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 80
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The ancient family of Shepard- SHEPARDSON son is descended from Daniel Shepardson, who is the only immigrant of that name mentioned by Savage in his account of the early families of New England. As he settled in New England before 1650 he is en- titled to be called a pioneer.
(I) Daniel Shepardson, who may have come from Yorkshire, England, landed at Salem, Massa- chusetts, in the year 1629. He moved with other immigrants to Charlestown, and there he is recorded as a citizen in 1632. He was a blacksmith, and
Reuben Sheperdban
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signed his will with a cross, which was not an un- usual thing in those days. He had a comfortable home with three acres of ground around it, his black- smith shop, and fifty acres of pasture and meadow land in various parcels so that his widow, who had the use of the property during her lifetime, was quite well provided for as far as property was concerned in those days. Like most Puritans he was intensely superstitious, a believer in signs and omens, and when one day, as he was working at his forge, a stone fell from it and crumbled to powder, he rec- ognized the evil portent and gave to his wife the nails he was then making, saying, "They will come in handy some day." The nails were kept, and when he died they were used in making his coffin. He was admitted to the church in Charlestown, June 8, 1633. He resided for a time in Malden, where he died July 26, 1644. His wife's baptismal name was Joanna. Her ante-nuptial surname and the date of marriage are unknown. The widow of Daniel Shepardson married (second) Thomas Call, Sr., and died January 30, 1661. The children of Daniel and Joanna Shepardson were: Lydia, Dan- iel and Joanna.
(II) Daniel (2), only son of Daniel (1) and Joanna Shepardson, was baptized June 14, 1641, and succeeded his father as blacksmith at Malden. He was made a freeman of Middlesex county, May 29, 1674, and took the oath of fidelity December 15, of the same year. His name appcars among the names of those who signed a petition to Sir William Phipps, October 17, 1694, praying to be permitted to establish a settlement at Attleboro, Massachus- etts. He removed to that place, where he seems to have had land as early as 1660. He was the owner of fifty acres of land about half a mile from "Old Town" on the Bay road. He was a man of good character and business ability, and took a prominent part in the town's affairs. With his re- moval from Malden the Shepardson family found its home in a tract of land called "Rehoboth North Purchase," which included what later became the towns of Cumberland, Rhode Island, and Attleboro, Norton and Mansfield, Massachusetts, places in which the family had been represented almost con- tinuously for more than two hundred years. He lived to an advanced age and was long called "old goodman Daniel Shepardson." He married, April II, 1668, Elizabeth Call, daughter of Thomas Call, Sr., and widow of Mr. Samuel Tingley, of Malden. This Thomas Call, Sr., was the second husband of the widow of Danicl (1) Shepardson, and his son, Thomas, Jr., married Lydia Shepardson,' daughter of Daniel (1). The children of Daniel (2) and Elizabeth (Call) Shepardson were: Daniel, John, Nathaniel, Elizabeth, Mary and Joanna.
(III) John. second son and child of Daniel (2) and Elizabeth (Call) Shepardson, was baptized Jan- uary, 1671. He lived in Attleboro until about 1697, when he removed to Rehoboth. He married, April 9, 1694, Elizabeth Fuller, who was born May 12, 1678, and baptized May 30, 1679, daughter of Jona- than and Elizabeth (Wilmarth) Fuller, of Attle- boro. Their children, recorded in Attleboro, were: Ruth, Mehitable, Sarah, Daniel, Amos and John.
(1V) Daniel (3) fourth child and eldest son of John and Elizabeth (Fuller) Shepardson, was born in Attleboro, March 16, 1700. He married in Attle- boro (first) Hannah Richardson, December 9, 1725. She died September 26, 1726, and he married (sec- ond) Mary Washburn, May Q. 1728. Several of the sons of this family removed to Guilford, Ver- mont. Daniel Shepardson had by his first wife one
child, Daniel; by his second wife four: John, Han- nah, Zephaniah and Stephen.
(V) Lieutenant Zephaniah, second son of Daniel (3) and Mary (Washburn) Shepardson, was born in Attleboro, May 6, 1733, and died in Guilford, Vermont, October 16. 1804. He resided in Attle- boro until about 1770, and then removed to Guilford, Vermont. He attended the first town meeting there, May 19. 1772, and subsequently served as consta- ble, overseer of highways and overseer of the poor. In the records he is referred to as "Lieutenant." He married (first) Ruth Hills, who was born July 1, 1733, and died October 16, 1782; (second) De- maris, widow of David Church; she died July 28. 1787, aged fifty-four. He married (third), June I, 1798, Lucinda Chase, of Halifax, Vermont. She died in the "Chinesee" country, September 30, 1809. His children, all by the first wife, were: Zepha- niah, William, Ruth, Joseph, Jared, Demaris and David. Two of these reached great age, one living to be one hundred and five years old, and the other to one hundred and ten.
(VI) Colonel William, second son and child of Zephaniah and Ruth (Hills) Shepardson, was born in Attleboro, Massachusetts, July 25, 1756, and died in Guilford, Vermont, February 18, 1804. He re- sided in Guilford and was spoken of as "Colonel Shepardson." His title probably came from service in the militia. He married Grace, whose surname is unknown. In a little graveyard at Guilford are two stones side by side; on one is cut the following : "Colonel William Shepardson ; died Feb. 18, 1804, aged 48; on the other: "Widow Grace Shepard- son, died Feby. [, 1808, aged 48."
(VII) William (2), son of Colonel William and Grace Shepardson, was born in Guilford, Vermont, December 21, 1787, and died in Claremont, New Hampshire, in 1830. He married, in Guilford, De- cember 15, 1808, Harriet Cambridge, who was a daughter of John Cambridge, an Englishman, who came to America before the Revolution and was sergeant in a Rhode Island regiment during that struggle. He accompanied Benedict Arnold through Maine in the terrible winter expedition against Que- bec in 1775-76. After the war he resided in West- minster, Vermont, and Lempster, New Hampshire, dying at the latter place in 1829, aged seventy-one. He was buried in the East Lempster cemetery. His name is on the United States pension rolls after 1818. His wife died at the age of seventy-three years. They had nine children, all living above sixty-four years, and two living till ninety-three and ninety-eight respectively. William and Harriet (Cambridge) Shepardson had eleven children : Wil- liam. Mary, Reuben, Eliza, Simeon, Hart, Grace, Charles, George, Harriet and Lucy.
(VIII) Captain Reuben, second son of William and Harriet (Cambridge) Shepardson, was born in Guilford, Vermont, November 18, 1813. At the age of nine he was taken to West Claremont, New Hampshire. His father died and left him at six- teen years of age to be the main support of his mother and her other younger children. For sev- eral years he worked in Hartford, Vermont, and later went to Cambridge Hollow, Lempster, New Hampshire. where he carried on business for him- self till 1866. There he developed those qualities of business shrewdness and enterprise which char- acterized his after life. At the age of twenty-four he bought mills which became under his control ex- tensive carding, cloth coloring, finishing and hat dressing works. To these he added lumber and grist mills. In 1853 he built a residence in Clare-
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mont, where he lived part of the time until 1866, when he took up his permanent residence there. About this time he bought the old slate stone mill property, which is now the site of the Claremont Electric Light plant. Here he erected large build- ings and carried on lumber and tub manufactures and carding. For several years prior to 1884 this proper- ty was under litigation, which ended in Mr. Shepard- son's favor and established some very important points in law, and it will be found upon the statute law books of today as the noted Shepardson case. In 1871 he added the file business, and about 1880 pur- chased the Round Building, which he used for carding and shoddy mills, selling the lower mills or slate stone property shortly afterward. He con- tinued in active manufacturing until eighty years of age when, although his eye did not seem dimmed nor his natural force abated, he retired from bus- iness and for eleven years enjoyed the quiet of a ripe old age in his home on Sumner street, where after a short illness he died September 9. 1904, having attained the patriarchal age of ninety-one years. In personal appearance Mr. Shepardson was a noticeable man, being over six feet in height and of erect figure. The title of captain, which he car- ried from his earlier militia days, was appropriate in his military bearing. Although he would accept no political office, he took a commanding part in civic and educational affairs. His successful business career and recognized integrity, together with his many years of active life, made him a trusted ad- viser and a foremost citizen. In politics he was a staunch Republican from the founding of the party, and always read with great interest the workings of the government, taking the Boston Journal from the time of its creation until his death. In early life he attended the Episcopal Church, but in later years his sympathies were more with the Universal- ist Church. He married (first), December 28, 1837, Dorothy (Barnard) Miller, a widow. who died Jan- uary 5, 1844, leaving two children: Emily M .. born February 6, 1839, married Bela Graves, of Unity, died November 30, 1872, buried at East Lempster, leaving four children: Stella M., Willie D., Frank J. and Fred D. Frances J .. born July 15, 1841, died unmarried December 6, 1868, buried at Claremont, New Hampshire. Mr. Shepardson married (sec- ond), March 4, 1845, Hannah P. Eastman, who died July 24, 1858. She was a daughter of James East- man of Weare (see Eastman, VI). Their children were: (I) James W., born January 21, 1846, died September II. 1847. (2) Elsie Eastman, born July IO, 1848. married Levi R. Dole and has five children : Lemuel, Ina, Herman, Guy and Levithu; they reside in Cornish. (3) Mary Eliza, born September 10, 1850, married Bela Graves (his second wife), has three living children: Grace, Richard and Helen Lucy. (4) Luella Armenia, born April 5, 1852, mar- ried Henry A. Eaton, of Springfield, Vermont. They resided most of the time in Claremont. New Hamp- shire: she died February 13, 1906. They had one son. Carl Henry, who died in 1900, aged twenty-one ; both he and his mother are buried in Claremont. (5). Fred L., born July 9, 1854, died February 23, 1875. (6). Clara Belle, born February 9, 1856, died March1 13, 1863. (7). Cora Nell, the youngest. was educated in the public schools and high school of Claremont, worked at photography for five years and afterward studied art and music in Boston, Massachusetts, for a time. She resided at home with her parents, caring for them in the declining years of their lives. She is unmarried and still resides in the old Claremont homestead on Sumner street. Since the death of her parents she has
taught art and music in the public schools of Wal- pole, and is also a teacher in the art of painting on china.
Mr. Shepardson married (third) a widow, Lucy (Ball) McClure, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Gould) Ball, of Acworth, New Hampshire. She was born August 5, 1829. Thomas Ball was a soldier in the war of 1812, and was the son of Sam- uel Ball. a revolutionary soldier, who in turn was the son of Thomas Ball, a soldier in the Indian wars.
Mrs. Shepardson was a person of exceptional ability and refinement, with keen wit and possessing tact and cheerfulness in a remarkable degree. She was a home-maker in the best sense of the term, and became an ideal mother to the bereft children, who to this day hold her in fond remembrance. She survived her husband but five months, dying February 2, 1905, after weeks of intense suffering.
The Brooks family is one of the old-
BROOKS est in Massachusetts, and the ances- tral home at Medford has been occu- pied for many generations. Governor John Brooks was born there about 1752. The family is less nu- merous in New Hampshire, but representatives of two of its branches came here in the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries.
(I) Thomas Brooks came from London and set- tled in Watertown, Massachusetts, where he was admitted freeman, December 7. 1636. He soon moved to Concord. that state, where he was cap- tain, constable and representative for seven years beginning in 1642. In 1657 he purchased of the commissioners for five pounds the right of carrying on the fur trade, and died in the same year. In 1660 Captain Brooks and his son-in-law, Timothy Wheeler, bought four hundred acres in Medford. Captain Thomas Brooks married Grace whose family name is unknown, and they had five children : Joshua, Caleb, both of whom are men- tioned below : Gershom, Mary, who married Captain Timothy Wheeler ; and Hannah, who married Thomas Fox. Mrs. Grace Brooks died May 12, 1664, and Captain Thomas Brooks died at Concord. Massachusetts, May 11, 1667, leaving an estate whose inventory amounted to about four hundred and fifty pounds.
(II) Deacon Joshua, son of Captain Thomas and Grace Brooks, was born in Watertown 1636 and died at Concord. In 1663 he married Hannah Ma- son.
(III) Noah, son of Deacon John and Hannah (Mason) Brooks, was born at Concord in 1665 ( ?), and died there in 1738. His wife was before mar- riage Dorothy Wright, born 1662 and died 1752. (IV) Ebenezer, son of Noah and Dorothy (Wright) Brooks, was born at Concord in 1691-2. He came to Grafton, New Hampshire. and died in that town in 1770. In 1714 he married Sarah Fletch- er, who was born at Concord, in 1690, daughter of Corporal Samnel and Elizabeth (Wheeler) Fletch- er (see Fletcher).
(V) Deacon Simon, son of Ebenezer and Sarah (Fletcher) Brooks, was born at Concord in 1722, and died at Alstead, New Hampshire, in 1808. The maiden name of his wife was Rachel Drury. She was born in 1728, in Grafton, Massachusetts.
(VI) Jonah, son of Deacon Simon and Rachel (Drury) Brooks, was born at Alstead, in 1767. He married Anna Kidder, who was born 1772, in Scot- land.
(VII) Lyman Brooks, M. D., son of Jonah and Anna (Kidder) Brooks, was born at Alstead in
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1796. When eleven years old he went to reside on a farm in Lunenberg, Calendonia county, Vermont, and remained there until attaining his majority. His preliminary preparations for the medical pro- fession were begun under the direction of Dr. Dewey, of Keene, continued under Dr. Adams. of Keene, and completed in the medical department of Dartmouth College, from which he was graduated in 1821. Locating in Marlow he remained there two years, and removing to Acworth, he practiced his profession successfully in that town for the rest of his life, which terminated in May, 1865. The maiden name of his wife was Mary Graham. She was born 1807, in Rutland, Vermont, and died in Acworth 1890. (Their son, Dr. Nathaniel, receives extended mention in this article).
(VIII) Lyman James, son of Dr. Lyman and Mary (Graham) Brooks, was born in Acworth, June 28, 1832. After concluding his attendance at Kim- ball Union Academy, Meriden, this state, he en- tered the law department of the University of Al- bany (New York), from which he was graduated May 25, 1860, and was immediately admitted to the bar of that state, later becoming a member of the New Hampshire bar. He was associated in prac- tice with Ira Colby in Claremont for about three years, or until appointed clerk of the Supreme Ju- dicial Court for the county of Sullivan, and he re- tained that position for nine years. He then went to Michigan, and acquiring an interest in the East Saginaw Manufacturing company, he held the re- sponsible position of manager of that enterprise for the succeeding ten years. Upon his return to New Hampshire he assisted in organizing an industrial enterprise at Charlestown, which was removed to Keene some four years later, and became known as the Impervious Package Company. This concern. of which he is treasurer, is now engaged in the man- ufacture of wooden ware and transacts an extensive business. Mr. Brooks is a Knight Templar Mason, and a member of the Masonic bodies at Claremont. On February 11, 1879, he married Louise Morrison, who was born in Roxbury, New York, May 17, 1847, and died April 9, 1907.
(IX) Clarence Morrison, son of Lyman J. and Louise (Morrison) 'Brooks, was born in Charles- town, March 29, ISSI. He was educated in the Keene public schools, and after graduating from the high school he turned his attention to civil engineer- ing. joining the New York State Engineer Corps, be- ing engaged in laying out and constructing improved highways. After spending a year in that occupa- tion. he entered the United States Military Academy at West Point as a cadet, but withdrew at the con- clusion of his freshman year and returned to Keene. He was for a time assistant superintendent of the Impervious Package Company's plant, and is at present connected with the New Hampshire State Highway Department. Mr. Brooks is a Free Ma- son, being a member of the Social Friends' Lodge, Hugh de Payens Commandery, and the Mystic Shrine. He is interested in ornithology, and is an associate member of the American Ornithologists' Union, and a member of the Wilson Ornithological Society.
(VIII) Dr. Nathaniel Grout, fourth son and sixth child of Dr. Lyman and Mary G. (Graham) Brooks, was born at Acworth, New Hampshire, Oc- tober 1.1. 1838. He attended the common schools of his native town, also a private school and Kimball Union Academy at Meriden. and was graduated from the Albany Medical School at Albany, New York, in 1861. He then served for six months in the Albany City Hospital. Upon the breaking out 1-19
of the Civil war he enlisted as assistant surgeon in the Sixteenth Regiment Vermont Volunteers, and served through the entire war, being discharged in March, 1865. At first he served under Colonel Vesey, but after a year he was transferred to the hospital at Brattleboro, Vermont, where the wounded soldiers were brought. After the war he settled in Acworth, his old home, where he practiced for ten years, removing in 1874 to Charlestown, where he was an extensive general practitioner for thirty years, or until increasing infirmities began to limit his activity. Dr. Brooks is a member of the New Hampshire State Medical Society and the Connecti- cut River Valley Medical Society. having been pres- ident and vice-president of the latter organization. Notwithstanding the demands of a busy professional life, Dr. Brooks has found time to serve the public weal in many other ways than as a physician. He held the office of town clerk in Acworth; and after his removal to Charlestown he was superintendent of schools, member of the Board of Health, and trustee of the Silsby Free Library for many years. Dr. Brooks is a Republican in politics, and was repre- sentative in 1896-97, serving as chairman of the committee on public health. In 1900-01 he was elected to the state senate from the seventh district. He served on the railroads and various other cont- mittees, and was chairman of the committee on the New Hampshire State Hospital. When the Savings Bank of Charlestown failed he was appointed a com- missioner to adjust its affairs. He is interested in fraternal organizations, and belongs to Faithful Lodge, No. 12, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Charleston, and has been through the chairs. He also belongs to Webb Chapter, Royal Arch Masons. of Claremont. and to Sullivan Commandery. Knights Templar, of the same town. He attends St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Charlestown. On December 5, 1876, Dr. Nathaniel G. Brooks married Emma · Preston, daughter of Thomas and Adeline ( Piper) Preston, who was born in Baltimore, Vermont, No- vember 12. 1849. They had three sons: Lyman, whose sketch follows: Nathaniel Preston, and Philip Preston. Nathaniel P. Brooks was graduated from the Vermont Academy, where he fitted for college, graduating from the University of Vermont in 1903. He was a member of the Phi Delta Theta Society in college, and also of a medical fraternity. In 1907 he was graduated from the Bellevue Hospi- tal Medical College. Philip P. Brooks is a grad- uate of the high school at Bellows Falls, Vermont, and is a member of the class of 1910, Dartmouth College.
(IX) Lyman (2). eldest of the three sons of Dr. Nathaniel C. and Emma ( Preston) Brooks, was horn at Charlestown, New Hampshire. He attended Vermont Academy, and studied two years at the Uni- versity of Vermont, taking the course in mechanical engineering. Ile then went into the grain business, which he conducted at Charlestown, up to the spring of 1907. when he went to Boston, where he is en- gaged in business as manager of the Popcorn Produce Company. Ile is a Republican in politics, and has been president of the local Republican Club for three years. He was a delegate to the State Constitutional Convention in 1902. He belongs to Faithful Lodge. No. 12. Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of Charlestown; Webb Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, of Claremont : Sullivan Commandery, Knights Templar, of Claremont, and Mt. Sinai Shrine, of Montpelier, Vermont. In college he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta Society.
(11) Caleb, second son and child of Captain Thomas and Grace Brocks, was born in 1632. He
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lived in Concord till 1680, when he moved to Med- ford, and occupied the land bought by his father, which is still held by his descendants. On April IO, 1660. he married (first) Susanna Atkinson, daughter of Thomas Atkinson, of Concord, Massachusetts, who was born April 28, 1641, and died in Concord, January 19, 1669. They had five daughters: Susan- nah; Mary, who died young; Mary, Rebecca and Sarah. The second Mary was the only one who lived to marry, and she became the wife of Na- thaniel Ball. Caleb Brooks married for his second wife, Hannah -. supposed to have been a sister of his first wife, who was born March 5, 1643-44. They had two sons : Ebenezer, whose sketch follows; and Samuel. Caleb Brooks died at Medford, July 29, 1696, aged sixty-four years, and the inventory of his estate amounted to six thousand, three hundred pounds and fourteen shillings, a considerable for- tune for those days.
(III) Ebenezer, elder son of Caleb and Han- nah Brooks, of Medford, was born February 24. 1670-71, and inherited his father's house and home- stead. About 1693 he married Abigail Boylston, daughter of Dr. Thomas and Mary (Gardner) Boylston, of Muddy River (Brookline), and grand- daughter of Thomas and Ann Boylston, of Water- town. She was dismissed front Cambridge Church to Medford, in 1713. Ebenezer and Abigail (Boyls- ton) Brooks had eight children: Caleb, Ebenezer, Thomas, Samuel, Abigail, who married Thomas Oakes; Mary, Hannah. who married Nathaniel Cheerer ; and Rebecca, who married Samuel Pratt. Caleb, the eldest son, was the father of Governor John Brooks. Ebenezer Brooks, the father, died February II, 1742, aged seventy-two; and his widow died May 26, 1756, aged eighty-two.
(IV) Samuel (I), fourth son and child of Ebenezer and Abigail (Boylston) Brooks, was born at Medford, in 1709, and lived at the homestead of his grandfather, Caleb. On April 2, 1747. he mar- ried Abigail Hastings, of Waltham, and they had eight children : Abigail, Anna, Mary, Samuel, Abi- gail (2), Thomas, whose sketch follows: Abijalı, Philemon, who died young. The second Abigail married Nathaniel Rand (2), and Anna married David Wyer. Samuel (1) Brooks died in 1766, and his widow survived him.
(V) Thomas (2), second son and fifth child of Samuel (1) and Abigail (Hastings) Brooks, was baptized June 5, 1756. He moved to Charlestown, Massachusetts, where he owned a brick yard and acquired a substantial property. He and his fam- ily attended the Congregational Church, whose pas- tor was Dr. Jedediah Morse, father of S. F. B. Morse, the inventor of the electric telegraph. Mr. Brooks during his later years bought an estate at Lunenburg. Massachusetts, where he lived for a time. On May 9, 1786, Thomas (2) Brooks married Par- nell Boylston, daughter of Richard and Parnell ( Foster) Boylston, of Charlestown, who was bap- tized December 23. 1764. They had ten children : Thomas, Parnell, Hannah, Abijah, Mary, Samuel (2). whose sketch follows: Sarah, Foster, Ann, and John Boylston.
(VI) Samuel (2), third son and sixth child of Thomas and Parnell (Boylston) Brooks, was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, March 6, 1795. He attended the schools of his native town, but his edu- cation was largely supplemented by reading the best books, a habit he kept up till the end of his life. He was a keen observer ,and possessed a singularly philosophical and truth-loving mind. In his youth he served an apprenticeship to Gerry Fairbanks, a hatier, and the engraved certificate of his admission
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