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 73

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 73

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).

(VII) Amos Gale Straw, A. M., M. D., son of Daniel Felch and Lucretia Ann (Kenney) Straw, was born in Manchester, New Hampshire, Febru- ary 9, 1864. Dr. Straw received his early education in the public schools of Manchester, New Hampshire. He entered Dartmouth College in 1883, pursuing the classical course, and was graduated from that institution in 1887, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He was elected to membership in the Phi Delta Kappa, and three years later Dartmouth College conferred on him the degree of Master of Arts. He matriculated at the Harvard Medical School in 1887, and in 1890 received his degree of Doctor of Medicine. He then returned to his native city and settled down to the practice of his profession. Here his indefatigable study and de- votion to the science of medicine have inct with a well-deserved reward, and Dr. Straw is in possession of an extensive and lucrative practice. He was for many years attending physician at the Elliot Hos- pital and was president of its staff ; he is now con- sulting physician ; is secretary of the board of United States examining pension surgeons ; pathologist of the Notre Dame Hospital; local bacteriologist of the Manchester Board of Health; and was for five years surgeon of the First Regiment, New Hampshire National Guard. Dr. Straw is a man whose extensive reading and careful research into the various branches of his profession have made his opinion one to be sought and highly valued, not only by laymen but also by his colleagues. Dr. Straw devotes all his spare time to furthering the interests of the science in which he is engaged and to the cause of humanity. He is highly respected and esteemed and has a host of friends and ad- mirers in professional as well as social circles. In politics he is a Republican, and has served ' for four years in the Manchester city council, and as representative to the general court for a term of two years. Both he and his wife are members of the First Congregational Church of Manchester. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity in all its branches, and is past exalted ruler of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is also a mem- ber of the following named organizations: Ameri- can Medical Association: Hillsborough County Medical Society; Manchester Medical Association; and the New Hampshire Medical Society.

Dr. Straw married. November 12, 1901, at Car- lisle. Pennsylvania, Zatae Leola Longsdorff, born

262

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

April 16, 1866, daughter of William H. and Lydia R. (Haverstick) Longsdorff. Her father was a physician, and was for many years treasurer of Cumberland country, Pennsylvania. On the break- ing out of the civil war he recruited a company of cavalry, went to the front as its captain, and at- tained the rank of major of cavalry before the close of the war. Mrs. Straw received her early education from private instructors, entering Wel- lesley College in 1883. She afterward entered Dickinson College, at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, -gradu- ating from the classical department in 1887, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and was the first woman to graduate from that college. She then entered the Woman's Medical College of Phila- delphia, in 1887, obtaining her degree of Doctor of Medicine from that institution, and in ISgo the degree of Master of Arts from Dickinson College. She was appointed interne at the Women's and Children's Hospital, in Boston, and left that position to take charge of the Government Hospital at Fort Hall, Idaho. Returning from the west, she was married, and has since practiced medicine in Man- chester, New Hampshire. Dr. and Mrs. Straw are the parents of two children-Enid Constance, born at Manchester, New Hampshire, May 13, 1900, and Zatae Gale, November 16, 1906.

(III) Ezekiel, son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Diamond) Straw, was born probably in Salisbury, Massachusetts. He died in Salisbury, New Hamp- shire, in 18II. The name of Ezekiel Straw appears among the names of men belonging to Weare's regiment, mustered for service in 1759, who receipted to Captain Samuel Leavitt, muster master and pay- master to the forces raised at Hampton Falls for the Canada expedition, under date April 28, 1759. He married first, Martha Gould, at South Hampton, New Hampshire, May IS, 1758; second, Beth (Hoyt) Colby.

(IV) Ezekiel (2), son of Ezekiel (1) and Martha (Gould) Straw, was born in Hopkinton, February 20, 1763. and died September 22, 1818. He served in the revolution. His name appears on the pay roll of a company of volunteers com- manded by Captain Joshua Bayley, of Hopkinton, Colonel Kelley's regiment, General Whipple's bri- gade. This command was part of the body which made an expedition to Rhode Island in 1778, Au- gust 9 to August 27. He was allowed for one hun- dred and thirty miles travel. Ezekiel Straw's name also appears on the list of one hundred and eighty- four men detached from several regiments of militia and mustered September, 1779, by Colonel Went- worth to serve for the defense of Portsmouth, two months unless sooner discharged. He was detached from Captain Sias's Company, and this term of service began September 27, 1779. He married Elizabeth Brown.

(V) James Brown, son of Ezekiel (2) and Elizabeth ( Brown) Straw, was born in Hopkinton, March II, 1794, and died in Lowell, Massachusetts, August 14, 1830. The records of the town of Warner show that in 1823 it "Struck off the col- lection of Taxes, at one cent 5 mills on the dollar, to James B. Straw." The records of the year 1824 give "James B. Straw, collecter." With his brother Stephen he removed from Warner to Lowell, Mas- sachusetts, where he worked in the cotton mills of the Appleton Company as surveyor and overseer. He married Mehitable Fiske March 14, 1819 (see Fiske, XIII).

(VI) Governor Ezekiel Albert Straw, eldest son of James B. and Mehitable (Fisk) Straw, was born in Salisbury, December 30, 1819, and died Oc-

tober 23, 1882. His early education was secured in the public schools of Lowell, Massachusetts, whither his father had moved his family after a few years residence in New Hampshire. Later he became a student in the English department of Phillips An- dover Academy, where he gave special attention to practical mathematics. He left the academy in 1838. The Nashua and Lowell railway was then in process of construction, and he became assistant civil en- gineer on this line. July 4, 1838, he came to Man- chester at the request of the consulting engineer of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, to take the place of the regular engineer who was ill and unable to work. He came expecting to remain in Man- chester only a few days, but made it his home ever afterward. At the time of his arrival in Man- chester the canal was unfinished, and no mill had been built on the east side of the river. Among his first assignments were the surveying of the lots and streets in what is now the prinicipal part of the city, and assisting in the construction of the dams and canals. At the end of six years ( 1844) he had acquired so full a knowledge of the pro- cesses and needs of the business that the Amos- keag Company sent him to England and Scotland to obtain information and machinery necessary for making and printing muslin delaines. The know- ledge and skill he brought back with him enabled the Manchester Print Works to first introduce this process in the United States. Mr. Straw remained with the Amoskeag Company in the capacity of civil engineer until July, 1851, when he took the position of agent of the land and waterpower department of the company. At that time the mills and machine shops were under separate agents. Five years later, July, 1856, the first two were united and put in charge of Mr. Straw; and in July, 1858, all three were combined under his management and he took entire control of the company's operations in Man- chester.

Mr. Straw being so prominent in the construc- tion of the mills, then, as now. the most important feature of the city, it was very natural that he should be appointed a member of the committee to provide plans and specifications for the rebuilding of the town house in 1844, and one of the first committee appointed to devise plans for the intro- duction of water works into the city. He was con- nected with all the subsequent measures for sup- plying the city with water, and in 1871, when the board of water commissioners was appointed to take charge of the present water works, he was made its president, and held that office for many years. In 1854 he was chosen a member of the first board of trustees of the Manchester public library, and held that office for a quarter of a century. He was elected assistant engineer of the Fire Department in 1846, and repeatedly re-elected to that position. His public service to the state at large began in 1859. when he was elected representative to the state legislature. He was re-elected in each of the four years next following and during the last three served as chairman of the committee on finance. He was elected to the state senate in 1864, returned in 1865, and made president of that body. The same year he was chosen on the part of the senate one of the commissioners to superintend the rebuilding of the state house. In 1869 he was appointed by Governor . Stearns a member of his staff. In 1872 he had been employed almost continually in the service of the state for thirteen years, and had been in one way or another connected with all the questions of public interest in that time. In that year the Re- publican party elected him governor of the state,

263

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

and re-elected him the following year. In 1870 the commission to arrange for the Centennial Ex- position in Philadelphia in 1876 was appointed, and President Grant made Governor Straw member of that committee from New Hampshire.

From the organization of the Namaske Mills, in 1856, till their dissolution, Mr. Straw was the the treasurer and principal owner, and after 1854 until near the end of his business career the sole proprietor. In 1874 he was chosen a director of the Langdon Mills. Ile was president and a director of the Blodget Edge-Tool Manufacturing Company from its organization in 1855 till its dissolution in 1862, and during the existence of the Amoskeag Axe Company, which succeeded it he was a director. He was one of the first directors of the Manchester Gas-Light Company, when it was organized in 1851, and was chosen its president in 1855, holding the office until January 29, 1881. In 1860 he was elected a director of the Manchester & Lawrence railroad, and in 1871 was elected president of the corporation, resigning in 1879. Upon the organization of the New England Cotton Manufacturer's Association he was chosen its president, and was also president of the New Hampshire Fire Insurance Company from its organization, in 1869 to 1880, when he resigned. He was one of the founders of the First Unitarian Society, in 1842, its clerk and treasurer from that time until 1844, its president from 1853 to 1857, and was chairman of the committee which built the present house of worship. In 1879 Mr. Straw was compelled by ill health to resign the manage- ment of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, and after a prolonged sickness he died October 23, ISS2.

In the "History of Hillsborough County," Gov- ernor Straw's biographer said of him. "Mr. Straw was emphatically a great man, not only in his profession, in which he towered far above nearly all others, but in all the various positions to which. he was called. He was not known as a brilliant or a sharp man. He had little need of the helps which men gain by dazzling or outwitting friends or foes; for there was a massiveness about him, a solid strength, which enabled him to carry out great plans by moving straight over obstacles which other men would have been compelled to remove or to go around. His mind was broad, deep and com- prehensive; he had rare good judgment, great self reliance, and a stability of purpose which seldom failed. He was peculiarly fitted for the manage- ment of vast enterprises. His plans were far-rcach- ing and judicious, and his executive ability was equal to the successful carrying out of whatever his mind projected and his judgment approved." Clark's "History of Manchester" ( 1875) says: "Gov- ernor Straw, in our judgment, is the ablest man in New Hampshire. In a room full of people, the judges of our courts, the managers of our railways, the professors of our colleges, he would take the lead of all. He is conversant with more subjects than any other man we know of, whether art or science, manufactures or financial themes. He is a great reader and his tenacious memory makes all he reads his own. Not long after he came to this city, the Amoskeag Company began to look upon his as competent to manage its whole business and it gradually fell into his hands. In time the other corporations, the city and state looked to him for advice, and for many years he has been the fore- most man in Manchester and for the past few years the leading man in shaping the policy of the state. Of great mental capacities, he is able to turn off a vast amount of work with the greatest ease. He

never seems in a hurry, though probably surrounded by more business than any other man in the state. He never looks to others for his opinions, and, though willing to fall into line with his friends and his party in nonessential things, he cannot be swerved from his ideas of what is right by political considerations or fear of unpopularity. He enjoys truth and takes pleasure in doing what his judg- ment dictates. A very generous man, liberal in his gifts to the poor and to all charitable institutions, to him more than to any other man is Manchester indebted for its great prosperity."

Ezekiel A. Straw married, April 6, 1842, at Ames- bury, Massachusetts, Charlotte Smith Webster, who died in Manchester, March 15, 1852. To them were born four children: Albert, who died in infancy; Charlotte Webster, the wife of William H. Howard of Somerville, Massachusetts; Herman Foster, superintendent of the Amoskeag Company's Mills in Manchester ; Ellen, the wife of Henry Thompson, of Lowell, Massachusetts.

(VII) Herman Foster, second son and third child of Ezekiel A. and Charlotte Smith ( Webster) Straw, was born in Manchester, New Hampshire, December 31, 1849. He enjoyed the advantages of an excellent education, attending first St. Paul's School, and later Harvard College. He became as- sociated with his father in business in August, 1872, and under his direction carefully mastered all the details connected with the manufacture of cotton goods. He occupied the various positions, having charge at different times of nearly every branch of the business, and in 1885 was made agent of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, which is to-day (1907) the largest manufacturing concern in the world, and employs over thirteen thousand hands. He married, September 18, 1873, Mary Oreslow Parker, of Boston, Massachusetts, and they are the parents of: I. William Parker, superintendent of the Amoskeag Mills. He married Josephine Perkins and has children: Ezekiel Albert and Mary Parker. 2. Henry Ellis, who was graduated with honor from Harvard College in the class of 1905, and is now a member of the class of 1907 of the Harvard Law School. 3. Herman Foster, Jr., who is now fourteen years of age.

To honor one of the disciples chil- PEIRCE dren, especially in Catholic countries, were named Peter, but Peter was never a pleasant name to English ears, as it reminded Britons of a tax, Peter's Pence, which was one of all least liked, as they saw none of its fruits. The French form of the name is Pierre, which being introduced into England became Piers, Pierce, Pears, Pearse, Peers and Parr, and ultimately these became surnames. The Pierce family of America is almost entirely the progeny of one man. One of their number, writing of the Peirces, says: "Young dueks do not take to the water more naturally that the Peirce family throughout the country do to democratic principles. Indomitable perseverance is also a trait which marks their character in every department of life, and has generally crowned their efforts with ultimate success, though attained after repeated and sometimes mortifying failures."

(1) John Pers (for so the name was spelled) of Norwich, Norfolk county, England, weaver, with his wife Elizabeth and four children, came to New England in 1037, crossing the ocean in either the "John and Dorothy" of Norwich, or the "kose" of Yarmouth. William Andrews. Sr., was master of the former, and his son of the latter vessel. The register of certain emigrants to New England pre-

26.4

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

served in the English exchequer contains the fol- lowing: "April the 8th 1637. The examination of John Pers of Norwich in Noff (Norwich in Norfolk) weaver ageed 49 yeares and Elizabeth his wife aged 36 yeares with 4 children John Barbre Eliza- beth and Judeth and one sarvant John Gedney aged 19 yeares are desirous to passe to Boston in New England to inhabitt." It seems probable that John Pers had been preceded to New England by his older child, and that the four named were probably the youngest of the family. Elizabeth was probably ten years older than she is here represented.

John Pers was granted one lot in Watertown, and purchased three other lots before 1644, one of these lots being his homestead of twelve acres. He was admitted freeman in March, 1639. He was born (probably) in 1588, and died August 19, 1661. Ilis wife was born in 1601 (if not in 1591), and died March 12, 1667. Their children were: Anthony, Esther, Mary, Robert, John, Barbre, Elizabeth, and Judith.

(II) Anthony, eldest child of John and Eliza- beth Pers, was born in England, in 1609, and died in Watertown, Massachusetts, Alay 9, 1678. He married in England, and came to America previous to his father. He settled in Watertown, and owned land in that portion of the town near the Cambridge line. His homestead on the north side of the road from Cambridge was afterwards the residence of his sons Joseph and Benjamin. Anthony Perse, ac- cording to the Watertown Record Book, owned a homestead of ten acres, and also a farm of eighty- six acres of upland in the third division. "He was a grantee of two lots in Watertown, one of which was four acres." He afterwards purchased six acres adjoining it on the west, a grant to his father. He was admitted freeman September 3, 1634. He was the ancestor of nearly all the families bearing the name afterwards in Watertown, Waltham, Wes- ton, Lincoln, Lexington and Concord. His will was dated September 6, 1671. His inventory amounted to three hundred three pounds, eleven shillings and one pence, a good sum in those days. He married his first wife Mary in England. She died in 1633, and the same year he married second Ann, who died January 20, 1683. His children were : John, Mary (died young) (by the first wife) ; Mary, Jacob, Daniel, Martha, Joseph, Benjamin, and Ju- dith (by the second wife).

(III) Joseph, seventh child and fourth son of Anthony and fifth child of Ann Peirce, was born in Watertown, probably in 1647, and resided in Watertown. He was admitted freeman April 18, 1690. He died intestate before December 22, 1713. His first wife's name was Martha. He married second, June 15, 1698, Elizabeth (Kendall) Winship, of Cambridge, daughter of Francis Kendall, of Wo- burn, and widow of Ephraim Winship, of Cam- bridge. She was born in Woburn, January 15, 1652. Mr. Winship resided at Cambridge Farms, where he was one of the pioneers, and his situation as well as that of his associates is faintly shadowed in a memorandum connected with the settlement of his estate. "His honored father-in-law, Mr. Fran- cis Kendall, of Woburn, in said county, demands the following debts, viz: that his son-in-law, Ephraim Winship, in the time of the former war, called King Philip's, came to his house for shelter, for fear of the Indians, because his living was then in the woods remote from neighbors, and he brought with him his ancient mother-in-law-Reigner, a widow of whom he is to take care; and that the said Francis Kendall did keep the said widow Reigner for said Ephraim Winship with provisions,

more than a year and a half, at eight pounds per year," etc. December 22, 1713, Elizabeth Peirce, widow, of Watertown, and Jacob Peirce (son of Joseph). of Weston, were admitted to administer on the estate of Joseph Peirce late of Watertown, deceased, intestate; giving bonds in the sum of four hundred pounds, with Joseph Sherman, of Watertown, and Joseph Peirce, of Lexington. The inventory amounted to three hundred and sixteen pounds and ten shillings. His children, all by the first wife were: Joseph, Francis, John, Mary, Ben- jamin, Jacob, Martha, Stephen, Israel, and Eliza- beth.

(IV) Jolın (2), third son and child of Joseph and Martha Peirce, was born in Watertown, May 27, 1673, and died in Waltham, in 1744, aged sev- enty-one. He settled and resided until his death in Waltham. He married November 5, 1702, Elizabeth Smith, who was born January 15, 1673, and died in Watertown, September 20, 1747, aged seventy- four. They had seven children : John, Jonas, Ezekiel, Samuel, Elizabeth, Daniel, and Jonathan. (V) Jonas, second son and child of John (2) and Elizabeth (Smith) Peirce, was born December 20, 1705, and after marriage resided in Lexington and Westminster. He married, January 4, 1727, Abigail Comee, by whom he had eight children : Jonas, Nathan, Elizabeth, John, Thaddeus, Solomon. Abigail and Mary.

(VI) Jonas (2), eldest child of Jonas (I) and Abigail (Comee) Peirce, was born July 7, 1730, and died June 27, 1819, aged eighty-nine. He re- sided in Weston, Massachusetts, and Springfield, Vermont. He married first, Sarah Bridge, who died September 17, 1772; second, February II, 1773, Lydia Gregory, who was born October 29, 1736. The children of the first wife were: Matthew, Jonas, Asa, Thaddeus, Molly, Anna, child (died young) ; and by the second wife, Isaac, Abigail, and perhaps Jonas.

(VII) Asa, third son and child of Jonas (2) and Sarah (Bridge) Peirce, was born in Weston, Massachusetts, January 25, 1762, and died in Dublin, New Hampshire. He settled in Dublin about 1786, and died a few years later. He married Betsey Pike, by whom he had two sons, Asa and Jonas. His widow married second, Thomas Davidson, and re- moved to Jaffrey.

(VIII) Jonas (3), second son of Asa and Betsey (Pike) Peirce, was born in Dublin, April 18, 1788, and died May 28, 1857, aged sixty-seven. He was a prosperous farmer. He married first, September I, ISII, Lucinda Bailey, who was born in Lancaster, July 22, 1791, daughter of Benjamin and Lucinda Carter Bailey, of Jaffrey. She died in 1838, and he married second, September 11, 1838, MIrs. Polly Bowers, who died March 2, 1875, aged eighty-five years. His children were: Asa, Abigail, Addison, Jonas. Benjamin, Amos, Dexter, Betsey and Emily.

(1X) Benjamin, fifth child and fourth son of Jonas (3) and Lucinda (Bailey) Peirce, was born in Jaffrey, July 11, 1821, and died there, Novem- ber 17, 1904, aged eighty-three. He was educated in the common schools of Jaffrey, and Melville Academy and at the age of twenty-three years left the old homestead in Jaffrey and went to Boston, where he engaged in the flour and grain business and accumulated a large estate. In 1866 he re- turned to Jaffrey and spent the remainder of his life there, residing on the Shedd farm, off road 36. In 1877 he built the Granite State Hotel, which was an addition of much importance to East Jaffrey. Mr. Peirce was a man of prominence in town affairs, and held many positions of trust. He represented

265

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

Jaffrey in the legislature in 1870 and 1871, and was a member of the constitutional convention of 1876. He was one of the directors of the Monadnock National Bank, and vice-president of the Savings Bank of East Jaffrey Village. He married, May 12, 1846, Lucinda Stratton, who was born Au- gust 24, 1823, daughter of Isaac and Betsey ( Bailey ) Stratton, and a descendant in the fourth generation from David Stratton, all of whom had resided on the same homestead in Jaffrey. She died June 17, 1888, aged sixty-four years. Five children were born of this union, three of whom died young ; George A. was born October 5, 1848, and died January 27, 1907.

(X) Ada, youngest child of Benjamin and Lu- cinda (Stratton) Peirce, was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, June 1, 1857, and married Julius E. Prescott, of Jaffrey (see Prescott, IX).

SANBORN The Sanborn family is one of those early families, which, being prolific and composed of individuals able to take care of themselves, and having descended from not one but three original immigrant ancestors, now numbers a multitude, many of them like their forbears being leaders of men and filling positions of honor, trust and profit, worthy successors of the men who transformed the New England wilderness into one of the richest areas in America. John William and Stephen Sanborne (for so they spelt the name) were sons of an English Sanborne (prob- ably William of Brimpton, Berkshire) and Anne, daughter of the Rev. Stephen Bachiler. Anne Baclı- iler's husband died about 1630, as is shown by the records. The three sons of Anne Sanborne are said to have come to America with their grand- father Bachiler (a prominent preacher of New Eng- land (see Batchelder) in 1632, but apparently their mother did not come over, nor have we any trace of the sons till 1639 in Hampton, New Hampshire. William and descendants are mentioned at length in this article.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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 73

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