USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Brookline > History of Brookline, formerly Raby, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire : with tables of family records and genealogies > Part 15
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The Capt. Samuel Brooks Sawmill.
This mill was located on the Wallace brook in the southwest part of the town. It stood on the south side of the highway which leads in an easterly direction from the old Mathew Wallace place to the main high-
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way from this town to Townsend, Mass., with which it connects at a point near the sawmill of Deacon Perley L. Pierce in South Brookline, from which the Brook's mill was distant about one-half mile in a westerly direction.
The mill was built at some time in the thirties by Capt. Samuel Brooks, of Townsend hill. So far as known, it is the first and only mill to be located upon this site. Captain Brooks operated the mill for many years. After his decease it passed into the hands of his son, George Brooks. George Brooks operated the mill until the fall of 1863; when, on the 30th day of December, he sold the plant to Anson D. Fessenden, of Townsend, Mass., and Levi F. Lowell, of this town, and, shortly after the sale, removed with his family to Detroit, Mich .; where for many years he carried on a large wholesale lumbering and coopering business, and where he subsequently died.
Messrs. Fessenden and Lowell took immediate possession of the pur- chased premises and operated the mill until 1870. In 1870 the firm sold the mill to Mrs. Diantha Peaslee, of Somerville, Mass., and removed its business to Merrimack, where the firm is located at the present time (1914).
Mrs. Peaslee, through her husband, Harrison Peaslee, operated the mill until the 10th day of July, 1875; at which date she sold and, by her deed of that date, conveyed the plant to Jennie F. Averill, wife of Hartley Averill, of Boston, Mass. Feb. 7, 1908, Mrs. Averill sold the plant to Orville D. Fessenden, of this town, in whose name it stands at the present time.
In the spring of the year 1900 the mill's dam was swept away by a freshet. The dam was never rebuilt and after its destruction the mill remained unoccupied until 1912, when it was burned down.
Of the dwelling houses which at the present time are standing in the vicinity of this mill, the house located in the mill yard a short distance west of the plant was probably built by Capt. Samuel Brooks when he erected the mill. The dwelling house located on the north side of the highway nearly opposite to the mill was erected in the first part of the last century. Its builder is unknown. But about 1810-1812, the house was occupied by a certain "Doctor" Howe. Of whom tradition says that upon one occasion he took in, and entertained, a peddler as his guest for the night; and that the peddler, after entering the house, was never seen again alive, or for that matter, dead either.
After the "doctor" removed from the house-going perhaps in search of the peddler-it was occupied for several years by Solomon Sanders,
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father of the late John Sanders. Sanders' name may still be seen inscribed many times on the mantle of the old fireplace in the sitting room.
In 1843 Leonidas Pierce, then of Hollis, purchased the house of Ben- jamin M. Farley, Esq., and the same year took up his residence therein. Mr. Pierce continued to own and to occupy the house until his death. Of his children who were all born in this house, one son, Deacon Perley L. Pierce, at the present time owns and operates the sawmill standing on the site of the old Wyman sawmill in South Brookline. Another son, George W. Pierce, is a resident of Pepperell, Mass., where he is a wholesale dealer in grain. The house at the present time is unoccupied.
On the east side of the highway, a half mile, more or less, west of the Leonidas Pierce house, is still standing a dwelling house, at the present time unoccupied, which for many years was owned and occupied as his home by Henry T. Pierce, a brother of Leonidas. His son, Albert T. Pierce, at the present time is residing in the village. Tradition says that this house stands on the site of the dwelling house of one of the Connecks before and during the Revolution.
The George Betterley Fulling Mill.
About 1825-30, George Betterley, who came from Woodstock, Vt., to Brookline in 1815, erected a fulling mill on Campbell brook in the westerly part of the town. The mill's situation on the brook was a few rods southwest of the point at which at the present time the stream is spanned by the bridge in the "poor farm road."
At the time of the mill's construction, wool growing as an industry was quite generally followed in town. Nearly every farmer owned at least a small flock of sheep; and in nearly every farmhouse the noise of hand looms engaged in weaving the "Home made" woolen cloth which then constituted the principal wearing apparel of the inhabitants was a fa- miliar and almost constant sound. The fulling mill was used for "dress- ing" the cloth before it was manufactured into garments.
The mill continued to be operated for many years or until the gen- eral introduction into use of the power loom, and the consequent diminu- tion in the cost of manufacturing woolen cloth, rendered the use of the hand loom no longer profitable.
About the middle of the forties the mill ceased to be operated. Sev- eral years after it was shut down, the mill was torn down. Some of its timbers were used in constructing the cottage house directly west of and but a short distance from its site, which was owned and for many years
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occupied as her home by the late Miss Isabella Lancey. The cottage house, formerly of Ferdinand Lancey, located on the east side of the poor farm road a few rods north of the mill's site, was also constructed in part, at least, of its timbers; and it is an interesting fact to know that the site of this latter house is identical with that upon which stood the dwelling house first occupied by George Betterley after his advent in this town.
The Scabbard Mill.
About the year 1830, Lawrence Bailey, a half brother of Ensign Bailey, began the business of manufacturing wooden bandboxes in this town. For that purpose he erected on the stream then known as Ben- nett's brook, but since then for obvious reasons known as the Scabbard Mill brook, a mill for sawing out the scabbards, or thin strips of wood, of which the boxes were constructed. The mill was located about two and one-half miles north of the village on the north side of the brook, and immediately southwest of the point where it crosses the Greenville highway. Mr. Bailey had carried on the business but a few years when he became financially embarrassed, and was obliged to dispose of his property and leave town. He was succeeded in the ownership of the mill and of the business by Alpheus Shattuck, by whom for many succeeding years it was carried on.
From the mill the scabbards were carried to the old Shattuck saw- mill where, in a room fitted up for the purpose they were manufactured into bandboxes, for which at that time Boston furnished a ready market. For many years the business furnished employment for many of the townspeople, both men and women. But, in the course of years, the time came when the merits of wood as a material for the construction of bandboxes had to yield to the superior claims of paper for that pur- pose; and about 1848 Mr. Shattuck retired from the business as being no longer profitable. The mill wheels ceased to turn and the mill itself was allowed to go to decay. Its ruins were in evidence as late as 1860. At the present time they have entirely disappeared.
Clay Banks and Bricks.
The manufacture of bricks in this town began as early, at least, as 1780. The first to engage in the business was Swallow Tucker, who ob-
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tained the materials necessary for the conducting the same from clay banks located upon his farm in South Brookline.
Mr. Tucker's operations, which covered but a comparatively short space of time, were on a small scale, and his manufactured products were chiefly confined to home use. Among the buildings which were con- structed with bricks of his manufacture were a schoolhouse which in 1783 the town erected on the east side of the highway to Pepperell, Mass., at a point nearly opposite the southeast corner of the south cemetery; and the brick dwelling house located in South Brookline on the east side of the highway to Townsend, Mass., a few rods south of the bridge over the Nissitisset river; which is said to have been built about 1795 by his son, Benjamin S. Tucker.
The Tucker clay banks were located in the open field southwest of the site at the present time (1914) occupied by the steam sawmill of Orville D. Fessenden, from which they were distant some twenty-five or thirty rods; where at the present time the site of the kilns is indicated by a small mound of sand.
The second party to engage in the manufacture of bricks here was Capt. Benjamin Brooks, who commenced the business about 1790. Like his predecessor in the business, Swallow Tucker, he obtained his mate- rials from clay banks located upon his own farm in South Brookline. His kilns were located on the west side of the highway to Townsend, Mass., and west of his dwelling house (afterwards known as the Luther Rockwood place), from which they were distant one hundred rods, more or less.
Captain Brooks continued to own and operate the plant until 1812 In that year he associated with himself his son-in-law, Luther Rockwood as a limited partner in the business; and from that time until his death in 1829, the plant was operated by himself and Mr. Rockwood.
Upon the death of Captain Brooks, Luther Rockwood succeeded to the ownership of the plant; which he continued to operate for many succeeding years. During this period the plant's field of operations was largely extended, and its business correspondingly increased. Consider- able quantities of bricks were sold in the adjacent towns, and in the cities of Nashua and Lowell, Mass., where they were delivered by means of ox teams, which more frequently than otherwise were driven by Mr. Rockwood himself. This state of affairs continued until the middle part of the fifties; when advanced age and the competition in the business, resulting from the increased facilities for transportation afforded by the newly constructed railroads, compelled Mr. Rockwood to abandon the
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business. The last stack of bricks to be manufactured by the plant was burned about 1855. Since when both the Brooks and the Tucker clay beds have remained dormant.
The Coopering Business.
Among the early industries of New England, coopering was one of the most important. At first the business was confined to the manufac- ture of barrels for home use. But after the close of the Revolution, as the country increased in population and wealth, the increase in the amount of importation of such luxuries as "West India goods" and molasses cre- ated a demand for additional barrels, and the business of manufacturing them was correspondingly benefited.
Brookline's people were not slow in responding to the demands of the new conditions of affairs. They immediately began to manufacture barrels for export and sale. The barrels were all made from hard wood, chiefly oak. For the manufacture of which the materials used were got- ten out by hand labor. Hard wood hand-made barrels were the only kind to be manufactured here until the last of the thirties. During this period, a large percentage of the citizens were coopers by trade. But, in addition to this class, there was scarcely a farmer who did not at favor- able seasons of the year, especially in the winter time, engage in the busi- ness of making barrels; and thus from its profits increase the meager income from his farm. For the greater part each cooper worked by and carried on his business for himself.
Whenever a cooper had accumulated a stock of barrels sufficient to warrant the undertaking, he loaded them onto wagons and sent them by ox teams into Boston. Sometimes two or more coopers or farmers would unite their stocks in trade and send them in together. In Boston the bar- rels were sold for cash or, more frequently, exchanged for such commodi- ties as salt fish, rum and molasses; and, occasionally, for wearing apparel; laden with which the teams returned home. The round trip usually occupied about a week's time.
About 1846 the introduction into the sawmills of machinery for man- ufacturing barrel staves and heads effected an immediate and radical change in the coopering business. Up to that time the business had been confined to the manufacture of hard wood barrels only. But barrels of that description were expensive to make and clumsy to handle. And, besides, their use was principally confined to the holding of liquids, for which purpose they were especially adapted. In the meantime there had
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been developing a demand for a less expensive and lighter class of casks adapted to the storing and easy transportation of dry commodities. The change in the nature of mill machinery made it possible to meet this demand by substituting in place of the hard woods hitherto used in the manufacture of barrels such soft woods as pine and chestnut. In fact, it instituted a new epoch in the coopering business.
With the change in the nature of the barrels or casks, came also a change in the methods of making and putting them onto the market. The business was no longer confined to single individuals, each working for himself, but passing into the hands of men of capital and enterprise, became wholesale in its nature. For the following forty years it consti- tuted the town's chief industry.
Levi Rockwood was among the first to engage in the wholesale coop- ering business here. He carried on the business in connection with his sawmill at South Brookline, and continued to do a successful business until his death in the latter part of the fifties. In the village the business was carried on by James Parker, Jr., and by James N. Tucker.
In 1846-1847, Joseph C. Tucker and Henry B. Stiles formed a co- partnership under the firm name of Tucker and Stiles, for the purpose of engaging in the sale of West India goods and groceries. The firm's place of business was located in a room in the east end and on the ground floor of the ell of the Nissitisset hotel. Soon after its organization, the firm, in addition to its regular business, took on that of manufacturing and selling barrels at wholesale. Its operations in both lines of business were suc- cessful from the first.
In 1850 the company's business had increased to the extent that it was forced to seek for larger and more commodious quarters; and it moved into the "red store" building located on the east side of Main street adjacent to the village brook, its site being the same as that now occupied by the store building of Everett S. Tarbell. The company occupied the "red store" until 1857. During this period it carried on a highly suc- cessful and prosperous business, especially in the line of wholesale coop- ering; in which branch it had the reputation of doing the largest and most lucrative business of any firm in southern New Hampshire.
During this period, also, in addition to fish and dry casks, the firm engaged in the manufacture of syrup casks and barrels; and for many years furnished the East Boston Sugar Company with the entire supply of syrup casks used in its business.
In the first part of the fifties, Thomas Melendy, Jr., entered the firm as a partner in that part of its business which had to do with the buying
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and selling of lumber. Mr. Melendy was connected with the firm for several years, but finally withdrew from his membership and removed to Milford. Subsequently he removed from Milford to Nashua where, after engaging for several years in the wholesale lumber business, he died.
In 1857 business had increased to such a magnitude that the neces- sity for larger quarters in which to transact it was, for the second time, apparent; and in the fall of that year the firm removed the "red store" from its foundations and built a new store upon its site. The new store was dedicated on the evening of Thursday, Dec. 17, 1857, by a grand ball, which was given by Messrs. Tucker and Stiles in the hall in the second story of the building. The ball was an elegant affair. It was attended by more than one hundred couples. The music was furnished by Hall's cele- brated band of Boston. The following is a copy of the card of invitation :
GRAND DEDICATION BALL AT TUCKER & STILES' HALL, BROOKLINE, N. H., ON THURSDAY EVE'G, DEC. 17, 57
Committee of Arrangements.
Alpheus Shattuck,
Benjamin Gould,
J. C. Tucker,
Alonzo Bailey,
W. W. Corey,
Wm. Wallace,
Benjamin Shattuck,
John A. Wright,
Geo. W. L. Hobart,
W. B. Rockwood,
Chas. Gilson,
Frank Rockwood,
John B. Hall, James C. Parker,
Wm. Wright,
Eli Brooks.
P. H. Clark, New Ipswich.
R. Peabody, Mason Cen.
L. Chamberlin, Mason Vil.
Albert Powers, Milford.
Chas. McGowan, Milford.
John H. Cutter, Hollis.
John H. Poole, Hollis.
Henry Blake, Pepperell.
N. W. Cowdrey, Pepperell.
U. S. Clark, Groton.
L. W. Cummings, Towns. Har.
W. E. Shattuck, T. Cen.
Albert Howe, Townsend West Village.
Floor Managers.
Albert Shattuck. Chas. Willoughby.
Luke Baldwin. J. C. Tucker.
MUSIC BY HALL'S CELEBRATED BAND, BOSTON.
Tickets, (including Turkey Supper, ) Three Dollars. Dancing to commence at 6 o'clock.
.
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It may be said here that at the time of the building the new store, the old "red store" was taken from the foundations and removed to the west side of the street leading from the store to the north highway to Milford; where it was used to form the ell of the Jeremiah Baldwin dwell- ing house, which was built that year.
In 1860, while at the height of its prosperity, the firm of Tucker and Stiles was induced to invest largely in the kerosene oil business, which was then beginning to be recognized as a promising field for the invest- ment of capital. The investment proved to be a disastrous one. The company in which it was made failed and, by its failure, the firm of Tucker and Stiles was financially ruined. It never recovered from the blow, and shortly afterwards the partnership was dissolved by mutual consent of its members.
In the early fifties William Gilson engaged in the wholesale coopering business here. He carried it on in connection with his transactions in wood lands and in lumber, in each of which he was a heavy dealer. Mr. Gilson removed from this town to Milford in 1866. At the time of his removal, his coopering business was second in importance only to that of Tucker and Stiles. In Milford he established himself in the same business, which he carried on until his death. He died at Milford, July 19, 1887, aged 84 years.
Soon after the dissolution of the firm of Tucker and Stiles, James Clinton Parker and J. Alonzo Hall, each acting independently of the other, engaged in the wholesale coopering business.
Mr. Parker carried on the business until 1876. In that year he sold his plant to the Proctor Brothers of Hollis, by whom it was removed to the latter place. The same year of his sale to the Proctors, Mr. Parker removed to Nashua where, for the six years following, he was in charge of the City Farm, as superintendent. He was afterwards superintendent for four years of the Wilmington, Mass., town farm, and for fifteen years superintendent of the Billerica, Mass., town farm. He died at Lowell, Mass., Jan. 1, 1909. He is buried in the family lot in the south cemetery in this town.
Joseph A. Hall was the last to engage on a large scale in the whole- sale coopering business in this town. But, if last, he was by no means least in the amount and importance of business transacted. Starting in with a small financial capital and little or no experience in the business, but with a large stock of energy and "push," he so managed that in a very few years from the beginning he was the owner and operator of a whole- sale coopering plant which in the amount of its products and in the extent
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of its dealings was fully equal, if not superior, to that of any of his prede- cessors in the business here.
Mr. Hall's prosperity increased that of the town. Business in other lines boomed. The fortuitous conditions which prevailed here in the days when the business of the firm of Tucker and Stiles was at its best seemed to have returned and the prospects for the future were of the most en- couraging nature.
This state of affairs continued for some eight or ten years; but, in the meantime, the profitable nature of the coopering business had attracted the attention of the general public; and, as a result, the number of those engaged in the business in New England had grown to large proportions. The competition arising from this state of affairs had the effect of in- creasing the price of labor employed and the cost of the materials used in conducting the business; and, consequently, of diminishing the profits. In Mr. Hall's case these profits were still further diminished by the fact that in order to reach the markets, his prodcuts had to be transported to the railway stations in Pepperell, Mass., or Townsend, Mass., by means of horse teams which were maintained at great expense. Notwithstand- ing these drawbacks, Mr. Hall continued for several years to do a large and prosperous business.
Early in the seventies, however, the centre of activity in the cooper- ing business was suddenly shifted from Massachusett ands southern New Hampshire into Maine, where, by reason of an abundant supply of cheap materials, lower prices of labor, and the reduced cost of freightage ob- tained by transporting their wares to Boston by water rather than by rail the manufacturers were enabled to put them on the market at much lower prices than had hitherto prevailed. The result obtaining from this change in conditions were disastrous to the barrel manufacturers in New Hamp- shire and Massachusetts, especially to the smaller and weaker firms, of whom many immediately closed out business.
Mr. Hall at this time was somewhat heavily involved in debt, the debt having been contracted in the course of his business, not only as a barrel manufacturer, but also as an extensive dealer in lumber. The change in the condition of affairs embarrassed, but did not dismay him. He continued to do business, but on a reduced scale. In the meantime, he devoted his leisure time to straightening out his financial affairs, an un- dertaking in which in the end he was wholly successful, paying his in- debtedness to the last dollar.
Mr. Hall continued for the remainder of his life to carry on the coopering and the lumbering business. In the lumbering business he was
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very successful; accumulating a very considerable fortune. But in spite of his efforts he was never able to restore the coopering business to even a resemblance of its former prosperous conditions. He died at Brook- line, Aug. 3, 1897. With his death the wholesale coopering business in this town became practically a matter of history. At the present time the business is being carried on to a limited extent by Orville D. Fes- senden at South Brookline.
Charcoal Burning.
Prior to 1840 the manufacture and sale of charcoal, as compared with other industries already established here, was of very little importance because of the difficulties in the way of transporting it to market, the only available means for transportation being ox teams.
Nevertheless, prior to that date, there were a few citizens who en- gaged in the business on a small scale; among whom were Otis and James Horton, Amariah Ames, and Daniel Shedd, all of whom found the principal market for their product in Lowell, Mass.
The completion and opening to public traffic of the Worcester and Nashua railroad in 1847, because of the additional facilities which it af- forded for freightage was the cause of an increase in the number of those who were engaged in the manufacture of charcoal here and, consequently, of a corresponding increase in the amount produced. Among those who at this time engaged in and for several subsequent years carried on the business somewhat extensively were Deacon Thomas Bennett, Alpheus Melendy, Jr., and James Parker, Jr. About this time, also, James H. Hall began the business which, as a wholesale manufacturer and dealer in charcoal, he carried on until his death, a period of thirty odd years; dur- ing which by his careful management and untiring industry he became the largest operator in that line in Hillsborough County.
In addition to his coalpits, which were in constant operation all over the township, Mr. Hall also built and operated five brick coal kilns. Three of these brick kilns, of which the vestiges are still visible, were located just west of the present railroad crossing in North Brookline, on the south side of the highway to Greenville. Another was located on the north side of the highway to Townsend, Mass., via the old Mathew Wal- lace place; from which it was distant a few rods in a northwesterly direc- tion. And still another stood near the John Hempell place, in the west part of the town.
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