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 29

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 29

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Charles A. Wiggin, who is in company with his brother George H., was married April 7, 1892, to Annie Mabel Farley, born in Bedford. August 12, 1871, daughter of Charles Parker and Elizabeth Ann ( Shepard) Farley. She died April 2. 1001. They had one daughter, Ruth Taylor, who was born January 26, 1894, and died February 22, 1895.

The original of Preston was Priest- PRESTON ton, that is, priests' town, from a religious establishment around which the town grew up. There are seven Prestons

in England. Some emigrant took the name of his native place as a surname, and it has thus been handed down to succeeding generations. A number of Prestons, among whom were several Johns, not known to be related, settled in Massachusetts before 1700. Who was the immigrant ancestor of the Pres- tons of this article is not known. Several men of this name were in Andover, Massachusetts, before 1692.

(I) Samuel Preston, whose name survives in the local name Preston's Plain, near Ballardvale, in Andover, was a pioneer settler of that town. His name appears on the list of those who took the oath of allegiance, February II, 1678.

(II) John Preston, probably a son of the above, resided in Andover, where he took the oath of alle- giance February II, 1678. John Preston is one of those named in the "rate made for the minister in the year 1692, for the North End of the town of Andover." John Preston, of Andover, was one of the twelve men taken from Andover in No- vember, 1675, for an expedition into the country of the Narragansetts, who had joined King Philip, and was present at the famous swamp fight where the Indians were completely destroyed.

(III) Captain Samuel (2), a descendant, prob- ably, a son of John Preston, was a commander in the French and Indian war. He and his wife Hannah settled in Littleton, Massachusetts, about 1728. He was an active and influential man in the town before the revolution, and besides serving in his military capacity, was town treasurer, and in other offices. His children were: James, Hannah, John. Mary and Peter.

(IV) Dr. John (2), third child and second son of Captain Samuel (2) and Hannah Preston, was born in Littleton, Massachusetts, September 22, 1738, and died in New Ispwich, New Hampshire, February 17, 1803, in his sixty-fifth year. At the age of eighteen years he served one campaign at least as a soldier in the company of his father in the French war of 1756. His early education was probably what the common schools of the time afforded. In 1760, when twenty-two years old, he settled in New Ispwich, New Hampshire, and began practice of medicine. The science of medicines in these days was a simple matter as compared with the complex system and elaborate theories of to- day, but then, as now, the most successful physician got the practice. Dr. Preston became skillful and popular in his profession, and for more than forty years retained exclusive possession of the ground, except that in the latter part of his life he took his son into partnership, and at his decease left the whole practice in his hands. As a citizen he was zealous, active and influential in all matters of gen- eral and political interest in the town. During the Revolution he was one of the most ardent Whigs, and did much to encourage the people to make the great exertions which they did in the aid of the common cause. After the incorporation of the town in 1762 he was elected one of the first board of selectmen, and in 1771 served as town clerk, and in 1778 and 1786 as representative in the general court. In 1782, on the resignation of his brother-in-law,

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Judge Timothy Farrar, he was chosen a member for framing the state constitution. Anecdotes of his wit and humor as a legislator have come down to our time, and the records of the town still pre- serve memories of that trait in his character. He was one of the founders of the new Ipswich Acad- emy, and for many years its secretary, his son-in- law, John Hubbard, being its first preceptor. He married. in New Ipswich, November 29, 1764, Re- becca Farrar, who was born in New Ipswich, Au- gust 13. 1743, fifthi child of Deacon Samuel and Lydia ( Barrett) Farrar, of Concord (now Lincoln), Massachusetts, and a descendant of Jacob, the im- migrant, who was one of the original proprietors of Lancaster, Massachusetts, in 1653. She survived her husband more than twenty-six years, and died April 1, 1829, in her eighty-sixth year. Their eleven children were: Rebecca, John, Lucy, Lydia, Hannah, Mary. Samuel, Stephen Farrar, Timothy Farrar, Peter and Nancy.

(V) Dr. John (3), second child and eldest son of Dr. John (2) Preston, was born in New Ipswich, February 15, 1770, and died in 1828, aged fifty-eight. He graduated from Dartmouth College with the class of 1791, and became a physician. He read medicine with his father and later with Dr. Holyoke, of Salem. He opened an apothecary shop and be- gan practice as the associate of his father in Decem- ber. 1794, and after his father's death in 1803 he succeeded to the general practice of the town. His standing as a physician and a citizen was good. After the turnpike was built he erected on that street the first dwelling house, into which he moved his stock of drugs, and resided there until his death. Like his father, he took a lively interest in town affairs, and filled public offices, and was secretary of the academy. In 1802 he was elected town clerk, and filled that office for seventeen consecutive years, and was selectman for several years. He wrote a good round recording hand, and the records bear ample evidence of liis capacity as a clerk, and oc- casionally of his personal feelings and predilections as a townsman. He married, January 21, 1798, Elizabeth Champney, who was born in New Ipswich, February 6, 1779. daughter of Judge Ebenezer and Abigail (Parker) Champney, a descendant in the fifth generation from Richard Champney, of Lin- colnshire, England, the ancestors of the family of that name who settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1635. She died 1867, aged eighty-eight years. Their ten children were: Ebenezer C., Rebecca (died young), John, Eliza. Lucy, Abigail, Maria, William Henry, Thomas, Bancroft and Rebecca.

(VI) Hon. Jolin (4), third child and second son of Dr. John (3) and Elizabeth (Champney) Pres- ton. was born in New Ipswich. April 12, 1802, and died March 5. 1867, aged sixty-five years. When he was about ten years of age the store of John Batchelder, which stood a few rods from his father's house, caught fire one cold winter night, and John left his bed, and withont waiting for shoes or stockings ran through the snow to awaken the neighbors. This exposure was followed by a severe illness which caused permanent disease and lameness,

from which he suffered acutely for more than fifty ycars. He fitted for college at the New Ipswich Academy, and in 1819 entered Harvard College, from which he graduated in 1823. In order to make his way through he had to practice the closest economy, and one year he earned by writing and teaching school, all but eighteen dollars of the money necessary to pay the year's expenses. The eighteen dollars he received from his father. He was a member of the Institute of 1770, of the Ilasty Pudding, a noted society which was founded the year before he entered, and in which he was a leading member by his ready wit, and of the Medi- cal Faculty. After completing his college

course he studied law with George F. Farley, Esq., then at Ipswich, and later with Judge Samuel Hub- bard, in Boston, having as a fellow-student John Appleton, afterwards distinguished as the chief jus- tice of the supreme court of the state of Maine. In 1828 he was admitted to the bar and began prac- tice in Townsend, Massachusetts, but removed in 1831 to New Ipswich, and bought the house in the Center Village once owned by his grandfather, Judge Champney, where he ever afterwards resided. Mr. Preston was a lover of nature, with which he was always in close touch, and the streams and woods and fields always had an attraction for him. Partly to have an opportunity to gratify his love for these things, perhaps, he purchased his grandfather's farm, lying along the river, where some of the hap- piest days of his life were spent. He was fond of agriculture, and being an intelligent man he adopted those methods of sound practical agriculture which made him a successful farmer, and by setting an example to his neighbors taught them lessons that made his influence felt by others. He had not been back in New Ipswich long before the questions of temperance and anti-slavery began to be agitated, and in a few years took precedence of all other public questions. To a man of Mr. Preston's moral sentiment, both slavery and intemperance were ab- horrent, and he early became a member of the party of progress, and championed the reforms it contemplated. Early in 1835 he introduced and secured the adoption of resolutions in town meet- ing to suppress the sale of liquor. He was presi- cent of the first total abstinence society in the town, and his zeal for the cause ended only with his life. In politics he was a staunch Whig, and to ally himself with the new party meant social ostracism and insult, but he did not falter in what he be- lieved to be the line of his duty and in performance of what he thought to be right. Turning away from his former associates he joined in 1844 the Free Soil party, at the head of which was John Hale, one of New Hampshire's greatest sons, and worked unceasingly for the measures of that party which he lived to see completely successful at the close of the war of the rebellion. He was elected to the legislature in 1833 and 1838 and 1843, and by successive elections served four more consecu- tive terms. He was senator from district No. 9, when he was the only senator not a Democrat, and was the Free Soil candidate for congress in 1848,

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and was supported by the Free Soil party in the legislature for United States senator in 1852. For eleven years he was a member of the board of trustees of the New Hampshire Insane Asylum, and like his father and grandfather, was for many years secretary of the New Ipswich Academy. One who knew him well said of him: "You ask me to de- scribe Mr. Preston. A pen picture at first seems easy,-there is his figure, rather below the middle height, but broad-shouldered and muscular ; quick and alert in his movements, with a smile almost always playing around his features, with a warm and impulsive nature, unable to harbor resentment against his bitterest foe if he saw him sick and in want. Not an orator like Gough, yet one of the readiest and most effective speakers in the legis- lature. Not so deep a lawyer as Bell, Parker, or Perley, but mentioned by a judge of the supreme court as being a dangerous opponent. Not such a classical scholar as Everett, but helping his son with an ode of Anacreon that he hasn't scen for thirty years, or reading French or Spanish to his wife. Not a professional philanthropist but at the time of the famine in Ireland, leaving the table, unable to eat till he had packed a box with articles for the starving Irish; and seen one bitter day in winter toiling through the drifts to find if a poor family were warm. Very fond of a cigar, but giving up the habit for nearly forty years that his example might be good for others. So fearless that there may be a doubt if it should be called bravery or insensi- bility to peril. College-bred, as were his ancestors, but thoroughly democratic in his sympathy with the poor and ignorant, of whatever race or country, and with food and shelter for the slave on his way to Canada. Taking great pride in his town and its history, and especially beloved and revered in the domestic circle. In saying all this, while few salient points are presented, it seems to me that Mr. Pres- ton exhibited a well-rounded and wonderful sym- metry in all those points which go to make up a man in the highest and noblest sense,-such a type as, I fear, may be growing rarer every day. in view of the present craze for specialists."

Mr. Preston's sufferings finally became so in- tense that as a last resort he had an amputation performed, which for more than a year left him in the enjoyment of vigorous health and without pain, a condition he had not enjoyed for more than fifty years ; but his disease returned and terminated in a fatal illness in 1867.

He married, October 27. 1828, Elizabeth Smith French, who was born in Boston, March 1, 1808, and died December 20, 1882. She was the daughter of Abram and Elizabeth (Kidder) French. The children of this union were seven: John Lorenzo, born November 10. 1829. died June 19. 1836: Eliz- abeth A., born September 8, 1831, died February 28, 1837: William A., born January 31, 1834, died De- cember 5, 1903: Maria A. F., born February 10, 1836, died March 15, 1851 ; Frank W .. whose sketch follows: Sarah E., born July 30, 1840, died Mar 1 6, 1842: Mary Anabelle, horn May II, 1844, died February 15, 1869.

(VII) Frank W., third son and child of Hon. John (4) and Elizabeth S. ( French) Preston, was born in New Ipswich, February 17, 1838, and died August 29, 1905. He was educated at the Academy of New Ipswich, and took a course in the Law- rence Scientific School. from which he graduated as a civil engineer in the class of 1858. He was a teacher of mathematics in Appleton Academy, and for a number of years was treasurer of the New Ipswich Savings Bank. He was a progressive pub- lic spirited citizen, and always alert for measures of advantage to the town. For twenty-five years he was town treasurer, and for many years clerk of the school district, and was representative in 1873, and again in 1874. He was a member of the Bethel Lodge No. 24, Free and Accepted Masons, of New Ipswich, and of Peterboro Chapter, Royal Arch Masons. He married first, in Ithaca, New York, February 19. 1862, Harriett F. Coy. who was born October 3. 1840. daughter of John H. and Cather- ine (Granger) Coy. Of this marriage there was one daughter, Katherine, born December 15, 1862. He married second, May 13, 1867, at New Ipswich. Mary Frances Murphy, who was born at New Ipswich, August 17, 1845. She was a daughter of Daniel G. and Randilla (Farmer) Murphy. of New Ipswich. Three children were born of this mar- riage: 1. William A., born August 2, 1873. 2. Frank H., born October 17. 1874. He married February 5. 1900, Mabel L. Thayer; they have one child, Frank Whipple. born June 6, 1904. 3. Her- bert F., born August 11, 1882, graduated from New Ipswich Appleton Academy with class of 1904.

(VIII) William Arthur. oldest child of Frank W. and Mary F. (Murphy) Preston, was born in New Ipswich, August 2. 1873. He attended the local schools, prepared for college in the New Ips- wich Academy. and entered Harvard University in IS91. He took a position with the Electrical Construction Company of Providence, Rhode Is- land. He returned to New Ipswich in 1898, and has since resided on the ancestral homestead. In politics he is a Republican. He married, in Boston. Massachusetts, December 27, 1005, Bertha P. Ames, daughter of Ilenry and Sarah (Preston) Ames.

VIRGIN This name is supposed to be derived from the cult of Saint Mary, perhaps the most generally known in this country. From Ebenezer Virgin. first ancestor in America, is supposed to have sprung all of this name in the United States. Among the most fa- miliar names of Virgin in this country is first and foremost that of Hon. William Wirt Virgin. asso- ciate justice of the spreme judicial court of Maine. Other prominent members of the name are: Judge Daniel W. Virgin, of Douglass county, Nevada ; Hon. John W. Virgin, of Illinois, commissioner of the state of Illinois to be the World's Columbian exposition, Chicago, importer and breeder of hor- ses : Hon. George Virgin, president of the National Bank of Virginia. Illinois; Rev. Samuel H. Virgin. D. D .. LL. D., thirty years pastor of the Pilgrim Congregational Church, New York City.

Frank W. Priston.

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(I) Ebenezer Virgin, founder of families of this name in the United States, came from Salis- bury, England, probably to Salisbury, Massachu- setts, in 1722. From there he went to that part of Dunstable, Massachusetts, now called Tyngsboro, and thence went in 1726 with seven men sent by the Massachusetts Bay Colony to lay out a township on the Merrimack river, then called Penny Cook, later Rumford, and now Concord. Ile was an original proprietor, a cabinet maker by trade, a man of enterprise and a highly useful citizen. He built and occupied the house (still standing. 1907) occu- pied by Deacon G. H. Curtis, in 1731, now the old- est house standing in the city. Ile served from April 24, to October 21, 1755, in the expedition to Crown Point, in Captain Joseph Eastman's com- pany, Colonel Joseph Blanchard's regiment. Eben- ezer Virgin was the person who first came into possession of the gun of the Indian chief Peora- warrah, who eloped with the squaw of another Indian who shot and killed them both at one time as they were paddling up the Merrimack in a canoe early in the morning, after spending the night at Sewall's Island. Both bodies and Peorawarrah's

fine gun fell into the river. The gun was recovered by Mr. Virgin, and is now in the possession of Colonel Jonathan Eastman Pecker, of Concord. Ebenezer Virgin died at Concord, in 1766, and was at that as time serving selectman. He married, according to Dr. N. Bouton, Hannah ; according to

Peter Chand- ler Virgin (his grandson, and father of Judge Wirt Virgin, and more probably correct) Mary Chandler, of Andover, Massachusetts, and so con- neeted with the Chandler family from which sprang Senator Chandler, of New Hampshire. The chil- dren of this marriage were: Phineas, Ebenezer, William, Jonathan, Miriam, Elijah and John.

(II) Ebenezer (2), second child and son of Ebenezer (1) Virgin, was born May 25. 1735. at Penacook (now East Concord), and married Dor- cas Lovejoy, daughter of Henry Lovejoy, who built the first grist mill in Concord. Their children were : Jonathan, Molly, Elijah, Hannah, Daniel, Phebe, Henry, Simon and Peter Chandler.

(III) Jonathan, eldest child of Ebenezer (2) and Dorcas (Lovejoy) Virgin, was born Novem- ber 23. 1758, in Penacook, and died May 9, 1813. He lived on what is known as the Virgin road, in the northern part of the town, and his last resi- dence, built considerably more than a century since, is still standing and in use as a dwelling. He built, in 1812, for his youngest son the house adjoining his on the east, and which is now the home of his great-grandson, Fales P. Virgin. He married Sarah Austin, and they had the following children : Patty. Hazer. Aaron and Isaac.

(IV) Isaac, youngest child of Jonathan and Sarah (Austin) Virgin, was born July 14. 1789. on Virgin road (then called Penacook) and died Jan- uary 12, 1870, on the farm where he began house- keeping in 1812, a part of the paternal homestead. When his father proposed to build him such a

house as he might desire, he said he did not want anything better than his father lived in, so the house was made only one story in height. To his wife this afterwards proved a great trial and in- convenience, but they lived happily, reaching a good age. He was married November 13, 1812, to Susan Batchelder (see Batchelder, VII), who was born March 8. 1790, and died November 20, 1876. Their children did not remove from their native town. Susan C., the eldest, was married to Rev. Caleb Fales, and died about a year after her marriage. Eliza Jane, born September 1, 1816, married Wil- liam K. Holt, and died April 7, 1841, in East Con- cord. Rufus is the subject of the succeeding para- graph. William Harrison died before attaining his majority.

(V) Rufus, elder son and third child of Isaac and Susan ( Batchelder ) Virgin, was born on the homestead of his father, where his son now re- sides (on the Virgin road), January 7. 1818. He continued to reside there most of his life, though the years from 1856 to 1869 were spent on a farm one-half mile east, which he purchased, which is still a part of his estate, and where his youngest child was born. He was a prosperous farmer and a prominent citizen of the town, taking active part in public affairs. He was a Methodist in religious belief, and a Democrat in politics. He represented his ward in the city council, the board of aldermen and the state legislature, and lived past his eightieth birthday anniversary, dying January 26, 1899 He was married January 4, 1840, to Mary Ann Stevens. who is five . days his junior, and is still hale and clear-minded, at the age of eighty-nine years. She was born January 12, 1818, in Canterbury, daughter of Jesse and Abigail (Sherburne) Stevens of that town (see Stevens, VII). Jesse was a son of Simon and Elizabeth ( Boynton) Stevens, who were pioneer settlers of Canterbury. Their children were Otha, Edmond, David. Betsey, John, Jesse, Polly, Abyah. Moses, Abigail, Thomas, David and Simon. The children of Rufus and Mary Ann (Stevens) Virgin, are not removed very far from their native home. Ellen A. has her home with her aged mother on the paternal homestead. Emma became the wife of Nathan Pingree, and resides in Rochester. this state. Esther is the widow of Frank P. Batchelder, residing in Laconia. Frank P. died in the place of his birth, at an early age. Fred P. and l'ale, P. receive extended mention below.

(VI) Fred Peaslee Virgin. second son and fifth child of Rufus and Mary Ann (Stevens) Virgin, may truly be numbered among the self-made men of New Hampshire, and a credit to the old and honored name he bears. He was born January 25, 1853, on the paternal homestead on Virgin road, where most of his father's life was passed, and ob- tained his education in the public schools and Pen- acook and Pinkerton academies. He was always active and useful about the home farm. and early set out to make his own way. At the age of six- teen years he went to Boston, and there entered the employ of Martin L. Hall & Company, whole-

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sale grocers His first work was clerical, and his pay was small. Later he was promoted to the posi- tion of traveling salesman, and by strict attention to business and careful use of his earnings, he was enabled in 1883 to become a member of the firm. This establishment was founded in 1831 and is now the largest wholesale grocery house in New Eng- land. Mr. Virgin has shown himself a capable business man, and has risen to the position of head of the firm and its general manager. He is also interested in various kindred lines of business. which receive successful impetus from his able management. He is vice-president of the Cary Maple Sugar Company, of St. Johnsbury, Ver- mont, with large plants in Vermont and Canada, and which does a business amounting to half a million dollars annually, and ships sugar and syrup to all parts of the world. He is a director and vice- president of the Wholesale Grocery Association of Boston, member of the executive committee of the New England Wholesale Grocers' Association, and director of the Faneuil Hall National Bank of Boston. Mr. Virgin attends the South Congre- gational Church of Concord, of which his wife is a member, and is ever ready to further any inter- ests of his native town. He follows the footsteps of his father in politics, but gives no time to prac- tical politics of office-seeking. He is a member of the Wonolancet and Passaconoway clubs of Con- cord; the Boston Athletic and New Hampshire clubs of Boston; and the Florida club. He is very fond of travel, and accompanied by his family has visited many of the most interesting parts of the world. Their winters are usually spent in Florida or California. Mr. Virgin started in mercantile life in 1870, with a fair education and a stock of hope and energy, and by fidelity and constant atten- tion to business has attained a handsome. compe- tence. While so doing. he has found time for the pleasures of travel and observation in other lands. He was married June 13, 1876, to Ada L. Batch- elder, daughter of Samuel and Eliza J. (True) Batchelder (see Batchelder, VI). Mrs. Virgin was born September 20, 1852, in Loudon, and is the mother of two children. Arthur Russell, born May 2. 1877, graduated from Dartmouth College with the class of 1900, and is now in the banking busi- ne's in Concord. Leila Stevens, born September 24. 1879, resides with her parents.

(VI) Fales Perley Virgin, youngest child of Rufus and Mary Ann (Stevens) Virgin, is among the most progressive and successful farmers of the state. He was born October 31, 1856, on the second farm of his father, about one-half mile east of his present residence, which is on the ancient seat of the Virgin family in East Concord. He was early accustomed to be his father's aid. and the culti- vation of the home farm and support of his par- ents fell to him naturally. Until about nineteen years of age he gave considerable attention to study, being a student of Loudon Academy, after leaving the district school adjacent to his home. Ile was thirteen years of age when the family re- turned to his present location, on Virgin road. and

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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 29

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