USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Walpole > A history of Walpole, New Hampshire, Volume I > Part 24
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280. AGNES BUNKER-LOT #5 IN 4TH RANGE: In 1773 John Marcy sold to Lt. Amos Babcock, "the lot Babcock now lives on with buildings and fences. .. . " 1783 Theodore Bellows, called by the family "Uncle Thod Lot". It was at one time proposed to build the town meeting house here. He sold to his brother John 1788 and removed to Charlestown. There may be a cellarhole but it has not been found.
Lot #2 in 3rd Range was probably part of the pasture Benjamin Bel- lows left to Theodore Bellows who sold to his brother John. John sold to his son Hubbard. Buffums bought at auction in 1836. No buildings ever.
281. S. TRAFFORD HICKS-LOT #3 IN 3RD RANGE: Abraham Smith had this lot very early, for in 1762 when Wentworth Road was laid out it was to run "Strait by the Rev. Mr. Leavitt's house and So where the road is now cut to Mr. Abraham Smith's, then as near the line of lots Between the third and fourth Range of Lotts as the Land will admit. .. . " Smith probably sold it to Lemuel Holmes before 1775. The north third of the lot he sold in 1775 to Jonathan Hall Jr. The south 70 acres Holmes sold in 1790 to Samuel Fuller; 1781 to John Bellows when he sold the farm across the road, probably with buildings, since he sold as a farm. John must have sold to Benjamin Bellows, reserving a strip along the road where his orchard was, and perhaps buildings; 1805 Benjamin sold to Levi Hooper and it remained in the family until Mrs. Franklin Dana Hooper sold in 1960 to S. Trafford Hicks.
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Prof. Franklin W. Hooper was Director of Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences and the principal founder of Brooklyn Museum. Mrs. Hooper was an accomplished musician, active in the Woman's Suffrage Movement. They spent their summers here for 50 years, made great changes in the house. They built a sounding board and stage for con- certs in the pines; also sponsored lyceum courses in the village.
Prof. Franklin W. Hooper built a new piazza on east and west sides of his cottage in 1911.
282. SEDLEY F. CAMPBELL-LOT #3 IN 3RD RANGE: When Lemuel Holmes owned this lot, he sold the north third in 1775 to Jonathan Hall Jr., who is said to have lived where the Campbell house is. This was known as the "Hall Lot"; 1807 to Henry Foster; 1882 to Hoopers; 1915 to Wesley C. Foster; 1927 to Raymond U. Bunker; 1928 to Willis C. Foster; 1932 eight acres to Charles A. and Sedley F. Campbell (father and son). There is no house shown here on any of the maps before Campbells owned, so what- ever Hall had must have been gone long ago.
283. ELMER A. ROENTSCH-LOT #6 IN 4TH RANGE: Daniel Denison owned 1765. Prior to 1773 Nathan Delano and family lived in a mansion house on this farm. The house stood somewhere in the south part of the lot, probably where the Roentsch buildings now stand.
In 1779 Dr. Thomas Rogers bought the farm piece by piece from the various heirs for a total of £2812; 1781 to Samuel Fuller who sold to John Bellows four months later but stayed on the farm; 1805 to Levi Hooper with land on west side of highway.
Benjamin Floyd had a farm on north side of this lot prior to 1781; there might be cellarhole or foundations but none have been found. He was a blacksmith.
In 1911 Prof. Franklin W. Hooper started construction of what is now the Roentsch house, ran into financial difficulties. This is said to have been on the site of an early cottage of Ebenezer Wellington.
284. FRANK LEWIS-LOT #7 IN 4TH RANGE: Timothy Delano owned this lot prior to 1765 when he sold to Samuel Chase.
"Levi Hooper, the progenitor of the Hooper family in Walpole, was born in Bridgewater, Mass., in 1742. When quite young he went on a whaling voyage in Hudson's Bay and on his return enlisted as a soldier in the last French War, which ended in 1763. He enlisted for nine months, and when the time of enlistment had expired he was unable to get his pay unless he would stay three months longer. At the
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expiration of the next three months he found himself no better off, when he and two other soldiers deserted and made for home, guided by blazed trees, till they arrived at Charlestown, No. 4, where they stopped for the night. The next day they reached Walpole and stopped in a log hut which stood on the west side of the road above the Hooper homestead ... where the cidermill stood for many years. The soil and the heavy growth of timber pleased him so much that he was induced to return, after visiting his friends, and locate in town. He returned to Walpole in 1771, and soon after buried his wife, whose maiden name was Susanna Leach, and, the same year, married Sarah, the daughter of Jonathan Hall, by whom he had six children."
When he first came to town, he lived in a house in the northwest corner of Lot #8 in the 4th Range, in the southwest corner of the field opposite Ruby Wright's house. Benjamin Bellows owned the land, and not until 1780 did Hooper buy the two acres and then from Joseph Griswold. In January 1775 he bought from Samuel Chase for £160 law- ful money Lot #7 in the 4th Range on which was then standing a man- sion house and barn. It is not quite clear whether the house now on the place was there, or whether Levi Hooper built it. He lived here until he died in 1806; his wife died 1823 aged 81. "He was Second Lieutenant in a company of General Bellows' Regiment in Revolutionary times and afterward Captain. He was a man of resolute character, held many town offices, and accumulated a competency for old age."
His son James continued on the old homestead. "He had some aspira- tions in the military line, and was at one time captain of a company, and was ever after called Capt. Hooper. He was a member of the Legislature in 1830, and one of the selectmen of the town several years. He died May 1867." James was followed on the farm by his son William. "It is safe to say that no four sons belonging to one family, born in town, have been more pecuniarily successful, as farmers, than the four sons of Capt. James Hooper."
The place stayed in the Hooper family until Hooper heirs sold in 1918 to Gurnsey and Proctor of Keene; 1919 to Freeman J. Christian; 1927 to Peter O. Mitchell; 1936 to present owners.
285. CLARENCE P. MORRILL-LOT #4 IN 3RD RANGE: In 1772 Ebenezer Edson sold to Thomas Morehead (Muirhead) a four acre piece on the north side of the crossroad north of Ruby Wright's. Either he or John Gould of Salem erected a dwelling house here before September 1774. Levi Hooper bought the 90 acre lot and the house lot of Ebenezer Edson and sold both to Simeon Smith in September 1774; 1783 50 acres to Joel Smith; 1785 to David Hogg of Dunbarton; 1793 to James Kingsbury of
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Alstead; to Levi Hooper three days later; to his son Salmon 1801. The part west of Rt. 12 Simeon Smith sold in 1775 to Simeon Smith Jr.
In 1849 Hooper heirs sold to Moses Wright; 1885 to Avery B. and Paulina Willson "promising full support to Moses and Fidelia Wright for their natural lives"; 1931 heirs to Richard C. Graves; 1958 to Harlan B. Ladd; 1961 to present owners.
286. RICHARD C. GRAVES: In 1958 Richard Graves completed a new house for himself at the edge of the woods northwest of his former home.
287. RUBY G. WRIGHT-LOT #5 IN 3RD RANGE: Jonathan Hall had this lot by 1775 from Benjamin Bellows, but no deed recorded until 1784 when he deeded to his son Abraham Hall 50 acres where Ruby Wright now lives, the land extending west to the height of land west of Rt. 12. He built Ruby Wright's house, and left Walpole about 1800, finally settling in Bath, New Hampshire. "He was the largest and most physically pow- erful man ever born in town. At the age of 60 his weight was 425 1bs. and when he went from place to place an ox cart was the vehicle." Elisha Hall, who married Philippi Smith in 1770, lived in the house Abraham built, and died without issue. "His brother Recompense occasionally visited him and would address someone in his presence thus: 'Here's Lisher and Philippi Smith haint a child in the world but I've got sons and darters'."
In 1806 Abraham Hall sold to Josiah Bellows 2nd; 1809 to Joseph Bellows Jr .; 1811 to James Hooper; 1837 to Curtis Stearns; 1870 to George Joslin, a grandson of Peter Joslin who lived on the old county road south of #8 School. He was a cattle and sheep dealer. When the Summit rail- road cut was made, he and E. Holbrook Hartwell butchered and sup- plied meat to the men. He was burned out in Surry about 1870 and removed to Walpole.
In 1874 his son Frank went to Woodstock, Vt., returning in 1877 and buying his father's farm. He was a stock broker and removed in 1885 to St. Paul, Minn .; 1886 sold the farm to his mother. She died in 1887 and left the property to daughters Lizzie and Jessie; 1888 to Anna Watkins (Mrs. Sumner).
In 1919 Sumner Watkins sold to Mark A. Mills (Evelyn A.); 1920 to Robert Nelson Stone; 1934 his estate to Alfred L. and Ruby A. Gilbo. It now belongs to Ruby Gilbo Wright.
In 1774 Jonathan Hall had bought from Ebenezer Edson a sliver of two acres joining the northeast corner of his farm. This land had been
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cut off from Edson's when the road was laid from here to the River Road. (This is interesting, since the road was not recorded until 1781. However, that year it was voted in town meeting to survey and record all the roads that had not been recorded previously.)
AH 309 says Ephraim Lane first lived "in a little house that once stood just north of" #287.
288. ARVER REALTY COMPANY-LOT #5 IN 3RD RANGE: The south part, 35 acres, of Lot #5 Jonathan Hall sold 1775 to his son Elisha. Elisha sold 10 acres where Rt. 12 crosses, including some of the brook, to Jonathan H. Chase and the rest (15 acres) to Henry Foster in 1813. Foster in 1822 gave to his son Levi this 15 acres on Wentworth Road, probably with buildings. Levi Foster sold in 1836 to Otis Ballou; 1846 to Horace Ross; 1847 to Diantha Ross; 1850 to George D. Paine; 1852 to Michael O'Leary; 1856 to Daniel Ross; 1860 to Calvin Graves whose widow Angie sold to John E. Heald; 1884 to Anson Burbee. There was a little house moved down from near the small brook to the north and placed a little south of the house on this place, about where the garage is now. Wallace and Inez Burbee lived in it. It was later moved and made the kitchen ell of the Eastman house. Perhaps this was the house shown on the 1858 map op- posite the west end of the Hooper Road.
In 1919 John Wallace Burbee, heir to Anson Burbee, sold to Fred H. Atwood of Westminster, Vt .; 1919 to Alfred B. Eitapence of Walling- ford, Vt .; 1921 to David H. Russell of Charlestown; 1926 to Ralph E. Proctor of Keene; 1927 to Herbert E. Wells; 1933 to his wife Flora; 1951 to James Ashley and Mabel M. Dunlap. He died 1958 and she sold Feb- ruary 1961 to Alfred Huey; April 1961 to Arver Realty Company, a road construction company, for the gravel. The house was gutted by fire while Huey owned.
289. FIVE CELLARHOLES-LOT #8 IN 4TH RANGE: It appears that Benoning Farnum had this lot in 1765, but didn't stay, for in 1774 Benjamin Bel- lows sold the north 50 acres of the lot to Joseph Griswold of Killingworth, Conn., "being land Levi Hooper now lives on". In 1777 Griswold bought the rest of the lot. He was a millwright and Daniel Griswold, to whom he sold a 20 acre piece at the east end of the lot, was a miller. By 1779 Joseph had built himself a house on the north side of the lot, probably in the point where the Hooper road now comes into Wentworth Road; 1781 to John Bellows; 1783 to John Moor; 1790 to William Moore "ex- cepting two acres where Capt. Hooper's house stands"; 1792 to Henry Foster.
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Henry Foster "attended the Academy at Exeter, New Hampshire, for a season, after which he came from Nelson to this town, about 1790, to engage in teaching school. Susannah, daughter of Capt. Levi Hooper, was one of his pupils, of whom he became enamored, and afterwards married, May 24, 1792. His marriage induced him to buy a farm in the neighborhood of his father-in-law, where he remained during life. He taught school several winters after his marriage. Although bred in the severe ortho- doxy of his day, in his mature years he took a wide departure from the teachings of his father, and nothing delighted him more than a discussion on religious topics with his townsmen, he always taking the most extreme opposite views from the religious conventionalities of the day. He preferred Blackstone to theology, and acquired a better knowledge of the law than many of his contemporary practitioners. He was also a diligent student in science, and, being far in advance of his neighbors in knowledge, and of decided opinions of his own, he was not so popular as he might otherwise have been with many of his townsmen; still his weight of character had a potent sway, and everybody feared his criticisms. He held the office of deputy sheriff many years, was selectman one year, and for some time justice of the peace."
He lived in the house in the point between the roads. When the Hooper Road was laid, it began near the south end of his house on Wentworth Road. His father-in-law's original house was a few rods to the north within the bounds of Lot #8. In 1842 the Foster house seems to have belonged to James Hooper; then to John G. and Ebenezer W. Titus, John G. living here. They were great-grandsons of Sylvanus Titus. Ebenezer had evidently died prior to 1864 when Sophronia and Henry A., of Rockingham, Vt., sold their interest to John G. Titus. The house finally fell down. Apparently Henry Foster built himself another house on the southeast side of the road, nearest Wentworth Road, probably the Kirkpatrick house in 1858, which went with what is now the Holmes farm. Next east on the southeast side of the road, next to Hooper's line, was the Henry Fitch place, a half-acre lot. Fitch, moving to Rutland, sold in 1837 to Henry Foster; 1853 his estate to Frederick Wier; 1856 to Benjamin Bixby; 1866 Bixby heirs to Robert Kirkpatrick, who owned the Foster farm. There was no mention of buildings.
Adjacent to the Fitch lot, but taken out of the next lot north, was the Charles Chaffin place. Chaffin sold in 1838 to Frederick Wier. In 1855 it belonged to Samuel G. Spear (related to Bixby). Mrs. Weymouth remem- bered two white houses here, probably the Kirkpatrick and Bixby houses. They were tenant houses and belonged to Henry Graves. They were both struck by lightning the spring of 1888, as was the church in Westminster. It was a terrible storm. Farmers on the hills could look off and see sev- eral fires at the same time. These three houses are all gone now, only the lilacs along the road left to mark the site. The cellarholes are filled in,
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and the land is all neatly tillable with the old garden spots still producing purslane.
In 1809 Henry Foster sold a piece opposite Allen Holmes' house for a school house for District No. 9.
The Foster farm was added to the Graves farm next south and now belongs to Allen Holmes.
290. ALDRICH, ARMSTRONG, WRIGHT: When Josiah H. Graves sold the farm to the south (Holmes farm), he reserved two acres between the Hooper Road and Wentworth Road; 1937 sold to Alfred L. and Ruby A. Gilbo; 1954 to present owners who built a house on the site of an old barn that was once on this land.
About 1850 there was a shoe shop here on the Henry Foster farm. On the south side of the Mill Crossroad to Rt. 12, west of Great Brook, there is a farm road leading to a large field on an upper level. Along the bank at the east end of this field, where it drops down toward the brook, one may still find foundations of the buildings where a colony of negroes lived. They are said to have worked in the shoe shop and are listed in the 1850 census.
291. G. ALLEN HOLMES-LOT #9 IN 4TH RANGE, LOT #6 IN 3RD RANGE: John Graves, Jr. (Lt., Squire) bought the west half of Lot #9 in the 4th Range and the east half of Lot #6 in the 3rd Range from his father in 1771, and in 1773 the west half of Lot #6. He gave 35 acres of the latter to his son Samuel in 1793. He also owned the north half of Lot #10 in the 4th Range which he gave to his son Darius. It was John Graves Jr. who represented Walpole in the Vermont Assembly during the Vermont Controversy.
In 1808 Lydia Graves sold the farm to Sterling Graves, son of Eliphas. His youngest son, Charles Henry, had the farm. Josiah H., son of Charles Henry, had the farm from his mother in 1904; 1917 to Arthur H. Chick- ering; 1917 to Edward E. Atkins; 1923 to Michael Butterfield of Rindge (Bessie T.); 1945 to G. Allen and Virginia Perkins Holmes.
292. G. ALLEN HOLMES-LOT #6, 3RD RANGE -- CELLARHOLE ON WEST SIDE OF WENTWORTH ROAD OPPOSITE WARN'S: In 1810 Amos Graves had a house here 10 rods from the road. At that time Asa Titus reserved to himself use of water in the brook for a carding machine. In 1814 Amos Graves sold the property on both sides of the road to Asa Titus; 1814 his estate to Aden Henry, "being same on which said Asa Titus lived at time of his decease; bounded east by road leading from Walpole to Westmoreland;
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north, south and west by Sterling Graves, 4 acres, including mills with the four machines for dressing cloth"; 1823 to Joshua Buzzell (Buswell, wife was Lurene) of Derby, Vt .; 1825 by virtue of a judgment to Frederick Buzwell of Enfield, Conn., stage driver. As agent, Ruggles Watkins in- serted the following ad in the Cheshire Gazette: "Ruggles Watkins has for sale stand for a clothier and carding wool on a good stream, about 11/2 miles south of Walpole Village, about four acres with good dwelling house, barn, clothier's shop with convenient room for a carding machine, and has been a place of great business in the life-time of its former owner. A quantity of machinery suitable for carrying on the cloth dressing." In 1826 sold to Bradford Brown of Westmoreland; 1826 mortgaged to Stephen Rowe Bradley; 1830 assigned to Ruggles Watkins; 1831 sold to Ira Haskell; 1837 to Edwin Hall; to Susan Hall; 1842 to Ira Haskell then of Greenwich, Mass., "together with buildings", but no mention of machinery; same day to Selah M. Hall of Walpole; 1848, he, then of Waltham, Mass., to George D. Paine; 1852 estate to Michael O'Leary (Rebecca) of Rockingham, Vt .; 1856 to Josiah W. Batchelder (Almira); 1860 to Gardner Tower of Westminster (wife, May A.); 1862 to Charles H. Graves, land and buildings, thus becoming a part of the Graves farm now owned by G. Allen Holmes. There is also supposed to have been iron-works here and a flour mill run by an undershot waterwheel.
South of the brook, next north of the Griswold farm (now Blake), was a 20 acre lot that John Graves of Troy, New York, inherited from his grandfather, John Graves. He sold in 1807 to Sterling Graves, and there was at that time a house on the premises.
293. RICHARD WARN-LOT #9 IN 4TH RANGE: This was a part of John Graves Jr.'s farm and, after various intra-family transactions, came in 1814 to his daughter and her husband, Rebecca and Asa Titus. They seem to have lived on the west side of the road first, but perhaps after his death she lived on the east side of the road. He died 1823, she about 1876. Her heirs sold 1876 to Charlotte B. Murdough; 1879 to Emily, wife of John W. Hodskins; 1889 to Charles F. Gould; 1891 to Olive S. Hatch; 1893 to Fred Carr; John Selkirk foreclosed the mortgage and sold 1901 to Hyland J. Brown; 1904 estate to William Wallace Warn Jr .; 1946 to Benjamin E. Warn; 1949 to present owners.
294. MRS. WILLIAM EASTMAN-LOT #9 IN 4TH RANGE ON LAWRENCE GRAVES CROSSROAD: In 1771 John Graves set off to John Graves Jr. the west half of Lot #9 in the 4th Range. In 1801 this 16 acres on the north side of
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the crossroad was set off to Darius Graves from his brother Allen's estate; 1804 to Darius Jr .; 1807 to Justin Hinds; 1810 to Eleazer Crane; 1810 to Henry Foster; 1815 to Recompense Hall (only five acres by high- way); 1816 Hall to William Farnum; 1819 to Jesseniah Kittredge; 1832 to Calvin Graves; 1883 to George H. Graves; 1915 to Eli W. Graves; 1920 to Hubert A. Willson (father of Mrs. Tom Graves). Josiah Graves fore- closed mortgage and sold in 1929 to William F. Eastman, a broker from Brooklyn, New York, whose wife was Rebecca Hooper. She died and he married again.
295. LAWRENCE GRAVES-LOT #9, 4TH RANGE, OUT OF EAST HALF: In 1818 John Graves sold 3/4 acre to Thomas Russell, Jr., land and buildings, who sold to Franklin Flint, yeoman. (A connection of Mrs. Thomas Rus- sell? She was a Flint, and they had a son Franklin Flint Russell.)
In 1819 Robert Gilchrist (Chloe) bought the property and mortgaged it to Elizabeth Flint of Westmoreland. In 1834 Elizabeth sold to George Flint. In 1839 Josiah Bellows 3rd foreclosed a mortgage and his daughter, Sarah Hibbard, sold 1855 to Charles Lawrence (Lydia); 1865 to Andrew Weber; 1890 his guardian to Fred A. Hatch; 1894 to Rollin Carl; 1898 to Arthur F. Joslyn; 1925 he then of Willington, Conn., to Stuart Graves who lived here until he took over his father's farm; 1943 to his brother Lawrence W. Graves.
296. JOEL CHAFFIN FARM SOUTH SIDE LAWRENCE GRAVES CROSSROAD-LOT #10 IN 4TH RANGE: In 1770 Ebenezer Bartlett bought from Robert Wier the north half of Lot #10 in 4th Range, 35 acres, east side of Wentworth Road, except for the 30 acre piece Wier reserved on the east end of the lot. In 1778 John Graves Jr. bought and gave in 1793 to his son Darius.
The east 30 acres Nicholas Patterson of Harvard, Mass., who probably had it from Robert Wier, sold in 1779 to Sylvanus Titus; 1797 to Joel Chaffin. In 1799 Chaffin sold the Sally Lawrence place on Prospect Hill and bought from Darius Graves the west 35 acres above. From road rec- ords we infer that he lived near the west end of the farm; 1809 he sold the east part of the farm (the Titus land, 221/2 acres) to John Graves.
March 7, 1828, the following ad appeared in the Museum: "Joel Chaffin offering his farm for sale 11/2 miles south of the new meeting house, 40-50 acres, buildings, orchard." Apparently Chaffin paid off the first mortgage he gave to James Hooper, but must have renewed it, for in 1833 James Hooper sold to Levi H. Foster for $1200 "being same premises conveyed to me by Joel Chaffin's mortgage." Chaffin died April 2, 1829; his wife
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Olive, November 21, 1843. He was a carpenter, 65 years of age at his death. (See AH 228-9.) This land is now owned by Harold Foster.
297. WALTER BLAKE-LOT #7 IN 3RD RANGE: In 1770 Edmund Lawrence sold this 100 acre lot (87 rods on the road, 180 rods deep) to William Rit- ter, cordwainer, for £50; September 3, 1774, to Benjamin Bellows Jr. for £65 "with all improvements thereon". Oddly enough April 26, 1774, Benjamin Bellows sold this same lot to Josiah Griswold of Killingworth, Conn. for £82. He probably built the present Blake house near the south line of the lot. In 1817 he sold to his son Willard who promised to take care of his father and mother. Willard bought his brother Daniel's share for $500 and his brother Hubbard's share by paying him in installments and promising to give him some schooling and a home until he came of age. He paid $2600 for the farm.
The farm was mortgaged to Stephen Rowe Bradley, James Ingalls liv- ing here for a time; 1826 Bradley sold to Levi H. Foster; 1847 to George Watkins 2nd; 1887 his heirs to Curtis R. Crowell and John C. Brown, buying to cut off wood and timber; 1889 to Charles Harmon Watkins, reserving timber; 1895 to Norman E. Watkins; 1898 Savings Bank fore- closed; 1899 to George B. Tiffany; 1899 to Marvin R. Booth; 1910 to Harry R. Morrison and then to George B. and Harrie Tiffany; 1918 George sold his interest to Harrie Tiffany; 1948 to present owners.
In 1782 Josiah Griswold sold the north 20 acres of the lot to John McFarland, with a house standing thereon. Did Griswold first build a house here, then the Blake house in which he was living in 1782? In 1790 he bought back the 20 acres and we know nothing more of McFarland or the house.
298. SMEED-DENISON-WATKINS-LOT #8 IN 3RD RANGE: William Smeed owned all the way from the Connecticut River to Wentworth Road, in- cluding this lot which he sold in 1773 (he being then in Windsor, N. Y.) to Samuel Ashley of Winchester, N. H., for £58; in 1782 to John Denison for £270. It would appear that he may have made some improvements, although none are mentioned. In 1790 or 1791 John Denison died, leav- ing Lucy with five children under 13 years of age. She sold the west 40 acres of the lot for £100 to settle her husband's debts.
Apparently she and the children stayed on the farm at least until they were grown. In 1815 Lucy and son Ziba sold the farm to William Wat- kins for $1000. The Denison homestead stood near the south side of Lot #8. If one goes into the woods at the point where the old road comes into
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the new and walks west, the cellarhole will be on the left a short distance into the woods. The well is west of the house.
William Watkins (Olive Shattuck) must have been about 70 years old when he died about 1826, leaving his wife with four minor children. On April 18, 1827, 19 acres of the farm and two-thirds of the barn were sold at public auction to Charles Titus. Mrs. Watkins was apparently left with the house, a share in the barn, and the land next to the road. It has all reverted to woods now.
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