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 44

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 44

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(VII) John Harris, youngest child of John Jackson and Adelaide Sarah (French) Jenness, was born in Pittsfield, New Hampshire, April 1, 1880. He was educated in the public schools and the Pittsfield Academy, where he distinguished himself, being graduated from the latter institution in the class of 1899. He turned his attention to the culti- vation and management of the home farm, and has been thus occupied at Concord Hill. Pittsfield, up to the present time. He does not, however. allow this to occupy his entire time, and has taken an active part in the conduct of the public affairs of his community. He was elected selectman in 1903. and was the youngest man to hold that office in that section of the country. His chief character- istics are enterprise, progressiveness and executive ability, and he is looked upon as one of the rising young men of the county. He has sound judg- ment and a keen business insight far beyond his years, and his counsel is often sought hy his ncigh- bors and friends, and is readily and cheerfully ac- corded.

HARVEY The race of Harvey treated of in this article is descended from the Me- serve family, as is explained below. The lineage of Messervey or Meserve is one of the anicent and aboriginal families of the Isle of Jersey, and according to the traditions of the family of the present day the surname was derived from the Nor- man verb Messervyr. signifying the "ill-used." Jolın Messervy held lands in St. Martin's' parish, in Jersey, in 1331, and was at that time seigneur of the fief of Porteraux in that of Grouville. By the marriage of Richard Meservey and Mabel, eldest daughter of Clement Dumaresq, the fief of Bagot came to be possessed by the family. A family hy the name of Messerwy settled in England is evidently a branch of the old Jersey stock, as the name and arms differ only slightly. In documents and rec- ords, ancient and modern in America. the name has a varied orthography, as Mesharvy, Meservey, Ma- serve, and Meserve, the latter being thic most com- mon spelling. The emigrant ancestor of the Me- serves settling in Portsmouth, was probably con-

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nected with the fisheries for which the vicinity was famous, and went there on that account, but of this there is now no proof.

(1) Clement (1) Messerve, from the Isle of Jersey, was in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, as early as 1670; was taxed there in 1673, and took the oath of allegience in 1685. His children were : Elizabeth, Aaron, Mary, Daniel, Clement, and Tam- sen.

(11) Daniel (1), son of Clement Meserve, was born about 1679, and was among the persons en- rolled at a garrison in Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1696.

(III) Daniel (2), son of Daniel (1) Meserve, was born at Dover, and lived at Medbury until his death in 1783.

(IV) Clement (2), son of David (2) Meserve, was born in Dover, January 23, 1741, and removed to Great Barrington, New Hampshire, where he died in 1817. His grandson, Rev. Joseph Harvey, said of him, "He was a very noble man in his time. He was employed as a millwright, and was a master at hewing timber and framing bulidings." He married Lois, daughter of Vincent Torr, who came from Devonshire, England.

(V) Simeon, son of Clement (2) and Lois Torr, was born June 14, 1773, and died October 12, 1836, aged sixty-three. He lived in Barnstead, and married, June 23, 1798, Abigail Snell. They were plain, honest people, living in the fear of God and the practice of righteousness. He was a man of sterling principles and inflexible will, resisting on one occasion by force, an attempt to compel him to drink ardent spirits.

(VI) Joseph, fifth child and third son of Simeon and Abigail (Snell) Meserve, was born in Barn- stead, July 18, 1815, and died in Pittsfield, October 8, 1892, aged seventy-seven. From his early man- hood until his death, Joseph Meserve was known as Joseph Harvey. The occasion of this change of name was that Meserve ( usually pronounced with a somewhat French intonation, Mesarvy, and Me- serve) and Harvey were so near alike in sound that many of the Meserves had been entered in baptism registers as Harveys, and Joseph Meserve himself often received letters addressed to him as Harvey. So, to avoid confusion, he obtained legal sanction to a change of name, and was ever afterward known by the name of Harvey. He grew up on the rugged farm his father cultivated, among the hills which rise castward of the valley of the Merrimack. There he was privileged to attend school summers and winters until his fourteenth year, and winters until he reached the age of sixteen. He then left home and found work and self support in the employ of a farmer in a neighboring town. Here he re- mained three years, contributing his earnings to the support of his father's family. March 27, 1834, he went to live in Pittsfield, where he ever after- ward resided. February 14, 1832, two years before his removal to Pittsfield, he was converted, and September 7 next following he was baptized by im- mersion in the Berry Pond, so called, on the top of Catamount, in Pittsfield, by Rev. James Morrill, a Freewill Baptist preacher of the gospel. This spiritual awakening no doubt led to his removal to Pittsfield, the seat of one of the old academies of New England. Here he spent three years in study, with such interruptions as were necessary to replenish his purse by labor on the neighboring farms. In 1837 he left the academy and went to Watertown, Massachusetts, where he engaged in 11-16

work. Three months later he felt he had received a call to preach, and August 2, 1838, he preached his first sermon at Stafford, New Hampshire. July 13. 1843, he was ordained as an evangelist by a council of divines, sixteen ministers of various denomina- tions being present. His labors must have been im- mediately fruitful, for an entry in the diary of an- other minister states: "July 23, 1843, second ad- vent meeting in James Johnson's barn. Ordinance of baptism administered to eight converts by Brother Harvey." The five years intervening be- tween 1838 and 1843 ( when he was ordained ) were spent in daily labor on the farms of the vicinity of liis residence as employment offered. He exercised his gifts of exhortation, taking no pastorate, but attending religious meetings wherever they were found, and walking or riding over the hills to meet congregations in schoolhouses, in barns, or in "God's first temples," the leafy groves. He had no ecclesi- astical training in the schools. He followed no system of theology. He did not attach himself to any sect, or limit the field of his labor to any pastorate. He was too deeply imbued with the apostolic spirit to become the minister of any church. "Go ye and preach the gospel to every creature" was his command and commission. Never in the course of his fifty-six years of gospel ministry did he accept a pastorate or receive a salary. If money or other thing of value were offered him it was ac- cepted, and though he sometimes was paid for his services, oftener he received nothing. He disdained a "hireling ministry," giving his services freely wherever they were needed with no thought of com- pensation. He preached to the common people, married the young, buried the dead, immersed the converts, and administered consolation to the be- reaved, at his own charge; and often from his slender purse relieved the wants of the poor and suffering. His preaching was wholly extemporane- ous. His familiarity with the bible was so great, and his ideas on religious subjects so clear and ina- tured that his speech took logical shape and flowed from his lips in copious and eloquent forms of ex- pression. Sometimes neither text nor topic were chosen until he had entered the pulpit. He never wrote a sermon, of if he did, none has been pre- served. Possessed of a remarkable amount of exe- cutive ability, a strong constitution and indomitable will, fully realizing the brevity of life and the im- portance of its duties, he crowded into each day more work than most men could do in three. It was not unfrequently the case during the summer months that he would preach four or even five times upon the Sabbath day, and at points widely separated, requiring a drive over the hills under the summer sun of from twenty to forty or even sixty miles per diem. On many occasions he left his home at two o'clock in the morning, driving to Exeter, preaching twice, thence back to Notting- ham for a five o'clock sermon, then to East Northi- wood for an evening service, and arriving at his home at twelve or one o'clock, having covered sixty- three miles in the journey, and that, too, not un- frequently without food of any kind. On one oc- casion he preached five funeral services in one day, driving fifty-six miles to reach them all, and return to his home to sleep, using three horses to accomplish this result. In one season he was called upon to preach and did preach thirteen funeral ser- mons in eleven consecutive days. In the last year of his life he wrote to his son, "I have preached constantly for these many years, averaging front

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three to seven times every week of my ministry; have preached in nineteen of the states and three of the provinces, and had the sweet privilege of doing so without being bound down as a hireling, trusting to God to carry me and mine. ] have preached hundreds of funeral sermons and solem- nized hundreds of marriages, and am now as fresh as a boy." Others familiar with his work estimate that he preached no less than four thousand eight hundred funeral sermons and solemnized at least one thousand one hundred marriages. Conversions attributed to his preaching and baptisms adminis- tered are numbered by thousands.

Elder Harvey was the originator of the Allens- town grove meetings, which were always held on the first Sunday in August. These he had person- ally attended for forty-nine years, and in 1893, liad he survived, it was intended to have celebrated the semi-centennial of a gathering which was looked longingly forward to by old and young from far and near. Soon after Dr. Lorimer vacated his pulpit in Boston, Elder Harvey was called to come there at a salary of $6,000 a year, but he did not recognize it as the call of God, and declined it. He was invited to become the pastor of many other churches, but invariably declined offers of that kind.

Elder Harvey, as might be expected, took a deep interest in public affairs. He was especially inter- ested in those questions that involved morals or principle. He was an original and active anti- slavery man to the extent of being classed with those who at the time received the opprobrious epi- thet of "abolitionists." He preached and rejoiced at the progress which anti-slavery sentiment made in public opinion. His voice was lifted up with no uneertain sound in the face of opposition and persecution. On one occasion at Manchester his morning discourse was so seasoned with anti-slav- cry salt that the irresponsible rabble was invited and threatened to give him a "dueking" in a nearby pond. This threat did not close his mouth, but only called out a more rousing and bitter denuncia- tion of the "sum of all villainies" in the afternoon. He was actively interested in the organization of the Republican party as a distinctively forward step in the progress of liberty. Elder Harvey was a local magistrate, holding the office of justice of the peace for forty years, a justice of the quorum thirty years, and a justice for the State of New Hampshire about the same length of time, but as his town was with few exceptions Democratic, he was never placed in any other political office. It is believed that he never failed to attend town meeting when state or national officers to be voted for, from the time hie cast his first ballot till his death. He was equally respected and loved by men of all parties, and once served as moderator.

The slaveholders' rebellion aroused all the ener- gies of his being. He was ready to and did volun- teer his own services, and exerted all his influence and put forth all the power of his persuasive elo- quence to aid the enlistment and equipment of troops, in which, to its honor be it remembered, New Hamp- shire did not lag in the rear. He was tendered the chaplaincy of one of the early regiments of the state, which with characteristic self-abnegation and unselfish patriotism he declined, saying "I think I can do more good as a free minister." The services which he rendered freely and with no compensation whatever, sometimes at his own expense, are thus modestly mentioned by him in one of the reminis- cences of later years : "During the war of the re-

bellion I served my state as a messenger to and from the camp and the hospital, being sent down to various points of the seat of war five times to look up the siek and wounded New Hampshire soldiers, rendering whatever service I could to aid the families of the volunteers who nobly went to the front." The occasion of these visits to the eamps and hospitals was improved for preaching and administering religious rites, including bap- tisms. Elder Harvey became well known among the troops, and was greatly beloved by the soldiers to whom he went as an evangel of love.

In all the thousands of miles of travel by day and by night which Elder Harvey traveled over the storm-washed roads in summer and through wildly drifted snows in winter, no serious accident be- fell, although an account of the wonderful escapes he made would fill pages. Elder Harvey was one of he made would fill pages. Elder Harvey was one whose personal endowments were calculated to im- press men. Physically he was a splendid man, five feet eleven inches high, with a fair skin and full blue eyes. He was an athlete whose broad, well developed, ereet and pliant frame was crowned with a full face in which power and benignity beamed. A writer of a published article wrote, "I well re- member his giant form as I saw him in the field one day, doing tlie work of three men with ap- parently no extra exertion. I was then a full grown man, but he picked me up as if I were a babe, and, lifting me at arms length above his head, asked in his peculiarly gentle manner : .Well my boy,

shall I toss you on the load?' " His voice was smooth. resonant and penetrating; and the flow of his words, logical, picturesque and entertaining. It seems a pity that one of Elder Harvey's strength and energy should have been almost a lifelong suf- ferer from a very aggravated hernia which caused him much trouble to control, and at times, untold physical agony, and often threatened to terminate his life. Yet it was wonderful that when he was seventy years of age he should have become com- pletely cured of his affliction in a day, and, as he always maintained, in answer to his earnest prayer to God for healing.

Not long after his marriage, Elder Harvey pur- chased a tract of land on "Catamount" in the town of Pittsfield. Not many years later he exchanged this homestead for another tract of nineteen acres a half mile lower down the steep slope of the mountain. It was a most unpromising spot to fur- nish maintenance for a family-wild and sterile, stones covered the surface and embedded them- selves in the hard and ungenial soil. Ilere the elder built a house largely by the labor of his own hands, cleared away the stones, made massive walls about the exterior lines, and in time made his little farm a garden spot. He had a fondness for trees, planted an orchard, and in time saw it become pro- litic and the source of no small income, and to-day it is numbered among the best in the state of New Hampshire. Ile sometimes raised as many as five hundred bushels of apples, and barrels with Elder Ilarvey's name stenciled on them found ready buy- ers who never knocked in the heads to examine the contents before taking them from the market. The Elder's dwelling was scarcely completed be- fore it was destroyed by fire. Ile at once set to work to build another. His neighbors and friends generously assisted him in the work and volunteered a liberal subscription to his aid, and soon another house replaced the one that had gone.

In his early life Mr. Harvey had learned shoe-

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making. He was naturally apt at all manual em- ployments, ingenious and skillful. He fitted up a part of his house for a shop and began work at the trade. He often took apprentices who remained with him for years His sons also learned the trade and became expert cordwainers and assisted their father in earning the competence which clothed and fed the family. Frequent entries in his diary show that a large part of his income, even down to the later years of his life, came from the labors of the shop. It was a varied and inspiring life which he led. From the bench to the farm; from the farm to the saddle: from the saddle to the pulpit, and from the pulpit to the bedside, or among the sor- rowing group that bore beloved dust to the tomb.

Soon after his ordination to the ministry Elder Harvey married. He thus modestly and briefly mentions this event: "My marriage was December 18, 1844, at the home of the bride in the presence of about fifty persons, at 10:20 A. M., by Rev. John Knowles, of Pittsfield, to Miss Emeline Me- loni Tasker, daughter of Joseph Tasker, of Pitts- field, a maiden of twenty-three years, a school teacher of remarkable success." She was a suit- able and worthy helpmeet, and appreciated her husband's gifts and sympathized in his work. Con- tent with the slender provision for worldly com- fort which they possessed, she devoted herself to domestic life, leaving her husband free from an- noyance to pursue his path of duty and labor of love. They walked together in unity and peace for forty-eight years; she died July 13, 1900. The children of this union were: Ellen S. A .. Eugene M., John T., Mary E. Josephine, Joseph. O., and Charles E. Ellen S. A. (deceased), born August 31, 1846, married Leroy Pease, of Barnstead; Eu- gene M., born February 18, 1849, died at the age of fifteen years: John T. is mentioned at length below : Mary E. Josephine. born April 7, 1855, mar- ried Swain Clough ; she owns and conducts the most fashionable millinery store in Pittsfield ; Joseph O., born September 12, 1859, married Florence Wheeler. Since his early manhood he has been in tlie employ of publishers of local historical and biographical works, and in this business soon became known as a canvasser for books and portraits who had very few equals and no superior. This reputation he still maintains. He is a man of unusually fine phy- sique, commanding figure, and great personal mag- netism, which, no doubt, contributed much to his success. He became deeply interested in the work of secret fraternal societies, and organized in the vicinity of Boston various lodges of Knights of Pythias. in the uniform rank of which order he at- tained the rank of colonel. He is also a prominent Mason. Charles E., born April 21, 1863, is a graduate of Bellevue Medical College, and a lead- ing physician in Hartford, Connecticut.

(VII) John T., third child and second son of Joseph and Emeline E. (Tasker) Harvey, was born in Pittsfield, June 14, 1852. He was educated in the common schools; at Pittsfield Academy while in charge of the widely known D. K. Foster, and subsequently took two years at Phillips Exeter Academy. After leaving school he entered the Pitts- field shoe factory and worked at shoemaking in Pittsfield for ten years. afterwards becoming super- intendent of a shoe factory in Claremont, New Hampshire, but the past eighteen years have been spent in agricultural pursuits. In politics "'Squire Harvey," as he is usually called, is a staunch Re- publican. He has been a justice of the peace since

1874. In politics he is an active participant, and has often served as a delegate to county, congressional, and state conventions. For fifteen years he lias been moderator of the business meetings of his school district. He is one of the most popular men in the region where he lives, and is often chairman of public gatherings thereabouts. Ile is a member of the New England Order of Protection, in which organization he is a past grand prelate and past grand warden. He is also a past master of Cata- mount Grange. He married, in Pittsfield. December 18, 1879, Elgie E. Fernald, who was born in Man- chester, New Hampshire, November 12, 1854, daughter of Henry and Martha J. (Wilson) Fer- nald. They have one daughter, Florence E., born May 29, 1886, who is a graduate of Pittsfield high school.

Most of the New Hampshire families of HICKS this name are descended from two brothers who were among the earliest American immigrants. Robert Hicks, who came in the ship "Fortune" to Plymouth, Massachusetts, November II, 1621, was descended from Sir Ellis Hicks, who was knighted by Edward, the Black Prince, in 1356. Elias Hicks, the Quaker preacher and founder of the Hicksite division of that faith, was a descendant of Robert Hicks. Thomas Hick, brother of Robert, emigrated to this country about 1630, and settled in Scituate, Massachusetts. The following line is undoubtedly derived from one of these brothers, but the connecting links are lacking. .(I) Benjamin Hicks was born in Lee, New Hampshire, in 1763. When but seventeen he enlisted in the Continental army, and endured fearful hard- ships. With several others he was taken prisoner at Saratoga, and they were starved into taking oath to support the king. After a time they were placed in the baggage train in the rear of the British army, whence they made their escape to the American forces. Near the close of the war Mr. Hicks came to Jefferson, New Hampshire, where he was one of the earliest settlers, near a sheet of water which he named Safety Pond in memory of his deliverance from past horrors. Benjamin Hicks married Alice Hight, and they had seven children, among them, David, whose sketch follows. Benjamin Hicks died at Jefferson, March 25, 1846, and his wife died June, 1846.

(II) David, son of Benjamin and Alice (Hight) Hicks, was born at Jefferson, New Hampshire, August 27, 1796. In 1818 he bought a farm of one hundred acres, which became his permanent home. He was a natural mechanic, and his skill was much in demand for making nice wood-work like spinning wheels, clock reels and the like. He was also fond of hunting, fishing and trapping, for which his native town afforded fine opportunities during his early life. He was a Democrat in politics, and a Calvinist Baptist in religion. A quiet, law-abiding and much respected citizen he was called deacon in his later years. On December 25, 1824, David Hicks married Eliza, daughter of John and Betsey (Hight) Garland, and they had six children : Horace D., who worked thirty years for the Brown Lum- ber Company, and died in 1904: John Austin, whose sketch follows: Elizabeth. born October 28, 1839, married Nathan R. Perkins, a prominent citizen of Jefferson: Alice Jane, born February 27, 1842, married James Tate, and is now deceased; Joseph G., born December 28, 1844, died October, 1906; Harriet T., born December 23, 1846, died October

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18, 1872. David Hicks died at Jefferson, November 4, 1889, and his wife died September 30, 1867.

(III) John Austin, second son and child of David and Eliza (Garland) Hicks, was born on his present farm in Jefferson, New Hampshire, May 27, 1836. He was educated in the public schools of his native town, and has since been engaged in farming, adding to his real estate till he now owns one hundred and fifty acres. He is a Democrat in politics, and served as selectman in 1860, and as representative in the legislature in 1876-77. He has been town clerk for more than thirty years, begin- ning in 1873. He attended the Baptist Church, and is a member of the North Star Lodge of Masons. On November 5, 1871, he married Margaret Plaisted, daughter of Joshua and Eleanor Plaisted, of Jefferson. She died April 24, 1896. There are no children.

CLARK The families of the surname Clark in New England are almost as numerous as any other family in the region, and many of them trace their ancestry to the earliest times of the colony. In New Hampshire the name has been well known for more than one hundred and fifty years, and of the several branches repre- sented in the various counties of the state a majority of them came from Massachusetts. There is no county in New Hampshire that has not at least one Clark family, and in the more populous counties every town has its family of that name.

(I) Josiah Clark was an early settler in Frances- town, New Hampshire, and may have been born there. He was married, June 17, 1790, to Mary Robertson, also of an old New Hampshire family. About the beginning of the last century Josiah Clark removed with his family to the town of Hills- borough, where he afterward lived. His children were born in Acworth, Francestown, Dublin, and the last in Hillsborough. They were: Charlotte, Seth, Edwin, Maria, Adaline and Lorinda.

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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 44

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