USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Gazetteer of Cheshire County, N.H., 1736-1885 > Part 51
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TOWN OF SURRY.
ton. Mr. Reed died in 1864. Jackson is a native of Rockville, Ill., came here when but seven years of age, and has resided upon his present farm, off road 3, for the last sixteen years. He married Nancy A., daughter of George Wilcox, and has one child, now at home. Newton was born in Illinois, but has lived here most of his life. He married Mary L., daughter of Calvin Wright, of Gilsum.
Daniel Hodgkins, Jr., whose father was a native of Fitchburg, Mass., was born in Alstead, in 1814, and lived there until after the death of his father. He came to this town in 1857, and located upon the farm where he now lives, on road 2. He married Rhoda, daughter of James Britton, who bore him four children, two of whom, Charles H. and George M., are living. Mrs. Hodg- kins died in July, 1871.
James Kingsbury came from Dedham, Mass., and reared a family of eight children, six of whom are living, one of them, William L., being a farmer on road 6} in this town. William L. married Hannah W., daughter of True Webster, of Gilsum, who bore him five children, only two of whom are living -Mrs. Nancy E. Carpenter, in Keene, and Otis W., at home with his father. Otis W. married Nellie R. Cheever, and has three children. William L. has been a selectman three years.
John Cole came to Surry, N. H., from Westminster, Mass., in 1803, and located in the southern part of the town. He was a shoemaker by trade, dealt in boots and shoes, and was a general trader. He married Mary Bemis, of Westminster, and reared six children-three sons and three daughters. He died in October, 1807, and his widow died in December, 1825. Two of his children, John and Asa, are living and reside in Keene. The latter was born in Surry, October 20, 1804. When he was seven or eight years of age he went to Rockingham, Vt., and lived with his sister, Betsey Howard. She dying when he was fourteen years of age, he went to Gilsum and lived with Luther Whitney, where he learned the carder and clothier's trade. He worked at this in different places of Massachusetts. He married Sarah Pitts, of Uxbridge, Mass., in 1829, returned to Gilsum about 1831, and formed a partnership with David Brigham, carrying on wool-card- ing and cloth-dressing business about two years. He then went out of busi- ness and bought a farm in Gilsum, and has been a farmer since. He has lived at Keene since 1859. His son Daniel R., who also resides in Keene, is the representative of the first ward of that city.
William Perkins, from Massachusetts, came to Surry in the spring of 1794 (as shown by his deed now in the family) and settled in the extreme northwest- ern part of the town, on road 1, where he reared a large family. William Perkins, Jr., the eldest son, was six years old when they settled here. He became captain of a military company, and though never enjoying robust health, was an exten- sive farmer and reached the advanced age of eighty-seven years. His wife was Prudence Porter, of Surry, who bore him twelve children, and died in February, 1885, aged eighty-seven years. Though seven of this family are
1
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TOWN OF SURRY.
living, all are out of the state. Charles H. Perkins, the youngest of the children, married Lucy A. Durrell, a native of Bradford, N. H., was a farmer and reared one son and one daughter, two having died in childhood. He died July 26, 1877, aged thirty-seven years.
James Britton lived with his uncle Asa, of Chesterfield, until of age, when he married Rhoda Benton, daughter of Abijah, of Surry, and settled in Surry, where he carried on shoemaking and farming. He had a family of twelve children, three of whom are now living. John L., born in 1805, and now living in Keene, married Mary Dean, who died, and for his second wife Sarah M. Tufts. He has had five children, enlisted in 1861, in Company A, 2d N. H. Vols., and was promoted to drum-major, was drum-major on the same ground that his grandfather, Abijah Benton, was while at the siege of Yorktown, in 1783, was in the service until May, 1865. Charles A. Britton lives in Keene, Bradford Britton lives in Hinsdale.
Capt. Thomas L. Harmon, a native of Boston, Mass., came to Surry in 1884. He served in the Rebellion, enlisted in the 36th N. Y. Infantry, April 20, 1861, and, October 25, 1862, enlisted in the 13th Mass. Battery, and became sergeant. He was commissioned second lietuenant in the 55th Mass. Infantry, May 25, 1863, then promoted to first lieutenant, and brevetted captain. He resigned June 3, 1865, on account of disability incurred in the service. He is now proprietor of Surry Hotel.
Warren Carpenter was born in Surry village, October 21, 1803. His grandfather, Jedediah, moved to Keene from Rehoboth, Mass., about 1764 or 1765, and about 1774, when his eldest son, Charles, was thirteen years of age, he came to Surry. He exchanged his farm in Keene for 500 acres of land in the northwestern part of this town. He had four sons and four daughters. The sons were, Charles, born February 25, 1761; Jedediah, Jr., born March 24, 1765 ; Aaron, born April 22, 1767 ; and Ezra, born June 9, 1774. Charles when a boy had a fever which left him a cripple for life. He was a farmer, married Sarah Thompson, and reared a family of seven children, of whom Warren, aged eighty-two years is the only one now living. He has been a farmer, and also run a freight team from Bellows Falls to Boston for twelve years. He has been selectman several years, was captain of the 4th Co., 20th N. H. militia, from 1826 to 1830, and was offered a major's commission, but declined it. He married Diantha Brett, and his children are as follows : Albert B., a machinist in Keene ; Charles Milan, of Surry ; and Sarah J. (Mrs. Fred A. Comstock), of Fall River, Mass.
Thomas Harvey, born in Lyme, Conn., in 1740, and came to Surry about 1770, served as selectman, was captain of militia, and lieutenant in Capt. Reuben Alexander's company, at Ticonderoga in 1777. He married Grace Willie, had born to him seven children, and died March 20, 1826. His son, Asahel, was born at Hadlyme, Conn., June 3, 1764, came to Surry with his father, and married, for his first wife, Eunice Chamberlain, of Westmoreland, who bore him five children. He married for his second wife Elizabeth Hall,
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TOWN OF SURRY.
and had born to him one child, Fannie, who resides in Keene. Mr. Harvey was a mechanic, served as town clerk twenty-five years, and was town treas- urer many years. He died in 1835.
John McCurdy, son of Samuel, came to Surry, from Ireland, in 1772. He bought a farm and settled in the southern part of the town, where he built a house and kept a hotel and store. He married Sarah Watts, of Alstead, and had born to him nine children, five sons and four daughters. He re- sided in Surry until 1820, when he moved to Concord, Vt., where he died, January 1, 1838. His five sons are living, only one, however, Samuel, re- sides in this county. He was born September 4, 1798, married and has had three children, only one of whom, Sarah (Mrs. C. R. Colony), is living. The latter resides in Keene, on road 19, her mother and father residing with her.
John Howe and Mary his wife, supposed to have originated from Europe, first settled in Sudbury and afterwards in Marlboro, Mass., where he was the first settler not far from the year 1650. His grandson, Thomas Howe, was the grandfather of Rev. Perley Howe, who was born September 19, 1762, in Marlboro, Mass., graduated at Dartmouth college in 1790, and married Lemiah Barnes, of Marlboro, Mass. He was ordained at Surry, September 16, 1795, where he preached until two weeks before his death, which occurred October 20, 1840. He had two children, one of whom, Phebe, born August 29, 1798, married John Petts, M. D., January II, 1825, and died at Springfield, Ohio, in 1877, aged 79. Her husband still resides in Spring- field. Her children were Sarah B., Eliza H., Charles L., Maria J. and John Quincy. The other daughter of Rev. Perley was Eliza, born February 28, 1801, and who married, first, James Redding, February 11, 1821. Mr. Red- ding died October 29, 1826, and her second husband was Jonathan Harvey, Jr., June 12, 1828. Mr. Harvey died August 25, 1862, aged sixty-three years. Mrs. Harvey died January 20, 1879. Their children were Geogre K., James H., Persis E., Sarah B. and Sidney B.
The Congregational church .- On June 12, 1769, a Congregational society was organized, with fifteen members. The Rev. David Darling, a graduate from Yale in 1779, was ordained as their first settled pastor, January 18, 1781. He was dismissed December 30, 1783, “ difficulties having arisen on account of a marriage." Rev. Perley Howe, a graduate of Dartmouth in 1790, was ordained September 16, 1795, who remained until 1837, when thh church was re-organized. The old church'building, erected about 1770, is now used as a town-hall. The present structure was built in 1840, by Mr. Britton, at a cost of $3,000.00. When he died he presented the building to the Home Missionary Society, who still own it. It has been used in late years by all denominations, the town not having enough united effort in any one de- nomination to support a church and pastor. At present the town has no pas- tor. The church building is a wood structure capable of seating 200 persons, and valued, including grounds, at $3,000.00.
428
TOWN OF SWANZEY.
S WANZEY is an irregularly outlined town with an area of about 28,- 057 acres, lying in the southern-central part of the county, in lat. 42° 51' and long. 4° 47', bounded north by Keene, east by Marl- boro and Troy, south by Richmond and a part of Winchester, and west by Winchester and Chesterfield. The town was originally granted by Massa- chusetts, in 1733, to sixty-four grantees, and again by New Hampshire, July 2, 1753. Until its second charter it was known as " Lower Ashuelot."
Occupying a portion of the beautiful valley of the Ashuelot, the surface of the territory presents a panorama of handsomely diversified scenic beauty. The opinion seems to be general among those who have given the subject scientific investigation, that this valley was once the bottom of a lake, during which time most of the surface of Swanzey was formed. Three general divisions characterize this surface, the first and largest being composed of hills and mountains, the second mostly of pine plain, and the third of inter- vale and meadowland.
The hills and mountains are of granitic formation-rough and uneven. Several of these attain considerable prominence, among which may be men- tioned Mount Huggins, in the northeastern part of the town; Chripon mountain, at the west side of the Ashuelot, about a mile and a half from the center of the township; Mount Cæsar, in the central part ; Picket Mountain, in the southwestern corner ; and Franklin Mountain, southeast of the Ashue- lot, lying partly in Winchester.
Following the era of mountain formation, came the drift period. The por- tion of the present surface formed by this deposit is not large, the most ex- tensive and finely formed specimen, probably, being found at East Swanzey. Huge bowlders and loose material from the neighboring hills and mountains, and from others quite remote, were distributed over the territory by the slow but indefatigable glacier and ice floe, while other rocks and bowlders were crushed and comminuted to a powder. After the glacier had lived its little day of perhaps an era or so, the water which still covered the valley distributed a formation of clay, many feet in depth, almost completely burying the handi- work of ice-giant. Where this clay deposit now crops out from the surface of later formations, fine material for the manufacture of brick is afforded. Next came a period when the great lake's waves and riplets gradually disinte- grated the rocks and deposited their particles at its bottom, covering the pre- vious formation to a depth, varying in different places, from a few feet or inches to forty or fifty feet. This deposit now constitutes a large portion of what we have mentioned as our second division or plain land. This soil is generally light and dry, and unfit for purposes of high cultivation.
Gradually, however, our lake has been growing more and more shallow dur- ing the many ages, until the barrier which held back its waters has entirely dis- appeared. As the waters receded, the atmosphere, rain and frost stepped in as successive agents in the work of general change, and finally, when the lake has entirely disappeared, the rivers of the valley and the mountain streams
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TOWN OF SWANZEY.
lend their aid in depositing new soil, and in washing away and overturning the deposits made by their predecessors, thus moulding the surface of the town into its present characteristics. From hundreds of acres these agencies have removed the sand, and often many feet of the clay, the number being at- tested by the number of acres of intervale and meadow, while the height of the plain land above its adjacent meadow, shows the great work that the rivers have accomplished.
The primeval forests were composed largely of pine timber. of a superior quality. It was the principal timber on the plain land, and was liberally dis- tributed over the hills and mountains. Next to pine, in abundance, was hem- lock. This timber grew very large, and was the most plentiful on the mead- ows, though it was freely interspersed with the timber of the highlands and plains. White ash and chestnut flourished to a considerable extent in the southwestern part of the territory, while hickory was common in the central and western parts. The majestic elm was in its natural element on the inter- vale land, while scatted here and there, where the soil was congenial to their growth, might be found red oak, rock and white maple, black, yellow, and white birch, poplar and beech. As denizens of these mighty forests, the first settlers found the bear, the wolf, deer, catamount and wild turkey, while the salmon hid in the clearer streams that the forest trees canopied, all of which have long since fled before the approach of that higher animal-man. In place of the long stretches of majestic forest, beautiful in its ever-varying tints of foliage, are now seen the well-kept fields of graceful, billowing grain. The deer trail or blazed tree track have given place to the long threads of steel -arteries of a newer life-which mark the route of the harvest's surplus to the metropolitan mart.
In 1880 Swanzey's population was 1,660. In 1884 the town had ten school districts, and contained thirteen public schools, three of which were graded, and eleven school-houses, the estimated value of which, including furniture, etc., was $13,000.00. There were 357 pupils attending common schools, taught by seventeen female teachers, at an average salary of $28.03 per month. There was $2,795.78 raised for school purposes during the year end- ing in June, while the entire amount expended was $2,608.00, with George I. Cutler and Alonzo A. Ware, school committee.
WEST SWANZEY, the principal post village of the town, and a station on the Ashuelot railroad, lies in the western part of the same. It has two churches (Baptist and Universalist), the Stratton Free Library, three stores, one hotel, a woolen mill, two box factories, two pail and bucket factories, a meat market, wheelwright shop, blacksmith shop, school-house, and about 400 inhabitauts.
SWANZEY, a post village, located in the central part of the town, has one church (Congregational), town hall, Mt. Cæsar academy, a district school, blacksmith shop, and about roo inhabitants.
EAST SWANZEY, a post village, located in the eastern part of the town, has
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TOWN OF SWANZEY.
one store, a school-house, wooden-ware factory, two bucket factories, and from 150 to 200 inhabitants.
WESTPORT, a post village and station on the Ashuelot railroad, located in the southwestern part of the town, has two stores, two pail and bucket facto- ries, a blacksmith shop, and about 175 inhabitants.
SWANZEY FACTORY, a hamlet located in the northeastern part of the town, has one hotel, a school-house, pail factory, sash and blind factory, blacksmith shop, and about 100 inhabitants.
SPRAGUEVILLE, a hamlet located in the northeastern part of the town, con- tains the Cheshire Box Co.'s works, and about fifty inhabitants.
The West Swanzey Manuf. Co.'s woolen mills, formerly known as the Stratton Woolen Mills, located at West Swanzey, were built by John Stratton, Jr., assisted by his father. They were run about six years, with varying success, when, in 1866 they were purchased by the present pro- prietors, now known as the West Swanzey Manufacturing Co. Since then they have greatly enlarged the mill and its capacity, so that they now employ fifty hands, operate twenty-two broad looms, four sets of cards, and manufacture about 500 yards of flannel and seventy-five blankets per day. The mill is under the management of Obadiah Sprague, and is superintended by John Holland.
E. F. Lane & Son's tub factory, located on road 11, was built by Jonathan Hall, in 1872, and came into the present firm's possession in 1878. They manufacture about 70,000 pails per annum, employing from ten to twelve hands.
Edward Wilcox's box and hoop factory, located on road II, was built by Lane, Batchelder & Bigelow, for a chair-stock factory, in 1861. Mr. Wilcox purchased a half interest with Mr. Batchelder, and in 1863 became sole owner. He employs six men and manufactures about $3,500,000 worth of boxes and hoops per year.
Edmund Stone's saw-mill, located on road 12, was built by Mr. Stone, in 1862, and is now operated by his son, Lyman M., who manufactures stock for about 20,000 pails per annum.
C. L. Russell & Co.'s pail and bucket factory, located at West Swanzey, was established by E. F. Reed, and came into the present firm's possession in 1876. They employ forty men and manufacture 1,500 pails and buckets per day.
Sprague, Parsons & Co.'s box factory, located at West Swanzey, employs fifteen men and turns out 440,000 boxes per year.
J. C. Field's pail and bucket factory and saw-mill, located at Westport, was built in 1880. The saw-mill cuts about 1,500,000 feet of lumber per year, while the factory has the capacity for turning out about half a million pails and buckets per annum. About twenty men are employed.
F. F. Lombard's saw-mill, located on road 41, was formerly an old-fash- ioned affair, and was rebuilt by B. F. Lombard in 1868. In 1878 it came
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TOWN OF SWANZEY.
into the present proprietor's possession, who employs five men, turning out 125,000 feet of lumber and 150 cords of staves per year.
Walter H. Perry's saw-mill and pail-stock factory, located on road 44, was built in 1884, upon the site of a mill built by Nahum Perry about fifty years ago, and destroyed by fire in 1883. He employs seven men and manu- factures 300,000 feet of lumber into pail-stock per year.
G. F. Lane & Son's bucket and pail factory, located at East Swanzey, was established by Howe & Willis, about thirty years ago, and came into the pres- ent firm's hands about 1870. They employ about twenty men and manufacture 200,000 buckets and pails per year.
H. W. Mason's wooden-ware shop, located at East Swanzey, was built in 1877, by Murphy & Alexander, and came into Mr. Mason's hands in March, 1882. He employs fifteen men and turns out 200,000 pails per year.
The Cheshire Box Co.'s factory, located on road 7, was established in June, 1882, by Sprague, Whipple & Wright. In November, 1883, C. L. Howes purchased Mr. Whipple's interest, and it is since then that the pres- ent name has been used. The firm employs thirty men and manufactures about 60,000 packing boxes per year.
G. W. Garfield's stave and pail factory gives employment to twenty men and turns out about 150,000 pails and a large amount of pail stock per annum. Mr. Garfield resides in Keene.
O. Dickinson & Son's sash and blind factory, located at Factory Village, was established by Oren Dickinson, and in September, 1883, his son became a partner. They employ fifteen men, and manufacture fifty sets of sash and blinds per day.
James M. Ramsdell's bucket factory, located at East Swanzey, was estab- lished by him in 1879. He employs fifteen men, and manufactures about 100,000 buckets per year.
F. L. Snow & Co.'s pail factory located in West Swanzey, gives employ- ment to twenty men.
S. W. Snow's box factory is located in the same building with F. L. Snow & Co.'s pail factory.
James Marsh's saw-mill and pail and bucket factory, located at Westport, was built by John Chamberlin, about 1844, and came into the present pro- prietor's hands in 1864. He employs forty men, cuts 100,000 feet of lum- ber, and manufactures 250,000 pails and buckets per year.
Previous to the establishment of the boundary line between the colonies of" New Hampshire and Massachusetts, it was supposed that the valley of the Ashuelot was included within the limits of the latter. Consequently, when Massachusetts made a move to settle some of its ungranted land, in 1732, it was decided to grant two townships, each six miles square, in the Ashuelot valley. This was accordingly done, and they were named "Upper" and " Lower Ashuelot," respectively, the latter corresponding with what is now the township of Swanzey.
432
TOWN OF SWANZEY.
This township was surveyed by Massachusetts in 1733. In May, 1735, sixty-three house-lots of three or four acres each were laid out, extending on each side of a surveyed highway, leading from the South Branch, over Meet- ing-house hill, to a point opposite the "moat." The scheme in surveying these sixty-three lots, was to have sixty proprietors, each entitled to one share, and then to have one share for school-lot, one for the first settled min- ister, and one for the cause of the ministry.
The terms by which a person could become a proprietor were as follows : He should pay £5 at the time of his admission to such privileges, that he should be located upon his land within three years from the date thereof, and should continue to reside thereon for at least two years. The fund raised by these requirements was to be used in defraying the expenses of the survey, and in building a public house of worship. The persons who became the original proprietors of the township under these conditions are mentioned in the following list, together with the number of the lot which fell to each. The orthography of the original records is retained, though doubtless in many cases it is incorrect. It would seem, also, that some had more than one right, as several of the names are repeated :-
Josiah Dival, I ; Thomas Hapgood, 2; Thomas Randal, 3 ; Samuel Ma- son, 4 ; James Heaton, 5 ; John Holdin, 6; William Negars, 7; John Mead, 8 ; Joseph Lee, 9 ; David Brown, 10; Joseph Hill, II; James Wallis, 12 ; John Flint, 13 ; Elnathan Jones, 14; Benjamin Reed, 15; Benjamin Whit- ney, 17 ; Nathaniel Hammond, 18; James Houghton, Jr., 19 ; John White, 20 ; John Muzzey, 21 ; Jonathan Prescott, 22 ; David Cutler, 23; John King, 24; Joseph Hill, Jr., 25 ; Robert Cummings, 26; Nathaniel Ham- mond, 27 ; James Henry, 28 ; Thomas Cutler, 29; Hezekiah Sprague, 30 ; Benjamin Haywood, 31 ; Jonathan Hammond, 32 ; Joseph Haskel, 33 ; Eleazer Robbins, 34; William Whitaker, 35; Samuel Douglass, 36 ; Aaron Lyon, 37 ; Benjamin Thompson, 38; Nathaniel Whittemore, 39 ; Thomas Kendal, 40 ; Timothy Stearns, 41 ; John King, 42 ; John Thompson, 43 ; John Starr, 44; John King, 45; John Newherter, 46; Nathaniel Mattoon, 49; Ephraim Jones, 50; William Lyon, 51 ; Benjamin Farnsworth, 52 ; Oli- ver Wallis, 53; William Armes, 54; Charles Prescott, 55 ; Enos Goodale, 56 ; John Tyler, 57; Ebenezer Conant, 58; William Carr. 59; Thomas Heaton, 60 ; Thomas Kendal, 61 ; Samuel Doolittle, 62 ; Gardner Wilder, 63. Lot No. 16 fell to the school right, No. 48 to the first settled minister, and No. 47 to the cause of the ministry.
The first proprietor's meeting was held at Concord, Mass, June 27th, 1734, when Nathaniel Hammond was chosen moderator ; Ephraim Jones, clerk ; and John Flint, Joseph Hill, Thomas Cutler, Eleazer Robbins and Nathaniel Hammond, a committee to manage the prudential affairs of the town. This meeting was adjourned to the 18th day of the following Septem- ber, to meet in the township at noon. This meeting adjourned until the next morning, and finally until the second Wednesday in October, to meet at the
Photo Electrotype Eng CON
RESIDENCE OF DENMAN THOMPSON, WEST SWANZEY, N. H.
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TOWN OF SWANZEY.
house of Ephraim Jones, " inn holder in Concord." At this meeting, on the 9th of October, the proprietors voted to make a division of the intervale land now called "great meadow," and of that lying below what is now called town- house bridge, on the South Branch, into sixty-three lots, equal as practicable in area and quality, and appointed Eleazer Robbins, Nathaniel Hammond, Ephraim Jones, Benjamin Read and Nathaniel Mattoon, as a committee to make such division. These lots averaged about eight acres each. At a meeting held at Concord, June 11, 1735, the committee appointed to make this second division made th ir report, which was accepted, and the proprie- tors drew for their shares.
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