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 99

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 99

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McCRILLIS This name is of Scotch origin. Between the years of 1719 and 1742 four immigrants of the name of McCrillis, William, Daniel, John and Henry, probably brothers, came to New England from the north of Ireland. William located first in Gilman- ton, New Hampshire, but subsequently went to Coleraine, Massachusetts, accompanied by John. Daniel settled in Lebanon. Maine, and Henry es- . tablished himself in Nottingham, New Hampshire. They were descended from Scotch Covenanters and were therefore zealous Presbyterians. It is claimed that they were the first to cultivate pota- toes in the Granite state, and they also applied themselves diligently to the use of the spinning wheel. The branch of the family now being con- sidered is the posterity of Henry.

(I) Henry McCrillis, whom it is believed came to this country in 1742, settled in Nottingham and became an industrious farmer. The name of his wife does not appear in the record at hand, and the names of his children, with the single exception of his son John, are also wanting.

(II) John, son of Henry McCrillis, married Margaret Harvey, and was the father of William, John, David, James and Henry.

(III) William, eldest son of John and Margaret (Harvey) McCrillis, resided in Deerfield, New Hampshire. His children were: John, Reuben, Andrew, Moses, William, Hannah, Mary, Marga- ret and James.

(IV) John. eldest son and child of William Mc- Crillis, resided in Salisbury, Massachusetts. He reared three children, namely: Nathaniel D., John B. and Andrew.

(V) John Belcher, son of John McCrillis, was born in Salisbury. Massachusetts, September 18, 1815, and died in Manchester, New Hampshire, No- vember 27, 1885. He married, February 18, 1841, Mary Shorer Kilgore, who was born in Mercer, Maine, August 15, 1817, and died September 8, 1884. Three children were born to them: John Almon. Mary Lizzie and Gertrude. John A. is

mentioned below; Mary Lizzie is the wife of John Foster. ( See Foster, VIII). Gertrude died an in- fant, October 15, 1857. In 1848 Mr. McCrillis es- tablished the carriage manufacturing and lumber business, which he continued till his death. He em- ployed many skilled workers, and the products of the concern of which he. was the directing head were noted the country over for thoroughiness of construction and beauty of finish. No higher trib- itte to his memory can be paid than the following extract from the Manchester Mirror and American, of the date of November 30, 1885 :

"Said a leading citizen and prominent business man, in the presence of a group of friends, Friday night, (the night of his death) 'John B. McCrillis was the most honorable man that I ever had busi- ness dealings with, he was honest in every sense of the word.' "

He was prominent in many ways among his fellowmen, untiring in application to the details of his business. He loved truth and honor and hated sham and deception. He was a Universalist. He was conspicuous for his uprightness and morality, his devotion to his family, his church and his friends. and in all the goings and comings of his long and busy -life he was faithful, brave and true. He was unpretending and unassuming, but out- spoken in his loyal adherence to his convictions, a sterling representative of a generation that has now disappeared.

Gone but still we hear their footsteps, Their virtues yet remain ;

And sometime in the great beyond, They may come to us again.

(VI) John Almon, eldest child of John B. and Mary Shorer (Kilgore) McCrillis, was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, September II, 1845, and was brought to Manchester, New Hampshire. when child of three years. He was educated in the public schools. and graduated from the Manchester high school. He then learned carriage making with his father, and after the death of the latter suc- cessfully continued the business. He is a Repub- lican in politics, has taken a prominent part in local affairs, and has filled the office of alderman two years, and that of common councilman four years, and was president of the latter body. He is a mem- ber of Washington Lodge, No. 61, Free and Ac- cepted Masons, and of Wildey Lodge, No. 45, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Man- chester. He married, in Newton. Massachushetts, October 9, 1872, Mary Pierson, who was born in St. Albans, Vermont, daughter of Ambrose and Mary (White) Pierson. They have two children : Belle, born March 12, 1877, married Edgar E. Farmer, and has one daughter, Alice, born August 16. 1905. John Donald was born December II. I88I.

This name is variously spelled Mckay,

McCOY McKey, McKie, McKee, by different families, but all are descended from Scotch forebears and are of the same stock.

(I) Nathan McCoy was born in Goffstown, and died in Thornton, April 10, 1863. He lived in Ply- mouth from 1851 to 1855, and removed to Thornton, where he owned a considerable amount of real es- tate, including timber lands. He was a surveyor, and ran many lines in that region and had charge of the construction of a highway over a rough and mountainous country from Thornton to Water- ville. He married, September 3, 18II, Batheba Sargent, died April 2, 1880. Their children were :

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Nathan, Jr., Laurio, Robert, Harriet, James, Mon- roe and Madison (twins), Loamie, Louisa and Charles.

(II) Nathan (2), son of Nathan (I) and Bath- sheba (Sargent) McCoy, was born in Goffstown, March 30, 1813, and died in Weare. December I, 1886. He went to Thornton, where he was engaged fifteen years in farming. From there he went to Plymouth, where he was engaged in trade four years ; then to Concord, where he was in the cloth- ing business four years. He removed to Littleton, and there carried on business from 1856 to 18.66. From there he removed to Weare, and later engaged in the sale of real estate and patent rights, having an office in Manchester, but residing in Weare. This he continued until his death, a period of about eight years. He married (first), November 3, 1835, Olive Gilman, who died in 1846. daughter of Jeremiah Gilman, of Thornton. He married (sec- ond), May 15, 1847, Mary Ann Cilley, who was born January 31, 1817, daughter of Seth Noble and Saralı (Cavis) Cilley, of Weare. She died in Weare, July 9, 1887. His children were : Sarah L., Emily A., Anna H., these three by his first wife. James N., whose sketch follows, is an only child of the second marriage.

(III) James Noble McCoy, only child of Nathan and Mary Ann (Cilley) Noble, was born in Thorn- ton. December 1I, 1848. He was educated in the public schools of Plymouth, Concord, and Little- ton, and at Newbury Academy, Newbury, Vermont. In 1866 he entered the employ of F. J. Upton & Company, dealers in agricultural implements, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and remained there two years. From there he went to DeWitt, Iowa, where he was en- gaged in the same business for himself for four ycars, and then returned to Weare. Later he es- tablished a roofing business in Manchester, which he conducted two years, and then went to New York City and formed a partnership with Charles H. Williams and A. H. Palmer, under the firm name of the New York Soap Stone Roofing Company, and carried on the roofing business there. At the end of four years he sold his interest and during the six succeeding years carried on a similar business for himself at Waterbury, Connecticut. In the late eight- ies he went to Thornton, New Hampshire, where he operated a saw mill and then removed to Ply- mouth, where he has since been engaged in the same industry, still retaining the mill at Thornton, and also deals in wood and coal, and carries on a farm. He cuts an average amount of several mil- lion feet of lumber annually, and gives employment to sixty men. Mr. McCoy has been successful in business, and has large tracts of valuable timber land. In politics he is a Democrat. and takes a part in the affairs of his party. He was select- man of Thornton two years, and has filled the same office in Plymouth one year, and was deputy sheriff of Grafton county two years. He is a member of Plymouth Lodge No. 66. Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Plymouth. He married (first), December 1, 1866, Alice C. Andrews, who was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1850, and died in Weare, in 1869. One child born of this union died in in- fancy. He married (second), December 1, 1873, at Hopkinton, Alice F. Edmunds, who was born in Hopkinton, October 31, 1848, daughter of Horace and Bridget (Cilley ) Edmunds. of Hopkinton. Two children have been born to them: Alice C. was born April 24, 1875, and was educated in the common and high schools of Plymouth. She mar- ried, December 27, 1808, Fred Wallace Brown, druggist, of Plymouth, and died May 1904. Philip Jarvis was born March 19, 1879. For five

years past he has been engaged in the manufacture of furnaces in San Francisco, California.

PENDERGAST The Pendergasts have been as- sociated with the history of Barnstead, New Hampshire, for more than a century and a quarter. yet the name of the ancestor of the family in America, and even in New Hampshire, is not known beyond a question of doubt. In Barnstead the name first appears among the settlers of that town between the years 1767 and 1790, and at least one representative of the surname was a soldier of the Revolution. In one of the old burying grounds of the town is a head- stone on which is inscribed the words "Stephen Pendergast, born 1729, died 1797." From the same same source it is learned that the name of this Stephen's wife was Betty, and that she was born in 1737 and died in 1836. In view of all the prem- ises it is probably safe to assume that Stephen Pen- dergast was the first of his name in Barnstead and that all who bear that surname now in the town and settled elsewhere in the state are his descend- ants.

(I) Stephen Pendergast, born 1729, died 1797, (aged sixty-eight) married Betty born 1737, died 1836, (age ninety-nine). Their children

( probably a correct list) were : Dennis, Stephen, Deacon Solomon. Betty, Joseph and John. They reside in Durham and removed to Barnstead about 1787.

(II) Stephen (2), son of Stephen (I) and Betty Pendergast, was born (probably in Durham) in 1770 and died in 1827. The name of his wife and the names and number of his children are not now known, but he had a son Thomas.

(III) Thomas, born 1793, died 1862, married Lucy Ayers, born 1805, died 1874. Their children were: Mary, Jane, Sarah, Stephen, Samuel G., Christian, died November, 1905; Pamelia, Susan, married Joseph A. Davis, and one who died in in- fancy.

(IV) Stephen, fourth child and elder son of Thomas and Lucy (Ayers) Pendergast, was born in Barnstead, New Hampshire, June, 1832, and died 1893. He married Abia Hill, who was born May 28, 1836, daughter of John and Betsey (Foss) Hill. and is still living in Barnstead. Among their chil- dren was Arthur, one of the selectmen of Barn- stead.

(IV) Samuel G., fifth child of Thomas and Lucy (Ayers) Pendergast, was born in Barnstead, July 27, 1836, on the farm on which he now lives and which his father cleared and brought under cultivation three quarters of a century ago. The land, then one hundred acres in extent, was cov- ered with a heavy growth of pine, hemlock and spruce, and produced three hundred thousand feet of good lumber. The farm as now owned and car- ried on by Samuel G. includes eighty acres and is in an excellent condition of cultivation. Mr. Pen- dergast never married. He is a thrifty farmer, a strong man physically. and although full seventy years old his stride is as firm and his power of endurance as great as many men twenty years younger than himself. He was brought up to work and when a boy had little opportunity to at- tend school, yet he is well informed on all general subjects and is counted among the influential towns- men of Barnstead.

This name . is derived from the occu-

MILLER pation of the person who first as- sumed it as a surname. There may be as many unrelated Miller stocks as there were

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persons originally assuming the surname. The

Millers are numerous and have been connected with our national growth from the settlement of the country.

(I) The first of this family found of record was Robert Miller, a ship carpenter, who removed from Salisbury, Massachusetts, and settled in Hampton, New Hampshire, in that part of the town now known as Hampton Falls. He was noted as a man of remarkable strength and vigor. He was taxed in Hampton Falls from 1750 to 1787. He was mar- ried in 1743 to Mehitable Stanyan. No record ap- pears of any children of this marriage, and she probably lived only a short time. Robert Miller subsequently had a wife Sarah, and their children, born in Hampton Falls, were Susanna, Jonathan, Ebenezer and Mary.

(II) Ebenezer, second son of Robert and Saralı Miller. was born June 6, 1757, in Hampton Falls, and settled in Chichester, New Hampshire. The records of the earliest period in that town do not seem to have been preserved, and nothing further can be found concerning Ebenezer, except that he was married in Chichester, November 21, 1793, to Polly Mason. The family records, however, show that he was the father of Samuel Miller, of the next paragraph.

(III) Samuel Miller was born in Chichester, where his early life was spent. His later years were spent in Brentwood. He was a lifelong farmer. He married, May 27, 1816, in Pittsfield, Annie Yeaton. of Epsom, and they were the par- ents of six children: Hannah, Betsey, Ebenezer, Russell A., George W., and Frances.

(IV) Ebenezer (2), third child and eldest son of Samuel and Annie (Yeaton) Miller, was born in Chichester, April 5, 1821, and died October 29, 1882, aged sixty-one years. When a young man he settled upon a farm in Deerfield, where he spent the remainder of his life in cultivating the soil. He was an upright citizen and a good neighbor, and much respected. He was a member of the Free Will Baptist Church. and in political senti- ment a Republican. He married Mehitable Dow, who was born March 21. 1822, in Deerfield, New Hampshire. and died in Suncook, January 13, 1897, aged seventy-four. They were the parents of four children : Abbie, Sarah J., George E., and Ella M. Abbie married John Whittier, of Deerfield, and the other two sisters died single.

(V) George E., third child and only son of Eb- enezer E. and Mehitable L. (Dow) Miller. was born in Deerfield, October 30, 1850. He got his early education in the common schools of that town. At the age of seventeen he left home and went to Laconia, where he was employed a short time ; and then went to Manchester where he took a com- mercial course in Bryant & Stratton's Business Col- lege. From there he went to Pembroke, and en- tered the grocery and provision business, as a clerk for Emery Brothers. Subsequently he became a partner in the firm of Miller, Johnson & Cyr, where he retained his interest for seven years. In 1886 he entered into partnership with H. T. Simpson, under the firm name of Simpson, Miller & Com- pany. This firm, the personnel of which has changed as years have passed, and now is incor- porated as Simpson, Miller & Company, have a store and trade that might be envied by many a commercial concern in a much larger town.

In addition to its mercantile business it owns and cultivates several farms, and has a large trade in lumber and wood. It employs from" twenty to twenty-five men the year around. In ad-

dition to his interests in Pembroke, Mr. Miller has one piece of four hundred acres of valuable land and several smaller ones in Cuba, which he pur- chased while visiting that island in 1905-06. Mr. Miller is a man of native ability, a successful mer- chant, and a gentleman of character and high so- cial standing. He is a Republican in political senti- ment, and although deeply interest in local affairs has never sought a public office, and has frequently declined nominations when offered him. In the cam- paign of 1896 he accepted the nomination as a candi- date for representative, and was elected for the years 1897 and 1898. In 1899 lie was elected to the state senate. He was also elected a member of the con- stitutional convention of 1902. In all these posi- tions Mr. Miller's course received the approval of his constituents. He is a Mason of the thirty-sec- ond degree, and a member of Jewell Lodge, No. 94; of Hiram Royal Arch Chapter No. 24; of Mount Horeb Commandery, Knights Templar; of Edward A. Raymond Consistory, Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret (of Nashua) and of Aleppo Temple of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Boston. He is also a member of Howard Lodge No. 68, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Suncook.

He married, November 20, 1878, Nellie L. Simp- son, who was born in Pembroke November 11, 1859, and died August 15, 1894, aged thirty-five years. (See Simpson III). She was the daughter of Henry T. and Eudoxcia M. (Colby) Simpson, of Pembroke. He married ( second), April 17, 1901, in Woburn, Massachusetts, Nellie Jones Hart, of that place, daughter of Gilman F. and Sarah (Hirsch) Jones. Two sons were born of the first marriage, Walter and Henry, both of whom died young.

WATTS Watt or Watts is a name which has attained much celebrity in English and Scotch history. Isaac Watts, the emi- nent divine and sacred poet, was born in South- ampton, England, in 1674. His hymns have fur- nished inspiration and consolation to a greater num- ber of persons than those of any other writer of modern times. Three others by the name of Watts were prominent in England at the beginning of the last century; one as a journalist, another is a painter, and a third as chemist and translator. The name Watt was brought into worldwide fame by James Watt, the Scotch engineer, philosopher and inventor, born in 1736, whose improvements in the steam engine made it a machine of practical utility and revolutionized the methods of producing power. (I) James Watt, the immigrant ancestor of this family, was of Scotch descent, coming to America from Londonderry, Ireland, and having land laid out to him by the town committee of Londonderry, New Hampshire, in the year 1740. Some of his children were born before coming to this country as it is known that his son John was a babe in arms when brought to this country. The children were: Hugh, Moses, Eleanor, James and John. Moses, John and Hugh signed the associa- tion test in 1776. The three went to the war. Hugh was private, George Reid, captain, at the battle of Lexington, 1775. He was corporal in the battle of Bennington, 1775. John was in the same battle. Moses went as private in 1776 (Captain Nesmith).

(II) John, son of James Watt, born April 5, 1740, lived in Londonderry until 1785, when he bought a farm in what was then called Derryfield, now Manchester ; there he lived until liis death in 1819. He was a man of business, buying and sell-

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ing land, logging on the Merrimack river, upon whose bank his home was situated, also was part owner of a saw mill on the Litchfield brook. John Watt married Susanna, who died August, 1826, aged seventy-three years. Their children were: Susanna, married William Fling. Jennie, married Moses Garvin. Margaret, married Jacob Garvin. Rachel, married Isaac Darrah. John, never married. Daniel, married (first) Polly Darrah; married (sec- ond) Lucy B. Flanders.

(III) Daniel, son of John Watt, was born April 4, 1785, probably near Goffs Falls. Manchester ; this was formerly known as Derryfield. He lived here until 1834, when he bought a farm in London- derry. He was a man who possessed Scotch shrewd- ness in a great measure, and like the other members of his family, both before and after him, was a man of business, respected and consulted by friends upon all matters of importance. He followed for some years his father's occupation of logging on the Merrimac river, also going as far as Canada to engage in the work. While living in Manchester he was identified in many ways with the early growth of the city and the founding of its institu- tions, especially the forming of the First Congrega- tional Church and the Manchester National Bank. He married Polly Darrah, of Bedford, New Hamp- shire, and they were the parents of one child, Horace Perkins Watts. She died September 27, 1850, and he afterwards married Mrs. Lucy Bald- win Flanders, February 6, 1855. He died August 23, 1858.

(IV) Horace P., only child of Daniel and Polly (Darrah) Watts, was born on the old Watts farm, just below Goff's Falls, Manchester, November 12, 1819, and died in Manchester, August 14, 1890, aged seventy years. He was given the advantages of the schools in the vicinity, and afterward attended the Pinkerton Academy of Derry. He spent the first half of his life in Londonderry, where he owned a farm which he successfully cultivated. He served one term in the lower house of the legislature from Londonderry, and was also a member of the board of commissioners of Rockingham county. About the year 1865 he sold his farm and removed to Man- chester, where he engaged in the grain business on Elm street, with A. F. Hall, under the firm name of Hall, Watts & Company. The firm's mill was located on the Piscataquog water privilege. Some years after the formation of the partnership Mr. Hall retired, and Mr. Watts took as his partner, WV. F. Holmes. The business, as conducted by them, was very profitable and extensive, being the largest of its kind in the state, and at the time of the loss of the mill by fire in 1875, it was grinding about seventy-five thousand bushels of wheat and the same amount of corn each year. After the de- struction of the mills the water privilege and land connected therewith were sold.

During the entere period of his residence in Manchester, Mr. Watts plainly saw the grand pos- sibilities of the city's future, and made judicious investments in real estate, which appreciated hand- somely in his lifetime, and have since continued to do so. He was elected director of the Manchester National Bank after the death of his father, who was a charter member and director of that insti- tution. He was a close friend and business as- sociate of its president, Hon. Nathan Parker. He was for some time previous to 1880 a director of the Nashua and Lowell railroad, now absorbed by the Boston & Maine system, and he had large in- vestments in the securities of that and other railroad corporations. Soon after the destruction of the

Piscataquog mill, Mr. Holmes, his son-in-law, went west and Mr. Watts became interested with him there in financial enterprises. He became president of the Security Loan and Trust Company of Castle- ton, Dakota, and he was also one of the active managers of the First National Bank of the same place. He made many visits in the last twelve years of his life to Dakota in the interests of his busi- ness there.

Mr. Watts took a lively interest in the organiza- tion of the board of trade. He was one of the first to join, and was made a member of the finance committee, on new enterprises, and on the con- ference committee with the city government in re- gard to the statistical work of the board. His last public appearance previous to going west the last time was at a meeting of the board in which he made a sturdy address. He saw the value of the shoe factory enterprises, and subscribed liberally to its stock. He was a valuable member in the executive work of the board, and his removal by death was the first which the membership sus- tained. Politically he was a Republican, but never

an aspirant for political honors. The only public service (politically) which he rendered in Man- chester was a membership of one year in the board of assessors, but he was always looked upon as one of the strong men of the community, and possessed the confidence of the people of Manchester in full measure. He was a man of excellent judg- ment and thorough reliability. He was honest and His safe, unassuming, industrious and successful. private life was without a blemish, and he was a good neighbor and devoted husband and father. A truthful history of his long and active life would contain nothing which his best friends would wish to have omitted.

Perhaps one of the most conspicuous services which he rendered the city of Manchester was in connection with the building of the elegant and commodious house of worship of the First Con- gregational Society. When it was proposed to make some changes in the old structure he opposed it, and was the first person to propose the erection of a new edifice, and contributed five thousand dollars for that purpose. When his pastor remarked to him with regard to the amount of his donation, that he was very liberal, Mr. Watts replied "Why no, that is only a matter of business. We must have society, and we cannot have good society without the church." He gave his personal attention as one of the building committee to the work of erec- tion, and had the satisfaction of seeing the project, largely through his energy and determined will, become a financial and architectural success. He had long been a member of the church, and for a decade until the year before his death he was president of its ecclesiastical society. In the chari- table work of Manchester, Mr. Watts was much interested. The Elliott Hospital, the Children's Home, the City Mission. and the Woman's Aid Home were objects of his solicitude and liberal contributions.

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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 99

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