island, with residence at Howard, Rhode
Island. They have four children : Lillian, Harold,
Robert, and Royal.
Florence Ida was born in Washington, Vermont,
March 2, 1875. She was educated in the public
schools of Washington, Vermont, and Concord, New
Hampshire. She was married February 16, 1897. to
James Moses Wallace, a farmer of Waterhnry, Ver-
mont, where they still reside. They have four chil-
dren : Lelia. Robert, William, and George.
(IX) Charles Henry, third child and second
son of Robert Fletcher and Rosetta (Dexter)
Richardson, was born in Topsham, Vermont. Sep-
tember 26, 1862. He was educated in the common
schools of Washington, afterwards Montpelier
Seminary, Montpelier, Vermont, where he gradu-
ated with honors in 1S87. The following autumn
he entered Bates College, Lewiston. Maine. His
health soon failed him. and he was forced to leave
college for a time, yet he graduated from Dartmouth
College, Hanover, New Hampshire, with special
honors in the class of 1892. In 1895 he received
from Dartmouth College the degree of Master of
.•\rts, and in 1898 the degree of Doctor of Philos-
ophy. His academic de.gree was that of Bachelor of
Arts. In 1902 he conducted research work at the
University of Chicago, and in T906 at Johns Hopkins
University, Baltimore, Maryland.
Professcfr Richardson's life has been one of
great activity. While a student he successfully
worked his way through the various institutions
llint he attended, by teaching, lecturing, canvassing,
and writing life insurance. He has rounded out
sevculceu years as a teacher, three before his gradu-
.ilion from college as principal of secondary schools
in Vermont, three after his academic graduation as
principal of Black River Academy, Ludlow. Ver-
mont, and Green Mountain Seminary and Minard
Commercial College. Waterhury, Vermont, ten years
as fellow, assistant and instructor in Dartmouth
College, first in chemistry and mineralogy', and then
in gcolpgy and mincralo.gy. In the latter field
the dcnartnient was new to the college, and Dr.
Richardson was quite successful in its development.
He has also been connected with the summer school
;it Dartmouth since its organization, and with the
snnuner scliool at Syracuse University, Syracus^,
New York, since T906. Professor Richardson is
now associate professor of geologv and mineralogy
in Syracuse Ihiiversitv, Syracuse. New York.
Besides teaching, Professor Richardson has been
engaged in the more active occupations of business
life. He has been employed on the geological sur-
vey of Vermont for ten years ; has spent several
summers as an expert in the coal regions of Penn-
sylvania, in the iron regions of Minnesota, in the
copper fields of Michigan, and in the marble and
■ granite areas of New England. ?Iis work along
ihese lines h^s been so successful that at one time
he was offered by a syndicate to serve as mining
expert and nnalvst the sum of five thousand dollars
per year and all traveling expenses for a term of
five vears. This offer, through his devotion to
teaching, he declined. He has been consulting geo-
logist for Vermont, New Hampshire, and New York
for fifteen vears. He is now mineralogist for the
Puritv Mining Company in New York, with works
.-•t Natural Bridge, that state, and eastern assayer
for the Torpedn-Fclipse Mining Company, of Ourav,
Colorado. This line of work he carries on in ad-
dition to his college duties. In the lecture field
he has been in considerable demand, and somewhat
popular, for he has delivered more than one thou-
sand public addresses. He is the only lecturer with
a popular lecture entitled "Coal Mining with a
Camera," the lecture being the result of his own
investigations of the coal fields, and his life with
the miners themselves.
In 18S7 he completed a course in divinity under
five clergymen, and was ordained to the Free Baptist
ministry at East Orange, Vermont, July 10; of the
same year. In connection with his duties at Mont-
pelier Seminary he was pastor of the church at
Shady Rill in Middlesex, Vermont, for two years.
In connection with his college duties at Bates he
was pastor of the First Baptist Church in Bruns-
wick, Maine, 1887-88. and of Summer Street Bap-
tist Church in Gardiner, Maine, in 1888-89: also,
while in connection with teaching he was pastor
of the Union Church at Washington, Vermont,
1890-91, and while principal of Green Mountain
Seminary and Minard Commercial College at Wa-
terburv, Vermont, he was pastor of the Union
Church at Waterhury. and at Little River, 189,^-
94-95. .Ml these pastorates were attended with
large additions to the various churches.
When his life became devoted to teaching at his
Alma Mater, Dartmouth, be united with the Congre-
gational Church at Dartmouth College, but still con-
tinued to supply neighboring churches of all evan-
gelical denominations. Although a liberal Congre-
gationalist himself, he is as much at home with one
denomination as another when employed in their
service.
As if these various means of using his energies
were not enough to exhaust them, he became con-
nected with life insurance work, writing while in
college and for some little time afterwards oc-
casional policies for the Northwestern Life Insur-
ance Companv of Milwaidvce, Wisconsin, but in^ IQOS
he was appointed state manager for the Equitable
Life Insurance Society of New York, for New
Hampshire.
In the field of literature he has also been active.
He is the author of "Biography in a Nutshell," a
hook containing one hundred biographies of the
Dexter Family, of which his mother was a member:
"Four-Fourths of a Man," "Testimony of the Rocks."
"Trees and Shrubs of Orange County, Vermont."
".Anatomy and Physiology of Pinus Sylvcstris,"
"The Calciferous Mica," "Schist of Eastern Ver-
niont." "The Analysis of Washington Marbles."
"Notes on the Washington Limestones," "Source
of the Famous Thetford Boulders," "The Terranes
of Orange Countv, Vermont," "The Washington
Limestones and Its .Associated Terranes," "The
Areal and Economic Geologv of Northeastern Ver-
mont," "Dixie Dee," "Dixie's Easter in Vermont,"
and many newspaper articles and poems.
Professor Richardson is connected with many
organizations for the promotion of education, cid-
ture and science. He is a member of the Vermont
Teachers' Association, of which he was secrctarj'
T,893-04-9i;-96. Also of the New York State Science
Teachers' Association, the New England Baptist
.Association, of which he was a trustee for five
vears : and of the Vermont Botanical Club, the
Dartmouth Scientific Association, the Syracuse
•Scientific .Association, and the Onondaga Academy
of Sciences. He is a fellow of the .American .As-
sociation for the .Advancement of Science, the Geo-
logical Society of America, and the American
Chemical Society. He was a member of the general
committee of Science, .Arts and Education, Paris
I'^xposition, igor, the Eighth International Geo-
33^
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
grapliic Congress, 1904, and is a nieniber of the
National Geograpliic Society. Dr. Richardson is
also a member of the following fraternities. Kai
Tan Kappa, Pi Phi Chi, and Sigma Xi. He has
received high commendations for his educational
work. State School Superintendent Mason S. Stone,
of Vermont : "He is in every way pre-eminently
well equipped for a college professorship." Similar
high tribute was paid him by the trustees of Green
Mountain Seminary, Vermont ; Rev. E. W. Cum-
mings, secretary of the trustees of the same institu-
tion ; Hon. W. P. Dillingham, LL. D., member of
Congress, Vermont; Professor Charles H. Hitch-
cock, Professor C. E. Bolser, Professor Edwin J.
Bartlett. Dean Charles F. Emerson, Professor Rob-
ert Fletcher, all of Dartmouth College ; George H.
Perkins, state geologist. Vermont : Professor R. D.
George, University of Colorado ; Professor Thomas
W. D. Worthcn, Professor Herman H. Home, Pro-
fessor F. C. Lewis, Professor Charles F. Richard-
son, President William J. Tucker, D. D., all of
Dartmouth College.
Charles H. Richardson was married, June 16,
1892, at Montpelier. Vermont, to Katherine May
Davis, who was born in Corinth, Vermont, July
31, 1868, the oldest daughter of George Washington,
and Emma (Fish) Davis. She was educated in the
connuon schools of the town of Corinth, and at
Montpelier Seminary, Montpelier, Vermont, from
which she graduated with honors and the degree of
Mistress of English Literature (M. E. L.) on the
day of her marriage. The ceremony was solemn-
ized by Professor E. A. Bishop, principal of the
Seminary, and in the Band and Aesthetic Society
Hall, of which societies they w'cre members. Mrs.
Richardson taught with Professor Richardson at
Black River Academy. Ludlow, Vermont, and at
Green Mountain Seminary, Waterbury. Vermont.
They had one child — Evalyn Dee.
(X) Evalyn Dee, only child of Charles Henry
and Katherine (Davis) Richardson, was born in
Hanover, New Hampshire, November 22, 1898, and
is now at the age of eight years in the Madison
Street school of Syracuse, New York.
(V) Ebenezer, son of Robert and Deborah
(Parish) Richardson, resided in Lisbon. He was an
original grantee of Bath in 1769.
(VI) David, son of Ebenezer Richardson, was
born in Lisbon. January 27, 1788. He resided some
years in his young manhood in Littleton, and oper-
ated a clothing mill. He was afterward a farmer in
Lisbon, where he died April 16, 1863. In religious
belief he was a Methodist : in political faith a Whig
until the Civil war and then a Democrat. He mar-
ried (first), about 1813, Sally Walker, who was
born in Lisbon, about 1793, and died in Lisbon in
1822. daughter of Learned Walker. He married
rsecond), about 1823, ."Abigail Walker, a sister of his
first wife, born in Lisbon. She died in Littleton,
September 13, 1802. She was a Free Baptist. The
children of the first wife were : Horace, Samuel.
Isaac E. and Henry; those by the second wife
were: Learned W., David Sutherland, Sally,
Brewster, Martha, Rebecca, Walter W. and War-
ren.
(VII) Henry, fourth child of David and Sally
Walker Richardson, was born in Lisbon, March 7,
1S21, and died in Littleton, July 12, 1901, aged,
eighty years. He was a •successful farmer, and was
also engaged in lumbering in the towns of Lisbon,
Littleton and Bethlehem. He resided in Littleton
after 1866. In politics he was a Democrat. For
many years he was a member of the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows. He married, December 23,
1854, Mary Jane Clark, who was born in Lisbon,
January 31, 1831, daughter of James and Mary
(Coffran) Clark, of Lisbon. Their children were;
Israel Clark, Leroy, David Henry and Albert
James.
(VIII) Israel Clark, eldest child of Henry and
Mary Jane (Clark) Richardson, was born in Lisbon,
November 3, 1856. and has resided in Littleton
since he was ten years old. He was educated in the
public schools of Bethlehem. Lyndon (Vermont) and
Littleton. He worked for his father on a farm two
years after attaining his majority, and then bought
a house and livery -stable wdiich his father had in
Littleton, and from that time has been engaged in
the livery business in Littleton. He also owns and
operates Richardson's grist mill in Littleton and two
farms in the town. In connection with his stable
he maintains during the warm season of the year
a hack line known as Richardson's tourist "line,
which makes daily trips to and from Franconia
Notch. He is a Democrat ; was elected to the
legislature in 1891 and ser\'ed one term, and in
1887 was elected fireward. He is a member of
Burns Lodge, Free and .•Accepted Masons, of Little-
ton ; Franklin Royal .\rch Chapter, of Lisbon ;
Council. Royal and Select Masters: St. Gerard
Commandcry, Knights Templar, of Littleton ; Ed-
ward A. Raymond Consistory, thirty-second degree
Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret, of Nashua :
and Bcktash Temple of the Ancient Arabic Order
Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Concord. He married,
November 29, 1883. Nellie Eliza Williams, who was
born in Lyndon, Vermont, November 30, 1856,
daughter of Wellington and Cyrene (Coffr'an) Wil-
liams, of Lyndon, Vermont. They have had four
children: Mary Jane, Nellie, Charles Israel and
Isabel Cyrene.
(VIII) .-Mbert J., third and youngest child of
Henry and Mary Jane (Clark) Richardson, was
born in Lyndon, Vermont, October 29, 1866. His
parent's moved to Littleton the same year and he
has resided in Littleton ever since. By occupation
he is a farmer and is a firm believer in the Jerseys
as the best breed of dairy cattle. He is a member
of Burns Lodge. No. 66, Ancient Free and Accepted
Masons ; also a member of Mount Eustis Chapter,
Order of the Eastern Star, t^ is also a prominent
granger. He was for two y/ars master of White
Mountain Grange, No. 50, and is at present master
of Northern New Hampshire Pomona, and a mem-
ber of the executive committee of the New Hamp-
shire State Grange. He is a staunch Democrat, and ,
has served two years as chairman of the Democratic!
town committee, and is at present a member of the]
board of selectmen. He married, October 6, 1888,
Lillian May Curtis, who was born in Stratford.
December 3, 1866. daughter of Freeman B. and j
Ellen (Bass) Curtis, of Littleton. New Hampshire.
They have one child, Edith Mabelle.
(IV) Captain William, youngest child of Lieu-
tenant Josiali and j\Iercy (Parrish) Richardson,]
was born in Chelmsford, September tg. 1701. In
the year 1722 he settled in Pelham, New Hampshire,
and cultivated a farm there. Pelham was a part]
of Dracut, but separated from it in 1741, when by]
an order of the privy council of England sixteen]
towns were taken from Massachusetts and annexed
to New Hampshire. He was a representative in the
general court of the province, and for many years ,
captain of a military company. His will is dated*
April I, 1776, and proved November 7. 1776. He|
died in the interval. He married about 1722, Eliza-
lieth Colburn, daughter of Daniel and Sarah Col-
burn of Dracut. They were the parents of nine
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
333
children : Elizabeth, Abner, Mary, William, ^lercy,
Asa, Sarah, Hannah, and Daniel.
(VJ Captain Daniel, yonngest child of Captain
William and Elizabeth (.Colburn) Richardson, of
Pelham, formerly a part of Dracut, was born here
March il, 1749. He was prepared to enter college,
but instead of a college course he settled in 1773
on a farm in Pelham, part of which belonged to his
father. In 1777 he engaged in the military service
of his country, continued in it until 1780, and did
not return till the end of three years. He was in the
battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1778. He also shared
in the expedition of General Sullivan into the In-
dian country in the summer of 1/79, which extended
as far west as the Genesee river. After his return
home he was captain of a military company in New
Hampshire. For his military ser^'ices he obtained
a pension under the act of congress passed in 1832.
He died May 23, 1833, aged eighty-four. He mar-
ried January 20, 1773, Sarah Merchant, of Boston,
born 1748. They were the parents of three sons:
William jNIerchant, Samuel jNIather, and Daniel.
(,VI) Hon. William Merchant, eldest son of
Captain Daniel and Sarah (.Merchant) Richardson,
was born in Pelham, New Hampshire, January 4,
1774, and died in Chester, March 15, 1838, aged
sixty-four years. He was einployed on his father's
farm until he was about fifteen years old, when he
met with a severe injury to one of his hands which
unfitted him for a time for manual labor and caused
him to turn his attention to study. He prepared
himself for college, and having taken the usual
course graduated from Harvard College in 1797,
with high rank of scholarship. He ne.xt engaged in
teaching, first in the academy at Leicester, Massa-
chusetts, where his application was injurious to his
health ; and subsequently, after some interval of rest,
as a preceptor of the academy in Groton, Massa-
chusetts. While occupying these positions he de-
voted himself assiduously to the cultivation of his
literary powers. He there acquired the easy and
graceful style which distinguished all his writings,
and indulged in poetical composition, for which he
had much taste and aptitude. While in Groton he
accepted the invitation of Judge Samuel Dana to
study law in his office. He passed his examination
with credit, was admitted to practice, and at once
became a partner with his preceptor, and enjoyed
a busy practice from the start. He soon had an
enviable reputation both as a lawyer and as a citizen.
Froiu 1804 to 1812 he was postmaster at Groton.
In 1811 a vacancy occurred in the oftic< of repre-
.^entative in congress in the district, and he was
chosen to fill it. After serving his term out he again
stood for election and was again returned to con-
gress, but having no fancy for political life he soon
after resigned his seat and returned to the practice
of his profession.
In 1814 he was appointed United States attorney
for the district of New Hampshire, removed his
residence to Portsmouth, and entered into practice
there. He immediately took a leading position
ainong the lawyers of the state, and on the re-
organization of the courts in 1816 Governor Plumer
nominated him for chief justice of the supreme court.
The governor's council was politically divided and
party spirit was strong; but the appointment was
unanimously confirmed, and Judge Richardson soon
after entered upon the discharge of the duties of the
office, which he continued to hold during the re-
mainder of his life, twenty-two years. He was now
in a position for which his powers were peculiarly
well adapted, and was at first ably supported by his
associates. He devoted himself with characteristic
application to his duties; and it may have been
in consequence of this that he was attacked shortly
after his appointment by a dangerous illness which
brought him to death's door. He slowly recovered,
but the effects of the disease were visible through-
out the remainder of his life. A slight lameness was
one of these; his nervous system was also affected,
and he was liable to periodical fits of sickness
afterwards. But he never relaxed his habits of in-
dustry, and nothing but absolute physical inability
could keep him from his papers and his studies. The
famous Dartmouth College controversy culminated
in one of the earlier important causes which came
before the court after Judge Richardson's appoint-
ment. The weighty questions involved in it were
argued by the ablest counsel, and the opinion,
in which all the court were united, was pre-
pared and delivered by the chief justice. Not-
withstanding it was overruled by the supreme
court of the United States, the decision has
always been regarded as able, and by some jurists as
the more correct statement of the law.
With him began the first published reports of
judicial decisions, and his opinions extend through
the first nine volumes of the New Hampshire reports.
A part of the time while he was on the bench his
associates were obviously his inferiors in judicial
qualifications, and the gravamen of the work fell
on him. But he sustained it cheerfully, and the repu-
tation of the tribunal in which he presided never
suft'ered. In holding jury terms of the court he
appeared to no less advantage. His quickness to
see and appreciate the points made by counsel, his
readiness to apply his wide knowledge of legal
principles to the shifting vistas of a trial, his entire
freedom from bias, combined to make him an ad-
mirable nisi priits judge. He had little pride of
opinion, and was always ready to yield his first im-
pressions to the force of argument or authority.
In the earlier years of his judicial experience, par-
ticularly, the leaders of the bar were men of logic
and research, and their forensic contests sometimes
occasioned displays of legal argumentation that
might well cause the judgment of the strongest mind
to halt between two opinions. Judge Richardson
was thought by some almost too ready to abandon
a ruling he had once made, as soon as he began to
doubt if it were tenable. On one occasion Jeremiah
Mason was pressing a point to him with unusual
force, and the judge, to save him the trouble of
further argument, remarked, "Brother Alason, the
impression of the court is in your favor." "Yes,"
replied the great lawyer, "but' I want your honor
to stick." Judge Richardson possessed aii eminently
judicial mind. He was able to look down on a case,
as it were, from a serene height of impartiality, and
to see all its sides with noonday clearness. What-
ever might have been his first inclination, his de-
liberate judgment was formed on full consideration
of the whole case from every point of view. He had
not access to large libraries, but added to a strong
common sense he had a fine general culture and a
profound knowledge of the English common law.
His numerous opinions are generally short, and are
based on acknowledged principles rather than on
authority. His perfect integrity and singleness of
purpose were never brought in question. The ju-
dicial ermine received no stain from his wearing it.
He knew no friends and no enemies while in the seat
of judgment, nor any of the ordinary lines of di-
visions among men. His ideal was the very highest.
Judge Richardson was a man of untiring energy
and unflagging industry, and like all giants of the
law he was a gigantic worker. He burned the mid-
334
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
night oil, and his best judgments smelled of the
lamp. His native capacity was excelled by that of
few men, but he supplemented it by the utmost
industry over the works of the sages of the law.
He was always prompt in his affairs, so that his
opinions delivered at the last term before his death
were found ready for the printer. In addition to
his strictly official labors he found time to take
part as chairman of a commission to revise the laws
of the state, in 1826; to superintend the publication
of judicial reports; and to prepare three manuals
for the guidance respectively of justices of the peace,
sheriffs, and town officers, and containing the neces-
sary statutes, forms and directions for each. He
kept up his taste for literature, and especially
languages, both ancient and modern, through life.
He was a good Latin and Greek scholar, and after
he moved to New Hampshire acquired the Spanish
and Italian languages so as to make their literature
his common reading for evening amusement. He
had a fine taste for poetry, and in early life indulged
in writing poems on various occasions. His metrical
compositions were characterized by much delicacy
of leeling and expression, and breathed the spirit
of true poesy. Dartmouth College, in token of
appreciation of his learning and literary accomplish-
ments, bestowed upon him the degree of LL. D.
in 1827. He possessed a tine taste for music, and
played the bass viol and sang with his family and
the neighbors who happened to be present. His
dockets, in which he took notes of trials in court,
are interspersed with musical notes of favorite
tunes, with or without the words, sometimes several
lines. He took very few notes of evidence, trusting
mostly to memory, and occupied the time when trials
were 'tedious, in writing music. He was more 01
less familiar with every branch of natural science,
had a thorough knowledge of botany, and left a quite
extensive herbarium, arranged and classified by his
own hand. He took much interest in his garden and
especially in flowers, of which he had a good col-
lection.
In private life Judge Richardson was exemplary.
He removed in 1819 from Portsmouth to Chester,
where he passed the remained of his life. Chester
was the residence of a good number of families
of education and refinement, and there he found
congenial societ}-, and there his public spirit and
social graces were exhibited to appreciative friends.
Every movement for the benefit of the inhabitants
of the town found him a ready supporter. He
promoted the causes of education and religion, and
exerted himself to support the other voluntary aids
to instruction and rational amusement. He lectured
before the Lyceum, and was the chief founder of the
Athenaeum of the town. He was fond of society,
though the time he gave to study did not allow him
much leisure for formal company. But all classes
of his townsmen were welcome to his house. His
chief sports were trips to Massabesic pond, where
he drove with his children to fish, and bee-hunting
in the woods. His notions of personal comfort
were peculiar. He would not have a stove in his
house, and the open fireplaces were the only means
of warming a large cold dwelling. His office was
nearly as cold as out of doors, and the ink often
froze on the table where he wrote. He drove long
circuits in cold weather without gloves or mittens.
In religion he perferred the Episcopal forms, but
as there was no church of that denomination in
Chester he attended the Congregational Church. He
hated all shams and pretences, and having no mean
traits himself he maintained in nil about him a high
tone of honor.
He married, October 7, 1799, Betsey Smith, born
November 5, 1773, daughter of Jesse (,or Peter)
Smith, of Pelham, and had seven children : Sarah,
Merchant, William, Betsey Smith, !Mary Woodbury,
Anne, Louisa and Samuel Mather.
(.\'ll) Anne, fifth child and fourth daughter of
Judge William jNIerchant and Betsey (Smith)
Richardson, was born in Chester, September 26,
181 1, and died in Exeter, August 29, 1S56. She mar-
ried October 9, 183S, Judge Henry Elagg French,
son of Hon. Daniel and Betsey Van Mater (.Flagg)
French (see French, VIII).
(Second Family.)
The great part of the members
RICHARDSON of this family in New England
are descended from three
Richardson brothers who were among the original
settlers of Woburn, Massachusetts. They were men
of substance and influence, and their descendants
are very numerous, many of whom have taken lead-
ing places in the direction of business and public
events in their different days and generations.
(I) Samuel Richardson, the second of the three
brothers of that name who united in the settlement
of Woburn, was born in England, not far from the
year 1610. We do not know in what year he came
to this country. Possibly he came with his elder
brother Ezekiel, in 1630, though this is not at all
probable. The first notice we find of Samuel is
dated July I, 1636, when he and his brother Thomas
Richardson, with others, were on a committee to
lay out lots of land for hay. In 1637 the names
of Samuel and Thomas Richardson first appear in
a list of the inhabitants of Charlestown. The same
year the town of Charlestown granted to each of
them a house lot clearly understanding that they
had recently become residents of the place. These
two brothers were admitted members of the church
there February 18, 163S, in consequence of which
they were made freemen of the colony May 2, 1638.
Samuel was chosen surveyor of the highways March
17> ^637. The three brothers had lots assigned them
April 20, 1638, on "Misticke side and above the
Ponds," that is in Alalden. When the church was
constituted in Woburn, August 14, 1642, old styl
Samuel Richardson and his two brothers, with four
others, solemnly stood forth as the nucleus around |
which the church was to be gathered. The three
brothers lived near each other, on the same street,
which has ever since been known as "Richardson's
Row," in what is now' Winchester, near the present
line of Woburn. Samuel Richardson was selectman
of Woburn in 1644, 1645. 1646, 1649, 1650 and 165 1.
In 1645 he paid the highest tax of any man in Wo-
burn. He died !March 23, 1658.
Samuel Richardson married Joanna ,
who probably died soon after her husband. They
had eight children : Mary and John, born in
Charlestown, Hannah, Joseph, Samuel, Stephen and
Thomas, and Elizabeth born in Woburn. (Samuel
and Stephen and descendants receive mention in this
article.)
(II) Joseph (l) fourth child and second son of
Samuel and Joanna Richardson, was born in Wo-
burn, July 27, 1643, and died March 5, 1718. His
whole life was spent in his native town. He was
admitted freeman of the colony jNIay 15, 1672, and
was therefore a member of the church. He was
one of jNIajor Samuel Appleton's soldiers, and was
engaged in the fierce assault on the Narragansett
fort, December 19, 1675. He was a selectman of
Woburn, 1693, 1694 and 1702. He married, No-
vember 5, 1666, Hannah Green, born about 1647.
died Jilay 20, 1721. She was a daughter of Thomas
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
and Elizabeth Green of Maiden. They had live chil-
dren : Hannah, Mary, Elizabeth, Joseph and
Stephen.
(,111) Joseph (2), eldest son and fourth child
of Joseph and Hannah (Green) Richardson, was
born in Woburn, May 19, 1672, and died December
5, 1754, aged eighty-two years. He was selectman
of Woburn 1714 and 1716. His will was made June
I". I754> and in it he styles himself "gentleman."
He married, October 24, 169J, Mary Blodget, born
September 15, 1673, died March ir, 1752, aged
seventy-eight, daughter of Samuel and Ruth Blodget,
of Woburn. They had ten children : Mary, Hannah,
Joseph, Josiah, Reuben, Oliver, David, Samuel,
Charles and Ruth.
(IV) Major Josiah (i), fourth child and second
son of Joseph (2) and Mary (Blodget) Richard-
son, was born January 12, 1702, in Woburn. He lived
nearly forty years in Sudbury, and was a man of
much note there. He was a major in the militia,
and possessed of considerable property for those
times. He was one of the proprietors of a town-
ship six and three-fourths miles square, on the
Androscroggin river, in Cumberland county, long
known as Sudbury, (Canada, now the town of Bethel,
Maine. His will was proved November 20, 1770.
It shows him to have been an owner of slaves, as
among other things he gave his wife Experieiice
"my negro girl, named Dinah," and his son Josiah
"my negro man, Francis Benson," and apparently
the' day before his death, in the presence of John
Jones and Mary Jones, he gave to his wife his
negro boy Caesar, who was born after he had made
his will. He married, October 23, 1728, Experience
Wright, daughter and heir of Benjamin Wright,
then of Sudbury, but previously of Woburn. Their
children were : Gideon, Josiah, Experience and
Luther.
(V) Josiah (2), second child and son of Major
Josiah (i) and Experience Richardson, was born in
Sudbury, Alay 29, 1733. He passed his life in Sud-
bury. At the time of the making of his father's
will Josiah was the only son then living. In 179S
only twelve men in Sudbury were rated higher on
the tax list than Josiah Richardson. He married
January 31, 1760, Elizabeth Eveleth, of Stow\ Their
children were : Gideon, Sarah Eveleth, Luther,
Renel and Loammi.
(VI) Luther (i), third child and second son of
Josiah (2) and Elizabeth (Eveleth) Richardson,
was born in Sudbury, November 24, 1764, and died
October 5, 1814. He married, June, 1719, Persis
Hemenway, born April 12, 1768, third daughter and
child of Benjamin and Lucy (Stone) Hemenway,
of Framingham, died March 11, 1812. Their children
were : Charles, Lucy, Luther and Prentiss.
(VII) Luther (2), third child and second son
of Luther (i) and Persis (Hemenway) Richardson,
w^as born in Sudbury, ]\Lirch 14. 1799; and died in
Waltham, March 13, 1837. He lived in Waltham
and Lowell, where he was engaged in the grocery
trade. He was a good business man and a useful
and exemplary citizen. He married Nancy Stetson,
born in Boston, December 31, 1799, daughter of
Benjamin and Mary Stetson, of Boston. Benjamin
Stetson, her father, was a man of note during the
war of 1812 ; he was commissary for supplying
the United States military and naval forces. The
children of Luther and Nancy (Stetson) Richard-
son, were five in number : Elizabeth Ann, born
June 7, 1824; Lucy Amanda, February 14. 1825;
Charles Lowell, 1S27 ; Edwin Prentiss, April 22,
1829; Mary Adelaide. January 9, 1834. The first
four were born in Lowell.
(VIII) Charles Lowell, third child and eldest
son of Luther (2) and Nancy (Stetson) Richardson,
was born in Lowell, May 14, 1827, and educated
in the public schools of Waltham. After leaving
school he was in the employ of the Boston Manu-
facturing Company, the oldest cotton manufacturing
company in the United States. In 1845 he removed
to Manchester, New Hampshire, and took a place
in the counting room of the Amoskeag Company,
now having the largest cotton factory in the world.
He was then seventeen years old, and starting at
the foundation, thoroughly learned the business.
Gradually rising, he became paymaster and chief
clerk at the retirement of his uncle, Charles Richard-
son, from that place in 1856. He remained with this
corporation from 1845 till 1899, a period of fifty-
four years, and during forty-three years he held the
position of paymaster. He handled millions of dol-
lars of money, but so great was his care and so exact
were his accounts that there was never in them a
discrepancy. His long tenure of this place brought
him the acquaintance of nearly all the leading manu-
facturers in this and allied lines in New England,
and made hiiu a legion of friends. He celebrated
the semi-centennial anniversary of his incumbency
of his office with a banquet at which a large number
of representative men were present, and many things
complimentary to Mr. Richardson were said, but
they were but a repetition of expressions commenda-
tory on the ability and integrity of Mr. Richardson
that had been voiced otherwheres daily for years
before. Since his retirement from the Amoskeag
Company, ;\Jr. Richardson has not been active. At
the anniversary of his tweuty-iive years of service
in the mill the corporation presented him a hand-
some building lot on which he afterward erected
the fine residence he now occupies. On his with-
drawal from the company they presented him with
a beautiful gold watch of the Jorgenson manufacture,
suitably engraved and a gold chain; also, a set of
resolutions passed by the directors commending in
the highest manner his long term of faithful ser-
vice.
He is a member of the Unitarian Church, of
which he served for years as director and treasurer.
He is also a member of the Amoskeag Veterans.
He has voted the Republican ticket all his life. Mr.
Richardson married (first) June 3. 1855, -\Iary B.
Winch, daughter of Francis and Almira (Stetson)
Winch, of Nashua, New Hampshire. She died
February 21, 1871. There were two children of this
marriage : JNIargaret Lowell, born September 30,
1857, died July 28, 1890; Charles Lowell, born July
3, 1865, died August 27, 1866. He married (sec-
ond) October 21, 1874, Harriet B. Gillis, daughter
of David and Abigail (Hedley Bonner) Hancock,
and widow of Horace M. Gillis.
(II) Samuel (2), third son and fifth child of
Samuel (i) and Joanna Richardson, was born in
Woburn, May 22, 1646, and died April 29,
1712, aged sixty-six years. He lived on
what has recently been called the Miller
farm, on Richardson's Row, less than a mile
north of the present village of Winchester.
He was a soldier in King Philip's war, 1675. In
the afternoon of April 10. 1676, he was employed
in carting manure into his field, accompanied by
his son Samuel, a boy between five and six years
old. Looking toward his house he was surprised to
see feathers flying about it and other tokens of
mischief within. He also heard the screams of his
wife. Apprehending that Indians might be there,
he hastened home with his gun, and there found
two of his family murdered, consisting of his wife
336
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Hannah, who had lately been confined, and his son
Thomas, twin brother to him who had been with
him in the field. On further search it was found
that the infant, only a week old, had been slain by
the same ruthless hands. The nurse, it appeared,
had snatched it up in her arms upon the alarm of
danger, and was making her escape to a garrison
house in the vicinity ; but so closely was she pur-
sued by the savages, that finding she could not
save herself and the babe too, she let the babe drop
and the Indians dispatched it at once. ^Ir. Richard-
son now rallied some of his neighbors, who went
with him in pursuit of the enemy. Following them
some time, they espied three Indians sitting on a
rock, fired at them, killed one, and drove the others
away.
He married (first) Martha (surname unknown),
who died December 20, 1673, the day of the birth
of her daughter, Martha. He married (.second),
September 20, 1674, Hannah Kingsley, perhaps
daughter of Samuel Kingsley, of Billerica. She was
slain with her only child, scare a week old, by the
Indians, April 10, 1676. He married (.third), No-
vember 7, 1676, Phebe Baldwin, who was born Sep-
tember 7, 1654, daughter of Deacon Henry Bald-
win, of Woburn, by his wife, Phebe Richardson,
daughter of Ezekiel and Susanna Richardson. She
died October 20, 1679, aged twenty-five years. Sep-
tetiiber 8, i58o, he married (fourth; Sarah Hayward,
who was born 1655, daughter of Nathaniel Hay-
ward, of Maiden. She survived her husband and
died October 14, 1717, aged sixty-two years.
Thomas Richardson had fifteen children. Those
by the first wife were : Samuel and Thomas
(twins), Elizabeth and Martha; by the second wife,
one child, Hannah ; by the third wife, Zachariah ;
by the fourth wife: Thomas (died young), Sarah,
Thomas, Ebenezer, infant son (died aged one day),
Hannah, Eleazar, Jonathan and David. (Mention
of Ebenezer and descendants appears in this
article.)
(III) Thomas, third child and second son of
Samuel and Sarah (Hayward) Richardson, was born
in Woburn, September 25, 1684. He passed a long
life in Woburn, where he died January 12, 1774,
aged ninety-three. He was a corporal in Captain
Lovewell's command, which had the remarkable
combat with the Indians at Pigwacket, jNIay 8,
1725, O. S., and was one of the nine who escaped
unhurt. He married, in Watertown, September
29, 1713, Rebecca Wyman, who was born in Woburn,
November 11, 1693, eldest daughter of Samuel and
Rebecca (Johnson) Wyman, of Woburn, and grand-
daughter of Francis and Abigail (Reed) Wyman,
also of Woburn. Rebecca Wyman was also a great-
granddaughter of Captain Edward Johnson, another
of the "Wonder-Working Providence." Th^ thirteen
children of Thomas and Rebecca (Wyman) Richard-
son were: Thomas, Eleazer, Rebecca (died young),
Sarah, Ralph, Matthew, Ebenezer, Rebecca, David,
Zebediah, Israel, Lemuel and Sarah.
(IV) Lemuel, tenth son and twelfth child of
Thomas and Rebecca (Wyman) Richardson, was
born in Woburn, July 31, 1734, and died in Mar-
low, New Hampshire, April 14, 181S, aged eighty-
four. He was of Sutton when he received his
portion of his father's estate in 1774, and afterward
moved to Marlow in Cheshire county. New Hamp-
shire. He is said to have been by trade a carpenter.
He married Anna Preston, of Hardwick, Massa-
chusetts, who died July 31, 1820, aged eighty-seven.
Their children, all born in Sutton, Massachusetts,
were : William, Thomas, Polly, David, Nancy,
Samuel, Nathaniel and Ebenezer.
(V) David, fourth child and third son of
Lemuel and Anna (Preston) Richardson, was born
in Sutton, Massachusetts, July 23, 1766, and died
in Barre, Vermont, April 26, 1845, aged seventy-
nine. He was a farmer, and lived in Alstead, New
Hampshire, until 1796, when he removed to Wil-
liamstown, Vermont. He resided in that town a
year and a half, and then bought a farm in Barre,
Vermont, and adjoining towns, where he remained
until his death. He married (first), 1788, Rhoda
Gale, of East Alstead, New Hampshire. She died
February, 1814, and he married (second), No-
vember 1814, Lucy Blanchard Sargent, a widow,
born in Leicester, ^Massachusetts, February 26, 1779.
She died September 26, 1864. He had thirteen
children, nine by the first wife and four by the
second. Those by the first wife were : A son died
young; Rhoda, died young; David, Rhoda, Roxana
(all born in Alstead), I\lary, Lemuel, Susan and
Polly (all born in Barre). The children of the
second wife were : Thomas Preston, Nancy Melissa,
Adeline Amanda and Caroline j\Ialvina (twins).
(VI) Adeline Amanda, third child and second
daughter of David and Lucy Blanchard (Sargent)
Richardson, was born in Barre, Vermont, February
2, 1819, and married, October 2, 1837, Israel Wood^
bury Sulloway. (See Sulloway, V.)
(II) Stephen, sixth child and fourth son of
Samuel and Joanna Richardson, was born in Wo-
burn, August 15, 1649, and died March 22, 1718,
aged sixty-nine. He married Abigail Read Wyman,
who was born in 1649, daughter of Francis Wyman,
of Woburn. She died September 17, 1720, aged
seventy-two. To them were born thirteen children:
Stephen, Francis (died young), William, Francis,
Timothy (died young), Abigail, Timothy, Prudence,
Seth, Daniel, Mary, Rebecca and Solomon.
(III) Stephen (2), eldest child of Stephen (i)
and Abigail R. (Wyman) Richardson, was born in
Woburn, April 20, 1675. He lived and died in
Billerica. He married, about 1700, Susanna Wil-
son, who was born in Woburn, March 11, 1679,
daughter of Lieutenant John Wilson. They had six
children : Susanna, Stephen, Henry, Ebenezer,
Amos and Jonas.
(IV) Dr. Amos, fifth child and fourth son of
Stephen and Susanna (Wilson) Richardson, was
born in Billerica, March 25, 1710, and died in Pel-
ham, January 20, 1765. He was a very learned and
distinguished physician. He married Sarah Frost,
of Billerica, who died December 19, 1754. Their
children were: Eri, Sarah, Joseph and Isaac.
(V) Eri, eldest child of Dr. Amos and Sarah
(Frost) Richardson, was born in Billerica in 1741.
The date of his death is not now known. He moved
to Keene in 1780, and lived on the last farm in
Keene on the old road over West Mountain, to-
wards Swanzey, where he and his wife lived and
died. He married, September 26, 1762, Sarah Du-
rant, who was born in Billerica, November i, 1743,
daughter of John Durant, third, who was born
May 2, 1712, and died in 1763. They had twelve
children : Amos, Reuben, Phebe, Eldad, Lemuel,
Sarah, Rhoda, Benjamin, Eri, ^lary, Huldah and
Asa.
(VI) Amos (2), the giant, eldest child of Eri
and Sarah (Durant) Richardson, was born Febru-
ary 27, 1764, and died November 6, 1831, aged
sixty-seven. He settled on the first farm in Swan-
zey next south of his father. It has been written
of him : "Amos was probably the strongest, and
the giant, of the families. His weight was more
than two hundred and fifty pounds ; he was nearly
or quite six feet in height ; measured nearly two.
NEW HAAIPSHIRE.
00/
feet across the shoulders; had a very large and
muscular arm; a hand live inches wide, very thick,
although not much longer than the hand of an
ordinary man. In the year 1804 a meeting house was
erected in Swanzcy sixty feet in length and thirty-
six feet in width. On the second day in raising,
on the second story, in laying the beams (.of green
timber, thirty-six feet long, eight by eight inches at
each end and eleven by eight inches in the center),
the master workman found it necessary to turn
one beam and called upon Amos (the giant) stand-
ing on the ground to come up and assist in the work.
He very quickly was upon the frame, and said :
'Stand aside, and I will turn the beam;' whereupon
he bowed himself to the beam (.Sampson-like),
placed it upon his knees and turned it to its proper
place amid the shouts and cheers of the gazing
and astonished crowd. This act was performed
in the presence of three men well known to the
writer of this record, who has often heard them state
the fact." Amos Richardson married, November
26, 1786, Phebe Hill, who died August II, 1830.
Their ten children, all born in Swanzey, were :
Josiah, Abel, Barzilla, Aaron, Levi, Ruel, Amos,
David, Charlotte and Betsey.
(.VII) Barzilla, third son and child of Amos
(2) and Phebe (Hill) Richardson, was born in
Keene, June 21, 1792, and died April 19, 1S50,
aged fifty-eight. He settled on the Dickinson farm
on West Mountain (now Scripture's) and lived there
thirty years. He married, in 1813, Lydia Foster,
who was born in Swanzey in 1796, daughter of
Joel Foster. She died in Keene, June 22, 1880, aged
eighty-four years. They had ten children, all born
in Keene, between 1815 and 1836. They were:
Amos, Phebe, Martha, Joel Foster, Aaron, Eri,
David, Sarah, Barzilla and Lydia. This family in
some respects is unique. The aggregate weight of
the six sons, all of whom reached manhood, was
over twelve hundred pounds. All the sons and all
the husbands of the daughters became railroad men.
in early life and served an average of thirty years
each, or an aggregate of three hundred years for
the family. They were engaged in building the
Worcester Railroad in 1833, the Boston and Albany
in 1835, the Cheshire and many others. Amos, the
eldest, had charge of laying all the first track of
the (Cheshire Railroad and was afterward road-
master. Joel F. was twelve years on the Boston and
Albany, went to Indiana and originated and built
the Indianapolis Belt Line, and was nine years
superintendent of the Indianapolis, Cincinnati and
Lafayette Railroad, He was thirty-niire years in
railroad service. Eri was in the railroad service
twenty-six years, and was afterward a wealthy
banker in Siou.x City, Iowa. George Perry, one of
the sons-in-law, ran the first passenger train into
Keene, in 1848. Another son-in-law, Niles Aid-
rich, was engineer and conductor on the Cheshire
road thirty-five years.
^VlII) Barzilla (2), ninth child and sixth son
of Barzilla (i) and Lydia (Foster) Richardson,
was born in Keene, February 7, 1833. He has been
employed thirty 3'ears as locomotive engineer, con-
ductor and in construction work on the Cheshire,
Union Pacific, Southern Pacific and Illinois Central
railroads. He married, February 20, 1856, Sarah
M. Goodnow, who was born March s, 1S35. She
was the daughter of Daniel and Matilda (Chase)
Goodnow, of Keene. He died May 9, 1903, a.eed
seventy years. They had five children : Ada M.,
Sarah Agnes, Frank Walton, deceased ; Jennie Fos-
ter, and Walter B., assistant postmaster at Keene.
(.IX) Jennie Foster, fourth child and third
i — 22
daughter of Barzilla (2) and Sarah M. (Goodnow)
Richardson, was born in Keene, February 20, l8t)3,
and married. May 2, 1888, Jerry P. Wellman (see
Wellman, IV).
(Third Family.)
(I) Thomas Richardson was
RICHARDSON the youngest of the three broth-
ers of that name who united
with others in the settlement of Woburn, Mas-
sachusetts, and the formation of a church there
in 1641. It is highly probable that Thomas
originated in Norfolk, England, where the name had
been settled as early as the sixteenth century, and
perhaps earlier, but it is quite probable that he
did not come to America until after 1633, ior the
first mention of him is found in a record dated
February 21, 1635-36, when Mary, his wife, united
with the church in Charlestown. Thomas and his next
elder brother Samuel joined the church on the
"i8th of the I2th month (February), 1637-8," and
in consequence thereof were admitted freemen of
the colony May 2, 1638. Their names are found
on the Charlestown records for the first time in
^637, when the town granted each of them a house
lot. At the time of immigration Thomas must have
been quite young, and it is believed that he mar-
ried just previous to his departure from England.
Thomas Richardson died in Woburn August 28,
1651, and if he made a will it was not placed on the
records. His property in lands comprised one hun-
dred acres of land in Woburn, which was valued at
eighty pounds, and his other property of all kinds
amounted in appraised value to a little over one
hundred and thirty-seven pounds, from which it
may be inferred that Thomas was a man of sub-
stance. The name of his wife was Mary, and after
the death of her husband she married again.
Thomas and Mary Richardson had seven children,
the first two of them being born in Charlestown
and the others in Woburn. They were Mary, Sarah,
Isaac, Thomas, Ruth, Phebe and Nathaniel.
(II) Thomas (2), second son and fourth child
of Thomas (.1) and Mary Richardson, was born
in Woburn, Massachusetts, October 4, 1645. He
moved to Billerica about 1667, and is said to have
settled on a large tract of about nine hundred acres
of land in the eastern part of the town. Pie was a
soldier in Captain Samuel Gallup's company in the
land expedition against Canada in 1690, and was
deputy from Billerica to the general court in 1703-04.
Thomas died in Billerica February 25, 1720-21, aged
seventy-six years. He married, first, in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, January 5, 1669-70, j\Iary Stimpson
(her name is mentioned in the town records at
{Cambridge as Mary Stevenson), by whom he had
nine children. He married, second, in Billerica,
December 29, 1690, Sarah, widow of Thomas Patten.
Thomas Richardson's children, all by his first wife,
were: Mary (born and died on the same day),
Mary (born and died the same day), Mary, Thomas,
Andrew, Nathaniel, Jonathan, Ruth and Elnathan.
(.Ill) Jonathan, seventh child and fourth son
of Thomas (2) and Mary (Stimpson) Richard-
son, was born in Billerica, Massachusetts, February
14, 1682-83, and lived in that town throughout his
entire life. He went to Dunstable and Groton as
a soldier in July, 1706. His father gave him property
to the amount of thirty pounds, which he increased
somewhat before his death, which occurred suddenly
August I3,_ 1720. He married, in 1713, Hannah,
daughter of John French of Billerica, and had four
chiFdren : Hannah, Jonathan, Thomas and Abicl.
(IV) Thomas (3), third child and second son
of Jonathan and Hannah (French) Richardson, was
338
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
born in Billerica, Massachusetts, June S, 171S; mar-
ried, ill 1739, Abigail Merrow, who was born in
Woburn in 1713, daughter of Henry and Abigail
(Parker) Merrow and granddaughter of John JNier-
row, whose father, Henry Merrow, came from Scot-
land. Thomas and Abigail (Merrow) Richardson
had six children : Abigail, Mary, Hepzibah, Abigail
(the first child of that name having died in in-
fancy), Beulah and Ebenezer.
(V) Ebenezer, youngest of the children of
Thomas (3) and Abigail (Merrow) Richardson,
was born in Reading, JVIassachusetts, April 14, 1754,
and lived near his father's home in that town until
about 1790, when he removed to New Ipswich, New
Hampshire, and settled on a farm. The date of his
death is not known, but his will, dated July 7,
1723, was admitted to probate April 17, 1827. To
his wife he left the east half of liis house, to his
daughter Sarah the use of the east chamber until
she should marry, and the remainder of his prop-
erty, real and personal, was devised to his son
Thomas. Ebenezer Richardson married, January
15. 1777. Sarah Parker, daughter of Jonathan and
Sarah Parker and by whom he had live children,
the youngest of whom was born in New Ipswich.
They were : Sarah, Lucy, Jonathan, Ebenezer and
Thomas.
(VI) Jonathan Parker, third child and eldest
son of Ebenezer and Sarah (Parker) Richardson,
was born in Reading, Massachusetts, July 28, 17S4,
and died in Greenville, New Hampshire, 1871. He
was connected with the operation of the once fa-
mous Greenville Cotton Mill, and for a long time
was its overseer or superintendent'. So far as he
took part in public affairs it was as a Republican,
and in religious preference he was a Congregation-
alist. Mr. Richardson married Hannah Bailey, of
Hudson, Massachusetts, and had children.
(VII) Charles Parker Richardson, son of
Jonathan and Hannah (Bailey) Richardson, was
born in Greenville, New Hampshire, June 26, 1826,
and died in Peterborough, New Hampshire, August
29, 1895. He received a good education in New
Ipswich Academy and Hancock Seminary, and after
leaving school went to work in the cotton mill at
Greenville, with which he continued in one capacity
and another from 1857 to 1870. He proved an
industrious employee, and advanced in his position
from time to time until he became ag:ent of the
company in New Ipswich and Greenville. After
quitting the company's service he went to Peter-
borough and from 187 1 to 1888 was cashier of the
First National Bank of that place. For about ten
years he was a justice of the peace and quorum,
and was a Mason and member of the Congregational
Church. Mr. Richardson married, November 17,
1854, Amanda Mansfield, who was born in Green-
ville, August 4, 1833, a daughter of Frederick and
Hannah Mansfield of Greenville. Mr. Mansfield
was a carpenter and builder, and was born July
29, 1807, and died July 20, 1897; his wife was born
April 7, 1812, and died April 11, 1884.
(Fourth Family.)
There are several family stocks
RICHARDSON of this name in the United
States, but not all the ancestors
are known to be related. The family ^ from which
the members of this line have sprung is called the
Newbury Richardsons. Many able men have been
members of the Richardson family.
(I) William Richardson was born in Eng-
land about 1620, came to America, and settled in
Newbury, Massachusetts. His name is found in that
place in 1647, and he had probably been there some
years at that time, perhaps as early as 1640. His
residence was in what is now known as West New-
bury. His widow Elizabeth made oath to an inven-
tory of his estate dated March 30, 1657, amount
fifty-two pounds. His real estate consisted of "A
house and foure akers of land prised at 122" He
died March 25, 1657, probably under forty years of
age. His children were: Joseph, Benjamin and
Elizabeth.
(il) Joseph (i), oldest child of William and
Elizabeth (Wiseman) Richardson, was born in West
Newbury, j\Iay 18, 1655. He took the oath of allegi-
ance to the colony in 1678, when twenty-three years
old. He was a cordwainer, and lived in West New-
bury. His will is dated April 7, 1724, proved June
I, 1724; recorded in Essex Probate Records in
Volume XV, page 51. He married July 12, 1681,
Margaret Godfrey, born October 9, 1663, daughter
of Peter and Mary (Browne) Godfrey, of New-
bury. Their children were : Mary, William, Jo-
seph, Elizabeth, Daniel, Sarah, Thomas, ^Margaret
and Caleb.
(HI) Joseph (2), third child and second son
of Joseph (l) and jNlargaret (Godfrey) Richardson,
was born in Newbury, December 31, 1686. Chester,
New Hampshire, was settled about 1723, and Jo-
seph Richardson bought a hundred acre and an
eighty acre lot in that town as early as 1725, but it
does not appear that he ever lived in Chester, but
resided in what is now West Newbury, on the road
from Newburyport to Bradford, about a quarter of
a mile from Brown's Springs. He bought the lots
for his sons, four of whom afterw'ard resided in
Chester. He made his will .-^pril 24, 1764, and it
was proven April i, 1767. The inventory amounted
to two hundred and twenty-three pounds eight
shillings. He married Ann Riggs, of and at Glou-
cester, February 24, 1712. Their children were:
Ann, Joseph, Thomas, Moses, William, Daniel, Mary,
Betty and (Taleb. (Daniel and descendants receive
mention in this article.)
(IV) Moses (i), fourth child and third son of
Joseph (2) and Ann (Riggs) Richardson, was born
July 28, 1718, and died JNIarch 30, 1806. By the
provisions of his father's will he had one-half
of his father's one hundred acre lot in Chester,
described as add. lot No. 70, east of the Carr place
in Chester, where G. A. Clark lived in 1869. Here
he was taxed in 1741. He was a deacon in the con-
gregational Church. He married, 1746, iNIary Good-
hue, born May 2, 1730, daughter of Jonathan and
Elizabeth (Powell) Goodhue, of Chester. She died
October 13, 1809, aged seventy-nine. Their chil-
dren were : Mary, David, Elizabeth, Sarah, Nelly,
Ruth, Moses, Jonathan, Lucretia, Anna and Ed-
ward.
(V) David, second child and eldest son of
Moses and Mary (Goodhue) Richardson, was born
on his father's farm in Chester, in 1748, and died
December 19, 1821. He lived in Chester from 1773
to 1789, and settled in Pembroke, December 26,
1789, and resided on the farm till his death. In the
spring of 1776 he with many others signed what was
called the Association Test, pledging the subscribers
to resist to the utmost, even with arms and at the
risk of their lives and fortunes the encroachment
of the British ministry. He married, 1773, Sally
Shackford, born February 3, 1755. daughter of
Theodore and Mary (Bartlett) Shackford, of Aliens-
town. She died April 15, 1842. Their children
were : Theodore, Moses, David, !Mary, Susan Par-
ker, Josiah, Richard Bartlett, Nancy, Sally, Dolly
and Betsey.
(VI) Moses (2), second child and son of David
and Sally (Shackford) Ricliardson, was born in
Chester, April 29, 1775, and died July 28, 1870, aged
I
I
I
pi
I
{yly(M'rU^ S, JuicA^iyi~.!,C}-,>i^
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
339
ninety-five years. He came to Pembroke with his
father in i/Sg, and hved in that town till his death.
He was a farmer, a member of the Methodist
Chinxh, and for a time class leader, a man of un-
blemished character, and highly respected. He mar-
ried, Jime 17, 1796, Lois K. Garvin, of Concord,
born June 17, 1775, in Concord, and died December
19, 1856, in Pembroke. Their children were : Deb-
orah, John True, Susan, Mark, Lucy, Moses, Parker,
Sally, i\Iary Ann and Moses Waldo.
(Vn) Parker, seventh child and fourth son of
Moses (2) and Lois K. (Garvin) Richardson, was
born in Pembroke, March 16, 180S, and died in
1900, aged ninety-two years. He was educated in the
Pembroke common schools and academy, and was
a farmer. He was a Democrat in his early life,
but in after years was a Prohibitionist. October
2, 1834. he married Ann Quimby, born in Concord,
daughter of James Goodwm, of Concord. She died
November 30, 1890. Their children were : Pluma
Ann, Esther Jane, James Moses, and Lois Fran-
ces.
(.VIII) James Moses, third child and only son
of Parker and Ann L. (Goodwin) Richardson, was
born August ig, 1840. His education was obtained
in the common schools and at the seminaries at
Pembroke and Tilton. He learned and worked at
the wheelwright trade for twenty-five years in Pem-
broke, and has carried on the manufacture of brick
in Rochester for twelve years. After conducting
a hotel business six years in Virginia and North
Carolina he returned to New Hampshire and bought
the place known as the Kimball Tavern, built in
17S0, situated on Pembroke street, where he main-
tains a summer hotel. He also carried on farm-
ing to a limited extent. He is a Methodist and a
Republican, and is superintendent of the school
committee. He has been a member of Pembroke
Grange, No. Ill, since 1903. Mr. Richardson mar-
ried, lirst, 1865, Jennie Moore, born in Loudon,
daughter of Archelus I\Ioore. She died in 1891,
and he married, second, May i, 1895, Mary E.
Werner, born in Aberagse, Maryland, January i,
1866, daughter of John Werner, a native of Stutt-
gart, Germany, and his wife .Regina Ritzles, of
Baden.
(IV) Daniel, fifth son and sixth child of Jo-
seph (2) and Ann (Riggs) Richardson, was born
March 28, 1722, in West Newbury, Massachusetts,
and settled in Chester, New Hampshire, probably
about 1760, many years after his brothers had settled
there. He lived in the southeastern pai;t of that
town, near the line of the present town of Sandown,
and his son Daniel succeeded hira on the homestead.
He signed the association test in 1776. He died
Jilarch 23, 1799, being survived just a week by his
widow, who died i\Iarch 30. He was married No-
vember 21, 1751, to Lydia Davis, daughter of
Ephraim and Lydia Davis, of Newburyport. Their
children born in West Newbury, were: Moses,
Lydia (died young), Anna, Lydia, Betty, Daniel and
Joseph.
(V) Moses, eldest child of Daniel and Lydia
(Davis) Richardson, was born November 12, 1752,
in West Newbury, and was among the early settlers,
and was one of the proprietors of Protectworth
(now Springfield), New Hampshire, settling there
in 1791. He became a deacon of the Congregational
Church there and so continued throughout his life,
dying March 26, 1842, in his ninetieth year. About
1795 he with Robert Stevens built the "Old Spruce"
mill in Springfield for one C. McDee Carr, and each
received for his labor fifty acres of land. He was
early a teacher, and was a prominent man in the
town. Before there was a settled minister he led
the religious meetings, reading from a book the
sermons and conducting the prayers. He was chair-
man of the first committee appointed to arrange for
the settlement of a minister. He was moderator
in 1792-93, and in the latter year was one of the
selectmen. At the first regular meeting for the
incorporation of the town, March 11, 1794, he was
chosen clerk, selectman and treasurer, and at the
annual March meeting for the two succeeding years
he was chosen treasurer. He was married in 1778
to Sarah Chase, of Chester, who was born November
28, 1756, eldest child of Jacob and Prudence (Hill)
Chase, of that town, formerly of Newbury (.see
Chase, VHI). They had five children, born in
Chester, and the same number in Springfield,
namely : Jacob Chase, Moses, David, Prudence
Hill, Amos, Sarah Betty, Daniel, Lydia, Joseph and
Anna.
(VI) Joseph, fifth son and ninth child of Deacon
Moses and Sarah (Chase) Richardson, was born
December 2, 1798, in Protectworth (now Spring-
field), New Hampshire, and was a farmer in that
town. He was married November 22, 1S27, to Rhoda
Stevens, who was born April 23, 1803, and died
September 9, 1886, surviving her husband by more
than six years. He passed away March 29, 1880.
They celebrated their golden wedding in Springfield,
at which many friends were present and speeches
made by Hon. D. N. Adams, then state senator.
Dr. D. P. Goodhue and others. The festivities
were marked with music and other social incidents,
appropriate. Their children were : Willard Ste-
vens, Calista Ann and Joseph Franklin.
(VII) Willard S. Richardson, eldest child of
Rhoda and Joseph Richardson, was born September
29, 1829, in Springfield, and was educated chiefly
in the common schools of that town, attending the
Newport High School one year. His early years
were largely occupied with the labors on a farm,
and in 1855, he went to Nashua, New Hampshire,
where he was employed eleven years in a grocery
store. At the end of that time he became a partner
in the business, which was conducted under the firm
style of R. M. Sawyer & Company. Removing from
Nashua to Lowell, jNIassachusetts, he remained eight-
een years in the employ of the J. C. Ayer Company
as a chemist. During this time he spent six years
(summers) in Montreal, Canada, in the interest of the
same firm. Since 1897, he has been living in retire-
ment in Newport, New Hampshire. He is a member
of the Congregational Church and a staunch Re-
publican in politics. While a resident of Nashua
he served two years as a member Of the City Council.
JNIr. Richardson adopted the eldest son of his
brother, namely Willard Stewart Richardson, born
1867, a very studious youth, who was a steady pa-
tron of the city library and kept a year ahead of
his class in his studies at school but died before he
completed his tenth year. Mr. Richardson possesses
and prizes an antique relic, made from the wood
of a British man-of-war, "Somerset," which was
wrecked on Cape Cod, November, 1778. It is in
the form of a book neatly carved. Mr. Richardson
is a reader and thinker and keeps abreast of the
times and is an interesting conversationalist. His
handsome home on South Main Street, opposite the
Congregational Church in Newport, is thoroughly
modern and he takes a justifiable pride in his hand-
some lawn and splendid gardens. The car.e of these
occupies most of his time and they are models of
neatness, utility and convenience. He was married
in Springfield, June 8, 1852, to Miss Sarah A.
Peters, who was born October 23, 1829. and died
December 30, 1905, after a happy union of about
fifty-three years. On their golden wedding anni-
340
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
versary their cosy home in Newport was the scene
of festivities appropriate to the occasion and they
were the recipients of many handsome and useful
tokens of esteem from their friends. Among these
was a beautifully engraved gold-headed cane for
Mr. Richardson, from Newport friends and his wife
received a handsome silver fruit dish and bric-
a-brac from the Ladies Aid Society of which she
was a member. Their children were : Frank Ells-
worth, born 1881, and Willard Peters, 1866, both of
whom died in infancy.
(.Fifth Family.)
This name had numerous
RICHARDSON representatives in New England
in the early period, and is now
scattered widely throughout the United States. The
line herein traced is no doubt allied to others treated
in this work. It is probable that John Richardson,
the ancestor of this line, was a brother of George
Richardson, who was in New England at the same
time. There is no proof of this, however. George
Richardson embarked at London in the ship "Susan
and Ellen," for New England, April is, 1635, being
then thirty years of age, and probably arrived in
July of that year. Of the coming of John Richard-
son, no record has been found. They were both at
Watertown in the following year.
(I) John (l) Richardson had a grant of one
acre of land in 1637, in the Beaver Brook plow-
lands in the town of Watertown, which is within the
present town of Waltham. The Beaver Brook
plowlands were one hundred six in number, one
acre to each person, and consisted partly of meadow
and partly of upland. They were mostly on Wal-
tham plains, on the north side of the Charles River.
It is probable that John Richard was concerned in
the Antinomian controversy of 1637, and probably
left Watertown in that year. A record is found in
Exeter in 1642 of the witnessing of a deed by John
Richardson, from which it would seem that he fol-
lowed Mr. Wheelwright to that point in the winter
of 1637-38. A John Richardson was in Exeter in
1642, whose wife was Hannah Truair. He appears
to have managed to keep out of the records most
of the time. A John Richardson is found in Wells,
Maine, in 1673, and was probably the son of John
Richardson that followed the fortunes of Mr.
Wheelwright and settled at Wells, in 1643.
(II) John (,2), the first of the name found on
the Medfield records, first appears there in notice
of his marriage. On May I, 1679, Ralph Wheelock,
magistrate, married John Richardson to Rebecca
Clark, who was born in Medfield, August 16, 1660,
youngest daughter of Joseph and Alice Clark, early
settlers of that part of Dedham, which was in-
corporated as the town of Medfield in 1651. This
John Richardson owned a tract of land in Wells,
Maine, formerly granted to John Richardson, which
makes it tolerably certain that he was a son of the
first John Richardson. He was by trade a cord-
wainer, and cultivated a farm of less than fifty acres.
He was a member of the church in Medfield, in 1697,
as was his wife. He died in what was then Med-
field, May 29, 1697. No will is found on record.
The inventory of his estate, dated February 22,
1700, includes a homestead of twenty-six acres
with orchard and buildings valued at thirty pounds,
besides eight acres of meadow and ten acres of
upland and swamp near Bear Hill. The estate
was administered by his widow, and the entire value
of real estate was estimated at forty-six pounds,
inventory including three cows and some other
livestock. His personal estate was valued at twenty-
seven pounds ten shillings. His widow married
John Hill, of Sherburne, an adjoining town, and
died February 17, 1739, aged seventy-nine years.
Their children were : John, Elizabeth, Daniel, Jo-
seph, Mehitabel, Benjamin and Rebecca.
(III) John (3), eldest child of John (2) and
Rebecca (Clark) Richardson, was born August 25,
1679, in Medfield, that part which is now Medway.
He was a carpenter and housewright, and the records
show several transfers of property, which would
indicate that he was a prosperous citizen. He
died in what is now East Medway, May ig, 1759,
aged eighty years. He was married about 1699
to Esther Breck, who was born in Medfield, in
1679, probably a daughter of John Breck of that
place. She died of -cancer August 17, 1774, aged
ninety-five years. Their children were : Sarah,
John, David (died young), Jonathan, Esther, Mary,
Joseph, Samuel, Solomon, Moses, Asa and David.
(IV) Joseph, fourth son and seventh child of
John (3) and Elizabeth (Breck) Richardson, was
born April 3, 171 1, in Medfield, Massachusetts, and
followed the trade of his father, that of housewright.
He lived in Medway until about 1753, when he re-
moved to Uxbridge. In 1751 he sold a lot of land
in Wells, Maine, which had been granted to his
grandfather in 1673. He died before the settlement
of his fathers estate in 1759, and on May 12, 1760,
his widow became the wife of Joseph Draper, of
Dedham. She was then residing at Sherburne. Her
Christian name was Abigail. The children of Jo-
seph and Abigail Richardson were : Joseph (died
young), jNIary, Esther, Abigail, Thankful, Joseph,
Chloe and Benjamin.
(V) Joseph (2), second son and sixth child
of Joseph (i) and Abigail Richardson, was born
November 12, 1748, in Medway, Massachusetts. At
the time of his death in 1834 he was a resident of
Uxbridge. His wife was Rosanna (or Naomi)
Adams, a daughter of Oliver Adams, of Medway.
His will, dated August 17, 1834, and proved in the
following April, provides for his wife Rosanna and
children Joseph, Dexter and Simon.
(VI) Joseph (3), eldest son of Joseph (2)
and Rosanna (Adams) Richardson, was born prob-
ably in Uxbridge, and resided in Auburn, Massa-
chusetts, where he married Hannah Chase. She
died and was buried in Auburn, being the mother
of four children, namely : Leonard, Selby, Joseph
and Cyrus. The third was a soldier of the south-
ern army during the civil war; the last died un-
married at the age of twenty-one years. Joseph
Richardson married (second) a widow named Piatt.
She was the mother of one daughter, Hannah, who
married a Kirk. They also reared an adopted son,
George R.
(VII) Leonard, eldest child of Joseph and Han-
nah (Chase) Richardson, was born March 20, 1807,
in Auburn, Massachusetts, and died in Newport,
New Hampshire, March 12, i8go. In 1844 he re-
moved from Auburn to Newport, and bought a farm
at Northville, where he resided the remainder of his
life. He was a farmer and representative citizen,
and took an active interest in the progress of events.
He was active in church work, and was for many
years leader of the church choir at Auburn. He
spent a part of his life in Oxford, Massachusetts,
whence he removed to Newport. He was married
May 24, 1S31, to Lusanna Jennison, of Auburn,
Massachusetts, who was born December 8, 1S09,
and died October 12, 1899. She was a daughter of
Joseph and Hann.ih (Ryan) Jennison, of Auburn,
^Massachusetts. They were the parents of seven
children : Cyrus Emmons, Leonard Edmund, Caro-
line Ophelia, Hannah Loraine, Francis Joseph, Mary
Lusanna, Elizabeth Jane.
(VIII) Leonard Edmund, second son and child
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
341
of Leonard and Lusanna (Jennison) Richardson,
was born October 15, 1833, in Auburn, Massachu-
setts and was ten years of age when he came with
his parents to Newport, New Hampshire. His pri-
mary education was suppUed by the public schools,
after which he was a student at Kimball Union
Academy, Meriden, New Hampshire, and graduated
there with the class of 1S53. In the succeeding
winter he began the study of medicine with Dr.
John L. Swett, of Newport, and subsequently at-
tended one course of lectures at Dartmouth. He
graduated from the medical department of Harvard
College with the class of 1^57, and shortly afterwards
began the practice of medicme at Newport. Hearing
of a favorable opening for a practitioner at Stod-
dard, New Hampshire, he removed to that place and
continued for a period of eight years in successful
practice there. From Stoddard he removed, in May,
i860, to Hartford, Connecticut, where he continued
in active pursuit of his profession until his death,
which occurred August 11, 1900. Dr. Richardson
was devoted to his profession, and won a reputation
second to none in the city of Hartford. He never
held, aspired to, or felt that he had the time for
public office. He and the other members of his family
were members of the Central Congregational Church.
He married, September 28, 1858, Lois M. Kibbey,
daughter of Deacon Austin and Aurilla (Fletcher)
Kibbey. Their children are : Lorraine L and Lillian
A. The former was a graduate of Northfield (Mass-
achusetts) Seminary, class of 1884, and the latter
of Hartford high school, class of 1887. Mrs. Richard-
son survives her husband and now resides in New-
port. Her grandfather, Philip W. Kibbey, came
from !Munson, Iilassachusetts, to Newport. He was
born May 19, 1761, in Munson, a son of Jacob Kib-
bey. He was a noted singer, and engaged in farming
in Newport, where he died February 5, 1853. He
was married April 27, 1786, to Sarah, daughter
of Dr. Abner Meigs, of Newport. She was born
April 5, 1765, in Claremont, and died September 3,
1854, at Newport. They were the parents of nine
children, namely: John M., Nathaniel C. (died
young), Sarah C, Philip AL, Nathaniel C, Orren
C, Arial A., Austin L., Abial L. and Lucy C.
Austin L., seventh son and eighth child of
Philip W. and Sarah (Meigs) Kibbey, was born Jan-
uary 4, 1805, in Newport, and was a farmer in that
town, where he died September 11, 1884. He was
a Deacon of the Baptist Church, and a highly
respected citizen. He resided on the paternal home-
stead in the northern part of the town for forty years.
He was married, May 10, 1831, to Aurilla Fletcher,
daughter of Deacon Timothy Fletcher, of Newport.
(See Fletcher, VI). She died June 6, 1862, and he
subsequently married Mrs. Albira Wheeler. His
children were : William B., who was a farmer and
selectman of Newport. Orren C, who was also a
prominent citizen of that town, and interested in
Sunday school work especially and church work
generally, characteristics for which the Kibbeys and
Fletchers have been and are notable in the com-
munity. Lois M., born July 3, 1837, is the widow
of Dr. Leonard E. Richardson, as above noted.
Sarah A., the second daughter, married Enoch
Nichols, of Winchendon, Massachusetts.
The name Topliif in New England
TOPLIFF is borne mainly by persons who are
descended from one immigrant an-
cestor of the name, Clement Topliff. As a race the
TopliiTs have been moral, industrious and highly
respected.
(I) Clement Topliff, iminigrant ancestor of the
Topliff family in New England, came over with
John Mather in the second emigration, soon after
1635. He settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts, and
was admitted to the First Church in 1639, and made
freeman in 1640. In the land records he is assigned
two acres and a quarter four rods at the neck and
it is also that "Goodman Topliff" was assigned a
portion of the land in "Cowes Pasture." The
present Topliff street in Dorchester runs through
his original homestead. He died December 24,
1672, and was survived more than twenty years by
his wife, Sarah, who died July 29, 1693. Their
gravestones are in the old ;emetery at Stoughton.
His will, dated January 26, 1666, was probated Jan-
uary 31, 1673. Their daughter Sarah married, in
1659, David Jones. Obedience married, 1660, David
Copp, for whom Copp's Hill was named. Patience
married, 1667, Nathaniel Holmes, of Roxbury.
(II) Samuel, only surviving son of Clement and
Sarah Topliff, was born May 7, 1646, in Dorchester,
and became one of the foremost men ot that town,
both in civil and religious aft'airs. He was con-
stantly employed in various town capacities, such as
constable, assessor, town clerk, selectman, and was
an elder of the church. He died October 12, 1722,
in Dorchester. He married Patience Trescott, born
J\lay 7, 1665, in Dorchester, daughter of William
Trescott. Omitting those of their children who died
in infancy, there were : Patience, Thankful, Wait-
still, Joseph, Ebenezer, Nathaniel and Samuel.
(III) Samuel (2), youngest surviving child of
Samuel (i) and Patience (Trescott) Topliff, was
born May 30, 1695, in Dorchester, and was the
ancestor of nearly all the Toplift's in New England.
He lived in Dorchester until 1729, when he moved
to Milton, Massachusetts, and live years later to
New London, Connecticut. Soon after he settled
in Wilmington, Connecticut, where he died November
I, 1754. He married, February 8, 171S, Hannah Tres-
cott, and they had sons : Clement, Calvin and
Luther.
(IV) Calvin, son of Samuel (2) and Hannah
(Trescott) Topliff', was born August 24, 1729, in
JNIilton, Massachusetts, and died December 23, 1809,
in Tolland county, Connecticut. He married, Jan-
uary 9, 1758, Jerusha Bicknell. He married (second),
in 1792, Ruth Weber.
(V) Calvin (2), son of Calviii (i) and Jerusha
(Bicknell) Topliff', was born November 28, 1758,
in Tolland, and was a soldier in the Revolution. He
was a pioneer settler of Hanover, New Hampshire;
a farmer, and cultivated the farm now owned by
his descendant, Elijah M. Topliff'. No record appears
of his first marriage, which probabi}' occurred in
Connecticut. There were two children of this union,
Abijah and Dr. Calvin. (Mention of the latter and
descendants appears in this article). He w-as mar-
ried (second), June 19, 1803, to a widow, Ruth
(Frcman) Durkee, in Hanover. She left one child.
(VI) Abijah, son of Calvin Topliff, was born in
Hanover, Grafton county. New Flampshire, and died
in 1876, aged about eighty. He was a prosperous
farmer, spent life in Grafton, and always had plenty
for his needs and something to spare. His success
in the management of his own aff'airs led his towns-
men to entrust matters of public interest to his man-
agement, and he was elected and served as select-
man for many years, and member of the legislature
for two or more terms. He was fully alive to the
benefits of higher education, and his children were
all well instructed. He was a man of substance and
influence, and was a member of Governor Isaac
Hill's council. He married Susan Miller, born in
Hanover, New Hampshire, died aged thirty-two,
daughter of Elijah and Eunice (Tenney) Miller.
Four children were born of this marriage: Elijah
342
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
M., see forward. William H., was a general specu-
lator in Hanover, New Hampshire ; he died in Bos-
ton, Massachusetts, aged thirty-six years. He left
one son, Frank W., in Portsmouth, New Hampshire,
and one daughter, Ella J., who married VVilliam
Davis, and resides in Derry, New Hampshire.
Charles C, took a course in medical science, was a
surgeon in the Civil war, a physician in Fishersville,
New Hampshire, and died at the home of his brother,
Elijah M., 1885. Ella A., now resides with her
brother, Elijah M., in Manchester.
(Vn; Elijah M., eldest child of Abijah and
Susan (.Miller) Topliff, was born in Hanover, Graf-
ton county, New Hampshire, November 10, 1827.
He grew up on his father's homestead, and was
familiar with all kinds of farm work. His primary
education was obtained in the public schools. He
later prepared for college at Thetford and then
entered Dartmouth College, from which he graduated
with the class of 1852. Fifty years later he was one
of sixteen of the eighteen survivors of that class
who met at Hanover to celebrate the semi-centennial
anniversary of that event. While at Hanover he
read a year's course in law under the supervision
of A. O. Brewster, Esq., then a leading lawyer of
western New Hampshire. After leaving college he
went to Manchester and read law in the office of
Judge David Cross (see sketch elsewhere), whose
ofifice was a favorite and famous resort of law
students. In 1854 he was admitted to the bar, and
at once formed a partnership with his law preceptor
which lasted six or eight years. The firm was a
strong one and its practice extended into every
county in the state.
Mr. Topliif's attention was not all put upon the
law. He was the son of a father who was much in
politics, and while yet a boy he was often in the
society of politicial leaders and heard much dis-
cussion of a political nature. When he went to Man-
chester his reputation had preceded him, and rather
against his inclination he was brought into local
politics. He was chairman of the Republican city
committee for some time and later a member of
the Republican state committee, and its chairman for
three years. In May, 1S68, he went as chairman of
the New Hampshire delegation to the Republican
National Conventioji at Chicago, and there supported
General Grant's candidacy for the presidency. April
19, 1869, just a month and a half after General Grant
was inaugurated, JNlr. Topliff was appointed collec-
tor of the second internal revenue district of New
Hampshire, then one of the most lucrative offices
in the state. This position he held for about eight
years. He was four times sent to the legislature
to represent a jSIanchester constituency.
For fifteen years Mr. Topliff had a very large
practice, being in nearly every case that was tried
in the local courts. His practice was general, and
though he was never the general counsel for any
great corporation, he was often called to assist
their attorneys in trials of importance. A jury trial
was his delight, and a case of that kind requiring
a week for its disposal gave him opportunity to
indulge in tlie wit and humor which he has always
enjoyed. The volume of his business attested the
success of his practice. In 1894 the judges of the
supreme court appointed Isaac VV. Smith, Alfred F.
Bachelder and Mr. Topliff trustees of the New
Hampshire Trust Company, and from that time he
has had very little to do with the courts, his atten-
tion being confined to his work as trustee and other
matters. Since their appointment his two associate
trustees have died, and for some years Mr. Topliff
has had the sole management of this trust. The
amount collected and disbursed to the stockholders
by the trustees has been nearly $4,000,000, and every
cent collected has been properly accounted for. He
closed up the account February 9, 1907. For several
years j\lr. Topliff' was a director of the Peoples'
Savings Bank, and for fifteen years past he has been
its president. As a lawyer, a public officer, and a
manager of the funds of others Mr. Topliff's course
in life looks to a superficial observer like an easily
won success. But the critical eye detects the fact
the every act in relation to his business has been
carefully planned and skillfully executed, and that
his success is the result of steady and painstaking
endeavor. He is now (1907) eighty years old, and
in the full enjoyment of his physical strength, health
and mental facilities, and probably gets more
pleasure out of life than most men many years his
junior. As a business man he is the peer of any of
his associates, and in personal and social relations
he is what every one loves, but seldom sees, a gentle-
man of the old school. In the past few years he
has evaded the rigors of four New England winters
by spending them in Florida.
He married, September I, 1855, Hannah Aldrich,
born in Fall River, Massachusetts, and died in Man-
chester, 1S91, aged fifty-two years. She died in
church from a paralytic shock.
(VI) Dr. Calvin (3), son of Calvin (2) Topliff,
was born in 1807, in Hanover. He received an
excellent medical education for his day. He began
practice in Alton in 1829, but removed to Freedom
in 1830, and was in constant demand as a physician
until his death, which occurred in 1867. In the Civil
List and Town Annals we find the following :
Calvin Topliff was clerk 1840-41-42-43-44-45, repre-
sentative 1846-47, clerk 1848-49-50-51-52-53 and 54.
He was first master of the Masonic lodge, and was
considered one of the best informed Masons in the
state. He married August 15, 1831, Ann Andrews,
of North Effingham. Their children, all born in
Freedom, were : Lydia Jane, Ruth Freeman,
Orestes and Charles Franklin (twins), Rosan
Towle, John Franklin and Albion Pease.
(VII) Doctor Albion Pease Topliff, was born
March 14, 1843, at Hanover, New Hampshire, was
son of Dr. Calvin and Anne Andrews Topliff'. He
was educated at the Masonic Charitable Institution,
Effingham, this state, and entered the medical school
of Dartmouth College, graduating in' the class o£i
1868. After receiving his medical degree he tookl
a post-graduate course at Bellevue Hospital, New!
York City, and then began practice in his native
town of Freedom. In 1871 he removed to Gorham,|
Maine, and about three years later he went to
Woodfords, now a part of Portland, where his prom-
ising career was cut short by his early death at thai
age of sixty-two years. Dr. Topliff was a memberl
of the Maine Medical Association, the Cumberland!
County Medical Society and the Alaine Academy off
Medicine. He was of the Protestant Episcopall
church, and was well advanced in Masonic circles,!
being past commander of the Knights Templar, and|
a member of Greenleaf Chapter. On December 9,
1875, Dr. Albion Pease Topliff married Caroline!
B. Adams, daughter of James and Anne M. AdamsJ
of Norridgewock, Maine, where Mr. Adams was a.|
prominent attorney. They had four children : Ber-
tha, born January 12, 1880; Annie T., February 8,
1S77; Florence A., October 9, 1S85; and Philip,!
March 19, 1888. Dr. Albion P. Topliff died May 8,|
1904.
The Johnson family of ^lassachu-
JOHNSON setts, which sprang from the im-
migrant. Captain Edward Johnson, |
"the father of Woburn," is distinguished by the!
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
343
number of its members who have been leading citi-
zens in Woburn, where it has been ably represented,
and in many other towns in ^Massachusetts and other
states, both in New England and the west.
(I) Captain Edward Johnson was born at Water-
ham in the parish of Heme Hill, near Canterbury,
in Kent county, England, in 1599, and died in Wo-
burn, Massachusetts, April 23, 1672, aged seventy-
three. Without doubt he came to Massachusetts
Bay Colony in the fleet with Governor Winthrop in
1630. He requested admission as a freeman of the
Colony October 19, of that year, and was admitted
freeman on taking the oath jMay 18 following. After
living some time in Charlestown, or Salem, or other
plantations to satisfy himself, he went back to Eng-
land to bring his wife and children in 1636 or 1637.
Upon his return voyage his name is registered as
follows, in a list of those who embarked from the
port of Sandwich for the American plantations,
in June, 1637 : "Edward Johnson, of Canterbury,
joiner, ^nd Susan his wife, 7 children, 3 servants."
He arrived in New England in the course of the
summer or early in the fall of 1637, and settled at
Charlestown, where grants of land were repeatedly
made to him for his accommodation in 1637, and in
April, 163S. In the settlement of Charlestown Vil-
lage, now Woburn, for which he was one of the com-
missioners appointed by the church at Charlestown,
he took a leading part. The commissioners held
their first meeting at Charlestown, December iS,
1640, where he presented a plot of the contemplated
town, and was chosen recorder or clerk, and held
that office until his death. He w^as greatly devoted
to the cause of religion, for which he had abandoned
his native land and good estate, and it is strange
that there is no evidence as to which of the churches
he belonged before the gathering of his own at
Woburn. His interest in the church was deepened
and lasting, and from the beginning he was one of
its distinguished members. His influence in the
town's affairs was equal to his influence in the
affairs of the church. He was a member of nearly
all the important committees for the distribution of
the lands of the town, and was continued uninter-
ruptedly as a member of the board for the trial of
several causes; and with few intermissions he was
a member of the board of selectmen till his death.
He was captain of the town's military company, and
also a deputy from Woburn to the general court
nearly every year from the time of the selection of
one in 1646, until his death— twenty-six years. He
was a member of important committees, -and in 1655
was chosen speaker pro tempore. In 1643 he went
with Captain Cooke, Lieutenant Atherton and forty
men to Rhode Island to take Samuel Gorton who
had become obnoxious to the Massachusetts govern-
ment. At the restoration of King Charles in 1660,
the charter of the colony was thought to be in
danger, and Captain Johnson was one of a committee,
appointed by the general court, JNlay, 1661, con-
sisting of eight laymen and four clergymen to con-
sider what should be done and make report at the
next session. In June, 1662, Deputy-Governor Bell-
ingham, David Gookin, Thomas Danforth, Edward
Johnson and others were appointed a committee for
sending a deputation to England to plead the cause
of the Colony there. And in 1664 he was one of a
committee of four distinguished citizens, Hon. Rich-
ard Eellingham, Major-General Leverett and Cap-
tain Thomas Clark being the other three, to whom
the charter of the colony was delivered by the gen-
eral court for safe keeping. Captain Edward John-
son and Captain Simon Willard were appointed com-
missioners of the Massachusetts Bay Colony to es-
tablish the northern boundary of the Colony, and
with two surveyors and Indian guides ascended the
Merrimack river to Lake Winnepesaukee, and there
placed an inscription on a boulder now famous as
the "Endicott Rock," and since 1892 enclosed in a
suitable structure for its preservation.
He was the author of "A History of New Eng-
land from the English Planting in 1628 till 1652 ;
or Wonder Working Providence of Sion's Savior,
in New England," which was published anonymously
m England in 1654. It has many errors of the
press and has been noted for indefiniteness or in-
accuracy of many of its dates and statements, yet
it contains much authentic information which could
be supplied from no other source. By the terms of
his will written with his own hand he leaves bequests
of his estate in England and of property in ^lassa-
chusetts to his widow Susanna, and seven children — •
five sons, Edward, George, William, ^latthew and
John; and two daughters, Susanna and Martha.
(II) Major William, third son of Captain Ed-
ward and Susanna Johnson, was born in England,
about 1630, and died in Woburn, Massachusetts,
May 22, 1704, aged about seventy-four years. The
following account of him is obtained principally
from Sewall's "History of Woburn." He was
brought to Massachusetts when a child, by his
parents, in 1637. The extent of his education is
not known, but it was evidently much above the or-
dinary for the locality and age in which he lived.
He accompanied his family to Woburn on the re-
moval of the family therefrom, and ever afterwards
lived in that town.
His natural talents and ability for business early
placed him in public positions, and kept him in the
public service almost continuously during the most
part of his adult life. He was chosen one of the
selectmen in 1664, and again in 1672, and each fol-
lowing year in succession, till 1688. That year, also,
he was chosen selectman at the usual time under
the Old Charter ; but the choice on that day not
being allowed to stand by the arbitrary government
of Sir Edmund Andros, he appears to have declined
a re-election on the day appointed by the governor
and council for making a new choice ; preferring a
private station to holding office under the control
of a power which was so openly hostile to the liber-
ties of the people.
Shortly before the death of his father, in 1672,
he was chosen to succeed him as town clerk, an
office which he held without interruption till 1688.
His father had been town clerk from the beginning
of the town, in 1640, till the year of his death,
thirty-two years, so that the whole term during which
the father and son served the town in this capacity
was forty-eight years. He represented the town
in the general court in 1674; and again, eight years
in succession, from 1676 till 1683 inclusively, either
alone or associated with Humphrey Davie, Esq.,
of Boston, or with his distinguished townsman,
Ensign James Convers. In 16S4, and the two fol-
lowing years, he was chosen one of the board of
assistants, which, under the first charter, was not only
the senate of the Colony, but the supreme court of
judicature. But the colonial government, being
superseded, in 1686, by a president and council, and
quickly after, by a governor and council of the
King's appointment. Major Johnson lived in retire-
ment until the deposition of the governor. Sir Ed-
■ mund Andros, at the insurrection of the people in
April, 1689. At that crisis he was associated with
other leading men in the community as a "Council
for the Safety of the people and conservation of the
peace ;'' and the old government, being shortly after
344
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
revived, till a new charter could be obtained of
King William, and the government orderly resettled
under it, he resumed his seat at the board of assist-
ants, which had been vacated three years before. For
his strong attachment to the old charter, and his
expected opposition to the new one, his name was
dropped from the list of councillors appointed by
the crown in the provincial charter in 1691. From
this time, the part he took in the management of
public affairs of the country appears to have ceased.
But the town of Woburn continued, on various oc-
casions, and in various ways, to enjoy the benefit
of his experience and services until his death.
Major Johnson, like his father before him, was
eminently skillful in surveying; and of the numer-
ous grants and extensive divisions of the common
lands in the town, which were made during the first
sixty years after its incorporation, there were but
few which father or son were not employed to lay
out. He was also the largest proprietor of land in
the town, excepting the brothers, John and Francis
Wyman, in his day. In the town records his home-
stead, situated in "Pleasant Street," and seventy
other distinct tracts of land, containing nine hun-
dred acres in all, obtained, some by purchase, and
some by inheritance or by grant from the town,
are recorded as his. A considerable portion of his
great landed estate lay in the northwesterly part of
the town, and was eventually settled upon and im-
proved by his children and grandchildren, who were
among the principal founders and inhabitants of
the second precinct, or Burlington.
INIajor Johnson was highly esteemed for his wis-
dom and prudence as a magistrate. Tradition re-
lates that several persons were brought before him
for examination, accused of witchcraft, probably in
1692, the year of the general delusion on this sub-
ject. Papers containing an account of these exami-
nations are said, on good authority, to have been
once in the hands of his descendants. These docu-
ments are now lost. But as none belonging to Wo-
burn appear to have been arraigned and prosecuted
before court on this charge, it may be safely in-
ferred that he had penetration enough to discern
the imposture or prevailing error in this affair, and
refused to commit the accused for trial.
He was distinguished for his underlying attach-
ment to the old or colony charter, under which the
people had enjoyed the right of choosing their own
governor, and other privileges of which they were
very tenacious but which had been condemned, and
declared forfeited to the crown in 1684. Like
Cooke, Wiswall, Oakes and other noted public men
of that day, he was for insisting on that charter, or
none ; expecting probably, that by resolutely refus-
ing to accept from the king any other charter, the
people would eventually succeed in obtaining the
restoration of the old one. In this expectation he
was disappointed, and by his unwillingness to ac-
knowledge and submit to the government by a presi-
dent and council, which immediately succeeded the
old charter government, he not only lost his former
influence in the direction of public affairs, but was
one in danger of being deprived of his personal
liberty. On this subject, Judge Sewall, a friend of
his. and an associate under the old government, thus
writes in his diary: "1686 July 30. About this
time, William Johnson, Esq., is sharply reproved by
the Council for his carriage on the Fast day, staying
at home himself, and having a Dozen Men at his
House; Told him must take ye Oath of Allegiance:
he desired an hour's consideration," then said he
could not take it; but when his Mittimus writing or
written, he considered again, and took it rather
than goe to Prison. Objected against that Clause
of acknowledging that to be LawfuU Authority
virhich administered : would see the Seals."
Major Johnson was a member of the orthodox
Congregationl Church at Woburn, and led an up-
right and honorable life.
He married. May 16, 1655, Esther, daughter of
Thomas Wiswall, ruling elder of the church of
Newton. They had nine children — six sons : Will-
iam, Edward, Ebenezer, Joseph, Benjamin and
Josiah ; and three daughters, Esther, Susanna and
Abigail.
(.111) Captain Edward (2), second son of
Major William and Esther (Wiswall) Johnson, was
born in Woburn, March 19, 1658, and died August
7, 1725, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. He re-
sided about half a mile from the place where Burl-
ington meeting house was afterward built in a house
on the most easterly path to Shawshin, now the
road to Bedford, the cellar of which was till re-
cently visible. Through life he stood high among his
fellow townsmen, in reputation and usefulness. He
was a gentleman of handsome property for his time,
was a person of good judgment and well qualified
to do public business, and was for many years one
of the selectmen of Woburn, and its representative
to the general court in 1700. He was a prominent
member of the church, and about 1720 was chosen
deacon. He was also captain of a military company
of Woburn. He married (first), January 12, 16S6,
Sarah Walker, and (second) widow Abigail Thomp-
son, whose maiden name was Gardiner. He had
seven children by his first wife and two by his second
wife. Of these Ichabod, the youngest son of the
first wife, one of the four grandsons of Major Will-
iam Johnson, who were with Captain Lovewell at
the fight at Pigwocket, May 8, 1725, appears to have
been the darling of his heart. Two Johnsons, Noah
and Josiah, were wounded but recovered. Ichabod
was killed, and the news of his death quickly brought
his father to the grave; and his death followed that
of his son in less than three months.
(IV) Edward (3), son of Captain Edward (2)
Johnson, was born in Woburn, May 4, 1689, and died
there, October 5, 1774, aged eighty-five years. He
took an active part in gathering the church in the
second parish, now Burlington, of which he was
elected deacon in 1741, serving till the end of his
life. He married Rebecca Reed, about 171 1, and
they had children.
(V) Jotham, son of Edward (3) and Rebecca
(Reed) Johnson, was born in Woburn, June 13,
1720, and died November 30, 1793, aged seventy-
three years. He was a private in Captain Joshua
Walker's company. Colonel David Greene's (second
Middlesex company) regiment, which marched prob-
ably on the alarm of April 19, 1775, but whether he
did other service does not appear. He married
Sarah Wilson, of Woburn, in 1748, and they had
several children.
(VI) Jotham (2) Johnson, son of Jotham (i)
and Sarah (Wilson) Johnson, was born in Woburn,
November 28, 1753, and died in Burlington. ^Nlass-
achusetts, June 15, 1S27, aged seventy-four years.
With his father he responded to the alarm of April
18. 1775, and the two were in the same company.
His name is also on the list of training soldiers be-
longing to the third Woburn company under Captain
Timothy Winn, dated May 13, 1775- He married,
February 23, 1775, Eunice Reed.
(VII) Jotham (3) son of Jotham (2) and Eu-
nice (Reed) Johnson, was born in Burlington, May
6, 1778, and died in Charlestown, :May 24. 1850. In
the old davs Charlestown Neck was something of a
S^L
■y''v}«"fi
NlrW HA^i"'""^'^-^''^'''?^.
•(•+0
^ace, and ninn^- oi
-; most thril'ty and ..
Their houses w
•- of any other loca ■
---. the most intelli'"!
arcles of the plar
u'.s, Hovcys anj j
to reside in Charlesiown.
jre were
i/ens of
c .'inparison
iicir families
uioiis in the
?e were the
am Johnson
] he large brick
ig, No. 465 Main street, still standing, but put
.ery different use from that of its earlier days,
■uilt by him and was his home for many years
■i death. He was one of the fir.st board of di-
s of the Bunker Hill Bank, elected July 27,
and continued to October, 1845, and he was one
original proprietors of the Harvard Unitarian
li. The Johnsons were all dealers in cattle
• provisions. They carried on an active business
i e margin of the Mystick and Charles rivers, in
;:iughter of cattle and sheep for retail dealers m
it:r, and beef, and pork packing for shipment
c winter. Jotham Johnson was town collector
liarlestown.
iu'.ham Johnson married, November 14, 1802,
i!ina Tufts, born in Charlestown, Massachusetts,
liter of Samuel and ilartha (Adams) Tufts,
died February 12, 1S52, aged forty-niire years.
;■ son, Charles Barkley John.":'
.';e old firm of E. .A,. & W. W
'■ ,. extensive soap and . . m.i:. ,
rs and dealers in
' !• and West India
ing on Main street, and au( lumber
.: , iiant at the Neck. Other lumber
<lcalcrs in the town.
(VIII) Jotham (41 ^ id Sus-
anna (Tufts) Johi!- , n,
July 25, 1S09, and i' , ,r
■'■ long time a merci..iiii ,r.
lied (first) Sarah How ,5;
-he died February 22, I'c slur-
ried (second), March 10 wejl.
(IX) Gardner Rand, j . : ,;•! ( 0-
; Sarah (Rand) Johnson, was born in (
•!, September 8, 1836, and died there N(
'■^83, aged forty-seven years. He was educated
0 schools of Boston, and was later an accountant
'nt city. In politics he was a Republican. He
nod. Januap' 12, 1865, Lizzie .'\bby Ridgwav, of
■ .ii:a, born in Nashua, April 50. iP . ' ' ter
harles T. and Abby F. (Ingalls) nf
;ua. She died in Nashua, April 15, i.-.-j i liey
I he parents of five sons.
;) Edward Jotham, third son of Gardner Rand
le A. (Ridgway) Johnson, was born in
•wn, August 29, 187,?, ,'inil <^iure ;Iu; donth
-: father has resided iti p-
He was educated in of
aa, and at Dartmouth ;..-,;l.:gi;, giaJuating
•.he latter in 1896, with the decree of Bachelor
e. Returning to Nashua he engaged in
veering. In 1902 he was elected city eii-
i Nashua, which position ' 'Ci; held.
!■' 'S a member of the Boston S(^ ivil En-
• rrs, and the New England W.i , . ..r,.s Asso-
n. From 1900 to 1903 he wa* .-i member of
•'anal corps of the Nev.- Ham{is,ii:r- X.iti.m.il
le is a member of Granite 1
nt Order of Odd Fellows, .ir
isonic organization, Ancient Voik Lodgt, '
ree and Accepted Ma>on<: In politics he bus'
jlican, and in religiri ' n Episcopal-
: a communicant of ; of the Good
in Nashua.
J -Minson married, at Oswogu, Neu York, i^ »
x-anny h-- i, born in Oswego,
.lay 5, 1^ .r of William 1-L
'.'ick (,n.t..rKK; vV'eed, of
r of the late Hon. W 1
..V ;.. .M t- -■■-'u -i;y. Two children have ln.^11 i.-^ ..
of this union: Edward Ridgway and Harriet Mer-
rick.
(Second Family.)
The .family oi this name from which
JOHNSON Hon. James Willis Johnson -de-
scended, is from William Johnson,
born in England in 1600 who migrated from St.
Christopher, Ireland, and was probably the first of
the family to set foot on the soil of New England.
His wife's name was Elizabeth. Their son (2)
Joseph was born in 1636. The succeeding genera-
tions were (3) Joseph 1667; (4) Isaac; (5) Will-
iam; (6) Thomas; (7) John; (8) Joseph; (9)
Moses; and (10) James W. Joseph Johnson (8)
was a soldier in the Revolutionary War.
James Willis, only son of Moses and Lavinia
(Ha-'J)- ) Johnson, was born in Knrield, New Hamp-
'^ruary 24, 1826, and died December 18,
] > education was obtained in the country
■ >t an early age to engage in
iiich he had from early boy-
'•'• hrst position in this
•y store. In 1852
• iToduce for the
as a carioad
~r, cxpar.dtd
uy-
.nd
' i.i-
ip'.c
line
-ng-
ii;e
lie
and he inciudeci stock 111 in.'
ing cattle in Canada and K
driving them to New Hamti.-.li.r-., .
posed of the;n to fanners. Wool \v;is
in .. ' !;irgely, his purcbasi::' ,v,
inc; .r to year.
Will, .lie ,1V 11 war began, Mr. J' '•■
nized the fact that the gigantic armies
,;, i",.t,i,. of the Union would ■■■•
of woolen clothing, and
■ ool in great quantities.
y increased demand for it wtiulu raise the
rrespondingly and enrich Eiiy -j^n'frr who
could iiaiidle it in gre.i' he
bought up all the w" .'ew
Hampshire, \' (rem '.Kv^iime,
1861 or i8C'2 n was one of the
larg ■ ' ' I Tilers in wool
and day a neigh-
bor, j. .. ., .; as his agent,
paid out xx> dollars in cur-
rency ' ; was one of the
fani he handled and of this he was one
of t! shippers from New York and Canada.
On ion he called on a prominent and
we;'i ' oi Boston, a Mr. Souther, and after
sho' ■ , solicited an order. The
brci want your barley, and will
taki - i ■• >'. I ' ---on was
asti . whicli
brot,... - -'■ v.. :■ r ■■■ . ■•"- '-'ver ex-
pected to be worth, and 1 jst no time in procuring
grain and closing the deal. On another occasion
some time later, in the presence^ of his neighbor,
Wyman Pattee, Mr. Johnson in live minutes made
■;•> from the sale of fifty thousand bushels of
; out .of his
ing the pro-
•■"■'--- in
I year <^
; time till
his first move-
I I f
.'.'¥
346
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
and rebuild the hotel from its foundations. The
present house not only occupies the site of the
earlier Quincy House, but also includes the space
occupied by the Central Hotel and several stores, is
seven stories high, and one of the leading hotels in
New England. The amount of money necessary to
put this house in condition to please Mr. Johnson
was a full million dollars.
Mr. Johnson always remained a citizen of his
native town. He was a stalwart Republican and as
prominent in local politics as he was in business.
His success in the latter inspired his fellow citizens
with confidence in his ability as a politician and he
was frequently the standard bearer of his party. He
was elected to the New Hampshire house of repre-
sentatives in i860, and re-elected in 1865, x866 and
1875. In 1876-77 he was state senator, and in 1878
and 1879 was railroad commissioner. In 1878 his
views on the question of national finance had
brought him into sympathy with the Greenback
party, and he was then a candidate for congress on
that ticket, in the third New Hampshire district.
Mr. Johnson was born to poverty, and entered
upon life's journey with a meagre equiprnent in
many of those things that most people deem essen-
tial to success. He had neither money, education
or influential friends, but he had what proved to be
of much greater value to him — good judgment,
quick perception, tireless energy, strong ambition
and a genial disposition that made him an agreeable
companion. With that kind of equipment he needed
but an opportunity to assure him success. His op-
portunity came with the great Civil war and its con-
comitants. He saw it, grasped it, made the most of
it, and won. The time was ripe for another step
when he bought the Quincy House, and with his ex-
perience and mature talent he made it a great suc-
cess.
Mr. Johnson's sympathy was always with the
poor and unfortunate, and he was quick to relieve
the wants of the distressed. This was no doubt
largely due to the conditions of his early life. The
following incident will show that when a child he
knew what it was to be poor. When seven or eight
years old his mother sent him to the store a mile
and a quarter away, whither he walked barefoot
through the snow an inch deep, and with a little
money his mother had earned by weaving for a
neighbor, bought a pint of molasses, three cents
worth of tea and as much flour as he could get for
twenty-five cents.
And yet the privations of his youth did not
sour his disposition or turn him from the scenes oi
his childhood. On the contrary, these things seemed
to have developed in his nature a love of home and
a sympathy with and a regard for all that was con-
nected with his early years. The little red home he
lived in as a child he owned in his later years, and
till the time of his death. He never allowed it or
anything about it to be changed, and when it was
repainted he always had it done with paint of the
same red color, a souvenir, as it were, of old times.
The new modern residence he later occupied as a
home was built not far from and in sight of the
first home. His love for his early home and early
friends made him an ever popular man in that lo-
cality.
Mr. Johnson fjiarried, December 20, 1846, Susan
Smith, daughter of Rev. Uriah Smith, of Barnard,
Vermont, and thev had four children : Ella H., wife
of William W. Hill ; Carrie E., wife of Dr. Otis H.
Marrion, of AUston, JMassachusetts ; Belle P., wife
of Otis Fellows, a grain merchant of Boston ; Helen
S., wife of Albert W. Meade, of Manchester, Mas-
sachusetts.
(Third Family.)
This name was borne by many of
JOHNSON the leading citizens of southeastern
New Hampshire of the pioneer
period, descendants of the Puritan pioneers of Mas-
sachusetts. They have carried their part in the
social, material and moral development of a com-
monwealth, and have usually been found as thrifty,
upright and industrious people.
(I) Among the original proprietors of Andover,
Massachusetts, was Lieutenant Stephen Johnson,
said to have been of Ipswich. Unfortunately the
early records of Andover have disappeared, and the
time of settlement of the proprietors is unknown,
their early acts being now also a matter of con-
jecture. In a list of inhabitants and householders
made in 1681, the name of Mr. Johnson appears.
That he was a freeholder much earlier is apparent
from the fact that he served as constable in t672, as
grand juror and surveyor in 1673, and selectman
in 1676-7. He subscribed to the oath of fidelity in
1678. He was the owner of a sawmill, and in 1671
was granted "so much old seader timber as would
make twentie thousand of shingles," and next year
was granted timber for ten thousand of cedar al-
ready cut down. He died in i6go, in Andover, and
was survived about thirty-two years by his widow.
She was Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. Francis Dana
of Ipswich and Andover, being the second minister
of the latter town. She was among those con-
demned in January, 1693, as a witch and sentenced
to be hung, but escaped in the general jail delivery
when the panic was checked. Her son, Stephen,
was also indicted when only .thirteen years old. She
died in 1722. Their children were: Francis, Stephen,
Joseph and Benjamin.
(II) Stephen (2), Son of Stephen (i) and Eliza-
beth (Dana) Johnson, was born 1679, in Andover,
and resided in Haverhill and Hampstead, probably
being among those who found themselves in the
latter town when the boundary between Massachu-
setts and New Hampshire was fixed in 1740. He was
admitted to the Hampstead church by letter from
the north parish of Haverhill, and was long prom-
inent in church and town affairs. He was seventy-
six years old at the time of his fourth marriage.
No record of his death appears, but he must have
reached a good age, being known for several years
as the "aged sexton." He first married Sarah Whit-
taker, who bore him four children and died June
14, 1716. Mr. Johnson was married December 13,
1716, to Ruth Eaton, daughter of Thomas and
Eunice (Singletary) Eaton. She was born Novem-
ber 21, 1784, in Haverhill, and died April 6. 1750,
having also borne four children to Air. Johnson.
She first inarried Ebenezer Kimball, who died in
1714. Mr. Johnson was married August ir, 1750, to
Priscilla (Farnum), widow of .Ephraim Holt, who
died in 1699. She was born 1769 and died 1754. and
Mr. Johnson was married (intention published
March 15, 1755) to widow Sarah Clark, of Methuen.
His children were : Sarah, Ruth, Stephen, Samuel,
Ebenezer, Abigail, Eunice and Timothy.
(III) Stephen (3), eldest son and third child of
Stephen (2) and Sarah (Whittaker) Johnson, was
born about 1713-14, in Haverhill, and resided in
Hampstead until about 1768, removing to London-
derry. He was admitted with his first wife to the
church at Flampstead from the North parish of
Haverhill, June 3, 1752. He married Susanna Love-
kin, who was born February 8, 1739, in Haverhill,
'<f>-z.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
347
daughter of Jonathan and Ruth (Johnson) Lovekin
of that town. She was the mother of nine chil-
dren, born between 1742 and 1760, the lirst two and
last two being twins, namely : Stephen, Susannah,
Mary, Timothy, Joseph, Jonathan, Samuel, Henry
and Sarah. After his removal to Londonderry, !Mr.
Johnson married Ruth Johnson, and they had two
daughters, Hannali and Susanna. (.Mention of
Samuel, the fifth son, and his descendants appears
in later paragraphs of this article).
(V) Joseph, third son and tifth child of Stephen
(3) and Susanna (Lovekin) Johnson, was born
December 3, 1751, in Hampstead, and was among the
first settlers of Sutton, this state, going there im-
mediately after his marriage. He was married April
16, 17S1, to Sarah Philbrook, of Hampstead, who
was born February, 1757, and died December 20,
1843, in Sutton. She was a daughter of Benjamin
and Sarah (Choate) Philbrook. Mr. Johnson
cleared up a farm in Sutton, and died there July
5, 1S49. His children were: Joseph, Henry, Sarah,
Stephen, Moses, Susanna, Asa, Nabby, Syrena and
Moody.
(VI) Moses, the fourth son and fifth child of
Joseph and Sarah (Philbrook) Johnson, was born
July 31, 1789, in Sutton, where he was a prominent
and respected citizen. In early life he engaged in
farming and lived in Peterborough for a few years.
Returning to Sutton he became a partner with
Jacob S. Harvey in the operation of a store at the
south village, which they purchased. Before 1861
he removed to Claremont, where he kept a boarding
house for several years. He was a highly respected
citizen, and passed away July 5. 1882, in his ninety-
second year. He was married October 30, 1816, to
Jemima Stevens, adopted daughter of Obadiah and
Jemima (Williams) Eastman. She died October
II, 1861, in Claremont. She was the mother of
two children. Mary Ann, the eldest, died at the age
of four and a half years. The only son is the sub-
ject of the following paragraph.
(VII) Daniel Webb, only son of Moses and
Jemima (Stevens) Johnson, was born October 16,
1827, in Sutton, and was eighteen years old when
he went with his parents to Claremont. There he
entered the Monadnock mill, in the cloth room, and
was subsequently employed in the office as assist-
ant. He was soon promoted to bookkeeper and pay-
master, and became a valuable and trusted assistant
to the superintendent. In February, 1858, he was
appointed agent and manager of the Phoeni.x cotton
mills at Peterboro, which was owned by the same
proprietors. He continued in that position five
years, until the resignation of the agent of the
Monadnock mills, when he returned to Claremont
as his successor. From July i, 1863, until his death,
April 29, 1894, he continued as agent and manager
of the Monadnock mills, to the entire satisfaction
of the owners and employes, and enjoyed the friend-
sliip and esteem of the people of Claremont to the
fullest extent. In 1874 he made an extended tour in
Europe in the interest of his employers, and gained
much information of value to himself and the
business, by his observations. During his admin-
istration the mills were largely extended and ampli-
fied in product, and the value of their output many
times multiplied. Upon his removal to Peterboro,
the citizens of the town tendered him a farewell ban-
quet, and throughout his residence at Claremont he
received testimonials of the regard in which he was
held. Though he was a Democrat in political prin-
ciple, the town, always largely Republican, chose
him as its representative in the State legislature in
1892, and he served on several important commit-
tees. He took an active interest in many of the
leading institutions of the town, and was ever ready
to promote its growth and welfare by any honorable
means. He was president of the Sullivan Savings
Institution for twenty-three years, was a director of
the Concord & Claremont railroad from 1882 until
his death, and president and director of the Clare-
mont Water Works Company. He was a trustee of
the State Industrial School at Manchester from
1877, and many years a trustee of the JMethodist
Episcopal Church of Claremont. The Na.tional
Eagle of Claremont said of him ; "He was not am-
bitious for political distinction, and show or ostenta-
tion of any kind seemed to be distasteful to him. He
was endowed with a large share of good practical
common sense, had positive ideas upon subjects, but
was not offensive to those who differed from him;
was just and generous, and commanded the respect
of all who knew him. As a citizen he was public
spirited and liberal, and as a neighbor, kind and
generous. His death, so sudden and unexpected,
seems untimely, and is deeply deplored by his rel-
atives, neighbors and community. As the managing
head of the largest industrial establishment in the
county, his loss is very great."
Mr. Johnson was married March 4, 1849, to
Syena P. Walker, who died February 5, 1873. He
married, (second), January 7, 1880, Miss Mary .\.,
only daughter of John Tyler (see Tyler, VI), who
survives him, and resides in Claremont.
(IV) Samuel, fifth son' and seventh child of
Stephen (3) and Susanna (Lovekin) Johnson, was
born April 25, 1756, in Hampstead, and resided in
that town. He married Phebe Hall, and their chil-
dren were : Betsey, Caleb, Kimball and Phebe.
(V) Deacon Caleb, son of Samuel and Phebe
(Hall) Johnson, was born about 1780-82, in Hamp-
stead, and died in 1854-55, 3' the age of seventy-three
years, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, He was the deacon
of the First Congregational Society of Manchester,
and later an early member of the Universalist So-
ciety. His wife, Hannah (Butler) Johnson, traced
her descent from one of the earliest Puritan immi-
grants in New England. Deacon Caleb and Hannah
(Butler) Johnson had five children to grow to ma-
turity: r. Mary, married (first) a Mr. Perry; (sec-
ond; a Mr. Foster. By her first marriage she had
two children: Lucy, who married Rev. Dr. Frederick
A. Noble, a prominent clergyman who finished his
labors in Chicago, Illinois. Mary J., who married
Mr. Charles Morris, of New Jersey. 2. Sarah, mar-
ried the Rev. Mr. Bailey, had two children: Sarah
and Mary, who married David F. Lincoln, of Bos-
ton, Massachusetts. 3. Augusta, married Joshua
M. House, three children : Charles H., Mary and
Lizzie. 4. William, father of subject. 5. George
Quincy. All of the above children have passed
away.
(i) James Butler, progenitor of the Butler fam-
ily in America, came from England, and is found on
record at Lancaster, Massachusetts, in 1659, and
was at Woburn in 1676.
(2) John, son of James Butler, born in Wo-
burn. 1677, settled in Pelham, New Hampshire,
where he was the progenitor of a race of hardy, ro-
bust yeomanry. He was deacon of the early church,
and one of the most prominent settlers. His wife's
name was Elizabeth. One of his daughters, Sarah,
married Jonathan Morgan, who was killed at the
massacre of Fort William Henry, in 1758.
(3) Jacob, eighth child of John and Elizabeth
Butler, married Mary Eanies.
(4) Jacob (2), son of Jacob and Mary (Fames)
Butler, married his cousin Sarah, daughter of Jon-
athan and Sarah (Butler) Morgan.
(5) Hannah, daughter of Jacob and Sally
348
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
(Morgan) Butler, married Caleb Johnson, as above
stated.
(Vl) William Butler, eldest son and fourth
child of Deacon Caleb and Hannah (Butler) John-
son, was born December 4, 1818, in Pelhani, New
Hampshire, and died January 23, 1884, in Manches-
ter. Before he was ten years old he went to Man-
chester and worked in the old mill on the island at
Amoskeag, and through his industry and energy rose
to the position of overseer of its dressing and weav-
ing departments. At seventeen years of age he
served as overseer in the first of the Stark mills,
which were erected on the east bank of the Merri-
mack.
In 1847 he severed his connection with the mills
of this city, and in company with Hon. Hiram
Daniels, William Flanders and Joshua M. House
went to Franklin and engaged in the manufacture
of drillings in which enterprise they were quite
successful. Mr. Johnson remained there until 1850,
when he returned to Manchester, and for a num-
ber of years devoted his energies to real estate
transactions In 1859 he went to Newport, where
he passed five years in trade, being the proprietor
of a large store which did a flourishing business.
While at Newport he became a member of the Ma-
sonic fraternity, but did not keep up his relations
in this direction after his return to IManchester,
which vifas in 1863. Shortly after his return from
Newport he engaged "in the dry goods business,
taking his son, William N. Johnson, into partner-
ship with him, the firm remaining the same until
1870, when the disastrous Hanover street fire oc-
curred, and the firm of Johnson & Son was among
the number burned out. As soon as the ground
could be cleared, Mr. Johnson set about the con-
struction of a more substantial and in every way
better building than the one which was destroyed
by fire, and Johnson's brick block on Hanover
street was the first to be completed after the con-
flagration. Mr. Johnson did not re-enter the dry
goods business, however, but disposed of his inter-
est to his son, Franklin P., the firm then being
Johnson Brothers
Immediately after his retirement from the firm
Mr Johnson received a flattering offer to enter
largely into business in both New York and Chi-
cago, but after giving the matter serious consider-
ation concluded to remain here. In company with
the late Captain E. W. Harrington he was inter-
ested in the ownership of real estate on Manchester
street, which met the same fate as his Hanover
street property, being consumed by the flames. Mr.
Johnson was a remarkably successful business man
and left a large property as the fruit of his labors.
He made his money in the handling of real estate
principally in Manchester, and seldom invested in
other speculations. In company with Hon. Charles
H. Bartlett he settled the aft'airs of the City Sav-
ings Bank some years since, receiving his appoint-
ment to the performance of duties in this direction
from Judge Allen, of the supreme court of the
state.
Mr. Johnson was an active member of the Uni-
versalist church in Manchester, which his father
materially assisted in founding, and together with
his wife was among the oldest members of the or-
ganization, being a charter member of the society.
He was a man of fine judgment and was so re-
garded by all who knew him.
Mr. Johnson married. May 5, 1842, Nancy Fran-
ces Poore, born June 12, 1838, daughter of Noyes
and Nancy Poore. (See Poore VI). Four sons
of the marriage survive: l. William N.. see for-
ward. 2. Franklin P., see torward. 3. ueorge
P., a graduate from Cornell University, 1872, now
a highly successful business man of Boston. He
was paymaster of the Fitchburg railroad, and is
now a large stockholder in the Lithograph and
Bank Note Company. He married and is the father
of three daughters and a son. 4. John N., at-
tended Dartmouth College and later Tufts College.
He was station agent at Watertown, Massachu-
setts, many years, and is now leading a retired life.
He resides at Londonderry, New Hampshire. He
married Nellie Plummer, of Manchester, New
Hampshire, and their children are: Milton, at
present farming; Herbert W., a practicing physi-
cian, a specialist in eye and throat diseases, set-
tled in Spokane, Washington.
(VII) William Noyes, eldest son of William
Butler and Nancy F. (Poore) Johnson, was born
February 26, 1843, in Manchester. He received his
education in the public schoolls of the city and at
Kimball Union Academy, entering the latter institu-
tion after his parents' removal to Newport, in 1858,
where he finished the three years' course. Upon the
return of the family to Manchester in 1864, he joined
his father and entered the dry goods business, which
he continued until 1875, the business being conducted
under the title of Johnson & Son until 1870, when
his father resigned, selling his interest to his son
Franklin P., and the firm name was changed to John-
son Bros, and continued thus until 1875. William
N. Johnson then sold his interest in the business to
his younger brother and removed to Nashua, New
Hampshire, where he became associated with the
Nashua Card and Glazed Paper Company in the
capacity of paymaster and office manager. In 1880
he bought an interest in the Contoocook Valley Pa-
per Company, of which he was treasurer for a period
of six years. He then sold out and removed to
Augusta, Georgia, where he bought a paper mill and
operated it in partnership with a Mr. Hill, under the
title of Hill & Johnson Manufacturing Company,
for a period of two years. He then sold out to W.
V. Gilman, of Nashua, New Hampshire, and re-
moved to Manchester, New Hampshire.
One of his active nature and superior business
talents could not long remain idle, and he was very
shortly instrumental in the organization of the
Elliott Manufacturing Company, an establishment
which is conducting a very successful business in the
production of knit goods at Manchester. During
the thirteen years of its existence Mr. Johnson has
acted as treasurer, and no small portion of credit is
due to him for the success of the enterprise._ Mr.
Johnson is also actively interested in other indus-
tries and leading interests of the city, being presi-
dent of the Kimball Carriage Company since the
first year after its organization. He is a director of
the Merchants' National Bank, president of the
Hillsboro County Savings Bank, a director of the
New Hampshire Fire Insurance Company of Man-
chester and the Capital Fire Insurance Company of
Concord, and a stockholder and director in various
manufacturing plants in Manchester. He is a mem-
ber of the Derryfield Club of that city, and a regu-
lar attendant of the First Congregational Church.
In public affairs Mr. Johnson does not tie himself
irrevocably to any political organization, and classes
himself as a Democrat of independent tendencies.
During Governor Cheney's term he was representa-
tive to the general court from the third ward of
Manchester.
Mr. Johnson married, April 24, 1873, Julia Maria,
daughter of Colonel Thomas Pratt and Asenath
Riddle (McPherson) Pierce, the latter a native of
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NEW HAMPSHIRE.
349
Bedford. Mrs. Johnson was born October 2, 1844,
died September, i886, leaving a daughter, Mary
Pierce, bom April 18, 1878, now the wife of Richard
AI. Whitney, of Los Angeles, California, and their
children were: Helen Martha, died December 7,
1903; William Noyes, died June 19, 1903. Mr.
Johnson married (second), July 11, 1888, Nellie L.
Lund, born in Augusta, Georgia, a daughter of
Henry C. and Roxana S. Lund. Henry C. Lund
was born in Nashua, had charge of a factory in
Augusta, Georgia, and died in 1877, aged fifty-two
years. Roxana S. Lund, born March 30, 1826, in
Vermont, died October 18, 1906, aged eighty years;
she was the daughter of John S. Lund, born Sep-
tember I, 1798, was a farmer and stock raiser, died
April 24, 1846. Mr. and Mrs. Lund were the pa-
rents of three children : Louis H., a resident of
Augusta, Georgia; Hattie F. (Mrs. W. W. Hock),
of De Bruce, Georgia; Nellie L., (Mrs. W.N.John-
son). A son and daughter were born to Mr. John-
son by his second marriage, namely : William H.
and Ruth May.
(VII) Franklin Poore Johnson, second son of
William Butler and Nancy F. Johnson, was born
February 17, 1849, in that part of Northfield which
is now Franklin Falls, New Hampshire, his father
being at that time engaged in manufacturing at
Franklin Falls. Franklin P. attended the schools
of New London and Newport, and Phillips Andover
Academy of Massachusetts, where he continued for
one year. He graduated from Dartmouth College
in 1870, and immediately thereafter engaged with
his brother William N. in the dry goods business in
Manchester, New Hampshire, under the firm name
of Johnson Bros. This continued until 1873, when
he purchased his brother's interest and the title was
changed to Johnson & Company. After a very suc-
cessful career this establishment was sold out to
other parties in 1885, and since that time Mr. John-
son has been chiefly occupied in caring for his real
estate and other holdings. He is the owner of con-
siderable improved property in the city of Man-
chester, and is interested in several of the indus-
tries of the city.
He is a member of the Second Congregational
Society in Manchester, of which he has been a di-
rector twelve years. He was formerly identified
with the Masonic order. He was for some years a
member of Amoskeag Grange, and is now a mem-
ber of the Derryfield Club, being one of the five
oldest members of the organization. He has al-
ways been a Democrat in political principle, but the
sound money issues have alienated him from the
regular organization in late years. He has served
as delegate to state and congressional conventions,
but has never desired any political honors for him-
self. Mr. Johnson is possessed of considerable mus-
ical ability, and has spent much of his time in aid-
ing and sustaining the New Hampshire Philhar-
monic Society, in which he has been on the board of
governors for most of the time during its existence,
and is usually at the head of various committees
which manage the events carried through by that
organization.
Mr. Johnson married, October 5. 1S71, Evelyn,
daughter of Charles and Eliza Jane (Barr) Cheney.
Mrs. Johnson was born March 30, 1854, in Manches-
ter, and died there June 22, 1878, leaving one daugh-
ter, Bertha E., born January 28, 1873, for some
years First Reader of the First Church of Christ,
Scientist, in Manchester, still residing with her par-
ents. She is a highly cultivated lady, having spent
several years in study in Paris, and is especially
proficient in music and the languages. Mr. John-
son married (second), November 23, 1S81, Evelyn
French, born at Sandy Point, in the town of Stock-
ton, Maine, daughter of Benjamin F. and Lis E.
(Stowers) French, the latter a daughter of James
Stowers, of Stockton. Benjamin F. French was
many years a commander of vessels on the sea,
coming of a family of sea captains, and visited all
, the principal ports of the world. One son was born
of the second marriage, Noyes Poore, born June
13, 1S83, was educated in the public and high schools
of Winchester and Worcester, Massachusetts, .'Acad-
emy, and is now engaged in business in Manchester,
New Hampshire. He married, November 30, 1904,
Mable E. Shaw, born in Augusta, Maine, and they
have one son, Franklin Noyes Poore, born May 21,
1906.
(VII) George Perry, third son and child of
William Butler and Nancy F. (Poore) Johnson,
was born November 7, 1851, in Manchester, and at-
tended the public schools of his native city until
1869. Having finished his preparatory course, he
entered Dartmouth College, where he remained until
he had completed his sophomore year. The next two
years were spent at Cornell College, and the two
years succeeding that period were spent in traveling
in Continental Europe. On returning to Manches-
ter, he resided there until 1874, and during part of
this period he was engrossing clerk of the house of
representatives of New Hampshire, under the ad-
ministration of Governor Weston. In 1875 he went
to Boston, and became paymaster and treasurer of
the old Fitchburg railroad, which position he held
eight years. He then purchased the business of the
Boston Bank Note Company, of which he has since
been proprietor and manager, and has conducted a
large and profitable business. Mr. Johnson resides
in Cambridge, where for nine years he was a mem-
ber of the school board. He is an Independent in
politics, and in religious belief a Unitarian, giving
faithful support to the church of his faith. He is a
member of the Society of the Colonial Wars, of the
Sons of the Revolution, the Pleasure and Oakley
Country Clubs, and of the Colonial Club, and he
and his family occupy a prominent position in the
social life of the suburb which is their home. He
was married in Cambridge. June 6, 1879, to Maria
A. G. Ellis, who was born March 12, 1854, in Keene,
New Hampshire, a daughter of Jonathan Russell
Ellis, of that town. The last named removed from
Keene to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was a
wholesale butter dealer, and where he resided until
his death. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have four chil-
dren: Florence E., Nancy P., Helen S. and Howard
A. The second daughter is now the wife of Stanley
Parker, an architect and landscape gardener.
(Fourth Family,)
The many families bearing this cog-
JOHNSON nomen have produced many good
citizens for New Hampshire, and the
line herein traced comes through Vermont, from
Massachusetts, to this state, including many pioneers
and useful men and women. The northern section
of this state owes much to pioneer settlers of the
name, some of whom are included in this family.
(I) Captain John Johnson was a member of Rev.
Rogers' company from Yorkshire, England, and set-
tled for a time at New Haven, Connecticut, but
was back at Rowley in 1650. His brother Robert
settled at New Haven, where he left a numerous
and "highly respectable posterity." John Johnson
bought the house lot and rights of Richard Thorlay
at Rowley, and remained there until his death,
January 29, 1686. He was captain of the local
militia company, and was a man of consequence in
350
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
the community. He was married, December 6, 1655,
to Hannah, widow of Constance Crosby, and their
children were: Hannah, Elizabeth, John (died
young), John and Samuel.
(H) Ensign Samuel, youngest child of Captain
John and Hannah Johnson, was born July 9, 1671, in
Rowley, where he resided through life and died
September 8, 1750, aged seventy-nine years and ten,
months. He was married. May 31, 1694, to Frances
daughter of Captain Daniel Wilcom. Their children
were : John, Samuel, Daniel, Hannah, Mary, Jona-
than and Thomas.
(HI) Samuel (2), second son of Samuel (i)
and Frances (Wilcom) Johnson, was baptized June
II, 1699, in Rowley, and lived near the Byfield line,
being an attendant at the church in the latter town.
He died December 27, 1773, and was buried in By-
field. He was married, January 29. 1740, to Rachel
Boynton, daughter of Ichabod and Elizabeth (Hasel-
tine) Boynton. They had children : Hannah, Wil-
com, Rachel, Samuel, David and Moses.
(IV) David, second son of Samuel (2) and
Rachel (Boynton) Johnson, was baptized March 10,
1751, in Rowley, and resided for a time in Andover,
Massachusetts. He settled in Bradford, Vermont,
about 1797, taking a deed December 22 of that year
to sixty-two acres of land, which he purchased from
William Darling for five hundred and sixty-eight
dollars. No record of his marriage appears. His
children were : David, Milton, Nabby, Hannah and
Betsey. All of these, except the eldest, died young
and were buried in the garden near the family resi-
dence.
(V) David (2), son of David (i) Johnson, was
one of the earliest settlers of Indian Stream, now
Pittsburg, New Hampshire, whither he moved from
Bradford with an ox-sled. He was a prominent
factor in advancing it to its present state of pros-
perity. He was a farmer by occupation, but devoted
a great part of his time to the public affairs of the
community, and at various times filled all the offices
in the gift of the township. He also represented
the town two terms in the legislature. ' He was a
Jacksonian Democrat and a member of the Baptist
Church. His death occurred in 1879. He married
Mary Washman, who died in 1869, and they were the
parents of children : Albert M. ; Thomas Franklin,
see forward ; Charles S. ; and Lizzie, who died at
the age of twenty-one.
(VI) Thomas Franklin Johnson, second son of
David and Mary (Washman) Johnson, was born in
Pittsburg, New Hampshire, July 3, 1848. He was
educated in the public schools and at the Colebrook
Academy, which he was twice obliged to leave, by
reason of severe illness, and was finally compelled
to abandon his cherished idea of obtaining a col-
legiate education. He went in 1872, to repair his
shattered health, and was greatly benefited by this
change of air and surroundings. He then took up
the study of law in the office of the Hon. L. L. Ains-
worth, and was admitted to the bar in 1875. During
this period of study he was engaged in teaching,
and for some time was principal of the public schools
of Fayette, and later of Postville, Iowa. After his
admis.-ion to the bar he formed a law partnership
with S. S. Powers, of Postville, which continued
for one year, and he then returned to New Hamp-
shire in the spring of 1877. He opened an office in
Colebrook, and was soon in possession of a lucrative
practice. He was always ambitious and energetic in all
his undertakings, and his clear, concise method of
stating a case, his convincing manner of enforcing his
arguments, and his general executive ability, could
not fail to bring the natural results. He is con-
sidered, with justice, one of the most able and bril-
liant lawyers of the state, and is called upon to ex-
ecute deeds which involve great care and responsi-
bility. He was but twenty-two years of age when
he was elected to membership in the legislature,
but was compelled to refuse this office because of
the impaired state of his health. Although he has
never been a seeker of public office, it has been fre-
quently offered him, and was strongly urged to take
a seat on the supreme bench. He has served as a
member of the school board for many years, and was
a member of the school board for many years, and
was a member of the Constitutional Convention in
1903. He was one of the organizers of the Guaranty
Savings Bank, and was elected to the presidency in
this institution upon the death of William R. Danth-
field, and has held the office since that time. He is
a member of the Evening Star Lodge, Ancient Free
and Accepted jNIasons, of which he is past master;
a member of the North Star Chapter No. 16, Royal
Arch Masons, of Lancaster ; and of Eastern Star
Lodge, of Colbrook. He is an omnivorous reader,
and, although he spends much of his time still read-
ing the annals of his chosen profession, he is equally
devoted to the best literature in all lines of thought.
His libraries are very large, and show the most care-
ful selection as well as excellent judgment. Mr.
Johnson married, March l, 1877, Abigail Lovering,
of Colebrook, daughter of Alfred and Susan
(Fletcher) Lovering, and cousin of Major I. W.
Drew. They have had one child : Alice M., who
married Clarence G. Gates.
This branch of the Johnson family,
JOHNSON on account of defective records, is
not yet traced back beyond the an-
cestors who resided in Meredith
(I) Benjamin Johnson was born in Meredith,
April 27, 1811, and died in Belmont. September, 1S98,
in the eighty-seventh year of his age. While he was
yet young he went to live with Samuel Boynton,
of Meredith, and worked on a farm, and also
learned the wheelwright's trade. He followed the
latter occupation, and for some time after 1853, also
operated a small sawmill in Belmont. He married,
in 1S32, Betsey Webster, daughter of John Webster,
of New Hampton. Their children were : Adelaide
F., Benjamin A., George H., Frank K. and
Charles C.
(II) Frank Kousuth, fourth child and third
son of Benjamin and Betsey (Webster) Johnson,
was born in Belmont, June 11, 1852. He married,
April I, 1876, Abbie A. Rowe, who was born in
Kingston, March 31, 1853, daughter of Amos and
Celina (Kenny) Rowe, of Kingston. Their children
are: Clarence W.. Frank M., Earle W., Charles A.,
Lena C. and Dorris.
(III) Earle Wayne, third son of Frank and Ab-
bie A. (Rowe) Johnson, was born in Belmont, July
14, 1883. He was educated in the school of Belmont
and New Hampton, which he attended until he was
twenty years old. While a student at New Hamp-
ton he served as a clerk in the postoffice. April
I, 1905, he was appointed postmaster at Belmont,
and is now (1907) filling that position. In political
faith he is a Republican, and takes an active part
in politics and all matters of public interest. He is
a member of Lawrence Grange, No. 117, Patrons
of Husbandry, Governor Badger Lodge, Knights
of Pvthias, of Belmont.
The name Abbot . is derived through
ABBOTT the Syriac, abba, from the Hebrew,
ab, ineaning father. It has been ap-
plied to the head of a religious order by various
races from early times and finally became an Eng-
«
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
351
lish surname. There has always been considerable
controversy about the spelling of the patronymic,
whether with one or two t's. Many have held that
the single letter indicates the ancient and correct
form. Historical investigation would seem to decide
.otherwise. Of the two hundred and eleven Ab-
botts, whose wills were filed in the courts in and
about London during the fourteenth, fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries, one hundred and ninety-five
have signed their names with two t's. Of fifty-one
wills on record at New York, Yorkshire, thirty-
four have the name with two t's. Major Lemuel
Abijah Abbott, U. S. A., who has recently written
the valuable work in two volumes on the Descend-
ants of George Abbott, of Rowley, finds the same
proportion among the signatures of the early Amer-
ican Abbotts, though he frankly says that he per-
sonally would prefer the single t., and always sup-
posed that it was the original form. To come still
nearer home, the pioneer Abbotts of Concord, this
state, frequently used the double letter, as can be
seen by their signatures (they never were obliged
to make their marks) to the early Provincial papers.
The ancient English branch of the family lived
in Yorkshire, and their arms were a shield ermine
with a pale gules on which are three pears, or.
Above the shield is a closed helmet, and the crest
is a dove bearing an olive branch in its mouth.
The Guilford branch in Surrey, which contains the
most distinguished members of the family, have
arms in which the three pears are prominent, but
they are varied by the insignia of the bishop's office.
The Guilford Abbotts present a remarkable record.
Maurice Abbott was a cloth worker in town during
the sixteenth century, and his wife was Alice March
or Marsh. They were staunch Protestants, and peo-
ple of undoubted respectability, but their own condi-
tion gave little indication of the eminence to which
three of their sons would attain. They \vere all
contemporaries of Shakespeare, and their talents
were of the kind brought out by "the spacious times
of great Elizabeth." Robert .'\bbott, the eldest of
the six sons, became Bishop of Salisbury; George,
the second, (1562-16,33) became Lord Archbishop
of Canterbury, which gave him the rank of the
first citizen of England ; and Morris, the youngest,
became a knight, governor of the East India Com-
pany and Lord Mayor of London. Of English
Abbotts in more recent times mention may be made
of Charles Abbott, son of John Abbott, of Canter-
bury, who was made Lord Chief Justice of England in
1S18, and Baron Tenterden in 1827. Another Charles
Abbot, son of Rev. John Abbot, of Colchester
(name with one t), was speaker of the house of com-
mons from 1802 to 1817, when he was elevated to
the peerage as Baron Colchester. The Abbott fam-
ily in this country has produced no people of world-
wide fame, but according to Major Lemuel A. Ab-
bott, previously quoted, the name has always stood
for "quiet dignity, consideration, kindness of heart
and great suavity of jlianner." Many of the family
have been farmers, who lived for generations on
their ancestral lands, a home-loving, law-abiding,
peaceful folk ; but there are many writers, clergy-
men and college professors on the list. The writers
number men like the brothers, Jacob and John S.
C. ; and the clergy such names as Dr. Lyman Ab-
bott, son of Jacob. Mrs. Sarah (Abbot) Abbott, of
Andover, Massachusetts, became the founder of Ab-
bott Academy, February 26, 1829, the first school ex-
clusively endowed for girls in the country. She
was the great-great-granddaughter of George Ab-
bott, whose line follows. Among other Americans
who have the Abbott blood, but not the name, are
President Hayes, Abbott Lawrence, minister of the
Court of St. James, and Bishop Lawrence, of Mas-
sachusetts.
(I) George Abbot, the venerable ancestor of a
numerous progeny, emigrated, as tradition reports,
from Yorkshire, England, about 1640, was among
the first settlers in Andover, Massachusetts, in 1643,
and a proprietor of that town. He lived and died
on the farm owned (1847) by John Abbot, the
seventh in line of descent. His house was a gar-
rison, and was used as such many years after his
death. In 1647 he married Hannah Chandler,
daughter of William and Annie Chandler (see
Chandler). They were industrious, economical, so-
ber, pious and respected. With Christian fortitude
and submission they endured their trials, privations
and dangers, of which they had a large share. They
brought up a large family well, and trained them
in the way they should go. from which they did
not depart. George Abbot died December 24, 16S1,
old style, aged sixty-six. His widow married
(second) Rev. Francis Dane, minister of Andover,
who died February, 1697. aged eighty-one. She
died June 11, 171 1, aged eighty-two.
The thirteen children of George and Hannah
Abbot were: John, Joseph (died young), Hannah,
Joseph, George, William, Sarah, Benjamin. Timothy,
Thomas, Edward, Nathaniel and Elizabeth. Jo-
seph Abbot, born March, 1648, died June 24,
1650. and his death was the first on the town record.
Joseph, born March 30, 1652, died April 8. 1676,
the first in Andover who fell a victim to Indian
warfare. (Accounts of William, Benjamin, Thomas
and Nathaniel, with descendants, form a portion of
this article).
(II) John, eldest child of George and Hannah
(Chandler) Abbot, was born in Andover. Massa-
chusetts, Alarch 2, 1648, and died March 19, 1721,
aged seventy-three. He resided with his father in
the garrison house. He was a man of good judg-
ment and executive ability, and was emploved in
town business, often as selectman, and was "deputy
to the general court. When the church was organ-
ized in the South Parish, in 171 1. he was chosen
deacon, and Mr. Phillips states, that "he used the
office well.' He and his wife were respected for
their uprightness and piety. He married. Novem-
ber 17, 1673, Sarah Barker, daughter of Richard
Barker, one of the first settlers of Andover. She
was born in 1647, and died February 10. 1729, aged
eighty-two. Their children were: John. Joseph,
Stephen. Sarah, Ephraim. Joshua, Marv. Ebenezer
and Priscilla. One child died young. The average
ages at death of the eight who survived, was eighty
years and three months.
(III) Deacon John (2), eldest child of John
(r) and Sarah (Barker) Abbot, was born in An-
dover, November 2, 1674, and died Januarv i. 1754,
aged seventy-nine. He lived on the homestead of
his fathers, "was a selectman, and a useful citizen,
and a deacon of the church thirty-four years: mild,
cheerful and humble." His wife,' "like Elizabeth of
old, with her husband, walked in all the command-
ments and ordinances of the Lord blameless."
They were faithful in commanding their household
to keep the way of the Lord, and had the satisfac-
tion of seeing them walk into it. He married. Jan-
uary 6, 1703, Elizabeth Harndin, of Reading, who
died August 9, 1756. Their children were: John
(died young), John, Barachias, Elizabeth, Abiel
and Joseph.
(IV) Captain John (3), second child of Deacon
John (2) and Elizabeth (Harndin) Abbot, was
born in .Andover. .\ugust 3. 1704, and died Novem-
352
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
ber 10, 1793, in the ninetieth year of his age. He,
too, resided on the homestead of the immigrant.
He inherited the character of his ancestors, and
was an influential citizen and engaged in the town's
business. He was selectman and a captain, 1754,
in the French and Indian war. He was a person
of integrity, always acting on principle, and hold-
ing the truth and his promise sacred. "He was
constant in his religious duties, reading the sacred
scriptures, and having prayer morning and even-
ing. He married, September 28, 1732, Phebe Fiske,
of Boxford, who was born August 4, 1712, and
died in December, 1802, aged ninety. They had
seven children: Phebe, John, Ezra, Abiel, Jere-
miah, William and Benjamin. Of these seven chil-
dren three emigrated to Wilton, and became heads
of families. John, the eldest son, inherited the
ancestral farm and had three distinguished sons:
John, who graduated from Harvard College in 1789
and became a professor in Bowdoin College; Ben-
jamin, who took his degree at Harvard in 1788,
and was fifty years principal of Phillips Exeter
Academy. Abiel, see forward.
(V) Abiel, fourth child and third son of Cap-
tain John is) and Phebe (Fiske) Abbot, was born
in Andover, Massachusetts, April 19, 1741, and died
in Wilton, New Hampshire, August 19, 1809, aged
sixty-eight. He took the degree of D. D. at Har-
vard in 1792, and was a misister at Hav-
erhill and Beverly. The History of Wilton
states that "he was five years a cooper in
Andover. In 1764 he settled in Wilton on
lot I, range 3, and on an acre previously cleared
he in that year built a two-story house and a barn.
He married, in Andover, November 20, and moved
into the new house before its doors were hung.
He was town treasurer in 1765 ; town clerk eleven
years ; selectman eleven years ; representative ; on
the committee of safety and numerous other com-
mittees; employed in town business every year
more or less for forty years; captain, 1769; second
major, 1776; first major. 1781 ; assistant assessor,
1798; a justice of the peace fifteen years; a deacon
of the church sixteen years; a guardian of orphans
and helpful to the poor and needy. On the advance
of General Burgoyne in 1777, among thjiusands of
volunteers for the defense of Ticonderoga, 'two
companies, under the command of Major Abiel Ab-
bot, of Wilton, marched June 30, for the threatened
fortress' ".
He married, in Andover, Massachusetts, Novem-
ber 20, 1764. Dorcas, daughter of Benjamin and
Elizabeth (Abbot) Abbot. She was born August
I, 1744, and diea February 23, 1829, aged eighty-
five. They had twelve children: Abiel, Jacob,
Benjamin, Ezra (mentioned below), Dorcas, a son
(born and died the same day), Samuel, Abigial,
Persis, Rhoda, Samuel and Phebe.
(VI) Abigail, eighth child and second daughter
of Major Abiel and Dorcas (Abbot) Abbot, was
born in Wilton, New Hampshire, July 13, 1779, and
died June s, 1812.. She married Jonathan Liver-
more (See Livermore VI).
(VI) Deacon Ezra, fourth son and child of
Abiel and Dorcas (Abbot) Abbot, was born in Wil-
ton, New Hampshire, February 8, 1772, and died
there April 3, 1847, aged seventy-five. He followed
farming on the homestead, as his father had done,
but to this he added another and a more profitable
industry, starch-making, of which he was one of
the pioneers of the state. In the fall of 181 1 he
built a two-storv structure about twenty feet square
near his house," in the upper part of which he
placed machinerv, and fitted the lower story for
a horse to turn a shaft to move the machinery for
washing and grating potatoes. In the spring of
1812 he began the manufacture of starch from po-
tatoes of his own raising and sold it in Boston, Sa-
lem, Andover, and other towns at eight cents a
pound. After using the first mill six years, Mr.
Abbot and his brother Samuel formed a partnership
under the firm name of E. & S. Abbot, and erected
a building thirty feet by sixty on the site of a dis-
used mill near the border of Mason, where they had
water power and used from 6,000 to 26,000 bushels
of potatoes yearly, and made a finer, better and ^
lighter article of starch, of which they got seven I
and one-third to nine and two-thirds pounds from
a bushel of potatoes. They sold their product,
which averaged about forty tons a year, to the
newly erected mills at Lowell and Nashua at from
three and one-half to five and one-half cents per
pound. December 26, 1828, the starch mill was
burned, but was immediately rebuilt. December
17. 1839, the mill was again burned, and at once
rebuilt. Ezra Abbot gave his personal attention to
the business until 1846, when failing health com-
pelled him to leave the business to his son Abiel,
who with his brother Harris, under the firm name
of A. & H. Abbot, carried on the manufacture of
starch until about 1850, when the disease in the
potatoes, the coming of railroad and other causes
led to the closing of the mill.
Ezra Abbot was a captain of the South Com-
pany of Militia ; a selectman ; employed in the set-
tlement of estates, and as guardian of Unions : a
deacon of the church for twenty-five years ; presid-
ing officer of the centennial celebration of 1839; a
man of strict integrity, respected for his love of
justice, probity of character, benevolence and lib-
erality in support of schools, libraries, and other
institutions, religious and beneficent. He married,
October 6, 1799. Rebekah Hale, who was born Jan-
uary 9. 1781, daughter of Lieutenant Joseph Hale,
of Coventry, Connecticut, and niece of Captain
Nathan Hale, the martyr spy of the Revolution.
She died, May 5, i860, aged seventy-nine. Their
children were: Rebecca, a son (died young), Jo-
seph Hale, Dorcas, Ezra, Abiel. Emily, Harris,
Harriet Nelson, Abby Anne. Sarah Jane, and John
Hale.
(VII) Harris, eighth child and fifth son of Ezra
and Rebekah (Hale) Abbot, was born in Wilton,
September 19, 18x2, and died there March 20. 1S84,
in the seventy-second year of his age. He was edu-
cated in the common schools and also at Pinkerton
Academv, Derry, and at Phillip's Exeter Academy.
He resided on the homestead with his father, and
was a good farmer, an energetic man, an^ upright
citizen, and liberal in his ideas of education, and
a friend to schools. He served his town as select-
man. He married, November 20, i860, Caroline Ann
Greeley, of Pelham, who was born October 20. 1S36,
daughter of Jonathan B. and Lucy Ann (Coburn)
Greelev, of Pelham. Their children are: Ella Caro-
line, Stanley Harris, Florence Hale and Charles
Greelev. Ella Caroline was born April 22, 1862. She
graduated from Gushing Academy, Ashburnham.
Massachusetts, in 1882, and subsequently taught
for a time and afterward graduated from Smith
College. She then taught at Pembroke Academy
and other preparatory schools. She married Arthur
Wilder and resides at Sterling, Massachusetts.
Stanley^ H. is the subject of another paragraph.
Florence Hale, born October 20, 1867, graduated
from Gushing Academy in 1887, and is also a grad-
uate from Smith College, and from the New York
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
35-
Medical College for Women. She is now a practis-
ing physician and a member of the medical staff
of the Massachusetts State Insane Asylum at Taun-
ton. Charles Greeley, born May 31, 1872, graduated
from the Wilton high school in 188S, attended Phil-
lips Andover .'Academy, and graduated from Mas-
sachusetts Institute of Technology, a director of
the Astro Physical Laboratory of the Smithsonian
Institute, Washington. D. C, and a member of the
American Institute of Arts and Sciences.
tVIII) Stanley Harris, second child of Harris
and Caroline Ann (Greeley) Abbot, was born in
Wilton, October 20, 1863. After graduating from
Gushing Academy, in 1882, he returned to the home-
stead where he has since been engaged in general
agriculture, and has given special attention to dairy-
ing. He is president of the Boston Co-operative
M'ilk Producers Company, formerly the New Eng-
land JNIilk Producers' Company. He is a surveyor
and has established many lines in his locality. In
politics he is a Republican, and is now (1907) a
member of the Wilton school board. In religious
faith he is a Congregationalist. He is also a lead-
ing member of Advance Grange, No. 20, Patrons
%t Husbandry. He married, in Monson, Massa-
chusetts, November 15, 1894, Mary Kimball, who
was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, March 9, 1868,
daughter of Leonard and Phebe (Mack) Kimball.
They have seven children : Leonard Harris, born
September 19, 1895: Marion Kimball, March 5,
1898; Howard Stanley. January 7, 1900; Edith
Hale, November 27, 1901 : Sidney Greeley, August
19, 1903; Charles Mack, March 15, 1905, and Helen,
July ID, 1906.
(II) William, sixth child and fifth son of the
immigrant, George, and Hannah (Chandler) Abbot,
born March 18, 1657, died October 24, 1713. He
was a Puritan in faith and christian conduct. He
lived near Professor Stuart's house in .A.ndover.
He married, June 2, 1682, Elizabeth Gray, who died
December, 1712. Their twelve children were:
Elizabeth, William, George (died young). Ezra,
George, Nathan, James, Paul. Phillip, Hannah, (Ta-
leb and Zebadiah. (Paul and descendants receive
extensive mention .in this article).
(III) James, sixth son and seventh child of
William and Elizabeth' (Gray) Abbot, was born
February .12, 1695, at Andover, Massachusetts. He
was a farmer in that town, but removed before 1735
to (Concord) then Penny Cook, New Hampshire,
where he became a proprietor by purchase of the
rights of Bezaleel Toppan and Stephen Emerson.
His name first appears on the town records in 1735
when he and Deacon Merrill were empowered to
hire a man to keep school for four months during
the next winter. He was elected tything-man at
the March meeting in 1735-6, and surveyor of high-
ways in 1736-7, 1744 and 1749. James Abbott had
his full share of the hardships of pioneer life. In
1746 he and his family were living in the Lovejoy
Garrison at West Concord where the Garrison
School now stands. Later in that year, at the time
of the Bradley Massacre, he was on duty at the
Parson Walker Garrison, which protected the home
of the first minister. In 1748 of thereabouts James
.Abbott and his family and Joseph Farnum were
living in four log cabins, surrounded by a stockade,
which stood on the -west side of the present State
street near a bubbling spring opposite the present
home of Andrew James Abbott, great great-grand-
son of the original James. The region was then
called Rattlesnake Plain, now West Concord, and
this farm has always been the family homestead,
though James .\bbott owned considerable land near
i— 23
Long Pond and in other parts of the town. The
same kind of corn, brought from Andover, has been
planted on this place for one hundred and forty
years. James Abbott was a respected and worthy
citizen and one' of the early members of the Old
North Church, being admitted by letter from the
church in Andover. He died December 27, 1787,
aged ninety-three years. In January, 1714, James
.■\bbott married Abigail Farnum, born in 1692, and
they had fifteen children : Abigail, James, whose
sketch follows; Elizabeth, William. Rachel, Ezra,
Reuben, whose sketch follows : Simeon, Amos,
whose sketch follows : Phebe ; a son born and died
in 1729; Sarah and Rebecca (twins) ; Mary and
Hannah. Three of the sons, William, Ezra and
Simeon, died within five weeks, from 'October 29
to December 5, 1741. They were stricken with fe-
ver, for which no medical treatment was available
in those days, and their lives were lost just as they
were entering upon young manhood, being respect-
ively twenty-two, nineteen and seventeen years of
age. W'hen James and Reuben were ready to mar-
ry, their father gave to each of them a farm back
of Long Pond, while the youngest son, Amos, was
awarded tlie home place.
(IV) Deacon James (2), eldest son and second
child of James (i) and Abigail (Farnum) Abbott,
was born January 12, 1717, in .Andover, Massachu-
setts, and died in Newbury, Vermont, in 1803, at
the age of eighty-six years. He was a farmer in
Concord, New Hampshire, whence he removed in
1763, to Newbury, being one of the first settlers
there and deacon of the first church of Newbury.
He was married in 1742 to Sarah Bancroft, who
was born February 19, 1722, daughter of Captain
Samuel and Sarah (Lamson) Bancroft, of Reading,
Massachusetts. His fifteen children were: Sarah,
.■\bisail, Mary, James, Judith, William, Bancroft,
Ezra (died young), Susannah, Ezra and five others
who died in infancy. All of his children and many
of his descendants were members of the Congrega-
tional Church.
(V) Abigail, second daughter and child of
Tnmes (2) and Sarah (Bancroft) Abbott, was born
January 22, 1746. and was married April 15, 1767,
to Major Asa Bailey, of Haverhill, New Hamp-
shire (see Bailey V). They removed from that
town to Landaff, an adjoining town, where she
died. Her fifteen children were: Abigail, Samuel,
Phoebe, Sarah, Asa, Caleb and Anna (twins), Ja-
bcz. Cloy, .Amos, Olive, Phineas, Judith, Simeon
and Patience.
(V) William (2), second son and seventh child
of Deacon James (2) and Sarah (Bancroft) Ab-
bott, was born April 24, 1755, at West Concord,
New Hampshire. When a child he moved with his
people to Newbury, Vermont, and. in 1777 married
Mabel Whittlesey, of East Guilford, Connecticut.
William (2) Abbot died June 14. 1807. His chil-
dren were : Moses. Lois, Jacob, Elizabeth, Mehita-
bel, Sarah, William, Amos, Ann, Abigail, son born
and died, and Mary.
(VI) Moses (i), eldest child of William (2)
and Mabel (Whittlesey) Abbott, was born at Bath,
New Hampshire. June 16. 1778, and in that town
was a farmer all his life. He was married (first)
.April 7, 1802, to Lucy Willis, who was born July
25, 1784, and djed July 13, 1842. She was the moth-
er of all his children. He was married (second)
.August 14. 1844, to Mrs. Lucy Wells. He had four-
teen children: Myron, Adams, Cynthia, William
B., Lucy !Maria, (jharity, Mabel, Moses C. (died
young), .Amanda, Moses, Sarah Ann, Albert L.,
Milo J., and Ira. Moses (i) Abbott died May 7,
354
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
T856, at Bath, and his second wife died July 13,
1874, at the same place.
(VII) Moses (2), fifth son and tenth child of
Moses (i) and Lucy (Willis) Abbott, was born at
Bath, New Hampshire, December 27, 1818. and died
July 30, 1889. He lived in that town all his life,
was a farmer and lumberman, and during the Civil
War, was a buyer of produce and wool. He was
twice married. On September 7, 1848, Moses (2)
Abbott married Lucia K. Eastman, daughter of
Moses and Sally (Smith) Eastman. (See Eastman
VII). She was born July 18, 1826. They had two
children : Chester, whose sketch follows ; and
Lucia Celia, born September 12, died December
27, 1852. Mrs. Lucia (Eastman) Abbott died April
14, 1853, and Moses (2) Abbott married (second)
May 5, 1855, Mary P. Weeks, born March 3, 1829,
daughter of John C. and Maria Powers Weeks, of
Bath. They had four children, namely: Charles
Freemont, John Weeks, Lucia Maria and Edwin
Moses.
(VIII) Chester, elder child and only son of
Moses (2) and Lucia K. (Eastman) Abbott, was
born October 13, 1850, in Bath, New Hampshire.
He was educated in the schools of Woodsville and
Bath, and at a select school in Wells River, Ver-
mont. He taught school for a time in Newbury,
Vermont, and Woodsville, New Hampshire. He
then traveled for three years as a canvasser for
Powell Brothers of Syracuse, New York, and for
two years more as a canvasser on his own account,
traveling in nineteen states, New Brunswick and
Canada. Returning home he worked in the Na-
tional Bank of Newbury at Wells River, Vermont.
Then for twenty years he was engaged as a clerk
for the Woodsville Lumber Company, and for Ira
Whitcher. Mr. Abbott is a civil engineer, and is
also interested in the insurance business and real
estate. He was a member of the building commit-
tee of the Woodsville Aqueduct Companj', is treas-
urer of the Opera Block, and was the first clerk
of the Fire Commission. He is a Republican in
politics, and is a justice of the peace and notary
public. Mr., Ablxjtt has been twice married. On
November i. 1877. he married Mary Elizabeth
Whitcher, daughter of Ira and Lucy (Royce)
Whitcher, who was born in Benton, New Hamp-
shire, July 17, 1847, and died April 15. 1897. in
Woodsville. On June 22, 1889. he married Abbie
S. Williamson, daughter of Fred D. and Lois Hale
Williamson, who was born August 4, 1871, in Wat-
erford, Vermont. Mr. and Mrs. Abbott having no
children of their own are generously rearing and
educating a protege. Albert Abbott, an orphan from
the New England Home for Little Wanderers of
Boston.
(IV) Reuben, fourth son and seventh child of
James (i) and Abigail (Farnum) Abbott, was born
in Andover, Massachusetts, April 4, 1723. When
a lad he came with his people to Concord, then
Penny Cook, New Hampshire : and he was the
first one to drive an ox team from Andover to the
new settlement, about the year 1735. Mr. Abbott
became one of the strong men of his generation.
At birth he weighed but four pounds, and his head
could be covered by a tea-cup of ordinary size,
while as an object of curiosity he was put into a
quart tankard and the cover shut down. He grew
to be six feet in height with a robust physique, able
to handle bears and catamounts, could swing his
scythe at eighty and mow his swath with any man.
He lived to become one hundred years old, lacking
a few months, and to see his descendants of the
fourth generation, all bearing the name of Reuben.
dwelling under his roof. In 1739 he began a diary,
which is still preserved in the family. Reuben Ab-
bott is the man, who on Monday morning, August
ir, 1746, while mowing on the Fan, where land is
still kept in the Abbott name, heard the alarm gun
sound from Parson Walker's fort which gave the
news of the Bradley massacre on the road to Hop-
kinton. It was he who, all others refusing, drove
the cart containing the six mangled and dead bodies
back to town. Near the close of his life Mr. Abbott
related circumsrantial account of this massacre to
Hon. Richard Bradley, grandson of Samuel Bradley,
one of the slain ; and this narrative was incorpo-
rated by Dr. Bouton in his history of Concord. On
October 12, 1743, Reuben .A.bbott's father gave him
a farm of one hundred and ten acres back of Long
Pond in West Concord, where he afterwards built
a log cabin in which he lived about ten years. At
first no one dared stay on the land on account of
the Indians, and the men used to go up in armed
gangs to mow the grass and cultivate their crops.
Before 1760 Reuben Abbott built the present large
two-story house with lean-to which, several times
remodeled, is still the family home. The heavy oak
frame is pinned together with wooden pegs. Mr.
.Abbott in his old age enjoyed relating stories of
his early hardships and the primitive life of the
time. He said he used to kill deer enough to give
him fresh meat during the winter, and to salt down
for summer use. The skins he dressed for mit-
tens and for leather breeches which, with a cocked
hat, he continued to wear as long as he lived. He
was a Puritan of strict religious principles, and a
member of the First Congregational Church or
"Old North," as it is generally called, a firm friend
of Parson Walker's, and a man who brought up
his family in the fear of the Lord, and walked
therein himself. Reuben Abbott married Rhoda
Whittemore, eidesl child of Deacon Elias and Rho-
da (Holt) Whittemore, of Pembroke, New Hamp-
shire, who died January 27. 1785, aged fifty-five.
(See Whittemore, I). They had children: Reu-
ben, who died young : Reuben, whose sketch fol-
lows: Rhoda. Elias, Phebe, who was drowned in
her second year ; Phebe, Ruth, Ezra and Nathan
(twins). Reuben Abbott married for his second
wife Widow Dinah Blanchard, who died March
II, 1826, at the age of ninety-four years. Reuben
Abbott himself died at the home in West Concord,
May 24, 1822, being in his hundredth year, and the
oldest man who . has ever spent his life in Con-
cord. Mrs. Lydia Tenney, who lived on a neigh-
boring farm. di?d at the age of one hundred and
three, the oldest woman who has ever lived in
town.
(V) Reuben (2), eldest surviving child of Reu-
ben (i) and Rhoda (Whittemore) Abbott, was
born at the old homestead in West Concord, New
Hampshire, February 5, 1754. He served several
campaigns in the Revolutiou. He was one of the
Minute Men who enlisted April 24, 1775, in the
company of Captain Joshua Abbot, of Concord,
and served for three and a half months in the reg-
iment of Colonel John Stark, which performed
such memorable scivice at the battle of Bunker
Hill. P.euben (2) .-WDOtt was a farmer all his life,
and a consistcrit member of the Old North Church.
On September 24. 1776, he married Zerviah Far-
num, seventh child and third daughter of Joseph
and Zerviah (Hoit) Farnum, of West Concord.
(See Farnum, IV). She was born about 1752, and
died in 181-!, F.f the age of sixty-six. Reuben (2)
and Zerviah vFiniu-m) Abbott had seven children:
Ruth, who married Henry Giandler. Phebe, who
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
355
married Peter C. Farnum. Rebecca, who married
'I'homas R. Brock, Susanna, who never married.
Zerviah. who married Jesse C. Tuttle. Polly, who
niarrie:l Henry Martin, and Reuben (3). whose
sketch follows. Pcuben (2) Abbott died December
12, iS.'4, aged eight}' years.
(VD Reuben (3), onl son and youngest of
the .';even children of Reuben (2) and Zerviah
(Farnum} Abbott, was born at the old homestead
in West Concord, New Hampshire, October 23.
1790. He cultivated the ancestral farm all his life,
was a Whig in politics, and one of the founders and
original members of the West Concord Congrega-
tional Church. In 1815 Reuben (3) Abbott mar-
ried Hannah Abbot, second daughter and child of
Daniel .\bbot and JMercy Kilburn, his second wife,
nearby neighbors. (See Abbott, IV). She was
born October 28, 1791, and died September 13, 1S76,
at the age of eighty-five years. Reuben (3) and
Hannah (Abbot) .-Xbhott, had children: Reuben
Kilburn, whose sketch follows. Catherine Wheeler,
who married Daniel Farnum, of \\'est Concord.
Hannah Gerrish who married Deacon John Bal-
lard, of Concord. Elizabeth Bradley, who married
Franklin B. Carter. Esther Martin, who married
Albert G. Dow. Ezra Carter, who went to Cum-
berland, Wisconsin. Peter Green, who went to Al-
pha, Iowa. Henry Chandler, who went to Leroy.
Kansas, where he became postmaster. Reuben (3)
Abbott died June 27, 1869, in the same room in
which he was born.
(VII) Reuben Kilburn, eldest child of Reuben
(3) and Hannah (Abbot) Abbott, was born at the
old homestead. West Concord, New Hampshire,
November 20, 1815. He was seven years old when
his great-grandfather, the original Reuben, died ;
and till that time four generations of Reubens were
living in the same house. Reuben K. Abbott inher-
ited the ancestral farm to which he added by pur-
chase till it now numbers one hundred and fifty
acres. He was much interested in horticulture, and
took great pleasure in caring for his trees and vines,
of which he had a good variety. Black Walnut and
Burr-Oak being among his collection. He has one
hickory tree planted by the first Reuben Abbott
which is yet in good bearing condition. He was
a member of the West Concord Congregational
Church, and a Republican in politics, serving as a
member of the Concord city council during the
years 1869 and 1870. For several years he was one
of the prudential school committee, acted as road
agent, and held various other town offices. He in-
herited the best traits of his ancestors, "and was a
worthy and respected citizen. On October 19. 1847,
Reuben Kilburn .\bbott married Mary Manuel Em-
erson, eldest child of John and Hannah (Nudd)
Emerson, who was born at Concord. New Hamp-
shire, November 3. 1817. (See Emerson, III).
They had four children : Mary Kilburn, whose
sketch follows; Lois Ann. Ella Maria, whose
sketch follows; and Sarah Manuel. Lois Ann Ab-
bott was born .August 31, 1852, at the old homestead
in West Concord, and on I\Iay 19, 1S80, was mar-
ried to Caleb P. Little, of Concord, New Hamp-
shire, who was born April 14. 1851, at Webster,
this state. They have two children : Clarence .Ar-
thur, born August 22, 1887: and Eva Susan, born
.\ugust 15, 1890, both at Concord. Clarence A. Lit-
tle was graduated fiom the Concord high school in
1906, and is now employed in the office of the
city engineer. Sarah Manuel, youngest of the four
daughters of Reuben K. and Mary M. (Emerson)
Abbott, was born August 26. 1858, at the old home-
stead in West Concord, was married to Henry G.
Chandler, of Concord. June 24, 1885, and died
March 6, 1886. Reuben K. Abbott died at the old
homestead, December 15, 1889, aged seventy-four
years. His wife, who like himself, was a member
of the West Concord church, died November 5,
1896, aged seventy-nine years.
("V'lII) Mary Kilburn, eldest of the four daugh-
ters of Reuben K. and Mary M. (Emerson) Ab-
bott, was born at the old homestead. West Concord,
New Hampshire, January 16, 1850. Ella Maria,
her younger sister and third daughter of the house
in order of birth, was born at the same place, No-
vember 10, 1854. These ladies were educated at
the town schools, and have always lived on the an-
cestral farm, which, with the aid of efficient help,
they keep in a high state of cultivation. The dig-
nified, old-fashioned home,- one of the largest and
most substantial in West Concord, is maintained in
fine repair, and is filled with interesting relics of
the past. They have quaint old clocks and chairs
which their ancestors used, many pieces of ancient
china, and an enormous pewter platter over two
hundred years old, and some hand-woven linen
which came from their grandmother, Mercy Kil-
burn, of Rowley, Massachusetts, also linen and
china from the Abbott and Emerson families. Both
Miss Mary and Miss Ella .Abbott are members of
the West Concord Congregational Church, and of
the New Hampshire Female Cent Union, founded
by Mrs. Elizabeth McFarland in 1804. The sisters
are well versed in local history, and have a good
collection of books on the subject, and they are
greatly interested in birds and flowers. The loca-
tion of their home on a fine elevation overlooking
Long Pond, and the situation of their land, which
embraces hillside, meadow and woodland, give
them a fine opportunity to pursue nature study.
They always feed the birds in winter, and they
have attracted many rare varieties, like the Lap-
land longspur, to their doors. They are worthy
custodians of one of the best old-time homesteads
in the suburbs of Concord.
(IV) Amos, sixth son and ninth child of James
(l) and .Abigail (Farnum) Abbott, was born Feb-
ruary 22, 1726, at Andover. Massachusetts. When a
young boy he came with his people to Concord,
New Hampshire, and spent all his life on the pa-
ternal homestead. The house, now occupied by his
great-grandson. .Andrew J., was built about 1760,
and though much enlarged by subsequent genera-
tions, still shows evidence of its ancient construc-
tion. The walls and foundation remain the same :
hand-wrought iron nails can still be seen : and the
places of the windows in the front rooms have
never been changed. In those days iron was
scarce and difficult to obtain, and people in the re-
mote interior used wooden spoons and plates,
wooden pegs instead of nails, wooden latches and
even wooden combs for the hair. Amos Abbott was
skilled in the use of carpenters' tools and in whit-
tling and he could make anything from a wooden
spoon to an ox-sled. He always kept many of the
old-fashioned traditions of .Andover, Massachusetts,
where he was born. One of these was the planting
of corn the first day of May. no matter what the
state of the weather. Corn on Uiat farm has often
been planted by men wearing mittens. When the
change of time came, by which eleven years were
dropped out of the calendar, it was a source of
sore vexation to Mr. Abbott. It upset his planting
day, and, what was worse, his birthday, making
the latter come on the twenty-ninth of February,
which is next to having no birthday at all. To the
end of his life he did not cease to mourn over the
356
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
change from the Old to the New Style. Amos Ab-
bott was a member of the Old North Church, and
was selectman of the town in 1767, 1773. 1776 and
1777. In 1753 Amos Abbott married Mrs. Rebecca
(.Abbot) Chandler, widow of Abiel Chandler. (See
Chandler, V). They had three children: Amos
(2), whose sketch follows. John, born June 23,
1756, and Rebecca, born December 26, 1760. John
Abbott, with his brother Amos, enlisted in the be-
ginning of the Revolution. He served under Stark,
both at Bunker Hill and at Bennington, and during
the latter battle was struck by a bullet on his breast
bone. His death occurred from fever, August 31,
1779, at the age of twenty-three years. Two of his
puwdcr-horns, which he carved himself, are pre-
served in the family and at the New Hampshire
Historical Society. He was six feet seven inches
high, weighed two hundred and thirty pounds, and
was said to be the largest ^young man ever raised
in Concord. A simple slate stone in the Old North
cemetery marks his resting place. Rebecca Abbott
was married, October 9, 1781, to Moses Chamber-
lain, of Pembroke, New Hampshire, and she died
December 24, 1846, at the age of eighty-six. Amos
Abbott lived to the great age of ninety-six, dying
December 3, 1821, while his wife died February 13,
1803, at the age of eighty-six.
(V) Lieutenant Amos (2), eldest child of Amos
(i) and Rebecca (Abbot) (Chandler) Abbott, was
born at the old homestead, West Concord, New
Hampshire, July 15, 1754. He lived in the house
which his father built and where his grandfather
spent his last days, and was a successful farmer,
distinguished for his skill in managing bees. He
served several campaigns in the Revolution, enlist-
ing first as a Minute Man, April 24, 1775, in Cap-
tain Joshua Abbott's company, Colonel John Stark's
regiment, which performed such valiant service at
Bunker Hill. Amos (2) Abbott's brother John and
his cousin Reuben were also members of this com-
pany, which served three months and a half. Amos
(2) Abbott's second period of enlistment was from
December S, 1776, to March 15, 1777, in Captain
Benjamin Sias's company. Colonel David Gilman's
regiment. He was again in Captain Joshua Ab-
bott's company, Lieutenant-Colonel Garrish's regi-
ment, which joined the Northern Continental army
at Saratoga. This service extended from Septem-
ber 28, 1777, to October 26, 1777. Mr. Abbott never
lost his skill as a marksman, and in later years was
fond of hunting and trapping, and as familiar with
the woods as an Indian. In the fall and winter
after the farm work was done, he would camp out
for weeks in the White Mountains, or the _ Maine
woods, returning home on snow-shoes with the
skins of the otter, beaver, sable and other fur-bear-
ing animals. Lieutenant Amos (2) Abbott, like
his father and grandfather, was a member of the
Old North Church, and a useful and respected citi-
zen. He served as selectman of the town in 1787,
1804, 1805, 1809, 1812 and 1813. On December 9,
1804, Amos (2) Abbott married Judith Morse,
youngest child of Moses Morse and his second wife,
Mrs Sarah (Hale) Brickett, who was born at New-
buryport, Massachusetts, March i, 1766. (See
Morse). They had three children: John, whose
sketch follows ; Simeon, whose sketch follows, and
Sarah Hale, born June 27, 1809. Sarah Hale Ab-
bott, a woman of saintly life and character, was
married, December 18, 1838, to David Abbott, son
of Nathan and Rhoda (Brickett) Abbott, and lived
in West Concord and Penacook, New Hampshire.
They had ten children and she died September 8,
1884. Lieutenant .\mos (2) Abbott died October
II. 1834, at the age of eighty, and Mrs. Judith
(Morse) Abbott lived till July 12, 1843, dying at
the age of seventj'-seven.
(VI) John Abbott, eldest child of Amos (2)
and Judith (Morse) Abbott, was born November
15, 1805, at the old homestead in West Concord,
New Hampshire, on the farm which has been owned
by the family since the founding of the town. He
was educated in the local public schools, and early
in life, engaged in the lumber business. From 1835
to 1849 he was in partnership with Captain Abel
Baker, father of Governor Nathaniel Baker. To-
gether they bought and cut off tracts of timber,
and rafted their product down the Merrimack to
Lowell and Boston. Air. Abbott was an expert in
woodcraft and was often called upon as referee in
placing valuation upon standing timber, sometimes
going as far as the Adirondacks in this capacity.
Mr. Abbott lived on the ancestral homestead until
after his marriage, when he bought the house in
Concord, 236 North Main street, which was the
family home till 1905. This house, previous to the
.\bbott occupancy of half a century, was successively
owned by Dr. Peter Renton and Dr. William Pres-
cott, physicians of note in their day.
Mr. Abbott was a man of great kindliness of
nature and of unswerving integrity. Of a sweet
and serene disposition and absolute uprightness in
every relation of life, public and private, he held the
respect and confidence of the community to a degree
possessed by few. "Honest" John Abbott, as he
was familiarly known, was frequently called upon to
serve the public, and he filled nearly every official
station in town. He was selectman in 1849 and
1851, and alderman in 1854. The city government
was founded in 1853. and during the next twenty
years he served twelve terms as assessor. This
office seemed to devolve upon him by natural right
because the public had such faith in his honesty
and judgment. In January, 1856, he was elected
mayor by the city government to fill the unexpired
term of Mayor Clement, who had died on the thir-
teenth of that month, and he was five times sub-
sequently elected to fill the office at the March
meetings in 1856-7-8 and in 1866-7. No man has
ever received the office so many times by popular
vote, and no man has discharged its duties, includ-
ing at that time the supervision of highways and
the care of the poor, in a more honorable manner.
Mr. Abbott was a trustee of the New Hampshire
Savings Bank, a director of the Page Belting Com-
pany and a member of the City Water Board. In
politics he was a Whig and among the founders of
the Republican party. He was a regular attendant
of the North Congregational Church, belonged in
early life to the Odd Fellows, and at the time of
his death was a member of Blazing Star Lodge,
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. Mr. Abbott's
tall and commanding form, six feet, four inches in
height, made him a marked figure in any public
gathering.
On November 12, 1856, John Abbott married
Hannah Matilda Brooks at the home of her parents
in Warner, New Hampshire. She was born March
14. 1S28, at Charlestown, Massachusetts, and was
the only daughter and sole surviving child of Sam-
uel and Hannah (Cogswell) Brooks, both members
of old Bay State families. In 1835, with her parents
and younger brother. Thomas Emerson, who died
October 18, 1838, she removed to Warner. There,
in a delightful eld house, which was the scene of
constant hospitality, her happy youth was spent.
Afany of the winters were passed near Boston,
either visiting or attending school. From her
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
357
father Matilda Brooks inherited marked intellec-
tual ability, and she received unusual educational
advantages, culminating in 1846-7 in a year at the
private school connected with the famous Brook
Farm Community, at West Roxbury, Massachus-
etts Here she met all the distinguished people
of the day. and lived in a most stimulating in-
tellectual atmosphere. She was a favorite pu-
pil of George Ripley, the head of the school and
one of the foremost American men of letters.
Charles A. Dana, afterwards editor of the New
York Sun. and Horace Greeley were members ot
the Communitv at that time. Some of the pupils
were from Cuba and the Philippine Islands, regions
far remote in those days. Mrs. Abbott was prob-
ably the only resident of New Hampshire ever con-
nected with Brook Farm, and she regarded her
year there as one of the great and special privileges
of her life.
\t intervals, from the age of fifteen to twenty-
eight vears, Mrs. Abbott taught several terms of
schnol'in various places near her home. Her energy
of character, magnetic personality and active mind
made this occupation a delight, and she always
spoke with the greatest pride and pleasure of her
school-teaching days. Her interest m education
never tlasjged, and in later years, when her children
were pupYls, she was as regular in her visits to the
schools as any of the committee. Mrs. Abbott pos-
sessed a remarkable personality. She had great so-
cial charm, logical and brilliant mental powers and
the most unswerving spiritual ideals. She was es-
periallv fond of young people, and her fluent_ talk
and ready wit made her always an entertaining
companion. Few persons were better informed on
local historv. Her mind was a storehouse_ of dates
and genealogies, and her memory was infallible.
Her standards in life and literature were of the
highest her judgment of character was instantane-
ous and unerring: her love of truth and justice a
passion. Courage, fidelity, affection and extreme
conscientiousness were her marked characteristics.
John Abbott died instantly of heart disease at
the home in Concord on the evening of March 18,
18S6, at the age of eighty years and three months.
His 'father died in the same way at the same age.
Mrs. Abbott, who had long been a sufferer from
nervous exhaustion, died at the home on the morn-
ing of April 22, 1898, aged seventy years and one
month Their three children, all born at the home
in Concord, were: Frances Matilda, born August
18, 1857: John Boylston, born April 5, 1S60, whose
sketch follows, and Walter Brooks, born December
9, 1862. , _
Frances M. Abbott was graduated from the Con-
cord High School in 1875. She then took fresh-
man work with Moses Woolson, a noted educator
at that time living in Concord. Two years later,
in T87S, she entered Vassar College from which she
was graduated in 1881. She was the first young
woman born in Concord to receive the degree pf
A. B. Miss Abbott's tastes have always been lit-
erary. She has been a constant contributor to the
press, and many of her articles have appeared in
standard periodicals, notably The Forum, and The
North American Reviezs.'. When the new History
of Concord was projected, the work was assigned
to ten writers, all of them men but Miss Abbott.
Her section was entitled "Domestic Customs and
Social Life." The volumes were published in 190,3.
In 1906 Miss Abbott issued a book of one hundred
and si.xty-four pages, entitled "Birds and Flow-
ers .About Concord, New Hampshire," which has
attracted favorable attention in leading Boston and
New York periodicals. Love of literature and of
nature and an interest in local history are three of
Miss Abbott's strongest tastes. She is a life mem-
ber of the .Appalachian Mountain Club of Boston,
a member of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae
and of the Boston Branch of the Associate Vassar
Alumnae. She is a life member of various Con-
cord philanthropies like the Woman's Hospital .'\id
Association, the Concord Female Charitable Society,
founded in 1812, and the Woman's Auxiliary to
the Young Men's Christian Association. She was
one of the original members of the Stratford
(Shakespeare) Club, founded in 1883, and helped
to found the Wild Flower Club in 1896. Her whole
life has been spent in Concord, of which citj' she
is a most loyal daughter.
Walter Brooks Abbott was a member of the class
of 1880 in the Concord High School. He left dur-
ing his senior year to engage in school-teaching, a
vocation for which he showed a marked aptitude.
He was principal of the West Concord Grammar
School from 1882 to 1887. In January, 1887, he
was invited to take charge of the Young Men's
Christian Association at Concord, and he has con-
tinued in Association work ever since with eminent
success. Mr. Abbott's life has been devoted to
young men, and his influence has been deep and
permanent. Inheriting the strong mental and moral
traits of both parents, and possessed of a command-
ing presence and genial personality, with shining
ideals and deep-seated moral courage, Mr. .\bbott
is a man to wdiom all naturally look up. He was
general secretary of the Young Men's Christian As-
sociation at Concord, New Hampshire, 1887-1890;
at Salem, Massachusetts, 1890-1895, at Worcester,
Massachusetts, 1895-1898; at Nashville, Tennessee.
1900-1903; at New Orleans, Louisiana, 1903 to the
present time (1907). From 189S to 1900 Mr. Ab-
bott was temporarily incapacitated by over work,
and spent the time in traveling and in brief ser-
vice at Galveston, Texas, and Springfield, Massa-
chusetts. Mr. Abbott is a natural orator, and is
greatly in demand as a public speaker, both in the
pulpit and on the platform. He has been an ex-
tensive traveler, having visited all parts of the
United States and made several ocean voyages. He
is a life member of the .Appalachian Mountain Club,
and while in the North was very active in the work.
He has climbed many of the White Mountain sum-
mits on snow-shoes and is an enthusiastic camper
out. He is interested in all forms of practical
Christianity, and everything that pertains to the
public welfare. He is an ardent worker in the
cause of temperance, and has always voted the Pro-
hibition ticket. He joined the North Congrega-
tional Church in Concord at the age of eighteen.
On June 22, 1907, at the Coliseum Place Baptist
church in New Orleans, Walter Brooks .Abbott mar-
ried Clara Lucas, daughter of Robert and Elizabeth
(Barnes) Lucas. She was born at .-Kccrington,
Lancashire, England, November 9, 1875, 3"d came
to this country with her parents at the age of four.
For several years previous to her marriage Mrs.
.Abbott was a resident of New Orleans, where she
is an active member of the Baptist Church, a Sun-
day school teacher and a singer in the choir. Mr.
and Mrs. .*\bbott spent their honeymoon in England.
(VII) John Boylston, elder son and second child
of John and Hannah Matilda (Brooks) Abbott,
born in .Concord, April 5, i860, was educated in the
public schools of Concord, graduating from the
High School in 1877, and then received an appoint-
ment to the United States Military Academy at
West Point, where he spent two years, hi the
358
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
close of that period he went to Poughkeepsie, New
York, where he received a thorough business educa-
tion in Eastman's National Business College in the
year following. In 1880 he w'ent into the employ of
E. Al. Slayton, wholesale produce and provision
dealer, Manchester, New Hampshire, where for
nine years he was cashier and accountant. In 1889
he entered the Navy Pay Office in Washington, Dis-
trict of Columbia, remaining five years. He then
took a course in law in the Columbia Law School
from which he graduated in 1893, and was at once
admitted to practice in the courts of the District
of Columbia. The following year he accepted an
offer to go to London, England, as confidential clerk
of the Boston Rubber Shoe Company. After re-
maining in England two and one-half years he re-
turned to Concord, and the same year (1897) he
was appointed to a place in the pay department of
the United States steamship "Texas," Captain Wise,
from which he was promoted to chief clerk in
charge of the pay department of the Naval Station
at Port Royal, South Carolina. In 1898 he was city
auditor of Concord, and the following year he spent
in New York city in the office of a prominent firm
of bankers and brokers. In November, 1900, he
entered the emj-loy of the William B. Durgin Com-
pany, manufacturers of silverware. Concord, as
bookkeeper. The next year he was appointed as-
sistant treasurer, and in 1904 was made treasurer,
which position he still holds. L'pon the change in
ownership after the death of Mr. Durgin, he became
a director. Mr. Abbott has much of the enterprise
and sauvity that has often been a characteristic of
the family, and is a good business man and a pleas-
ant companion. In politics he is a Republican, and
for several years was moderator of Ward Four.
Concord. He attends the North Congregational
Church, and is a member of the New Hampshire
Club in Boston. During his stay in Manchester he
was adjutant of the Amoskeag Veterans, and had
much to do with directing the military and social
affairs of that organization. John B. Abbott married
at Baltimore, Maryland, April 5, 1905. Mrs. Olivia
Blount Sanders, whose ancestry is given below.
Olivia Blount was first inarried at Raleigh, North
Carolina, October 8, 1873, to Archibald Claudius
Sanders, by whom she had fo^ur children : Olivia
(Mrs. Long) : Lucien. now living at Washington,
District of Columbia: William .\ugustus, at Nor-
folk, Virginia; and Mary Washington (Mrs. Mac-
Kellar). Archibald C. Sanders died January 2,
1887, in North Carolina.
Mrs. Olivia Blount Abbott is a daughter of Ma-
jor William Augustus Blount, a gallant officer in
the Confederate States army. She comes of dis-
tinguished ancestry, being a direct descendant of
Captain James Blount, an officer in the Life Guards
of Charles II. He settled in Virginia in 1655. In
1663 he went to North Carolina, where he owned
an estate called "Mulberry Hill," near the present
town of Edenton. He was a member of the earliest
court, and a member nf the Governor's council.
Upon his tomb at Mulberry Hill was placed the
copper plate of his armorial bearings, which he had
brought with him from England. He was a son of
James Blount, who married a daughter of
Clare ; he was killed at the battle of Worcester.
This James Blount was a direct descendant of Sir
Robert LeBIount and Sir William LeBlount, sons
of Rudolph. Count of Guines (France) and Roset-
ta, daughter of Count St. Pol. In 1066 they ac-
companied William the Conqueror in his expedition
against England, contributed largely to the triumph
of that monarch, and shared amply in the spoils of
conqest. Sir William LeBlount was given by that
monarch the title of "Dux navium militarium." He
was a general of foot at Hastings, and had grants
of seven lordships in Lincolnshire. His descendant,
Maria Le Blount, becoming the sole heiress in her
line, married Sir Stephen Le Blount, thus uniting
the families of the two brothers. His ancestor. Sir
Robert LeBlount aforementioned, had been created
by William the Conqueror, the first Baron of Ix-
worth. The Baroncy of Blount is one of the oldest
in England.
The descendants of Captain James Blount in
North Carolina have occupied positions of trust
and honor, all through the history of the state. Ja-
cob Blount, with two of his sons, participated in the
battle of Alamance. One of his sons. Major Read-
ing Blount, an officer of the Revolution, served with
special distinction at the battle of Guilford Court
House. He was also an original member of the
Society of Cincinnati. His elder brother, William
Blount, was a member of Congress and signer of
the Coiutitution of the United States from North
Carolina, and was afterwards appointed by Presi-
dent Xv'ashington governor of all the territory south
of the Ohio river. His younger brother, Willie
Eloui:t, beanie governor of Tennessee, which posi-
tion, he occupied during the troublous times of
181-;. .Ant'ther brother, John Gray Blount, the
gieat-grandfather of Mrs. Abbott, was a large mer-
chant, ship owner, and the largest land owner in
the state of North Carolina. He, in partnership
with his brothers, owned land extending from the
.Atlantic to the Mississipppi, a great deal of what
is now the city of .■\sheville, and other lands in
Western Carolina, which now form five counties
having been parts of this magnificent property.
William .Augustus Blount, second son of John
Gray Blount, when a youth of seventeen, served
in the defense of Fort Moultrie ; he was afterwards
an officer of the state militia, attaining the rank of
general. He was a wealthy planter and slave hold-
er, an influential citizen, distinguished for his finan-
cial and political sagacity. He was grand-father of
Mrs. Abbott.
Mrs. -Abbott also traces her descent from Thom-
as Harvey, deputy governor of North Carolina,
1(395-9. He came from Snitherfield Parish, War-
wickshire, England, and was a son of a noble En-
glish family, said to be descended from the
D'Herve's of France. On the maternal side she
is descended through her mother, Mary Washington
Blount, daughter of Colonel John Washington,
from the same ancestry as George Washington — ■
a branch of that family having settled in North Car-
olina prior to the Revolution.
(VI) Simeon, second son and child of Amos
(2) and Judith (Morse) Abbott, sixth in descent
from George .Abbott, the settler, was born on the
homestead in West Concord, .August 3, 1807, and
died there February 22, 1895. He was educated in
the (Zoncord schools and in the school of Dudley
Leavitt. the almanac maker, at Meredith, New
Hampshire, which he attended when about twenty
years of age. He lived his whole life on the farm
which had been in possession of his family since
the white men acquired titles in Concord. While
a }-oung man he was for some years a successful
teacher in the neighborhood of his "home, and his
services were sought for difficult districts. He al-
ways retained an interest in educational matters,
and for many years was a member of the school
board in West Concord. Mr. Abbott was one of
the most intelligent farmers of his day, and his land
was always kept in a high state of cultivation.
I
I
I
--i^/^g cx^ i^ ^J/Mip^^
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
359
The farm which he inherited jointly with his broth-
er John, who subsequently sold his rights, origi-
nally included about one-third of Rattlesnake Hill,
where the famous Concord granite is quarried. The
sale of this stone placed Mr. Abbott in easy cir-
cumstances. He extensively remodelled the old
house, which was built about 1760, and added new
barns and outbuildings.
Mr. Abbott possessed scholarly tastes, and was
a diligent reader of solid books.. He was well in-
• formed on local history, and enjoyed talking about
early times. In 1889 when the A'fic HaiiipsJiire Pa-
triot issued a special number commemoratmg its
eightieth anniversary, Mr, Abbott was prevailed up-
on to give several columns of reminiscences of his
youth, and the article presents a vivid picture of
social and domestic life in Concord during the
early part of the nineteenth century. Mr. Abbott
was much interested in genealogical matters, and
the records relating to the Abbott and Farnum fani-
ilies in Bouton's History of Concord came frorn his
pen. He always took an interest in public atTairs
and poHtics. and was a Whig until the formation
of the Republican party, which he joined. He was
representative to the New Hampshire Legislature
in 1847 and 1848. and was one of the three select-
men elected in Ward Three at the first election of
officers under the city charter of Concord in 1853.
He was a life long member of the West Parish
Congregational Church, was a strong advocate of
temperance, and was a prominent member of the
Reform Club at West Concord. Mr. Abbott in-
herited some of the best qualities of his Puritan an-
cestors and his death in his eighty-eighth year left
a large place unfilled.
On February 8, 1837, Simeon Abbott married
Mary Farnum, daughter of Simeon and Mary
(Smith) Farnum, of East Concord, New Hamp-
shire, who was born June 25. 18T4, and died March
28, 1898. (See Farnum V). They had ten chil-
dren, of .^whom nine lived to mature years. The
children were : Amos S., Rebecca C, Mary S.,
Abiel C, Calvin F., Stephen F., Louise G., Clara
A., Martha W., and Andrew J. Amos S. is the
subject of the succeeding paragraph. Rebecca
Chamberlain was born August 26, 1839. The eldest
daughter of a large family, she has always been the
mainstay in the home where her whole life has
been spent, and where countless guests have reason
to bless her hospitality. Mary S., born August 26,
1841, is the wife of Fred Chandler (See Chandler,
X). Abial C. is the subject of a later paragraph.
Calvin Farnum, born January 29, 1846, died March
24. 1847. Stephen Farnum, born January it, 1849,
was cut ofif in the prime of young manhood April
26, 1878. Louise Gould was born December 30,
1850. She was educated in the local schools and
at New London Academy, and was a successful
teacher for several years. She married George A.
Capen September 9, 1S74. Most of her married life
was spent in the W'est and she died at Omaha, Ne-
braska, March 19, 1891, leaving seven children.
Clara Ann was born December 20, 1852. For many
years she was organist at the West Concord church,
of which she was a devoted member. Of a gener-
ous, self-sacrificing nature she was greatly beloved
bv all who knew her. Her death occurred April 5,
1905. Martha Warde was born May 3. 1855. She
possessed a sweet and gentle disposition, and was
literally a ministering angel in the home. Her un-
timely death occurred July 9, 1896. Andrew J. re-
feives mention in a later paragraph.
(VH") .Amos Smith, eldest son of Simeon and
Mary (Farnum) Abbott, was born in West Oin-
cord, December 24, 1839. After attending the pub-
lic schools and one term at Hopkinton Academy,
he entered the employ of Joseph Palmer, at the age
of nineteen, and learned the trade of spring maker.
After working at his trade three years, the Civil
war broke out, and he enlisted in Company F, Sec-
ond Regiment United States Volunteer Sharpshoot-
ers. September 28, 1861, and was mustered into ser-
vice with his company November 26, 1861, as a pri-
vate, and was later promoted to corporal. He was
discharged at Concord, February 26, 1863, on ac-
count of disabilities incurred while in service. Re-
turning to West Concord he was employed in the
Holden Mills for a time, and then, 1S64, went to
Concord where he has ever since worked at his
trade, for the Abbott-Downing Company, his term
of service covering a period of forty-two years —
truly an unusually long time for a man to be stead-
ily employed by the same firm at the same trade,
and at the same place. Mr. Abbott is a Republican,
and still votes as he shot in the time of the rebel-
lion. He is a member of Post No. 2, Grand Army
of the Republic, and of the Sons of the Revolution,
and attends the L'nitarian Church. He married in
West Concord, New Hampshire, Harriet A. Wil-
liams, born in Dracut, ]Massachusetts, 1840, died
in Concord, igco. They were the parents of two
children : Hattie P.. born November 30, 1865,
married Arthur Gault, and lives in California ; they
had one child, Enid P. Gault, born July 9, 1888.
Amos Otis, the second child of Amos S. and Har-
riet (Williams) Abbott, was born in Concord, 1878,
and resides in Concord.
(VH) Abial Chandler Abbott, fourth child and
second son of Simeon and !Mary (Farnum) Abbott,
was born October 17, 1843. He attended school
until he was eighteen years old, and then assisted
his father on the farm for the next two years. In
1866 he entered the employ of the Quincy Granite
Railway Company of West Concord, where he re-
mained twenty-three years, and then filled a similar
position in the service of Abijah Hollis for some
years. After w-orking for a time for the Quincy
company he took a place with the New England
Granite Company, which he now fills. In 1872 he
bought a commodious house in West Concord vvhare
he has since lived. He owns a third interest in a
ledge of granite on Rattlesnake Hill which has
never been worked. August 27, 1864. he enlisted in
Company E. First New Hampshire Heavy .Artil-
lery, and served nearly a year in the Army of the
Potomac, chiefly employed in garrison duty about
Washington, and was discharged June 15, 1865.
Mr. .Abbott is a Republican, and has filled the fol-
lowing named offices: Selectman, one term: super-
visor, one term : member of the common council,
two years; member of the legislature, two years.
He was made a Ma-^n in early life, and has since
been a member of Eureka Lodge, No. 70. .Ancient
Free and Accepted Masons. He is a member of
Davis Post, No. 44, Grand Army of the Republic,
the New Hampshire Chapter, Sons of the Ameri-
can Revolution, and of the West Concord Fire Com-
pany. His membership in the last named organiza-
tion covers a period of forty-five years. He has been
a member of the West Parish Congregational Church
for ten years. Abial C. Abbott married, December
25. 1872. JIary Francis, daughter of James and
Sarah (Haggis) Francis, of Lowell, Massachusetts.
They have two children: James, born September
24, 1873, a stone-cutter in Haverhill, Massachusetts,
and Rebecca, born September 27, 1877, graduated
from the Concord High School in 189S, and married
Robert Henry, a silversmith of Concord. They
36o
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
have three children: Arthur F., born July 25, 1900;
Richard Abbott, March 12, 1903; Mary Jeannette,
April 20, 1905.
(VII; Andrew James, tenth and youngest child
of Simeon and JMary (Farnum) Abbott, of the
seventh generation of George Abbot, the immigrant,
was born in West Concord, December 19, 185O, and
educated in the schools of the town until eighteen
years of age. He has always lived on the farm
settled by his forefathers in the Rattle Snake Plain.
Mr. Abbott has tifty acres of the old farm, and is
a successful grain and fruit raiser, and besides his
home place, owns four houses in other parts of the
town. He has had one experience somewhat unique
in New Hampshire agriculture. During the grass-
hopper scourge of 1900, he caught two hundred
bushels of grasshoppers, for which the state paid
him two hundred dollars bounty. He is a Republi-
can, and is interested in public affairs, but not in
politics. He is a member of the West Concord
Congregational Church, of the Sons of the Revolu-
tion, and of the West Concord Fire Company. He
is a social, thrifty man, and unmarried. In his
house, built in 1760, four generations of his an-
cestors have lived and died, and himself and his
sister, Rebecca C. Abbott, are now the sole occu-
pants.
(III) Paul, seventh son and eighth child of
William and Elizabeth (Gray) Abbot, was born
in Andover, March 28, 1697, and died in Pomfret,
Connecticut, May 6, 1752. He was a farmer by
occupation, and moved from Andover to Pomfret
about 1722. He married, February 8, 1720, Eliza-
beth Gray, who died July 9, 1765. Their twelve
children were: Nathan, William, Benjamin, Eliza-
beth (died young), Mar}', Sarah, Isaac, Darius,
Elizabeth, Harriet, Hannah and Asa.
(IV) Darius, fifth son and eighth child of Paul
and Elizabeth (Gray) Abbot, was born in Pomfret,
Connecticut, October 16, 1734, and died in Hills-
boro. New Hampshire, in 1817, aged eighty-three.
He was a farmer and removed from Connecticut
to Amherst, New Hampshire, and later to Hills-
borough. He married, November i, 1757, i\Iary
Holt, and they were the parents of Anna, H*iry,
Elizabeth, Paul, Tryphena, Calvin, Hannah, Luther
(died young), Luther, Mary and Nancy.
(V) Calvin, fourth son and sixth child of
Darius and Mary (Holt) Abbot, was born in Hills-
boro. New Hampshire, April 15, 1771, and died in
Barre, Vermont, August 14, 1841, aged seventy.
He was a farmer all his life, the latter part of which
was spent at Barre. He married Lucy Dutton, of
Hillsboro, born May 16, 1781, died in Barre, Ver-
mont, April IS, 1851, aged seventy. They were the
parents of seven children : John D., Lucy, Betsey,
Calvin, Henry, Almond, and Joel, whose sketch
follows.
(VI) Joel, youngest child of Calvin and Lucy
(Dutton) Abbot, was born in Westmoreland, New
Hampshire, October 4, 1820. At the age of fourteen
he accompanied his parents in their removal to
Barre, Vermont. In 1845, he went to Cambridge,
Massachusetts, where he dealt in ice, until 1861,
when he removed to Maynard, Massachusetts, and
engaged in farming. He continued in this busi-
ness until age and failing health compelled him to
retire from active life. He married (first) May
IS, i8ss, Martha A. Nichols, of Barre, Vermont,
died September, 1855; and (second), April is. 1858,
Maria Bragdon Brown.
(VII) Charles Clemence, son of Joel Abbott,
was born in Assabet, now Maynard, Massachusetts,
November 12, 1861. He was educated in the com-
mon schools of Maynard, arid at Bryant and Strat-
ton's Business College in Boston. He was the
proprietor of a retail grocery store in Maynard for
five years, and then removed to Fitchburg, Massa-
chusetts, where he was employed by C. C. Cross
and Company, wholesale grocers, as a travelling
salesman for five years. In January, 1888, he re-
moved to Keene, New Hampshire, and became senior
partner in a grocery firm. In 1890 Mr. Abbott
bought out his partner's interest and formed the
Abbott Grocery Company, which he successfully,
managed until 1894, when he originated the firm
known as Cross, Abbott & Company, wholesale
dealers in groceries, of White River Junction, Ver-
mont, which has been a prosperous house with a
growing trade from its start until now. Mr. Ab-
bott by strenuous and unceasing activity has suc-
ceeded in life. His fortune is of his own making
and reflects credit on his skill and judgment as a
merchant. His principal financial interest outside of
his business is in the Cheshire National Bank, of
which he is a director. He is a Mason, and a
member of the Wentworth and Monodnock Clubs,
of the former of which he is president. In religious
faith he is a Unitarian. He married Claribel
Burhara.
(II) Benjamin, sixth son and eighth child of
George and Hannah (Chandler) Abbot, was born
December 20, 1661, at Andover, Massachusetts. He
lived on a farm near the Shawshene river, in An-
dover, and was an active, enterprising and respected
citizen. In 1685 he married Sarah, daughter of
Ralph Farnum, one of the early settlers of An-
dover. They had four sons: Benjamin, Jonathan,
whose sketch follows, David and Samuel. Benja-
min Abbott died March 30, 1703.
(III) Jonathan, third son and child of Benja-
min and Sarah (Farnum) Abbott, was born in
September, 1687. In 1713 he married Zerviah, prob-
ably daughter of Nicholas and Mary (Manning)
Holt, of Andover, and they had eight children:
Jonathan, David, Nathan, Mary, Zerviah, Job, Sam-
uel, whose sketch follows, and Jeremiah. Jonathan
Abbott died March 21, 1770.
(IV) Samuel, fifth son and seventh child of
Jonathan and Zerviah (Holt) Abbott, was born
October i, 1727, and settled in Pembroke, New
Hampshire. In 1776 he signed the Association Test.
On July 12, 1749, he married Miriam Stevens and
they had eleven children : Samuel, Ebenezer, Abi-
gail, mentioned below, Judith, Jeremiah, Sarah,
Lydia, Ezra, William, Rachel and Miriam.
(V) Abigail, eldest daughter and third child
of Samuel and Miriam (Stevens) Abbott, was born
at Pembroke, New Hampshire, September 6, 1753.
On April 18, 1791, she married Benjamin Whitte-
more, of Concord, New Hampshire, who was the
third son of Rev. Aaron Whittemore, the first set-
tled minister of Pembroke. (See Whittemore, XV).
(II) Thomas, tenth child and eighth son of
George and Hannah (Chandler) Abbott, was born
May 6, 1666, and died April 28, 1728. He was a
farmer, and lived on the west side of Shawshene
river, Andover, near his brother Benjamin. The
farm remained in his family a century. He was
a strict Puritan, and taught his children to rever-
ence the Sabbath and keep it holy, and to make the
Bible their only rule of faith and practice. He
married, December 7, 1697, Hannah Gray, born
November 30, 1674, died 1763. They had children :
Thomas; Hannah; Edward; Deborah; George;
Zebadiah; Benjamin and Catherine (twins); Aaron,
and Isaac. The average life of the ten children was
fifty-five years.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
361
(III) George, fifth child and third son of
Tlinmas and Hannali (Gray) Abbot, was born No-
vember 7, 1706, and died October 6, 1785, aged sev-
enty-nine. By pnrchasing an original right he be-
came proprietor in the town of "Penny Cook,"
now Concord, New Hampshire, where he settled
as early as 1732. He was a deacon in the First
Congregational Church forty-one years. In 1746
his house was garrisoned for defense against the
Indians. He was enterprising and industrious, be-
nevolent and charitable and was so distinguished
for providence and good sense, that his observations
were for many years cherished by his neiglibors as
maxims for the regulation of their conduct. .\
strict observer of the Sabbath he was constantly
with his family at public worship, and carefully
instructed his children in the various duties o"f life
and in the Christian religion. He married, Febru-
ary I, 1737, Sarah Abbot, born October 6, 171 1. died
June 14, 1769. She was kind and charitable, and
not only relieved the inmiediate wants of the poor,
but gave them advice and instruction, both temporal
and spiritual, to promote their future comfort. She
lived the life of a Christian, and died in the hope
of a glorious immortality. The nine children of
George and Sarah (Abbot) Abbot were: Daniel,
George, Joseph, Samuel, Stephen (died young),
Steplien, Nathan (died young), Nathan and Ezra.
(IV) Daniel, eldest child of George and Sarah
(Abbot) Abbot, was born August 7, 1738, and died
June II, 1804. When a boy he was taken by the
Indians. By engaging with spirit in everything
wliich they considered manly, and spurning all
ihcy considered the drudgery of squaws and unbe-
coming a warrior, he so won their esteem that they
promised to adopt him and make him a chief. After
lie had been some time with them they obtained sev-
eral pairs of skates. He soon perceived they were
unskilled in the use of them, and, having obtained
permission put on a pair of them, appeared to be
as inexperienced in their use as they were, till,
tlieir attention being turned from him, he got behind
a point of land, then, being a good skater, he put
forth all his strength, and neither their shouts nor
balls could stop him; and, though they pursued him,
he escaped. This happened on Lake Champlain.
and having reached the south end of it he found
his way to Albany, and returned to Concord. He
was a good farmer, distinguished for the culti-
vation of fruit, lived in Concord, near the south end
of Long Pond, where his son Nathan K. lived in
TS47. He married (first) Rachel, daughter of Na-
thaniel Abbott, and great-granddaughter of George,
the settler of Andover. (See Nathaniel (2). III).
Their children were: Bcriah, Sarah (died at twelve
years), Samuel, Jeremiah, Daniel (died young),
Daniel, George. Thomas. Abial. Peter. Hazeltine,
Benjamin, Judith and a child not named. He mar-
ried (second) January i, 1789. Mercy Kilburn. and
their children were: Sarah, Hannah. Lois Susan-
nah and Nathan K. (Benjamin and descendants
receive notice in this article.)
(V) Samuel Abbott, second child and eldest
son of Daniel and Rachel (Abbott) Abbot, was
born March 26. 176/1, in Concord, and settled on a
farm on the opposite side of the road from his
father. He was a devout man and was a prosperous
farmer and respected. He passed his entire life in
Concord, where he died December i, 1849. He was
married November 17. 1787. to Mary T. Story, who
was born October 16. 1764, daughter of Jeremiah
and Mary (Burnliam) .Story, of Hopkinton, New
Hampshire. They lived together sixty-two years,
and were separated only three weeks by death, she
passing away at the age of eighty-five years, De-
cember 22, 1849. Their children were: Rachel,
Jere, Polly, Huldah, Joseph S., George D. and Abi-
gail Story.
(VI) Joseph S., second son and fifth child of
Samuel and Mary T. (Story) Abbott, was born
May 28, 1800. in Concord, and died April 10. 1878,
near the close of his seventy-eighth year. He at-
tended the common schools until the age of four-
teen years, when he entered upon a seven years'
apprenticeship at the carpenter's trade, in West
Concord. He became an expert workman and was
employed at his trade in Manchester for a total
of thirteen years. He was industrious and saved
his earnings, and in 1S27 he was able to purchase a
farm on Dimond Hill, in Concord, which is still
in possession of his descendants. One of his con-
tracts was for the construction of a house at Am-
herst for Robert Means, an attorney of that town
and the letter of appreciation and endorsement given
him by Mr. Means is appended hereto:
"Amherst, N. H., Sept. l6th, 1825.
"To Mr. Joseph S. Abbott,
"Sir : Having this evening finished my house
after being in my employ winter and summer you
maj- feel a desire that I should give you some evi-
dence of the opinion time has given me an oppor-
tunity to form of you and your work.
"I assure you, sir, I never sat down to a more
pleasant duty. During the eleven months you have
been in my employ I have never for a moment been
dissatisfied with you. — You have never left your
work for an hour without my permission cheerfully
given, and you have uniformly attended early and
late. — With regard to your work I am satisfied. It
is as good as any man can do with the same ma-
terials.-t-To sum all I would say in one word. You
are the best mechanic and most industrious man I
ever had in my employ in my life, — and you will
always have the best wishes of
"Your obedient servant and friend,
"Robert Me.^ns."
Mr. Abbott was noted for his skill as a mechanic
and besides building houses, he operated a sash and
])lind shop across the road from his house which
is still standing. Here he took lumber direct from
the saw mill and constructed entirely by hand sashes
and blinds during the winter and marketed the
same in the spring when the season of building be-
gan. Mr. Abbott was an attendant of the Congrega-
tional Church, of which his wife was a member,
but suffered deafness so that he could not enjoy the
services in his later years. In politics he was a
Whig, and he was a regular attendant at the town
meetings, but took no further part in politics. He
was married December 24, 1S27, to Esther Farnum,
daughter of Isaac and Hannah (Martin) Farnum,
of Concord (see Farnum, V). She was born No-
vember 2, 1803, and survived her husband more
than twelve years, dying October 15, i8go. They
had two children : Almira F.. the eldest, died un-
married December 2, 1862. The son is the subject
of the succeeding paragraph.
(VII) Isaac Newton, only son of Joseph S. and
Esther (Farnum) Abbott, was born January 4,
1S35, on his father's farm on Dimond Hill, in Con-
cord. He was educated in Hopkinton and New
London. L^pon attaining his majority he finishcil
his studies and returned to the farm, where he has
since resided. This farm, which includes the top
of Dimond Hill, is one of the best in this part of
the country and contains two hundred acres. Since
his father's death Mr. Abbott has remodeled all
the buildings and in 1882 he built a large barn. He
362
NEW HAMrSHIRE.
is affiliated with the North Congregational Church
of Concord. Politically he is of the faith of Lincoln
and Roosevelt. He has represented his ward in
the city cotmcils and in the state legislature; has
heen a justice of the peace forty-five years, and
school district clerk for fifty successive years. For
some years past he has not been active in farming.
He is much employed with settling estates and
other probate work, and constantly handles large
sums belonging to others. Mr. Abbott is a gentle-
man whose appearance and manner invite the confi-
dence and respect of those who meet him. No
citizen of the town has a fairer record than he.
He married, November 26, 1862, Martha Smith
born December 15, i8,?9, in Hopkinton, daughter of
Aaron and Eliza (Sherburne) Smith, .^aron Smith
was born in Hopkinton, September, 1796. and died
in the same town September 19. 1847. Eliza Sher-
burne was born at Portsmouth, June, i, 1802, and
died September 23, 1858, in Hopkinton. 'l"he chil-
dren of Isaac N. and Martha (Smith) Abbott are:
.Almira F.. born October 7, 1864, married Alfred
Clark, a native of White River Junction, Vermont,
who now lives in Concord ; Joseph Newton born
November 18. 1866, married Martha Olive Chase,
March 17, 1S97, cultivates the homestead and con-
ducts a dairy business : Helen Smith, born October
20, 187,3, is unmarried and lives with her parents.
(V) Benjamin, ninth son and tenth child of
Daniel and Rachel (Abbott) Abbot, was born
March 29, 1782 in Concord, and was a shoe maker
in that town. He married Esther, daughter of Na-
thaniel C. Currier, and their children were: Jede-
diah, Nathaniel, Benjamin K., Horace S., Thomas
W., James B. and Wilkes S.
(VI) Thomas W., fifth son and child of Benja-
min and Esther (Currier) Abbott, was born July
4, 1815, and reared in Concord. Soon after his mar-
riage he went to Andover, New Hampshire, and tor
some years tilled a farm on Taunton Hill, in that
town, which he leased. Returning to Concord he
bought a farm of thirty acres at Millville upon
which he lived the remainder of his life, making ad-
ditions until it comprised forty-five acres. He died
March .s, 1884, upon this farm. During most of his
active life he was employed in building , operations.
With one other he framed all the railroad buildings
from Nashua to Concord, inclusive, besides flour
mills at Pembroke and many other buildings in his
section. He was a member of the Methodist Church,
and was an old-line Democrat in jiolitical principle.
He was married, in T841, to Adeline Vent, of Pitts-
field, New Hampshire, who was born October 8,
1818. and died June 22, 1867. She was a daughter
of Charles Vent, a silversmith, who was born and
died in Pittsfield. Following is a brief mention of
their children: Esther Jane is the widow of Na-
thaniel Phillips, and has one son who is a gunner
in the United States navy. Caroline M., widow of
Georee B. Daniels, resides in Jacksonville, Illinois,
and has two daughters. George W., the third, is
the subject of the succeeding paragraph. Mary A.
married James Joy and died at Jacksonville, Illi-
nois, in -1875. Harriet A. resides in Concord, un-
married and Emma A. is a spinster, living in Jack-
sonville. Illinois. Charles F. died before he was
thirteen years of a.ee.
(VII) George Washington, eldest son and third
child of Thomas W. and Adeline -(Vent) Abbott,
was born January 15, 1847, in Andover, New Hamp-
shire, and was reared in Concord. He attended
school until sixteen years of age when he began
to learn the carpenter's trade with E. B. Hutchin-
son, of Concord. He continued with this employer
as apprentice and journeyman until 1895, wlien in
company, with others he formed the Hutchinson
Building Company (a co-partnership) and purchased
the business of Mr. Hutchinson, which has since
been continued with great success. Mr. Abbott
is manager of a department of the work and much
of the firm's prosperity is due to his industry and
sagacious management. He draws most of the
plans used by this concern and the business is con-
stantly grow'ing, including many large contracts.
Mr. Abbott is actively identified with the best inter-
ests of Concord, and he is ever doing his share
in prohioting the progress of his home town. He is
an attendant of the Episcopal Church, and is affiliated
with Rumford Lodge, No. 46, Independent Order of
Odd Fellows, in which he has filled the principal
chairs. In 1889-90 he served as assessor of ward
six. being one of the few Democrats who have ever
been elected in that w^ard. He is fond of shooting
and has few superiors at target practice. His ele-
gant case of rifles is calculated to please the eye
of the sportsman and target shooter. Mr. Abbott
was married September 2. 1874, to Miss Margaret
Wier, of Plattsburg, New York. She was 'a daugh-
ter of James and Betsey Wier, of Beekmantown,
New York, of Scotch birth. She died in October,
1902, leaving two sons : Charles F. and Edward
W. The elder is southern manager for a Boston
mercantile house, and resides in New Orleans. The
latter resides with and assists his father in busi-
ness. He married Blanche Emery, of Concord.
(II) Nathaniel, tenth son and twelfth child
of George and Hannah (Chandler) Abbot, born
July 4, 1671. died in December, 1749, aged seventy-
eight years, was a member of Rev. Thomas Barn-
ard's church, Andover. He married, first, Novem-
ber, 1605, Dorcas Hibbert, who died February 7,
T743. Their ten children were : Nathaniel ; Mary ;
Joseph : Tabitha ; Jeremiah : Joshua : Sarah ; Han-
nah ; Elizabeth: and Rebecca. (Joseph and de-
scendants receive mention in this article.)
(HI) Captain Nathaniel (2), eldest child of
Nathaniel (i) and Dorcas (Hibliert) .-Mibot, was
born in Andover, in 1696, and died at Concord.
New Hampshire, in 1770, aged seventy-four years.
He removed to Penacook (Concord) when about
thirty years of age, and was one of the original
proprietors of the town. His name appears on the
petition to Governor Shute, of Massachusetts, for
the granting of Pennycook, and he was admitted
as one of the uumlier of settlers at the meeting,
February 4, 1725. His house lot was No. 12 second
range wdiere the North Congregational Church now
stands (T855), and he had a house built and his
faniilv therein, October, I7,3i. He was an efficient
man in public aff^airs, and held many offices. March
17. 17.^1. he was chosen one of the assessors, field
driver, and pound keeper: September 14. T732, he
called a meeting of the proprietors of Penacook :
January, 17.^3. he was elected the first constable of
Penacook, also collector: March, 1734, hogrceve and
surveyor of flax and hemp; 1734 and 1737. sur-
veyor of highways; 1737. fence viewer; 1738, sur-
veyor of timber, plank and boards ; also pound
keeper, and surveyor of hemp and flax; 1742 and
1743, surveyor of highways; 1744 and 174.S, Ensign
Nathaniel Abliot was elected fence viewer ; 1747,
Lieutenant Nathaniel Abbot is elected to that office;
1766, tythingman and sealer of weights and meas-
ures and sealer of weights and measures in each of
the four years following. He was prominent in mili-
tary affairs, and in 1746, be was one of the guard in
the garri.son around the house of Lieutenant Jere-
miah Stickney. One account says: "In 1746, he
-•-^^^,^^1.^?.^^ <:^^ ^i^5^^-z^^^:5--—
I
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
363
had command of a company in defense of Concord
against the Indians." At the commencement of the
French war (1744) he entered the service, and
joined the rangers under Major Robert Rogers. He
held a lieutenant's commission in 1755 in Captain
Joseph Eastman's company, in the expedition against
Crown Point, and was a lieutenant in Captain Rich-
ard Roger's company of rangers at Fort William
Henry at the time of the massacre, 1757. JMoorc, in
his "Annals of Concord," says : "He was at the
capture of Cape Breton, in 1745; was subsequently
in many sanguinary conflicts on the northern
frontier; and endured almost incredible hardships."
"He was a brave and useful officer." Bouton, in
the "History of Concord," says: "He was an
efficient, enterprising, useful citizen, and member of
the church." "There is a tradition that he came
near losing his life by falling through the ice on
Long Pond, in chase of a deer; but saved himself
by sticking his hatchet so far into the ice as to
get a hold, and then raised himself out." He mar-
ried, December 4, 1726, Penelope Ballard, and they
were the parents of the following children : Na-
thaniel; Dorcas; Rebecca; Elizabeth; Mary; Han-
nah ; Ruth ; Joshua ; Rachel ; Jeremiah ; Dorothy ;
and Sarah. (Captain Joshua and descendants re-
ceive extended mention in this article.)
(IV) Nathaniel (3), eldest child of Captain
Nathaniel (2) and Penelope (Ballard) Abbot, born
March 10, 1727, died February 19, 1806, aged seventy-
nine, was a farmer in Concord. He married, 1749,
Miriam Chandler, of Dunstable, who died Janu-
ary 24, 181 1, aged eighty-two. Their children were:
Nathaniel Chandler, Moses, Joseph, Phillip, Joshua,
Susanna, Phebe, Levi and David.
(V) Levi, eighth child and seventh son of
Nathaniel and Miriam (Chandler) Abbot, born in
Concord, September 2t„ 1767, and died December
15, 1825, was a farmer on his father's homestead.
He married (first), July 10, 1791, Elsie Moar, who
died in April, 1795, leaving one child, Ann; aiid
(second), October 6, 1795, Mary Carter, daughter
of Joseph Carter. She died September 24, 1840.
The children of this marriage were : Joseph C.,
Charles, Aaron, Alice, Mary C, Ira. Eliza, Hannah
J., Susan G., Clara C. and Ruth W.
(VI) Aaron, third son and child ef Levi and
Mary (Carter) Abbot, was born September 28,
1799. He married, October 5, 1824, Nancy Badger,
and they were the parents of nine children : Joseph,
C, .\nn Mary, Elizabeth H., Sarah J. H., George
D., Edward M., Susan F., Ellen S., and Alice A.
(VII) Ellen Sherwood Abbot, eighth child and
fifth daughter of Aaron and Nancy (Badger) .\bbot,
born November 15. 1840, married, March 18, 186,3,
William M. Chase (see (Zhase, XII).
(IV) Captain Joshua, eighth child and second
son of Captain Nathaniel and Penelope (Ballard)
Abbot, born February 24, 1740, died ^larch, 1S15,
aged seventy-rive, always had his home at Concord
and was a farmer. The home built by his father was
his residence.
Two companies of militia were organized at
Concord, in 1774, and Joshua Abbot was conmiis-
sioned captain of one of them, February 21st of that
year. When the report of the battle of Lexington
came. Captain Abbot commanded one of the three
companies from Concord and the vicinity which
responded and shared in the glory of the battle of
Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775. Tradition says that Cap-
tain Abbot's company was stationed at the extreme
left, without even the slight protection afforded by
the double rail fence stuffed with hay, enjoyed by
most of the regiment. Captain .^bbot had command
of a company which enlisted for eight months after
the battle of Bunker Hill, and marched to join the
Continental army in New York. He also com-
manded a company in Colonel Gerrish's regiment,
"which marched from Concord and towns adjacent
-to reinforce the Northern Continental army at
Saratoga, September, 1777." "He was a courageous
man, respected for his good sense and integrity."
He and his wife were worthy members of the Congre-
gational Church. He married Elizabeth Chandler,
of Bradford, who died May zy, 1812, aged seventy-
three. Their children were: Nathaniel, who died
young; Nathaniel; Betsey; Sarah; John; Joshua.
(V) Rev. Joshua (2), youngest child of Joshua
(l) and Elizabeth (Chandler) Abbot, was born
at Concord, December 8, 1782, and died September
28, 1824. He was a prominent young man, and
was a captain of the cavalry company. Eleventh
Regiment New Hampshire Militia, June 21, 1814;
re-appointed July 3, 1817; appointed major of the
Second Battalion November 5, 1819; appointed lieu-
tenant-colonel. May 19, 1820. and resigned August
17, 1820. "He became a member of the First Con-
gregational Church in 1814, and turned his attention
to the study of theology, although he had not the
advantage of a public education. Licensed to preach
by the Deerrield Association of Ministers, he went
to the south in 1820 for the benerit of his health,
and resided at Norfolk, Virginia, where he con-
ducted a school on the Lancasterian system, and
preached the gospel in the vicinity, as opportunities
offered. He died of fever after a short sickness.
He was a maij of ainiable spirit, gentle and con-
ciliatory manners ; modest, upright, and devout. He
married, November 6, 1808, Eliza (or Betsey) Kim-
ball, daughter of Lieutenant Phineas Kimball (see
Kimball, VI ), and they were the parents of seven
children: Joshua K.; John S. ; Ann M. ; Sarah
D. ; Charles H., died young; Charles H. ; and Na-
thaniel P.
(VI) .Ann M., third child and eldest daughter
of Rev. Joshua and Eliza (Kimball) .Abbot, born at
Concord, October 21, 1813, married January 25 (?),
1842, Stephen H. Parker, of .Andovcr, Massachu-
setts (see Parker, VII).
(III) Joseph, third son and fourth child of
Nathaniel (i) and Dorcas (Hibbert) Abbot, was
born February 2, 1705, and died .August 23, 1787.
He lived with his father while in .Andover, and
moved to Wilton, New Hampshire, about 1776,
and died there at the age of eight}'-two years.
He was deacon of the church and a man of great
simplicity of manner and sound piety. For many
years he tuned the song, while his cousin, Deacon
Isaac -Abbot, read it line by line. He was married,
.August 12, 1731. to Deborah Blanchard, who died
in July, 1773. Their children were: Deborah (died
young), Joshua (died young), Bathsheba, Nathaniel
died young), Joshua, Deborah and Joseph (twins),
the former 'Rorn July 15, 1740, and the latter on the
i5th. died young; .Anna. Joseph (2), Hannah, Jo-
seph, Jacob, Dorcas. Obadiah, Nathaniel and Re-
becca.
(IV) Joseph (2), fifth son and ninth child of
Joseph (i) and Deborah (Blanchard) Abbott, was
born .April 2, 1744. and died 1792 of a cancer. He
was a farmer in .Andover, Massachusetts, and Wil-
ton and Nelson, New Hampshire. He married Mary
Baker, and they were the parents of : Joseph,
Joshua, Jaines, Israel, Molly, Lucy and Jedediah.
(V) Molly, elder daughter of Joseph (2) and
Mary (Baker) .Abbott, was born June 18, 1773.
She became the wife of Levi Warren, of Nelson,
New Hampshire, and they lived in Alstead. His
3^4
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
death was caused by an accident, as by mistake he
drank dissolved pearlash. Their children were :
Polly, Betsey (died young) and Betsey.
(VI) Betsey, third daughter and child of Levi
and Molly (Abbott) Warren, was born February
21, 1794, and was married December 13, 1821, to
Elisha Smith, herdsman and farmer of Alstead,
New Hampshire (see Smith, II).
The Abbott family of this sketch is
ABBOTT probably descended from George
Abbot, the progenitor of nearly all
the Abbotts of New England.
(I) Joseph Brown Abbott, son of Daniel Ab-
bott, was born in Surry, New Hampshire, August
II, 1835, and died in Keene, New Hampshire, Janu-
ary 16, 1892. He taught school in early manhood,
and during the war of the rebellion was with the
sanitary commission at Washington, D. C. After
the war he was in the lumber business in Richmond,
New Hampshire. For many years he was chairman
of the county commissioners of Cheshire county.
In 1876 he was appointed by President Hayes as
agent of the Ute Indian tribe of Colorado. After
serving in this capacity for some time, he was com-
pelled to resign on account of ill health. In 1S80
he settled in Keene, New Hampshire, and had an
office in the Court House. He was re-elected county
commissioner, and had the settlement of a large
number of estates. In 1881 he was appointed
special police justice of the city. He was a member
of the Philesian Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted
Masons, of Winchester, New Hampshire. He was
married to Lydia Cole JMartin, who bore him two
children: Florence, born July 17, 1865, and Leon
M. Florence married Dr. Edwin E. Davis, a dent-
ist, and lives in Quincy, Massachusetts.
(H) Leon Martin, son of Joseph B. and Lydia
Cole (Martin) Abbott, was born in Richmond, New
Hampshire, August 28, 1867. After graduating from
the Keene high school, he entered the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology in the fall of 1885 intending
to tit himself as a mining engineer. After taking his
freshman year at technology, he decided to study
law, and w-ent to Harvard University and took
special courses preparatory to entering the Harvard
Law School. He entered the law school in 1887
and finished his course there in June, 1890. In 1891
he returned to Harvard to take some courses in
history. In January, i8gi, he was admitted to the
Suffolk county bar in Boston and soen afterwards
formed a partnership with Elmer E. Rideout, under
the firm name of Rideout & Abbott. This partner-
ship relation continued until January i, 1901. when
Mr. Abbott and Frank N. Nay became law partners
under the title of Nay & Abbott. In September,
1906, Ex-Governor John L. Bates entered tlie firm,
which has since been Bates, Nay & Abbott, and
is one of the leading law firms in Boston.
Mr. Abbott entered the practice of law well
prepared to succeed, and from the day he started
until the present time, he has given his best ener-
gies and most painstaking work to his profession.
By the use of the ability with which nature liberally
endowed him, he has succeeded in attaining a high
position at the bar. He was offered an appointment
to the bench, but preferring the practice of the law
to the honors of judicial office, he declined the ap-
pointment. He is a thirty-third degree Mason ; a
member of Columbia Lodge, Ancient Free and Ac-
cepted Masons, of which he has been worshipful
master, St. Paul's Royal Arch Chapter, Boston
Council of Royal and Select Masters. Boston Com-
mandery of Knights Templar, and Massachusetts
Consistory. He is also a member of the First
Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, and for sev-
eral years has been a member of its financial com-
mittee, a director of the American Invalid Aid So-
ciety, and a member of the City Club. In politics
he is a Republican. He married, April 19, 1894,
Florence ?ilay Tallman, daughter of William C.
Tallman, of Boston.
(Second Family.)
The family herein traced seems to be
ABBOTT entirely independent of those which
w^ere founded chiefly in Andover,
Massachusetts, and have numerous representatives
in New Hampshire.
(I) Walter Abbott was a vintner and was prob-
ably in Exeter, New Hampshire, as early as 1640.
He first appears on the records of Portsmouth on
April 5, 1652, when he was one of the twenty-two
settlers to sign an agreement regarding the distribu-
tion of land and other arrangements for the gov-
erning of the settlement. He was assigned a one-
acre lot, and on this he built a log house which is
mentioned in the inventory of his estate in 1667. He
was made freeman July 14, 1657. On January 22,
1661, the townsmen assigned him ninety-nine acres.
On this date there were ninety-one other settlers,
and of these only eleven received more land than lie
did. He was evidently a substantial citizen, pos-
sessed of soine means. On January 8, 1663, he
sold a log house and lot near the meeting house
and Strawberry Bank, for which he received one
hundred nineteen pounds, fifteen shillings and one
and one-half pence. He received unanimous consent
of the town January i, 1657, to keep an ordinary
or tavern. He was highway surveyor in 1658, a
member of the proprietorship committee in 1660
and 1664, and was selectman in the latter year.
In 1658 he subscribed fifteen shillings for the sup-
port of the minister. He may have engaged in
shipping enterprises as it is stated that he died in
"Jamaniaica" before 1675. The inventory of his
estate was made in 1667, which would indicate that
he died a long time before 1675. His widow. Sarah,
married (second) Henry Sherburne, of Portsmouth.
Walter Abbott's will was dated May 16. 1667, and
was probated June 26, following, his wife being
named as executrix. She received his entire per-
sonal estate and was to pay all legacies and debts.
The inventory of his estate is dated June 18, 1667,
and consisted practically of one hundred and fifty-
five acres of land with buildings including one log
and two other houses, the total value being one
thousand four hundred thirty-three pounds, three
shillings and eight pence. He had eight children,
namely : Peter, Sarah, Thomas, William, Walter,
Mary. John and Elizabeth.
(II) Walter (2), third son and fourth child
of Walter (i) and Sarah Abbott, was born about
1647. and was a resident of Portsmouth, where
he died before 1709. There is but little record con-
cerning him, and the will of his son is all that
gives any clew to the fact that he had sons.
(III) John, son of Walter (2) Abbott, was
probably born in Portsmouth and was a yeoman re-
siding in that town. His will is dated March 19,
1722, and his estate was administered by his son
John. The inventory of his estate which was made
September 25, 1722, mentioned one hundred si.xty-
seven pounds, six shillings and one penny. There is
a record of his marriage, but it was probably a
second marriage and occurred July 20, 1718, the
bride being i\Iary Hepworth, of Newington, New
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
365
Hampshire, formerly of Ireland. His children born
in Portsmouth were : John, James, Abigail, Walter,
Rheuben, Sarah, Ruth and Anna.
(IV) John (2), eldest child of John (.1) Ab-
bott, was born in Portsmouth before 1700. He is
mentioned in old deeds as a tisherman, and the
records show that he sold considerable lands in
Portsmouth, indicating that he was a substantial
citizen. His will was dated June 22, 1764, and pro-
bated April 6, 1768. He had seven children born
in Portsmouth, namely : John, Lydia, Joseph, Anna,
Lucy, Elizabeth and Margaret.
(V) John (3), eldest child of John (2) Ab-
bott, was born in Portsmouth about 1720. In early
life he followed the sea, but soon settled down to
farming in South Berwick, Maine, where he died
at the close of a long life. The family tradition
states that he had five sons who served in the
Revolutionary armj'.
(VI) John (.4), son of John (3) Abbott, was
born August 3, 1758, in South Berwick. !Maine,
and before he was nineteen years of age had enlisted
three times in the Revolutionary ariny. After the
close of the war, he settled in what is now North
Berwick, Maine, on a tract of fifty-eight acres, which
he cleared and continued to till until his death,
which occurred May, 1837. The maiden name of his
wife was Twombly, and their children were : Hull,
George, John, James and Polly.
(VII) George, son of John (4) Abbott, went
from Berwick, Maine, or its neighborhood, to Os-
sipee. New Hampshire, early in the nineteenth cen-
tury. He was a farmer and he and his brother set-
tled on adjoining tracts of land. George Abbott
married Betsey Guptill, of Berwick, and they had
nine children, of whom three, two sons and one
daughter, lived to grow up. One of the sons was
George (2) Abbott, whose sketch follows.
(VIII) George (2), son of George (l) and
Betsey (Ciuptill) Abbott, was born in Ossipee, New
Hampshire. _He was educated in the common
schools, was a farmer all his life, was a Republi-
can in politics from the birth of the party, and at-
tended the JNIethodist Church. George (2) Abbott
married Phebe Jane Graves, daughter of Abram
and Phebe (Dennett) Graves, of Tuftonborough,
New Hampshire. Her father, i\bratn Graves, was
the first white male child born in Tuftonborough,
and lived and died in that town. He and his wife
reared a large family, of whom twelve children
lived to grow up. The father of Abram Graves was
a Revolutionary soldier, who took part in the
battle of Bunker Hill, was captured bj the British,
but afterward escaped. George (2) and Phebe
Jane (Graves) Abbott had two children. Sylvester
G., and Sewall W., whose sketch follows. Syl-
vester G. Abbott was born July 4. 1853, at Tufton-
borough. He attended the common schools of Os-
sipee, the private school of Augustus A. Richards,
at Os-^iipee and Tamworth, was graduated from
Bryant & Slratton's Business College in Chicago,
and in 1884 from the Union College of Law in
that city. He is now a member of the firm of Tatge,
Abbott & Koepke, attorneys of Chicago. He is a
Republican in politics and takes an active interest in
the questions of the day. In October, 1884, Syl-
vester G. Abbott married Margaret Reese, of Chi-
cago, and they have five children : Gertrude, Jessie,
Sewall W., Mildred and Florence.
(IX) Sewall Wester, second son of George
(2) and Phebe Jane (Graves) Abbott, was born
at Tuftonborough, New Hampshire, April 11, 1859.
He was educated in the common schools of Ossipee,
New Hampshire, attended the private school of
Augustus A. Richards, at Tamworth, and studied
under Tutor Albra Fogg; in 1878 he was graduated
from Hebron Academy, Hebron, Maine, and was
afterward graduated from the Union College of Law
(Northwestern University and Chicago University)
at Chicago. While pursuing his education he worked
on the farm, in a store and in mills, and learned
telegraphy under W. C. Sinclair, at Ossipee. In
order to prosecute his law studies, he worked for
the Eastern railroad as telegraph operator, also
as spare station agent and station baggage master.
Sewall W. Abbott practiced in Chicago one year, and
then returned to his native state in pursuit of health,
which he regained, and began the general practice
of law in Wolfboro, December 15, 1885. He was
admitted to the United States court at Portsmouth,
New Hampshire, in May, 1S90, and to the Massachu-
setts bar in 1894. He was appointed judge of pro-
bate for Carroll county on December 18, 1889, and
confirmed on December 27, of that year, and has
held the office ever since. Judge Abbott is a di-
rector in the Wolfboro Woolen ilills at South
Wolfboro, and is president of the board of trustees
of the Huggins Hospital at Wolfboro. He has been
a member of the board of trustees of the Brewster
Free Academy at Wolfboro for thirteen years, and
in June, 1907, was re-elected for a full term of seven
years. Judge Abbott is a Republican in politics, and
served as moderator, 1896-98, was re-elected in 1900
and has served ever since; his present term expires
in November, 1908. He was elected county solicitor
in igo2 and 1904, served two full terms, and has
also acted as county auditor. His position as
judge of probate bars him from nearly all elective
offices at the present time, ever if his other interests
were not too extensive to permit his holding such
offices. He attends the Unitarian Church, and in
March, 1907, was elected a member of the school
board for three years. Judge Abbott is prominent
in fraternal organizations. On April 11, 1881, he
was made master Mason in Ossipee Valley Lodge,
No. 74, Ancient Free and Accepted ^lasons, at
Moultonville (Ossipee), New Hampshire. In 1887
he was admitted to membership in ]\Iorning Star
Lodge, No; 17, at Wolfboro. He was made a
senior warden in 1888, master in 1889, R. W. G. L.
in 1890 and 1891, D. D. G. M. in 1892 and 1893, and
was a member of the standing committee for ten
years or more. On July 31 he became a member
of Carroll Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, of Wolf-
boro, and held the office of principal sojourner and
king, and declined further advancement on account
of lack of time. He is a representative of Grand
Lodge of Illinois near the Grand Lodge of New
Hampshire, and has been for ten years. Judge
Abbott was one of the first members of Fidelity
Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, institu-
ted in March, 1887, was conductor for two terms,
and declined to be considered for any further
office. He is a member of Ossipee Tribe, Improved
Order of Red Alen, and also of Lake Shore Grange,
Wolfboro. and is an active supporter of the latter
organization. Judge Abbott belongs to Pilgrim
Commandery, Knights Templar, of Laconia, and to
Warren Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star, at
Wolfboro, and was worthy patron of the latter
society for one term. He is a member of Myrtle
Rcbekah Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows,
at Wolfboro, and an honorary member of jlames
R. Newell Post, Grand Army of the Republic, of
the same place. He belongs to the New Hampshire
Club of Boston, l^Iassachusetts, and to the Kings-
wood Club of Wolfboro. He is a firm believer in
secret societies, especially in those with which he
366
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
is affiiliated, and thinks the world would be better
for having more of them.
On June 19, 1893, at Boston, Massachusetts,
Judge Sewall Wester Abbott married Mrs. Elma
(King) Hodsdon, daughter of Dr. Rufus H. and
Lizzie (Wedgewood) King, of Wolfboro. Mrs. Ab-
bott's father was a practicing physician and surgeon
for more than half a century; was a member of the
board of pension examiners for many years ; and of
the board of health at Wolfboro; and also conducted
a drug store in that place ; and was one of the
oldest and ablest physicians in the county, and most
highly esteemed in the town.
The Abbott family is a very numer-
ABBOTT ous one, and there were no less than
six immigrants bearing the name.
Many descendants of two of these pioneers, George
Abbott, of Andover, and George Abbott, of Rowley,
Massachusetts, appear in this work. As Ossipee
was settled chiefly from the Piscataqua region, there
is little doubt that the following family is descended
from Walter Abbott.
(I) Nathan Abbott was a farmer living in
Ossipee, New Hampshire, for several years after
the Revolution. He married JMargaret Locke, who
was a native of Vermont. Among their children
was Samuel P., mentioned below.
(H) Samuel P., son of Nathan and Margaret
(Locke) Abbott, was born at Shapleigh, iNIaine, a
few miles east of Ossipee, New Hampshire. He
married, and among their children was Jacob, men-
tioned below.
(HI) Jacob, son of Samuel P. and Margaret
Abbott, was born at Ossipee, New Hampshire, Oc-
tober 6, 1828. At the age of nine years he went
to live on the farm of William J. Furbush at Leba-
non, this state, where he remained till he was
twenty-one, after which he learned the shoemaker's
trade, which he pursued at various places, among
them Haverhill, Massachusetts. In August, 1862,
he enlisted in Company K, Ninth New Hampshire
Volunteers, for three years. Just before the battle
of Antietam, which occurred on September 17 of
that year, and during the engagement at South
Mountain, he was severely wounded and taken to
the hospital at Newark, New Jersey, where he was
honorably discharged on account of disability. The
following month he re-enlisted and served to the
end of the war, though he never recovered from the
wound of 1862, which ultimately caused his death.
On April 15, 1858, Jacob Abbott married Harriet
N. Fernald, daughter of John V. and Sally
Trickey (Ricker) Fernald, who was born at Os-
sipee, New Hampshire, JNIay 19, 1841. (See Fer-
nald, HL) Eight children were born to them, all
in Ossipee: Lyford A., March I, 1859; Almon F.,
whose sketch follows; George H., ;March 23. 1865;
William G., March 7, 1S67; Anna May, November
21, 1868; Katie Eva, December 22, 1872; Sarah Fran-
ces, and Jacob N., September 9. 1880. Lyford A.,
the eldest child, married Etta M. Ward, of Freedom,
New Hampshire, and they had six children ; Guy
L., George E., Ray M., Harry, Wade and Hattie
M. George H., the third child, married Jennie B.
Champion, of Effingham, this state, on March 5,
1887, and they had two children: Myron L., who
died in infancy, and Bessie M., born September 16,
1893. William G., the fourth child, married Grace
Williams, of Ossipee, on February 22. 1902. Anna,
May, the fifth child, was married to Leonard R.
Nutter, of Ossipee, on June 17, 1889. Katie Eva,
the sixth child, was married on August 31, 1891.
to Charles H. Brown, and they have one child liv-
ing. Bernard Wilson; their twins died in infancy.
Sarah Frances, the seventh child, married Charles
A. Thompson, of Tuftonborough. Jacob Abbott, the
father, died October 15, 1880, at the age of fifty-
two years, leaving a family of eight children, of
whom the youngest was only five weeks old.
(IV) Almon Fernald, second son and child
of Jacob and Harriet N. (Fernald) Abbott, was
born at Ossipee, New Hampshire, May 31, 1862. He
attended the- public schools of his native town,
and at the age of sixteen left home to become
a tailor's pressman. He worked at the tailoring
business for twelve years, or until he developed
an ambition to start for himself in mercantile
business. In 1889 Mr. Abbott built his present
home at Ossipee, and in 1893 he erected the com-
modious store where he has conducted a con-
stantly increasing business. He was appointed post-
master under President McKinley, which position
he still retains. In politics he is a staunch Republi-
can, but his sterling worth is best shown by the
fact that in a strongly Democratic county he has
been twice elected represenative, serving in 1903
and again in 1907. He attends the Free Baptist
Church. Mr. Abbott is a man of fine personality,
and it is easily seen why he stands so high in the
public regard. On April 28, 1888, Almon Fernald
Abbott married ^Nlary A. Dore, daughter of Herman
R. and Sarah E. (Dore), who was born at Ossipee,
June 14, 1862. They have two children : Ethel F.,
born JNIarch 6, 1890: and Clifford A., born June 12,
1896, died July 13, 1897.
(I) Benjamin Abbott resided in Ossipee. His
children were: John. Charles, Benjamin F., Re-
becca and Sarah.
(II) Benjamin P., son of Benjamin Abbott,
was born in Ossipee, July 21, 1808, and died in
Ossipee, aged sixty-one years. He was a black-
smith by trade and resided at Ossipee. September
25, 1832, he married Zorada Wiggin, who was born
in Tuftonborough, August i, 1812. and died in Os-
sipee, August 7, 1855, daughter of Mark and Hul-
dah (Swett) Wiggin, (See Wiggin, II). Their chil-
dren were : Charles Wesley, mentioned below ;
Harriston Russell, born October 21, 1838, died
February 21, 1900; and Benjamin F., born Janu-
ary 5. 1845.
(III) Charles Wesley, eldest son of Benjamm
F. and Zorada (Wiggin) Abbott, was born in
Somersworth, November 16, 1833. In his ninth
year he attended school a short time at Wolf-
borough Falls. When he was eleven years of age
his father removed to Ossipee, and Charles W.
afterward worked at various occupations in the
years following. He worked on a farm six months
at seven dollars a month, and at another time six
months at eight dollars a month. In 1855 he^ was
employed by William Hemiston to work in a livery
stable. He was employed in various ways until
April 7, 1858, when he began employment on the
Great Falls & Conway road. The train on which
he was employed ran between Union Village and
Somersworth, twenty miles. In those days there
were no brakes but hand brakes and they needed
frequent attention, and in addition to the care of
them he had to handle freight and baggage, help
to load the tender with wood, and keep the baggage
and passenger cars clean. For a time he was also
employed on what was called the "Naval train"
which' run between and Portsmouth. In
1866 he succeeded George Beecham, deceased, as
conductor, and from that time until the present has
filled that place. For twenty-seven years he had
charge of the express train on the White Mountain
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
2,^7
division of the Boston & Maine. For a number of
years he has been conductor on a train between
Wolfborough and Sanbornville and Dover. He has
been in the train service of the road fifty years, and
during all that time his trains have been so care-
fully run as never to have had an accident of a
serious nature, and very few mishaps of any kind.
He is a man of genial nature, a friend to all and
liked by every one, and by careful attention to
business has made a record equalled by few. He
owns the old home in Ossipee and property in Union
Village, but resides in Wolfboro. From the time
the party put its first candidate for president in the
field, Mr. Abbott has been a Republican. He cast
his first presidential vote for General Fremont in
1856. He has never held nor sought an office. He
has never married. At the age of sixty-eight years
\ii was made a Mason in Wolfboro, and is now a
member of i\Iorning Star Lodge, No. 17. Free and
Accepted Masons ; Wolfborough Royal Arch Chap-
ter, No. 2T, ; Pilgrim Commandery, Knights Templar,
Laconia ; and Chapter, Xo. 10, Order of the Eastern
Star.
Joseph S. Abbott, late of Dover, New
ABBOTT Hampshire, was born in Kennebunk,
Maine, in l8^g, and died in Dover,
February 13, 1901, having completed the allotted
three score and ten years of life's span. He was a
son of and Charlotte (Sanborn) Abbott,
and grandson of Maturin and Polly (Lord) Abbott.
The family is of English descent. Abbott
(father) was born in Shapleigh, Maine, October II,
1804, and his wife was born in Waterboro, Maine,
May 8, 1796. Joseph S. Abbott was a young man
when he went to live in Dover, and by trade was
a stone mason. Having worked some years as a
journeyman he laid aside his trade and found work
in a carpet factory, and later, having gained some
means, he invested in an ice business and carried
it on in connection with general teaming, coii-
tinuing both with good success until the time of
his death. During his long residence in Dover Mr.
Abbott was actively identified with public aft'airs,
and was one of the leaders of the Republican party
in that city, with many warm friends in the ranks
of the Democratic party. He was frequently elected
to office and gave efficient service in whatever po-
sition he was chosen to fill. He served as mem-
ber of the council and also of the board of alder-
men, was city marshal in 1870, chief of the fire
department from 1883 to 18S6, and in 1,890-91 repre-
sented ward three of the city of Dover in the state
legislature. In fraternal circles he was an Odd
Fellow of excellent standing in the lodge, encamp-
ment and canton, and also held membership in the
Knights of Pythias and the Improved Order of
Red Men.
Mr. Abbott married Delia, daughter of Wil-
liam Brownell, and by her had seven children :
Belle, married William R. Vickery, of Lewiston,
Maine. Samuel B.. now of Dover. Charles, de-
ceased. Grace, died in infancy. Grace, the second
child so named, now deceased. Mary, died young.
Moses, died young.
Samuel B. Abbott, son and younger of the two
surviving children of Joseph S. and Delia
(Brownell) Abbott, was born in Dover, New Hamp-
shire, August 15. i860, and after receiving his edu-
cation in the public schools began business with his
father, continuing until the death of the latter and
then succeeding to the proprietorship. His occupa-
tion is that of ice dealer and contractor. Like his
father before him, he too is an active figure in
Republican circles in Dover, and has served as mem-
ber of both branches of the city government. He is
an Odd Fellow, member of the lodge, encampment
and canton, and also of the Grange.
Mr. Abbott married, October 11, 1887, Edna B.
Durgin, born July 22, 1869, daughter of Albert F".
and Almira (Wentworth) Durgin, and granddaugh-
ter of Lyman P. and Comfort (Simpson) Durgin.
Mr. and lilrs. Abbott have one daughter. Gertrude
B. Abbott, born in Dover, September 9, 1888.
This is a very old family in New
LOVERING England, but seems not to have
been a very prolific one, and the
records pertaining to it are extremely meagre and
disconnected. Enough has been discovered, how-
ever, to give a reasonable assurance of the line
herein traced, although there is no documentary evi-
dence of the connection all the way through.
(I) John Lovering was early at Ipswich, Mass-
achusetts, whence he removed to Dover, New Hamp-
shire, and was there made freeman in 1657. He
held land on the west side of the Piscataqua river,
near Salmon Falls. He was drowned in 1668. and
his widow married Ezekiel Knight. Her Christian
name was Esther, and among their children was
John.
(II) John (2), son of John (i) and Esther
Lovering, was bound out after the death of his
father for a period of ten years, to Abraham Tilton,
a carpenter, of Ipswich, and acquired his trade.
After attaining his majority, he sold the land
granted to his father, near Salmon Falls, to Thomas
Abbott. He was known in Ipswich as "John Love-
well of the Piscataqua," owing to his name having
been so written in the indenture made by himself,
his mother and step-father, and Abraham Tilton.
This is dated April 4. 1672. He was married in
Ipswich, to Hannah Kilham, daughter .of David
Kilhani, and had at least five sons, namely : John,
of Ipswich ; Ebenezer. of Hampton Falls ; Joseph
and Daniel, of Exeter; and Benjamin, who died un-
married in Exeter.
(III) Daniel, son of John (2) and Hannah
(Kilham) Lovering, was born about 1693-95, and
was married at Exeter, December 25, 1724, to Mary
Sylla (probably Cilley), and they had children: Abi-
gail, and John, who is presumably the next in line
of descent.
(IV) John (3), son of Daniel and Mary (Sylla)
Lovering, was born in 1727. Record of land titles
shows that John Lovering. of Kensington, purchased,
December 5, 1755, from Reulien Sanborn, of Ports-
mouth, land in Chichester. There is also a convey-
ance of land in the same town from Samuel Sleeper
to John Lovering, of Rye. He probably lived in
early life in both Rye and Kensington, and ulti-
mately settled in Chichester. No record can be
found of his marriage.
(V) Simeon, supposed to be a son of John (3)
Lovering. was born in 1752. and lived in Chichester,
New Hampshire, in 1766. He was a soldier of the
Revolution from that town, serving in Captain Rich-
ard Weare's company. He was also in Captain
Isaac Frye's company of the Third New Hampshire
Regiment, from January, 1780, to January i, 1781,
as a private. In the last named year he was in a
company commanded by Captain Joshua Woodman,
in Colonel Raynold"s regiment, of New Hampshire
Militia. After the Revolution he lived in Corinth,
Vermont, and about 1819. moved from the town to
Quechce. same state, where he died in 1837. He
368
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
was married, December 7, 1773, to Sarah Sanborn,
of Chichester, who was born 1754, a daughter of
Reuben (2) Sanborn, and granddaughter of Reuben
(i), who was a son of John Sanborn, of Hampton.
(See Sanborn, II).
(VI) John (4), son of Simeon and Sarah (San-
born) Lovering, was born November 30, 1781, prob-
ably in Chichester, and lived in Corinth, Vermont,
removing thence to Quechee, probably at the same
time w'ith his father, and died in that town. He
married Sarah Porter Pease, who was a descendant
of Christopher Pease, one of the earliest settlers of
Hartford, Vermont.
(VII) John Leonard, son of John (4) Lovering,
was born June 26. 1809, in Quechee, Vermont. Mr.
Lovering was a man of liberal education, and for
many years a school teacher. He studied medicine
at Woodstock (Vermont), Medical College, but
never practiced. He was selectman of Quechee for
many years ; member of constitutional convention,
1850. Pie was a well-known horticulturist, being
many years one of the directors of Connecticut
River Fair Association, and president of Windsor
County (Vermont) Fair Association. Most of his
life was spent on the old Lovering homestead in
Quechee, Vermont. In 1861 he and his family re-
moved to Faribault, Minnesota, where he died Oc-
tober 22, 1862. Two children : Leonard Austin
Lovering and Anna Tyler Lovering.
(VIII) Leonard Austin, son of John L. and
Ellen A. (Tyler) Lovering, was born in Quechee,
Vermont, November 13, 1854. After his father's
death in Faribault, Minnesota, he returned to Clare-
mont, New Hampshire, where he was educated in
the public schools, being a member of Stevens high
school, class of 1873, which he left to enter the
United States Military Academy, West Point, New
York, being appointed cadet in 1872 ; he graduated
in 1876, and was commissioned second lieutenant of
the Fourth L^nited States Infantry. Promoted to
first lieutenant in 1885 and captain in 1893 in the
same regiment; promoted major of the Twenty-
ninth United States Infantry, 1901. He was com-
missioned major of the Thirtieth United States In-
fantry Volunteers. 1899 : promoted to lieutenant-
colonel of the same regiment, 1901, and mustered
out of the volunteer service, 1901. He was acting
assistant professor of Chemistry, Mineralogy and
Geologv' at the United States Military Academy,
West Point, 1881-85 ; engineer officer, Department
of the Columbia. 1888-89; aide-de-camp to Brigadier-
General John Gibbon, United States Army, 1889-91,
and to Brigadier-General Thomas H. Ruger, LInited
States Army. 1891-92. In command of his company,
Boise Barracks, Idaho, and Fort Sheridan, Illinois,
1893-98. In Fifth .^rmy Corps in Santiago-de-Cuba
campaign, participating in the battle of El Caney,
July 1; battle of San Juan. July 2-3; bombardment
of Santiagck-de-Cuba, July lo-ii; siege of Santiago-
de-Cuba, July 2-17, 1898, when the Spanish forces
surrendered. In the Philippines, 1899-1901 ; in
Schwan's expedition in Southern Luzon, Philippine
Islands, 1900; acting inspector-general at headquar-
ters, Manila, Philippine Islands, 1900-01 ; returned
to Columbus Barracks, Ohio, in command of his
battaliort, till igo2, when he again went to the
Philippines for two years, serving as commanding
officer of the South Paragua (Province) and as in-
spector-general of the Philippine Division, Manila.
Stationed at Oklahoma City. Oklahoma, for three
years as inspector-general of Southwestern Division ;
promoted lieutenant-colonel Fourth United States
Infantry, 1905; translator from the Spanish of
"Guide and Description of the State of Zulia," "Mil-
itary Geography of Chili, S. A." "The Rural Guard
of Cuba," etc. Now stationed at Jefferson Bar-
racks, Missouri.
(VIII) Anna, only daughter of John Leonard
and Ellen A. (Tyler) Lovering, born in Quechee,
Vermont, September 21, 1857, removed to Faribault,
Minnesota, in her childhood, but on the death of
her father came to Claremont, New Hampshire,
where she was educated in the public schools, grad-
uatmg from Stevens high school 1876. Graduated
from Lasell Seminary, Auburndale, Massachusetts,
1881. Married at Trinity Church, Claremont, Newr
Hampshire, April 14, 1S87, Charles Watson Barrett
son of Augustus and Sarah (Emerson) Barrett, of
Milburn, Massachusetts. Resided in Washington,
D. C. until 1893 ; now lives in Claremont, New
Hampshire. Children : Leonard Lovering Barrett,
born in Claremont, New Hampshire, November "4.
1890; Tyler Emerson Barrett, born in Claremont,
New Hampshire, August 20, 1893.
(I) Austin Loverin son of Prescott
LOVERIN and Betsey (Sawyer) Loverin, was
born in Springfield, New Hamp-
shire, December 21, 1833. His father was said to
be related to Daniel Webster. Austin was educated
in the common schools of Grafton and Andover.
He became a successful carriagemaker, well known
throughout this section of the country. He was a
Republican in politics, but no office-seeker. He
married, November 23, 1856, in Andover, Abbie,
daughter of John and Elizabeth (Rowe) Durgin of
Andover, New Hampshire, born March 19, 1831,
and died April 18, 1906. They had one child, Edgar
Elibha. The family attended the Baptist Church.
Austin Loverin died May 30, 1863, in his thirtieth
year.
(II) Edgar Elisha, only child of Austin and
Abbie (Durgin) Loverin, was born in Andover,
New Hampshire, July 18, 1858. His father died
when he was but five years old. He was educated
in the common schools of Andover and at Proctor
Academy. He first worked in a general store a'
Andover. Later he bought out Quimby & Wey-
mouth, of Andover Center, and carried on a general
store for three years. Afterwards he went to Wil-
mot. New Hampshire, where he lived eleven years
and managed a store beside doing general farming.
Pie was postmaster during his stay in Wilmot,
and also did insurance work for the New England
JIutual Company. While there he held the office
of selectman and justice of the peace. In 1901 he
came to New London, and carries on a large gen- ,
eral store at Elkins. He is a Republican in politics.
He is a Mason, belonging to King Solomon Lodge,
of New London; a member of Merrimack Lodge
of Odd Fellows, No. 27, at Franklin, New Hamp-
shire. He married Lora E., daughter of Charles E.
Folsom, of Waterville, Maine, November 10, 1889.
To them have been born two children : Ruth G.,
born April 12, 1890, and Robert E., born February
7, 1892. The family attend the Baptist Church.
Mrs. Lovering is a member of the Ladies' Aid
Society and of the Eastern Star. She is active in
church work. Mr. Loverin, during the year of 1906,
traveled extensively on the Pacific Coast.
It is difficult to determine to what
RAMSDELL extent the descendants of the pio-
neers of New England are in-
debted to the political conditions that obtained in
the mother country during the period of the settle-
ment of the colonies now constituting the New Eng-
land states. There is no doubt that the intolerant
, <^'^/^^
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
369
attitude of the British government toward the Puri-
tans drove to these shores a class of settlers far
superior to what might, and probably would have
come hither, if they had not been oppressed at
home. The ancestor of the Ramsdells, a sturdy
character, came to Massachusetts in the first century
of colonization. His descendants arc not numerous,
but they have numbered among them many good
men and some leaders. They have taken part in the
great events that have occurred in more than two
centuries. They were patriots in the Revolution
and furnished their full quota of fighting men.
One of the name fell at the battle of Lexington at
the very outset of the Revolution. From Massachu-
setts the family has spread into New Hampshire,
where the position of its members is a very honor-
able one.
(II) Captain William, son of Abijah and
Rebecca (Graves) Ramsdell. born in Lynn, Alassa-
chusetts, April 10, 1766, resided in Salem, Massa-
chusetts, until 1815, when he removed to Milford,
New Hampshire. He was a sea-captain, and sailed
to all parts of the world. Later in life he was a
farmer, residing one and a quarter miles from the
village of Milford on the road to Wilton, where he
died January 12, 1842. He married (first), Huldah
Newhall, who died a year after marriage leaving
one daughter. Married (second), August 22, 1802,
Mary, daughter of Captain George and Emma
(Phelps) Southward, born in Salem, Massachusetts,
April b, 1774, and died in Milford, May 18, 1866.
The child of the first wife was Love; those of the
second wife were ; William, Mary, Charles and
John.
(III) Captain William (2), eldest son and child
of William (1) and Mary (Southward; Ramsdell,
born in Salem, Massachusetts, May 28, 1803, came to
Milford with his father in 1815. He was a farmer
and succeeded to the possession of the homestead
where he lived till his death, October 27, 1889. He
was a person of rare intellectual capacity, and able
promptly to use his varied knowledge for entertain-
ment and instruction with much skill and efifect. He
was not a professional speaker, but his eloquence
was such that his addresses were always impressive
and etticient. He married, November 6, 1826, Maria
A., daughter of Rev. Humphrey and Hannah (Pea-
body) Aloore, born in Milford, February 24, 1804,
and died February 4, 1878. Their children wore :
William Humphrey, Hannah Peabody, ^lary ^Maria,
George Allen, Charles Augustus, Alaria Moore,
Timothy Harrodon and Edward E.,
(IV) Governor George Allen, secoTid son and
fourth child of William and Maria A. (Moore)
Ramsdell, was born in Milford, March 11, 1834.
After obtaining his primary education in the public
schools of his native town he was fitted for college
at Appleton Academy, now McCoUom Institute,
Mount Vernon. After attending a year at Amherst
College, delicate health compelled him to abandon
the future prosecution of his literary education at
the end of his sophomore year. After a season of
rest he began the study of law which he pursued,
first in the office of Bambridgc Wadleigh, at Milford,
and completed in the ofiice of Daniel Clark and Isaac
W. Smith, at Manchester. In 1857 he was admitted to
the bar and soon after opened an office at Peters-
borough, where he remained six years in active prac-
tice. In 1864 he became clerk of the supreme court
of Hillsborough county, and removed to Amherst,
where he resided until 1866, wdien the records were
removed to Nashua and he became a resident there.
In 1887 he resigned his clerkship, after holding office
twenty-three years, and resumed the practice of law,
i— 24
associating himself with Lyman D. Cook, under the
firm name of Ramsdell & Cook. This partnership
continued three or four years, and was then dis-
solved, Mr, Ramsdell giving up court practice,
but acting by appointment of the supreme court as
referee and auditor in a large number of important
civil cases where legal acumen of a high order was
required. At the time of his retirement from the
practice of law he was president of the First Na-
tional Bank, of Nashua, and at this time became
the treasurer of the City Guaranty Savings Bank,
which positions he held until his death.
Air. Rarasdell's standing at the bar was high and
his record unblemished. His judicial ability and
entire impartiality induced Governor Smith to tender
him a seat on the supreme bench, which the number
and importance of his duties compelled him to decline.
His sagacity in the conduct of affairs caused the
administration of many estates to be placed in his
hands. Mr. Ramsdell's public services were varied
and comprehensive. He served ten years on the
Nashua board of education, twenty years as trustee
of the public library, was president for several years
of the board of trustees of the State Industrial
School at Manchester, trustee of the Orphans' Home,
at Franklin, and filled many other places of trust
and responsibility. In politics his natural turn for
aft'airs, his good judgment, reliability, oratorical
powers and staying qualities made him a favorite
and a leader. In 1870-71-72 he was a member of
the general court .of New Hampshire. He served
011 the judiciary and other important committees,
and won an enviable reputation as a careful and
painstaking lawmaker, a luminous and convincing
debater and a man whom no influence could sway
from the path of duty. In the great struggle in the
house of representatives in 1871, he was conspicu-
ous. When Bainbridge Wadleigh had spoken on
the previous question till his voice failed, and a sub-
stitute must be had to hold the floor till morning,
Air. Ramsdell took his place and spoke six hours
with scarcely an intermission. There were other
remarkable features in that legislative body, and in
every case and upon all occasions Mr. Ramsdell
performed his duties in such a manner as to receive
the commendation of a great majority of the citizens
of the state. He was a member of the Constitu-
tional Convention of 1876, and took a prominent
part in its proceedings. In 1891 and 1892 he was a
member of the governor's council. In 1894 he was
a candidate for governor and received substantial
support. He was again a candidate in i8g6 and was
nominated by acclamation, receiving the vote of
every delegate in the convention. In the election
which followed he was chosen by the largest majority
( 17)977) ever given a candidate in the history of
the state up to that time. In the financial and busi-
ness circles Governor Ramsdell was as prominent
as he was in the political field. In addition to his
duties as president of the First National Bank and
treasurer of the City Guaranty and Savings Bank,
he was director in the Wilton Railroad Company, in
Petersborough railroad, in the Jackson Company,
and in the Nashua Manufacturing Company. In
addition to the burdens incident to the discharge
of the duties of these positions, he took time to cul-
tivate his taste for literature, and discharged many
moral obligations which he considered he owed to
society in general. He wrote and published "The
History of Milford," a comprehensive and meritori-
ous work. He made public addresses, gave his earnest
attention and best efforts to the success of the tem-
perance cause, and responded to every serious demand
of the time and place for the betterment of the social
370
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
and moral condition of the community. In recogni-
tion of his services Dartmouth College honored him
with the degree of A. j\I. In religious convictions he
was a liberal Congregationalist, and a member of
the First Church. He was made a Mason in Alter-
mont Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons,
at Petersborough, while residing there, and subse-
quently transferred his membership to Rising Sun
Lodge of Nashua, where he subsequently became a
thirty-second degree Mason in Edward A. Raymond
Consistory.
Governor Ramsdell descended from a line of
ancestors on the paternal side among whom were
men of energy and power. On the maternal side
he was a descendant of John Moore, a very early
Puritan settler of Sudbury, Massachusetts, in the
veins of whose descendants mingled the blood of
the Peabodys, of which family came George Peabody,
the great financier and philanthropist. From these
sources he inherited strength of character, business
capacity, executive ability and moral stamina, ele-
ments of success that made it possible for him to
create his environment rather than to be governed
by it. He saw his opportunities and took advantage
of them ; he recognized his duties, and never shrank
from the performance of them. He was a man of
ample means and of large influences, and both his
substance and his influence were directed toward the
betterment of himself and those around him.
He married, November, i860, Eliza D. Wilson,
born September 5, 1836, daughter of David and
Margaret (Dinsmore) Wilson, of Deering. She de-
scended on the paternal side from David Wilson,
and on the maternal side from John Dinsmore,
immigrant in the Scotch-Irish colony which settled
in Londonderry about 1719. Of this marriage four
children were born : Harry W., Arthur D., Charles
T. and Anne M. Mr. Ramsdell died November 16,
1900, in Nashua.
(V) Harry William, eldest child of Governor
George A. and Eliza D. (Wilson) Ramsdell, was
born in Petersborough, February i, 1862. He was
educated in the public schools of Nashua, graduating
from the high school there in 1879. After leaving
school he entered the office of M. V. B. Greene,
where he learned the printer's trade, remaining seven
years. He next became a partner with his father,
under the firm name of G. A. Ramsdell & Son,
dealers in stocks and bonds. The firm existed until
1891. In that year H. W. Ramsdell was elected tax-
collector of Nashua, and filled that position so
acceptably that he was repeatedly re-elected and
served for ten years. Since November 16, igoo he
has been treasurer of the City Guaranty Savings
Bank, a place he has ever since continued to fill.
He is a Republican in politics, but not a strenuous
partisan. Since 1903 he has served as fire commis-
sioner of Nashua. He is a member of Nashua Lodge,
No. 720, Benevolent Protective Order of Elks ; and
of Aerie, No. 566, Fraternal Order of Eagles. He
attends the First Congregational Church. He mar-
ried, 1883, Lena Scott, born in Petersborough, !May
13, 1865, daughter of Colonel Charles and Charlotte
(Wilkins) Scott, of Petersborough, who died May
3. 1903-
(V) Arthur Dearborn, son of Governor George
A. and Eliza D. (Wilson) Ramsdell, was born in
Peterborough, August 3. 1867, and was educated
in the public schools of his native town and Nashua,
and at McGaw's Institute, Nashua. For a number of
years previous to 1886 he was a commercial traveler
and sold tobacco for a Boston house. At the date
mentioned he opened a sale stable in Nashua, and
for more than twenty years has conducted his busi-
ness with success, selling on an average of three
hundred well bred horses annually. He married
in _ Hampstead, New Hampshire, August 28, 1900,
Alice L. McQuesten, who was born in Litchfield,
New Hampshire, September 27, 1876, daughter of
Charles H. and Esther M. (Leach) Ramsdell. They
have one son, George A., born in Nashua, November
10, ig02.
Among the representative families of
EDGERLY New Hampshire, members of which
have led useful and exemplary lives,
performing the duties allotted to them faithfully and
conscientiously, may be mentioned that of Edgerly,
who date their ancestry back to the early part of
the seventeenth century.
(I) Thomas Edgerly, born in England about the
year 1644, was a resident of Dover, Oyster River
settlement, now Durham, New Hampshire, in 1665.
He married, September 28, 1665, Rebecca Hallowell,
daughter of John and Remembrance (Ault) Hallo-
well. Their children: Zachariah, killed by Indians
at Oyster Bay, July 18, 1694; a daughter, name lost,
made captive by Indians July 18, 1694; Thomas, of
whom later; Samuel, married Elizabetli Tuttle;
John, and Joseph, married Mary Green. (For his-
tory of burning of Edgerly house by the Indians at
the destruction of Oyster Bay Settlement, see Bel-
knap History, N. H.)
(II) Thomas (2), son of Thomas (i) and Re-
becca (Hallowell) Edgerly, was of Oyster River
in 169s, as the name of Thomas, Jr., and John Ed-
gerly appears on a petition of the Oyster River
people to the government praying for incorporation
as a parish at that date. He married Jane Whedon,
December 3, 1691. He removed from Oyster River
to Greenland in or before 1700. From a deed dated
June 6, 1700, Thomas Edgerly, Jr., now of Green-
land, sells to William Furbur sixty acres of land
in Dover. From various deeds we determine that
he was of Exeter from 1710 to 1738. His death
must have occurred prior to March 16, 1744, as his
daughter Mary sells to Joseph Knight, of Exeter,
land that she purchased of her honored father,
Thomas Edgerly, Jr., late of Exeter, deceased. The
deed was signed by Jane Edgerly, widow of Thomas
Edgerly. Their children were: A child killed by
Indians at Oyster River, July 19, 1694; Abigail,
rnarried John Hutchins; Mary, married Thomas
Kelly; Samuel, of whom later; Joseph, married
(first), Sarah Rawlings ; (second), Widow Sanborn;
(third), Judith Qiase.
(III) Samuel, son of Thomas (2) and Jane
(Whedon) Edgerly, born 1697, lived in that part
of Exeter which was included in the town of Brent-
wood after its incorporation in 1742, and in the
northeast corner of that town just after the present
line of Epping. This was also the last residence
of his father and the birthplace of his children. He
married, in 1725, Abigail , who died in the
winter of 1790-91, at the residence of her son in
Barnstead, to which place she went in the decline of
life after the death of her son Joseph, shortly after
1776, with whom she resided in Brentwood. Samuel
Edgerly died in Brentwood, 1769. The children were:
Samuel, born 1727 ; Thomas, born September 10,
1729, married Katharine Phillips; Jonathan, married
Betsey Steel ; John ; Elsey, married Captain John
Kimball and settled in Meredith on what is now
known as the Lawrence farm in Laconia ; Captain
Kimball died in 1819, and his wife in 1780; Ben-
jamin, born 1739, marrie.d Mary Hoit ; Joseph, born
1739, a twin of Benjamin, is supposed to have been
a single man as no record of his marriage can be
I
I
^X^^'-T^^X^^Z^^/i/t/^/ • ^^^^^^"^-^
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Z7'^
found. He was a great land owner in Brentwood,
and was surveyor of highways in 1776; David, of
whom later.
(IV) David, son of Samuel and Abigail Edgerly,
was born in Brentwood, September 15, 1741. He
went to Gilmanton preparatory to settlement in 1761,
being then a single man. Two years later he married
and settled on land which he purchased in partner-
ship with his brother Benjamin in 1762. He built a
house in Gilmanton and resided there for the re-
mainder of his days. He married, January 15, 1763,
in South Hampton, Dorothy Hoit, sister of his
brother Benjamin's wife, born in South Hampton,
June 10, 1744. Their children were: Ezekial, of
whom later ; Rebecca, Dorothy, David, Abigail, Mary,
Joseph, Judith. (Joseph and descendants are men-
tioned in this article). David Edgerly died Novem-
ber 19, 1785, and his widow September 19, 1828.
(V) Ezekial, son of David and Dorothy (Hoit)
Edgerly, was born in Gilmanton, November 28, 1764.
He resided in Barnstead near the line of Gilmanton,
and served for many years as selectman and town
treasurer. He was a member and deacon of the Free
Will Baptist Church. He married, August 27, 17S9,
Molly Eastman, born in Salisbury, Massachusetts,
February 16, 1771, daughter of Isaac and Ann
(Brown) Eastman, of Salisbury. He died Oc-
tober 21, 1836, and his widow died at the old home-
stead in Barnstead, September 10, 1864, aged ninety-
three. Their children were : Anna, David, Ezekial,
Isaac Eastman, Reuben, of whom later; Dorothy,
True.
(VI) Reuben, fourth son of Ezekial and Molly
(Eastman) Edgerly, born in Barnstead, August 2,
1803. married, April 26, 1829, Sabrina McDaniels,
born July 22, 1800, died June 29, 1867. They re-
sided in Barnstead. Their children were : Laura
Freeman, born in Barnstead, December 23, 1830;
Horace, of whom later ; Cynthia Maria, born Barn-
stead, November 9, 1835, died September 24, 1900,
(VII) Horace, only son of Reuben and Sabina
(McDaniels) Edgerly, was born in Barnstead, No-
vember 19, 1832, on the homestead of his grandfather,
Ezekial Edgerly, and in the house built by his father,
Reuben Edgerly, which is now occupied by Charles
E. Thyng, located near the Gilmanton line, and
supposed to be the oldest house standing in the town
at the present time (1907). He was educated in the
common schools of Barnstead, and remained on
the home farm until he attained the age of thirty.
He enlisted in Company B, in the famous Twelfth
New Hampshire Volunteers, served two years, was
wounded at Chancellorsville, Virginia, and left on
the field for twelve days inside the Rebel lines. At
the time of his honorable discharge he ranked as
second lieutenant. In 1870 he moved to Gilmanton
Iron Works, where he purchased a small farm,
which ranks among the highly cultivated and there-
fore productive farms in that section. His cosy home
is located on High street, the second house from the
church. He is an active member of the Free Will Bap-
tist Church, a trustee of the Pine Grove cemetery, and
a member of Lodge No. 75, Free and Accepted
Masons, of Alton, being made a Mason in 1867. He
married, January 12, 1871, Julia Ann (Lougee)
Leighton, widow of J. Clark Leighton, who was a
member of Company B, Twelfth Regiment, New
Hampshire Volunteers, and died in the army in
1863, aged twenty-four years. She was a daughter
of John Lougee, born in 1812, and granddaughter of
John and Rebecca (Edgerly) Lougee. (See Lougee,
V). She was one of five children, as follows:
Laura. Julia Ann, George (died young), George and
Clarinda. The children of Horace and Julia Ann
(Leighton) Edgerly were: Albert Clark, of whom
later; Anna May, born May 4, 1874, died December
21, 1876.
(VIII) Albert Clark, only son of Horace and
Julia Ann (Leighton) Edgerly, was born May 18,
1872, in Gilmanton. He received a good education,
and at the age of seventeen left home to earn a liveli-
hood for himself. He now holds a responsible po-
sition in the wholesale house of E. H. Moulton in
Haverhill, Massachusetts, and is the owner of a
comfortable home. He married, August 8, 1899,
Charlotte A. Foster, who is well known in the
social circles of Haverhill, Massachusetts.
(V) Joseph, third son of David and Dorothy
(Hoit) Edgerly, was born in Gilmanton, about 1776,
and settled in Wakefield, New Hampshire, soon after
attaining manhood. He was married in that town
November 8, 1808, to Betsey Berry, of Milton, by
Rev. Asa Piper.
(VI) James Berry, son of Joseph and Elizabeth
(Berry) Edgerly, was born October 6, 1812, in
Wakefield, and died June 13, 1864. He acquired a
practical education in the schools adjacent to his
home, and during his early years followed various
occupations. In 1856 he moved to Deerfield, New
Hampshire, for sixteen years was the proprietor
of a tavern at the Center. At the expiration of this
period of time he moved to a farm in Pembroke
street, which he conducted in a prosperous and
scientific manner. He attended the Congregational
Church. He was a charter member of the first
lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in
Deerfield. He married Louisa -Rowe, born April
13, 1805, and died February 4, 1887, daughter of Levi
Rowe, of Hooksett, and four children were born to
them, as follows: Andrew Jackson, see forward;
James Eldridge, killed in the second battle of Bull
Run, August 29, 1862; Mary Louisa, now a resident
of Chicago, Illinois, widow of George E. Wilson,
of Manchester, New Hampshire, who died in
Nashua, New Hampshire, 18S8; Frances Jane, now
of Green Bay, Wisconsin. She married Elmer X.
Hastings, superintendent of the northern division of
the Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad.
(VII) Among the progressive and public-spirited
citizens of Manchester, New Hampshire, whose suc-
cess in life is due to their own unaided efforts, and
the exercise of prudence, energy and perseverance,
may be mentioned the name of Andrew Jackson
Edgerly, a native of Greenland, New Hampshire,
born November 21, 1840. He is a son of James
Berry and Louisa (Rowe) Edgerly. He was edu-
cated at the Pembroke Academy and also attended
the Gymnasium, being a student at the latter in-
stitution for several terms. At the age of two and
one-half years he accompanied his parents to Deer-
field, and at eighteen to a farm in Pembroke street.
In 1866 he purchased the Leonard Deerfield place
on High street, Candia, where he remained until
1870. He then disposed of this and purchased the
Deacon Osgood Page homestead, remaining until
1887. After disposing of this he purchased a farm
on the Patten Road, where he continued to reside
until 1891, in which year he sold and took up his
residence in Manchester, where he is at present
(1907) residing. Here he followed the build-
ing business for about six years, building a number
of dwelling houses ; then entered the real estate and
insurance business and conducted it alone for live
years when he admitted A. B. Whittier and the firm
has since been Edgerly & Whittier, and they are
at present doing an extensive business. While
a resident of Candia he served in the ca-
pacity of moderator nine years, member ■ of
Zl^
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
the board of selectmen twelve years and
a representative to the legislature in 1880-S1. Mr.
Edgerly has always been a man of energy and
enterprise, possessing those qualities necessary to
a successful career.
Andrew J. Edgerly married (.first), in 1864,
Julia Rand, daughter of Edmund (.who was town
clerk of Deerfield twenty-one years) and Julia
(James) Rand, of Deerfield. Her death occurred in
1886. He married (.second), in 1889, Flora Lee
Emerson, daughter of Ansel W. and Ida K. (.Cur-
rier) Emerson.
Ansel W. or "Anse'' Emerson, father of Mrs. An-
drew J. Edgerly, was born April 30, 1834. died at
Candia, New Hampshire, June 25, 1868. His father,
Jonathan Emerson, served in the war of 1812. Mr.
Emerson was possessed of a mind far above the
average. Had he been given the training of our
higher institutions of learning, and entered any one
of the profession, he would have proven himself a
leader. He reasoned well. He knew to his own
satisfaction that the individual life must stand or
fall as adjudged by the Golden Rule, and so he ever
held himself, ready to do unto others as he would
have others do unto him. In a way he was a
genius. He expressed himself as few others did.
He saw the humorous side of things, and never was
he known to miss a laugh. He would oftentimes
intuitively arrive at conclusions which were logically
right. Always companionable and cheery it was
invariably a delight to see "Anse" coming up the
road. No one enjoyed home with its many comforts
more than he, and his wife and his children were
to him his world. (The foregoing is taken from an
article written by his friend, Wilson Palmer, and
printed in the Derry News, January i, 1904).
Ansel W. Emerson enlisted from Rockingham
county. New Hampshire, August 11, 1862, to serve
three years or during the war, and was mustered
into the United States service at Concord, New
Hampshire, September 2, 1862, as a private of Cap-
tain William R. Patton's Company I, Eleventh Regi-
ment, New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry, Colonel
Walter Harriman commanding. The Eleventh New
Hampshire Infantry was recruited in August, 1862,
under the second call for troops. It was mustered
in from August 28 to September 3, 1862, and left
the state September 11, arriving at Washington, D.
C, September 14. It joined General McClellan's
army, October 4, and was assigned to the Second
Brigade, Second Division, Ninth Army Corps, re-
maining in that brigade and division during the war.
It participated in the battle of Fredericksburg, De-
cember 13, 1862, where it behaved with extraordinary
gallantry, its conduct received universal commenda-
tion. It subsequently participated, without loss, in
the siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi, and bore a gal-
lant part in the siege of Jackson, ^Mississippi, and
the relief of Knoxville, Tennessee, a campaign not-
able for its hardships and privations, it being the only
New Hampshire regiment that participated in that
arduous campaign. It rejoined the Ninth Corps,
Army of the Potomac, at Annapolis, Maryland,
April 7, 1864. April 23, same year, it moved for the
front and participated in the following engagements :
Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North Anna, Tolopotomoy,
Bethesda Church, Cold Harbor, siege and assault of
Peterburg, Mine Explosion, Weldon Railroad, Pop-
lar Springs Church, Hatcher's Run, Fall of Peters-
burg and numerous skirmishes. It also participated
in the Grand Review at Washington, D. C., May 23-
24, 1865. and was mustered out June 4. 1865, near
Alexandria, Virginia.
Mt. Emerson was sick with maiana fever in
general hospital, Washington, D. C, for about one
year, and July 12, 1864, was transferred to Company
H, Eleventh Veteran Reserve Corps. He was con-
stantly with his command until taken sick, and at
all times performed faithful and meritorious ser-
vice. He received an honorable discharge near
Alexandria, Virginia, July 16, 1S64, by reason of
surgeon's certificate of disability. He never fully
regained his health, and finally died from the hard-
ships he suffered in battle and along the wearisome,
cruel march.
Mr. Emerson married, at Danvers, Massachusetts,
July 29, 1857, Ida K. Currier, whose grandfather
served in the Revolutionary war, and their children
were : Fannie May, born in Candia, New Hamp-
shire, November i8, 1857, died December 7, 1886,
married October 10, i8'83, Clarence Herbert Stearns,
and had one son, Arthur Emerson Stearns, of Man-
chester. Flora Lee, born November 8, 1859, wife of
-\ndrew J. Edgerly. Ellsworth, born June i, 1862,
died at the age of fifteen years. Lizzie B., born June
5, 1867.
This name was undoubtedly Long in its
LANG original form, and may be derived from
the German lange, or langen, which means
long. When the Longs settled in Scotland the
family become divided into Langs, Laings, Layngs
and Longmans. The first of the name in New
Hampshire was John Lang, who was in Portsmouth
before 1692. In the "Collections of the Essex In-
stitute of Salem, Massachusetts," may be found this
quaint entry, taken from a family Bible : "Hanna
Simes, Juner, was born ye zy of August Anodominy
1707 of a Wensday in the afternoon at three of the
clock. Jeffery Lang was born January ye 16 ano-
dominy 1707 of a Friday. He was married August
ye 24, ano'd 1732." Then follow the records of
the births of the nine children with similar particu-
lars. Other entries say that Jeffry Lang raised his
house June 9, 1740, and that he moved into it the
following December. His wife died October 8,
1748, aged forty-one years, and he died May 14,
1758, aged fifty-one years.
(I) Reuben Lang was born in Brookfield, New
Hampshire, toward the close of the eighteenth cen-
tury, and was a farmer. The name of his wife is
unknown, but there were seven children: John
W., born in 1812 ; Andrew J. ; Daniel W., mentioned
below ; Marion, Cynthia, Charlotte and Eliza.
(II) Daniel W., one of the seven children of
Reuben Lang, was born in 1816, and lived in Brook-
field, New Hampshire. He was a farmer and car-
penter, and about 1851 married Mary A. Glidden,
daughter of Mark Glidden, of Ossipee, New Hamp-
shire. They had children : Frank P., Abbie M.,
Lucy, John H. (i), Reed A., John H. (2), and
Daniel. The four elder children died before reach-
ing middle life. Daniel W. Lang died September 4,
1905, and his wife died October 26, 1902.
(III) Reed A., third son and fifth child of Daniel
W. and Alary A. (Glidden) Lang, was born August
29, 1863, at Brookfield, New Hampshire. He worked
on a farm and attended school till he was sixteen
years of age when he went to Portsmouth, where he
was employed in Armstrong's restaurant, beginning
by carrying fruit through the trains, and afterwards
working inside the establishment. He remained in
this place till about twenty-one, when he came to
Sanbornville, near his old home, and entered the
store of J. W. Garvin as clerk. He stayed there
some time, and then bought out the hotel near the
I
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
573
station, borrowing part of the money to do this.
Two years later, having paid off the debt incurred
by purchase of the hotel, he built a livery stable,
which he conducted till recently. As the town grew
from a railway junction into a prosperous village,
Mr. Lang began to be interested in real estate, and
he built about twenty houses to rent, besides ac-
quiring several farms. At the present time he
is managing six of these farms, comprising about
twelve hundred acres, over three hundred in mowing.
He also owns about six hundred acres of timber
land and operates one sawmill. He makes a
specialty of raising thoroughbred cattle, and has
some of the finest Hereford stock in New England.
Some time ago Mr. Lang became associated witli
another man in developing a gold mine in Nova
Scotia. They are now gettnig out ore running three
dollars to the ton, and at the low cost of mining
the stuff nets about one dollar and forty cents to
the ton. New machinery will soon be added, and
a large force of men put to work. Mr. Lang is a
Democrat in politics, and was road commissioner
for many years and constable for fourteen years.
He belongs to Syracuse Lodge. No. 27, Knights of
Pythias, the Uniform Rank and to the Grand Lodge.
On September 8, 1885, Reed A. Lang married Caro-
line Bragdon, daughter of Millet Bragdon. of Mil-
ton, New Hampshire. There are no children.
While this name is usually found to be
LANG of Scotch origin the equivalent of the
English name Long, the family herein
traced seems to have come to New Hampshire from
England. Before 1692 John Lang, an Englishman,
was a resident of Portsmouth. A little later a family
of the name is found in Hampton Falls. The first
definite knowledge of this family is found in the
records of Rye, where William, John and Benjamin
Lang, presumably brothers, were living soon after
1750-
(I) Benjamin Lang married Eleanor Burley,
and they had four children: Eleanor, Hannah, Ben-
jamin and Betsey, the first born in 1759. He married
(second), Deborah Varrell.
(H) Benjamin (2), only son and third child of Ben-
jamin (i) and Eleanor (Burley) Lang, was born
July 28, 1765, in Rye, and settled in Candia and
lived and died in that town. He was married, De-
cember 27, 1797, to Deborah Morrill, of Candia. He
was a Whig in politics, and a Congregationalist in
religious faith.
(HI) David, son of Benjamin and Deborah
(Morrill) Lang, was born in Candia," January 19,
1800, and died September 10, 1865. He was a farmer
and a man of considerable influence in his town.
Like his father he was a member of the Congrega-
tional Church, and for many years a deacon. In
politics he was a Democrat. He married, Novem-
ber 2, 1820, Sally Sanborn, of Sanbornton, who died
October 11, 1861. Their children were: Benjamin,
Isaiah S., Sarah A., Martha, Lucinda, Amanda Isl.,
Malviua and an infant.
(IV) Isaiah Sanborn, second son and child of
David and Sally (Sanborn) Lang, was born in
Candia, April i, 1823, and died October 25, 1904,
aged eighty-one. He was employed for some time
in the cotton- mills of Lowell. Massachusetts, but
returned to Candia and spent the remainder of his
life nu a farm. He was a member of the school
board, and in 1876 was elected to the legislature. He
was a member of the ^lethodist Church, and in poli-
tics a follower of Andrew Jackson. He was an Odd
Fellow, and for forty years a Mason. He married.
September 12, 184S, Martha Clemens Ladd, daughter
of Daniel and Martha (Clemens) Ladd. of Deer-
field. She was a member of the Order of the East-
ern Star, and of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
The children born of this union were : Infant,
Josepli, H., }ilartha L., who married George W.
Bailey; Benjamin F., who is mentioned below; and
Flora E., the wife of Dr. Taylor.
(V') Benjamin Franklin, fourth child of Isaiah
and Martha C. (Ladd) Lang, was born in Candia,
November 19, 1858, and was educated in the common
schools and at Pembroke Academy. He was en-
gaged in farming on the old homestead, did some-
thing in the lumber business, and for many years has
been a market gardener. He is a Democrat in political
faith, and has been selectman six years, and chair-
man of the school board. His religious faith is
Congregational. He has been a consistent Mason
for twenty-seven years, is a member of Rockingham
Lodge, No. 76, of that order, of which he is a past
master, and of Adah Chapter, No. 9, Order of the
Eastern Star. He is also a member of the Grange,
No. 67, Patrons of Husbandry, and has been master
of that organization for six years. He married,
January 12, 1885, Nellie N. Marden, who was born
September 13, 1859, daughter of William D. and
Caroline (Manahan) Marden, of .AUenstown. She
was educated in the public, schools, and at Pem-
broke .\cademy, and was for a time a schoolteacher.
She is a meinber of the same grange and Eastern
Star Chapter as her husband. They have three
children : Lilla C, Clarence B. and ^lartha A.
(1) Edward Lang was born in Glasgow, Scot-
land, and died in Shefford, Province of Quebec. He
entered the British army, according to family tradi-
tion, at an early age and served fifteen years, a part
or perhaps all his service being in the West Indies,
where he is said to have taken a part in sixteen bat-
tles, and was afterward awarded medals for his serv-
ices, which are still in the possession of his descend-
ants in Canada. He was also in the battle of Water-
loo under Napoleon. In further recognition of his
services he was granted land in Ireland, of which
he took possession and upon which he lived for some
years, but the continued hostile conduct of the
native Irish made life so uncomfortable that he took
his family, about the year 1822, and crossed the
ocean to Canada and settled at Shefford, Province
of Quebec, where he was a farmer. He was a very
loyal citizen ; at the outbreak of the Rebellion of
Nelson and Papincau, in 1837, he was a sergeant,
and his courage and military knowledge enabled him
to distinguish himself. He married Bridget Byrne,
of Glasgow, Scotland, whose ancestors on both sides
w'ere soldiers, some of whom had taken part in the
defence of Londonderry, in 1689. Their children
were : John, Mary, Elizabeth, Ellen, Susan and
Henry.
(II) John, eldest child of Edward and Bridget
(Byrne) Lang, was born near the village of Ballina,
county Mayo, Ireland. September 8, 1811. He at-
tended a school at Ballina, one and a half miles
from his home, which was provided by the English
government for the children of soldiers who had
served in the English army. Here the fatigue of
his long walk to and from scliool was often lightened
by the driver of the public coach which passed
through the village and near his home, who allowed
him to ride on the foot board behind. He remem-
bers once having visited his relatives in Glasgow,
with his father. .At the age of ten or eleven he ac-
companied his parents on their removal to .America
via Sligo and Quebec. After the family settled at
374
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Shefford he attended school for a time, and assisted
his father to clear a one hundred acre tract of land
which he took up. Having learned the cooper's
trade he built a shop for himself at Shefford, Prov-
ince of Quebec, and supplied barrels for the lime
and fruit trade at Waterloo, and also made fish
kits. In this business he spent the greater part of
his life, though he was a farmer part of the time
in connection with this. In his advanced life, when
unable to carry on business, he was a book solicitor
for some years. He was a soldier in the Rebellion
of 1837, and took part in the skirmish at Moor's
Corner near Phillipsburg. In 1866 he again fought
for his government, and now has a silver medal with
the bust of the Queen on the obverse side, sur-
rounded by the words: "P'ictoria Regina et Imf>cra-
trix ;" and on the edge the words : " Pte J. Lang
1st Waterloo i Co." In 1906 he removed to Alan-
chester. New Hampshire, and now (1907) lives with
his son, John Lang, Jr. He married, about 1832, at
St. Armand, Province of Quebec, Drusilla Hayes,
born at St. Armand, died at Shefford. 1888, aged
about sixty-three years. Their children were:
Henry, Elizabeth, Jane and John.
(Ill) Henry, eldest child of John and Drusilla
(Hayes) Lang, was born in the town and county of
Broome, Province of Quebec, March 8, 1844. After
completing his education in the public schools he
engaged in farming for ten years. He then took
up the carpenter's trade, and was engaged as a car-
penter and builder for seven years. At the end of
that time he opened a general store at Fulford, which
he carried on four years, and then moved to Magog,
where he continued in the same business three years
longer. In 1886 he removed to Manchester, New
Hampshire, where he is now a successful contracting
carpenter. He is a Republican, and a member of the
Episcopal Church. He married. May 28. 1865, Mary
Elizabeth Wright, born June 2, 1841, died May 29,
1892, aged fifty-seven. She was the daughter of
Grover and Ursula (Johnson) Wright, of Svvanton,
Vermont. They had three children: Walter ;\I.,
Frances E., now the wife of Joseph Brooks, of Man-
chester; Nettie U., deceased, was wife of Charles
M. Eastman, of Littleton.
tlV) Walter Monroe, eldest child of Henry and
Mary Elizabeth (Wright) Lang, was born in Ful-
ford, Broome county. Province of Quebec, January
20, 1867. He was educated in the public schools and
at Magog Academy, graduating from the latter in-
stitution in 1885. In 1886 he removed to Manchester,
New Hampshire, where he was employed in the
dress-room of the Manchester Mills until 1888. He
served one year to learn the trade of cutter. He
opened a tailor shop for himself in West Derry,
which he carried on two years. He was then of-
fered the. position of manager of one of the stores
of the Plymouth Rock Pants Company, in Man-
chester, and selling his business accepted and filled
this position as manager until the company went out
of business in 1892. He then became manager for
the Cushman & Hardy Company, clothiers, and had
. charge of that business until 1895. when the firm
closed its business. In January following he went
into the employ of Charles A. Hoyt & Company,
house furnishers, for whom he acted as salesman
in the store and on the road. Resigning this posi-
tion he formed a partnership with Carlton Lowell
Ruiter, under the firm name of Lang & Ruiter,
which continued for three years, when j\lr. Lang
sold his interest to his partner and was appointed su-
perintendent of agents of the Prudential Life In-
surance Company. He discharged the duties of
this place until January i, 1905, when he was made
state manager, which position he now holds. Mr.
Lang is a man of much energy, and successful in a
line of business where energy and tireless activity
are the principal elements of success.
March 8, 1893, he became a member of the In-
dependent Order of Odd Fellows, in Oakhill Lodge,
No. 97, of which he is now a past grand. Subse-
quently he became a member of Mt. Washington
Encampment, No. 16, and filled all the offices up
to and including that of chief patriarch. He is past
commander of Grand Canton Ridgley, No. 2 ; past
representative to the grand lodge, grand encamp-
ment and department council ; chairman of the
finance committee of the grand lodge while a mem-
ber of that body, and 1907 district deputy grand
master of this district (No. 8), the largest dis-
trict in the state. He is now commissary on the col-
onel's staff' of the Patriarchs Militant, and also a
member of Arbutus Rebekah Lodge, No. 51, and
was representative to the sovereign grand lodge,
which met in Toronto, Canada, in the fall of 1906.
He is a member of the Calumet Club, was for si.x
years (1899-1905), a member of the First New
Hampshire Light Battery, is a member of Derry-
field Grange, No. 51, of Manchester, the 'Vermont
Association, also of Manchester, New Hampshire,
and the first Church of Christ (Scientist). In poli-
tics Mr. Lang is a Republican ; he served the city
as a councilman two terms of two years each — 1900
to 1905 — in 1906 was elected representative to repre-
sent Manchester at the general court, and filled the
office of chairman of the committee on insurance,
the most important committee in that body.
Mr. Lang married (first), at Waterloo, Province
of Quebec, February 24, 1886, Kathleen A. Hoyt,
daughter of the late Judge Lewis A. Hoyt, of Magog,
Province of Quebec. She died May 6, 1887. He
married (second), December x8, 1889, at Magog,
Province of Quebec, Clara E. Magoon, born at
Magoon's Point, Stanstead county, Province of
Quebec, February 8, 1867, daughter of .\aron and
Betsey E. (Blake) Magoon, of Magog. One child was
the issue of the second marriage, Marion Elizabeth,
born in Manchester, September 15, 1892.
This name, which is an abbreviation
BENNETT of Benedict, the English form of the
Latin Bencdictus, meaning "blessed,"
was the name of many citizens who came from Eng-
land and settled in Massachusetts in the early days of
that commonwealth, whose descendants are not al-
ways easily traced. When the revolution came, the
Bennetts, with all the varied spellings of the name,
were numerous. The Revolutionary rolls of Massa-
chusetts show one hundred and twenty Bennets,
ninety Bennetts, thirty Bennits, and nineteen Ben-
nitts, who enrolled as soldiers in that struggle.
There are four distinct lines of Bennett traced from
Essex county, Massachusetts.
(I) John Bennett was born in England, 1632,
and to judge from the number of Bennetts who
came to America earlier he found numerous rela-
tives in New England when he arrived here. There
is a tradition that he ran away with a Scotch peas-
ant's daughter, and that he was the son of a
nobleman, evidence of which is afforded by his
court dress, said to be in the possession of one of
his descendants. The family tradition that the family
is of Scotch and English origin is probably cor-
rect. He was an inhabitant of Charlestown, Massa-
chusetts, in 1659, and was a weaver by trade. He
was drowned, 1674, between R. Martin's ship and
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
375
a lighter. His widow, Mary, married (second)
Richard Meade, 1678. The children of John and
Wary Bennett were : John, born about 1659, cord-
wainer by trade ("from Lancaster at Sweetser's,
March 29, 1676"). This record shows that John
Bennett lived at Lancaster, and that he was driven
from the town by the impending war. He mar-
ried Ruth Bradshaw and settled in Roxbury. They
had three sons : Josias, died in infancy, September
12, 1663 ; Josias, born April 23, 1664, married Re-
becca Cutler, December 9, 1694; James, see forward;
and Mary.
(H) James, third son of John and Mary Ben-
nett, was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, May
31, 1666. He settled in Roxbury, Massachusetts,
where the Bennett family was then located prin-
cipally. He married Elizabeth Tarbell (Tarbole)
February i, 16S0-81. She was born 1656 and died
July 25, 1684. There is some error in the record
as given by Wyman, for James was probably not
married at the age of fifteen. James and Elizabeth
(Tarbell) Bennett had two ' children at Roxbury.
They were : James, mentioned below ; Josias, born
May 6, 1684; it is probable that he returned to
Lancaster or vicinity. His son James appears to
be the James Bennett, of Groton, and his son Jo-
siah, the pioneer of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.
(III) James (2), probably a son of James (i)
and Elizabeth (Tarbell) Bennett, was born De-
cember II, 1681. He married March 23, 1703, at
Reading, iMassachusetts, where John Brown, the
justice of the peace who married them, recorded both
as of Groton. They had a son James according to
the Reading History.
(IV) James (3), son of James (2) Bennett,
was born at Groton, probably about 1704. He mar-
ried Elizabeth (or Betsey) Dodge. Their children,
as recorded, were: Sarah, born at Reading, 1745,
married Parker ; Thomas, see below ;
Stephen, was in the revolution ; William, born at
Reading, 1754; James, was in the revolution, marrie-d
Mary Walker, April 13, 1770; Elizabeth, born at
Reading, 1761 ; Joseph, father of Kendall Bennett,
of Groton; Jonathan, born November 28, 1775;
Jacob, went to New Boston; Jonathan, married Mary
Shattuck, daughter of Job Shattuck. Stephen and
James Bennett settled in Billerica, near the Burling-
ton line, southeast of the Shawshin schoolhouse.
Both have numerous descendants thereabouts.
Others of the family settled in Burlington. (Men-
tion of Jacob and descendants is a part of this
article.)
(V) Thomas, first son and seco'nd child of
James (3) and Elizabeth (Dodge) Bennett, was born
probably about 1750, in Reading or Groton, Massa-
chusetts. He married Mary Smith, of Woburn, at
that place, June 21, 1776. They lived at Woburn
and Burlington, Massachusetts. He was in Cap-
tain Timothy Wynne's company in the revolution.
His brothers Stephen and James were also in the
Continental army. He was one of the eight Massa-
chusetts men who attempted to return home on
foot from Newburgh, and he was one of two to
make the journey successfully. The children of
Thomas and Mary (Sinitli) Bennett were: Mary,
born February 4, 1777 ; Thomas, married September
8, 1803, Nancy Tay, of Woburn, Massachusetts ;
James, born aljout 1779, died November 20, 1849;
Betsey, born 17S3. died September 11, i860, married
Aaron Corey; Abijah, born March 24, 1787, married
Mary Green, of Pepperell, who was born June 22,
1795. he died July 24, 1841 ; Isaac, born April 29,
1791, married Indiana Green, of Pepperell, Decem-
ber 2, 1813, he died March 21, 1880; Jonathan Smith,
mentioned below; Sally, married Aaron Williams,
of Groton, Massachusetts ; Jerusha, born February
8, 1807, married George Hunt.
(VI) Thomas (2), eldest son and second child
of Thomas (l) and Alary (Smith) Bennett, resided
for sometime in Dunstable, and was subsequently
a settler of Brookline, New Hampshire. He was
married September 8, 1803, to Nancy Tay, of Wo-
burn, Massachusetts. The record states that he was
at that time a resident of Dunstable. They were
the parents of only two children, one of whom died
at the age of two years and nine months. It is quite
possible that his wife was a widow at the time of
their marriage, as the family record gives her
maiden name as Shattuck. She was married a sec-
ond time, March 15, 1821, in Woburn, to Junius
Richardson.
(VII) Rodolphus D., only son of Thomas and
Nancy (Shattuck) Bennett, was born at Brookline,
New Hampshire, February 3, 1817. He was a
farmer, and came from Brookline to Milford in
1S49. On May 14, 1840, he married Mary Wood-
ward, daughter of Isaac and Mary (Melendy)
Woodward, who was born at Merrimack, New
Hampshire, February 9, 1820. They had six chil-
dren: Albert Rodolphus, whose sketch follows;
William Alphonso, Alfred Allen, Mary Emily, Anna
Frances and Clara Louise. William Alphonso Ben-
nett was born at Merrimack, New Hampshire, De-
cember 9, 1845. Alfred Allen Bennett was born at
Brookline, New Hampshire, November 30, 184S, and
now professor in a college in Ames, Ohio. Mary
E. Bennett, born at Milford, New Hatnpshire, Sep- •
tember 12, 1851, married John F. Gillis, of Hudson,
New Hampshire, on September 8, 1874, and lives
in Manchester, this state. Anna F. Bennett, born
October 24, 1853, married Louis P. Cumnock, of
Lowell, Massachusetts, on January 23, 1879, and
died at Lynn, Massachusetts, on July 24, 1880,
Clara L. Bennett, born December 5, 1859, married
Frank L. Downes, on October 20, 1885, and lives
in ^Manchester. Rodolphus D. Bennett, the father,
died at Alilford, New Hampshire, February 27,
1887.
(VIII) Albert Rodolphus, eldest child of Ro-
dolphus D. and Mary (Woodward) Bennett, was
born at Merrimack, New Hampshire, September 27,
1844, and at the age of seven moved with his father
to Milford. He was a cooper by trade, and a Re-
publican in politics. He was killed in the factory
at Milford, New Hampshire, in 1872. In November,
1866, Albert R. Bennett married Carrie Fairfield,
daughter of Hiram and Fanny (Peabody) Fair-
field, who was born at Stoddard, New Hampshire,
March 2, 1848. They had one child, the subject of
the next paragraph.
(IX) William A., son of Albert and Carrie
(Fairfield) Bennett, was born at Milford, New
Hampshire, August iS, 1870. He was educated in
the public schools of his native town, and at the age
of fifteen was apprenticed to the factory which he
now superintends, to learn the wool and leather busi-
ness. After serving the present company in every
department of the large concern, he became familiar
with all the branches of the business, from the
pulling of the wool to the finish of the leather into
morocco for shoe stock. In 1897 the company pro-
moted him to foreman. After filling that position
with ability he was again promoted, 1902, to be
general superintendent of the whole factory with
one hundred and twenty-five employees under his
control. Mr. Bennett is a selfmade man in every
3/6
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
respect. He is a Republican in politics, and attends
the Congregational Church. He is a charter mem-
ber of Rockrimmon Lodge, Knights o£ Pythias.
On June 20, 1900, William A. Bennett married
Emma Cowey, daughter of John E. Cowey. They
have no children, and their home is on Brown ave-
nue. South jNIanchester.
(V) Jacob, seventh son and eighth child of
James (3) and Elizabeth (Dodge) Bennett, was
born August 10, 1765, probably in Billerica, and
settled in New Boston, New Hampshire, where he
died February 20, 1852. in his eighty-seventh year.
He had been brought up to farming, and at the age
of twenty-two years he purchased a tract of land
in New Boston upon which he passed the remainder
of his life. He was a stone and brick mason by
trade, and much of the work which he constructed
is still standing as a monument to his skill and
industry. He took a prominent part in the affairs
of the town, and was many years a deacon of
the Baptist Church. In politics he was a Democrat,
and late in life he allied himself with the Advent
Church. He was married to Jerusha Whipple, who
was born October 17, 1768, a daughter of John
and Deliverance (Dodge) Whipple. John Whipple
was born 1747, in Ipswich, and settled at an early
age in New Boston, New Hampshire. Mrs. Ben-
nett died September 21, 1838, in her seventy-first
year. He was an active member of the Baptist
Church. Their children were: i. Betsey, born No-
vember 8, 1787, married Oliver Dodge, who died
November 16, 1818. 2. John, born September 14,
1789. died at Dracut, Massachusetts, September
'6, 1865; married, May 22. 1S14, Rebecca Kendall,
who was born December 10, 1795, and died April
I, 1865. :^. Stephen ; see forward. 4. James, born
October 12, 1795, died September 27, 1828; married,
first, Mary Sargent, and (second) Margaret Hall.
5. Saloma, born October 14. 1797, died at New Bos-
ton, New Hampshire, March 4, 1881 ; married, first,
Edward Dodge, May 16. 1822, and (second) De-
cember 12, 1867, Livermore Langdell, who died May
10, 1881. 6. Belinda, born December 13, 1798, died
October, 1799. 7. Belinda (second), born November
12, 180D, died ;\Iarch 14, 1819. 8. Delpha. born
October 22, 1802, died September 24, 1805. 9. Louisa,
born June 18, 1805. died March, 1892, married,
November, 1S27, Oliver Hartwell, who was born
November 22, 1802, and who died March, 1833.
(VI) Stephen, third child and second son of
Jacob and Jerusha (Whipple) Bennett, was born
in New Boston, January 4, 1793, and died S'eptember
22, i860, aged sixty-seven years. He spent the
years of his minority on his father's farm, and got
such schooling as the common schools furnished.
He followed in the footsteps of his father, was
a tnason by trade, and bought a farm upon which
he settled after his marriage. He dealt in real estate
and owned timber lots irom which he cut the wood
for lumber, and thus did a profitable business. He
was a member of the Universalist Church, and a
prosperous and prominent man. For some years
he was a member of the board of selectmen. He
married, April 8, 1813, Hannah Hogg, who was
born October 17, 1792, and died June 3. 1882,
daughter of Abner and Rosanna Hogg, of New
Boston. Eleven children were born of this mar-
riage : I. James, died young. 2. Salome, born
March 23, 1815, married Joseph Battles, of Lowell,
Massachusetts. 3. Joseph E., born April 9, 1817,
died February 20, 1900; married first, Susan Dyer,
of Searsmont, Maine, and (second) Mary Hartwell,
of Manchester, New Hampshire. 4. Hannah H.,
born September 15, 1819, died December 7, 1892;
married first, Peter Crombie, of New Boston, and
(second) Joel Wilkins, of Antrim, New Hampshire.
5. Stephen M., born August 14, 1821, died April 25,
1906; married first, Mary Emery, of New Boston,
and (second) Carrie Williams, of Montpelier, Ver-
mont. 6. Jacob, born March 19, 1824, died unmarried
April 22, 1884. 7. John J., born October 15, 1829,
married first, Mary McCauley, of Deering, New
Hampshire, and (second) Lucia Tilton, of Man-
chester. 8. Sarah Ann, born April 10, 1826, died
September 8, 1833. 9. Abner H., born May 15,
1827, died October 22, 1847. 10. Rosanna, born June
4, 1832, died September 14, 1833. 11. Andrew J.,
see forward.
(VII) Andrew Jackson, seventh son and
youngest child of Stephen and Hannah (Hogg)
Bennett, was born August 28, 183S, in New Boston,
where he got his education in the common and
high schools. He was a war Democrat in the time
of the great rebellion,, and August 14, 1862, he en-
listed from New Boston in Company C, in the
Eleventh New Hampshire Volunteers, and was
mustered into the United States service on the 21st
of the same month. He was a sergeant and served
in the army of the Potomac, and was severely
wounded at Bethesda Church, Virginia, June 3, 1864,
and discharged for disability, May 9, 1865, at
Manchester, after serving two years and nine months.
He learned the mason's trade when a young man,
and in 1884 removed to Manchester, where for
ten years he followed that calling. Since 1894 he
has been janitor of the post office building in Man-
chester. While in New Boston, Mr. Bennett was
superintendent of schools one year, and represented
the town in the legislature in 1869-70, and filled other
offices. He is a member of Louis Bell Post, No. 3,
Grand Army of the Republic, of Manchester. He
was made a Mason in Pacific Lodge in 1884, and is
now a member of Washington Lodge of ^lanchester.
He married, July 3, 1859, Agusta S. Mcllvin. who
was born July 3, 1838, daughter of Moody B. and
Mary W. (Stickney) Mcllvin, of Antrim. She
was educated in the common schools and at Hop-
kinton Academy, and in the high school at Bellows
Falls, Vermont. After leaving school, she taught
school seven years. She is an attendant of the
Congregational Church, of INIanchester, a member
of Rebekah Lodge, No. 16. is past departrnent presi-
dent of the Woman's Relief Corps, and past worthy
matron of Ruth Chapter, No. 16, Eastern Star,
of Manchester. Mr. and Mrs. Bennett have one
child, Moody Bell S., who was born in New Boston,
September 6, 1873.
The Bennetts of Swanzey are de-
BENNETT scended from an early settler in
Richmond, New Hampshire, who
came from Massachusetts shortly after the Revo-
lutionary War. The family is of English descent
and several of this name emigrated during the
seventeentli century, among whom were Anthony
Bennett, who settled in Gloucester, Massachusetts,
about the year 163S, and John Bennett, who was
residing at Beverly in 1668, but an attempt to trace
with accuracy the Richmond settler's line of descent
back to its original English source has been thus
far unsuccessful owing to lack of time and op-
portunity for original research.
(I) The earliest ancestor of the Swanzey Ben-
netts whom the writer can vouch for with certainty
was John Bennett, who was probably an older son
of James (3) and Elizabeth (Dodge) Bennett, born
^ ^/^jt<yx^2j^y^^
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
377
before their settlement in Reading, about the year
1740. He went from that town to Richmond, New
Hampshire, in 1787. He purchased the Daniel Read
farm, which he cultivated for a number of j'ears,
and he spent his declining days at the residence of
his son Levi, in Swanzey. The maiden name of
his wife does not appear in the records consulted.
His children were : Levi, David, Deborah, Ashael,
Mary, Nehemiah, Joanna and Naomi.
(.n) Nehemiah, sixth child and youngest son of
John Bennett, was born in Douglas, December 28,
1770. As a youth of seventeen years he accompanied
his parents to Richmond, from whence he subse-
quently removed to Swanzey, and his death occurred
in the last-named town, June 30, 1836. He married
Lucy Garnsey, born November 29, 1774, daughter of
Deacon Amos and Merriam (Pike) Garnsey (see
Gurnsey), and was the father of Hiram. Esther,
Nellie, Amos, Asahel, Jolui and Lucy.
(IH) Amos, second son and fourth child of
Nehemiah and Lucy (Garnsey) Bennett, was born
in Swanzey, and died there September 2. 1856. He
was married April 18, 1821, to Lucretia Buffum,
born August 5, 1804, daughter of Esek Buffum, of
Richmond, and her death occurred in Norwich,
Connecticut, May 13, 1882. They had a family of
nine children, namely : Emily B., Amos G., Asahel,
Oscar, John, Andrew, Wales, Fanny and Sarah
Jane.
(IV) Amos Garnsey, second child and eldest
son of Amos and Lucretia (Buffum) Bennett, was
born October 7, 1825 or 1826. in Richmond. He
resided for some time with Peleg Taft, of Rich-
mond, whose daughter Almina he married April 18,
1847, and subsequently removing to the Four Cor-
ners he followed the blacksmith's trade at the
Pickering place (so called) for many years. In
1879 he purchased the Moses Howard farm in
West Swanzey, and resided there until his death,
which occurred May I, 1893. His wife, Almina
(Taft) Bennett, who was born in Richmond. Janu-
ary 22, 1828, and died July 10, 1903, became the
mother of two sons : Oscar Cyrenus, born February
28, 1848 ; and Otto Peleg Bennett, who is referred
to at greater length in the succeeding paragraph.
Oscar C. Bennett was married February i, 1870,
to Emma S. Bolster, who was born January 24,
1851. daughter of Almon Bolster. They have one
son, Ivo Amos, born in Richmond, August 4. 1871.
(V) Otto Peleg, youngest son of Amos G.
and Almina (Taft) Bennett, was born in Richmond,
November 7, 1857. Having concluded Jiis attendance
at the public schools, he worked with his father at
the blacksmith's trade, and went with the latter
to West Swanzey. He was associated with the elder
Bennett in carrying on the farm, and continued to
reside there for the remainder of his life, which
terminated February 24, 1906. He was an able and
successful farmer, and a highly esteemed citizen,
whose untimely demise was sincerely deplored by a
wide circle of devoted friends. Politically he sup-
ported the Democratic party. He had been officially
connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows and the Improved Order of Red Men, and was
also a member of the local grange. Patrons ot
Husbandry. His religious affiliations were with the
Unitarians.
On March 29, 1879, Mr. Picnnett was married in
Keene to Attie Hartwell .Aldrich, who was born in
Richmond September S, i86t. daughter of David B.
Aldrich. The only child of this union is Ibie Al-
mina, born in Swanzey, July 25, 1884, and is now the
wife of Charles Eugene Avery, also a native of that
town, born December 24, 1874.
The Harden family is of English
MARDEN descent. As far as published records
show, the emigrants to this country
have not been very numerous. Savage only mentions
Richard Marden, who settled in New Haven, Con-
necticut, in 1646, and took the oath of fidelity the
following year. As far as ascertained, New Hamp-
shire seems to have been their attractive camping
ground, though some have settled in Massachusetts.
Members of the present family have found homes
in Rye, Windham, and New Boston. They have
proved themselves highly respected and valuable
citizens, many of them of scholarly tastes and habits,
who became college graduates, clergymen and law-
yers, one of the latter at least having attained to
an honorable distinction as judge. Some of them
have been active in politics, and prominent in state
and national conventions.
(I) James Marden, whose origin does not seem
to have been discovered, was a very early settler
in what is now New Hampshire. It is not certain
whether he located in what is now Rye, or in New
Castle. It is known that he had a son William,
and it is probable that James, Nathan and Sarah
were also his children. Inasmuch as the name was
not very numerously represented in the New World
at that time, there can be little doubt that all these
were his.
(II) William, son of James Marden, resided
in Newcastle. No record can be found as to his
marriage, but the list of his children shows that the
mother's baptismal name was Dorcas. Their chil-
dren were : William, Samuel, Jonathan, Mary.
Dorcas, David and Jemima, born from 1705 to
1727.
(III) David, fourth son of William and Dorcas
Marden, was born about 1720, and settled in Brad-
ford, Massachusetts, where he died. (His sister
Sarah married, December 29, 1743, William Atwood.
also of Bradford.) No record is found of his mar-
riage, but it is known that he had Lemuel and prob-
ably William.
(IV) Lemuel, son of David Marden, was born
in Bradford, Massachusetts, August 30, 1745. He
was married in 1769 to Hannah Greenough, of
Bradford, the youngest of six daughters. He wa?
by occupation a mason and farmer. He served three
enlistments in the revolutionary war. In 1785 he
removed to New Boston, New Hampshire, and set-
tled on the Daniel Hardy place. He was a large
land owner, and dealer in lumber and real estate.
For a time he was in Boston, Massachusetts, assist-
ing in building the state house. Politically he was
a Democrat, and was honored with election to town
offices. Religiously he affiliated with the Presby-
terians. Their children were : Hannah, born Au-
gust 29, 1770; Greenough, October 17, 1772; Solomon,
March 24, 1775; Nathan, May 25, 1777; Francis,
November 6, 1779; Samuel, July 13, 1782; Mehitable.
December 29, 1785; Jonathan, July 5, 178S; and
Sarah. September 4, 1791. (J\Iention of Nathan and
descendants appears in this article,) He died and
was buried at New Boston, January 9, 1819. His
wife died October 12, 1843.
(V) Jonathan, sixth son and eighth child of
Lemuel and Hannah (Greenough) Marden. was
born July 5, 1788, in New Boston. He was a farmer
and mason. He owned a saw mill, and did more or
less lumbering. Denominationally he was a Presby-
terian, as also was his wife, whom he married De-
cember 31, .1815. as Sally Foster, of Ashby, Massa-
chusetts. Their children were: Elizabeth Foster,
born February 6. 1817. married Caleb Reed, June r,
1842; John Foster, born July 6, 1818; Jonathan, born
3/8
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
September 26, 1820; married, March 9, 1847, Eliza
Jane Norton, of Vermont; Harriet, born August
29, 1822, married, May 29, 1845, Frederic H. Ober,
of Hopkinton; Alfred, born November 22, 1828,
married, December 30, 1852, Augusta H. Emerson;
Charles, born July 21, 1830; and George Waterman,
born October 13, 1832. The father died November
18, i860, and his wife Sally died April 10, 1869; both
are buried at New Boston.
(VI) John Foster, eldest son and second child
of Jonathan and Sally (Foster) Marden, was born
in New Boston, Jfuly 6, 1818. He received his
education in the district schools, and after leaving
school taught for a time. By occupation he was a
mason and farmer. He learned the mason's trade
in Lowell, Massachusetts, after leaving there worked
in Boston and vicinity, living a number of years in
Milton, Massachusetts, then moving to Nashua, New
Hampshire. His first wife, who was Jerusha H.
Adams, daughter of Lemuel and Hannah Adams,
of Milton, whom he married November 30, 1843,
died November 14, 1856, and was buried with her
youngest child at Nashua, New Hampshire. He
then removed to his old home in New Boston, and
September 10, 1864, he married Mary Caroline,
daughter of Charles Martel Fisher, native of
Franklin, Massachusetts, and Olive Boyden, native
of Medfield, Massachusetts, Mary Caroline being
born in Medway, Massachusetts, February 18, 1829.
She was a lineal descendant of Anthony Fisher,
who came to Dedham, Masachusetts, in 1637, from
Syleham, England. John Foster Marden early in
life became a member of the Presbyterian Church
and Society, as was his second wife, his first being
a member of the Congregational Church. Politically
he was a Whig, afterwards voting for Fremont
and later for Abraham Lincoln, and as a Republican
was elected to town offices. He and his second wife
were charter members of Joe English Grange, No.
53, Patrons of Husbandry, later he was master,
and his wife Ceres. He was a member of Peter-
borough Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows,
for many years. He, by his first wife, had five
children,' as follows: Georgianna M., born Sep-
tember 12, 1844; Annette J., October 18, 1846; John
A., September 28, 1848; Ella R., February 26, 1851;
and Caroline S., August 9, 1855. By his second
wife he had : Charles Fisher, born September 20,
1865 ; and Sarah Olive, born March 19, 1871 ; she
married, July 19, 1898, Frank E. Andrews, of Man-
chester, New Hampshire. They now have two daugh-
ters. John Foster Marden died August 23, 1887,
and Mary, his second wife, died November 3,
1906.
(VII) Charles Fisher, eldest son and child of
John Foster and Mary C. (Fisher) Marden, was
born in New Boston, September 20, 1865. He was
educated in the public schools of the town. His
occupation is farming and mason work, but he has
handled some real estate. Politically he is a Re-
publican. He has served as selectman for five years,
and for four years was a supervisor of the
check list. He has been a member of the board
of health eleven years, and of the fire department
sixteen years, being at the head of the department
two years. He has served as tax collector one year.
He has been an insurance agent since his father's
death, and is a notary public and justice of the
peace. He is a member of the Baptist Church, as
is his wife. He is also a member of the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, including Rebekah and En-
campment, and was formerly a member of Joe
English Grange. He was united in marriage, Sep-
tember 20, 1898, to Elvina S., daughter of Gustaf
Anderson, of ^Manchester, New Hampshire. His
wife was educated in private schools. They have
one son, Howard Anderson, born October 13, 1899.
(V) Nathan, third son and fourth child of
Lemuel and Hannah (Greenough) Marden, was
born in New Boston, New Hampshire, about 1776.
He married Susannah Stevens, daughter of Calvin
arid Esther (Wilkins) Stevens, who was born in
Hillsborough, New Hampshire. She was a descend-
ant of Colonel Thomas Stevens, of Devonshire,
England, who was a signer of instructions to Gov-
ernor Endicott and contributed fifty pounds to the
Massachusetts Company, and sent three sons and
one daughter to the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Calvin Stevens fought at Concord and Bunker Hill,
and his wife's father and grandfather, Timothy
Wilkins, Sr., and Timothy Wilkins, Jr., both took
an active part in the Revolution. Nathan and Su-
sannah ( Stevens) Marden had children, among them
Benjamin Franklin, whose- sketch follows; and Na-
than Richmond, who was born in Mont Vernon,
New Hampshire, October 17, 1812, married Abigail
D. Fiske, of Weld, Maine, and lived in Frances-
town, New Hampshire.
(VI) Benjamin Franklin, son of Nathan and
Susannah (Stevens) Marden, was born in New
Boston, September 26, 1807. He lived in early
life at Wilton, New Hampshire, where he was en-
gaged in tanning and in the manufacture of boots
and shoes. In 1837 he moved to Syracuse, New
York, then to ^Mont Vernon and Nashua, New
Hampshire. In 1847 he returned to Mont Vernon,
which he made his personal home. On March 20,
1830, he married Betsey Buss, second daughter and
fourth child of Stephen and Sarah (Abbot) Buss,
who was born in VVilton, New Hampshire, August
3, 1810. Stephen Buss, born January 19, 1777, was
a farmer in Wilton, New Hampshire. He married,
December 8, 1803, Sarah, daughter of Jeremiah and
Chloe (Abbot) Abbot, who was sixth in descent
from George Abbot, of Andover, Massachusetts (see
Abbott Genealogy). The nine children of Benjamin
Franklin and Betsey (Buss) Marden were: Sarah
Luthera, born in Wilton, May 5, 1835, married
George G. Averill, of I\Iont Vernon. Benjamin
Franklin, born in Wilton, May 12, 1836, died at
Syracuse, New York, April 5, 1838. Susan, born at
Wilton, June 23, 1837, died in 1859. George A.,
mentioned below. Frank, born in Nashua, New
Hampshire, March 31, 1841, married Mary Frances
Biddle, of Concord, New Hampshire, May 16, 1882.
IMaria Theresa, born in Nashua, March 6, 1844, mar-
ried E. Gerry Martin, May 28, 1869, and lived in
East Boston, Massachusetts. Hannah Catherine,
born in Mont Vernon, December 16, 1846, married
Samuel Sewall, Jr., of Lowell, Massachusetts, No-
vember 27, 1873, and died August 27, 1886. Wendell
Phillips, born in INIont Vernon, May 6, 1850, married
Melvina Drew Nutter, of Concord, New Hampshire,
October 28, 1878. Benjamin Franklin Marden died
in Mont Vernon, March 25, 1901, and his wife died
February i. 1901, in Mont Vernon.
(VII) George Augustus, second son and fourth
child of Benjamin Franklin and Betsey (Buss)
Marden, was born in Mont Vernon, New Hampshire,
August 9, 1839. He is descended from Richard
Marden, who took the oath of fidelity at New Haven,
Connecticut, in 1646, and is supposed to have come
direct from England. The name Marden is said
to have been originally "mass-y-dwr-dn," a Welsh
combination, signifying "field of the water-camp."
By contraction this became Mawarden and Marden.
George A. Marden's preparatory education was ob-
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
379
tained in Appleton Academy in Mont Vernon, aft-
erwards jMcCollom Institute. In later life he be-
came president of the board of trustees of this
school. In boyhood he was taught the shoemaker's
trade by his father. He worked at that intermit-
tently, and during vacations from the age of twelve
till he was through college. He was graduated
from Dartmouth in 1861, being the eleventh in
rank in a class of fifty-eight. Among his class-
mates was Rev. William Jewett Tucker, afterwards
president of the college. In 1875 Mr. Marden was
Commencement poet of the Phi Beta Kappa Society,
and in 1877 delivered the commencement poem be-
fore the Dartmouth Association Alumni. He was
president for each of these societies for the term
of two years.
Mr. Marden served three years during the Civil
war. In November, 1861, he enlisted as a private
in Company G, Second Regiment of Bcrdan's United
States Sharpshooters, and on December 12 of that
year was mustered into the United States service
as second sergeant. In April, 1862, he was trans-
ferred to the First Regiment of Sharpshooters, and
served during the Peninsular campaign under Mc-
Clellan from Yorktown to Harrison's Landing. On
July 10, 1862, he was made first lieutenant and regi-
mental quartermaster, which duty he held till Janu-
ary, 1863, when he became acting assistant adjutant-
general of the Third Brigade, Third Division, Third
Corps. He served in this position till the fall of
1863, taking part in the battles of Chancellorsville,
Gettysburg and Wapping Heights, and was then
ordered to detached service on Riker's Island, New
York. Soon after, by his own request, he was sent
back to his own regiment with which he remained
till it was mustered out in September, 1864.
Coming back to New Hampshire Mr. Marden
entered the law office of Minot & Mugridge, at Con-
cord, and also wrote for the Concord Daily Monitor,
then just established. In November, 1865, Mr. Mar-
den purchased the Kanawha Refublican, a weekly
paper at Charleston, West Virginia, which he edited
till April, 1866. He then returned to New Hamp-
shire and worked for Adjutant-General Head in
compiling and editing the histories of the states'
military organizations during the civil war. In the
meantime he was finding his true vocation in jour-
nalism. He wrote for the Concord Monitor, and in
July, r866, became the Concord correspondent of
the Boston Advertiser. January i, 1867, he was
made assistant editor of the Boston Advertiser,
which position lie held till the next September. .-Xt
that time, in partnership with his classmate, ]\Iajor
E. T. Rowell, he purchased the Loivcll Daily
Courier and the Loiccll Weekly Journal, which he
continued to conduct till his death, nearly forty
years later. The partnership of Messrs. Marden and
Rowell lasted for a quarter of a century or until
the Lowell Courier Publishing Company was formed,
when both partners retained their interest in the
corporation. In January, 1895, this became the
Courier-Citizen Company by consolidating with the
paper of that name. The Citicen was made a one
cent morning paper, and Mr. Marden continued in
editorial charge of both papers.
Mr. Marden soon became konwn as a speaker
as well as a writer. His first vote was cast for
Abraham Lincoln, and since 1867 there has been
no election, state or national, when he did not
appear on the platform. During the presidential
eompaign of 1896. in company with Major-General
O. O. Howard. Major-General Daniel E. Sickles,
General Russell A. Alger and others, he addressed
more than a million people. They travelled over
eight thousand miles in a platform car, and spoke
in fifteen different states of the Middle West. Mr.
Marden's ready wit. which caused the Lowell
Courier to be quoted all over New England, soon
made him in demand as an after-dinner speaker,
and for various celebrations like Dartmouth Ban-
quets, Old Home Week observances, Memorial Day
or Grand Army re-unions. In 1889 and 1892 he spoke
at the banquets of the New England Society held
in New York on Forefathers' Day. He considered
these invitations the greatest honor ever accorded
him. In 1873 Mr. Marden was elected to the
Massachusetts legislature. He became clerk of the
house in 1874, which office he held until he became
speaker in 1883 and 1884, and in 1885 he was
chosen to the state senate. In 1885 he was appointed
trustee of the Agricultural College at Amherst,
Jilassachusetts. In 1888 he was elected treasurer
of the Commonwealth, which office he held for five
consecutive J'ears, the constitutional limit. In 1899
he was made assistant treasurer of the United States
at Boston, which office he held until his death, De-
cember 19, 1906. He became vice-president of the
Hancock National Bank in Boston in 1895. Mr.
Marden always retained a great love for the place
of his birth, Mont Vernon, New Hampshire. Al-
though his newspaper and legal residence was at
Lowell, ^Massachusetts, he kept a suriimer home at
i\Iont Vernon, which he visited every year. He •
owned much property there, built many fine houses,
and was always the first to take hold of anything
which promised to help the tow-n. At the time of his
lamented death, he was editing a History of Mont
Vernon, started by C. J. Smith of that place.
George A. Marden married at Nashua, New
Hampshire, December 10, 1867, Mary Porter Fiske,
daughter of Deacon David Fiske. of Nashua (see
Fiske, XIII). They had two sons: Philip San-
ford, born in Lowell, January 12, 1874, who was
graduated from Dartmouth College in 1894, and
from Harvard Law School in 1898. He married.
June 12, 1902, at Goffstown, New Hampshire,
Florence Sophia Shirley, of Shirley Hill, Goffs-
town. Robert Fiske, born at Lowell, January 14,
1876, who was garduated from Dartmouth in 1898,
married, June 12, 1901, Ella B. Pote, of East Bos-
ton. Both sons are on the editorial staff of the
Lowell Courier Citizen Company.
This is among the earliest Amcri-
EMERSON can families, and has been traced
to various localities in England, and
has been associated with some of the most stirring
events in American history, both past and present.
The records show that a coat-of-arms was granted
in 1535 to Radus (Ralf. Raffe or Rauff) Emerson,
of Foxton, county of Durham, England. No pedi-
gree was registered with it. In 1569 the general
muster of the county of Durham included forty-one
Emersons.
Thomas Emerson, who was born sometime about
1540, was a resident of Great Dumnow, in the
county of Essex. England, where his three children
are registered, namely : Robert, Joan and John.
It has been assumed that he was a son of Ralph, of
Foxton, and he is presumed to be identical with
Thomas, of Rumford, county Essex. Seven miles
from Great Dumnow is Bishop's-Stortford, in the
county of Herts. There is found a record of the
marriage of Robert Emerson, on November 24,
1378, to Susan Crabbe. He owned a field on the
north quarter of the parish called Muggles Dale,
38o
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
and- in earlier times, Muffles Dane, Robert Emerson
was buried at Bishop's-Stortford, January 6, 1620,
and his widow, November 20, 1626, at the age of
seventy years. Their children were : Alice, Mar-
garet, Thomas, Ann, Robert and John.
(I) Thomas Emerson, of Ipswich, Massachu-
setts, is recorded in the church warden's book of
St. Michael's church, in 1630, as collector for the
poor. His wife, Elizabeth Brevvster, is supposed
to have been a dpughter of William Brewster, of
Scrooby, and the famous elder of the Pilgrims,
1620. It has been proven that ^Major-General Deni-
son, a close friend of Thomas, and mentioned in the
latter's will, emigrated from Bishop's-Stortford.
Thomas Emerson was probalily born in Sedsfield
parish, county of Durham, England, and died in
Ipswich, Massachusetts, May i, 1666. He was
baptized at Bishop's-Stortford, England, July 26,
1584, and was married July i, 161 1, in that parish
to Elizabeth Brewster. Their children as recorded
in St. Michael's Church at Bishop's-Stortford, were:
Robert, Benjamin, Ralph, James, Joseph, Elizabeth,
John, Thomas, Nathaniel and Susan. Tradition
says that they came from England in the ship
"Elizabeth Ann," in 1635. He was at Ipswich, Mas-
sachusetts, as early as 1638, when eighty acres of
land were granted to him. In the same year he re-
ceived a deed .of one hundred and twenty acres from
Samuel Greenfield, a weaver of Ipswich, and this
was the Turkey Shore farm, which remained in the
family for generations. He is mentioned as a com-
moner in 1641, and in 1646 was one of the "seven
men," equivalent to the present selectmen. He was
the possessor of considerable property and the
records show that he received damages from the
town for the loss of a yoke of oxen that backed
off a bridge. The inventory of his estate amounted to
two hundred and twenty-five pounds three shiirings.
The records of England show that the family was
nonconformist, and they probably found difficulty
in getting out of England. The reference to Thomas
Emerson as a baker in the Massachusetts records
probably arises from the fact that he assumed the
character of an artisan in order to make his removal
from England less difficult.
(II) Robert Emerson, of Rowley, Massachu-
setts, is believed by good authorities to have been
the eldest child of Thomas and Elizabeth (Brew-
ster) Emerson, who was baptized May 24, 1612, at
Bishop's-Stortford, Hertfordshire, England. He
was probably a resident of Bishop's-Stortford in
1642. He was in Rowley, Massachusetts, as early
as 1655, and took the oath of fidelity there in 1671,
and removed thence to Haverhill, Massachusetts,
where he was made freeman April g, 1678. He
subscribed to the oatli of fidelity in 1671, and in 1672
received from the town compensation for the care
of an orphan child. Before 1675 he had a house
there. He died June 25, 1694. He was married,
October 22, 1635, to Elizabeth Grave, of Bishop's-
Stortford, England, and she was buried there June
22, 1636. His second wife was named Frances, and
he married (third) in Rowley, November 4, 1658,
Ann Grant. She was drowned' July 28, 1718. His
children were: Elizabeth, born in England, 1637,
Thomas, Joseph, Ephraim. Stephen, Benjamin and
Lydia. The elder son was killed by the Indians,
with his wife and children, I\Iarch 15, 1697. (Men-
tion of Benjamin and descendants appears in this
article.)
(III) Stephen, fourth son and fifth child of
Robert Emerson, was among the original petitioners
for and proprietors of the town of "Penniecook,"
now Concord, New Hampshire, in 1721. At a meet-
ing of the proprietors February 8, 1726, at An-
dover, Massachusetts, he drew lot 9, range 3, con-
sisting of five and one-half acres in the great plain :
and house lot No. 9, in the first range, consisting
of one and one-half acres. A search of the records
of Concord fail to disclose any further mention of
him in that town, and it is probable that he did not
reside there. No further account of him has beeii
found. On a petition for the parish of Hampstead
to be erected out of Haverhill, Massachusetts, Janu-
.ary I, 1744, appears the name of Stephen Emerson,
but this was probably his son Stephen, who became
a resident of that town. He was married December
7, 1698, to Elizabeth Dustin.
(IV) Stephen (2), son of Stephen (i) and
Elizabeth (Dustin) Emerson, was born February
23, 1701. in Haverhill, Massachusetts. He was one
of the original members of the North Parish Church
in 1730, and was admitted to the parish of Hamp-
stead by letter from there, June 3, 1752. About
1762 he removed from Hampstead to the eastern
part of Weare, New Hampshire, where he died.
When the province line was established in
1741, he found himself to be outside of
Massachusetts, and petitioned for the estab-
lishment of a new parish in Hampstead. He
was a resident of the West parish in 1740. The
records of Hampstead Church would seem to indi-
cate that he had strayed somewhat from the narrow
path, as shown by the following entry : "May, 29,
1761, voted that Stephen Emerson should again
partake with them on his acknowledgement that
he had gone contrary to ye Gospel in forsaking their
communion." He married Hannah Marden, who
was born 1716, daughter of James and Abigail
(Webster) Marden, of Rye, New Hampshire. She
was an original member of the North Parish Church
in 1730, and was admitted to the Hampstead Church
June 3, 1752. Their children were: Ensign
Stephen, Lieutenant ]\Iarden, Susannah, Abigail.
Elizabeth, Moses, Mary and James.
(V) Deacon James, youngest child of Stephen
(2) and Hannah (Marden) Emerson, was born
January 10, 1739, in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and
went with his father to Weare in early life. He
resided for a time in Hampstead, and removed after
1760 to V.''eare. He and his wife owned a covenant
in the Hampton Church, January 11, 1761. He was
deacon of the church at Weare, and was very strict
about keeping the Sabbath. On one occasion while
going to church, he observed a fo.x pursuing a rabbit,
and was urged by his wife to scare away the fox
and relieve the frightened bunny, but he insisted
that such an act would be a profanation of the
Sabbath, and refused to do so. In relating the
circumstance his wife said that she was in doubt
as to whether he was too pious or too lazy to
dismount and do this act of kindness. He died
in Weare, in 1814. He married Lydia Hoyt, who
was born April 6, 1740, in Salisbury, Massachusetts,
a daughter of Moses and Alary (.Carr) Hoyt. The
records of the Hampstead Church show that both
James Emerson and his wife were admitted there
from the church in Weare, .'\ugust 30, 1778. Their
children were: Moses, Hannah (died young),
Susannah, James, Lydia, Polly, Hannah and
Stephen. All except the first were born in Weare.
(VI) James (2), second son and third child
of James (i) and Lydia (Hoyt) Emerson, was
born May 26, 1767, in Weare, and settled on part
of lot 27, range l, of that town, not far from the
spot where his father first settled. About 1799 he
sold his land and moved to Newbury. New Hamp-
shire, where he died. He married Polly Cilley
CHARLES M. EMERSON.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
381
and their children were : Jonathan, Stephen, James
and Lydia.
CVll) Jonathan, eldest child of James (2) and
Polly (Cilley) Emerson, was born Angust 25, 1792,
in Newbury, New Hampshire. He later removed
to Newport, and finally settled in Lebanon, where
he died February 12, 1872. He was a farmer by
occupation, and a respected citizen. He was married
in 1813 to Polly Collms, of Danville, New Hamp-
shire, who was born July 3, 1787, and died Sep-
tember 8, 1861. Their children were: Hiram,
Susan, Jonathan, Arvilla B., James, Moses W.,
Algrove B., Lucena A. and Lucina M., the last two
being twins.
(VHI) Jonathan (2), second • son and third
child of Jonathan (i) and Polly (Collins) Emer-
son, was born September 2, 1817, in Grantham,
whence his parents removed to Newbury in his
early childhood. He died August 12, 1897, in New-
port, New Hampshire. He received an ordinary
education in the town of Newbury, and learned the
bkcksmithing trade. He began business on his
own account in Northville, and was counted one of
the best horse shoers of his day. He was mar-
ried, June 7, 1840, to Lucretia W. Martin, of Weare,
New Hampshire, daughter of Jonathan and Emma
(Brown) Martin, of that town. She was born
July 8, 1815, and died August I, 1887. Her grand-
father, Jonathan Martin, came from Goffstown
previous to the Revolution and settled in Weare.
His wife was Sarah Quimby. The children of
Jonathan (2; and Lucretia (Martin) Emerson
were : Christann Lucretia, Charles Martin and
Addie L., all of whom now reside in Newport,
New Hampshire. The elder daughter is the wife
of Edwin Wakefield, and the younger of Charles H.
Matthews.
(IX) Charles Martin, only son of Jonathan (2)
and Lucretia (Martin) Emerson, was born No-
vember 25, 1846, in Newport, New Hampsliire. He
attended New London Academy in 1866 and 1867,
and after leaving school in the latter year became a
clerk in the general store of Gilman C. Whipple,
in Lebanon, where he remained until August 30,
1873. Removing to Newport, he began business for
himself, Alay 4, 1874. It is a remarkable feature
of the lateness of the season that he rode from
Lebanon to Newport on that day in a sleigh. He
was very successful as a merchant, and his business
rapidly grew, and on February 1, 1893, it was in-
corporated under the name of Emerson Dry Goods
Company. On February 24, 1880, he had bought
an old store, and in the summer of that year he
built the Emerson Block, which is now one of the
landmarks of Newport. This was begun on June
1st, and was occupied by his business in November
following. Mr. Emerson has been active in pro-
moting the best interests of Newport, and has been
called upon to serve in various public capacities.
He was treasurer of the board which installed the
water works of the town, and this board has the
remarkable record of having money left in the
treasury after the work had been completed. In
the spring of 1887 Mr. Emerson built the original
mills of the Peerless Manufacturing Company,
which is now one of the leading industries of
Newport. In the summer and fall of 1892 a mill
was established at Barton, Vermont, which is the
leading industry of that town. Mr. Emerson is
president of the company, and he is ably assisted
by F. W. Cutting, superintendent, and P. A. Johnson,
treasurer, who is also cashier of the Newport
Citizens' Bank. In September, 1892, Mr. Emerson
began to give his time exclusively to the manage-
ment of these mills, which are now three in number
and their growing business is sutficient testimonial
to his industry and efficiency in this department.
Mr. Emerson is also interested in banking, and
has been for many years president of the Citizens'
National Bank, of Newport, which was organized
the latter part of 18S5 and began business January
I, l886. It's twentieth anniversary was fittingly
celebrated by a banquet in January, 1906. At this
time its condition was shown to be highly satisfac-
tory to the stockholders, and an e.xtra dividend of
three per cent, in addition to the regular semi-
annual dividend of the same amount, was declared.
Of the original officers and directors only four are
now living, and all are directly connected with the
management of the institution. That its affairs
have been conservatively managed is evidenced by
its financial statement which shows a surplus of
more than one-half the original capital, after pay-
ing regular dividends during the twenty years of
its existence.
Mr. Emerson is a member of the Baptist Church
of Newport, of which he was for a number of
years trustee, having resigned that responsiblity
very recently, and he is prominently identified with
the Masonic fraternity. He has served as high
priest of the local chapter, and is the only thirty-
second degree Alason in Newport. He is affiliated
with Sullivan Commandery, Knights Templar, and
is very popular with the order throughout the
state. He is a Republican in politics, and was
representative of the town at Concord, in 1905.
He was married in Cambridge, Massachusetts,
April 15, 1872, to Luella E., daughter of Quartus
and Charlotte (Hillard) Fletcher, of Cornish (see
Fletcher, VII). She was born February 7, 1849,
and is the second child of her parents. She was
educated in Newport and Cornish. Mr. and Mrs.
Emerson have one daughter. Helen Josephine, born
January 19, 1887, who completed the course of the
Newport high school, and is now (1907) in her
fourth year at the Boston University. Mrs. Char-
lotte (Hillard) Fletcher has resided for the past
twenty years with her daughter, ^Irs. Emerson, and
is now (1907) in her eighty-si.xth year.
(HI) Benjamin, son of Robert and Sarah
Grant Emerson, was born January 8, 1678. and
died in 1734. He married June 14, 1707, Sarah
Pheltrich, a widow. There were eight children by
this marriage.
(IV) Charles, son of above, was born May 10,
1718, in Haverhill, Massachusetts. He removed to
New Hampshire, probably to Canterbury, as that
town is given as the birthplace of his son Charles,
the only one particularly mentioned of his si.x chil-
dren. A conveyance of land to him from his
brothers Robert and Benjamin is recorded in Con-
cord, New Hampshire, the deed bearing date 1740.
He married, in 1737, Susanna Silver, of Haverhill,
Massachusetts.
(V) Charles (2), son of Charles and Susanna
Silver Emerson, was born in Canterbury, New
Hampshire, May 6, 1767, he removed to Sutton
Junction, Quebec, date not given, and died April
I, 1856. He married Olive Barker. They had nine
children.
(VI) John B., son of Charles and Olive Barker
Emerson, was born in 1791. in Canterbury, and died
at Sutton. Junction, Quebec, in August, 1867. He
removed from Canterbury to Boscawen, New
382
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Hampshire, and married Polly Swan, of Sanborn-
ton. Tlieir three children were; Harriet, Joseph
Clough and Charlotte.
(VH) Joseph Clough Emerson was born m
Boscawen, New Hampshire, February 4, 1819. He
studied for the ministry, and was a member of the
New Hampshire Conference, Methodist Episcopal
Church, from 1845 to 1861. October 17, 1861, he
was appointed chaplain of the Seventh New Hamp-
shire Regiment in the Civil war, was captured Oc-
tober I, 1864, by Confederates near Richmond, Vir-
ginia, and released January 14, 1865. He was dis-
charged from the army January 20, 1865. Rev.
Joseph Clough Emerson was appointed by Bishop
Baker, of New Hampshire, as missionary to
Florida, and removed to Fernandina with his family
October 15, 1865. ' His pioneer work of organizing
churches among the colored people was difficult
and arduous, but much of it remains until this day.
He was active in the organizing of public schools of
the town and county where he lived. He was drowned
while crossing the St. Johns River, Florida, Febru-
ary 3, 1877.
He married, in Methuen, Massachusetts, July
23, 1844, Cecelia Simpkins, of Brereton, England.
They had three children: Arthur William, Fran-
cena, and Harriet E. Emerson, trancena married
David Bowdoin Plumer (.see Plunier sketch).
(.Second Family.)
The family of this name in New
EMERSON England all seem to be of the same
English stock, but not all of the
same immigrant ancestor. The Emersons in Eng-
land appear to have sprung from that Aimeric,
archdeacon of Carlisle and Durham, 1196-1214, and
high sheriff of Northumberland, 1214-1215, who was
the nephew of Bishop Philip, of Poicton, . Prince
Bishop of Durham 1195, and previously clencus et
familiaiis of Richard Coeur de Lion. However,
be this as it may, the Emersons of America, as a
family, have given a good account of themselves
in all the varied walks of life's battles, in peace and
war.
(I) Michael Emerson, the early ancestor of
many Emersons in New Hampshire, moved into
Haverhill, Massachusetts, in 1656, and in 1661 he
had a lot of meadow assigned him. He was chosen
in 1665 "to view and seal all leather" in town.
This was the first time a sealer of leather had been
chosen in Haverhill, and he was annually re-elected
for many years, so it is probable that he was a shoe-
maker. It is said that he settled near the present
site of the depot, and that his farm lay on the
east side of Little River. He married, April i, i6S7.
Hannah Webster, and they had fifteen children, the
oldest of whom was Hannah, born December 23,
1657, who married. December 3, 1677, Thomas
Dustin, and by him had thirteen children. She was
the heroine who was captured by the Indians and
carried to the confluence of the Merrimac and
Contoocook rivers, with JMary Neff and _ a young
man named Samuel Lannerson, and they killed their
captors and took their canoe and returned to Haver-
hill. The site of this exploit is now marked by a
handsome granite monument surmounted by a
statue to the memory of Hannah (Emerson)
Dustin.
(II) Jonathan, son of Michael and Hannah
(Webster) Emerson, was one of the grantees of
Chester, New Hampshire, and was admitted at the
request of the governor. In 1690 he ,was com-
mander of one of the garrisons at Haverhill, Massa-
chusetts, and in 1701 the Indians attacked his gar-
rison and were repulsed by him. In 1705 he and
others had a privilege granted them of setting up a
grist mill in the settlement.
(III) Samuel, son of Jonathan Emerson, was
born in 1707, and died September 26, 1793. He
settled in Chester. Jonathan purchased in 1722 the
right of Samuel IMarston, the house lot No. 52
on which Samuel settled, and in September, 173S,
it was deeded to him, and the lot was called Jona-
than Emerson's wdien the road was laid out in
1730. Samuel first appeared on Chester records in
1 73 1, when he was chosen town clerk, and he was
re-elected every year up to 1787. At the same
meeting he was chosen one of the selectmen. He
filled a place ip Chester which no other man has
filled or could fill. He was the first justice of the
peace in the town. After he settled in Chester he
did nearly all the surveying and wrote most of the
deeds ; he was surveyor to lay out the second part
of the second division in 1736, and all subsequent
divisions. It is ?aid that he had so tenacious a
memory and his organ of locality was so largely
developed, that if any bound was lost he could tell
nearly where it stood. He was a man of such in-
tegrity and judgment, and the people had so much
confidence in him, that nearly all minor contro-
versies were without any legal formalities referred
to him, and his decision was beyond review or
appeal. Samuel Emerson married, February 15,
1733. Sarah Ayer, of Haverhill, and they had fifteen
children : Samuel, Jonathan, Samuel, 2nd, Sarah,
Nathaniel, Abigail, Hannah, Lydia, Elizabeth, Han-
nah 2nd, Moses, John, Nabby, Susanna and Anna.
(IV) Colonel Nathaniel, fifth child and fourth
son of Samuel and Sarah (Ayer) Emerson, was
born May 2, 1741, and died April 30, 1824. He
removed to Candia about 1761, and settled on the
spot where John W. Cate now resides, where, like
most men of his time, he was engaged in farming
when not otherwise occupied. He was called to
public stations perhaps more than any other indi-
vidual who ever lived in Candia. He was an officer
in the militia under King George III from 1763 to
1775, and was commissioned Captain of the Eighth
Regiment by Governor Benning Wentworth. In
1777 he was lieutenant-colonel of Colonel Stickney's
regiment, and fought in the memorable battle of
Bennington in April 1777. In 1778 he served as
lieutenant-colonel in Colonel Nichol's regiment in
Rhode Island, when the American army was co-
operating with the French fleet in an attempt to
expel the British forces from that province. The
attack upon the British army at that time was
unsuccessful, and Colonel Emerson soon afterward
returned to Candia. During the whole period of the
war of the revolution he was a very efficient mem-
ber of the committee of safety. In 1782 he served
as a member of the convention which framed the
first state constitution, and in 1785 and 1786 he was
a member of the New Hampshire house of repre-
sentatives. He was a member of the board of select-
men several years. In 1786 he was chosen superin-
tendent of the work of building the first meeting
house, and was one of the first members of the
Congregational Church in Candia. He was a sur-
veyor of lands for many years and a justice of the
peace twenty-five years. He married, November 15,
1764, Sarah Tilton, a woman who through life was
remarkable for piety and all the social and domestic
virtues. She died January, 1814. They had ten
children : Jonathan. Anna, Samuel, Sarah, Na-
thaniel, Richard, Elizabeth, Hannah, Lydia and
Nabby (Abigail).
(V) Nabby, tenth child and sixth daughter of
NEW TTAMPSHTRE.
3^3
Colonel Nalhaniel and Sarah (Tilton) Emerson,
was born before 1800, and died 1867. She married
John Lane, Esq., November 21, 181 1. (See Lane,
VI).
The ancestors of the Emersons were
EMERSON devoted Puritans, and ready to en-
dure all the privations and perils
of a residence in the savage wilderness of New Eng-
land rather tlian live in Britain and renounce their
religion or Ijcar the persecutions its practice entailed.
Acc-ordingly, the name Emerson early appeared on
tlie Manchester records. John Emerson came to
America in the "Abigail," and settled in Ipswich
in 1635; Joseph was there in 1638, and Thomas in
163.9. After that time the name is of frequent oc-
cuVrenee in the records, and many of its bearers
were men oi prominence. Strong religious con-
victions and a high regard for learning have been
marked characteristics of this race. As early as
1834 thirty Emersons had been graduated from
Harvard College, and twenty from other New Eng-
land Colleges. Many have been preachers of the
gospel, and seventeen of the graduates mentioned
were ministers. Many others have been teachers
and professors in colleges, and one ranks among
the most distinguished of American writers.
(I) William Emerson was long a resident of
Wilniot, New Hampshire, wdiere he was a successful
farmer. His children were: Harrison, Anthony.
Nehemiah. Lasias and Moses.
(II) Harrison, son of Willard Emerson, was
born in Wilmot in 1824, and died in igo2, aged
seventy-eight. He was a miller, and had a mill on
the Blackwatcr river at Andover. He married Mary
Ann Hardy, wdio was born in Springfield, New-
Hampshire, February, 1834, and died in 1904, aged
seventy years. Her parents were Nicholas and
Emily Hardy. Six children were born of this mar-
riage: Jonathan, Henry, Charles N., Albert, Caro-
line and Allen. Jonathan enlisted in Company I,
Sixth New Hampshire Volunteers, and served six
months in the war of the rebellion. He was wounded
and discharged on account of his wounds. Henry
was a member of Company H, Fourth New Hamp-
shire Volunteers, in which he served from the time
of his enlistment till the close of the war. Caroline
married Frank Bartlett, of Andover.
(III) Charles Nelson, third son and chdd of
Harrison and Mary Ann (Hardy) Emerson, was
b.irn in .\ndover, February" 10, 1850. He was edu-
c.iteil in the common schools and at Andover
.\cademy, and while not at school w.as employed
I n a farm. In 1S72 he formed a partnership willi
William E. Melindy. under the firm name of Me-
lindy & Emerson, and they carried ,on a gener;d
-lure at West .Xndover for five years. Mr. Emerson
ihcii formed a partnership with John F. Emery, and
they engaged in the same business at Proctor's
Mills, wliere, after running tw^o years, the firm re-
moved to Potter Place, where it continued in trade
for aliout two years. Mr. Emerson was then ap-
pointed deputy sheriff of Merrimack county under
William Norton, and served four years. He then
resigned and removed to Franklin, and liecame
.-igent for tlic American Express Company at that
pl;ice, and has ever since held that place, a term
of twenty years. In the transaction of his private
linsiness, and in his dealings with the public as tlie
representative of a great corporation, Mr. Emerson
lias mainlained a high character for integrity, and
fair dealing. In politics he is a staunch Democrat,
and it has been his fortune to be a local leader of
his party. While a resident of Andover he served
three years as a selectman, and after his removal
to Franklin he occupied a similar position, being
the last chairman of the board of selectmen before
the town became a city. He was initiated in Kear-
sarge Lodge, No. 81, Ancient Free and Accepted
Masons, of Andover, and is a member of Mount
Horeb Commpndery, and Edward A. Raymond
Consistory.
He married, in Franklin, December S. 1872, Ida
A. Clifford, of Andover, who was born in Dan-
Iniry, 1856, daughter of Simon and Diana (Heath)
Clifford, of Springfield, New Hampshire. They
have one child, Clifford Fred, born June 10, 1892.
This worthy branch of the great
EMERSON Emerson family, through defective
records, has not been traced to an
earlier ancestor than, the one herein first men-
tioned.
(I) William Emerson was born December 13,
1805, in Wilton, and died there February 6, 1890.
aged eighty-four years. He learned the carpenter's
trade of his father-in-law, Aaron Kimball Putnam,
and worked at it for many years. He resided in
Wilton throughout his life, with the exception of
three years following 1837, when he lived in Jaffrey.
He w-as a man of prominence and influence, and
filled the offices of justice of the peace, collector
of taxes, town treasurer and selectman, and served
on important committees. He was an early member
of the Congregational Church, to the support of
which he was a liberal contributor. He married,
.iXpril 22, 1832, Evelina Putnam, born May 31, 1811,
and died July 23, 1903, daughter of Aaron K. and
Pclly (Shattuck) Putnam, of Wilton. (See Putnam,
VII.) They had eight children: Sumner B.,
Charles A., Mary, Martha, Henry L., Willis K.,
Mary E. and Lenore C.
(II) Henry L., fifth child and third son of Wil-
liam and Evelina (Putnam) Emerson was born
in Wilton. February 6. 1845. He was educated in
the pulilic schools, and in 1S65 enlisted for service
in the Civil war. While at Gallops Island, Boston
Harbor, awaiting transportation, he was taken ill
will] measles, and when he had recovered the sur-
render of General Lee and his army had ended the
war, and he was discharged. Returning to New
Hampshire, he finished learning his trade with his
father, with whom he was for a time a partner.
Since 18C7 he has been a contractor and builder,
■,ini\_ has erected many structures in Wilton and
vicinity, one of the most notable of which is the
new iiublic library building at Wilton. He takes
;iu interest in all matters relating to the public wel-
f.-ire. ;ind ."Served as representative to the general
court in 1895. He is a member of Clinton Lodge,
No. 52, Free and Accepted Masons, of Wilton, and
of King Solomon Chapter, No. 17, Royal .Xrch
i\lasons, of Mil ford.
He marrieil. December 17, i,8(iS. .Nbbie .\. Ilolt, '
born in Wilton, November T, 1.S46, daughter of Mark
anil IClizabeth (Rockwood) Holt (see Holt, VII),
and they have one child, William Henry, born
M.irch 24, 1871. who is now engaged in the cloth-
ing business in Wilton. He married. May 20, uStjfi,
.Mabel L. Clark, daughter of Captain Aaron A.
Clark.
The first account of this family
EMERSON thus far discovered is of Fenner H.
Emerson, who was horn July 30,
1806, in Rhode Island, and was married, .\pri! 16,
384
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
1828, to Clarinda Baker, daughter of Philip C.
Baker, of Pembroke (see Baker, VI). When a
young man Mr. Emerson went to Concord, and for
many years he drove a team, hauHng paper and other
merchandise between Frankhn and Concord. This
continued until the railroad was completed to
Franklin, when he removed to the latter town and
was there employed by J. F. Daniel & Son until he
grew too old to labor. His last years were passed
with his son at Henniker, and he died there June
15, 1883, near the close of his seventy-seventh year.
His wife was born August 3, 1808, in Bow, and
survived him a little more than one year, dying
October 23, 1884, at Henniker. She was a member
of the Congregational Church, whose faith was ac-
cepted by her husband. He was always a Democrat
in politics. They were the parents of four children :
William F., Mary A., George B. and Henry A. The
eldest son died at the age of fourteen years. The
daughter is the wife of William Ladd, residing in Con-
cord. George B. is a citizen of Buffalo, New York.
(.11) Henry Augustus, youngest child of Fenner
H. and Clarinda (.Baker) Emerson, was born May
I, 1837, in Concord, New Hampshire, and remamed
at home until he was eleven years old. From that
time he worked on a farm and in mills in and about
Franklin and Fisherville, now Penacook. He v/as
industrious and soon came to realize the value of
education, and out of his savings was able to
spend some time in academies ai Franklin and
l<isherville. By this means and by private study he
became a well informed man. While actively en-
gaged by the use of his hands in earning a livelihood,
he certainly had an abundance of hard labor and his
disposition was not spoiled by the hardships he
endured. He ever preserved a cheerful temper and
has succeeded in getting much pleasure out of life,
although his career has been a very busy one. In
1871 he purchased a one-third interest in a paper
mill at West Henniker, and before 1S86 became its
agent and manager. He is now chief owner of a
very successful paper manufacturing plant, and his
wares are variably known and command a ready
sale in the market. He makes much paper for the
use of the state and also manufactures card papers
and special goods. Mr. Emerson has ever been
active in the development and progress of his home
town ; in 18S8 he built the block known as the
Emerson Block in the village of Henniker, and about
the same time purchased and grc-atly improved his
homestead property on Pleasant street. Fie has
ever been ready to aid in inipruving the village of
Henniker, and contribukd twcnly-hve hundred dol-
lurs for the completiun of its public library. He also
gave five hundred dollars for the state road, and has
been liberal in providing for concrete walks, light-
ing of the streets, and other public improvements.
He is a member of Crescent Lodge, No. Co, Inde-
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, of Henniker, trustee
of the Tucker Free Library and of the lienniker
Academy, and treasurer of the Henniker Cemetery
Association. He is a regular attendant of the Con-
gressional Church, and supports the Republican
party in politics. He represented the town in 1876,
1878 and 1905, receiving in the latter year the largest
vote ever given to a representative in the town.
Mr. Emerson married, January i, l8f)4, Maria
Louise Lydslon, a native of Tyngsborough, Massa-
chusetts, daughter of Andrew and Louise (Tufts)
Lydston.
The family of this name is limited in
R.'VNNO numbers, and seems not to have existed
in New England long before the Revo-
lution, unless under the name of Ranney.
(I) Reuben Ranno was born in Springfield, New
Hampshire, and was a farmer in that town for a
number of years. He afterward resided on a farm
in Hancock, Vermont, about ten years, and in West
Berwick a short time, and finally in Randolph,
where he died. He married Mary Webster, who was
born in Salisbury, New Hampshire. Their children
were : Samuel, Reuben, Mary and Harriett, the lat-
ter born March, 1810.
(II) John, son of Reul)cn and Mary (Webster)
Ranno, was born in Springfield, New Hampshire,
March, 1810. He settled on a farm in Hancock,
Vermont, and resided there till i8g6, when he re-
moved to Manchester, New Hampshire, where he
died. In politics he was a Whig and later a Re-
publican. He married Sophronia Gould, who was
Ijorn in Dunbarton, New Hampshire, about 181 1.
Three children were born of this marriage : Perne-
cia A., who was born in Hancock, Vermont, Feb-
ruary 22, 1S34, married John Robertson and lives in
Stillwater, Minnesota. Henry C, the subject of
the next paragraph. Charles, who died from fever
during the Civil war.
(lllj Henry Clinton, one of two sons of John
and Sophronia (Gould) Ranno, was born in Goffs-
town. New Hampshire, August ir, 1837, died De-
cember 22, 1906. He obtained a common school edu-
cation in that town. When a young lad he went
along: to Washington, Vermont, where he worked at
farming. At sixteen years of age he went to Bran-
don, Vermont, where he worked three years at the
harness maker's trade. At the end of that time he
returned to Washington, Vermont, where he worked
at farming for fifteen years. In 1874 he removed to
Manchester, New Hampshire, and hought out An-
drew J. Dow, and started in business for himself.
Later he moved a short distance up the street to
the site of his present factory, in West Manchester,
where he manufactured harness and saddlery under
the firm name of the Ranno Saddlery Company. In
politics he was a Republican, and took a more than
ordinary active part in public affairs, filling the office
of councilman two years. He was made a member
of George Washington Lodge, Free and Accepted
Masons, of Chelsea, Vermont, and upon his removal
to Manchester he demittcd to Washington Lodge,
No. 61. He is an Odd'Fellow, a charter member of
Uncanoonuc Lodge, and a member of the Improved
Order of Red Men. He married (first) in Chelsea.
Vermont, Eveline Dinsmorc. They had children, all
born in Washington, Vermont : Fred W., born Jan-
uary 3, i86i.' Charles G., April 2, 1863. Nellie A.,
Feliruary 12, 1S65. Frank G., July 11, iS(;8, died
December. 1873. Willie, died young. Grace S.,
February I. 1873, married Walter F. Bennett. Mr,
Ranno married (second), Iza W. Merrill, who was
born in Lovell, Maine, May 29, 1S52, and died in
Mancliester, New Hampshire, 1896.
As the ancestors of this family re-
BUTLER sided in Canada it is impossible to ob-
tain on this side of the boundary line
any accurate information relative to its early his-
tory. It made its way to New Hampshire by way
of Vermont, and the subscriber, who is still on the
sunny side of fifty, has acquired success in his va-
rious enterprises.
(I) Peter Butler, presumably the emigrant, who
was born in , in 1792, settled in St.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
385
Athanase. Province of Qiieliec. Tlic maiden
name of liis wife was Josepliinc F. Coyctte.
(II) Charles Butler, son of Peter and Josephine
F. Goyette) Butler, was born in St. Athanase
March 18, 1813. He was a miller by trade and
followed that calling at various places in Canada
and Vermont. While residing in Highgate, Ver-
mont, he assisted in operating the first steam grist
mill to be established in that section. The last four
years of liis life were spent in retirement in Keene,
and be died there August 4, l8g6. He married
Flavia Boudry, and had a family of twelve children :
Joseph, Charles, Ely (?) (who died young), Lucy
(also deceased), Frederick, Ely (?) T., David,
Flavia, Mary, Henry, Julia and Louis A.
(III) Louis A. Butler, youngest son and child
of Charles and Flavia (Boudry) Butler, was born
in Henryville, Province of Quebec, February 23,
i86r. He began his education in Highgate, and sub-
sequently attended schools in Bedford and Pike
River, Province of Quebec. In 1879 he went to
Keene, and finding employment at the Hale Chair
Manufactory in South Keene, he remained with that
concern for about three and one-half years. For the
succeeding five years he worked at steam-fitting with
D. D. Kepple, and he was for an equal length of
time connected with the John Shaw Shoe Company,
which is now the Lancaster Shoe Company. He
ne.xt became proprietor of a billiard parlor in Keene,
which he relinquished four years later in order to
engage in the hotel business at Stoddard, New
Hampshire, and upon his return to Keene he became
manager of a local club. Resuming the hotel busi-
ness in Albany, New York, he remained in that
city for a year, at the expiration of which time he
again returned to his home in Keene and is now
residing there in retirement.
Mr. Butler is a member of the Improved Order
of Red Men and the Benevolent and Protective Or-
der of Elks. He was married .\pril 26, 1S80. to
Miss Louise Angeline Banyca, daughter of Louis
and .'\delaide (Bouriez) Banyca. His children are:
Martile F., Corrine A., Benjamin H. C, Margaret
L., Helen V., Oliver B., James S., Joseph L. and
Pauline E. Butler.
Five hundred years ago, more or
STE.\RN.S less, when the population of England
had become sufficiently dense to make
surnames necessary, some Englishman assumed the
name of Sterne. He may have taken it from the
sign of the Sterne, or starling, (which is the symbol
of industry), which he displayed in front of bis place
of business, or it may have been taken from some
event in which a starling was concerned : but of this
there is now no record or means of knowing.
In England the name was, and it seems still is,
spelled Sterne, two notable instances of which are
the names of Richard Sterne, Lord Archbishop of
York, and Lawrence Sterne, the distinguished novel-
ist, author of "Tristani .Shandy" and other works ;
but in America it is spelled Stearns, Sternes, Sterns,
or Starns, and Starnes, the last two forms being dis-
tinctly southern. The changes probably commenced
in the pronunciation, and extended to the writing
of the name, which, in Wintbrop's journal and in
the early town and county records of Massachusetts,
ajipears as Sterne.
In every instance where the lineage of this family
has been traced back it has been to one of the fol-
lowing: Isaac, Charles, or Nathaniel. What rela-
tionship existed between the three is not known.
Isaac in his will calls Charles "My kinsman." It is
noticeable, howe\'er, that all three named their sons
Isaac, Samuel and John, while the sons of Isaac
named their sons Nathaniel. The belief is enter-
tained by many of the Stearns descendants that
three Sterne brothers Isaac, Daniel and Shubael —
came to America together ; that Daniel died unmar-
ried, or without issue ; that Shubael and wife leav-
ing two sons, Charles and Nathaniel, to the care of
their uncle Isaac. Research in England has thus far
failed to find parents, brothers, or sisters of Isaac
Stearns, the emigrant from England.
In the genealogy of the Stearns family published
in iQor, over eleven thousand persons were men-
tioned. Among these were one hundred and thirty-
two graduates of colleges, universities, etc. : eighty-
three clergymen : eighty physicians ; fifty-nine law-
yers ; twelve principals of academies and high
schools; twelve professors of colleges; one chan-
cellor of a state university; one dean of a divinity
school ; three presidents of colleges ; one superin-
tendent of instruction (Argentine Republic) ; eleven
authors ; five editors ; one bishop of Pennsylvania ;
one general manager of railroads ; one president of
railroads; one president of a telegraph company;
twenty farmers ; two governors ; three lieutenant
governors ; two secretaries of state ; eleven state sen-
ators ; thirty-six colonial or state representatives ;
two speakers of the house ; two supreme court
judges; five mayors; two generals; twenty-two col-
onels; eleven majors; fifty-six captains; and one
hundred and eighty-two private soldiers.
(I) Isaac Stearns, the immigrant ancestor, em-
barked at Yarmouth, England, in the ship ".\rabella,"
April 12, 1630, and arrived on the Massachusetts
coast in company with Governor Winthrop, Sir
Richard Saltonstall, and Edward Garfield, ancestor
of the martyr president. He came from Nayland,
England, and was accompanied by his wife Mary
and two daughters; Mary and Ann. Mr. Stearns
settled at Watertown, Massachusetts, and w'as among
the first freemen established there in 1631. He was
selectman several years, and died June 19, 1671, being
survived nearly si.x years by his widow, who passed
away April 2, 1677. Beside the children above
named they had John, Isaac, Sarah, Samuel, Eliza-
beth and .'\bigail. John is supposed also to have
been horn in England. (Mention of Isaac (2) and
Samuel and descendants appears in this article).
(II) John, eldest son and third child of Isaac
Stearns, was one of the first settlers of Billerica,
Massachusetts. He was married (first), in 1653, to
Sarah, only daughter of Isaac and Sarah Mixer, of
Watertown, who inherited from her father one-half
of the vessel "Dilligent." She died June 14, 1656.
leaving one son. He married (second), December
20, 1656, Mary Lothrop, who was born October 4,
1640. daughter of Thomas and Mary (Learned)
Lothrop, of Barnstable. He died March 5, i(568, and
bis widow was married Mav 6, 1669. to Captain Wil-
liam French, Esquire, of Billerica. He died Novem-
ber 20, 1681. aged seventy-eight years, and she mar-
ried (third), June 20, 1684, Isaac Mixer, Junior, of
Watertown, being his third wife, and he being a
brother of John Stearns', first wife. She was still
living, very aged, in 1735. She was the mother of
four daughters by Captain Franch and of four sons
by Mr. Stearns. The estate of the last named was
inventoried March 23, 1680, at three hundred nine-
teen pounds eighteen shillings four pence. He had
six sons in all, namelv: John. Isaac (died one year
old). Samuel. Isaac, Nathaniel and Thomas.
(III) Lieutenant John (2), son of John (i) and
Sarah (Mixer) Stearns, was born in May, 1654, in
386
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Billerica. He was a respected and influential citizen
of that town, and died there October j6, 1728. He
was married (first), September 6, 1676, to Elizabeth
Bigelow, wdio was born June 15, 1657, daughter of
John and Mary (Warren) Bigelow, of- Watertown.
She died April i8, 1674. and Mr. Stearns was mar-
ried (second), April 22, i6g0, in Maiden, to Mrs.
Joanna (Call) Parker, widow of Jacob Parker, and
daughter of Thomas, Junior, and Joanna (Shepherd-
sen) Call. She died December 4, 17.^7, aged seventy-
eight years. There were eight children of the first
marriage and one of the second, namely: Elizabeth,
John (died in infancy), Sarah. Mary, John, Isaac,
Abigail, Samuel and Joanna. (Samuel and descend-
ants receive mention in this artielc).
(IV) John (3), second son and fifth child of
John (2) and Elizabeth (Bigelow) StearnsJ w^as born
November 26, 16S6, and died August 2, 1776. He
was married in 1715 to Esther Johnson, who w-as
born in January, 1601, and died April 13, 17S6. She
was a daughter of Captain Edward Johnson, of Wo-
burn, granddaughter of William and great-grand-
daughter of Captain Edward Johnson, of Woburn.
who was the author of a quaint histon- of New Eng-
land, entitled "Wonder Working Providence of
Zion's Savior in New England." j\lr. and Mrs.
Stearns were the parents of children, named as
follows: Esther (died at three months). John.
Isaac. Joanna, Edward. Benjamin. Ji>siah. William
and Timolliy. (Josiali and descendants receive men-
tion in this article).
(V) Hon. Isaac, fourth child and ■second son
of John (3) and Esther (Johnson) -Stearns, of
Rillcrica. was born June 16, 1722, and died April 2-?,
180S. He was a soldier in the French war, represen-
tative and senator in the state legislature ; highly re-
spected as a soldier, a civil magistrate, a legislator
and a Christian. "The old house in South' Billerica,
where he lived, is still well preserved and halfw^ay
up the front stairs is the closet where he retired
daily to pray, thus literally fulfilling the divine man-
date, 'When thou prayest, enter into thy closet,' etc."
He was a man of more than ordinary aliility and
education. In recognition of his services to country
and state during the Revolutionary war his admir-
ers had made for him in Kn.gland a beautiful pitcher,
whicli has descended by the law of primogeniture to
the present day. February 11, 174S, he married
Sarah .Abbot, born .April 22. 1729, daughter of Obed
and Elizabeth Abbot, of Bedford. She died January
o, 1815. They w^ere the parents of twelve children:
Esther; Isaac: William: Benjamin, died young:
Sarah, died young: Benjamin: Sarah: Marv: Tim-
othy: John: Elizabeth: and Dr. Obed.
(VI) John, tenth child and sixth son of Isaac
and Sarah (Abbot") Stearns, was born in Billerica,
September 18, 1765. and died November 5. 1836. He
was a farmer of Billerica, and lived beside the Con-
cord river in the south part of the town." "The
Stearns property in Billerica has been for more than
two centuries in the famil.v. On these acres four
Stearns families located, in different generations, and
erected dwellings for their own accommodation.
John Stearns, born 1765, built the present Stearns
homestead and established a home on one quarter of
the farm, where his grandson was a late owner."
Mr. Stearns was killed, November 5, 1836, by the lo-
comotive "Phoenix," on the Boston & Lowell Rail-
road at Woburn, Massachusetts, where he was then
residing. He married (first) February 10, 1801,
Mary Lane, born .August 15, 1776, daughter of Sam-
uel and Elizabeth (Fitch) Lane, of Bradford. She
died November 30, 1815, and he married second, May
13. 1S17, Susanna Winn, born November 2, 1771,
daughter of Joseph Winn, of Burlington. She died
January 28, 1842, in the Stearns homestead in Bil-
lerica. There were eight children, all by the first mar-
riage :\ Franklin ; Mary: John Owen; Onslow, died
young: Eliza Ann; Onslow; Lorenzo; and Bernard.
(VII) Governor Onslow, sixth child and fourth
son of John and Mary (Lane) Stearns, was born in
Billerica, Massachusetts, August 30, 1810, and died in
Concord, New Hampshire, December 29, 1878. He
lived in his father's farm and attended the public
schools until he was seventeen years of age, and then
went to Boston, where he spent three years in a
clerical capacity. In 1830 he joined his brother John,
a famous railroad contractor in Virginia, in the con-
struction of the Oiesapeake & Ohio canal. Subse-
quently he became interested w-ith his brother in the
construction of various railroads about Philadelphia
and Baltimore, and in the states of Pennsylvania,
New York and New Jersey, in which he was en-
gaged until the summer of 1837, when be returned
to New England and soon after engaged in the w-ork
of completing the Nashua & Lowell Railroad. He
was made its superintendent in the latter part of
1838, and filled the place until 1S46, when he resigned
to become agent of the Northern Railroad, being con-
nccte<l with this corporation from its very inception,
securing the necessary legislation and personally su-
pervising its construction. He became mana.gcr of the
road upon its completion, and held that position un-
til 1852, when he was elected president, continuing
his service in that capacity until his death. His other
railroad connections embraced the superintcndency
of the Vermont Central ; directorship in the Ogdens-
burg. in the Nashua & Lowell, in the Northern Pa-
cific: and the presidency of the Old Colony and Con-
cord railroads and the Old Colony steamboats.
Mr. Stearns took up his residence in Concord,
New Hampshire, in 18—, and ever afterw-ard made
that place his home. His extensive railroad opera-
tions brought him into direct contact with the lead-
ing men of the state, who, recognizing his unusual
ability in organization and administration, soon made
use of his talents in the political field. He was an un-
compromising Republican, and thoroughly in accord
with the party in state politics. In 1862 he served as
state senator, and again in 1864, being president of tlie
senate in the latter year. In 1864 he was a delegate
to the Republican National convention, and assisted
in the nomination of Abraham Lincoln for the presi-
dency. In 1S67 he was unanimously nominated for
governor of New Hampshire and was elected by a
decided majority. In the following year, though de-
clining a renomination. the convention refused to ac-
cept his refusal and he was again called to the gub-
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
387
ernatorial chair where he served a second term.
Governor Stearns early displayed those adminis-
trative and constructive faculties which distinguished
his later life. Method and management were as
natural to him as respiration. These qualifications,
coupled with stanch integrity and strong will power,
were the foundation of his successful life work. In
all positions his sagacity, ability, and integrity were
conspicuous, and commanded the confidence of the
public. During his administration Governor Stearns,
by a display of the eminent business qualities that
had made him so signally successful in private life,
added to his renown and greatly benefitted the state.
His administration of the affairs of the state were
practical, non-ipa'rtisan, and highly successful, partic-
ularly so in managing the finances. To the perform-
ance of all his duties he brought a more thorough
equipment than was possessed by any other man in
New England, and surpassed in completeness by few
men in the country. Beginning at tlif foundation of
railroad construction, there was no department in
railroad management with whose details he was not
familiar. Few men have had imposed on them more
arduous labors. To the performance of these he
devoted not only his days but also many hours of
the night, and to the pressure of their burden may
be attributed his comparatively early death.
He married, June 27. 1845, l\Iary Abbott Hol-
brook, daughter of Hon. Adin Holbrook, of Athol,
and later of Lowell, Massachusetts. To them were
born five children, all in Concord : Charles Onslow,
born May 31, 1846, is a partner in the firm of J. A.
Lowell & Company, engravers and printers, Boston ;
Mary Laurinda, April 2. 1849, married General John
R. Brooks, L^nited States army; Margaret Abbott,
January 21, 1855. married S. W. Ingalls, and settled
in New York city; Sarah, January 14, 1857; Grace,
November 21, i860, married first, Solon Hill, second,
Robert H. Rolfc, and settled in Concord.
(IV) Samuel, fourth son of Lieutenant John
(2) Stearns, and eighth child of his second w'ife,
Joanna Call, was born January 8, 1694, in Billeriqi,
and died before 1730. He was married in 1719 to
Rachel Crosby, who was born April 18, 1695, daugh-
ter of Joseph and Sarah (French) Crosby. She
was married (second), in 1730, to Thomas Wyman.
Samuel Stearns' children were : Rachel, Elizabeth,
Prudence, Samuel, Maria and Benjamin.
(V) Rachel, eldest child of Samuel and Rachel
(Crosby) Stearns, was born June 6, 1720, in Billerica
and became the wife of Nathan Hutchinson (see
Hutchinson, XIV).
(V) Prudence, third daughter and child of Sam-
uel and Rachel (Crosby) Stearns, was born March
30, 1724, in Billerica, and was married January 21,
1742, to John Needham, of Tewksbury.
(VI) Stearns Needham, son of John and
Prudence (Stearns) Needham. was born February
2Si 1754, in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, and married
(first) Alice Kidder. He was married (second) to
Hannah (Kittredge) Bailey, who was born Decem-
ber 7, 1759, in Andover. Massachusetts, and died in
Milford, New Hampshire, March 2, 1857, '" her
ninety-eighth year. Stearns Needham resided in
Milford. where he died February 5, 1830. There
were three children of his first wife, and twelve of
the second.
(VII) "Harriet, daughter of Stearns and Hannah
(Kittredge) Needham, was born November ig, 1805,
in Milford, and was married December 31, 1830, to
Samuel Hayden, of Milford (see Hayden, VII).
(11) Isaac (2), second son and fourth child of
Isaac (i) and Mary Stearns, was born January 6,
)633. in Watertown, where he was made a freeman
in 1665. He settled in Cambridge Farms, now Lex-
ington, and died there August 29, 1676. He was
married June 24, 1660. to Sarah, daughter of Captain
Richard and Elizabeth Beers. Captain Beers was
one of the original proprietors of Watertown, com-
manded a company in King Philip's war, and was
killed in battle with the Indians at Northfield, Massa-
chusetts, September 4, 1675. After the death of Mr.
Stearns his widow married (July 23, 1677) Thomas
Wheeler, of Concord, Massachusetts. Isaac Stearns
left an estate inventoried at three hundred pounds.
His children were : Sarah, Mary, Isaac, Samuel, Abi-
gail and John.
(HI) John, son of Isaac (2) and Sarah (Beers)
Stearns, was born 1675, in Lexington, and resided in
Concord and Bedford. He is of record as a land-
owner in Bedford in 1729, and died there June 14,
1734, aged about fifty-nine years. Following is an
item from his will, which was dated May 29, 1733:
"I give and bequeathe to my daughter, Mercy Ken-
dall, five pounds and all the right I have in a mulatto
girl, named Mary, now living with me." He was
married April 26, 1699. to Mercy Davis, who was
born August 12, 1677, daughter of Samuel and Mary
(Meadow^) Davis, of Concord. Their children were:
John, Zachariah, Eleazer. Mercy, Abigail and Ben-
jamin.
(lY) Zachariah, second son and child of John
and Mercy (Davis) Stearns, of Concord, was born
in Bedford, Massachusetts, February 6, 1702. He
was in ;\!errimack. New Hampshire, in 1746, and
settled there. He enlisted in the public service in
1760, and was in Captain Butterfield's company in
1772. He married in 1727, Sarah (surname un-
known) and they were the parents of the following
children: John. Zachariah, Daniel. Sarah, Nathan,
and a daughter whose name is faded from the Merri-
mack. New Hampshire, records.
(V) John, eldest child of Zachariah and Sarah
Stearns, was born in Concord, Massachusetts, Febru-
ary 17, 1728. In 1772 he removed to Amherst, New
Hampshire. May i, 1775, John Stearns was enrolled
in Archclaus Torus' Company, Twenty-seventh Regi-
ment, Foot Soldiers, Continental army. On April 15,
1776. he was in Timothy Clement's Company. Colo-
nel David Gilman's Regiment. December 20, 1778, he
was in Captain Simon Marston's Company, Colonel
Stephen Peabody's Regiment, which was raised by
New Hampshire for the Continental service in Rhode
Island. John Stearns died in Amherst, October 2,
iSto, aged eighty-two years. He was married in 1751
to Rachel Codman. and the following is a list of
their children, all born in Amherst: Rachel. John,
388
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Rebecca, Jotham, Relief, Dolly, Nathan, Elijah, Ebe-
nezer, Reuben, Elizabeth, Sally and James.
(VI) Nathan, seventh child and third son of
John (2) and Rachel (Codman) Stearng, was born
July 22, 1761. in Merrimack. He bought, March 22,
1800, of John McDale, land and buildings, including
a saw mill and water privilege, and January 27, 1801,
he sold the same property to Henry Blaisdell, his
wife's brother. In the War of 1812 he was' in Cap-
tain M. C. Mills' company, Eleventh United States
Infantry, and on the rolls is reported "prisoner of
war." He died in the service "in the barracks, of
fever," previous to May 11, 1813. when his widow
was appointed administratrix of his estate, and later
David L. Morrill was appointed guardian of his three
children. He married, about 1790, Miriam Blaisdell,
daughter of Henry Blaisdell, of Goffstown. Their
children were: Henry B., Elizabeth, and Nathan,
whose sketch follows.
(VII) Nathan (2), third and youngest child of
Nathan (i) and Miriam (Blaisdell) Stearns, was
born May 2, 1801. and died April 15, 1877. He was
a farmer by occupation, and resided in Goffstown.
When not busy with farm labor he finished by hand
the stockings which the machines of his day could
not complete, and hence was known as a stockmg-
man. He married, in 1830, Polly Martin, who was
born August 27, 1810. They were the parents of
four children : Augustus, Elvira W., Mary Ann, and
Lucian E.
(VIII) Augustus, eldest child of Nathan (2)
and Polly (INIartin) Stearns, was born in Goffstown,
July 26, 1832, and died in West Derry, February 14,
1881, and was buried in Goffstown. He was a shoe-
maker and lived in Goffstown, New Hampshire, and
in 185 1 moved from there to Lynn, returned to the
old place in 1855, and in 1S60 went to Manchester,
where he followed the trade of a finished custom
shoe maker, which he continued until 1878. One of
his eyes was injured by a chestnut burr, and from
this injury he gradually became totally blind. About
two years before his death he went to Derry to live,
and there spent his last years. He died February 14,
i88r.
He married, in 1850, Sarah H. Emerson, who was
born in Weare. September 12, 1832, daughter of
Obadiah Emerson. Her ancestor, Stephen Emerson,
was an early settler of Weare. They had five chil-
dren: Ellen, Mason William, Lyman M., Carrie E.,
and Frank Leslie.
(IX) Lyman- Marshall, third child and second
•son of Augustus and Sarah (Emerson) Stearns, was
born in Goffstown, New Hampshire, on the home-
stead farm, March 4, 1858. He was named for Rev.
Lyman Marshall, of Weare, who promised that he
would give him a Bible when he was twenty-one
years of age. The minister died before that time
and the gift was not then made, but on the anni-
versary of his thirty-fifth birthday Mr. Stearns was
surprised to receive from Mr. Marshall's widow, then
in St. Louis, a handsome Bible fittingly inscribed.
Lyman M. Stearns was brought up on the farm. He
was educated at home and in the public schools, and
from twelve to fourteen years of age attended school
at Amoskeag. At the age of fourteen he left Amos-
keag and- moved to Londonderry, and then learned
shoemaking, at which he worked twenty-six years.
In 1901 he was made foreman of the lasting depart-
ment of the Pillsbury Shoe Company at West Derry.
In 1S72 he removed to Londonderry, and on Novem-
ber 4. 1879, went to West Derry to live, and resided
there until December I, 1905, when he returned to
Manchester. During his residence there he was
elected selectman of Derry, and served one term., but
declined further honor of a political nature.
Mr. Stearns has been an enthusiastic checker
player from boyhood, and at a very early age dis-
tinguished himself by his knowledge of the game and
skill in play. It has recently been written of him :
"No problem in draughts was too subtle for his rare
powers of analysis." Devoting himself seriously to
the study for twenty-five years, he pored over
checker manuals and literature devoted to the game.
One by one he met cross board, and scored favor-
ably with the greatest prodigies of the day. For ten
years previous to 1896 Mr. Stearns was editor of the
checker department of the Derry Ncius, and since
the first issue of the Magnet Magazine he has con-
ducted a checker department on that publication with
credit to himself and to the gratification of its
thousands of readers. From 1S96 to 1901 he was
editor and publisher of the North American Checker
Board, and since that time has frequently been re-
ferred to as the "problem king," "greatest problem
of our time," and so forth. In June, 1906, he began
the publication in Manchester of the Checker World,
which under his able editorial management has made
rapid strides in the field for which it was designed.
It is bright, well-printed, and is meeting with pop-
ular favor in all quarters of the globe. He has pub-
lished thirteen standard checker books, the most pop-
ular of them being "Portrait Books," volumes i-ii;
"World's Problem Books," parts one and two;
"Granite Checker Series," parts one, two and three;
"Bradley's Bristol," and "Stayman's Black Doctor
and Supplement." In 1891 he won a gold medal at
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, against four hundred con-
testants, most of whom were experts of many years'
experience. In 1885 he took first prize in the New-
castle (England) Chronicle game problem contest
with what was at that time considered to be the most
beautiful problem in the nineteenth century. _ In the
spring of 1901 he toured his own state, playing fifty
games in Manchester and Concord. His progress
was almost triumphal, and his score was twenty-five
winnings and twenty-five draws, although he was
pitted against the best talent the state afforded. He
defeated the state champion five to nothing, with
three draws. He is one of the greatest checker
problematists the world has ever seen, and the
author of over three thousand problems, winner of
several gold medals, cups and book prizes without
number, and today stands before the world as one
of the most unique figures in draughts. He poss-
esses the remarkable gift of playing blindfold
draughts. He has even engaged in a game of whist
and checkers simultaneously, the latter game being
played in another room, and Mr. Stearns having no
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
389
■opportunity to see the board. As a cross-board ex-
pert he met the greatest New York players, notably
Dr. Schaefer and John McEntree, and played against
them with success. His victory over the Jersey City
champion, M. F. Clowser, caused the Nezv York
World to say that "Stearns had proved himself a
mighty analyst and one of draughts' keenest critics."
He also defeated the Newark champion. Mr.
Stearns was the first president of the New Hamp-
shire Checker Association, and has been vice-presi-
dent of the New England .-Xssociation. He married,
in Manchester, June 5, 1S7S, Alnora M. Chase, of
Londonderry, who was born May 11, 1854, daughter
of Trueworthy D. and Nancy (Pittingill) Chase, of
Londonderry.
(VI) James, youngest child of John and Rachel
(Codman) Stearns, was born in Amherst, New
Hampshire, August 30, 1774- He spent all his life
in Amherst, and died there January 14. 1854. He
was married in 1798 to Lydia Glover, of Nottingham
West, who was born July 29, 1780, and died May 2,
1854. The following is a list of their children : Abi-
gail, Harriet A., Hiram D., Solomon Granville,
James, Betsy, Adeline, Caroline R., Mary, Frances,
Charles and Jane.
(VH) Caroline R., fifth daughter and eighth
child of James and Lydia (Glover) Stearns, was
born in Amherst, New Hampshire. August 13, 1812.
She was married December 2, 1834, to Alexandei
McC. Wilkins, of Merrimack. (See Wilkins, VH).
(IV) Eleazer, third son and child of John and
Mercy (Davis) Stearns, was born September 4, 1704,
and was a clothier at Newton in 1734, and was later
of Concord. His first wife Abigail, to whom he was
married in 1733, was the mother of three of his chil-
ren. His second wife's name was Mary, who also
tore him three children. The names of all were as
follows: William. Eleazer, Mary, Mercy, Jonathan
and David.
(V) David, youngest child of Eleazer and Mary
Stearns, was born 1750, and resided at Boxboro,
Massachu-setts, and later in Hollis, New Hampshire,
where he died. His wife Lois died December 29,
1789, in Boxboro, where she was admitted to the
church September 20 of that year. Their children
were : Lucy, Nathaniel, Simeon and Molly.
(VI) Simeon, second son and third child of
David and Lois Stearns, was born December 2, 1784,
in Boxboro, and removed when a child with his
father to Hollis, New Hampshire. He was married
there August 18, 1812, to Lydia, daughter of Captain
Daniel Bailey, of that town, and his first wife, who
was a French, of Bedford. Mr. Stearns immediately
removed to Winchendon, Massachusetts, where he
died October 5. 1837. His children were : Simeon
(died in infancy). Simeon, Lydia (died an infant),
Daniel, Mary. Elizabeth, Rebecca, Lucy, Benjamin
Franklin, and Lydia. The last, born February 13,
1825, married Joseph T. Goss. and (second) Rev.
Moses Patten (see Patten, IV).
(II) Corporal Samuel, sixth child and third son
of Isaac and Mary (Borker) Stearns, was born
April 24, 1638. and died August 3, 1683. He was
torn and lived at Watertown. His farm or "home-
stead" fell into the possession of his son John, then
to his grandson Josiah, then his great-grandson
Phineas Stearns, and did "lately" belong to heirs
of Mr. Abijah White, his great-great-grandson. His
inventory, October 9, 1683, was four hundred and
eighty-one pounds, four shillings. He married, Feb-
ruary I, 1663, Hannah Manning, born June 21, 1642,
died February 26, 1724, eldest daughter of William
and Dorothy Manning, of Cambridge, Massachu-
setts, and sister of Samuel Manning, who married
Elizabeth Stearns. To Samuel and Hannah Stearns
ten children were born ; Samuel ; Hannah ; Nathan-
iel; Sarah; Samuel; Isaac; John; Mary; Abigail
and Joseph. (John and descendants are mentioned
in this article).
(III) Nathaniel, third child and second son of
Samuel and Hannah (JNIanning) Stearns, was born
December 13, 1668, and died August 24, 1716. In
the division of his father's estate he received the
farm which had been the residence of his grand-
father, Isaac Stearns. He was a man of substance
and business capacity, and was selectman of Water-
town in 1716. He married, first, 1694, Elizabeth
Dix, born December 4, 1761, daughter of John and
Elizabeth (Barnard) Dix. She died June 16, 1712,
and he married second, October 29, 1713, Sarah
Nevinson, born July 22, 1672. After his death his
widow married, April 24, 1718, Samuel Livermore,
whose third wife she was. Nathaniel and Eliza-
beth (Dix) Stearns were the parents of twelve
children: Nathaniel, died young; Nathaniel, second;
Elizabeth; Hannah; Daniel; Lydia; Isaac; David;
Ebenezer and Mercy, twins ; Deborah and Phoebe.
(IV) Daniel, fifth child and third son of Na-
thaniel and Elizabeth (Dix) Stearns, was born in
Watertown, March i, 1701, and died 1747. He was
a cordwainer, and probably lived on the homestead
of the first Isaac Stearns, near the Cambridge line.
He married first, 1722, Anna , by whom he
had one child, Anna. He married second, Mercy-
Grant, born September 20, 1702, twelfth child of
Joseph and Mary (Grafton) Grant, and they had
nine children. His widow married second, Novem-
ber 8, 1753, William Godding, born 1703. The chil-
dren of Daniel and Mercy (Grant) Stearns were:
Elizabeth, Stephen, Isaiah, Mercy, Daniel, Ruth,
Nathaniel, Sarah and Mary.
(V) Isaiah, third child and second son of Daniel
and Jilercy (Grant) Stearns, was born in Water-
town, January 22, 1728, and died March 11, 1768.
He and his wife were admitted to the Precinct
Church, Cambridge, September 16, 1750. His estate,
one hundred and thirty-nine pounds, was admin-
istered by his widow. He married, 1750, Elizabeth
, who married second, December 7, 1775,
Edward Fillebrown, who died June 16, 1793. Isaiah
and Elizabeth Stearns had nine children : Ben-
jamin; Isaiah, died young; Peter, died young;
Isaiah; Peter; Daniel; Joshua; Isaac and Henry.
(VI) Daniel, sixth son and child of Isaiah and
Elizabeth Stearns, was born in Arlington, December
17, 1760, and was baptised December 23. of the same
year. He was a private in the Revolutionary war,
and carried through the remainder of his life, an
390
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
injured wrist, the result of a sword cut received in
the service. Daniel Stearns was entered on the
United States pension roll August 8, 1818, on ac-
count of service in the Massachusetts Continental
Line, pension being ninety-six dollars per annum,
beginning April 10, 1818. He died, as shown by the
pension records, June 19, 1824, and the whole
amount of his pension was four hundred and ninety-
eight dollars and sixty-six cents. He lived some
years in Boston, Massachusetts, removed in 1795
to Dummerston, Vermont, and in 1809 to Brattle-
boro, Vermont, where his wife died. He married
September 7, 1783, Elizabeth Knowlton, born March
17, 1764, in Sudbury, Massachusetts, died August 6,
1820, daughter of Nathaniel and Elizabeth (Parks)
Knowlton, of Cambridge, Massachusetts. They had
twelve children : Isaac, Sally, Abigail, Daniel, Lydia,
Betsey, Lucy, Charles, Charlotte, Samuel, Selinda
and Harriet.
(VH) Samuel, fourth son and tenth child of
Daniel and Elizabeth (Knowlton) Stearns, was
born in Dummerston, Vermont, August 27, 1802,
and died in Rindge, New Hampshire, April 6, 1871.
In 1809, when he was seven years old, his father
removed with his family to Brattleboro, Vermont,
where Samuel grew up and was educated. About
1824 he went to Jaffrey, New Hampshire, where
he was in the employ of Colonel Oliver Prescott
until his marriage. "Samuel Stearns was selectman
for eight years ; town clerk by appointment to fill
a vacancy caused by the death of Thomas Ingalls,
in 1863; representative in 1850 and 1851 ; and often
appointed on committees. He was a member of the
Congregational Church in Rindge from 1842 until
his death and for many years one of the standing
committee." He was a man of good judgment, of
a religious disposition, correct deportment and
moral stamina, one whom his neighbors sought when
they required council and advice. He married first,
March 4, 1830, Mary Fitch Moore, born April 20,
1807, daughter of William and IMary (Fitch)
Moore, of Sharon, New Hampshire. She died
August 28, 1849, and he married second, September
26, 1850, Almira Hall, born October 30, 1803, daugh-
ter of John and Betsey (Bennett) Hall, of Ash-
burnham, Massachusetts. She died 1877, in New
Ipswich. There were seven children of the first
marriage : Mary Elizabeth, died young ; JNIary Eliz-
abeth, a successful teacher, married James Van
Derveer, a prominent citizen of Chester, New
Jersey; Samuel Augustus, died in childhood; Al-
mira, died young; Ezra S., mentioned below; Sam-
uel, served three years in the Civil war, was en-
gaged for nearly twenty years in mining in New
Mexico, and from 1893 to the present time (1906)
has served as deputy secretary of state at Con-
cord, New Hampshire ; George, was a soldier in
Company I, Ninth New Hampshire Volunteers,
was at South Mountain and Antietam, and died in
the hospital at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Decem-
ber 24, 1862.
[Arranged by J. C. Jennings. 1
(VIII) Ezra Scollay, second son and fifth child
of Samuel and Mary Fitch (Moore) Stearns, was
born in Rindge, September I, 1838. The following
biographical sketch of Mr. Stearns found in Volume
Three of "The New England States" was written
by George H. Moses, of Concord.
"As a boy Mr. Stearns enjoyed no special priv-
ileges and suffered no extraordinary privations. His
advantages were neither better nor worse than
those of his associates, and his school days carried
him to the point of preparation for college, though
his circumstances prevented him from securing a
university training. They did not limit his study,
however, and long after the doors of the rural
academy had closed upon him as a pupil he was
found plotting his own chart of learning and pur-
suing the studies and researches which he deemed
most necessary for his life work.
"From the life of a student he was turned by
his natural inclination and developed tastes to a
literary career, in which the opportunities of jour-
nalism were the first that appeared to him; and he
served an apprenticeship that led him to the mastery
of the newspaper profession in Fitchburg, where
he was the manager and editor of the Daily Chron-
icle, and where he entered upon those historical
studies which were destined to afford him the most
lasting honors of his later life, and which led him
easily across the shadowy line which separates the
ephemeral from the permanent, finding their first
expression in 1876 through the public action of his
'History of Rindge.' This volume, in character,
arrangement and style, has commanded the respect
and won the approval of the historical student and
the general reader, and has in not a few instances
served its purpose as the model town history of
New England. Eleven years later the 'History of
Ashburnham, Massachusetts,' came from his pen, a
work of literary and historic excellence not less in
value than the history of Rindge, but lacking the
enlivening influence of affectionate regard which
the author had written with every line of his nar-
rative of his native town. These noble volumes
have established Mr. Stearns in a firm place among
New England historians, and easily led the way to
academic honors, the appearance of the 'History
of Ashburnham,' being signalized by Dartmouth
College in adorning its talented author with the
degree of Master of Arts in the class of 1887.
"Through these historical labors, also, Mr.
Stearns has come to other recognition, and has for
years been an active member of the New Hamp-
shire Historical Society; a member of the Fitch-
burg Historical Society, a member and vice-presi-
dent of the New England Historic-Genealogical
Society of Boston, member of the American Anti-
quarian Society of Worcester, and corresponding
member of several state historical societies.
"Into the records of public life Mr. Stearns'
name and achievements have been permanently
written as well. He came to manhood while the
Republican party was in its primitive formative
days. As an ardent first voter he thrust himself
into the campaign of i860, and gave his support to
Lincoln, the liberator, and identified himself with
the great party in whose annals in his own state
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
391
his name was destined to have a permanent place.
Four years later, when but twenty-six years of age,
he was sent as Rindge's representative to the general
court, and served again and again and again, al-
ways commanding the warmest respect of his col-
leagues, and occupying commanding positions in the
make-up of the committees of the house. During
this period of Mr. Stearns' legislative service arose
the most important financial question that has ever
entered into the legislature of New Hampshire,
relating to the assuming by the state of the debt
incurred by the towns and cities in prosecuting the
war of the rebellion. It was a vexed question, in
which were involved not only the local and state
credit, but even the stability of the commonwealth.
Its solution was sought through the appointment of
a commission who should ascertain the war expen-
ditures of the several towns and cities in the state.
"Mr. Stearns was one of the three members of
this commission appointed early in the year 1866.
In their report to the legislature he joined with his
associates in a recommendation that the gross ex-
penditures of the several towns should not be as-
sumed by the state. As the only member of the com-
mission who was a member of the legislature, Mr.
Stearns was charged with the chief labor in the
debate for securing the adoption of the recommend-
ation of the commission, a contest which was
crowned with success, but is memorable as having
been warmly contested and fairly won.
"Following his fifth term in the legislature in
1870, Mr. Stearns withdrew from public life so far
as it demanded his own occupancy of political posi-
tions and devoted himself to the fruitful literary
and historical studies outlined above. The com-
parative leisure which followed the completion of
the 'History of Ashburnham' in 1886 afiforded the
opportunity for his constituents again to pay him
political honor ; and in the fall of that year he was
elected a member of the state senate from the Cheshire
district, serving with such distinguished credit
through the long and famous session of 1887 that
he was awarded the unusual honor of a re-election
in the following campaign. Two years later he was
again sent to his old seat in the house of represen-
tatives, and from this place, in 1891, he was taken
by his colleagues and chosen secretary of state to
succeed the late Hon. A. B. Thompson. This place
he still fills through repeated successive and unani-
mous re-elections.
"The exacting duties of this position have found
in Mr. Stearns a most efficient officer. With multi-
plied powers and responsibilities he has grown in
capacity and worth. Too deeply engrossed to devote
continuous effort to the literary and historical work
in which he delights and in which he has delighted
so many, he has found time, neverthele?s, to publish
several historical addresses and brochures of re-
markable felicity of expression, wealth of historic
knowledge and an enduring literary value. His
oration at the dedication of the monument to John
Fitch, founder of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, deliv-
ered July 4, 1895, ranks as a literary, historical and
forensic gem. In felicity of style, in tenderness of
expression, in accuracy of statement, it is the peer
of any similar production anywhere, and added
pleasure is derived from its perusal in the knowl-
edge that the author stands in the fourth generation
from the brave and hardy pioneer whose virtues
he not only recounts, but has inherited. .As the
orator of the occasion upon the dedication of the
Ingalls Library at Rindge, New Hampshire, in 1S96,
Mr. Stearns again produced a master-piece — pol-
ished, scholarly, eloquent and effective ; while
his oration on jMesheck Weare, delivered at the
annual meeting of the New Hampshire Sons of the
Revolution the preceding year, is an epitome of
Revolutionary history and an epic of biography.
"The record of his public positions, however,
do not alone discover the extent of his political in-
fluence. For more than thirty years he has been
the trusted counselor of the political party to which
he has adhered. Alert and sagacious, he has turned
every opportunity of statecraft to account, yet al-
ways maintaining absolute rectitude in all political
affairs. His advancement in office has not
kept full pace with his deserts, and his continuance
in the place which he now adorns is small return
for what he gave without expectation of reward.
"Aside from its suggestiveness of power, this
brief outline of a busy and honorable life affords
little to differentiate the man who has lived it. and the
task of characterizing him defies depiction. The
subtle charm of his personality prevades all his
daily relations with men and events, enhances the
wealth of his scholarship, multiplies his value as a
public officer, and stamps itself upon even the least
of his duties. His alert mental powers do not yield
readily to description, his culture is too broad for
condensed delineation ; yet they all combine to form
a type of self-centered manhood, poised for instant
action amid all circumstances, and yielding no field
until success has crowned effort, or effort has been
exhausted."
To the foregoing, which was penned in i8g6,
it is necessary to add that Mr. Stearns continued to
hold the office of secretary of state until March,
1899, when he resigned. Besides writing the his-
tories of Rindge and .A.shburnham, mentioned above,
Mr. Stearns has written large portions of numerous
histories in both New Hampshire and Mas.-achu-
setts. Since 1899 he has contributed much to his-
torical literature, writing among other things the
early and more difficult portions of the genea-
logies in the "History of Littleton," published in
1905, and completed in 1906 the "History of Plym-
outh;" and filling the position of editor-in-chief
of this work. The "History of Plymouth" brought
added lustre to Mr. Stearns' reputation as a his-
torian ; the preparation of the present work has en-
tailed on him three years of arduous labor.
(Ill) John, fifth son and seventh child of Sam-
uel and Hainiah (Manning) Stearns, was born June
24. 1677, in Watertown. and resided on the paternal
homestead, which he inherited. He died in 1729
and his estate was administered by his widow in
1735. It amounted to nine hundred and fifty-two
pounds, three shillings, ten pence. He married Feb-
392
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
ruary 21, 1701, Abigail Fiske, who was born June
12, 1684, a daughter of John and Abigail (Parks)
Fiske. They had a family of fifteen children : John,
Josiah, Joseph, Abigail, Rev. David, Thomas, James,
Hannah, Benjamin, Peter, Deacon William, Lydia,
James. Lois and Colonel Abijah.
(IV) John (2), eldest child of John (i) and
Abigail (Fiske) Stearns, was born November 18,
1702, in Watertown, and resided in his native town
until 1741, when he removed to Winchester, Massa-
chusetts, where he died in 1775. He purchased a
tract of land in Westminster, known as lot No. 41,
June s, 1741, and occupied this until his death. He
was married February 15, 1725, to Anna Coolidge,
who 'was born July 23, 1706, daughter of Deacon
John and Margaret (Bond) Coolidge. Their chil-
dren were: Moses, Jerusha, Anna, Abigail, Hep-
sibah, Aaron and Elias.
(V) Elias, youngest child of John (2) and Anna
(Coolidge) Stearns, was born September 30, 1753,
in Westminster, Massachusetts, and was a clothier
by occupation, residing successively in Walpole,
New Hamphire, Hartland and Bradford, Vermont,
and Haverhill, New Hampshire, dying in the last
named place April 2, 1845. He was married Decem-
ber 12, 1776, in Westminster, Massachusetts, to
Sarah Keyes, who was born December 21, 1756,
in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. They had nine chil-
dren, namely: Sail}', Billy, Asa, Ezra, Amos, Mary,
Rufus, Ro.xana, Lucy.
(VI) Rufus, fourth son and seventh child of
Elias and Sarah (Keyes) Stearns, was born March
19, 1791, in Bradford, Vermont, and was a farmer,
residing in Haverhill, New Hampshire. In connec-
tion with farming he followed the occupation of wool-
picker. He was prominent in local civil affairs,
and was an ardent Methodist in religious faith.
His death occurred in Haverhill, in July, 1861. He
was married. February 22, 1815, to Sarah P. Davis,
who was born November 18, 1794, and died Febru-
ary 4, 1877 at Haverhill. They had thirteen children,
namely: James A.. Maria, Horace, Ezra B., Hiram,
Warren, George W., Damon Y., Elizabeth D., Mary
L., Amos, John S. and Sarah B.
(VII) Horace, second son and third child of
Rufus and Sarah P. (Davis) Stearns, was born
November 28, 1818, in Haverhill, and was a car-
penter by trade and also a merchant, residing in
Manchester, New Hampshire, where he died August
9, 1895. He was an able mechanic, and in early
manhood settled in Manchester, where for many
years he was emplo3'ed as a carpenter in the cotton
mills of that city. He took a lively interest in po-
litical affairs, and at one time was a member of
the city council. In politics he supported the Re-
publican party from the time of its formation. In
religious belief he was a Universalist. He was mar-
ried, :\Iay 6, 1841, to Eliza P. Dow, of Goffstown,
who was born October 31, 1813, and died February
6, 1879. She was a daughter of Samuel Dow, of
Goffstown. She became the mother of six children,
namely: Charles H., now deceased, of Manchester;
William H. and Harriet Elizabeth (twins), the
former of whom receives further mention in this
article; Sarah E., wife of C. H. Farnham, of An-
dover, Massachusetts ; Arthur E., who married Alice
Hibbard of Manchester; and Harriet J., who is the
wife of Frederick G. Henderson of that city. Horace
Stearns died August 9, 1895, surviving his wife,
whose death occurred February 21, 1879.
(VIII) William Henry, second son of Horace
and Eliza (Dow) Stearns, was born in Manchester
December 26, 1846. After concluding his attendance
at the Manchester public schools he learned the
machinist's trade, which he followed for a period of
thirty years. In 1893 he purchased a piece of agri-
cultural property in Bedford and was engaged in
general farming with prosperous results, up to his
death. March 13, 1907. In 1882 he was made a
Mason, and was well advanced in that order, a
member of the blue lodge, Adoniram Council and
Trinity Commanderj'. He was a member and treas-
urer of General Stark Grange, Patrons of Hus-
bandry ; and formerly affiliated with the Independ-
ent Order of Odd Fellows, passing all the chairs.
Politically he was Republican. He attended the
Universalist Church. June 28, 1893, Mr. Stearns
was united in marriage with Josephine R. Plumraer,
born in Manchester, daughter of Frederick and
Rebecca (Worthley) Plummet of Bedford. Mr.
and Mrs. Stearns has one son, Sam L., born June
30, 1895. Frederick Plummer, son of Henry J.
Plummer. was born in Goffstown, and was a team-
ster in Manchester until his death in 1893, at the
age of sixty-si.x. Henry J. Plummer was a farmer,
and passed his last years on the place later resided
on by Mrs. Stearns' father, and later by William
H. Stearns. Rebecca (Worthley), Plummer was
born in Goffstown, and is still living, at the age
of seventy-eight years. By her marriage she had
three children, of whom the only one living is
Mrs. William H. Stearns.
(V) Reverend Josiah, eighth child and fifth son
of John (3) and Esther (Johnson) Stearns, was
born January 20, 1732, in BiUerica. He graduated
at Harvard College in 1757, and was ordained
pastor of the Congregational Church at Epping,
New Hampshire, INIarch 8, 1758. He contiinied in
the pastorate there until his death, July 25, 1788,
as result of cancer on his lip. He was a close
student of the original Scriptures, and could cite
almost any verse or chapter in the Bible. He was
ardent in the cause of the colonies during the Re-
volution, and gave his sons and most of his property
to its support. He was a member of the state con-
vention at Exeter which formed the first state gov-
ernment. He was tall and impressive in appearance,
an eloquent speaker, and his church was frequently
filled to the standing room in the aisles, while yet
others stood by the open doors and windows to
listen to his discourse. He was held in awe by the
profane, and was universally respected and es-
teemed, and received very higli encomium from
Rev. Dr. Tappen, divinity professor of Harvard. He
was married (first), December 4, 1755, to Sarah
Abbott, who was born December 4, 1726, daughter
of Uriah and Elizabeth (Mitchell) Abbott, of
Andover, Massachusetts. She died November 5,
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
393
1766, and he married (second), August 13, 1767.
Sarah Ruggles, who was born November 6, 1731.
and died April 2, 180S. She was a daughter of Rev.
Samuel and Elizabeth (Williams) Ruggles, of
Billerica. iVIr. Stearns had twelve children, each
of his wives being the mother of si.x. They were
named as follows: Sarah, Betsey, Dudley, John,
Jonah, Esther (died in infancy), Esther, Samuel,
Timothy, Mary and Elizabeth, and one other.
(VI)' John (4), second son and fourth child of
Rev. Josiah and Sarah (Abbott) Stearns, was born
January 13, 1762, in Epping. At sixteen years of
age he joined the Revolutionary army. He was a
prosperous farmer, and long served as justice of
the peace. He resided in Pittsfield, New Hampshire,
and in 1802 removed to Deerfield, where he died
January 23, 1843. He was married in 1783 to Sarah
Lane, of Poplin, New Hampshire, who was born
May 16, 1759, and died April 25, 1845. They were
the parents of thirteen children.
(VH) Josiah, son of John and Sarah (Lane)
Stearns, was born March 10, 1788, in Pittsiield,
New Hampshire, and was a farmer in Wilmot, same
state, where he died September 15, 1857. He had
three wives and was the father of twenty-two chil-
dren. He was married August 22, 181 1, to Jane
Thompson, of Deerfield, who was born July 18,
1791. She was the mother of ten children, and died
June II, 1822. He married (second), September 4,
1822, Mrs. Susan (Sawyer) Cross, who was born
June 19, 1791. She was the mother of five chil-
dren, and died May 14, 1828. He was married
(third) July 8, 1828, to Nancy Browning, of
Andover, New Hampshire, who was born March 23,
1795, and died July 28, 1853. The children who
survived the period of infancy were named as fol-
lows : Abigail, William, John, Hannah, Samuel,
Lydia Jane, James, Susan, Josiah Lane, Nancy,
Minot, Sarah E., Tiras, Plunia F.
(VHI) William Thompson, eldest son of Josiah
and Jane (Thompson) Stearns, was born January
16, 1816, in Wilmot, and died September 23, 1905,
in Manchester, in his ninetieth year. Very early in
life he entered the cotton mills, and was identified
with the manufacture of cotton, making a speciahy
of weaving until he retired from active- life several
years since. He was the patentee of an appliance
that made a great improvement in the picker motion
on looms, the value of which was at once noted,
and it came rapidly into use and is still used in
many sections of the country. His education was
obtained in the public schools of his native town,
and he early evinced a taste for mechanics. He left
home at the age of twenty-one years and went to
Holliston, Massachusetts, and entered the weaving
department of a cotton mill there. Two years later
he went to Lowell, Massachusetts, and soon after
left there for New Ipswich, and was subsequently
at Winchendon, Massachusetts, ."^fter some time
in these towns he accepted a position in the south,
and aided in starting up a cotton mill in Columbia,
South Carolina. From 1844 until the time of his
death he was a ciiizen of Manchester, and was one
of the most active and progressive denizens of the
town, being identified with the growth of the city in
many ways. On coming here, he entered the employ
of the Amoskeag Corporation, in the repair shop.
He remained there over twenty years, leaving to
accept a similar position with the Stark Corporation,
where he continued eight years, and then retired in
peace and contentment to enjoy the fruits of a long
life of active industry. He was a Republican in
politics, and within a few years after coming here,
represented his ward as a member of the common
council. He was an attendant at one time of the
Methodist and subsequently of the Baptist Church,
but was not an active member of any society what-
ever, though he carried out in his well ordered life
the principles of fraternity and Christianity laid
down in many organizations. He was married, in
1845, to Elizabeth C. Goodhue, of Wilmot, and be-
came the father of two sons — William Byron
Stearns, of Manchester, and Elmer W. Stearns, of
of Connecticut ; and a daughter, Fannie E. Stearns,
who died in 1900.
(IX) William Byron, elder of the two sons of
William and Elizabeth C. (Goodhue) Stearnes, was
born February 12, 1855, in Manchester, and received
his education in the public schools of that city, grad-
uating from the Manchester high school. In 1873
he entered the employ of the Manchester Savings
Bank, and since that time has been continuously em-
ployed either by that institution or the Manchester
National Bank. Beginning as a humble clerk he
has earned his promotion by careful attention to his
duties and the employment of his talent in the inter-
est of the institution. Since 1894 he has been
cashier of the Manchester National Bank. Mr.
Stearns is a man of pleasing presence and of genial
nature and courteous manners, and it is no over-
statement to say that much credit is due to him for
the steady growth of the institution with which he is
identified. Since 1887 he has been treasurer of the
Concord and Portsmouth Railroad Company. He is
a director of the Manchester National Bank, and a
trustee of the Manchester Savings Bank. His up-
right life and sound business principles have at-
tracted to him the friendship of many of Manches-
ter's leading men, and he has been called upon to
serve the public in various official capacities. He
served as a member of the common council in 1S87-8.
and was a member of the board of aldermen for
the four years succeeding the latter date. In politics
always a Republican, he has consistently upheld the
principles of his party, and has endeavored to con-
tribute to the welfare not only of that party but of
the entire community and nation. He is a member
of the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order
of Odd Fellows in good standing. Mr. Stearns was
married July 7, 1877, to Florence I. Stevens, who
was born December 5, 1856, in Newbury. New
Hampshire, a daughter of John and Dolly (Vitty)
Stevens. They have one child, Edward Balch
Stearns, born in Manchester, June 30, 1878. He
graduated from the Manchester high school, and
in 180S entered the employ of the Manchester Sav-
ings Bank, where he is at the present time. He was
394
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
married June 8, 1904, to Marguerite Drew, daughter
of William E. and Annette (Hunt) Drew.
(Second family.)
There were two principal families of
STEARNS this name in the United States, and
both are numerously represented
throughout New England and New Hampshire. It
is presumed that the founders of these two lines
were brothers, but this relationship does not appear
to be positively established. The first settlement
of Salem, Massachusetts, began in 1628, and the
records of Watertown, Massachusetts, begin with
1634. This name is identified with the history of
these towns.
(I) Charles Stearns was admitted a freeman
May 6, 1646, at Watertown, and on March 15, 1648,
he purchased of Edward Lamb of that town a
house with eight acres of land and three -other lots.
He also purchased six acres of upland from John
Fiske on the same day. He is mentioned by Isaac
Stearns in his will as a kinsman, and received from
him a legacy of ten pounds. He was elected con-
stable or tax gatherer in 1631, but refused to take
the oath, and in the same year he sold his land in
Watertown to his son Samuel. It is supposed that
he removed to Lynn soon after this, settling in that
part called Lynn End, now the town of Lynnfield.
His first wife, Hannah, died June 30, 1651, in
Watertown and he married (second) June 22, 1654,
Rebecca Gibson, daughter of John and Rebecca Gib-
son, of Cambridge. The first wife was the mother
of his eldest child; the others were born of the
second Avife. They were : Samuel, Shubael, John,
Isaac, Charles, Rebecca and Martha.
(II) Shubael, second son of Charles Stearns,
and eldest child of his second wife Rebecca Gibson,
was born September 20, 1625, in Cambridge, Massa-
chusetts, and settled in Lynn, probably near the
border of Reading. He was a soldier of the Narra-
gansett expedition. No date of his marriage or
death was recorded. His will was dated November
19. 1733, and proved September 2, 1734, from which
it is probable that he died in the latter year. He
married Mary Upton, of Reading, and their chil-
dren were : Shubael. Samuel. Hannah, Mary, John,
Ebenezer, Martha, Eleanor and Rebecca.
(III) Shubael (2), eldest child of Shubael (i)
and Mary (Uptoai) Stearns, was born August 19,
1683, in Lynn, Massachusetts, and settled in Tolland,
Connecticut, whither he removed about 1714. He
was the first town clerk of that town. About 1750,
with his children and their families, he left Tolland
on account of ecclesiastical difficulties and settled in
Newbur}', North Carolina. He and his family were
Baptists, and some of them have exercised much in-
fluence in the south. Their residence in North
Carolina was at a place called Pepper Cotton, and
at the time of their migration hither a pamphlet
was published giving an account of the troubles in
Tolland. Among the southern people his name re-
ceived a very broad pronunciation, and has since
been written as pronounced Starnes. He was mar-
ried December 28, 1704, in Kittery, Maine, to Re-
becca Lariby, who was born February 4, 1684, in
Boston, Massachusetts. Their children were : Shu-
bael, Rebecca, Peter. Isaac, Elizabeth, Hannah, Sarah,
Ebenezer, Mary and Martha.
(IV) Sarah, fourth daughter and seventh child
of Shubael (2) and Rebecca (Lariby) Stearns, was
born February 29, 1720, in Tolland, Connecticut, and
became the wife of Joseph (3) Hatch. (Sec Hatch
IV).
The record of a busy life, a suc-
DEMAREST cessful life, must ever prove fe-
cund in interest and profit as
scanned by the student who would learn of the in-
trinsic essence of individuality ; and who would
attempt an analysis of character and trace back to
the fountain head the widely diverging channels
which mark the onward flow, the constantly aug-
mentative progress, if we may be permitted to use
the phrase, of such a personality. All human ad-
vancement, all human weal or woe. in short, all
things within the mental ken are but mirrored back
from the composite individuality of those who have
lived. It is given to few men, as it has to Rev.
Gerherdus Langdon Demarest, of Manchester, New
Hampshire, to live to the advanced age of ninety
years, and to witness and take part in so much that
has contributed to the advancement of the human
race.
The family of Des Marets, of which Rev. Ger-
herdus L. Demarest is a representative, was of the
old Picard gentry, and was also prominent in the
church at Oisemont, of wdiich David des Marets. the
Sieur du Ferets, was an elder.
Samuel des Marets. son of David des Marets,
was born at Oisemont, 1599, taught at the great
schools of Paris, Sawmur and Geneva, became
pastor of the ohurcb of Laon, i6ig, but was forced
to leave, in 1623. by an attempt on his life which
nearly proved fatal. He accepted a new charge at
Falaise, Normandy, but after a year went to Sa-
den and thence, in 1642, to Groningen, Holland, as
professor of theology.
David des Marest, who wrote his name thus, was
born in Picardy, and as is strongly indicated was
of the same lineage. For dignity of character and
fidelity to 'his religion he is worthy so excellent a
kinship, and the clerical tendency among his de-
scendants is also very significant. He went to Hol-
land and joined the French colony in the Island of
Walcheren, at which place his eldest son, Jean De-
marest, was born 1645. Here David probably mar-
ried his wife, Marie (Sohier) des Marest, as a
family of the name of Sohier from Hainault had
taken refuge at Middleburg in the first Walloon
emigrations. In 1651 Demarest is found at Mann-
heim, on the Rhine, within the German Palatinate,
to which were going many French and Walloon
refugees from England and also from the Dutch
seaboard, partly in view of an expected war between
the English and the Hollanders, but especially drawn
thither by the assurance of freedom and protection
under the government of the Protestant Elector.
Charles Lewis, who. invested by the Treaty of West-
phalia (1648) with the Lower Palatinate, from
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
395
which his father, Frederick V, had been driven in
1621 by the Catholic power after the battle at Prague,
held out strong inducements to the refugees, es-
pecially Calvinists, to settle at Mannheim, and
which found a ready response through the lively
interest always cherished by the refugees, in com-
mon with the English Puritans, in the strange vicis-
situdes of his late father, and his excellent and yet
surviving mother, named in a former note as the
"Queen of Bohemia." In 1652 Demarest and others
among the number gathered there joined in forming
a French church, the elector himself building them
an edifice, which he called the Temple of Concord,
because the Lutherans were also allowed to wor-
ship there.
(I) David Demarest.
(II) Jean Demarest.
(III) Peter Demarest.
(IV) James Demarest, born 1766, married Maria
Westervelt.
(V) James (2), son of James (i) and Maria
(Westervelt) Demarest, born 1791, married Sophia
Green, daughter of Isaac (Jreen, of Fishkill, New
York. Their children : Gerherdus Langdon, born
1816, see forward. William Howard, born 1818,
died 1902. John Henry, born 1820, died 1864. M.
Adeline, born 1834, widow of George Alfred Miller,
resides in Montclair, New Jersey.
(VI) Rev. Gerherdus Langdon, eldest son of
James (2) and Sophia (Green) Demarest, was born
in New York Cit\', December 1,3, 1816. Those were
the days of the bow and arrow, tomahawk, flint,
lock musket, ox team, spinning wheel, and where
the now richly productive farms of a score of states
were nothing but trackless wastes of swamp, forest
or waving grass. He attended the public and high
schools of his native city, and in 1824, when lack-
ing three months of his eighth birthday, was at-
tending a school located at Burroughs and Hudson
streets, the former now being called Grove street,
conducted by Shepherd Johnston, schoolmaster, when
General Marquis de Lafayette was making his tour
through this country. The teacher prepared an ad-
dress of welcome and Gerherdus L. Demarest was
the selected pupil to present the general with the
address ; this was one of the events of his life.
After his course in the high school in New York
City, he acquired considerable literary knowledge
from books, being always a great reader, and al-
though now (1907) past his ninetieth milestone he
keeps abreast with the times, and many of the
younger men in his profession seek his counsel and
advice. His first employment was in the book store
of Harper & Brothers. New York, where he began
work as an apprentice, was promoted to clerk, hold-
ing the position for many years, and finally to con-
fidential clerk. He was engaged in this service for
twenty-two years; this was a school in itself, and
his knowledge of books is necessarily above the
average.
In 1854 he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, and en-
gaged in the book business, temporarily, and while
residing there edited the Universalist paper. In
1865 he returned to his native city. New York, to
take charge of the Second Universalist Church,
succeeding Dr. Sawyer who was then pastor, and
remained until 1867. He ser\-ed the Universalist
Church in Milford, Massachusetts, from 1867 to
1872. In the latter year he came to Manchester,
New Hampshire, and succeeded Rev. Thomas Bor-
den as pastor of the Universalist Church, from which
he resigned in January, 1875. He has a remarkable
record, having served as secretary of the general
convention of the Universalist Church from 1877 to
1905 and having never missed a convention or a
meeting of the board of trustees up to the time of
his retirement, 1905. He has travelled extensively,
covering over two hundred and fifty thousand miles
through the United States and Canada in the inter-
ests of the church. He has contributed many articles
of note to the Sunday School Helper, of which he
was an editor for ten years during his incumbency
as general secretary. Upon his resignation as gen-
eral secretary the convention to a man voted that the
venerable pastor be elected secretary emeritus (which
was carried). The Universalists general convention
was incorporated in 1866 and met annually, but
since 1889 bi-ennial reports contain the proceedings.
In early youth he became a member of the Second
Universalist Church of New York City. His strict
adherence to duty, his genial and sunny disposition,
together with his knowledge of rhetoric and his keen
perception of church government, has endeared him
to the fraternity as a whole and it is the consensus
of opinion that he possesses the keenest and brightest
mind for remembering dates and events of pro-
ceedings from one convention to another, he having
a ready reply for any question that comes up. He
is a man of methodical habits, a good counselor
and by his keen foresight into church matters is
considered an authority on Universalism. As a
historian he ranks well, and as a writer, for accuracy
combined with literary skill, his fame will stand as
a memorial to his honored name, which will appear
in the annals of the state and nation. Since 1872
Rev. Mr, Demarest has made his home in Manches-
ter, New Hampshire.
In March, 1875. after his resignation in Man-
chester, having a Sunday free, he accepted an in-
vitation to occupy the pulpit of the Universalist
parish in Nottingham, New Hampshire, for that day.
This was the beginning of a series of services, on
Sundays free from any convention work, for fifteen
and one-half years, and numbering two hundred and
forty-eight, more or less irregularly, the remaining
Sundays being supplied by others. Afterward a
series of pastors. Rev. Anthony Bilkovsky. Rev.
Allen Brown and Rev. Ira D. Morrison, regularly
served the people, the last still continuing. In 1881.
during his service, a new church was erected, cost-
ing $2,300.
Rev. Mr. Demarest married, in New York City.
February ir, 1839. Eliza C. Wittenberg, who died
in 1902. Their children: Pauline, married Malcolm
Bradley and resides with her venerable father.
Emma, wife of George C. James, resides in Cincin-
nati, Ohio. Viola, deceased. Clarerice, unmarried, a
man of wide knowledge and extensive reading, ably
396
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
assisted his- fatlier in all his labors as general secre-
tary, and takes a deep interest in the work of the
Universalist Church. Mortimer, deceased.
The persons of this name (which is
ALBIN somewhat varied in its orthography) are
believed to be descended from one an-
cestor who resided in the north of England at
the time of the American Revolution and after. The
family of Albin is not numerous as compared with
some which were settled in America in early colonial
times, but it includes a large proportion of promi-
nent men, especially lawyers, several of whom bear
the christian name John. The family tradition which
there is good reason to believe is true, is that John,
William, and James Albin, brothers, came from Eng-
land to America in the latter part of the eighteenth
century. Their descendants are numerous in Vir-
ginia, Kansas, Washington, New York, and in parts
of New England.
(I) William Albin settled in Randolph, Ver-
mont, where he was engaged in agricultural pursuits,
dying there in 1850 or soon after, at the age of eighty
years. In politics he was a Whig, and in religion
an Episcopalian, vei-y strictly conforming to the
tenets and customs of that denomination. Many
of his descendants are of the same religious faith.
He married Jane Whateley, and they were the par-
ents of five children : Sally, the eldest, married
William Washburn; Mary, who lived to an advanced
age, died unmarried on the old homestead ; John,
mentioned below; William, married Judith White;
Susan, died unmarried at the old home.
(II) John, son of William and Jane (Whateley)
Albin, born at Randolph October 3, 1806, received
a better education that was usual there at that time.
For several years after attaining his majority he
resided in Randolph, and was engaged in farming.
In the later thirties he came to New Hampshire and
established a freight line between Laconia. New
Hampshire, and Boston, Massachusetts, employing
several teams of six or^ eight horses, and doing a
large business in transporting to Boston such ar-
ticles as were manufactured in New Hampshire, and
returning with loads of dry goods, groceries, and
such other articles as were required to be brought
from the metropolis. This was before the days of
steam traction in this state, and the advent of the
railroad in 1842 was the end of this business. About
1844 he settled in Bow, where he remained until
about 1857, when he removed to Concord, and re-
mained until 1868 or thereabouts. In 1869 he was
living in Henniker, where he died as the result of
an accident in October of that year. Mr. Albin
was an active and energetic business man, a firm
and true friend, and a generous, public-spirited citi-
zen. He and his family were members of the Prot-
estant Episcopal Church. In his early years he was
a Whig in politics, and on the dissolution' of the
Whig party he became a member of the Know-
nothing party, which was, in a measure, the suc-
cessor of the Whig party. In him Americanism
was a fundamental principle, and a progress in poli-
tics a necessit}'. He was a pioneer Republican and
voted for John C. Fremont, the first Republican
candidate for president. When the anti-slavery agi-
tation developed into a political creed he became
an ardent abolitionist, and was always ready to work
or to contribute money for the success of the party
of freedom. He was married, July 15, 1839, to
Emily White, born in Bow, July 18, i8r6, died Jan-
uary 30, 1S81, daughter of David and Betsy (Carter)
White, the father being a prominent citizen of Bow,
a justice of the peace, and who often sat as a magis-
trate. (See David White III). The children by
this marriage were : John H., mentioned below ;
Lizzie W., married R. A. Northcutt, a union soldier
in the war of the rebellion, who rose to the rank of
brigadier-general, and w-as father of Lieutenant-
Governor Northcott, of Illinois, and Charles Fre-
mont, who died at the age of eighteen months.
(Ill) John Henry, eldest child of John and Emily
(White) Albin, was born at West Randolph, Ver-
mont, October 17, 1843. He obtained his primary
education in the public schools of Concord, ,New
Hampshire, preparing for college in the high school.
In 1864 he matriculated at Dartmouth College, from
which he was graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1864
in a class of sixty-four students. Three years later
his alma mater conferred on him the degree of
Master of Arts. Immediately after graduation he
began the study of law in the office O'f the late Hon.
Ira A. Eastman, of Concord, who was a prominent
lawyer and at one time one of the judges of the su-
preme court. In October, 1867, Mr. Albin was ad-
mitted to the bar, and in April, 1S68, became a
partner of Judge Eastman. In December of the same
year Samuel B. Page, Esq., removed from Warren,
and became a member of the firm. These gentlemen
constituted one of the leading law firms of the state,
and had a large and lucrative practice. In 1874 this
partnership was dissolved, and Mr. Albin became the
associate of Hon. Mason W. Tappan. This relation
was broken by the appointment of Mr. Tappan to the
position of attorney general of the state ; but upon the
repeal of the statute which prevented the attorney
general from practice in cases in which the state
was not a party, it was renewed. Mr. Albin subse-
quently fonned a partnership with Nathaniel E.
Martin, which existed under the firm name of Albin
& Martin until it was dissolved, January i, 1899;
and since that time Mr. Albin has continued alone
and enjoyed a very large practice.
A stalwart Republican from boyhood. Mr.
Albin has been three times elected to the legisla-
ture, where he was an efficient public servant and
an acknowledged leader of his party He was a
member from Concord in 1872- 1873, and during the
first term served upon the judiciary committee, and
in the latter year was chairman of the committee on
railroads. In 1S75 he took up his residence in Hen-
niker, but continued his law business in Concord. He
was elected to represent the town in the legislature
of 1876. and served during that session as a member
of the judiciary committee and of several important
special committees he was made chairman.
Mr. Albin has been extensively engaged in the
development and management of steam and electric
« '.,
giitttt
■;A»t
1
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
397
roads in New England. He is president and a direc-
tor of the Sullivan County Railroad of New Hamp-
shire; director of the Connecticut River Railroad, a
Massachusetts and New Hampshire corporation;
and a director of the Vermont Valley Railroad in
Vermont. He was president and principal owner
of the Concord Street Railway, now the property of
the Boston and Maine Railroad. This property
he largely extended and improved. Soon after pass-
ing his thirtieth year Mr. Albin became a member
of Rumford Lodge, No. 46. Independent Order of
Odd Fellows, but subsequently transferred his mem-
bership to White Mountain Lodge, No. 5, of Con-
cord. He was one of the founders of Crescent
Lodge No. 60, of Henniker, during his residence
there. From his initiation to the present time he has
taken a deep interest in the order to w.hose develop-
ment and progress he has greatly contributed. After
filling the chairs in the subordinate lodge he was
made representative to the grand lodge, and after-
ward filled successively the official positions in the
grand lodge of this jurisdiction, and at its annual
session in 1879 was elected grandmaster. In Sep-
tember, 1881, he represented the grand lodge in the
sovereign grand lodge at its session in Cincinnati,
Ohio, and was a member of that body for several
subsequent sessions, being a part 'of the time repre~
sentative of the grand encampment. During a por-
tion of this time he was grand warden of the sov-
ereign grand lodge. At the session held in Cincinnati
in September, 1881, a committee consisting of five
members was appointed to prepare a degree for uni-
formed patriarchs. The onerous duty of preparing
the work fell upon Mr. Albin, and was performed
conscientiousl}- and well. He reported a degree
which the committee accepted, and which was unan-
imously adopted by the sovereign grand lodge at its
session in Baltimore in the following year. This
committee was continued until the next session of
the grand body, held at Providence, Rhode Island,
in September, 1883. when it was discharged. At
the September session o.f 1SS4, at Minneapolis, Min-
nesota, Mr. Albin was made chairman of the com-
mittee of the patriarchal branch of the order, and at
the same session a special committee was appointed
for the purpose of making any revision that might be
deemed necessary, so far as that degree was con-
cerned ; and also to report such legislation as might
be necessary to carry it into full effect. Mr. Albin
and two other were appointed on this committee, of
which Mr. Albin was chairman, with instructions to
report at the session of the sovereign grand lodge
at Baltimore, Maryland, in September, 1885, Mr.
Albin was one of the founders of the Odd Fellows'
Home of New Hampshire, and served as one of its
trustees until 1904, when he resigned.
For many years Mr. Albin owned a farm in Hen-
niker, which he often visited to recuperate from the
fatigues incidental to an arduous professional life,
by engaging in agricultural pursuits. Mr. Albin
entered the profession of law equipped with a first
class literary and legal education, a strong, well
balanced mind, good habits and good morals. He
has always been an active and industrious student,
a keen observer, a person of quick action and good
judgment, whom years of close application to the
various features of his business have placed in the
front rank of his profession in the state of New
Hampshire. His breadth of comprehension and
trained executive ability have made his success in
matters relating to railroads equal to that which has
attended his legal practice. In fraternal affairs the
conjunction of circumstances and ability have given
him opportunities to render great and lasting ser-
vices to a great and constantly growing body of men,
banded together for good, and his faithful discharge
of his duties has brought him well merited official
positions and honors. His professional ability and
standing, genial disposition and magnetic person-
ality make him a favorite wherever he is known.
Mr. Albin married, September 5, 1872, Georgia
A. Modica, born in Henniker, August s, 1S47, died
July 31, 1902, daughter of Joseph and Achsa (Far-
rar) Modica. of Henniker. She died at the age of
fifty-five years, after a useful and beautiful life,
leaving two children : Henry A., born February 5,
1875; and Edith G., August 5, 1878, both single.
The son took a four years course at the Massachu-
setts Instititte of Technology, and at its completion
became superintendent of the Concord Street Rail-
way. When this became the property of the Boston
and Maine Railroad he was made assistant superin-
tendent of the Concord division of that system,
which position he still holds.
The name of Morris is an ancient and
MORRIS honorable one in America. The seven-
teenth century settlers of this family
located chiefly in Connecticut and Pennsylvania,
where their descendants are numerous to this day.
The present branch which contains the most famous
members of all, is not related to any of these early
immigrants, so far as can be ascertained. The
founder of this line, whose renown sheds such
lustre upon the name, and whose service to his
country during the Revolution should be held in
grateful rememberance by every American, came
directly from England.
(I) Robert iMorris, a signer of the Declaration
of Independence, and the financier of the Revolu-
tion, was born in Liverpool, England, January 20,
1734. In 1747 he came to America with his father,
and entered the counting-house of Charles Willing,
of Philadelphia. The progress of j'oung INIorris was
rapid, and in time he became a leading merchant of
that city. He early espoused the patriot cause. He
opposed the Stamp Act, and in 1775 was a delegate
to the Continental congress. He was one of the
signers of the Declaration. His great service was
the financial aid that he offered the struggling re-
public. In 1780 he raised one million, four hundred
thousand dollars, an enormous sum for those times,
to aid General Washington. He organized the Bank
of North America in 1781, in 1787 was a member of
the convention that framed the Constitution of the
United States, and was elected to the first United
States senate. On March 2, 1769, Robert Morris
married Mary White, only daughter of Thomas
398
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
White and his second wife formerly Mrs. Newman.
Thomas White came to this country from London,
and settled on the eastern shore of Maryland. His
only son, William White, the younger brother of
Mary (White) Morris, became the second bishop
of the Protestant Episcopal Church in America.
Mary (White) Morris was a woman of beautiful
character as well as of great personal charm and
loveliness. When her husband's personal affairs
became embarrassed during his later years, and he
had reason to mourn the ingratitude of republics,
she showed herself a most devoted wife, and her
strength of character and good judgment did much
to repair their fallen fortunes. Robert and iNIary
(White) Morris had seven children: Robert (2),
born in December, 1769; Thomas, whose sketch
follows; William, August, 1772; Hetty, July, 1774;
Charles, July, 17771 Maria, April, i779; and
Henry, July, 17S4. Hetty Jilorris was the first of
the children to marry. In 1795 she became the wife
of James Marshall, of Virginia, younger brother of
Chief Justice Marshall, of Virginia. Robert Morris
at one time owned more ships and more land than
any other man in the United States, but his lavish
hospitality, which made his home the social capital
of the country, and a too sanguine belief in the
rapid development of wild lands, led him into fin-
ancial difficulties, and he died in comparative
poverty. His history is one of the most romantic
of our early days, and the lessons to be drawn from
it are impressive. Robert Morris died at Phila-
delphia, May 8, 1806. His widow outlived him
many years, and was one of the people especially
honored by Lafayette when he visited this country
in 1825.
(II) Thomas, second son and child of Robert
and Mary (White) Morris, was born February 26,
1771, probably in Philadelphia. With his elder
brother Robert he was educated in Europe, being
sent thither in October, 1781, with letters to all the
distinguished men of the day. His father was de-
sirous of giving his sons the best advantages, be-
cause he had always keenly felt his own early lack,
particularly in legal knowledge. Robert and Thomas
both became lawyers, and were a source of great
help to their father in handling his vast interests.
He seems to have placed special reliance upon
Thomas. The latter made a successful negotiation
with the Indians in western New York, where
Robert Morris owned great tracts of territory. This
transaction brought Thomas into prominence before
the whole country. Thomas Morris was a member
of the bar in New York City, and at one time was
United States marshal for the southern district of
the state of New York. Thomas Morris married
Sarah Kane, of New York, and they had eight
children: Mary, Robert, Henry W., Harriet, Emily,
Charles, Sally and Caroline Julia. Henry W. Mor-
ris, the third child, entered the navy in 1819, and
became a commodore during the Civil war. He
commanded the "Pensacola," which joined the
blockading squadron in the Gulf of Mexico, and
played a brilliant part in the attack upon Forts
Jackson and Saint Philip. Commodore Henry W.
Morris died in New York City, August 14, 1863.
(Ill) Caroline Julia, fifth daughter and youngest
child of Thomas and Sarah (Kane) Morris, was
born in Canandaigua, New York, in 1814. In 1837
she married John Stark, born Samuel Newell (2),
who was adopted and reared by his maternal grand-
father. Major Caleb Stark, of Dunbarton. (See
Stark V). She died in Winchester, Massachusetts,
in 1889.
New Hampshire owes much of the high
GREGG moral character as well as the energy
and industry of her citizens to the
Scotch-Irish blood, which became identified with the
state in 1719 and thereafter. The descendants of
the hardy pioneers of Londonderry and vicinity
have been and are identified with every leading line
of industry since that time.
(I) Captain James Gregg was one of the first
sixteen settlers in Londonderry, New Hampshire.
He was born about 1670, in Ayrshire, Scotland, and
was twenty years old when his parents removed to
northern Ireland. The family settled in the county
of Antrim and in the parish of Mulasky. Young
Gregg had been apprenticed at the age of fourteen
years to learn the tailor's trade, and had just com-
pleted his engagement when he removed to Ireland.
There he immediately commenced business and was
very actively employed. At that time most of the
best apparel worn by ladies was made by tailors.
One day Miss Janette Cargill came to his shop and
ordered her wedding dress. In speaking of this
incident, the Nashua Gazette of more than fifty
years ago says : "When she came into the shop he
recognized her as a person he had seen, but had
no particular acquaintance with her; he saw at
once that she was a very beautiful and interesting
person, and had a most captivating smile on her
countenance, and at the same time discovered that
there was a shade of melancholy which plainly told
that some unseen affliction ' was preying upon her
mind."
"After taking her measure and receiving her in-
structions, she very politely bade him adieu, and
turned to go out of the door when he spoke to her
in a tremulous tone of voice, and said, 'My dear
friend, I am almost tempted to envy Mr. Lindsey
his happiness."
"This unexpected salutation came upon her like
a shock of electricity, and suddenly an effusion of
tears burst from her eyes, while the tumult in her
bosom choked her utterance, and she was silent
a few moments until her emotion had somewhat
subsided."
"At length she mustered fortitude enough to
reply, and said, 'My dear friend, if I could have my
wishes realized. Mr. Lindsey would be the envious
man, and you would be the person envied.' This mod-
est reply was too plain to be misunderstood, and it
broke the ice at once and opened the way for a full
explanation."
"Then they conversed freely on the subject, when
she told him her story very candidly, and said to
ac^ ^
m
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minri(4i^n>ntitiim^f^^Ai'^:
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
399
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400
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Mr. Gregg was elected director of the Indian
Head National Bank in 1887, and has been its presi-
dent since 1S92. At different times he has been di-
rector in various corporations, both in Nashua and
elsewhere. The members of the Gregg family of
this article have been connected with the manufac-
ture of lumber and lumber products for several gen-
erations, and almost invariably have been men of
considerable property. Mr. Gregg has the distinguish-
ing traits of his ancestors : fearlessness, honesty,
modesty, untiring industry, shrewdness, foresighted-
ness. and great executive ability. To the town of
Wilton, where he spent his early manhood, he re-
cently presented a beautiful library building; and
also gave to the Masonic Lodge, of which he is a
member, in the same town, a handsome and finely
equipped temple. Mr. Gregg has always been a
great lover of rod and gun, and when not engaged
in business pursuits spends much time following his
favorite sport. In politics he is a Democrat, and at
the age of twenty-one was elected town clerk of
Wilton. As a young man he was active in political
affairs. Up to the time of his election as clerk the
town had been strongly Republican, but the town has
since became Democratic, and has so remained ever
since. In 1S74 he was elected representative to the
legislature from Wilton, and in 1889 was elected to
the senate from Nashua. He is a member of Clin-
ton Lodge, No. 52, Ancient Free and Accepted Ma-
sons, at Wilton.
Mr. Gregg married (first), in New Boston, Har-
riet Jane Wheeler, who was born at Bradford, New
Hampshire, January 2, 1840, daughter of Elisha and
Lydia W. (Cheeney) Wheeler, of Francistown. She
died February 15. i88r. He married (second), May
8, 1881, Ella Cora Fox, who was born in New Bos-
ton, August 22, 1861, daughter of George G. and
Mary L. (Wheeler) Fox, of New Boston. By the
first wife there were two children: Margaret Lula
and William A. The children by the second wife
are : Harry A., Eva A., Lucile, and baby ; the latter
died in infancy.
(VI) Daniel, youngest son of Joseph and Jane
M. (Moore) Gregg, was born in New Boston, July
15, 1823. and died in New Boston, April 2. 1893, near
the close of his seventieth year. His education was
acquired in the public schools, and he spent con-
siderable time in early life as a teacher. He re-
sided on the ancestral homestead, and was a pros-
perous .farmer and lumberer. He was a Democrat in
politics, a Congregationalist in religion, and a highly
moral and respected citizen. He held several town
offices, and was the representative of New Boston in
the general court one term. He was married Sep-
tember 20, 1849, at Deerfield, New Hampshire, to H.
Augusta Young, who was born in Deerfield, May
25. 1829, and died in New Boston, January 30, 1867,
in her thirty-eighth year. She was the 'daughter of
James and Hannah (Winslow) Young, of Deerfield.
of Scotch and English descent. The children of
this marriage were : Flora, who married William H.
Philbrick ; and Harlan, whose sketch follows.
(VII) Harlan, only son of Daniel and H.
Augusta (Young) Gregg, was born on the old home-
stead, in New Boston, March 2, 1855. He was edu-
cated in the common schools, and in 1S76 entered
the employ of Gregg & Son, manufacturers of
Nashua, where he took the position of bookkeeper.
He remained there until the fall of 1879. After
spending the following winter in New Boston, he
returned to Nashua in the spring, and became book-
keeper, and later superintendent for Cross & Tolles,
and remained with them until 1891. He then en-
gaged in the lumber and mill business on his own
account, continuing with success until 1900, and then
resumed the position of superintendent for Cross &
Tolles (now J. H. Tolles & Company), and at the
same time having interests in some other lumber and
mill business. Mr. Gregg still continues as the effic-
ient superintendent for J. H. Tolles & Company. In
politics he is an Independent, voting for the candi-
date whom he believes will best discharge the duties
of the office. He wishes no position in politics for
liimself, and seldom fills one, or takes any part in
public affairs. He was a member of the old Nashua
City Guard; and is now a member of Pennichuck
Lodge, No. 44. Independent Order of Odd Fellows ;
of Wattahonack Lodge of the New England Order
of Protection, and Merrimack River Commandery,
United Order of the Golden Cross. He married, No-
vember 8. 1878, in Hudson, Carrie A. Batchelder,
who was born in Hudson, October 22. 1858, daughter
of Mark and Lydia (Steele) Batchelder, of Hudson.
She died July 9, 1906. (See Batchelder X).
This name is found in Plymouth,
SHURTLEFF Massachusetts, fourteen years after
the landing of the Pilgrims, and
is prominently identified with the management of
affairs there for a long period. In the records of
Plymouth the name has various spellings, such as
Sh'irtleff, Shirtley, Shurtlif, etc. It first appears in
England as Cbierclift'e, then Chyrecliffe, Shiercliffe.
and finally Shirtleff. A grandson of the American
progenitor adopted the present form, which is gen-
erally in use by the family.
(I) William Shurtleff, in his youth, came to
Plymouth before 1635, from Ecclesfield, a village of
Yorkshire, about five miles from Sheffield. England,
and twenty miles from Scrooby the early gathering
place of the Pilgrims before they went to Holland.
In this village, at a seat called Whitley Hall, resided
the only family of the name that can be found before
its appearance in America. By occupation William
Shurtleff was a carpenter, and he appears in the
Plymouth records as "surveyor of highwaies" and
constable. In 1643 he was enrolled among those re-
quired to give military service to the colony. He
was killed by a stroke of lightning at Marshfield,
June 23, 1666. He was married October iS, 1655, to
Elizabeth Lettice, who was born about 1636. in Eng-
land, a daughter of Thomas and .''Lnn Lettice. She
survived her husband over twenty-seven years, and
died October 31, 1693, in Swansea, Massachusetts.
They had three sons, William, Thomas and Abiel.
the last born within a few days after the death of
his father.
(II) William (2). eldest son of William (r>
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
401
and Elizabeth (Lettice) Shurtleff, was born 1657, in
Plymouth, was a prominent citizen of the town and
died there February 4, 17,30. He was enrolled as a
freeman, May 27, 1681, and was surveyor of high-
ways in 1684. He was chosen August 30, 1686, to
serve at the court of assistants, and was constable in
1689. He was selectman in 1692-93-94-95, 1698-99
and 1760-01. He was representative at the general
court in 1694, was assessor in the same year, and
town treasurer in 1695-96-97 and 1700. At various
town meetings in 1695 he was appointed on important
committees, among them one for making the province
rate and one of six men to draw agreements "as may
be of use to defend the Towns Right on the North
sid of the Towne." On December 16 of that year he
was granted, with Ephraim Coole, "30 foott of land
square" by the waterside, on which to build a
"wharfe." In March, 1697, he was one of a com-
mittee to settle the ranges, and in September follow-
ing he was chosen as one of a committee "to treat
with ]\Iiddlebery agents Respecting the Rainge be-
tween the towne" and certain purchasers of land.
In 1698 he was on a committee to call a minister,
and in 1699 to care for and defend the commons.
In 1700 he was made a surveyor of bounds, and from
that time on the land records bear his name on every
page, in establishing the location of real estate. In
1701 he was called "leftenant," and in October of
that year received a grant of "Meadow or Meadoish
Ground." The Shurtleff House, built by him in
Plymouth before 1698 at the corner of Leyden and
Market streets, was removed in 1883 to the lot ad-
joining the Drew Block on Market street. His head-
stone in the first burying ground of the Pilgrims on
Cole's Hill bears this inscription : "Here lyes ye
body of Captn William Shurtleff who Deed Febry
the 4th 1729-30 In the 72d year of his age." His
wife, Susannah, was a daughter of Barnabas Loth-
rop, son of Rev. John Lothrop. of Barnstable, and
Susannah (Clark) Lothrop, granddaughter of
Thomas Clark, of Plymouth. She was born Febru-
ary 28, 1664, in Barnstable, and died August 9, 1726,
in Plynipton. Their children were : Jabez, Thomas.
William, John, Susannah, Barnabas, Ichabod, Eliza-
beth, Mary, Sarah, Samuel. Abigail, born in Plym-
outh; and Nathaniel, born 1707 in Plympton.
(III) John, fourth son and child of, William (2)
and Susannah (Lothrop) Shurtleff, was born June 6,
1693, in Plymouth, and was a farmer in Plympton.
He was married March 23. 1727, in Plympton, to
Sarah (Lucas) Carver, widow of John Carver and
daughter of Benoni and Repentance Lucas. His
children were : Susannah, William and Benoni
(twins), Mary and Lothrop. He removed in 1740 to
Hebron, Connecticut, whence he went in 1748 to
Bolton, same colony, and died in East Haddam, Con-
necticut, about 1783. His son William was the
father of Rev. Roswell Shurtleff. D. D., a distin-
guished divine and professor of Dartmouth College.
He died in Connecticut, about 1783.
(IV) Lothrop, youngest child of Johru and
Sarah (Lucas) (Carver) Shurtleff, was born De-
cember 21. 1735. in Plynipton, lived many years in
Tolland, Connecticut, and died April i, l8lO. in
Compton, Canada, whither he went in old age with
his son. He was married November 15, 1764, to
Submit Terry, who was born January 18, 1740. in
Enfield, Connecticut, a descendant of one of the
oldest families of that town, and died December 18,
1815, in Compton. Their children . were : Submit,
Mary, Asaph, Asenath, Amos and Hannah.
(V) Asaph, elder son and third child of Lothrop
and Submit (Terry) Shurtleff, was born January 23,
1770, and settled in Chelsea. Vermont. About 180S
he moved to Compton, Canada, where he died Sep-
tember 8, 1835. He was a farmer. His wife, Rachel
Ann, was a daughter of Joshua Booth and Lydia
(Dennison) Elderkin, of Tolland. They were the
parents of eight children, namely : Lothrop, Joshua.
Hannah, Asaph, Submit, Ann Jane, Elderkin and
Nelson.
(VI) Dr. Lothrop Shurtleff, eldest son of Asaph
and Rachel A. (Elderkin) Shurtleff. was born De-
cember 8, 1798. in Chelsea, Vermont, and died March
16, 1862, in Hatlcy, province of Quebec. He studied
medicine in Hatley and practiced in Sherbrooke and
Hatley. He was married December 22, 1819, to Ruth
Atwood Little, who was of the seventh generation
in America, born September 24, 1797. in Deering,
New Hampshire. (See Little, VI).
(VII) Dr. Solon Shurtleff. son of Dr. Lothrop
and Ruth A. (Little) Shurtleff, was born May 24,
1824, in Sherbrooke, Canada, and was educated in
the public schools. He began life as a teacher and
continued in that occupation several years. During
this time he began reading medicine in the office of
Dr. Colby, of Stanstead, Canada, arid in 1848 removed
to Cato, Cayuga county. New York; subsequently to
Wolcott, Wayne county, and meanwhile studied med-
icine at the Geneva Medical College, from which he
received his degree in June, 1853. His first two
years of medical practice were in Hatley, Canada.
He then went to Bourbon county, Kentucky, and was
engaged for several years in teaching. Returning
to Hatley in 1859. he continued in practice of medi-
cine until failing health compelled him to abandon it
in 1870, when he went to Califoniia and died Febru-
ary 19, 1871, near Nevada City. He was married
September 28, 1848, to Rebecca Johnson, daughter of
Zaccheus and Laura Johnson. She was born Jan-
uary 20, 1825, in Hatley, and died September 16.
1886, at Somerville, Massachusetts. They had three
children. Amos Johnson, Laura H. and Fremont
Elderkin. The daughter is the wife of Wright B.
LeBaron, residing in Sherbrooke. Canada. The
great-grandfather of Rebecca Johnson was Jonathan
Johnson (i). a native of England, who came to
America in the early part of the eighteenth century,
and settled in Amherst, IMassachusetts. He married
Sarah Bates. Their children were: David, Deliah.
Jonathan and Sarah. Jonathan Johnson (2), was a
soldier in the Revolutionary war and was captured
by the Indians and held a prisoner by the British.
(Hubbard's History of Stanstead County, p. 62.
Mass. Soldiers and Sailors in the Revolutionary War,
Vol. Vin, p. 851). He .settled in Hatley, Canada,
in 1802. and died in 1830. His children by his sec-
ond wife, Susanna (Hale) Johnson, were: Zaccheus,
402
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Esther, Arthur, Eliza and Abel Boynton. His wife
died in 1834. Zaccheus Johnson was born in Charles-
town, New Hampshire. July 9, 1793. and married
Laura Hovey, whose birth was the first that occurred
in Hatley. She was born July 9, 1795. She was the
daughter of Ebenezer and Rebecca (Simmons)
Hovey, natives of Connecticut. Ebenezer Hovey
lived several years at Charlotte, Vermont, and was
the earliest of the pioneers of the settlement in Hat-
ley (1793). Zaccheus Johnson died September 24,
1834. His wife died September 22, 1873. Their
children were Zaccheus Hale, Laura Jane, Sarah A.,
Rebecca, Jonathan. William Edwin and John H.
(Vni) Amos Johnson Shurtleff, elder son of
Dr. Solon and Rebecca (Johnson) Shurtlcff, was
born July 13, 1S49, at Cato, New York. He ac-
quired his education in the public schools and acad-
emy at Hatley. and at St. Francis College, in Rich-
mond, Canada, and (pursued the study of law in the
office of Nathaniel T. Sheafe, Esq., of Derby Line,
Vermont. He was admitted to the bar in 1873, and
immediately began practice at South Troy. Vermont,
where he remained three years. Removing to St.
Johnsbury, Vermont, in 1876, he continued practice
there, and was also court stenographer from 1877 to
1881. In the year last named, Mr. Shurtleff became
a resident of Concord, this state, where he has since
remained. Upon his arrival he formed a partnership
with Hon. John H. Albin, which was terminated a
year later by the appointment of Mr. Shurtlefif as
clerk of the supreme court for Merrimack county.
He continued in that office until the reorganization
of the courts in 1901, and since then has been clerk
of the supreme court of the state, and clerk of the
superior court for the county. He is a member of
the South Congregational Church. In 1882 he was
made a member of White Mountain Lodge, No. 5,
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Concord. In
politics he is a Republican.
Mr. Shurtleff was married March 29, 1882, to
Louise Diantha Robinson, daughter of James Clark
and Mary Jane (Thompson) Robinson, of S wanton,
Vermont. She was bom July 8, 1858. in Highgate,
Vermont, and is a lineal descendant of Samuel Rob-
inson, the founder of Bennington, Vermont, being of
the eig'hth American generation. Mr. and Mrs.
Shurtlefif have two children, namely : Harold Robert
and Elizabeth. The former, born January 6, 1883, is
at Harvard University, class of 1906. The latter
was born September 3, 1890, and is a student in the
Concord high school.
The ancestry of Mrs. Amos J, Shurtleff is traced
as follows :
(I) William Robinson, of Newton, Massachu-
setts, was born in England about 1640. and married
(about 1767) Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Cutter.
(II) Samuel, son of William and Elizabeth (Cut-
ter) Robinson, was born 1680, and resided in Cam-
bridge, Massachusetts. In 1707 he purchased an inn
at the corner of Brattle Square and Brattle street,
Cambridge, and kept it until June 13, 1721. His
wife, Elizabeth (Brigham) Robinson, survived him.
(III) Samuel (2), son of Samuel (i) and Eliza-
beth (Brigham) Robinson, settled in Hardwick, Mas-
sachusetts, in 1735, was a captain in the old French
war, and in 1748 was stationed at Fort George. Ob-
sen-ing the character of the country traversed in
this service, he resolved like many others to possess
some of it. Having persuaded several of his friends
and neighbors to join him. he purchased a grant of
land and settled at Bennington. Vermont, in October,
1761. He was selectman, assessor and deacon of the
church. In 1767 he was sent to England as a repre-
sentative of one thousand petitioners to the King to
secure relief from the harassments of New York
authorities, who claimed jurisdiction over that sec-
tion. He sailed December 25, 1766, and secured
favorable action, but did not live to enjoy its bene-
fits. While in England he was seized with smallpox,
died October 27. 1767, and was buried in the burying
ground attached to Whitefield's Chapel in London.
His children were: Leonard, Samuel, Moses, Paul,
Silas. Marcy, Sarah, David, Jonathan and Anna,
(IV) Leonard, son of Samuel Robinson, was
born at Hardwick, Massachusetts, July 27, 1736. died
at Swanton, Vermont, September 29, 1827. He was
a soldier in the Revolutionary war. and was in the
battle of Bennington. His third wife was Eunice
Homes, of Dedham, Massachusetts, who was born in
1750. Their children were: Joseph, Benjamin, Eliza-
beth, Eunice. Hannah, Leonard, Leonard, Persis,
Anna, Luther and Diantha.
(V) Joseph, son of Leonard Robinson, was born
at Bennington, Vermont, April 22, 1769, and died
September 3, 1814, at Swanton, Vermont. He mar-
ried Rhoda Hawks, who was born January, 1774, at
Bennington. Their children were: Rhoda, Joseph,
Benjamin, Samantha, Samantha, Hiram. Ann, Paul-
ine, Louisa and William.
(VI) Joseph (2), son of Joseph Robinson, was
born at Bennington, Vermont, March 18, 1793, and
died at Swanton, Vermont. July 19, 1855. He 'mar-
ried Sarah Clark, of Bennington, Vermont, who was
born in 1796. His children were: Diantha, James
Clark and Luther.
(VII) James Clark, son of Joseph (2) Robin-
son, was born at Swanton, Vermont, December 16,
1816, and died at Swanton, Vermont, July 26, 1874.
He married. April 24. 1850, Mary Jane Thompson,
who was born April 14, 1824, died September, 1898.
(VIII) Louise Diantha (Robinson) Shurtlefif is
their daughter. Their only other child died in in-
fancy.
(VIII) Fremont Elderkin. son of Dr. Solon
and Rebecca (Johnson) Shurtlefif, was born in Hat-
ley, province of Quebec. August 5, t86i. He was
educated in the public schools of St. Johnsburj', Ver-
mont, and at the University of Michigan, from' which
he graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in
1884. After graduation he was for four years in
the general freight ofifice of the Boston & Lowell and
Boston & Maine railroads at Boston, and was then
appointed court stenographer and clerk of the United
States court in New Hampshire, positions he held
for nine years, during which time he was also United
States commissioner. In igoo he engaged in the
practice of law in Concord and was appointed
referee in bankruptcy. He has an office in Concord
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
403
and another in Boston, Massachusetts. Mr. Shurt-
leff's political faith is that of Lincoln and McKinley.
He is a member of the First Congregational Church,
and of Eureka Lodge, No. 70, Free and Accepted
Masons, and of the University Club. He married,
December 24. 1885, Eunice L. Palmeter, daughter of
Girden and Rhoda M. Palmeter, of Concord, Mas-'
sachusetts, born in Cooper, Maine. She is a member
of the Congregational Church and very active in
church matters. She is a member of the Daughters
of the Revolution, of the Daughters of New Hamp-
shire in Concord, and of the Appalachian Club, of
Boston. Mr. and Mrs. Shurtlefif have two children:
Ernest S., born in Concord, Massachusetts. October
15, 1886; and Dorothy, born in Concord, New Hamp-
shire, March 12, 1894.
This is one of the numerous promi-
RICHARDS nent names of Welsh origin, which
are found largely represented in the
United States, and has been identified \vith progress
along all lines of human endeavor from a very early
period in the settlement of the American colonies.
It is one of those names which originated in the
Welsh system of making the possessive form of the
father's name a surname and is equivalent to Rich-
ard's son. The name as a christian name is very
ancient and is found among the early annals of the
present English nation, and so developed into a sur-
name along with others in very common usage.
Books of heraldry give no less than seventeen dis-
tinct coats-of-arms connected with the name Richards,
enough of which point back to Wales to justify the
general belief that liere was the original hive, from
which issued the founders of illustrious families of
that name in different countries of England. At
Caernywick, Marioneth county, Wales, is a manor
inherited by Sir Richard Richards, president of the
house of lords and lord chief baron of the court of
exchequer, and in the annals his ancestors, about
1550, are spoken of as the ancient possessors. They
claim the privilege of bearing the identical arms of
Richard of East Bagborough, in the county of Somer-
set. This was depicted on the tablet of Hon. James
Richards, of Hartford, who died in 1680, and may be
seen in an ancient manuscript in the New England
Historic-Genealogical Societies' Library -halved with
the arms of Governor Winthrop, whose daughter
married a Richards in 1692. There are at present
many clergymen of the name in England and Wales,
and it has long been illustrious in Europe.
(I) Edward Richards, born about 1610, 1615.
American ancestor of an extensive family, was a
native of Plymouth. England, and came to New Eng-
land in the ship "Lion" in 1635. He resided one
year in Cambridge, and then with his brother Na-
thaniel became one of the proprietors of Dedham,
Massachusetts, whither they removed. He united
with the church there in 1640, was a freeman in 1641.
was elected selectman in 1646 and again in 1653, and
died there June 25, 1684. He was married Septem-
ber ID, 1638, to Susan Hunting, daughter of Elder
John Hunting, of Watcrtown and Dedham. His
children were: Mary, John, Dorcas, Nathaniel and
Sary. (Mention of Nathaniel and descendants is a
part of this article).
(H) John, eldest son and second child of Ed-
ward and Susan (Hunting) Richards, was born May
I, (baptized June 12), 1641, in Dedham, Massachu-
setts, in which town he lived and w"here he died De-
cember 21, 1688. He was received in the church at
Dedham in 1667, and subscribed to the freeman's
oath in 1670. He was married August I, 1672, to
Mary Colburn, who was born November 21, 1650,
and died December 17. 1685. She was a daughter of
Nathaniel and Priscilla (Clark) Colburn. Their
children were: John, Mary, Hannah, Deborah,
Johanna, Susannah and Samuel.
(in) John (2), eldest child of John (i) and
Mary (Colburn) Richards, was born May 20, 1673,
and lived in Dedham. where he died January 26,
1719. He married Judith Fairbanks, who was born
November 21, 1673, and died in 1744. He made his
will January 25, 1817, in which he disposed of two
negro slaves. His children were : John, Joseph,
Timothy and Samuel.
(IV) John (3), son of John (2) and Judith
(Fairbanks) Richards, was born June 12. 1698, and
died October 25, 1772, in Dedham. He was married
June 5, 1772, to Abigail Avery, who was born May
8, 1699, daughter of Robert and Elizabeth (Lane)
Avery. • They resided in Dedham. Their children
were: John, Edward. Natlian, Job, Abiathar, Abel
and Nabby.
(V) Abiathar, fifth son and child of John (3)
and Abigail (Avery) Richards, was born 1730, in
Dedham, and was an active and respected citizen of
that town, where he died September 30, 1803. He
served three enlistments in the Revolutionary war.
He was married in Dedham, May 31, 1753. to Eliza-
beth Richards, who was born November 9, (baptized
November 16) 1730, in that town, daughter of
Thomas and Hannah (Metcalf) Richards (men-
tioned in this article). They united with the church
in Dedham, February 24, 1754. Mrs. Richards died
August 3, 1814. and their headstones are found in
the First Parish cemetery. Their children were :
Abiathar, Elizabeth, Hannah, Nabby, Lucy, Silvanus,
Jesse, Luther and Eliphalet.
(VI) Silvanus, second son and sixth child of
Abiathar and Elizabeth (Richards) Richards, was
born October 16, 1765, in Dedham, and was baptized
on the twenty-fourth of the following month in that
town. He removed to Newport alxiut the close of
the eighteenth century, and settled in the western
part of that town, where he kept a tavern and was at
one time one of the largest landholders and tax-
payers in the town. He also owned and operated
the Buell tavern in Newport Village, and died there
March 5. 1837. He was married in Dedham, by Rev.
Joseph Grafton, November 13, 1788, to Lucy Rich-
.irdson, who was born March 24. 1769, and died
.A.pril, 1822. She was a daughter of Deacon Jere-
miah and Dorcas Richardson, of Newton, Massachu-
setts. Their children were: Leonard, Seth, Abiathar
and Silvanus.
(VII) Captain Seth. second son and child of
Silvanus and Lucy (Richardson) Richards, was born
404
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
February 20, 1792, in Sudbury, Massachusetts, and
spent the early part of his life in farming and hotel
keeping in the western part of Newport, New Hamp-
shire. He subsequently kept the Rising Sun Hotel
in Newport Village, and later turned his attention to
mercantile operations and began as a clerk in the
store of Erastus Baldwin. In time he became
owner of the store, which he conducted for many
j-ears, being assisted in the latter part of his career
by his sons. This establishment he sold in order
to give his entire attention to the manufacture of
woolen goods at the Sugar River Mills in Newport,
in association with his son Dexter, and this enter-
prise proved a great success. He was very active in
the affairs of the town and served four years as
selectman, was representative in 1833, and filled
many other town offices and was also postmaster.
He was a Democrat of the Jeffersonian school. He
was a keen business man, governed by the strictest
rules of integrity, and was one of the most obliging
citizens in the town. He served as officer of the
militia and was ever ready with his time and means
to promote any movement calculated to improve the
progress of his town. He died October 30, 1871, and
his departure was widely mourned. He was married
April 8. 1817, to Fanny Richards, who was born in
Dedham, September i, 1791, and died August 11,
1854, in Newport. She was a daughter and the sec-
ond child of Abiathar (2) and Elizabeth (Smith)
Richards, and granddaughter of Abiathar (l) and
Elizabeth (Richards) Richards, the cousin of her
husband. Their children were : Dexter, Emily,
Elizabeth. Fanny, Abiathar, Helen, Ann and Cath-
erine. Of these the youngest alone survives, widow
of Ira Mitchell, of Oaremont. She is now a resi-
dent of Newport.
(VIII) Dexter, eldest child of Captain Seth and
Fanny (Richards) Richards, was born September S,
1S18, in Newport, and was educated in the public
schools of that town and at Ludlow, Vermont. Early
in life he became a clerk in his father's store and
was later associated with him and with his brother,
Abiathar. in mercantile business under the firm
name of Seth Richards & Sons. In 1853 he was as-
sociated with his father in the ownership of the
Sugar River Mills, in which Perley S. Coffin was
also a partner. In 1867 he purchased the interest of
Mr. coffin and became sole owner. Five years later
his son, Colonel Seth M. Richards, became a partner
and since then the mills have been operated by Dex-
ter Richards & Sons, a younger son having become
interested later. After Mr. Richards became inter-
ested in the operation of these mills they soon be-
came the most important industry of the community.
In 1875 he became president of the First National
Bank at Newport, and was also for many years
trustee of the Newport Savings Bank. In 1866,
while a member of the legislature, he was largely
instrumental in procuring a charter of the Sugar
River Railroad, which is now known as the Concord
& Claremont branch of the Boston & Maine Railroad.
At that time there was no railroad west of Bradford,
and Mr. Richards was a heavy contributor to the en-
terprise to extend it to Claremont Junction, thus
giving the Sugar River Valley railroad facilities
which have done so much toward its development.
He did a great deal of building in the village of
Newport, being the owner of several of its best
business blocks and erecting a fine mansion in that
town. The mills under his management were sev-
eral times enlarged and their capacity thereby in-
creased. Mr. Richards was actively identified with
the Congregational Church of Newport, and for over
thirty years was one of its deacons. From a very
early age he was called upon to perform various
public offices and was sometime town clerk and later
selectman. He was elected to the general court in
1865-66, in 1870 and 1895. He filled an active place
in the councils of the Republican party and was dele-
gate to the national convention in 1871, and in 1872
w-as a member of the executive council of the state.
He was twice a delegate to conventions for revising
the state constitution and served as state senator in
1887. He was a trustee of various institutions,
among which may be mentioned Kimball Union
Academy, the Orphans' Home and the New Hamp-
shire Asylum for the Insane, of which last named
institution he served on the board of trustees for
twenty-eight years and was its president at the time
of his decease.
Mr. Richards was a large public benefactor. One
of his monuments is found in the beautiful Richards
Hall, one of the buildings of Kimball Union Acad-
emy at Meriden. He also endowed a scholarship at
Dartmouth, and was one of the founders and lead-
ing benefactors of the Orphans' Home, at Franklin,
being in fact the orginator of this beneficent institu-
tion. Another of his gifts to the public is the Rich-
ards Free Library in the town of Newport, which
consists of a fine brick building with a museum and
a collection of three thousand volumes, which were
created at a cost of fifty-five thousand dollars. The
high school of Newport was made possible by his
gift of twenty-five thousand dollars, and the town
may justly point with pride to its fine, modern and
commodious brick edifice. His contributions to the
Congregational Church for various improvements
aggregate many thousands of dollars, and his out of
town donations raised the total of his public gifts
above one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars.
The private gifts made by Mr. Richards at various
times were known only to himself and their bene-
ficiaries and their number was great and their ag-
gregate munificent. He passed away at his home in
Newport, August 7, 1897, and his funeral at the Con-
gregational Church was one of the largest ever held
in Newport. Even the galleries of the church were
crowded with people who came to pay their tribute
of respect to the memory of one whom they had es-
teemed. All places of business in the village were
closed for the afternoon and many people from out
of town attended these obsequies. His body rests in
the family lot in Maple Street cemetery, where a
suitable monument has been erected.
Mr. Richards W'as married January 27. 1847, to
Louisa Frances Hatch, who was born April 10, 1827,
in Hillsboro, New Hampshire, daughter of Dr.
Mason and Apphia (Andrews) Hatch. Dr. Hatch
)itli(slite.
ic gifts
ir kr
I ^;».*ij,i H .1
■ ■■• ^^1 ?^l {^1 '■■
p^'|■^^?f(;irf^f^J;>t^f|!#!•Hrf.^^^^•'
./
)
^
i
NEW HAMP^I'IRF.
LI fl *^l ^-1
• I ^ ti f^ ^1
of that town.
,11111 ..n.-. i\::i :■.■;> v.c; " ; sixcllil-
1, only three of whom . Colonel
.>■ ih M. Richardv ' w; Jose-
phine C, wife of i ' ! William
'^ Kichards, : '
Mrs. Loi. Is was a
la<iy of c v-ry active
in bene le was a
trustee ■ . o.i -UaiiciicsUr, and of'
the Wc Society, of Concord, and
• write M, said of her: ''In church and
society ^ rds is an acknowledged jiowct and
her deligluiul hospitality is a thing to he long re-
membered by those who have enjoyed it," She «"» =
a munificent benefactor of the Orphans'
Franklin, and of other institutions mentior
in which she was a trustee as well as the '
tional Church of her home town. She w
ter of the Reprisal Chapter, Daughter ^
ican Rcvohi'.ion, of Newport. On t'
;h ■ wedding, Mr. and Mr,-
ti '. reception a large r\v..
lov car and remote re!,
occ: '.f those pleasurabh'
never fade iron; the memory of those who have
participated in (hem. Mrs. Richards passed away
January II. IQOI, and her funeral was larprcly at-
tended by the most distinguished cilizt-ns if '.'i, sli",
and especially by her fellow ti .'
liciievolent institutions in which
members of the Reprisal
I :he American Revolution, attcii .^ .
her memory received an honor, which had
fore been awarded to any ^■c•v,^^,r^ ..■
namely, closing all places of Iv
^ffpri-io; ,,n ihi^s occasiou Were '. _
^ he mourning friends. ."■
i.;g!.i, ..,,,,., ^lated was a cross of iv> —
of white roses from the pupils and , the
Richards school. The services w>.:v ^ -.■.ictcd
jointly by the pastor of the church and two former
pastors, who came to pay their tribute of regard and
respect to the memory of one of their most loved
pari'hinners.
I \ ) Seth Mason, eldest son and second child
ijc.'^ttr and Louisa Frances (Hatch) Richards,
born June 6. 1S50, in Newport He completed
' - 'my, Meriden,
after leaving
"tile clerk
; . he was
1872. in
has since
' t that es-
r he suc-
iid under
• iiagement
iii.s education at Kimball V
•and Phillips Academy, Ar
school .' d for a t:
in Bo.='i ling to 1:
admitted .t? a [.inner will,
the operation of the Sugar P
devoted most of his time tr
tablishment. Upon the dca;'
ceeded to the management o;
his capable, energetic and <
the interest has developed t
occ'upies a newly built fn>
increased facilities for a bu
one-third per cerit. greater tl
^'tal of one hundred and t.
T'lc t'ir,-;t .\aii,.)n.:; i .;i:i ;
iithropies, like those of In
' numerous. Mr. Rir
'ive in public affair
Jl- ba'.\)c!, and I-..: w.-.i
cl' !i 1S06 and served in the
se- ',.",■•,■ I . ■
ar.:
iain Mclvi: :
tions. Colo r
Rachelder in 190,5, ; i ,li C.^un-
cillor's district. He ,.n of 'he
prison committee. On ilit o;ta.,ioii ,.i Prj
Roosevelt's tour through New Frjir^n?' "1 ?<>•
i> chairman of the rcccp''
•>»'! him to Newport ;
•d by him on this occasion :
iri, if it were not for our
, and Secretary of the State, Ci_'
cottager there; if it were not for
jydon mountain beyond and the masterful
f the late Austin Cf^rbi;-. wo wi:!'! not have
' ihe privilege and ani ■: and
. "inji the chief magistr:, • idnv.
a small community
you that wc .shall
And love of coun;r
i/.e. Senator Chai! .: 1:
His last act of U-
ry Cortelyou to cha-
able us to hear a )'
We know your <''<^
at, and presume yoi
, ,.■ k, shoulder a rifle a
wild boar. We wish '
tlemcn. I have the hie'
the President of t
ei,-
^' ,,,,,,,
uud
!'g a
has
persuade
nents and
the presi-
,.., -Mr. Presi-
get inside the
.ihoot an elk or
-adies and gen-
. , ioducing to you
States, Theodore
r "ople have been
•ue mansion on
I rtas married- Oc-
■, 1878, t -worth, of Boston,
ua.i>. ii-.-r of 01i^ : Caroline A. Hunt,
of Newport and mddaughter of Dea-
ci",' ' '■ Fanijvv...Mi: v\ 11" was an early resident
01 Mrs. Richards was born October 23,
J*"?-; " :M-wport.
(IX) William Francis, younger son of Dexter
and Louisa Frances (Hatch) Richards,
January 28, 1867, in Newport, and at:
public schools of that tc»vn until 1
vears old. He next went to a pr
at, Rhode Island, fnr or
Iiillips-Rxetpr Aca<!»piy,
juUd in the class of 188=. 1m,
lege he graduated from that in
of 1889, and Sjpent the succeeding ^c:a ui lia,
Europe. Returning to bis native town he be
one of the propr lie Sugar River Mi'
1891. This was : J al that time um!.-
style of Dexter UicIiaiJi" Sons & >'
1896 he made another tour of Eur
nearly a year, spending a considerable ponioii o. liic
4o6
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
time in Sweden. During this time he wrote many
interesting letters, which were pubHshed in the
Neiuport Argus and were enjoyed not only by his
friends but also by a wide circle of readers who
were unknown to him. He has taken an active part
in local affairs, as did his ancestry, and has borne
his share in the responsibilities which fall upon the
leading members of any community. He represented
the town in the state legislature in 1902-03, and was
a member of the board of education for some years.
He is at the present time trustee of the Newport
Savings Bank. He is a member of the Congrega-
tional Church and officer of the Congregational So-
ciety. He is also president of the Newport Electric
Light Company. He is a member of the New Hamp-
shire Historical Society, of the Sons of American
Revolution, of the New Hampshire Club of Boston,
the Pennewan Club, of Newport, and is a trustee of
the Richards Free Library, of Newport. Mr. Rich-
ards is also a prominent member of the Masonic Or-
der, of the Knights Templar degree, and has served
on Governor Jordan's staff, of Colorado, in 1900-01.
The greater part of his time is now passed in
Colorado, and he is present secretary of the Hu-
mane Society, of Colorado Springs, and member of
prominent social clubs of that city. He is treasurer
of the Savings Institution of Colo^rado Springs and
director of the First National Bank, of Colorado
City. Mr. Richards cherishes a sentiment of warm
regard for his native place and continues to maintain
his home there in summer, like many another of
New Hampshire's loyal sons. He participates in
the strong character and mental forcefulness for
which his ancestors have been noted, as is amply
evidenced by the affiliations, associations and busi-
ness connections above noted.
(U) Nathaniel, second son and fourth child of
Edward and Susan (Hunting) Richards, was born
November 25, 1648 (baptized on the twenty-sixth of
the same month), in Dedham, and died there Feb-
ruary 15. 1727. He was a freeman in 1690. He
was married December 12, 1678, to Mary Aldis, who
was born September 29, 1657, in Dedham, daughter
of Deacon John and Sarah (Elliott) Aldis. Their
children were : Nathaniel, Jeremiah. James, Edward,
William. Mary. Dorcas and Elizabeth.
(HI) James, third son and child of Nathaniel
and Mary (Aldis) Richards, was born February 24,
1683, and married Hannah Metcalf, who was born
March 10. 1687, daughter of Deacon Jonathan and
Hannah (Kendrie) Metcalf. She was deeply afflicted
by total blindness for nineteen years prior to her
death, and was eminent for her piety and patience
in affliction. She was a granddaughter of John Ken-
drie, who was in England in 1605, and was a resi-
dent of Boston in 1639, and subscribed to the free-
man's oath there in 1640, and died in 1686. She
died February 8, 1770, and her husband passed away
May 22, 1760. James Richards' children were: Han-
nah. James, Jonathan, Samuel, Mary, Ebenezer, Eli-
phalet (died young), Mehitable, Abigail, Eliphalet
and Elizabeth.
(IV) Mehitable, eighth child of James and
Hannah (Metcalf) Richards, was born January 26,
1727, and died May 6, 1785. She became the wife of
Nathan Richards. (See Richards IV in this article).
(IV) Elizabeth, youngest child of James and
Hannah (Metcalf) Richards, was born November 9,
1730, and died August 3, 1814. She became the wife
of Abiathar Richards (see Richards V).
This ancient name has been traced
BL'LLOCK to a very early period in England,
three hundred years before the gen-
eral adoption of surnames in that country. Its coat
of arms is very ancient, and is characterized by sev-
eral bullocks amid other figures and emblems. There
is a family tradition which seems rather mythical
and is not sustained by records, regarding the find-
ing of a child in a bull's manger, as the origin of the
name. This name was very early identified with the
history of New Hampshire, and has been borne by
numerous prominent citizens in other states. Among
the distinguished men of the name who are de-
scended from a common ancestor may be mentioned
Alexander H. Bullock, of Worcester, one time gov-
ernor of Massachusetts ; Stephen Bullock, of Reho-
both, member of congress under Jefferson's adminis-
tration, and his son. Dr. Samuel Bullock, a member
of the Massachusetts legislature ; Richard Bullock,
a merchant of means and high standing in Provi-
dence : Nathaniel Bullock, lieutenant-governor of
Rhode Island in 1842 ; Jonathan R. Bullock, lieuten-
ant-governor of Rhode Island in i860.
(I) Richard Bullock was born in 1622 in Essex
county, England, and died in Rehoboth, Massachu-
setts, November 22, 1667. He was accompanied in
his migration to America by two brothers, one of
whom settled in Virginia. He was in Rehoboth as
early as 1643, and left the town soon after 1644.
The Colonial records show that he was made a free-
man in May, 1646. but do not indicate his residence
at that time. In 1656 he removed to Newton, Long
Island, but soon went back to Rehoboth and resided
there till his death. He was one of the fifty-eight
landed proprietors of Rehoboth. June 22, 1658, "At
a townmeeting lawfully w'arned, lots were dfawn for
the meadows that lie on the north side of the town,
in order as followeth, according to person and es-
tate." Richard Bullock drew No. 19. and he bought
the governor's lot valued at two hundred pounds.
His name appears on the records of the town in
1643, and he came there, it is said, with Roger Wil-
liams. The town record recites: "30th of the nth
mo. (January), 1659, voted to agree with Richard
Bullock to perform the office of Town Clerk ; to
give him i6s. a year, and to be paid for births,
burials and marriages besides." He married, .\ugust
4. 1647, Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Ingraham, of
Rehoboth, and their children were: Samuel, Eliza-
beth, Mary, Mehitable, Abigail, Hopestill, Israel.
Marcy, John and Richard.
(II) Samuel, eldest son of Richard and Eliza-
beth (Ingraham) Bullock, was born ,'\ugust 19, 1648,
in Rehoboth, and died there March 10, 1718. He was
a large landholder and a farmer, and contributed
liberally in defraying the expenses of King Philip's
war in 1675-76. He was married (first), November
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
407
2. 1673, to Mary Thurber, of Swansea, who died Oc-
tober 4, 1674. He was married (second), May 16,
1675, to Thankful Rouse, of Rehoboth.
(III) Samuel (2), son of Samuel (l) and
Thankful (Rouse) Bullock, was bom November 7,
1683. in Rehoboth, and lived in various towns in
that vicinity, dying in Rehoboth in April, 1746. He
was a trader and housewright. and built the second
Congregational Church at Rehoboth.' He was also
proprietor of a saw mill, and his various dealings
and building operations caused him to move about
considerably. He was married June 2, 1711. to
Anna, daughter of William and Ann (Cole) Salis-
bury, of Swansea (now Warren). Rhode Island. The
birth of but three of his children is on record in
Rehoboth. and the births of others, which probably
occurred in neighboring towns, have not been dis-
covered.
(IV) Christopher, who was probably a son of
Samuel (2) and Anna (Salisbuo") Bullock, was
born about 1720. supposedly in Cumberland, Rhode
Island. He lived in Cumberland and in Scituate. and
had children born in both towns. He with his
brothers. Ebcnezer and Nathan, bought land in
Royalston, Massachusetts, about 1770, which em-
braced lots yT, 79, and 80 in that town, covering
three hundred and forty-five acres. It may be inter-
esting to note in passing that the land was valued
at eight English shillings per acre. It is situated
in the e.xtreme northwestern corner of the town
of Royalston adjoining Richmond, New Hampshire.
These brothers were of stalwart build and they
were hardy pioneers. All of them except Christo-
pher moved farther west within a few years, and
he went into the town of Richmond, New Hamp-
shire. -A-t that time he was an old man and he did
not survive many years. The baptismal name of
his wife was Sarah, and their children were seven
in number, namely : Jeremiah, Ebenczer ( died
young), Sarah, Nathan, Ebenezer, Katherine and
Christopher.
(V) Jeremiah, eldest child of Christopher and
Sarah Bullock, was born August 7, 1748, in Cum-
berland, Rhode Island, and accompanied his parents
to Massachusetts and ultimately to New Hampshire.
He remained on the paternal homestead in Rich-
mond until old age, and finally died at~the home of
his son Christopher, in Winchester, New Hamp-
shire. He was married December 22, 1771, to Adah
Cass, who was born July 16, 1750, in Richmond,
daughter of Deacon John and Alice (Brown) Cass,
of that town. Deacon Cass was a pioneer settler
in Richmond, and was the first inn keeper. Ten
children were born to Jeremiah Bullock and wife,
namely: Nathan, Lovel, Sarah, .-^dah (died young),
Joel. Cass, Jeremiah, .Adah, Christopher and Sus-
anna.
(VI) Jeremiah (2), fifth son and second child
of Jeremiah (i) and Adah (Cass) Bullock, was
born July 3, 1783, in Richmond, New Hampshire,
and resided in that town. He married Esther Jill-
son, who was born .April 21, 1727, in Richmond,
daughter of Paul and Martha (Clark) Jillson. Paul
Jillson was born December 6, 1752, in Cumberland,
Rhode Island, son of Uriah Jillson. The last named
was a son of Nathaniel, whose father, James Jillson,
was the first of the name in this country. Paul
Jillson was married January 8, 1778, to IMartha
Clark, of Smithfield, who was born April 14, 1755.
They had seven children, namely : Rachel, Sarah
(married Nathan Bullock), Silas, Esther, Paul,
Clark and Mercy. The father died April 2T, 1823,
and his wife survived him more than five years,
dying September 15, 1828.
(VIlj Silas Jillson, son of Jeremiah (2) and
Esther (Jillson) Bullock, was born June 9, 1805,
in Richmond, New Hampshire, and died in Pitts-
field, Vermont, Febiuary. 1876, aged seventy-one
years. He was buried in Sheffield, Vermont. Much
of his active life was passed in Richmond, where
he was a carpenter and contractor and erected many
buildings. He was married in Richmond, Septem-
ber 3, 1829, by Benjamin Newell, to Parney Martin,
daughter of Hendrick and Prudence (Handy) Mar-
tin, of Richmond, and granddaughter of John (2)
and great-granddaughter of John (i) Martin, a
native of Smithfield. Rhode Island, who was among
the earliest settlers of Richmond. Silas Jillson Bul-
lock and wife were the parents of four children,
namely: William, Parney Jane, Silas G. and Silas W.
(VIII) Silas Warren, youngest child of Silas
Jillson and Parney (Martin) Bullock, was born
April 7, 1837, in Barton, Vermont. At the age of
six years he was taken to Blackstone, Massachusetts,
where he resided until he was eighteen years old.
Returning to Vermont he resided in Sheffield, and
there learned the trade of carpenter. He continued
in this occupation until 1862, when he enlisted at
Sheffield and became a member of Company G.
Fifteenth Vermont Volunteer Infantry commanded
by Colonel Redfield Proctor. This regiment was
enlisted for nine months, and Mr. Bullock was
mustered in the United States service October 22,
1862, as a private. His company was commanded
by Captain Stephen W. McCaffey and participated
in the battle of Gettysburg and numerous skir-
mishes. After a service of eleven months Mr.
Bullock was honorably discharged at Brattleboro,
and returned to Sheffield and took up his trade. In
1866 he settled in Manchester, New Hampshire,
where he has since resided. He continued there in
building operations until failing health compelled
their abandonment, and in 1879 took a position as
stationary engineer with the Amoskeag corporation.
After twenty-three and one-half years in tliis em-
ployment he retired from active labor. He is a
member of Louis Bell Post, No. 3, Grand .Army of
the Republic. He was married in Manchester, De-
cember 6. 1S63, to Cynthia Anna Eaton, who was
born September i, 1845, in St. Charles, Illinois,
daughter of Ebenezer and Cynthia (Miles) Eaton
(See Eaton V). Mr. and Mrs. Silas W. Bullock
are the parents of three children : Jane Amanda,
Lillian Gertrude and Blanche Ethelynde. Jane A.
was born November 10, 1864, and died October z\,
1890. She married Fred C. Woodbury, of Man-
chester, New Hampshire, and left one son, Walter
Abram. Lillian G. is mentioned below. Blanche
4o8
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Ethelynde was born August 28, 1874, snd married,
September 12, igoo, Harry E. Wheeler of Manches-
ter. They have two children : George Warren and
Edward Bullock.
(IX) Dr. Lillian Gertrude Bullock, second
daughter of Silas Warren and Cynthia Anna
(Eaton) Bullock, was born in Manchester, May 13,
1S67. She was educated in the public schools of
INIanchester, graduating from the high school in
1S86, and at the Eclectic Medical College of New
York City, from which she was graduated with
the class of 1895. The following year she spent
in hospital work. In 1896 she opened an office in
jNIanchester, and has built up a large and lucrative
practice. She is a member of the National Eclectic
Society, of which she was third vice-president in
1906, and of the Massachusetts Eclectic Society, of
which she has served as president ; and is also a
member of the New Hampshire Eclectic Medical
Society. She has contributed various valuable es-
says on subjects of interest to the medical profes-
sion. She is active in the Manchester Institute of
Arts and Sciences, is a member of the Federation
of Woman's Clubs, the Woman's Relief Corps, and
of the Daughters of Veterans. She is a member of
and has been actively identified with the Universtlist
Church for the past twenty years.
The origin of this name, which is
DOUGLAS one of the most famous in the an-
nals of Scotland, has never been
definitely determined, and the ancient legendary
border tales relative to the subject, formerly sung
by the bards, are now considered an unsatisfactory
solution of the problem. Its great antiquity, how-
ever, is unquestionable and history records many
gallant and chivalrous deeds performed by bearers
of this name, which for centuries has been one of
the most prominent in the Scottish nobility.
(I) The family now under consideration is the
posterity of Robert Douglas, who was born in Scot-
land about the year 1588, but all efTorts to ascertain
the name of the city or town where his birth took
place have thus far failed.
(II) Deacon William, son of Robert Douglas,
was born in Scotland in 1610. He was married at the
parish church in Ringstead, Northamptonshire, Eng-
land, in 1636, to Ann Mattle, only daughter of
Thomas Mattle, and four years later (1640) they
emigrated to New England, accompanied by their
two children — Ann and Robert, going lirst to Glou-
cester, Massachusetts, and shortly afterwards to
Boston. The early records of Boston contain an
entry made in 1640, stating that "William Douglas
is allowed to be a townseman, he behaving him self
as becometh a Christian man." In 1641 he removed
to Ipswich, Massachusetts, but in 1645 returned to
Boston, where he followed the cooper's trade, and
in 1646 he purchased of Walter Merry and Thomas
Anchor a dwelling-house, together with a shop. He
afterwards bought and sold other property in Bos-
ton. In 1659 he purchased of William Hough, of
New London, Connecticut, a dwelling-house in New
street, that town, whither he removed in the fol-
lowing year, and upon his arrival bought another
house located on the south side of J\Ieeting-house
Hill. He became a wealthy and prominent resident
of New London, and in 1670 was chosen one of
first deacons of the church. His education and
ability were such as to cause his selection to various
town offices, including those of recorder, moderator,
sealer, packer, etc. He was one of the "townsmen"
for the years 1663-1666-67; and was chosen as
deputy to the general court at Hartford for the
first time in 1672 and served one or two terms more
in that capacity. His death is characteristically
noted in the diary of the Rev. Simon Bradstreet as
follows: "1682 July 26, Mr. William Douglas one
of ye deacons of this church died in ye 72 year of
his age. He was an able Christian and this poor chh
will much want him." His widow, who died in
New London about the year 1685, made the long
journey to Boston when sixty years old for the pur-
pose of proving her right of inheritance to her
father's property. She was the mother of live chil-
dren, namely : Ann, Robert, Elizabeth, Sarah and
William.
(jIII) Deacon William (2), second son and
youngest child of Deacon William (i) and Ann
(Mattle) Douglas, was born in Boston April i, 1645.
He inherited a farm of sixty acres in New London,
which was originally granted his father in 1660,
and March 29, 1706, he was granted a tract of land
in Voluntown. With his first wife he was admitted
to the church in New London in 1670, and he
succeeded his father as deacon, serving in that
capacity for upwards of fifty years, or until his
death. December 18, 1667, he married Abiah Hough,
who was born September 15, 1648, died February
21, 1715, daughter of William Hough of New Lon-
don, and granddaughter of Edward Hough of West-
chester, Cheshire, England. His second wife, whom
he married in July, 1715, was Mrs. Mary Bushnell,
a widow, and she survived him. His children, all
of his first union, were : Elizabeth, Sarah, William,
Abiah, Rebecca, Ann, Richard and Samuel.
(IV) Deacon William (3), third child and eldest
son of Deacon William (2) and Abiah (Hough)
Douglas, was born in New London, February 19,
1672-3. He united with the church in 1698, and in
the following year removed from New London to
Plainfield, Connecticut, where land was granted
him on the east side of the Quinnebaug river, and
having assisted in organizing the church in that
town he was selected to officiate as its first deacon.
His death, which occurred in the prime of life,
August 10, 1719, was greatly lamented. His wife,
who was before marriage Sarah Proctor, survived
him and was living in 1729. She became the mother
of these children, namely: Hannah, Samuel (died
young), Abiah, John, Sarah, Jerusha, Samuel, Ben-
jamin, James, Thomas and Asa.
(V) James, sixth son and tenth child of Deacon
William (3) and Sarah (Proctor) Douglas, was
born in Plainfield, May 20, 1711. In his youth he
divided his time between assisting his father in
farming and attending school, and the knowledge
thus acquired he used at a later period for the
i
I :&| 4| /-I
lit!
■ m^'!mr^fifiiiii\ufiiy^vi[:'^^i
i" '■-'"'■
paid ;
he buiiL .
his family
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covcry oi .u
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was ai>
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, 1790.
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and Khodi,
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lined to ■
■A the mi'
.'lis land ti:> .
ous farmer, ilc Jied uciorc '
forty-ei'^Inh year, July 23, 16..
"o.>, to Saloma Scott, who
• ^ ', .Hid died August 16, i>?:i
vere : Amia, Amos and Laura I '
las was married (■;.'ciii(I1, '
iilizabeth Pres'
4IO
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Bank at St. Louis, established at Brunswick, at
the same time continuing his professional studies.
Here he became acquainted with General Sterling
Price, who was at heart a Union man and repre-
sented the Union party of his district in the con-
vention which refused to pass a secession ordinance
for Missouri, but was afterwards led away by the
"States Rights" doctrine and became the commanding
general of the state forces. He took with him two
companies to the southern army, the one of which
young Douglas had been a member. But his New
England blood and training would allow no com-
promise with "States Rights," as he believed that
the United States was supreme, greater than any
of its constituent parts, and was entitled to first
support; he therefore withdrew from the state
forces and enlisted in the Eighteenth Missouri Vol-
unteers, at Brookfield, for the service of his country.
His regiment was first stationed at Brookfield,
thence moved to Laclede, on the Hannibal and St.
Joseph Railroad. Here he laid out and had built
earthworks for the protection of troops stationed
here. His first military duty was to make a report
to General Fremont, commander of the Depart-
ment, of a serious railroad disaster caused by the
partial burning of a bridge over the Grand river by
a band of rebels that infested the country. Thence
the regiment was ordered to Weston, Piatt county,
and in February to Benton Barracks in St. Louis.
Mr. Douglas was employed for some time as secre-
tary to the colonel of his regiment, and as clerk
in the adjutant's office, having full power by written
orders to sign any papers for the colonel, and to use
his discretion in giving passes and the like. But
while he was at Benton Barracks he was given
unsolicited, a commission as second lieutenant, he
having refused the position of captain, which he
was urged to accept. On the 13th of March, 1862,
the Eighteenth Regiment was ordered down the
river, and was in the siege at Island No. Ten, where
they helped to cut the canal which let the gunboats
through to a point below the island and led to
the capture of that stronghold. From this work
the regiment went to Pittsburg Landing, on the
Tennessee river, and was engaged in the battle of
Shiloh, April 6 and 7, 1862. Here he was wounded
in the left hip, and carried from the field before
noon of the first day. He with his brother was taken
to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and later to the Wash-
ington Park Hospital in Cincinnati. After his re-
covery he joined his regiment at Corinth, Missis-
sippi, was appointed adjutant of his regiment, and
later acting assistant adjutant general of his brigade.
In February following he received an honorable dis-
charge from the army and returned to New Eng-
land. For eighteen months he was connected with
the provost marshal's oftice in Concord, Massachu-
setts. In December, 1864, he married Mary A. Rust,
of Orwell, Vermont, and for a time engaged in
farming, subsequently residing in Brattleboro. He
was a member of the Baptist Church and superin-
tendent of the Sunday school, which became the
largest of any school in the state. While there he
became actively interested in the work of the Young
Men's Christian Association, was the first secretary,
and later the president of the local association, and
was identified with the work of the organization
throughout the state of Vermont. He was the
"Father and Founder" of the Vermont Sunday
School Association. In 1872 he removed to Spring-
field, Massachusetts, and was president of the Y.
M. C. A. there.
But he had cherished the purpose of resuming
his professional studies, and in 1875 he went to
Burlington and entered the medical department of
the University of Vermont. In 1876 he continued
his studies in the medical department of the Univer-
sity of New York, from which he received the
degree of Doctor of Medicine. For twenty-five years
he was actively engaged in the practice of medicine
in New York City, and was prominently identified
with many of the medical and medico-educational
institutions of that city. In 1877 he was appointed
an Assistant Surgeon to the Manhattan Eye, Ear
and Throat Hospital, later was elected a surgeon
and director in that institution, and more than three
hundred thousand visits were made in his clinic.
He is now a consulting surgeon to that very flourish-
ing institution. Dr. Douglas is a fellow and for
nine years was treasurer of the New York Academy
of Medicine; he held various other positions in. the
Academy. For twelve years he was professor of
diseases of the nose and throat in the New York
Post Graduate Medical School and Hospital. He
is a member of the Medical Society of the State of
New York, and was a member of its committee
on publications. He was treasurer for eight years,
and in 1891 president of the Medical Society of the
County of New York, the largest medical society
of its character in America. For ten years he was
a director of the New York Physicians' Mutual Aid
Association. He is a member of the New Hamp-
shire State Medical Society, of the New Hamp-
shire Society of Military Surgeons, the New Hamp-
shire Surgical Society, the New Hampshire Society
for the Prevention of Consumption, and of the
American Medical Association. He is vice-president
of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire
Forests, president of the New Hampshire Orphans'
Home, of the Concord Young Men's Christian As-
sociation, and member and treasurer of the State
Executive Committee, Y. M. C. A. of New Hamp-
shire. He is an honorary member of the Vermont
State Medical Society, member of the American
Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Asso-
ciation, and of the American Civic Association. For
many years he was surgeon to Reno Post, Grand
Army of the Republic, of New York City ; he is a
companion of the first class. Loyal Legion, U. S. A. ;
and a life member of Corinthian Lodge, Ancient.
Free and Accepted Masons, in Concord, Massachu-
setts, and a member of Bektash Temple, Ancient,
Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, Concord,
New Hampshire.
These are types of the many activities with which
Dr. Douglas was long identified, and his time and
energies were so severely taxed by his multifold
duties that he was obliged to relinquish many of
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
411
them in consideration of his health and strength.
After taking many vacations, some of which were
spent in Florida and the West Indies and some
amid the delightful scenes of New Hampshire, he
removed permanently to this state, and in No-
vember, 1901, located in Concord, where he has
since resided. For several years prior to his coming
to Concord he spent his summer vacations in Pem-
broke, where he lost a valuable library by fire that
destroyed the building where his office was located.
Dr. Douglas spent two summers in Europe, visiting
nearly every capital and principal city, spending con-
siderable time in hospitals studying methods of work,
and was specially fortunate in seeing nearly every
one of the crowned heads of Europe and many
dignitaries of the aristocracy. On his removal from
New York, Dr. Douglas received many tokens of
appreciation and regard from his confreres, and he
treasures a handsomely engrossed certificate of po-
sitions held by him. He is specially proud of the
fact that he never directly or indirectly solicited a
position that he has occupied. He never asked a
person to nominate him or vote for him for any
office he ever held. He is a man of broadest mind
and deep culture, of large sympathies and gener-
ous nature endearing himself to all with whom he
comes in contact and is highly esteemed by every
one privileged to know him. He is the author of
numerous medical publications, such as "Is the Cure
of Chronic Nasal Catarrh as difficult as has been
supposed?," "The Upper Air Passages and their
Diseases," "Relative Importance of Physical Signs
in the Diagnosis of Disease," "The Past and Present
of Laryngology," "Oedema of the Larynx,"
"Modern Methods of treating Nasal Catarrh." etc.
In 1864 Dr. Douglas married Mary A. Rust, a
native of Orwell, Vermont, daughter of Edwin and
Lucinda (Bush) Rust. She died Ju'y .30, 1S73, and
Dr. Douglas married (second), September 16, 1875,
Maria Manson Tiddy, daughter of Rev. A. C. Man-
son, for nearly fifty years a minister oi" liie Metho-
dist Episcopal Church. She was born m Maine but
has spent much of her time in New Han;pshire.
At the age of fourteen she began teaohuii^ school,
and continued teaching for many ye.ars, specially
teaching music. In 1858 she married Dr. Silvester
Campbell, who was assistant surgeoir of the Six-
teenth New Hampshire Regiment, and died in mili-
tary service near New Orleans. After his death
she, wishing to continue in some way his service
to the country, offered her services and was ap-
pointed a nurse under Dorothy Dix. She, with a
dear friends of hers, was sent to Fortress Monroe
and' Chesapeake Hospitals. During this service,
until the close of the Civil war, she cared for many
distinguished men of both armies. She was among
the first to go south after the war as a teacher of
the colored people ; and during ten months she, with
Mrs. Wildes, taught not only a week-day school,
but several hundred colored people, and had a Sun-
day school of a hundred pupils at Forest City,
Florida. On her return from the south she was ap-
pointed music teacher at Pennington Seminary,
New Jersey. Here she was very successful, with a
large class of pupils, and late was made preceptress
of that institution. Her health failing, she retired
from that position and afterwards married Rev.
John Tiddy, who died in 1872 at Springfield, Massa-
chusetts. In 1876 she removed with her husband.
Dr. Douglas, to New York City, and there she
took up the study of medicine, graduating in 1879
with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. During
her life of twenty-five years in New York she gave
much time to music, enjoying the friendship of
many lovers of the divine art. She traveled with
her husband quite extensively in America and
Europe, enjoying some special advantages socially.
Since her residence in Concord, Mrs. Douglas has
been identified with the Science Class of the
Woman's Club, with the Woman's Relief Corps
of the Grand Army of the Republic, with the
Woman's Auxiliary to the Young Men's Christian
Association, being the president of both the local
and state organizations. She is also department
president of the National Army Nurses' .Associa-
tion, and in all her work she is characterized as
an earnest and efifective public speaker. She has
given numerous addresses in various parts of New
Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts, upon Y.
M. C. A. work for boys and women.
Dr. Douglas has one son by the first marriage,
Edwin Rust Douglas, who is now employed by the
Adrians-Platt Company, as superintendent of their
extensive establishment at Poughkeepsie. New
York. Before he had attained his majority he
graduated as a mechanical engineer from the Stevens
Institute of Technology at Hoboken, New Jersey,
and subsequently was employed for two years by
the Howe Scale Company in Rutland, Vermont. He
then took a course of three years in the Harvard
Scientific School, from which he received the degree
of Master of Science in i8g6. For ten years he was
employed by the Crocker- Wheeler Company in East
Orange, New Jersey, where he had charge of vari-
ous departments, and has developed the highest
quality of skill as a mechanical engineer.
Four generations of this family are
G.'\LLOP known to have been residing in Dor-
setshire, England, prior to the begin-
ning of the emigration period. At that time the
name was GoUop, and it is said to have derived its
origin from two German words, meaning God and
praise (one authority says God and peace). Thomas
and Agnes (Watkins) Gollop, of North Bo wood and
Strode, were people of some account in the reign
of Henry VIII, and their son, John Gollop, married
a Miss Crabbe. Their descendants still own and
occupy the manors of Strode.
(Ill) John (2), son of the above mentioned
John Gollop, was thirty-three years old at the time
of the visitation of Dorset in 1623. and resided in
the Parish of Mosterne. In the spring of 1630 he
sailed from Plymouth in the "Mary and John,"
which landed its passengers at Nantasket. Boston
Harljor. in June of that year, and his wife, whose
christian name was Christobel. and his children were
with difficulty induced to follow him in 1633. With
412
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
his fellow-passengers he went to Dorchester, but
shortly afterwards settled in Boston, where he was
admitted to the First Church, January 6, 1634, and
his wife was admitted June 26, of the same year.
His name appears for the first time in the Boston
town records in 1636. as the subject of an entry
reading as follows : "It is ordered that John Gallop
shall remove his payles (paling) at his yarde ende
within 14 days and to rainge them even with the
corner of his house, for the preserving of the way
upon the 'Sea Bancke.' " This public act prob-
ably necessary by the laying-out of Middle street,
now Hanover street. In addition to Gallops Island,
which he used for farming purposes, he owned a
meadow on Long Island, a sheep pasture on Nix
Mate, and a house in Boston. Being one of the first
settlers to engage in the coastwise trade he was
familiar with the navigation of Boston Harbor, and
in September, 1633, he achieved considerable dis-
tinction by piloting the ship "Grifiin" (300 tons)
into port through a new and deeper channel. The
"Grifiin" brought over a famous company, which in-
cluded Rev. John Cotton, Rev. Thomas Hooker,
Rev. Mr. Stone and several other noted founders.
It is supposed that John Gallop's wife and children
came over in the "Griffin." Upon one of his trading
trips among the Indians of Rhode Island and Con-
necticut he located the slayers of Captain John Old-
man, an early trader, whose treacherous murder by
the savages constituted one of the causes of the
Pequot war. John Gallop died in Boston. January
II, 1650, and the death of his wife occurred Sep-
tember 27, 1655. His children were : John, Joan,
Samuel and Nathaniel. ;
(IV) Captain John (3), eldest child of John (2)
and Christobel Gallop, was born in England, about
the year 1615, and came to New England with his
mother in 1633. In 1654 he removed to Connecticut,
settling upon land granted him on the east side of
the Mystic river in what is now Stonington. He
became an Indian interpreter. Although sixty years
old at the breaking-out of King Philip's war (1675),
he joined Captain Mason's company of New Lon-
don County Volunteers, bringing with him a num-
ber of friendly Mohegans, and was one of the six
captains who were killed in the sanguinary battle
at Narragansett, December 19 of that year. In
1665-67 he was representative to the general court.
He married, at Boston, in 1643, Hannah Lane,
daughter of John and Margaret (Read) Lane.
"Madame" Margaret Lane was a daughter of Ed-
mund Read, Esq.. of Wickford, Essex county, England
and a sister of Elizabeth Read, who became the wife
of John Winthrop, governor of Connecticut. Mar-
garet Lane arrived at Boston in the "Abigail," Octo-
ber 6. 163s, and was accompanied by her daughter
Hannah, who eight years later married Captain
John Gallop, as previously mentioned. She became
the mother of ten children, whose names were : Han-
nah, John and Esther (twins), Benadam, William,
Samuel, Christobel, Elizabeth, Mary and Margery.
(V) John (4), second child and eldest son of
Captain John (3) and Hannah (Lane) Gallop, was
born in 1646. He served with his father in King
Philip's war, and was a man of prominence in Ston-
ington, serving as representative to the general court
for the years 1685, 1696, 97 and 98. In 1701 he acted
as interpreter for the Indian guides who were em-
ployed by the commission formulated to determine
the actual boundaries of the Winthrop land purchase.
He owned a tract of land in Plainfield, Connecti-
cut, but never resided there. He died April 14, 173S.
In 1675 he was married in Ipswich, Massachusetts,
to Elizabeth Harris, who was born in that town,
February 8, 1654, daughter of Thomas and Martha
(Lane) Harris, and a granddaughter of Madame
Margaret Lane, previously mentioned. His chil-
dren were : John, Thomas, Martha, Samuel, Eliz-
abeth, Nathaniel, William and Benjamin.
(VI) Nathaniel, sixth child and fourth son of
John (4) and Elizabeth (Harris) Gallop, was bom
in Stonington, July 4, 1692. He resided in Stonington,
and with his wife was admitted to the First Church
there July 20, 1718. His death occurred in Ston-
ington April 3, 1739. On June 4. 1717, he married
Margaret Gallop, daughter of Benadam and Esther
(Prentice) Gallop. She died March 2, 1761. Their
children were: Nathaniel, John, Thomas, Mercy,
Thomas (2d), Margaret, Martha and Benjamin.
(VII) Thomas, fifth child and fourth son of
Nathaniel and Margaret Gallop, was born in Ston-
ington, August 20, (or 26), 1727. He resided for a
number of years in Plainfield, from whence he
removed to Plainfield, New Hampshire, where he
died in October, 1777. In 1749 he married Hannah
Dean, who was born March 24, 1722. She bore him
si.x children, namely: Thomas, Asa, Alma, Mar-
garet, Benjamin and Martha.
(VIII) Thomas (2). eldest child and son of
Thomas (i) and Hannah (Dean) Gallop, was born
in Plainfield. Connecticut, May 23, 1750. He settled
in Plainfield, New Hampshire, and died there in
1828. November 3, 1774, he married Rebecca Gilky,
and his children were: Thomas, Benjamin, Rebecca,
Asa and John (twins) and Charles.
(IX) Thomas (3). eldest child and son of
Thomas (2) and Rebecca (Gilky) Gallop, was born
in Plainfield, New Hampshire, .August 25, 1775. He
owned and cultivated a large farm located upon the
banks of the Connecticut river, on the regular daily
stage line between Hanover, New Hampshire, and
Windsor, Vermont, and he also kept a tavern, which
in his day was a landmark in that vicinity. He died
in Plainfield January 4, 1862. His marriage took
place June 22, 1804. to Sally Cutler, who was born
June 20, 1780, and their eleven children were named:
Thomas F., Benjamin C, Harriet M., Asa, Sarah C,
Rebecca C, Charles F., William, Benjamin C. (2d),
Tillotston W. and Mary D. The mother of these
children died July 4. 1853.
(X) Thomas F., eldest child and son of Thomas
and Sally (Cutler) Gallop, was born in Plainfield
April 2, 180S, and was an upright, conscientious and
useful citizen. He was married March 23, 1834, to
Catherine Beal, who was born in Cohassett. Massa-
chusetts, February 20, 1804. She survived her hus-
band many years. Thomas F. and Catherine (Beal)
Gallop, were the iparents of four children, namely:
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
413
John B., born November 19, 1836, died July 6, 1S40;
Maria T., born July 19, 1838; Elizabeth K., born
December 5, 1841 ; and Harriet E., born January 6,
1844, died March 22, 1867.
(XI) Maria T., eldest daughter and second child
of Thomas F. and Catherine (Beal) Gallop, became
the wife of Alfred Woodman August 16, 1866 (see
Woodman VI).
Deed records in England show that per-
KENT sons of the name of Kent were residents
of Sherbeck, England, as early as the
year 1295. Many mentions of Kents are found in
deed records, church registers and court records
from that time forward. The genealogist of the
Kent family, L. Vernon Briggs, says of them : "In
England the Kents appear to have been the owners
of much real estate. In this country we find several
as governors of our states; many became lawyers,
politicians, judges, divines, state senators and rep-
resentatives, and every college of the land has grad-
uates from this numerous family. During the dif-
ferent w^ars it would seem that every able-bodied
man by the name of Kent was in service, many as
officers and several as commanders."
(I) Thomas Kent, yeoman, born in England,
emigrated with his wife to Gloucester, Massachu-
setts, prior to 1643. He had a house and land near
the burying ground in the West Parish, sometimes
known as Chebacco, and now as Essex. He may
have been connected with Richard, of Newbury, who
received grant of land, also near Chebacco river, in
1635. His name appears on a list of eighty-two
settlers, all the known proprietors of land in Glou-
cester from the time of its settlement to the close
o*" 1650. The date of his death is a matter upon
which authorities do not agree, the earliest given is
May I, 1656, and the latest May i, 1658. His widow
died in Gloucester, October 16, 1671. The children
of Thomas Kent and his wife were : Thomas, Sam-
uel and Josiah.
(II) Thomas (2), eldest son of Thomas
Kent (i), was born probably in England, and died
there August 14, 1691 or 1696. In the autumn of
167s a levy, was made on all the towns of Massa-
chusetts for active service in King Philip's war.
November 30, 1675, Thomas Kent was among those
drafted to serve for Gloucester. He bought lands
of William Meads, which in 1655 he recorded to his
brother Samuel. Together they bought of Thomas
Price in 1657 eighteen acres of land on the west
side of Little river, where a house and land was sit-
uated that Thomas Kent, in 1677, sold to Richard
Dike. The land which they owned together in West
Gloucester has since been known as "Kent's Cove
Landing." He was married March 28, 1659, by Rev.
Samuel Simpson, to Joan, daughter of Thomas and
Ann Penney. Their children were: Josiah, Sarah
or Mary, Mercy or Marcy and Joan (twins), died
young; Joan and John.
(III) Captain Josiah, eldest child of Thomas and
Joan (Penney) Kent, was born in Gloucester, March
31, 1660, died May 19, 1725. Josiah Kent drew one
of' thirty-one lots laid out west of the Cut bridge.
in that section of the town comprising West Glou-
cester and Magnolia. He rendered considerable mil-
itary service, and in document dated January, 1725,
he is spoken of as Captain Kent, He was married
April 17, 1689, by Rev, Mr. Emerson, at Gloucester,
to Mary Lovekin, and they had five children : Mary,
Sarah, Josiah, Abigail, and John, whose sketch fol-
lows.
(IV) John (l), fifth and youngest child of Jo-
siah and Mary (Lovekin) Kent, was born March 29,
1700. He was a "yeoman." The date of his owning
the covenant was February 9, 1724. He was married
January 10, 1723, by Rev, Samuel Thompson, to
Mary, daughter of Jaines and Hannah Godfrey, of
West Gloucester; she was born June 17, 1703. They
had ten children : Mary, Jacob, Josiah, Joseph,
James, John, Sarah, Jeremiah, Job and Judith.
■ (V) Colonel Jacob, second child and eldest son
of John and Mary (Godfrey) Kent, was born in
Chebacco, now Essex, Massachusetts, June 12, 1726,
and died in Newbury, Vermont, December 13. 1812,
in the eighty-sixth year of his age. He moved from
Cape Ann, Massachusetts, before November 30, 1756,
to Plaistow, New Hampshire, where he was highway
surveyor in 1756, and was schoolmaster in 1758-60.
In 1760 a regiment was raised in New Hampshire
under Colonel John Goffe, of Bedford, to aid in the
conquest of Canada, under General Jeffrey Amherst ;
Jacob Bailey, of Newbury, was lieutenant-colonel,
and John Hazen was captain of one of the companies
in which Jacob Kent and Timothy Bedel were lieu-
tenants. At the end of the campaign, Bailey, Hazen,
Bedel and Kent came through the woods from Can-
ada, striking the great intervals at the Lower Cohos.
The location and the fertility of the soil were so
attractive that they returned in 1761 to aid the settle-
ment, Bailey and Kent, of -Newbury, on the west
side of the river, and Hazen and Bedel, of Haver-
hill, on the eastern side. Lieutenant Kent made sev-
eral trips between Newbury, Vermont, and Plain-
stow, New Hampshire, his old home, bringing his
family in 1763, and making his settlement Novem-
ber 4, of that year. Lieutenant Kent was commis-
sioned September 6, 1764, captain of an independent
company of militia in the towns of Haverhill and
Newbury, Vermont. This company expanded into
a regiment which existed from about 1775 to about
1845, when the militia was practically disbanded.
Jacob Kent was the first colonel of this regiment,
and commanded it at Saratoga, at Burgoyne's sur-
render, October 17, 1777, as appears by his diary
kept during the campaign and official documents.
It was later commanded by his eldest son, Jacob
Kent, and still later by his son. Colonel Jacob Kent,
who was the last of the family to reside on the fam-
ily homestead. This farm, comprising five hundred
and fifty acres and situated about two miles below
the village, extended back from the Connecticut
across the plain and over the crest of the ridge to
the west. It was divided by Colonel Jacob Kent,
the pioneer, among his three sons : Jacob, John and
Joseph. Colonel Kent was for many years one of
the most conspicuous figures in the military, civic,
religious and social life of the community and region
414
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
wherein he lived. He was justice of the peace at
various times, was clerk of the proprietors' meeting
at Plaistow, New Hampshire, in 1762, town clerk
from 1764 to 1789, inclusive, and selectman 1762-66-
67, 1784-86-89, in all six years. He represented the
town in the state legislature, 1788-89-91, was judge
of probate from 1786 to 1794, inclusive, was county
clerk and assistant judge of the common pleas and
commissioner to receive the estates of those who had
joined the enemy during the Revolutionary period.
He was one of the constituent members of the Con-
gregational Church, parish clerk for many years,
and one of the deacons of the church as long as he
lived. Colonel Kent's sword, bearing etched on its
blade the date of 1555, carried in all the wars, and
the white whalebone patriarchal staff, carried in old
age and civic life, are in the possession of Colonel
Henry O. Kent, of Lancaster.
Colonel Kent married (first), at Newbury, Mass-
achusetts, December 26, 1752, Abigail Bailey, born
June 20, 1722, and died July 4, 1756. Her father,
Joseph Bailey, born February 13, 1683, died April
4, 1755. He married .\bigail Webster, born March
3, 1684, and died February 5, 1787. Colonel Kent
married (second), at Plaistow, New Hampshire,
June 16, 1762, Mary White, born August 14, 1736,
and died June 17, 1834, having attained the remark-
able age of ninety-eight years. She was the daughter
of Nicholas and Mary (Calef) White. Nicholas
White was born December 4, 1698, and died Octo-
ber 7, 1782. She was a very intelligent woman and
retained her memory unimpaired up to the time of
her death. From her many facts relative to the early
history of Newbury were obtained and are now
made a part of the published history of that town.
In her old age she used to relate that once when the
colonel was gone to meeting on Sunday, three bears
came and looked in at the door upon her. Colonel
Kent had by his first wife .A.bigail one child, Abigail.
By his second wife Mary five children : Jacob,
Mary, Elizabeth, John and Joseph.
(VI ■) John (2), fourth child and second son of
Colonel Jacob and Mary (White) Kent, was born in
Newbury. Vermont, March 14, 1772, and died in
Lyman, New Hampshire, July 4, 1842. He was a
farmer, and received from his father the middle one
of the three farms into which the original estate
was divided. He removed to Lyman. New Hamp-
shire. October, 1810. He married, November. 1804,
Tabitha Peabody, born February 22, 1775, and died
April 30, 1836, daughter of Richard and Tabitha
Peabody, of Littleton, New Hampshire. Richard
Peabody was a lieutenant of the West Woodstock,
Connecticut, troops in the Revolution. From him
Lolonel Henry O. Kent derives his right to member-
ship in the Society of Cincinnati, of the New Hamp-
shire branch of which he is president. Six children
were born of this union : Richard Peabody, John
Childs. Harriet, Adriel. Lucia and Nelson.
(VII ■) Richard Peabody, eldest child of John
and Tabitha (Peabody) Kent, was born on the old
family homestead in Newbury, Vermont. December
2T. 1805. and died in Lancaster, New Hampshire,
March 30, 1885, in his eightieth year. He was ten
years old when his father removed with his family
to Parker Hill in Lyman, New Hampshire. The
following years his right knee was so injured by a
cut that he never recovered from the effects of it,
and its influence was important in shaping his sub-
sequent career. At the age of fifteen he became a
clerk in the store of William B. Eastman, of Lyman,
where he worked for two years, receiving as his
compensation for his first year's work thirty dollars,
and for the second seventy dollars. He next went
to Walls River, Vermont, where he w^orked in the
store of William Eames two years, and from there
he went to Lisbon into the employ of John A. Smith,
where he remained until 1825, when he engaged with
Royal Joslyn for two years at one hundred and fifty
dollars a year, in a store he was about toi open in
Lancaster. He arrived at Lancaster, June i, 1825.
In 1828 Mr. Joslyn accepted Mr. Kent as a partner.
They were the first successful merchants in the town.
Under the firm name of Richard P. Kent & Com-
pany they did a good business for four years, at the
end of which time they dissolved partnership, each
acting on his own account. Mr. Kent bought out
William Cargill and occupied what was known as
the old "Green Store" until 1837, when he moved
into a building which he enlarged in 1853 and re-
built in 1890, which is now known as the "Kent
Building" on Main street, where he remained until
his death, in 1885. In April, 1837, he took Lewis C.
Porter into partnership with him, which relation
lasted three years. From 1840 to 1844 he had no
partner. He had his brother Nelson for a clerk from
1836 to 184s, when he took him into partnership,
the firm name being R. P. Kent & Co. Three years
later R. P. Kent became the sole owner of the store,
and so continued until 1862, when he took his brother
Nelson and his son, Edward R. Kent, into partners-
ship, as R. P. Kent, Son & Co. Seven years later
Nelson Kent retired from the firm, which from that
time until the death of Mr. Kent was known as
R. P. Kent & Son. During his entire career as a
merchant Mr. Kent kept a general store, his stock
including almost everything on the market. In 1865
he made his stock of stoves and tinware a separ-
ate department, took in Erastus V. Cobleigh as a
partner, and under the firm name of Kent & Cob-
leigh they carried on business until 1882, when Mr.
Kent sold his interest to his partner.
For over forty years Mr. Kent never missed mak-
ing his regular semi-annual trips to Boston to buy
goods, and even after commercial travelers were
on the road with their samples, or it had become
possible for merchants to order by mail, he still
visited the wholesale houses and selected stocks. At
the time of his death he was the oldest merchant in
Lancaster, having been in business on his own ac-
count fifty-seven years, and as clerk three years in
Lancaster, and sixty-five years from his first service
as a clerk in a store at Lyman. He was one of the
most careful and well trained merchants, and car-
ried on his business methodically and successfully
in spite of many losses from casualties, and the fail-
ure or dishonesty of debtors. He was always cour-
ageous, resourceful, energetic, and having a fixed
(p. OG^jt:
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■vitli nun
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4i6
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
out the pressing demands on his time made by the
many other business enterprises in which he was
engaged led to his gradual relinquishment, of the
profession.
Mr. Kent's official life began early. In 1855,
when but twenty-one years old, he was chosen as-
sistant clerk of the house of representatives, and re-
elected the following year. In 1857 he was elected
clerk of the house, and discharged the duties of
the office with so much credit that he was twice
re-elected to that office. In 1862 he was elected
representative from Lancaster and won approval
as a legislator. He served as chairman of the com-
mittee on military affairs, a position of great import-
ance at that time, in the midst of the war period.
In 18OS he was again in the legislature, and served
as chairman of the committee on railroads, and took
an active part in securing the extension of the rail-
road into Coos county. Again, in 1869, he was a
representative and was chairman of the finance com-
mittee. His last election to the house was in 1882,
and during the following session he earnestly ad-
vocated the passage of the general railroad act of
that year, securing the development of the railroad
system of the state. He also actively supported the
bill to relieve church property from ta.xation. In
that session he also introduced the original bill re-
lieving veterans from poll-tax. In 1885 he was
elected to the senate, and introduced a bill declaring
New Hampshire veterans free from liability to resi-
dence in time of need, in a public alms house. His
last legislative service was in the constitutional con-
vention of 1902, to which he was elected by the
unanimous vote of the town, then adverse on party
lines, and of which body he was unanimously elected
temporary chairman. In 1859 he served as mod-
erator, and has since then served, 1861-65, 1867,
1869-72, 1874-75, 1877-80, 1883-85, 1891-94. He was
postmaster of the United States senate from 1862
to 1805, Arthur Pue Gorman, afterwards senator
from Maryland, being assistant postmaster.
In 1S60 Editor Kent's two years' management of
the Republican had brought him into such favorable
prominence in the state that he was elected alternate
delegate-at-Iarge to the convention (attending) at
Chicago which nominated Abraham Lincoln to the
presidency. During the war his paper advocated
every measure of importance of the National ad-
ministration tending to bring the war to a success-
ful termination and abolish slavery. At the close
of the war and after the downfall of slavery he
differed with his party on national questions, and
favored the burial of past issues and sectional bit-
terness and the restoration of fraternal relations.
As his views diverged widely from those of the
majority of his party, he could no longer advocate
its measures in his paper, and he therefore disposed
of it and joined the organization of Liberal Repub-
licans. This movement resulted in the Cincinnati
Convention and the nomination of Horace Greeley
for president in 1872. He participated in that con-
vention, and was a member of the National and
chairman of the State Liberal Republican Com-
mittee in 1872 and 1873. In the latter year the Lib-
erals put an independent ticket in the field, but
united with the Democracy on a common platform
in 1874. The resolutions of the Liberal convention,
announcing such purpose, were presented in the
Democratic convention by Mr. Kent, whose appear-
ance and announcement elicited strong demonstra-
tions of enthusiasm in that body. The campaign
thus opened ended in the election of a Democratic
governor and legislature, a result to which the
earnest labors of Colonel Kent largely contributed.
In recognition of his efficient services, as well as
acknowledged ability, he was accorded the Demo-
cratic congressional nomination in the third district
in 1875, and again in 1877 and 1878. In each of the
attended canvasses, he spoke continuously, and ran
largely ahead of his party vote, especially in his own
town and vicinity. In all subsequent campaigns he
has heartily devoted his energies to the furtherance
of Democratic principles, and has been active upon
the stump in New Hampshire and other states,
and always with unanimous calls and large audiences.
Colonel Kent was also president of the New
Hampshire Democratic state conventions in 1877
and 1884, and his speeches on those occasions were
the enunciations of the principles in support of
which the campaigns following were condiVcted.
In the latter year he also drafted the resolutions
adopted, which were widely copied by the press
throughout the country. In the same year he was
a delegate-at-large to the Democratic national con-
vention at Chicago, where his speech seconded the
nomination of Grover Cleveland for the presidency,
on behalf of the New England delegation, gave
him a national reputation as an orator. In 1894
and in 1896 he was Democratic nominee for gov-
ernor, and conducted his campaigns with vigor and
ability, but he was unable to overcome the normal
Republican majority. On the incoming of the second
Cleveland administration he was offered the posi-
tion of assistant secretary of war, but saw fit to
decline it. In 1900 he was chairman of the New
Hampshire delegation to the Democratic national
convention at Kansas City, and as such seconded
the nomination of William J. Bryan to the presi-
dency.
He early developed a love for military affairs
fostered by his cadet life. At seventeen he was
made a corporal of artillery, rising through the grades
of the old militia to be lieutenant-colonel of the line
and full colonel of staff, attaining the last named
rank in i860, when he was also elected to the com-
mand of the Governor's Horse Guards, the body
guard of the chief executive of the state, and in
which United States senators, governors and con-
gressmen and prominent business men were of the
line and rank and file.
He was one of the earliest to volunteer to defend
the Union at the outbreak of the Rebellion (April
16, 1861), and was commissioned assistant adjutant
general of the state, with the rank of colonel, and
assigned to duty in organizing the recruiting service.
In a short time after raising a company at Lan-
caster he was ordered to Portsmouth, where he as-
sisted in organizing the Second Regiment and in
n/:i
(X>^2. v-rt^-u-^ , //. /^l^^-^a^ (c
I
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
417
fitting the garrison at Ft. Constitution. He con-
tinued on duty until a call was issued for three
additional regiments from New Hampshire, in the
fall of 1862, and was commissioned colonel of the
Seventeenth, October 22, 1862, which was raised
principally by his efforts and by the use of his name,
and organized and thoroughly drilled and disci-
plined under his command. While in service at the
front the Second Regiment had suffered severely,
and men were required to fill its decimated ranks,
for which purpose the men of the Seventeenth were
taken and its officers mustered out. The governor
in "general orders" complimented the Seventeenth
on its high discipline and soldierly appearance, and
expressed his regret for the necessity of its dis-
bandment and absorption into another command.
"As it was, few men, if any, in the state, did more
than Colonel Kent to promote the efficiency of the
service and to maintain the reputation of New
Hampshire for prompt and patriotic eft'ort in the
Union cause, a cause which he sustained by pen and
voice and active personal effort throughout the en-
tire struggle.'' His rank and service were recognized
by special act of congress, unanimously passed and
approved by President Harrison, approved July 21,
1892.
Colonel Kent is a charter member of Colonel
Edward E. Cross Post, No. 16, Grand Army of the
Republic, organized January, 1S69, and has been
past commander, judge advocate, a member of the
council of administration, junior vice-, senior vice-,
and department commander, and has served on the
building and executive committees at the Weirs
and as president of the New Hampshire Veterans
Association. He is as enthusiastic and- efficient in
matters pertaining to the Grand Army as in other
affairs, and his home "Indian Brook'' is always open
to Grand Army men.
"As a public speaker Colonel Kent has long been
actively engaged. Before an audience he is spirited,
earnest and convincing. He has a pleasing, well-
cultivated voice, and speaks with fluency and rapidity.
He combines his statements and arguments in such
a manner that he invariably arrests the attention of
his hearers and steadily holds it to the close." Some
of his more important special public speeches and ad-
dresses are the address before the New Hampshire
Fish and Game League in 1885 ; before Norwich
University ; Memorial Day addresses at Lancaster,
Portsmouth and Laconia ; Masonic address at White-
field; the speech seconding the nomination of Cleve-
land in 1884; at the Boston Banquet to Governor
Hill, of New York, in June, 1886, where he re-
sponded to the toast, "The President of the United
States"; in Fancuil Hall at the reception of Robert
E. Lee Camp of Virginia, by John A. Andrew Post
of Massachusetts on Bunker Hill Day, 1887; and
his address of welcome on the part of Norwich Uni-
versity to Admiral Dewey, on the occasion of the
laying of the corner stone of Dewey Hall, in Octo-
ber, 1899; his address, widely published in Masonic
literature, before North Star Lodge, June 24, 1889:
Benton Lodge. Guildhall, Vermont, July 9, 1901 : and
his ballad. "The Master's .Apron," widely known of
ii— 3
Masons. He acted as temporary chairman of the
Constitutional Convention of New Hampshire in
1902.
Colonel Kent has not confined his activity in liter-
ature entirely to prose, but has written some gems in
verse that would be a credit to a poet of acknowl-
edged reputation, among which are a poem inscribed
"To the Old Granite State." written in 1856, and
"Welcome Home," read at the Lancaster Centennial
Celebration, July 14, 1864. He is senior of theboard-
of trustees of Norwich University, from which he
received the degree of A. M. in 1863, and LL. D. in
1895. He was trustee and chairman of the executive
conmiittee of the corporation of Lancaster Academy,
and has served twenty years as president of the "As-
sociated Alumni and Past Cadets" of Norwich Uni-
versity. He has been governor of the Society of
Colonial Wars in New Hampshire, member of the
Society of the Sons of the American Revolution and
is president of the Society of the Cincinnati for New
Hampshire. In 1S81 he was one of the corporators
of the Yorktovvn Centennial Association, named by
the legislature of Virginia. Colonel Kent is a mem-
ber of North Star Lodge, No. 8, Ancient Free and
Accepted Masons, at Lancaster, and an adept in
Free Masonry, having received all the degrees, of-
fices and honors of the craft from the degree of en-
tered apprentice, in North Star Lodge, Lancaster,
New Hampshire. April 3, 1855, to member of the
Supreme Council, thirty-third and last degree, in
1894. in Boston. He has twice been grand com-
mander of the Grand Commandery and Appendant
Orders in New Hampshire, and has twice com-
manded encampments in the field, viz. : at Odiornes
Point at Portsmouth, 1868. and at Lake Winnipisseo-
gee, 1869. He was of Haswell Chapter, St. Johns-
bury, before Cryptic Masonry was established at
Lancaster, and for twenty-three years has been
chairman of the Masonic bodies in his local jurisdic-
tion. He is a member of Mount Prospect Grange,
No. 242, Patrons of Husbandry.
He was married in Boston, Massachusetts, Janu-
ary II, 1859, by Dr. Edward N. Kirk, to Berenice
Adaline Rowell. born in West Concord, Vermont,
September 27, iS.sj, daughter of Samuel and Evaline
Page Rowell. Two children have been born to them :
Berenice Emily and Henry Percy.
(VIII) Edward Richard Kent, second son of
Richard P. and Emily M. (Oakes) Kent, was born
in Lancaster, February i. 1S40. He acquired his edu-
cation in the public schools and at the Lancaster
.A-cadcmy, and received his business training in his
father's mercantile establishment. He was asso-
ciated with the elder Kent until the latter's decease,
when he succeeded to the business and carried it on
alone until 189S, when he relinquished his activities
on account of ill health. Having recovered .suffici-
ently to resume business in 1903, he purchased the
retail drug store which he is now conducting, and
has built up a flourishing trade. In addition to the
above he has other important business interests, being
a director of the Thompson Manufacturing Com-
pany, and a director and trustee of the Lancaster
Savings Bank and the Lancaster Trust Company.
4i8
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
He is active in promoting measures for improving
the business resources of Lancaster, and for the past
seventeen years has rendered valuable services in
that direction as president of the Lancaster Board of
Trade. He is also vice-president of the New Hamp-
shire State Board of Trade.
In 1874-75 Mr. Kent served on the staff of Gov-
ernor Weston with the rank of colonel, and is now
one of the three survivors of that body. For fifteen
years he has served as a member and treasurer of
the Lancaster board of education, and from 1870 to
1891 was chief of the Lancaster fire department. In
the Masonic order he has attained distinction, having
served as eminent commander of North Star Com-
mandery, Knights Templar, ten years, 1875 to 1S85 ;
grand cormnander of the Grand Commandery of
New Hampshire, 1888, a member of the Grand En-
campment, United States ; worthy patron of Olive
Branch Chapter. Order of the Eastern Star, six
years, 1880-S6; Edward A. Raymond Consistory
(thirty-second degree), of Nashua, as well as in the
various local subordinate bodies. His religious affil-
iations are with the Congregational Church, and he
is a member of its executive committee.
Mr. Kent married, January 16, 1862, Adeline D.
Burton, daughter of Deacon Azro and Sophia
(Morse) Burton, of Guildhall, Vermont. Mr. and
Mrs. Kent have had six children, namely : Annie
Oakes, born March 10. 1869, wife of Alpha B. For-
bush, of Berlin, New Hampshire, and has one daugh-
ter, Kathleen, born July 11, 1894. Emily Mann, born
July 8. 1872, died January 29, 1874. Nellie Burton,
born April 9, 1874, wife of Stetson Ward Gushing, of
Groveton. and their children are : Richard Kent, born
May 15, 1902, and Barbara Burton, born January 20,
1906. Elizabeth May, born May 14, 1877, wife of H.
P. Whitcomb. of Lancaster, two children: Edward
Kent, born October 23. 1904, and Hubert Palmer,
born March 21, 1907. Mabel Mann, born August 2,
1883. IMargaret, born March 20, 1S88.
The first record we have of the Cos-
COSSITT sitt family is towards the beginning of
the eighteenth century. They had
large possessions in Canada, and from there migrated
to the United States. Members of the family at-
tained prominence and distinction in various pro-
fessions, notably that of the ministry. Others de-
voted themselves to mercantile and agricultural pur-
S'lits, and were eminently successful in these.
(I) Rene Cossitt was born in the Place Ven-
dome, Paris, France, and was educated at the Uni-
versity of Paris. He emigrated to America to look
after the possessions of the family in Three Rivers,
Canada, and then visited the British colonies. He
was brought up in the Roman Catholic faith, but his
family had early united with the Protestant Episcopal
Church. He removed with his family to Granby.
Connecticut, then called Simsbury, and all his chil-
dren are named in the records of that place. He did
not purchase any land there until 1725, but after it
was in his possession he made many improvements
upon it, and the place was handed down from father
to son for many generations. While visiting the
New England colonies he became acquainted at New
Haven with Ruth Porter, from whom he received a
promise of marriage providing he would not return
to his native country. She was the daughter of Dr.
Preserve Porter, of Farmington, Connecticut, and
was well educated and refined. She died in 1770. It
was shortly after their marriage that they removed
to Granby, and their children were: i. Margaret,
born 171S, married Nathaniel Holcomb. 2. Mary,
born 1720. married Thomas Melton. 3. Rene, con-
cerning whom see forward. 4. Ruth, born 1724,
married Andrew Moore. 5. Francois, born 1726, died
February 23, iSr6, and is buried in Evanby, Connecti-
cut, where his two sons who lost their lives while in
service during the war of the Revolution are also
buried. He was married to Abigail Dibbley. 6.
Lydia, born 1728, died June 26, 1821, unmarried. 7.
Timothy, born 1731, married 1750, died 1800. 8.
John, born 1735. He was one of a commission ap-
pointed to erect the First Episcopal Church in
Waterbury, Connecticut, and died in Liverpool, Ohio,
1816. He was twice married. 9. Alexander, born
July 3. 1736, married 1759, died 1820.
(II) Rene (2), third child and eldest son of
Rene (i) and Ruth (Porter) Cossitt, was born
September 3. 1722, died 1786. He married Phoebe
Hillyer and had children: i. Phoebe, born Febru-
ary 24, 1742. 2. Rene, see forward. 3. Ruth, born
June 13, 1747. 4. Ambrose, see forward. 5. Eliza-
beth, born October 18, 1751. 6. Asa, born March
22, 1754, married Mary Cole, daughter of Rev. Sam-
uel Cole, mentioned hereinafter. 7. Silas, born June
22, 1758. 8. Rosanna, born May 30, 1759.
(III) Rev. Rene (3), second child and eldest
son of Rene (2) and Phoebe (Hillyer) Cossitt, was
born December 29, 1744. He was a clergyman of the
Episcopal Church, and was ordained by the Bishop
of London in 1773. Upon his return to this country
he officiated in the parish of St. Andrew's, in Sims-
bury, Connecticut, where on June 26, 1774, he bap-
tized seven children, three of them being his cousins,
children of Francois Cossitt. He was a stanch
Royalist, and was registered in the official list as the
incumbent of Haverhill parish. New Hampshire.
After the Revolutionary war he removed to Sydney,
Cape Breton, in 17S6, and many years later to Yar-
mouth. Nova Scotia, where he died in 1815. An ac-
count of him is to be found in the centennial cele-
bration of Union Church, Claremont, taken from the
centenary of the Episcopal Church, West Claremont,
1771-1871. The first record of a parish or vestry
meeting in Claremont is as follows :
"The book in which this record was made was
first presented to the church in Windsor, November,
1773, being the first vestry meeting held by the Rev.
Rene Cossitt after his return from England with
Holy Orders, at which Samuel Cole, Esq., was ap-
pointed clerk; Captain Benjamin Brooks and Lieu-
tenant Benjamin Tyler w-ere chosen wardens ; Daniel
Warner. Asa Leet and Ebenezer Rice were chosen
vestrymen. Here, then, we have the Church which
had been preserved six years, now fully established
and prospering under the nurture of a zealous min-
ister. The discouragements and privations attending
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
419
the position of a missionary over such an outpost in
the wilderness may readily be conceived.
"They had also, first, to pay their rate of tax as
did all the people of the town for the support of the
congregational order. He was surrounded by con-
stantly increasing numbers who were hostile to the
faith and worship which he was commissioned to
uphold and defend. We find in the records no men-
tion at the time of his settlement, of any salary be-
yond the sum of thirty pounds sterling allowed him
as missionary by the venerable society. But in 1777,
at the Easter meeting, it was agreed to give him
thirty pounds lawful money for preaching the last
year. This proved too heavy a burden, and in 1778
they agreed to give iMr. Cossitt fifteen pounds for
the year ensuing. This compelled him to seek other
means of living, until January. 1781, when they
agreed to give him thirty pounds for a year ending
at Christmas, allowing him four Sundays to visit
vacant churches. He agreed to throw all other busi-
ness aside and apply himself to the ministry. It
was not sufiicient to maintain him and his famil}-,
however. This was his salary until he left. An
anecdote is related of him which appears authentic.
He had given his note to a prominent man and land-
holder in town, to an amount equal to his yearly in-
come. He had already paid some installments upon
the note, together with the interest, when one day
his creditor called and demanded the whole amount.
Mr. Cossitt replied it was out of his power to pay
any portion of it immediately, but that when his
salary became due he would pay a definite sum,
which he named. This answer was not satisfactory,
and the whole sum was demanded at the time men-
tioned. He replied it would be impossible, he must
reserve enough to buy bread for his family. "Unless
you promise to pay me then,' said the creditor. 'I
shall sue you at once and take all you have.' 'You
can do that.' he answered ; 'you can attach my furni-
ture, my library and my horse, you can confine me
in jail. But you will not obtain nearly enough from
my effects to satisfy your claims, and you will put it
out of my power not only to support myself and
those dependent upon me, but to redeem my pledge
to you, which, God being my helper, shall certainly
be fulfilled in a reasonable time.' But the owner of
the note clung to the pound of flesh, as he loudly
proclaimed his intention to bring an execution
against him that very night. Seeing him inexorable,
and blank ruin staring him in the face, the good
man went to the door and called back the hard
usurer, and said, 'My friend, if you are determined
to carry out this purpose you will need your note.
When you were here to get the last payment which
is endorsed on it, you inadventently left it on my
table. I have kept it safely. Here it is, sir.' The
note was never sued upon, the minister being allow'cd
his own time in making settlement."
Rev. Rene married, 1779, Thankful Brooks, and
had children: l. Rene, born 1780; graduated from
Dartmouth, and was controller of the customs at
Sydney, Cape Breton; died 1819. 2. Benjamin, born
1782. 3. George Germain, born 1785; was a magis-
trate, and married Anna Wilson, who died childless
in 1862. 4. John, born in 1790, died in 1846, un-
married. 5. Sophia, born 1792, died 1S26, unmar-
ried. 6. Phoebe, born 1793, died 1863. 7. Clemen-
tine, born 1797. 8. Mary, born 1800. married James
Demancy. 9. Frances, born 1802, was a noted
teacher. 10. Emily, born 1805.
(IV) Ambrose, fourth child and second son of
Rene (3) and Phoebe (Hillyer) Cossitt, was born
September 17, 1749. He removed to Claremont, New
Hampshire, in 1767, and prior to attaining his ma-
jority established a country store on the present site
of the corner of Broad and Chestnut streets, and it
is said brought the first barrel of flour into the town.
He purchased a farm on which he resided until his
death, ivhich occurred July 13, 1S09. This farm,
which is located at the south end of Broad street, is
now (1907) in the possession of his great-grandson,
Henry Cossitt, who still resides upon it. Ambrose
Cossitt was prominent and influential in the public
matters of his time. He served as justice of the
peace, was seven times elected selectman, and six
times town clerk, from 1792 to 1797. He was suc-
ceeded in the store and on the farm by his son, Am-
brose Cossitt, Jr., better known as Judge Cossitt.
He married, February i. 1778, Anne Catherine Cole,
born in 1754, died August 18, 1828. She was the
daughter of Rev. Samuel Cole, of Framingham, Con-
necticut, who was a graduate of Yale in 1728. He
was one of the early pioneers of Claremont, New
Hampshire, and was one of .the founders of the
Episcopal Church in that place. Ambrose and Anna
(Cole) Cossitt had children: I. Anna Catherine,
born May 5, 1779. Married Ayers Perkins and had
several children. 2. Mary Alma, born February
26. 1781. Married Joshua Jewitt and had children.
3. Betsy Ruth, born April 21, 1783. 4. Ambrose,
Jr., see forward. S- Samuel Cole, born February 13,
1788. 6. Francois Rene, born April 24, 1790. 7.
Phoebe Lavinia, born May 2, 1793. died March 25,
1794. 8. Charlotte Rosanna, born February 4, 1797,
died 1825. She married in Tennessee, 1820, Jacob
Voorhees, of Morris county, New Jersey.
(V) Ambrose (2), fourth child and eldest son
of Ambrose (i) and .\nne Catherine (Cole) Cossitt.
was born August 28. 1785, on the old home.^tead
where his grandson now resides. He was a man of
excellent education, and a leading spirit in all mat-
ters of importance in Claremont and Sullivan county,
holding very efficiently a number of public offices.
He was president of Claremont Bank from its organ-
ization in 1848 until it became the Claremont Na-
tional Bank in 1864. He was selectman in 1823-24-
3^', representative in the New Hampshire legislature,
1824; postmaster from August 30, 1842, to April 17,
1843; and w-as appointed county justice of Sullivan
county January 8, 1S33, and served until that office
was abolished in 1835. He married, September 29.
1805. Patty Walker, who died September 21. 1849,
and he survived her until April 7, 1866. Their chil-
dren were: i. George Ambrose, born May 31. 1807.
2. Lucy Fisher, born February 10, 1809. Married
Morris Clarke. 3. John Francois, see forward. 4.
Emily Ruth, born November 21, 1813, died April 13,
1897, unmarried. 5. Charlotte Lavinia, born March
420
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
10, 1816, died, unmarried, April 13, 1844. Both were
residents of Claremont. 6. Harriet Elizabeth, born
March 6, 1S26.
(V) John Francois, third child and second son
of Ambrose (2) and Patty (Walker) Cossitt, was
born October g. 181 1. He attended the public
schools of Claremont, and his education was com-
pleted under the tuition of Rev. Father Barber, a
Catholic priest of West Claremont, who had a select
school. When he attained his , majority he estab-
lished himself in the general merchandise business
in Groton, Vermont, being associated with his broth-
er-in-law, Morris Clarke. This partnership con-
tinued until Mr. Cossitt returned to Claremont in
1850, when he purchased the old homestead from
his father and erected a new dwelling house upon it.
He devoted himself to farming and trading, pur-
chased lands in Hubbard township, and rapidly ac-
quired a competence. He became identified with the
growth and improvement of Claremont, and died in
1882, a highly respected citizen. He was a master
in the Order of Free and Accepted Masons, and a
charter member of the Grange. He married Sarah
Farwell, and they had one child : Henry Ambrose.
(VI) Henry Ambrose, only child of John Fran-
cois and Sarah (Farwell) Cossitt, was born on the
Cossitt homestead where he now resides, December
21, 1852. He represents the fourth generation who
have resided on the land. He obtained his educa-
tion in the public schools of Claremont, and for two
years was a student in the high school. He is a
thrifty farmer and stock dealer, and is one of the
progressive and enterprising men of the town. He
has added to and improved the old dwelling house in
many ways- — building piazzas, etc. He is the owner
of a number of farms adjoining his own, and also
several fine residences on Broad street. He is con-
sidered one of the most public-spirited citizens of the
town, and is a prime mover in any plan which has
for its object the advancement or improvement of
the community in which he resides. He takes an
especial interest in educational matters, and has given
all his children the advantages of the best schools.
He married. January 7, 1874, Anne Elizabeth Ells-
worth, born at St. Amand, province of Quebec, Can-
ada, July 14, 1852, daughter of Edgar Alvah and
Catherine (Primmerman) Ellsworth, the former
born in New York state, the latter in Canada, and
they are both now residing in Canada. The chil-
dren of Henry A. and Anne E. (Ellsworth) Cossitt
are: i. Sarah Catherine, born in Claremont, New
Hampshire. December 6, 1878. She was graduated
from the high school and Mount Holyoke College,
and then taught for a short time in the high school
in Beverly, New Jersey. She married, October 25,
1904, James Albert McCommons, of Erie, Pennsyl-
vania, who is also a college graduate, and they have
one child : Catherine Elizabeth, born July 23, 1905.
2. John Henry, born October 8. 1880. He was grad-
uated from the Claremont high school, and is now
holding an excellent position in Chicago, Illinois.
3. George Ellsworth, born January 21, 1S89. He
was educated in the public schools of Claremont and,
having always had a decided talent for mechanical
work, took up the study of machinery, and now
holds a position as machinist with the Sullivan Ma-
chinery Company in Claremont.
The early records of New England
FELLOWS give honorable association to this
name, and the history of New Hamp-
shire gives it an early and a worthy place. It
furnished the first settler of Andover in this state,
and many leading citizens of the state, past and
present, have borne the name. The first record now
attainable locates its origin in Nottinghamshire. Eng-
land. Three brothers and one sister came thence
about 1635 ?-nd located in different portions of New
England. William, the eldest, settled at Ipswich,
Massachusetts. Richard, the second, settled in Hart-
ford. Connecticut. Elizabeth, the fourth, settled in
Boston, her married name being Moriche. The
youngest. Grace, married an Allane and lived in
Lincolnshire. England.
(I) Samuel Fellows, the third in the above fam-
ily of brothers and sisters, was born in England
about 1619, and settled at Salisbury, Massachusetts,
in 1630. His wife, whose christian name was Ann
(surname unknown), died there December S, 1684.
He died December 5, 1729. Record of two of their
children is found, namely: Samuel and Hannah.
(II) Samuel (2), son of Samuel (i) and Ann
Fellows, was born in 1646 in Salisbury, and made
his home in that town, where he subscribed to the
oath of allegiance and fidelity in 1677. His name ap-
pears among the list of freemen in that town in 1690.
He died about the beginning of the year 1730, admin-
istration of his estate being granted to his son
Thomas on March 2, 1730. He was married June 2.
1681, in Salisbury, to Abigail Barnard, daughter of
Thomas and Eleanor Barnard, pioneers of Salisbury.
She was born January 20, 1657, in that town, and
was admitted to the Salisbury church November 11.
1705. Their children were: Samuel, Thomas, Joseph,
Ann, Ebenezer, Hannah, and Eleanor. (Ebenezer
and descendants receive extended mention in this
article).
(III) Thomas, second son and child of Samuel
(2) and Abigail (Barnard) Fellows, was born Jan-
uary 29. 1686, in Salisbury, and was baptized an
adult and owned the covenant November 18. 1705.
He was admitted to full membership in the Salisbury
church in 1719. He was married in Salisbury, De-
cember 10, 1713, to Elizabeth Eastman, probably the
second daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth (Scriven)
Eastman. She was born December i, i68g, and was
baptized October 4, 1704. The Salisbury records,
show the death of two of their children : Elizabeth
and Abigail. There were, probably several others,
supposed tn include Jeremiah.
(IV) Jeremiah Fellows- was a resident of
Kensington, New Hampshire, where he was married
January 14, 1748. to Ruth Rowe. Their children
were: Jeremiah, Benjamin, Ruth, Jonathan,
Ephraim, Daniel, and Nathan.
(V) Benjamin, second son and child of Jere-
miah and Ruth (Rowe) Fellows, was born January
9. 1753. ill Kensington, where he resided probably
i/l^)-y\j^ -^ "T^^^^^-^^-cJ^
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
421
throughout his life. He was marri«d there Febru-
ary 2. 1775, by Rev. Jeremiah Fogg, to Sarah James,
and their children included : Benjamin, Daniel, John,
and a daughter who married Benjamin Sanborn, all
of whom lived 'in Deerfield, New Hampshire.
(VI) Benjamin (2), oldest child of Benjamin
(i) and Sarah (James) Fellows, was born January
22, 1776, and died in Deerfield, April 24, 1864, aged
eighty-eight years and three months. He was a
farmer and blacksmith, and for fifty years was a
deacon of the Baptist Church, He was married in
Deerfield, October 17, 1799, by Timothy Upham,
clergyman of Deerfield, to Mary Goodhue, daughter
of Robert W. and Mary (Ayer) Goodhue, who was
born June 20, 1780, and died in Deerfield, April 8,
1866, aged eighty-five years and ten months. They
had seven children : Jeremiah, born November 27,
1800. Gilman, born October 18, 1S02. Mary, born
January 2, 1805, died young. Mary, born August ig,
1806, died young. Benjamin, born December 18,
180S. Jonathan G., born July 31, 1811. David, born
September 3, 1812.
(VH) Jeremiah, oldest child of Benjamin and
Mary (Goodhue) Fellows, was born in Deerfield,
November 27, 1800, and died at the home of his son
James in Pembroke, December, 1875. He was a
farmer most of his life. For several years he was
associated with Nathaniel Bacheler, in Manchester,
where they had contracts for building a part of one
■of the large canals. Later he returned to his farm
in Deerfield. He was a Democrat, and represented
liis town in the state legislature. He married first,
January 24, 1821, Mary Thompson, who was born in
Deerfield, and died August 26, 1833 ; second, her sis-
ter, Sarali Thompson, who was born in Deerfield, in
1802, and died August 28, 1866; and third, a Mrs.
Dow. The children by the first wife were : i. David
A., born January 25, 1824. 2. Mary Jane, born
August 18, 1826, died in infancy. 3. George W.,
born October 20, 1828. 4. Thomas J., born Septem-
ber 5. 1821. David A. was a "forty-niner," having
gone with the first rush of gold seekers to California,
and there he died, aged seventy. George W. went to
the Pacific coast years ago, and now resides in Port-
land, Oregon. Thomas J. was drowned in California,
February 27, 1854. The children of the,, second wife
were : Timothy G,, born June 20, 1835, died in Can-
dia, in 1903 ; James G., born August 6, 1838, and a
daughter who died in infancy.
(VIH) James Gilman, youngest child of Jere-
Tiiiah and Sarah (Thompson) Fellows, was born in
Deerfield, August 6, 1838, and was educated in the
common schools of Deerfield, and at the Pembroke
Academy. He was not only brought up on a farm,
but he liked his home and occupation so well that he
assisted his father on the farm four or five years
after attaining his majority, and then, being a young
man of well-known integrity, he was placed in
charge of the town farm of Deerfield, which he car-
ried on for four years. He then removed to Buck-
street (the village of Allenstown), where he farmed
in a small way and supplied the people of the neigh-
borhood with meat, .^bout 1S70 he settled in Sun-
cook and opened a grocery and provision store which
he successfully conducted for the next dozen years
or more. The following two years were spent in
recovering his health, which had been shattered by
too close attention to business. Since 1875 Mr. Fel-
lows has been engaged in the lumber and wood busi-
ness, buying and preparing large areas of standing
timber for the market. In 1890 he took his son into
partnership, and for some time their attention was
given exclusively to the cutting and marketing of
timber. In 1900 they acquired a half interest in the
Smith Box and Lumber Company, of Manchester,
which they still have. Subsequently, under the firm
name of Fellows & Son, they bought and have since
conducted a plant on Valley street, Manchester,
v/here they manufacture shocks. The two plants
employ a considerable number of men and teams, and
turn out a large product. Mr. Fellows is a thor-
oughly reliable man. In business he has been suc-
cessful, and in business circles his name is synono-
mous with that most honest. His successful conduct
of his business has attracted the attention of the
public to him, and he has been called to fill various
honorable positions in public life. In politics he is a
Republican. He has served as selectman four years,
was deputy sheriff under Sheriffs Dodge and Picker-
ing six years, was representative in the legislature
two years, and has served two terms as senator from
District No. 11, covering a period of eight years. In
official life he has displayed the same commendable
characteristics as he has in business, and his course
has met with the approval of those whose interests it
was his duty to serve. He is a member of Jewell
Lodge, No. 94, Free and Accepted Masons, of Sun-
cook, and of Union Lodge, No. 32, Independent Or-
der of Odd Fellows, of Deerfield.
He married, August 29, 1859, Lizzie JM. Worces-
ter, who was born in Rochester, November 22, 1839.
She is the daughter of George and Mary J. (Rowell)
Worcester, of Rochester, who spent their later years
in Pembroke and Allenstown. TJieir children are:
Jennie M. and Bert J. Jennie M. married Howard
Starkey, superintendent of the Consolidated Ele-
vator Company, and lives in Duluth, Minnesota.
Bert J,, born December 13, 1862, engaged for two
years in the hardware business at Suncook, but
for twenty years past has been in business
with his father. He married, June 2, 1S87, Edith
Blanche Warren, of Pembroke, daughter of Hugh F.
and Lydia A. (Moore) Warren. She was born
August 19, 1869, and they have four children : James
Warren, born June 21, 1888; Madeline, born May 18,
1890; Elizabeth Amanda, born July 19, 1893; Dorris,
born May I, i8g6.
(III) Ebenezer, fourth son and fifth child of
Samuel and Abigail (Barnard) Fellow.s, was born
November 10, 1692, in Salisbury, and was married
November 12, 1718, to Elizabeth Brooks. He died
February 5, 1741. His children were: John, Abi-
gail. Mary, Ebenezer, Joseph, Benjamin, Ann and
Elizabeth.
(IV) Joseph Fellows, the first settler of And-
over, New Hampshire, was the third son and fifth
child of Ebenezer and Elizabeth (Brooks) Fellows,
of Salisbury, Massachusetts. He was born there
422
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
January lO, 1729, and there grew to manhood. He
participated in the second expedition again Louis-
burg, Cape Breton Island, in 1758-g, and an adven-
turous spirit was thus developed in him which led to
his settlement in the unbroken wilderness of New
Hampshire soon after. The original limits of And-
over included that part of the present town of Frank-
lin lying -west of the Pemigewasset river. The
proprietors, who lived on the Atlantic coast, found
considerable difficulty in securing settlers upon the
land comprising the town, owing to its distance from
other people and a convenient base of supplies for
the pioneer. Mr. Fellows was anxious to secure a
home for himself and family, and in 1761 he came to
that part of the town now known as Webster Place
and brought his family, then including four children,
one a babe in arms. He had many hardships to en-
dure, but persevered and cleared up a fine farm and
became one of the leading citizens of the town. Dur-
ing that first season the family remained in the
midst of civilization, while the husband and father
cleared some ground, raised a little corn and built a
cabin. To get his com ground he was obliged to
carry it on his back to Penacook. There were no
highways into the wilderness where his home was
pitched, and the family ivas obliged to make the last
part of the journey on foot when it came to occupy
the pioneer log cabin in the autumn. No neighbors
appeared until the following spring, after which the
region gradually filled up with people, and a fine
New England town was developed. The first white
child born in the town was the daughter of Mr.
Fellows, frequently referred to in local historical
notes as "Peggy." It is said that during those
strenuous days Mr. Fellows sat at table with his hat
on, giving as a reason for such action the fact that
"the bears are so thick that I must be ready to fight,
without stopping to look up my hat." On the occa-
sion of the birth of the first child in Andover the
father went on snowshoes for a neighbor who acted
as nurse, and was obliged because of the deep snow
to carry the nurse on his back. In that early period
the price of a day's labor was a peck of meal. Those
who now enjoy the blessings and conveniences of
modern life cannot be too grateful to the fathers of
New England, who endured every privation and
hardship, and toiled incessantly with their hands, to
establish civilization in the midst of the forest. Few
now realize the condition when the solid forest must
first be hewn down in order to clear sufficient space
on which to set a house. The first town meeting in
Andover was held at the house of Joseph Fellows,
June 21, 1773, under the auspices of the town
proprietors, and he purchased of them the town grist
mill, February 2, 1774. for thirty-five pounds. At the
first town meeting held under the State charter, July
13, I779> Mr. Fellows was made one of the surveyors
of highways. Joseph Fellows served under several
enlistments as a soldier in the Revolutionary war.
He enlisted March 6, 1776, in Captain James Os-
good's company of Colonel Bedel's regiment, and is
found on the list of those in this company who
furnished their own guns, his being valued at two
pounds two :)liil!inf;s. This command served in the
expedition to Canada in 1776. On July 20, 1777. Mr.
Fellows joined the northern Continental army under
Stark, being in Captain Ebenezer Webster's company
of Colonel Thomas Stickney's regiment, and partici-
pated in the battles of Bennington and Stillwater.
He enlisted February 3, 1778, in Captain Ezekiel
Giles' company of Colonel Stephen Peabody's regi-
ment, raised by New Hampshire for service in Rhode
Island, and continued therein until discharged Janu-
ary 4, 1779. He was a corporal in Captain Ebenezer
Webster's company of Colonel Moses Nichols' regi-
ment, and joined the Continental army at West
Point in 1780, serving from July 5 to October 25 of
that year. Three of Joseph Fellows' sons — Ezekiel,
Joseph and Benjamin — rendered service from And-
over during the Revolutionary war. Joseph Fellows
died March 14, 181 1, completing almost half a cen-
tury of residence in Andover. There is an interest-
ing tradition concerning Mr. Fellows' trips to mill
in Penacook. His course was indicated only by
blazed trees, and the journey toilsome, even with no
burden. It was his custom, when wearied by the
load, to add a block of wood or pole, so that throw-
ing off the extra piece would so lighten the weight as
to seem a rest. Mr. Fellows was married January 2,
175,3. to Margaret Webster, a sister of Daniel Web-
ster's father. His children were born as follows :
Ezekiel. August 25, 1754; Joseph, October 18, 1756;
Mary, May 3, 1758; Benjamin, October 7, 1760; Mar-
garet, February 25, 1763 ; Abel, April 3, 1765 ; John,
April 3, 1767; Ebenezer, 1769; and Stephen, May 15,
1773-
(V) Stephen, youngest of the children of Joseph
and Margaret (Webster) Fellows, remained on the
homestead and cared for his parents in their old age.
He was an earnest, active and industrious citizen,
and successful as a farmer. He added to the paternal
homestead of eighty acres, and built the first brick
house in the town, which is still in use as a farm
residence. An active member of the Christian Bap-
tist Church, he hewed with his own hands the tim-
bers for its house of worship, which is still standing
in East Andover. For his labors in this behalf he
received title to some of the pews in the church, and
his descendants have been recently called upon to
consent to alterations in the pews, which they did.
Like all of his family he gave unchanging allegiance
to the Democratic party. He was married April 22,
1795, to Mary Emery, a daughter of Dr. Emery, of
Fryeburg, Maine, and his wife, Fessenden.
Mr. Fellows' first child, Betsey, married James
Emery, and after his death Benjamin Finney, and
lived in Andover and Franklin, dying in the former
town. She was the mother of Dr. James Emery, a
physician of eminence, who lived and died at Hud-
son this state. Rev. Joseph Emery Fellows, the
second, resided in Andover and Franklin, and went
to Missouri shortly before the beginning of the Civil
war. Because of his outspoken Union sentiments he
was given one day to leave the state by hotheaded
rebels, and saved his life only by fleeing to Illinois.
He died at Buda, in that state. A sketch of John
Fellows follows. Stephen, the fourth, was a preacher
of the Christian Baptist Church at Fall River, Mas-
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
4^3
sacluisetts, where he died. William Fessenden, the
youngest, resided on the paternal homestead until
about 1854, when he removed to Sheffield, Illinois,
where he was a farmer, and died, leaving a large
family.
(VI) John, second son and third child of
Stephen and Mary (Emery) Fellows, was born Jan-
uary 12, 1808, on the farm settled by his grandfather,
and continued to reside in his native town through
life, becoming one of its most useful and prominent
citizens. In 1843 he purchased six himdred acres of
land in the western part of the town, on the north-
erly side of Mount Kearsarge, and engaged in farm-
ing on a large scale. A part of this land is still in
possession of his son. In 1S52 John Fellows moved
to the village of Andover Centre, and resided there
the remainder of his life. He was an active man of
affairs and served the town in various capacities.
An active politician, he was loyal to the Democratic
party, and served twenty years as deputy sheriff. He
was elected representative in the legislature in 1846
and 1848, and rendered valuable service, creditable
both to himself and the town. He was liberal in
religious views, and supported the Christian Baptist
Church, of which his wife was a member. An in-
dependent thinker, he could not be bound by man-
made creeds, and despised anything in the nature of
cant. An upright man. he was guided by the golden
rule, and enjoyed the respect and esteem of his con-
temporaries. He passed away November 24, 1868, at
his home in Andover.
Mr. Fellows was married to Polly Hilton, who
was born in Nottingham. New Hampshire, a daugh-
ter of Elijah Hilton, of that town (see Hilton. VII),
The first child of John and Polly (Hilton) Fellows,
Joseph W., died at the age of six months. Joseph
Warren, the second, is the subject of the following
article. Susan Smith, the third, married Walter
Scott Thompson, who died in 1864. She subse-
quently married Herman E. Fay, whom she survives,
and now resides in Boston, w'here her daughter,
Mary Helen Thompson, is a teacher. Her son,
Walter Scott Thompson, is connected with the West-
ern New York & Pennsylvania Railroad. Henry
Dearborn Fellows, third child of John, died in 1874,
at the age of thirty-two years. Mary Ann. the
youngest, married Rufus G, Burleigh, and resides in
Franklin.
(VII) Joseph Warren, eldest son of John and
Polly (Hilton) Fellows, was born January 15. 1835,
on the homestead of his maternal grandfather, Elijah
Hilton, and died April 26, igo6, at his home in Man-
chester, New Hampshire. He was eight years of
age when his father went upon a large farm in
Andover, and he was early introduced to the labors
incident to New England agriculture. The habits of
industry and persistent application which he learned
in that early and practical school no doubt con-
tributed much toward his great success in life. While
his muscles were being developed by the duties of a
farmer's son, his mind was being cared for in the
local district school and .Andover Academy, where
he prepared for college, and he entered Dartmouth in
the fall of 1854. Following a custom almost uni-
versal in that day, he engaged in teaching during the
winter months, thus securing material aid in the
pursuit of knowledge, as well as an experience ever
after valuable. His last employment in this capacity
before graduating was in the Upton (Massachusetts)
high school, where he received warm commendation
from the late Governor George S. Boutwell,. then
chairman of the educational bureau of Massachu-
setts. Having completed the course at Dartmouth
in 1858 he became principal of Andover .'\cademy in
the fall of the same year, and so continued during
the school year. In 1859 he became master of the
classical department of Brownwood Institute at La-
Grange, Georgia, and was elected in the following
year as principal of the Marietta Latin School, in
that state. He expected to make this a permanent
position, but the prospect of Civil war ruined his
plans, along with those of many others, and he re-
turned north without entering upon his duties at
Marietta. Without any loss of time in repining, he
entered the law department of Albany University in
September, 1860, and w.as graduated in June. i86r.
He was admitted to the bar in the New York court
of appeals and planned to locate in New York city,
but the wishes of his parents prevailed upon him to
return to his native state, and in September, i86r,
he entered the law office of Pike & Barnard, at
Franklin, and remained until January, when he re-
moved to Manchester and joined Eastman & Cross,
of that city. In August of this year he was admitted
to the supreme court of New Hampshire, and im-
mediately formed a partnership with Captain A. B.
Shattuck, who w'as about to start for the front with
the northern army. This gave promise of a lasting
and valuable association, but the gallant Captain
Shattuck fell mortally wounded at Fredericksburg,
in December, 1S62, and so Mr. Fellows' plans were
again changed. On January i, 1863. he began an in-
dependent course which has ever since continued
with conspicuous success. For over thirty years he
occupied the same office, and his fidelity to the in-
terests of his clients and prompt and energetic pur-
suit of cases brought to him a large amount of busi-
ness. In 1874 he was elected clerk of the Concord
Railroad, and continued in that position sixteen
years, becoming also counsel for the company, and
was retained by that company and the Concord &
Montreal Railroad until they were leased by the Bos-
ton & Maine, and is now on the legal staff of the
latter company. These facts testify to the ability,
keenness, tact and integrity of Mr. Fellows, and he is
held in high esteem by the profession and all who
enjoy his acquaintance. In 1874 he was appointed
judge of the police court of the city of Manchester,
but the tempation of large private practice soon led
him to resign the position, and he held it only one
year. Judge Fellows ever took a keen interest in
the progress of affairs, and was always ready to bear
his share in the responsibilities of good citizenship.
Independent in thought and fixed in his convictions,
he did not fear to express them on occasion. He was
for several years an active and influential member of
the Democratic state central committee and chair-
man of the city committee, and aided in many ways
in the struggles for supremacy that have waged in
the state. Devoted to the principles of his party as
424
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
he understood them, while never disloyal to his
party, he stood for his own convictions, regardless
of the consequences. In recent years he withdrew
from active participation in the management of
political matters.
Every interest of the community in which he
lived was supported and aided by his wise counsels
and in other ways. He was a charter member of the
Unitarian Educational Society, and one of its trus-
tees, and was instrumental in the purchase and main-
tenance of Proctor Academy by that society, which
(formerly known as Andover Academy) has grown
and prospered under the new management. Judge
Fellows was prominently identified with the policies
and interests of the Unitarian denomination of the
State throughout his life, and was always an active
supporter of its grove meetings at The Weirs during
their quarter-century of continuance. He was trus-
tee and clerk of the corporation which owns and
maintains the Gale Home for Aged and Destitute
Women in Manchester since its incorporation until
his demise. He was the original mover in the es-
tablishment of the Masonic Home located in Man-
chester, was vice-president and chairman of the
board of trustees which controls it from the begin-
ning. In the Masonic order he won a national posi-
tion and received all the honors in the gift of his
brethren within the State. He passed through all
the grades, including the order of knighthood, and
was for several years an officer of the grand encamp-
ment of Knights Templar of the United States. He
was a member of the committee on jurisprudence of
the national body for twelve years, and was its chair-
man when he died. He had the thirty-third grade
of Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, and was an
"active member" of the supreme council of the
Northern Masonic Jurisdiction and chairman of the
committee on constitution and laws, having been ap-
pointed to succeed the late Hon. Josiah H. Drum-
mond, and thus held two of the most influential posi-
tions connected with the order of Knights Templar
and the Scottish Rite in the country. The fraternity
is greatly indebted to Judge Fellows for his interest
in and labors upon matters of its jurisprudence, and
he was long chairman of the committees upon that
subject in the several grand bodies of the state.
Judge Fellows was married June 8, 1865, at Fall
River, Massachusetts, to Susan Frances, daughter of
Henry E. and Susan D. (Farnum) Moore. She died
August II, 1874, and Mr. Fellows was married Octo-
ber 8, 1878, at Manchester, to Mrs. Elizabeth Brown
Davis, daughter of Erastus and Annis (Winship)
Brown, and widow of Dr. Ebenezer Harriman Davis,
of Manchester. Mrs. Fellows is the mother of May
Winship ; Annie Winship, died June, 1881 ; and
Edith Harriman. wife of Frederick William Davis,
ex-state senator, of Manchester. The living daugh-
ters are loved and loving members of the delightful
home circle which dwells in the Judge's beautiful
home on Lowell street, Manchester.
This name is old and honorable in
DELANY Ireland where it has been borne for
ages by men of prominence in both
civil and ecclesiastical life, especially the latter. In
Cork stands a statue of Bishop Delany, known for
his many good works there, and the present rector
of the Catholic College in Dublin is a Delany; also
Patrick Delan}', of Tasmania, is a cousin of Thomas,
mentioned below.
Thomas Delany, son of Bryan Delany, was a
native of Ireland, and came to America in 1847. and
settled soon after in Lowell, Massachusetts, where
for thirty years he was the leading custom tailor in
that city. He died in 1900. Mr. Delany, though
not wealthy, was in easy circumstances, as is shown
by the fact that each of his children received either
a college or an academic training, while Father
Frederick made additional studies in Paris, in Rome,
and at the Catholic University in Washington, D. C.
Thomas married Catherine Fox, daughter of James
and Bridget Fox. natives of Ireland. She died De-
cember 29, 1906. The children of this union were:
Rose J., wife of Patrick Gilbride, a prominent dry
goods merchant of Lowell. John B., whose sketch
follows. Mary. F., wife of John A. O'Hearn. lives
in Ashmont, Massachusetts. Sister Florence Louise,
a nun of the order of Notre Dame, secretary of
Trinity College, Washington, D. C. Thomas, Jr.,
died in 1903. Frederick J., a priest of the arch-
diocese of Boston. Grace, a model teacher in the
Lowell training school. Clotilda, a teacher in the
Everett school, Bcston.
Right Rev. John Bernard Delany, second bishop
of Manchester, was born in Lowell, Massachusetts,
August 0, 1S64. His early education was obtained
at the Greene grammar school and the high school at
Lowell. For two years he attended Holy Cross
College at Worcester. Massachusetts, and then went
to Boston College, and was graduated from that in-
stitution with the class of 18S7. Immediately after-
ward he left for Paris to study for the priesthood at
the seminary of Saint Sulpice, which is perhaps the
most famous seminary in the world. It is two hun-
dred and fifty years old and numbers among its
alumni two saints. May 2,3, 1891, John B. Delany
was ordained to the priesthood in Paris by Cardinal
Richard, archbishop of Paris, who is living at the
present time. He celebrated his first mass at Saint
Sulpice, and on the days immediately following he
offered the Holy Sacrifice at different shrines in
and about Paris, such as the Church of the Foreign
Missions, the Church of Our Lady of Victory, and
the basilica of the Sacred Heart. He then journeyed
to Lourdes, the site of the famous apparition of the
Blessed Virgin, to ask her maternal blessing on the
life work he was about to begin.
On his way to America he visited England and
Ireland, completing a series of tours which he had
taken during his vacations from seminary work.
These included trips through France, Italy. Germany,
Austria and Switzerland. Arriving in this country
he passed a few days at his old home in Lowell, and
then reported to his superior. Bishop Bradley, of
Manchester. The young priest's first assignment
was to a curacy at Saint Anne's, the pioneer parish
of the episcopal city. Here his admirable qualities
of head and heart, and his zeal for every good
work endeared him to both priest and people, who
parted from him with keen regret when two years
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
425
and a half later he was transferred to the Church of
the Immaculate Conception at Portsmouth. The
rector at Portsmouth then was the Very Rev. Eu-
gene M. O'Callaghan, now of Concord, who as vicar-
general of the diocese, was vicar-general after Bishop
Bradley's death. As his assistant Father Delany re-
mained at Portsmouth about five years. After a few
months, at Hinsdale, during an European trip of the
pastor. Father Delanycame in 1898 to Saint Joseph's
Cathedral, Manchester. Receiving at once his ap-
pointment as chancellor of the diocese, and secretary
to Bishop Bradley, he entered upon the course of
training which was specially to fit him for the high
office he was afterwards to be called to. In addition
to the exacting duties of these positions he, as a
member of the episcopal household, preached in turn
with the other priests, and assisted in hearing parish
confessions.
On the opening of the Monastery of the Precious
Blood in 1S9S, Father Delaney was made the Sisters'
chaplain, saying at their chapel his morning Mass,
hearing their confessions, giving retreats from time
to time, and having general super\'ision of the af-
fairs of their institute for the following six years.
In 1902 he accompanied twelve of the Sisters to the
city of Havana, where a new foundation of the order
was established under his direction. In August. 1898.
Bishop Bradley established The Guidon, and placed
Father Delany in editorial charge. Afterward the
magazine passed into the hands of a stock company
composed of the priests of the diocese, but Father
Delany remained its editor from the first. Nowhere
was his patience, tact and perseverance more evident
than in his building up of this magazine. Its publi-
cation was begun in the face of difficulties which
would have daunted one less strong. Catholic pa-
pers and magazines already existed, it seemed in
plenty; priests were skeptical as to the wisdom of
the undertaking; people looked critically on, and
subscribers were few ; but Bishop Bradley felt
assured of the need, and Father Delany entered
upon his task. Under his management The Guidon
grew in six years from a small publication with few
advertisers and a meagre circulation in New Hamp-
shire alone to a large magazine which numbers its
advertisers by the hundred and its readers by the
thousand ; which goes not only to distant places in
our own country, but to not a few in distant lands;
which has taken rank with the first publications of
its class, and received the approval of the highest
dignitaries of the church. Before he left this coun-
try Cardinal Martinelli sent the editor his word of
commendation for the work The Guidon is doing.
Father Delany had a high idea of the wisdom of
journalism, and of Catholic journalism in particular,
and he kept the pages of his magazine singularly free
from anything that might savor of sensationalism
or cheap literature. His own editorials w'ere widely
quoted. They dealt with nearly all the questions
which agitated society from time to time: strikes,
christian education, temperance, woman suffrage, di-
vorce, matters of political and international signifi.
cance and many others. He did not hesitate to point
out to his own people their rights and duties as
worthy members of the Catholic Church, and equally
worthy citizens of the United States. While he
never wounded charity, yet he never hesitated to con-
demn an abuse or demand the redress of a grievance.
In dealing with the belief of others, he was always
lenient and christian, and among the readers of The
Guidon not the least appreciative have been many
not of the Catholic faith, who found in its pages
strength, consolation, and enlightenment.
But Father Delany was a journalist only by acci-
dent ; he always had his highest pleasure in his dis-
tinctly priestly work. In this work still other duties
claimed a share of his attention. He was the dio-
cesan director of the League of the Sacred Heart,
branches of which have been established even in re-
mote parts of the state ; he was director oi the So-
ciety of the Holy Childhood ; had charge of the non-
Catholic missions in New Hampshire ; was a mem-
ber of the state conference of charities and correc-
tions ; and was state chaplain of the Knights of Co-
lumbus from their organization. His last appoint-
ment from Bishop Bradley was as diocesan director
of the Priests' Temperance League, an organization
whose members pledge themselves to further the
cause of temperance by every means within their
power. With all this Father Delany found time to
write many prose sketches and occasional poems of
more than ordinary merit for The Guidon and other
publications, and to deliver lectures and public ad-
dresses on subjects ranging from art and travel to
theology. He often accompanied Bishop Bradley to
church functions both in and out of the diocese, and
on other like occasions was the bishop's representa-
tive. In 1903 he delivered the baccalaureate sermon
at Boston College, the highest honor his Alma Mater
could bestow.
Bishop Bradley died December 12, 1903, and the
question of selecting his successor subsequently
arose. Months before it ocurred the bishop, foreseeing
his own death, wrote a letter expressive of his views
in the matter of his successor. In this latter he
named three priests, any of whom in his judgment
would successfully govern the diocese. Of these
Father Delany was one, and the bishop's commend-
ation of the man was hearty and sincere. In his
letter he said: "Father Delany enjoys my fullest
confidence." No other priest in the state stood so
near to Bishop Bradley ; none knew so well his
plans and hopes for the church, none could so read-
ily take up the burden where he had laid it down.
The Catholic clergy and laity of the diocese pre-
ferred Father Delany as Bishop Bradley's successor
because they knew him to be a man of high intelli-
gence, broad culture, enlightened piety, discrimin-
ating charity, and above all unerring in his duty.
His name was presented at the Vatican and Father
Delany was made bishop of Manchester. August 9,
1903. The appointment met with the hearty approval
of the Catholics of the diocese. The bishop's policy
was wise and his administration successful. Under
his fostering care and skillful guidance the church
and its institutions grew, and present conditions in
both spiritual and temporal matters presage con-
tinued and uninterrupted prosperity. John B. De-
426
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
lany, Right Rev. Bishop of Manchester, died June
II, 1906.
This name is used under various spell-
CENTER ings in New Hampshire, and it seems
to have been borne by intelligent an-
cestors, locating in different parts of New England.
The line herein traced does not seem to have any
connection with the others mentioned in this article
and the name has been invariably spelled Center.
(I) John Center was a resident of Boston in the
sixteenth century, and was twice married. He died
about 1700, and his widow Ruth was married Febru-
ary 9, 1707, to Joseph Wright of Woburn. The
inscription upon her tomb-stone is as 'follows :
"Here lyes Ye body of Mrs. Ruth Wright, wife of
Mr. Joseph Wright. Formerly wife to Mr. John
Center. Died February 18, 1716-17. Aged about 60."
(II) Jeremiah, son of John and Ruth Center, was
bom February 15, 1697, '" Boston, and lived in Wo-
burn, Massachusetts. His wife's name was Marj',
and their children, born from 1718 to 1736, were :
James, Mary, John, Bill and Cotton. The youngest
of these was the father of Cotton Center, Jr., a
prosperous merchant of Charlestown. Massachusetts.
(III) Bill, third son and fourth child of Jeremiah
and Mary Center, was born May ix, 1722, in Wo-
burn, Massachusetts, and was a soldier of the Revo-
lution. He was living in Woburn as late as 1782,
and presumably continued there until his death. He
was married March 22, 1763, to Hannah Evans, who
was born August 4, 1744, daug'hter of Andrew and
Mary (Richardson) Evans. Their children, born
from 1765 to 1782. were: Bill, Jeremiah (died
young), Enoch, Jonas, Bernard, Jeremiah, Mary and
Hannah.
(IV) Jonas, fourth son and child of Bill and
Hannah (Evans) Center, was born January 23,
1771, in Woburn. Massachusetts, and died in Wilton,
New Hampshire, September 27, 1856, in his eighty-
sixth year. Soon after attaining his majority he
settled in Greenfield, New Hampshire, whence he
removed to Wilton in 1830. He purchased a farm
there, on which he resided during the remainder of
his life engaged in agriculture. He was married
in Woburn, June 16, 1794, to Sarah Tay, of that
town, who was born October 9, 1775, daughter of
Archelaus and Sarah (Cook) Tay. She survived
him eleven years, and died at the home of her daugh-
ter Maria (Mrs. E. P. Hutchinson) in Mil ford,
October 27, 1867, aged ninety-two years. They were
the parents of six sons and five daughters.
(V) Samuel Newell, son of Jonas and Sarah
(Tay) Center, was born in Greenfield, September
27, 1814, and died in Wilton. He was a boy of
sixteen when his parents removed to Wilton, and
he lived there with them until he attained his ma-
jority. He then went to Boston, where he was em-
ployed in a store until 1840. He then went to Sum-
ter county. Alabama, where he kept a store until
1843, when he returned to Wilton and occupied the
store adjoining the hotel until it was burned, March
IS, 1876. The same year he rebuilt the hotel and
store, and in company with his son, Everett B., oc-
cupied the latter until his death. He was a man of
good judgment and business qualifications, and was
entrusted with much town business. He was a
member of the board of .selectmen in 1853-71-72,
and was collector of taxes in 1870 and 1871. He
married, April 7, 1846, Chloe A. Bales, born in
Wilton. May 16, 1824, eldest child of Major Ezr?
and Hannah (Wilson) Bales, of Wilton (see Bales
IV). Their children were: Marion Elsie, George
N., Rose M., Anna B., Everett B., Charles C, and
Starr B.
(VI) Everett Buchanan, fifth child and second
son of Samuel N. and Chloe A. (Bales) Center, was
born in Wilton, April 18, 1855. and educated in the
schools of his native town. Under his father's
supervision he learned how to conduct a store, and
at eig'hteen years of age took full charge of the mer-
cantile business in which he and his father were
partners. He now has a large establishment and
carries a general stock of goods except groceries,
and does a profitable business. He married, April S,
1898, Ida May Hatch, who was born in Lebanon,
New Hampshire, 1S71. daughter of Chauncey A. and
Mary S. (Miller) Hatch.
(Second family.)
This name has long been
SENTER — CENTER spelled in varying forms,
and members of the fam-
ily are treated in this article under the different
spellings which they use. It is an old Scotch-Irish
cognomen, and has been associated with pioneer
development on two continents. The sturdy char-
acter of the ancestors is found among the descend-
ants, and New Hampshire owes much of her rep-
utation for probity to their influence.
(I) John Senter, one of the proprietors of Lon-
donderry, New Hampshire, in 1719, was the ancestor
of the Senters of Londonderry. Windham and Hud-
son, also of those of Center Harbor and of other
towns in New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. At
Center Harbor the name is associated with the fa-
mous Senter House, which in the middle of the nine-
teenth century was the most noted hotel about
Lake Winnipesacke. John Senter was of English
descent and came from Long Island to Londonderry.
His home was northwest of Beaver Pond. He mar-
ried Jean , and they had six children, born
in Londonderry. John Senter and his wife died in
that town, but the dates are not known. The chil-
dren, whose births are recorded. are : Samuel, men-
tioned below ; Joseph, Jean, Moses, John and Reuben.
Joseph was born March 2, 1723. He was taken
prisoner by the Indians, carried to Canada, and sold
to the French. He succeeded in escaping and re-
turning to Londonderry. Afterwards he piloted a
body of troops to Canada during the French war,
previous to 1759. He subsequently took up a tract
of land at Center Harbor where his brother Moses
joined him. Jean was born October 8, 1725. John
and Reuben lived in Londonderry.
(II) Samuel, eldest son of John and Jean Sen-
ter, was born in Londonderrj-, January 31, 1721. He
was the second male child born in town. He mar-,
ried Susan Taylor, of Dunstable, a native of Lon-
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
427
donderry. She remembered when the people flocked
to the block houses at night for safety from the
Indians. She died about 1795, and her husband two
years later. They had several children, but only
two are recorded, both of whom lived in Windham,
New Hampshire. Samuel is mentioned below. Asa
was born in 1755, and died in Windham, January 12,
^ 1835, aged eighty years.
(Ill) Samuel (2), son of Samuel (i) and Susan
(Taylor) Senter, was born in Londonderry, Feb-
ruary IS, 1752. In 1774 he married Hannah, daugh-
ter of William Read, of Litchfield. She was born
May 18, 1756. He, with his brother and another
relative of the same name, perhaps a brother, marched
to Medford, Massachusetts, in the company of
Captain George Reid, of Londonderry, at the begin-
ning of the Revolution. He contracted an illness
from fatigue and exposure which made him a life-
long invalid. He came to Windham in the spring of
1790 and bought what is now known as Neal's Mills.
He built a grist and saw mill near the present site,
though Alexander Wilson had previously built the
dam. He was moderator of a special town meeting
in 1796, and town clerk in 1797. He died February
II, 1833. and is buried in the cemetery on the hill.
This was originally the site of the first meeting
house, and his pew stood directly over the place
where he now lies. His wife died in January, 1846,
aged eighty-nine years and eight months. They had
eight children : Isaac, born in Londonderry, Jan-
uary 5, 1775, married Hannah Patterson of Belfast,
Maine, and died in Olean, New York ; William, died
at sea, October 21, 1801, while returning from the
West Indies ; Allison, married Sarah Davidson, of
Windham, and lived in Belfast and Waldo, Maine,
and Litchfield, New Hampshire ; Samuel, mentioned
below ; Fanny, married Timothy Kendall, and lived
in Litchfield ; Cynthia, born in Windham, June 13,
17S9, and married, on her thirty-fourth birthday,
Edward Claggett, son of Honorable W. Claggett of
Portsmouth, the last attorney-general under George
the Third and the first under state government. He
died in November, 1S26, and Mrs. Claggett after-
wards made Windham her home. Their only child,
Cynthia Cornelia, was born there February 14, 1827.
She rnarried, April 23, 1853, J. W. Hart of Racine,
Wisconsin, where her mother afterward removed.
Mrs. Claggett died March 8, 1872. She was a
woman of unusual ability and in her youth was a
much esteemed school teacher. German, sixth child
of Samuel and Hannah (Read) Senter, was born at
Windham, June 13, 1789. He became a surgeon,
and served through the War of 1812. He was
stationed as port surgeon at Baton Rouge. Louisi-
ana, where he died in 1824. Delia was born in Wind-
ham, January iS, 1793. She married John Marland,
an Englishman, a manufacturer in Exeter, New
Hampshire, and Andover, Massachusetts. She died
IMay 2, 1852, and is buried in Windham. Sarah
married her cousin, John T. Senter. They had one
son, Mortimer, who became a physician. His wid-
owed mother removed with her son to Hancock,
Michigan, where she died.
(IV) Samuel (3). fourth son and child of Sam-
uel (2) and Hannah (Read) Center, was born in
Litchfield, New Hampshire, on Christmas day, 17S1.
He always lived in his native town. His occupation
was farming but he dealt in real estate to some
extent. He held all the town offices, and was a
justice of the peace most of his life. He was a prom-
inent and respecteti citizen, and used to be called the
"Old Squire." In politics he was a Democrat, and
he attended the Universalist Church. He married
!Mary. daughter of John Davidson of Windham.
Their children were: Mary (died young), Hannah,
Palmira D., Horace, Isaac N., Mary H., Rosena B.,
Cynthia G., Louisa M., Clarissa D.. Angeline F.,
Susan Ann and Samuel H. (Isaac N. and de-
scendants receive extended mention in this article).
Samuel (3) Center was married (second) to Sa-
brina Armond. and died July 4, 1868.
(V) Horace, eldest son and third child of Sam-
uel and Mary (Davidson) Center, was born in Litch-
field, June 8, 1809. He was educated in the district
schools. He was a boatman on the Merrimack &
Middlesex canal between Concord, New Hampshire,
and Boston and owned a brickyard ; later he engaged
in fanning. He was a captain in the state militia,
and held all the town offices. He represented the
town in the state legislature for two terms. In pol-
itics he was a Democrat, and he attended the Lhii-
versalist Church. He married, in 1829, Elmira,
daughter of Jacob Page of Litchfield. They had two
children : Isaac N.. born in 1833, died in Memphis,
Tennessee, 1861 : and Mary E., born in 183 1. died
January, 1885. Horace Center married for his second
wife, Caroline, daughter of James and Sarah
(Stark) Stinson- of Dunbarton, New Hampshire.
They were married April 19. 1843. and they had
one child, Frederick L., mentioned below. Horace
Center died January 21, 1883. and Mrs. Caroline
(Stinson) Center died January 22, 1883.
(VI) Frederick Louis, only child of Horace and
Caroline (Stinson) Center, was born in Litchfield,
January 5, 1846. He was educated in the district
schools of the town, in the Nashua schools and at
McCollum Institute. He farmed after leaving school
and then went to Lemont, Illinois, to engage in the
stone business, where he remained one year. He
came back to Litchfield and bought a farm and grist
mill. He managed the mill four years, then sold it
and went to live with his father, from whom he
inherited the place where he now lives. He has
filled all the town offices, and sertxd in the legisla-
ture in 1890-91. He is first selectman at the present
time, and has been one of the three for several years.
He has held office in the local grange, and is past
master of the local grange. He married March 28,
1878, Jennie F. McQuesten. daughter of Isaac
and Margaret (Chase) McQuesten, of Litchfield.
She was educated in the district schools and schools
of Nashua, and taught school for three years. She
is a member of the Grange. They have. two children:
Lizzie Margaret, born January 17. 1881, and Flor-
ence Caroline, born May 26, 1S88. The daughters
teach school.
(V) Isaac Newton, second son of Samuel and
Mary (Davidson) Center, was born in Windham,
428
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
New Hampshire, February 6, iSii. In 1834 he
married Sarah Jane Chase, daughter of Simion and
Sally (Bixby) Chase, of Litchfield, born in 1811.
She died May 6. 1838, and he married second, in
1842, Mary White, who was born February 5, 182 1,
in Litchfield, New Hampshire, died October 23, 1885.
One child by first marriage, SaraTi Jane, deceased.
By second marriage there were : Mary A., Ellen,
Samuel. Susie \V., Laura, Emma, John W. and
Isaac N.
(VI) Isaac Newton (2), son of Isaac Newton
(i) and Mary (White) Center, was born in Litch-
field, New Hampshire, on the farm where he now
lives, September 20, 1863. Three generations have
lived there, and four have owned the land. He was
educated in the district schools and was graduated
from McGaw Institute, Reed's Ferry, New Hamp-
shire, in 1883. He taught school for a time and then
stayed at home and helped to carry on the farm.
At his father's death he inherited the farm, which
contains one hundred and sixty acres. Mr. Center
keeps thirty-two head of stock, and carries on a milk
business. He is a member of the Grange, in which
he has held offices. He is an Odd Fellow, belong-
ing to the lodge at Hudson, New Hampshire. Like
his Scotch-Irish ancestors, he attends the Presbyter-
ian Church. In politics Mr. Center is a Democrat,
and served in the state legislature in 1903-04. He
was selectman for two years, has been highway sur-
veyor, and is now (1907) town clerk, which office he
has held for ten years. He was a member of the
school board for three years. Mr. Center was the pro-
moter of the Gofif Falls, Litchfield and Hudson Elec-
tric railway, now the Manchester and Nashua line, and
was its first president. January I, 1894, he married
Mary Bell Newell, daughter of Rev. John P. and Eliz-
abeth M. (Abbot) Newell of Litchfield, New Hamp-
shire. She was born in Manchester. New Hampshire,
January 30, 1865. Rev. John P. Newell was born in
Barnstead, New Hampshire, July 29, 1823, and his
wife was born in Canton, Massachusetts. April 22,
1834. Mrs. Mary (Newell) Center was educated in
the schools of Manchester, and was graduated from
the high school in 1884. Afterwards she attended
W'heaton Seminary at Norton, Massachusetts. She
taught school before her marriage. She is a mem-
ber of the Presbyterian Church, and belongs to the
Grange. Mr. and Mrs. Center have one child, Mary
Elizabeth, born l^Iarch 16, 1895.
This is one of the old English
GREENWOOD names early transplanted to
America, and has been identi-
fied with the progress of the nation in every worthy
line and endeavor down to the present time. Some
of the ablest citizens, east and west, have been and
are scions of this stock.
(I) Thomas Greenwood was for many years of
Cambridge, Massachusetts, in that portion later in-
cluded in the town of Newton. He was a weaver
by occupation, and served the town as clerk and as
magistrate. He died September i, 1693, as shown
by his gravestone now in Newton. He married,
June 8, 1670, Hannah Ward, daughter of John
and Hannah (Jackson) Ward, and granddaughter
of William Ward, immigrant ancestor of those
bearing that name. Hannah Greenwood died about
1676. Thomas Greenwood married (second), Abi-
gail (surname unknown).
(II) William Greenwood, son of Thomas and
Abigail Greenwood, was born October 14. 1689, in
Newton, and removed from that town to Sherborn,
Massachusetts, where he was prominent in town
affairs and was a deacon of the church. He married
Abigail Woodward, who was born May 25, 1695,
daughter of John and Rebecca (Robbins) Wood-
ward. His soils were: William, Caleb, Jonas, Sam-
uel and Joseph.
(III) William (2) Greenwood, eldest son of
William (i) and Abigail (Woodward) Greenwood,
was born about 1720, in Sherborn. He removed
to Dublin, New Hampshire, before 1762, where he
was a carpenter and farmer. In the Revolution he
served during two enlistments, first in 1776, and
again in 1777. While engaged in raising a barn in
Dublin, he was accidentally killed. June 28,1781. He
married Abigail Death, of Sherborn, who was born
October 3, 1723, in Framingham, ^Massachusetts,
daughter of John and Elizabeth (Barber) Death.
She survived him more than thirty-three years,
dying October i, 1814, at the age of ninety-one
years. Their children were: Daniel, Waitstill,
Elizabeth, Eli, Joshua, Hepsebah, Abigail and Wil-
liam.
(IV) Joshua Greenwood, third son and fifth
child of William (2) and Abigail (Death) Green-
wood, was probably born in Dublin, where he was
a farmer on the paternal homestead. He married,
August 22, 1779, Hannah, daughter of Gershom
and Prudence (Adams) Twitchell, of Sherborn,
Massachusetts, and Dublin, New Hampshire.
(V) Asa Greenwood, son of Joshua and Hannah
(Twitchell) Greenwood, was born July i, 1797. i"
Dublin, and lived for sometime in that town. In
June, 1836, he removed to Marlboro, the same
county, and in 1853 went to Illinois. He resided
for short periods in Peoria, Farmington, and Yates
City, Illinois, and finally settled in Toulon, Stark
county, where he continued to reside until the sum-
mer of 18S7. In that year he made a visit ^o his
friends in the east, and on the sixteenth of July,
within several months of his arrival in this section,
he died at the home of his son in Dummcrston,
Vermont. He was noted for his extraordinary
benevolence and public spirit, and during his resi-
dence in Marlboro he contributed much to the
development, improvement and progress of that
town. Probably no man ever lived in the town, who
did so much for its permanent prosperity in the
same period of time. It was through his generosity
that the Universalist Society was able to erect its
present commodious church. He also furnished the
land and laid out and fenced Graniteville Cemetery
almost exclusively at his own expense, and there
his remains were laid to rest in accordance with his
last expressed wish. He was the leading spirit if
not the prime mover in the erection of many sub-
stantial granite buildings in Marlboro. He married,
i
I
I
'-^^-^^^z^-^^^^
mfurmfif<nii\i-imvt^f^fj^i
430
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
surveys he had encounters with the Indians, in
which his war experience came well to hand. The
hardships from cold, hunger, and e.xposure during
this pioneer service in the railways of the great
plains were such as few men have experienced.
As an engineer. Colonel Greenwood had few peers
in the profession. No obstacle that nature had
interposed, as it were, in frolicsome mood, in the
canons and mountains of the west, deterred this
engineer of science, of skill and daring, and rail-
road trains now run securely, where before the
wild mountain sheep feared to climb. The skill-
full capitalists, who built these wonderful railroads
of Colorado, well appreciated the work of Green-
wood, and when the Sullivan & Palmer Company
undertook the International and Interoceanic Rail-
roads from the City of JNIexico to the Pacific Coast,
Colonel Greenwood was called, as he had been be-
fore, as the most reliable man to locate the great
work. Whilst so employed he was murdered, being
in the discharge of his duties near Rio Hondo,
eighteen miles from the city of Mexico, August
29, iSSo. Colonel Greenwood was a member of
the Masonic Order. He married. May 19, 1857,
Evelyn D. Knight, of Dummerston, Vermont. She
was born April 10, 1S34, in that town, daughter of
Joel and Fanny (Duncan) Knight, the former of
whom was born there July 18, 1799, and died Sep-
tember 14, 1874. He was the son of Joel and grand-
son of Jonathan Knight. Mrs. Fanny (Duncan)
Knight was a daughter of Doctor Abel and Lydia
(Miller) Duncan, the latter a granddaughter in the
paternal line of the first settler of Dummerston,
probably Isaac (?). (See History of Dummerston).
This is one of the oldest New Eng-
MARSTON land names, and the ancestory of
its representatives now residing in
New Hampshire has been traced to the latter part
of the sixteenth century. Its representatives have
been identified with the leading movements for
civilization from the first settlement of the Ameri-
can continent.
(I) William Iilarston was born 1592 in York-
shire, England, and died June 30, 1672, in Hampton,
New Hampshire. He came to Salem, Massachu-
setts, in 1634, with his family and probably his
brothers Robert and John. He received a grant in
1636 from the general court and removed to New-
bury the ne.xt year. He was one of the fifty-four
proprietors of Hampton in this state in 1638, and
passed the remainder of his life in that town. He
was a Quaker and was shamefully persecuted be-
cause of his religious faith, being compelled to pay
exorbitant fines. Among those recorded against him
was one of fifteen pounds, for keeping in his pos-
session a paper and two books in support of his
religious belief.. He died in Hampton at the age of
of about eighty years. His first wife died in 1660,
her name being unknown. He was married
(second), at the age of seventy years, to Sabrina
Page, who was then eighteen or twenty years of
age, daughter of Robert and Lucia Page (see
Fogg), of Ormsby, Norfolk, England. She was the
mother of one daughter, Tryphena Marston. Mr.
Marston's children were: Thomas, William, John,
Prudence and Tryphena. (Mention of William and
descendants appears in proper order in this article).
(II) Thomas, eldest son of William Marston,
was born in England, probably Yorkshire county,
about May, 1617, and accompanied his father and
the other members of his family to Salem, Massa-
chusetts, in 1634. Together they went to Newbury
about 1637, and in October of the following year
to Hampton, New Hampshire, where he probably
had land granted him by the general court, as did
the other pioneers. May 25, 1645, he bought land
of John Sanborn, and October 5, 1653, leased a
house and lot from Robert Knight. He was a
prominent man in the affairs of the town, and in
all matters pertaining to the interests of the com-
munity, and was a capable and highly esteemed
citizen. He died in Hampton, September 28, 1690,
in the seventy-fourth year of his age. He married,
about 1647, in Hampton, Mary, the daughter of
William Estow, Esq. She died December 13, 1708.
They had nine children : Isaac, John, Bethiah, Eph-
raim, James, Caleb, Mary, Hannah and Sarah.
(John and descendants receive extended mention
in this article).
(HI) Isaac, eldest child of Thomas arid Mary
(Estow) Marston, was born in Hampton, New
Hampshire, about 1648, and was living in 1714,
when he deeded land and buildings to his son
Thomas. He was made freeman April 26, 1678,
and was selectman in 1681. His farm was on "North
Hill" (now of North Hampton), and was recently
occupied by David Simon Marston, who is of the
sixth generation of this name who have owned and
lived on this property. He married, December 25,
1669, Elizabeth Brown, who was a daughter of
John and Sarah (Walker) Brown, of Hampton.
She died October 5, 1689, and he married second,
April 19, 1697, Jane (Brackett) Haines, widow of
iNIatthias Haines, Sr. They had eight or nine chil-
dren. The first child is supposed to have been born
in 1670, and died young. The others were: Caleb,
Abigail, Elizabeth, Mary, Thomas, Sarah, Abigail
and Bethiah.
(IV) Caleb, eldest son of Isaac and Elizabeth
(Brown) Marston, was born in Hampton, JNIay 19,
1672, and died April 18, 1747, aged seventy-five. He
settled on the homestead in that part of Hampton
called the "North Plains," which was incorporated
into the town of North Hampton in 1743. His will
was made April 22, 1746, and probated ^lay 27,
1747. He married, November 12, 1695, Anna Jiloul-
ton, who was born March 2, 1679, daughter of John
and Lydia (Taylor) Moulton. Their children were:
James, Caleb, Lydia, Isaac, Elizabeth, John, Mary,
Sarah and David.
(V) James, eldest son and child of Caleb and
Anna (Moulton) Marston, was born in Hampton,
May 18, 1697, and settled in Newmarket, where he
died in 1767, aged seventy. He was a blacksmith.
His will was made April 8, 1767, and proved Oc-
tober 27, 1767. He married, December 30, 1725,
Sarah Remick, of Oyster River, Durham. At the
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
431
time his will was made they had four cliildren liv-
ing : Anna, Caleb, James and Sarah.
(VI) James (2), second son and third child of
James (i) and Sarah (Remick) Marston, was born
in Newmarket, in 1732. He was a blacksmith, and
it appears by a deed made by him to his brother
Caleb, of Newmarket, March 16, 1768, that he was
living in Canterbury, probably one of the original
proprietors, but removed to Chichester, where he
died in 1775 or 1776, aged about forty-three or
forty-four years. He married, in 1754, Phebe, whose
surname was probably Pease. She was appointed
administratrix of his estate April 30, 1777. They
had eight or ten children, of whom very little au-
thentic information has been obtained. Two were
less than seven j'ears of age when he died. His
supposed children were : Levi, Phebe, David, Na-
thaniel, Sarah, John, James, and two others, born
in 1770 and 1772.
(VH) James (3), seventh child and fifth son of
James (2) and Phebe Marston, was born in Canter-
bury, December 15, 1767, and died in Sardinia,
New York, November 4, 1849, aged almost eighty-
two years. He married Elizabeth Cram, in Pitts-
field, January 28, 1792, and soon after removed into
a new town in Maine, where his second child was
born, which was entitled to a grant of land, it being
the first white child born there. From that place
he removed before August 14, 1804, to Portland;
thence to New Hampshire again, and thence in 1815
to Cataraugus county. New York, where he died.
He was a blacksmith. The nine children of James
and Elizabeth were : Oliver L., Elizabeth, Jemima,
John C, Ebenezer, James C, Lucinda, Joseph A.
and Levi.
(VIII) Oliver Lyford, eldest child of James
(3) and Elizabeth (Cram) Marston, was born
October 21, 1792, (or October 31, 1793), probably
in Pittsfield, New Hampshire, and went with his
parents to Maine in 1794, returning about 1813 to
.his native town. In 1815 he went to Plymouth,
New Hampshire, and after his marriage settled in
that part of the town now called Livermore Falls.
He owned and cultivated a farm of sixty-five acres,
and was also a blacksmith. He was a man highly
esteemed in the community, and represented Plym-
outh in the New Hampshire legislature in 1852.
He married, November 27, 1816, Lavinia Magusta
Ryan, who was born in Plymouth. December 25,
1798, daughter of Isaac and Mehitable (Bradbury)
Ryan, of Plymouth. She died April 13, 18S6, aged
eighty-seven. Their children were : Oliver L.,
Arthur W., Lucretia A., Levi R., Elizabeth K., Ann
Mary, William S., Lura Ellen and Lavinia Augusta.
(IX) William Schuyler, seventh child and fourth
son of Oliver L. and Lavinia M. (Ryan) Marston,
was born in Plymouth, January 12, 1832, and was
educated in the common schools. When a young
man he engaged in farming and for a time operated
a saw mill. Later he worked in a glove factoo'
two or three years, and for two years w-as a fireman
on a passenger train and often acted as engineer.
He entered the employ of the Laconia Car Company
at Laconia, where he remained twenty-one years.
acting as foreman a part of the time. After working
two years at blacksmithing he removed, in 1890 to
Gilford, where he settled on a small farm, and has
since lived retired. In his earlier years he was a
noted athlete. Mr. Marston's life has been a busy
and a useful one. He is a Republican in politics,
and in religion a Free Will Baptist. He married
first, Helen Jane Green, who was born in Topsham,
Vermont, 1836, and died in Lakeport. 1886, aged
fifty; he married second, Mary A. Dicey, who was
born at Alton Bay, June 20, 1840. Mr. Marston
has by his first wife one son, Fred Shannon, born
September 9, 1863, who married Nettie Piper of
Laconia.
(III) John, second son and child of Thomas and
Mary (Eastow) Marston, was born in loth mo.
1650, old style, and died in 1699, aged forty-eight
years. He was married in 1677 to Mary Ann Wall,
who was born 1656 and died 170S. She was a
daughter of James and Mary Philbrick (Tuck)
Wall, who died 1659 and 1702 respectively. Mary
(Philbrick) Tuck was a daughter of Thomas and
Elizabeth Philbrick, who died 1667 and 1664 respec-
tively. Mr. Marston settled on a lot given him by
his father, June 3, 1678, and also inherited one-half
of the homestead of his father-in-law, James Wall,
who died in 1694. Mr. Marston's estate was in-
ventoried at two hundred and eighty-two pounds.
He was a master mariner. His children were:
Jonathan, I\Iary, Abigail, John, Mehitabel and
Bethiah.
(IV) Lieutenant Jonathan, eldest child of John
and Mary Ann (Wall) Marston, was born August
27, 1678, in Hampton, and was a farmer upon the
homestead there, where he died in 1769, aged over
ninety years. He married about 1714 to Abigail
Smith, who was born 1687, daughter of Lieutenant
John Smith. Her mother was a daughter of Na-
thaniel Batchelder (See Batchelder). Lieutenant
Marston and wife were the parents of five children,
namely, Mary, John, Jonathan, Elisha and Abigail.
(V) Elisha, third son and fourth child of Lieu-
tenant Jonathan and Abigail (Sinith) Marston, was
born October 29, 1721, in Hampton, where he was
a farmer and died about June i, 1762. He was
married, 1744, to Mary Drake, who was born in
1722, a daughter of Abraham (3) and Theodate
(Robie) Drake, who were born respectively in 1688
and 1691 and died 1767 and 1783. Abraham (3)
was the son of Abraham (2) and Sarah (Hobbs)
Drake (See Benjamin Smith, V, under Batchelder).
Abraham (2) Drake (1664-1714) was the son of
Abraham (l) and Jane Drake. The former (born
1621), a son of Robert Drake ( 1580- 1668 ) ; the
latter died 1676. Elisha Marston and wife were the
parents of six children, namely, Philip S., Abigail,
Elisha S., Jonathan, Mary and John.
(VI) John, youngest child of Elisha and Mary
(Drake) Marston, was born January 17, 1757, in
Hampton, and died November 9, 1846, in Moulton-
boro. New Hampshire, where he was a farmer. He
was married, April 24, 1784, to Nancy (Anna)
Moulton, who was born 1763 and died June s, 1830,
aged sixty-seven years. She was a daughter of
43^
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Abigail Smith (See Smith above referred to in IV)
and General Jonathan Moulton of Hampton, who
presented Mr. Marston with two hundred acres in
Moultonboro. They were the parents of thirteen
children, Abigail, John, Jonathan, Nancy, Jacob,
Mary (died five years old), Josiah, George S.,
Mary, Elisha, Caleb M., Moulton H., Lucy.
(2) Captain William, second son of William
Marston (i) was born in 1621, in England, and died
in 1704. His wife, Rebecca Page, (born 1646, died
1673) was a daughter of Robert and Lucy Page
(born 1604 and 1607 respectively, and died 1679
and 1665 respectively).
(3) Rebecca, daughter of Captain William and
Rebecca (Page) Marston, born 1654, became the
wife of John Smith, and mother of Sarah (Smith)
Moulton (1695-1739), referred to above in IV. John
Smith, husband of Rebecca Marston was the son
of Robert and Susannah Smith, the former bf rn
l5ll and died 1706, and the latter died 1680.
(VII) Moulton Hoyt, twelfth child and youngest
son of John and Nancy (.A.nna) (Moulton) Mars-
ton, was born January 8, 1806, in jMoultonboro,
New Hampshire, and died 1894, at Centre Sandwich.
He settled at Centre Sandwich, where he was a
merchant. He served as town clerk, postmaster,
representative, county treasurer, and also as a mem-
ber of the governor's council. He was president of
the Carroll County National Bank and of the
Sandwich Savings Bank. He married, March 31,
1830, to Anne M. Ambrose, and their children were :
Ann, Elizabeth, Emily M., Elvira B., Alfred Am-
brose and Carrie B. The first two became suc-
cessivelv the wives of William A. Heard. (See
Heard, VI).
(II) William (2), second son and child of Wil-
liam (i) Marston, was born about 1621, in York-
shire, England, and was about sixteen years old-
when he went with his father to Hampton, New
Hampshire. He continued to reside in that town
until his decease, January 22, 1703, at the age of
eighty-one years, pie married (first), October IS,
1652, Rebecca Paige, daughter of Robert Paige (see
Fogg, I), who was born 1636 and died June 27,
1673. Mr. Marston married (second), about 1675,
Mrs. Ann Philbrick, widow of James Philbrick (i),
His children were : Rebecca, Hannah, Mary, Sam-
uel, Lucy, William (died at four months), William
and Maria.
(III) Captain Samuel, eldest son and fourth
child of William (2) and Rebecca (Paige) Marston,
was born July 8, 1661, in Hampton, and resided
on the homestead, where he died November 8, 1723.
He made no will, but disposed of his property by
deeds, giving a farm to each of five sons, and the
homestead to his widow and youngest son. He was
married in 1683-84 to Sarah Sanborn, born February
10, 1666, and died .'\pril 17, 1738, a daughter of
William Sanborn. They were the parents of eleven
children, namely : William, Samuel, Lucy, Stephen,
Joseph, Reuben, Sarah, Hannah, Ruth, ]Mary and
Obadiah.
(IV) Obadiah, fifth son and eleventh child of
Samuel and Sarah (Sanborn) Marston, was born
September 28, 1710, in Hampton, and resided about
thirty years on the homestead, .'\bout 1765 he set-
tled with his son, Samuel, in Deerfield, New Hamp-
shire. This location was discovered by him while
on a scouting expedition with Captain N. Drake,
through Nottingham and Deerfield in 1745. He was
married in 1734-3S to Elizabeth (surname un-
known), and they were the parents of si.x children,
namely: Elizabeth, Hannah, Samuel (died young),
Samuel J., Eliphalct and Joseph.
(V) Samuel J., second son and fourth child of
Obadiah and Elizabeth Marston, was born January
2, 1741, in Hampton, and settled in Deerfield in
1765. He was a farmer and removed about 17S0 to
Coventry (now Benton), New Hampshire. About
1766 he was married to Rhoda Edgerly, and they
had ten children, as follows : Stephen, Olive, Judith,
Sarah, Rhoda, Joseph E., David, Jonathan, Hannah
and Nancy.
(VI) Jonathan, youngest son and eighth child
of Samuel J. and Rhoda (Edgerly) Marston, was
born June 20, 1782, in Coventry, New Hampshire,
and settled about 1809 in North Coventry (now
Benton). He continued to reside there until the
May preceding his death, when he joined a son at
Canton, New York, where he passed away Sep-
tember 6, 1859. He was married to Phebe Howe, of
Landaft', this state, who bore Kim eight children,
namely: Orrin, Laura (died young), Laura, Bart-
lett, Jonathan H. (died young). Rhoda, Phebe and
Jonathan H.
(VII) Bartlett, second son and fourth child of
Jonathan and Phebe (Howe) jNIarston, was born
April 28, 1816, in Benton, and was a farmer by
occupation. He was an active member of the
Baptist Church, and a firm Democrat in political
principle. He died at Woodsville, New Hampshire,
December 28, 1903. He was married March 26,
1839, to Anna S. Brown, of Benton, who was born
June 15, 1819, and died September 5, 1900, at Woods-
ville, whither they removed on retirement from
active life prior to 1886. Their children were
named, respectively: Laura A., Wesley B., Sarah
L., George W., Jane R., Henry G., Elvah S., Lucy
M., Hosea M., Mary B. and Lucia E.
(VIII) Lucy Marilla, fifth daughter and eighth
child of Bartlett and Anna S. (Brown) Marston,
was born September 6, 1855, in Benton, and is now
the widow of George J. Sargent, residing in Con-
cord. (See Sargent, VII).
There are numerous families of this name
ELLIS in New England having representatives
in New Hampshire. Its representatives
have been chiefly tillers of the soil and men of quiet
disposition, though industrious in habit and' intelli-
gent in action. They have been connected with the
pioneer development of various localities and are still
contributing to the growth and welfare of New
Hampshire as a commonwealth.
(I) John Ellis, Jr., came to Plymouth. Massachu-
setts, soon after the arrival of the "Mayflower," and
was married in 1645 to Elizabeth Freeman of Sand-
wich, Massachusetts. Their children were: Bennett.
i ^a
'^■^^--^ /^x g^^
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
4o3-
Mordecai, Matthias, Joel, Nathaniel, Samuel, Free-
man and John.
(II) John (2), the yoimgest in the family of
John (l) Ellis, was born in 1661, and married, in
1700, Sarah Holmes, by whom he had John and
Jonathan.
(III) Deacon John (3), son of John (2) and
Sarah Ellis, was born in Sandwich, Massachusetts,
in 1704, and died in Gilead, Connecticut, in 1792.
His wife Rose was born in 1709 and died in 1782.
Their children were: Jabcz, Mary, John and Barna-
bas.
(IV) Barnabas, youngest child of Deacon John
and Rose Ellis, was born about 1745. in Gilead, Con-
necticut, and removed from Hebron in that state to
Claremont, New Hampshire, in the spring of 1767.
He purchased from one of the proprietors of that
town, Josiah Willard, a share of land located on
Town Hill in Claremont, the deed being dated
May 29, 1767. Here Mr. Ellis cleared up the land
and became a successful farmer, residing there until
his death, which occurred June 26, 1838, at the age
of ninety-three years. This farm has continued
in the possession of his descendants passing from
father to son. He was a lieutenant in the Conti-
nental army, and served in Ethan Allen's expedition
against Ticonderoga and Crown Point in 1775. He
was also a lieutenant under General Stark at the
battle of Bennington, August 16, 1777. He was
prominent in civil affairs, held various minor offices
in Claremont, and was selectman in 1796-7. His
marriage was the first recorded in the town' of
Claremont, and took place in 1769, when Elizabeth
Spencer became his wife. Their children were :
Jeremiah, born June 6, 1770; Jennings, February S,
1772; Sarah, May iS, 1774 (died young); Warren,
May 25, 1777; Sarah, May 8. 1780; Reuben, June
27, 1782 ; Barnabas, June 27, 1785 ; John, mentioned
below; Jeremiah, born March 26, 1790; Gilbert.
March 12, 1795; Albert, September 22, 1S02.
(V) John (4), sixth son of Barnabas and
Elizabeth (Spencer) Ellis, was born August 15,
1787. married Marcia Tyler, and they had the fol-
lowing children : William, born January 8. 1807 ;
Charles P., mentioned below ; John, born March 4,
1816; Sarah J., April 18, 1818; John, April 6, 1820;
Reuben B., mentioned below ; and WSUiam, born
March 4, 1831.
(VI) Charles P.. son of John and Marcia (Ty-
ler) Ellis, was born May 16, 1814, at Cabot, Vermont,
and attended the public schools of Claremont. He
worked in different places at making brick, and
engaged in farming at Barton, Vermont, where he
remained twenty-si.x years. In 1868 he returned to
Claremont and purchased twenty acres on South
and Pleasant streets, where he passed the remainder
of his life. This place, which is the most picturesque
in town, is now known as the Ellis Highland tract.
He married, in Claremont, Marcia Leet, born in 1818,
and they had two children : James E., born Novem-
ber 25, 1845, i" Los Angeles, California, married
Jessie Clark; and .Abbie J., born February 27, 1850,
married, July 8, 1S68. Harvey IM. Eaton, by whom
she had one son, Charles J., born October 26, 1870.
ii— 4
She married, October 25. 1905, Quartus D. Edson.
Charles P. Ellis died in 1888, and his widow died
March 12, i8g6.
(VII) Reuben B., son of John (5) and IMarcia
(Tyler) Ellis, was born August 25, 1823, in the west,
part of the town of Claremont. His education was
limited to an attendance of three months annually
at the public school. At that time the teacher lived
among his pupils' parents. Mr. Ellis attended school
irregularly up to his sixteenth year, the remainder
of his education having been obtained in travel and
by reading, his habits- being very studious. At the
age of eighteen he left New Hampshire for Barton,
Vermont, and after remaining for a time proceeded
to Boston, where he was employed on a farm in the
neighborhood of the city. He returned and began
working for the railroad on an embankment, his-
wages amounting for a time to but eighty cents a.
day, out of which he boarded and clothed himself.
For five years he was employed by A. C. Balch on'
the railroad at Well's River, and assisted in building
two embankments, and dumping for steam shovel.
He also worked with a steam shovel in and near
Toronto. He has been employed, in all, on the con-
struciinn of eight different railroads. In 1856 he
went west with his capital, having saved three thou-
sand, three hundred dollars, and in company with
two others purchased one thousand acres of land
near Des Moines. Polk county, Iowa, the capital at
that time being Iowa City. The three partners built
a saw-mill, and the first winter Mr. Ellis put in'
three thousand logs. Mr. Ellis still owns 980 acres
of land in this township. The story of Mr. Ellis's
frontier life would fill a chapter. On one of his trips
from Rock Island, whither he had been for the pur-
chase of mill machinery, he was obliged to cross
twenty miles of prairie in a stage-coach. Three other
men were in the party, and in the agreement with the
driver a clause was inserted whereby the passengers
were required to do some walking. This Mr. Ellis
did not like. The three, however, got out and walked
on two occasions, and when about to do so for the
third time requested Mr. Ellis to accompany them,
which he declined to do, saying that he had paid to
ride. Thereupon one of them said there would be
trouble, upon which Mr. Ellis placed his hand on his
inside pocket and showed that he was ready for the
fray. That settled the matter, and they departed.
Another eventful trip was one of four hundred miles
across the country in an old prairie schooner, the
journey being from Helena, Montana, to Ogden and
thence up the Missouri river to Fort Benton, from
which point the remainder of the trip was made in a
private coach. Mr. Ellis and his wife and Mrs.
Elizabeth Ellis, of Helena, Montana, were the first
to make the journey on the Northern Pacific rail-
road from the terminus to F"ort Benton, .\fter living
twelve years in the West, Mr. Ellis returned and set-
tled on his present farm situated on the old road
from Claremont to Newport and adjacent to the
Claremont creamery. There he engaged in farming,
and remodelled and added to his residence. He is
president of the Claremont Creamery. He and his
family arc members of the Old West Protestant
434
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Episcopal Church, West Claremont.
Mr. Ellis married, 1856, Sarah A. Breck, born
1828, on the old Breck homestead in the western part
of the town, daughter of Harvey and Sarah Breck.
Mr. and Mrs. Ellis are without children of their own.
but have an adopted daughter, Aletta Ellis, who has
been thoroughly educated and is an accomplished
musician.
(Second family.)
This is one of the early families of east-
ELLIS ern Massachusetts, and was very numer-
ously represented at one time in Dedham.
In fact, the duplication of Christian names in differ-
ent families there has rendered very difficult the
discovery of this line. Some authorities trace the
same lines at different times through different fam-
ilies. A patient search has resulted in the line
herein given, which may be relied upon as accurate.
(I) Joseph Ellis and wife Ruth were early resi-
dents of Dedham. Their children were: Joseph,
died young. Ruth, Joseph, John and Mary.
(II) Joseph, second son and third child of Jo-
seph (i) and Ruth Ellis, was born March 2, 1666.
in Dedham and lived in that town. He married,
October 25, 1688, Mary Graves, and they were the
parents of eight children : Johanna, Mary, Joseph,
Richard, Abigail, Jacob, Jonathan and Elizabeth.
(III) Jacob, third son and sixth child of Joseph
(2) and Mary (Graves) Ellis, was born March 17,
1703. in Dedham, and lived in Walpole, Massachu-
setts, where he died June 9, 1752. He married,
September 23, 1726, Mehitable Guild, born Febru-
ary 18, 1708. in Dedham, daughter of Nathaniel
Guild. She married (second), in 1765, Captain Ezra
Morse, of Dedlham. The children of Jacob and
Mehitable (Guild) Ellis were: Jacob, Mehitable,
Eliphalet, Enoch and Joseph.
(IV) Joseph, youngest child of Jacob and Me-
hitable (Guild) Ellis, was born July 28, 1736, in
Walpole, and resided in that town. He was a soldier
in the Revolution, and served two or more enlist-
ments. On the descriptive roll of the Continental
soldiers, June 30, 1781, he was said to be forty-four
years of age, of dark comple.xion and five feet six
inches in stature. He married Sarah Clark, of Wal-
pole, and their children were: Joseph, born Febru-
ary 3, I7S9, married, in 1782, Phylah Boyden, and
settled in Barnard, Vermont. Katurah, died at nine
years of age. Aaron, born 1766. Moses, his twin,
mentioned in the following paragraph. Daniel, born
1768. Kate, born 1772.
(V) Moses, third son and fourth child of Joseph
(3) and Sarah (Clark) Ellis, was born May 10,
1766, in Walpole, and settled with his brother at
Barnard, Vermont, in 1785. He married, in Wal-
pole, February — , 1790, Kate Boyden, a native of
that' town, born February 16, 1767, daughter of Jon-
athan and Hannah (Carrel) Boyden, Their children
were: Clark, Enoch, Joel, Lucy and Catherine.
(VI) Enoch, second son and child of Moses (5)
and Kate (Boyden) Ellis, was bom June 30. 1804.
and died June 27, 1879. He married Eliza Smith.
He married (second) Marcia Spaulding. By his
first marriage he had two children: Moses (see
below), and Martha, who died unmarried. By his
second marriage he had four children, three of
whom are living: Marcus, born September I, 1845;
George, born December 4, 1847; Albert, born Feb-
ruary II, 1850. Abbie, a daughter and the youngest
of the family, died when a girl.
(VII) Moses, son of Enoch and Eliza (Smith)
Ellis, was born August 21, 1833, in Barnard, Ver-
mont. He went to Boston, Massachusetts, when
eighteen years old and remained there until 1863.
when he purchased an iron foundry at Keene and
moved there with his wife and son. He operated
the foundry for twenty-five years, finally selling it
to the Humphrey Machine Company. He led a
retired life from 1888 to the time of his death, Oc-
tober S, 1890. Although not a member of the Bap-
tist Church, he was closely identified with the society
in Keene, being one of the building committee of the
brick edifice now occupied by the church, and con-
tributing largely to the erection of the structure and
also to the support of the church and society. He
was a trustee of the Keene Five Cents Savings
Bank in the days of its prosperity. He married,
.January 13, 1859, Emily Ferrin, born in Thornton,
New Hampshire, October 22, 1829, daughter of Jon-
athan Ferrin, of Thornton and Plymouth, New
Hampshire (see Ferrin sketch). They had one son.
Bertram. She died December 10, 1874. He married
(second), January 13. 1880. Mrs. Elizabeth C.
Spaulding, widow of Justin Spaulding, of Royalton,
Vermont. They had one daughter, Jessie Martha,
botn November 22, 1880, died September 25, 1883.
(VIII) Hon. Bertram Ellis, son of Moses (7)
and Emily (Ferrin) Ellis, was born November 26,
i860, in Boston, Massachusetts. He came to Keene
while a lad, with his parents, and was educated in
the schools of the town, fitting for college in the
local high school. He was a graduate of Harvard,
class of 1884. He received from the same university
the compound degree of Bachelor of Laws and
Master of Arts, 1887. Immediately after he entered
the law office of Evarts, Choate & Beaman, in the
city of New York, and was admitted to the New
York bar in 1888. Shortly afterward he began the
practice of law in Denver, Colorado, which he con-
tinued until 1890, a part of the time in partnership
with L. C. Rockwell. He was summoned to Keene
in 1890 by his father's illness, which proved fatal in
a few months. He became separated from his Color-
ado connections, and became interested in newspaper
work, forming a connection with the Sentinel Com-
pany, and becoming the editor of the paper two years
later, 1893, This famous old journal, The Nezv
Hamfshire Sentinel, was established in 1/99 by John
Prentiss, who lived to see the day when he was the
oldest living journalist in America, as he had long
been the leading exponent in southwestern New
Hampshire of the principles which have been en-
dorsed by the Federaf, National Republican, Whig
and Republican parties. Its reputation has been
second to no other journal throughout its long
career. It still sustains its well-earned reputation.
Mr. Ellis was an aide on the staff of Governor
Busiel, 1875-96. He was a member of the house
-Cjz^ci^
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
435
of representatives in the general court of 1897, and
again in 1905 and 1907, in the last session being
speaker. He represented his district in the state
senate in 1899 and 1901, in the last named year
being president of that body. While in the house
he was for two sessions the chairman of the com-
mittee on appropriations, a position of the greatest
importance. These honors came to him as an earn-
est expression of public feeling rather than as a
result of any forced or unusual efforts in his own
behalf. His thorough scholarship, his able discus-
sion of the leading questions of local and national
importance through the editorial columns of Tlic
Sentinel, his genial manner and general popularity,
all contributed to bring him these honors in rapid
succession. In 1904 Mr. Ellis was a delegate from
the second district to the Republican National Con-
vention at Chicago. He has always been a consis-
tent Republican. For six years' he was president of
the Young Men's Republican Club of Keene. He
is president of the Board of Education in Keene,
a trustee of the Elliot City Hospital, secretary for
New Hampshire of the Harvard Law School Asso-
ciation, secretary of the Harvard Club of Keene,
and a member of the Wentworth, Monadnock and ■
Country clubs of the same place. He is much inter-
ested in all moral and philanthropic enterprises in
the city and vicinity, and tlirough his paper has
added greatly to their efficiency.
Mr. Ellis married, June 20, 1S94, Margaret Lou-
ise Wheeler, of Minneapolis, Minnesota. They have
no children.
Stark is a Gerinan word, and means
STARK strong. It was first applied as a de-
scriptive epithet to some man distin-
guished for great physical strength, and finally
taken by him and transmitted to his progeny as a
surname. That was ages ago. To-day the great
muscular strength does not mark that man's de-
scendants, but they are distinguished rather for
strength of mind and intelligence. One has been
pre-eminently strong in war and military matters,
and also a leader in the peaceful pursuits of clear-
ing the forests and cultivating the soil.
.\bout four hundred years ago the Duchess of
Burgundy sent German soldiers to England to sup-
port a pretender to the English throne then oc-
cupied by King Henry VII. The invading army
was defeated and the survivors fled to Scotland,
where many of them settled permanently. In all
probability one of those soldiers was the progenitor
of the Stark family in Scotland.
(I) Archibald Stark, the ancestor of the Stark
family in New Hampshire, was born in Glasgow,
Scotland, in 1697, and received his education in the
university of that city. When quite young he went
with his father to Londonderry, in the northern
part of Ireland, where he married. In 1720 he em-
barked for America in company with many of his
countrymen, and after a tedious voyage arrived in
Boston late in autumn. Many of them were ill with
small-pox, and they were not permitted to land,
but went to the present town of Wiscasset, on the
Maine coast, where they spent the winter. In the
following year Archibald Stark joined the Scotch-
Irish settlers in the town of Londonderry, New
Hampshire, where he lived until 1736. In that year
his buildings were destroyed by fire, and instead
of rebuilding there he removed and settled on the
Thaxter grant at Amoskeag Falls, in what is now
the city of Manchester. Here he cut down trees
which stood on a little hill just east of the falls,
and rolled the hewn logs down to the bank of the
Merrimack, and built a house which now stands at
the east end of the Amoskeag bridge, and is oc-
cupied by a daughter of Jonas Page. Archibald
Stark was an industrious man, a large landowner,
and left an extensive property. He died on his
farm in Harrytown, in Derryfield, now Manchester,
June 26, 1758, and was buried in the Christian
Brook cemetery, not far from his home. The bodies
buried there were afterwards removed, and a low
slate headstone in the southwesterly corner of Val-
ley cemetery marks the spot where the remains of
Archibald Stark now repose, and bears this in-
scription :
"Here Lyes the Body of Mr.
ARCHIBALD STARK HE
Depirted This Life June :i5th.
1758 Aged 61 Years."
In 1S96 the remains were moved to what is now
known as the Stark burial lot, in Stark Park, and
here his name is on the headstone with the other
Starks, including the immortal General Stark.
Arcliibald Stark married, in Ireland, Eleanor
Nichols, the daughter of a fellow emigrant from
Scotland, and they were the parents of seven chil-
dren before they left Ireland, all of whom died of
small-pox on shipboard before arriving in America.
Four sons were born in New Hampshire — William,
John, Samuel and Archibald — all of whom were
strong men. took part in the French and Indian
wars, and at length held commissions in the service
of the king.
General John Stark
(II) General John Stark, second son of .\rchibald
and Eleanor (Nichols) Stark, was born in London-
436
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
derry, August 28, 1728. When but eight years old
he was taken by his parents to Harrytown, a strip
of unincorporated land on the banks of the Merri-
mack, which with portions of Chester and London-
derry composed the town of Derryfield under the
charter of 1751, and became Manchester in 1810.
There he grew up with the rudiments of an edu-
cation snatched from intervals of toil, but he had
also the great advantage of his father's teaching,
who, as noted above, was educated in the University
of Glasgow, Scotland. He was well acquainted
with the labors of the farm and forest, was a good
shot and a fearless hunter, quick of apprehension,
fearless in danger, decisive in action and tireless in
endurance.
In 1752 William and John Stark, David Simpson
and Amos Eastman, in one of their annual hunting
excursions, had penetrated the forest as far north
as the present site of Rumney, and there, on a tribu-
tary of the Pemigewasset, were surprised by ten
Indians from Canada. John was first taken captive,
and his quick and courageous action saved the life
of Eastman, and enabled his brother William to
escape. Simpson was killed. John Stark and East-
man, were taken captive to Saint Francis, Canada.
Stark's action was such as to raise him to the high-
est esteem among the Indians, whose sachem
adopted him and honored with the title of "Little
Chief." When stripped to run the gauntlet he
seized an Indian's club, beat his captors oft, and
escaped the punishment they had planned for him.
When put to hoeing corn he cut up the corn and
hoed the weeds, and finally throwing his hoe into
the river refused to perform the labor of a squaw.
John Stark was ransomed four months later for
one hundred and three dollars, which he paid out
of the proceeds of a hunt on the Androscoggin the
following season.
Soon after the outbreak of hostilities between the
French and English in 1755, a corps of rangers re-
cruited by the famous Robert Rogers was raised in
New Hampshire. These men were rugged foresters,
inured to hardships and dangers, and as marksmen
their aim was deadly. Stark joined this corps as
lieutenant and marched to Fort Edward. They ar-
rived there in season for the triple battle with the
enemy under Baron Dieskau. The third battle of
the day, in which the enemy was completely routed,
was fought by New Hampshire troops alone. At
the close of the year the forces v.'ere disbanded and
Stark returned home, but soon joined another com-
pany of rangers as first lieutenant, and did service
at the garrisons between Lake George and the
Hudson river. In the winter of 1757 Stark was an
officer in an expedition under command of Major
Rogers, fitted out to go down Lake George toward
Ticonderoga. Learning from prisoners whom they
took on the way that there was a large force of
French and Indians at Ticonderoga, Rogers ordered
a retreat. In single file, Rogers ahead and Siark
in the rear, the company of seventy-four men
marched back over the snow more than a mile. Sud-
denly on ascending a hill, they found themselves
face to face with double their own number of the
enemy, arranged in a crescent, with the intent o£
surrounding and capturing the whole party. At a
distance of only five yards the rangers received a
murderous discharge from two hundred and fifty
guns. Some were killed and others wounded, and
among the latter Major Rogers. Stark,
who was on a hill about fifteen yards in the rear,
opened a fierce fire on the pursuers, which allowed
Rogers time to rally his men. Forming their little
band in order of battle and taking the center them-
selves, Rogers and Stark repelled every attack of
the enemy till sunset. Rogers being wounded, the
command devolved on Stark, and he realized that
the safety of his men depended on their holding
their ground until after dark. He was fiercely at-
tacked, but would not surrender or retreat. The
lock of his gun was shattered by a shot. He leaped
forward and seized another from a dead Frenchman,
and, stepping back to his place, fought on with
the courage and obstinacy of a tiger from two
o'clock till darkness closed the battle, and then re-
treated with his wounded men through the night,
halting in the morning on Lake George. As it was
impossible for the wounded to proceed further on
foot. Stark oiTered to push on to Fort William
Henry, forty miles distance, and get aid. He had
marched all the previous forenoon, fought from
two o'clock until dark a vastly superior force, re-
treated on foot all night, and now, in the morning,
without rest, he offered to go forty miles on snow
shoes after sleds for the wounded. He accom-
plished this distance by evening and without waiting
to rest, he started back, traveling all night and
reaching his companions the ne.xt morning. The
wounded were placed on sleds, and Stark returned
with them to the fort, w-hich he reached that even-
ing, thus having been two nights without rest, and
and having traveled on foot one hundred and twenty
miles in less than forty hours.
In the attack on Ticonderoga in June, 1758,
Rogers and Stark led a company of rangers in
advance of Howe's force. At the close of the war
Stark returned home and again engaged in the pur-
suits of domestic life. He was delegate to the
county congress in January 1775, which met to
form plans to secure the rights of the colonists
against British encroachment; and was also an
active and vigilant member of the committee of
safety of his town. When the news of the battle
of Lexington reached him he shut down the gate of
his mill, and rushing home, seized his gun, leaped
upon his horse, and in ten minutes was on his way
to the scene of action, calling as he rode, to his
neighbors and former companions, to follow him to
Medford. His wife, Molly Stark followed the next
day alone on horseback by spotted trees through
the forest, carrying his clothes, staying over night
and returning the next day. , Two regiments
of New Hampshire men assembled, and he was
elected colonel of one of them. The time until the
i6th of June was spent in watching the enemy and
preparing for the onset that was soon expected.
Breed's Hill was fortified, and at two o'clock P. M.
on the 17th Colonel Stark received orders to re-
i
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
437
inforce the command of Colonel Prescott. March-
ing his men through the British fire that swept
Charlestovvn Neck, he led them up to the American
lines. His station was behind a double rail fence
filled with hay, between the Mystic river and the
road. Stark commanded his men to reserve their
fire till they could see the half gaiters of the grena-
diers. Whole companies of the British fell at every
discharge. Three' times the enemy charged and
were repulsed with slaughter; but the ammunition
of the Americans giving out, they were obliged to
retreat. The work of Stark and his neighbors from
Anioskeag had been the most deadly of all the
carnage of that bloody day. After the battle Stark's
command was stationed on Winter Hill.
After the evacuation of Boston by the British,
Colonel Stark joined the northern army, and the
following year his regiment constituted a part of the
troops sent to reinforce Washington on the Dela-
ware. In the assault on Trenton, Stark commanded
the advance guard of the right wing and contri-
buted much toward securing the brilliant victory.
He was at Washington's side in the short but ter-
rible conflict at Princeton, and remained with him
until the array retired to winter quarters, when he
returned t» New Hampshire on a recruiting ex-
pedition. While here he learned that several junior
officers had been promoted and himself left out of
the list. He threw up his commission and retired
from the army, declaring that an officer who would
submit to such an indignity was not fit to be trusted.
He was, however, too much of a patriot to remain
indifferent to his country's welfare, and so when
the general assembly of New Hampshire called him
to take command of the troops which were being
raised to defend the state against an invasion from
Canada, he consented to assume the duty on con-
dition that he should not be obliged to join the
■main army, should exercise his own discretion as
to his movements, and be responsible to none but
the authorities of New Hampshire. His conditions
were accepted at once. Hence, when General Schuy-
ler ordered him to lead his troops to Hudson, to be
placed under general orders, he flatly refused to do
so. His reply was sent to Congress, and that body
emphatically condemned his course, declaring it de-
structive to "military subordination and prejudicial
to the common cause." All this condemnation Stark
had forseen and despised. He would not yield his
purpose, and though in a military point of view
he was right in the course he took, as the result
showed, yet it very doubtful whether he would
have acted differently had it been otherwise. The
fortuitous course of events brought about the justi-
fication of Stark's course, and made what was a
doubtful, if not an unjustifiable action, the means of
securing a great victory to the American army.
The famous battle of Bennington, stubbornly
fought and brilliantly won, prepared the way for
that greater victory which resulted in the complete
triumph of the Continental army at Saratoga, and
turned the tide of victory in favor of the colonists.
The victory at Bennington marked the zenith of
General Stark's military career and infused new life
and hope into the Americans. Congress, seeking
to atone for its former injustice, made Stark a brig-
adier-general. In 1778 he was appointed to command
the northern army and stationed at Albany, but he
did not remain there long. He was with General
Gates in Rhode Island the following year, and the
ne.xt season joined General Washington at Morris-
town, and participated in the battle of Springfield in
New Jersey. Subsequently he raised recruits in New
England, relieved General St. Clair, served on the
court martial which /tried Andre, and conducted a
hazardous enterprise preliminary to the contem-
plated action against Staten Island by General
Washington. He was eminently successful, but the
enterprise miscarried. In 1781 General Stark was
again assigned to the northern department, and was
in command at Saratoga at the time of the sur-
render of Cornwallis at Yorktown. This was the
virtual close of the war. The General dismissed
the militia and retired to New England. He did
not return to the army in 1782, on account of broken
health, but at the request of Washington visited the
headquarters in 1783, and e.xerted his powerful in-
fluence to allay the discontent of the army, which
threatened most serious consequences.
On retiring from the army. General Stark de-
voted himself with his accustomed assiduity to his
extensive agricultural and lumbering interests which
he dispensed in a way appropriate to his high stand-
ing and character. He inherited considerable land
from his father, and a part of the Thaxter grant
became the General's home farm. His agricultural
operations were on a large scale, but his lumbering
was still more extensive. At one time he with two
others owned the entire town of Dunbarton (then
known as Starkstown), where he cut off and sawed
into lumber much of the old growth standing there.
From the time of his retirement from the army at
the close of the Revolution until his death. General
Stark devoted himself to the industries just men-
tioned. He died May 8, 1822, in the ninety-fourth
year of his age. His grave is marked by a granite
shaft in the family burying ground near Stark
Park, Manchester. A statue of bronze on a ped-
estal of granite was erected by the state of New
Hampshire in the state house yard at Concord, in
memory of General Stark, and dedicated October
23, 1840. From the oration made on that occasion
by Hon. James W. Patterson, LL. D., the follow-
ing extract is taken :
"As he advanced in years he developed that
natural love for domestic animals which has often
been observed as a beautiful characteristic of the
great. He seems also, notwithstanding the distrac-
tions of his military life, to have imbibed a taste
for literature, especially for Johnson, Goldsmith,
and the Scotch poets. His integrity and purity
were so austere and his democratic instincts so
strong, that his private life became as phenomenal
as his public among those who knew him. Like
Washington, he seems to have carried a charmed
existence. He passed fourteen years amid the scenes of
actual war and was often compelled to lead and hold
raw troops in the very teeth of terrific combat, and yet
438
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
was never wounded. In person he was of medium
height, broad shouldered, and very athletic. His
features were prominent, and his eyes of a greyish
blue, flashed from beneath a bold overhanging brow.
His manner was simple, frank, and manly. He
knew little of the refinements of courts or the sub-
tleties of the schools. His career and character were
the natural and noble product of extraordinary gifts
and passions. Reared in the dangers and priva-
tions of frontier life and brought into action amid
the perils and strenuous activities of a great revo-
lution of doubtful issue, his natural quickness of
perception and clear judgment, his military exper-
ience and self control in danger, made his counsel
valuable and his services indispensable during the
war. Taking a comprehensive grasp of the whole
field, and seeing instantly the proper thing to do,
he was sometimes impatient of the delays and mis-
takes of smaller men. He scented the approach of
danger with a preternatural instinct, and yet seems
never to have experienced the sense of fear. His
mental processes were as logical in the front of
battle as in the repose of home. His will was su-
preme and master of all his powers, and yet, though
always self-centered, he would at times, when the
frenzy of battle was upon him, hurl himself and his
forces upon the enemy with the swiftness and force
of a thunderbolt and sweep down all impediments.
He was remarkable through life for his kindness
and hospitality, especially to old companions and
the poor, but had little patience with the indolent
and vicious. He was not tractable nor flexible,
never wept, and seldom smiled. He was too proud
to fawn, and too direct and too downright to flatter."
General Stark, when at home on a furlough, in
1758, married Elizabeth (not Molly) Page, of Dun-
barton (see Page, IV). There were born of this
marriage, children as follows : Caleb, Archibald,
John, Eleanor (died young), Eleanor, Sarah, Eliza-
beth, Mary, Charles, Benjamin Franklin and Sophia.
(John and descendants receive extended mention in
this article).
(Ill) Major Caleb, eldest child of Major Gen-
eral John and Elizabeth (Page) Stark, was born at
the home of his grandfather. Captain Caleb Page, in
Dunbarton, New Hampshire, December 3, 1759.
His parents had been married on August 20 of the
previous year while Captain John Stark was home
on a furlough; but in the spring of 1759 John Stark
returned to his post at Fort Edward, New York.
His wife was left at home with her father, a leading
and wealthy pioneer of the infant settlement, and
during the father's absence at the front the child
was born. In 1760 Captain John Stark resigned his
commission and with his wife withdrew to his
home in Derryfield (now Manchester), New Hamp-
shire. Captain Page, who had conceived a strong
affection for the grandson and namesake born under
his roof, begged that he might be allowed to adopt
the child. The parents yielded to his request, and
Caleb Stark remained under the care of his grand-
father till June 16, 1775. The best books of the day
were procured for his education, among them Fen-
ning's Dictionary and Salmon's Historical Grammar,
which are still preserved in the Stark home.
The fight at Concord and Lexington stirred all
the New Hampshire settlements, and John Stark,
followed by his old rangers, hastened to Boston.
In a few hours a regiment of nearly nine hundred
men was enlisted with Stark as their colonel.
Young Caleb heard the news at Dunbarton, and
begged to be allowed to go. As he was but a few
months over fifteen his grandfather naturally ob-
jected, but the boy, who. judged by his portraits,
bore a strong resemblance to his father, could not
be held. He privately put his clothing into a valise,
and before daybreak on the morning of June 16,
''^775, he took his musket, mounted a horse which
had been given him by his grandfather, and ran
away to the American camp. He had gone but a
few miles when he met another horseman, a tall,
fine looking man, who proved to be no less than the
celebrated Major Robert Rogers, the ranger, who
had served for five years with Stark and won fame
in the French war. They journeyed together, Major
Rogers insisting upon paying the road expenses, and
toward nightfall the two travelers rode into Med-
ford. When young Caleb reached headquarters his
father said, "Well, son, what are you here for?
You should have stayed at home." Finding him bent
on volunteering. Colonel Stark turned Caleb over
to Captain George Reid, saying, "Take him to your
quarters ; tomorrow may be a busy day." On that
busy day, whose history is so well known, Caleb
Stark stood beside the veteran rangers of the old
French war in the regiment placed by the rail fence
stretched from the redoubt to Mystic river. The
man next him was killed, but at close of day he
was one of the survivors who* after their ammunition
was gone, fell back to Winter Hill.
After the battle the troops were intrenched at
Winter Hill for a time. On this height were stand-
ing the handsome residences of several w'ealthy
loyalists, and one of these, belonging to a family
named Royal, was chosen by Colonel Stark as his
headquarters. Madam Royal had a large family of
daughters, beautiful and accomplished like herself,
and while young Caleb was learning the military
routine in Captain Reid's company he often spent
leisure hours with his father at the Royal house.
He was always grateful for this privilege, and in
after life he often spoke of the benefits derived from
meeting these high-bred ladies during the formative
period of his manners and habits. Early in 1776
Caleb Stark was commissioned ensign in Captain
Reid's company and proceeded with Sullivan's bri-
gade to New York, whence in May they went to
Canada. Small-pox broke out in the armj-, and
when the adjutant of the First New Hampshire
Regiment died at Chimney Point, in July, Ensign
.Stark was promoted to the position with the rank
of lieutenant. He took part in the operations at
Trenton and Princeton, New Jersey. He w-as at
Ticonderoga in 1777; and October 7, just before the
surrender of Burgoyne, he was wounded in the left
arm. Between 1778 and 1781 he was aide-de-
camp, brigade major and adjutant general of the
northern department, then commanded by General
Stark.
.'\fter the war Major Stark engaged in mercan-
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
439
tile pursuits at Haverhill, Massachusetts, and Dun-
barton, New Hampshire. In 1805-6 he engaged in
English and East India trade with headquarters at
Boston. He visited the East Indies in 1798 and
Great Britain in 1810, staying a year in the latter
country, making purchases for himself and other
Boston merchants. He kept interesting journals
of his visits to foreign countries. When the war
of 1812 began he closed his business in Boston and
bought an establishment in Pembroke, New Hamp-
shire, which he equipped for the manufacture of
cotton. He continued in this business until 1830,
when he sold out his interest and went to Ohio to
prosecute the family claims to lands granted for
military services. In 1837, after long and vexatious
litigation, these claims were allowed. Major Stark
was acquainted with all the presidents from Wash-
ington to Harrison, inclusive. He was one of twelve
Revolutionary veterans who stood by General Jack-
son upon his first inauguration as president: and he
was the youngest survivor of Bunker Hill to wit-
ness the laying of the corner-stone of the monu-
ment. When Lafayette performed this service he
recognized Stark as a fellow soldier. In 1825. when
the famous Frenchman made his triumphal progress
through New England, he stayed over night as the
guest of Major Stark in the Dunbarton mansion.
On November 4, 1787, at Haverhill, Massachu-
setts, Major Caleb Stark married Sarah, daughter
of Dr. William McKinstry, formerly of Taunton,
who in 1776 was appointed surgeon-general of the
British hospitals at Boston. They had eleven children,
including two pairs of twins: John William, Har-
riet and Sarah. Elizabeth, Charles and Sarah (2),
Henry, Mary Ann, Charlotte, Caleb, David McKin-
stry. Of these children five died in infancy or
early youth, three married, and three remained on
the old homestead. John William was born Octo-
ber 24, 1788, and died January 3, 1836. Harriet and
Sarah were born October 16, 1790. Sarah died
September 8, 1791, under one year of age. Miss
Harriet lived to her eighty-second year, dying May
4. 1872 ; she and her sister, Miss Charlotte, were
the last occupants of the old homestead in this
generation. Elizabeth, born May 8, 1792. married
Samuel Newell, whose sketch follows. Charles and
Sarah (2) were born June 4, 1794: the., former died
Nov. S, 1819. Henry was bom Nov. 8. 1795, and
married Emma B. Randolph, of Virginia. He died
at Washington. D. C, leaving no children. Mary
Ann was born October 15, 1797. and died May 12,
1815, at the dawn of young womanhood. Charlotte
was born July 4, 1799, and outlived all her brothers
and sisters, dying June 29, 1889. She was buried
on her ninetieth birthday in the beautiful old family
cemetery on the estate, which has become the last
resting place of most of the descendants of this
branch of the family. For many years Miss Har-
riet and Miss Charlotte were the presiding hostesses
of the old mansion. Both were women of unusual
mental powers and remarkable personal beauty, with
the manner of gentlewomen of the old school.
Those who were privileged to accept their gracious
hospitality cherish it as a precious memory. In her
youth Miss Charlotte was engaged to Charles G.
Haines, a native of Canterbury, this state. He was
a man of brilliant attainments and became a lawyer
in New York City. His untimely death occurred
at the beginning of a most promising career, and his
betrothed remained ever faithful to his memory.
Caleb (2) who, like the sisters just mentioned,
passed most of his life at the old home, was born
November 24, 1804. He was graduated from Har-
vard College in 1823. He read law one year at the
law school in Connecticut and finished his studies
in the office of Charles G. Haines, of New York, in
which city he was admitted to the bar. He opened an
office in Cincinnati, but finding the western climate
unsuited to his constitution, he returned to New
Hampshire, where he passed the rest of his
life in a scholarly retirement. He was an earnest
Democrat, and represented Dunbarton in the state
legislature from 1834 to 1837. He was a fine class-
ical scholar and a writer of ability, being a frequent
contributor to the political and literary journals of
his day. He wrote tw^o valuable historical works,
the "History of Dunbarton," and the life of his
grandfather. General John Stark. He died Febru-
ary I, 1864, in the si.xtieth year of his age. David
McKinstry, the youngest of this family, was born
January 24, 1807, and died October 27, 1832. Major Ca-
leb Stark died August 26, 1S38, near New Comcrstov.n,
Oxford township, Ohio, where he was prosecuting
the family claims to lands granted to General Stark.
The immediate cause of his death was the riding
of a hard trotting horse twenty-three miles in three
hours on a very warm day. He was returning from
a session of court held at New Phiadelphia. In the
quaint language of an Ohio paper of the day. "He
was attacked with a disease in the head and sus-
pension of the faculties, which with some inter-
mission continued till his death on Sunday evening
last, at the age of seventy-eight years, eight months
and twenty-three days." Major Stark's remains lie
in the family cemetery at Dunbarton. His wife
survived her husband one year, dying September II,
1839, aged seventy-tw-o years.
(IV) Elizabeth, third daughter and fourth child
of Major Caleb and Sarah (McKinstry) Stark,
was born May 8, 1792. She married Samuel Newell,
ot Cambridge. Massachusetts. They had two sons,
Samuel and Charles. Samuel, whose sketch fol-
lows, was adopted by his maternal grandfather,
Major Caleb Stark, who had the boy's name
changed to John Stark. Mrs. Elizabeth (Stark)
Newell died September 10, 1S76, at the age of
eighty-four years.
(V) Samuel (2), eldest son of Samuel and
Elizabeth (Stark) Newxll, was born at Cambridge,
Massachusetts, October, 181 1. At an early age he
was adopted by his maternal grandfather. Major
Caleb Stark, who reared him at the home in Dun-
barton and bestowed on him the name of John
Stirk. He was graduated from Harvard in the
class of i8.^4. and chose the law for his profession.
He practiced for some years in Galena, Illinois.
The hardships of a new country and failing health
compelled a return to New York, and finally to
440
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Dunbarton, where he Iioped to regain strength by
a summer's rest. During a business trip to Wash-
ington, D. C, he died suddenly in the spring of
1849, at the early age of thirty-eight. Mr. Stark
was a ready writer, an accomplished gentleman and
a clever artist, with great faculty for catching the
likeness in portraiture. His illustrated letters to
his grandfather, in which he caricatured both friend
and foe, were a source of much merriment to the
liome circle. In 1837 John Stark married Caroline
Julia Morris, daughter of Thomas and Sarah (Kane)
Morris, of New York, and granddaughter of Robert
Morris, of Philadelphia, the financier of the Revo-
lution. (See Morris Genealogy III). They had
three children : John, Mary Elizabeth, and Charles
F. M., whose sketch follows. The elder son was
■killed by the fall from a roof in New York. The
<laughter accomplished much philanthropic work and
died unmarried at the age of forty years. She built
the pretty Episcopal church at Page's Corner, Dun-
barton, and did many other things for the town.
Mrs. Caroline J. (Morris) Stark outlived her hus-
band forty years, and died in Winchester, Massa-
chusetts, in 1889, at the age of seventy-five years.
(VI) Charles Frederick Morris, younger son and
third child of John and Caroline Julia (Morris)
Stark, was born February 20, 1848, in Dunbarton.
New Hampshire. He spent most of his time till
the age of fourteen in New York City. He was
educated at Saint Paul's School, Concord, New
Hampshire. For some time he was employed in
the Bank of the State of New York, New York
City, corner William street and Exchange Place,
and subsequently in the offices of the Continental
and London, Liverpool and Globe insurance com-
panies. Of late years Mr. Stark has lived the life
of a country gentleman at the old Stark mansion in
Dunbarton, with a winter residence at Winchester,
Massachusetts. Mr. Stark is very fond of hunting,
and is one of the best marksmen in the state. The
■walls of his house are hung with trophies of the
chase. He is interested in all forms of out-door
life, and greatly enjoys his big touring car. In
politics he is a Democrat, and on that account lost
by one vote the election as representative from
Dunbarton. On February 26, 1878, Charles F. M.
Stark married Annie McNeil, daughter of Colonel
John and Cynthia (Morse) McNeil, and grand-
daughter of General Solomon McNeil. (See MtNeil
Genealogy). This marriage united two of the
•most distinguished families in the state. There is
•one child, John McNeil Stark, born at Winchester,
Massachusetts, April 7, 1882. He was educated at
Belmont School for Boys at Belmont, Massachusetts,
and at Holderness, New Hampshire. He studied law
with Henry F. Hollis, at Concord, and was gradu-
• ated from the Boston University Law School, June
8, 1906. He was admitted to the Suffolk county bar
in 1905, and New Hampshire bar in 1906.
The Stark mansion at Dunbarton, nine miles
from Concord, is the most interesting in Merrimack
•county, and its historic treasures are not surpassed
by any collection in the state, even in old Ports-
mouth. Fortunate indeed was the house when
Mrs. Charles F. M. Stark came to preside over it,
for she keeps up the best traditions of the place.
A descendant of the McNeils and Pierces, she
brought many valuable heirlooms hither, and she is
a fitting custodian of the priceless relics of the
Starks and Morrises. Of the patrician style of
beauty which we associate with famous old por-
traits, Mrs. Stark possesses the charm of manner
which seems the birthright of the mistresses of this
famous old mansion. The same free-hearted hospi-
tality is maintained as in days of yore, informal
afternoon tea is served every day in summer, and
guests come from far and near for long or short
sojourns. The Stark mansion was built in 1785
by Major Caleb Stark, great-grandfather of the pres-
ent owner. It is a spacious two-story frame house
with gambrel roof and dormer windows, and a
large addition to the west. A broad hall runs
through the middle of the house and opens into an
old-fashioned garden. The front door, nearly three
inches thick, swings on large wrought hinges, two
feet in length ; the siding is fastened with wrought
iron nails. Over the front doors are panes of bull's
eye glass, which came from the first lot made in this
country. In the hall hangs an oil portrait of General
John Stark, executed by Samuel Finley Breese
Morse, inventor of the electric telegraph, during
his brief sojourn in Concord, 1818-22. There is also
a beautiful portrait of Miss Charlotte Stark, done
by Jane Stuart, daughter of Gilbert Stuart. The
portrait of Webster was painted by Lawson, and
there is a beautiful miniature of the Reverend John
McKinstry. In the parlor on the right of the hall
are portraits of Governor and Mrs. Benjamin
Pierce, the great-grandparents of Mrs. Stark, whose
son, Franklin Pierce, became the only president
that New Hampshire has thus far furnished to the
country; also portraits of Lieutenant and Mrs. John
McNeil. There are also a brace of flint lock pistols
carried by General Stark at the battle of Benning-
ton, a gold headed cane inscribed "Robert Morris,
from his friend, John Hancock," a set of Dresden
china owned by M. Genet, the first French minister
to America and a Baskerville Bible. The library,
across the hall, contains General McNeil's desk, a
fine mezzotint of the Duke of Wellington, and many
magnificent pieces of carved mahogany. The Starks
have always been a reading family, and there are
books of great value representing not a sudden pur-
chase to gratify a collector's pride, but rather the
slow accumulations of people of literary tastes.
Among thetu are an original set of the Waverly nov-
els, bound in leather, and early London editions of
Shakespeare. The dining room is full of valuable
old furniture, including clocks, sideboards and price-
less china. The walls are hung with antlers and the
heads of moose, caribou and deer, shot by Mr.
Stark in the Maine woods. Among the portraits
is one of Robert Morris by Gilbert Stuart. Per-
haps the most interesting relic of all, from a con-
noisseur's point of view, is found in this room. It
is a framed letter to Mrs. Robert Morris, bearing
the signature of both George and Martha Washing-
ton, and inviting her to visit them at Mount Vernon.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
441
There are but one or two other documents extant
tearing both these signatures. One thousand dol-
lars has been refused for this valuable bit of paper.
The house upstairs is as interesting as below. The
Lafayette chamber contains the old four-posted
"bedstead on which the French patriot passed two
nights. This has a spread covered with embossed
figures wrought in India, a century ago, whose
fringe reaches to the floor. The other furniture is
just the same as when the distinguished guest oc-
cupied the room. Miniatures and silhouettes are
found on all the walls, and the adjoining closets
are crammed with interesting things. Among them
is a green silk calashe, worn by Mrs. Major Stark,
also a bonnet, worn by "Molly" Stark, but whose
real name was Elizabeth. Space docs not permit
detailed mention of the Morris letters, which in-
clude autograph epistles from Benjamin Franklin,
Louis Phillipe, Kosciusko, and many others equally
eminent. It may be mentioned in passing that the
estate was originally granted to Archibald Stark,
father of the general, and that the original name of
Dunbarton was Starkstown. It was so called from
175 1 to 1765, when the name was changed to Dun-
barton, a slight modification of Dumbarton in
Scotland, from the neighborhood of which Archi-
bald Stark and many other early settlers migrated.
The grounds are well shaded by trees, including
black walnut, rare in this locality, s>-camore, elms,
locusts and mulberries. The latter trees are a rem-
iniscence of the silk craze of 1835 when it was
thought a fortune could be made by raising silk
worms in this state. Ten acres of the Stark estate
were planted with mulberry trees, and all the chil-
dren for miles around were employed to gather the
leaves to feed the worms. Miss Harriet and Miss
Charlotte Stark were awarded a silver medal by the
American Institute in New York for the best spec-
imens of silk twist placed on exhibition in 1835.
The industry, though interesting, did not prove a
profitable one in this region, and was abandoned
after a time.
(Ill) John (2), third of the five sons of Gen-
eral John (i) and Elizabeth (Page) Stark, was
born June 3, 1767. on the old family homestead in
Derryfield, now Manchester. He grew up on his
father's estate, and from his early youth had a great
deal of the 'care of his father's property, a large
part of which he inherited. The General gave him
the land bounded by what is now Brook street on
the south and Webster street on the north, and run-
ning from the old Chester line to the river. This
lot contained the original Archibald Stark house
and John (2) Stark took up his residence therein.
This has come to be by far the most valuable part
of the General's estate. Not only are there exten-
sive mill privileges, but the locks at the falls are
situated on this section as well as many of the most
costly residences in the city. The old fair grounds
form no inconsiderable part of the farm. .\s John
Stark advanced in years and was unable to care for
his property, the son John (2) moved to the Gen-
eral's residence farther up the river-road, and there
lived during the last forty years of the life of the
old patriot, and there spent the remainder of his
own long life engaged mostly in agricultural pur-
suits. His daughter Emily and her husband John
D. More remained on his original homestead. In
1821 John (2) Stark sold this place. He was known
in his day as "the Justice," and was a highly re-
spected citizen of Derryfield. He was married in
Derryfield, in 1782, to Polly Huse, daug'hter of Isaac
Huse. She was born June 24, 1760, in Methuen,
Massachusetts, and died December 7, 1838. Their
children were : Emily, Gradus Bakeman, Betsy, John,
Frederick G., Mary, Susan, Samuel K., Charles,
Albert G., Caleb and Louisa B. The two older ones
were born at the home of their grandfather Page,
in Dunbarton, and all the others e.xcept the young-
est were born in the old house at the end of .'\mos-
kcag Bridge. Louisa was born in the old General's
house on the river road north. All lived to an ad-
vanced age and reared families of their owm. (Men-
tion of Frederick G. and his descendants appears
in this article).
(IV) John (3), third child and second son of
John (2) and Polly (Huse) Stark, was born Jan-
uary 26, 1790, and died April 16, 1872. He received
from his grandfather. General Stark, a part of the
old homestead. This lot ran from the south of
Clark's ledge to what is now the north line of
Stark Park, and, as with the preceeding grants,
from the Merrimack river to the old Chester line.
In 1816 he built the house on the River road at the
brow of the hill, where he resided until his death.
Just east of this house, about on the site of the
present residence of George E. Gould, John (3)
Stark started to open a ledge. By the falling of a
derrick his son Thomas was killed, and the work
was never carried further. On the section of land
given to John (3) Stark was located the Stark
burying ground, where rest the remains of the
General and many of his descendants. It is situated
on a blufif half way from the River road to the river,
overlooking the river up and down for some dis-
tance. On the anniversary of the Battle of Benning-
ton, in 1899, the granite obelisk hereinbefore men-
tioned was erected to the memory of General Stark,
by his family. John (3) Stark married Sarah
Fletcher Pollard, born April 17. 1794, died April II,
1883. Their children were: Benjamin F., Thomas,
Elizabeth, David, George. George (2d) Frank,
Augustus H.
(V) Augustus Hodgson, youngest child of John
(3) and Sarah Fletcher (Pollard) Stark, was born
in Manchester, November 6, 1834, and died August
8. 1902. He was educated in the public schools of
Manchester. He was engaged in manufacturing
carriages in Boston and Randolph, Massachusetts,
and also carried on a painting business. He was
a man of energy and business ability, and accumu-
lated a goodly fortune. A little north of his father's
residence, on the River road, he built a handsome
residence for himself, where he lived until his death
in 1902, and where his widow now resides. In 1876
.Augustus H. and Elizabeth Stark, the surviving
children of John (3) Stark, gave to the city of Man-
chester about four acres of land, on which the Stark
442
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
burying ground is located. Subsequently the entire
section of the farm from the River road to the river
was conveyed by the Stark heirs to the city of Man-
chester, January 3, 1891. It contains about thirty
acres, and is known as Stark Park. In political
faith Mr. Stark was a Democrat, and in matters
of religion he inclined to the Congregational creed,
attending that church. He was a member of Lafa-
yette Lodge, No. 41, Free and Accepted Masons, of
Manchester.
Mr. Stark married, in Dorchester, Massachu-
setts, December 17, 1881, Edith F. Furbish, born
June I. 1844, in Skowhegan, Maine, daughter of
Henry D. and Sarah P. Furbish of that place.
Mrs. Stark was educated in the public schools of
her native town. She has a natural fondness for
history, which has been fostered by circumstances,
and her knowledge of family and local history is
excellent. She has two large rooms in her spacious
residence set apart and well filled with relics and
heirlooms of the Stark family, many of them of
much value. She is a member of the Daughters of
the American Revolution, of the Order of the East-
ern Star, and a director in the Ladies Aid Home.
She is a member of the Franklin Street Church, of
Manchester, and of various organizations — the Home
Mission Society, Foreign Mission Society, City
Missionary Society, the Historical Society of Man-
chester, and others, and gives her support to
various charitable bodies.
(IV) Frederick Oilman, third son and fifth child
of John (2) and Polly (Huse) Stark, was born in
the house of his grandfather, General John Stark,
at Derryfield, now Manchester, August 6, 1792. At
an early age he showed many of the characteristics
of his ancestors, his energy, and rugged spirit of
selfreliance, evincing an ability to make his way in
the world by his own efforts. The years of his
childhood and youth were passed at home attend-
ing the greater part of his time to such duties as
the situation required of him, and he was able to
perform. Each winter after he attained school age, he
attended the short term during which instruction was
given. He showed great aptitude for learning, es-
specially for mathematics. There is now in existence
a manuscript book of arithmetic of the higher grade
wholly in his handwriting, with all rules and exam-
ples worked out in detail, embracing simple rule of
three, inverse proportion, compound proportion, prac-
tice, tare and tret, single fellowship, simple interest,
compound interest, commission brokerage, insurance,
discount, bank discount, equation of payments, barter,
loss and gain, alligation medial, alligation alternate,
position, double position, vulgar fractions, and
decimals. This manuscript book is dated 1809, and
has the appearance of being his own composition.
There is no positive evidence of its originality, but
it is at least evident that he thoroughly mastered the
subjects of which it treats. He was then seventeen
years old, and in attendance upon school in London-
derry. His accomplishments as a student and his
social position occasioned his call to teaching, and
many school houses seem to have opened their doors
to receive him as an instructor of youth. From
1810, when he was eighteen years of age, until more
mature years brought higher responsibilities which
absorbed all his time and energies, he taught winter
terms, as the custom then was, in various districts
in Manchester and the neighboring towns. During
this period he mastered without a teacher the art
of surveying land ; and subsequently up to a later
date in his life his ability as a surveyor was en-
dorsed by extensive employment through the section
of country in which he lived. His surveys, plans,
and papers relating thereto are yet much sought
after as standard references. He was an elegant
penman and bookkeeper, his account books being
models ot neatness and accuracy. But one hundred
years ago, when Frederick G. Stark was a young
man, schools were for only a short time in the
winter, instructors were poorly paid for their time,
and teaching could not be depended upon for a
regular occupation, when more regular employment
would be more profitable, and when the question
of something beyond a mere existence was to be
obtained, some other business must be sought. A
natural aptitude and inclination for trade led Mr.
Stark to apply for a situation in a country store ;
and in 1810 he took his first lesson with Riddle &
Whittle, in their Bedford (Piscataquog) store, and
remained with them about six months. He then
changed into the neighboring store of Parker &
Palmer, where he remained two years, leaving De-
cember 26, 1812. That winter he kept school in
District No. I of Manchester; and in the sprmg of
1813, desiring to see something of the surrounding
country, he travelled through most of the towns of
Hillsborough, Rockingham, and Middlesex counties,
paying his way by assuming for the occasion the
role of a peddler, carrying his small stock of goods
in tin hand-trunks. During this time he kept a
diary in which he entered an account of each day's
travel and incidents, which is of much interest at
this day, and illustrates how great the change is
from the things of that day to the things of the
present time.
The first cotton factory at the falls of Amoskeag
was erected and put into operation in 1811. It stood
near the head of the falls on the west side of the
river, then in Goflfstown, about upon the ground
now occupied by the Cheney paper mills, within the.
present limits of Manchester. The product was
cotton yarn only, which was sold to be woven in
domestic looms. Mr. Stark was appointed to the
agency of this factory July 28, 1813, and filled that
position until May 11, 1814, when he went into
trade in Ooffstown as a partner to Captain Trask.
From this time until 1820 he continued in trade at
Ooffstown and at Manchester with various partners.
About 179s Judge Blodgett, the promoter and
builder of the .A.moskeag canal, built what was then
considered a splendid mansion next the east bank
of the Merrimack river, and close to the present
cotton mill, which he occupied until his death in
1807. In 1820. after occupying the place two years un-
der a lease, Mr. Stark purchased it, with its attaching
property, for residence and place of business, and
lived and traded there on his account up to the-
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
44S
time when he removed to Bedford in 1837. Samuel
P. Kidder was the first agent appointed by the
Canal company "to superintend the said canals, to
collect tolls," etc. He died in 1822, and Mr. Stark
was appointed his successor, and held the position
continuously about fifteen years, until 1837. Dur-
ing this period his correspondence shows him to
have been in active communication with the Bos-
ton agents of the proprietors of the Middlesex canal,
who also owned and controlled the river canals, and
he appears to have enjoyed at all times their full
confidence.
The beginning of the present manufacturing es-
tablishments of Manchester dates from 1S36. In
that year the Amoskeag Company began to pur-
chase the land adjacent to the falls with a view to
constructing canals and factories, and building up
a manufacturing town. Mr. Stark sold them such
portions of his real estate as they desired, includ-
ing the residence at the old Blodgett Mansion, and
at once commenced to build him a new dwelling
in the neighboring village of Piscataquog — then in
Bedford, but since annexed to Manchester, where
he took up his residence the next year, and from
which he never moved. From this period (1837)
to 1847 or later, he continued his mercantile busi-
ness in the village of Piscataquog. His attention
was directed to the care and management of his
investments, especially his landed property, which
being situated in and near the growing city of Man-
chester, had become valuable. Thus passed 'his de-
clining years. Identified with local projects of his
vicinity, in good fellowship with his neighbors, he
was respected and honored by all who knew him.
Mr. Stark was a person of tireless energy which
required constant employment. During the busier
part of his life matters connected with river na-vi-
gation and trade received his attention. In winter
there was leisure for public aft'airs. So prominent
and active a man, possessing such keen abilities,
could not fail to become identified with the business
affairs of the town. His attention to them insured
the best possible administration for the best pur-
poses, at the least cost to taxpayers. Accordingly he
was often called to fill public offices. From 1S19
to 1837 he held some town office almost every year.
From 1819 to 1823 inclusive he was town clerk.
He was on the board of selectmen in 1826-7-9, 1831-
2-4-5-6, and moderator in 1830-1-2-7. He repre-
sented the town in the lower branch of the legisla-
ture in 1824-5-6, and was a member of the senate
in 1830 and 1831. Most of the small quarrels of the
neighborhood were brought before him as justice
of the peace for trial or adjustment. His record
book of trials is carefully written out, and indicates
discrete judgment in his decisions. In 1833 he was
appointed one of the side judges of the court of
common pleas for Hillsborough county, a position
for which his business qualifications and knowledge
of the county eminently fitted him. He retained the
place about three years. "It is generally supposed,"
says an authority, "that these judges were but orna-
mental appendages to the learned judge who ac-
tively presided in court; but in addition to the dis-
charge of these duties, now substantially performed
by the county commissioners, they often aided the
court by their sterling common sense, in matters
requiring not legal learning merely, but an acquaint-
ance with men and the ordinary concerns of life,
which is not always possessed by the learned law-
yers." From the j-ear of his removal to Piscata-
quog, 1837 to 1842, Judge Stark was high sheriff
of the county of Hillsborough.
In i860 Judge Stark, whose health had gradually
declined since the death of his wife in 1856, was
stricken by a slight paralytic shock, and on March
26, 1861, he died on the sixty-ninth year of his age.
The public journals of that date paid him this just
tribute of respect : "Judge Stark was a man remark-
able for his industry, energy and correct business
habits ; and as a result of nearly half a century of
public and private business, has left behind a repu-
tation for reliability and strict integrity second to
no man in the state."
Frederick G. Stark was united in marriage, June,
1815, with Nancy Gillis, born 1791, died September
I, 1856, daughter of Jotham and Abigail Gillis. Her
father was the first agent of the Amoskeag factory,
and lived to be ninety-five years old, dying June 28,
1853. She was a lady in every way calculated to
promote her husband's happiness and prosperity,
and whose Christian virtues and benevolent life
endeared her to all who came within her sphere.
Their happy marriage relation continued unbroken
through forty-one years, until her decease,, Sep-
tember I, 1856. They were the parents of the fol-
lowing named children : Juliet, George, William
and Emma. The elder daughter became the wife
of her cousin, Henry C. Gillis, and the junior mar-
ried Jacob G. Cilley.
(V) General George, elder son of Judge Fred-
erick G. and Nancy (Gillis) Stark, was born in
Manchester, April 9, 1823, and died in Nashua,
April 13, 1892, aged sixty-nine. He attended the
common schools of the Amoskeag district of his
native town until he was nine years o,f age, and the
succeeding four years was a student at the acade-
mies in Pembroke and Milford. His attention was
chiefly devoted to the study of mathematics, and in
his mature years he supplied the deficiencies of his
early education by reading and study, as opportunity
offered. When he left the halls of instruction he
followed in the footsteps of his father, whose love
of practical and applied mathematics he inherited,
and returning to Manchester entered upon his career
as assistant with the chief engineer and surveyor
of the preliminary surveys for canals, factories and
streets of the city, whose growth at that time really
began. He was employed in this manner one year,
and when not at work he attended the academies at
Bedford and Sanbornton, and the high school at
Lowell, Massachusetts, the last mentioned school
then being under charge of Moody Currier, after-
wards a noted banker of Manchester, and governor
of New Hampshire. In 1836 he was employed
with the staff of engineers engaged in locating the
Nashua & Lowell railroad. The next year and
until 1846 he spent in alternate seasons of field
work with engineers, and study at the academies.
After the Nashua & Lowell railroad had been com-
444
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
pleted, he was engaged in locating the road between
Nashua and Concord, and later was employed in
the same capacity on the Northern road. He sur-
veyed and built one of the canals in Manchester, in
1843; surveyed the Vermont Central railroad in
1844, and the Old Colony road in 1845. The time
between 1845 and 1848 he spent in the preparation
of drawings for mill work, and in making a survey
to supply Manchester with water from Lake Mas-
sabesic. After this he was employed on the Nashua
& Wilton road, on the Stony Brook & Boston,
Concord & Montreal. On the last named road he
was chief engineer. With these works he practic-
ally concluded his labors as an engineer and con-
structor. Ill health prevented him from engaging
in active work for a portion of 1848, but in 1849,
after a season of rest, he became treasurer and
assistant superintendent of the Nashua & Lowell
road, which position he filled until 1852. In this
year he was appointed superintendent of the
Hudson River road, but held that position
only a little more than a year. An urgent
offer was made him to take the superintendency
of the Nashua & Lowell road and its branches,
and he accepted the position, and at once entered
upon the duties of the place. In 1857, he was made
manager of the Boston & Lowell road and its
branches, which position he filled with rare ability
for the following eighteen years. During that time
he assumed tasks of great magnitude and responsi-
bility in the construction of the Causeway street
depot, Boston, the extension of tracks, and the
opening of new lines of travel. Resigning this
position in 1875 (?)• General Stark engaged in
various other railroad enterprises, notable among
which was that of the Northern Pacific, in which
corporation he was a director and vice-president.
This was the last notable enterprise in the con-
struction or operation of railroads with which he
was connected. Feeling that he had done his part
in matters of that character, and willing to let
others enjoy in future the pleasures of which he
had enioved so generous a share in the past, in pro-
moting the great transportation facilities of the
country, he turned his attention to the less strenuous
occupation of banking, and with his son, John F.
Stark, devoted his last years to that business in
New York and Nashua.
General Stark's life was so full of cares that to
a person of less method or less executive ability
it would seem he could have no time for anything
but business ; but with all he had to do, he had time
to make his influence felt in political and military
circles. He was a Democrat, but not a partisan. In
1857-8-9 and i860, he served in the lower branch of
the state legislature, in i860 and 1861, was a can-
didate of his party for governor, and in 1863 and
1864 was a candidate for the mayoralty of Nashua.
His entry into state military organizations followed
soon after his political career opened. In 1857, he
was commissioned brigadier-general of the Third
brigade, New Hampshire militia, by Governor Haile.
In i860 he was commissioned colonel of the Gov-
ernor's Horse Guards, and in 1861, in the capacity
of brigadier-general, he proceeded to Portsmouth
and took charge of the troops that were rendez-
vousing there for service in the Civil war.
A review of General Stark's life work, covering
more than a half century, impresses one with the
idea of its magnitude. To have performed as
much as he did required method, industry, perse-
verance, and executive ability of high order. To
these he added a mental equipoise based on a found-
ation so deep that it was seldom disturbed, and his
temper and demeanor seldom rufHed. He was al-
ways quiet, courteous, deliberate — yet accomplishing
as much or more than those who make a great show
of activity. He took ample time to think, and, his
mind once made up, he was firm in maintaining his
opinions, but never rude ; tenacious of his purpose,
without being captious. He had a natural unre-
strained manner in conversation, and social quali-
ties that were freely manifested in company with
tested and worthy friends. As a writer of business
documents and reports he manifested power, method
and perspicuity, and his manuscript showed a care-
ful arrangement, neatness and precision of chiro-
graphy quite remarkable in one of his extensive
business experiences. His family residence in Na-
shua, though showing no taste for ostentation or
display, is an elegant structure in the villa style,
furnished with every comfort and convenience, and
adorned with works of art.
General Stark married first, 1845, Elizabeth A.
Parker, daughter of Daniel Parker, of Bedford.
She died January 18, 1847, and he married (second)
November 20, 1848, Mary Grace Bowers, born
February 14, 1818, daughter of Colonel Joseph and
(Rhoda) Bowers, of Chelmsford, Massachu-
setts. Two children were born of the second mar-
riage. John F. and Emma Grace, the latter the wife
of Edward B. Towne, of Newton, Massachusetts.
(VI) John F., only son of General George and
]\Iary Grace (Bowers) Stark, was born in Nashua,
April 14, 1851. He attended the public schools of
Nashua, prepared for college at Nashua high school,
entered Dartmouth College in 1867 and graduated
with the class of 1871. From 1871 to 1880 he fol-
lowed his profession as a civil engineer in the sur-
vey and construction of railroads in New England
and in the northwest. In 1880 he became his father's
associate in the banking business, in which he has
since been continuously engaged. He has inherited
many of the characteristics of his ancestors, chief
of which are industry, energy, integrity and good
judgment, and has been constantly successful in
business. He married (first) November 6, 1873,
Eva L. Barr, born December 10, 185 1, daughter of
Matthew and Esther (Allen) Barr, by whom he had
two children : Helen Grace, born August 24, 1874,
died December 23, 1874; George Francis, born July
2, 1875. She died July 9, 1875, and he married
(second) Carrie E. Barr, sister of his first wife,
born August 21, 1853.
Tradition says that this name is
LANGMAID of Scotch origin, but tradition is
often lame or flies on such reck-
less wings as to mislead many in pursuit. There can
be no doubt that this patronymic is of English
J-O^
Coii.^j^4x^oci^
I
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
445
origin, and was originally composed of two words
long (or lang) and mead, signifying a long meadow.
It was taken as a surname probably by some one
who resided in the locality thus described.
(I) The line herein traced begins with William
Langmaid, of whom no particulars seem now to
be obtainable.
(II) John, son of William Langmaid, is given by
one of the descendants as the next in line, but no
history of him seems to be obtainable.
(III) Samuel, son of John Langmaid probably
resided in the vicinity of Hampton, New Hampshire.
(IV) John (2), son of Samuel Langmaid, was
married October 29, 1765, to Hannah Edmonds, and
their children, born in Chichester, New Hampshire
were: Abigail, Samuel, Deborah, Sally, John, Han-
nah, Edward and William.
(V) Edward, third son and seventh child of
John and Hannah (Edmonds) Langmaid, was born
November 11, 1787, in Chichester, and cleared up
a farm in that town, where he resided. He married
Mehitabel Dodge, a native of Wenham, Massachu-
setts, daughter of John Dodge, who kept an old time
tavern in Hampton Falls, where the stages stopped
to refresh man and beast. His children were : Ed-
ward, Sarah, John, Albert, Samuel, Joseph W. and
Sarah Elizabeth.
(VI) Albert, fourth son and child of Edward
and Mehitabel (Dodge) Langmaid, was born Jan-
uary 23, 1816, in Chichester. At the age of nineteen
he left home and went to Concord, where he learned
the carpenter's trade. After a time he accepted
employment in the car shops of the Concord rail-
road at Concord, and became superintendent of
the wood working department in those shops. Be-
coming tired of the confinement of shop life he
retired from that position in 1873, and purchased
a farm near the academy in Pembroke, upon which
he lived until his death, December 31, 1891. He was
a man of upright character, and was widely es-
teemed and respected. An active member of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, he sought every way
to promote the progress of that body, and was af-
filiated with the order of United American Me-
chanics. In politics a Democrat, he was steadfast in
principle, but never desired any politjcal preferment
for himself. His first wife was Maris M. Whitney,
who died without issue. He was married (second)
March 28, 1887, to Nancy Jane, daughter of Parker
and Phoebe (Lull) Ames, and widow of William
Plummer Cilley. She was born November 24. 182S,
in Epsom, New Hampshire, and now resides in
Concord. She is descended from one of the oldest
American families. Her father, Parker Ames, son
of Samuel Ames, was born July 15, 1792, in An-
dover, Massachusetts. His wife, Phoebe, was born
February 26, 1787. They lived upon a farm in Ep-
som and died there.
William Plummer Cilley, son of Colonel Daniel
Cilley, was born November 24, 1808, in Epsom, and
passed the last twenty-five years of his life in Pem-
broke, where he died May 17, 1881. Both he and
his father were farmers. He was a man of in-
fluence, respected and well-liked, and filled the office
of selectman in Epsom. In political affairs he acted
with the Democratic party. He married Nancy J.
Ames, above noted as the widow of Albert Lang-
maid, and their only offspring was Emma Jane
Cilley, who was born April 17, 1864, in Pembroke,
and died in that town August 17, 1877.
The records state that Stickney is
STICKNEY a large village on the Boston road,
eight and one-half miles north of
Boston station, in the soke of Bolingbroke, Union
of Spilsby, Lindsley division, and diocese of Lincoln,
England. From this came the surname Stickney.
In the parish register of St. Mary's Church, in
the parish of Frampton in the Wapentake of Kirton,
Lincoln county, England, three and one-half miles
south from Boston, are many records of baptisms,
marriages and burials' of Stickneys from 155S to
1609. The name does not appear on those records
after that date. Tradition and information obtained
in England render it probable that the family re-
moved to Hull or its vicinity.
(I) William Stickney, the first settler, was the
ancestor of nearly all who have since borne that
name in America. It is inferred from records pro-
cured in England that he was the William who is
mentioned as baptized in St. Mary's Church, Framp-
ton, Lincolnshire, England, April 6, 1592, and the
son of William Stickney, of Frampton, who was
baptized December 30, 1558, and married, June 16,
1585, ^Margaret Peirson, and the grandson of Robert
Stickney of Frampton, who made his will October
3, and was buried October 18, 1582.
William Stickney, the settler, seems to have
come probably from Hull, in Yorkshire, England,
m 1637, and from the records of the First Church
in Boston it appears that "The 6t of ye nth moneth
1638 Willyam Stickney a husbandman &. Elizabeth
his wife" and others were admitted; and "The 24th
day of ye 9th Moneth 1O39, Our brethren Mr.
Henry Sandys, William Stickney x .x x by ye
Churches Silence were dismissed to ye gathering of
a Church at Rowley if the Lord so please.'' William
Stickney with his wife and three eldest children
were among the original settlers of Rowley, Massa-
chusetts. "On the seventh of October 1O40 x x .x
Willi : Stickney were admitted Freemen." In 1639
William Stickney had land allotted to him upon
which he erected a house, on the corner of Brad-
ford and Wethersfield streets. He was a member
of an important committee in 1652 to draw up "a
covenant and agreement," between the town of
Rowley and the first settlers of the Merrimack
lands, now Bradford. He was clerk of the market,
and on jury of trials in 1653, selectman 1656 and
1661, also in 1661 styled lieutenant. The ancient
possession books of Rowley contain frequent
records of grants of land to him and from him and
his wife. In the town books of Rowley it is
recorded that William Stickney was buried January
25, 1665. Elizabeth Stickney survived her husband
several years. The date of her death is not known.
On the two hundredth anniversary of the death
446
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
of William Stickney, a granite obejisk was erected
on his grave bearing the following inscription :
WILLIAM STICKNEY
BORN IN
FRAMPTON, ENGLAND,
A. D. 1592.
WAS. WITH HIS WIFE
ELIZABETH
OF BOSTON, IN N. E. IN 1638.
OF ROWLEY IN 1639.
WHERE HE DIED
A. D. 166.5.
ERECTED
BY HIS DESCENDANTS
JOSIAH STICKNEY.
OF BOSTON.
MATTHEW ADAMS STICKNEY
OF SALEM.
JOSEPH HENRY STICKNEY,
OF BALTIMORE, MD.,
1865,
The children of William and Elizabeth Stickney
were :
I. Samuel, born in England, 1633 ; married Julia
Swan ; Prudence Gage. 2. Amos, born England,
163s ; married Sarah Morse, June 24, 1663. 3. Mary,
born in England, 1637; married James Borker, Jr.
4. John born imo. 14 da. 1640; married Hannah
Brocklebank, June 29, 1680. S- Faith, born 12 mo.
4 da. 1641 ; married Samuel Gage. 6. Andrew, born
3 mo. II da. 1644; married Eduah Lambert; Eliza-
beth Jewett. 7. Thomas, born I mo. 3 da. 1646;
married Mehitable Kimball. 8. Elizabeth, born I
mo. 3 da. 1646 ; died December 4, 1659, Rowley,
Rec, December 7. Court Records. 9. Mercy, born
II mo. 4 da. 1648; died January 14, 1676. 10. Add-
ing, born II mo. 4 da. 1648; died September 17,
1660.
(II) Samuel (i), eldest son of William and
Elizabeth Stickney, was born in England in 1663.
He came with his father to Boston, thence to
Rowley, and lived with him till he was twenty-one
years old ; he then received his portion of his
father's estate and married. Soon afterward he pur-
chased a freehold consisting of "land dwelling house
and barn." His name appears in various places on
the records as grantor and grantee of land. He
was poundkeeper 1662-67. A lot was laid out to
him in the division of Hog Island Marsh in 1667.
In 1670 and later he was alotted a portion of the
Merrimack lands. One part where he settled is
now called Groveland. He was selectman of Brad-
ford 1671, '81. '82, '89, '91, '93, '94. and '95. He was
constable in 1676. He took the "Ooath of Fidelity"
in Bradford, December 16, 1678, before Captain
Saltonstall, and December 10, 1678, the "Oath of
Allegiance before Major General Denison, Esq."
at Ipswich. October 11, 1682, he took the "Free-
man's Oath." December 27, 1682, a church was
organized in Bradford, by the signature of eighteen
males to a covenant, of which he was one. He was
surveyor of highways and fences, 1684, 1692. 1707-
8. May 8. 1689, and died February 12. 1690. he was
representative from Bradford. A sudden revolution
had terminated Governor Andros's administration,
and in its stead there was established "A council of
safety of the people, and conservation of the peace."
The town of Bradford chose Samuel Stickney to
meet as one of sixty-five delegates from the colony
and meet at Boston May 9 to establish and confirm
a new government. He is styled lieutenant on the
Bradford Records of 1691. He was grand juryman
April 13, 1697, and on jury of trials 1701-8, and was
appointed tithingman 1704. He died in Bradford in
1709. A portion of his land is still owned by his
descendants in the seventh generation.
Samuel Stickney married (first) in Rowley, Feb-
ruary 18, 1653, Julian Swan, who died in Bradford
between the years 1670 and 1673. He married
(second) in Bradford, April 6, 1674, Prudence
(Leaver) Gage, who died in Bradford, October 26,
1716, aged seventy-two years. The children of
Samuel Stickney were: l. Elizabeth, born May 9,
1661 ; married Daniel Tenny. 2. Samuel, born 2-5,
1663; married Mary Heseltine. 3. William, born
8-21, 1665; died young. 4. Sarah, born October 20,
1667; died April 15, 1689. 5. William, born Jan-
uary 27, 1674; married Anna Heseltine, September
4, 1701. 6. Thomas, born March 19, 1677; drowned
in Merrimack river. June 12, 1689. 7. Jonathan,
•born February 11, 1679, died unmarried.
(III) Samuel (2). second child and eldest son
of Samuel (i) and Julia N. (Swan) Stickney, was
born in Rowley, February 5, 1663, and baptized there
April 4, 1675. In the year 1684 "Samuel Stickney,
Jr." was chosen one of the town committee to meet
with John Perle and Richard Whomes (Holmes)
about setting up a corn mill in Bradford, which was
afterwards erected on Johnson's creek, and was the
tirst of the kind put up there. He was selectman
1686, '87, '89, '96, 1701 and '03, assessor 1694, con-
stable 1699, and surveyor in 1707. 1708. He received
January 28, 1704. by deed of gift his portion of his
father's estate, six score acres of land in Bradford,
one half of his mowing ground and all his right of
land in Rowley. He was grantee and grantor of
other land.
Samuel Stickney married Mary, daughter of
Abraham and Elizabeth (Langhorne) Heseltine,
who was born in Rowley, April 30, 1672. Samuel
Stickney died in Bradford; his gravestone is still
standing in the burial ground there, bearing this
inscription: "Samuel Stickney, died December 30,
1714, in the 51 year of his age." March 17, 1716,
Widow Mary Stickney was admitted to full com-
munion in Bradford Church, where her children
were baptized. She was married (second) by Rev.
Thomas Symmes, August 30, 1722, to Jdseph Tidd.
and May 26, 1723, was dismisred to the church in
Lexington, where she died January 4, 1731. The
children of Samuel and Mary (Heseltine) Stickney
were: i. Sarah, born December 9. 1690; married
Samuel Spofford, June 17, 1717. 2. Mary, born Sep-
tember 29, 1692; married Richard Kimball, Jr.,
June 29, 1716. 3. Thomas, born August 23, 1694 ;
married Mary Mullickin; Dorothy Munroe. 4.
Elizabeth, born August 20, 1696; married Benjamin
Mullickin. 5. Amos, born October 31, 1699; died
before 1716. 6. Samuel, born August 24, 1701 ;
married Elizabeth Hardy; Susanna Johnson. 7.
Abraham, born October. 1703 ; married Abigail Hall,
February 20, 1728. 8. Ebenezer. born July 25, 1705 ;
died August 2, 1705. 9. Jonathan, born January 19,
1707, married Alice Symonds, January 21, 1734.
10. Richard, born May 9, 1709; married Mary ;
Susannah Tucker. 11. Dorothy, born March 18,
1712; married Joseph Tidd. July 31, 1731. 12. Ben-
jamin, born October 27, 1714; died before 1716.
(IV) Abraham, fourth son and seventh child of
Samuel (2) and Mary (Heseltine) Stickney, was
born in Bradford, October 16, 1703. He was a
servant to Benjamin Thurston, and served under
Lieutenant Peter Abbot from July 17 to November
14, 1722. The records also state that he marched
for the relief of Fort William Henry from Tewkes-
bury to Worcester, in Colonel Eleazer Tyng's regi-
ment, as ensign in command of soldiers drawn out
of Captain William Brown's company of Tewkes-
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
447
bury, August i6, 1757. He enlisted April 6, 1758,
from Tewkesbury, aged tifty-five, to go to Lake
George, in Colonel Eleazer Tyng's regiment, under
command of General Jeffrey Amherst. He lived in
Billerica and Tewkesbury, where he was Deacon
of the Congregational Church. He died in Tewkes-
bury August 23, 1783. He married, in Billerica,
p^ebriiary 20, 1728, Abigail Hall, of Dracut. She
died in Tewkesbury, June 14, 1785. Their children
were: I. Abigail, born July 12, 1731; married James
Kittredge, 4th, March 10, 1752. 2. Abraham, born
November 28, 1733 ; married Sarah Kittredge, De-
cember 9, 1755. 3. Benjamin, born December i,
1737; married • Plummcr; Hannah Grover. 4.
James, born August 6, 1742 ; married Mary Belknap.
5. Samuel, born about 1743; married, November 16,
1762; Eleanor Butman. 6. Elizabeth, born about
1745; died young. 7. William, born about 1747;
married Elizabeth ■ — .
(V) Samuel (3), fourth son and fifth child of
Abraham and Abigail (Hall) Stickney, was born in
Tewkesbury, about 1743. In a deed of March 20,
1767, he is described as "Samuel Stickney of
Tewkesbury, house-wright." He enlisted August 22,
1777, as lieutenant in Captain N. Carter's cornpany.
Colonel Steam's regiment, and marched to Williams
town, 1778. He settled in New Boston, New Hamp-
shire, and was an industrious and pious man. He
died at the advanced age of eighty-three years.
He married, November 26, 1762, Elinor Butman,
and they had six children: I. Samuel, born Jan-
uary 10, 1764; died September 5, 1764. 2. Samuel,
born January 22, 1766; married Sarah Gardner,
February 21, 1788. 3. Jonathan, born October 13,
1768; married Wealthy Chase, January i, 1793. 4.
Abial, born April, 1770; married Sarah Kittredge,
September 15, 1796. S- Timoth-, born August 6,
1776; married Sarah Trott, 1799. 6. Hannah, mar-
ried Josiah Brown, 1797.
(VI) Abial, fourth son of Samuel (3) and
Elinor (Butman) Stickney, was born in Tewkes-
bury, April 5. 1770. He lived in Troy, New Hamp-
shire, and in Johnson, Vermont, in 1822. He moved
in 1S27 to Eden, Vermont ; and in 1846 went with
his wife to North' Western, New York, to live with
a daughter, on account of his wife's health, where
she died. Ele lived for a time with his son Elvy
I., at Beverley, and then with Henry C, at Troy,
New Hampshire, where he died February 7, 1854.
He married, September 15. 1796, Sally Kittredge,
of .'\mherst, New Hampshire, who was born
.April 19, 1779, and died August 28,, 1847. They had
twelve children: i. Abial, born March 5, 1797;
died August 21, 1826, in New York. 2. Zephaniah
Kittredge, born December 14, 1798; married Lucy
Earl. 3. Roxana, born October 26, 1800; died Oc-
tober 6. 1820. at Mont Vernon, New Hampshire. 4.
Henry C, born April 2, 1802 ; married Sally Smith
and others. 5. James, born December 13, 1804 ;
married Mary Shattuck. 6. Sally, born December
15. 1806; married George D. Greenleaf, June 18,
1826. 7. Mary, born March 20. 1808; married Abel
Smith, October 27, 1825. 8. Nancy, born October
5. iSio; died December 25, 1810. 9. Nancy, born
January 10. 1812; died January 6, 1815. 10. Asa,
born February 5. 1815; died August 24, 1822. 11.
Lucia B., born August 2, 1820; married, December
I, 1836, Duke M. Shattuck. 12. Elvy L, bom June
14. 1822; married Lucia C. Kellogg, February 2,
1S48.
(VH) Henry C. third son and fourth child of
Abial and Sally (Kittrecjge) Stickney, was bom in
Mont Vernon, New Hampshire, April 2, 1802, and
for the greater part of his life was an industrious
tiller of the soil. He married (first) December 25,
1822, Mary Smith, of Eden, Vermont, who died,
childless, March 22, 1824. He married (second)
October 31, 1826, Nancy Sawyer, of Nelson, New
Hampshire, who was born March 21, 1806, and died
December 5, 1846. He married (third) June 14,
1847, Mary (McKeen) Beckworth, who was born
at Ackvvorth, New Hampshire, March 29, 1818,
daughter of Samuel and Polly McKeen. She left
her family to fmd her affinity with the Spiritualists,
and was divorced in 1S63 and died October 4, 1870.
Ke married (fourth) February 2. 1864. Valeria
O'Bryon Wright, of Hanover, New Hampshire, who
was born February 6, 1818, the daughter of D-.vid
and Irene L. Wright, who died May 12, 1877. He
nirrried (fifth) Elizabeth K. Purmort, in 1878. He
long resided in Lebanon, New Hampshire. He had
a home with his son, A. W. Stickney, at Spring-
field, Vermont, most of the time for thirteen years
before he died. His death occurred at Springfield,
March 27, 1896. He lacked but two weeks of being
ninety-four years old, and was the oldest man in
the town. His four sons bore his body to the tomb.
His children by the second marriage were : i.
Nancy M.. born November 19, 1827 ; married
Thomas W. Crosby: died in Nashua, New Hamp-
shire in 1892. 2. Abial, born April 7, 1829; married
Susan P. Derby, of Westmoreland, December 2,
1852. and lives in Texas. 3. Infant born March 3,
1S31, died March 31, 1S31. 4. Sarah S., born Feb-
ruary 24, 1832; married Augustin W. Shapleigh.
S. Lucy Jane, born June 5, 1834; married (first)
Appleton Oakes, of Troy, New Hampshire, Novem-
ber 10, 1852; (second) Stephen Follansbee; (third)
Charles Brice, June 2, 1904. 6. Silas S., born June
19, 1836, married Marion O. Stearns. 7. Julia A.,
born July 5, 1838, died .-August 16. 1840. 8. Clara A..
born February 6, 1840, married (first) George F. W.
Billings, of Methuen, June 31, 1859; (second)
Adam H. Cogswell, and died in Methuen, Massa-
chusetts, in 1892. 9. Orilla A., born July 17. 1844;
married William A. Wentworth, of Charlestown.
New Hampshire. The children of the third mar-
riage were: I. Augustin W.. born April 29, 1848.
2. Samuel A., born March 31, 1850; married Ella J.
White. 3. Mary A., born September 27, 1852; mar-
ried (first) George Jaquith ; (second) Rufus Jun-
kins. 4. Charles H., born February 21, 1S55 ; mar-
ried Elsie V. Cobb. 5. Orlando G., born February
16. 1857 ; married a Miss Catherine Jones. 6. Hen-
rietta C., born July 5. 1859, died January 22, 1864.
CVIII) Augustin W.. son of Henry C. and Mary
McKeen (Beckworth) Stickney. was born in Ma-
son, New Hampshire, .April 29. 1848. At an early
age he went out to work and supported himself.
When only si.xteen years old he enlisted as a soldier
in the War of the Rebellion. His father objected
to this, and in order to go the young man turned
over to his father all the government paid him for
his services. He enlisted September 13, 1864, in
Company B, Eighteenth Regiment Infantry, New
Hampshire Volunteers, and served with his regi-
ment until discharged, June 10. 1865. He learned
the blacksmith trade, at which he worked for years,
and later ran a stationary engine at Charlestown.
New Hampshire. . From there he removed to
Springfield, Vermont, July 13, 1873, where he
worked at the trade for one man twenty years and
four days. March 9, 1897, he purchased the busi-
ness for himself, and now employs several men and
448
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
does a prosperous business. He is an ingenious
mechanic, and has invented several labor-saving
appliances, some of which have been patented. He
is an active Mason and treasurer of the St. John's
Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and
past-commander of Jarvis Post, G. A. R. For some
years he was first engineer of the Volunteer Fire
Department at Springfield. He is a life long Re-
publican. December 31, 1868, he married Mary J.
White, daughter of Franklin and Caroline M.
(Pearson) White, born in Randolph, Vermont,
March 22, 1847. Franklin White, born in Nelson,
New Hampshire, September 13, 1S21, died at Spring-
field. Vermont. February 23, 1905, married May 20,
1846, Caroline M. Pearson, born in Randolph, Ver-
mont, April 24, 1822. The children of Augustin W.
and Mary J. (White) Stickney are: i. Henry L.,
born January 25, 1871. 2. Eva J.^ born in Spring-
field, Vermont, April 4, 1877, died September 2,
1878. 3. Harry C, born in Springfield, Vermont,
April 14, 1S82.
(IX) Henry Ladd Stickney, M. D., son of Au-
gustin W. and Mary Jane (White) Stickney. was
born at Lebanon, New Hampshire, January 25, 1871.
He got his primary education in the common schools
of Springfield, Vermont, and graduated from the
high school of that place in 1890. The same year
he entered Middlebury College (Vermont), where
he studied a year; and the following year matricu-
lated in the medical department of the University of
Vermont, from which he was graduated Doctor of
Medicine in 1894. In order to secure more money
to obtain his education, the young man had been
very industrious and very economical. The first
three years of his college course he was head bell-
boy for three months each year at the Profile House
in the White Mountains, where he received from his
employer his board, lodging and five dollars per
month wages, the money compensation just paying
for his uniform. The generosity of the wealthy
patrons of this great hostelry, however, compensated
for the deficiency in salary, and young Stickney had
generally accumulated money enough at the end of
the season to nearly pay his expenses for the ensu-
ing school year. Following his course at the Uni-
versity, Mr. Stickney spent the ne.xt six months va-
cation as an interne in the Boston City Hospital,
and in June following received his degree from the
College.
Dr. Thomas A. Sanborn of Newport, New
Hampshire, dying suddenly, Dr. Stickney was ad-
vised by his college preceptor to move to New-
port and begin practice, which he did, continuing
till 1903, and enjoying a successful business. In
October, 1903, the Doctor removed to Manchester,
and is earning well merited success. In July, 1906,
he opened what is known as Hillcrest. a private
hospital for the treatment of medical and surgical
diseases, which he is now conducting successfully.
He organized the Sullivan County Medical and Sur-
gical Society and was its first president, and was
medical referee of Sulivan county, and member O'f
the Newport Board of Health for years. He is a
member of the Hillsboro County Medical Society,
the Center District Medical Society, the New
Hampshire Medical Society, the New Hampshire
Surgical Club, and the American Medical Associa-
tion. He is a prominent Mason, a member of Mount
Vernon Lodge. No. 34, Newport, New Hampshire ;
Chapter of the Tabernacle, Royal Arch Masons, No.
19 ; Sullivan Commandery. Knights Templar, at
Claremont ; Mt. Sinai Temple, Order of the Mystic
Shrine. Montpelior, Vermont ; Order of the Eastern
Star, Aurora Chapter, Newport ; Ridgley Lodge No.
74, I. O. O. F., Manchester ; Amoskeag Grange No.
3, Manchester, and the Vermont Association of
Manchester. His political afiiliations are with the
Republican party. Dr. and Mrs. Stickney are mem-
bers of the First Congregational Church of Man-
chester.
Dr. Stickney married. May i, 1895, Leiia B.
Bridge, of Ludlow, Vermont, an accomplished vo-
calist, who received her musical education in Brook-
lyn, New York ; Minneapolis. Minnesota ; and Bos-
ton, Massachusetts ; sang in several prominent
churches in those cities, and also taught music there
and in Newport. New Hampshire, where she was
teacher of music in the public schools until her re-
moval to Manchester. She is the daughter of
George S. and Ellen M. Bridge, born in Lebanon,
New Hampshire, July 5, 1S70. Mrs. Stickney was
elected the first Worthy Matron of Aurora Chapter,
Order of the Eastern Star after its organization
at Newport. Their children are: I. Majoric Irene,
born August 8. i8g6. 2. Maurice JIcKeen, born
December 2;^. i8g8. 3. George Malcolm, born April
20, igo2.
(III) William, third son and fifth child of Sam-
uel (i) and Prudence Leaver (Gage) Stickney, was
born in Bradford. January 27, 1674, baptized at
Rowley April 4, 1675, died in Bradford where his
gravestone may still be seen in the old burying
ground, bearing this inscription : "William Stickney
died February 21, 1706, AE. 32." He received, May
4. 1704, by deed of gift from his father, "4 score
acres of land in Bradford, one half of his meadow,
and mowing ground, all his dwelling house and
barn, one half of his house to be possesst on at
present with the above said land, the other half
on his decease, one half of his upland and Crane
meadow in Rowley." The inventory of his estate
showed real estate valued at ninety-five pounds,
fifteen shillings ; personal, fifty-three pounds, eigh-
teen shillings, sixpence. He married in Bradford,
September 14, 1701, Anna Haseltine. After his
death she was married (second), March 31, 1709,
by Rev. Thomas Symmes, to Samuel Hunt, of Bil-
lerica. The children of William and Anna were :
Jeremiah, William and Daniel.
(IV) Lieutenant Jeremiah, eldest child of Wil-
liam and Anna (Haseltine) .Stickney, was born in
Bradford, Alassachuselts, August I. 1702, and died
in Rumford (now Concord), New Hampshire, April
II, 1763. in his sixty-first year. February 4, 1717,
David Haseltine, of Bradford, for love he bore his
grandchild, Jeremiah Stickney, son of his daughter
Anne Hunt, gave him part of his homestead and
lands in Bradford and Rowley, after his death and
that of his wife Mary. October 22, 1724, "Jeremiah
Stickney, late of Bradford, Massachusetts, now of
Lebanon, Connecticut, cordwainer, for £48, sells
his Aunt Rebecca all his right and title" in certain
lands in Bradford. March i, 1735, "Jeremiah Stick-
ney, of Rumford, gentleman, buys of John Jacques,
of Bradford. Yeoman, all his right and title in a
township called Penny-Cook, now Rumford. The
17th Lot in first range, with all lands laid out of
the same in said township, being his original
right." November 24, 1735, "Jeremiah Stickney, of
Rumford, Cordwainer, for iSo, buys of Benjamin
Carlton, of Bradford, yeoman, all his right in town
of Rumford, l8th Lot in first range of Homelotts,
and all other lands laid out to said lot, his original
right."
t^^M^
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
449
Jeremiah Stickney went from Bradford, ^Ias?achu-
setts, to Penny-Cook (afterwards called Rumiord,
then Concord, New Hampshire), about 1731. He
was not an original proprietor but became a pro-
prietor by the purchase of Benjamin Carlton's right,
also that of John Jacques. He applied for a war-
rant and settled in Penny-Cook ; and August 10,
1732, was on a committee for settling its bounds. He
was chosen assessor March 29, 1731, moderator,
October 10, 1732; also March 11, 1735, when he is
styled ensign ; was a committee for grist and saw
mills, November 2, 1732. He was one of the propri-
etors of Rumford, February 24, 1734; selectman from
1732 to 1736, and in 1742-43-45-46 and 49; surveyor
of highways, 1733-41; tythingman, 1732-33; sealer
of leather, 1734 and 1738. "Lieutenant (Jeremiah)
Stickney" paid thirteen pounds, one shilling, eight
pence toward Parson Walker's salary. A petition
praying to be protected from Indians, June 14, 1744,
has his autograph signature. He was on the "Mus-
ter Roll of a scout at Penacook and vicinity, under
Captain John Chandler, in the winter of 1745," and
served from February 16, to March 18. He was one
of a committee on the controversy between the
proprietors of Rumford and those of Bow, in regard
to the title of lands, and is styled "Lieut.," April
23, 1750. He was of Rumford, and called of Bow,
March 19, 1761, and was then styled "Col. Jeremiah
Stickney.'' His house, which stood where No. 170
North Main street, Concord, now (1906) stands,
was a garrison in 1746. It was occupied by succes-
sive generations, and in 1867 was owned and oc-
cupied by Joseph P. Stickney, esquire, his great-
grandson. He was married by Rev. Thomas Symmes,
November 12, 1724,, to Elizabeth, daughter of
Thomas and Elizabeth Carlton. She was born in
Bradford, March 7, 1696, and died in Concord June
I. ^^7729 aged sixty-seven. Their twelve children
were: William; Thomas; Jonathan, died young;
Elizabeth; Sarah, died young; Sarah; Jonathan;
Ann; Bcthiah, died young; Mehetable; Miriam and
Bethiah.
CV) Coloiiel Thomas, second son and child of
Colonel Jeremiah and Elizabeth (Carlton) Stick-
ney, born in Bradford, Massachusetts, June 15, 1729,
died in Concord. New Hampshire, January 26, 1809.
He settled with his father in Concord. He was one
of those appointed to the garrison around his
father's house in 1746. In the year 1747 he was out
from September 4th to 12th under the command of
Captain John Sanders, scouting in Rumford and
Canterbury. May 11, 1748, he was out under the
command of Captain John Goffe. in theYieighborhood
of Amoskeag, to defend the frontier from Indians.
In 1755 he paid seven pounds, one shilling, eight
pense toward the salary of Rev. Mr. Walker. He was
one of a committee to repair the meeting house,
April 7, 1772. He was appointed and served as tything-
man in 1767-70-74; selectman, 1774-83-84-85 and 86;
moderator of town meetings, 1775-76-77-78-80-S1-
82 and 89; signed the test, March 14, 1776; was
chosen on the committee of safety, 1776-77-79;
delegate to the ordination of Mr. Colby at Pem-
broke, 1780; and was representative in 1777-78 and
79. January 26, 1778. he was chosen representative
to the convention which met to form a plan of
government for the state. In 1781 a convention was
called at Concord for planning another form of gov-
ernment. This convention adjourned to January,
1782, when it met and rejected the constitution.
November 29. he was appointed one of a committee
to take the subject under consideration, and aii!>ther
meeting was held December 16, 1782, of which he
was moderator. October 31, 1783. the constitution
was accepted by the people. His town rate for 1778
was fourteen pounds, eleven shillings, six pence.
He subscribed forty dollars toward the court house,
if set on land of his son William. It was built there
in 1790. He received his commission as lieutenant-
colonel of the Ffteenth New Hampshire Regiment,
January 20, 1774. In 1777 he was employed for a
part of the time in arresting Tories. He was col-
onel at Ticonderoga, July, 1777; and was one of
twenty-eight men of Concord, who were in the battle
of Bennington, August 16, 1777, where he com-
manded a regiment under Colonel Stark, on the
right wing of the army, and where he particularly
distinguished himself. He married, in Concord,
Anna, daughter of James and Hannah (Hazen) Os-
good. She was born July 18. 1732. and died in
Concord. January 20, 1802. They had eight chil-
dren: Elizabeth; Mary, died young; ^^'iIliam ; Jere-
miah, died young; Jeremiah; Mary; Thomas and
James Osgood.
(VI) Mary, third daughter and sixth child of
Colonel Thomas and Anna (Osgood) Stickiwy.
was born in Concord, October 30. 1766, and died
1863. She married, first, John Souther, who died'
November 23, 1804, aged forty-four : and second.
John Odlin, who died in 1840, aged eighty-two.
Her children were : Thomas Stickney ; Samuel ;
Anna; John; Elizabeth, died young; Elizabeth;
Joseph, and Woodbridge, the latter the only child
of the second marriage.
(VII) Anna, eldest daughter and third child of
John and Mary (Stickney) Souther, was born Feb-
rauarv 19. 1791, and married Porter Blanchard.
(See Blanchard VI).
The McLanes were an ancient Scot-
McLANE tish tribe or clan, famous in history
both prior to and after the federation
of Scotland with England. The name occurs fre-
quently in the annals of border warfare, and the
character of its bearers fully exemplified the de-
fensive qualities of the floral emblem of their
country, the thistle. The spirit of chivalry, which
formerly dominated the Scottish character, has been
superseded by a desire to progress in a direction
far more agreeable with modern civilization, and
descendants of the once proud and defiant chieftain
are now to be found among our great captains of
industry. To this distinguished and eminently use-
ful class of leaders among men belongs Hon. John
McLane, the retiring chief magistrate of New
Hampshire.
(I) Malcolm McLane resided at Dunbarton,
Scotland.
(II) Alexander McLane, son of Malcolm, was
born in Dunbarton. He became an expert wood
engraver, and in 1854 he emigrated to the United
States, accompanied by his w'ife and children, set-
tling in Manchester in 1855. lie married Mary Hay.
also a representative of a Scotch family of ancient
lineage, and of this union there are two sons :
Malcolm, an iron moulder, and Hon. John McLane,
a brief outline of whose unusually successful busi-
ness career and able public services is given in the
succeeding paragraphs.
(III) lion. John McLane, son of Alexander and
Mary (Hay) McLane, was born in Lenox Town,
Scotland. February 27, 1852. Two years later he
was brought by his parents to America and. during
that part of his life which in:iv )••• t. ■•,•,,, .,t ii,.> ,,!■,_
450
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
cational period, he attended the public schools
through the winter seasons while his summers were
devoted to mechanical employment, for which he
possessed a natural aptitude. Having learned the
cabinet maker's trade, he followed it as a journey-
man, and prior to his majority was considered an
expert workman. At the age of twenty-two he ac-
quired an interest in the furniture manufactory at
Milford, New Hampshire, and some two years Uiter
(1876) he became sole proprietor of the business,
which he immediately proceeded to enlarge and de-
velop. Although commencing his business career
practically without capital, his natural ability en-
abled him to attain prosperity solely through his
own individual ett'orts, and he subsequently turned
his attention to the production of postoffice furni-
ture and equipments, establishing the ]\IcLane Man-
ufacturing Company. This industrial enterprise is
not only the most important one in Milford, but is
now regarded as the largest of its kind in the United
States, and its products have acquired a high repu-
tation in the various centers of trade. Aside from
his legitimate sphere of action he has attained
prominence in financial circles, having been presi-
dent of the Souhegan National Bank for the past
fifteen years, and he is a director of the New Hamp-
shire Fire Insurance Company of JIanchester. From
his majority to the present time Mr. McLane has
firmly supported and earnestly advocated the prin-
ciples and traditions of the Republican party, and
he has long maintained a weighty influence in public
affairs — town, county and state. His business promi-
nence, progressive tendencies and well known in-
tegrity naturally made him an eligible candidate for
office, and when called upon to assist in admin-
istering the public business of the state, he readily
responded with zeal which fully corroborated his
reputation as a public-spirited citizen. His record
as a public official is a most honorable and efficient
one. He was elected to the lower house of the state
legislature in 1885, and again in 1SS7 ; also served
two terms in the state senate, 1891 and 1893, being
president of the last named body both terms. His
efforts in behalf of good government cannot be too
highly estimated. In 1896 he was a delegate to
the Republican National convention, which nomi-
nated William McKinley for the presidency. In
1904 he was chosen governor of New Hampshire,
to which office he brought a plentiful amount of
wisdom, executive ability and high ideals, and these
essential qualities, so absolutely necessary in sus-
taining the dignity and integrity of a high public
official, have been so admirably, tempered with his
well known democratic simplicity, as to bring the
chief magistrate of the state on all occasions within
close touch with the people. Governor McLane is
a thirty-third degree Mason and Past Grand ^.faster
of the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire. He also
affiiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows and is a member of several Boston social
bodies, including the old Boston Club. He married,
1880, Ellen L. Tuck, daughter of Ebenezer Tuck,
of Milford, a lady of social prominence, being state
Regent of the Daughters of the American Revo-
lution, and a member of several women's clubs.
Their children are: Clinton A., Hazel E., John R.
and Charles M.
The traditions of the Knowlton
KNOWLTON family date back to the days of
William the Conqueror. At that
time there were two brothers who won their spurs
during the invasion of Wales. One of these re-
sided on a hill and the other on a knoll, and when
William the Conqueror invested them with honors
and insignia of knighthood he dubbed one Hilton,
and the other Knowlton. .A.long the pages of Eng-
lish history the name of Knowlton occupies an
honored place.
(I) The American branch traces descent from
Richard Knowlton, a native of Kent, England. He
was born in 1553. married 1577, Elizabeth Cantize.
(II) William, youngest son of Richard and Eliz-
abeth Knowlton, born 1584, married Ann Elizabeth
Smith, and their children were: John, William,
Deacon Thomas and Samuel.
(III) William, fourth son of William (i)
Knowlton, adopted a sea faring life and was captain
and part owner of an ocean vessel. He sailed for
.America in 1632, and died off the coast of Nova
Scotia. His body was taken ashore for burial, and
his widow, after disposing of her interests in the
ship, proceeded to Hingham, Massachusetts, where
it is said she married a second time. (Mention of
his son William and descendants appears in this
article.)
(IV) John, second son and third child of Cap-
tain William and Elizabeth A. (Smith) Knowlton,
was born 1610, and married, in 1633, Marjorie Wil-
son. He was a shoe maker by occupation, and lived
in Ipswich, became a citizen there in 1639, and was
made a freeman June 9, 1641. He was one of the
subscribers, December 19, 1648, to a fund for the
payment of Major Dennison, to whom was en-
trusted the defence of the community against In-
dian assault. It appears that he was the owner of
much land at the time of his death, October 8, 1655.
His wife, Marjorie Wilson, was from England. She
survived him a few months. Their children were :
John, Abraham and Elizabeth.
(V) John (2), eldest child of John (l) and
Marjorie (Wilson) Knowlton, was born 1633, and
like his father was a shoe maker. He subscribed to
the freeman's oath October 16, 1680, and was
draughted in the Narragansett expedition Novem-
ber 30, 1670. At forty-two years of age he began to
lose his eyesight. It is apparent that he was a man
of property, as he figured e.xtensively in the real
estate records. He was one of the town selectmen
as shown by the official records. Before 1679 he
removed to Wentham, and died there October, 1684.
He married (first), Deborah (surname supposed
to be Grant) and his second wife's name was Sarah.
She died February 4, 1678, and his children were:
John, Nathaniel, Elizabeth, Thomas, Daniel, Sus-
annah and Ephraim.
(VI) Daniel Knowlton resided in HoUiston,
^lassachusetts. The name of his wife has not
been ascertained. They had sons : Daniel and Jon-
athan.
(VII) Daniel (2), eldest son of Daniel (i)
Knowlton, resided in Hopkinton, ]\Iassachusetts.
He married Borguilla Lamb, and their children
were Ruth, Daniel and Sarah.
(VIII) Daniel (3), only son of Daniel (2) and
Borguilla (Lamb) Knowlton, was born 1717, in
Holliston, Massachusetts, and resided in Framing-
ham, Massachusetts, where he died September 15,
1782. He married Abigail .'\lmy, and had: William,
Mary, Asa, Elias, Anna, Daniel, Nathan and John.
(.IX) John, youngest child of Daniel (3) and
Abigail (.A-lmy) Knowlton, was born January 24,
1745, in Framingham, ^lassachusetts, and resided
in Dublin, New Hampshire. He married (first),
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
451
]\Iartha Jennings, and their children were : John,
Elizabeth, James (died young), Abigail, Betsey,
Thaddeus, Simeon, Henry and James. The mother of
these died October 2, 1797, and Mr. Knowlton was
married (second), February 19, 1798, to Elizabeth A.
Wight. Her children were: Eliza, Luke, Ira,
Mary and Levi.
(X) Luke, son of Deacon John Knowlton and
second child of his second wife, Elizabeth A.
Wight, was born August l, 1801, probably in Dub-
lin, New Hampshire, and resided in that town in
early life and removed to Marlboro, in April, 1849,
where he died December 4, 1882, aged eighty-one
years. He was married, December 28, 1826, to
Mercy Bemis, daughter of James and Lois (Walker)
Bemis of Dublin. She was born September 12, 1804,
in that town and died, November, 1892, in Marlboro,
Their children were : James, Luke, Eli B., Caroline
E., Charles, Lois, Jane (died young), Sarah Ann
and Maria Jane, died young.
(XI) Luke (2), second son and child of Luke
(i) and Mercy (Bemis) Knowlton, was born Sep-
tember 5, 1S30, in Dublin. He was educated in
the common schools of that town and of Marlboro,
and his early labors were in the saw mill
of his father in JNIarlboro, where he con-
tinued two years. He then in 1851, went
to Worcester, Massachusetts, and was em-
ployed by the Curtis Machine Company for a period
of seven years; during this period he taught school
for a term in New Worcester. At the end "oi that
time he established a retail grocery store in Wor-
cester with a partner, under the style of Nixon &.
Knowlton, which continued some two years. For
live years succeeding this he was engaged in the
carpenter work in Worcester. Returning to Marl-
boro, he enlisted in 1862 in Company A, Fourteenth
New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry, and served
during the remainder of the Civil war as a soldier.
The regiment was first stationed for a short time at
Washington, and thence proceeded up the Potomac
river, where it remained six months, at the end of
which time it was again ordered to Washington,
and remained there nearly a year. It then proceeded
to New Orleans and was commanded by General
Banks for a time. Returning to Washington he was
engaged in the campaigns in the Shenandoah Val-
ley, and subsequently proceeded to Savannah,
Georgia. From that point the regiment went to
Augusta, Georgia, and was finally discharged at
Savannah, in 1865, he being mustered out a non-
commissioned oHicer. He is a member of John
Sedgwick Post No. 4, G. A. R. Upon his return
to Marlboro, Mr. Knowlton engaged in the manu-
facture of wooden ware and operated a grist mill,
and conducted a grain business with his brother,
James Knowlton, which business continued for a
period of thirty-four years. Since 1899 Mr. Knowl-
ton has been practically retired from business. He
is a member and has been of the committee on fi-
nance of the Congregational Church. He has been
a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows, and has served as treasurer of the local lodge
of that order for thirteen years, passed all of its
chairs, member of the grand lodge, and past dis-
trict deputy. In political principle he is an earnest
Republican but has never sought for official station.
He was in former years active in advancing his
party's interests, serving on local committees and
as president of the local Republican '~lub.
His chief public service has been in the capacity
of representative in the legislature, which station
he filled in 1885, serving as secretary of the com-
mittee on mileage. He was married November 29,
1854, to Jane Pierce, of Millbury, Massachusetts,
who died November 2, 1861, leaving one child, Jen-
nie M,, who was three weeks old at the time of her
mother's death. Jennie M. married Alden JVI. Rip-
ley, of Swanzey; by whom she had four children —
Mary, Charles, Grace and Minnie. Mrs. Ripley
died in July, 1893. Mr. Knowlton was married
(second) September 5, 1867, to Hannah M. Town-
send, daughter of James and Sarah (Kilham)
Townsend. She was born May 24, 1837, in Gilsum,
New Hampshire. She is the mother of one daugh-
tef, Carrie T. Knowlton, born August 12, 1878.
(IV) William (3), son of Captain William and
Ann Elizabeth (Smith) Knowlton, was born 1615,
in England, and resided in Ipswich, Massachusetts,
where he was a bricklayer. He was a member of
the Congregational Church, and was a freeman in
1642. He was granted commonage with pasturage
for one cow and a share in Plum Island. He pur-
chased a lot of John Andrews, wdiich he sold De-
cember 12, 1643, to Edward Bragg, of Ipswich, to-
gether with a house thereon. He died in 1655 and
the inventory of his estate was made July 17, of
that year. The valuation of the estate was placed
at £37, 2 shillings, i penny. His debts amounted
to £27, 14 shillings, i penny. His wife's name was
Elizabeth Ann Smith, and their children were :
Thomas, Nathaniel, William, John, Benjamin, Sam-
uel and Mary.
(V) John, fourth son and child of William (3)
and Elizabeth Knowlton, was born 1644, and refided
for a time in Ipswich, whence he removed to Man-
chester, Massachusetts, about 1670. He was made
freeman in 1669, and took the oath of allegiance in
Manchester in 1680. He was a carpenter, and an
industrious and thrifty man, and dealt largely in
real estate. He was captain of the local militia. He
married Bertha Carter and their children were :
John, Robert and Ezekiel.
(VI) Ezekiel, third son of John and Bertha
(Carter) Knowlton, was born 1679, and resided in
Manchester, where he died in 1706. He was mar-
ried January 29, 1698, to Sarah Leach, who sur-
vived him and was appointed administratrix of his
estate, November 4, 1706. Their children were:
Deborah, Robert, Ezekiel and Sarah.
(VII) Robert, eldest son and second child of
Ezekiel and Sarah (Leach) Knowlton, was born
July 17, 1701, in Manchester, Massachusetts, where
he resided and died in 1775. By occupation he was
a carpenter. He was married December 24, 1724, to
Lydia Bishop, and their children were: Lydia,
Sarah, Anna, Rachel, Robert, Mary, Ezekiel and
John.
(VIII) Ezekiel (2), second son and seventh child
of Robert and Lydia (Bishop) Knowlton, was born
April I, 1740, in Manchester, and resided in that
town where he died January 6, 1818. He enlisted
in the colonial army at the age of eighteen years,
and served in the French and Indian war, enduring
great privations and much suffering. At the close
of the war he returned to his native place, and was
married February 5. 1762, to his cousin, EI)zal)eth
Woodbury. She died Alay 6, 1826. having survived
him more than eight years. Their children were:
Robert, Sarah, Ezekiel, John, Mary, Levi, Nathaniel,
James and Lydia.
(IX) Robert, eldest child of Ezekiel (2) and
Elizabeth (Woodbury) Knowlton. was born 1761,
in Manchester. He was a sergeant in the American
452
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
army in the War of 1S12. When a young man he
lived for a time in Hopkinton, New Hampshire,
whence he removed to New London as a pioneer of
that town. He cleared land there and was also
prominent as a school teacher. Among his pupils
was the wife of his son Samuel, who is mentioned
below. Late in life he moved to Vive, Indiana,
where he died. He married Jemima Smith and
their children were : Robert, Samuel, Josiah, So-
phronia, John, Julia, Sally, Eliza, Sophia and Daniel.
(X) Samuel, second son and child of Robert and
Jemima (Smith) Knowlton, ws born June 16,
1791, in New London, New Hampshire, and died
September 13, 1846, in Suuapee, and was buried in
the cemetery in that town. He received a good
education, and was a representative citizen and an
influential man. He cleared up a farm and made
farming his occupation but was frequently called
upon to serve the town and was its representative
in the legislature two years. He was married No-
vember II, 1813, to Betsey Pike, who was born Sep-
tember II, 1787, in New London, and died August
28, 1881. She was buried beside her husband in the
Sunapee cemetery. Their children were : Dennis G.,
Moses F. and John P. The three of these have
been representatives in the state legislature. (John
P. and descendants receive notice in this article.)
(XI) Dennis G., eldest son of Samuel and Bet-
sey (Pike) Knowlton, was born September 23, 1814,
in New London, and died in Sunapee, April 11,
1894. He was educated in t'lie public schools and
followed farming until 1862, when he went into
trade. At first he took a store alone and was later
in partnership with his two sons, Moses F. and
Charles A. He was married, June i, 1843, to Eliza-
beth Chase, who was born October 8, 1813, and died
August 10, 1894. She was the daughter of John
and Elizabeth (Rogers) Chase, and a granddaugh-
ter of John Chase. The latter was born July 16,
1739, a son' of Elihu (i) Chase (see Chase, VIII).
He died July 4, 181 1. His son, John C. Chase, was
married in 1794 to Elizabeth Rogers, and they were
the parents of Elizabeth Chase, above named as
the wife of Dennis G. Knowlton. The children of
the last named couple were Moses Flanders and
Charles A. The last named, born November 21,
1846, married Emily Trow, and had one daughter,
Alice L., who now resides with Captain John P.
Knowlton. (A sketch of the latter appears in this
article).
(XII) JMoses Flanders, eldest child of Dennis
G. and Elizabeth (Chase) Knowlton, was born July
24, 1845, in Sunapee, and received his primary edu-
cation in the public schools of that town. He was
subsequently a student at Colby and New London
academies. He was engaged in farming from an
early period in life until 1852, when he became asso-
ciated with his father and brother under the firm
name of Dennis G. Knowlton & Sons, in the mer-
cantile business. For about twenty years he con-
tinued this association in Sunapee, and then re-
moved to Newport, and for four years conducted
the Hotel Phenix. Subsequently for a period of
two years he was engaged in the livery business at
Sunapee. He has been largely employed in the pub-
lic service. He served seven years as selectman,
during four years of which time he was chairman of
the board. In 1890 he represented the town in the
state legislature. In early life he served some timfe
as town clerk, and has recently been a member of
the committee appointed by the governor and coun-
cil to lay out state highways. For four years he
was deputy sherifif of Sullivan county under High
Sheriff Holt. In 1890 Mr. Knowlton erected his
present commodious residence of nineteen rooms
near Lake Sunapee, where he entertains summer
tourists and vacationists. It is one of the finest
homes in Sunapee, occupying a most delightful
location on an elevation overlooking Sunapee Lake.
Besides this he is the owner of shore lands and
dwellings in Sunapee and New London. He is a
member of the Odd Fellows Lodge at Sunapee and
the encampment at Newport of the same order.
He was (first) married in August, 1869, to Jennie
Farmer, who died January 14, 1879. He married
(second) February 22, 1882, Lucy I. Dickinson,
who was born May 16, 1843. They had one son,
John D. Knowlton, born July 4, 1887, in Newport,
and died in Sunapee, April 16, 1903.
(XI) Captain John Perkins, third son of Sam-
uel and Betsey (Pike) Knowlton, was born October
10, 1821, in Sunapee, and received his education in
the town schools. He was reared upon a farm, and
upon attaining manhood was employed as a farm
laborer upon the home farm and elsewhere. Though
his wages were small, he was industrious and pa-
tiently preserved his earnings, and in time became
interested in a mercantile business. At the age of
twenty-one his worldly possessions consisted of one
hundred twenty-five dollars. In the year 1844 he
entered into partnership with his brother in the
mercantile business, and after eight years he bought
out his brother's interest and continued as sole pro-
prietor until 1862. He then disposed of the mercan-
tile business and retired to his farm. In 1870 he
erected the Knowlton Block in the village 01 Sun-
apee, which is the principal business building of that
place. He erected under his personal supervision
a handsome residence which stands upon his fine
farm of twenty-five acres, and here he enjoys the
fruits of his early industry and frugality. For
some years he was a director of the First National
Bank of Newport, ultimately resigning that position.
He was commissioned first postmaster of Sunapee,
September 12. 1845, and for eleven years he served
in that capacity. He was commissioned by Gov-
ernor Gerard B. Williams, January 4, 1848, as cap-
tain of the local militia, known as the Sunapee
Guards, and he continued in command of that or-
ganization for several years. He served the town
as clerk for four years, and was one term town
treasurer. In 1S56-7 he represented the town in the
state legislature, and for many years he served as
justice of the peace. In politics Captain Knowlton
is a Democrat, and in religious faith a Universalist.
Captain Knowlton began life without anj^ ad-
vantages, and has made his o*n way in the world.
Conditions since the time of his youth have very
much changed. He felt that he was getting large
wages when he received a dollar per day for the
long days in haying time, in his youth. Today much
larger wages are paid for a considerable shorter
da}'. His success in life has been fairly earned,
and he is in the enjoyment of the respect and es-
teem of his fellows, and the evening of his life is
passed in contentment in the community, which he
has seen developed from small beginnings. In 1906
he made a gift to the town of Sunapee of ten
thousand dollars, which abolished the debt of the
town, and in appreciation of this he received a
handsomely engrossed copy of the thanks of the
town from the selectmen and his portrait was placed
in the town hall. This crowning act of generosity
reflects great credit upon Captain Knowlton, and
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
453
is anotlier illustration of the noble and generous
character of the man. He' was married October 23,
1848, to Abbie S., daughter of William and Mary
(Stevens) Morgan. She was born April 16, 1826,
in Xew London, and his wife was born April 27,
1797. ill Newbury. They were married October 25,
1821, and he died October 7, 1875, being survived
more than ten years by his wife who died Novem-
hev 19, 1885. Their children were : Thomas. Bel-
■dcn, Abbie S., Marietta, Alonzo. Marshall, Franklin
W. and Simeon S.
Those bearing this patronymic have con-
DANA tributed to the growth and development
of New England and the United States
"by service in divinity, the law, in medicine, litera-
ture, and in worthy effort along all lines of Ameri-
can life. Among its most distinguished representa-
tives may be mentioned : The late Charles A. Dana,
who made the New York Sun one of the best news-
papers in the country : Francis Dana, minister to
Russia, chief justice of Massachusetts: Daniel Dana,
president of Dartmouth College; United States
Senator Judah Dana, of Maine ; and numerous able
ministers of the gospel in many states.
(I") The family was founded in .\merica by
Richard Dana {" first written Danie and Dany). who
Avas (according to tradition) born in France about
1612-15. Richard is believed to have come to our
shores from Enghr.d about 1640. He was an early
resident of Cambridge. Massachusetts, where he
sold a farm in 1656 to Edward Jackson. This was
situated in the western part of old Cambridge (now
Brighton) and known as the Hannwcll farm. Rich-
ard and his vvife v/ere members of the church at
Cambridge in 1656. He was a builder, and his
death was caused by a fall from a scaffold, .'\pril 2,
1690. He married Ann Bullard, who died June 15,
171 1. Their children were: John, Hannah, Sam-
uel, Jacob. Joseph, Abiah, Benjamin, Elizabeth, Dan-
iel. Deliverance and Sarah. (Mention of Daniel
and descendants appears in this article).
(II) Jacob, third son and fourth child of Rich-
ard and Ann (Bullard) Dana, was born February
2. 1654. in Cambridge, and died December 24, 1698.
His estate was appraised June ig. 1699. and an ad-
ministration upon the estate of his widow Patience
w-as granted in 171 1, indicating the time of her
death. His property was divided among his chil-
dren, including Samuel, the eldest, Jacob, a minor,
tind daughters. The list of his children is as fol-
lows, according to the History of Cambridge : Jacob
(died when an infant), Hannah, Experience, Sam-
uel, Abigail and Jacob. From the fact that Hannah
was alive in 1706, it is apparent that "eldest" in the
division means eldest son, not child. One record also
credits to him daughters, Elizabeth and Patience.
(HI) Jacob (2), younger son of Jacob (i) and
Patience Dana, was born August 13, 1699. and was
a posthumous child. For this reason it has been
difficult to trace his line, and only the discovery of
the appraisement of his father's property, with its
division, made his identity authentic. He settled in
Pomfret (or .-Xshford, now Eastford), Connecticut,
where he died in 1791, aged ninety-two years. His
•children w'Cre : Jacob, .\nderson. E.xpericnce (died
3-oung), Mary. Abigail, Zeruiah (died young). Ex-
perience, Zeruiah, Robena, Sarah, Priscilla and
Elmer.
(IV) Anderson, second son and child of Jacob
(2) Dana, was born October 17, 1733. in Ashford.
Connectictit, and was educated as a lawyer. In 1772
he settled at Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where he
acquired a large tract of land and engaged in prac-
tice. He was killed during the terrible Wyoming
valley massacre, July 3, 177S. His wife escaped
with her children and returned to Connecticut, car-
rying her husband's papers in a pillow case. The
children were put out to live among the farmers
of the vicinity, and grew up hardy and industrious
citizens. Their names were as follows: Eunice.
Daniel. Susanna, Sarah, Anderson, Asiel, Sylvester
and Eleazer, all born in Ashford. About 1785, An-
derson, Asiel and Sylvester returned to Wilkes-
Barre and settled on the land owned by their late
father, and the first two of these remained there.
(.'Kn account of Sylvester and descendants is a part
of this article). The mother, Susanna Huntington,
was born June, 17,30, in Lebanon, Counecticut, and
died February 7. 1818. at the home of her son in
Orford, New Hampshire. At the time of . Mr.
Dana's removal to Wilkes-Barre, that region was
considered a part of Connecticut, and he was ad-
mitted to the legislature of his native state as rep-
resentative of the town of Westmoreland, Pennsyl-
vania, in 1778.
(V) Daniel, eldest son and second child of An-
derson and Susanna (Huntington) Dana, was born
September 16. 1760, in .^Vshford. Connecticut, and
was at school in his native state at the time of the
Wyoming massacre. He became a lawyer in En-
field, Connecticut, where he resided until about 1795,
and was a prominent man. On March 14, 17S9. the
marking of his stock was recorded, and during that
year he received several town orders for services
rendered. On January 23, 1791. with his wife, he
was admitted to the church at Enfield, and on May
r following three of their children were baptized.
On November 11, 1793. he was "chose" with two
others "chorester", to lead the singing in church ;
and again November 10, 1794, one of four "quaris-
ters" for same service. His name then disappears
trom Enfield records. He was married February g,
1785, to Dorothy Kibbe, of one of the oldest En-
field families, and their children were as follows:
Persis K., Dolly (died an infant), Anderson. Nancy,
Sarah and Mary (twins, who died when seventeen
days old). Sarah (died one year old), Sarah, Daniel
Huntington, Mary. Harriet (died at six luonths),
William Kibbe, Harriet. Edward and Dolly Jane.
The first became the wife of Thomas Carlyle, and
resided at Lancaster, this state. About 1795, Mr.
Dana moved to Guildhall, Vermont, where he was
subsequently probate judge for many years. His
last days were spent at the home of his son in
Warren, Ohio, where he died November 8. 1839.
(VI) Anderson, eldest son and third child of
Daniel and Dolly (Kibbe) Dana, was born Janu-
ary 15. 1790, in Enfield, Connecticut, and was a child
when his parents moved to Vermont. He became
register of probate under his father, and subse-
quently went to Hinsdale, New Hampshire, where
he was for a short time engaged in trade. He re-
turned to Guildhall, and in the w-inter of 1823-4
moved to Pembroke, New York. In his last years
he lived in or near Warren, Ohio, and died there.
He was married in Vermont to Ann Denison, a
woman of strong character, a descendant of one of
the oldest and best New England families. They
were the parents of four children, Charles A., Jun-
ius. .\nn IVIaria and David Denison.
(VII) Charles Anderson, eleventh and youngest
child of Anderson and Sarah (Stevens) Dana, was
born in Hinsdale, New Hampshire, .\ugust 8, 1819.
454
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
He lived in the home of his parents, and attended
school until he was old enough to perform the duties
of a clerk, and then went to Buffalo, New York,
and worked in a store until 'he was eighteen years
of age, by which time he had fitted himself for col-
lege. He entered Harvard in 1839. but serious
trouble with his sight temporarily disabled him, and
prevented his finishing the university course. After
two years in college he became enamored of the
communistic ideas which were being carried into
effect at "Brook Farm," and, probably with the no-
tion that open air living such as he would get under
the regulations of that institution was the best thing
for his health, he joined in the experiment with a
number of educated and cultivated associates,
among whom were Theodore Parker, William
Henry Channing. George William Curtis, Nathaniel
Haw_thorne, George Ripley, and Margaret Fuller.
The" Brook Farm Association of Education and
Agriculture was an expression of transcendentalism
and the Fourier communistic movement in Europe.
The experiment was in many of its phases a pro-
test against the Calvinism which had long domin-
ated New England thought and action. The asso-
ciation had a farm of two hundred acres at West
Roxbury. Massachusetts, where those who lived
upon it plowed, hoed, and made liay. and tried to
make butter. The community became quite Fou-
rierite by 1843, and a year later very much Sweden-
borgian. Mr. Dana was the only person connected
with the enterprise who had the practical business
nature to attack the complicated economic questions
brought to his notice, and when a fire in 1846
burned part of the buildings the undertaking was
at an end.
Mr. Dana's first newspaner training was obtained
about this time in connection with a social journal
called the Harbinger. After about two years of
editorial work on Elizur Wright's Boston Cleron-
iype, Mr. Dana joined the staff of the New York
Tribune, in 1847. .The next year he spent eight
months in Europe, and after his return he became
one of the proprietors and the managing editor of
the Tribune, a part which he held until April i.
1862, The e.xtraordinary influence and circulation
attained by that newspaper during the decade pre-
ceding the war of the rebellion was partly due to
the development of Mr. Dana's genius for journal-
ism. This remark applies not only to the making
of the Tribune as a newspaper but also to the man-
agment of its staff of writers, and to the steadiness
of its policy as the leading oi'gan of anti-slavery
sentiment. The great struggle of the Tribune un-
der Greeley and Dana was not so much for the over-
throw of slavery where it already existed, as against
the further spread of the institution over unoccupied
territory and the acciuisition of slave holding coun-
tries outside of the Union. It was not less firm in
its resistance of the designs of the slave holding
interest than wise in its attitude toward the extreme-
ists and implacables of the north. In the Tribune
opposition to the attempt to break down the Mis-
souri Compromise and to carry slavery into Kansas
and Nebraska, and in the development and organ-
ization of that popular sentiment which gave birth
to the Republican party and led to the election of
Abraham Lincoln in i8(5o, Mr. Dana bore no unim-
portant part. Mr. Greeley was hopeless of the polit-
ical situation of 18.^4, but did not attempt to re-
strain his associates in their opposition to the slave-
holding power. Mr. Dana and others opened and
continued a powerful opposition in the columns of
the Tribune, and did very much to rally and re-
assure the friends of freedom, and to nerve them
for the fight. In 1861 Mr. Dana went to Albany
and used his influence for the nomination of Horace
Greeley for United States senator, in the contest
between Greeley, Evarts and Harris. Mr. Dana was
almost successful in his efforts, but the Evarts men
supported Mr. Harris at the last moment, and he
received the nomination. A divergence of opinions
regarding the proper military operations, in the first
year of the war, caused a disagreement between Mr.
Greeley and Mr. Dana which resulted in the resigna-
tion of the latter after fifteen years service on the
Tribune. He was at once offered by Edwin M.
Stanton, secretary of war. a position of importance
in that department, which he accepted. In- 1863
he was appointed assistant secretary of war, an
office which he held until hostilities terminated. In
the war department the powers given to Mr. Dana
and the confidence placed in him, enabled him to be
of the greatest service to the Union cause, and to
e.xercise an appreciable influence upon the progress
of the war. He possessed the rare and valuable
faculty of judging men, his discernment being un-
erring in regard to the appointment of officers to
high positions and their assignment to grave and
important duties. He was a firm friend to General
Grant at a time when Grant's character and probable
usefulness were unknown quantities, and when most
powerful influences were at work to do him injury.
Mr. Dana's duties obliged him to make frequent
rapid journeys to different parts of the country for
the purpose of observing and reporting to Mr.
Lincoln and Mr. Stanton the condition of affairs.
During the campaigns of northern Mississippi and
Vicksburg and at Chattanooga he was in the saddle
at the front most of the time.
At the close of the war he was invited to become
the editor of a newspaper in Chicago, the Repub-
lican, an invitation which he accepted. The paper
soon failed, through no fault of Mr. Dana, and he
returned to New York, and organized a company
which purchased the Sun. at that time an old and
moribund property. Under Mr. Dana's editorial
management it entered upon a remarkably successful
course. The first number of the paper under his
editorial supervision appeared January 27, 1868, and
was Democratic in politics. From that time it was
an important factor in political journalism. He
soon showed the purpose which ever afterward
actuated him — of making his paper a sharp, aggres-
sive instrument, independent of party limitations,
and unbounded by party ties, .^t the same time he
carried it on as a newspaper remarkable for the com-
pleteness of its arrangements for the collection of
news, and for the excellence with which that news
was presenteil to the public. Neither money nor
labor were spared to obtain the very best editorial
talent to make the Sun a leading journal. Mr.
Dana was a man of strong character, with pro-
nounced opinions of his own, and succeeded in mak-
ing a sufficient number of enemies to keep the Sun
constantly before the public. Eccentricity in the
management of the paper was often noticeable :
such, for instance, as its sudden change of base in
the matter of the Beecher trial, and such, again, as
its advocacy of General B. F. Butler for president of
the United States during the campaign of 1S84. In
that campaign the Sun was pronounced in its oppos- •
ition to Grover Cleveland, the Democratic candidate,
and effusive in its expressions of confidence in the
success of General Butler, who received at that
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
455
election from the combined greenback and anti-
monopolist parties 133,835 out of 10,000,000 votes.
The Stin supported ^Ir. Tilden for the presidency,
and was bitter over the manner in which the elec-
tion of 1876 terminated, always thereafter styling
Rutherford B. Hayes, in its columns, the "Fraud
President." In 1880, when General Winfield Scott
Hancock was the candidate of the Democratic party
for president, Mr. Dana did not give the candidate
his support, a most important contribution to the
literature of the campaign being the statement, in
the columns of tlie Sun, that the Democratic can-
didate was "a good man and weighs two hundred
and fifty pounds."
Mr. Dana's independence and adhesion to what
he considered a trtt'e course was demonstrated in his
incisive and severe attack upon the administration
of President Grant, whose friend he had shown him-
self in the dark days of the Civil war. His action
at this time led to a notable attempt on the part of
the administration, in July. 1S73, to take him from
Xew York on a charge of libel, to be tried without
a jury in a Washington police court. Application
for a warrant for his removal was made in the
United States district court in New York, but the
warrant was refused, the proposed form of trial be-
ing held unconstitutional.
Mr. Dana's "genius for journalism." and his un-
tiring devotion to newspaper work did not keep him
from literary work. He was employed by D. Apple-
ton & Company as a reader for several years after
he went on the staff of the Tribune. His first book
was a volume of stories translated from the Ger-
man, entitled "The Black Ant," published in T84S.
In the year 1855 he planned and edited, with George
Ripley, the "New .American Encyclopedia," the ori-
ginal edition of which was completed in 1863. In
1857 was first published by the Appletons, Mr. Dana's
"Household Book of Poetry." a ' collection of the
best minor poems of the English language, one. of
the most pleasing compilations of the kind ever
made. It passed through numerous editions, and
continued to be popular. With General James H.
Wilson he wrote a "Life of Ulysses S. Grant." which
was published in 1868. In association with Rossiter
Johnson, he also edited "Fifty Perfect Poems"
(New York. 1883).
"Perhaps to a greater extent than in the case of
any other conspicuous journalist, Mr. Dana's per-
sonality was identified in the public mind with the
newspaper which he edited. He recorded no theories
of journalism other than those of common sense and
human interest. He was impatient of prolixity,
cant, and the conventional standards of news im-
portance." "He was a man of remarkable intellec-
tual power, and extraordinary editorial gifts. His
vigorous personality invariably dominated every in-
terest or movement with which he was connected."
"A man of ijotable personal appearance, Mr. Dana
gained a high character as a public man, and was
freely called upon in connection with important oc-
casions. Retaining always his interest in intellectual
employment, he kept himself surrounded, at his
luxurious home on Long Island, with valuable works
of art and choice books, devoting his leisure there
to congenial pursuits. He was frequently mentioned
for political honors, but he preferred the editorial
career, in which he made himself eminent."
(V) Sylvester, fourth son and seventh child
ot Anderson and Susanna (Huntington) Dana, was
born July 4, 1769, in .^shford, Connecticut, and w-as
nine years old on the day following his father's
tragic death at Wilkes-Barre. Soon after the fam-
ily returned to Connecticut he was placed in the
home of Major Hyde, a farmer of Lebanon, Con-
necticut, and a hard taskmaster, at least, as viewed
in modern eyes. The boy was forced to rise before
daylight in summer, and begin his day's labors,
which never ended until sundown. Tiring of his
hard life and being ambitious to do something for
himself, he joined his brothers in reclaiming their
birthright in Pennsylvania, being then not quite six-
teen years of age. Their provisions became low before
they could produce a new crop, and for six weeks
they lived on boiled parsley and milk, until corn was
sufficiently matured to eat. They persevered, and
prospered, and. after six years. Sylvester sold out to
his brothers and returned east, in order to secure
an education. It is evident that he had previously
studied much by himself, for he fitted in one year
for college and entered Yale in 1793. graduating in
1797 at the age of twenty-eight years. During his
sophomore year he was admitted to the college
church, and he was the classmate of men who sub-
sequently became eminent, including Rev. Dr. Ly-
man Beecher. Judge Henry Baldwin, of the United
States supreme bench. Professor James Murdock,
Hon. Horatio Seymour, and others. Upon gradua-
tion Mr. Dana took up the study of theology with
Rev. Dr. Charles Backus, of Somers. Connecticut,
and was licensed to preach June 5, 1798. During
that year he preached in various places in Connecti-
cut, and in the following year at Wilkes-Barre and
Hanover. Pennsylvania. He was employed in the
following winter by the Connecticut Missionary So-
ciety to preach in the new settlements of Western
New York. In the spring of 1800 he preached three
months at Windsor, Vermont, and subsequently at
Haverhill and Orford. New Hampshire. Both these
places extended to him a unanimous call to become
settled pastor, and he accepted that of Orford. being
ordained May 20. 1801. For nearly twenty-one
years he continued in this relation, usually preaching
.nlternatcly at the east and west meeting houses.
\Vhen the church became independent of the tow-n a
new society was organized, consisting of people of
Orford and Fairlee, Vermont. Air. Dana w'as set-
tled over this parish February 19. 1823, and con-
tinued until his resignation in 1S33. For the next
four years he was in charge of the church in Thorn-
ton. New Hampshire, and retired on account of
failing health, in 1837. During his pastorate at
West Orford ninety-seven members were added to
the church, and his labors at Thornton were fruitful
in accessions. Upon his retirement he took up his
residence at Concord, where he passed aw'ay June 9.
1849, being almost eighty years of age. After his
retirement he made two visits to the \\'yoming Val-
ley, and preached occasionally. By the burning of
his residence in Concord he lost his library of five
hundred volumes and all his manuscript sermons
and a history of the Wyoming Valley, narrowly es-
capin.g with his life. Among active opponents o£
human slavery, he acted politically with the Feder-
alists, though not a politician in any ?"iise. He was
married March 2, 1802. to Hannah Kimball, daugh-
ter of Deacon John Kimball, of Concord, (sec Kim-
ball. VI). She was born June 24. 1777 and died
November t6. 1846. in Concord. Their first child.
Samuel, died in infancy. .Xnne Kimball, born De-
cember, tSo,^. became the wife of Dr. Ruel Barrows,
of Fryebiirg. Maine, and died in Minnesota. Robert
Parker died when three years old, John when one
year old. and Lucia in childhood. Charles Backus,
456
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
born March 26, 1S06, was an Episcopal clergyman,
located twenty-six years at Alexandria, Virginia,
and spent the balance of his life in Mississippi, the
last eight years in Natchez, where he died in 1873.
A son named Sylvester died in infancy, and the sec-
ond Sylvester was born in 1816. He receives ex-
tended mentior: below. Hannah, born February i,
1819, married Rev. Samuel S. Tappan, a Congrega-
tional clergyman of Conway, who died in Philadel-
phia. Pennsylvania. She died April 19, 1855, in
Providence. Rhode Island.
(VI) Sylvester (2), youngest son of Rev.
Sylvester and Hannah (Kimball) Dana, was born
October ig, 1816, in Orford, this state, and has long
been among the most active and useful residents of
the commonwealth. He attended the common school
of his native town and spent a term at Plaverhill
Academy. Nearly three years were passed in fitting
for college at Phillips Andover Academy, and he
entered Dartmouth College in 18,35, graduating in
1839. He immediately took up the study of law
with Pierce & Fowler, of Concord, one of whom
afterward became -president of the United States,
and the other a noted judge. Mr. Dana was ad-
mitted to the bar in October, 1842. and for the suc-
ceeding twenty years was busily engaged in practice
at Concord. In June, 1862, he was appointed judge
of the police court of Concord, and continued to
serve in that position until he was retired by the
constitutional age limit, in October, 1886, a period of
over twenty-four years. He was not, however, at
this time incapacitated for business, and continued
for many years to practice law. He is a well-in-
formed and interesting man, with clear mind and
sound judgment, now in his ninetieth year.
Judge -Dana is among the founders of the Re-
publican party, to whose interest he has since been
a devoted contributor. He attends the North Con-
gregational Church of Concord, is a member of the
New Hampshire Historical Society, of which he
served as corresponding secretary, and of the local
chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, of
which he has been vice-president. These associa-
tions indicate a line of study and interest in litera-
ture, as well as the best interests of the community
generally. He was married November 8, i860, to
Mary Jane Seavey, who was born April 29, 1837, in
Chichester, this state, a daughter of Nathaniel and
Mary Ann (Hinds) Seavey, of that town. Mr. and
Mrs. Dana have lost six children, one reaching the
age of- sixteen years and another twenty-three, the
others dying in infancy.' Of the two living. Charles
Sylve.'ter, born August 30, 1861. was long connected
with the New York Sun and is now a resident of
New York City. Alice Louise. December 30, 1S79,
resides with her parents in Concord.
(II) Daniel, sixth son and ninth child of Rich-
ard and Ann (Bullard) Dana, was born in Cam-
bridge March 20. 1663. He was chosen tythingman
for the year 1700, served as surveyor the following
year, and his death occurred October 10. 1749. He
married Naomi Croswell, who was born in (Tharles-
town. 1669. and died in February, 1751. Their chil-
dren were : Thomas, Caleb. Richard, Maria, Hepziba,
Timothy, Priscilla and Ebenezer.
(III) Richard, third son and child of Daniel
and Naomi (Croswell) Dana, was born in Cam-
bridge. June 26. 1699. He was the first of the name
to enter Harvard College, from which he was grad-
uated in 1718, and he became an eminent lawyer in
Boston. He wa? an ardent patriot during the excit-
ing period which preceded the American Revolution,
and mainly instrumental in preventing the enforce-
ment of the odious "Stamp Act." For many years
he resided in Charlestown, and he died in Boston in
1772. May 31, 1737. he married Lydia Trowbridge,
daughter of Judge Edmund Trowbridge. Her death
occurred at Newton, Massachusetts, April 7, 1776,
at the age of sixty-five years. Their children were:
Lydia, Edmund, Henry. Francis, Mary, Robert,
Anne. Mary (second), and Lydia (second), who
married Major John Hastings, of the Continental
-army.
(IV) Hon. Francis, third son and fourth child
of Richard and Lydia (Trowbridge) Dana, was born
in Charlestown, June 13, 1743. He was graduated
from Harvard in 1762; was made a Doctor of Laws
by his alma mater in 1792. and Recame a lawyer of
ability. In 1778-83-84-86-87 he was a delegate to
the (Continental congress. He was one of the early
diplomatists of the United States, having served as
secretary of the American legation in Paris under
Minister John Adams, and was appointed the first
n.inister to Russia. Upon his return to the United
States he resumed his profession, and afterwards
became chief justice of the Massachusetts supreme
court. He was an extensive real estate owner in
Cambridge, and died there April 25, 181 1. August
$■ 1773. he married Elizabeth Ellery. daughter of
William Ellery. of Newport, Rhode Island, one of
the signers of the Declaration of Independence. She
died August 31, 1S07. The children of this union
were : Edmund Trowbridge, Francis, Edmund
Trowbridge (second), Martha Remington (who
married Washington Alston, the famous portrait
painter). Richard Henry, Elizabeth Ellery and Sarah
Ann. Edmund Trowbridge Dana (second) founded
the Dana Library, Cambridge.
(V) Francis, second son and child of Hon.
Francis and Elizabeth (Ellery) Dana, was born in
Cambridge, May 14, 1777. After graduating from
Harvard he turned his attention to mercantile pur-
suits and for many years was a successful merchant
in Hamburg. Germany. He died in Boston, Decem-
ber 28, 1858. August 4. 1802, he married Sophia
Willard, daughter of Joseph Willard, president of
Harvard College. Her death occurred February 27,
1S40, at the age of sixty-seven years. Their chil-
dren were : Sophia Willard. became the wife of
Rev. George Ripley; Mary, Elizabeth. Francis and
Joscrih Willard, who was graduated from Harvard
in 1828.
(VI) Francis Dana, M. D., third child and
eldest son of Francis and Sophia (Willard) Dana,
was born in Cambridge. December 2, 1806. He
took his medical degree at Harvard in 1S31, and
was for some time a student with the celebrated Dr.
Jackson. He practiced medicine in Greenfield, Mas-
sachusetts, for about three years, but returned to
Boston, where a much broader field of operation
was open to him, and he was a physician of marked
ability in that city for many years, or until failing
health compelled him to withdraw from professional
life. He was subsequently for a few years an in-
spector in the Boston Custom House, and from 1858
to 1871 was assistant librarian of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences. He died June 30,
1872. On June 25. 1825, he married Isabella Hazen
White, who bore him four children : Francis, born
September 28. 1835, died May 11, 1843; George
Hazen. the date of whose birth will be given pres-
ently : William Ellery. born April 27. 1839, died June
7, 1846: and Isabella Hazen, bom February 9. 1847.
(VII) Colonel George Hazen Dana, second son
'^c^L-^
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
457
and child of Dr. Francis and Isabella Hazen
(White) Dana, was born in Boston. September 2,
1S37. He was educated at the Lancaster (Massa-
chusetts) Academy, and at the well-known Chaun-
cey Hall School, Boston. When seventeen years
old he went to Java on the ship "Flying Fish," and
upon reaching that island he accepted a position in
the large commission house of Paine, Strieker &
Company. Two years later he engaged in the com-
mission business on his own account at Singapore,
and upon a visit to Boston he induced Francis D.
Cobb to return with him to the far east as his part-
ner. When the news reached him, in 1862, of the
rebellion of the southern states, his patriotism caused
him to return with all possible haste, and upon his
arrival he enlisted in the Thirty-second Regiment,
Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, as second lieuten-
ant, and was subsequently made captain of his com-
pany. For some time he served as an aide on the
staff of Major-General N. J. T. Dana, commanding
the department of the Mississippi West, and was
mustered out with the rank of lieutenant-colonel
at the close of the war. Once more sailing for the
Orient he continued in the commission business at
Singapore until 1S70, when he returned permanently
to the United States, and for the succeeding five
years was engaged in the sheep raising business near
Laramie City, Wyoming. For the past thirty years
he has -resided in Newport, New Hampshire, de-
voting his attention exclusively to the management
of his property. For many years he has acted as a
justice of the peace. He is a member of the Went-
worth Club, Keene, and also of St. James Church,
Burkhaven, Lake Sunapee.
On February 22, 1865, Colonel Dana married
Frances Matson Burke, daughter of the late Hon.
Edmund and Ann (Matson) Burke, the former of
whom was born in Westminster, Vermont, January
2^. i8og, and died in Newport, January 25, 1882.
Ann Matson Burke was born in .Stoddard, New-
Hampshire, June 20, 1823, and died in Newport,
January 25, 1857. Mrs. Dana is a lineal descendant
in the seventh generation of Richard Burke, of Sud-
bury. Massachusetts, from whom the line of descent
is through Richard, Jonathan,- Captain Jesse, Elijah
and Hon. Edmund Burke. The first Richard Burke
is supposed to have been born about the year 1640,
and died at Sudbury in 1693-94. On June 24. 1670,
he was married in Sudbury to Mary Parmenter,
born there June 10, 1644, daughter of John and Amy
Parmenter, and granddaughter of Deacon John
Parmenter. who was one of the first--settlcrs in that
town. Hon. Edmund Burke was an able lawyer,
and prominent politician of his day. In 1834 he es-
tablished his residence in Newport, and immediately
became a leading spirit in the Democratic party of
New Hampshire. From 1839 to 1845 he was a mem-
ber of congress ; w-as commissioner of patents under
President Polk : and for a time was associated with
Thomas Ritchie in editing the IFasliinglon Union,
which was at that period the chief organ of the na-
tional Democratic organization. .'\bout the year
185,0 Mr. Burke retired from political life and re-
turned to his home in New-port, where he spent the
remainder of bis days. His wife, Ann (Matson)
Burke, was the daughter of Francis and Susan (Gil-
son) Matson, the former of whom was tlic only son
of Hon. Aaron and 'Frances (Carpenter) Matson.
Hon, Aaron Matson was at one time representative
to congress from New Hampshire. Frances Mat-
son, who married Colonel George H. Dana, was
born in Washington, District of Columbia, October
7, 1S47. There is a family tradition which asserts
that Mrs. Dana is a lineal descendant of Peregrine
White, who is distinguished in history as the first
white child born in New England. Mr. and Mrs.
Dana have one son, Francis, who is a lawyer of
ability and is connected with the law firm of Messrs.
Rawlins & Rawlins, of New York city.
This name has been traced to the
SPALDING town of Spalding, in Lincoln-
shire, England, a market town of
about six thousand people, at this time. In the
market place is a spa or spring of chalybeate wa-
ter, and some have conjectured that this forms the
foundation of the name. All the men of the name
of Spalding, or nearly all, are and have been of
strong physique. Another authority conjectures
that the name is derived from "spal," an old Eng-
lish word meaning "shoulder," and another old
English word "ding" meaning "strike, and it is
presumed the the early Spaldings were noted as
"shoulder strikers." But be that as it may, the
name has been borne in this country by many men
of much worth, and it has been distinguished in
military and civic life in all sections of the United
States. It has been computed that eighteen of this
name participated in the battle of Bunker Hill,
where one had his horse shot under him. It has
been noted in medicine, in the ministry, in law and
in extensive business concerns. Down to 1872,
there were fifty college graduates.
(I) Edward Spalding probably arrived on
American shores between 1630 and 1633. He is
found of record at Braintree, Massachusetts, where
he was made a freeman May 13, 1640. On October
1, 1645, his petition with those of nineteen others
for a grant of ten thousand acres of land was
granted by the general court. In 1652 he was one
of twenty to petition for the establishment of the
town of Chelmsford, and this was granted on May
10 following, and the settlement began immediately.
He was one of the selectmen chosen at the first
town meeting there in 1654, again in 1656 and in
1660-61. On the first division of lands, February
4, 1661, he was granted twenty-eight acres. In 1663
he was surveyor of highways and in 1665 one of a
committee to lay out the meadow lands. In 1666
be was one of the surveyors of Newfield, of which
he was one of the original proprietors, and after-
wards he was one of the surveyors of North
Chelmsford. He is of record in 1664 as possessing
an orchard of apple-trees which was then much
desired in the colony. His first wife Margaret died
at Braintree, in August, 1640, and his daughter
Grace died the following year. He died February
26, 1670, and his second wife Rachel prior to .April
5 of the same year. His estate was appraised at
one hundred twenty-six pounds nineteen shillings
four pence above his debts, which amounted to
about thirteen and one-half pounds. At the time
of this appraisal bis wife's wearing apparel w-as
valued at two pounds ten shillings. His children
by the first wife were : John, Edward and Grace ;
by the second wife : Benjamin, Joseph, Dinah and
.Andrew. (The last named, and descendants are
mentioned at length in this article.)
(II) John (l), eldest son of Edward (i) and
Margaret Spalding, was born about the year 1633.
He came to Chelmsford with bis father, probably
in 1654, and died in that town October 3, 1721. He
was made a freeman March 11, 1690, and there
were conveyances of land to him on November 16,
458
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
i6ss, in 1683, and on January 29, 1696. In Hill's
Journal of the War Expenses, 1675-76, John Spald-
ing is mentioned as a soldier under Captain Man-
ning in King Philip's war. He married in Concord,
May 18, 1648, Hannah Hale, who died August 14,
1689. Their children were : John, concerning
whom see forward, Eunice, Edward, Hannah,
Samuel, Deborah, Joseph and Timothy.
UH) John {2} eldest son of John (l) and
Hannah (Hale) Spalding, was born February 15,
1659, in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, whence he re-
moved with his family to Plainfield, Connecticut.
He married (first), September 20, 1681, Ann Bal-
lard, of Andover, Massachusetts, and had children :
Anna, Samuel, Jonathan, Deborah and Eleazar
(twins), Dinah and William. He married (second),
November 18, 1700, Mary Fletcher, a widow.
(IV) Jonathan, second son and third child of
John (2) and Ann (Ballard) Spalding, was born
August 7, 16 — . He resided in Plainfield, Connecti-
cut, where his death occurred in 1761. He married,
April 22, 1714, Judah Billins Mane, who died in
1736. They had children : Hannah, Uriah, Lois,
Dinah, Philip, Abel, Jesse, Dyer and Lucy.
(V) Abel, third son and si.xth child of Jonathan
and Judah Billins (Mane) Spalding, was born in
Plainfield. Connecticut, July 10, 1728. He removed
to Cornish, New Hampshire, where he was still
living in 1S08. He served in the war of the revo-
lution in the regiment of Colonel Chase, which was
raised to reinforce the garrison at Ticonderoga,
and was in service from June 27 to July 4, 1777.
He was a lieutenant in the autumn of 1777 in the
same regiment. He joined the Continental army
under General Gates, and also served in other regi-
ments. He married, November 23, 1749, ]\Iary
Anderson, born in Ireland, May 2, 1730, and they
had children : Azra ; Joseph, enlisted in the Con-
tinental army for three years. May 10. 1782 ; Abel,
Lucv and James.
(VI) Abel (2). third son and child of Abel (i)
and Mary (Anderson) Spalding, was born in Cor-
nish, New Hampshire, September 30, 1756. He
served during the war of the revolution from June
22 to July 4, 1777, at Ticonderoga, in the regiment
of Colonel Chase. He married Elizabeth Chase,
daughter of Judge Samuel Chase, who was one of
the first settlers in Cornish, and they had children :
Lovell ; Lebbens ; Joshua ; Samuel ; Zebina ; Betsy,
who married Amasa Stowcll (see Stowell VI);
and Nancy.
(II) Andrew, youngest child of Edward and
Rachel Spalding, was born November 19, 1652, and
died May 5, 1713. He succeeded by will to the
paternal estate, and was a deacon of the church at
the time of his death, in which position he was
succeeded by his son and grandson. He was mar-
ried, April 30. 1674. to Hannah Jefes. a daughter
of Henry Jefes of Billerica. She died, January 21,
1730. Their children were : Hannah, Andrew, Henry,
John, Rachel, William, Johanna, Benoni and Mary.
(Mention of Henry and John and descendants
forms a part of this article.)
(III) Andrew (2), eldest son and second child
of Andrew (i) and Hannah (Jefes) Spalding, was
born, March 25, 1678, in Chelmsford, where he
passed his life and died November 7, 1753. He was
a deacon of the church there. On September 2d,
1726, he deeded land in Londonderry, New Hamp-
shire, to John Goffe of that town. He was married
February 5, 1701, to Abigail Warren, who died
May 12, 1768. Their children were : Andrew,
Jacob and Henry (twins), Josiah, Ephraim, Isaac,
Abigail and Joanna (twins), James, David, Ben-
jamin and Sally. (Isaac and descendants receive
mention m this article).
(IV) Josiah, fourth son of Andrew (2) and
Abigail (Warren) Spalding, was born in Chelms-
ford, Massachusetts, January 3, 1706. He was a
member of Captain Robert Richardson's snow-
shoe company in Chelmsford, in the year 1724, one
of the years of Lovell's war. He was admitted
to the church of Westford by letter from the church
in Chelmsford, March 15, 1736, and after his mar-
riage resided in Westford, where all his children
were born. He married, July 2, 1733, Mary Fletcher
of Westford, who was admitted to the Church of
Westford June i, 1735, and they had children:
Josiah ; Isaac ; William, see forward ; Elizabeth ;
Lucy ; and Mary.
(V) William, third son and child of Josiah
and Mary (Fletcher) Spalding, was born in West-
ford, Massachusetts, September 11, 1737, and died
June 28, 1805, in Cavendish, Vermont, to which
place he had removed with his family during the
winter of 1782-83. He married, November 29, 1759,
Esther Dntton of Westfield, Massachusetts, where
she was born September 22, 1738, died in Cavendish.
Vermont, January 26, 1813. Their children were :
John, see forward; William; Mary: Esther; Asa;
Joseph; Zedekiah ; Betty; and Zaccheus. They
also had an adopted son, Joseph.
(VI) John Spaulding. eldest child of William and
Esther (Dutton) Spalding, was born in Westford,
Massachusetts, December 29, 1760, and died in
Cavendish, Vermont, October 27, 1S59. He was a
pensioner of the war of the revolution, and served
in the Massachusetts Militia. He married (first)
Hannah Ripley, and had children : Samuel, Wil-
liam and Nathaniel. She died March 28, 1792,
and he married (second) Eunice Jones, and they
had children : Eunice Jones ; John, see forward ;
Jefferson; Hannah Ripley; Levi; and Joseph. Mrs.
Spaldin,g died July 28, 1813, and he married (third),
April 10, 1814, Elizabeth Bage Lockwood, of Lyme,
Connecticut, who died July 19, 1861, leaving one
child: Esther Dutton.
(VII) Nathaniel, second son and third child
of John and Eunice (Jones) Spaulding. was born
in Cavendish, Vermont, October 7, 1801. He be-
came a resident of Springfield, Vermont, and it
is stated as a fact that agriculture was the almost
universal occupation of this branch of the family.
He married, January 4, 1826, Anna Swift, and they
had children : Melinda Ann ; Julia Ann ; Charles
Elliott : Henry ; Francis Proctor, see forward ;
Elizabeth; Emily Jeannette ; Sarah Jane; and James
Alman.
(VIII) Francis Proctor, third son and fifth
child of Nathaniel and Anna (Swift) Spaulding,
was born in Cavendish, Vermont. June 18, 1837,
where he resides at the present (1906) time. He
was educated in the schools of his native town,
and is a farmer by occupation. In politics he is
a stanch Republican. He married, October 13,
1862, Florence Harriet Myrick, and tbey have chil-
dren: Frederick Madison, see forward; and INIartin
Myrick.
(IX) Frederick Madison, eldest child of Francis
Proctor and Florence Harriet (Myrick) Spaulding,
was born in Springfield. Vermont, August 15. 1S63.
His education was acquired in the public and high
schools of his native town. He was variously en-
gaged in business at Brattleboro for four years.
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
459
subsequently at Boston and in 1892 he removed to
Claremont, New Hampshire, to engage in the house
furnishing goods business and also as an under-
taker. In addition to these enterprises he is largely-
interested in the Puerto Rico Planters' Company,
with shipping offices at San Juan, Puerto Rico.
This company was organized for the purpose of
growing tropical fruits and other products in the
island of Puerto Rico, and it has been very success-
ful and is doing a constantly increasing business.
Mr. Spaulding's political affiliations are with the
Republican party, and he is a Mason, an Odd Fel-
low, and connected with various other fraternal
organizations. He married, September 27, 1894,
Nellie M. Ellison, daughter of Frederick G. and
Helen W. (Heseltine) Ellison, and they have two
children : Francis Ellison Spaulding, born October
9, 1899 ; Morton JMyrick Ellison Spaulding, March
7. 1904-
(IV) Deacon Isaac, the sixth son and child of
Andrew (2) and Abigail (Warren) Spalding, was
born October 28, 1710, in Chelmsford, and died
March 4, 1776, in Townsend. Massachusetts, whither
he removed soon after his marriage and where
he was deacon of the church. His farm is still
in the possession of the Spalding family. He
married Sally Barrett, who was born in 1714, and
died February II, 1806, aged ninety-two years.
Their children were : Jonathan, Lydia, Sally,
Benjamin, Abigail, Lucy and Esther.
(V) Lieutenant Benjamin, fourth child and sec-
ond son of Deacon Isaac and Sally (Barrett)
Spalding, was born October 14, 1743, in Townsend,
where he died. May 27, 1832, at the age of eighty-
nine years. He was a successful teacher, and three
of his daughters followed that occupation. He was
married, December 5, 1765, in Townsend, to Mary
Heald, who was born July 27, 1745. and died Jan-
uary 24, 1826, aged eighty-one years. Their chil-
dren were : Benjamin, Peter, !^Iary, David, Joel,
Abel, Isaac, Sally, Ephraini and Nancy.
(VI) Benjamin (2), eldest child of Benjamin
(1) and Mary (Heald) Spalding, was born April
17, 1767, in Townsend and died. May 21, 1842.
He was married (tirst) March 19, 1789, to Sibyl
Wallace of Townsend, who was born September
19. 1765, and died, April 9, 1796. He was married
(second) August i, 1797, to Sibyl Sanders, of the
same town, who died October 13, 1818, aged forty-
six years. He married (third) Betsy Searle, of
Townsend, who was born June 22, 1783, and died
September 26, 1858, aged seventy-frve. Three of
his children were the offspring of the first wife and
the remainder of the second. Their names follow :
Sibyl, Benjamin (died at four). John, Benjamin,
Polly, Levi, Peter, Jonas, Abigail, Susan, Samuel
and Amos.
(VII) Amos, the youngest cliild of Benjamin
(2) and Sibyl (Sanders) Spalding, was born
March 7, 1813, and died January i, 1856, in Town-
send. He was married October 22, 1840, to Lurena
Evans, of Townsend, who was born August 9. 181 1.
Their children were: Amos Fletcher, Benjamin,
Asaph Evans (died at one year), John Bertram,
Warren Everett. Lurena Elizabeth. Asaph Evans,
Henry Albert Garry, Leona Arethusa and Clara
Frances.
(VIII) Warren Everett, son of Amos and Lu-
rena (Evans) Spalding, was born .April 12, 1848,
in Townsend and resided in Chester and Fremont,
and is now a resident of Blackvvater. New Hamp-
shire. He was married, April 22, 1869, in London-
derry, New Hampshire, to Hattie Storer, who was
born December 6, 1842. There were six children
of this marriage, namely : Ida, married Asa W.
Gage, and now resides in Lowell, Massachusetts ;
Mabel, a resident of Lawrence ; and Gertrude and
Cora, of Lowell, Massachusetts ; Alice O., wife of
Arthur W. Rowell, of Manchester (see Rowell) ;
and Daisy, wife of Walter H. Moore, of Lawrence.
(HI) Henry, second son and third child of
Andrew and Hannah (Jefes) Spalding, was born
in Chelmsford, INIassachusetts, November 2, 1680,
died April 4, 1720. He married Elizabeth Lund,
of Dunstable, now Nashua. New Hampshire, prob-
ably in 1703. The marriage is recorded in the
Chelmsford records, but the date is not given. She
was a daughter of Thomas Lund, one of the first
settlers, and a proprietor of Dunstable. The name
is spelled Lunn, Lun, and Lund. Thomas Lund
was a soldier, and his son Thomas was killed by
the Indians, September 5, 1724. Elizalseth was
born September 29, 1684. She survived her hus-
band, and with Richard Stratton settled the estate.
The children of Henry and Elizabeth, all born at
Chelmsford, were : Henry, Thomas, William,
Leonard, and Ebenezer.
(IV) Henry (2), oldest child of Henry (i)
and Elizabeth (Lund) Spalding, was born No-
vember 22, 1704, and died April 29. 1792. aged
eighty-eight years. He was a member of Captain
Robert Richardson's snow-shoe company in 1824,
and was known in his native town as Colonel
Henry Spalding. His wife, Marah, survived him.
He married (first) February I. 1725, Lucy Proctor,
a descendant of Robert Proctor, one of the first
proprietors of the town. She died June I. 1742,
and he married (second) April 27, 1743, Marah
.A.dams. She was a descendant of Henry Adams,
the ancestor of the presidents of that name. The
five children by the first wife were : Samuel, Lucy,
Sarah, Henry, and .A.bel ; those by the second wife
were : Zebulon, Daniel, Marv. Thomas and Thank-
ful.
(V) Samuel, oldest child of Henry and Lucy
(Proctor) Spalding, born in Chelmsford, January
31, 1727, died in Merrimack, New Hampshire,
September 11, 1797, aged seventy-one. He was one
of the first settlers of Merrimack. New Hampshire,
where he owned a large tract of land from which
he gave farms to several of his sons. He went
from Chelmsford. Massachusetts, and cleared a
piece of land and built a house before he married.
His original farm was north and west of Netacook
pond. He was a man of rather more than medium
size, both in height and breadth, and had a very
strong voice, which it is said, could be distinctly
heard a distance of two miles. He married. May
,■?. 1753. Sarah Woods, born in Chelmsford, March
8. 1730. died of spotted fever in Merrimack, .\pril
10. 1815, aged eighty-five. She was the daughter
of Samuel and Mary (Parker) Woods, of Chelms-
ford. Her mother, Mary Parker, was a daughter
of John and Mary Parker, of Chelmsford. The
eight children of Samuel and Sarah (Woods)
Spalding, all born in Merrimack, New Hampshire,
were: Samuel, Abijah, Sarah, Henry, Oliver, Isaac,
Silas and Asa.
(VI) Captain Isaac, fifth son and sixth child
of Samuel and Sarah (Woods) Spalding, was born
in Merrimack. August 20. 1765. and died in Wilton,
New Hampshire. June 2. 1830. Isaac's father in-
tended that he should have a liberal education, and
so put him under the care of Rev. Mr. Fiske, of
460
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Wilton, to be prepared for college ; but the father's
circumstances changing, it was decided that Isaac
should learn a trade, and so he was apprenticed to
Mr. Farley, a tanner of Hollis, with whom he served
his time faithfully. He commenced business with
Jeremiah Pritchard, in New Ipswich. About iSoo
he removed to Wilton, where he continued to re-
side until his death of apoplexy. He fell dead
suddenly from a chair at a table, where he had
a moment before been writing. He was a man of
marked ability, who loved his home, and had no
aspirations for riches. His house was the house
of his friends, and they were frequently with him
on their way to and from the county seat. He had
dealings with almost every man in the town, but
never had a disputed account. His education and
good judgment made his a congenial companion,
and a reliable and valuable friend. He married
(first) April 9, 1795, Mary Ritter, who died April
27, 1S08; and (second) in Mason, November 2,
i8og, JMrs. Mary (Flynn) Colburn of Milford. The
children of the first wife were : Isaac, Moses,
Charles, Harvey, Mary, Emma, and Lyman ; there
was one child, Orpah, by the second wife.
(VII) Moses, second son and child of Captain
Isaac and Mary (Ritter) Spalding, born in New
Ipswich, March 10, 1797, died in Wilton. He mar-
ried. May 29, 1823, Anna Hunt Kimball, daughter
of John Kimball of Wilton (see Kimball VHI).
Their children, all born in Wilton, were : Edward
Henry, Isaac Kimball, William Ritter, and John
Augustine.
(VIII) John Augustine, fourth and youngest
child of Moses and Anna Hunt (Kimball) Spald-
ing, born in Wilton, May 29, 1837, was edu-
cated in the district school of Wilton, and in
Crosby's Academy, Nashua. At thirteen years of
age he became a clerk in a clothing store, and at
nineteen began business in Nashua on his own
account. When the First National Bank of
Nashua was established in 1863 he was elected
cashier, and held that position continuously for
thirty-two years. In 1895 he was made vice-presi-
dent, and his son, William E. Spalding, succeeded
him as cashier. Mr. Spalding has dealt extensively
in real estate and has many other interests. He is
a director in the Wilton & Worcester and Nashua
& Rochester railroads, and was the first president
of the Nashua street railway. He is a trustee of
the -New Hampshire Asylum for the Insane, and
was chairman of the first board of police commis-
sioners of Nashua. In 1865 and 1866 he was a
representative in the legislature, and in 1870 senator.
He was a member of the governor's council in 1883
and 1884, and mayor of Nashua in 1885. He was
a presidential elector in 1880, when the electoral
vote of 'New Hampshire was cast for General Gar-
field, a delegate to the St. Louis national convention
in 1896, when William McKinley was nominated
for the presidency, and chairman of the Republican
state committee in 1896 and 1897. He is a thirty-
second degree Mason and an C5dd Fellow, being a
past grand and a past chief patriarch in the latter
organization, and is also a member of the Improved
Order of Red Men. He married (first), October
13, 1859, Josephine Estelle Eastman, born July 7,
1841, daughter of Joseph and Abigail Eastman, of
Rumney. She died and he married (second) No-
vember 24, 1870, Anna M. Learned, daughter of
Dr. E. J. Learned, of Fall River. Two sons were
born of the first marriage, William Edward, and
Harry Eastman.
(III) John, third son and fourth child of An-
drew and Hannah (Jefes) Spalding, was born in
Chelmsford, August 20, 1682. At the age of
twenty-two he married jNIary Barrett. He suc-
ceeded to the old homestead, and engaged in farm-
ing and stockraising. He died in Chelmsford, March '
7, 1760, aged seventy-eight. His children, all born
in Chelmsford, were as follows : Jonathan, Mary,
Hannah, Samson, Job, Mary, John and Lot.
(IV) Rev. Samson, second son and fourth child
of John and Mary (Barrett) Spalding, was born
in Chelmsford, June 7, 1711. When but a young
man he manifested an unusual interest in literary
pursuits, and graduated from Harvard College in
1732, at the age of twenty-one. He chose the
ministry as his profession, and a.ssiduously gave
himself to the study of theology. He received a
unanimous call from the town of Tewksbury, Mas-
sachusetts, to settle there as their pastor, and was
ordained November 23, 1737. He remained as their
pastor for sixty years, and died at Tewksbury,
December 15, 1796, aged eighty-six. His wife died
Ivlarch 3, 1807, aged eighty-six. He married He-
hitabel Hunt, February 12, 1740. Their children
were : Mary, Mehitabel, Hannah, Samson, Jona-
than, Mehitabel, John, Hannah, Anna, John and
Sarah.
(V) Jonathan, second son and fifth child of
Rev. Samson and Mehitabel (Hunt) Spalding, was
born in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, September 15,
1747, and married Mary Marshall of Tewksbury,
February 11, 1771. He enlisted at the age of
twenty-eight in Captain Brown's Company of min-
ute men, participated in the Concord fight, and
helped drive the British back to Boston, April 19,
1775. He moved to Hollis, New Hampshire, in
May, 1775, and settled at the north part of the town,
at a place long known as the Spalding farm, hav-
ing purchased it of Lemuel Leeman. He was a
miller by trade, and owned and operated a saw-
mill in connection with his farm. In the spring
of 1794 he removed to Wilton, New Hampshire.
Here he resided until his death, which occurred
September 30, 1832. He left a large family of
children of whom Asaph, his fourth son, succeeded
to the old homestead in Hollis. His children were:
Abiel, Abel, Mary, Ann, Jonathan, Asaph, Hannah,
Loammi, Achsah, Samson, Mehitabel, John and
Lucinda.
(VI) Asaph, fourth son and sixth child of Jona-
than and Mary (Marshall) Spalding, was born in
Hollis, August 2, 1782. He married Abiah Bowers,
of Dracut, then a part of Lowell, March 8, 1S07.
Mr. Spalding learned the cooper's trade while
young, making barrels and hogsheads. He worked
at Cambridgeport, ]\Iassachusetts ; Portland, Maine,
and at various places in the British possessions.
Returning to the old homestead at North Hollis,
jNIarch 31, 1808, he engaged in farming and cooper-
ing, and raised large crops of rye upon his farm.
He built the first artificial trout pond in southern
New Hampshire. Mr. Spalding remained here un-
til the spring of 184S, then sold the place to William
Butterfield, a lumber dealer. Mr. Spalding then
removed to a place at Ponemah station, in Am-
herst. The first railroad through this section of
the state was then being built. The railroad had
previously extended from Boston to Nashua, but
was being extended to Amherst at that time. After
an ownership of many years the old farm passed
out of the possession of the Spalding family. Mr.
Spalding removed to Peterboro, New Hampshire,
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
461
in 1850, residing here until December, 1872. when
he returned to HoUis and spent the remainder of
his days with his grandson, Andrew Spalding,
where he died September 12, 1873, aged ninety-one
years. His children were: Asaph Sumner, Sarah
Ann, Almira, Achsah, John. Herbert, Mary and
Charles.
(Vn) Captain .\saph Stunner, eldest child of
Asaph and Abiah (Bowers) Spalding, was born
in Chelmsford (where Lowell now stands), Septem-
ber 13, 1807. He came to Hollis March 31. 1808,
with his parents, and always resided in Hollis. He
was engaged in agricultural pursuits. Mr. Spald-
ing was quite prominent in local military affairs,
and was lieutenant of the old Fifth Company of
Infantry in Hollis under command of Captain Var-
num Wheeler, at the Hardscrable muster of Sep-
tember 5, 18,^8. He succeeded Mr. Wheeler the
ne-xt spring as captain of that company, which olfice
he held until March 4, 1841. He married Hannah
Colburn, of Milford, New Hampshire, .-Xpril 14,
1830. Mr. Spalding died at his home in HoUis,
August 13. 1885, aged seventy-eight. His wife.
Hannah, died .A.pril 7, 1899, at the advanced age of
ninety-one. They had the following children:
Charles Sunnier, Hannah Maria. Achsah Snphia,
Sarah Lucinda, Andrew Herbert and Rachel Mari-
etta.
(VHI) Charles S., eldest child of Asaph Sum-
ner and Hannah (Colburn) Spalding, was born in
Hollis, December 23, 1830. His youth was spent
— as was that of many New England boys — attend-
ing district school in the winter and working on
the farm in the summer. After leaving school he
devoted much time to the study of literature and
genealogical historj', contributing many able and
valued articles upon these subjects to magazines, and
assisting in the work of town histories of Milford
and Hollis. Mr. Spalding learned the cooper's
trade when young and worked at this for over
fifty years. His official life began in 1S74, when he
was appointed by the governor and council a jus-
tice of the peace, whicli office he held twenty years.
He served the town of Hollis as second selectman
in 1879 ""id as first selectman in r8So. He served
six years as a member of the school board from
1886 to T892. .Mr. Spalding married Mercian Bar-
ton, of North Chelmsford, Massachusetts, June 30,
T863. Their two children are: Frank Bowers, born
in Hollis, April 29, 1870: he married .Ada E. Ban-
croft, January 23, 180.S : Frederick Randolph, born
October 22 1871, married Florence Smith, Decem-
ber 23, 1.896.
CVni) Achsah Sophia, second daughter and
third child of .Asaph S. and Hannah (Colburn)
Spalding, was born December 30. 1834. in Hollis,
and was married January 3, 1856. to .\ll"rt Pnwers
(see Powers).
Tlie belief that this family came from
PERLEY Albans, in Herefordshire, is probably
erroneous, as an examination of the
records relative to its early history on this side of
the ocean makes it quite clear that its emigrant an-
cestor was a resident of Wales prior to sailing for
New England, although the family may not liave
originated in that country.
(I) One record at hand states that .Allen Per-
ley. the first of this name in America, came from
Wales and landed at Charlestown. Massachusetts,
in 1630. but Savage, who is an excellent authority
on early emigrants, while agreeing with other
genealogists as to the locality of his abode in the
mother country, says tliat he arrived at Boston in
the "Planter" from London in 1635, and that he was
twenty-seven years old. .Allen Perley settled in
Ipswich, ilassachusetts, where he was made a free-
man May 18, 1642, and fie died there December 28,
1675. He was married at Ipswich in 1643 to Sus-
anna Bokenson, w-bo may have been his second wife,
as there are reasons for believing that at least two
of his sons were born previous tO' that year. His
children w-ere : John, Thomas, Nathaniel (who died
.April 29, t66S, aged twenty-four years), Samuel,
Sarah, Martha and Timothy. His wife, Susanna,
survived him and died February 11, 1(592. (Tim-
othy and descendants receive mention in this ar-
ticle).
(II) Thomas, third son and child of Allen and
Susanna (Bokenson) Perley. was born at Ipswich in
1641. Prior to 1667 he went to Rowley, where he
was admitted a freeman in 1677, and in 1684 he set-
tled in Boxford, becoming a prominent resident of
that town. He served as constable in 16S8, as se-
lectman for the years 1690-94-99, 1701-4-9, was rep-
resentative to the general court in 1(589-90-93, 1700
and 1702; served as grand and petit juryman, and
was frequently chosen moderator at town meetings.
He also served on numerous town committees,
notably the one formulated in 1701 to receive the
deed of the town of Boxford from the grandsons of
the old Sagamore, Masconnomet, also those ap-
pointed to organize the first religious society, erect
the first meeting-house, and be assisted in establishing
the boundary line between Boxford and Topsfield.
In addition to his extensive agricultural interests he
aided in promoting the iron-moulding industry, which
was begun in Boxford as early as 1669. He was also
a member of the local militia, and attained the rank
of lieutenant. Thomas Perley died in Boxford, Sep-
tember 24, 1709. July 8, 1667, he married Lydia
Peabody, who w-as born in 1644, daughter of Lieu-
tenant Francis and Mary (Foster) Peabody, of
Topsfield, the former of whom was of Great St. Al-
bans, England, and emigrated in 1635, being a fel-
low-passenger with Allen Perley on the latter's re-
turn from his visit to the old country. Mary Fos-
ter (or Forster), wife of Lieutenant Francis Pea-
body, was a daughter of Reginald Foster, a repre-
sentative of a distinguished Scotch family mentioned
by Sir Walter Scott in both "Marmion" and "The
Lay of the Last Minstrel." The children oi Thomas
and Lydia (Peal)ody') Perley were: Thomas, Jacob,
Lvdia, Alary. Hephzibah and Sarah. The mother of
these children died April 30. 1715. She was ad-
mitted to the church in Boxford by letter from the
church in Rowley, February i, 1702.
(III) Jacob, second son and child of Thomas
and Lydia (Peabody) Perley. was born in Rowley,
about the year 1670. He accompanied his parents
from Rowley to tjoxford. and acquired possession
of the estate located on the north side of Baldpate
Pond, which, in after years was owned and oc-
cupied by Augustus M. Perley. The original dwell-
ing which he erected stood a few rods north of the
present barn, and he resided there until 1736, when
lie removed to Bradford. Massachusetts. In his
will he is mentioned as a house wright. In 1710 he
with others was granted liberty to erect and operate
a sawmill in Boxford, and wdiile residing there he
participated actively in local public affairs, serving
as constable in 1705: as selectman for the years 1708-
12-20-32: surveyor of highways 1706; as moderator
1729 and '31; also on various town committees, and
4^2
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
was town treasurer from 1713 to 1721. In 1705 he
joined the local militia company as a sergeant, was
promoted to the rank of cornet in 1717; was com-
missioned a lieutenant in 1724, and served with
credit in Captain Lovewell's expedition against the
Indians. His death occurred at Bradford in 1751.
Lieutenant Jacob Perley was three times married,
and it is a somewhat singular coincidence that two
of his wives were named Lydia Peabody, which was
also the maiden name of his mother. On December
6, 1696, he married Lydia, daughter of Captain John
and Hannah (Andrew) Peabody, of Boxford, where
her birth took place, March 9, 1673, and she died
there in 1707-1708, having been admitted to_ the
church with her husband some four years previous.
Jacob was again married May 9, 1709, to his first
wife's cousin, Lydia Peabody, born in Boxford, Feb-
ruary 4, 1683, daughter of Joseph and Bethia
(Bridges) Peabody. She died April 30, 1732. His
third wife, whom he married in 1733, was Mrs.
Mehitable Brown, nee Stafford, a widow, who had
previously been married twice, first to John Hovey
and second to Ebenezer Brown, of Rowley. She
died intestate at Bradford, probably in 1754, as on
March 22 of that year her son Samuel Hovey was
appointed her administrator. Jacob Perley was the
father of seven children, namely: Lydia, Jacob,
Nathan. Francis, Moses, Isaac and Hannah.
(IV) Nathan, second son and third child of
Jacob and Lydia (Peabody) Perley, his first wife,
was born in Boxford. November 17, 1703. He was
assessed in Boxford from 1729 to 1738 inclusive, and
died in the autumn of the latter year. It is quite
probable that he was a tailor. On March 20 or 30,
1732-3, he married Lydia Hale, who was born March
13, 171 1, daughter of Joseph and Joanna (Dodge)
Hale. She bore him John, Lydia and Nathan. In
April, 1740, she married for her second husband
Deacon Jonathan Tenney, of Boxford.
(V) Nathan (2), youngest son and child of
Nathan and Lydia (Hale) Perley, w-as born in Box-
ford in 1737. When a young man he went to reside
in Methuen. Massachusetts. He served in the
French and Indian war, and fore-seeing that hostil-
ities between the colonists and the mother country
would sooner or later be unavoidable, he succeeded
in impressing upon the minds of his comrades in a
local militia company the urgent necessity of pre-
paring themselves for an emergency by acquiring a
more complete knowledge of the manual of arms.
Accordingly, on October 6, 1774, this company signed
an agreement to make strenuous efforts to perfect
themselves in military tactics by training regularly
and in earnest. Nathan Perley served as a sergeant
in Captain James Jones' company at Lexington and
Concord. As a young man he became warmly at-
tached to Sarah Symonds, of Methuen. a descendant
of an early settler there and heiress to an estate in
that town. They were engaged, but for some reason
now unknown they became estranged, and Nathan
married Mehitable Mitchell, who died November
24, 1773, having been the mother of seven children.
Sarah Symonds became the wife of William Rea.
of Danvers, who died leaving one son, William.
After the death of his first wife, Nathan sought his
old sweetheart, who was then a widow in Danvers,
married her on October 13, 1774, and a year later
settled in that town. About the year 1790 he re-
turned to Methuen, located upon the old Symonds
estate, which he improved liy erecting a new and
substantial residence, and lie occupied it for the rest
of his life. This property, which is the last house
in Methuen on the main road to Haverhill, is now
owned by his grandson Edmund Perley. Nathan
died about the year 1816, and Sarah, his wife, who
survived him, died about 1839. He was the father
of fourteen children, namely : Martha and Lydia,
both of whom died young; John, James, who diea
young; Martha, Nathan and Joseph, all of his first
union : Mehitable, Lydia, Sarah, Edmund, James,
Asa and Daniel, who were of his second marriage.
(VI j Edmund, fourth child and eldest son of
Nathan and Sarah (Symonds) Perley, was born in
Danvers, February 9, 1778. Prior to his majority
he went to reside in Haverhill, but in 1798 moved to
Methuen, and some years later removed to Lempster,
New Hampshire, wdiere he engaged in farming. He
was quite active in military affairs, and held a cap-
tain's commission in the state militia. His first
wife, whom he married May 31, 1798, was Abigail
Bailey, of Haverhill, who died in Methuen, and on
November 27, 1806, he married her sister Sarah, who
was born January 27, 1786. The second Mrs. Per-
Icy's death, which occurred in Lempster, May 2,
1846, was followed shortly afterward by that of her
husband, August 2 of the same year. They were
members of the Methodist Church, and diligently
applied themselves to the moral and intellectual
training of their children. Edmund Perley was the
father of ten children, namely: Abigail (who was
by his first union), Franklin, Emily, Mehitable, Ed-
mund Franklin, Susanna Maria, Sarah Louise,
Marietta, Asbury Fisk and Orpha Cornelia.
(VII) Abigail, only child of Edmund and Abi-
gail (Bailey) Perley, was born September S, 1708.
•She was reared and educated in Lempster, and in
June, 1819, became the first wife of Gordon Way
(see Way VII). About the year 184S she removed
from Lempster to Claremont. this state, and her
death occurred in the last-named town October 11,
1848.
(VII) Mehitable, second daughter and third
child of Edmund and Sarah (Bailey) Perley, was
born August 18, 181 1, in Lempster. She was mar-
ried Julv 24, 1834, to Rev. Osman Oleander Baker,
D. D. (See Baker, IV).
(II) Timothy, youngest son of Allen and
Susanna (Bokenson) Perley, was born in Ipswich,
took the oath of allegiance there in 1678, and died
in 1719, aged sixty-four years. The only record
relative to his marriage is that the christian name
of his wife was Dorothy, and that Patience, Ste-
phen, Allen and Joseph, born June 3, 1695, were his
children.
(III) Stephen, second child and eldest son of
Timothy and Dorothy Perley, was born in Ipswich,
on the date given in the preceding paragraph. The
maiden name of his wife cannot now he ascertained.
He reared at least one son, Allen.
(IV) Allen (2), son of Stephen, was a native
nf Ipswich, but the date of his birth is wanting.
The only information obtainable concerning him
is that he was the father of four sons and several
daughters, and the names of the former were :
.\llen. John, .Stephen and Jacob.
(V) Stephen (2), third son of Allen, was born
in Ipswich. October 7, 1770. As a young man he
was inspired by a spirit of energy and progress
which was of a character considerably in advance
of his day, and going to Belknap county. New Hamp-
shire, he acquired possession of a greater part of the
land now included in the city of Laconia. He be-
came an extensive farmer, a prominent general mer-
chant, and a successful manufacturer, operating saw-
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
463
mills, nil pressi-s and ntlicr iiulusti'ial enterprises,
anil his cfForts in lichalf of the natural resources of
1 aconia and its innnediatc vicinity were of inesti-
mable value in developing that region from a wilder-
ness into an important industrial center. The
canal, which has long furnished motive power for
the busy wheels of industry, was constructed mainly
through his instrumentality, and he was also the
i:ri.yinal promoter of various other ini])rovcments
and institutions of a public or semi-public character,
inclndius; the Universalist Church. His death oe-
curreil in Laconia. His first wife, who was before
marriage .Abigail Ladd (see Ladd V), died in 1798,
leaving one daughter, Sarah, born November 10,
1706, and he subsequently married his first wife's
sister, Mchitahle, wdiose birth took place in Gilman-
ton April 5. 17^'^, and whose death occurred Novem-
ber 6, 185.V She was the mother of six children:
Stephen Jefferson, born Nrvember ar, 1802, died
July ,^0, i8.?J : John Langdon, the date of whose
birth will be given presently: Louisa, born July 27,
1807, died in infancy; Louisa, born Septemlier 17,
t8oo, married Fogg, died in 18S8; Aliigail,
born .-Xugust .10, 1811. marricil John H. Brewster:
and Martha Maria, born November, 1815, married
Rev. J. P. Atkinson, died in 1804.
(VI) Dr. John Langdon Perley, second child
and son of Stephen and Mehitable (Ladd) Perley,
was born June 10, 180.^;. He was a graduate of the
medical department of Bowdoin College, and lo-
cating for practice at Meredith Bridge he acquired
prominence both professionallv and otherwise, en-
tering with spirit into the political and financial af-
fairs of that locality'. He was one of the incorpora-
tors and for some years president of the Belknap
Savings Bank, and also assisted in organizing the
Meredith Savings Bank, of which he was a director
for many years. In 1829 he was apnointed post-
master, and in l8'!7 represented bis district in the
legislature. He died Sentember t8, t888. He mar-
ried for his first wife Maria A. Eastman, who died
without issue, and on February 14, iS.v8,*he married
for his second wife Dora P. Rundlett. She died
May 18. 1897. Of this union were born five chil-
dren: John Langdon, Jr., born December T4, tSw:
D. Augusta and Mary A. (twins), born September
18, i8ii ; Lewis S., who will be again referred to:
and Clara F., born July ,s, 18.18. D. Augusta mar-
ried Jacob Sanborn, of Laconia. Marv A. married
Josiah T. Sturtevant, of Centre Harbor, New
Hamnshire.
(VH) Lewis S., second sou oj John L. and
Dora P. (Rundlett) Perley, was born August 22.
T845. From early manhood to the present time be
has given his attention to .igriculture. owning a val-
uable estate in the immediate vicinity of Laconia,
and he is one of the most enternrisin.g farmers in
that section. He is also widely atid favorablv
known as a surveyor. He is actively identified with
the Republican party, and for a number of years has
served as a member of the- Laconia board of asses-
sors. On Deccmlier 6. 18S8, he married Miss Clara
Louisa Knowltnn. and the children of this union
are: Lew R., born July 27. rSoo: Marion Louise,
born June 17, 189,^; and John Russell, born Novem-
ber 25, 1900.
England, ami tlie .general success of those who have
settled in New Hampshire, both in Colonial times
and in recent years, attests the virility of the race
and their adaptation to American environment and
institutions. The family of Madigan has enjoyed
a greater measure of success than the nuijority of
inuuigrants to a foreign country, aiul its members
arc prosperous citizens in the commuinties of their
residence.
(I) Thomas H. Madigan, son of Thomas H.
Madi.gan, was born in county Clare, Ireland, and
was brought to America by his parents, who emi-
grated to Canada and settled in Quebec, when he
was only two years old. After accmiring what edu-
cation the common schools afforded, he came to the
LTnited States and engaged in railroad contracting —
a large part of his work having been done on some
of the principal roads of the country. His home
has been in New York fcr a number of years. He
married Johanna Baker, also a native of county
Clare, and they arc the parents of one child, Thomas
H., of Concord, New Hampshire.
(ID Thomas H., son of Thomas H. and Johanna
(Baker") Madigan, was born in Westfield, New
Hampshire, June, 29, 1872. After finishing his liter-
ary education he began the study of law, and was
subsequently admitted to the bar of New Hamp-
shire, and settled in Concord.' Since that time he
has been successfully engaged in the prosecution of
his professional work. As an attorney he is careful
and accurate in the preparation of his cases, but
finds himself in his natural clement in the trial of
cases where his quick perception and instant use
of wdiatever develops to his advantage place him in
the foremost rank in the examination of witnesses.
His quick comprehension of the salient features of
a case, his lo.gical arrangement of his arguments,
and his forensic 'ability, combine to make him pow-
erful in argument, especially before a jury. Mr.
Madigan is a Democrat, and for years past has
taken a leading part in the councils of his party,
and in the public debates in the political cam-
paigns n( t only of his own but of other states,
where bis services are in great demand.
The people of Celtic stock, esneci-
MADIGAN ally those inhabiting Ireland, have
always been noted for their vivac-
ity, wit, humor, activity and energy. The race has
furnished a large fraction of the population of New
From Reinold and Matthew Marvin
MARVIN have sprung most of the Marvins of
this country. Their ancestry is
traced to the county of Suffolk, England, to 14,30.
On account of defective records some branches of
the family in New England are unable to trace their
descent from Reinhold or Matthew, from whom
they doubtless sprung. The family of this sketch is
one of these.
(I) John Marvin settled in New Castle, New
Hamnshire. and there his death probably occurred.
(ID- William, a son of John Marvin, was born
in New Castle, and died on Marvin's Island, iSSo.
He was associated with Captain Oliver in the fish-
ing industry, and succeeded him in that business on
Marvin's Island.
(Ill) William, son of William Marvin, was
born on Sbapleigh's, now Marvin's Island. Ports-
mouth, in June. i8i2. At the age of thirteen he
went to Boston, Massachusetts, and entered the
rmnloy of Thomas J. Whiddcn, contractor and
builder, who conducted an extensive business after
the great fire in Boston. Mr. Marvin was a useful
man, and remained with his employer the unusual
term of thirty years. About 1870 he returned to
Portsmouth, where he formed a partnershin with
T. E. 0, Marvin, under the firm name of Marvin
464
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Brothers, later Marvin Brothers & Bartlett, iiiaim-
facturcrs of cod liver oil, for use in medical pur-
poses. William Marvin was a member of this firm
until about 1900, when he retired with a competency.
He married, in Portsmouth, about 1870. Eliza Salter
Anderson, daughter of Edward and Sarah (Locke)
Anderson. She was born in Portsmouth. Their
children were : Ruth A., William E. and Oliver B.
(IV) William Edward, second child of Wil-
liam and Eliza Salter (Anderson) Marvin, was '
born in Portsmouth, July i, 1872. He received his
early education in the schools of Portsmouth from
which he went to Harvard University, w'hcrc he
graduated with the class of 1893, receiving the de-
gree of Bachelor of Laws. Returning to his na-
tive city he read law in the office of J. S. H. Frink, '
Esq., and was admitted to the bar in March. 1894.
Early in 1894 Mr. Frink, Charles E. Batcheldcr and
William E. Marvin became partners in business un-
der the firm name of Frink, Batchelder & Marvin,
attorneys. Mr. Batchelder died in September, 1894,
and the firm of Frink & Marvin then formed, sub-
sequently accepted Charles H. Batchelder as a part-
ner, and the three formed the firm of Frink, Mar-
vin & Batchelder, which has continued until the
jiresent time (1007). This is one of the strong
firms of Rockingham county, and handles a large
amount of legal business. Mr. Marvin has made
his mark as a lawyer, as a business man and as a
public oflicer. Between 1885 and 1900 he lived in
New Castle, where he was elected a member of
the board of selectmen four consecutive years. He
was also a member of the school board. In 1900 he
moved to Portsmouth, and March. 1905, was elected
mayor, and re-elected in December of the same
year. He is a member of the Pow Wow Club of
Harvard, and of Wentworth Lodge, No. 22,
Knights of Pythias, of New Castle. He attends the
Linitarian Church. He is a trustee of the Ports-
montli Savings Bank and a member of the invest-
ment committee, a director of the National Me-
chanics' and Traders' Bank, and president of the
Portsmouth Harbor, Land'& Hotel Company. He
is a member of the Portsmouth Athletic Club,
Portsmouth Country Club, Piscataqua Yatch Club,
Warwick Club and the Federal Fire Society.
Mr. Marvin married, June 24, i8g6, Susan Roby
Bent, born in Wayland, Massachusetts, July 27,
1872, daughter of Ralpli and Isalielle D.amor
(Bond) Bent. They have five children: William
B., Sarah, Elizabeth, Robert and IsabcUe.
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