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. II, Part 134

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: 874

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. II > Part 134

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Besides his manifold business interests Dr. Loth- rop was for many years a powerful factor in the political history of Dover and Strafford county, al- though his participation in that direction was not for purposes of self-advancement or desire for political preferment. for every element of his na- ture was directly the opposite of all which consti- tutes that character. He held public office for the good of his city and the welfare of its people, and generally at personal cost to himself. In 1872 he * was elected to the state legislature, and in 1883 and again in 1884 was mayor of Dover. The latter was

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perhaps the most important office of a public char- acter he ever filled, and during his incumbency there arose serious questions to be settled, some of which had involved the city in litigation and threat- encd dire consequences had not the municipal in- terests been ably safeguarded by its chief executive. His zeal in the city's welfare never abated, whether he was or was not a part of its governing body, and he always showed a generous public spirit in supporting its institutions with private subscription from his own purse; and no worthy charity cver appealed in vain to him. He was made a director of the Cochecho National Bank in 1858, its vice- president in 1873 and president in 1876; a director of Cochecho Aqueduct Company in 1871, its clerk in 1872 and president in 1875. He was also a con- siderable stockholder and director in the Ports- mouth & Dover Railroad. the Eliot Bridge Com- pany, the old Dover Horse Railroad, and president of Dover Board of Trade. In politics he was thoroughly Republican, and in religious preference a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. For more than forty years he was a teacher in the Sun- day school of that church.

Dr. Lothrop married, September 29, 1852, Mary E. Morrill, daughter of Joseph and Nancy Morrill, of Dover, New Hampshire, Dr. Lothrop died March 6, 1907, at Dover, where he is buried.

Driven from England hy religious per-

PHIPPS secution persons named Phips and others who spelled their name Phipps came early to New England. From early pioneers of one of these stocks came the Phippses of this article.

(I) Samuel Phipps and his wife, Mary, resided in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the birth of their daughter, Mary, born March 28, 1778. Their next child was born in Burlington, January 15, 1780; the next, Sarah, in Fryburg, August 16, 1782, and the following five, Elizabeth, Elijalı, Abigail, John and Anna, in Chatham, New Hampshire.

(II) Elijah, son of Samuel and Mary Phipps, was born in Chatham, New Hampshire, March 13, 1786. February 13, 1803, the marriage intention of Elijah Phipps and Dorcas Harriman, both of Chatham, were published; and on March I, 1803, they were married in Chatham, by Asa Eastman, justice of the peace. Elijah and Dorcas had born to them in Chatham, Mary, Oscar R., Samuel, James Monroe, Emily, Peter, Albert Gallatin Whip- ple and Charles Edwin.

(III) James Monroe, third son of Elijah and Dorcas (Harriman) Phipps, was born in Chatham, September 3, 1816, and moved to Milan, in March, 1831, at the age of fourteen years, when that part of the state was little better than a wilderness. He remained with his parents and assisted his father on the home farm the greater part of the time until he attained his majority. He then learned the trade of custom boot and shoe making, which he followed fifteen years, employing from one to five men. In 1852 he went into trade with Adams Twitchel, and

they carried on a store and also conducted quite an extensive business for the time in lumbering. In the spring of 1856 they sold out to Bickford, Whee- ler & Davis. Mr. Phipps then became a farmer and followed that employment until 1868, meantime building the stand occupied by him at the time of his death. In 1868 Mr. Phipps, his brother Peter, and his son James S., formed a partnership under the firm name of J. M. Phipps & Company, and opened a general store which they carried on until May, 1872. After that time he attended to the cul- ture of his farm. He was a selfmade, upright, honorable man, highly esteemed by all who knew him. He held the office of justice of the peace forty- five years; his last commission expiring June, 1885. He was postmaster from 1861 to 1864, and a mem- ber of the board of selectmen for 1858-59, 1862. 1865-67, and was a member elect of the legislature of 1885. His death, which caused the first vacancy in that body that session, resulted from paralysis, and occurred May 3, 1885. He was made a mem- ber of Gorham Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, in May, 1863, and by North Star Royal Arch Chap- ter, Lancaster, in April, 1874. He married, Oc- tober 13, 1839, Lydia G. Wheeler, of Shelburne, born in Shelburne, New Hampshire, February 24, 1820, and died December 7, 1889, daughter of Amos Wheeler, of Milan. They had three children that lived to maturity: Emily, married Lewis H. Cole. Clara, married Abner K. Cole. James S. Only one of these, James S., survived him.

(IV) James Selden, only son and third child of James M. and Lydia G. (Wheeler) Phipps, was born in Milan, March 15, 1847, on the homestead of his father, where he spent his early years. He died in Berlin, April 3, 1905. He attended the public schools of Milan and had the benefit of one year's instruction in a business college in Concord. This constituted his early education. He left the farm at the age of twenty-one and engaged with his father and P. A. G. W. Phipps, in mercantile business in Milan, under the firm name of J. M. Phipps & Company, continuing in trade about ten years. During the most of this time he was post- master of Milan. In 1890 the Berlin Savings Bank & Trust Company was organized in Berlin, and MIr. Phipps was elected treasurer of the company. He put the best ten years of his life into the work of this enterprise, and the results bore witness to his sound business judgment. In 1900 certain changes took place in the directorate of the bank, and Mr. Phipps deemed it advisable to retire. This he did, and the same year he, in company with others, some of whom had been connected with him in the bank, organized the new City National Bank, and Mr. Phipps was elected cashier. This position he held at the time of his death. In this, as in other affairs, he showed his ability and good judgment. It has been written of him: "In his make-up there was not one iota of speculation; he had no desire for great wealth, hence he took no chances with fortune. An honest value for an honest dollar was his motto, and he made this the basis of his whole business

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life. His knowledge and insight into the ways of men were remarkable, and his estimate of men and of value was accurate and safe. No man of the county of Coos would hesitate to trust him with his honor or his money, and none had a truer or safer councillor. His methods were safe, his judg- ment phenomenal, his accuracy and ability unex- celled, and there was not a rough clement in his nature." In ten years the stock in the first banking enterprise went from par to two and one-half times above par, and when in this institution changes took place which caused him to withdraw from it, he took to his new establishment many of the patrons of the old, and the respect and good will of every business man in the county. For fourteen years he rode twice a day in every condition of weather be- tween Milan and Berlin, a distance of eight miles each way. This, together with his close confine- ment to business told upon his health, and a year before his death he removed to Berlin.

In the affairs of Milan Mr. Phipps was a leading spirit. For nearly fifteen years he was town clerk. He served on the board of selectmen, took the census of the town in 1880 and 1890, was justice of the peace a great many years, and was authority on all matters pertaining to the business of the town. In the summer of 1888 he represented Milan in the New Hampshire legislature. The town did not feel able to build the kind of a bridge across the Androscoggin river, near Milan, that was needed, and Mr. Phipps introduced a bill providing for an appropriation from the state funds to pay a part of the expenses of the structure. This was the first bill of the kind ever introduced into the legislature and it met with a good deal of oppo- sition, but Mr. Phipp's clear statement of the merits of the case prevailed, the bill passed, and the state and the town together appropriated $10,000 and the new iron bridge was built in 1889, Mr. Phipps being chairman of the building committee. This bridge remains a monument of his fidelity to the interests of the town.

He affiliated with the Masonic Order early in life, receiving the degree of entered apprentice in Gorham Lodge, Gorham, July 28, 1868; the fellow craft degree September 1, 1869, and the degree of master Mason September 29, 1868. In February, 1878, he was demitted from Gorham Lodge, and in March, 1878, became a member of North Star Lodge of Lancaster. When Sabatis Lodge of Berlin was organized he was demitted from North Star Lodge and became a member of Sabatis Lodge. Ile re- ceived the degree of the Royal Arch Chapter, April 15, 1874, and was knighted in North Star Com- mandery, Lancaster, April 26, 1877. Ilis love of Masonry grew with years, and when in August, 1894, Edward A. Raymond Consistory visited Lan- caster, and established Scottish Rite Masonry in the North Country, Mr. Phipps was one of the large class to receive the Scottish Rite degrees, from the third to the thirty-second, both inclusive; March 23. 1893, he became a member of Kora Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.

Lewiston, Maine. He was also a member of An- droscoggin Lodge of Odd Fellows of Milan, which he joined when it was organized in 1884.

Mr. Phipps married, June 17, 1875, Ellen M. Edwards, of Bethel, Maine, born January 27, 1853, daughter of General Clark S. and Maria (Mason) Edwards. Her father during the Civil war was one of Maine's most famous and honored sons. Of this union were born two daughters: Maud Lillian, January 26, 1877, married John L. McIntire, of Milan. Marcia Edwards, November 9, 1889. The family still resides on the old homestead in Milan.

The name of Howard, which is one HOWARD of the most famous in the annals of English chivalry, has for a period of six hundred years been prominently identified with the nobility and was borne by several Dukes of Norfolk. Its ancient forms of spelling were Ha- ward and Hereward. According to Burke's "Her- aldic Register" the present form of spelling origin- ated with William Howard, a learned and reverend judge in the reign of King Edward I. Dugdale tried in vain to trace its origin to a more remote period. Sir Robert Howard, Knight, a descendant of the judge, married Margaret, eldest daughter of Thomas de Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, and great- granddaughter of and heiress of Thomas Planta- genet, surnamed De Brotherton, eldest son of King Edward I by the latter's second wife, Margaret, who was a daughter of Philip the Hardy of France. John Howard, Duke of Norfolk, the Jockey of Nor- folk mentioned by Shakespeare, fell in the battle of Bosworth Field (1485), while defending to the last extremity the lost cause of his sovereign, Richard III. His son, Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey and afterwards Duke of Norfolk, distinguished himself at the battle of Flodden (1513), and the latter's eldest son, Henry ( 1516-1546), also Earl of Surrey, was one of the most noted poets and polite writers of his age.

(I) The New Hampshire Howards now in hand are the descendants of Nathaniel Howard, who came from Suffolk, England, in 1641, and settled in Dor- chester, Massachusetts, where he was made a free- man in 1643. In the early New England records the name is subjected to several changes in its ortho- graphy, such as Hayward. Haward and Ileywood. The maiden name of the wife of Nathaniel, the im- migrant, cannot be ascertained. Two of his sons, William and Nathaniel, Jr., resided for a time in Charlestown, whence they removed to Chelmsford about 1656.

(II) Nathaniel (2) Howard, son of Nathaniel (1), the immigrant, probably accompanied his par- ents from England. Land was granted him in Chelmsford, where he reared several children, among whom were Nathaniel and Jacob. Wyman's "History of Charlestown" states that he went to Chelmsford considerably later than 1656; that he married for his first wife Sarah Willard, July 2. 1666, and for his second wife Sarah Parker: ande that his children were: Sarah, Nathaniel, Mary,

Hon &. Woodbury Howardy.

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Samuel, Benjamin, Jacob, Rebecca and Rachel.

(III) Jacob, son of Nathaniel (2) Howard, was probably a life-long resident of Chelmsford, but no definite information concerning him can be gleaned from the records.

(IV) Benjamin, doubtless a son of Jacob How- ard, resided either in Chelmsford or the adjoining town of Westford. It is quite probable that Silas, the next in line of descent as given here, was a son of Benjamin, but unfortunately the tracing of this particular branch of the family is attended with much difficulty.

(V) Silas, son of Benjamin Howard, is believed to have been born in Westford, where he married, January 6, 1775, Sybil Read, daughter of Captain William Read. He was one of the embattled farm- ers who fought for national independence, and after the dawning of the new era in our civilization settled in Lyndeborough, New Hampshire. The "History of Hillsborough County" states that later in life he removed elsewhere. He was the father of ten children, namely : Silas, Samuel, Joseph, Jacob, John, Benjamin, Martha, Abigail, Rachel and Sybil. He died in 1840, aged forty years.

(V1) Joseph, third son and child of Silas and Sybil (Read) Howard, was born June 19, 1792, and died September 13, 1839. He settled in Wilton, New Hampshire, where he married, February 19, 1818, Phebe Pettengill, born in that town April 26, 1796, daughter of William and Rhoda (Haggitt) Petten- gill, the former a Revolutionary soldier and a selectman of Wilton. She died August 3, 1829, and he subsequently married Abiah Parker, born October 20, 1806, and died July 20. 1888. The children of his first union were: Ezra P., John S. G. and Joseph A. Those of his second marriage were: Adeline and Hannah G.

(VII) Ezra Pettengill, eldest son and child of Joseph and Phebe (Pettengill) Howard, was born in Wilton, in 1818. His career of usefulness began early, and at the age of about ten years he was considered competent to drive a team from Wilton to Nashua. He was shortly afterwards left motherless and going to Temple worked upon a farm for some years. When eighteen years old he began to learn the carpenter's trade, and after serving his apprenticeship was employed as a jour- neyman in Lowell and Cambridge, Massachusetts, Washington, New Hampshire, and Rochester, New York. Returning to New Hampshire in 1842, he resided in Temple for a short time, and going from there to Washington he turned his attention to the manufacture of card boards. From 1846 to 1851 he was associated with his brother, Joseph A. Howard, and from the latter year till 1869 car- ried on business alone, increasing his facilities and managing his affairs with such sagacity as to ac- quire control of the entire production of card boards in the United States. In 1869 he removed to Na- shua and engaged in the flour and grain trade, later becoming associated with his son in 'the manufacture of furniture under the firm name of Howard & Company. He participated quite prominently in

public affairs and for the years 1867-68 represented Washington in the lower house of the state legis- lature. On January 24, 1844, he married Mary Trow, of Goshen, born in Mount Vernon, July 22, 1818, daughter of Levi and Betsey (Averill) Trow, and died December 6, 1894. The children of this union are Joseph W. and Mary H. (twins), and Martha J.

(VIII) Joseph Woodbury, eldest child of Ezra P. and Mary (Trow) Howard, was born in Wash- ington, November 22, 1844. His education was obtained in the public schools of his native place, at Tubb's Union Academy at Washington, and at the Academy at New Loudon. Soon after leaving school he engaged in business in Manchester, and continued there for about a year. Removing to Nashua in 1867 he entered the furniture store of E. P. Brown, and shortly afterwards became a partner in the enterprise, and so continued for a number of years. Upon the dissolution of the firm Mr. Howard and Captain C. D. Copp associated themselves together under the firm name of Howard & Copp, and continued the business. After two or three years of successful business this firm was dis- solved, and Charles H. French became interested in the firm, the name of which became Howard & French. Still later the firm was changed by the ad- mission of David Heald, of Milford, and took the name of Howard, French & Heald. This firm had a factory at Nashua, and another at Milford, and did a very large wholesale business. In January, 1894, it was dissolved, French & Heald taking the Milford branch, and Mr. Howard retaining the Na- shua business, of which he became sole proprietor. It was incorporated October 19, 1905, as the How- ard, Sexton Company, J. W. Howard becoming president; C. W. Howard, treasurer and manager of the spring bed factory, and J. B. Sexton, for six years previous the company's manager, becoming manager of the store. This concern is now one of the leading house furnishing establishments of the state, and carries a complete line of furniture of ev- ery description, carpets, draperies, curtains, and an extensive assortment of wall papers. In connection with the latter men are furnished to hang wall paper. Five floors and a basement are occupied with a total of twenty thousand square feet of floor space. Twelve sales-people are employed. The spring bed factory of the concern occupies three floors, five thousand square feet, and employs fifteen hands. The products are sold in all sections of New England. Mr. Howard has been a sufferer from fire to an extent that would have discouraged and wrecked a less energetic and hopeful man. The . retail department of his business was totally de- stroyed while located in the old Beasom block; his factory in the Greeley buildings on Lowell street was badly damaged, his factory in the old Washington house with its annex on Main street was wholly consumed, as was his factory and storehouse on Front street. At other times he has sustained losses by less destructive fires, the last being the burning of the upholstery department of his business on

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Front street. In spite of these losses he has never faltered in his progress, and has repeatedly rebuilt stores and factories, and enlarged his output. In ad- dition to the above named enterprises, Mr. Howard is president and manager of the Howard Furniture Company, organized in 1892, which has a large fac- tory at Wilton and a storehouse in Nashua, employ- ing one hundred men. He is owner of the Howard block.

Mr. Howard is a man whose influence has been constantly felt in the financial, manufacturing, busi- ness and social circles of Nashua for many years and that influence has been exerted for the good of the city and the benefit of its citizens. In politics he is a Republican, and in municipal and state affairs he has taken no inconsiderable part. He served ward one on the board of selectmen, repre- sented it in the common council in 1877-78; in the board of aldermen in 1879-80, and has served the city on the board of education fifteen years. He was a member of the lower house of the New Hampshire legislature in 1887-88, and was a mem- ber of the state senate in 1893-94. While a member of the house he served on the committees on banks and manufacturing, and while in the senate he was a member of the committee on military and other important committees. His services as a legislator were important, and received the hearty approval of his constituents. In 1894 he was elected mayor of Nashua, and discharged the duties of the office with fidelity and to the profit of the city. In 1905 he was made a member of the governor's council, and served two years. It is necessary only to men- tion the numerous business enterprises with which Mr. Howard has been connected, and the many offices he has filled to illustrate the great energy and executive ability of the man.

In religious opinions he is a Universalist, and gives a hearty and liberal support to the institutions of that denomination in Nashua. In 1890 he be- came a member of Rising Sun Lodge, No. 39. Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; and since that time he has taken his place in Meridian Sun Royal Arch Chapter; Israel Hunt Council, Royal and Select Masters; St. George Commandery, Knights Templar, and Edward A. Raymond Consistory, thirty-second degree. He joined Pennichuck Lodge, No. 44, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in 1868, and is one of the oldest Odd Fellows in Nashua. He is a member of S. S. Davis Lodge, No. 2, Knights of Pythias.

He married, August 27, 1868, at the bride's home, Nancy J. Hesselton, born December 13, 1841, daugh- ter of Joel and Mary (Herrick) Hesselton, of Wil- ton. Three children have been born of this mar- riage : Charles W., mentioned below ; Frank Barrett, September 20, 1871; and Mary Hesselton, August 14, 1876, married, October 26, 1899, Herbert L. Flather, of Nashua.

(IX) Charles Woodbury, eldest son and child of Joseph W. and Nancy J. (Hesselton) Howard, was born in Nashua, October 28, 1869. He studied

preliminarily in the public schools and was grad- uated from Phillips (Exeter) Academy in 1890, after which he allied himself with the business in- terests of his native city. He is a stockholder and treasurer of the Howard Sexton Company, and is also quite extensively interested in the develop- ment of real estate, being president of the Baldwin Realty Company. Politically he is a Republican, and was a member of the legislature in 1905-07; during both terms he served as a member of the appropriation and military committees, and in the session of 1907 was chairman of the military com- mittee. He affiliates with the various Masonic bodies up to and including the thirty-second degree, and Bektash Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, also with the Nashua Boat Club, and is actively interested in the state militia, being at the present time assistant adjutant general with the rank of lieutenant colonel on General Tolles' staff. He attends the Unitarian Church.

Mr. Howard married, June 14, 1894, Blanche L. Baldwin, daughter of Josephus Baldwin, first mayor of Nashua. They have two children: Woodbury and Lucy Baldwin Howard.

The name of Tasker is not common TASKER in this country, and most of the fam- ily appear to belong to New Hamp- shire. They trace their line to one of the seven- teenth century immigrants, who bore his part in subduing the wilderness and defending the little sea-coast settlements against the attacks of the Indians.

(I) John Tasker, the first of the family in America, came from England in 1680 and settled in Madbury, then Dover, New Hampshire. At the time of the destruction of Oyster River, now Dur- ham, by the Indians, July 18, 1694, there was an at- tack on the Tasker home. Mr. Tasker succeeded in killing one Indian, who was borne off by his two companions. The family then fled to the woods, and that night succeeded in reaching the Woodman garrison. John Tasker married, and had four sons: Ebenezer, Samuel, John and William. (The last named receives extended mentioned, with descend- ants, in this article).

(II) John (2). third son of John Tasker, the ancestor, was born in Madbury about the year 1718, and in later years became one of the most promi- nent representatives of the Tasker family in New Hampshire, one of the foremost mien of Strafford county, and one who was as highly respected as any man in the region. He was a man of keen business foresight, as will be seen by the circum- stances which impelled him to leave Madbury and settle in Barnstead. The colonial governor and council having ordered the construction of a high- way to be called the Province road, to lead from Durham through. Barrington. Barnstead, Gilmanton and thence to Coos and the Canadian border, John Tasker, of Madbury, thought it a good time to set- tle the town of Barnstead. He went there in 1767.

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during the summer season, and with others con- structed a rude log cabin of considerable size and large enough to provide shelter for cattle and who- ever should care for them until the coming of the next spring. He stored a good crop of hay from a large beaver meadow, which was fed to the cattle driven from Madbury by Benjamin Emerson and two companions, all three being young men .and the first white men who passed a winter in Barnstead.

John Tasker was a land surveyor and had been employed in Barnstead in making original surveys in that town and in tracing lines of others. This work gave him a thorough knowledge of the value and location of the best lots, and he became the owner of many of them by purchase at public sales in Newington and Portsmouth at prices ranging from ten to seventeen pounds per hundred acres. This land was sold largely in payment of taxes assessed for the purpose of constructing the Province road. The tract selected for his home- stead, where he had established his old log camp, was in the extreme southeast corner of the town, next to the Strafford line and near Barrington, where he might reach the nearest settlement with little inconvenience in crossing Blue hill in case of necessity. His home site had a high ridge for a dwelling house, an abundant supply of water and extensive meadows which had been cleared by beavers and which furnished an ample supply of natural growth hay until that commodity could be produced by cultivation.

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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. II, Part 134

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: 874

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: 874