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 50

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 50

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Benjamin 7 In

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salutary effect, and assisted materially in maintain- ing the rights of the Republican party.

Benjamin Greer was married in 1853 to Sarah Norman Davis, of Gloucester, Massachusetts, daughter of Joseph Davis, of that town. Their children were: Abigail Davis, deceased, was the wife of Eben Colby, and resided in Goff-town. Sa- rah Jane, became the wife of John Roberts, and re- sided in Springfield, Massachusetts. Mary Ann, de- ceased ; was the wife of George Eaton. of Goffs- town, and resided in that town. Elizabeth F., wife of Richard Kimball, now residing in Manhattan, Kansas. Benjamin, died in the army, September 3. 1863, in Covington, Kentucky, in his twenty-second year. John, died in 1892. Rebecea P., married Dr. Charles F. George, residing in Goffstown. Lucy D. became the wife of Aaron Crosby. of Centreville, Massachusetts, and died in 1905. Henry, resides in Goffstown. Victoria, became the wife of Edgar Poore, of Goffstown. Josephine, married George Poore, deceased. late of Goffstown, and married (second) Ethan Spencer, now deceased. Frank A., resides in New Boston, New Hampshire. The mother of these children died in February, 1861, and Mr. Greer was married (second), January 16, 1862. to Elizabeth M. Fuller. daughter of John and Thankful (Story) Fuller, of Dunbarton. She was educated in the high school of Dunbarton and Me- Gaw Institute at Reed's Ferry, and taught thirty terms of school. During this time she taught many of the most prominent men of this section, includ- ing such men as the present United States senator, Henry E. Burnham, Henry M. Putney. railroad commissioner, and many others of equal prominence. She died May 20. 1907, and not only is she greatly missed by Mr. Greer but by all who knew her, as she was beloved by all who came in contact with her, and is remembered by Mr. Greer with great veneration as one of the important factors of his success. She was the mother of two children : Harry, deceased, and Benjamin Fuller.

(V) Benjamin Fuller, son of Benjamin and Elizabeth M. (Fuller) Greer, was born January 20, 1864, in Goffstown, where he has always resided. He attended the district school. and was subse- quently a student at Pinkerton Academy. Return- ing home he remained on the farm until he was twenty-one years of age. A store and stock of goods at Grasmere being offered for sale. he pur- chased the goods while his father purchased the building. After continuing the store for nine years he sold out the business. The next two years he was employed as manager in a packing house, and then for some months was on the road for E. Frank Coe Company, of New York. Later he opened a general store at Amoskeag, also re-opened and con- ducted the store he had previously had at Grasmere. After disposing of the Amoskeag store, he contin- ued to operate the one at Grasmere till 1006. when he sold out. From 1887 to May, 1906, he was postmaster in connection with his other business, holding this from the administration of President Harrison, nearly twenty years in all. Ile has been engaged in the lumber business for many years. and has always dealt more or less in real estate. For the past ten years he has dealt extensively in lumber. He is a successful business man, and en- joys the respect and esteem of his townspeople. He is an attendant and supporter of the Baptist Church; member of the Masonie Order, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Goffstown, and also of the Local Grange. In politics he is a staunch Re- publican. He has been prominent in the manage-

ment of town affairs, holding a number of offices, and in 1801 was representative at Concord, serving as member of the committee on corporation -.

Mr. Greer was married June 8. 1892. to Florence Chappel, daughter of Hiram C. and Ellen (Gray) Chappel, of Manchester. She was educated in the Lincoln Grammer School of Manchester, and grad- uated in 1890. For two years she was a bookkeeper and proof reader. She is an attendant of the Bap- tist Church and of the Grange, of which she has filled official stations, and for three years served as a member of the local school board. She is a woman highly esteemed by all who know her, and a social favorite with all; a woman of rare degree of intelligence and cultivation, beloved by all. Mr. and Mrs. Greer are the parents of three children : Benjamin Fuller, born January 20, 1894; Bernice F .. born January 15, 1895. deceased, and Raymond Chase, born October 30, 1896.

The early records give this name BOWKER numerous spellings such as Bouker, Boucker, but the usual spelling in modern times is that given as the heading of this article. The name is quite probably of French ori- gin, and the attempts of the unlettered Puritans to anglicize the spelling resulted in changes in its pronunciation. The family does not seem to be very numerously represented in England, but the male members of the race have usually been prosperous merchants or farmers, and several in other walks of life have accumulated respectable fortunes.

(1) The immigrant ancestor of the family, Ed- mund Bowker, lived in Durchester, Massachusetts, and removed thence to Sudbury, in the same colony where he died in 1666. The records show the fol- lowing children born in Dorchester: John, Eliza- beth and Edmund. born from 1651 to 1601. There were probably others, but there seems to be no rec- ord showing name of his wife or time of his death.

( II) John, elder son of Edmund Bowker, was born in 1651, in Dorchester, and had nearly attain- ed maturity when the family removed to Sudbury. He went from there to Marlboro, Massachusetts, and was there married, February 8, 1678, to Mary Howe, a native of that town, who was born in 1650, a daughter of Abraham and Anna ( Ward) Howe. He served as selectman and was ensign in the mili- tia, and died August 27, 1729. His widow survived him a little more than two years, passing away September 29. 1731. Seven children are recorded, namely: John. Martha, Mary, Asa. Ezekiel. Han- nah and Rachel.

(11I) John (2), eldest child of John (1) and Mary (Howe) Bowker, was born in 1670. in Marl- boro. There seems to be no record of hi- mar- riage or of his death.

(IV) John (3). son of John (2) Bowker, lived in that part of Marlboro, which is now Westboro until 1741 (when he removed to Shrewsbury, Mas- sachusetts. He was married June 7. 1731, to Free- dom Bigelow, who was born February 14. 1710, in Marlboro, daughter of John and Jeru-ha ( Garfield) Bigelow. They bad eight children, namely: Silas, Elizabeth. Je hn. Sarah, Benjamin, Solomon, Persis and Ezekiel.

(V) Silas, eldest child of John (3) and Freedom (Bigelow) Bowker, was born May 29. 1733. in Marlboro, and was eight years old when his par- ents moved to Shrewsbury, immediately after his marriage he settled in Petersham, Massachusetts, and removed late in life to Royalston, where he died April 1. 1820. He was married November 20. 1759,

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to Bethia Ward, who was born February 26, 1736, in Marlboro, a daughter of Daniel and Mary ( Bige- low) Ward. They had five children born in Pet- ersham, namely : Samuel Ward, Sarah, Nabby, Francis Bernard and Nancy.

(VI) Samuel Ward, eldest child of Silas and Bethia (Ward) Bowker, was born December 16, 1760, in Petersham, and lived in Royalston, Mas- sachusetts, in Marlboro and Dublin, New Hamp- shire, and finally in Ashby, Massachusetts, where he died May 29, 1835. He was married (first) July 31, 1794. to Sarah Locke, daughter of John and Beulah ( Newton) Locke. She was born Novem- ber 19, 1768, in Ashby, and died January 13, 1799. He was married (second) June 30, 1803, to Char- lotte Locke, who was born December 17, 1771, a sister of his first wife. She survived him about seventeen years, and died after 1852. There were three children of the first and four of the second marriage, namely: Stephen, Samuel (died young), Samuel, Sarah, Elizabeth, Alfred M. and John.

(VII) Alfred M., fourth son of Samuel W. Bowker, and third child of his second wife, Char- lotte Locke, was born February 6, 1807, in Royals- ton, and resided in Templeton, Massachusetts. where he died September 10, 1841, at the age of thirty-two years. He married Caroline L. Damon, who was born April 5. 1808, in Lancaster, Massachusetts, daughter of William and Abigail ( Willard) Da- inon, of Lancaster, and died in July 1, 1905. They had six children, namely: Sarah Jane. James Al- fred, George Warren, Annah Marialı, Charles Hen- ry and Andrew Mason.

(VIII) James Alfred, eldest son of Alfred M. and Caroline L. (Damon) Bowker, was born in Templeton, January 12, 1840, and died in Manches- ter, New Hampshire, November 4, 1893, aged fifty- three years. He began life as an employe in the Lancaster mills. Subsequently he worked in the Merrimack mills of Lowell. and still later removed to Manchester, and was employed, with the excep- tion of eight years when he lived in Lowell, in the Manchester mills till his death, a period of thirty years, all of which time he was second hand in the mule spinning room. He was an Odd Fellow, and for many years was a member of the Wildey Lodge, No. 45. of Manchester. He married, in London- derry, New Hampshire. March 10, 1861, Ella M. Colby, who was born March II, 1842, and died in Manchester. September 28, 1870, aged twenty-eight years. Two children were born, William H., and Frank E .. the latter of whom died young.

(IX) William Henry, son of James A. and Ella M. (Colby) Bowker, was born in Londonderry, New Hampshire, March 1, 1862. In 1870 his par- ents removed to Lowell. where they lived until 1878, and there he was educated, graduating from high school in 1879. Ile had prepared himself for mercantile business, and the six years following his graduation was a clerk in a Lowell dry goods house. From there he went to New York City and filled a similar position the ensuing three years. His employer went out of business and he went west and spent a few months at Springfield, Illinois. and Saginaw, Michigan, but finding himself the victim of climate, he went to Manchester, New Hampshire, where he obtained work in the worsted finishing department of the Manchester mills. Here he has since remained. Ten years of the time he was second hand, and in 1897 was appointed over- seer of the worsted finishing department, which po- sition he has since held, and has charge of two hundred operatives. Ile married, in Manchester,

September 2, 1885, Mary M. Watjen, who was born in Seehausen, Prussia, January 9, 1862, daughter of Henry and Dorothy Louise Watjen, who came to Manchester with her parents when nine years old.

The name of Burt is very ancient in

BURT England, being recorded there as early as 1199. In that year a manor in the lordship of Homingtoft was granted to Sir Hamo de Burt. The surname Burt is derived from the Sax- on "beort," which signifies bright in the sense of illustrious. Traces of it are found in many chris- tian names like Albert. Egbert, Ethelbert and Ber- tha. The English family contains many honorable names among the landed gentry, the army. the clergy and men in public life. Perhaps the most notable Burt of recent years was Thomas, who, originally a working coal miner in Northumber- land, was elected to parliament in 1874, was made parliamentary secretary and of the board of trade by Gladstone, and is one of the most influential of English Liberals. It is not generally remembered that the wife of the great German field marshal Von Moltke was Marie Burt, daughter of Jonathan Hevli- ger Burt, of Colton House. Staffordshire, England.

(I) Henry Burt, the first American ancestor, came to Roxbury, Massachusetts, as early as 1638. He must have been a householder or owner of buildings, because of a session of the "Generall Corte" held in Boston in 1639 is this entry: "The Treasurer was ordered to allow £8 to Roxberry for Henry Burt's losses by fyer." In 1640 Henry Burt was one of the several Roxbury neighbors who fol- lowed William Pynchon to the new settlement at Springfield, Massachusetts. That he

year was granted leave to seek out for his use "cannoe tree." He was given a larger allotment of land than the other settlers because of the size of his family. Henry Burt was one of the first selectmen, serving from 1641 to 1655 with the exception of one year, but the most important office was that of "ye Clarke of ye Writs," which he held from 1649 to his death in 1662. This indicates that he must have been a man of education and his signature, which is still extant, is a most creditable piece of penman- ship. Long before he migrated to this country Henry Burt married in England, Eulalia - -, or as her will gives it Ulaliah. There is an interesting tradition concerning this woman. It is said that in England she was on the point of being buried alive. but at her funeral signs of life appeared. She lived to bear eleven children, to migrate to America and to remain a "relict" for twenty-eight years after her husband's death. The children were: Sarah, Abigail, Jonathan, Mary, Elizabeth. David. whose sketch follows; Dorcas, Nathaniel, Hannah, Pa- tience and Mercy. The youngest child, Mercy, married Judah Wright, of Springfield, and became the ancestress of General Ethan Allen. of Revo- lutionary fame. and Silas Wright, the statesman. Henry Burt died at Springfield, Massachusetts, April 30, 1662, being about ninety years of age. His wid- ow, Ulalinh, died August 29, 1600.

(II) David, second son and fifth child of Henry and Ulaliah Burt, was born in England, about 1634. He was one of the first settlers of Northampton, Massachusetts, was a farmer and land surveyor, and in 1685 was one of the commissioners to straighten the boundary line between Northampton and Spring- feld. David Burt married Mary, eldest daughter of Deacon William Holton. and this was the first wedding that ever took place at Northampton. The bride's sister Sarah married Jolin King. and became

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the ancestress of President Dwight, of Yale Col- lege. Another sister, Ruth, married Thomas Ly- man, and became the ancestress of the Beecher family. David and Mary (Holton) Burt had thir- teen children : David, Jonathan, Henry, Mary, Sa- rah, Hannah, David, Jonathan, Joseph, whose sketch follows; Mary. Ruth, Benjamin and John. Several of these children died young. Two of the sons, the second David and John, were killed by the In- dians. Another son, Benjamin, with his wife, was carried into captivity. David Burt died at North- ampton, September 9, 1690, surviving his mother by about three weeks. His widow afterwards married Joseph Root, of Northampton, and died in 1718.

(III) Joseph, fifth son and ninth child of David and Mary (Holton) Burt, was born September 26, 1673. He was a cordwainer by trade, and after his marriage lived at Hatfield, Massachusetts, till 1717, when he became one of the first settlers of Northfield, where he spent the greater part of his life. He took a prominent part in the affairs of the town and in the defence against the attacks of the French and Indians. He went with his company on the Crown Point expedition. He accumulated a large property for the times. On April 16, 1702, he married Sarah, daughter of John Cowles, of

Hatfield. They had eight children: Sarah, Es- ther, Mary, John, Eleazer, Miriam, Asahel, and Aaron, whose sketch follows. One of the sons. Asahel, was killed by the Indians, April 15, 1747. Joseph Burt died at Northfield, Massachusetts, June 19, 1759, aged eighty-six, and his widow died May 21, 1772, aged ninety-one.

(IV) Aaron, fourth son and eighth and young- est child of Joseph and Sarah (Cowles) Burt, was born in Hatfield, Massachusetts. September 17, 1717. He settled at Northfield, where he built the first grist mill in 1765. He also had stores and peo- ple used to go down the Connecticut in boats and canoes to trade with Aaron Burt, and some of his customers came from places as far north as Charlestown, New Hampshire. Some of his ac- count books showing his excellent penmanship are still preserved. Aaron Burt married Miriam, daugh- ter of Hezekiah Elmer, of Northfield, Massachusetts. They had fifteen children, of whom twelve are re- corded: David, Jonathan, Sarah, Mary, Mary, Hannah, Ruth. Asahel, Moses and Aaron (twins), Miriam and John. Aaron Burt died in 1792.

(V) Moses, fourth son and ninth child of Aaron and Miriam (Elmer) Burt, was born in Northfield, Massachusetts, February 14. 1759. Ifis birth was ten hours in advance of that of his twin, Aaron, and they were very unlike in physical appearance. Moses lived with his father till he was about twen- ty years of age, when he went up the river and set- tled in Walpole, New Hampshire. Moses Burt and his brother-in-law, Samuel Wier, bought a large tract of meadow land, the confiscated estate of a Tory. When the Revolutionary war was over the heirs of the Tory came back and set up a claim for the land. After twenty years of litigation the claim was established, entailing a heavy loss on Burt and Wier. Burt was not discouraged. how- ever, and set about his other lands, making a fine farm which descended to his grandchildren. On August 16, 1777, when Moses Burt and his men were harvesting wheat in the fields of Walpole, they heard the booming of cannon at the battle of Ben- nington. He enlisted in the army for three months and went to Ticonderoga, but owing to Stark's vic- tory at Bennington, there was no action there. Moses Burt was a pioneer farmer of sterling hab-

its of integrity and industry. Ile was liberal in his religious views, fond of reading and firm in his conclusions. He was a staunch Democrat of the Jeffersonian type. In 1783 he married Subinit- tey Ross, and there were ten children : Roxana, Abiatha Ross, Moses (2). Luther, whose sketch follows: Submittey. Hannah, Sophronia, Charlotte and Sophia. Mrs. Moses Burt died September 12, 1828, after a lingering illness from consumption. Moses Burt died October 29, 1843, aged eighty-four years.

(VI) Luther, third son and fifth child of Moses and Submittey (Ross) Burt, was born August S, 1792, at Walpole, New Hampshire. He lived on the homestead all his life, and ministered to his aged parents and several maiden sisters. He was one of the town's model farmers, and a man of the highest character. By industry and frugality he ac- cumulated a handsome property. In 1811 Luther Burt married Irene, daughter of Hugh and Cyn- thia Dunsher, of Walpole. They had eight children : Levi, Mary, Irene, Curtis D., Laura M., mentientd below; Amasa, George Henry and Andrew J. Of these children, George went to Lawrence, Kansas, where he was accumulating a handsome property, when he fell a victim to the Quantrell raid, August 20, 1853. He was deliberately shot by an outlaw after the city had been burned. Luther Burt died November 1, 1866, and his wife died March 2, 1877, aged eighty-two years.

(VII) Laura M., second daughter and fourth child of Luther and Irene (Dunsher) Burt, was born March 31, 1820, at Walpole. On October 12, 1847, she married Dr. Winslow B. Porter, of Alstead, New Hampshire. (See Porter Family III).

CROSS This name has been conspicuous in the annals of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and is still ably represented in various parts of this state. The family has been noted for the longevity of its members as well as for sturdiness in character and mental and physi- cal qualities. In the records of the early Colonial days the name is spelled with a final "e" but this form has not been sanctioned by recent usage. The Puritan fathers were not all lettered men, and sur- names were of recent establishment among ordi- nary people at the time of their immigration. Be- side, there seemed to be no settled rules of spelling, especially as applied to proper names, so that it is not rare to find a man signing his name with va- rious spellings at different times.

John Crosse, of record as a landholder in fps- wich, Massachusetts, in 1635, was a prominent citi- zen in that and nearby towns during the remainder of his life. He died at Ipswich in 1652, without male issue.

(1) Robert Crosse. was of record at Ipswich, as a landholder in 1637 and was, without doubt, a brother of John. In 1639 he was granted land as a reward for services in the Pequod war. He was a "commoner" in 1641, and is again referred to in 1664 as possessed of rights in the common property of the town, and is found among the list of voters in 1679. There is no record of his first marriage. He was married February 19,

Martha. youngest daughter of Thomas Treadwell. She died October 20, 1677. His children were born as fol- lows: Ralph, February 15, 1658-59: Robert, Janu- ary 21, 1665: Timothy, November 29, 1667; Martha, March 15, 1670 (married William Durgin) : Abiel, April 5, 1676: Stephen, April 27, 1678.

(II) Ralph, eldest son of Robert Cross, is of

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record as holding a seat in the meeting house at Ipswich in 1700-02. Ilis widow, Mary Cross, was appointed August 17. 1711. to administer his es- tate, which was valued at £39, IIS., 3d.

( III) Thomas Cross was born in 1695-96, in Ips- wich, and died November 22. 1772. in Bradford, where he had long resided, in his seventy-seventh year. It is probable that he resided for some years in Haverhill, as his name' appears on several pe- titions to the general court from that town, one being for the creation of a separate parish at what is now Plaistow, New Hampshire, dated February 28. 1740. His son and namesake was prominent in Bradford, being one of a committee to hire s ldiers to serve in the Continental army in March, 1779, and was selectman in 1783. He and his wife, Lucy, were admitted to the church in Bradford, March 12. 1769. and his sister Sarah was received in the same communion September 20, 1707. Sarah, wife of Thomas Cress. Sr .. died one week after her consert.

(IV ) Abiel, son of Thomas and Sarah Cross. was born 1736-37. in Bradford, Massachusetts, and die1 April 20, 1772, in Salem, New Hampshire, where he was a farmer, at the age of thirty-five year -. He had sons, David and Jesse.

(V) David, son of Abiel Cross, was born June 17. 1772. in Salem, New Hampshire, and died March 7. 1756, in Weare. He was reare.I in Salem and At- kinson, and went to Pembroke at the age of twenty- one years. There he was associated with William Haselton in the operation of a cloth-dressing and wool-carding mill. About 1798 he moved to Weare, and engaged in the same business in partnership with John Gibson, and also cultivated a farm. He was married in 1799. to Olive Kimball, daughter of Thomas (3) Kimball. of Pembroke. New Hamp- shire, ( see Kimball. VI). She was born June 19. 1782, died April 3, 1871. Their children were: John, born September. 1801. died September 3. 1860: Harriet, wife of Enos Merrill: Horace K .. who died at the age of seven years: David, subject of the following sketch.

(VI) David, son of David and Olive (Kimball) Cross. was born in Weare, New Hampshire. July 5. 1817. He prepared for college at Hopkinton Acad- cmy. New Hampshire, and at Philips Academy, Andover. Massachusetts, and was graduated at Dartmouth College in 1841. which conferred upon him the degree of LL. D., in 1891. He studied law in the offices of Willard and Raymond at Troy. New York. Sidney Bartlett, of Boston, Massachus- etts. and at the Harvard Law School, and was ad- mitted to the Hillsborough, New Hampshire bar in 1844. He began the practice of law in Manchester at a period in the history of the Hillsborough bar productive of eminent legal talent, having as con- temporaries of the older generation Franklin Pierce, George Y. Sawyer. George W. Morrison. Mark Farley. Daniel Clark and among those of his own age, Aaron F. Stevens, Aaron Sawyer, of Nashua, Bainbridge Wadleigh, of Milford, Samuel N. Bell, of Manchester, John II. George, of Concord. Gil- man Maeston, of Exeter, J. S. H. Frink, of Ports- mouth. Ile was a member of the common council on the organization of the city in 1846, and is the only surviving member of this city government. He was city solicitor for 1852-53. member of the leg- islature for 1848-49-56-76 and 77: was a member of the constitutional conventions of ISSo and 1903. was judge of probate for the county of Hillsborough from 1856 to 1874: United States pension agent from 1865 to 1872, performing the duties of this

office mostly through clerks, but attending closely to the practice of law which he never for a moment neglected or forsook. He was one of the directors of the old Merrimack River State Bank from 1855 to 65; was vice-president and director of its suc- cessor, the First National Bank, until 1898, and since that has been its president. He has been one of the trustees. vice-president and counsel for the Merrimack River Savings Bank from its organiza- tion to the present time. He has been president of the Hillsborough County Bar Association for the past twenty-five years, was president of the Southern New Hampshire Bar Association for two years. lle was a member of the Republican National Con- vention as a delegate from New Hampshire at Bal- timore, which nominated Lincoln for the second tinte for president.

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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 50

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