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 54

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 54

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

(VII) Thomas (6), eldest son of Thomas (5) and Mehitabel ( Pratt) Green, was born in Reading, Massachusetts, in 1783, and when but a lad went with his parents to Maine, and later to New Hampshire. He remained with his parents until about the time he attained his majority, and then built a small saw mill on Millbrook, in Shelburne. This mill could not cut the amount of lumber necessary to satisfy Mr. Green, and he engaged in cultivating a farm on the west side of the river, where the village of Shel- burne now stands. After a time he went up into the wilderness township of Errol, where he built a camp and began the construction of a mill which was burned before it was completed. and with it eight hundred dollars in money which he had taken there. This was all the money he had, and being in no condition to carry out his plans there, he returned to his Shelburne farm which he cultivated the fol- lowing eight years with energy and economy. With his savings he then bought a tract of timber land from which he cut the timber in two years, and after burning it, made from the ashes thus obtained a large quantity of "black salts," potash and pearlash. About 18- he opened the first store in the town of Shelburne. and did a large business furnishing sup- plies to lumbermen and contractors in a considerable area in Maine and New Hampshire. In 1826 he removed to the unorganized town of Maynes- borough, now Berlin, and located at the head of the falls where the mills of the Berlin Mills Company are now. After he had raised the frame for a large mill and nearly completed a dam, and while fine erops were standing on his farm in Shelburne, the terrible flood of August, 1826. destroyed all. These misfortunes which would have crushed most men, seemed only to stimulate Mr. Green to renewed efforts. Rendered poor by this calamity. he returned again to his farm where he had always been able to make enough to engage in other ventures, and after working a year he accumulated sufficient money to begin again. Returning to Berlin, he got out a large quantity of logs and the frame for another mill. In 1827 he bought the mill privilege and land at Berlin Falls, and there built a house to which he re- moved his family. He then built a saw mill pro-

12IO

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

vided with an upright saw and a grist mill of one run of stones, and carried on business on that site until 1851. About 1835 he removed the grist mill up the river, and enlarged it to three runs of stones and also built a residence. March 16, 1835, he sold his saw mill property to Barker Burbank, Dearborn Lavy, and John Chandler. In connection with his grist mill he sold flour, feed and grain, and kept a stock of groceries for sale at his house. February 1, 1853, he disposed of this mill and property to a Mr. Gower, but occupied the house until after the death of his wife, in March, 1853. He then bought a farm in Guildhall, Essex county, Vermont, near the "Lancaster Toll-Bridge," where he lived a few years and then changed his residence to a place where he bought about a mile from Lancaster vil- lage, and there he died in July, 1874, aged ninety- one. He was a Methodist in religious belief, and a Democrat in politics, His education was limited, but he had an amazing amount of energy and did much to develop the region where he lived. He married first, Lydia Fairbanks Evans, born 1778, died in March, 1853. She was the daughter of Simeon and Eunice (Hayden) Evans. Her father was a native of Foxborough, Massachusetts, and was a pioneer of Shelburne. Mr. Green married second, Cynthia Stanley, born 1801, died 1884. She was the daughter of Lieutenant Dennis and Sally ( Bishop) Stanley. His children, all by the first wife, were : Alpha, Amos, Daniel, Edmund, Aaron and Lydia. Alpha married Clovis Lowe, and resided in Ran- dolph, New Hampshire. Amos was a prominent business man of Berlin. Daniel is mentioned below. Edmund lived in Stark. Aaron lived in Berlin till his death, December 26, 1874. Lydia married Paul Perkins, and lived in Lancaster.

(VIII) Daniel, third child and second son of Thomas (6) and Lydia Fairbanks (Evans) Green, was born in Shelburne, December 19, 188, and died January 6, 1892, aged eighty-four years. His edu- cation was limited to a few years schooling, and at an early age he engaged in the activities of life. In 1829-he was then twenty-one-he, with

his brother Amos acquired a mill privilege adjoining the saw mill of their father, and erected a clapboard mill and shingle machine, which the operated until April. 1835, when it was-burned, and they sold their privilege on both sides of the river to Burbank. Lavy & Chandler. In 1845 Daniel Green built a mill con- taining a elapboard. a shingle, and a sapping machine on the Ammonoosue, in Berlin, on lot 21, range 3. and carried it on until 1849, when the mill was de- stroyed by fire, and with it one thousand acres of the best timber he had. This loss served only to stimulate his courage and arouse his energies, and very soon he built a mill at the foot of Cranberry Meadow containing machinery for making hoards, shingles, clapboards, piano wood. and a lathe for turning iron, which cost him ten thousand dollars. At this time he owned about five thousand or six thousand acres of timber land. mostly pine and spruce.

August 5, 1850, Mr. Green was compelled to fore- close a mortgage on the large mill of Gower & Wil- son which was valued at eleven thousand dollars, became its owner, and began business at once, em- ploying men to get out large quantities of spruce and pine, which were then manufactured. The greater part was a fine quality of pine, and made into doors. blinds, and sash material. September 4. 1862, this mill with a large amount of manufac- tured lumber was destroyed by fire, with but seven

thousand dollars insurance on the property. June 3, 1869, the mill at Cranberry Meadow was burned, with two hundred thousand feet of fine pine lumber, entail- ing a loss of ten thousand dollars. Both mills were re- built ; the one at the foot of the meadow was swept away by a flood before its completion. and the one on the Gower site was burned in the winter of 1882- 83. During his business career Mr. Green owned all the water power along the Androscoggin at Berlin. The original survey of this section was very faulty, and any purchaser of land was liable to conflicting claims of title; and Mr. Green who owned so many different traets of land did not escape without much litigation over lines and boundaries.

Mr. Green began the cultivation of cranberries in 1874, and at great expense prepared a fine cran- berry meadow of sixty acres, which experienced raisers of the fruit valued at one hundred thousand dollars, but owing to the change in seasons it later came to have very little value, as the fruit did not mature early enough to escape frost. In 1876 he first visited Florida, and paid five thousand dollars for an orange grove at Boardman, in Marion county. His plantation there afterward came to contain three hundred and fifty acres, on which there was an orange grove of four thousand trees. During the later years of his life Mr. Green passed his winters in Florida, looking after his estate.

Besides mill privileges, Mr. Green owned a large amount of other description of real estate in Berlin, among which were two stores which he rented. and many tenements and dwellings. He laid out and sold more building lots in Berlin Falls than any other person. The house which he and his son Sullivan D. occupied was built by his brother Amos, in 1831. In 1886, A. H. Gerrish and Mr. Green con- structed an aqueduct which supplies about one hun- dred families in Berlin Falls and numerous business houses with water.

Mr. Green, like his father, was a man of great energy and industry, a tireless worker whose sound judgment coupled to sterling characteristics of head and heart made him a successful man and principal factor in the growth and development of Berlin in its earlier years. For sixty years he was a conspicu- ous figure in the town, and in spite of losses by fire and flood. accumulated a handsome property, which in his last years he enjoyed in a life of leisure. In politics he was a Democrat, and being, as he was, a successful man in his private affairs, he was placed by his townsmen in official positions of responsibility and trust. He was town clerk several years, county commissioner three years, 1855-8, selectinan for many years, and representative in the general court six years. He was active in the counsels of his party and seldom failed of being a delegate, to county, senatorial and state conventions. Mr. Green was a believer in the Universalist faith and gave of his means to the support of the church of his choice. He followed the dictates of conscience in his daily vocations, and tried to do right because it is right. He was kind and sociable by nature. and quiet, un- assuming and affable in his manners. For many years he was a member of North Star Lodge. Free and Accepted Masons of Lancaster.

Daniel Green married, August 2, 1831. Polly Wheeler, who was born in Gilead. Maine, April I, IS12, and died in Berlin, New Hampshire, June 3, 1873. They had eight children: 1. Sullivan D., mentioned below. 2. Lucinda Angelina. born De- cember 6, 1834. died September 4, 1873: married, 1853. Moses Hodgdon, Jr., of Milan, and had eleven

IZII

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

children. 3. Francis Daniel, born January 14. 1837; killed at Fredericksburg, Virginia, December 13, 1862, while a member of Company B, Fifth New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry. He married, 1858, Roaney F. Blodgett, daughter of Joseph and Mary Blodgett, of Berlin; he left two children. 4. Naney Berden, born September 3, 1839. died October 28, 1860. 5. Charles Volney, born September 3, 1841 ; was a member of Company H. Thirteenth Maine Volunteer Infantry, and died June 10. 1864. in the hospital at New Orleans. 6. IJelen Elizabeth, born September 25, 1843, died January 10, 1864; married Emerson Cole (second), and had one child. 7. Persis Georgianna, born January 30, 1847, married Lewis N. Clark, and had four children. 8. John Woodman, born June 12, 1850, married Fannie E. Mason, of Berlin, and had one child. Ile died Feb- ruary 7, 1904.

(IX) Sullivan Dexter, eldest child of Daniel and Polly (Wheeler) Green, was born in Berlin, September 4, 1832, and was one of the first chil- dren born in the town. He died December 29, 1889. From early childhood he was brought up to work, and many times performed the labor of a man. He worked in saw and grist mills, assisted in rafting and running lumber, drove a team to hanl goods from Bethel, and when a lad of only twelve years of age cooked for a gang of men. In these circumstances he had almost no way to acquire an education: but after coming of age he had the much desired. opportunity of going to school, and for two and a half years he attended Bethel ( Maine) Academy one half of the time. In 1856 he went to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he attended the State University for eighteen months, and made rapid progress : and during his vacations learned the printer's trade. Then, in order to assist his father, he returned to Berlin where he stayed a year. Then he went a second time to Michigan, and settled in Detroit, where he con- dueted a temperance paper two and one-half years with valuable results in a general way to the tem- perance cause, but as far as he was concerned "for nothing, and boarding himself." In 1862 the patriotic citizens of Detroit decided to raise an extra regiment of soldiers to meet the pressing needs of the government. This regiment was raised in two weeks, and became the "Twenty- fourth Michigan." Mr. Green enlisted in this organization August 13, 1862, and was in active service until mustered out June 30, 1865. The regiment reached Washington in a season of great depression, for the demoralized remnants of Pope's defeated army were crossing the "Long Bridge" on their retreat. After the battle of Antietam the regiment was attached to MeClellan's army and became a part of the famous "Iron Brigade," taking part in the battles of Fredericksburg. Fitzhugh Crossing. Gettysburg. Mine Run, and thirteen others. Mr. Green was on duty some months in the adjutant general's office, and in June. 1864. he was appointed quartermaster-sergeant, and was in charge of wagon trains. While he was in the service he was a regular correspondent of the Detroit Free Press, and his letters were so accept- able that after the war he became a member of the local staff of that paper, with which he was con- nected for nearly eight years, winning laurels all the way. At the time of his retirement the follow- ing paragraphs were written by his associates on the Free Press. "And S. D. Green! Rare old "Salathiel," quaintest, brightest, and most accom-

plished of all the old reportorial crowd, and of all men I have known the most 'repugnant to com- mand.' Journalism lost a superior writer when Green threw down his pen and went home to New Hampshire." "S. D. Green was a man of much intellectual power and a writer of ability. Few soldiers have a hetter military record. Ilis old comrades of the Twenty-fourth Michigan Infantry relate with pride his gallantry and coolness in the face of both armies at the crossing of the Rappa- hannock, near Fredericksburg, in 1862."

In 1874 he returned to Berlin and made that his home ever afterward. There he gathered from the pioneers the early history of the town, and thus preserved for future generations what without him would never have been so fully accomplished. He was a man in touch with the progressive spirit of the age, kind hearted. sympathetic, and so tin- obtrusive and modest as to disclaim eredit even for what was justly his due. In politics he was a Democrat. His integrity was unimpeachable, his business capacity was good, and he was frequently elected to public office. He was selectman six years, town clerk seven years and for several years he was a member of the school committee.

He married, January II, 1866, Catherine E. Car- barry, who was born in Greenfield. Michigan, September 18, 1841. daughter of Mitchell and Cath- erine (Hart) Carbarry, of Greenfield, Michigan. Of this union were born seven children : Fred D., Carrie C., Mary H., Gracie, Harry D., an infant (died young), and Theodore A. I. Fred Dexter, born December 22, 1867, in Detroit, Michigan. graduated from University of Michigan in the class of 1892, and is a teacher in the Detroit School for Boys. He married Mable Preston, of Detroit. 2. Carrie Carbarry, January 25. 1870, died young. 3. Mary Helen, May 26, 1871, married Albert B. Davis, who is secretary of the railroad Young Men's Christian Association at Woodsville. 4. Gracie, December 26. 1874. died young. 5. Harry Daniel, January 2, 1876, graduated from Trinity College, Hartford. Connecticut, in 1899. and is a teacher in Cloyne House School. Newport. Rhode Island. 6. Theodore Albert, August 4. 1884, a teacher in Cloyne House School, Newport, Rhode Island.

(IX) Persis Georgiana. seventh child and fourth daughter of Daniel and Polly ( Wheeler) Green, was born January 30, 1847. She was mar- ried October 22, 1869. to Lewis N. Clark, a native of Canada, who died October 20, 1905. She has had four children: 1. Saidie F., born February 18. 1872. married George Steady, of Sherbrook: four children: Louis Clark, born November 3. 1805: Gordon and George. twins, born October 24. 1807; Earl Richards, horn April 3. 1900. 2. Lewis E., born May 30. 1874, died September 14, same year 3. Leon S., born January 2. 1876, died January 21. same year. 4. Ilelen Maud, horn October 2, 1877, married Dr. E. J. Barney, of Berlin, and has a son George Curtis. born April 21. 1000. Mrs. Clark resides in Berlin amid the scenes of her father's industrial enterprises.

This old English name is taken from

GREENE the place at or near which a forebear lived four hundred or five hundred years ago. Every English village has its green, where the young people enjoyed various sports. The John. Geoffrey or Henry who lived near the green might designate himself John, Geoffrey or Henry "atte Green." Later he was known as

I212

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

"Greene." and his descendants after him by the same name. In America the descendants of the im- migrants Greene number among them, both in the earlier and later years. many men of eminent ability. The descendants in Pittsfield and vicinity spell the name Greene.

(I) Henry Greene, councillor, judge, born as early as 1620, was of Hampton, New Hampshire. within a few years after the first settlement of the town. for in May, 1644, certain lands were granted to him in exchange for other lands then in his pos- session. He bought the house lot first granted Arthur Clarke (on the Perry estate) and perhaps lived there for a time, but in 1653 he was living on the south of Taylor's river. He was a millwright hy trade and a mill owner. He built the first mill in Hampton Falls, known as Greene's Mill. His house stood on the hill on the opposite side of Falls river. He was also a prominent man in the town and province. He was twice chosen a commissioner to settle the Salisbury line; was selectman two years ; assistant of the inferior court: justice of the court of sessions : councillor from 1685 to 1689 and again from 1692 to 1698; chief justice of the court of com- mon pleas, 1607-98. At the council board and on the bench his influence was very great. while his sterl- ing character won the respect of the people, so that important trusts were consigned to his hands. Be- ing a justice during the Mason controversy, however, he then shared the unpopularity of the courts. His death is thus chronicled in the town records of Hampton: "Henry Green, Esqr., Aged above 80 years for Seuerall years a member of the Counsill until by age he layed down that place, but a Justice till he died which was the 5 August, 1700." His first wife was Mary. She was the mother of his children. She died April 26, 1600. and he married ( second), March 10, 1601, widow Mary Page, daugh- ter of Captain Christopher Hussey. His children were: Abraham. Abigail, Isaac, Jacob, Elizabeth, Mary and Hannah. The early descendants of Judge Henry Greene were Quakers.

(II) Abraham, eldest child of Henry and Mary Green, married. July 9, 1668, Esther, a daughter of Captain Benjamin Swett. Their children were : Abigail, John, Mercy. Henry and Benjamin.

(III) Benjamin, youngest child of Abraham and Esther ( Swett) Green, married. December 17. 1707. Elizabeth, daughter of Benjamin Brown, Their children were: Hannah, Jonathan, Esther, Eliza- beth. Sarah and Mary.

(IV) Jonathan, second child and only son of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Brown) Green, was born December 12, 1711, died 1788. He lived on his father's homestead. In his will dated 1783, proved 1788. he devises one hundred acres of land in Chi- chester, New Hampshire, to each of his sons, Abra- ham and Nathan. He married, March 20. 1743. Margaret Tilton, born March 1, 1712, daughter of David and Deborah (Batchelder) Tilton, and they had seven children: Abraham. Jonathan, Nathan, Iluldah, Phebe, Benjamin and David.

(V) Nathan, fourth son and child of Jonathan and Margaret (Tilton) Green, was born August 21, 1748. His wife's name was Elizabeth, and among their children was a son David.

(VI) David, son of Nathan and Elizabeth Greene, was born in South Pittsfield. June 5. 1791, died April 6, 1868. He married, about 1814, Ruhama Sherburn, born April 7. 1705. died June 16, 1878. Their children were: Loamni, see forward : James, married Eunice Tilton : Russell. married Eliza Os-

borne: Cyrus, married Jane Clarke; David L. see forward: Oliver, married Arvilla Fogg: Daniel, married Lucinda Foss, and lives on the old Greene homestead ; Julia Ann Mansfield, married Cyrus True.

Loamni, eldest child of David and Ruhama (Sherburn) Greene, was born in Loudon, March 17, 1815, died September 13, 1879. He mar- ried. December 5, 1839, Hannah C. Osborn, born April 15, 1816, died June 15, 1885. She was the daughter of Joshua and Hannah C. (Clough) Os- born, of Loudon. Their children were: Charles H. O., see forward; Clara Ann, married Alvah Adams, of Pittsfield, and has one son, Lewis Adams; Orin P., married Ann Augusta Paige and has two children : Ernest and Ethel ; Sarah, unmarried, lives in Pittsfield Village.

(VII) David, fifth son and child of David and Ruhama (Sherburn) Greene, was born in Loudon, July 1, 1825, died in Pittsfield, February 25, 1888. He was a prosperous farmer and stock raiser. He was particularly interested in driving horses, and those which he bred always sold at good prices. He was also a fancier of fine cattle and kept some choice animals. He dealt in cattle and horses to quite an extent, and was successful in that line. He took some interest in politics, and was tax collector and road agent. Having a desire for good roads for driving purposes, he took care to have the highways in good condition while he had charge of them. He married, in Pittsfield, about 1850. Hannah C. Tilton, born May 7, 1827, at Tilton Hill, Pittsfield, young- est of the thirteen children of Nehemiah and Hannah ( Philbrick) Tilton. Mr. Tilton was a farmer and mechanic, and resided in Pittsfield. Mrs. Greene is still living, and possesses a very retentive memory of past events. Seven children were born of this marriage: Abbie Hannah, wife of Horace M. Foss ; David S., see forward; True, deceased, who married Nora Davis; Henry, died young; Franklin P., mar- ried Frances J. Merrill, of Gilmanton : George W., died young; Alice, married Walter Elwood Foss, born March, 1863.

(VIII) Charles Henry Osborn, eldest son and child of Loamni and Hannah C. (Osborn) Greene, was born in Pittsfield, May 13, 1846, and spent his early life on his father's farm near Shaw's pond. He acquired his education in the district schools of Pittsfield and Barnstead, and at Pittsfield Academy, under the tutelage of Professor D. K. Foster, a prominent educator of his time. Having a fondness for the mechanical arts he learned black- smithing, shoemaking and carpentry. For twenty years of his life he worked at the last mentioned trade, and built by contract many homes and other buildings in village and country in Pittsfield and ad- joining towns, prominent among which are the beautiful home of the Dudleys on Berry Hill, and a flat of fifty-one rooms where he now lives. He married (first) Frances B. Hill, born in Gilman- ton, New Hampshire, May 1, 1853, daughter of Ezra and Fannie ( Colbath) Hill. Mrs. Greene died November 28. 1887. He married (second) Mary J. Whittier, born March II, 1843. daughter of Abner and Saralı (Hoyt) Whittier. They were the parents of two children: Edith F .; Harris L., born December 27, 1876, see forward.

(VIII) David Sherburn, second child and eldest son of David L. and Hannah C. (Tilton) Greene, was born in Pittfield, April 23, 1854, and grew to manhood on his father's farm. After completing tlie course at the district school of Pittsfield, he at-

Alouzo KW. House

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

1213

tended a private school for a time. . At twenty-one years of age he began to work on farms for wages. This he did for about two years, and then bought a farm of eighty-five acres in what is known as the "upper eity,' Pittsfield. Here he resided ten years and then sold out and returned to Pittsfield, where he engaged in the coal and wood business, and in Igor became senior mem- ber of the firm of Greene & Walker, dealers in lumber, and is manager of operating depart- ment of the Pittsfield Lumber Company with which he is connected. The firm of of Greene & Walker conduct a large lumber business, cutting annually from five hundred thousand to one million feet of lumber, which they haul with their own teams. He owns the old home place of his father in the upper edge of the town of Pittsfield, on the road to Lou- don Centre. He has taken an interest in building up the village of Pittsfield and its industries, and be- sides a cozy residence he has built for the purpose of renting a two-story house. Mr. Greene is an energetic, busy, successful man, and does his part to keep the commercial, manufacturing, educational and political interests of Pittsfield from stagnating. He votes the Democratic ticket, and is one of the selectmen of the town. He attends the Free Will Baptist Church, and though not a member is a faithful contributor toward its prosperity. By his first marriage he had a daughter, Maud, wife of John Lock, of Pittsfield, and mother of one daughter, Nellie Lock. Mr. Greene married (second) Lura A. Stearns, daughter of Ira W. Stearns, of Man- chester. One daughter was born of this union, Miriam, who married John Davis, of Pittsfield, and they are the parents of five children: Waldo, Cora, Lula, Fred and Mr. Greene mar- ried (third), August 16, 1906, Nellie M. Fitzgerald, daughter of the late Dr. Fitzgerald, of Manchester, New Hampshire.

(VIII) Franklin Pierce, son of David L. and Hannah C. ( Tilton) Greene, was born in Pittsfield, New Hampshire, March 27, 1860. He acquired his education in the public school, and Pittsfield Academy, under the tutelage of Professor D. K. Foster, a well known educationist, after which he engaged in agricultural pursuits on the home farm until 1880, when he entered the shoe factory of C. B. Lancaster and remained in his employ for over fourteen years. He entered the cutting department of this establishment as a novice in the business, but his aptitude in learning and his general inter- est in the business was such as to warrant his ad- vancement grade by grade until he finally became stock assorter. When the firm withdrew their busi- ness from Pittsfield Mr. Greene, in connection with E. P. Hill, engaged in business under the firm name of Hill & Greene, subsequently John S. Rand ac- quired an interest in the business, and it was then incorporated under the name of the Pittsfield Shoe Company, Mr. Greene being president and general manager, in which capacities he renders efficient ser- vice. About three years after Mr. 1lill became a partner in the business, he was obliged to retire on account of failing health, Mr. Greene purchasing his interest. This business has rapidly increased under Mr. Greene's able management, and to-day over two hundred hands are employed, the average daily output forty cases of thirty-six pairs each, and their goods find a ready market throughout the United States and Europe. In the beginning the buildings were rented, but in 1905 the company purchased and now own the entire plant formerly

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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 54

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