Gazetteer of Grafton county, N. H. 1709-1886, Part 53

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836- comp. cn
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Syracuse, N. Y., Syracuse Journal Company, Printers
Number of Pages: 1266

USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Gazetteer of Grafton county, N. H. 1709-1886 > Part 53

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).

Aaron Southard was one of the leading agriculturists of the county. He was successful in his business, because he was unwearied and persistant in his efforts, devoting himself exclusively to it. He was a Whig and a Repub- lican in his political affiliations, but never held an office. He had no aspira- tions for official preferment, and said that "the greatest curse a man can have is an office." In religious faith he was a Congregationalist, and a liberal supporter of the interests of that denomination. He was a man much respected and esteemed in his community, and died September 20, 1857, aged seventy-two years and eleven months.

Samuel Finley Southard, son of Aaron and Jane (Finley) Southard, was born in Charlestown, N. H., May 17, 1813. When nine years old he came with his parents to Haverhill, and has since been a resident of the town. His common school advantages were supplemented by an attendance at Haver- hill academy. His childhood days were passed where everything about himn revealed the bountiful gifts of Mother Nature, and as he inherited from his father the characteristics of a good agriculturist, he could hardly have fol- lowed any other than that most honorable calling among men, and has proved himself the right man in the right place. Mr. Southard is a Republican, but no office seeker, and has given his entire time and thought to his business. He throws himself with all the energy of his nature, into the cultivation and improvement of the broad acres which he inherited from his father, and is considered one of the best farmers in town. He has been successful because he deserves to be, has a just pride in his fields, his meadows, and his sleek

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cattle. A citizen of sterling integrity, kind a generous feelings, and frank and manly bearing, he enjoys the friendship and esteem of the leading men of this section, and is a representative farmer of Grafton county. Socially, he is plain and unpretending, has an active, keen, inquiring mind, and a clear and retentive memory. He is a good conversationalist, and gives accurate and graphic descriptions of the times and manners of the people of his. earlier years.

Robert Elliott was among the early settlers in the southwestern part of Cov- entry, now Benton. He signed the petition for the first town meeting, December 11, 1801, and was one of the first of those who teamed with oxen to Boston, from this town, for goods. He lived to a very advanced age. His son Winthrop was born February 8, 1785, was captain in the militia, and lived most of his life in Benton. Roswell Elliott's house now stands on a part of the farm deeded by John Jeffers to Robert Elliott, Jr., August 30, 1813, and by him to Noah Elliott, October 26, 1822. Noah, son of Capt. Winthrop Elliott, married Lucretia Austin, and spent his life in the improve- ment of his large farm, and raising of stock. He died July 7, 1860, and his widow died November 3, 1871. Three of his eight children are living, namely, Winthrop, on road 42, Roswell, on road 30, and Roxana, wife of Silvester Jeffers, on road 41. Roswell served as selectman in 1862, and as tax col- lector in 1879. He married Polly Blake, and has two daughters. Winthrop married Mary C. Page, widow of Daniel Batchelder, and has five children, the eldest of whom, Simon W., served in the war.

Newhall, Eli and Asher Pike came to Haverhill from Plymouth, before 1830, and engaged in the manufacture of brick near where North Haverhill depot now is. They made the brick for the court-house and county record buildings, at Haverhill Corner, and also for the house their father, Perley, built in the western part of Plymouth, in 1831, the brick and lime being hauled from Haverhill. Eli married Mary A. Sennott, of Saco, Me., and reared three sons and four daughters. He sold out his interest in the brick yard about 1835, and bought two lots of land in the northeastern part of Haverhill, which he cleared. He died on this farm, in February, 1883, aged seventy-seven years. His eldest son, Amos M., resides on this same farm.

William Clough came to Lyman, from Salem, Mass., about 1785, bringing with him his family of six sons. He was in the French and Indian war for three years, was captured by the foe and carried to France, where he was kept a year or more. He entered the Revolution without enlistment, and was at the battle of Bunker Hill. He died in Lyman, and many of his grandchildren live in this section. His son Cyrus was the father of twelve children, of whom Frederick lives in Haverhill, Timothy in Lyman, Julia, widow of Reuben Moulton, also in Lyman, and Cyrus in Jefferson.

James B. Clark, son of Jonathan, was born in Bath, N. H., February 20, 1825, and came to this town when about twelve years of age. When twenty- eight years of age he married Drusilla M. Bisbee, of Haverhill, has spent

S.PCarle

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several years away from this town, but has been, for fourteen years, a dentist at Center Haverhill.

Captain Enos Wells came to Haverhill, from Canaan, when about twenty years of age, worked one year and went to the northern part of Coventry. Here he bought a lot slightly improved, built a house and saw-mill, and car- ried on the manufacture of lumber. He was always a prominent man as a town officer. His father, Ephraim, spent his later life in Benton. Enos married twice, first, Lois Hibbard, and second, Sally Clark, of Landaff, in 1824, who bore him four sons. Of these, Caleb and George live in Haver- hill, and Enos C. is a shoe manufacturer, in Lynn, Mass. Caleb moved to Haverhill in 1868. He represented the town of Benton in 1867-68, has been school superintendent seventen years, and selectman five years. He has been justice of the peace thirty years, and since coming to Haverhill has served as selectman three years, in 1882, '83 and '84. He married twice, first, Martha H. Gordon, of Landaff, and second Lucy Gordon, a sister of his first wife, and has four children. George Wells was enrolled, in the mili- tia, from which he resigned, after reaching the rank of major.

Samuel Powers Carbee, M. D., was born in Bath, N. H., in 1836, the youngest son in a family of ten children. John H. Carbee, his father, was born in Newbury, Vt., in 1791, and removed to Bath when a young man. His brothers, Moses and William, followed him at a later date. Farming was his principal occupation, though while a young man he was employed as a pilot in rafting lumber down the Connecticut river, and he afterwards gave some attention to lumbering He died in Bath at the advanced age of eighty- six years, in 1877. Samuel P., the subject of this sketch, attended the dis- trict school in Bath in his youth, and subsequently pursued a course at the then flourishing Newbury (Vt.) seminary, thus fitting himself to become a teacher in the public schools, an occupation which he followed for a time. Choosing the medical profession as his life work, he, in 1860, began the study of medicine with Dr. Albert H. Crosby, at Wells River, Vt. He continued with him and doctors Dixi and A. B. Crosby, at Hanover, until into the year 1862, when, in response to his country's call, he laid aside books and scalpel for a musket, enlisted as a private, under Captain J. Ware Butterfield, and went to the front with the 12th New Hampshire volunteers. For some time he was placed on detached duty in the commissary department, but being qualified by his medical studies for more important duties, he was commis- sioned assistant surgeon, October 26, 1863, and served in that capacity until the close of the war. Except from May to December, 1864, when he was detailed for service at Point of Rocks hospital, Va., he served with his regi- ment, and was on duty at the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Front Royal. Bermuda Front, Swift Creek, Drury's Bluff, Cold Harbor, Fort Harrison, Siege of Petersburg, and capture of Richmond, and is said to have been the first Union surgeon to enter the Confederate capitol after it was taken. His discharge was dated June 21, 1865, and he was mus-

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tered out with his regiment after its return to New Hampshire. Unlike many young men just out of the army, he went diligently to work to perfect him- self in his profession, returned to Hanover, and took a course at Dartmouth Medical college, from which he graduated in November, 1865. He then located in Haverhill, succeeding to the practice of Dr. H. H. Tenney, and for twenty years has performed, faithfully and successfully, the duties of his calling, established a professional reputation second to none in this region, and enjoyed a wide-spread and lucrative practice. He has been for years, identified as a member of the White Mountain and the New Hampshire medical societies. and for fifteen years the accredited medical examiner of leading life insurance companies. Called to serve upon the United States examining board for pen- sions, a position for which he was pre-eminently fitted by his long army ex- perience, he continued in the office for twelve years, his colleagues being Dr. E. V. Watkins, of Newbury, and Dr. J. R. Nelson, of Wells River, Vt. As a delegate to State conventions, he has acted in behalf of the Republicans of Haverhill, upon numerous occasions, and was selected as a candidate for county commissioner in 1884, being one of the nominees who led the party to suc- cess in the county, after nearly a score of years in the minority. He spent his life a bachelor until September 30, 1885, when he was happily united in marriage with Miss N. Della Buck, of Haverhill, a young lady of estimable character, and exceptional charms of person and manner. Though in the prime of a vigorous manhood, he has of late retired from medical practice to a great extent, relinquishing his office to his cousin, Dr. Moses D. Carbee, giving his attention only to such critical cases as will not be entrusted to younger hands. Few men prove themselves better adapted to the avocation of their choice, than has he. Ever ready with a cordial greeting, a kind word, and a pleasant smile, his cheerful presence in the sick-room is a tonic in itself. To the poor, as well as the rich, his services have been ever ex- tended, often without promise or expectation of reward. The same thought- ful care and unwearying attention have marked his practice in either case, and many bear testimony that he has oftener refused than demanded his pay. In official as in professional life, his faithfulness to the trusts imposed has won friends and adherents from the ranks of his political opponents, and one will look far to find a man whose prosperity and success would give greater personal or general gratification.

Charles A Gale was born in Gilmanton. N. H., December 4, 1818, and bought his present farm in Haverhill in 1850. He has followed farming, butchering, dealing in live stock, &c. He represented Haverhill in 1875-76. He married Laura G. Wetherbee, May 28, 1850, and has four sons. His son Charles A. lives at Woodsville.

Jesse Carlton, a soldier of the Revolution, moved to Bath, from Boxford, Mass., at an early day. He married Nancy Harriman, and reared five sons and five daughters. John, son of Jesse, moved to Michigan, where he mar- ried and became the father of three or four children, of whom Will Carleton,

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the poet, residing in Brooklyn, N. Y., is the only survivor. Isaac, second son of Jesse, went as a soldier in the war of 1812, when nineteen years of age, afterward married Abigail Merrill, and was the father of ten children. He lived twelve years in Newbury, Vt., where his son Chester M. was born. The latter, born January 18, 1831, enlisted in the First Missouri Engineers, and served three years in the civil war. After his discharge, in 1864, he re- turned to Haverhill, married Martha M. Bacon, April 18, 1865, and has four children.

Col. William Tarleton was hotel-keeper on the Grafton turnpike, in the eastern part of Piermont, and was sheriff of Grafton county from 1809 to 1813. Tarleton ponds derived their name from him. He married twice, first, Mary Melville, who bore him two sons and two daughters, namely, Wil- lianı, Amos, Betsey and Mary, all of whom, with the exception of Amos, died without descendants. His second wife became the mother of six children. He died March 26, 1819, aged sixty-six years. His son Col. Amos became a farmer, and after the death of his father kept the hotel where he lived over forty years. He married Theodora, daughter of James Ladd, and reared five children. He was colonel of militia, and died December 1, 1864, aged eighty-two years. His eldest son, Henry, is a farmer, spent most of his life in Piermont, but now resides in Haverhill. Horace Tarleton is engaged in the cotton trade, as a contractor for compressing cotton, resides at 560 Mon- roe street, in Brooklyn, N. Y., and has a family of seven children. One son, Grafton, lives in Hanover, N. H. Arthur Tarleton lives in Columbia, Cal., where he went in 1849. Amos Tarleton has been successfully engaged in the hotel business about forty years, and has been proprietor of the Ocean House, Chelsea Beach, Mass., for thirty-one years. Mary J. Tarleton be- came the wife of Thomas A. Barstow, a farmer of Piermont, who enlisted in Co. B, 15th N. H. Vols., and was killed at the battle of Port Hudson.

Zebulon Hunt, a Revolutionary soldier, was an early resident of Bath, and the father of a large family. His youngest child, Nathan, was born July 29, 1800, married Harriet Ricker, and died March 12, 1884. His widow resides in Bath. His son David S. was born in Bath, on Hunt mountain, and came to Haverhill in 1860.

Henry P. Watson, M. D., was born in Guildhall, Vt., June 8, 1845, fitted for college at Newbury, Vt., seminary, and graduated from Dartmouth col- lege in 1865. He studied medicine with his father, Dr. Henry L. Watson, and with Drs. Dixie and E. B. Crosby, at Hanover. He began practice at Groveton, N. H., and came to North Haverhill in 1869. He has since prac- ticed in this town, but removed to Haverhill village, in March, 1884. He has been superintendent two years, married Evelyn Marshall, of Northumber- land, N. H., in 1867, and has three children.

Chandler Cass, son of Jacob, who moved to Piermont, from Sanbornton, at an early day, was born in Piermont, October 12, 1813. Mr. Cass, a stone- cutter by trade, spent most of his life in Haverhill, and served as tax collector

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several years, the only one who ever collected every dollar assessed. He mar- ried Diana Glover. Of his children, Hosea B. lives in Haverhill, George C. was killed in the army, Ovett A. married A. W. Newcomb, of Orford, and Carrie D. married Rexford Pierce, of this town.

Hosea Swett Baker was born in Stoddard, N. H., June 1, 1797, and died in East Haverhill May 20, 1885, aged eighty-eight years, lacking eleven days. He was the son of Timothy and Catharine (Healy) Baker, two brothers and two sisters being older than himself. His mother died in August, 1798, aged 34 years, leaving him an infant ; and his father, marrying again and migrating to Western New York, there died in Pembroke, Decem- ber 16, 1823, aged sixty-eight years. Hosea Baker was descended from John Baker, freeman, of Charleston, Mass., 1634, through Dea Joseph, of the fourth generation, who married Hannah Lovewell, only daughter of Capt. John Lovewell, the celebrated Indian warrior, and settled in Pembroke, N. H. He married, in 1821, Fanny Huntington, daughter of Hezekiah and Esther (Slade) Huntington, who was born in Hanover November 15, 1801, and died in Haverhill, of apoplexy, April 16, 1874, aged seventy-two years and five months. Her family was of Connecticut origin. Of their six children, all born in Haverhill, the three oldest are deceased : Royal Hun- tington (Baker), born August 7, 1812, was a farmer in East Haverhill, and died August 22, 1871, aged forty-nine years, leaving two children, Martha M. and Solon H. Peyton Randolph, born September 2, 1826, graduated at Dartmouth college in 1848; was a physician in Maine, and died May 16, 1873, aged forty-seven years and eight months, leaving one son, Oliver Randolph, who is a clothing merchant in Bradford, Vt. Solon Healy, born June 23, 1827, died September 19, 1828. Solon Healy, born August 3, 1829, was a farmer with his father in East Haverhill, where he is still resid- ing. Fanny Maria, born August 26, 1831, married a Congregational clergy- man, of Sanbornton, N. H., in 1865, and has three daughters-one son and one daughter deceased. Oliver Harrison, born April 27, 1834, is a jeweler in Topeka, Kansas, and has one son, John Huntington. During the most of his long life Hosea S. Baker was intimately connected with Grafton county, and especially with the town of Haverhill. He was brought, soon after the death of his mother, to his uncle's in Piermont, by whom he was brought up, though "buying his time" before he was twenty-one. He then earned money to attend school in the newly established academy at Haver- hill Corner, soon fitting himself to teach school, and followed that vocation for several winters at Haverhill, and lastly, for a whole year continuously, in the town of Rumney. Meanwhile, in 1820, he had made a long journey on foot to visit his father in Western New York, traveling upwards of 1, 100 miles. After marriage he went into the lumber business, on the Oliverian brook, rafting his products down the river to Hartford, Conn. Taking up his abode at the Corner in 1825, he followed the meat business, the shoe and leather trade and general merchandise, with Bunce, Blaisdell & Co., in all

I.t. Baker

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for twenty-five years. In 1851 he bought a valuable farm, the old Crouch stand at East Haverhill, which. with his sons, he carried on and improved until 1880. He then took up his final residence with his son Solon, at the village of East Haverhill, and there continued, with an old age of remarkable vigor, geniality and usefullness, till he was prostrated by an accident, and. after three months of intense suffering, endured with a spirit of calm resigna- tion and Christian hope, he expired as stated above. Thus, for nearly sixty- seven years, Mr. Baker lived in Haverhill and always enjoyed the respect and confidence of his fellow townsmen. He was elected to almost every office in the gift of the town, and served in some of them for many years. He repre- sented the town in the ligislature one year, 1837, the opposite party coming into power the next year ; was selectman for two terms, and voted in Haver- hill at seventeen presidential elections, consecutively, beginning with the sec- ond term of James Monroe in 1820. He helped organize one of the earliest Sunday-schools in Haverhill, in 1825, and was afterwards its superintendent, and was also one of the trustees of Haverhill academy, and secretary and treas- urer of the Methodist Episcopal society at Haverhill Corner. He joined the lodge of Free and Accepted Masons in 1823, was frequently Master of the lodge. and was also a member of the Mount Lebanon Royal Arch Chapter, of Bradford, Vt. He was appointed deputy sheriff by Amos A. Brewster ; was a captain in the state militia, postmaster for a time in East Haverhill, and a justice of the peace for the last forty-five years of his life. In this latter capacity, besides other duties, he solemnized numerous marriages and settled many estates in Haverhill and adjoining towns. He also conducted scores of funerals. His generosity and integrity in all these transaction were never questioned, while in the varied relations of private life his kindness of heart and true Christian character shone conspiciously. Amid the busiest scenes he was ever ready to extend his aid and sympathy to the sick and suffering. Being a devoted student of the Bible from his youth, Mr. Baker was remarkably familiar with its contents, and served as the highly prized instructor of a Bible class in Sabbath-school of the East Haverhill Metho- dist church, till the last months of his life, with which church he also united by the ordinance of Baptism.

Rev. Joseph H. Brown, the eldest son of James and Judith B. (Harran) Brown, was born in New Hampton, N. H., December 19, 1833, though brought up in Bridgwater, N. H. He was converted and joined the Free Baptist church at the age of sixteen years, and educated at New Hampton Literary and Theological schools, he entered the ministry in 1868. He mar- ried Hattie N. Huse, of Danville, Vt., May 1, 1862, and was ordained and installed pastor of the Free Baptist church at Bowe Lake, Strafford, May 29, 1862, and continued there three years. He was subsequently pastor of the Free Baptist church at Epsom one year, Hill Center two years, and one year at Alexandria, and for two years labored as an agent of the New Hamp- shire Bible Society. He belonged to the Free Baptist denomination eight

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years as layman, four years as a licentiate, and eight years as an elder, filling many positions of trust in that ecclesiastical body. April 9, 1870, he was received into the New Hampshire conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and since then his pastorates have been at Rumney, Lisbon, Frank- lin Falls, Jefferson, Stark, Manchester Center, and North Haverhill. In five towns he has served as school superintendent and represented the town of Hill in the legislature. He is a trustee of the New Hampshire Methodist Episcopal Conference, trustee of the New Hampshire Conference Seminary and Female.College, at Tilton. He was the first secretary of the Winnipe- saukee Camp Meeting Association, and exerted a leading influence in the purchase and building up of the camp ground at Wiers, and is now upon its executive committee. He has also been a member of the executive com- mittee of the White Mountain Camp Meeting Association, at Groveton. As a pastor and church financier, he has not taken an inferior rank. Revivals and church growth have generally marked his labors. He is, emphatically, a self-made man.

The First Congregational church of Haverhill, at Haverhill Corner, was organized October 3, 1790, about thirty years after the town was settled. In 1763 the proprietors of Haverhill and Newbury voted to unite in paying a preacher "for two or three months this fall and winter." The year following a church was organized at Newbury, composed of members from both sides of the river, which was the first church organized in the Connecticut valley north of Charlestown, N. H. The Rev. Peter Powers was its first pastor, and his pastorate continued until 1782. He preached on both sides of the river, in barns in the summer and in dwellings in the winter. After his dis- missal from Newbury he preached at Haverhill for a year or more, and from this time until 1791 no stated supply was had. Rev. Eden Burroughs, D. D., of Hanover, Rev. Mr. Ward, of Plymouth, and Dr. Asa Burton of Thetford, Vt, assisted in organizing the church in 1790. January 25, 1792, Ethan Smith, who had been preaching in town some time, was ordained as the first pastor of this church, by a council of pastors and delegates from the churches at Hanover, Thetford, Orford, Newbury, Lyme and Vershire, which met at the house of Ezekiel Ladd. In April, Col. Charles Johnston and Dr. Martin Phelps were chosen the first deacons of the church. Rev. Ethan Smith was dismissed January 23, 1799, and the settled pastors since then have been Rev. John Smith, December 23, 1802, to January 4, 1807 ; Rev. Grant Powers, January 4, 1815; to April 28, 1829; Rev. Henry Wood, August, 1831, to 1835 ; Rev. Joseph Gibbs, June 16, 1835, till his death in 1837; Rev. Archibald Fleming, June 27, 1838, to September 23, 1841 ; Rev. Samuel Delano, February 16, 1842, to January 14, 1847 ; Rev. E. H. Greeley, November, 1849, to January 6, 1858; Rev. John D. Emerson, October 1, 1858, to November 17, 1867 ; Rev. E. H. Greeley, from 1868 for over five years, and J. Q. Bittinger to the present time. The first church build- ing, erected about the beginning of the century, did service until the society

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purchased the brick structure erected by the Methodists, in 1830-31. It will seat 450 persons and is valued at about $7,000.00. The society now has 160 members and maintains a flourishing Sabbath-school.

The Methodist Episcopal church of Haverhill Corner .- At just what time that type of Christianity represented by Methodism made its way into Haver- hill Corner and crystalized with a church organization, we have not been able to determine with certainty and exactness. It appears quite evident, how- ever, that Methodism was greatly strengthened, if at that time it was not really planted, by the labors of Rev. Mr. Bliss, about the year 1822. Among the early members prominent in the church were ex-Governor John Page, George Woodward, then a lawyer in the place, Jonathan St. Clair, Samuel Smith, William Ladd, Abba Swift and Charles B. M. Woodward. About the year 1828 the Methodist people built the brick church now occupied by the Congregationalists. The dedicatory sermon was preached by Rev. Mr. Moffitt, who made a strong plea for subscriptions to liquidate the debt then resting on the church. The present house of worship was built in 1836, and was dedicated in the latter part of January of the following year. It is con- structed of wood and cost, aside from the land upon which it was placed, the gift of Governor Page, about $1,600.00. Since then it has undergone various changes and repairs, and now has a seating capacity of 275, and is valued at $2,000.00. Among the first preachers who labored on this charge were Rev. I. Ireson, Rev. Mr. Baker, Rev. Bryant Morse, Rev. Charles Lamb, and Rev. Reuben Dearborn. Rev. Silas Quimby was sent to this place the spring after the new church was dedicated. The present pastor is Rev. J. H. Trow. The society now has fifty-four members in regular standing, and a flourishing Sabbath-school with 100 scholars.

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Gazetteer of Grafton county, N. H. 1709-1886, Part 53

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836- comp. cn Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Syracuse, N. Y., Syracuse Journal Company, Printers Number of Pages: 1266

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836- comp. cn
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Syracuse, N. Y., Syracuse Journal Company, Printers
Number of Pages: 1266