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 34
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Edward Lathrop Carpenter, seventh son and ninth child of Nicholas and Hannah (Libby) Carpenter, was born December 24, 1838, in the town of Holland, adjoining Derby, where his parents then resided, and attended the public schools of Derby Line until he was sixteen years of age. He assisted his father in the labors of the farm until 1858, when he went to Lowell and found employment in a cotton mill, becoming familiar with the operation of spinning in all its details. Upon the outbreak of the civil war he returned to his native place and endeavored to enlist in a company recruited in Derby, but it was full before his arrival. The following summer was spent in Canada, where he drove a peddler's wagon through the country. On December 22, 1861, he enlisted in Company B, Eighth Vermont Volunteer Infantry, and was mustered into the United States service in the following February. Proceeding to New Orleans, this regiment became a part of the force under General Benjamin F. Butler and saw much severe service along the lower Mississippi. Mr. Carpenter participated in almost continuous fighting for several months, and was severely
wounded at the battle of Port Hudson. He was discharged at Brattleboro in the spring of 1863, and was ill during the succeeding summer, as a result of malarial surroundings in Louisiana. In the spring of 1864 Mr. Carpenter came to Manchester and secured a situation with the Stark Corporation and was in charge of a weaving room fifteen years. De- siring to engage in farming, he went to West- more and purchased land, which he tilled four years. Because of his wife's ill health he sold out and re- turned to Manchester and again entered the mills. continuing until the fall of 1003. He then settled upon land which he had purchased in 1887. in the town of Manchester, and is engaged in farming. In January. 1905, his house was burned, and he im- inediately rebuilt a handsome and pleasant country home. He is now enjoying in quiet contentment the fruits of many years of industrious applica- tion, and is respected by his contemporaries. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and has been many years a member of Mechanics Lodge, No. 13. Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Mlan- chester. He is a Universalist in religious faith,
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and his wife is a member of the First Congrega- tional Church of Manchester, where he usually at- tends divine worship. Mr. Carpenter is a Republi- can, and served as selectman from Ward one of Manchester, while a resident of the city.
He married, July 1, 1865, Laura E. Ashland, who was born in Champlain, New York, a daughter of Francis and Adeline (Baker) Ashland, natives of New York. Francis Baker was a son of Francis Baker, who was born in Albany, New York, of Huguenot ancestors who settled in Connecticut.
Irving Lloyd Carpenter, only child of Edward L. and Laura E. (Ashland) Carpenter, was born April 6, 1866, in Manchester, where nearly all his life has been passed. His primary education was supplied by the public schools of his native city, and he was graduated from the medical department of Harvard University in 1890. Dr. Carpenter be- gan his practice in Sioux City, Iowa, where he re- mained two years. Yielding to the persuasions of his parents, he returned to Manchester, and has since continued in active practice here, building up a lucrative and successful line of work. He has a large family practice in medicine and surgery, and his friends are limited in number only by the extent of his acquaintance. Of genial nature and cordial manner, his presence in a sick room is worth as much to the patient, in many instances, as are his remedies. His standing in the profession is indicated by his admission to the Manchester Medi- cal Association, New Hampshire Medical Society and American Medical Association. These are the only societies in which he holds membership, but his heart finds room for all worthy movements. He is busy with the care of his patients, and has little time for social diversions, political or other strifes, but he supports his principles by sustaining the Republican party in national contests. Dr. Car- penter was married, January 15, 1893, to Mrs. Ann Winnifred Thayer, daughter of Robert and Anna (Bixby) Patterson. Mrs. Carpenter was born Sep- tember 21, 1866, in Boylston street, between Wash- ington and Tremont streets, Boston, a locality now occupied by business structures.
TOWNE The thoughtful person finds no cause to wonder at the unparalleled growth of the American commonwealths when he takes into consideration the quality of the pio- ncers of civilization who laid the foundations of the nation, and gives credit to the inherited charac- teristics that have distinguished the American peo- ple, and especially those of New England. The same elements that made the ancestors successful colonists, two centuries ago, are making their de- scendants successful in a hundred ways today. The Townes performed well their part in earlier days; the sons and daughters of the old families are today worthy of their sires.
(1) The earliest positive information we have of William Towne, the earliest ancestor of the present family of the name, is that Mareh 25, 1620, in the Church of St. Nicholas, Yarmouth, Nor- folk county, England, he married Joanna Blessing, and that their first six children were baptized there. We next hear of this family at Salem, Essex county, Massachusetts, where in the book of early grants we find the record of land granted to Wil- liam Towne. "II, 8mo., 1640." William Towne's residence was in that part of Salem known as the "Northfields," and he remained at this place until 1651, when he purchased land in Topsfield, whither
he subsequently moved, and where he died about 1672, and, from the final settlement of the estate by his widow, she seems to have survived him about ten years. "Taken away from the Evil to come" might have been the epitaph on their tombstones, in view of the terrible fate of their daughters some ten years later. The children of William and Jo- anna (Blessing) Towne, of Yarmouth, England, and Salem, Massachusetts, were: I. Rebecca, baptized February 21, 1621; married Francis Nourse, of Salem. She was hanged as a witch at Salem, July 19, 1692. Her husband survived her, dying at Salem, November 22, 1695, aged seventy-seven years. Their descendants have been numerous, and highly re- spected. 2. John, baptized February 16, 1624, died before his father. 3. Susanna, baptized October 20, 1625, died before her father. 4. Edmund, bap- tized June 28, 1628. 5. Jacob, baptized March II, 1632. 6. Mary, baptized August 24, 1634; mar- ried Isaac Esty ; she was also hung as a witch, two months and three days after her sister. 7. Sarah, baptized September 3, 1648; married (first) Janu- ary 11, 1660, Edmund Bridges. and (second) Peter Cloyes; she narrowly escaped the fate of her sisters Rebecca and Mary. 8. Joseph, baptized September , 1648.
Rebecca (Towne) Nourse was taken to church in chains the Sabbath previous to her execution, and there publically exeommunicated by her minis- ter. "But," says a writer of that day, "her life and conversation had been such that the remem- brance thereof in a short time wiped off all the reproach occasioned by the civil and ecclesiastical sentence against her," and in 1712 the church to which she belonged reversed its decision by blotting out the record of her excommunication.
(II) Jacob (I), son of William and Joanna Towne, was baptized at Yarmouth, Norfolk county, England, March II, 1632. He resided at Salem, Massachusetts, with his father about twelve years. He married, June 26, 1657, Catherine, daughter of John Symonds, of Salem; made his will at Tops- field, November 24, 1704; and died the third day following, aged about seventy-three years. His will was proven January 1, 1705, his son John being executor. Their children were: I. John, born April 2, 1658; married Mary Smith. 2. Jacob, born February 13, 1660; married Phebe Smith. 3. Cath- erine, born February 25, 1662; married Elisha Perkins. 4. Deliverance, born August 5, 1664. In Ruth, born August 1664. Both Deliverance and Ruth married John Stiles. 6. Edmund, born July 21, 1666.
(III) Jacob (2), son of Jaeob (1) and Cather- ine (Symonds) Towne, was born at Topsfield, February 13, 1660. He was admitted to the church September 1, 1717, and died October 4, 1741, aged eighty-one years. He married Phebe, daughter of Robert Smith, June 24, 1683 or 1684. She was born August 26, 1661, and died January 14, 1740, aged seventy-nine years. Their children were: Jo- 1 shua, born November 13, 1684. 2. John, February 2, 1686. 3. Abigail, December 10, 1687. 4. Cath- erine, January 2, 1690. 5. Jacob, 1693. 6. Gideon, February 4. 1696. 7. Ruth, March 25, 1698. 8. Ste- phen, November 2, 1700. 9. Jabez, June 15, 1704. IO. Elisha, October 25, 1706.
(IV) Jabez (I), son of Jacob and Phebe (Smith) Towne, was born at Topsfield, June 15, 1704, and died at Londonderry, New Hampshire, April 1, 1783, aged seventy-nine years. He married. March 30, 1730, Tryphenia Dwinnell, who died
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April 16, 1785. Their children were: I. Jabez, born March 4, 1732, 2. Mary, October 30, 1734. 3. Rebecca, June 9, 1737. 4. Jacob, September 25, 1738. 5. Elijah, September II, 1740. 6. Abigail, December 7, 1743. 7. Ruth, October 22, 1740. 8. Susannah, November 19, 1749.
(V) Jabez (2), son of Jabez (1) and Try- phenia (Dwinnell) Towne, was born at Topsfield, March 4, 1734 (?), and died in 1758, "in ye war," the records say-probably while serving in the French and Indian war which was then waging. He married, May 23, 1754, Lydia Perkins, born March 17, 1737, died March 2, 1812. Their chil- dren were: I. Lydia, baptized January 18, 1756, died June 27, 1759. 2. Moses, born September 6, 1757. Lydia (Perkins) Towne married (second) John Chapman, April 22, 1760, who died December 7, 1760, and (third) May 15, 1765, John Batch- elder, Jr.
(VI) Moses, son of Jabez and Lydia ( Perkins) Towne, was born September 6, 1757, and died Janu- ary 24, 1828. He married, February 29, 1784, Char- lotte Underwood, by whom he had ten children : I. Jabez, married (first) Mary Campbell; (second) Elizabeth Chase; (third) Jane Anderson. 2. James, married Elizabeth Anderson. 3. Lydia, married Jo- seph Bailey. 4.
Mary, married Robert Boyd, 5. John, married Eliza Anderson. 6. Moses Marsh, died at the age of nine. 7. Foster, married Nancy Cross. 8. Charlotte, married David Ambrose. 9. Susannah, died aged two and a half years. IO. Moody, married Harriet Stimson.
(VII) Jabez (3), the eldest child of Moses and Charlotte (Underwood) Towne, was born De- cember 22, 1784, in Londonderry, where he spent his life as a farmer. In his youth the greater part of New Hampshire was a wilderness. The follow- ing story, which he told to a grandson in his old age, illustrates his early environment :
One winter night, when about sixteen years old, he attended a party at the house of John Campbell, who lived about three miles away. There he met a young lady of about his own age, in whom he be- came very deeply and permanently interested. On his way home over an unfamiliar path through the woods, he saw an object ahead of him which he took to be a bear, and hastened back to get Camp- bell to kill it. Campbell and two or three others accompanied Jabez to the spot, where he pointed out the bear still standing upright in the path. Campbell said it was only a high stump he had left in the clearing, and Jabez was laughed at for his mistake. One day soon afterward he noticed near his father's house an unusually large bear track. Smarting under what he had been obliged to endure in the way of badinage over the affair at Campbell's, Jabez decided to follow the trail and get a bear, and thus silence sportive tongues. Accordingly, he informed his brother James, some two years younger, of what he had seen, and they took their father's trusty flintlock, put some brown bread in their pockets, and set out on the trail, expecting to overtake and kill the bear in a short time. They followed the trail through the snow all day and camped on it at night, at the foot of a big tree, where they built a fire. The next day they resumed their pursuit and before night came up with the bear, which they killed. Tired, hungry, and wet through with the sleet that was falling, they skinned their game, cooked some of the flesh, and ate the first food they had tasted that day. The chase had been a long one, and the bear had led
them from Londonderry through Litchfield, Bed- ford, Goffstown and Weare, and into Henniker, a distance of thirty-five or forty miles. Making a · drag from the limbs of a tree they put the skin and a hindquarter of the bear on it and started with their load for home. That night they had no means of making a fire, and rolling themselves in the bearskin made the best they could of a night in the forest, cold, wet and cheerless. But once asleep, they slept as only tired boys could. The third day they started again, but lightened their burden, throwing away the meat. After traveling all day they reached a house in Bedford, where one of the good mothers of that day warmed and fed them, and gave them hot water to bathe their bruised and blistered feet, and a bed to sleep on. The next morning Jabez cut the claws from the bearskin and presented it to the woman who had treated them so kindly. Re- suming their journey, they reached home very weary and footsore, but Jabez had established his reputation as a hunter of bear. He subsequently wooed and won the young woman he met at the party at Campbell's, and presented her with the bear's claws as a souvenir.
Jabez Towne cast his first vote for Thomas Jefferson, and voted at every presidential election from that time until his death, December 20, 1879. In his later years he was a Republican. He en- joyed remarkably good health up to the time of his death. Two days before that event he was chopping wood and stopped to talk to a neighbor. He took a chill, and died of bronchitis two days later. He married, first, April 10, 1813, Mary Campbell. They had seven children: Sarah, born June 18, 1814; Susannah, January 1, 1816; Betsy C., June 2, 1817; Otis, April 12, 1819; Daniel, January 14, 1822; Silas T., June 29, 1824; Mary C., June 21, 1826. Mary (Campbell) Towne died, and he married, March 3. 1829, Phebe Elizabeth Chase, and they had: Lizzie C., born May 9, 1830; Jabez C., December 21, 1832; and John C., October 15, 1836. Phebe Elizabeth (Chase) Towne died, and Mr. Towne married (third), April 28, 1839, Jane Anderson.
(VIII) Daniel Dana, son of Jabez (3) and Mary (Campbell) Towne, was born in Londonderry, Jan- uary 14, 1822, and died October, 1883. He spent his youth on the farm occupied by his ancestors since 1654. He was educated in the common schools and when a young man went to Manchester and secured employment in the mills. For thirty-three years he has been an overseer in the Amoskeag Mills, having charge of the A. C. A. weaving department. In politics he is a Republican, and was a member of the New Hampshire legislature during the time Governor Straw filled the gubernational office. He married April, 1853. Betsy Bean Robinson, born September 20, 1827, died July, 1890. They had two children : George Dana, born January 12, 1854, and Mary Frances born November 24, 1858, died 1883, aged twenty-four years.
(IX) George Dana Towne, M. D., was born in Manchester, January 12, 1854, son of Daniel D. and Betsy Bean ( Robinson) Towne. He was educated in the common schools and high school of his native city until 1871, when he matriculated at Dart- mouth College, from which he graduated in 1875 with the degree of Bachelor of Science. During three years of his time not otherwise employed he read medicine in the office of Dr. George E. Hersey, a leading surgeon of Manchester. In 1876 he en- tered the University City of New York, medical department, from which he took the degree of Doc-
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tor of Medicine in 1878. Returning to Manchester he became a partner with his former preceptor, Dr. Hersey, who died eight days later. The young phy- sician found himself at once in the enjoyment of a good practice, which has since continued to in- crease, and he is now reckoned one of the leading physicians in the state of New Hampshire. He is a member of the New Hampshire Medical Society, the Centre District Medical Society, the Hillsboro County Medical Society, the Surgical Club of New Hampshire, the Medico-Legal Society of New York, and the New York Alumni Association of Massachusetts. He has held the office of president of the Surgical Club, and of the Centre District Medical Society. In politics he is a Republican. He was a member of the school board of the city of Manchester for a period of twenty-five years closing in January, 1905. He is serving as one of the trustees of the State Normal School under appointment of Governor Rollins. In these posi- tions he lias exerted a strong influence for the im- provement and progress of the schools of the city and state. In Masonry he is a Knight Templar, and a member of the Mystic Shrine. He is also a mem- ber of the Derryfield Club. In 1896 he spent the summer abroad, visiting many of the chief points of interest in Europe.
Dr. Towne married, June 28, 1894, Mrs. Eliza- beth A. Means, neé French, daughter of George A. and Louise M. (Fabens) French, of Manchester.
BUTTERFIELD The person first bearing this old English cognomen prob- ably took it from a place called Butterfield, anciently Bothar's field, or the field owned hy some old viking named Bothar. The energy that characterized the Northman in war has been turned upon the arts of peace by those who take tlivir name indirectly from the warrior.
(1) Benjamin Butterfield, from whom most of the Americans of that name descended, was at Charlestown, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, as early as 1638. His name appears among the first town records of Woburn, and he was made a free- man in that town in 1643. In 1645 his name appears on the Woburn tax list. In 1653 he headed a peti- tion of twenty-nine, including the petitioners of the preceding year, for a tract of land six miles square to begin at the Merrimac river at a neck of land next to Concord river, to run southerly on Concord river and westerly into the wild country. The spot was known to the Indians as Naamkeag, which means a fishing place. This tract was occupied in 1654 by Butterfield and his associates, and the next year was incorporated as Chelmsford. The line be- tween the Indians and the whites was run on the east side of "Butterfield's Highway," and was marked by a ditch. On this highway Benjamin Butterfield pitched his farm and built his house within the limits of what is now Ward 4, Lowell. In 1656 he is named as one of the citizens of Chelmsford, to whom the Governor Dudley farm of fifteen hundred acres was conveyed. Ile obtained forty-two acres of the new fields which was granted at Chelmsford in 1656. Three of his sons were among the grantees of Wanesit. It is probable that he was married in England, and was accompanied thither by his first wife. Ann. She died at Chelmsford, May 19, 1661, and he married (second), June 3, 1663, Hannah, widow of Thomas Whittemore. His first two chil- dren were born in England, the others in Woburn, namely: Jonathan, Mary, Nathaniel, Samuel and Joseph.
(II) Joseph, youngest child of Benjamin and Ann Butterfield, was born August 15, 1649, in Wo- burn, Massachusetts. He died in 1720, and his es- tate was appraised on the twenty-second of Decem- ber, the amount of the administration being three hundred pounds. He was married February 12, 1674, to Lydia Ballard, daughter of Joseph, one of the first settlers of Andover. Joseph Butterfield's children were: Joseph, Benjamin, Tabitha, Isaac and Jacob (twins), and Anna.
(III) Benjamin (2), second son and child of Joseph and Lydia ( Ballard) Butterfield, was born between 1680 and 1685, in that part of Chelmsford which is now Tyngsboro. He lived at or near Frances Hill (now Westford), where he died 1714- 15. His wife's name was Elizabeth, and their chil- dren were: Benjamin, William, Elizabeth, Esther, Mary and Deborah.
(IV) William, second son and child of Benja- min (2) and Elizabeth Butterfield, was born in 1705, in Chelmsford, and lived with his father at Frances Hill in Westford, where his name appears on the first tax list in 1730. At the carliest town meeting in 1734 he was elected hogreeve. He died in West- ford in 1785 and his widow in 1792. He married Bathsheba Shepard, daughter of Abraham Shepard, of Concord. Their children were: Rebecca, Abra- ham, Olive, Samuel and Bathsheba.
(V) Peter, second son and fifth child of Will- iam and Bathsheba ( Shepard) Butterfield, was born in Westford in 1739. He was a soldier in the French war of 1757, and in the Revolution from 1775 to 1783. For many years he lived in Townsend, whence lie removed to Goffstown, New Hampshire. His wife's name was Hannah and their children were: Sally, Peter, John and Hannah.
(VI) Peter (2), only son and second child of Peter (I) and Hannah Butterfield, was born July I, 1777, in Goffstown. New Hampshire, and resided in that town, where he was engaged in farming.
(II) Parker, son of Peter (2) Butterfield, was born in Goffstown in ISI2, and died in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, May 23, 1883. He was educated in the public schools of Goffstown. He was first a tanner and wool and lumber merchant. After carry- ing on these lines of business for twelve years he bought a farm in the town of Merrimack, where he remained three years and then went to Fitchburg, Massachusetts, where he was engaged in the furni- ture business for the next five years. He was a Republican in politics. In religious matters he held liberal views, and attended the Baptist Church. He married, in 1851, Jane C. Carley, daughter of Asa and Catherine (Berry) Carley, of Peterborough. She was born 1828, and was for many years a mem- ber of the Baptist Church. The children of this marriage were : Albert, George P., and Charles F.
(III) George Parker, second son and child of Parker and Jane C. (Carley) Butterfield, born in Bedford, New Hampshire, October 30, 1854, went with his father's family to Manchester in 1866 and to Merrimack in 1869. He obtained his education in the common schools of Bedford, the high school of Manchester, and the academy at Nashua. In 1871 he entered the employ of Parker & Company. manu- facturers of furniture at Thornton's Ferry, where he learned the business and was subsequently made foreman of the finishing department. In ISSo the fırın moved its business to Fitchburg, Massachusetts, where Mr. Butterfield was superintendent of the finishing department until 1885, when he removed to Reed's Ferry, New Hampshire. In 1886 he entered
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the service of Fessenden & Lowell, manufacturers of cooperage and lumber. Here he learned the cooperage business, and in 1887 was made shipping clerk and manager of the package department. Fes- senden & Lowell was made a corporation under the laws of New Hampshire in 1903, and Mr. Butter- field became a stockholder and director, and was chosen secretary of the corporation and manager of the package department, which position he still holds. Mr. Butterfield is a Republican, and as such has filled the offices of town clerk and supervisor of schools of Reed's Ferry. He is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, of Souhegan Lodge. No. 9S. Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and of the Congregational Church of Merrimack. He married, April 15, 1880, Emma E. Kittredge, born in Merrimack, February 17, 1859, daughter of Jeremiah C. and Mary A. (Ritterbush) Kittredge, of Merrimack. Mr. Kittredge was an extensive manufacturer of overalls, frocks and coats. One son was born of this union, George K., born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, December 29. 1880, a grad- uate of McGaw Normal Institute, class of 1899, and of Tufts Medical College, Boston. class of 1903, and now on the Taunton ( Massachusetts) Hospital staff
FARRAR There are several distinct families of this name in New England, descend- ing from John and Frances Farrar, of Hingham; Thomas and Elizabeth Farrar, of Lynn ; George and Ann (Whitmore) Farrar, of Ipswich (generally written Farrow) : Jacob and Hannah (Haywood) Farrar, of Lancaster and Concord ; and John and Joanna Farrar, of Woburn. The last two of these immigrant ancestors are supposed to be brothers and descendants of both appear in this article.
(I) John Farrar was admitted freeman at Wo- burn in 1665 or 1666, and had land assigned to him at the several divisions of common land. He died in Woburn, July II, 1690. His will, dated January 29, 1687, was approved October 7, 1690. His widow Joanna was living in 1701. Their children were: Mary, Jacob, Isaac, died young ; Joanna, Mary, Han- nah and Isaac, the subject of the next paragraph.
(II) Isaac, youngest child of John and Joanna Farrar, was born in Woburn, July 1, 1671. His wife was Mary, but no record of their marriage is found. It is probable that the family removed from Woburn soon after 1730. The children were: Mary, Isaac, John, Jacob. Anne, Jeduthan, and Joanna.
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