USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Gazetteer of Cheshire County, N.H., 1736-1885 > Part 17
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96
At one time the church was large and wealthy, and in a flourishing con- dition ; but that blight of New England, emigration to the west, with other causes, has reduced the church numerically and financially. During the past two years the church edifice has been repaired and placed on an average with rural churches. Much credit is due to the present pastor, who has not spared himself or time to make the " Mother of New Hampshire Methodism " pre- sentable in her place of worship. The society acknowledges the many favors. it has received from residents, but especially would it acknowledge the timely assistance of Wilder Harris, Esq., of Brattleboro, Vt., Hon. H. O. Coolidge, of Keene, Hon. Wilder P. Clark, of Winchendon, Mass., all former
140
TOWN OF CHESTERFIELD.
residents of Chesterfield and attendants at public worship at the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Fowler has been closely connected with this church for the last twenty-four years. He was born in Bridgewater, N. H., October 10, 1823. His early educational advantages were limited. Afterwards he attended Bristol High school, Hebron academy, New Hampton institute and the Theological department of Newbury seminary. Mr. Fowler joined the New Hampshire conference of the Methodist Episcopal church at a session held at Great Falls, April 29, 1858, and received his first appointment for Pottersville, now a part of Harrisville. Here he labored one year. Seeing there could never be a strong and flourishing church in a small village with little to increase its growth and preoccupied by a Baptist church, and see- ing an opening at the growing village of Marlboro, called the attention of the church to it as affording an opportune religious center. Failing to make the church see the importance of the location and the ease with which it could be obtained, he personally bought the Baptist house of worship, then standing unoccupied, repaired it at his own expense, and held meetings therein. In 1859, he organized a church and was appointed by conference to the new charge. Near the close of the year he sold the house to the church, and was appointed to Chesterfield the following year, 1861, and was re-appointed in 1862 and 1863. He was then located at his own request, and was appointed a supply for three years next following, up to April, 1868. In October, 1868, he was engaged to preach at Westport (Swanzey), which relation he sustained for three years. From October, 1872, to October, 1875, he preached for the Congregational society, at South Village, Westmoreland. In 1877, he preached half of the time in the Universalist church, in West Swanzey, and half the time at Westport. In 1878 he preached at the latter place, organized a church, and was appointed to supply that station for 1879. In April, 1882, he was again appointed to supply Chesterfield, which he has continued to do up to the present time. For the last twenty years he has been actively engaged in business pursuits, and for a number of years was engaged in the manufacture of lumber and wooden-ware. In 1877 he purchased the Wild's farm, where he has since resided. This place possesses many attractions, affording a com- manding view, fine scenery, a romantic glen and a beautiful cascade skirts its southern boundary. Mr. Fowler was superintending school committee for a number of years, and also taught a term of high school in Factory Village, in 1862, which was very successful. He married, in 1843, Miss Mary Folgier Hazzelton, of Northfield, N. H. She lived about three years, leaving one son, Eugene A., born February 3, 1845. In 1848, he married Nancy M. Giles, of Windsor, Me. They have had four children,-Herschel J., born April 23, 1746 ; Orin R., born May 21, 1851 ; Oris L., born April 13, 1853, died November, 1855 ; and Manson L., born February 30, 1859.
142
TOWN OF DUBLIN.
D UBLIN lies in the extreme eastern part of the county, in lat. 45° 54', and long. 4° 59', bounded north by Harrisville, east by Peterboro, in Hillsboro county, south by Jaffrey, and west by Marlboro. It was. originally granted by the proprietors of land purchased of John Tufton Mason, to Matthew Thornton and thirty-nine others, November 3, 1749,- the charter being given by Col. Joseph Blanchard, of Dunstable, and was called Monadnock No. 3, or North Monadnock. The grant comprised an area of thirty-six square miles, or a territory seven miles long and five wide,
and was given under the usual charter restrictions, among which that the whole tract be divided into seventy-one equal shares, each share to contain three lots, equitably coupled together, and to be drawn for at Dunstable, on or before the first day of July, 1750. On March 29, 1771, it was incorpo- rated under the province laws, and legally given the name of Dublin. At this incorporation the township received a confirmatory charter from New Hamp- shire, issued by Governor Wentworth. In 1870 the township received a great curtailment of its territorial limits. Up to this time Nelson had bounded it on the north, the boundary line passing through the center of Harrisville village. But on the 2d of July of that year all the northern part of the town lying between the present northern line of the town and Har- risville village, was set off towards forming, with the southern part of Nelson, the new township of Harrisville. It is supposed that the town received its name from Dublin, Ireland, as the early settlers of the territory were of Scotch-Irish origin ; but at the time of the incorporation only one of this class, Henry Strongman, remained, though he, it is said, was a native of Dub- lin, Ireland, and this fact is supposed to have settled the point.
The surface of Dublin is beautifully diversified by hill, mountain, lakelet, dell and smiling valley. This fact, together with its high altitude, its cool breezes and salubrious climate renders it a constantly increasing popular summer resort. The villas and cottages, many of them of considerable pre- tensions, of city people, are constantly springing up. Particularly is the town noted for the grand old Monadnock, which rises to an altitude of 3,450 feet from its southern boundary line, which passes over the mountain about at its. summit. Mondadnock, aside from being the highest point of land in the county, has far too great a celebrity to need special mention here (see pages. 22-26). The next highest elevation in the town is Beech hill, lying in the northern part, so named from the large number of beech trees with which it was formerly covered. Its summit lies 391 feet above the level of Monad- nock lake, and affords a magnificent prospect. From here a beautiful view may be obtained both of the Contoocook and Connecticut river valleys, and of the Green Mountains in Vermont, as they rise in the form of successive terraces from the Connecticut. Kearsarge and Ascutney may be seen, and also Saddleback and other mountains beyond the Merrimack. When the- atmosphere is favorable, the summit of one of the White Mountains is visible, looking like a thin, white, stationary cloud, a little above the horizon. Think
I43
TOWN OF DUBLIN.
of the grand panorama afforded, where one stands here at the center of this vast circle-the valleys with their rivers, like silver threads, the nestling vil- lages, undulating hills, patches of waving grain, green pasture-lands and fringes of forest-multiply the grand whole an hundred-fold, then one will have an approximate idea of what the weary toiler beholds from the summit of Monadnock, which is visible from the State-house at Boston, and is the first point of land seen by the sailor as he enters Boston Harbor. The soil of the town, however, is hard and rocky, and much better adapted to grazing than tillage. The streams flow, from the west into the Connecticut, and from the east into the Merrimac. Several ponds, or lakelets are distributed over the surface, of which Monadnock lake, a handsome sheet about a mile in diameter, is the largest. It has an altitude of 1581 feet above sea level.
In 1880 Dublin had a population of 455 souls. In 1884 the town had six school districts and five common schools and one high school, which were valued, including furniture, etc., at $3,575.00. There were eighty-six scholars taught during the year by one male and eleven female teachers, the former receiving an average monthly salary of $32.00 and the latter $24.06. The entire school revenue for the year was $1,016.21, and the entire expenditure $802.40, with H. H. Piper superintendent to October, 1884, and H. C. Piper to March, 1885.
DUBLIN, a handsome post village, is located just north of the geographical. center of the town, upon the eastern slope of the mountain chain of which Monadnock is the highest peak, and near the shore of Monadnock lake. When the town was divided it lost two flourishing villages, Harrisville and Pottersville, whose manufactures, etc., are spoken of in the town sketch of Harrisville. Dublin, now the only village in the town, is surely not a "De- serted Village." It lies upon one street, about a mile in length, extending east and west, two churches (Unitarian and Trinitarian Congregational), two stores, a fine town-house and a summer hotel constituting its accomodations for the public, while there are, along this street and upon the hills hard by, the summer houses of many families of Boston, New York and other cities, together with the dwellings of the little town's citizens. As a summer resort the village has been growing in popular favor for the past ten years, till now it is almost impossible to accommodate all who apply. One of its attractions is the gem-like lake, while the summit of Monadnock is only five miles distant, and Beech hill rises from the north lake shore, its summit being reached about a mile therefrom. From the lake are taken a peculiar variety of trout, not found elsewhere in New England. Four fine summer residences were erected here during the winter of 1884-85, one of which occupies the site of the first-meeting house erected in the town, while the eaves which drop from its roof find their way, from the one side into the Connecticut, from the other into the Merrimack, as it occupies the summit of the water-shed.
Moore Bros. & Knight's grist-mill, saw-mill, and threshing-mill is located in the southern part of the town. This is the only saw-mill in the town. It-
I44
TOWN OF DUBLIN.
was lately built by the gentlemen, who also manufacture pail-stock. The mill is operated by a turbine wheel, under an eighteen foot head.
According to the directions contained in the charter, the township was di- vided into lots, making ten ranges, running through from east to west, with twenty-two lots in each range, or 220 lots in all, varying considerably, espec- ially in length. They were drawn for on the first Tuesday of June, 1750. The seventy-one shares, of three lots each, would, of course, leave seven lots undrawn. Some of these, though not all, were located upon Monadnock mountain. The terms of settlement, etc., imposed by the grant, cannot have been complied with, to the extent specified, till certainly more than ten years later than the time prescribed. Whether the grantors dispensed with the conditions as to time, on the score of Indian wars apprehended, or for any other cause tacitly waived those conditions, or whether they granted an exten- sion of the time, does not appear.
Of the first settlement of the town, little is known. The first settler was William Thornton, who located on lot 1, range 6, probably in the year 1752. His daughter, Molly Thornton, it is said, was the first child born in the town. He lived here only a few years, however, leaving through fear of the Indians. He was a brother of Matthew Thornton, who was the first named, as he was by far the most distinguished of the proprietors, and much the largest land- owner in the town, having at one time twenty-eight shares, or eighty-four lots. He was a physician, born in Ireland, and first settled in Londonderry, though he subsequently resided in Merrimack. He was a colonel of militia, a dele- gate to the Continental congress, and a signer of the Declaration of Inde- pendence. He was also a judge of the superior court of New Hampshire, and was, in short, one of the leading men of the state.
The next settlers were Scotch-Irish, as they were called, being descendants of Scotch people, who had settled in the north of Ireland, whence they came to this country and established themselves at Londonderry, and elsewhere, and, at a later date, settled in Peterboro and numerous other towns. As early as 1760, or thereabouts, there were in the town, of this description of persons, John Alexander, William McNee, Alexander Scott, and his son Will- iam, James Taggart, and his son William. and perhaps others, mostly from Peterboro. Henry Strongman came at a later day, and with the exception of him, none of this class became permanent inhabitants of the town, none of them being here in 1771.
The first permanent English settler was Captain Thomas Morse, who lo- cated upon a farm on lot 16, range 5, in the autumn of 1762. Of the early settlers, he seems to have been the leading man, and was doubtless the oldest person in the settlement, being sixty-three or sixty-four years of age when he came to reside here. He was a man of stability and force of character, and, it is said, of remarkable shrewdness. He was ardently attached to the cause of liberty, and was captain of the earliest military company in the town, his com- mission bearing date June 2, 1774. William Greenwood, a carpenter, came
I45
on in 1762, locating upon a farm on lot 8, range 6. Samuel Twitchell was the third permanent settler. His first night in the town he slept beside a large rock, which is still pointed out to the curious from this circumstance. He was then a young man without a family. His father, Joseph Twitchell, of Sher- born, was an agent for the proprietors, or a part of them, for procuring set- tlers, and for the sale of lands. After the close of the French war there was a numerous emigration from Massachusetts into New Hampshire. The pro- prietors of the unsold lands in the southern townships, offered strong in- ducements to young men to purchase farms, and remove thither. As an agent, Captain Twitchell was faithful and efficient, and through his instru- mentality, many settlers bought land in Dublin, and became permanent set- tlers. Most of his children, five sons and three daughters, became, at length, inhabitants of the town. He took frequent journeys to Portsmouth, and, when he visited his children, he came sometimes with an ox-cart, loaded with provisions, furniture, and such articles as new settlers could not procure at home.
In the tax-lists for 1760, '61, and '62, we find the name of John Alexander in the first ; John Alexander, William McNee, and James Taggart, in the second ; and the following in the third: John Alexander, William McNee, James Taggart, William Taggart, Henry Strongman, Samuel Twitchell, Levi Partridge, Willian: Greenwood and Joseph Twitchell, Jr. From 1763 the population increased with considerable rapidity, new settlers coming in from Sherborn, Natick, Medfield, Holliston, Framingham, Temple, Amherst and elsewhere. There is no means of ascertaining what the population was pre- vious to 1773, except to approximate it from the tax list of 1771, when the following named were assessed :-
Levi Partridge,
Ebenezer Twitchell,
Thomas Morse, Eli Morse,
Joseph Morse, Eleazer Twitchell,
Reuben Morse,
Thaddeus Mason,
Joshua Lealand, William Greenwood, Joseph Adams, Asa Norcross,
John Ranstead,
Joseph Greenwood,
Benjamin Morse,
Josiah Greenwood, Caleb Hill,
Moses Adams,
William Beal,
Henry Strongman Silas Stone,
John Muzzey,
Ivory Perry, Isaac Bond, Samuel Twitchell, Moses Mason, Simeon Bullard,
Elias Knowlton, John Knowlton,
Robert Muzzey,
Ezra Twitchell, Joseph Mason,
Joseph Twitchell, Benjamin Learned, Simeon Johnson, Moses Johnson,
David Johnson, Daniel Greenwood, Jonathan Knowlton,
Samuel Ames, Jr.,
*10
TOWN OF DUBLIN.
Daniel Morse,
John Wright,
146
TOWN OF DUBLIN.
Daniel Wood. Rufus Huntley, Nathaniel Bates, Gershom Twitchell, Joseph Turner, Joseph Drury,
Benoni Death, John Swan. Caleb Greenwood, Thomas Muzzey, John Morrison.
A census of New Hampshire was taken in 1767, by the selectmen of each town and place ; but Dublin then having no formal organization, no returns- were made. In 1773 the town had a population of 255 souls, and in 1775. it had increased to 305.
On November 16, 1768, a meeting of the inhabitants was convened, with. John Goffe, Esq., moderator, at which time a political organization was effected by electing the following officers : Moses Adams, Eli Morse and John Muz- zey, assessors ; Joseph Greenwood, clerk ; Henry Strongman, collector ; and' Moses Adams, commissioner of assessment. This partial form of govern- ment was kept up till 1771, when, it not being considered adequate for all purposes of the town body-politic, a formal charter was required. Under this charter the town was duly organized, as previously stated, and Thomas Morse was chosen moderator ; Joseph Greenwood, town clerk ; and Henry Strongman, Benjamin Mason and Eli Morse, selectmen. Joseph Greenwood was the first justice of the peace. Among the early merchants were Joseph Abbot, Joseph Hayward, Samuel Hamilton, Jonathan F. Southwick, Davi- son & Moore, Gershom Twitchell, C. P. Jenkins and Ebenezer Greenwood. The first physician was Dr. Nathan Burnap, who was in town as early as 1776, and lived on lot 12, range 6. The first to graduate from college was Amos- Twitchell, who was graduated from Dartmouth in 1802. The first mention made of schools occurs in the town records under date of July, 1773, when the town voted £4 to "keep a woman's school, to be kept in three parts of the town." For the following three years they voted £6 per year for school pur- poses. The first postoffice was established in 1813, with Cyrus Chamber- lain, postmaster. The early manufactures, etc., are detailed in connection. with the sketch of Harrisville.
The following bequests have been made by different persons, the revenue from which to be used for public uses : Rev. Edward Sprague, for school purposes, $10,000.00, and for the Unitarian Congregational church, $5,- 000.00 ; Samuel Appleton, school fund, $1,000.00 ; Solomon Piper, said church, $1,000.00 ; Betsey Twitchell, same, $500.00; Jacob Gleason, $1,350. for the same purpose, and $1,350.00, for the poor.
Joshua Stanford died here in 1855 at the age of 104 years, the oldest per- son who ever lived in the town.
During the Revolutionary war, the new town performed well her share in the struggle for liberty. The names of her soldiers in that war are as follows : John Swan, Richard Gilchrist, Thomas Green,
Thomas Morse,
John Morse,
Henry Strongman,
147
TOWN OF DUBLIN.
William Greenwood, Eli Greenwood, Reuben Morse, Richard Strongman, Ithamer Johnson,
Ezra Morse, James Chamberlain, Nathaniel Bates, Samuel Twitchell,
Lieut. Robert Muzzey,
Hart Balch, James Mills, Joshua Greenwood, Ist, Jonathan Morse,
Micah Morse, Micah Morse, 2d,
Jabez Puffer,
Thomas Hardy,
John Stone, Benjamin Mason.
In the war of 1812-'15, only one man, George Washington Phillips, en- listed from the town, and died in the service previous to the close of the war. A draft was made, however, for soldiers to go to the defense of Portsmouth, when the town sent out twelve men, paying a salary of $15.00 per month. The British did not attack Portsmouth, as was apprehended, so the soldiers returned to their homes after a few weeks absence.
During our late civil struggle, the town had 115 men placed to its credit. Of the sixty-one volunteers, eleven were killed in battle, six were dangerously wounded, two died of wounds, three were discharged on account of wounds, seven died of disease, six were discharged for disability, two died at home, of disease contracted while in the service, three were made prisoners, one was drowned, and two deserted, making a total death loss of twenty-three ; of the thirty-two recruits procured abroad by the selectmen, two were killed in battle, two were discharged for disability, one died of disease, three were captured by the enemy, seven deserted, one was slightly wounded, and three were not accounted for; of the twenty-seven drafted men, thirteen were exempted, twelve furnished substitutes, one paid commutation, one de- serted ; of the twelve substitutes, two were wounded, seven deserted, one was discharged, and two were mustered out of service; and of the ten volunteer substitutes, furnished by different individuals, one died of wounds, four deserted, one was captured by the enemy, one was absent sick, two were not accounted for, and one was mustered out of service.
Thomas Morse is supposed to have been the first English settler to locate in the town. During the year 1761 he came on from Sherborn, Mass., cleared a piece of land, built a house, and during the following year brought his family to their new home upon the farm now owned by C. W. Fiske, on road 27.
Samuel Jones, from Framingham, Mass., came to Dublin in 1777, settling upon a farm on road 12, which he bought of Joseph Adams, the first settler on the farm. His son, Samuel, married Mary, daughter of Joshua Farnum, a soldier in the Revolutionary war. He spent his life on the home farm and reared a family of seven children. His son, Corydon married Abbie G., daughter of Col. Rufus C. Piper, of this town. He has four children, and is still residing on the old homestead.
Francis Appleton, Jr., a soldier in the Revolutionary war, was born at Ips- wich, Mass., May 28, 1759. His brother, Jesse A., was president of Bow-
148
TOWN OF DUBLIN.
doin college. Francis came to New Ipswich, N. H., with his parents when he was only twelve years old, and finally settled in Dublin in 1780. He married Polly Ripley, and they united with the church in 1790, of which he was a deacon thirty-six years. His son, Jessie R., was twice married, first to Louisa, daughter of Thaddeus Mason, and second to Abbie Sophia, daugh- ter of Calvin Mason. Charles F., their only child now living, married Lillian G., daughter of Corydon Jones, and is now residing with his father on the homestead farm on road 18.
John Knowlton, a Revolutionary soldier, came to Dublin, from Massa- chusetts, about 1790, and was the first settler on the old homestead, on road 28. He married Susan Jennings and reared a family of seven children, among whom was Silas, who was twice married, first to Susanna Nutting, and second to Elizabeth Hardy. Only two of his six children are now living. His son, Asa, married Lydia A., daughter of Luther and Lydia K. Darling, and has two children. He served in Co. A, 14th N. H. Vols., and was honorably discharged. He now resides on the homestead farm.
Abijah Richardson, a native of Woburn. Mass., and a soldier in the Revolu- tionary war, was the first settler upon the farm on road 19, where Luke F. and Malachi Richardson now reside. He married Elizabeth Richardson and reared seven children, two of whom are living. His son Malachi married Tamesin, daughter of Aaron and Mary (Townsend) Greenwood, and reared a family of seven children, four of whom are now living. He still resides on the homestead farm, where five old people are living, aged respectively eighty- eight, eighty-six, eighty-six, seventy-nine and seventy-five years.
Solomon Piper, great-grandson of Nathaniel, who came from England, and settled in Ipswich, Mass., was a soldier in the Revolution, and a native of Concord, Mass. He married Susannah Pratt, of Greenwich, Mass., and reared a family of twelve children, only one of whom is now living His son, Rufus, married Anna Gowing, of Dublin, and had three children, all now living. His youngest son, Henry C., was twice married, first. to Maria E. Perry, and second to Harriet E., daughter of Calvin and Elvira W. Stone, of Marlboro, and has two children now living. He resides upon a farm on road 12 in this town. His brother, James G., was also twice married, first to Abigail Clifford, of Edgecomb, Me., second to Eliza, daughter of John and Charlotte Batchelder, of Boston, Mass., and has three children. He- occupies a farm on road 12, the first settler of which was William Green- wood, who located there in 1765.
Asa Powers, whose father, Elliot, was a soldier in the Revolution, was a native of Temple, N. H., and married Rachel Cutler of the same place. He had but one child, Elliot, who married Mary, daughter of Joseph and Abigail Rollins. Joseph W. is their only living son.
Ivory Perry, who was a native of Dublin, and son of Ivory, a Revolution- ary soldier, married Lucy Hayward, of Hancock, N. H. He was an early settler on the farm upon which Ivory Perry, Jr., now resides, on road 37. His
149
TOWN OF DUBLIN.
son Charles was twice married, first to Mary A. Salter, of Peterboro, who bore him one son, Charles H. F., and second to Eliza Hall, of Hancock, N. H., by whom he had one child. He resided on road 37. His son Charles H. F. married Mary E., daughter of James and Almira Moore, has seven children, and resides on road 45.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.