USA > New Hampshire > Belknap County > Biographical review : containing life sketches of leading citizens of Stafford and Belknap countries, New Hampshire > Part 24
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A resident of Laconia for more than four decades, Judge Hibbard's life is well known to his townsmen, who regard him with the highest honor. He was a member of the orig- inal Board of Directors of the Laconia Na- tional Bank, and is still connected with that institution; and he is a Trustee of the La-
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conia Savings Bank. He is President of the Union Cemetery Association of this place, a Director of the Laconia and Lakeport Water " Works, and has been a Trustee of the New Hampshire Asylum for the Insane since 1871. One member of the Belknap County Bar is a few years his senior in age, Judge Rollins, of Meredith, but that gentleman was not ad- mitted to the bar until one month after Judge Hibbard's qualification.
On December 5, 1853, he was married to Mary, daughter of Jacob Bell, of Haverhill, N.H., and great-grand-daughter of Josiah Bartlett, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Three children have been born to Judge and Mrs. Hibbard, namely : Charles B., his father's law partner; Jennie O., wife of Ormon J. Lougee, of Lougee Brothers; and Laura B., who resides with her parents. Judge Hibbard attends the Congre- gational church, and has been President of the society for twelve or fifteen years.
As happily characterized in the "Grafton County History," published in 1856, "he is an industrious, faithful, and learned coun- sellor, of modest, quiet deportment, thought- ful and reflective mind, and thoroughly conscientious in discharge of all duties, po- litical, professional, and judicial. . . . Hon- est with the court and with his clients, he has gained a deserved and enviable reputation, both as a citizen and lawyer of his adopted State."
ERBERT J. MARSH, a prominent farmer of Gilmanton, was born in that town, May 28, 1852, son of Joseph and Hannah (l'age) Marsh. The family is an old one in this part of the State. The first of the name to come to Gilmanton was Isaac Marsh, great-great-great-grandfather of Mr. Herbert Marsh. Stalwart and sturdy,
he lived to the age of ninety-four years. His six children had reached maturity when he came to Gilmanton. His son, Joseph Marsh, who was a blacksmith, settled at the Iron Works. Joseph's sons were: Joseph, Caleb, and Amos. His two daughters severally mar- ried men named Lougee and Thurston. Joseph (second) married Betsey Lougee, of Gilmanton, and they became the parents of eleven children; namely, Olive, Mary, Stephen, Betsey, Amos, Joseph, Abigail, Clarissa, Harriett, Nehemiah, and John B. John B. died January 25, 1863, losing his life in the service of his country. Betsey died in July, 1895; Clarissa, July 9, 1840; and Amos, December 19, 1857; Harriett, the only one of this large family now living, married Rufus Lamprey, of Manchester, who died in 1895. Joseph Marsh (third), the grandfather of Her- bert J., married for his second wife a Mrs. Lydia Otis, who died May 24, 1859. Like so many of his ancestors he was a blacksmith, and he was well known and highly respected in the town. He died in October, 1867. His son, a fourth Joseph Marsh, the father of Herbert J. Marsh, followed farming as well as his father's trade. His wife was Hannah Page, a daughter of Henry Page, and a niece of Quaker John Page. The latter was a noted man. The Page family is among the oldest in Gilmanton, and in years past was very numerous. The children of Henry Page were : Annie W., Reuben, Elizabeth, Hannah, John, Samuel, Mary, and Sarah. The fourth Joseph Marsh and his wife, after their marriage, lived in Manchester, N.H. Upon his death the widow returned to Gilmanton, where some years later she married Stephen S. Nelson. Her children by her first marriage were: Addie, who was a school teacher, married Westley Cunningham, and died soon after; and Herbert J., the subject of this sketch.
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After attending the public schools of Man- chester for the usual period, Herbert J. Marsh took a course in a commercial school. He began his business life in the grocery store of Henry C. Merrill, with whom he worked for three years. After this he was with Stearns & Farmer and George C. Lord respectively for six years. Since 1887 Mr. Marsh has lived in Gilmanton with Mrs. Nelson, his mother. They own over five hundred acres of land and one of the best residences in the town. Mr. Marsh keeps twenty-five cattle, and does considerable dairy business. He first married Fannie M. Poor, by whom he had two children - Lillian and Joseph. Lil- lian died in childhood. Mr. Marsh contracted a second marriage with Miss Addie B. Par- sons, daughter of George C. Parsons, an influ - ential resident of Gilmanton, who was a Select- man, and now is a County Commissioner. Mrs. Marsh graduated from the Pittsfield Academy, and taught school for a number of terms before her marriage. Both she and her husband are devoted members of the Congrega- tional church and active supporters of its religious and benevolent organizations. In politics Mr. Marsh is a Republican. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, Highland Lodge, No. 93; and of Crystal Lake Grange, No. 101. In 1875 he joined the New Hampshire Battery, in which he has since been made Sergeant. Mr. Marsh has a wide circle of friends, and is highly es- teemed in the town. He is liberal, fair- minded, and progressive; and his integrity is unquestioned.
,DWARD E. RICE, founder of the Rice Manufacturing Company of New Dur- ham, was born in Freedom, N. H., August 3, 1863, son of William and Hannah
(Randall) Rice. His grandfather, Thomas Rice, who was of English ancestry, was one of the early settlers of Freedom.
William Rice was for some years a lumber dealer. In 1881 he came to New Durham, where he manufactured hogshead stock for three years, or until his death, which occurred in 1884, at the age of fifty-four years. In pol- itics he was a Republican. He was an ener- getic business man, and stood high in the estimation of the community. He married Hannah Randall, of Kezar Falls, Me .; and Edward E., the subject of this sketch, is the only child of their union.
Edward E. Rice attended the high school in Springvale, Me., and completed his studies at Phillips Academy, Exeter, N. H., when he was nineteen years old. At the age of twenty-one he entered into partnership with his father, and some time after the death of the elder Rice closed out the lumber business, in order to engage in the manufacture of wire brushes, steam packing, and similar goods. He con- ducted business in partnership and alone until 1893, when the Rice Manufacturing Company was incorporated. This concern is now doing a large and profitable business. Their plant is located at Downing's Mills, where it has a good water power, and the products are shipped to all parts of the United States. Politically, Mr. Rice supports the Republican party, and for three years he rendered efficient service to the town as a member of the School Board.
Mr. Rice married Laura Ayers, daughter of Joshua Ayers, of Barnstead, N. H. He is a member of Winnepesaukee Lodge, F. & A. M., of Alton, N.H. ; of Woodbine Lodge, I. O. O. F., of Farmington, N. H. ; and also of the Encampment. His efforts to maintain and still further develop the industrial re- sources of this town are appreciated by his fellow-citizens, and he occupies a prominent
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position in the community. He and his wife attend the Baptist church.
ALCOM A. H. HART, M.D., a rising young physician of Milton, Strafford County, N. H., was born in this town, December 28, 1861, son of Simon and Mary A. (Wentworth) Hart. His paternal grandfather was Nathaniel Meserve Hart, of Rochester, N. H .; and two of his great-great-grandfathers were Colonel John Hart and Colonel Nathaniel Meserve, who commanded New Hampshire regiments in the last French and Indian War. (See Bel- knap's History, account of campaigns in 1756, 1757, and 1758. ) The Hart family, it may be mentioned, is one of the oldest in the State, having settled in and around Portsmouth in very early Colonial days.
Simon Hart, who was a native of Rochester, followed mechanical pursuits in Milton for many years. The last twenty years of his life, however, were passed in South Berwick, Me., where he died July 9, 1882. In politics he was a Republican, but took no active part in public affairs. He married Mary A. Went- worth, a native of Farmington, N. H., and she became the mother of nine children, four of whom are living, namely: Lyndel, a resident of New York State; Justin and Ernest, who are residing in Lawrence, Mass .; and Malcom, the subject of this sketch.
Malcom A. H. Hart, having completed his studies at the Berwick Academy in 1878, was for some time engaged in teaching school in Lebanon, South Berwick, and Kennebunk, Me., and then took a two years' course in the medical department of Bowdoin College. Entering the University of New York City in 1887, he was graduated in 1888, and located for practice in Fall River, Mass., where he
remained for eighteen months. After that he took a year's post-graduate course in New York City, obtaining much valuable practical experience in the hospital connected with the school. He resumed the duties of his pro- fession at Gilmanton Iron Works, residing there for a year; and in 1891 he settled in Milton, where he has since remained. His professional success in his native town has been so marked as to gain for him a high reputation as a skilful and reliable physician, and a profitable practice is the result.
Dr. Hart and Estelle L. Draper, daughter of Hiram H. Draper, of Rutland County, Vermont, were married in 1890, and are the parents of two sons; namely, Wentworth and Ezra D.
Dr. Hart is a member of Olive Branch Lodge, No. 28, I. O. O. F., of South Berwick ; and is officially connected with the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Improved Order of Red Men of Milton. He is one of the Trustees of the Nute High School of the town. In politics he acts with the Republican party, and in his religious views he is a Baptist.
APT. JOSEPH WILLIAM LANG, who commanded a company of volun- teers in the Civil War, and is now a prosperous farmer of Meredith, Belknap County, N. H., was born in Tuftonboro, Car- rol County this State, December 2, 1833. His parents were Thomas E. and Cynthia (Blaisdell) Lang. His great-grandfather, Josiah Lang, first, a native of Greenland, N. H., settled in Portsmouth, and followed the trade of a shoemaker. He joined a military company that was raised toward the latter part of the Revolutionary War and did garrison duty. He died May 12, 1828, at the age of eighty-two years. His wife, Pearn Johnson,
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MALCOM A. H. HART.
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was of English descent. Her father was a Colonel in the Revolutionary struggle. She was a remarkably bright and active woman, and lived to be ninety-four years old. She died June 4, 1841, having been the mother of four sons and three daughters, Josiah, second, Captain Lang's grandfather, being the eldest child.
Josiah Lang, second, was born in Portsmouth, April 12, 1772. His occupation was farming. He removed with his son to Meredith in April, 1816, and died in this town, September 27, 1855. He married Sarah Whidden, a native of Portsmouth, born August 2, 1774, and had a family of three children, namely : Joseph W. ; Thomas E. ; and Josiah, who died at the age of eleven years. Mrs. Sarah W. Lang died December 21, 1861. Josiah Lang, second, was a Jacksonian Democrat in politics. An extensive reader, he was a man of unusual intelligence, and entertained very decided views upon all subjects with which he was familiar. In his religious belief he was a Methodist, and his wife was a Congregation- alist, but as there was no place of worship be- longing to either of these denominations in the vicinity of their residence, they joined the Christian church.
Their son, Thomas E. Lang, was born in Portsmouth, June 21, 1801. He was educated in the district schools, and accompanied his parents to Tuftonboro. He engaged in agri- cultural pursuits, and resided there until 1854, when he bought a small farm in Meredith and removed his family to this town. He contin- ued to till the soil as long as he was able, the last four years of his life being spent in re- tirement. He died in 1889. Politically, he acted with the Democratic party, and he served as Tax Collector in Tuftonboro for sev- eral years. He was a member of Morning Star Lodge, F. & A. M., of Wolfboro, N. H.
His wife, Cynthia Blaisdell, was born in Gilford, N. H., May 29, 1802, daughter of the Rev. William Blaisdell, a Christian Bap- tist clergyman of that town. She became the mother of two children : Sarah Whidden, who married Nathan B. Wadleigh, of Meredith ; and Joseph William. Mrs. Cynthia B. Lang died January 7, 1890. She and her husband were members of the Congregational church.
Joseph William Lang the subject of this sketch, acquired his education in the district school and at the Meredith Bridge Academy. In 1852 he began life for himself as a clerk in the general store of Lang & Stevens, the senior partner being his uncle. Three years later, when about twenty-two years of age, he bought the interest of Mr. Stevens, and con- tinued in business until the summer of 1862. In August of that year he went to work with a will to raise a company for service in the Civil War, and in four days he recruited ninety-eight men and three officers. These were mustered in as Company I, of the Twelfth Regiment, New Hampshire Volun- teers, and Joseph W. Lang was chosen its Captain. On September 27, 1862, they left New Hampshire for Washington, and after camping upon the Robert E. Lee estate at Arlington Heights for a short time joined Colonel Wright's division. On October 10 they were ordered to General Whipple's division, Third Army Corps, and joined Gen- eral McClellan's command. They were later assigned to the Eighteenth and Twenty-fourth Army Corps. The Twelfth New Hampshire was the last regiment to leave the field after the battle of Fredericksburg; and Captain Lang commanded his company in the battle of Chancellorsville, where he was wounded in the thigh and side and taken prisoner. He was parolled after thirteen days of captivity, and, being sent to Washington, was then
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given a furlough and came home. In August, 1863, he rejoined his regiment at Point Look- out, where he remained guarding rebel pris- oners until April, 1864; and in May of that year he was again laid up on account of his old wound. He was at Fortress Monroe for a time, and, finally resigning his com- mission, returned to Meredith, where the next year was passed in recovering his health. He was engaged as a clerk until 1870, at which time he started in the dry-goods business upon his own account, and followed it successfully until 1879. He has since devoted his time and energies to general farming. He owns a desirable piece of agricultural property, con- taining about one hundred acres, cuts an aver- age of forty tons of hay annually, and keeps about fifteen head of cattle and a large flock of poultry.
In politics Captain Lang has always been an active supporter of the Democratic party. In 1861 and 1862 he represented this town in the legislature and served upon the committees on State House and on Militia. In 1873 and 1876 he was again a member of the legislature. In 1891 and 1892 he was a member of the Board of Selectmen, and he has acted as mod- erator at town meetings for twelve years.
: On January 19, 1860, Captain Lang married Lucy A. Leach, daughter of the Rev. Giles Leach, a Congregationalist preacher. The only child of this union is Elizabeth W., who is now a teacher in Franklin Falls, N. H.
In September, 1862, Captain Lang was made a Mason in Blazing Star Lodge, of Concord; in 1866 he became a charter mem- ber of Chocorua Lodge, F. & A. M., No. 83 ; and he is also a member of Union Chapter, No. 7, R. A. M. of Laconia. He is Past Chancellor of Meredith Lodge, No. 50, Knights of Pythias; is Past Sachem of Algon- quin Tribe, No. 26, Improved Order of Red
Men; was the First Commander of George S. Cram Post, No. 54, G. A. R .; and is con- nected with Winnepesaukce Grange, P. of H. Captain Lang attends and contributes toward the support of the Congregational church, of which Mrs. Lang is a member.
OSCOE G. BLANCHARD, M.D., an able and skilful physician, who has met with signal success in the prac- tice of his profession since coming to Dover thirteen years ago, was born July 24, 1853, in West Cumberland, Cumberland County, Me., son of Joseph Y. and Abbie N. (Libby) Blan- chard. He was six years of age when his par- ents removed to Saco, Me. Here he received his early education, first attending the district schools, and afterward the Biddeford High School, from which he graduated in 1871.
After taking a commercial course at Gray's Business College in Portland, Mr. Blanchard accepted the position of book-keeper and cashier with the firm of Chadbourn & Kendall, dry-goods merchants of Portland, remaining with them seven years. In his spare hours during five years of this time, he fitted himself for his present career, reading medicine with Dr. Edward Kimball and attending lectures at the Portland Medical College. Having, in the meantime, by close economy accumulated a sufficient sum to warrant him in giving up his position, Mr. Blanchard took a two years' medical course at Portland Medical School, and afterward entered the medical department of Bowdoin College, from which he was gradu- ated with the class of 1884. A few months later he located in Dover, among whose people and those of its suburbs he has since won an extensive patronage.
Dr. R. G. Blanchard was married Septem- ber 4, 1877, to Miss Laura B. Hodgdon, a
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daughter of Z. H. Hodgdon and Orinda (Reed) Hodgdon, of North Boothbay, Me. He has one daughter, Florence L., now fourteen years of age. In politics Dr. Blanchard is an uncompromising Republican. He is an active and prominent member of many societies, in- cluding the Maine Medical Society; the Straf- ford District Medical Society, of which he has been the secretary for two years; and the Dover Medical Society, of which he was sec- retary for five years, and president for two years. The doctor has likewise been an ar- dent worker in Masonic circles, and has done much to promote the good of the order in this city. He has already taken the thirty-second degree of Masonry ; is a member of Strafford Lodge and Belknap Chapter; is Thrice Illus- trious Master of Orphan Council; and a Knight of St. Paul's Commandery, of which he was Eminent Commander for two years. In 1895 he was invested with the degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite; and he is now at the head of the Dover Lodge of Perfection, holding the rank of Thrice Potent Grand Master. Dr. Blanchard is also an Odd Fellow, belonging to Beacon Lodge, of Port- land, and to Portland Encampment.
TEPHEN PERLEY. - The city of Laconia, N.H., owes to the Perley family many of her important enter- prises. To Stephen Perley especially much is due, as he was the father of industrial life in this place. He was born in Ipswich, Mass., October 7, 1770, a son of Allen Perley.
The Perley family is said to have had its origin in Wales. Allen Perley (first), who was from St. Albans, Herefordshire, England, landed at Charlestown, Mass., in 1630, and settled in Ipswich in 1634. The following year he was married to Susanna Bokeson, who
bore him four sons -John, Samuel, Thomas, and Timothy. Timothy, who was the great- grandfather of the subject of this sketch, had three sons - Stephen (first), Joseph, and Allen (second). Stephen (first) had one son, Allen (third), a farmer of Ipswich ; and Allen (third) had four sons - Allen, John, Stephen, and Jacob - each of whom lived to be over eighty years of age. All these, beginning with the children of Allen and Susanna (Bokeson) Per- ley, were born in Ipswich, Mass.
Stephen Perley, who was the third son of his parents, acquired his education in the common schools of Ipswich; and after leaving school he worked for a while in a store in Salem, Mass. While still a young man he located in Mere- dith Bridge, now Laconia, where he was one of the first settlers; and his indomitable energy developed in the small village a re- markable degree of industrial activity. At one time he owned most of the land on which the city stands. He was extensively engaged in farming, raising some years six hundred bushels of corn. He managed a general store, which was the centre of trade not only for the inhabitants of the village, but also for those in the outlying country. He had a number of saw-mills, where the lumber felled on the land he was clearing was converted into marketable shape; and, in addition to all this, he estab- lished, as the place grew, a nail factory, a starch factory, a cotton-mill, and a linseed oil mill. The cotton-mill he eventually sold to Daniel Avery. Mr. Perley dug the canal con- necting the bend of the Winnepesaukee River at North Church Street with the same river near Winnesquam Lake, where the Laconia car shops now arc. In foresight and enter- prise he was far ahead of his time, and many of his plans have been adopted and carried out by the wise men of to-day.
His personal history was the carly history of
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the town. A Jeffersonian Democrat, he was active also in the politics of the time. He was one of the electors for Van Buren, repre- sented this part of Belknap County in the State legislature, and he was Postmaster here for thirty years. A resident of the town for sixty years, he was an essential factor in its life during all that time; and no man was more popular than he. In his later days he was a strong Universalist, and his house was always a minister's home. Mr. Perley was a great admirer of the Rev. Hosea Ballou, of Boston, or, as he was reverentially called, Father Bal- lou, and invited him. at an early day to visit him at Meredith Bridge and proclaim his peculiar views to the people, as Universalism was entirely unknown here. He came and preached the new faith, as it was then spoken of, and created quite a sensation among the inhabitants of the place, both for and against the doctrine, many of the most prominent citizens adopting his ideas at once. The Rev. Messrs. Sebastian and Russel Streeter followed Mr. Ballou, by invitation of Mr. Perley; and in that way he was instrumental in forming what was for many years a strong and zealous Universalist Society.
Mr. Perley was twice married. His first wife, Abigail, died young, leaving one. child, a daughter, Sarah, who married Dr. John Durkec, of Laconia, a prominent physician at that early day. His second marriage was with Mehitable, daughter of Colonel Samuel Ladd, who was one of the first settlers and a promi- nent citizen of Gilmanton, now Belmont, N.H. He was a large land-owner, and Ladd Hill was named for his family. In politics he was directly opposed to Mr. Perley, being an earnest Republican. A strictly honest man, kind and affectionate to his family and friends, he had few enemies. At the time of his death Colonel Ladd was the oldest inhabitant of the
place. Mrs. Mehitable Perley was a most worthy, charitable woman and an exemplary wife and mother. She died October 25, 1834, aged fifty-one years and six months. Mr. Per- ley died April 13, 1855, passing away peace- fully at the good old age of eighty-four years and six months, leaving five children - Stephen Jefferson, John Langdon, Louisa, Abigail, and Martha Maria.
Stephen Jefferson Perley died at the age of twenty. Of John Langdon Perley, who be- came a successful physician and public man, an extended account will be found elsewhere in this work. Louisa (now deceased) married Nathan T. Fogg, a farmer of Belmont. Abi- gail became the wife of John H. Brewster, of Laconia, editor of a paper. She also has passed to the better life. Martha Maria Per- ley still remains in good health at the ripe age of eighty-one years. She was born in La- conia, November 19, 1815, and was married October 22, 1835, to the Rev. Joseph Plum- mer Atkinson, a Universalist clergyman, who was a native of Gloucester, Mass., and who studied with Thomas Whittemore, D.D.
The Rev. Joseph P. Atkinson was well known and highly estecmed in New Hamp- shire and Massachusetts during his years of ministerial labor, having charge of churches in Hingham, Mass., Dover, and Weare, N.H., Westbrook, Me., and Marblehead, Orleans, and Orange, Mass., and for a while being in the Universalist Publishing House in Boston, Mass. In 1852 Mr. Atkinson became a resi- dent of Laconia; and here in 1885 he and his wife celebrated their golden wedding, which excited much interest, being the first ever held in this region. He made his home in Laconia up to the time of his death, which occurred December 27, 1888, when he was seventy-nine years of age. From the address at his funeral by the Rev. Alonzo A. Miner, D.D., we copy
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