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. IV, Part 111

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: 878

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. IV > Part 111

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(VI) Samuel, son of James and Polly (Marston) Towle, was born October 19, 1811. He lived on the home place in Pittsfield. He married Betscy, daugh- ter of Thomas and Hannah (Mleserve) Snell, of Barnstead, New Hampshire, December 8, 1835. She was born January 26, 1815, and died January 19, 1902. Their children were: Angeline Alvina, Alvin Freeman and Louisa Hannah. The last named died in her sixth year.

(VII) Angeline Alvina, daughter of Samuel and Betsey (Snell) Towle, was born May 27, 1838. She married, July 3, 1869, Charles Carroll Rogers, son of Jacob and Hannah (Kelley) Rogers of Pitts- field. Mr. Rogers moved with his parents to Pitts- field when a small boy. His father kept hotel at Pittsfield Corner. Mr. Rogers was raised and edu- cated in Pittsfield, and continued to live there after his marriage. His business was that of a hardware merchant, which he continued till 1883, when he sold out and took up a small farm on Berry Hill, where his widow now resides. He served as select- man five years, and also as road agent. He was not a member of any church, but was reared in the Episcopal Church. By a former marriage he had two children, Abbie E. and George Edward, both of whom are dead. He had no children by his second marriage. His widow is a woman of great prudence, energy and strength of character, and is respected by all who know her.

(VII) Alvin Freeman, son of Samuel and Betsey (Snell) Towle, was born February 8, 1842, and now resides in Northwood, moving there after the death of his wife. He married, February 21, 1865, Francena Floyd, daughter of George and Sarah (Goodwin) Stockman of Pittsfield, She was born February 21, 1848, and died April 8, 1881. Their children are : Herbert Clarence, born July 31, 1867; Hattie Belle, born October 30, 1870, and Arthur Daniel, born April 27, 1876. They lived in Pittsfield until 1881. The family are noted for their intellectual tastes, and have one of the best libraries in the vicinity. Louisa Hannah was born September 16, 1844, and died February 17, 1850.

(III) Jonathan fourth son and fifth child of Joseph and Mehetabel (Hobbs) Towle, born April 5. 1703, died April 23, 1791. He married, Decem. ber 12, 1728, Anna Norton, born March 20, 1708, daughter of Bonus Norton, of Hampton Falls, and probably settled in Rye. They had children : Jona- than, Levi, Joseph, Samuel, James, Anna, and Na- than.

(IV) Jonathan (2), eldest child of Jonathan (I) and Anna (Norton) Towle, born July 4, 1729, died in Epsom. Ile married Elizabeth Jenness, born April 4, 1734, a native of Rye, and they had children: Hannah, Simeon and Levi.

(V) Hannah, eldest child and only daughter of Jonathan and Elizabeth (Jenness) Towle, married William Yeaton, of Rye. They removed to Ep-

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som, and settled near the Suncook river (see Yea- ton, II).

(V) Simcon, eldest son and second child of Jonathan and Elizabeth (Jenness) Towle, married Elizabeth Marden, of Rye, and settled in Epsom, and they had two sons, Simcon (2), and Benjamin, next mentioned.

(VI) Benjamin Marden, second son of Simeon (1) and Elizabeth ( Marden) Towle, was born in Epsom, and there married Hannah Sanborn.

(VII) Lemuel B., son of Benjamin and Han- nah (Sanborn) Towle, died September 30, 1895, was a farmer and prominent citizen of Chichester, having his residence near Chichester station, on the Suncook Valley railroad. He married Mary Ann Prescott. died January, 1904. Both inembers of the Congregational Church. Their children were: Mary Elizabeth, died in infancy, Charles, resides in Epsom, Frank C. is the subject of the next paragraph; George C. is in Alaska.

(VIII) Frank Clifton, second son and third child of Lemuel B. and Mary Ann ( Prescott) Towle, was born May 30, 1847, in Epsom, where he grew up on his father's farm. He attended the common schools and Pittsfield Aca lemy, and when eighteen years old took a place in the store of his uncle, Joseph Towle Goss, in Hooksett. Later he became station agent for the Boston & Maine railroad, and purchased the store in which he had been employed. He carried on the store for many years, and also acted as chief assistant to the late Jesse Gault, who was a large brick manufacturer of Hooksett. Mr. Towle was an active and suc- cessful business man, and left a comfortable for- tune. He was a Republican, and a political leader in his town. He represented Hooksett in the lower house of the legislature, and was afterward a mem- her of the senate. Naturally social, he was a val- uable member of the Masonic order, in which he attained the thirty-second degree, being a member of Hooksett Lodge, Trinity Royal Arch Chapter, No. 2: Horace Chase Council ; Mount Horeb Com- mandery, Knights Templar; Horace Chase Coun- cil No. 4, Concord ; and Edward A. Raymond Con- sistory, Nashua. He was also a member of Friend- ship Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Hooksett, and for many years an honored member of the Congregational Church. He married. Octo- her 19, 1870, Myra Clement Gault, daughter of Jesse (2) Gault, of Hooksett (see Gault, V). She was born April 7, 1847, and now resides with her wid- owed mother in Manchester. They were the par- ents of two children: Annie is a teacher in Tilton Seminary; Helen Augusta is the wife of Adam D. Smith, of Danvers, Massachusetts.

TOWLE

There is little doubt that the present branch is descended from Philip

Towle, the patriarch of the Towles in this country, who came to Hampton, New Hamp- shire, as early as 1657. He reared a numerous family, some of them lived in Hampton for gen- erations, while others spread over the surrounding country. Some of the female descendants in the fifth generation married and settled in Epsom, and others doubtless migrated there. As it has been im- possible to determine the parentage of Colonel Isaac Towle from the record of vital statistics or otherwise, the present branch must begin with him. . (I) Colonel Isaac Towle was born in Epsom, New Hampshire, October 17. 1794. A little before 1840 he moved to Sutton, New Hampshire, where he was a farmer and an exemplary and useful cit- izen. At some time of his life he was a colonel in

the militia. In 1818 he married Rebecca, daughter of Jonathan and Alice Locke, of Epsom, who was born in 1798. They were the parents of sixteen children : James, born October 28, 1820, died in November of that year; James M., Henry, Horace E., Rodney, died young; Charles, died young; Al- mira J., George, died young; Charles A., whose sketch follows; Mary Ann, died young; Mary Ann, Albert, Ellen M., Elizabeth, George and William Perry, who was born October 28, 1843, and died in the army, July 13, 1863. Colonel Isaac Towle died at Sutton, January 14, 1884, aged eighty-nine years, and his wife died at Sutton, March 31, 1879, aged eighty-one years.

(II) Charles Augustus, eighth son and ninth child of Colonel Isaac and Rebecca (Locke) Towle, was born at Canaan, New Hampshire, June 14, 1833. On December 1, 1854, he married Maria Scates, daughter of Oliver and Sally (Leighton) Scates. (See Scates, III). They had three children : Charles Frank, born March 29, 1856, who now lives in New York: Willis A., born August 31, 1861, who died January 18. 1864; and Fred Scates, whose sketch follows. Charles A. Towle died August 18, 1870, at the early age of thirty-seven years.

(III) Dr. Fred Scates, third son and child of Charles Augustus and Maria ( Scates) ) Towle, was born at Boston, Massachusetts, December 28, 1863. He was educated in the Boston public schools, and was graduated from the Medical College of Colum- bia University in the class of 1893. He took a post-graduate course in the hospitals of New York, and practiced one year in Boston. In 1894 he took up his permanent abode in Portsmouth, New Hamp- shire, where he has since continued in general prac- tice. During his residence there he has been city physician and chairman of the Board of Health. He is surgeon of the Boston & Maine railroad, sur- geon of the Cottage Hospital of Portsmouth, and in 1897-1899, was on the staff of Governor George A. Ramsdell, as surgeon general. Dr. Towle is a man of genial nature, and his very entrance to a sick room brings cheer to the patient. As a sur- geon he stands at the head of his profession, and is well known throughout the state, being frequently called in council with the leading physicians. Dr. Towle is a member of the New Hampshire Sur- gical Club, the American Medical Association, and the following societies :

Portsmouth Medical, Strafford County Medical, Rockingham County Medical, and New Hampshire Medical. He belongs to the Masonic order in all its branches, and has attained to the thirty-second degree. He is a mem- ber of the various bodies in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and also of the Knights of Py- thias. Dr. Towle is not only one of the substantial citizens and leading physicians of Rockingham, county, but is well liked as a man. He is president of the Wallack Social Club of Portsmouth, and is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution. In 1885 Dr. Towle married Martha Horne Perry, daughter of Alfred Perry of Boston. They have one son. Charles Augustus, born in Boston, 1886. He was educated in the public schools of Ports- mouth and at a military academy in New York, and possesses a mechanical turn of mind.

The name of Scates is most unusual SCATES in this country, and seems to be con- fined to the eastern part of New Hampshire, reaching from Dover upward to Lake Winnepesaukee. It may possibly be related to the old Dutch Skaats, first represented in this country by Dominie Gideon Schaats, who came from Hol-

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land in 1652, and for forty-two years was pastor of the Old Dutch Church at Albany, New York. The earliest reference to Scates that has been found is in the records of Milton, New Hampshire, origi- nally a part of Rochester. In 1772 or 1773 one Ben- jamin Scates settled on Plummer's Ridge in what is now Milton. Probably he was related to the fol- lowing line.

(I) Dodonah Scates had two brothers, Ithicl and Benjamin ; possibly the latter may have been the one who settled at Plummer's Ridge. Dodonah Scates married Mrs. Lydia ( Hansen) Manning, and they have five children: Jack, Abigail, Oliver, mentioned below, Zimery and Maria. All of these lived to marry and raise families.

(II) Oliver, second son and third child of Do- donah and Lydia (Hanson) Manning, was born at Milton, New Hampshire, April 21, 1800. In 1819 he married Sally Leighton, daughter of Ephraim Leighton, of Ossipee, New Hampshire, who was born April 16, 1801. They had eight children. Do- donah, Sally, Clark Swett. Maria, mentioned be- low: Sally Alice. Annie Elizabeth and John. Of this large family all of them lived to grow up and marry, the only survivors in 1907 are Maria, whose sketch follows, and John, who was born April 28. 1841. Oliver Scates met with an accidental death. (III) Maria, second daughter and fourth child of Oliver and Sally (Leighton) Scates, on Decern- ber 1, 1854, married Charles Augustus Towle. (See Towle, II).

TOPPING Ancestors bearing this patronymic came from England in the year 1620, and settled upon the southern shores of the eastern end of Long Island, where a num- ber of their descendants still reside upon the orig- inal tracts settled by them. The family furnished several soldiers to the cause of the Revolution, and took an active in the early affairs of this country. From them a numerous lineage has sprung. most of whom always remained in the state of New York, only a few representatives going into other states. The original settlers bearing the family name consisted of two brothers, John and Thomas. Among the descendants of John was the subject of the following paragraph. '

(I) John Topping died at Harpersville, New York, leaving three children: Elizabeth, Katherine and Henry S., the subject of the next paragraph.

(II) Henry S., son of John Topping, conducted a large painting and decorating business for years in Waverly, New York. He served three years in the Union army in the Civil war, being a member of the cavalry arm of the service, and being badly wounded once in action. In politics he was always a Republican, and in religion a Methodist. He was a member of the Grand Army Post at Waverly, up to the time of his death in 1897 He married, in 1863: Lydia A. DeForest, who still resides at Waverly, New York. She is a daughter of Charles and Jeanette (Hedges) DeForest, of North Barton, New York, whose ancestors settled in Connecticut previous to the war of the Revolution, and whose great-grandfather was one of the pioneers to leave a legacy to Yale College, and the "DeForest prize," one of the most sought at the college today, is the result of this legacy. Their children are Charles A., now deceased ; Mildred E., who married Ellis Crandall, a jeweler at Owego, New York, and Wil- liam H., the subject of the next paragraph.

(III) William Harold. oldest son of Henry S. and Lydia A. (DeForest) Topping, was born in Waverly, November 26, 1865. He attended the

public schools of his native city. He learned the printer's trade in the office of the Waverly Advo- cate and Waverly Free Press, and later drifted into journalism. After an experience of years at his trade and profession in Waverly, New York City, and Spencer, New York, he went to Hillsbor- ough, New Hampshire, in 1889, with the Ilillsbor- ough Messenger. With the birth of the New Hamp- shire Daily Republican, Mr. Topping became con- nected with its staff, and was its legislative and special state corespondent. Later Mr. Topping was connected with the Manchester Union. In 1893 he removed to Manchester and became a member of the city staff of the Manchester Daily Mirror, and rose to the position of city editor. which he filled for some time. In 1899-1901 he was assistant clerk of the house of representatives of the state legislature, but resigned in 1901, owing to the fact that he had been elected in 1900 clerk of the com- mittee on invalid pensions of the national house of representatives, which position he held during the Fifty-sixth, Fifty-seventh, Fifty-eighth, Fifty- ninth and Sixtieth Congresses. In 1907 he was ap- pointed by Governor Floyd and council as execu- tive commissioner for New Hampshire at the Jamestown Exposition. Mr. Topping was married, in May, 1896, to Etta Louise Bartlett, daughter of Ezra and Mehitable E. Bartlett, of Manchester, a former business man and one of the pioneer resi- dents of the city. In politics Mr. Topping has al- ways been a staunch Republican.

BROWN This name has been variously repre- sented in New England from the ear- liest colonization of the country ; and in Westminster, Massachusetts, the early seat of the family of this article they were so numerous, the branches so various, the records so fragmentary and heterogeneous, that it has been found impossible not only to trace any of the family to its original progenitor, but also to connect the different fami- lies with each other to any great extent.

(I) Nicholas Browne, son of Edward Browne, of Inkburrow, Worcestershire, England, settled first at Lynn, Massachusetts, and carly removed from there to Reading, where he appears to have owned two places. He was a man of comfortable means as appears from the fact of his sending his son John, in 1660. to England, to look after certain prop- erty to which he had become heir. He died in 1673. His wife's name was Elizabeth. and their children were: John, Edward, Joseph, Correilus, Josiah, and perhaps Elizabeth.

(II) Jonathan Brown was no doubt a descendant of Nicholas Browne, and resided in Westminster. He married Mehitable Hay. Her father, James Hay, was an original proprietor of No. 2 drawing in the first division of lands, lot No. 106, near Wa- chusettville.

(III) Jonathan (2), son of Jonathan (1) and Mchitable Brown, probably located on the lot No. 106, mentioned above, occupying a house built some years before by Benjamin Gould. He was first taxed in 1764. and in 1769 a public school was kept in his house. January 3, 1771, he purchased of Joseph Lynde, of Charlestown, lot No. 105, lying directly south of the Hay lot, which was long known as the Brown estate, more recently owned by Asaph Carter and his son Edward R. On his way from Reading to Westminster, Mr. Brown seems to have sojourned awhile in Leominster, where he married Huldah Hawkes. He died March 14, 1820, aged eighty. She died January 1, 1818, aged seventy-five. Their children were: Jonathan,

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Benjamin, Joseph (died young), Huldah, Sally, Joseph, and Jolin.

(IV) Jonathan (3), eldest son and child of Jon- athan (2) and Huldsh (Hawkes) Brown, was born in Reading, August 30, 1765, and died in Gardner, July 24, 1840, aged seventy-five. He removed to and resided in Gardner on a farm in the east part of that town where his grandson Charles, lately lived. He married Beulah Jackson, daughter of Elisha and Beulah (Taylor) Jackson. She died November 24, 1839, aged sixty-seven. Their chil- dren were: Jonathan, John. Charles (died young), Elisha, Charles, Sally (died young), Sally, Benja- inin B., Lucy and Nancy.

(V) Charles, fifth son and child of Jonathan and Beulah (Jackson) Brown, was born in Gard- ner, Massachusetts, March 12, 1800, died in Boston, October 16, 1863, aged sixty-three. When twenty years of age he settled in Boston, where he was for many years successfully engaged in the retail gro- cery business. In politics he was an old line Whig, and took part in the public affairs of the city. He was a member of the common council in 1844-45, ind in 1847 was an alderman from the sixth ward. He married Susan Morehead. of Gloucester, who was born there, and died in Boston, aged seventy- three. Five children were born to them: I. St- san, married O. H. Underhill. 2. Abbie, married R. G. Davis. 3. Mary E, married Edward J. Brown. 4. Sarah J., married Charles F. Dunck- lee. 5. Charles S., mentioned below.

(VI) Charles Severance, youngest child of Charles and Susan (Morehead) Brown, was born in Boston, November 18, 1844. He was educated in the common schools of that city and at Chauncey Hall. In 1872 he engaged in the carriage service, and has given it his unremitting attention ever since that time : he is the oldest man in that line in town, and his business has steadly grown from the beginning. He has a summer home in New Ips- wich, New Hampshire, where he passes the summer months. In politics he is an Independent. He is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons of New Ispwich, New Hampshire, and the Algonquin Club of Boston. He married (first) 1867, Frances Part- ridge, born in Boston, died in New Ipswich, 1889, daughter of Adrian and Abbie (Harding) Part- ridge. Two children were the issue: I. Albert, married Grace Thayer, in Hartford, Connecticut ; engaged in electrical business therc. 2. Susan. Married (second), 1891, Ruth Miller, born in Salem, daughter of Ephraim Miller, of Salem, Massachu- setts, and granddaughter of General James Miller. One child was the issue: Philip.

HAMILTON

Samuel King Hamilton. of

Wakefield, Massachusetts, is the youngest of six sons of Benjamin Ricker Hamilton and Sarah Carle, and a grandson of James Hamilton and John Carle, both farmers and respected men of Waterborough, Maine. Mr. Carle served in the Revolutionary war, and was the first settler of the little hamlet known as Water- borough Centre. The village was formerly called Carle's Corner, having taken its name from his son. Peter Carle, who built the first house, kept the first store and tavern at . that place.

Mr. Hamilton was named in honor of Samuel King, who married his cousin, and who was mayor of the city of Calais, Maine, and for many years one of the leading lumber manufacturers on the St. Croix river, and who afterwards removed to St. John, New Brunswick, where, in connection

with his sons, he had one of the most extensive lumber interests on the St. John river.

The Hamilton family for centuries has been one of the most distinguished in Scotland and England, and closely related to royalty in both countries. Mr. Hamilton's earliest ancestor in America was David Hamilton, who lived in the township of Hamilton, near Glasgow, Scotland, and who was taken prisoner by Cromwell at the battle of Wor- cester, on September 3, A. D., 1651, and who was transported to this country by him in the ship "John and Sara," which sailed from Gravesend, near London, on the 8th day of November of that year, and arrived at Charlestown, Massachusetts, prior to May, A. D. 1652. There he was sold into servitude to work out his liberty. He was prob- ably held in this service for from five to ten years. After the expiration of this term he went to Dover, New Hampshire, and soon settled in what is now the town of Rollinsford, on the west- erly bank of the Salmon Falls river, at a place then called Newichawannok, and which he pur- chased in 1669, and where he lived until the time of his death in 1691, being slain by the Indians. On July 14, A. D. 1662, he married, at Biddeford, Maine, Annah Jaxson (Anna Jackson) . daughter .of Richard Jackson, who was a neighbor of David Hamilton in Scotland, and who was taken prisoner at the same battle and transported to this country in the same ship and also sold into servitude, at the expiration of which he settled on the west bank of the Saco river.

Samuel King Hamilton is of the sixth generation in a direct line from David, and was born at Water- borough, Maine, July 27,. A. D. 1837. His early life was spent upon his father's farm. The rudi- mentary education which he obtained at the district school was supplemented by a single term at Lim- erick Academy, then a famous institution of learn- ing : six months' private tuition under M. D. L. Lane, of Hollis, Maine, who was just then begin- ning the practice of law, and who afterwards be- came prominent in politics and was appointed con- sul to Vera Cruz by President Lincoln and later was appointed judge of the superior court of the county of Cumberland, a position which he held at the time of his death; and a part of one year at the high school in Saco, Maine, under the in- struction of William Hobson, a graduate of Bow- doin College, who at the breaking out of the Civil war entered the army and served his country with conspicuous ability and bravery, returning with the rank of colonel and brevet brigadier-general.

In February, 1856, Mr. Hamilton began teaching his first school at the district now called East Waterborough, then the "Ford District," and from that time to August of the same years he was en- gaged there and in his home district. In the au- tumin of that year he entered the Chandler Scien- tific Department of Dartmouth College, of which the late Professor John S. Woodman was the head, from which he graduated in 1859. During the win- ter season of his course in that school he taught school in Waterborough and in Wells, Maine. In August, 1859, with a view to the legal profession, he entered the office of Hon. Ira T. Drew. at Alfred, Maine, where he remained several years, pursuing his legal studies and teaching a portion of the time in Wells, Alfred, and South Reading (now Wake- field), Massachusetts. In 1860 he was principal of Alfred Academy, a position in which he had been preceded by such men as Hon. Bion Bradbury, Hon, John M. Goodwin, Professor Charles Cumiston,

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Hon. Hampden Fairfield and Hon. Amos L. Allen In June, 1862, after an examination by IIon. E E. Bourne, Hon. Increase S. Kimball and Hon. Edwin R. Wiggin, and upon their recommendation, he was admitted to the bar at Alfred before Hon. Charles W. Walton, who was then holding his first term as a judge of the supreme judicial court. On the day of his admission he was offered a co-part- nership with Mr. Drew. which was quickly and gladly accepted, for it opened the way at once for a young and penniless lawyer to earn his livelihood. This co-partnership continued until April. 1867, when Mr. Hamilton removed to Biddeford, and a co-partnership was entered into between himself and B. F. Hamilton, who descended from the same an- cestor in a different line, and who was born in the same town and studied law in the same office and was admitted to the bar in 1860. During the con- tinuance of the co-partnership of Drew & Hamil- ton the firm had the largest docket in the county, and were engaged in substantially every important case arising in that jurisdiction. While at Bidde- ford, Mr. Hamilton built up a substantial law busi- ness which was left to his partner on his removal to Wakefield.

While living in his native town Mr. Hamilton served two years upon the school committee. He served two years on the board of aldermen in the city of Biddeford, and in 1872, with Hon. Ferguson Haines, represented that city in the Maine legisla- ture. In these positions he established a reputation as a safe legislator and a ready and able debator.

In December, 1872, he left Biddeford and his native state and removed to Wakefield, and formed a co-partnership with Chester W. Eaton, a college classmate, and opened law offices in Wakefield and Boston. This co-partnership continued to 1879, when it was dissolved by mutual consent, Mr. Ham- ilton retaining the Boston offices and Mr. Eaton those in Wakefield. Soon after beginning practice in Boston he acquired considerable business which has been continually increasing, and for a number of years has almost constantly engaged in the trial of cases in the court or in hearing those which have been referred to him by the court, and his practice has extended into every state in New England and into New York. In 1899 Mr. Theo- dore Eaton, son of his former partner, became asso- ciated with him in practice, and this co-partnership continues to the present time (1908).

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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. IV, Part 111

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: 878

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: 878