USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Gazetteer of Cheshire County, N.H., 1736-1885 > Part 24
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Nelson Richardson was born in Hinsdale, February 13, 1817. His educa- tional advantages were limited, but by careful study and reading he has acquired a good business education. At the early age of eighteen years he began to assist in the navigation of the Connecticut, and in 1841 was made captain of a flat-boat, continuing in that capacity until the close of 1847, when the railroad was completed, and the river navigation abandoned. About two years later he purchased a farm in the northern part of the town, upon which he has resided until the present time. He has the confidence of his townsmen, and has served them repeatedly as selectman, and is frequently called upon to act as executor and administrator in settling estates.
Levi Todd, born in Rindge, N. H., in 1797 or '98, was educated in the common schools of his neighborhood, and came to Hinsdale when about twenty-one years of age. He was a shoemaker by trade, and built the first shoe shop in the town, and about six months after he came he married Nancy
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Corey, of Ashburnham, Mass. He followed his trade several years, then gave his attention to manufacturing brick, his brick-yard being the first in the town. He finally bought the farm now occupied by his son Walter C., where he found excellent clay beds. He continued to manufacture brick in all about twenty-five years, then he sold his brick-yard and gave his whole attention to farming. He died in 1873, aged seventy-six years. Mrs. Todd died in 1872, aged seventy-three years. They were the parents of six chil- dren, only two of whom are living-Nancy A. (Mrs. James Boyce), of Keene, and Walter C., as previously mentioned.
Rev. Jeremy Packer, was born in Groten, Conn., July 2, 1762, and at a very early date his father removed to Guilford, Vt., where Jeremy was reared. He had no early advantages for obtaining an education, except those afforded by the common schools and academies, but he eventually became a clergyman of the Baptist church, and was ordained pastor of the church in Guilford, September 11, 1800, where he officiated till 1818. He then accepted a call from the Baptist church in the northern part of Hinsdale, where he was in- stalled and continued its pastor twelve years, when his health failed and he was obliged to give up his charge. He purchased a small farm near his church, and remained in this home until his death, April 28, 1843. He mar- ried twice, and was the father of ten children. Most of his seven children by the first marriage went west. November 14, 1804, he married, for his second wife, Lydia Jewett, of Putney, Vt., who became the mother of three children, two of whom are living-Mrs. Lydia J. Wellman and Mrs. Zilpha H. Well- man-and reside in Hinsdale village.
Dr. Frederick Boyden was born at Deerfield, Mass., in 1810, and died at Hinsdale, November 11, 1871. He graduated at the medical school of Har- vard university. He located at Hinsdale about 1835, and for twenty-five years was the only physician permanently located here, and was counted among the best in his profession. After some years he became interested in manufacturing cashmerettes with Sylvester Bishop. C. J. Amidon joined the firm, and after Mr. Bishop died the firm was Boyden & Amidon, until his death. During the latter years of his life he almost entirely withdrew from practice. By his energy and thrift he amassed quite a fortune.
Henry M. Jones was born in Phillipston, Mass., July 25, 1811. When about two years old, his father died, and his mother removed to Athol, Mass., and in his twelfth year he came to Hinsdale to live with his uncle, Windsor Bowker, where he remained two years. Next he was an errand and farm boy for Abram Hinds, who was the first lawyer of Hinsdale. Here he remained about four years, and was afterwards engaged as a laborer till about 1835, when he bought a saw-mill on Kilbourn brook, a short distance from the vil- lage, which he run about three years, then bought a shop on Canal street and engaged in the manufacture of doors, sash, blinds, and dressed lumber for many years. Mr. Jones has served his townsmen as selectmen three years, and was again elected, but resigned ; was a representative to the state legis-
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lature in 1876-77, and was a member of the constitutional convention of 1876. He was also captain of a military company, known as the Ashuelot Guards. He married Julia W., daughter of Henry Hooker, and reared three children. Two are mechanics, of Keene, and the third, a son, resides with his parents.
Reuben Hildreth, a descendant of one of the earliest pioneer families of Chesterfield, N. H., was born in that town February 17, 1802, and came to Hinsdale about 1845, and remained here until his death, October 22, 1872. He married, first, Mrs. Maria D. White, who died in Hinsdale, December 4, 1847. She was the mother of his only children, two sons. He married, second, Asenath Bacon, and third, Mrs. Laura Taft. His oldest son, Samuel K., born in Brattleboro, Vt., July 1, 1836, married Clara E. Gray, of Hins- dale, where they now reside. Their only son, Edwin W., now resides with them. He married Lucy A. Mixer, of Hinsdale, and is the father of two chil- dren-Walter K. and Andrew M. Reuben's second son, Edwin W., born in Chesterfield, in 1844, died in Hinsdale, August 31, 1855.
Charles R. Sargeant, a native of Chesterfield, N. H., was born in 1826. In early life he enjoyed the educational advantages afforded by the common schools and academies, and was engaged in teaching from 1844 to 1852. Although he learned the stone mason's trade and followed it for many years, he finally abandoned it to engage in farming, which he continued till his death, April 2, 1880. In 1849 he came to Hinsdale, and in 1857 was superintend- ent of schools, and town clerk, the latter office of which he held till 1859. He was elected county commissioner in 1877, and served in that capacity till his death.
George P. Hooker, son of the venerable Henry Hooker, born May 31, 1820, married Lucretia J. Ashcroft, October 25, 1843, and settled upon the farm he now occupies in 1849. He began life without any means, but with habits of industry and sterling integrity combined with sound judgment. At the time he settled here this farm contained only fourteen acres of tillable land, and his barn, a structure 24x34 feet, was sufficiently large to store his- crops. Without adding anything to the size of his farm, however, he has added to the capacity of his barn till the structure is 40x100 feet, eighteen feet posts, and is scarcely large enough to accomodate his crops. Forty acres of his farm when he came here was a bog swamp, producing nothing ; but by judicious underdraining, for which purpose he has used several car- loads of drain tile, it is fully reclaimed. This enterprise he has carried out in all' his farm details, resulting in a fine place and making him a rich farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Hooker are the parents of four children, viz .: Della L., who mar- ried S. W. Puffer, and resides in Chester, Vt .; Cassius M., who married, and owns a cattle ranch in Arizona ; Augusta, who married W. N. Pike, and resides in Wendell, Mass.
George W. Holland, born in Chesterfield, N. H., in 1824, was educated in the public schools of his district and at Chesterfield Academy. In early life
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he engaged as a dry goods clerk, and was also in an Ohio book-store for a time. In 1851 he came to Hinsdale and engaged in the general merchan- dise business, where he has continued since. He represented his townsmen in the state legislature in 1878 and 1881, has held the office of town clerk twenty-five years, and also other town offices.
Willard Martin, born in Rehoboth, Mass., March 6, 1786, married Lucre- tia Houghton, in 1810, and died in Hinsdale, October 14, 1849: Mr. Martin was long known as one of the leading merchants of Guilford, Vt., where he was distinguished as one of the principal citizens, and for many years received almost the universal suffrage of the town as representative in the state legisla- ture. Mrs. Martin died August 17, 1847. Dr. Oscar Martin, their eldest son, was born March 9, 1815. He married Susan George Sartle, November 27, 1839, and had born to him one child, which died in infancy. Mrs. Mar- tin died April 20, 1844. For his second wife Dr. Martin married Caroline Elizabeth Stoddard, January 4, 1846, by whom he has two children. He graduated at the Eclectic Medical School, of Montpelier, Vt., and com- menced practice there, then went to Brattleboro, where he remained about five years, and then came to Hinsdale, where he has resided the past forty years. He practiced medicine here from twelve to fifteen years, when he engaged in mercantile pursuits, occasionally practicing. The past ten or twelve years, however, he has entirely relinquished practice and is engaged in the manufacture of his celebrated proprietory medicines, "Dr. Martin's Great Pain Cure of the Age," and " Vegetable Elixir."
William S. Leonard, M. D., son of Rev. Levi W. Leonard, D. D., was born in Dublin, N. H., October 13, 1832. He graduated at Dartmouth in 1856, studied medicine with Dr. Albert Smith, of Peterboro, N. H., and received his diploma of Dartmouth, in May, 1860. In the following October he located in Hinsdale village, where he still carries on a successful practice. He was associated in practice with Dr. Frederick Boyden during the last ten years of the latter's life.
Rev. John Brockway, the first Universalist preacher in Surry, settled in that town at a very early day and died there about 1810. He was the father of four sons and two daughters. John, the eldest, was an officer in the war of 1812, and died at Schenectady, N. Y. Cephas was a goldsmith and a noted dentist. Rufus was a farmer, and Calvin emigrated to Ohio, where he accu- mulated a large fortune. Lockhart W. Brockway, a grandson of Rev. John and son of John, was born in Surry and came to Hinsdale in 1819. He boasts the honor of being the only living person in the town who here cast a vote for General Jackson for president. When he came to the town there were only thirteen dwellings between his house and the village of Ashuelot, a distance of four miles and includes the present village of Hinsdale. He struck the first blow in the construction of the canal which conveys water to the mills in his village, and had his first railroad ride two years ago, when he went to Keene to attend a funeral. He has been a subscriber of Cheshire County Republican about fifty-five years.
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Abel Fletcher, one of the pioneer settlers of Chesterfield, N. H., married Phobe, daughter of Jonathan Hildreth, of Chesterfield, in 1784; for his second wife he married Sally Willard, and for his third Charlotte, daughter of Ephraim Hubbard, who survived him. His will was made in 1816 and proved in 1817. Daniel, son of Abel, born August 8, 1789, married Lucy, daughter of Joseph Converse, and resided many years in Chesterfield, but died in Hins- dale, December 5, 1875, aged eighty-six years. Joseph C. Fletcher, son of Daniel, born May 27, 1822, died May 31, 1873, aged fifty-seven years. He married Mary Albee, who survived him till December 22, 1883, and moved from Chesterfield to Hinsdale about 1853. He was the father of three chil- dren, one of whom died in infancy. His sons, Daniel W. and Charles A., now occupy the homestead, on Canal street.
Rev. Henry H. Hamilton, born in Chester, Mass., February 1, 1842, fitted for college at Williston seminary and graduated from Amherst in 1868, from Union Theological seminary, New York, in 1871, and also passed an extra year at Andover Theological seminary. He was installed pastor of the Union Congregational church of Westfield, Mass., June 4, 1872, and continued its pastor just five years. His next settlement was over the Congregational church of Hinsdale, March 1, 1878, where he still remains.
Dwight Leonard Sanderson was born in Chesterfield, N. H., May 21, 1822. He married and settled upon the homestead of his grandfather, which he still owns, where he lived a few years and carried on farming and dealt in live stock and merchandise. About 1857 he moved to Winhall, Vt, where he resided five years, engaged in farming and stock dealing. In 1862 he came to Hins- dale, where he now resides. Here he has been a farmer, live stock dealer and merchant. Only two of his five sons settled in the town. Elliot married Betsey Darling, was a successful farmer, accumulated a fine property, and was the father of one child, a daughter, who resides with her mother, in Hinsdale. Nathaniel married Sarah Phelps, of Worcester, Mass., and lived and died in Providence, R. I. Walter moved to Worcester, Mass., but died in Provi- dence. The other son, Horace, died young.
Rev. John G. Bennett was born in Swanzey, July 17, 1812. He attended the district schools until sixteen years of age, when he attended a private school in Winchester, taught by Rev. Mr. Cushman, a Methodist clergyman. He next attended the Methodist Institute, located at Newbury, Vt., where he instructed several classes and occasionally preached. Before going to New- bury he was employed to preach under the direction of the presiding elder, being at that time only eighteen years of age. In 1836 he married Ruth C. Britton, of Westmoreland, N. H., and soon after joined the Vermont and New Hampsire Methodist Episcopal conference and was appointed on a cir- cuit comprising Keene and several neighboring towns, where he remained in charge one year. After about seven years he discontinued his connection with this conference, but continued to preach, and gave prominence to the doctrine of the second advent of Christ. About thirty years ago he came to
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Hinsdale with his family and located at North Hinsdale, preaching to an in- dependent congregation, where he is still laboring.
Hon. William Haile, son of John and Emma (Henry) Haile, was born in Putney, Vt., in May 1807. At the age of about fourteen years he went with his parents to Chesterfield, and was soon after taken into the family of Eze- kiel P. Pierce, Sr., with whom he lived until he was about twenty-one years of age. Having attended school about two years, he entered, in 1823, Mr. Pierce's store as clerk, and in 1827 or 1828 he borrowed a small amount of money and opened a store on his own account, in the Center Village. With his characteristic sagacity, Mr. Haile soon foresaw that Hinsdale was destined to become a busy and thriving town, on account of the abundance of power furnished by the Ashuelot river. He, therefore, in 1834 or '35, removed to this town, where he continued in mercantile pursuits until 1846, when he became interested in the lumber business. In 1849 he began, as a member of the firm of Haile & Todd, the manufacture of cashmerettes. Afterward the name of the firm was changed to Haile, Frost & Co., by which it is · known at present. Though engaged extensively in business, Mr. Haile took a prominent part in political affairs. With the exception of two years, he represented Hinsdale in the state legislature from 1846 to 1854, and was elected to the New Hampshire senate in 1854 and 1855, of which body he was president the latter year, and was again elected representative in 1856. The next year he was elected governor of the state, and was re-elected in 1858. In 1873 he moved to Keene, and never ceased to take an active part in business management until his death, July 22, 1876. He married Sabrina S., daughter of Arza Walker, in 1828, who bore him children as follows : Harriet C., born June 22, 1829, married, November 23, 1853, John M. Steb- bins, a lawyer of Springfield, Mass .; Ellen M., born September 12, 1831, married, December 13, 1854, Sylvester O. Davenport, of Hinsdale ; William Henry, born September 23, 1833, married Amelia L. Chapin, of Springfield, Mass., where he now resides, was elected mayor of that city in 1880, was a member of the Massachusetts senate in 1882, and is also engaged in the manufacture of cashmerettes and repellants at Hinsdale, a member of the firm with which his father was connected ; and Sarah F., born February I, 1837, married, in December, 1863, O. G. Dort, of Keene.
Hon. Caleb Todd, or " Esq." Todd, as he was more familiarly known, was for many years one of the most prominent and influential citizens of Hins- dale. He was born in Wallingford, Conn., March 16, 1785, resided and did business in Cooperstown, N. Y .. a few years, taking up his abode in Hinsdale in. 1815. Here he was one of the pioneer manufacturers, and was widely known as a manufacturer of woolens for a great number of years. At his death, May 21, 1871, he was the oldest citizen of Hinsdale. Mr. Todd was twice married and reared eight children, five of whom, with his second wife, survived him. Of these children, Henry Day, born November 8, 1809, was for twenty-five years connected with the Boston Custom House ; John Doug-
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lass, born March II. 1814, was for several years a successful woolen manu- facturer at Hinsdale, of the firm of Haile & Todd; and Jehiel, born No- vember 4, 1818, was also for many years interested in the manufacture of woolens, at Lowell, Mass., but subsequently became a wholesale dealer in spices, coffee, etc., at Worcester, Mass., where he now resides. "'Esq." Todd was an active citizen, and filled all the principal offices in the gift of his townsmen, being several times returned to the legislature. He was an ardent lover of our country, strongly conservative, in early days a Whig, and later a Republican.
Rev. Bunker Gay, born in Dedham, Mass., was educated at Harvard col- lege, and was ordained a clergyman in the Congregational church. He came to Hinsdale in 1763, and was the first settled pastor of the Congregational church in the town. His church was located near the residence of Mr. Ivory S. Ide, and his parish embraced the whole town and Vernon, which was then included in Hinsdale. When Vermont became a state, and Vernon a sepa- rate town, that territory was taken from his parish, and left his church weak in members and property. He continued the nominal pastor during his life, and officiated at funerals and weddings, and preached until his old age com- pelled him to stop. He located on a farm where his grandson, Mr. Henry Hooker, a well-preserved old gentleman, aged ninety-three years, now lives. Here he continued to live till his death, in 1815, aged eighty years. He was- the father of five children ; all died young and unmarried except his daughter Abigail, who married Seth Hooker.
The First Congregational church of Hinsdale was organized in 1763. Rev. Bunker Gay, who served the parish forty-seven years, was its first pastor. The first house of worship was built of wood about 1760, and the present one also of wood, in 1835 or '36. Its present membership is 150. The church prop- erty is now valued at $10,000, and the parsonage is valued at $3,000. The house will seat 550 people. The Sunday-school has an average attendance of 120. Rev. Henry R. Hamilton is the present parish clergyman.
The Methodist Episcopal church, on Main street, Hinsdale, was organized in the fall of 1842, by Rev. Justin Spaulding, with six members. Rev. T. Furber was the first pastor. The first and present house of worship was erected of wood in 1876. The society has sixty members. The church orig- inally cost $8,000, it present valuation. It will seat nearly 400 people com- fortably, and the Sunday-school has about sixty members. The church is now under the pastoral care of Rev. Joseph L. Felt.
J AFFREY lies in the southeastern part of the county, in lat. 42° 50', and long. 4° 59', bounded, north, 113 rods by Marlboro and 2,408 rods by Dublin ; east, 730 rods by Peterboro and 988 rods by Sharon ; south, 1,898 rods by Rindge and 603 rods by Fitzwilliam; and west, 349 rods by Fitzwilliam, 806 rods by Troy, and 501 rods by Marlboro, thus having an
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area of about 22,000 acres, 1,000 of which are covered with water, and 3,200 rendered uninhabitable from its mountainous character. It was granted by the Masonian proprietors, under the name of Middle Monadnock, No. 2, November 30, 1749, to Jonathan Hubbard and thirty-nine others, residents of Hollis, Lunenburg, and Dunstable. On August 17, 1773, the town was legally incorporated, receiving on that date a confirmatory charter from New Hampshire, signed by Gov. John Wentworth.
The surface of the town is hilly and mountanious ; a detriment, perhaps, to cultivation, but elements which go far towards making the exquisite scenery for which Jaffrey is so justly celebrated, and which attracts so many pleased visitors each season. The central part of the territory has a general altitude of 1,057 feet above the level of the ocean, and East Jaffrey lies about 1,032 feet above the same, while in the northwest part, partly in Dublin, lies grand old Monadnock, 2,029 feet above the level of the center of the town. The grand appearance of, and unparalleled view afforded by, this mountain has rendered it very popular and celebrated. On the Jaffrey side is located the Halfway House, built in 1873, and during that season had 12,000 arrivals. A good carriage road connects it with the public highway, and a convenient foot-path with the summit, a distance of about a mile. The inhabited por- tion of the town lies mostly east and south of the mountain, where the sur- face is broken by undulating swells, arable on side and on summit, and upon which are some of the best farms in the town. The town is well watered, the numerous streams flowing from the mountain affording a supply to almost every farm. Those flowing from the east side unite in the southeastern part of the town, and, with a stream from Long pond, form the Contoocook river, which flows northeast and empties into the Merrimack, above Concord. Those from the west side unite with the Ashuelot and Miller rivers, which empty into the Connecticut. Southeasterly from the mountain, on the old turnpike road, is a spring known as the Monadnock Mineral Spring. Its waters are im- pregnated with carbonate of iron and sulphate of soda, and were formerly considered valuable as a medicinal remedy. The soil, although the surface is rough and uneven, was originally very productive, yielding large crops with little cultivation. This fertility, however, has now become, in a great measure, exhausted.
In 1880 Jaffrey had a population of 1,268 souls. In 1884 it had thirteen school districts, ten common schools, two graded schools and one high school. Its thirteen school buildings, including sites, furniture, etc., were valued at $14,800.00. There were 219 pupils attending these schools, forty-six of whom were pursuing the higher branches, taught by one male and sixteen fe- male teachers, the former receiving an average monthly salary of $60.00, and the latter $24.18 each. The entire amount of revenue for school purposes during the year was $2, 168.86, while the entire expenditure was $2,103.77, with William W. Livingston, superintendent.
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EAST JAFFREY, a comely post village, is located in the southeastern part of the town, on the Monadnock railroad, at the head of Contoocook river, and is noted for its pure mountain air, pleasant drives and the beautiful scenery which surrounds it. It has too churches (Congregational and Universalist), one hotel, two banks, four stores, a cotton-mill, edge tool manufactory, two blacksmith shops, a chair-shop, and about fifty dwellings.
JAFFREY, a post village located in the central part of the town, has one church (Congregational), one hotel, two dry goods stores, a blacksmith shop, livery stable and about twenty-five dwellings. It has in its vicinity, also, the summer residences of many who come here during that season to enjoy the delightful scenery and healthful air.
The Monadnock National bank, located at East Jaffrey, was incorporated in 1850, with a capital of $50,000.00, as the Monadnock State Bank. Its officers were, John Conant, president ; Peter Upton, cashier ; and John Con- ant, Benjamin Cutler, Jonas M. Mellville, James Scott, of Peterboro, Rufus Haywood, Samuel Ryan, Jr., and Solomon Allen, directors. In 1855 John Fox was chosen president, and was succeeded, in 1857, by James Scott, of Peterboro. In 1865 the bank was incorporated as a National bank, under its present name, and re-organized with a capital of $100,000,00, and with the following officers : James Scott, president ; Peter Upton, cashier ; and James Scott, Benjamin Cutter, Samuel Ryan, Arad Adams, James L. Balster, Joseph T. Biggelow and John Conant, directors. Benjamin Cutter was chosen president in 1870.
The Monadnock Savings bank was incorporated in 1869, with Oscar H. Bradley, president, and Peter Upton, treasurer.
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LIVERY STABLE
(GRANITE STATE HOTEL, EAST JAFFREY.)
The Granite State Hotel, Caldwell Bros., proprietors, located at East Jaf- frey, is a fine, three-story, brick building. The present proprietors took pos- session May 1, 1884, and are sustaining the just celebrity of the house with the public.
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