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 19

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 19

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).

(V) Anthony, fifth son and seventh child of Richard (2) and Lydia (Sprague) Harris, was born June 5, 1736, in Smithfield, Rhode Island, and removed thence about 1760, to Richmond, New Hampshire, where he was a pioneer settler, and reared a large family. He was the first settler on lot twelve in range five in that town, and died there March 20, 1817, at the age of eighty-one years. His wife, Ruth Broadway, was probably a native of Rhode Island. She survived him nearly thirteen years, dying January 8, 1830. They were married January 1, 1761. Their children were : Thomas, Eunice L., Mercy, Anna. Lydia, Jeremiah, David B. (died young), David B., William B., Caleb, Luke, Linday and Delila. The eldest daugh- ter, Mercy, became the wife of David Ballou, a pioneer of Richmond and they were the parents of

the celebrated Hosea Ballou, one of the first Uni- versalist preachers in America.

(VI) Jeremiah, second son of Anthony and Ruth (Broadway ) Harris, was born May 8, 1768, in Richmond, New Hampshire, and died September 16, 1849, in Springfield, Pennsylvania, in his eighty- second year. As a young man, he evinced much of the pioneer spirit for which New England has been famous, and probably resided temporarily in various places. His wife, Priscilla Cole, was the daughter of Barnabas and Asenath Cole of Amenia, New York. Barnabas Cole was a revolutionary soldier of New York, and passed his last years in Coneaut, Erie county, Pennsylvania. During the first years of their married life Jeremiah and Pris- cilla (Cole) Harris lived near Prescott, Ontario, on the Rideau river. He was subsequently a resi- dent for some years of Henderson, Jefferson county, New York. He settled ultimately in Springfield, Erie county, Pennsylvania, where he cleared up land and was a fairly prosperous farmer. He was a very earnest believer in the doctrines of Univer- salism, and did all in his power to urge others to believe in the same faith. He took little part in public affairs, and gave his attention to the develop- ment of his farm and the care of his large family. His eldest son Silas settled near Twin Valley, Wis- consin, where he died, and his descendants are now distributed over . several western states. Barnabas located in Ohio, and there died, leaving descendants. Levi died when a young man. Jeremiah spent some years in Wisconsin in the pioneer days of that state, and ultimately settled at Webster City, Iowa. His descendants are now living there and at Denver, Colorado. Caleb was among the early settlers of Illinois, and is 1838 located in LaGrange, Wisconsin. His descendants are now living in that state, in Nebraska and Utah. Luke resided near the old homestead in Pennsylvania, and there died, leaving several daughters in that vicinity. Annanias lived for many years in Springfield, and then settled at Twin Valley, Wisconsin, where his descendants are now living. There were two daughters, Sarah and Melissa. The latter died unmarried; the former be- came the wife of Charles Perkins Ellis and passed inost of her adult life in LaGrange, Wisconsin, near her brother. She left three children : Priscilla Rumina, James Alfred and Charles Elliott. The daughter is the wife of John E. Menzie, and resides on the homestead in LaGrange. The younger son resides in Duluth, Minnesota. The elder has been for a quarter of a century connected with the preparation of work similar to this, and has been privileged to prepare a considerable portion of this work, including this article.

(III) Nicholas, third son and child of Thomas and Elanthan (Tew) Harris, born in Providence, April 1, 1671, died March 27, 1746, married Anne Hopkins, daughter of Thomas and Mary (Smith) Hopkins, and had ten children: Nicholas, Thomas, Christopher, Anne, Zerviah, Mary, Sarah, Amity, Joseph, and Jedediah.

(IV) Nicholas, eldest child of Nicholas and Anne (Hopkins) Harris, born October, 1691, died May 18, 1775. He married Hannah Blake, and settled in Wrentham, Massachusetts. They had nine children : John, Erastus, Nicholas, Joseph, Oliver, a son who settled in Hardwick, a daughter who married Ellis Medway, a daughter who married a Blake, and a daughter who married a Carpenter, and settled in Keene, New Hampshire.

(V) Erastus, second son and child of Nicholas and Hannah (Blake) Harris, settled in Medway, Massachusetts. He left some writings showing that

Ezra S. Hurvi's

As Samo.

1605

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

lie served as a non-commissioned officer in a regi- ment of foot, raised in Massachusetts, for one year, in "His Majesty's Service," commanded by Colonel Frye, and for that time was located in Acadia (Nova Scotia) in 1759 and 1760. Afterward he was an orderly sergeant in the American army during the revolutionary war, in a regiment sta- tioned in Boston and Cambridge. Nothing regard- ing his wife is known. He had five children: Han- nah, Bethuel, Rebecca, Erastus and William.

(VI) Bethuel, eldest son and second child of Erastus Harris, born August 14, 1769, died July 21, 1851, settled in Harrisville, New Hampshire. He married Deborah Twitchell (see Adams VII), Janu- ary I, 1794, or 1795, and they had ten children; all born in Harrisville: Cyrus, Milan, Almon, Lovell, Calmer, Charles Cotesworth, Pinckney, Sally, Lydia ar i Lois.

(VII) Deacon Almon, son of Bethuel and Deb- orah Harris, was born at Nelson, New Hampshire, August 29, 1800. He seems to have learned well the trade of his father. In 1821, when he was twenty-one years old, he took a place as a worker in a woolen mill at Watertown, Massachusetts, and resided there five years. His next work was in Marlow, Cheshire county, New Hampshire, where he built mills for sawing lumber, grinding grain, carding wool, and dressing cloth. He resided here until 1832, when he removed to a farm in Win- chester, Cheshire county. Farming, however, was not to his taste, and he abandoned it after a three year trial, and returned to Nelson, and again en- gaged in the manufacture of woolen goods, and con- tinued in that business until 1847. The village of Fisherville was growing rapidly and attracting con- siderable attention at that time to its water power. Mr. Harris was one of the manufacturers who went there, and he bought land and water power of the Gage family, and erected the Dustin Island Woolen Mills, near the island made famous by the exploit of Hannah Dustin many years before. These mills have been successfully operated by him, his sons and his grandsons from the time of their erection until now. They were a material addition to the village, and have ever since been an im- portant factor in the prosperity of the village. A man of Mr. Harris's marked ability in taking the initiative in erecting and his success in conducting mills made him the foremost man in. the community where he dwelt. He was universally respected, esteemed and trusted, and was often called to attend to the public affairs of the town. He was select- man, and later representative of the town of Bos- cawen in the New Hampshire legislature, 1864-65. His political faith was Republican. He was a member of the Congregational Church for forty- four years, and was for many years one of its deacons and superintendent of its Sunday school. He died September, 1876. He married, June 26, I826, Phoebe, daughter of Ezra Sheldon, of Nel- son, born March 15, ISO1, who survived him until September 3, 1883. They had three sons: Ezra Sheldon, born November 27, 1827: Bethuel Edwin, born May 18, 1829; and Almon Ainger, born De- cember 29, 1832.

(VIII) Ezra Sheldon, son of Almon and Phoebe (Sheldon) Harris, was born at Marlow, November 27, 1827. and died March 22, 1893. He was edu- cated primarily in the schools of Marlow and Nel- son, and later in the high school of Fisherville, taught by D. B. Whittier, in the brick school house on the Boscawen side of the river, and at New Ipswich Academy, New Hampshire. Wool carding and cloth dressing were things that he partially

learned in his youth in school vacations about his father's mill at Nelson, and fully mastered after- ward at Penacook. After serving a long apprentice- ship he and his brother were taken into the busi- ness by their father, and the firm's naine became A. Harris & Sons. After the death of Deacon llarris in 1876, the sons continued the business under the name of E. S. Harris & Company, until 1882, when Sheldon bought the interest of his brother Almon and continued as sole proprietor until his death in 1893. In a biographical sketch in Brown's "History of Penacook," the following sum- mary of his character is found: "Mr. Harris was a' man of marked ability in his own line of busi- ness, thoroughly skilled in all its various branches, . and widely known throughout the state in mercan- tile and manufacturing circles. Under his manage- ment there were many important improvements made in the machinery and processes of manufac- ture, so that he kept the business fully up to the times, and maintained an enviable reputation for the goods manufactured at his mills. Mr. Harris was a man of upright moral character and correct habits, of a quiet, unostentatious disposition, but genial and courteous at all times. He had in a marked degree that desirable quality of mind known as mental equilibrium. In his relations to the work- men in his factory, he was liberal, considerate and just, and was respected and beloved by them to a greater degree than is usual in such relations. As a citizen Mr. Harris was universally esteemed by the whole community, and was called to serve in various offices in the town, and was honored with an election as representative of Boscawen in the state legislature. In his earlier years of residence in Penacook, Mr. Harris gave some attention to music. He had a very fine bass voice, and sang for several years in the choirs of the Baptist and Congregational churches. He was also a prominent member of the Fisherville Cornet Band, organized in 1858, in which he played a tuba. He was one of the early members of Horace Chase Lodge, No. 72, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and took much interest in the work of that organization." In 1890 he built a large and handsome residence on Tremont street, which he lived but three years to enjoy. It is now occupied by his widow and three of his children, and is one of the most attractive and desirable houses in the village. Mr. Harris married (first) June 30, 1860, Cassandra A. Greene, daughter of Nathan B. and Lucy ( Carr) Greene, of Penacook, born April 2, 1837, by whom he had one daughter, Grace Greene, now the wife of Guy H. Hubbard; and one son, Robert Lincoln. Mrs. Har- ris died November 5, 1865, and Mr. Harris married (second) October 12, 1867, Sarah A. Greene, sister of his first wife, born June 30, 1844. Of this union there were three children: Harry Sheldon, born August 24, 1867: Almon Greene, born January 24. 1870: and Lucy Cassandra, born November 3, 1975. (IX) Almon Greene, youngest son af Ezra Shel- don and Sarah A. (Greene) Harris, was born in Boscawen, January 24. 1870, and his residence has always been in that town. He attended the schools of his native town until he had prepared for ligh school. and then passed the curriculum of the Con- cord high school, graduating with the class of 1888. He subsequently attended Commer's Com- mercial College in Boston, where he obtained his business education. Returning to his home he en- tered his father's mill and began to learn the busi- ness, but more of his time was devoted to office business than to the mechanical processes of the industry. After the death of Ezra S. Harris, his

1006

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

heirs incorporated the business as the Dustin Island Woolen Mills, of which Almon G. Harris became treasurer, and since that time the office department and the financial management of the concern have been in his hands. He is treasurer of the Pena- cook Electric Light Company, director in the Con- cord State Fair Association, in the Eastern Fire Insurance Company, and the State Security and Accident Company. In politics he is a Republican, and has given due attention to local public matters and has served several years on the board of select- men of Boscawen, and in other public places. He was elected a representative from Boscawen to the New Hampshire legislature in 1903 and again in 1905. Mr. Harris was made a member of Horace Chase Lodge, No. 72, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of which he is a past master, and in 1905 was appointed deputy grand master of the fourth Masonic district. He is also a member of Trinity Royal Arch Chapter, No. 2, of Concord; Horace Chase Council, No. 4, Royal and Select Masters, of Concord; Mount Horeb Commandery, Knights Templar, of Concord; and Edward A. Raymond, Consistory, of Nashua. He received the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite. He is a charter member of the Union Club of Penacook; member of the Wonolancet Club of Concord; and the New Hampshire Club of Boston. For several years he has been a prominent member of the Patrons of Husbandry. In religious matters he affiliates with the Congregational church. He possesses a fine voice, and has for years sung in choirs and quartette clubs.

(II) John, sixth son of Henry Adams, came to Boston from England, with his wife and daughter, and settled in Cambridge. They had eight children.

(III) John, fourth child of John Adams, was born in Menotomy (now Arlington), May 1, 1655, settled in Framingham. He married Hannah Brent, and they had three children.

(IV) John, eldest child of John and Hannah (Brent) Adams, was born at Framingham, March [2, 1684, and resided on the "homestead" in Fram- ingham. He was chosen deacon in 1726. He mar- ried Elizabeth Goddard, of Roxbury, June 27, 1706, and they were the parents of nine children.

(V) Joseplı, eighth child of John and Elizabeth (Goddard) Adams, born in Framingham, August 12, 1728, removed to Dublin, New Hampshire, and resided there. He married three times. His first wife was Prudence Pratt, youngest daughter of David Pratt, of Framingham. He was the father of thirteen children.

(VI) Sarah, seventh child of Joseph and Pru- dence (Pratt) Adams, was born in Framingham, and baptized May 26, 1754. She married Abel Twitchell, a soldier of the revolution, who died at Harrisville, New Hampshire, March 8, 1837. They were the parents of eight children.

(VII) Deborah, second child of Abel and Sarah (Adams) Twitchell, born in Sherborn, August 14, 1776, died October 30, 1855, married Bethuel Harris, of Medway, January I, 1795. (See Harris VI).

Sufficient data has not been obtained HARRIS to connect this branch with the family of either Thomas or John Har- his, from one of whom it probably sprang.

(I) Mark A. Harris was born in Sandwich. He was extensively engaged in agricultural pursuits, and was a mechanic of merit. He married Betsey Swain and they had three children: Alvah, El- bridge, and Isaac, the subject of the next para- graph.

(II) Isaac, third son of Mark A. and Betsey (Swain) Harris, was born in Sandwich, and died in Gilford. He was a farmer. He married Mary Weeks, daughter of Thomas Bedex Weeks, of Sandwich. Three children were born of this union: Mark, who is the subject of the next paragraph; Filinda, who married Leonard Barton; and Ann, who married Daniel A. Maxfield.

(III) Mark, eldest child of Isaac and Mary ( Weeks) Harris, was born in Sandwich, August 2, 1846. His early years were passed on his father's farm, and he acquired a practical knowledge of agricultural operations as he grew to manhood. He began to farm on his own account in Sandwich, where he remained until 1891, when he bought a farm of one hundred acres near Lake Winnipesau- kee, in Gilford, where he has since resided. He is a thriving, progressive citizen, and makes his occu- pation profitable. He is a Baptist and a Democrat. He married Lucinda Taylor, daughter of Cyrus and Mary Taylor. They have five children: William B., born September 3, 1879; Eva W., August 5, 1888; Lewis F., April 4, 1892; Arthur C., June 3, 1899; and Evelyn, April 17, 1903.

(Second Family.)

The Harrises are among New Eng- HARRIS land's most distinguished families. In old England a long line of ancestors preceded the immigrant, and on this side of the ocean the system of equality and civil liberty, which the short-sighted rulers of the mother country could not suppress, enabled them to expand their inherent intelligence and thereby gratify their de- sire to benefit mankind in one form or another. They early acquired prominence in various fields of usefulness, and are still to be found in the front rank of intellectual workers.

(I) John Harris resided in Ottery, St. Mary, Devonshire.

(II) Thomas, son of John Harris, was baptized at Ottery, August 26, 1606. (Perhaps John Harris, head of the third family of this article, was one of his sons.)

(III) Thomas (2), son of the preceding Thomas (1) Harris was baptized in the same place, July 30, 1637, and arrived in Boston about the year 1675. He belonged to the established church in England, but shortly after his arrival he united with the Old Soutlı Church, then recently organized, and retained his membership for the remainder of his life, which terminated January 8, 1698. The Christian name of his wife was Rebecca, and he left but one son.

(IV) Benjamin, son of Thomas (2) and Re- becca Harris, was born in Boston, October 21, 1694, and died there in his twenty-eighth year, January 25. 1722. He married Sarah Cary, who bore him a son, Cary.

(V) Cary, son of Benjamin and Sarah (Cary) Harris, was born in Boston, February 10, 1721. He engaged in the manufacture of hats, but his bu'si- . ness career was necessarily of short duration, as he died in 1750, prior to his thirtieth birthday. He married Mehitable Crowell. They had a son, Wil- liam.

(VI) Willianı, son of Cary and Mehitable (Crowell) Harris, was born in Boston, July 7, 1747. Possessing superior intellectual attainments which had been developed by a careful education, he accepted at the age of twenty years the mastershin of the public writing school in Charlestown, and retained it until the suspension of public education at the breaking-out of the revolutionary war. Alarmed for the safety of his family, who were

1007

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

domiciled in the immediate vicinity of the hill soon to be made famous as the scene of the first decisive battle for the cause of national independence, he removed them to Chockset, now Sterling, Massa- chusetts, and joined a regiment of patriots as cap- tain and paymaster. He died while in the Conti- mental service, October 30, 1778, and was buried with military honors. In describing the huried flight of the young schoolmaster, Dr. Nathaniel L. Frothingham writes as follows: "Just before the Battle of Bunker Hill, when his son Thaddeus was not quite seven years old, with a few necessary articles of clothing, such as they could easily carry, they set out for the interior, Thaddeus with his twin sisters, and the father and mother each carry- ing a child in their arms. By the burning of Charlestown he not only lost liis occupation, but also a new house which he had erected and fur- nished with the savings of several years, thus find- ing himself reduced from a state of competency to a condition of poverty." He obtained temporary em- ployment as a teacher in some of the country towns, but it was unprofitable and uncertain, owing to the general depression caused by the war, and he at length accepted a commission in the army. While on a visit to his family at Chockset he was seized with a violent attack of fever which proved fatal, and he left them in indigent circumstances. \Vil- liam Harris married Rebekah Mason, daughter of Hon. Thaddeus Mason, originally of Charlestown, and afterwards of Cambridge. Mr. Mason served both the commonwealth and Middlesex county in various positions of responsibility and trust, notably as clerk of the court of sessions and that of common pleas, retaining the latter office for a period of fifty-four years. He was graduated from Harvard with the class of 1728. He, too, suffered severely by the burning of Charlestown, losing an elegant mansion as well as other valuable property, and, with many others, he took refuge in Cam- bridge. His death occurred in 1802, at the advanced age of ninety-five years. Rebekalı ( Mason ) Harris was the mother of five children. She married for her second husband Samuel Wait, of Malden, who was able to provide a comfortable home for her- self and younger children, and she died February 2, 1801. ( Possibly Thomas Harris, mentioned later in this article, was one of the sons).

( VII) Rev. Thaddeus Mason, eldest child and son of William and Rebekah ( Mason) Harris, was born in Charlestown, July 7, 1768. The untimely death of his father practically threw him upon his own resources at the age of ten years, and he accepted any honorable employment that was offered him. In 1779 he attracted the attention of Dr. Ebenezer Morse, a former minister who had been forced to abandon preaching on account of being suspected of Toryism, and was residing in Boylston, Massachusetts, supporting himself by practicing medicine and preparing boys for college. This generous and sympathetic man gave him a place in his study beside his own son, directing his collegiate preparations without remuneration, and young Harris supported himself by stripping ash and walnut clefts for the manufacture of brooms, and the making of axe-handles and other imple- ments. His cherished idea of going to college was relinquished for a time, owing to the objection of his mother, who advised him to learn a trade in- stead, but an accident cut short his mechanical career and he was at length enabled, through the assistance of interested friends, to gratify his ambi- tion, entering Harvard College in July. 1783. For a time he resided at the home of Professor Wil-

liams, but later a waitership in the commons hall entitled him to free board, and he was graduated with the class of 1787 in company with John Quincy Adams, afterwards president of the United States, Judge Putnam, Judge Cranch and several other inen of note. Upon leaving college lie became a teacher in a school at Worcester, Massachusetts, and while residing there was offered the position of private secretary to General Washington, but was prevented from accepting that honorable ap- pointment by an attack of small pox. During his junior year at college he united with Rev. Timothy Hilliard's church in Cambridge. After his re- covery from the malady just mentioned he decided to enter the ministry, and at the suggestion of President Willard returned to Harvard for the pur- pose of pursuing his theological studies. He was "approbated to preach" by the Cambridge Associ- ation in June, 1789, prior to his twenty-first birth- day, and after laboring in Brookline, Massachusetts, for a time, was in 1793 ordained to the pastorate of the church in Dorchester, which he retained for a period of forty-three years, resigning in 1836. Two years later he united with the First Church in Bos- ton, whither he removed from Dorchester, and his death occurred there on Sunday morning, April 3, 1842, at the age of seventy-three years, eight months and twenty-seven days. He received the degree of Master of Arts at Harvard in course (1790), de- livering the valedictory oration in Latin at com- mencement ; was appointed librarian of Harvard in 1791, and was made a Doctor of Divinity by his alma mater in 1813. In 1810 he visited Europe. During his pastorate in Dorchester he could not have spent many idle hours as he labored in many fields of usefulness outside of his profession, de- voting much time to public education and to several learned societies, with which he was connected, and also to literary work. His best known publication is entitled "The Natural History of the Bible." He was one of the founders of the Antiquarian Society, a member of the Massachusetts and New York Historical societies, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Humane, Massachusetts Bible, American Peace, the Massachusetts Historical

societies, and a corresponding member of the Georgia Historical Society and the Archaelogi- cal Society of Athens, Greece. For a number of years he officiated as chaplain and secretary of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, which presented him with a silver vase in 1816.

January 28, 1795, Dr. Harris married Mary Dix, daughter of Dr. Elijah and Dorothy Dix, of Wor- cester. She was a lady of superior intelligence and unusual force of character. Of this union there were eight children, five of whom lived to a mature age, namely : Thaddeus William, M. D., who is re- ferred to at length in the succeeding paragraph : Mary Dorothy, Clarendon, John Alexander and James Winthrop.

(VIII) Thaddeus William, eldest son of Dr. Thaddeus Mason and Mary (Dix) Harris, was born in Dorchester, November 12, 1795. He pursued his collegiate preparations in Dedham and Bridge- water, Massachusetts, entered Harvard in his six- teenth year and took his bachelor's degree in 1815. having as classmates Jared Sparks, afterward presi- dent of that university: Professor Convers Francis. John Graham Palfrey and Theophilus Parsons. His preliminary medical studies were directed by Dr. Amos Holbrook, of Milton, Massachusetts, and after graduating from the Harvard Medical School in 1820. located for practice in that town. The life

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. IV, Part 19

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