USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Walpole > A history of Walpole, New Hampshire, Volume I > Part 32
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65
445. WALLACE HOGE: Isaac Fisher, son of Moses, had a place on what was his father's farm on the west side of the road, somewhat north of his father's buildings, an attractive old-fashioned low house which his father sold to him in 1818; 1871 other heirs to Andrew J. Fisher; 1874 Keene Five Cents Savings Bank foreclosed; 1876 to Alonzo Jennings (farm then occupied by Andrew J. Fisher); 1878 to Chauncey E. Knowlton; 1905 Edward M. Holden foreclosed; 1907 to John W. Prentiss; 1910 to Albert L. Fisher; 1927 to Alphonse Chabot, Fisher having moved to Keene; 1927 to Arthur H. Chickering Jr .; 1933 to Elizabeth MacNutt and James M. Rattray, the latter selling to Elizabeth MacNutt; 1936 to Wallace W. and Louise Aldrich Hoge.
318
PIERRE W. HOGE: The early records on the land in this section of Eaton Hill on Maple Grove Road are obscure. This may be where Timothy Eaton lived but around 1856 it was in the hands of William P. Mason and inherited from him by Fanny P. Mason; 1919 to Fred O. Smalley; 1944 Nora E. L. Smalley to William Pearson; 1945 to John W. Prentiss; 1946 to Pierre W. Hoge who has put up buildings here. He also purchased from Arthur Chickering Jr. the remainder of the Isaac Fisher Farm, which Chickering reserved when he sold to Elizabeth MacNutt, and the Feldspar Mine Lot which was originally part of the George B. Williams Farm, now Catherwood.
446. CHARLES P. HOWLAND FARM: According to Aldrich, Benjamin Bel- lows gave 50 acres of this farm to his step-son, Capt. John Jennison. How- ever, the records show that in 1765 Bellows sold 100 acres being Lot #5 in the 3rd Range to John Jennison for £60. Other records show him to have been here as early as 1761.
This was long known as Jennison Hill, later became Ramsay Hill for William Ramsay.
Capt. John Jennison lived on the farm and in 1803 sold one half of farm and buildings to his son William. William was a sheep farmer here most of his life. In 1836 he sold the farm to George Kilburn, son of his sister Rebecca. George had financial difficulties and removed to Fall River, Mass., about 1840, and his brother Elijah apparently took over the farm. In 1850 Elijah also went to Fall River, selling the farm to William T. Ramsay; 1909 heirs to Charles P. Howland, 111 acres. The Kilburns also owned a large piece of land on the west reaching to the next road.
The original house stood on the site of the present one, burned Nov. 5, 1909. The Howlands built the present house.
To the original farm William Jennison added the northwest corner of the Marcy farm, having purchased it from Leonard Stone prior to 1836. 447. DR. RICHARD ALBERT SANCTUARY: David Carlisle of Lunenburg, Mass., bought from Shearman Boardman in 1778 the farm next north of John Jennison's (see Peavy). Carlisle was somewhat advanced in years when he came here. "He brought with him an under bed filled with charlock, a pernicious weed, which he emptied onto his land. Some of the seeds of the weed were in the bed, and took root, and have since spread over con- siderable territory in town, giving the farmers much trouble when it mingled with their crops." (AH)
One son Capt. David had the place after his father. In 1794 David sold to his son Daniel for £190 "1/2 of farm on which I now live and 1/2 of
319
buildings except kitchen in house in which I dwell and certain room called the buttery." After David's death Daniel bought out the other heirs. He died of spotted fever in 1813, and his widow inherited.
About 1828 sold to Albert Locke; 1833 to Luke Thurston 88 acres; 1862 heirs to Barsilla Richardson of Keene; 1862 sixty acres west of road to Edwin Guild. The parcel east of the road was sold to William Guild.
Edwin Guild's heirs sold 1907 to Norman Guild, reserving two east rooms on second floor of the house for life use of the widow, Sophia; 1932 to Clarence Bennett; 1932 to Chadwick Mousley; 1937 to Arthur Chickering Jr .; 1938 to Elizabeth C. and Oscar E. Johnson; 1946 to David Allen and Margaret Wilkins Reed; 1961 to present owners.
448. LEOPOLD PEAVY JR .: In 1761 Benjamin Bellows sold for "£27 to John Pomaly (Jonathan Parmelee): Lot of land and is land said Pomaly now lives on 126 acres 132 rods. .. . " This was the lot next south of the Eastman tract and included the main part of the present farm east of the highway and the Sanctuary farm on the west side, the original lot #4 in the 3rd Range of the Hill Lots.
In 1769-70 John Pomaly sold to Alexander Pomaly his holdings west of the highway including buildings (57 acres) and 10 acres on the north side and 12 acres on the south side of the land east of the road; 1771 to Shearman Boardman, 79 acres.
In 1778 Boardman sold to David Carlisle the piece along the south line (now 20 acres) east of the highway along with the land west of the highway. The 20 acres continued to be a part of the Sanctuary farm until some time after it came into the hands of Barsilla Richardson of Keene. He sold to William Guild and it thus became once more a part of what is now this farm.
The nucleus of 39 acres, where the buildings stand, Alexander Parme- lee sold in 1786 to Calvin Cone; 1786 to Abner Graves, blacksmith, of Litchfield, Conn. Ezekiel Graves owned 1799 and in 1801 sold the 40 acres to James Knapp for $700.
In 1802 Knapp sold to Moses Fisher of Alstead for $875; 1805 to Timothy Ware, gentleman, of Wrentham, Mass., for $1075; 1816 to Abel Bellows for $750; 1821 to William Guild, whose first wife was a sister of Capt. Timothy Ware; continued in the Guild family for nearly 100 years; 1852 William's son Increase Sumner Guild moved here from Bethel, Vt., William having moved to the village. In 1862 Increase leased the farm to his son William Wolcott Guild who was then living in
320
Fitzwilliam, N. H., but who came to live on this farm at that time and continued to live here until he went to live with his daughter Flora Guild Bowman about 1898.
Elwin Guild's heirs sold the place, 170 acres, in 1918 to Francis J. Snow; 1919 to Everett and Elizabeth McNutt; 1933 to James F. and Esther D. Hamil; 1945 to Alfred O. Hoyt of New York City; 1960 to present owners.
449. EASTMAN CELLARHOLE: Prior to 1763 John Marcy bought from Benjamin Bellows the lot #3 in the 3rd and 4th Ranges, including the present Francis farm and east to the Atkinson Tract on Derry Hill; 1763 to Jonathan Eastman of Alstead the land east of the Ramsay Hill Road. Eastman in 1769 added 16 acres from Bellows, and in 1776 a strip 161/2 rods wide along his south line (10 acres) from Shearman Boardman.
Jonathan Eastman gave and/or sold parts of his farm as follows: 1780 to daughter Comfort Eastman, the east end on Maple Grove Road (Fisher place #444); 1787 to daughter Bethella Thomas the lot next west, she selling to Sparhawk in 1788; 1777 along Ramsay Hill Road 76 acres to son James, reserving "to myself and wife the improvements of whole of said land and buildings during our natural life." In 1780 he sold to James 27 acres to the east, reserving the improvements. In 1780 James sold a three acre piece in the southwest corner of the farm to Moses Emerson. It came back to the original tract when Roger Fenton sold to Sparhawk in 1850.
In 1788 James Eastman sold his farm to Antipas Harrington; Leonard Harrington in 1807 to Sparhawk; 1866 to William Guild.
The Eastman cellarhole is in the south edge of the field across the road from the Francis place.
450. CELLARHOLE NORTH OF #448: In 1780 James Eastman sold to Moses Emerson, husbandman, three acres at the southwest corner of his farm, on the east side of Ramsay Hill Road, for £6; 1784 to Thomas Goodenow, gentleman, for £55, the price indicating that some buildings had been erected, probably a house; to Aaron Emes of Keene; 1786 to James Eastman; 1789 James Eastman, then of Chesterfield, N. H., to Mehitable Kilburn, spinster, including a dwelling house; 1791 to Ebenezer Hooper, blacksmith; 1794 to Ezekiel Graves, also a blacksmith, and a member of the family owning the Peavy place at that time. The price had been dropping, Graves paying only £35 4 sh. 3 pence. Four months later he sold to Asa Gage Jr., joiner, for £60; 1795 to Sally Howland. She must
321
have had a husband, or some other male relative, for in 1807 Mr. How- land's barn stood on the northwest corner of the lot, close to the road; 1842, Sarah Howland of Woodstock, Vt., to John Howland, also of Woodstock, for $500; 1846 to Roger Fenton for $400; 1850 to George C. Sparhawk for $350, with no mention of buildings (on 1858 map). It thus was again joined to the original Eastman farm which in 1866 became a part of what is now the Peavy farm.
When the house, supposed to have been built 1790, was taken down in 1881, a brick was found dated 1700.
451. SUZANNE M. FRANCIS: This farm was Lot #4 in the 2nd Range of Hill Lots on the Bellows plan. John Marcy had it from Benjamin Bel- lows; 1768 to John Martin of Cornish; 1768 to John Pomaly, 50 acres for £20; 1769 to Sherman Boardman of Wethersfield, Conn. for £50; 1774 the north 40 acres to Roger Wolcott, joiner, of Sheffield, Massachusetts Bay.
Roger Wolcott died here leaving a widow Esther. Esther first leased the farm to her son-in-law John Eames, Jr. in 1838, but in 1851 she sold to her son-in-law Harvey Foster, he agreeing to take care of her for the rest of her life.
May 21, 1887, the farm was sold at auction, for the estate of Foster, to Joseph Kidder; to Edward H. and Benjamin Kidder; 1907 Edward H. Kidder unmarried and Martha J. Kidder, widow, to May L. Haynes; 1910 to John W. Prentiss and Harry M. Wilder of Keene, who probably cut the timber; to Fred W. Joslin of Fitchburg. In 1940 Geraldine Hiller and Deborah Cook by virtue of a deed from Blanch B. Joslyn sold to Dwight W. and Florence B. Harris; 1961 Florence B. Harris, widow, to present owner.
There was a small hut standing on the place when Wolcott bought. Being a carpenter by trade, he soon built respectable buildings for a home and cleared and cultivated the land. The original cellarhole is closer to the highway, northeast of the present house built by the Harrises.
452. CHRISTOPHER WEBBER CELLARHOLE: In 1768 Constantine Gilman, who had previously been on the Stearns farm, bought from Benjamin Bellows for £50 100 acres, lot #2 in the 3rd Range of Hill Lots.
In 1767 he sold to Christopher Webber for £3 the five acres in the southeast corner of this lot. The price that Webber paid would indicate that there were at the time no buildings on this site and Webber must have proceeded to build. He was a cordwainer (shoemaker) and five acres
322
would be ample for his needs in that occupation. However, the next year he bought of Benjamin Bellows for £33 62 acres on the west side of the road.
In 1774 Gilman sold the north 40 acres to Col. Christopher Webber for £48. In 1782 Webber bought half of Lot #1 in the 4th Range of Hill Lots; and in 1784 the north half of #1 in the 2nd and 3rd Ranges and 50 acres next northeast of #1 in the 4th Range, giving him a total of about 250 acres.
Col. Webber seems to have been one of the leading men of the town. He represented the town at Exeter in 1776-7, in the most trying times of its history, and was captain of a company in General Bellows regiment when he went to Saratoga. He held some office of trust and honor in town yearly for more than twenty years. He died 1803, aged 63 years.
Before he died Col. Webber made over his real estate to his son-in-law Dr. Stephen Johnson. In 1808 Johnson sold the land west of the highway and the buildings on the east side to William Guild who later settled on the Peavy farm. Guild retained the land west of the road.
Now back to Gilman. He must have continued to live on the part of the farm that he had not sold to Webber, for in 1799 when he sold to Gamaliel Fenton he referred to it as "My home farm". Fenton paid $2000 and later the same year sold to Edmund Brewster for $700; 1812 Brew- ster, then of Westmoreland, to Ebenezer Pierce for $1600; 1815 Pierce, then of Wardsboro, Vt., to Benjamin Davis for $1300. Davis acquired several other parcels through the years, including the Webber 5 acres with buildings. In 1837 James Davis of Reading, Mass., conveyed the property to Alonzo Jennings; and his brother George had the farm for many years.
John Prentiss wrote of this farm and Mr. Jennings-"It is interesting how productive these old farms were, and that the owners were able to raise large families. George Jennings was a natural trader, and trading, particularly in horses, was a major part of his business. At one time he had a very fine mare. A wealthy trader came to see this horse; Jennings offered to sell for $250, a good price. The customer offered $200. Jen- nings came down to $225 but the customer left. Something in Mr. Jennings' appearance set the fellow thinking, and the following Sunday he came back with another man. They stalled around, and after awhile produced a quart of whiskey and offered George a drink. He was willing, and in a short time they suggested they have another, which they did. After awhile the bottle was empty and the visitors, not unmindful of
323
evident effect of liquor on George, said they must go along, and asked what the lowest price was that would buy the mare. "$300," was the reply. Somewhat taken aback, the men said "But you offered her to me for $225." "By God, I know it, but the price has gone up."
Finally in 1884 the farm was sold to settle Alonzo's estate and it came to Alfred T. Batchelder of Keene; 1897 land and buildings to Benjamin F. Kidder for $1000. After the last Kidder died, the farm was sold in 1937 to Joseph Cobb; 1941 to Dwight and Florence Harris.
The Webber house which was large and wood-colored, rotted down.
On either side of the highway on the Webber place was a Goose Pond. They drained the east pond and dug clay from the bottom for pottery. In an indenture between Col. Webber and Dr. Johnson in 1800 the former reserved as his half of the property "the two north rooms, half the buttery, the privilege of the shed and the front entry, and buildings near the potter's business and privilege of the kitchen to wash and bake."
Redware was made from the bluish gray clay here, the firing changing the color to a light orange red.
453. LESTER W. MANNING: The early history of this place is rather vague. It was early known as the Rose or Ross lot, but no deeds in either name have been found. In 1781 John Still seems to have owned the land, ac- cording to road records, Benjamin Bellows deeding to him 1786 "to ful- fill contract". Still was in Surry as early as 1769 and was in the Revolu- tion from Walpole. In 1772 he married Phebe, daughter of Duran Wade.
In 1787 Still sold the west 20 acres to his father-in-law for £20 and in 1788 the east 30 acres to Benjamin and Thomas Redington, merchants in Walpole, for £100. According to the History of Surry Duran Wade re- moved from. Surry to Walpole about 1770 where he remained until about 1789. He may have sold the west 20 acres to Gamaliel Fenton, for in 1799 he in turn deeded it to Ezekiel Graves for $300. A deed also indicates Eldridge owned at least the east end in 1794.
Isaac Jennings, born Holliston, Mass. (wife, Thankful Moore), came to Walpole about 1808 and settled on this place, where he remained un- til his death in 1851.
Joseph Kidder, who bought the farm from Alonzo Jennings, built the house now on the place. According to Prentiss: "This was one of the good farms of the town and no farm was better carried on, or kept more neat and tidy. He kept a flock of Merino sheep. His cattle were Devons, and his team a pair of Morgans of his own raising, and a better team I never saw. He had one of the first mowing machines owned in town, and with a lively team did an excellent job of mowing."
324
In 1926 Charles P. Howland bought the place of Edward H. and Martha J. Kidder, 94 acres; 1926 to Harriet Hobbs the house and lot. From 1938 to 1941 Arlene Brown Chappell, Mona Brown Cramer and Martha Brown Militzer with their husbands brought together again the house and lot, 20 acres west of the highway and 12 acres on the east; 1951 to George and Marion Douglas; 1956 to E. Sally Regis; 1961 to present owners.
In recent years it has been maintained for the most part as a seasonal home. From the buildings the land falls away gently to the west, afford- ing a view across the fields and woods to the Vermont hills.
RESERVOIR ROAD
In 1766 the town voted to accept the road from the corner by Asa Baldwin's to the north side of Gilman's lot. ... This would have been the Reservoir Road from North Road north to the north side of the old Stearns Farm (no survey recorded). One of the 1781 roads extended from the first meeting house northeast along the Hubbard Road, then across to the Stearns Farm, by the Starkweather Farm into the 1774 road from Ramsay Hill.
The town water supply lies east of Reservoir Road, and much of the land has been acquired for its protection.
454. SABIN ROCK FARM-WILLIAMS AND FORBES: In 1838 the Hubbard Sparhawk lot (except for 8 acres on the north side) belonged to Leonard Bisco. The part next to the road he had bought from Heman Gates and Lincoln Brooks, two separate parcels, indicating that it had not previ- ously been a farm unit. In 1840 Bisco sold this east part of the lot to Phinehas Stuart and Reuben S. Brown; 1840 to Oliver Martin; 1852 to George Sabin who remained here the rest of his life. He is said to have built the house. The farm is still known by his name. Northwest of the house, beside a duck pond, stands the huge "Rock". On top is a summer house commanding a wide view across the valley to the Vermont hills.
The Sabin heirs, Frances M. and Emma J. Sabin, sold in 1903 to Ed- ward W. Morse of Brookline, Mass .; 1916 to Mary Steel Curtis of South Orange, N. J .; 1925 to Ralph E. Proctor of Keene; 1925 to Elizabeth C. Johnson; 1936 to Charles W. and Maie E. French of New York City; 1947 to Margaret D. Williams and Bernhard D. Forbes. Mr. Forbes is brother of Margaret D. Williams, who has built a house on the east side of the road. There is also a farmer's house. Sabin had previously had the Sar- gent farms next north.
325
455. DONALD E. HUBBARD: This place includes most of two original tracts: the 70 acre tract next south of the Stearns farm, sold in 1773 by Benjamin Bellows to Jonathan Hartwell; and the 100 acres willed to Josiah Bellows by his father. These lots were probably #3 and #4 in the 2nd Range of Hill Lots, on the Bellows-Atkinson Map.
This was long known as the Porter Farm. There is no record that the Porters ever owned the farm, but they must have lived here while it be- longed to Josiah Bellows.
Vine Porter came from Morristown, Vt., to Walpole in 1834 and set up practice as a Thomsonian physician, living with his family on this farm.
George Sabin lived on this farm, probably also while Josiah Bellows owned, and is said to have accumulated enough money to buy the next farm to the south in 1852.
In 1852 the Bellows heirs sold to the Kilburns, Frederick owning until 1868. He had lived in Littleton for some years, but returned to Walpole. He was a carpenter and farmer, and was engaged in setting "turbine" water wheels in various mills and factories about the country.
Kilburn sold to David Jennison; 1871 to Stephen Corey; 1876 to Al- bert N. Howe; 1879 to Oliver N. Sargent. Prentiss says: "This was also a productive farm. Both this and the Gates Farm had magnificent apple orchards, several hundred barrels a year each and abundance of small fruit."
The Sargents sold in 1885 to Oliver Martin; to William T. Ramsay; 1907 to Ira Hubbard.
The barns on the place originally stood east of the highway but were moved to the west side, where the old foundations now remain, two barns, end to end, 40 x 30 ft. They were connected to the house. The story and a half seven room house was built prior to 1800. It stood where Donald Hubbard's red barn now stands.
Donald Hubbard began building his house in 1940, adding to it from time to time until 1954. It stands north of the old buildings, facing the west.
456. STEARNS CELLARHOLE: Sometime previous to 1774 Benjamin Bel- lows, in total disregard of his early lot plan, laid out in the northwest corner of the hill range of lots a lot with north and south boundaries running east and west instead of at a 35° angle as the other lots were laid in these ranges. This lot was approximately 100 acres and is still clearly defined on the aerial map, although it appears to have been broken up among various owners at times.
326
22
...
22
#456
Old Stearns Place
In 1774 Bellows sold to his wife's nephew, Moses Stearns, of West- minster, Mass., 100 acres in line with the Webber lot on the west side of the Ramsay Hill Road, the north line being roughly the south bound of the lot mentioned in the paragraph above. This gave a lot rectangular on the east end, but tapering on the west to a point on its south line. At that time it appears that John Bellows owned the lot to the north and a road followed approximately on the line between the lots. When the road was recorded in 1781 it followed a more southerly course, coming into the Reservoir Road at the Stearns buildings.
Constantine Gilman is said to have occupied this land first, having taken it up in 1759, being one of the first settlers in town. He built a house east of the present road where the Stearns orchard later stood, near the brook, and brought his family to Walpole in 1760 from New- market, and lived here four years, when his wife died and he returned to Newmarket. On his way thither he stopped overnight at an inn in Peterborough, and there left his daughter Molly, a child then four years old. She remained there till she was eighteen, when she returned to Wal- pole, her father having bought a farm to the east on the Ramsay Hill Road.
Moses and Ruth Stearns had nine children, five of them born before
327
they came to Walpole. Of these Ephraim was the oldest. Soon after the Battle of Bennington he joined the American army. While stationed at Fort Edward he had a narrow escape. In a skirmish with a party of Hes- sians a bullet discharged from one of their guns, cut the skin of his throat. He thought it was the jugular vein, but in putting his hand up to stop the outpouring blood, he found it was dry. He served a year un- der General Thomas in the Canada campaign, at Montreal and Quebec. When he returned to Walpole he settled down on the old Stearns farm where he lived with his wife Molly Gilman, mentioned above.
In 1779 Moses Stearns sold to Ephraim for £100 "1/2 of farm I now live on (the same 100 acres as from Bellows), reserving front room on westerly end of house and bedroom at northwest corner with chamber over and cellar under and 1/2 of barn".
Ephraim enjoyed in his old age living his life over again, in telling his youthful exploits. In stature he was about five feet five inches, and in the times of cider and cider brandy turned the beam at 206 pounds, but after he abstained from the use of alcoholic drinks he weighed about 150 pounds. Of his thirteen children the third, Stephen, stayed on the home farm, buying a half interest from his father in 1818 for $2000.
In 1863 Josiah, son of Stephen, bought out his stepmother's interest in the place, reserving for her the use of the western part of the house for one year, and sold to William M. Johnson of Rockingham, Vt. It is in- teresting to note that it was always the west end of the house that was reserved. The original part of the house was built in 1774, the east and west parts added later. Judging by the remaining foundations there were large barns east of the road. During the ownership of Ephraim and Stephen the farm had grown from 100 acres to 175 acres. Ephraim had bought in 1785 the west 38 acres of the lot to the north, and apparently the rest of the lot had been added. Farm is wooded now.
Johnson owned the farm until 1890 when it was taken over by the Bellows Falls Savings Institution; 1891 to Charles W. Adams of Bernards- ton, Mass., apparently for the lumber; 1893 to Emma M. Putnam "reserv- ing wood and timber on west side of highway leading by dwelling house on premises except shade trees near house and fruit trees in field until April 1, 1895. . . . " In 1898 the place was sold to Copley Amory, "re- serving possession of buildings to Jan. 1, 1900, and right for grantor to pasture her live stock for season of 1899 and all crops of corn, potatoes, apples, pumpkins, beans and garden truck now standing." Amory re- moved the house.
328
John W. Prentiss wrote of this place: "Benjamin Gates and his descendants lived on the old Gates place, now owned by the town and water company. This was formerly the Stearns farm before it was bought by William Johnson who married a daughter of Benjamin Gates and became wealthy during the Civil War. I have always regretted the passing of this old place with magnificent giant elms in the yard and the view from the knoll just back of the house, one of the finest in town, backed by mountains across the valley of the Connecticut River and Bellows Falls."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.