USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Merrimack and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire > Part 30
USA > New Hampshire > Sullivan County > Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Merrimack and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire > Part 30
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On September 1, 1868, he was united in marriage with Mary A. Staniels, of Concord. They have two children - Luella A. and Ger- trude E. Mr. Dickerman is a Mason, and has always taken a deep interest in the Masonic order. He has been highly honored by the fraternity, having been Master of Eureka Lodge, also Commander of Mount Horeb Com- mandery, K. T. ; and he is at present at the head of Acacia Chapter of Rose Croix, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, being a Mason of the thirty-second degree. He is also Presi- dent of the Webster Club, a social organiza- tion.
OSEPH BARNARD, third, a promi- nent agriculturist, horticulturist, stock- grower, and lumberman, of Hopkinton, Merrimack County, N. H., was born Novem-
ber II, 1817, on the farm that he now owns and occupies, he being the third of the name to hold a title to it. His grandfather, Joseph Barnard, the first of the name, so far as known, a native of Amesbury, Mass., coming to New Hampshire in 1765 or 1766, purchased land in the south-east part of Hopkinton. The land was bought of the Rev. James Scales, the first settled minister in Hopkin- ton, it having been granted to him by the original proprietors, John Jones and others. Grandfather Barnard lost his title to that land, as others did of their lands in the vicin- ity, by the claims of the "Bow Company," so called, and was given in exchange by the pro- prietors the land, previously unallotted, on which he established his home, and which is now occupied by his grandson and namesake, as mentioned above. It may be added as a part of this historical reminiscence that some land in the north-west part of the town of Hopkinton, north of the Contoocook River, was laid out in lots and sold at auction, to pay the expenses of the controversy with the Bow Company, the price received from the buyers, who were the Whites of Portsmouth, being ten cents an acre.
The Barnards of Hopkinton are probably descendants of Thomas Barnard, an early set- tler of Salisbury, Mass., who was one of the first Selectmen of that part of the old town that in 1668 was incorporated as Amesbury. Among his children were, it is said, a son Thomas, born in 1641, and Nathaniel, born in 1643. A Nathaniel Barnard, of Ames- bury, evidently of a later generation, married Ruth French, of Kingston, N. H., and was the father of twelve children, including sons Joseph, Thomas, and Tristram, and a daugh- ter, Mehitable, who married a Currier, and lived to be one hundred and three years old.
Joseph Barnard, first, son of Nathaniel and
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Ruth, was born in Amesbury, Mass., January 12, 1737. In 1766 he removed to Hopkin- ton, as stated above, and, establishing a home here, worked as a farmer and ship- carpenter until his death, November 13, 1815. His first wife, Rhoda Currier Barnard, whom he married in Amesbury, died on April 7, 1794, leaving one daughter, Rhoda Currier, who married Ezra Morrill, of Hopkinton, and lived to the venerable age of ninety-three years. Joseph Barnard, first, married for his second wife Mrs. Olive Blake Hale, widow of Captain John Hale, an officer in the Revo- lutionary War. They had two children, Jo- seph, second, born May 6, 1795; and Sarah Ann, born April 12, 1798. Sarah Ann Barn- ard became the wife of Joshua Pierce, of Warner, but spent her last years in Manches- ter, N.H., where her death occurred August 22, 1869.
Joseph Barnard, second, father of the pres- ent Joseph, the special subject of this bio- graphical sketch, was born, lived, and died on the old home farm, the date of his death being March 15, 1870. He did his full share of the pioneer work begun by his father, adding to the improvements already made on the original purchase of one hundred and fifty acres, clearing, fencing, and draining a large part of it. His father was somewhat as- sisted by slave labor, as is clearly shown by the copy of a deed now in the possession of Joseph Barnard, third, it being a bill of sale, dated March 29, 1777, given him by Ruth Currier, of Kingston, N.H., conveying unto him a negro man named Seeko. Mr. Barnard has likewise the indenture of a boy of thirteen years old, dated in 1769. This deed of sale proves conclusively that slavery once existed in the old Granite State, although the con- trary has been persistently asserted by some high in authority. Joseph Barnard, second,
was a man of far more than ordinary business ability. He invested largely in realty, and at his death owned several thousand acres in various townships, mostly timbered land, val- ued at seventy-five thousand dollars, one tract alone in Boscawen being appraised at fifty- two thousand dollars, while his entire estate amounted to about eighty thousand dollars. Naturally progressive, being quick to perceive the merits of anything new, he was the first to introduce Merino sheep and also Saxony sheep into the town; and in 1838 he received the first prize for the finest exhibit of wool in New York.
In June, 1816, Joseph Barnard, second, married Miriam J. Eastman, who was born on Horse Hill, Concord, N. H., December 6, 1799, a daughter of William Eastman, a Revolutionary soldier. They reared the fol- lowing children: Joseph, third, whose name appears at the head of this sketch; Sally Ann, born April 3, 1819, who is now the widow of Daniel P. Dustin, late of Contoo- cook; Mary Jane, born August 29, 1821, now the wife of Charles N. Tuttle, of Contoocook ; William E., born May 27, 1823, who died at Edgerton, Ohio, April 2, 1884; and Rhoda Currier, born February 19, 1827, who mar- .
ried Dr. Ephraim Wilson, and died August 4, 1852. Mrs. Miriam J. Eastman Barnard died September 17, 1869.
Jaseph Barnard, third, remained with his parents until twenty-two years old, the last part of the time receiving ten dollars a month for his work on the farm; and while still in his minority he served four years as Quarter- master in the old Fortieth New Hampshire Regiment. After leaving home he spent two years as clerk in a store at Contoocook, and then went to Lowell, Mass., where he learned the stone-cutter's trade, working at first for one dollar and a half per day, and boarding
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himself, but in a year receiving full wages. He was subsequently taken ill with the "Tyler Grip," an influenza similar to "La Grippe," with which so many of us are fa- miliar. President Tyler, it will be remem- bered, made a tour of the Lowell mills and factories, interesting himself in the industries of the city ; and on the second day of his stay, after large parades of civil and military com- panies, and ten thousand patriot girls dressed in white, he made an excellent speech of two hours' duration, in which he acknowledged the benefits of the tariff. In the following session of Congress, it may be added, he signed the tariff bill. The epidemic which broke out two weeks after his visit in Lowell was given his name.
While recuperating, Mr. Barnard returned to his boyhood home; and when there he pur- chased from his father a tract of timber land for eight hundred dollars, buying it, however, in opposition to his father's advice. Estab- Jishing himself then in the lumber business, he carried it on for thirty-five years, meeting with good success from the start. He sup- plied timber of all kinds for use in ship-build- ing, his operations extending over several townships, in which he erected or hired mills, employing at different times forty men. The tallest mast timber in the State is found in the valleys of the Contoocook, Blackwater, and Warner Rivers, the regions in which he carried on his lumbering. During the late Rebellion he furnished much of the timber for naval supplies, and all the large timbers of "Ironsides," and most of the material for the "Kearsarge," which has recently been de- stroyed. In the Granite Monthly of May, 1893, is an article written by Mr. Barnard concerning the "Timbers of the Kearsarge," in which it is stated that Mr. Barnard and the Hon. J. H. Butler, of Nottingham, were asso-
ciated in 1860 in Newburyport, Mass., in handling oak timber for ship-building, and in 1861 were called upon to furnish timber for gunboats, said timber to be of first quality. White oak is in its best state when from eighty-five to one hundred years old; and this they found in large quantities on a hill near Tyler Station in Hopkinton, N. H., and soon had a large force of men at work getting out white oak and yellow pine, sending to the Portsmouth Navy Yard a large part of the white oak of seven hundred and fifty thousand feet of timber for the building of the famous boat that received its name from the Kear- sarge Mountain, which stands in plain view of the spot whereon its timbers were hewed.
Mr. Barnard resided in Contoocook twenty- five years of this time, and while there built in 1849 the Contoocook Valley Railway, ex- tending from Contoocook to Hillsborough, fourteen and one-half miles, he being superin- tendent of construction, and furnishing much of the timber used. For several years he was officially connected with the road. He has also been Fire Claim Adjuster of the Concord Division of the Boston & Maine Railway for some years, an office that takes him quite often over the two hundred miles under his charge. Four years after the death of his father Mr. Barnard removed to the parental homestead, which he inherited; and he has since devoted much of his time to farming pursuits. He settled this estate, and has also settled many others in Merrimack County, usually by request, sometimes on commissions to appraise for tax purposes; and he is often called upon to estimate the timber on large tracts of land. For several years Mr. Barnard had charge of the water-power at Contoocook ; and in 1870 and 1871 he represented that town in the State legislature, where he was one of the Committee on Towns and Parishes,
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and worked for the establishment of a State Reform School. He was a member of the New Hampshire State Constitutional Conven- tion in 1889. At the time of the war for the Union he was the enrolling officer in the Twentieth District, and the mainstay of the widows and fatherless, who trusted him im- plicitly, and whose confidence was not mis- placed.
As a stock-raiser and dairyman Mr. Barnard breeds the Guernsey cattle, which he exhibits at the various fairs in this section of the State, invariably securing prizes, both on cattle and dairy products. It was largely through the exhibitions of stock that he has made that the Deerfoot Creamery was located at Contoocook, and his herd of Guernsey has stocked many of the large New England dairy farms. In the culture of fruit of all kinds he takes great interest; and at a horticultural fair in Concord, when over a hundred ex- hibits were entered, he took thirteen prizes and sweepstakes for the finest fruits. He is a member of various agricultural and horticult- ural societies and a contributor to many of the journals. In politics he was in early manhood a Democrat, and voted for Franklin Pierce for President, but since that time has supported the principles of the Republican party.
On October 26, 1849, Mr. Barnard married Maria Gerrish, who was born April 15, 1831, a daughter of Abiel and Eliza (Dodge) Ger- rish. Her father was born on the present site of the county farm in Boscawen, and her mother in that part of Merrimack County now included in the town of Webster. Mr. and Mrs. Barnard are the parents of eight chil- dren, the following being their record: Ellen Maria, born March 1, 1851, died January 6, 1886; Joseph Henry, born October 12, 1852, died July 9, 1855; Abiel Gerrish, born Janu- ary 8, 1855, was a lawyer in California; Jo-
seph B., born March 17, 1857, died October 23, 1863; Mary Eliza, born January 11, 1859, is the wife of Jonathan Fowler, of South Sioux City, Neb .; George Edgar, born No- vember 1, 1864, married Miss Bertha S. Tyler, of Hopkinton, and now carries on the home farm; Rhoda Frances was born June 28, 1867; and Charles Lewis, born March 28, 1870, died December 29, 1895.
2 EORGE E. HILLIARD, a well-known gun manufacturer and a leading citi- zen of Cornish, is a native of Clare- mont, where he was born August 26, 1838. He is descended from the Rev. Avery Hill- iard, a Unitarian clergyman, who, coming to this country from England with his brother, resided for a time in Sutton, Mass., and after- ward settled in Cornish, being the first of the name in the town. The Rev. Mr. Hilliard was twice married, and had in all ten chil- dren. His son Benjamin was grandfather of George E. Hilliard. Benjamin, who was born in Sutton, came to Cornish with his parents, learned the carpenter's trade, and worked at it throughout his life. Although never neglecting to take part in town affairs or to cast his vote, he was not an aspirant for political honors, and never held office. His wife, christened Roxana Hall, was a daughter of Dr. I. Hall. Their children were: David H., Frank, Gilbert, Catherine, Harriet, Esther, Eliza, and Caroline. Frank, now de- ceased, was a carriage-builder of Nicholville, N.Y. He was twice married, and had six children. Gilbert, who was a machinist, en- listed for service in the Civil War, and was killed in 1863 at New Orleans. Catherine, deceased, was the wife of Lyman Bartlett, and the mother of five children. Harriet, also de- ceased, married Job Williams, of Plainfield,
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and had three children, all of whom are liv- ing. Esther was Mrs. James Hudson, of Lynn, and the mother of four children. The mother and three of the children have since passed away. Eliza married John Hudson, of Lynn, and had two children: John P., now President of the Bell Telephone Company; and Elizabeth, the wife of Samuel J. Hollis, one of the largest shoe manufacturers of Lynn. Caroline Hilliard married Horace Demming, a well-known farmer of Cornish; and she has three children living.
David H. Hilliard, the eldest son of his father, was born in Cornish, December 3, 1806. After finishing his course of study in the town schools, he learned cabinet-making, and worked at that trade for five or six years. Then he went into the employ of Thomas Woolson, of Claremont, building stove patterns, the castings from which were made in Tyson, Vt. It is claimed that he got out the pattern for the first cook stove that was ever made in this country. He was the in- ventor of the Yankee Cook Stove, the first stove having an elevated oven. In 1848 he began the manufacture of guns; and subse- quently he made the Hilliard gun, which is known all over the United States. He con- tinued in this business up to the time of his death in 1877. During the war he was au- thorized by the town to pay the soldiers. He was Justice of the Peace for twenty-five years, and for many years he was a member of the State Democratic Committee. He was always very active in town affairs, and might always be counted upon to take a zealous part in the discussion of any measures that came up be- fore the town meeting. Very determined and a man of intense energy, when once he had made up his mind to follow a certain course of action nothing could prevent his following it to the end. For the last fifteen
years of his life he was engaged to some ex- tent in civil engineering. In 1835 he married Sarah A. Smith, of Claremont; and she be- came the mother of Charles N. and George E. Hilliard. Charles N., who was born in Claremont, June 5, 1836, and was educated in the Cornish schools, began business life in his father's shop, learning the gunsmith's trade. He worked with his father for five or six years, and then went to Ilion, N. Y., to work for the Remington Arms Company, where he is still employed as foreman of one of the departments. He successively married Sarah Weld and Belle Sherborn, both of Cor- nish. There were three children by the first marriage and four by the second.
After leaving school George E. Hilliard went to work on the Vermont Central Rail- road in the capacity of locomotive engineer, and continued in that business for seven years, during which he was employed at differ- ent times on all the branches of the road. Subsequently he went into the gun business with his father. Since the death of the latter he has carried on the business alone. Mr. Hilliard has been Constable for fifteen years, District Clerk for two years, and Justice of the Peace and Notary Public for fifteen years. He has also been clerk of the School Board for two years and the Postmaster for about twenty years. He is a Royal Arch Mason, and has been Master of the Blue Lodge. He is greatly interested in taxidermy, and has a very large and valuable collection of birds, stuffed and mounted by himself. He is an authority on the ornithology of this region. His whole-souled, genial manner, amiable hospitality, and ever-ready wit have made for him a host of friends. With quick sympathy, he is always ready to help a friend in a hard place or to lighten the burdens of the unfort- unate in general.
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Mr. Hilliard married Ella M., daughter of Hiram D. Bartlett, of Cornish. They have one child, Emma L., born July 18, 1866. She is now the wife of C. W. Diggins, of Cleveland, Ohio, foreman of the Tribune Bi- cycle Works of Erie, Pa., and she has a daughter, Ethel E., born February 24, 1897. Before her marriage Mrs. Diggins taught school for some time. Possessed of remark- able tact in dealing with children, she smoothly managed the most obdurate urchins, and was one of the most popular teachers in this section of the country. She is a fine musician, and for some time she also taught music.
YRUS MARDEN, a prosperous farmer of Epsom, was born in this town, May 16, 1850, son of David and Ann (Bickford) Marden. The grandfather, Will- iam Marden, who was a native of Portsmouth, came to Epsom about the year 1790. He fol- lowed the carpenter's trade in connection with farming during the active period of his life, and died at the age of ninety-two years. Of his nine children two were born before he came to Epsom.
David Marden, born in Epsom, and the youngest son of William, in early life assisted upon the home farm. Following the example of his father, he made carpentry and farming his chief occupation. He was a hard-working man, very seldom going from home; and, al- ' though the cars ran within a half-mile of his house, he never rode upon them. In politics he supported the Democratic party. He died at the age of seventy-five. His wife, Anna Bickford, was born in Epsom, daughter of Sam Bickford, who was the father of seventeen children. She became the mother of eleven children, of whom Carrie, Noyes, Freeman, Moses, and Cyrus are living. Carrie married
James M. Gordon, of Concord, N. H., and has four children - Flora B., Hattie S., Leon S., and Ena I ..; Noyes Marden married Ella Merrill, of Concord. Freeman Marden mar- ried Lavinia Bickford, of Epsom, and has three children - Etta M., Lillie M., and Nellie R. Moses Marden married Carrie Rundy, now deceased, and became the father of five children - Melvin S., Mabell N., Mil- ton W., Adelle, and Harvey. Harvey Marden enlisted as a private in Company A, Seventh New Hampshire Regiment, fought in the Civil War for nearly four years, and died while in service. Mrs. David Marden lived to the age of seventy-four years.
Cyrus Marden was reared and educated in his native town, growing to manhood upon the farm where he now resides. He succeeded to the property, and has since carried on general farming with success. The first of his two marriages was contracted September 16, 1880, with Angie M. Marden, a daughter of Nathan G. Marden, of Epsom. She had four children - Walter L., Ada F., Lena A., and Ethel A. The second marriage, performed in Janu- ary, 1891, united Mr. Marden to Laura J. Marden, his first wife's sister. By this union there is one son, Gerald L. In politics Mr. Marden is a Republican. Although he takes no active part in public affairs, he is always ready to aid in forwarding any measure calcu- lated to be beneficial to the community. He is a Deacon of the Free Will Baptist church, and Mrs. Marden is a member of the Congre- gational church.
OHN H. COLLINS, a respected farmer of Bradford, was born on Bible Hill in the town of Warner, N. H., May 9, 1815, son of Enos and Elizabeth (Walker) Collins, and grandson of Jacob Collins, whose
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father was among the first settlers of South- ampton, Mass. The father, who was born and reared in Southampton, from there in early manhood came to Warner, and in 1803 took up land on Bible Hill, near the town line of Bradford, not far from Melvin's Mills. He cleared a portion of the land, built a house, and was engaged in tilling the soil until his death, which occurred at the age of seventy- two years. After settling in Warner, he mar- ried Elizabeth Walker, who survived him until she had reached the advanced age of eighty-seven. This worthy couple were the owners of the first clock and the first cook stove used in that vicinity, and were the first of the residents to subscribe for a newspaper. Eight daughters and three sons were born to them. The eldest son, Moses, was a mechanic and farmer. The next, Enos, was born in 1800, and died at the age of seventy-seven. He was a self-educated man beyond such early advantages as were afforded by the com- mon schools, and he became one of the most noted teachers of his time. Notwithstanding the fact that he had never received instruction in algebra, he could readily solve both algebraic and arithmetical problems that puzzled expert mathematicians. He held various town offices, filling each place with marked ability.
John H. Collins, the youngest and only sur- viving son, married on December 21, 1841, Esther Pierce Marshall, daughter of Nathan R. and Abigail (Hawks) Marshall, and grand- daughter of Richard Marshall, who was a Rev- olutionary soldier, having enlisted in 1775. They resided on the old Collins homestead until 1868, when they came to their present farm in Bradford, this being the ancestral home of his wife, named by her father " Pleas- ant Valley Farm." This farm originally con- tained sixty acres. Mr. Collins has since en-
larged it by the addition of other land, so that now it is quite an extensive place. Here he carries on general farming and dairying. He had three daughters, one of whom died in in- fancy. The eldest, Abbie Elizabeth, married James H. Blaisdell, and died fourteen years later. She left a son, George A., who is married, and has two children. Mr. Collins's surviving daughter, and the youngest of the three, Helen Frances, who was for some time a successful teacher in our public schools, married Frank T. Carr, and resides in Brad- ford.
Nathan R. Marshall, the father of Mrs. Collins, was born in Hudson N.H., in 1792. He removed to Bible Hill when a boy of four- teen, and six years later married Abigail Hawks, daughter of Farrington and Sarah Knowlton Hawks. He was a man of educa- tion and an especially good accountant, as shown by his old account books, kept in a neat, clear hand. He held town offices at different periods, being a most intelligent and valued official. He and his wife reared ten children, three sons and seven daughters. Two of these died in infancy. Joshua P. Marshall, the eldest son, a man of good mental attain- ments, for more than forty years was a manu- facturers' agent for the sale of glassware. He always kept his residence in Bradford, but spent his winters during his later years in Florida, where he had large interests in orange groves. He died there in 1893, aged seventy- six years. Joseph Addison, another son of Nathan R. Marshall, was a farmer in his earlier life. Later he became the proprietor of a market in Boston, and subsequently, in company with his brother Joshua, established himself as a dealer in glassware. They were burned out in the big fire of 1872, but re- sumed business after a time, and continued in it until Joseph's health failed. His home
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was in Boston, and he died at the age of fifty- nine. Farrington H. Marshall resides in Boston. He and Mrs. Collins are the only surviving members of the family.
The Collins family are quite numerous, and hold frequent reunions in Amesbury, Mass.
IGHILL DUSTIN, late a prosper- ous farmer of Claremont, Sullivan County, N. H., his native town, where he spent the greater part of his life, was born here, December 18, 1820, and died at his homestead about twelve years since, on January 27, 1885. The Dustins are of old Colonial stock, and have been one of the fore- most families of Claremont from the earliest history of the town. December 3, 1677, Thomas Dustin, the great-great-grandfather of Mighill Dustin, married Hannah, daughter of Mighill and Hannah (Webster) Emerson, of Haverhill, Mass. Mrs. Dustin's father set- tled in Haverhill in 1656.
The well-known story of Hannah Dustin's capture by the Indians, and of her escape, is given as follows in the History of Clare- mont :
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