USA > New Hampshire > Belknap County > Biographical review : containing life sketches of leading citizens of Stafford and Belknap countries, New Hampshire > Part 38
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In 1890 he was united in marriage with Eliza B., daughter of David and Sally (Wal- lace) Hilton, of Sandwich, N.H. He was Master of Union Lodge, No. 79, F. & A. M., of Bristol, N.H., for a number of years; and is a member of Union Chapter, No. 7, R. A. M .; and Pilgrim Commandery, K. T., of Laconia. He attends public worship at the Orthodox Congregational Church.
HARLES H. BERRY, an active and enterprising manufacturer of Farming- ton, was born April 7, 1859, in the town and county of Strafford, son of Plummer O. and Abbie A. E. (French) Berry. He is of English descent, and his paternal grand-
father, Peter Berry, was the founder of the family in this county, having settled in Straf- ford when a young man. Plummer O. Berry was brought up on a farm, and, becoming familiar with its labors while yet a youth, he continued in agricultural pursuits, remaining in Strafford until toward the close of his life. Removing then to Farmington he afterward made this his home, dying here in 1887, aged fifty-eight years. He married Miss Abbie A. E. French, of Barnstead, who bore him four children, as follows: Charles H., the subject of this biography; Susan I., now the wife of John B. Leighton, of Farmington; Levi F., who died in March, 1871, at the age of eleven years; and Ardena, the wife of Tim- othy E. Breen, of this town.
Charles H. Berry attended the schools of his native town until about twenty years of age, and for three years thereafter assisted in the management of the home farm. The en- suing three years he spent in Connecticut em- ployed in various capacities. From there he went to Concord, N.H., where he spent three years as an attendant at the asylum. In 1871 Mr. Berry came to Farmington, and for the first four years of his stay he was successfully engaged as a confectionery manufacturer and dealer. He then established his present busi- ness of manufacturing heels and soles, in which he has been exceedingly prosperous, his energy, industry, and wise management meet- ing with a well-merited reward.
On April 11, 1893, Mr. Berry married Miss Clara Barker, of Farmington, a daughter of Hiram and Maria (Hayes) Barker, and a sister of Hiram H. Barker, whose biography on another page gives a more extended history of her ancestors. Mr. Berry takes no active part in local affairs, but is an earnest supporter of the principles of the Democratic party. He is a member of Harmony Lodge, No. 11,
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K. of P., of Farmington, and a prominent worker in the organization. Mr. and Mrs. Berry are broad in their religious views, while they are liberal contributors toward the sup- port of the Congregational church, which they regularly attend.
FORGE V. CARD, a well-known resident of Farmington, and one of the brave men who fought for the Union in the Civil War, is a New Hampshire man by birth, having been born July 28, 1842, in New Castle, Rockingham County. His grandfather, who was a pioneer settler of that section of the State, came of good old English stock. Edward Card, also a native of New Castle, was a seafaring man, much of his life having been spent in island fishing. He died at his early home in 1853, aged forty-five years. He possessed the habits of industry, honesty, and thrift, characteristic of the true New Englander, and was held in high regard as a man. While he was a Whig in politics, he never sought public office. He married Frances A. Francis, also of New Castle. Of their eleven children, six are living; namely, William W., Thomas J., George V., James WV., Charles G., and Fannie A. Fannie A. is the widow of Albert Dawkins, late of Haverhill, Mass.
George V. Card obtained his education, such as it was, in the town of his birth. Leaving school at the age of eleven, he fol- lowed the sea for a year or more. He came to Farmington in 1859 to learn the shoe- maker's trade, and since that time, excluding three years spent in the army, he has been prosperously engaged in the shoe business in this locality. On August 11, 1862, he en- listed in Company C, Thirteenth New Hamp- shire Volunteer Infantry, of which C. O. Bradley was appointed Captain, under the
command of Colonel A. F. Stevnes. With his regiment he took part in the battles of Fredericksburg and the siege of Suffolk, and the engagements at Cold Harbor, Kingsland Creek, Providence Church Road, Walthall Road, Drewry's Bluff, and Redoubt McConie; and he was at the front in the mine explosion at Petersburg and in the capture of Richmond. At the close of the war he was honorably dis- charged with the rank of Corporal, having been but five days away from his regiment during his entire term. On returning to Farmington, Mr. Card resumed work at his former trade in the shoe factory of the late ex- Congressman A. Nute, where he remained until Mr. Nute's death in 1885. Mr. Card is a strong Republican in politics, and he now represents this town in the General Court at Concord, to which he was elected for a term of two years in 1896. He is very prominent and influential in Carlton Post, No. 24, G. A. R., of which he was Commander three years, Adjutant four years, and is now the Officer of the Day. He was also for three years on the staff of Department Commanders Corliss, Wyatt, and Linahan Farr.
Mr. Card was married September 28, 1862, to Miss Nancy J. Sampson, of Dexter, Me., daughter of William D. Sampson. They are the parents of seven children, three of whom have died. The survivors are: Gertrude E., Lizzie B., Edward F., and Faith. The family attend the Baptist church. Mr. Card is one of its active members, and was for some years superintendent of its Sunday-school.
ON. JOHN CARROLL MOUL- TON, to whose enterprise and pub- lic spirit Laconia and the lake region of New Hampshire are largely indebted for their present stage of development, be-
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longed to one of the oldest families, both in this country and in England. The "Dooms- day Book," which was compiled A.D. 1086, shows that bearers of the original name De Multon accompanied William the Conqueror, in his invasion of England, and subsequently aided him in subjugating the country. Thomas de Multon, known to the Normans as Lord de Vaux, and called Lord Gillesland in Cumberland, was a favorite of Richard I., ac- cording to Sir Walter Scott in "The Talis- man," and was probably the Thomas de Mul- ton who signed the Magna Charta in 1215. Another Thomas de Multon, whose signature appears in the great charter of King Edward I., granted in 1297, is believed to have been a grandson of the first Thomas. Sir Thomas de Multon owned Multon Hall in Wilberton, Cumberland County, now an interesting ruin, and the heads of the family were Lords of Egmont, in the same county. The arms borne by the different branches of the family differed only in minor details until 1571, when the escutcheon received the following: "Moulton -- argent, three bars; gules between eight es- calop shells, sable; 3-2-2-1, crest on pellet, a falcon rising argent." No less than seven representatives came to this country in the earliest days of the Colonies. One of these went to the Jamestown settlement in Virginia. John and Thomas Moulton, of Norfolk County, England, who made the voyage in 1635, and settled in Newbury, Mass., became residents of Hampton, N. H., in 1638, as shown by the presence of their names in the list of the first settlers of that place.
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The John Moulton just referred to, born in England in 1599, was the founder of the American family to which the subject of this sketch belonged. A leading man among the settlers of Hampton, he represented them in the General Court in 1639. By his wife,
Anne, he became the father of seven children -- Henry, Mary, Anna, Jane and Bridget (twins), John, and Ruth. John, Jr., a native of Newbury, born in 1638, was a Lieutenant. He married Lydia Taylor, whose father, An- thony Taylor, was also one of the first settlers of Hampton. Born of the union were: Martha, John, Lydia, Daniel, James, Nathan, David, Anna, Lydia, Jacob, and Rachel. Jacob, who was born in 1688, on December IO, 1714, married Sarah Smith. She died in 1739, and his death occurred in 1751. Their children were: Sarah, Lydia, Nathan, Doro- thy, Jonathan, and John.
Jonathan, afterward known as General Moulton, the great-grandfather of John Carroll Moulton, was born in 1726. In 1763 he and sixty-one others were granted the Moultonboro township. The following story of the manner in which he alone obtained the grant now covered by Centre Harbor and New Hampton illustrates the shrewdness for which he was distinguished : "Having a very fine ox, weigh- ing fourteen hundred pounds, fattened for the purpose, he drove it to Portsmouth, and made a present of it to Governor Wentworth. He refused any compensation, but said he would like a charter of a small gore adjoining Moul- tonboro." The Governor granted this simple request, "which put General Moulton in pos- session of a tract thereafter called by him New Hampton, containing nineteen thousand, four hundred and twenty-two acres." His rank of General was won by meritorious ser- vices in the Revolution, he having previously fought bravely in the Indian Wars. In 1777 he had charge of the important post at Sara- toga. He was a Representative in the Gen- eral Court from 1755 to 1758, and in July, 1774, he was one of the four delegates sent to the Provincial Congress at Exeter, which was held for the purpose of choosing delegates for
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the Continental Congress. Besides aiding largely in developing the district north of the lake, he is credited with having brought Moul- tonboro, N. H., and Centre Harbor into exist- ence. His death occurred in 1788.
By his first wife, Abigail Smith Moulton, he became the father of Benning Moulton, who, born May 21, 1761, settled in Centre Harbor in 1783, and died there December 23, 1834. In 1782, November 7, Benning mar- ried Sally Leavitt, who bore him six children - Nancy, Jonathan Smith, Thomas L., Ben- ning, John H., and Elizabeth. Nancy mar- ried Jonathan Moulton, and Elizabeth became the wife of Daniel Hilton. Jonathan Smith Moulton, the father of John Carroll, was a na- tive of Centre Harbor, born November 14, 1785. He was profitably engaged in a mer- cantile business, at the same time carrying on a large farm. In politics he supported the Democratic party. He died March 17, 1855. Ilis wife, Deborah Neal Moulton, whom he married in November, 1808, passed away in Boston, January 24, 1886, at the venerable age of ninety-seven years. Both were members of the Universalist church. They had eleven children, namely: William Carroll, who died in infancy; John Carroll, deceased; Sarah Ann, Mrs. Simon Crane, of Boston; Amanda Melvina, who died in infancy; Otis Monroe, deceased; Charles Smith, deceased; Frances Maria, Mrs. Moses Fairbanks, of Boston; An- drew McCleary, deceased; Joseph Neal, de- ceased; John S. O., of Boston; and Abea Wentworth, Mrs. Charles H. Somes, of Chicago.
John Carroll Moulton was born December 24, 1810, at Centre Harbor, N.II. After the usual attendance at the district school, he spent several terms at Holmes's Academy in Plymouth, N. II., and was subsequently under the instruction of Master Dudley Leavitt, the
distinguished mathematician and astronomer. On leaving Mr. Leavitt's care he had acquired a proficiency in mathematics that proved very useful to him afterward. His vacations were generally employed in assisting his father on the farm or in the store. He began business on his own account in Sandwich, Carroll County; but after a few months there he transferred the venture to Centre Harbor, where he was more prosperous. In 1833 he started the first hotel in the place, and con - ducted it for some time very successfully. Three years later he engaged in a manufactur- ing business in Lake Village. He came to Laconia, then Meredith Bridge, in. 1841, and here resided for the rest of his life, becoming a most potent factor in the town's subsequent progress. His first enterprise was the Belk- nap Hotel, which he conducted in a manner to make it quite popular. Then he sold books and drugs for a time. After that he was ap- pointed Postmaster of the village by President Tyler, was reappointed by President Polk, and had held the office for six years when he was removed by President Taylor for what would be described to-day as "offensive partisan- ship." President Pierce restored him to office, and he was retained in it by President Buchanan; but, shortly after the beginning of President Lincoln's administration, he was superseded by a Republican.
In 1861 Mr. Moulton was received into partnership by the celebrated Laconia Car Company, the successors of Charles Ranlet & Co., freight-car manufacturers. The celebrity of the firm was won afterward, chiefly through the personal attention Mr. Moulton gave to the business. With the lapse of time the shops were frequently enlarged, the number of workmen was increased, so that the pay roll showed a monthly disbursement of eight thou- sand dollars, and to the building of freight
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cars was added that of the finest passenger cars. When the entire factory was destroyed by fire in February, ISSI, Mr. Moulton im- mediately began to rebuild it, and in less than a month work was resumed. This remarkable instance of energy was given by Mr. Moulton in his seventy-first year, and when, with the ample fortune he had then acquired, he might have justifiably retired from business. His connection with the company continued for nine years more, after which he withdrew. The firm has since gone out of business. In 1865 he conceived the idea of establishing the Laconia National Bank, to accommodate the business interests of the town. After much trouble he obtained the requisite charter, car- ried the project into effect, and thereafter served the institution in the capacity of Presi- dent for the remainder of his life. Dating from 1868 he was the sole proprietor of the Gilford Hosiery Corporation, whose annual output averaged about one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, and which gave employment to many operatives, chiefly women and girls. He and Benjamin E. Thurston owned and conducted the flour and grain mill at Laconia. On one of his later birthdays he commenced the erection of the Moulton Opera House in Laconia, which was opened August 23, 1887, with René, then starring with the Redmund-Barry company.
On July 15, 1833, Mr. Moulton was married to Nellie B. Senter, daughter of Samuel M. Senter, a descendant of Colonel Joseph Senter, one of the earliest settlers of Centre Harbor. The children of this marriage were: Edwin C., Samuel M. S., William H., Horatio F., and Ida L. Edwin C., who became a prosper- ous business man, is now deceased. Samuel was associated with his father in various enter- prises. He was also connected with the La- conia Street and Gas Light Company, first as
foreman, and then as Treasurer, and served for a time successively in the New Hampshire Volunteers and the United States Cavalry. He died May 11, 1896, aged forty-eight years, nine months, and ten days. William H. died young. Horatio F., now a resident of Cali- fornia, where he is engaged in the paving business, was formerly the superintendent of a hosiery mill in Columbia, S.C. Ida L., after receiving her education in St. Mary's Convent School at Manchester, N.II., was married November 2, 1870, to Joshua Bennett Holden, of Boston.
Mr. Holden, who was born in Woburn, Mass., March 5, 1850, is prominent in Massa- chusetts politics. Having served for two years in the Boston Common Council, and for two years more in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, he is now a member of the State Senate, to which he was elected from the Back Bay district of Boston by a large majority. While in the lower chamber he served on each of the Committees on Rail- roads, Constitutional Amendments and Bien- nial Elections, and was the Speaker (pro tem) on frequent occasions. He has large busi - ness interests in Boston. His winter residence is located on Gloucester Street, corner of Beacon in that city. On an old ancestral es- tate of fifty acres in Billerica, Mass., is his summer residence, "Bennett Hall," where the late Governor Greenhalge, Mayor Quincy, of Boston, President Tuttle, of the Boston & Maine Railroad, and other distinguished men have been his guests. He and Mrs. Holden are the parents of six children, namely : Anna Ellen, born April 2, 1872; Mary Bennett, born September 25, 1874; Joshua Bennett, born December 20, 1876; Nathalie Frances, born February 26, 1880; Gladys Eleanor, born September 18, 1886; and Gwendolyn Moul- ton, born July 28, 1889. Mrs. Holden's
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mother died November 18, 1860; and her father married August 16, 1866, Sarah A. Mc- Dougall, a lady of many estimable qualities. Mr. Moulton died in 1894.
In religious faith and affiliation Mr. Moul- ton was a Unitarian. He was one of the organizers of the Unitarian Society in La- conia, was among the most generous contrib- utors to the building fund, and was the donor at Christmastide in 1890 of the magnificent memorial window in the church edifice. His political principles were those of sound Dem- ocracy. He represented the Sixth District in the State Senate of 1871-82, was elected to the Governor's Council in 1874, and in 1876 was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention, in which he was proposed as a Presidential Elector on the Tilden ticket. He was a Uniform Patriarch of the Indepen- dent Order of Odd Fellows, having been a charter member of Winnipiscogee Lodge, which was established in Laconia in 1842. Public-spirited to a high degree, no well-con- ceived plan for promoting the welfare of the community was refused his aid. Enterpris- ing, energetic, and resourceful, he was a typical New England man, and he has writ- ten his name indelibly on the pages of the history of Laconia.
AMUEL GROVER KELLEY, who owns and cultivates one of the larg- est farms in New Hampton, was born April 14, 1837, where he now resides, son of Jonathan Folsom and Eunice T. (Goss) Kelley. The first ancestor of the family in America was Darby Kelley, a bright, ener- getic Irishman, who is supposed to have landed on one of the Isles of Shoals. But little is known of Darby Kelley's early life, except that he had been a schoolmaster in the
old country. He found his way to Ports- mouth, and subsequently settled in Exeter, N. H., about the year 1600.
Samuel Kelley (first), son of Darby and great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in Exeter in 1733. He learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed until he was forty-two years old, and then started with his family to make a home in the wilderness. He settled upon a tract of land now within the limits of New Hampton. A courageous and persevering man, by the aid of his gun and traps he furnished food for his family, until he had cleared and cropped a piece of ground. The work of improvement continued until he possessed a good farm, with substan- tial buildings. Public-spirited to a high de- gree, he built the first meeting house in New Hampton. This building, which was used as a place of worship, a town house, and for all public gatherings, remained just as he left it until 1875, when it was remodelled. Nearly the entire township of New Hampton was owned by him. He died in 1774. Of the childern born to him and his wife he reared ten; namely, Betsey Bowdoin, Samuel, John, Nathaniel, Sarah, William B., Jonathan, Dudley, Martha, and Michael B. Betsey Bowdoin Kelley, born March 6, 1757, married Thomas Simpson, and died October 30, 1829; Nathaniel married Betsey Pitman; Sarah mar- ried J. P. Smith, and he died in 1840; Will- iam B. was born in 1769, wedded Mary Smith, and died February 23, 1825; Jonathan fol- lowed the sea; Dudley moved to Youngstown, Pa .; and Martha became the wife of Samuel l'age, and died in Steubenville, Ohio.
Samuel Kelley (second), grandfather of Samuel G., born in Brentwood, N. H., Febru- ary 12, 1759, received a share of his father's property, and passed the most of his life in the vicinity of Kelley Hill. He married Abi-
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gail Roberts, who was born in Meredith, N. II., June 5, 1762. To each of his children as they attained maturity he gave a farm, Michael B. and Jonathan F. receiving the homestead. He died February 20, 1832, and his wife died October 15, 1846. Jonathan Folsom Kelley, father of Samuel G., was born in New Hampton, May 13, 1802. He succeeded with his brother, Michael B., to his father's farm, and the active period of his life was spent in its cultivation. In politics he was originally a Democrat. Later he was a Free Soiler; and he joined the Republican movement at its formation. He married for his second wife, Eunice T. Goss, who was born February 22, 1810, daughter of John Goss, of Brentwood. She became the mother of five children, four of whom grew to matur- ity; namely, Lucy E., Samuel G., Abigail, and Sophia M. Lucy E. married for her first husband Samuel L. Pattee, of Alexandria, N. H. ; for her second, Obidiah Eastman, of Sanbornton; and for her third, John Flanders, of New Hampton, where she now resides. Abigail became the wife of George Bean. Both parents attend the Free Baptist church.
Samuel Grover Kelley acquired his educa- tion in the district school and at the New Hampton Literary Institute. He has enlarged the original farm left to him by his father, from one hundred acres to two hundred and fifty. Cultivating about sixty acres, he raises an average of sixty tons of hay annually. Be- sides this he winters twelve cows, and fur- nishes the creamery with a large quantity of milk. On January 13, 1874, he married Sarah E. Shaw, daughter of Samuel Shaw, of Chichester, N.HI. They have one daughter, Sadie M., who is now the wife of Milo L. Pike, of New Hampton. In politics Mr. Kelley. is a Republican. He served on the Board of Selectmen for four years.
EACON WINTHROP S. ME- SERVE, a progressive agriculturist of Durham, was born here, Febru- ary 7, 1838, son of Smith and Abigail (Emerson) Meserve. His father was born and reared on a farm in Dover, where, when a young man, he was employed for some years as a clerk in a store. About the year 1830 Smith Meserve engaged in farming, the occu - pation to which he was bred, coming to Dur- ham, and locating on a farm soon after his marriage. Two years later he removed to the farm now owned and occupied by his son, Winthrop S. Meserve, who is the only child born of his marriage with Abigail Emerson. This homestead formerly belonged to his wife's family, it having been purchased by one of her paternal ancestors, Captain Emerson, in 1718. It subsequently descended to her father, of whose family but one member is now living. This is Eben T. Emerson, who was born on this farm in 1828, and is now making his home with Deacon Meserve. Smith Meserve died in August, 1842. His widow lived until June 3, 1886.
Winthrop S. Meserve acquired the rudi- ments of his education in the district schools, after which he pursued the more advanced courses of the academies of Durham, Berwick, and Hampton. At the age of eighteen years he assumed the management of the farm, which he has since inherited, and on which the greater part of his life has been spent. It is situated on the old road running between Durham and Madbury, four miles north-west of Dover, and contains one hundred acres of good land. In bringing this farm to its pres- ent high state of cultivation, Mr. Meserve has labored with untiring energy and steadfastness of purpose. He carries on general farming and dairying, and he has been very successful. He is a straightforward business man, using
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excellent judgment in all matters pertaining to public or private interests. He has served with credit to himself, and to the satisfaction of all concerned in several public capacities, being elected thereto on the Democratic ticket, which he invariably supports. The latter occasions were notable, as the county is a Republican stronghold, and especially not- able were his elections in 1891 and 1892 to the office of County Commissioner. He has been Highway Surveyor, Selectman for two years, Overseer of the Poor for three years, and he has been Justice of the Peace since 1892.
Mr. Meserve was united in marriage No- vember 30, 1861, to Miss Eliza A. Tuttle, a native of Dover, and a daughter of Thomas and Hope (Twombly) Tuttle. Deacon and Mrs. Meserve are the parents of two children, one of whom, Caroline E., died in infancy. The other child, Andrew E., resides in the village of Durham. Mr. Meserve is an active and valued member of the Congregational church of Durham. He has been a Deacon of the society since April, 1877. He was the clerk of the church for twenty-six years, and he was the clerk of the parish for more than a score of years.
ARDNER COOK, the senior partner of G. Cook & Son, a prosperous lum- ber firm of Laconia, has the distinc- tion of having cut the first stick of timber used in the now far-famed Laconia Car Works. Hle was born at Beach Hill in Campton town- ship, Grafton County, August 23, 1824, a son of Jacob and Relief (Merrill) Cook. His great-grandfather, Samuel Cook, moved from Newburyport, Mass., to Campton. Ephraim Cook, the grandfather, born in 1765, was a native and a lifelong resident of Campton, a well-to-do farmer and a prominent member of
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