Genealogical and family history of the state of New Hampshire : a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Vol. I, Part 117

Author: Stearns, Ezra S; Whitcher, William F. (William Frederick), 1845-1918; Parker, Edward E. (Edward Everett), 1842-1923
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: New York : Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 858

USA > New Hampshire > Genealogical and family history of the state of New Hampshire : a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Vol. I > Part 117

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cupied the latter until his death. He was a man of good judgment and business qualifications, and was entrusted with much town business. He was a member of the board of selectmen in 1853-71-72, and was collector of taxes in I870 and 1871. He married, April 7, 1846, Chloe A. Bales, born in Wilton. May 16, 1824, eldest child of Major Ezra and Hannah (Wilson) Bales, of Wilton (see Bales IV). Their children were: Marion Elsie, George N., Rose M., Anna B., Everett B., Charles C., and Starr B.

(VI) Everett Buchanan, fifth child and second son of Samuel N. and Chloe A. (Bales) Center, was born in Wilton, April 18, 1855. and educated in the schools of his native town. Under his father's supervision he learned how to conduct a store, and at eighteen years of age took full charge of the mer- cantile business in which he and his father were partners. He now has a large establishment and carries a general stock of goods except groceries, and does a profitable business. He married, April 5, 1898, Ida May Hatch, who was horn in Lebanon, New Hampshire, 1871, daughter of Chauncey A. and Mary S. (Miller) Hatch.

(Second family.)

This name has long been SENTER-CENTER spelled in varying forms, and members of the fam- ily are treated in this article under the different spellings which they use. It is an old Scotch-Irish cognomen, and has been associated with pioneer development on two continents. The sturdy char- acter of the ancestors is found among the descend- ants, and New Hampshire owes much of her rep- utation for probity to their influence.

(1) John Senter, one of the proprietors of Lon- donderry, New Hampshire, in 1719, was the ancestor of the Senters of Londonderry, Windham and Hud- son, also of those of Center Harbor and of other towns in New Hampshire. and Massachusetts. At Center Harbor the name is associated with the fa- mous Senter House, which in the middle of the nine- teenth century was the most noted hotel about Lake Winnipesacke. John Senter was of English descent and came from Long Island to Londonderry. His home was northwest of Beaver Pond. He mar- ried Jean , and they had six children, born in Londonderry. John Senter and his wife died in that town, but the dates are not known. The chil- dren, whose births are recorded are: Samuel, men- tioned below : Joseph, Jean, Moses, John and Reuben. Joseph was born March 2, 1723. He was taken prisoner by the Indians, carried to Canada. and sold to the French. He succeeded in escaping and re- turning to Londonderry. Afterwards he piloted a body of troops to Canada during the French war, previous to 1759. He subsequently took up a tract of land at Center Harbor where his brother Moses joined him. Jean was born October 8, 1,25. John and Reuben lived in Londonderry.

(II) Samuel, eldest son of John and Jean Sen- ter, was born in Londonderry, January 31, 1721. He was the second male child born in town. He mar -. ried Susan Taylor, of Dunstable, a native of Lon-

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donderry. She remembered when the people flocked to the block houses at night for safety from the Indians. She died about 1795, and her husband two years later. They had several children, but only two are recorded, both of whom lived in Windham, New Hampshire. Samuel is mentioned below. Asa was born in 1755, and died in Windham, January 12, 1835, aged eighty years.

(III) Samuel (2), son of Samuel (1) and Susan (Taylor) Senter, was born in Londonderry, Feb- ruary 15, 1752. In 1774 he married Hannah, daugh- ter of William Read, of Litchfield. She was born May 18, 1756. He, with his brother and another relative of the same name, perhaps a brother, marched to Medford, Massachusetts, in the company of Captain George Reid, of Londonderry, at the begin- ning of the Revolution. He contracted an illness from fatigue and exposure which made him a life- long invalid. He came to Windham in the spring of 1790 and bought what is now known as Ncal's Mills. He built a grist and saw mill near the present site, though Alexander Wilson had previously built the dam. He was moderator of a special town meeting in 1796, and town clerk in 1797. He died February II, 1833. and is buried in the cemetery on the hill. This was originally the site of the first meeting house, and his pew stood dircetly over the place where he now lies. His wife died in January, 1846, aged eighty-nine years and eight months. They had eight children: Isaac, born in Londonderry, Jan- uary 5, 1775, married Hannah Patterson of Belfast, Maine, and died in Olean, New York; William. died at sea, October 21, ISO1, while returning from the West Indies ; Allison, married Sarah Davidson, of Windham, and lived in Belfast and Waldo, Maine, and Litchfield, New Hampshire; Samuel, mentioned below ; Fanny, married Timothy Kendall, and lived in Litchfield; Cynthia, born in Windham, June 13, 1789, and married, on her thirty-fourth birthday, Edward Claggett, son of Honorable W. Claggett of Portsmouth, the last attorney-general under George the Third and the first under state government. He died in November, 1826, and Mrs. Claggett after- wards made Windham her home. Their only child, Cynthia Cornelia, was born there February 14, 1827. She married, April 23, 1853, J. W. Hart of Racine, Wisconsin, where her mother afterward removed. Mrs. Claggett died March 8. 1872. She was a woman of unusual ability and in her youth was a much estecmed school teacher. German, sixth child of Samuel and Hannah (Read) Senter, was born at Windham, June 13. 1789. He became a surgeon, and served through the War of 1812. He was stationed as port surgeon at Baton Rouge. Louisi- ana, where he died in 1824. Delia was born in Wind- ham, January 18, 1793. She married John Marland, an Englishman, a manufacturer in Exeter. New Hampshire, and Andover, Massachusetts. She died May 2, 1852, and is buried in Windham. Sarah married her cousin, John T. Senter. They had one son, Mortimer, who became a physician. His wid- owed mother removed with her son to Hancock, Michigan, where she died.

(IV) Samuch (3), fourth son and child of Sam-

uel (2) and Hannah (Read) Center, was born in Litchfield, New Hampshire, on Christmas day, 1781. He always lived in his native town. His occupation was farming but he dealt in real estate to some extent. He held all the town offices, and was a justice of the peace most of his life. He was a prom- inent and respected citizen, and used to be called the "Old Squire." In politics he was a Democrat, and he attended the Universalist Church. He married Mary, daughter of John Davidson of Windham. Their children were: Mary (died young), Hannah, Palmira D., Horace, Isaac N., Mary H., Rosena B., Cynthia G., Louisa M., Clarissa D .. Angeline F., Susan Ann and Samuel H. (Isaac N. and de- scendants receive extended mention in this article). Samuel (3) Center was married (second) to Sa- brina Armond. and died July 4. 1868.

(V) Horace, eldest son and third child of Sam- tel and Mary (Davidson) Center, was born in Litch- field, June 8, 1809. He was educated in the district schools. He was a boatman on the Merrimack & Middlesex canal between Concord, New Hampshire, and Boston and owned a brickyard ; later he engaged in farming. He was a captain in the state militia, and held all the town offices. He represented the town in the state legislature for two terms. In pol- itics he was a Democrat, and he attended the Uni- versalist Church. He married. in 1829. Elmira, daughter of Jacob Page of Litchfield. They had two children: Isaac N .. born in 1833, died in Memphis. Tennessee, 1861; and Mary E., born in 1831, died January, 1885. Horace Center married for his second wife, Caroline, daughter of James and Sarah (Stark) Stinson of Dunbarton, New Hampshire. They were married April 19. 1843. and they had one child, Frederick L., mentioned below. Horace Center dicd January 21, 1883. and Mrs. Caroline (Stinson) Center dicd January 22, 1885.

(VI) Frederick Louis, only child of Horace and Caroline (Stinson) Center, was born in Litchfield, January 5, 1846. He was educated in the district schools of the town, in the Nashua schools and at McCollum Institute. He farmed after leaving school and then went to Lemont, Illinois. to engage in the stone business, where he remained one year. He came back to Litchfield and bought a farm and grist mill. He managed the mill four years, then sold it and went to live with his father, from whom he inherited the place where he now lives. He has filled all the town offices, and served in the legisla- ture in 1890-91. He is first selectman at the present time, and has been one of the three for several years. He has held office in the local grange, and is past master of the local grange. He married March 28, 1878, Jennic F. McQuesten. daughter of Isaac and Margaret (Chase ) McQuesten, of Litchfield. She was educated in the district schools and schools of Nashua, and taught school for three years. She is a member of the Grange. They have two children : Lizzie Margaret, born January 17. 1881, and Flor- ence Caroline, born May 26. 1888. The daughters teach school.

(V) Isaac Newton, second son of Samuel and Mary (Davidson) Center, was born in Windham,

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New Hampshire, February 6, 1811. In 1834 he married Sarah Jane Chase, daughter of Simion and Sally (Bixby) Chase, of Litchfield, born in ISII. She died May 6. 1838, and he married second, in 1842, Mary White, who was born February 5, 1821, in Litchfield, New Hampshire, died October 23, 1885. One child by first marriage, Sarah Jane, deceased. By second marriage there were: Mary A., Ellen, Samuel. Susie W., Laura, Emma, John W. and Isaac N.

(VI) Isaac Newton (2), son of Isaac Newton (1) and Mary (White) Center, was born in Litch- field, New Hampshire, on the farm where he 110W lives, September 20, 1863. Three generations have lived there, and four have owned the land. He was educated in the district schools and was graduated from McGaw Institute, Reed's Ferry, New Hamp- shire, in 1883. He taught school for a time and then stayed at home and helped to carry on the farm. At his father's death he inherited the farm, which contains one hundred and sixty acres. Mr. Center keeps thirty-two head of stock. and carries on a milk business. He is a member of the Grange, in which he has held offices. He is an Odd Fellow, belong- ing to the lodge at Hudson, New Hampshire. Like his Scotch-Irish ancestors, he attends the Presbyter- ian Church. In politics Mr. Center is a Democrat, and served in the state legislature in 1903-04. He was selectman for two years, has been highway sur- veyor, and is now (1907) town clerk, which office he has held for ten years. He was a member of the school board for three years. Mr. Center was the pro- moter of the Goff Falls, Litchfield and Hudson Elec- tric railway, now the Manchester and Nashua line, and was its first president. January 1, 1894, he married Mary Bell Newell, daughter of Rev. John P. and Eliz- abeth M. (Abbot) Newell of Litchfield, New Hamp- shire. She was born in Manchester. New Hampshire, January 30, 1865. Rev. John P. Newell was born in Barnstead, New Hampshire, July 29, 1823, and his wife was born in Canton, Massachusetts. April 22, 1834. Mrs. Mary (Newell) Center was educated in the schools of Manchester, and was graduated from the high school in 1884. Afterwards she attended Wheaton Seminary at Norton, Massachusetts. She taught school before her marriage. She is a mem- ber of the Presbyterian Church, and belongs to the Grange. Mr. and Mrs. Center have one child, Mary Elizabetlı, born March 16, 1895.

This is one of the old English

GREENWOOD names early transplanted to America, and has been identi- fied with the progress of the nation in every worthy line and endeavor down to the present time. Some of the ablest citizens, east and west, have been and are scions of this stock.

(I) Thomas Greenwood was for many years of Cambridge, Massachusetts, in that portion later in- cluded in the town of Newton. He was a weaver by occupation, and served the town as clerk and as magistrate. He died September 1, 1693, as shown by his gravestone now in Newton. He married, June 8, 1670, Hannah Ward, daughter of John

and Hannah (Jackson) Ward, and granddaughter of William Ward, immigrant ancestor of those bearing that name. Hannah Greenwood died about 1676. Thomas Greenwood married (second), Abi- gail (surname unknown).

(II) William Greenwood, son of Thomas and Abigail Greenwood, was born October 14. 1689, in Newton, and removed from that town to Sherborn, Massachusetts, where he was prominent in town affairs and was a deacon of the church. He married Abigail Woodward, who was born May 25, 1695, daughter of John and Rebecca (Robbins) Wood- ward. His sons were: William, Caleb, Jonas, Sam- uel and Joseph.

(III) William (2) Greenwood, eldest son of William (1) and Abigail (Woodward) Greenwood, was born about 1720, in Sherborn. He removed to Dublin, New Hampshire, before 1762, where he was a carpenter and farmer. In the Revolution he served during two enlistments, first in 1776, and again in 1777. While engaged in raising a barn in Dublin, he was accidentally killed, June 28, 1781. He married Abigail Death, of Sherborn, who was born October 3, 1723, in Framingham, Massachusetts, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Barber) Death. She survived him more than thirty-three years, dying October 1, 1814, at the age of ninety-one years. Their children were: Daniel, Waitstill, Elizabeth, Eli, Joshua, Hepsebah, Abigail and Wil- liam.

(IV) Joshua Greenwood, third son and fifth child of William (2) and Abigail (Death) Green- wood, was probably born in Dublin, where he was a farmer on the paternal homestead. He married, August 22, 1779, Hannah, daughter of Gershom and Prudence (Adams) Twitchell, of Sherborn, Massachusetts, and Dublin, New Hampshire.

(V) Asa Greenwood, son of Joshua and Hannah (Twitchell) Greenwood, was born July 1, 1797, in Dublin, and lived for sometime in that town. In June, 1836, he removed to Marlboro, the same county, and in 1853 went to Illinois. He resided for short periods in Peoria, Farmington, and Yates City, Illinois, and finally settled in Toulon, Stark county, where he continued to reside until the sum- mer of 1887. In that year he made a visit to his friends in the east, and on the sixteenth of July, within several months of his arrival in this section, he died at the home of his son in Duminerston, Vermont. He was noted for his extraordinary benevolence and public spirit, and during his resi- dence in Marlboro he contributed much to the development, improvement and progress of that town. Probably no man ever lived in the town, who did so much for its permanent prosperity in the same period of time. It was through his generosity that the Universalist Society was able to erect its present commodious church. He also furnished the land and laid out and fenced Graniteville Cemetery almost exclusively at his own expense, and there his remains were laid to rest in accordance with his last expressed wish. He was the leading spirit if not the prime mover in the erection of many sub- stantial granite buildings in Marlboro. He married,

HI Ircenter.

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December 31, 1821, Mrs. Lucy Evens, widow of Heman Evens, and daughter of Benjamin and Phoebe (Norcross) Mason, of Dublin. She was born June 3, 1799. and died February 20, 1852. After her death, he married Mary, daughter of John and Prudence (Twitchell) Minot, who survived him. The children all born of the first wife were: Heman Evens. John, Frederick R .. Maria, William Henry and Mary Ann.

(VI) William Henry Greenwood, fourth son and fifth child of Asa and Lucy (Mason) Green- wood, was born March 27, 1832, in Marlboro, New Hampshire. He was educated in the common schools of Marlboro and Norwich University of Norwich, Vermont, from which he graduated in 1852. For some time he worked for his father in the quarry business, and upon the removal of the latter to Illinois, he was employed in railroad con- struction and became a civil engineer. His first work was on the Central Military Track Railroad, now the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, where he began November 23. 1852. He continued until the construction of the road was completed, and for some time was a trainman on the line. He then went to work for the American Central Railroad as as- sistant engineer, and thus continued until the be- ginning of the Civil war. He enlisted in the Fifty- first Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, January 7, 1862, and was afterwards commissioned lieu- tenant of Company S, in that regiment, his commis- sion to date from his enlistment. His commission as captain of the same company and regiment is dated May 9, 1863. But it was not as a line officer that Greenwood made his mark. Soon after the battle of Stone River, General Rosecrans made in- quiry for competent engineer officers to organize a topographical service. and Greenwood was selected for this duty, and for better facilities for seeing the country, he was directed to report to General Stan- ley, at that time chief of cavalry for the Army of the Cumberland. The relation thus established con- tinned to the end of the war, Colonel Greenwood remaining a part of this commander's military fam- ily until the muster-out of the Fourth Corps of the Army of the Cumberland, in Texas, in the fall of 1865. The recount of Colonel Greenwood's services would necessitate a recital of the experiences of the Army of the Cumberland itself.

The battles in which he was a most active par- ticipant emhrace such names as Perryville, Stone River, Hoover's Gap, Chickamauga. Missionary Ridge, three months of the Atlanta Campaign, and almost continuous fighting, including Peach Trec Creek and the assault on Kennesaw ; finally, in the last great service of the Fourth Corps, the action at Spring Hill, next day the Battle of Franklin, and very soon the Battle of Nashville, which ended the mission of the Army of the Cumberland, in the destruction of Hood's army. It was for bravery displayed at the Battle of Franklin that Lieu- tenant-Colonel Greenwood won his promotion to a colonelcy. It would be difficult to describe Colonel Greenwood's services in these great battles. Green- wood was a master of the subject of field fortifi-

cations and many times, when the work of entrenching had to go on all night, his commander has retired safely to rest because he knew Greenwood had charge of the work.

In July, 1864, when General Stanley was ap- pointed in command of the Fourth Corps, Green- wood was commissioned by the president, lieuten- ant-colonel and inspector, to date from July 28, 1864. But his duties, though important as inspector, took a wide range. In the way of reconnaissance, he continually rendered most important service to find out the movements of the enemy, the disposition of his line, and the positions of his batteries.

In July, 1865, the Fourth Corps landed in Texas. taking post at Victoria, Lavacca, and San Antonio. Colonel Greenwood was put in charge of the Gulf and San Antonio railroad, which had been com- pletely destroyed by the rebel general, John Ma- gruder. With the burned and bended railroad iron and such timber as could be gathered out of the Guadaloupe bottoms. Greenwood soon had the cars running to Victoria, saving immense expense and labor necessary, before this to haul supplies over the hog-wallow prairies of Indianola.

Having finished his work in Texas, Colonel Greenwood returned to Vermont. He remained only one month, when he went west, where he was employed upon the Kansas Pacific Railroad. He was appointed chief engineer of this road, and whilst holding this position, he made surveys on the thirty-second and thirty-fifth parallels, through to San Francisco. During his service for the company, he constructed one hundred and fifty miles of rail- road in one hundred working days, and at the last day laid ten and one-quarter miles in ten hours, a feat, perhaps, never equalled in railroad construc- tion.

In 1870 Colonel Greenwood made the first gen- eral report in favor of narrow gauge, three feet railroads, and was appointed general manager of the construction of the Denver & Rio Grande Rail- road. Upon completion of the first division of this railroad, he was appointed general superintendent, and remained until the road was finished to Canon City. He next received a commission which in- volved the construction of the Mexican National Railroad in that country, an enterprise with which Generals W. S. Rosecrans and W. J. Palmer and an Englishman named Sullivan were connected. . As a first service in this connection he visited England and the Continent, in the interests of this proposed road, but subsequently failed to get the concession asked for from the Mexican government the project was temporarily abandoned, Colonel Greenwood return- ing to New York, and establishing himself as a civil engineer. In May, 1878, he took charge of the Pueblo and Arkansas Valley Railroad for the Atchi- son, Topeka & Santa Fe Company; and March, 1879, took charge of the Marion & McPherson branch of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe as chief civil engineer and superintendent of construction. This is the last public work we learn of his being engaged upon, until he went to Mexico, upon his last and fatal engagement. During his numerous

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surveys he had encounters with the Indians, in which his war experience came well to hand. The hardships from cold, hunger, and exposure during this pioneer service in the railways of the great plains were such as few men have experienced. As an engineer, Colonel Greenwood had few peers in the profession. No obstacle that nature had interposed, as it were, in frolicsome mood, in the canons and mountains of the west, deterred this engineer of science, of skill and daring, and rail- road trains now run securely, where before the wild mountain sheep feared to climb. The skill- full capitalists, who built these wonderful railroads of Colorado, well appreciated the work of Green- wood, and when the Sullivan & Palmer Company undertook the International and Interoceanic Rail- roads from the City of Mexico to the Pacific Coast, Colonel Greenwood was called, as he had been be- fore, as the most reliable man to locate the great work. Whilst so employed he was murdered, being in the discharge of his duties near Rio Hondo, eighteen miles from the city of Mexico, August 29, ISSO. Colonel Greenwood was a member of the Masonic Order. He married, May 19, 1857, Evelyn D. Knight, of Dummerston, Vermont. She was born April 10, 1834, in that town, daughter of Joel and Fanny (Duncan) Knight, the former of whom was born there July 18, 1799, and died Sep- tember 14, 1874. He was the son of Joel and grand- son of Jonathan Knight. Mrs. Fanny (Duncan) Knight was a daughter of Doctor Abel and Lydia (Miller) Duncan, the latter a granddaughter in the paternal line of the first settler of Dummerston, probably Isaac (?). (See History of Dummerston).

MARSTON This is one of the oldest New Eng- land names, and the ancestory of its representatives now residing in New Hampshire has been traced to the latter part of the sixteenth century. Its representatives have been identified with the leading movements for civilization from the first settlement of the Ameri- can continent.

(I) William Marston was born 1592 in York- shire, England, and died June 30, 1672, in Hampton, New Hampshire. He came to Salem, Massachu- setts, in 1634, with his family and probably his brothers Robert and John. He received a grant in 1636 from the general court and removed to New- bury the next year. He was one of the fifty-four proprietors of Hampton in this state in 1638, and passed the remainder of his life in that town. He was a Quaker and was shamefully persecuted be- cause of his religious faith, being compelled to pay exorbitant fines. Among those recorded against him was one of fifteen pounds, for keeping in his pos- session a paper and two books in support of his religious belief .. He died in Hampton at the age of of about eighty years. His first wife died in 1660, her name being unknown. He was married ( second), at the age of seventy years, to Sabrina Page, who was then eighteen or twenty years of age, daugliter of Robert and Lucia Page (see Fogg), of Ormsby, Norfolk, England. She was the

mother of one daughter, Tryphena Marston. Mr. Marston's children were: Thomas, William, John, Prudence and Tryphena. (Mention of William and descendants appears in proper order in this article).

(II) Thomas, eldest son of William Marston, was born in England, probably Yorkshire county, about May, 1617, and accompanied his father and the other members of his family to Salem, Massa- chusetts, in 1634. Together they went to Newbury about 1637, and in October of the following year to Hampton, New Hampshire, where he probably had land granted him by the general court, as did the other pioneers. May 25, 1645, he bought land of John Sanborn, and October 5, 1653, leased a house and lot from Robert Knight. He was a prominent man in the affairs of the town, and in all matters pertaining to the interests of the com- munity, and was a capable and highly esteemed citizen. He died in Hampton, September 28, 1690, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. He married, about 1647, in Hampton, Mary, the daughter of William Estow, Esq. She died December 13, 1708. They had nine children: Isaac, John, Bethiah, Eph- raim, James, Caleb, Mary, Hannah and Sarah. (John and descendants receive extended mention in this article).

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Genealogical and family history of the state of New Hampshire : a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Vol. I, Part 117

Author: Stearns, Ezra S; Whitcher, William F. (William Frederick), 1845-1918; Parker, Edward E. (Edward Everett), 1842-1923 Publication date: 1908 Publisher: New York : Lewis Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 858

Author: Stearns, Ezra S; Whitcher, William F. (William Frederick), 1845-1918; Parker, Edward E. (Edward Everett), 1842-1923
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: New York : Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 858