A history of the town of Sullivan, New Hampshire, 1777-1917, Volume I, Part 58

Author: Seward, Josiah Lafayette, 1845-1917
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: [Keene, N.H., Sentinel printing Co.]
Number of Pages: 888

USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Sullivan > A history of the town of Sullivan, New Hampshire, 1777-1917, Volume I > Part 58

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Maple sugar was formerly produced in Sullivan in large quantities. In 1857, our maple forests produced ten tons of this delicious article. It is still made in large quantities in good sugar seasons. It is to be regretted that the rapacious greed of manufacturers to secure wood for wooden wares has led farmers to accept the tempting prices offered for their maples in too many instances. This tends not only to destroy the sugar industry, but to deplete the value of the farms. It is time that the present inhabitants of the town resort to all honorable means that can be used to head off these tempting offers and to save the farms for farming purposes, while it is still possible to do so.

The lumber industry is a very important factor in the farming life of Sulli- van. Many farmers have sold valuable tracts of timber and have realized hand- some sums for them. Much of this has been sawn in Sullivan, either in the permanent, or in portable, mills. In too many cases, the purchasers of the timber have bought whole farms with their buildings, taking off the wood and skinning the farm, and either taking down the buildings or leaving them to decay. It is devoutly to be hoped that this vandalism will cease. Even in securing the forest products, it is not at all necessary to destroy the farms so ruthlessly.

The local grange has done much to improve the social opportunities of the farmers, and it is greatly to be hoped that this social agency, together with the telephones, which now bring the whole town into touch as it were, will produce a greater spirit of contentment among the people and minimize the desire to move into some larger place, where the few advantages, if any there really are, are neutralized by greater expenses and other disadvantages.

GRIST-MILLS. We know of six grist-mills which have been erected in Sul- livan. Aug. 27, 1792, a road was laid by the town, from near the spot, 59, where Martin Rugg once lived, to a grist-mill which the Hubbards had built at 57, on what we now call the Spaulding Brook. Later, a house was built at 58, and occupied by Abijah Wetherbee, the father of the late Capt. T. T. Wetherbee. This mill was on land leased of Daniel Wilson, and was not operated many years. On Oct. 1, 1795, the town laid two roads or bridle-paths, but passable for carts and wagons, one from Elijah Osgood's, at 161, to the mill of Joshua Osgood, at 163, the other (Road XXIX. on map) from near the house of Joshua Osgood (who lived at 247) to the same mill. This grist-mill was operated by Joshua Osgood for several years. The old mill stood a long time and was used

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for a saw-mill and eventually operated by the Wrights. In 1797, Nathaniel Mason moved to Sullivan from that part of Dublin which is now Harrisville, and built and operated a grist-mill, on land then owned by his father, Joseph Mason, Sr. On Oct. 8, 1802, Nathaniel purchased the lot of his father and built the first house at East Sullivan village, the ell of the present house of T. A. Hastings, at 14. The mill occupied the site of the present mill at 13. ()n Mar. 14, 1835, Nathaniel Mason sold the mill to Lanmon Nims, who built the second house at East Sullivan, at 36. Nims sold the mill to Nathaniel P. Mason, Jan. 23, 1838, and the latter sold the same to Daniel Goodnow, Nov. 6, 1843. Three years later, June 11, 1846, Caleb Goodnow bought the mill of his father, Daniel Goodnow. Hitherto, the mill had been a grist-mill, and also a saw-mill. Mr. Caleb Goodnow added a bolting mill where good flour was made many years from the wheat raised by the farmers upon their farms. The house- wives of today would perhaps demur to the use of flour so fresh, yet it served an admirable purpose. The good flour made by such improved processes in the great mills of the West, and sold so cheaply in the markets, has removed the necessity for such a bolting-mill, and it has not been operated for years. L. H. & D. W. Goodnow purchased the mill of their father, Aug. 17, 1872, and operated it 15 years, when it was purchased, Sept. 10, 1887, by T. A. Hastings, who now owns it and operates it as a saw-mill chiefly. William Comstock, on Mar. 3, 1801, came into full possession of the whole farm formerly owned by his father, Wm. Comstock, Sr. Shortly after, he built a little grist-mill at 105, on the Woods Brook (sometimes called the Meetinghouse Brook). Hosea Fos- ter informed us that there was so little water in this brook most of the year, that Mr. Comstock had an attachment to his machinery, whereby he could walk round and round as the wheel turned and aid the water power by his own hands. It is evident that his mill was not adapted to do a very large business. The mill was operated 15 or 20 years. On Sept. 28, 1801, Asa Wait, Jr., of Fitzwil- liam, purchased some land along the brook which forms the outlet of the Chap -. man Pond, and put up a grist and saw-mill at 17472. Wait bought the place of a Mr. Houston, who is supposed to have had some sort of a mill here previously. Wait sold this land, two years later, to J. G. White and Calvin Locke, but is said to have operated the mill for two or three years more, while he owned the Winchester farm, at 193. The land about the mill passed into the Locke family, and is now all owned by the Whites. On. Apr. 6, 1816, Thomas Spaulding pur- chased of Eleazar Hathorn the mill privilege at 118. He built a grist-mill and saw-mill here which were operated by him and his sons for many years. Sept. 30, 1831, his son, Jacob Spaulding, bought the mill. Curtis Spaulding, a brother of Jacob, on Mar. 3, 1831, purchased a little land of Martin Rugg and built the house at 117, and worked in the mill with his brother for a time. This old mill was familiarly known for years as " Jake's mill", and many a person who reads this will remember having taken grists there in his youth.

SAW-MILLS. There have been at least ten saw-mills in town, not to speak of the more modern, portable steam-mills. The old mill of Joshua Osgood, to which we alluded in the last section, was also a saw-mill. It later passed into the control of the Wrights of Keene, who operated it for a time. About 1838, Dauphin Spaulding, Sr., built a saw-mill at 162. In the following year, the

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town built a road from his house to this mill. The road was continued, a few years afterwards, to the Nims Hill road. Neither of the two preceding mills is now standing. The Nathaniel Mason mill, mentioned in the preceding para- graph, was also a saw-mill, and so continues still, under the management of Mr. T. A. Hastings. The old grist-mill is still in the building, but rarely used. About 1814 or 1815, a saw-mill was built by Asa and Samuel Mason, at 49. The mill really stood in the track of the present Concord Road, but the charac- ter on the map, indicating it, had to be set a little to the left. This mill stood for a few years. Jeremiah Mason, in 1816, purchased the Asa Mason share, which was one fifth of it. Here were sawed the boards and lumber for the Oliver Wilder house, at 23, for the John Mason house, at 22, and probably also for the Joseph Mason and the Jeremiah Mason houses, at 50 and 51. The mill disappeared before the memory of any now living. In the early fifties, Martin Spaulding built a steam saw-mill at 25212. It was not a successful venture. His wife facetiously called it his " destruction " when he was building it, and it came near proving so in a financial way. It was a great loss. It was not operated long and long since disappeared. In 1852, Dauphin Spaulding, 2d, built the large saw-mill at 46. It was built from the timbers of the old second meetinghouse. The large ornamental window which stood behind the old pulpit was placed in the west gable of this mill. The other windows were put in the mill also, so far as required. The mill continued to be operated, and did much business, under successive owners, Dauphin Spaulding, 2d, George Kingsbury, Hastings & Rugg & Harris, and W. H. Harris, until its destruction by fire, on the 13th of January, 1898. Between 1820 and 1830, Asa Ellis built a saw-mill at IIO, which has done, and is still doing, much business. Asa Ellis, his son Atwell C. Ellis, and grandson, Austin A. Ellis, all operated the mill, which passed into the hands of M. L. Fowler, and then into the possession of Will H. Harris, who still operates it. The Jacob Spaulding mill, mentioned in the pre- ceding paragraph, was also a saw-mill. It was operated many years, by Thomas Spaulding, by Curtis and Jacob Spaulding, by the latter alone, and finally by Elliot J. Davis. Like many others, this old mill, as well as landmark, has disap- pea ed. The old Wait mill, mentioned in the last paragraph, was also a saw- mill. In 1897, J. F. & S. G. Wilcox built a steam saw-mill at 42. The building still stands (1907), practically in ruins. The mill was first set in operation, May 8, 1897, and was operated about two and a half years, while the Wilcoxes were sawing the lumber from the logs which were taken from the F. A. Wilson farm. Besides these stable mills, there have been several portable steam saw-mills in the town; one upon the Petham lot, so-called, of T. A. Hastings, another upon the C. Franklin Wilson farm, two or three more in the north part of the town, near the Great Brook, also one to the east of where Mrs. Preckle lives. These mills, and some others, brought to the town, are only temporary affairs, for the purpose of sawing lumber for persons who do not live in the town.

WOODEN-WARE MILLS. In 1849, the Felts built a mill at 55, which was used for a short time as a starch factory. D. Alvaro Felt converted it into a turning mill. For a time, he made butter tubs out of spruce timber. At a later date, he was making hoe-handles, also step-ladders, camp stools, and rake- handles. After H. M. Osgood purchased the property, he turned the mill into a

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saw-mill. About 1839, Sylvester and Ashley Mason built a mill at 52, where they turned hoe handles principally, but had a variety of lathes for turning other articles. Sylvester Mason and also Perley W. Frost, after the latter, con- tinued the business. Luke Parkhurst also lived here for a time, but did not do much in the mill. After the property was purchased by Dexter Spaulding, the latter began to prepare the mill for a wheelwright-shop. He had not got the shop entirely fitted to his liking when he died. There was a shop at 209, oper- ated by water power from the little Atwood Brook. This mill was built by Luther Hemenway, who invented the famous awl-handle, which he patented in 1826, the principle of which is still in use. This invention has brought much money to the owners of the patent, but, like so many inventors, poor Hemenway never derived any particular benefit from his own invention. The Hemenways were remarkably ingenious persons. Artemas P. Hemenway, son of Luther, was constantly inventing and making fine instruments, and all the men in the family were skilled mechanics, and one of them, Luke Hemenway, became quite wealthy. The old shop at 209 was noted .for having been the place where was made the first of the famous awl-handles patented by Luther Hemenway. The same shop passed into the possession of Joseph Foster, in 1832, and became famous again as being the place in which was made the first cabinet organ in the world, by this same Joseph Foster. Mr. Foster was a man of rare mechani- cal skill and ability, with a very delicate ear for music. His first instrument was called a melodeon, though it differed from former musical instruments which bore that name. According to the style of the case in which the instru- ment was set, it was sometimes called an aeolian, and sometimes a seraphine: He retained this shop but a short time. He afterwards got started to build another at 41, on the Gilsum side of the line, but never commenced work in it, although the shop was nearly finished. Mr. Hemenway built another shop at 217, just south of the town line, in Sullivan. The building at 219 was also a shop, but later converted into a dwelling, then into a shop again. Leslie H. Goodnow, in. 1888, purchased land and built, in 1889, a mill at 29, where he has manufactured toys, chair stock, and crib stock, and is still busily engaged in his business at that place. Charles W. Hubbard is associated with him in some part of his transactions. It is one of the busiest industries in the town.

WHEELWRIGHT-SHOPS. Dexter Spaulding had a wheelwright-shop at 120, which formed a sort of ell to his house. He did a good business here for many years. This shop was destroyed by fire in 1859, as we have seen in a previous chapter. Unfortunately, the shop was connected with the house, causing the destruction of the latter at the same time. Mr. Spaulding, in 1860, purchased the old Sylvester Mason, or Perley W. Frost, place, at 53, and began fitting up the shop at 52 for another wheelwright-shop, but death overtook him before he had completed his preparations. He was a good carpenter, as well as wheel- wright, and had an ingenious mind, and was a good calculator in planning or designing a building. He also was a very good brick mason. E. Aplin had such a shop at 253.

TANNERIES. On June 5, 1840, Asa E. Wilson, afterwards for many years a deacon of the First Congregational Church, bought the house at 36, and also later the site of 37 and other small bits of land. He built, that year, the old

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tannery which stood at 37, where for 19 years, he carried on the business of tannning and currying, employing considerable help in the mean time. On Feb. 1, 1859, he sold this plant to John Symonds of Marlow, formerly of Hancock, who moved to town that year, and Mr. Wilson removed to Marlow. Mr. Sy- monds developed here the most important industrial plant that the town has ever had. He kept many men at work and acquired, for Sullivan, a handsome competency. On. Jan. 23, 1872, Mr. Symonds sold his plant to John N. Grout of Leicester, Mass. Mr. Symonds moved to Keene and carried on the tanning business there. He and his widow left to the city of Keene a legacy of several thousand dollars, to be used for library or literary uses. Owing to a deprecia- tion of securities, however, the actual proceeds of the legacy did not prove to be large. Mr. Grout operated the tannery about two and a half years. On the night of Aug. 20, 1874, the whole plant was destroyed by fire. This fire was something of a mystery and very unpleasant suspicions have always been enter- tained that the fire may have been incendiary. Originally operated by water power, the plant became in time a steam tannery. No building was built again upon the same site. The property passed into the hands of an assignee and was finally acquired, Oct. 6, 1879, by Edwin R. Locke, who recently died at Fitchburg, Mass., a native of Stoddard. He built a new steam tannery, on the opposite side of the river, at 12, a portion of which still remains in ruins. Locke operated the plant about two or three years and failed and the property came into possession of a bank, then again into the possession of John Symonds, who sold the real estate to different residents of the town. The tanning busi- ness, which brought prosperity to the town under Wilson and Symonds, brought, in turn, great loss and much unhappiness under the administrations of subse- quent owners and is now an unhappy memory.

DISTILLERY. Col. Erastus Hubbard built a distillery at 169, where he carried on the business of distilling liquors for a time. It was afterwards changed to a cider-mill.

POTASH INDUSTRY. On Oct. 31, 1818, Amos Wardwell, Sr., bought that part of the old Michael Saunders farn, at 242, which contained the buildings. He moved the old house down the hill, to a position at 241, which was exactly opposite the old hearse house that stood at 240. After moving the old house to 241, Mr. Wardwell made potash in it for several years, for the market, as did later his son, I. N. Wardwell.

TAILOR. Micah (sometimes called Michael) Sartwell came from Wilton in 1787, and bought the farm afterwards occupied by Ebenezer Kendall and Har- rison Rugg, at 145. In the deed, he is called a tailor. Shortly after this, he sold that place to Joseph Morse and bought the place at 61, which now forms a part of the farm of Samuel S. White. Sartwell sold the place, in 1793, to Josiah Gould White of Uxbridge, Mass., whose descendants still occupy it. In those days all clothes for males were made by private tailors or tailoresses, although nearly every housewife was taught to make such garments to a certain extent. Probably Mr. Sartwell found something to do in the line of his trade, but it was doubtless necessary for him to farm some to eke out a living. Among the women of the town who had learned the trade of a tailoress, in what might be called a professional way, were Mrs. James W. Osgood, who lived at 167 ; Mrs.

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Asa Ellis who lived at 112; Aurelia Hubbard, who married Elijah Mason ; and probably others.

DRESS-MAKERS AND MILLINERS. Originally, nearly every woman in town could make her own garments, unless it was some particularly nice affair. I.avina Ellis, later Mrs. George White, who lived at 63, learned the trade of a mi liner. Those who could make gowns have been so numerous that no attempt at a complete enumeration can be made. We recall Mrs. Levi Higbee and Miss Julia M. Brown, in former days.

COOPERS. In the early days of the settlement of the town there were several coopers among the citizens. The inventory of the estate of William Comstock shows cooper's tools as well as those of a carpenter. He lived at 106. John Rowe, Jr., who married his widow and lived in the same house was also a cooper. Thomas McLeod, who lived a few years at 127, was a cooper. He came from Lancaster, Mass. He associated with him in that business a brother of Mrs. James Comstock, named Edward Wilder. He lived with his sister at 112. Joseph Mason, at 50, was a cooper, and famed for making sap-buckets.

CARPENTERS. In the early days of the town, every man could do some- thing at almost any trade. All could work with the tools of a carpenter, at least to a certain extent. The most of them cobbled for their own families. A large number could shoe their horses, their oxen, and their sleds. It is there- fore difficult to draw an exact line between those who worked professionally at carpentry and those who did not. As nearly as we can determine, the list of persons who could be really called carpenters in a professional sense would include the following: William Comstock, who lived at 106; his son William, who lived there and at 107; Thomas Spaulding, who lived at 256 and built 255, who built meetinghouses in . Hancock, Dublin, and Sullivan ; his son Ashley, who lived on the same farm and did considerable work in that line; Daniel Wil- son, who lived at 64, and his son John Wilson, who lived at the same place ; Michael Saunders, who lived at 242, and was also a good blacksmith; Ephraim Aplin, who lived at 236; William Brown, who built the house at 235, also the Baptist building which stood at 93; Daniel Goodnow, who lived at 33, and whose shop was at 31, now made into a dwelling ; Dauphin Spaulding who lived at 161, also at 108, and could do good work as a carpenter ; Alexander B. Brown, who lived at 168, also at 203; Alonzo O. Brown, who lived at 161 for a time; William Smith, who lived at 228; Hosea Foster, who lived at 101, and used for a time the old Wm. Brown shop in rear of 235; Dauphin Spaulding, 2d, who built the house at 45, and one before upon the same site, which was burned, also the mill at 46, which was likewise destroyed by fire; Ellery E. Rugg, who lived at 39 and built that house, and was also a blacksmith ; and George Kingsbury, who lived at 44, with a shop at 43, but is now (1907) boarding at East Sullivan, at 31, and is the last one of all this long list now left in town, and, excepting Mr. E. E. Rugg, the only survivor of them all. Dexter Spaulding, who was a wheelwright, was also an excellent carpenter.

BLACKSMITHS. As in the case of carpenters, so with the blacksmiths ; so many of the farmers could work at a forge a little that it is somewhat difficult to single out the professional blacksmiths. As nearly as we can ascertain, the list would be about as follows : Abel Allen, who lived at 256, also at 232, with

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shops at 253 and 91 ; Asa Nash, who lived at 212, with a shop at 213; uncle of Asa Nash of Gilsum ; Benjamin Eaton, who lived at 215, with a shop at 216, which had a trip-hammer operated by water power; Stephen Foster, who lived at 197, with a shop at 196; Capt. Thomas T. Wetherbee, who lived at 117, with a shop at 116; Samuel Osgood, who preceded Dea. Frost, at 108, and had a shop on his premises ; Enoch Woods, who lived at 80, with a shop which stood first at 77, the site of the second meetinghouse, but, after the location of the meeting- house was determined, was removed to 79; Ephraim Foster, who lived at 237, and worked in the blacksmith shop which stood at 91; Joseph Thurston, who lived at the same place and used the same shop, after Foster ; Daniel H. Mason, who lived at 97, using the old shop which stocd at 91, and which he moved to 92, afterwards living at 206, with a shop at 205; Lewis H. Smith, who lived at 7, at East Sullivan, using the shop still standing at II, which had been operated before him by a man named Metcalf ; Henry D. Spaulding, who boarded in the Smith house and worked in the same shop; Ellery E. Rugg, who lived at 39 and used the same shop ; and Lyman Davis, who lived at 35, and later at 20, and who also still uses the same shop, and is the only blacksmith in town, and, excepting E. E. Rugg, the only survivor of all named in this list.

SHOEMAKERS. Originally, many of the settlers could do their own cob- bling. One who could not cobble generally found a neighbor who could make the shoes for his family. Sometimes itinerant cobblers from other places would pass through the town and stop a few days at different houses, making shoes for the households. Among the earliest shoemakers whom we could properly call professional were the following: Charles Carter, who lived at 97, in what was later the Tirzah Boynton house; Ebenezer B. Collester, who lived in this house and also at 228, where Mrs. L. W. Mason lives ; and Benjamin Tyler, who built the Hersey Wardwell house, at 98. Not far from 1825, Mr. Tyler leased land and built a small shoe factory at 238, which was standing within the memory of the writer of this book, and where several men were employed by Tyler and his successors for a number of years. Mr. Tyler sold this business, Sept. 13, 1833, to Gilman Breed, who manufactured shoes by hand in this shop for three years, until Feb. 11, 1836, when he sold the business to Joseph Felt, for the use of his son, Leander Felt, who lived at first at 228, and later at 237. Mr. Felt con- ducted business here for about a dozen years. He finally became unfortunate in a business way, and the shop as well as the house at 237, which the Felts had purchased, passed into the hands of Samuel Locke, Esq. Abijah Wilder Kings- bury, who married a daughter of Mr. Locke, used the same shop for a time and lived at 237. David Estey also worked in this shop for a time and also lived at 237. Hersey Wardwell came to town in 1836, and bought the Tyler house, at 98, of his father, in 1840. He carried on the business of a boot and shoe manu- facturer here for many years, until 1865. For several years he was the only cobbler in town. All the older men in Sullivan have probably had work done in Hersey Wardwell's shop. The only professional shoemaker at East Sullivan, so far as we know, was Nahum Bridge, who came to town in 1861 and purchased the place at 32, where he built a house and lived until his death, more than thirty years later. He had a little shoemaker's shop just back of this house in which he efficiently served his pattons. He was the last local shoemaker, and

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no one is now living who ever worked at that trade in the town. All boots and shoes are now purchased ready made. Comparatively little cobbling is done, and that little is done at Keene. Modern machines and factories have nearly driven hand-made goods of all descriptions from the markets, and many of the old-time handicrafts are things of the past.

PAINTER. All of our carpenters were painters to a greater or less extent. Many men and even women of the town could paint. There was one profes- sional painter in town, Curtis Spaulding, who built the house at 117, near the Jacob Spaulding mill. He worked some with his brother Jacob in this mill. He finally moved to Keene and followed his trade. He died very suddenly, one night, at the hotel at the Swanzey Factory Village, supposably from what is known as painter's colic.

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A history of the town of Sullivan, New Hampshire, 1777-1917, Volume I, Part 58

Author: Seward, Josiah Lafayette, 1845-1917 Publication date: 1921 Publisher: [Keene, N.H., Sentinel printing Co.] Number of Pages: 888

Author: Seward, Josiah Lafayette, 1845-1917
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: [Keene, N.H., Sentinel printing Co.]
Number of Pages: 888