USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Book of biographies. This volume contains biographical sketches of leading citizens of Grafton County, New Hampshire > Part 50
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Alpheus Baker, son of Gideon, was born in Lebanon. He was a brick-mason, and a promi- nent contractor. He had a reputation as a thorough and intelligent workman. Buildings erected by him remain to this day to testify to his skill; among them is a house standing on School Street, built for his own home. He was greatly appreciated by his townsmen, and fre- quently honored by office-selectman and repre- sentative.
Dec. 4, 1816, Alpheus Baker married Miss Nancy Slapp, daughter of Simon Peter Slapp, and granddaughter of Major John Slapp.
The fruit of the union was three sons and two daughters, of whom Alpheus Wooster is the only survivor. The name Wooster, by which he is most generally known, is not a family name, but was given him in honor of General David Wooster of Connecticut, who was a Colonial officer, and
in the Revolutionary Army. He was at the siege of Louisburg, was sent to England in command of a cartel ship, and they were so well pleased with him that they gave him a commission in the English Army. At the commencement of the Revolution he resigned his command to en- ter the service of his country .. The death of Montgomery left him in command for a time. He was mortally wounded at the head of his troops in the raid which Governor Tryon made to seize some stores in Danbury, Conn. Gideon Baker undoubtedly served under his command, and as a token of his respect for the man the name Wooster was bestowed upon his grandson.
Alpheus Wooster was born in Lebanon, May 22, 1834, and received his education in the dis- trict schools and the Lebanon Liberal Institute. In early life he was a clerk in New York. In 1856 he went to Wisconsin, first as a farmer, later as a builder. In August, 1862, he enlisted in Co. H., 23rd Wis. Vol., receiving a commission as lieutenant. He was present at the siege of Vicksburg. In the fall of 1864 his health compelled his resignation, and he returned to Lebanon. His health im- proving, he resumed his business as contractor and builder, continuing in it for about twenty years. In 1873-74, he represented the town in the Legislature; was assistant clerk of the House in 1876-77; and assistant secretary of the Constitu- tional Convention in 1876; clerk of the House in 1878 and 1879. From 1881 to 1886 he was post- master of Lebanon; member of the Constitu- tional Convention in 1889; twelve years moder- ator of the town; State auditor for two years. In 1890 he was appointed State bank commis- sioner, which office he continues to hold. In all these places he has displayed the unusual capacity of his ancestor in his grasp of perplex- ing details.
Mr. Baker became a member of Lodi Valley Lodge, F. & A. M., of Lodi, Wis., in 1858. Upon his return to Lebanon he became a member of Franklin Lodge, No. 6, F. & A. M., and served as Worshipful Master four years. He has held all the offices of the Grand Lodge in New Hamp- shire, becoming Grand Master in 1882 and Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter in 1884-85. He is also a member of the Mt. Horeb Commandery, Knights Templar, Concord, N. Il .; and of Edward A. Raymond Consistory,
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Nashua, N. H. He is a member of the G. A. R., and of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion.
Upon the organization of the Mascoma Mutual Fire Insurance Co., he was chosen its secretary. All this shows the confidence reposed in him by his fellow-citizens.
In Oct. 31, 1855, Mr. Baker married Parthenia W. Peck, daughter of John W. Peck and Fanny Huntington Peck, whose ancestors were of the best blood of Connecticut. Four children were born to them, of whom only two survive: Fan- nie G., who married F. H. Emerson, a merchant of Lebanon; and Alpheus W., Jr., who is cashier of the Lisbon Savings Bank & Trust Co., of Lis- bon, N. H., who married Teny Steel.
In politics Mr. Baker has been from the begin- ning an earnest Republican; in religious opinions he is a Universalist.
ANDREW J. GRAHAM, a machinist, work- ing in the railroad shops of the B. & M. R. R. at Woodsville, was born in Barnet, Vt., Jan. 23, 1834; he is a son of Andrew and Helen (Max- well) Graham. Andrew Graham was born in Paisley, Scotland, and came to America in 1800, settling in Barnet, Vt., where he farmed until his death, at which time he owned 100 acres more or less of valuable land. His wife was born in Barnet, and was a daughter of William and Mar- guerite (McConnell) Maxwell; the latter was born in the north of Ireland, where her father was a game-keeper for a nobleman. William Maxwell was born in Scotland, near Edinburgh, and took up the calling of a farmer upon his ar- rival at East Barnet, where he settled and lived to be nearly ninety years old; he was a soldier of the War of 1812. To our subject's parents were born five boys and two girls, of which fam- ily Andrew J. is the sole survivor. They were named: William, James, John M., Henry B., Margaret, Andrew J., and Mary.
Andrew J. Graham was reared in his native town and attended the district schools there till he was sixteen years of age, when he learned the mill carpenter's trade and repair work, and worked at it until he was nineteen, when he at- tended two terms at Peacham Academy. In De-
cember, 1853, with a desire to see the new gold country, that was then opening up on the Pacific coast, he set sail on board the famous Star of the West for Greytown, Nicaragua; from there, by way of the Nicaragua River, he journeyed to Lake Nicaragua, and from there on a balky mule to San Juan Del Norte on the Pacific coast. A steamer conveyed him and his fellow-pas- sengers to San Francisco, from which place he went to El Dorado Co., Cal., where he made his home for five years, engaged in prospecting through the mountains, partly in his own inter- ests and partly for others. The last two years were spent on the coast in Marine Co., on a dairy and sheep ranch. On May 5, 1860, he started for home from San Francisco to Aspinwall, crossing the Isthmus in four hours by rail; he ar- rived in New York June 3, and reached home June 5, 1860, having been exactly one month to the day on the return trip.
Upon his return he did a little mill work, but in November, 1860, started in to learn the ma- chinist's trade at West Concord, Vt., with J. D. Chase & Son, remaining with them there four years, and in St. Johnsbury also a short time for the same firm, when they changed their location. He was two years in Lowell, Mass., and in 1867 went to Lancaster, N. H., where he put in a year and a half; the following twenty-two years were spent in Gorham, N. H., at his trade of a ma- chinist. In August, 1890, Mr. Graham came to Woodsville, and has been working in the rail- road shops there since.
Mr. Graham was married Jan. 9, 1862, at West Concord, to Adaline J. Reed, born in Kerby, Vt., daughter of Samuel and Louisa (Joslyn) Reed. Their union has been blessed with the following six children: Andrew, a machinist of Worcester, Mass .; Mark, deceased; Margaret, deceased; Charles Sumner, deceased; Irwin W., a fireman on the railroad, living at home with his parents; Sherman R., a watchman on the railroad, also at home. Our subject and his wife are attendant's of the Universalist Church. He is a member of Gorham Lodge, No. 73, A. F. & A. M., of Gor- ham, N. H. He is also a member of Glen Lodge, No. 54, I. O. O. F., of Gorham; he and his wife are members of the Rebecca Lodge, No. 45, of Woodsville, N. H. He is a Democrat in his political affiliations, and from 1874 to 1886 was a deputy-sheriff of Coos Co.
HENRY WOOD CARTER.
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BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES, GRAFTON COUNTY.
HENRY WOOD CARTER, deceased, the founder of the firm of H. W. Carter & Sons, manufacturers of overalls and shirts, in the vil- lage of Lebanon, was born in Concord, N. H., March II, 1822, and is a son of William and Persis (Wood) Carter, and grandson of Joel and Sarah Carter.
Joel Carter was born May 9, 1749, and mar- ried Sarah Carter, who was born April 10, 1753; they had eleven children, of whom the seventh child was William Carter, our subject's father.
William Carter was born April 18, 1787, and passed away Nov. 1I, 1875. His first wife, Jane Scott, born March, 1791, died May 1, 1818, bore him one child, William, Jr., born Feb. 11, 1816, and died May 8, 1851. By his second wife, Persis Wood, born July 20, 1791, died May 29, 1863, he was made the parent of three children: Henry W., born March 11, 1822; Mary Ann, born April 8, 1827, died Sept. 6, 1894; and James H., born Jan. 18, 1831. William settled in 1824, at Bradford, N. H., where he kept the Raymond tavern at Bradford Corners for several years. He then moved to Warner and bought the Peters's stand, with farm connected with it, and lived there until 1833, when he moved to Concord, N. H., and kept a boarding-house in Call's Block; later he moved to Chelsea, Vt., and thence with his son, Henry W., to Lebanon, where he died in 1875.
Our subject, at the age of eight years, had be- gun to develop a talent for business, and was continually hampering his father in his work for some plan by which he could act the part of a business man; he was at length granted permis- sion to invest a small amount of capital in candy and to sell it from the shelves he fitted up behind his father's bar in the tavern. This seemed to delight him very much and he evinced a great deal of healthy interest in his work; he was very faithful, and his efforts meeting with success, he often replaced his stock. When fifteen years old, aided by a little friendly assistance, he se- cured a horse and wagon and a small stock of books, stationery, and candy, and started out in the country to dispose of his goods. His first call met with a very chilling reception and the door was slammed in his face, but being of that kind of material that makes successful merchants and men of business, he made a second call and sold a pocket Bible and hymnal. The encour-
agement which he met with there followed him ever after in his travels of over fifty years, for various firms, his line of goods being principally notions. He settled in Lebanon, N. H., and bought the Cragin property, building a store on it, in which he wholesaled yankee notions. At first he was his only salesman, but later on put men on the road, running several four-horse teams, the wagons being especially built for his business and handsomely decorated on the sides with beautiful oil paintings. In 1883 he built the present store and began manufacturing on a small scale shirts and overalls. Later on he dropped the business of selling notions and de- voted his whole time to the manufacturing, em- ploying over 100 hands. As his sons grew up he taught them the business and took them in as partners. He has been one of the hardest-work- ing men in the county, and if there was ever a self-made man, worthy of example, he is one. His health failed from overwork, and in 1889 he retired from the business, leaving it to his sons, a handsome legacy in itself, in addition to a com- fortable fortune, independent of it. He has always been a stanch Republican, and a liberal supporter of the Congregational Church. His name will always be a reminder of one who the citizens of Lebanon delighted to honor and one in whom were associated feelings of the deepest respect. Mr. Carter died Feb. 25, 1897.
Mr. Carter married his first wife, Caroline A. Leavitt, May 2, 1843; she was born Oct. 31, 1823, and died Nov. 27, 1846. She left one child at her decease, Henrietta C., who was born May 21, 1845, and died July 24, 1875. His second wife, Julia E. Wilson, whom he married May I, 1848, was born Sept. 24, 1828, and died Feb. 26, 1859. He was the third time united in marriage, Aug. 7, 1859, to Marion A. Rice, daughter of Emery and Laura (Fairbanks) Rice; she was born April 13, 1839, and died March 7, 1892. Two sons were the result of this marriage: Augustus H., born Feb. II, 1862, married Aug. 3, 1886, A. May Jackson; Frederick G., born Aug. 9, 1865, married May 16, 1892, Sarah J. Sargent, daughter of Justus Sargent, whose sketch will be found between the covers of this volume.
Augustus H. Carter, the elder son, was edu- cated in the Lebanon High School, and was salesman for his father for eighteen years, first
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with a team through the country and then on . ing in the town of Bath; Harriet L., who is liv- the railroad. Upon his father's retirement he took charge of the business, and has proved him- self a worthy object of his father's lessons. He is a member of the Masonic Order.
Fred G. was educated in St. Johnsbury Acad- emy, and was clerk in the White River National Bank one year. In 1892 he became a partner of the firm, and has since combined his skill with his brother's, and has won distinction among the business men of Lebanon. He is a member of the Masonic Order, and has taken the degrees of F. & A. M., R. A. M., Mt. Horeb Command- ery, K. T., and Mt. Sinai Shrine. He is also a member of the Lebanon Lodge of the I. O. O. F. He is a first lieutenant and quartermaster of the 3rd Reg. Inf .; N. H. N. G.
The portrait of Henry Wood Carter, which adorns a preceding page, is a decided addition to the collated biographical records of Grafton Co., and derives especial value from his high position in the community, of which he was a late member, and from the example his life affords to those in scarch of commercial success.
LANGDON BAILEY, an elderly retired bus- iness man of Woodsville, and one of the best known and most highly respected citizens of that place, was born in Lyman, N. H., Oct. 27, 1821, and is a son of Moses and Ruth (Chase) Bailey.
Our subject's father was born Jan. 7, 1795, at Goffstown, N. H., and while a tender infant was carried by his mother on horseback through the woods to Lyman, where his father settled and clearcd a farm, in the midst of the surrounding timber, ending his days on the farm he thus pro- vidcd for himself. Our subject's grandfather was Benjamin Bailey; he married Lettie Little, also from his native town of Goffstown. The mother of Lettie Little lived to be ninety-nine years of age. She is well remembered by our subject, who frequently saw her in his child- hood.
Our subject's mother, . Ruth Chase, was born March 5, 1796, and was a daughter of Robert Chase, whose wife died when Ruth was a small child. To the parents of our subject were born eight children, namely: Diantha; Langdon; Ben- jamin, deceased; Austin, who is engaged in farni-
ing in Lyman; Ruth Ann, who married Henry Titus; Ethelynda, who married as her first hus- band Mr. Wheelock, and forming a second alli- ance with E. F. Stickney of Woodsville; and George W., a carpenter of Bath.
Our subject remained under the parental roof until he attained his majority, attending the com- mon schools until his fourteenth year. Soon after reaching manhood he purchased a stock of tinware, cloths, and yankee notions, and a wagon; he then traveled through the country for two years disposing of his wares; and in 1843 or 1844 he leased a tavern at Bath, which he con- ducted for two years, and then leased another tavern and mill, south of where Woodsville now stands, where he remained in business for some four years, when he opened a wagon, carriage, and sleigh factory and repair shop in North Hav- erhill and learned to perform all the woodwork- ing necessary, and hired the iron work done by a blacksmith; at times he employed as many as five or six hands, and did a business that yielded no small returns. In 1879 he discontinued the manufacture and repair of vehicles, and moved io Woodsville, where he opened a flour and feed store, continuing for some six years until he re- tired from active life. He is now taking life easy at an age when most men are feeble and de- crepit; Mr. Bailey is hale and hearty, and ap- pears fully twenty years younger than he really is.
Mr. Bailey was married in the town of Bath, March 14, 1850, to Mary W. Hibbard, a native of North Haverhill, and daughter of Samuel and Mary (Bayley) Hibbard, being the youngest in a family of four boys and three girls born to her parents. Samuel Hibbard was a son of Thomas Hibbard, a native of England, who came to America as a soldier in the service of the Eng- lish crown, during the' Revolutionary War, and remained here at the close of hostilities, becom- ing a school teacher in the country he had pre- viously fought against. He died somewhere in the State of New York. Samuel Hibbard mar- ried Mary Bayley, who lived to reach her ninety- sixtlı year; she was a daughter of Webster and Mary Bayley, who were from Newburyport, Mass. Shortly after Samuel Hibbard married his wife, the marriage occurring Feb. 28, 1804, he removed to Canada to live for a time, in order the more easily to secure a legacy from a dis-
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tantly related aunt of Mr. Hibbard's in England, inheriting through his father, which fact makes it strongly probable that his father was the oldest son. Their home in Canada was in a log-cabin, where their first daughter was born : the Indians, although very friendly, were a constant source of fear to Mrs. Hibbard, and it was with a feeling of great relief that they removed to Hardwick, Vt. From there they came to North Haverhill about the year 1826. Samuel Hibbard was born Oct. 28, 1778, and his wife Oct. 3, 1783.
To Langdon Bailey and his good wife have been born two children: Lizzie G. and William A. The son went to California some eighteen years ago, and nothing is now known of him. As no word has been received from him during the last ten years, it is supposed that he is dead. Lizzie G. was married to George A. Davison, who was born in Sutton, Canada, March 3, 1852. At the age of eighteen he began to support him-
self as a telegraph operator. At , length (lesiring a more active out-door life, he became a brakeman on the road between Sutton and Newport, Vt. After a thorough trial of that branch of the railway service, he secured em- ployment in a box factory at Nashua. While en- gaged in his work in the box factory he was offered a position in the general superintendent's office of the B. & M. R. R., under the adminis- tration of Joseph A. Dodge. and accepted it. About 1874 he took charge of the station at Woodsville, and filled the duties of that position with ability and unexcelled thoroughness, and making many friends in the village by his care- ful administration. He held the position until his death, Feb. 23, 1887. He was a man of fine appearance, and withal a most genial and com- panionable friend and acquaintance. He was a prominent member in the I. O. O. F., being ad- jutant-general of the Patriarchs Militant.
Mrs. Bailey attends the Episcopal Church. while Mr. Bailey is of the Universalist faith. Mr. Bailey was formerly a member of the Masonic Order: in politics he is a Democrat. He served for two years as selectman for North Haverhill. and was elected to the Legislature, but was counted out in the ensuing contest. Two of his uncles did valiant service in the War of 1812. A brother of Mrs. Bailey crossed the plains as a forty-niner, when it took six months to make the trip by means of ox teams.
DEXTER DOUGLAS DOW, clerk of court for Grafton Co., is one of the rising young mem- bers of the bar, and is destined to make his mark in the profession of his choice. He is a son of William Kinsley and Hulda M. (Farnsworth) Dow. William Dow was born at Greensbor- ough, Vt., in 1830, and died in Lincoln, Neb., May 17, 1877; his wife was born at Danville, Vt., in 1828, and passed away to the blessed scenes beyond on the 7th of November, 1875. Our sub- ject's father was for many years a traveling sales- man for wholesale firms in Buffalo and in Chi- cago, moving from the former city to the latter location sometime in 1863. About the year 1866 he moved to Clinton, Wis., where he opened a grocery store, conducting it for eight or nine years, when he removed to Lincoln, Neb. In that city he entered upon the manufacture of cigars, and was engaged in that occupation at the time of his death, in the spring of 1877. Of the five children born in this family, three sur- vive. the two youngest having died in infancy. Of the three living, William H. and Jennie A. (wife of John Henry), the eldest and the young- est children, reside in Littleton of this county.
Dexter Douglas Dow was born in the city of Buffalo, N. Y., Jan. 20, 1863, and three months later was taken with his older brother to Chicago, where his father made his headquarters for a time. From there the family went to Clinton, Wis., remaining there about nine years, and there our subject received his common school educa- tion. In 1876, when his father moved to Lin- coln, Neb., Dexter D. went with him and assisted him in the manufacture of cigars. After his father's death, his mother having preceded her husband, our subject with his brother and sister came back east, and for four and a half years clerked in a store at Glover, Vt., earning money to take him through school and prepare him for a professional career. He spent three years in St. Johnsbury Academy, preparing for college. Ile entered Dartmouth College in 1885, and graduated in the Class of '89, in the full classical course.
After his college course was finished he read law in the office of Bingham, Mitchell & Batchel- lor, at Littleton, N. H. He was admitted to the bar in August of 1892. After his admission to the bar, he remained with his preceptors in the profession until January, 1803, when he was ap-
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pointed clerk of the Supreme Court of Grafton ' was born in 1790, and passed away to her reward County.
In his political affiliations Mr. Dow is an un- yielding Democrat, as was his father before him. He is trustee of the public library of Woodsville, and a director of the Woodsville Loan & Bank- ing Co. Socially he is a member of several in- fluential organizations. He belongs to the Burns Lodge, A. F. & A. M., No. 66; Franklin Chapter, No. 5; Omega Council, No. 9; St. Girard Commandery, K. T .; Edw. A. Raymond Consistory of Nashua. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, Mt. Gardner Lodge, No. 55. In his college days he became a member of the Greek Letter Fraternity, Psi Upsilon, Zeta Chap- ter; and also a member of the Sphinx, a society of the Senior Classes.
CHARLES NEWCOMB, M. D., a physician of high repute in North Haverhill, with an ex- tended practice in Haverhill, Benton, Piermont, Warren, and as far as Orford, was born in the Green Mountain State, at Montpelier, April 16, 1858. He is a son of Luther Newcomb, and a grandson of Dr. Luther Newcomb, the first phy- sician of Northern Vermont.
The family history properly begins with Capt. Andrew Newcomb, Sr., who came to America from England prior to 1663, at which time he married Grace, the widow of William Rix of Boston. Capt. Newcomb was a sea captain. The unbroken Newcomb line was continued from this early settler through Andrew New- comb, Jr., Simon Newcomb, Hezekiah New- comb, Silas Newcomb, Daniel Newcomb, to the grandfather of our subject, Dr. Luther New- comb, who was born in Leyden (then Bernards- town), Mass., April 12, 1770. Dr. Newcomb studied medicine and located in Derby, Vt., where he became eminent in his profession as a pioneer in that part of the State. In the church circles he was a prominent figure, and held offices in his chosen church. He married, April 9, 1800, in Derby, Millicent Conant of Brownington, Vt .; she was born Jan. 29, 1791, and died March 6, 1814. Dr. Luther married as his second wife, July 19, 1815, Lucretia Martin of Peacham, Vt., who became our subject's grandmother. She
in Derby, Feb. 27, 1841. Dr. Newcomb died in the same town, Feb. 16, 1831.
Luther Newcomb, the tenth child of Dr. New- comb, was born in Derby, Vt., April 10, 1826; bereaved of his parents at an early age, he went to Montpelier, Vt., and made his home with Judge Wheeler until he was nineteen years of age, when he became a revenue officer on Lake Champlain for two years. He then returned to the home of Judge Wheeler, and studied law under him, O. H. Smith, and Judge Redfield; during this time he was a fellow-student with Redfield Proctor, ex-Secretary of War, and an inmate of the same house. Judge Wheeler was county clerk, and Mr. Newcomb was appointed his deputy. When Judge Wheeler retired his deputy was appointed to fill the vacancy. Mr. Newcomb was clerk of Washington Co., Vt., and clerk of the Supreme Court; he held the clerk- ship for twenty-four years, dying in office. His schooling was received in the public schools of Montpelier. Shortly before his death he united with the New Unitarian Church. He was a great sportsman and was considered the most skillful fisherman in Washington Co. Of a genial and jovial nature, he made a most pleasant com- panion, and was enabled to gain many friends; his abundant good nature found vent in the many practical jokes which he practiced on the unsus- pecting. Skilled in the management of horses, there were few who enjoyed the genuine pleasure afforded by such knowledge and appreciation of good equine points. At the request of the en- tire bar of Washington Co. the funeral services over his remains were held in the old Court House, the scene of his many labors. Hon. C. W. Willard, member of Congress, made an ad- dress at the obsequies, in which he stated that there was not a hill or stream in the county that Mr. Newcomb and himself had not explored in their fishing and hunting excursions together. He was married June 25, 1857, to Amanda V., daughter of Gen. Stephen and Anna (Peabody) Thomas, who was born in West Fairlee, Vt., Oct. 21, 1834. Gen. Stephen Thomas, who was of Welsh stock on his father's side, was an officer in the late war, going out as colonel of the 8th Reg. Vt. Vol. Inf. His grand- father, Joseph Thomas, born in New Hampshire, was a lieutenant in the Revolutionary War. His
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