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. III, 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: 876

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. III > Part 134

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Williams Roberts, of Old Kittery, Maine, was born in 1640, as stated in a deposition made by him. He married Ann, a daughter of Thomas Crockett, and probably moved to Old Falmouth. From this couple have descended many citizens of Maine, December 30, 1815. His father was John sketch.

(I) George Taylor Roberts was born in Porter, Maine, December 30, 1815. His father was John Roberts, and his mother's maiden name was Taylor. When George was a small boy the family moved to Kennebunk, Maine, where he was educated. About 1837 George T. Roberts went to Milan, New Hampshire, and engaged in farming and lumbering. He was industrious, economical and prosperous. After a time he opened a store at Milan, which he carried on successfully until he sold out to his son Burleigh, in 1872. He was a popular citizen, full of energy and enthusiasm, and when he undertook a proposition it was in the minds of those who knew hini as good as accomplished. He was fair-minded, strictly honorable and strong in argument. With these qualifications, he was often found in the public service. He was elected to the principal town offices, serving as treasurer and representative to the general court in 1864-65, and as selectman in 1842-43-48-52-60-64. He was a member of the Whig party until its dissolution, and when the Republican party was formed he joined that organization and was prominently identified with it until his death, which occurred in Deering, Maine, March 11, 1888. Ile married, in 1837, Mary Titcomb, who was born in Kennebunk, Maine, April 10, 1816, and died September 12, 1882; at Milan. She was a daughter of Benjamin and Mary Titcomb, of Kennebunk. The Titcomb family is one of the ancient and prominent families of Maine. Ten children were born of this union: George II., Benjamin T., Jolin,

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Abbie, Caroline, Mary C., Burleigh, Marcia A., Liz- zie W. and Onslow. George H., born December 9, 1839, enlisted in Company B, Fifth New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry, in 1861, and served as sergeant through all the engagements in which his regiment took part until after the battle of Fredericksburg, and was discharged in June, 1863. He was offered a lieutenant's commission if he would re-enlist, but he declined. He spent the remainder of his life in Milan, where he was engaged in the lumber business. He died in Milan, January 28, 1871. Benjamin F. was born May 4. 1841, and was en- gaged in various lines of business, among which were farming, lumbering and merchandising. For many years he was station agent of the Grand Trunk railroad at Milan. He served in various town offices, and was a member of the legislature in 1889. Ile died October 12, 1904. He married Naomi Thompson, and they had George U., Elmer B., Frank B., Elizabeth G., Charles A. and Mary H. John, born September. 1843, was employed by the government in the south during the war, in the train service. Afterward he was for forty years a locomotive engineer in the employ of the Chicago & North Western railroad. He died at Lancaster, July 7, 1907. He married Nettie Gray, of Janes- ville, Wisconsin ; no children. Caroline, born March I, 1845, died June 5, 1850. Abbie, born April 8, 1846, married Ransom Perkins. She died March 27, 1884. Mary C., born February 27, 1848, died May 16, 1850. Burleigh is mentioned in the next paragraph. Marcia A., born March 26, 1854, re- sides at Westbrook, Maine. Lizzie W., born July 26. 1856, married Lyman Guptill, of Westbrook, Maine, and has three children: Alice, Bessie, and Bertha. Onslow, the youngest of the ten children, was born July 7, 1860, and died October 13, 1869.

(11) Burleigh Roberts, fourth son and seventh child of George Taylor and Mary (Titcomb) Roberts, was born in Milan, February 17, 1851. He was brought up to a knowledge of farming and merchandising. After attaining his majority he bought the mercantile business his father had con- ducted, and carried it on for ten years, with success. In 1883 he removed to Lancaster and purchased an interest in the firm of Kent & Roberts, dealers in dry goods, and was engaged in that line until 1898. In politics he is a Republican. He was representa- tive in the state legislature in 1879. and in 1897 was appointed to fill the unexpired term of registrar of probate of Coos county. Since 1898 he has given his time chiefly to the duties of this office, to which he has been elected at each successive election, and is now serving his fifth term. IIe was a director of the Lancaster National Bank several years, and is now its vice-president. IIe was one of the incorporators of the Siwooganock Guarantee Savings Bank, and has been one of its trustees for more than twenty years. He was one of the organizers of the Lancaster Water Company, and was general manager of the enterprise after it was taken over by the town. The town of Lan- caster is noted throughout the state for its men of energy, thrift and ability, and Mr. Roberts, during his residence there, has maintained a place well toward the front rank, and may always be de- pended on to do his part toward carrying to a suc- cessful issue any enterprise of merit that the public good may demand. Ile is a good member of North Star Lodge, No. 8. Free and Accepted Masons.

Mr. Roberts married, October 31, 1877, Emma Weeks, born in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, June II, 1853, daughter of Judge William D. and Helen

(Fowler) Weeks, of Lancaster, New Hampshire. They have one child, Harry W., born November 17, 1879. He was educated in the public schools of Lancaster, at Kent's Hill Seminary, Readfield, Maine, and Gray's Commercial College at Portland. He is an accountant, and has spent five years on the Pacific Coast.

WILCOX The Wilcox family is of Saxon origin, and was seated at Bury St. Edmunds, in the county of Suffolk, England, before the Norman Conquest. Sir John Dundal, in the "Visitation of the County of Suffolk," mentions fifteen generations of this family prior to 1600. This traces the family back to 1200. In the reign of King Edward III, Sir John Wilcox was en- trusted with several important commands against the French, and had command of the cross-bowmen from Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex. John Wilcox. of Bury Priory, in Suffolk, an eminent Q. C., is a representative of the ancient family.

(1) William Wilcoxson, born at St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England, came to America when thirty-four years old, in the ship "Planter," with a certificate from a minister at St. Albans. Mr. Wilcoxson was made a freeman of Massachusetts in 1636, moved to Stratford, Connecticut, in 1639, was a representative from Hartford in 1647, and died in 1652. He was accompanied to this country by his wife Margaret aged twenty-four years, and their son John, aged two years.

(II) Joseph Wilcoxson, a son of William, the emigrant settler, settled in Killingworth, Connecti- cut. Previous to his removal thither there were born to himself and wife, Anna, children as follows : Joseph, born October 29. 1659; Thomas, November 13, 1661 ; and Samuel, 1663. The birth of his first child recorded in Killingworth was Hannah, born January 19, 1665; and the others born there were : Nathaniel, August 29, 1668; William, January 9. 1671; Margaret, 1673; and John, 1675. The latter was probably the father of Stephen.

The Wilcoxes who lived for several generations in Middlesex county and the country adjoining in Connecticut were a strong and thrifty people, and several of them acquired considerable estates of lands and other property. Among these provident representatives of the surname was one Stephen Wilcox, of Killingworth, the period of whose life began in the early part of the eighteenth century and who was numbered with the wealthiest men of Middlesex county. The best of his possessions was a good family of children, among whom were several sturdy sons who, like their ancestors, sought to branch out from the parental roof and make homes for themselves in some new region; but unlike many of their name of earlier generations, the sons of Stephen were well provided with means where- with to begin life, when in 1766 they set out from old Killingworth for the then comparatively wilder- ness regions of New Hampshire to cast their for- tunes with the pioneers of the town of Newport.

Early Newport history has it that during the summer and fall of 1765 six young men came from Killingworth, Connecticut, to that town, cleared and sowed with rye six acres of land each, and then returned to their homes in Connecticut for the winter. Jesse Wilcox, probably one of the older sons of Stephen, was of that company of six, and in June of the following year they all returned to the town. five being married and bringing families with them, and that two others were then added to their number, probably being Uriah and Phineas

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Wilcox, brothers of Jesse. With them also was their sister Lydia, then wife of Stephen Hurd, one of the original eight, afterward progenitor of one of the best families of Newport and whose descendants reside in several of the counties of New Hampshire.

The year 1766 witnessed this eventful departure from Killingworth and the founding of a new set- tlement in New Hampshire. The name most promi- nent 'in all proceedings relating to the allotment of lands and the subsequent organization of the town was that of Wilcox, and the moderator of the first meeting of proprietors held in 1767 was Stephen Wilcox, the father, who had come to the town to settle his children on their lands, which he had provided for each of them from his abundant means. It was at the home of a Wilcox that this first meeting was held, and while Stephen, the father, presided over the deliberations of the meeting his son acted as clerk ; and at the outbreak of the Revo- lution when the townsmen in meeting pledged their lives and property in the common defense, three Wilcoxes joined in the patriotic declaration and one of them was as officer of the first company raised in the town,

(IV) Stephen Wilcox, of Killingworth, Con- necticut, is not understood as having been one of the settlers of Newport, although his interest in the welfare of his children undoubtedly impelled hin to visit the town on other occasions than that men- tioned. His name does not again appear in the records as having taken part in any proceedings relating to settlement or town organization. To each of his sons and his daughter who came to New- port in 1766 he gave three hundred acres of land.

(V) Uriah Wilcox, with his brothers Jesse and Phineas and his sister, Mrs. Samuel Hurd, came to New Hampshire from Killingworth, Connecticut, in the year 1766, and were among the earliest set- tlers in the town of Newport, Sullivan county. Jesse settled on the Unity road, developing there a fine farm which remained in his family for many years, while he himself became one of the most prominent men in the entire region. He was a thoroughly loyal friend of the American colonies during the Revolution, and one of the most active characters in all the measures for the defense of New Hampshire and its people during that trying period. He held the office of town clerk two years and that of selectman seven years. Phineas Wilcox settled on what afterward became known as the George H. Fairbanks farm, and Uriah made his "pitch" on the Goshen road; and he too became prominent in public affairs, holding several important public and local offices, and also was a conspicuous figure in Newport history during the period of the Revolution.

In June, 1776. Uriah Wilcox, as well as his brothers Jesse and Phineas, took part in the moment- ous meeting of the inhabitants of Newport in which they all pledged themselves (using their own words and solemn declaration) "to the utmost of our Power. at the Risque of our Lives and Fortunes, with Arms, oppose the Hostile Proceedings of the British Fleets and Armies against the United Col- onies." In July following a military company was organized among the townsmen and Uriah Wilcox was chosen its ensign. In 1775 he was delegated with Benjamin Giles to represent the town of Newport at the provincial congress held at Walpole, and he also was a delegate to the convention which framed the first constitution of the state of New Hampshire. He represented his town in the general

assembly from 1794 to 1796, and afterwards in 1799, ISOI, 1803-4, 1806, 1818 and 1820-21. He was select- man of the town first in 1778 and afterwards at different times for ten years, being several years chairman of the board. In 1826 he occupied a seat in the New Hampshire state senate.

In private and home life Uriah Wilcox was a farmer. thrifty and prosperous, and left to his chil- dren a fair competency in lands. He married ( first), Hannah Wright, of Killingworth, Connecticut, and after her death he married Hannalı Bartlett, of Unity, New Hampshire. By both marriages he had eleven children, vix .: Uriah, born March 18, 1779, graduated from Dartmouth College in 1804, went to Riceborough, where as a broker he acquired a fortune and at his death, being unmarried, left his property to his brothers and sisters in Newport. Hannah, born March 12, 1780, married Hou. David Allen. Hepsibah, born April II, 1782, married Ben- jamin Kelsey. David, born April 10, 1785. Sarah, born December 5, 1786, married Colonel Benjamin Carr. John, born January 15, 1789. died November 9, 1872; graduated from Dartmouth College in 1816, and entered the ministry : married Lydia P., daugh- ter of Joseph Sawyer, Sr. Joshua, born February 25, 1792, married Abigail, daughter of Joel Kelsey. Roxanna, born February 22, 1794, married Josiah Knowlton, of Hopkinton. Siloam, born January II, 1790, married Experience, daughter of Asa Hurd. Joseph, born February II, 1799. Betsey, born Feb- ruary 14, 1801, married Joseph Greenough, of Hopkinton.

(VI) Joseph, son of Uriah Wilcox, was born in Newport, New Hampshire, February II, 1799. He lived many years on the old farm on the Goshen road and afterward located on the Unity road, where he remained until the time of his death. He was a substantial farmer, a man of excellent judg- ment and thoroughly honest, and for many years a deacon in the Congregational Church of Newport. He married, January 10, 1826, Nancy, youngest daughter of Daniel and Nancy ( Munroe) Wilmarth ( see Wilmarth), and granddaughter of John and Phebe (Briggs) Wilmarth, who were among the first settlers in Newport. Joseph and Nancy (Wil- marth) Wilcox had four children, viz. : Joseph E., born September 16, 1826. married Eunice Gregg and had eight children. Daniel W., born December 19, 1828, married Martha A. Chapin and had five children. George M., born December, 1834, ‹lied at sea. Flenry A., born April 16, 1842, now living in Newport.

(VII) Henry Allen, youngest of the four sons of Joseph and Nancy ( Wilmarth ) Wilcox. was born in the town of Newport, New Hampshire, on what is now known as the Cutting place on the Unity road. He was given a good education, first in the town schools and afterward at Kimball Union Acad- emy; and after leaving school hegan farming in his native town. When about thirty years old he had the misfortune to lose his right arm while engaged in taking sawdust from the village saw- mill, but notwithstanding that he has carried on his farming interests with good success, and even now can milk a cow almost as quickly as any other man. Fle has dealt somewhat extensively in stock and for several years held the town office of tax collector. On January 31. 1872, Mr. Wilcox married Marrian Moore, of Plainfield, Vermont, born Sep- tember 10, 1838, daughter of Joseph and Laura (Newton) Moore, and granddaughter of Silas and Roxanna (Graves) Moore. Joseph and Laura (Newton) Moore had five children: Alvah, Cath-

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erine (widow of John Croxford), Sarah (married Alexander Robinson), Marrian ( Mrs. Wilcox) and Clark Moore.

WILCOX The inhabitants of Great Britain speaking the language of the people of the United States find this country as attractive to emigrants as did the Briton of three hundred years ago. Hence the continual accessions to American population from the "Mother country." The Briton also becomes as useful a citizen as did his predecessor of Colonial days, and is always welcome.

(I) Richard Wilcox of Devonshire, England, was a soldier in the British army. On account of some difficulty growing out of his military service he came to America in 1817, and settled in Boston, Massachusetts, where he conducted a large brewery until his death. He married, while in England, Jane Serrage, of Devonshire, and they had six children, of whom two were born in America. Their names are: Thomas, William, Mary, John, Elizabeth and Samuel.

(Il) John, third son and fourth child of Richard and Jane ( Serrage) Wilcox, was born in England, January 10, 1819. He was educated in the Boston grammar school, and afterward learned the ship carpenter's trade, at which he worked in Boston until twenty years of age. Later lie removed to West- brook, Maine, where he worked at his trade a few years, and then moved to Portland, where he re- mained five years. In 1854 he returned to Boston, and worked there till his death in 1883. He married Jane Allen, of Freeport, Maine, born May 1, 1817, died in Concord, New Hampshire, 1901. They had six children : I. William, born 1810. 2. Rozetta, 1843, died young. 3. Alfonzo Allen, born December 3, 1847, married (first), Hattie Goodhue, of East Boston, and ( second), - He resides in Esther- ville, Iowa, and is a retired clergyman. 4-5. George and John (twins), born August 7, 1850; the former is a carpenter in Holliston, Massachusetts. 6. Eve- line, born November 10, 1858, in Charlestown, Mass- achusetts, died in Boston; married David Cutler, a street car conductor in Boston.

(III) John Henry Serrage, fourth son of John and Jane ( Allen) Wilcox, was born in Portland, Maine, August 7, 1850, and when four years old was taken to Boston by his parents. After receiv- ing his education in the common and grammar schools of Boston he operated an express wagon in Boston until 1873. In that year he moved to Con- cord, New Hampshire, and established the Millville express line, which he has since operated. This line carries passengers and goods between Con- cord and Millville, and all the business of this kind required by St. Paul's school is done by this line. In 1888 Mr. Wilcox bought six acres of land on the north side of Pleasant street, on which he built a set of buildings where he now resides. Mr. Wilcox is a member of Rumford Lodge, No. 46, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and of Lodge No. 66, Pilgrim Fathers. In politics he is an inde- pendant. He attends the Episcopal Church. Mr. Wilcox is in comfortable circumstances as a result of his own energetic industry, guided by good judg- ment and common sense. He is attentive to business and has the confidence and esteem of the com- munity where he is known. He married, November 25, 1883. Emma C. Ingalls, born August 6, 1850, in Concord, New Hampshire, daughter of Leavitt and Lydia Ingalls. Four children have been born of this marriage: Frances E., February 21, 1873, lives in New York; Edith C., November 5, 1876, resides in

Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; John W., December 9, 1878, Auditor, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; Emma E., February 11, 1890, at home.

This is one of the early English RAWSON names, which has been formed by adding "son" to the name of the father. The general usage of surnames among the common people of England dates back to a com- paratively short time from the present, and we find many of similar origin to this. The name Ralph is of very ancient usage, and is a Christian name, and was very often written in the early English spellings, of Relf, Rauf and many other forms. It was usually pronounced very broad, as if Rawf, and when the suffix "son" was added it was soon found convenient to omit the consonant "f," and it became very easily Rawson. In this form it has been traced back in England for a considerable period previous to the emigration of the Puritans. The records show a Richard Rawson as a canonist and jurist, who died in 1543. About 1580, General Blake, junior, of Lit- tle Baddow, county of Essex, England, married Anna, heir of Rawson. William Blake, a brother of this John, came to America in 1630, and settled at Dorchester, Massachusetts. The principal fea- tures in the Rawson coat of arms are a castle stamped upon a shield, a design used to commemor- ate some noted capture made by the one who re- ceived this coat.

(I) The first in America, as far as has been ascertained, was Edward Rawson, who came to New England in the year 1636-7, and became an in- habitant of the town of Newbury, in the Massa- chusetts Bay Colony. Most of the people who set- tled in that section were from the counties of Hants and Wilkes, adjoining Dorsetshire. Rev. John Wil- son, the first minister in Boston, was an uncle of Edward Rawson, his mother being Margaret, a sister of Rev. John Wilson. It is said that Edward Rawson was named for an ancester Sir Edward Rawson, who lived in the reign of one of the Henries. Edward Rawson was a grantee of the town of Newbury, and was the first town clerk chosen April 19, 1638, and was annually re-elected until 1647. He was also chosen selectman and com- missioner for the trial of small causes. He also served on various committees to lay out lands and transact other business for the town. He was one of the deputies to represent the town in the general court in 1638, and he must have possessed more than or- dinary talent for business as well as large degree of public spirit. In 1639 he again represented the town at its third session, and at the May session was granted five hundred acres as an inducement for him to continue the manufacture of powder. In 1642 he was again deputy, and in 1644. In the latter year he received two hundred acres upon the Cochituate river, above Dover bounds. In 1645 he was again deputy, and at the close of the session the deputies passed the following vote: "That Edward Rawson is chosen & appointed clerk of the house of deputies for one whole yeere, to Enter of vote passed in both houses & thus also yt passe only by them into the book of Records." In 1646 he was deputy and clerk, and at the November session it was ordered by the deputies "yt Edward Rawson shall have twenty marks allowed him for his paines. out of ye next levy as secrt to ye house of deputies for two yeeres passed." In 1647-8 he continued to rep- resent Newbury in the general court. In the latter year he received two grants of land, one of fifteen hundred acres jointly with Rev. John Wilson of Boston, and another of five hundred acres at Pequot,

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

and with the latter he was granted five pounds on account of expenditures made in preparing for the manufacture of gun powder. In 1649 he was again representative, and was re-elected clerk, and on the twenty-second of May, 1650, he was chosen secretary of the colony. In 1649 he was one of a committee to "Plumb Island," and from his first election to secretary of the colony he was continu- ously re-elected for a period of thirty-six years until the usurpation of the government by Sir Edmund Andros, when he was displaced. Elliott remarks of him " that he was of respectable character as we may judge from his having this office so long, while there was an annual election." He owned and cul- tivated two farms and a meadow in that town, which bears the name of Rawson's meadow. After his removal to Boston his residence was on Rawson's Lane, where lie was supposed to have died. This Iane bore liis name until about 1800, when it was changed to Bromfield street. He owned some acres of land here which bordered on the common, out of which he sold several house lots. His salary as secretary was only twenty pounds per annum at first, but was subsequently increased to £60. To this office was soon added that of recorder of the county of Suffolk, which he held many years. The records show several grants of land made to him at various times, for "extraordinary services." He and his wife were members of what was called the First Church of Boston, over which Rev. John Wilson was pastor. When divisions arose in this church, after the death of Mr. Wilson, Edward Rawson was one of the twenty-eight disaffected persons who dissolved connections with that society, and formed the third or old South Church in May, 1669. A corporation in England for the propagation of the gospel among the Indians in New England chose Edward Rawson as steward or agent "for the re- ceiving and disposing of such goods and commodi- ties" as should be sent to the united colonies, and this choice was confirmed by the commissioners of the colonies at New Haven, 1651. Edward Rawson is believed to be the author of a book published in 1601, entitled "The Revolution in New England Justified," and of other similar similar works. It is quite apparent that he was one of those who par- ticipated in the persecution of the Quakers. This seems to be the only blemish upon his fair fame and that he was an uncommonly useful and excellent man cannot be doubted.

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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. III, 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: 876

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: 876