USA > New Hampshire > Belknap County > Biographical review : containing life sketches of leading citizens of Stafford and Belknap countries, New Hampshire > Part 32
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John Demeritt, the sixth of the name, who is thus shown to be of the seventh generation from the immigrant ancestor, was born in Madbury, August 8, 1856, on the farm that was mostly acquired by his grandfather, Eben- ezer Thompson Demeritt. A portion of this land was also owned by his great-grandfather Jonathan, who inherited it from his father,
Ebenezer, its possession in the family thus covering a period of great length. The farm now consists of about two hundred acres of land, charmingly situated at the foot of Moharimet's Hill, so called from an Indian sagamore, who made it his stronghold in the early part of the seventeenth century; and it stretches away, in beautiful and varied expanse of field, meadow, and pasture, to another wooded height known as Beech Hill, which is the boundary between Madbury and the ad- joining town of Durham. The spot where the present house now stands, shaded by majestic, wide-spreading trees, marks the site of an old garrison which stood as a refuge in the peril- ous times of Indian warfare, and was called the "Tasker garrison " from the Taskett or Tasker family, who were the early settlers ..
Mr. Demeritt's father, Ezra Edrick De- meritt, was for many years one of the promi- nent and influential residents of this section of Strafford County, being widely known in all the surrounding towns, and an important factor in the agricultural interests of Mad- bury, where his death occurred June 26, 1890, at the age of sixty-five years. He was a firm adherent of the Republican party, and served in various official capacities, being a member of the State legislature in 1861 and 1862, Postmaster three years, Justice of the Peace several terms; Selectman and Town Clerk twenty years, besides holding many offices of minor importance. He was a man of great political sagacity, and was well versed in all the impending questions of national and local importance, being a deep reader, and possessing sound judgment and a penetrative mind. He married May 30, 1855, Louisa Maria Demeritt, who is a woman of individual worth and character. To them were born two children - John and Jennie Mabelle. The daughter is now a library assistant at the Bos-
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ton Athencum, and the mother resides at the Madbury home.
Mr. Demeritt's great-great-grandfather on the maternal side, Major John Demeritt of Revolutionary fame, was one of the party of patriotic men who went by boat from Durham to aid in securing the ammunition at Fort William and Mary in December, 1774. The account of the capture of the fort is too well known to need repetition. Certainly it was a brave act on the part of each man, as all im- perillel their lives in the attempt. It was a very important step, also, as seen now in the historic light of over one hundred years; for it was the first armed resistance against Great Britain. The throwing overboard of the tea in Boston Harbor and the burning of the "Gaspee" in Narragansett Bay were prior to this; but in those exploits no arms were used openly and in warlike manner, as was done at the fort. The little party from Durham re- turned safely with their spoils, which con- sisted of guns, balls, and powder, most of the latter being taken up the Piscataqua and Oyster Rivers, and secreted at first under the Durham meeting-house, which stood directly on the bank of Oyster River. Owing to the accessibility of the place, as the river then was a thoroughfare for crafts of all kinds, it was thought unsafe; and Major Demeritt re- moved it to his own premises in Madbury. There he had a magazine constructed, where it remained several months, until in that event- ful June, 1775, it being needed by the forces in Massachusetts, he took the most of it there himself in an ox cart, arriving in season for the battle of Bunker Hill, thus rendering an important service to the country at a critical time. Some of this ammunition has been preserved and passed down as a precious heir- loom to the present John, who has been so generous as to present a few balls from his
little hoard to the New Hampshire Historical Society, and a few to the Massachusetts His- torical Society, at whose rooms of exhibition they may be seen. It was doubtless in recog- nition of his gallant services that the Fourth Provincial Congress at Exeter voted, Novem- ber 9, 1775, "that Captain John Demeritt be First Major of the Second Regiment of mili- tia in this colony " (New Hampshire Pro- vincial Papers, vol. vii. p. 655). Thirty- three years afterward Major Demeritt's son John was appointed First Major in the Twenty-fifth Regiment, receiving his com- mission from Governor John Langdon.
The seat of the John branch of the family, and the place on which the powder was so carefully stored, is situated about one-half mile from the ancestral home on the paternal side. This land was acquired in 1698 by Eli, and was given, as shown by his will, dated in 1739, to his second son, John, who was the father of Major John Demeritt, Sr. It is now in possession of three daughters of Hopley Demeritt; namely, Louisa, Mr. John De- meritt's mother, and her sister Elizabeth (Mrs. John C. Hanson), and Miss Abbie Jane Demeritt, who still reside there. For a period of a little over fifty years previous to this time, it was held by Mrs. Abigail Snell Demeritt, whose husband, Hopley Demeritt, died at an early age. She was a woman of rare ability and industry, and during her long stretch of useful years - for she reached the advanced age of ninety-one - she was noted for her many good qualities of heart and mind. Under her skilful management the farm in- creased greatly in productiveness and value. It is an undulating tract of about two hundred and fifty acres of land, of great beauty and fer- tility. There are broad fields, in a remote corner of one of which the mortal remains of all the early Johns peacefully sleep in the old
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family burial-ground. Hills gently rise in every direction, and the house itself stands on an eminence commanding an extensive view of all the surrounding country. A part of the present large mansion is the original house, which in external appearance, as well as its antique furniture, testifies of its age and historic worth.
Mr. Demeritt began life with good educa- tional advantages, as, after leaving the district school in his boyhood, he was sent first to the academy at Northwood Centre, thence to Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., after which he finished his studies at New London, N. H. On leaving school, Mr. Demeritt ac- cepted a position with the Boston & Maine Railroad Company, becoming station agent at Madbury and likewise serving in various ca- pacities. Here he proved himself so thor- oughly trustworthy and able that in 1890 he was promoted to the office of city passenger and ticket agent in Boston, where he dis- charged his duties with the same fidelity and precision that marked his previous record, continuing there until his resignation in 1895, after continuous service with the com- pany for seventeen years.
In politics Mr. Demeritt invariably sup- ports the principles of the Republican party. In 1887 he represented the town in the State legislature, where he distinguished himself in the memorable contest of railroad factions, by his faithful labor in his adopted cause. Since then he has attended every session of the legislature in the interest of railroad legisla- tion; and during the last session (1897) he filled the office of Sergeant-at-arms of the Senate with his usual activity, earnestness, and efficiency. Mr. Demeritt has always made the ancestral place at Madbury his home, and at present he spends much of his time there. Standing as the only male representa-
tive of two long lines of a race so noteworthy, his many friends wish him success in all future endeavors.
ON. WILLIAM FRANKLIN KNIGHT, of Laconia, Belknap County, N.H., has won success in business, distinction in politics, and popular- ity in society. Son of Edwin Perry and Eliz- abeth WV. T. (Vaughan) Knight, he was born on October 13, 1847, in Hanover, Grafton County, this State. Mr. Knight comes of patriotic stock, and numbers among his ances- tors several of the carly colonists of New England. His great-grandfather, William Knight, and that gentleman's brother were Revolutionary soldiers, the latter receiving a captain's commission for conspicuous gallantry on the bloody field of Bennington. William Knight, who served throughout the Revolu- tion, was one of the Massachusetts contingent in the Continental army. He removed from Worcester, Mass., to Hanover, N.H., in 1808; and the homestead which he established was subsequently occupied by his son Will- iam, Jr., and his grandson, Edwin Perry, and was the birthplace of his great-grandson, William F., the direct subject of this sketch. William Knight had a family of eleven chil- dren.
William Knight, Jr., was born in Worces- ter, Mass. Ilis active mature years were spent in cultivating the farm in Hanover, N. H. There he died January 28, 1860, aged seventy-two. His wife, Avis Ladd, to whom he was married January 24, 1815, was born in Haverhill, N. H. She was a descendant of Daniel Ladd, who came to this country in the "Mary and John " of London, Robert Sayers, master, in 1633 or 1634, and settled in Ips- wich, Mass., in 1637, being granted six acres
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of land there, on which he erected a dwelling. He subsequently lived for a short time in Salisbury ; and later he was one of the first settlers of Pentucket, now Haverhill, Mass., where also he had a land grant. He was ex- tensively engaged in farming, and he built the first saw-mill in Pentucket. In local affairs he was a leader, holding many offices of trust. His son Daniel was killed by the Indians, February 22, 1698; and the second Daniel Ladd's son, Daniel, Jr., was taken prisoner by the savages, and carried to Penacook, where he was held for several years. Soon after reaching Penacook he escaped, but was re- taken by the savages, and, bound hand and foot for fourteen days, was subjected to the most excruciating tortures, gunpowder being poured into his wounds. The scars of these wounds always remained. He finally made good his escape, and returned to Haverhill. His son John was Mrs. Avis Ladd Knight's father. Mrs. Knight died March 26, 1856, aged sixty-eight. She was the mother of three children - Edwin Perry, John, and Francis, all now deceased.
Edwin Perry Knight was born in Hanover, August 15, 1816. Thinking to qualify for the profession of medicine, he studied at Nor- wich University, but changed his plans, and turned his attention to farming and stock- raising. He owned some three hundred acres of land, and was very successful in his chosen pursuit. He was a Democrat, and a strong supporter of Buchanan and Breckenridge. He died October 22, 1857. On April 17, 1845, Mr. Edwin P. Knight was married to Eliza- beth W. T. Vaughan, daughter of Silas T. and Polly (Ingalls) Vaughan. She was born in Hanover, September 27, 1825.
The Vaughan and Ingalls families figured conspicuously in Colonial times. To Will- iam Vaughan, of Portsmouth, N.H., son of
Lieutenant Governor George Vaughan, history gives much credit for the capture of Louis- burg in 1745, as it was at his suggestion that the enterprise was undertaken. Captain Jabez Vaughan, who is thought to have been a con- nection of the Portsmouth Vaughans, and who was born, it is said, in Middlebury, Mass., in October, 1763, rendered long and valued ser- vice to his country at the time of the Revolu- tionary War. He died in June, 1813. His son, Silas T., William F. Knight's grand- father, was born August 28, 1797, and died April 20, 1862; and Polly Ingalls, who be- came the wife of Silas T. Vaughan, was born April 8, 1797. The Ingalls family are a scholarly and refined race. In the history of Lynn, Mass., we find that the first known white settlers there were Edmund Ingalls and his brother Francis, who came from Lincoln- shire, England, to Lynn in 1629. The de- scendants in the direct line to and including the grandmother of the subject of our sketch were: Edmund; Henry, born in 1656; Henry, born 1697; Joseph, born 1723; Luther, born 1758; Polly Ingalls, born 1797. Mrs. Eliz- abeth W. T. Vaughan Knight died May 4, 1872, aged forty-six years. She was the mother of five children : Edwin F. (deceased) ; William Franklin, the subject of this sketch; Charles E. (deceased), who owned an extensive sheep ranch in Kansas, and was ticket agent for the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railroad at Moberly, Mo. ; Emma E. ; and Myra V.
William Franklin Knight was educated in the common schools of Hanover and at West Randolph Academy. In June, 1864, he en- tered the employ of Parker Brothers, of La- conia, general grocers, as clerk; and in 1867 he was practically in control of the business. He eventually bought out the original firm, and in company with .Mrs. Hull, under the firm name of W. F. Knight & Co., conducted
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a flourishing trade for ten years. The follow- ing ten years he was sole proprietor, and then Mr. George Tetreau became his associate, the firm name becoming W. F. Knight & Tetreau. Mr. Tetreau was succeeded by Mr. Huntress; and the style was changed to Knight & Huntress, the present firm. In addition to his dry-goods business, Mr. Knight in 1873 was a member of the furniture house of Mansur & Knight, which in 1887 became Knight & Robinson. He is a Trustee of the Belknap Savings Bank, a Director in the La- conia National Bank, and a Director in the Laconia Building and Loan Association. He is a member of the local Board of Trade, and has been Secretary and Treasurer of the Board of Trustees of the Laconia Public Library 'some thirteen years.
Mr. Knight was married in 1872 to Fannie E., daughter of James Taylor, of Franklin, N.H. Though the Knights were loyal for generations to Democratic traditions, the Civil War and its attendant circumstances caused a change in the sentiments of the family; and William F. Knight has been a stanch Repub- lican since he was qualified to vote, casting his first Presidential ballot for Ulysses S. Grant in 1868. He was elected Town Clerk of Laconia in 1875, and served two years; is now Chairman of the Republican City Com- mittec; was elected County Treasurer in 1883, and re-elected in 1885; was in the State legislature in 1889, serving on the Railroad Committee and Committee on National Affairs; was elected State Senator from Dis- trict No. 6 in 1894, for the term of two years; was a member of the Committees on Finance, Military Affairs, and Insane Asylum; and in 1896 he was appointed Quartermaster-general on the staff of Governor C. A. Busiel. At the time of his nomination for the State Senate the Boston Journal said of him, "Mr.
Knight is a straight, clean fellow in every re- spect and exceedingly popular as a citizen."
A thirty-second degree Mason, he is a mem- ber of Mount Lebanon Lodge, No. 32, F. & A. M .; Union R. A. Chapter, No. 7; Pythagorean Council, No. 6, R. and S. M. ; Pilgrim Commandery, K. T .; the Scottish Rite bodies at Concord; and the Consistory at Nashua. He has filled all the chairs in Chap- ter and Council and Grand Chapter, and is at present Grand High Priest of the last-named body. An attendant at the Unitarian church, he has held various positions, and is at this time President of the Society.
EHEMIAH CAVERLY TWOMBLY, M.D., a prominent New Hampshire physician, residing at Centre Straf- ford, was born near the academy in Strafford, February 26, 1835, son of Silas and Sally (Caverly) Twombly. The men of his family have been identified with the history and de- velopment of the town almost since its settle- ment. His early ancestor, Ralph Twombly, from whom he is the seventh in lineal descent, had land laid out in 1656, and was taxed that year at Cocheco (Dover), N.H. From the contents of his will, dated February 28, 1684, which is still in existence, it is seen that he must have been a very prosperous farmer. He names separately each of his children, as fol- lows - John, Ralph, Joseph, Mary, Elizabeth, Hope, Sarah, Esther, and William - and be- queaths to them and his wife, Elizabeth, the bulk of his property.
The second Ralph Twombly had a son Will- iam, who settled in Madbury, N.H., and be- came the father of four sons. Moses, the eld- est, married Sarah Wentworth, a descendant of Governor Benning Wentworth. Moses Twombly's son Samuel was grandfather to the
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Doctor. Samuel Twombly was born in 1766, and became a well-known farmer and basket- maker of Strafford. He married Olive Huntress, and by this union had eleven chil- dren, of whom the following is a brief men- tion : Hannah married James Roe; Silas was the father of Dr. Twombly; William married Betsy Rollins, and settled in . Gilmanton; Deborah became Mrs. Nicholas Evans, of Holderness; Samuel, a stone mason, married Susan Durgin, and settled in New Market, N.H., and has two grandchildren, one, Belle Bryant, a remarkable organist, the other, Virginia, noted as an elocutionist ; Enoch, the sixth child, married Lucretia Daniels; Moses married a Miss Parker, of Holderness, and settled in Maine; Daniel, born July 25, 1811, married Miss Julia Reed, of New Bedford, Mass., and has two children - Maria and Daniel; John married Sarah Berry, and set- tled in Maine; Smith died in Charleston, S.C. ; and the eleventh child, Mesheck, lived and died in Lowell, Mass. Andrew J. was a child by a second marriage.
Silas Twombly was born in old Barrington (now Strafford), December 22, 1798. When a lad he worked for a time in Charlestown, Mass. ; and later, returning to his native town, he became a farmer and cattle raiser. He was an industrious man, universally esteemed, and dying left an honorable name to his descend- ants. His wife, Sally Caverly, was a de- scendant of Governor Benning Wentworth. The seven children of Mr. and Mrs. Silas Twombly were: John, Hazen, Harrison, Silas, Sally A., Nehemiah, and Viany, of whom John, Hazen, Silas, Sally A., and Viany arc now deceased. John Twombly, born Decem- ber 22, 1822, was a prominent lawyer and citizen of Mamaroneck, N. Y., and a member of the New York legislature; Harrison, born September 25, 1826, married Harriet A.
Caverly, and has one child, Charles II., who has been Treasurer of Strafford since 1895, and who married Ada Moody, and has one child, Charles Whiler; Silas married Ann M. Twombly, and had one child, Roxanna, now Mrs. William Shepard.
Nehemiah C. Twombly passed his boyhood on his father's farm, and attended the public schools of the town. Later he was sent to what is now Austin Academy, where he studied diligently, and exhibited an unusual aptitude for learning. He was afterward ap- pointed master for the winter terms in the schools of Strafford and Barrington. While teaching he made quite a reputation for him- self; and, had he chosen to remain in the pro- fession, there is no doubt that he would now have been one of the leading educators of the country. In 1861 he began the study of med- icine with Dr. Charles Palmer, of Strafford, and for fifteen years, as he had opportunity, was a close student. In 1875 he was enabled to enter the University of Vermont at Burling- ton, where he was graduated the following year, carrying off the highest honors in his class. The persistency with which he clung to his resolution to prepare himself for the practice of medicine, and the patience he dis- played in waiting so many years before cir- cumstances enabled him to secure his diploma, merited all the success he has since obtained. An example of such tenacity of purpose in a good cause is stimulating and gratifying in these modern days of rush and hurry. By means of his personality and by his great skill in his profession Dr. Twombly has built up an extensive practice, and has made a name and fame for himself, not only in his native town and county, but throughout the whole State. He is recognized by the medical pro- fession as one of the leading physicians in New Hampshire,
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He is a member of Strafford District Medi- cal Society, and has been a member of the State Pharmaceutical Association since 1879. He holds a State certificate, which gives him the authority to open a drug store anywhere in New Hampshire.
Dr. Twombly owns and cultivates Hillside Farm, an estate of eighty acres, and has been much interested in the work of the various agricultural societies. He is Master of Bow Lake Grange, No. 80, and a member of Eastern New Hampshire Pomona Grange, No. 2, and of the State grange. His extensive knowl- edge of the natural sciences and his well- known ability on the platform have led to his often being asked to lecture before these bodies on chemistry, botany, and kindred sub- jects. He is a very pleasing speaker, and his addresses are always listened to with marked attention.
Dr. Twombly has held a commission as Justice of the Peace and Quorum throughout the State since his twenty-first year, and in that capacity has done a large amount of pro- bate business, although he has eschewed trial cases. He also has settled many pension claims, and there are many veterans who have reason to be grateful to him for having been the means of securing them an income.
Politically, Dr. Twombly has always been more or less of an Independent. He believes in using his influence on the side of justice rather than in giving blind adherence to party platforms. In 1865 he was chosen to repre- sent the town in the legislature, and while there was a member of several committees. He has refused to accept the nomination for Town Treasurer, but has served for a number of years on the School Board, and has always been greatly interested in all educational movements. Of a vital, sanguine tempera- ment, possessing keen powers of analysis and
fine command of language, Dr. Twombly is active and energetic in the advocacy of any movement which he deems to be for the wel- fare and improvement of society. His lect- ures cover a wide range of subjects, embrac- ing politics, science, and religion. He is a facile writer, and has made a large number of contributions to the press. He has been for year's a prominent supporter of Christianity as represented by the Second Adventist de- nomination, with which he is connected; and he never hesitates to express his religious views unequivocally, mindful of the apostolic injunction to give a reason for the hope that is in him. He is a member of Bow Lake Y. P. S. C. E.
APTAIN STEPHEN S. AYER, an enterprising farmer of Lakeport, Bel- knap County, was born in Gilford, this county, February 5, 1828, son of Thomas and Sally (Gale) Ayer. His paternal grand- father, Winthrop Ayer, was a highly respected resident of Barnstead, this county. Thomas Ayer, in his early manhood, came from Barn- stead to Gilford, and there afterward worked at the trade of ship-carpenter. His wife, Sally, who was born in Gilmanton, November 17, 1789, became the mother of four children, of whom Stephen S. is the only survivor. Thomas Ayer died in 1856, at the age of sixty-five, while his wife lived until 1883, when she passed away in the ninety-fifth year of her age.
Stephen S. Ayer received his education in the common school and at the Gilford and Wolfboro Academies, being obliged to alter- nate study with work to pay his expenses. Thereafter he taught school in his native town for twelve terms, and for one term in Norton, N.H. Subsequently in 1851, after
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working at the trade of carpenter for some time, he came to Weirs. Here, on a farm of eighty acres, he has since been engaged in stock-raising and general farming. From the time he first voted until 1864 he was a Demo- crat, but since that time he has affiliated with the Republican party. In Gilford he has been officially prominent He was its Collector in 1864 and 1865. Beginning in 1868, he was Selectman for four consecutive years. In 1871-72 he was its legislative Representa- tive, serving on the Committee of Agriculture and on the Board of Equalization. From 1870 to 1879 he served it as Treasurer. In 1880 he was Census-taker for twelve outlying districts. In ISS2 he was again elected Col- lector. He served again as Selectman from 1883 to 1886 inclusive, and he was again ap- pointed Collector in 1889, and next year was once more the Census-taker. In 1889, 1890, and 1891, he served on the Gilford School Board, and in 1894 he was appointed Assessor of Laconia, being reappointed in March, 1896, for three years. He has also settled several estates.
On July 10, 1851, Captain Ayer was mar- ried to Mary E., a daughter of Jacob Rowell, of Gilford. They have had four children, three of whom are living. These are: Mrs. R. B. Priest, of Lakeport, whose husband has been foreman in B. J. Cole's machine shop. for several years; Mrs. Walter F. Thompson, whose husband is a member of the firm, Plum- mer & Thompson, druggists of Lakeport; and George B. Ayer, who resides with his parents. Mr. Ayer and family live on the old Rowell homestead. He is a member of Chocorua Lodge, No. 51, I. O. O. F., of Lakeport, which he joined in 1870. From the time he was seventeen years of age until the old mili- tia law was abolished, he was a member of the Gilford Rifle Company, serving as Sergeant
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