USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Book of biographies. This volume contains biographical sketches of leading citizens of Grafton County, New Hampshire > Part 51
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father, John Thomas, was born in Amherst, N. II., and died on the battlefield in the War of 1812. Gen. Thomas's mother was Rebecca Batchelder, a native of Brookfield, Mass., and a member of an old Colonial family, whose ances- tors emigrated to America in 1630. Gen. Stephen Thomas was the third child in his pa- rents' family, and was born in Bethel, Vt., Dec. 6, 1809. He attended the common schools of Thetford, Vt., and at the age of eighteen was ap- prenticed to a wool manufacturer; having learned the trade, he followed it for several years at Thetford, Strafford, and Fairlee. He then went to Hartland and started a factory of his own, which was destroyed by fire after a number of years of successful work; he resumed busi- ness at Thetford, and finally was established in West Fairlee. In 1830 he was married to Ann Peabody of Reading; the result of this union was a son and daughter, who both grew to ma- turity. From his early years he gave much attention to politics, supporting the Democratic nominees before the rupture that led to the Civil War. He was a member of the Legislatures of 1838-39-40-46. In 1860 and 1861 he was Demo- cratic nominee for Lieutenant-Governor. He had no friendly feeling with the slave-owners of the South, and was opposed to the entire institu- tion from root to branch. In the events immedi- ately preceding secession he was an interested observer-yes, more than an observer, for he lent all the weight of his influence to aid in upholding the Union. In 1867 and 1868 he served as Lieu- tenant-Governor of Vermont. He was a dele- gate to the Charleston Convention, the proceed- ings of which changed his politics. From 1870 to 1878 he was pension agent for the State of Vermont. He was a delegate to the convention that nominated Grant for the Presidency. He has been commander of the G. A. R. organiza- tion of the State of Vermont.
Dr. Charles Newcomb was reared at Mont- pelier. Vt., attended the district schools, and graduated from the academy in his seventeenth vear. He served as deputy for his father from June to October, 1875, and then began the study of his profession in the office of Dr. C. M. Chand- ler. He attended lectures of six courses in the Medical Department of the University of Ver- mont, at Burlington, Vt., and one course in the Medical Department of Dartmouth College,
seven courses in all. As he was under the legal age for admission to practice he was forced to wait until he had attained the requisite age. He began the practice of medicine in filling an ap- pointment as mine surgeon at the Ely mines near Bradford, Vt .; he remained there until 1883, then practiced in Washington Co., Vt., and removed to North Haverhill. He has met with splendid success in his practice and is recognized as one of the leaders in his department.
Dr. Newcomb was married Feb. 25, 1883, at Washington; Vt., to Elmina Hunt, a native of Wolcott, Vt. She is a daughter of Wilber M. and Eunice (Nichols) Hunt of Post Mills, Thet- ford, Vt. Mr. Hunt is a carpenter by trade, and is a son of Justus Hunt. To Dr. and Mrs. New- comb were born two children: Annie Laurie, born Nov. 26, 1883; and Ashton W., who died in infancy. Dr. Newcomb is a member of the Knights of the Ancient Essenic Order. He is Master of Pink Granite Grange, No. 210; his wife is also a member. He is also member- at-large of the K. A. E. O. He has been health officer for nine years, member of the school board for three years. He has also been a sur- geon for the United States Pension Examiners under Harrison's administration. He is a Re- publican in politics.
JOHN M. GETCHELL, a carpenter, builder, and contractor of the village of North Haverhill, was born in the same village Aug. 28, 1841 ; he is a son of Silas P. and Abigail Q. (McConnell) Getchell, to whom four children were born, as follows: Elvira married David E. Bliffin, a far- mer of North Haverhill; George, deceased; John M., the subject of this memoir; Emma, deceased. Abigail Q. McConnell was a daughter of John and Abigail (Carter) McConnell, the former a farmer by occupation, also engaging in the hew- ing of timber for heavy bridge work.
When Mr. Getchell was sixteen years of age he took two years at Newbury Academy in Ver- mont, to finish his education that was begun at Haverhill, in the common schools of that place. He then remained with his father until he at- tained his majority, and learned the carriage- maker's trade. He started in business in North ITaverhill, where he opened a shop and worked
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for twenty years, selling out at the end of the time and devoting his attention to carpentry and machinery ever since. Mr. Getchell is of an in- genious and practical turn of mind, and has taken out two valuable patents, which show great originality and simplicity of design. The first was a corn-planter, and the other was a bicycle support made in two different styles; it is light in construction, and no complications to get out of order; it will hold a wheel upright and steady even on a hillside.
Mr. Getchell was married Dec. 31, 1865, at North Haverhill to Roselle E. Marston, daugh- ter oi William C. and Lucy S. (Frary) Marston, who were born in Benton, and North Haverhill respectively. Mr. and Mrs. Marston reared the following two boys and three girls: Ellen E., the widow of Walter B. Davis of Madison, Wis .; Moody C., of Bath, N. H .; Wilder died in in- fancy; Roselle, our subject's wife; and Mary Ella, who married Edward Branard of Piermont, N. H. Mr. and Mrs. Getchell are attendants of the Methodist Church. One child, Milan W., was born to them, but he has been taken back to the heavenly fold. In politics Mr. Getchell is a Dem- ocrat. An Odd Fellow socially, he belongs to Moosehillock Lodge, No. 25, I. O. O. F. Mr. Getchell is regarded with the highest esteem by his fellow-townsmen, who are ever ready to ap- preciate real worth.
JANES GLAZIER, a retired farmer of the town of Haverhill, was born in Weathersfield, Vt., July 13. 1823. He is a son of James and Sallie (Foster) Glazier, who were the parents of eight children, namely: Zenas, deceased; Orpha, deceased; Nathaniel, who lives at the age of eighty-four in Cleveland, Ohio; Luke, de- ceased; Aaron, deceased; Sarah (Bisby), who is living in Woodsville; Janes, the subject of this sketch: and Mary, deceased. His grandparents were Aaron and Hannah (Ross) Glazier. Aaron Glazier lived in Weathersfield Bow; he was a blacksmith in the Revolutionary army, and his anvil, which was made in England in 1714, is still owned by his grandson. He was with Gen. Put- nam, when the latter made his famous ride down the steps and turned on the pursuers when they
attempted to cautiously feel their way down the treacherous way. James Glazier, Aaron's son, performed the same service on the anvil during the War of 1812. He was born in Weathers- field, Vt., and was a blacksmith by trade. He came to Center Haverhill, when his son Janes was two years old; his first purchase was of 160 acres, where he built himself a house and lived to be seventy-six years old.
Janes Glazier was reared on the farm where he now makes his home and learned the black- smith's trade in his father's shop, also learning the trade of a carpenter and a carriage-maker. He was married June 3, 1845, in Benton, to Al- mira Elliott, who was born in Haverhill of David and Mary (Mead) Elliott; Mrs. Glazier's grand- father on her father's side was a soldier of the War of 1812. After his marriage our subject lived nine years on the farm, and then for six years was a carriage-maker and carpenter at North Benton. One year was spent in a car- riage shop in Concord, six years in Warren, and in Lowell, Mass., for fourteen years, in which he was a boss carpenter over sixty to eighty workmen in two big factories. He returned to the farm in 1873, remaining there six years, en- gaged in agricultural labors, and then lived in Suncook, N. H., from 1879 to 1885, and since that time has lived on the old home farm. Mr. Glazier has been a man of wonderful energy and adaptability, having been a very busy man all his life, and accomplishing much in a short time in any of the trades which he has mastered and worked at. His union with Miss Elliott was blesed with the birth of the following four chil- dren: Alma J. married Ira C. Swain, Sept. 16, 1865; he died May 25, 1876, and she was married Feb. 26, 1879, to Charles Clark: Alice M. married Thomas E. Tay- lor, a boss carpenter on the B. & M. R. R .; Winnie B. married Fred Aldrich, who lives in this town; Burke J. is the pastor of the Advent Church in Franconia. In June, 1895, Mr. Glazier and his good wife celebrated their golden wedding, and in the family gathering there were four generations represented, being four chil- dren, seven grand-children, and one great- grandchild present. Mr. Glazier is a member of the M. E. Church; his wife is a Second Adventist in her religious faith. Our subject was born and reared a Democrat; his grandfather voted for
GEORGE W. JOHNSON.
MRS. ARMINDA A. JOHNSON.
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Washington, Jefferson, and Jackson. In 1845 Mr. Glazier was postmaster under Polk's admin- istration for a term of four years at Center Hav- erhill, and again for another four years under Franklin Pierce. He has also been town clerk.
It is a matter of history that Mr. Glazier's mother's grandfather cut .the fuse to a torpedo in a naval battle during the French and Indian War, saving the ship on which he was stationed. He was sent to England, feted, and loaded down with presents on his return home. A silk dress, which was given to him for his wife, was later cut up into small pieces and made into pin- cushions for his descendants, and Mr. Glazier's sister in Woodsville is the proud possessor of one of those little articles.
GEORGE W. JOHNSON, a retired manu- facturer of Enfield Center, now residing in that village and enjoying the rest that comes after a long life of toil and anxiety, was born in Peacham, Vt., May 12, 1817, and is a son of Cal- vin and Mary (Carter) Johnson.
Calvin Johnson was born in Canterbury, N. H., Dec. 17, 1787, and was a shoemaker by trade; his lot was cast in various places, but his last years were spent in Peacham, Vt., where he (lied Dec. 15, 1824. His wife was born in Pem- brook, N. H., Nov. 10, 1783, and died in 1865; she married as her second husband a Mr. Patter- son, and after his decease, married Mr. Jackson. The children born to our subject's parents were as follows: William, born in Belfast, Me., March 13, 1807, became a noted circus rider and per- former of his day; Jacob, born in Belfast, Me., May 13. 1808; Calvin, born in Barnet, Vt., July 23, 1810; and George W., the subject of this sketch, whose birth occurred at the date given at the beginning of this personal sketch.
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Our subject's mother being left without the necessary means to bring up the children as she wished, George W. at the age of seven was sent to live with Capt. Cyrus Smith of Marshfield, Vt., where he was given excellent instruction in farming and in general business until he was twenty-one years old: at the same time his school education was not slighted in the least. His bright and prosperous carcer gives evidence
what good instruction he received and how well he profited by it.
At the age of twenty-one he came to Enfield Center, and soon after his arrival bought an in- terest in the tin or metallic harness for weaving broadcloth, an invention of Enfield's distin- guished inventors, Benjamin Hartford & Tilton; the company that was formed to manufacture the article at once put it on the market and met with splendid success. He also bought the Mt. Calm Hotel, which he used as a home and also opened it to the public. In addition to these projects, he became interested with G. Thurston in the manufacture of fork and rake handles. The business being light in 1861, our subject went to South Royalton and bought a fine stock farm, which he ran four years, and then business in manufacturing picking up again, he sold the farm and returned to Enfield Center and bought for a home the I. Heath place. In 1871 he sold out his interest in the factory and went to Clare- mont, N. H., and carried on painting one year, returning home then and retired from active work, and has nothing to occupy him but the looking after his various business interests, and extensive property. He has been very successful in life, and is a general favorite in town; he is the happiest and most active man in his vicinity and believes in making the most of life; he enjoys a good joke and joins in the laughter with a hearti- ness that is refreshing to witness.
Aug. 17, 1853, he married Arminda Andrews, daughter of Jonathan and Sarah (Hoyt) An- drews, whose sketch appears in connection with our subject's brother-in-law, George Fletcher Andrews. The union of our subject and his wife having been blessed with no children, they adopted Emma F. Banks at the age of four years; she was born Aug. 6, 1855. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson reared and educated her, and she be- came a skilled artist. She married as her first husband R. R. Phillips, a noted detective, who died, leaving her with one child, Mary A., who died young. Emma F. married as her second husband D. T. Church, and resides at St. Albans, Vt. Mr. Church is a conductor on the passenger train running between Windsor, Vt., to St. Albans.
Our subject has always supported the Repub- lican party, and has served in the town as over- seer of the poor, as town clerk, and in several
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minor offices. He is a member of the Social Lodge, F. & A. M .; of the I. O. O. F .; and of the Sons of Temperance. He has always taken a very active interest in the temperance cause, and as he has kept a full and complete writing of his life since 1851, he can refer to the exact day of many interesting incidents that have occurred in his own business life and in the town.
The accompanying portraits of Mr. and Mrs. George W. Johnson will be appreciated by a large circle of friends.
CHARLES H. WATERMAN, a dairy far- mer, engaged in the prosecution of his calling in Aetna Village, town of Hanover, was born in Hanover Center, April 8, 1848. He is a son of Lathrop and Susan B. (Muzzey) Waterman, the latter of whom was born in Charlestown, Mass., and was a daughter of Joseph and Jane (Bart- lett) Muzzey. Joseph Muzzey was a blacksmith, and lived to be ninety years old; his wife pre- ceded him to that unknown land beyond at thé age of sixty-six.
Lathrop Waterman was born in Aurelius, in the northern part of New York State, in 1810, the eldest of twelve children born to his parents, Seth and Susan (Miller) Waterman. Seth Water- man was a son of Zephaniah Waterman, a 'sol- dier of the Revolution and of the War of 1812. Seth Waterman lived to the age of seventy, and his wife was over ninety years old at her death. Lathrop Waterman came to Haverhill when quite young with his parents. He was married in Boscawen, N. H., where he worked for a time teaming from Hanover to Boston, and from Haverhill to Boston. He came to Hanover and began farming before our subject was born. In 1861 he moved to Enfield, where he lived the re- mainder of his life, dying there Sept. 5, 1875; while a resident of that town, in addition to car- rying on farming, he kept a hotel at Enfield Cen- ter. He was twice married; by his first wife he was made the parent of two children: the younger, John Waterman, lives in Augusta, Me., the elder died young. His second wife bore him three children: Susanna (Hayes); Mary Ann (Hill); and Charles H., the subject of this sketch.
Charles H. Waterman and his mother con- tinued to live in Enfield after the death of his father, and until 1884, when they came to the town of Hanover and bought the Smith farm of fifty acres, adding to it later on by purchase of the Wright place of five or six acres in extent. In March, 1889, Mr. Waterman bought his pres- ent farm of 100 acres and sold the other two. He has a fine dairy and keeps as high as twenty choice cows. His orchard of over 100 trees yields him each year a fine crop of fruit.
Mr. Waterman contracted his first matrimon- ial alliance in 1876; the bride was Abbie A. Har- vey of the town of Grafton, and daughter of Warren Harvey. She died Feb. 23, 1880. His second marriage occurred in 1882 to Flora Ab- bott. He was the third time united in marriage, March 27, 1889, to Emma H. Bridgman, daughter of John L. Bridgman, who married Hortense A. Wood. The latter was a daughter of Augustus and Sophrona (Smith) Wood. John Ladd Bridgman was born in Hanover, Nov. 16, 1817, and was a son of Abel and Ruth (Ladd) Bridgman. Ruth Ladd was a daughter of Will- iam Ladd, who married a Miss Eastman. Abel Bridgman was born in the town of Hanover about 1803, and died at the age of eighty-three. As his father, Abel Bridgman, Sr., died when he was a small boy, he was bound out, and en- dured a hard life until he was able and old enough to do for himself. John L. Bridgman has been especially trusted and honored by his employers and his fellow-citizens. For ten years he was in the freight office of the Boston & Lowell R. R., and ten years in the ticket office of East Cambridge, Mass .; it was while a resident of that town that his daughter, Mrs. Waterman, was born. He has served the town of Hanover twenty-six years as selectman, twenty-four years of which time he was chairman; he was deputy sheriff fifteen years; county commissioner three years; and is at present a member of the Legis- lature. He is an officer or director of each of Hanover's banks.
Both our subject and his wife are attendants of the Baptist Church of Aetna Village, and members of the Grafton Star Grange, No. 60, of Hanover. Mr. Waterman's politics are Re- publican, although he was formerly an adherent of the Democratic party. He has been road sur- veyor many years, a position his father held also.
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HON. JAMES K. P. YOUNG, a prosperous agriculturist and prominent citizen of Landaff, N. H., was born in Lyman, N. H., Nov. 20, 1846, and is a son of Archimedes and Betsey N. (Eaton) Young of the town of Landaff, N. H.
Our subject's father obtained his education in the common schools of his native town, and Haverhill Academy, and taught school winters and worked on the farm summers with his father. Then he purchased a farm and tilled the soil for the rest of his life. In politics he was a leader among his towns-people, and filled a number of offices of prominence, notably selectman, repre- sentative to the State Legislature, justice of the peace, in all of which positions he did credit to himself and to his constituents. He married Betsey N. Eaton, daughter of Timothy Eaton of Landaff, and to them were born four children: Julia; Lavinia; James K. P., the subject of this sketch; and one, who died in infancy. Archi-' medes Young and family were regular worship- pers in the M. E. Church of Landaff.
Our subject's educational advantages were limited to those that usually obtain in a country town, and two years in the village school of Lis- bon, but by improving his natural abilities in nature's school of experience, in which a lesson learned is never forgotten, he managed to make up for any deficiency, and to be thought of as a very well-educated man. After the completion of his course in school, he settled down on a farm. About the year 1878 the farm was deeded to him by his father, and there our subject has lived ever since. Like his father, he is enthusiastic in upholding the principles of the Democratic party; he has proved himself of great service to the town by his efficient work he has accom- plished in the various offices he has held. He has been selectman, and was elected, in 1890, to a seat in the State House of Representatives; in appreciation of his services in behalf of the town he was again selected by his towns-people to again represent them in the Legislature. Honest and straight to the point in every action and word, he is a man who can be thoroughly relied upon in all matters. His farming has been very successful, and has been done on the most ap- proved methods known to agriculture. His free and open nature have won him hosts of friends who have nothing but words of praise to speak of him.
HON. HENRY H. PALMER. There have been few citizens of the town of Piermont more instrumental in molding its growth and material development than the gentleman whose name appears at the head of this biography. He has been retired from active work for some time, and at present lives on a small farm near the village. He was born in the town of Orford, Aug. 1, 1823, and was reared to manhood and educated there in its district schools. At the age of seventeen, having completed his education, he went to work in the woods one winter driving a team for a lumbering camp. The following winter he went to the city of Nashua, N. H., and worked in a brass factory, beginning at fifty cents a day, and boarding himself. While thus engaged he heard of his mother's illness, but was not able to reach her in time to receive her last words, for she had died and the funeral had occurred when he ar- rived at home. He did not return to the foundry at Nashua, but went to farming on the old home farm with his father, in order to buy it back, for on account of financial straits it had passed out of his father's hands. They kept sheep during the summer, and followed lumbering in the win- ter, having erected a saw-mill on the farm. In a few years the old place was bought back. When our subject was twenty-eight he sold the farm and bought another piece of property, mostly timber land, which he worked for the lumber for four years. At the age of thirty-two Mr. Palmer moved to the town of Piermont, and bought a farm on the plains, near the river, about two miles north of the village; for fifteen years he made that place his home, and was exten- sively engaged in the sheep business, keeping as many as 650 a year. He finally sold the river farm and bought his present farm, to which he added 200 acres near the village of Piermont, which he improved: on his retirement to his present abode he sold it.
Our subject is the son of Elijah Palmer, and the 'grandson of Nathaniel Palmer. The latter was one of the early pioneers of Orford; in the first year of his residence the food was so scarce the family was forced to subsist almost entirely on greens, and when they wanted meal he used to go to Charlestown, sixty miles away. He was a millwright, and built a mill soon after coming to New Hampshire, at Strafford, Vt .; this mill became a great help to him and his neighbors,
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as it enabled them to obtain their supplies nearer home. His sons built several bridges across the Connecticut River at different points in the sum- mer months of their first years of residence there.
Elijah Palmer, the father of our subject, was born in Warren, Conn., and came to Orford with his father; he was a carpenter and wheelwright as well as a farmer, and made ploughs, cart- wheels, etc., during the winter months. He lived to be eighty-five years old, and died in Piermont at the residence of his son, Henry H. Palmer; his wife passed away at their home in Orford at the age of fifty-eight. Her maiden name was Olive Niles; she was a daughter of Deacon John S. and Olive (Wales) Niles. The latter lived to be about ninety years old. Deacon John S. Niles was a soldier in the Revolution, and received a pension in his late years; he lived to be about eighty-five years old; he was a farmer. The Niles family came from Braintree, Mass., when our subject's mother was a small child.
Hon. Henry H. Palmer solemnized his mar- riage with Rosetta Quint, Dec. 17, 1844; she was a daughter of Samuel Quint, whose father, Thomas Quint, was a Revolutionary soldier and drew a pension, and was a pioneer settler of the town of Orford, a part of which is still commonly known as Quint-town. To Mr. and Mrs. Palmer were born two children: Lucy A. and Addie. Lucy A., now deceased, married Horace Under- hill, and bore him six children, namely: Dora M., Leon H., Ernest S., Louena, Sarah A., and Rosetta. Addie Palmer is a recognized teacher of art in Boston. She began her life as an artist by retouching photographs for a firm in Con- cord. Then she went to Boston, where she took private lessons in art, and after due preparation opened a studio for work and pupils. For three years she was a teacher of art in Merril & Dart's School, in Baltimore, Md .; she gave up that position on the death of her mother. When she resumed her work she opened a studio and organized classes in Boston.
Mr. Palmer is a member of the Congregational Church, as was his wife during her life. In political matters he has ever been actively asso- ciated with the Republican party ; four years after coming to Piermont he was elected selectman, and has served twenty-five years in that capacity, including one term of eight years. He-served as representative in 1868-1869, and in 1889 in the
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