USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Gazetteer of Grafton county, N. H. 1709-1886 > Part 24
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Harvey Deming, a native of this town, was born in June, 1833. His grand- father was one of the early settlers of the town. He married Mary, daughter of Ira E. Elliott, and they have a family of three sons and one daughter. He is located on road 23, and owns the ground where the first meeting-house in town was built, and his present dwelling was one of the first built in the town.
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TOWN OF BATH.
William Minot was born in this town, October 9, 1814, his father having come here in 1802, from Concord, Mass., and settled on road 27, where Mr. Minot now lives. When his father located here the farm was nearly all a wilderness, only a few acres being cleared. The first night spent on the farm Mrs. Minot thought a hundred wolves were howling in the woods near them. William Minot married Emily Weeks, whose father was a native of this town, and her mother a native of Connecticut. They have three daughters and one son, all residents with their parents. Mr. Minot was born in the house he now occupies. In 1865 he was selectman, and is prominent in all which con- cerns the welfare of the church and society.
Joseph A. Davis came to this town sixty years ago, and located at Bath Upper Village in the shoemaking business. He married Priscilla Merrill, of Lyman, and had five children, one of whom died in childhood, and one, Samuel M., died at the age of thirty-four. Phebe M. married Henry Chand- ler, a minister now living at South Berwick, Me. Charlotte E. married Henry M. Peters, of Manteno, Ill., Joseph A. married Parthena E. Haywood, of Haverhill, and is a farmer on road 40, near Swiftwater, and has three chil- dren. On the spot where he resides a house was burned fifty years ago, and the present one was erected on the same spot in one week from the time of the burning of the first building. The new one was 28 by 48 feet, and preaching was held in it by Rev. David Sutherland, the first settled minister in town.
Jonathan Brownson was born in Hartford, Conn., and with his parents came to Landaff, about the time of the Revolutionary war. He often held the office of selectman, was elected to represent Landaff in the State legisla- ture the same year in which Andrew Jackson was elected President, and was re-elected each of the eight years of his presidency. His grandmother came to Landaff also and died there at the age of 104 years, having lived in three centuries. His son Jonathan lives at Swiftwater, a practicing physician. He married Mary S. Chandler, of Haverhill, and has a family of seven children, of whom Ira is a physician at Sedalia, Mo., Jonathan E. is a miner in Colorado, Jolin E. is a glove maker at Littleton, William E. is a farmer in Florida, Mary M. married James M. Watson, of Taunton, Mass., and Nettie married Rev. C. N. Krock, of Enfield.
Andrew J. Leighton was a native of Newbury, Vt., born in 1831. His grandfather came to Sheffield, Vt., from Massachusetts, and afterwards to Newbury. The father of Andrew J. had a family of twelve, two of whom are settled in this town, one in Haverhill, one at Ackworth, one in Iowa, one in Massachusetts, and two in California. Andrew J. lives on road 15, where he is a large farmer. He married Helen, daughter of William Bedell, of this town, one of a family of fourteen. They have four children living and have lost one. He is one of the selectmen of the town, and has held that office ten years. In 1884 he was elected to represent Bath in the legislature.
John Sawyer was born in Dorchester, in 1815, and lived there until five 10*
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TOWN OF BATH.
years after his marriage, to Louisa Johnson, in 1842. From that time for eighteen years he lived in Rumney, carrying on a lumber business with farm- ing. In 1866 he came to this town and located near Swiftwater. They had eight children, five of whom are now living, of whom John M. and George H. reside in this town, Charles N. in Manchester, N. J., Joshua W. in Worces- ter, Mass., and Amanda L. married Ezra A. Rodimon, and resides on the old homestead, with her widowed mother.
Charles D. Atwood was a native of Landaff, the son of David and Julia Atwood, born in 1847. When three years of age his parents removed to Lisbon, where they are still living. In October, 1873, he came to this town and located on road 10. He married Emma, daughter of Ephraim and Lucinda Clough, who occupied for many years the farm on which Mr. At- wood now lives. They have four children, three sons and one daughter. Ephraim Clough, named above, was a native of Lyman, and removed to this town in 1820.
Daniel Whitcher was born in Benton, formerly called Coventry, January 20, 1827. In 1859 he removed to Landaff, to the locality now known as Whitcherville, and commenced lumbering, tanning, farming and manufactur- ing potato starch, and has followed similar business for thirty-seven years. He also carried on a mercantile business in Landaff. In 1883 he came to this town, where he is carrying on a large business in the manufacture and sale of lumber. He has a side track from the Boston & Lowell railroad, known as " Whitcher's Landing," at the junction of the Ammonoosuc and Wild Ammonoosuc rivers. He represented the town of Benton in the State legislature, and was often a selectman of Landaff, and also represented that town in the legislature. He was influential in getting a highway built, known as the Bungay road, in the face of tremendous opposition. The road runs from Swiftwater, Bath, Wild Wood, in Benton, along the Wild Ammonoosuc. It is a great public benefit, but the building of it was the subject of litigation for twelve years. Mr. Whitcher, seeing the utility and necessity of the road, pushed the matter tenaciously, and finally it was decided in his favor. Mr. Whitcher married Nancy R. Knight, of Landaff. and has had a family of nine children, only five of whom are now living. He is the ninth of ten sons, and the fourteenth of a family of sixteen children.
James H. Johnson was born at Bath, June 3, 1803. engaged in the mer_ cantile business at the Lower Village in 1817, was appointed deputy sheriff in 1824, and served two years, then resumed the mercantile business at Lis- bon, in company with Ira Goodall, Esq., and remained at that place eleven years, married, in 1828, Jane Hutchins, daughter of Col. James Hutchins, of Bath, and had six children, of whom only one is living. Col. Johnson was appointed paymaster of the 32d State militia regiment, in 1826, and afterwards served as adjutant, and then colonel of the same regiment. In 1836 he was elected State representative from the town of Lisbon, and served two years, was then chosen as State senator for two years, and afterwards was
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TOWN OF BATH.
elected to the Governor's council, in which office he served two years. In 1839 he returned to Bath and engaged largely in the lumber business, own- ing the saw-mill and nearly all the water-power of the village. In 1844 he was elected member of Congress, and again in 1846, serving two terms in the House of Representatives. In 1847 he married Miss Sophia Orne Edwards, of Springfield, Mass. They have three children, two sons and a daughter. The eldest son, J. Howard, graduated as a civil engineer at the scientific department of Dartmouth college in 1870, and the ensuing year he went to Peru and entered into the employment of Henry Meiggs, the railway king of South America. In 1874 and 1875 he surveyed and built the highest known railway in the world, which connects Arequipa with Cwyco, which was called the City of the Sun, when the Incas ruled Peru. In 1877 he married Miss Martha B. Childs, of Cleveland, Ohio, and they reside at Lima, Peru, where Mr. Johnson owns a large ice factory. The youngest son, Stanley Edwards, is now a senior at Dartmouth college. His eldest daughter married William G. White, of Chicago, and his youngest daughter married Dr. N. C. B. Hav- iland, of Rochester, Vt.
Rev. David Sutherland, the first settled minister in the town, was born June 19, 1777, at Edinburgh, Scotland. His childhood and youth were spent in the place of his nativity. He served an apprenticeship in a printing office ; at the age of sixteen became hopefully pious, and when nineteen years old entered a Theological seminary and studied for the Christian ministry. Having pursued the usual course of study, he graduated the last week of the eighteenth century, and commenced his ministerial life the first Sabbath of the present century. After laboring as a minister in Scotland for nearly three years, he received an invitation from a Scottish farmerin Barnet, Vt., to cross the Atlantic and preach in his neighborhood. In compliance with this invi- tation he left his native country in the spring of 1803, and with his beloved companion came to the United States. His wife was Anna Waters, born in Scotland, December 22, 1774. Her talents, her education and devoted piety eminently fitted her for the duties of a pastor's wife and for extensive useful- ness in the Lord's vineyard. In April, 1803, she was united in marriage to Rev. D. Sutherland, and after a married life of nearly fifty years, died Feb- ruary 3, 1852, aged seventy-seven years. She was the mother of seven chil- dren, one of whom died in infancy, another at the age of nineteen. Mrs. Sutherland was a rare woman, sustaining most worthily the relations of a wife, a mother, a friend, a neighbor, a member of society, and of the Church of Christ. Her many lovely and excellent qualities greatly endeared her to her friends, caused her to be universally esteemed and beloved, and have sa- credly embalmed her memory in many bosoms. Having preached in Bath several Sabbaths in 1804, Mr. Sutherland received a call to settle, in May, 1805, which call he accepted and immediately removed from Barnet, Vt., to this town. In October following (as soon as the meeting-house was finished) he was installed as the first pastor of the church, and first minister of the
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town, eighty years ago. He resigned this pastoral office in 1843, but con- tinued to preach in different places nearly every Sabbath up to 1854. His last sermon was delivered fifty-five and a half years after he commenced his ministerial labors. He died July 25, 1855, at the age of seventy-eight years, one month and six days.
Myron S. Woodward, a grandson of Hon. James Woodward, one of the early settlers of Haverhill, was born July 24, 1803, in Haverhill. At the age of sixteen years he was apprenticed to the trade of cloth dressing and wool carding, in Bath, at which he worked for a number of years. He married Caroline Hutchins, of Bath Upper Village, in 1829. About that time he bought a cloth dressing mill in Lyman, which he carried on for three years. He then removed to Swiftwater, and built a mill for his regular business, in 1837. This business he carried on until his death, October 8, 1884. He held various town offices, being a justice of the peace nearly fifty years, was selectman three years, and also collector. He had three sons and two daugh- ters, of whom Ira E. is a wool carder and carriage maker at Lancaster ; Mary J. married James Williams, who succeeded to Mr. Woodward's business at Swiftwater ; Horace J. lives at Cold Water, Mich .; Laura E. married J. O. Gifford, of Haverhill ; Arthur was a soldier in the late Rebellion, enlisting at the age of sixteen, in the Ist N. H. Cavalry, was taken prisoner June 29, 1864, on Wilson's raid, and died in Charleston, S. C., October 4, 1864, prob- ably starved to death in a rebel prison.
The Congregational church .- The first church formed in Bath was in 1778, on the Presbyterian platform. After the Revolutionary war, several prom- inent families came in from Massachusetts, who were of the Puritan stamp, and in 1791 a Congregational church was formed in its stead, consisting of nineteen members. The first minister called was Rev. Ebenezer Cleveland, by the proprietors of the town in 1784, but Rev. David Sutherland was the first settled pastor, in 1805. Till the year 1803, meetings were held in barns and dwellings; but the people then concluded to build a church, which was completed in about two years, at a cost of $3,000.00. The present edifice was built in 1874, at a cost of $7,000.00. It is a wooden structure, capable of seating 400 persons, and valued, including grounds, at $9,000.00. The society now has 103 members, with Rev. John P. Demeritt, pastor.
B ENTON, a rough, mountainous township, lies just northwest of the cen tral part of the county, in lat. 44° 2' and long. 71º 52', bounded north by Landaff and Easton, east by Woodstock, south by Warren and west by Haverhill, having an area of about 33,290 acres. It was granted to Theophilus Fitch, Esq., and sixty-four others, eleven of whom bore the name of Weed, January 31, 1764, under the name of Coventry. According to the
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TOWN OF BENTON.
conditions of the charter, the town was to be divided into seventy one shares, two of which were alloted to the grantor, Gov. Benning Wentworth, one for the propagation of the gospel in foreign parts, one for the first settled minis- ter, one for the support of the schools, one for the glebe for the Church of England, and the remaining shares among the grantees. This document gives the official bounds of the township, as follows :-
"Beginning at the southeasterly corner of Haverhill, thence running south 58° east six miles and a half; thence north 24' east seven miles and three- quarters ; thence north 55° west about six miles, to the northeasterly corner of Haverhill; and thence south 25° west, by the town of Haverhill, to the bounds began at."
From the records of the proprietors' meetings, however, it seems there was a conflict relative to the charter bounds of Warren and the Coventry town line, for votes were taken to raise money to defend the proprietary rights of the grantees of Coventry, and committees were appointed to act in their behalf. This line was somewhat altered, in common with those of many other towns, by legislative enactment about 1784 or '85. . The name of Cov- entry was retained by the town until it was changed by an act of the legis- lature passed December 4, 1840. The name Benton was given in honor of Hon. Thomas H. Benton, United States senator from Missouri for many years.
As we have previously intimated, the township is almost completely stud ded with lofty mountains. But foremost in its grand physical characteristics, and having wide fame, even where the name of the township is unknown, is its mountain Moose Hillock, or "Moosilauke," as it is now spelled, which towers to an altitude of 1,636 feet above the level of the sea, and majestically alone, is the southern sentinel of the White Mountain group. From its sum- mit, where a hotel and observatory have been erected, may be seen the most of the New England mountain peaks, notably Ascutney, Camel's Hump, Mt. Mansfield and Jay Peak, in Vermont ; Washington and its mountain body-guard, the white summits of the Stratford peaks, northward ; the distant Monadnock to the south; the hills of Maine, and, on a clear day, the Harbor and shipping at Portsmouth. Moosilauke, with its attendants, Black Moun- tain, Owl's Head and Sugar Loaf, either of which would be majestic if stand. ing alone, occupy most of the township.
The name of the mountain is derived from the Indian mosi, bald, and auke, a place-Bald-place. It has been a noted resort for many years. There is a tradition that Waternomee, an Indian chief, ascended it about 1685. Robert Pomeroy, one of Roger's Rangers, died on it in 1759. Chase Whit- cher, father of William Whitcher, was the first white settler, and Mrs. Daniel Patch the first white woman who ascended it. Amos F. Clough, photo- grapher, and Prof. J. H. Huntington. of the State Geological Survey, spent the winter of 1869-70 on its summit, being pioneers of mountain meterology, and the first men who ever achieved so perilous a feat. There is a bridle- path leading to the summit from the terminus of road 8, a distance of three
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TOWN OF BENTON.
and a half miles, following along one of the ridges from which many fine views may be obtained. The "tunnel " is 500 feet deep, with almost perpen- dicular sides. At its upper end is the "cascade," down which the tunnel stream dashes in sharp falls for 200 feet. At the end of road 8, the base of the mountain, G. H. Damon keeps a boarding-house and stable for the accommodation of those who ascend the mountain. On the summit is the " Tip Top" House, a fine, large summer hotel.
Long pond, in the western-central part of the town, and Beaver pond, at the head of Tunnel brook, are the only bodies of water of any prominence, and even these are small. Oliverian brook, so called from a Mr. Oliver who fell into it, (Oliver is in-"Oliverian"), has its source in the central part of the town, flows south to the town line, and then turns west into Haverhill. Baker's river rises in a small pond on the eastern side of Moosilauke, and flows a serpentine course, partly in this town and partly in Woodstock, south- erly into Warren. Whitcher, Davis and Tunnel brooks all have their source in Benton, and flow north into the Ammonoosuc.
Perfect quartz crystals, in great abundance, are dug from the ground at North Benton. Immense crystals of epidote are found on Owl's head. Nu- merous specimens of lead and copper ores abound, and a quarry of stone re- sembling Italian marble has been opened on Black mountain. The Boston & Lowell railroad passes through the southwestern part of the town. The only public house in the town is the hotel on the summit of the moun- tain, though many summer boarders are pleasantly entertained at the farm houses.
In 1880 Benton had a population of 378 souls. In 1885 the town had four school districts and ten common schools. Its six school-houses were valued, including furniture, etc., at $2,425.00. There were 71 children attending school, taught during the year by one male and six female teachers, at an av- erage monthly salary of $34.00 for the former and $16.31 for the latter. The entire amount raised for school purposes during the year was $571.40, while the expenditures were $520.00, with P. W. Allen, superintendent.
BENTON (p. o.) is in a hamlet located in the northwestern part of the town.
Edgar S. Welch's spruce oil distillery, on roads 14 and 15, was established in 1885, and has the capacity for turning out about 100 pounds of oil per week.
Birt Cox's spruce oil distillery, on road I, has the capacity for turning out about 100 pounds of oil per week.
J. H. Keyser's saw mill, on Tunnel stream, road 8, was built by him in 1861, It is operated by water-power, and fitted with machinery for the manufacture of clap-boards, shingles, rough lumber and framing timber. It is operated spring and fall, and cuts about 50,000 feet of clap-boards, 85,000 shingles, and 50,000 feet of rough lumber, employing three men.
The first settlement of the town was made by Obadiah Eastman, shortly after the commencement of the Revolution, who located in that part of the
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TOWN OF BENTON.
town now called High street. James Page settled soon after on Oliverian meadows, and William Whitcher was the first settler of North Benton. He was the father of sixteen children who lived to grow up, all very tall, and "there are more than a hundred feet of Whitchers in William Witcher's family," was a true and very co ... mon expression. Dick French, a noted hunter and wolf-killer, formerly lived at the north part. The settlement of the town was very slow, however, for the census report of 1791 only gives the town a popu- lation of eighty-eight souls. Among the early settlers, Josiah Burnham and a Mr. Lund were here in 1777; Peltiah Watson in 1778 ; Moses Noyes, Samuel Eaton and Stephen Lund, in 1783, and Samuel Jackson in 1787.
The first recorded proprietors' meeting was warned December 20, 1796, pursuant to a petition dated December 16, 1796, "to be holden at the dwell- ing house of Dr. Amasa Scott, inn-holder in Haverhill, Tuesday, April 1 1, 1797." At this meeting Hon. John W. Chandler was chosen moderator, Obadiah Eastman, clerk, and Hon. John W. Chandler, Major Moody Bedel and Obadiah Eastman, Esq., finance committee. On the following day, at an adjourned meeting, Hon. Nathaniel Peabody and Major Jonathan Hale were added to the committee. At this meeting, also, it was voted to raise a tax and appoint committees to lay out and build highways, one through Oliverian valley, from Haverhill town line to Warren town line, and from Landaff town line to Warren town line, the wages for workmen being set at four shillings per day, oxen "three and six" per yoke. The first survey of lands was made by Major Caleb Willard, his report being dated July 9, 1786, wherein it is stated that the southwestern part of the town had been laid out into lots of 105 acres each. James Masters, James Curtis and Robert Whitton were the first whose claims to land were acknowledged by virtue of settlement, and on the following day the rights of eleven others were similarly acknowledged by vote of the proprietors.
The first town meeting was held at the house of Major Jonathan Hale, December 30, 1801, when the following officers were elected : Obadiah East- man, moderator ; Salmon Niles, clerk ; Samuel Jackson, Obadiah Eastman and Barnabas Niles, selectmen ; and Elisha Ford, constable. The first rep- resentative was Colonel Moody Bedel, who represented Coventry and Haver- hill in 1802. The first marriage recorded is that of Ira Martin, of Bradford, to Sally Flanders, of Haverhill, March 7, 1802. The present road passing north and south through the town was built about 1852-53. A hotel was formerly kept at Benton, by David Marston, beginning about 1830.
Jonathan Welch was brought up in the family of Obadiah Eastman. His father was an early settler of the southern part of Benton, and, when Jonathan was quite young, started from home, passing down the road toward Northi Benton, which then went through the notch between Black mountain and Moosilauke, and was never seen or heard from again. Jonathan married Ruth Merrill, and reared two children, Silas M. and Ezra B. He died in 1880, about eighty years of age. Silas M. married Nancy Albert, was one of the
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board of selectmen for several years, and died in February, 1863, aged thirty-six years. Of his three children, George H. and Edgar S. occupy the homestead, and Ella married Charles Cutting, of Piermont.
Obadiah Eastman, who was the first proprietors' clerk, settled opposite of where the school-house now stands on read 14 corner II. His son James moved to New York, after his family of eleven children had grown up, and seven of them accompanied him. Jesse settled in Warren, where his descend- ants now live. William W. Eastman, son of Sylvester and Louisa (Whitcher) Eastman, was born in Joy, N. Y., in 1850, and, when about a year old, his parents returned to Benton, where he still lives. He married Georgia A. Aldrich, May 8, 1879, and has been selectman six years.
Samuel Page was born in Haverhill, Mass., July 10, 1772, married Submit Jeffers, of Hampstead, N. H., and came to Haverhill, N. H., between 1811 and 1814. They lived with her brother until they could build a log house on the farm now owned by Albert W. Morrill, on road 12. He had born to hin eleven children. Captain Daniel D., born in Benton, January 20, 1817, was town representative in 1855-56, and in 1873-74, and was justice of the peace from 1855 to 1878, at which time he died. He married Charlotte A. Boleyn, of Hinsdale, N. H., and reared nine children. Of these, William B., Harry E. and Harriet E. reside in Benton. David Page, born August 6, 1809, at Haverhill, Mass., was the father of S. T.
James J. Page, son of Samuel, was born in September, 1800. His son James, born in Benton, on road 12, February 10, 1834, spent his life on his birth place, and was one of the town officers for many years. He represented Benton two years, and died in 1878. He married Olive A., daughter of Jonathan Hunkings, of North Benton, and reared two sons and one daughter.
Israel Flanders came to Benton, from Bradford, Vt., about 1827, cleared a farm, and built the the house in which he now lives. He married Polly, daughter of Ephraim Wells who settled on road 4, and has four children. Mr. Flanders and his wife are the oldest married couple in Benton, having passed their sixty-first anniversary. Their eldest son, John R., married Eliza J. Brown and owns a portion of the old homestead.
Nathan Mead was born in Connecticut. He was about to be married to Mary King when the Revolution broke out, and he went at the call of his country to serve in the army. After the close of the war he returned and they were married, and went to Peacham, Vt., to establish their home. They continued to reside there until about 1804, when they removed to Coventry and became the pioneers in settling the southwestern part (on road 12) near East Haverhill. Here he cleared up a large farm and spent his later life.
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