A history of the town of Sullivan, New Hampshire, 1777-1917, Volume I, Part 62

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 62

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17. JOSIAH LAFAYETTE SEWARD, son of David and Arvilla (Matthews) Seward, was born in Sullivan, Apr. 17, 1845. He was a student at the West- moreland Valley Seminary, under the charge of Rev. (now Rev. Dr.) S. H. Mc- Collester, in 1859-60; graduated at the Phillips Exeter Academy, in 1864; graduated at Harvard University, in 1868; took the degree of A. M. from the same institution, in 1871 ; taught in Frankford, West Va., a public school, 1869; taught a private school, fitting young men for college, in Boston (in what was then the Selwyn Theatre building), in 1869-70; was the first principal of the Conant Academy, now Conant High School, of Jaffrey, in 1870-71 ; graduated from the Harvard Divinity School, with the degree of B. D., in 1874; received from Colby University (now Colby College) the honorary degree of D. D., in 1898; ordained at Lowell, as pastor of the South Congregational (Unitarian) Church, Dec. 31. 1874; resignation took effect July 31, 1888; pastor of the Unitarian Church at Waterville, Me., Aug. 1, 1888 to Nov. 25, 1893 ; pastor of the Church of the Unity, in Boston (Allston district), Nov. 26, 1893 to Oct. 8, 1899; pastor of the Unitarian Church (officially known as Ist Cong. Ch.) of Dublin, since May II, 1902, with residence at 47 Emerald St., Keene, in the same house occupied many years by his father. He is the writer of this History of Sullivan. See also page 587 of this volume; Carter's " Native Ministry of N. H.", p. 738 ; the general catalogues of Harvard University and the Harvard Divinity School; the History of Hancock, N. H., page 759 ; and a biographical work in four volumes upon New Hampshire men, which is being edited now, 1907, by Hon. Ezra S. Stearns.

18. FREDERICK WILLIAM PHELPS, son of Rev. Frederick B. and Sarah T. (Dickinson) Phelps, was born at Belchertown, Mass., Apr. 13, 1866. His home was in Sullivan, while his father was the acting pastor of the Ist and East Sulli- van Congregational churches. He fitted for college at the St. Johnsbury, Vt., Academy, and graduated, at 19 years of age, from Amherst College, in 1885, and received his A. M. in 1888. He was one of the eight speakers at his commence- ment and a member of the Phi Beta Kappa, a great honor. He went immedi- ately to Washburn College, Topeka, Kansas, as instructor in Greek, and was soon made a full professor of that language, which position he held for five years, 1888-92, although allowed to take a year, 1889-90, to study theology at Vale, after which he frequently preached. He also taught New Testament Greek in Harper's summer school for Bible study. His health becoming im- paired, he resigned his professorship in 1892 and went to California, where he preached a short time, then accepted the position of professor of Hebrew in the Pacific Theological Seminary, at Oakland, Cal., but continually failing health obliged him soon to resign this trust, and he went to Tucson, Arizona, where he died of tuberculosis, Feb. 25, 1893. His body was buried in the family burial lot at Belchertown, Mass. He was a Congregationalist.

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Rufus Osgood Mason, whom we shall notice in the list of physicians, also studied theology, but his life-work is identified with the medical profession.

The following three men were resident clergymen. Messrs. Bradford and Waugh had retired from active pastorates. Mr. Hemenway was ordained in town and lived in Sullivan a time, then in Gilsum. He was an evangelist for the denomination known as the Christian Connection.

19. MOSES BRADFORD, son of William and Mary (Cleaveland) Bradford, was b. in Canterbury, Conn., Aug. 6, 1765. He fitted for college with his brother, Rev. Ebenezer Bradford, at Rowley, Mass .; graduated at Dartmouth College in 1785; also studied theology with his brother, Rev. Ebenezer ; ordained first pastor of the Congregational Church at Francestown, N. H., Sept. 8, 1790 ; terminated his long pastorate there, Jan. 1, 1827, after a service of nearly 37 years. His first wife, who was Dorothy Bradstreet, died June 24, 1792, of consumption. As the end drew near, she wanted to be taken to Row- ley. She was carried on a bed, or litter, between two horses. She did not long survive her arrival at her father's home. His second wife was Sarah Eaton of Francestown. He moved from Francestown to Sullivan in 1833, and lived a few years where Allan M. Nims lives, at 170. His son, REV. SAMUEL C. BRAD- FORD, see page 413, was an acting pastor of the Ist Cong. Ch. of Sullivan. Rev. Moses Bradford died at Montague, Mass., June 14, 1838. The date of his death as given by his family was June 14; according to the Dartmouth College register, it was June 13.

20. LUTHER HEMENWAY, son of Jacob and Abigail (Eaton) Hemenway, was born in Framingham, Mass., May 21, 1780. The first part of his married life was spent in Boylston, Mass. He moved to Sullivan, in 1819, into the house at 207. He built the house at 210, on the same farm, where W. H. Bates lives. He was ordained, Apr. 16, 1828, to the ministry of the Christian Connection, known in former times as the Christian church, with the long sound upon the first " i" in the word Christian. The house at 210 was not then finished, and he was ordained inside the frame, delaying the construction of the partitions, to accommodate his audience. The statements in Hayward's " History of Gilsum" with respect to the time and place of the ordination are wrong. He had been a

member of the Sullivan Baptist church. In the records of that church, Mr. and Mrs. Hemenway are said to have "seceded ". Mr. Hemenway had no settled charge. He preached as an itinerant minister in many places and was known as " Elder Hemenway ". He conducted many services in the east schoolhouse of Gilsum, in Nash Corner. He was a very ingenious mechanic and invented a famous awl handle. See page 574. He died at Springfield, Vt., May 2, 1870.

21. GEORGE WAUGH, son of Charles Waugh, was born in the year 1831, either in Boston, or just as the ship which brought his parents from Scotland was approaching Boston. His father lived on North Street, when that thor- oughfare was in what, at that time, was a respectable and fashionable quarter of the city. He claimed descent from the celebrated William Wallace of Scotland. He became a Methodist Episcopalian and was finally ordained as an elder in that denomination. As usual in that order, he served in several different places. While in Gloucester he became a noted campaign speaker and espoused the cause of Hon. Robert Rantoul, who was a candidate for gubernatorial

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honors. He was an early Abolitionist and his house was a station of the " underground railroad". IIe aided many poor slaves on their way from the South to Canada, to escape bondage. He was an earnest temperance advocate and, more than once, got into situations of danger from threatening mobs, because of his aggressive efforts in behalf of the cause. During the great Second Advent commotion, famous in history, Salem was much aroused by these religionists, and Mr. Waugh warmly espoused their cause. At times, he would stand for hours in the water, on the ocean front, baptizing the converts, even in the winter months. From Salem, Mass., he removed to Stoughton, Mass., where he lived in a quiet way. In the spring of 1871, he purchased the old Keith farm in the east part of Sullivan, where E. A. Blood lives, at 138, where he resided for a few years. He returned to Stoughton. The last few years of his life were spent at the home of his son, William Wallace Waugh, in Roxbury, Mass., where he died, Jan. 9, 1897. His body was buried at Stoughton.

2. LAWYERS.

Sullivan has never had a resident lawyer, but she has sent three excellent lawyers into the world.

I. HON. DAVID HAVEN MASON, son of John and Mary (Haven) Mason, was born in Sullivan, Mar. 17, 1818, where Hon. D. W. Rugg resides, at 22, and in that house. He graduated at Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, 1837 ; grad- uated at Dartmouth College in 1841 ; and pursued a course of study at the Harvard Law School, in 1843-44. He began the practice of the law in Boston, where he continued to practise until his death, which occurred at Newton, Mass., May 20, 1873. He filled many important and honorable positions. He was a member of the Massachusetts Board of Education, 1860-68; a representative in the Massachusetts General Court, 1863, 1866-67; a member of the Board of Overseers of Harvard University for six years, 1864-70 ; and the U. S. District Attorney for Massachusetts, 1870-73. He was one of the most distinguished lawyers of Massachusetts. His three sons were all graduates of Harvard University, Edward Haven Mason, in 1869, A. M. in 1872 ; Harry White Mason, in 1878; and Frank Atlee Mason, in 1884.

2. HON. MARQUIS DELAFAYETTE COLLESTER, son of Thorley and Sarah (Nims) Collester, was born in Marlborough, Jan. 26, 1840, but spent his whole youth, in Sullivan, with his uncle, Dauphin W. Nims, at 152 and 153. Both of his parents were natives of Sullivan. Marquis fitted for college at Powers Institute, Bernardston, Mass., then under the care of LaFayette Gilbert Motier Ward (usually written L. F. Ward). He graduated at Middlebury College, in 1865. He studied law in Newport, N. H., with Burke & Wait. The latter had married his cousin. He was admitted to the bar in 1867, and commenced prac- tice the same year, in Minneapolis, Minn. He was an instructor in Greek and Latin in the Shattuck School at Faribault, Minn., 1867-72. He practised law at Waseca, Minn., 1872-85 ; was a member of the board of education in that place ; and was mayor of the city, 1882-83; also the county attorney for five years. In 1885, he represented Waseca in the state legislature. He removed to Mankato, Minn., in the latter year, where he died, Dec. 17, 1887. He was a natural scholar, abounding in wit and humor, and was a poet of much merit. See pages 584-85.

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3. HON. EDGAR VINTON WILSON, son of Frederick Almon and Cordelia R. (Mack) Wilson, was born in Winchendon, Mass., July 1, 1847. His parents moved shortly after to Stoddard, N. H., and thence to Sullivan, N. H., where he spent his youth upon the old Capt. Seward place, at 135, where the Towne family had previously lived. Mr. Wilson studied in different academies and taught several terms of school. He graduated at Cornell University, with the degree of B. S., in 1872. He studied law in Keene, with Wheeler & Faulkner, and located in Athol, Mass., where he has continued to reside. He has had a large practice and successfully handled many important cases. He has taken up real estate and private banking, and other lines of business which are quite in harmony with the legal profession. He is a special justice of a district court in the northern part of Worcester County. Mr. Wilson would be called a " strenuous " man, as that phrase is now used, but his energy and ambition have been much held in check by illness. He has taken a high rank in his profession and is held in high esteem as a counsellor.

Ellis Richmond Drake, whom we have sketched in the list of clergymen, No. 16, was also fitted for the legal profession, as we observed in our notice of him.

3. PHYSICIANS.

There have been several resident physicians in Sullivan. Of some of them we hardly know more than their names. They began their practice, in most cases, before the days of medical schools, and there are no general catalogues in which their careers can be traced. They lived at a time when physicians learned their art from other and older physicians. So far as can be learned, the resi- dent physicians of Sullivan have been the following :

I. JOSEPH PHELPS PETERS was a physician in Sullivan at the time of the incorporation and for some time before that. He lived in a house that once stood on the place at the Four Corners, 232, where Mr. Chapin lives. He sold that corner to Nathan Ellis, Apr. 10, 1788. His name is on the first town tax list. This land had formerly belonged to the old Dimick estate. How long Peters had owned it, we cannot say. He signed documents at a neighboring house in 1787. The name of his wife appears on documents as Azubah. He is called " Dr." Peters in the old records. He owned land, perhaps with a defec- tive title, just west of where Samuel S. White lives. It is not probable that he had any medical or other collegiate diploma. It was before the days of medical schools. He had probably studied privately with somebody. We know not what became of him.

2. ASHER LOVELAND was an old-time physician. He was a son of Israel and Dinah (Loveland sic) Loveland, and was born in Hebron, Conn., Aug. 23, 1767, and died at Stoddard, Aug. 7, 1849. His name is on the first tax-list, the one for 1788, but on no subsequent tax-list. He was probably in town in 1787- 88. He doubtless studied with some physician. He may have boarded with his sister, Mrs. Ebenezer Burditt, who lived at 193. There are those who think that he lived in a rude cabin erected at 222, on land of his brother, Israel Love- land, Jr., father of the late Israel B. Loveland, and that he obtained water at a spring at 223, which was surrounded with cylindrical stonework, obviously laid by human hands. According to Gould's History of Stoddard, Loveland settled 67

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in that town in 1790, remaining till his death, having a large practice. Gould testifies that he was skilful, but unfortunately always poor.

3. A " DR. BROWN " is mentioned on the tax-list for 1790. He paid a poll- tax and was assessed for a horse. He was probably some itinerant physician, who kept a horse, and carried his medicine in the saddle-bags. We do not know where he lived or boarded. We have no further particulars about him.

4. JOHN MONTAGUE FIELD was a physician in Sullivan as early as Jan. 19, 1794, on which day he married his first wife, Martha Hewes, in Swanzey. He was also in town, Oct. 25, 1794, when his first child was born, Joseph Root Field, who is No. 3, in the. list of clergymen whom we have noticed in this chapter. His second wife was a Sullivan woman. See the Field family in the GENEALOGIES. He probably studied medicine with some physician. He was not a graduate of either of the medical schools in existence in his day in America. He is said to have lived in the same house as Joseph Phelps Peters, of whom we wrote in a preceding paragraph. We have not yet been able to trace his lineage.

5. MESSER CANNON was born in New Salem, Mass., Oct. 25, 1768. He studied medicine privately with some physician. He bought the western part of the old John Dimick farm, 243, Sept. 15, 1795. Here he lived more than 33 years, by far the longest that any resident physician has lived in the town. Here he died, Feb. 3, 1829. He had two daughters who reached maturity. One of them married George Hubbard and continued to reside upon the Cannon homestead. The other daughter married Stephen Dean of Keene.

6. TIMOTHY FARRAR PRESTON was an itinerant physician, who came from New Ipswich. He was the son of Dr. John and Rebecca (Farrar) Preston, and was born in New Ipswich, June 2, 1780. He belonged to a highly respectable family. His father was a reputable physician. His mother was a sister of Hon. Timothy Farrar, for forty consecutive years a justice of the Supreme and Common Pleas Courts of New Hampshire, from 1775. This judge lived to be over 101 years of age. Timothy Farrar Preston was unmarried and lived at his father's mansion in New Ipswich. Like many other physicians of the old time, he packed his medicines in saddle-bags and rode on his horse from town to town, attending many patients. In this way, he visited Sullivan at stated times for many years, about 1820 and thereafter. When in town, he boarded at Joseph Seward's, at 99. He had probably studied medicine with his father. From reports which reach us, we do not infer that his professional skill would be very highly valued, as judged by modern standards.

7. TIMOTHY LIVINGSTON LANE, son of John and Mary (Livingston) Lane, was born at Braintree, Mass., Sept. 1, 1800. He received the degree of M. D. from Dartmouth in 1824. He began his practice in Sullivan. He bought the place, 232, where Mr. Chapin lives, May 21, 1825. He lived here six years. He may have practiced in some neighboring town a year or for a short time, but, on Oct. 20, 1834, he purchased the house, 98, where Hersey Wardwell lived, which he sold May 1, 1836, to Ezra Wardwell. He had lived in town, except for short intervals perhaps, for eleven years. He then removed to Gilsum, and, finally, to Fillmore, Ill., where he died, Jan. 1, 1849. This corrects Hayward's History of Gilsum, and also our own statement, on page 366, line 8, of this book, which was caused by our reliance on the misstatement just noted.

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8. EDWARD BARTON, son of Dr. Parley and Mrs. Dilly (Cady) (Goddard) Barton, was born at Orange, Mass., Feb. 5, 1806; and died there, May 7, 1880. His father practised medicine at Orange. He studied medicine with Dr. Lane, and practised in Sullivan, part of the time in connection with Dr. Lane, from about 1831 to 1835. He purchased the house, 98, where Hersey Wardwell after- wards lived, Apr. 15, 1833, and sold it to Dr. Lane, Oct. 20, 1834, the latter con- tinuing to live in it for a few years. Dr. Barton returned to Orange in March, 1835, where he lived and practised medicine for 45 years, until his death in that village. He was a faithful physician, endearing himself, like many another old- time doctor, to hundreds of patients. He was a valuable citizen, benevolent, thoughtful, and devoted to the interests of his town, of which he wrote a valu- able history. His wife was a sister of C. Franklin and Dauphin W. Wilson. He graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1831, from the Vermont Medical College, at Woodstock, Vt., then known as the Clinical School of Medicine.

9. JESSE ANGIER CROWLEY, son of George and Polly (Harris) Crowley, was born at Mt. Holly, Vt., June 21, 1812 ; died at New Salem, Mass., Oct. 23, 1849. He began his medical practice in Plymouth, Vt. He came from Ply- mouth to Sullivan, and lived in the Wm. Brown house, 235, now owned by Miss Peabody, for four years, from 1841 to 1845. He was liked quite well and had a very good practice for so small a place. He went from Sullivan to New Salem, Mass., where he practised four more years, until his death in 1849, at the com- paratively early age of 37. He graduated with the degree of M. D. from the Castleton, Vt., Medical School, in 1836, then known as the Vermont Academy of Medicine.

These nine physicians, just noticed, are all who have taken up a residence in Sullivan, so far as we have ever learned. Sullivan, however, has sent forth into the world 14 physicians, of whom ten were born here and the other four came to town with their parents when they were young. Some of these physi- cians whom Sullivan has produced have been eminent in their profession, rank- ing among the best known and most highly esteemed physicians in the United States.

I. JOHN BROWN, son of Eleazar and Lucy (Rugg) Brown, was born in Swanzey, Feb. 29, 1788. He came to Sullivan, as a lad, with his parents, who lived on the Abijah Seward farm, in an old house on or near the site of the present house, at 155. He studied at Exeter, N. H., and pursued a course of medical study with Dr. James Carter, a reputable physician of Lancaster, Mass. A man in Lyme, N. H., broke his leg, and sent for Dr. Carter to attend him. After setting and dressing the limb, Dr. Carter sent John Brown to look after the case. The patient was disappointed that so young a man was sent, but Brown handled the case so skilfully that he won the confidence of the whole community, and located at Lyme and became one of the most noted surgeons in that region. He moved to Thetford, Vt., and died there, Nov. 30, 1847.

2. THOMAS SPENCER WRIGHT, son of Rev. Joel and Lucy W. (Grosvenor) Wright, was born in Leverett, Mass., Jan. 10 (Feb. 10, according to General Catalogue of Kimball Union Academy), 1818. He prepared for college at Meriden, and graduated at the Berkshire Medical College in 1841. He came to Sullivan with his parents, when his father was pastor of the First Congrega-

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tional Church of the town. He was settled as a physician in Dana, Mass., 1842-45; Enfield, Mass., 1845-48; Boston, Mass., 1848-51 ; and in Fond du Lac, Wis., for a few years from 1851. He died in Brookline, Mass., Jan. 7, 1890. 3. ENOCH ALBA KEMP, son of Benjamin and Lydia (Woods) Kemp, was born in Sullivan, July 21, 1822. He fitted for college at Kimball Union Academy at Meriden, 1845-46. He received the degree of M. D. from Dart- mouth in 1852. He practised medicine in New Salem, Orange, and East Doug- lass, all in Massachusetts. He died at East Douglass, Oct. 31 (Oct. 30, Dart- mouth general catalogue), 1883. He was one of four brothers, all of whom followed some profession. Two were physicians, one a dentist, and one a clergyman, as will be seen by these notices. He was born at 165.

4. RUFUS OSGOOD MASON, son of Rufus and Prudence (Woods) Mason, was born in Sullivan, Jan. 22, 1830. He thought, at first, of entering the min- istry. He studied divinity at the Union Theological Seminary in the city of New York, from Sept. 1854 to Feb. 1856. He taught in Cleveland, Ohio, from Feb. 1856 to July 1857, also reading anatomy and physiology there with Dr. La- Fayette Ranney, Dr. F. S. Edwards, and Prof. John C. Dalton, all of New York City. He then attended the medical department of Columbia University, known as the College of Physicians and Surgeons, from which institution he took his degree of M. D. in 1859. He graduated at Dartmouth college in 1854; A. M. in 1857. He was appointed an assistant surgeon in the navy of the United States, Oct. 21, 1861. He served on the U. S. Ship, " Santiago de Cuba". He resigned, Feb. 2, 1864, and became a prominent physician of the city of New York. He was much interested in general science and also in metaphysical speculations. He was interested in the study and discussion of theological questions, taking very broad ground in regard to many subjects connected with such investiga- tions. He wrote considerably upon such subjects. He was a man of highly developed intellectual powers and achieved marked success in his profession. He died in the city of New York, May 11, 1903.

5. CARLTON PENNINGTON FROST, son of Dea. Benjamin and Mary Cath- erine (Brant) Frost, was born in Sullivan, May 29, 1830. He graduated at Dart- mouth College in 1852, taking the degree of A. M. in 1855. He studied medi- cine at the Dartmouth Medical School, taking the degree of M. D. in 1857, and received the same degree from the New York University Medical School, also in 1857. He began the practice of medicine at St. Johnsbury, Vt., immediately after taking his medical diplomas, where he remained until 1862. He was in the service of the United States government from 1862 to 1865, nine months of the time being spent in the field as Surgeon of the Fifteenth Vermont, and the remainder as Surgeon of the Board of Enrollment. After the close of his army service he began practice in Brattleborough, Vt., where he remained until he began duty at Hanover. He was Associate Professor of the Theory and Prac- tice of Medicine and Pathological Anatomy, 1870-71; also Professor of the Science and Practice of Medicine, 1871-96. He was the Dean of the Dartmouth Medical Department, 1874-96, and a trustee of the same institution, 1891-94. He was for many years one of the trustees of the state insane asylum at Con- cord, now known as the New Hampshire Hospital, and he kept in close touch with the state medical societies of New Hampshire and Vermont, having been

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president of each. He was a progressive man and took an active interest in the church, the public schools, and all the plans for the improvement of Hanover village. In 1894, Dartmouth fittingly honored him with the honorary degree of LL. D. His two sons are highly educated men. The elder, GILMAN D. FROST, M. D., graduated from Dartmouth in 1886, and from Harvard Medical School in 1892, and is the Professor of Anatomy at Dartmouth. The younger, EDWIN B. FROST, is the Professor of Astronomy at Dartmouth, and is also a graduate of that college of the class of 1886. Dean Frost's sister, also born in Sullivan, became the wife of Rev. Arthur Little, D. D., of Dorchester District, Boston, Mass. Dean Frost was one of the most famous men among the natives of Sulli- van. He was widely known as a remarkable scholar, a very skilful practitioner, an able and popular professor, and a wise administrator of the affairs of the medical department of Dartmouth. He was born in a house (72) in which four college graduates were born,-C. P., H. M., and E. B. Frost, and Edward B. Nims, Messrs. Nims and C. P. Frost being eminent physicians. E. B. Frost was also a physcian, and H. M. Frost a clergyman.

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A history of the town of Sullivan, New Hampshire, 1777-1917, Volume I, Part 62

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