History of Carroll County, New Hampshire, Part 79

Author: Merrill, Georgia Drew
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Boston : W.A. Fergusson & Co.
Number of Pages: 1124

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TOWN OF SANDWICH.

with his "head and beard of silver" when he feels stricken by the Almighty's hand. Very rarely among the dark forests of spruce and fir, that climb mile above mile to the far pinnacles of the north, some dying birch or maple stands out alone, brilliant as the " burning bush" that Moses saw. Again, at far intervals some pale beech stands alone among dark evergreens, like an injured spirit that walks in darkness. You look away to the unpeopled moun- tains. Great purple ranges rise like the billowy waves of ocean, and vanish in the dim mystery of unclouded distance. Chocorua, most weird of mountains, seems yet more weird in its lonely isolation. Scores of strange, unknown mountains rise into the empty spaces of heaven, looking grimly at each other across untraveled vales, as hostile neighbors only commune with each other across bloody chasms. But, look yet once more to the northeast. Is it a vision of earth or heaven ? Is it some wondrous cloud whose base rests upon the solid earth, but rises summit above summit, pinnacle above pinnacle, in towers and ridges and battlements of silver? No, there is no evidence of floating elouds. For one moment the thought flashes on you. Is it the City of God, the New Jerusalem let down from heaven, and is that strange whiteness her light like stones of jasper? Is that garnished wall her foundation of sapphire? No, these great glittering pinnacles of the north are none other than the great mountains of the Presidential range, Washington and Adams and Jefferson and Clay, in their diadems of snow ; while all other earth is brown and sere, these alone have caught the cold Arctic whiteness of the profounder north, and seem as eternal as the steel-blue heaven where they repose.

Red Hill Pond. - This pond is an irregularly shaped body of water, for which the old town surveyor allowed two hundred acres of surface. Though situated very near the two principal villages in Sandwich, it is so completely shut in by hills and woods, that it is not probable one fourth of the people of the town have even seen it. The woods around it are as wild as they were one hundred years ago. Pines, roeks, and marshy lowlands mark its solitary shores ; in the summer thousands of water-lilies repose on its tranquil bosom, and whoever sails over it on a summer moonlit evening will appreciate Theodore Winthrop's description of the moonlit waters, and the boatman's enthusiasm as he glides over the calm lakes of Maine. "Calm never could have been so beyond the notion of calm." "Stars in the empyrean, and stars in the still water, winked at each other across ninety-nine billions of leagues, as uninter- ruptedly as boys at a boarding-school table." Again the voyager, fearing the paddle-stroke might break the mirrored surface of the water, cried, " Gentlier, even gentlier, my steersman. Take up no pearly drop from the lake, mother of pearliness, lest falling it sound too loudly," for he feared " that with another dip of his paddle, he should shatter the thin surface and sink toward heaven and the stars."

Wentworth Hill in Sandwich is the highest elevation of land on the stage

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HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.

road from West Ossipee to Centre Harbor. From it the mountain scenery is exceedingly beautiful. On a summer evening at sunset the great North moun- tain chain from Sandwich Dome to Chocorua, as it stands shadowy and grim against the burning sky, reminds one of Byron's description of sunset along " the Hills of Morea." In winter the scene is entirely different. In the cold bright mornings of January, each distinct peak stands clear and white in Arctic brilliance.

First Birth. - Traditions disagree on this. On one side it is said that Samuel Page, son of Jeremiah Page, was the first male child, and received a lot of land from the proprietors, on which, when he grew to manhood, he began a clearing and a barn, then sold to Deacon Mason, in the possession of whose descendants it is to-day. The first birth in town as recorded is that of Hunkin Hilton, son of Ien Hilton and Abigail his wife, born April 29, 1769. It is said that Mrs Hilton was the first white woman that arrived in town among the settlers, and the town of Exeter, from whence she came, presented her with a new calico dress in honor of that fact.

Selectmen's Return in 1775. - The following, aside from its historic worth, will cause a smile from its quaintness : - -

Males under 16 years of age. . .81

Males from 16 years of age to 50 not in the Army 45

All males above 50 years of age .9

Persons gone in the Army . 1 All females 109

Negroes and slaves for life 00

245

The number of firelocks fit for use in Sandwich is 27. The gunpowder is 36 pounds, which is in town stock.

Sandwich, September 20, 1775.

The above numbers were taken carefully by us in pursuance of the above order.

Joshua Prescott, ( Selectmen Mark Jewell, J of Sandwich.

Sandwich, September 20, 1775.

Then the above named Joshua Prescott and Mark Jewell made solemn oath that the above numbers by them subscribed to is the just and true, Souls, ages and firelocks and gunpowder found in Sandwich.

Before

Daniel Beede, Town Clerk.

Some Residents in 1776. - John Cook gave the following to the Reporter in 1884 : -

Nathaniel Knowles was an Englishman and lived on the B. F. Fellows place. Richard Sinkler was grandfather of the wife of John Cook. He lived where Ebenezer Tilton lived. Jeremiah Page lived on " Page Hill " near George Robinson's, and was grandfather of JJere-

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miah P. Moulton. David Bean lived on land owned by Lawrence, near B. B. Hoit's. Christo- pher Tappan was grandfather of Stephen Scribner and lived on the Scribner place. Jonathan Page is buried on the Enoch Lewis place. John Page lived where Caleb Marston now lives. John Prescott lived on the Captain French place and was brother of JJoshua Preseott, who was selectman in 1775. Colonel Jacob Smith lived on the Asahel Wallace place which he sold to Captain Paul Wentworth about 1812. Simeon Smith lived where E. D. Gilman lives, and was father of Jeremiah (the drover), Levi, and others. Eliphalet Maxfield, grandfather of John Cook, lived on the JJames Webster place beyond Enoch Hoag's. He was a Freewill Baptist minister and finally moved to Sutton, Vt. Joseph Hoit lived where B. B. Hoit now lives. He was father of General Daniel Hoit and Ezekiel. Thomas Burleigh, grandfather of Thomas Burleigh, of Sandwich Centre, lived where Samuel II. Burleigh now lives. Nathaniel Ethridge was grandfather of David Ethridge and Colonel Samuel Ethridge. Benjamin Atkinson was the father of Theodore Atkinson, a Revolutionary soldier. John Glidden was killed by a falling tree on the N. II. Burrows meadow. Benjamin Bean was the father of Abraham Bean - grandfather of Ezra Gould, and lived on the farms of Amasa Horn and of the late Jacob W. Moulton. Edward Smith lived on the farm adjoining the Tillotson Pierce place. Jeremiah Hilton lived on or near the J. E. Ililton place, and was father of Hubartus Hilton. Micah Rice was grandfather of the wife of the late Eli Cook. Joshua Prescott, the selectman in 1775, lived on the M. HI. Marston Lewis place. Benjamin Blanchard lived where James B. Blanchard now lives. Josiah Bean lived on the David Merrill place. Edward Wells lived on the Enoch Hoag place. Elias Ladd lived where the late William Taylor died. He was a man much inclined to delight in lawsuits. Natt Scribner lived near where Ira Blackey now lives. One of the daughters of Jacob Jewell. the minister, became the wife of Captain John Severance; another was the wife of Nathaniel French, brother of Ezekiel French ; another was the wife of Eliphalet Prescott. Elder Jacob Jewell must have been the great- grandfather of Sargent F. Severance. He preached in this town since my remembrance. Benjamin Seribner lived on the Isaac Adams place. Moses Weed was father of the late Thomas Weed. Nathaniel Weed lived for a time where Giles L. Moulton now lives, and died in Tamworth.

French and Indian War. - Four of the New Hampshire soldiers in this war settled in Sandwich : Stephen Webster, who bought his freedom from captivity by running the gauntlet, and in his hale old age became a soldier of the Revolution; Benjamin Atkinson, Richard Bryant, and Eliphalet Maxfield.

Revolutionary Soldiers. - These are thus given by Judge David H. Hill : Theodore Atkinson, son of Benjamin Atkinson ; Samuel Thompson, whose son of the same name died in this town within twenty years last past; Daniel Collins, who once occupied the farm now owned by Calvin Hoyt; William Ferguson ; William Page, who was said to have been a deserter, and thereby failed to obtain a pension ; Moses Page, grandfather of Dr William A. Page, of Centre Harbor; John Watson, grandfather of Calvin Watson and Oliver Watson ; John Kent, father of Jonathan Kent whom many remember as "the Major;" John Marston, father of Elisha, Caleb, and Hon. Moulton H. Marston; Andrew McGaffey, father of the late Neal McGaffey [he was wounded at Bunker Hill]; Weymouth Wallace, grandfather of Ira T. Wallace [he was shot through the wrist at Bunker Hill. The shock caused his gun to fall from his hands, but though he was so wounded, his ammunition exhausted, and the charge of the enemy sharp, close, and incessant, he withstood the galling fire

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until he recovered his gun.]; Stephen Ethridge, grandfather of Lewis B. Ethridge, and his brother Nathaniel; Eliphalet Smith, grandfather of the missionary, B. B. Smith [he escaped capture by receiving the kicks and buffets of the enemy while counterfeiting death in such a manner that they believed him dead and left him]; Aaron Quimby, generally known as Captain Aaron, and father of General Johnson D. Quimby ; Daniel Moulton, grand- father of Jacob W. Moulton ; Thomas Burleigh (unele of Thomas Burleigh, now of Sandwich Centre) ; Andrew Neally, father of the late Amos Neally ; Josiah Bean, whose son, Deacon John Bean, will be remembered by the older men of this generation ; Simon Mason, grandfather of Amos W. Mason, and who lived, it is said, upon the same place ; Ebenezer Cook, uncle of the late John Cook ; Stephen Webster; John Beede, partner in milling business with Governor John Taylor Gilman : Simeon Smith (a half-brother of the late Jeremiah Smith the drover) ; Elias Smith, once a blacksmith and axe manu- facturer; Samuel Moulton, who during the war embarked on the ocean and never returned; Jeremy Hilton, uncle of the late John H. Hilton.

In 1787 a distressing and very dangerous sickness called the " putrid fever " continued for nearly the whole year. One twentieth of the population died, and about one seventh of the remainder were sick.

Early Traders. - Sandwich Centre and Sandwich Lower Corner were places of considerable trade about 1800.

Earlier, a man named Atwood traded at Sandwich Centre on the site now occupied by Oliver E. Lowell. He is said to have been succeeded by Jonathan Farrar, who in his turn was succeeded by General Daniel Hoit, who carried on an extensive business for nearly half a century.

After the death of Benjamin Burley (who started the first store in Sandwich at the Lower Corner), Daniel Little came there from the region of Campton as a storekeeper. He had one son, Albert Little, who lived to maturity and settled near Boston. His widow, who was a Nichols, afterwards married Jeremiah Furber, who succeeded Mr Little as a merchant for awhile.

Paul Wentworth extensively engaged in trade at Sandwich Lower Corner for many years, was successful in business, and became a leader in politics and in business. He and General Daniel Hoit held leading positions in business, in polities, and in matters of social reform, acquired reputations more than local, and became prominent in the county of Strafford and in the state.

At North Sandwich Aaron Beede, son of that Daniel Beede who was the ancient proprietor of that ridge of land extending from Leander Pierce's to Durgin's mills, was engaged in trade, and was succeeded by a Mr McCrillis, who in turn was succeeded by Asa Quimby and Joseph L. Quimby.

Early Postmasters. - Elisha Hanson was postmaster as early as 1816. He kept the office in his dwelling-house now occupied by William M. Weed, his son-in-law. The entrance was fronting the Furber house, and close to the door

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on the left-hand side was Mr Hanson's private desk, on the top of which was the case containing once a week's horseback mail from Dover. There was no other postoffice in town. About 1826 Mr Hanson gave up the postoffice to Jeremiah Furber, who had opened a store directly across the road from Mr Hanson's house. In 1829 Daniel Weed Vittum, a elerk in Paul Wentworth's store, was appointed. Not long after postoffices were established at the Centre and North.

Judge Nathan Crosby gives this reminiscence of the Lower Corner as it was in the early part of the century : -

Our neighbors at the lower end of the town were very pleasant farmers; two Webster brothers, William and Hezekiah, Nathaniel Hubbard, our early town potentate, the Weeds, and Beedes; but after our removal to the Judge Beede farm, in 1805, we found people of more culture, and a village of men of business and craftsmen. Mr Daniel Little, a young trader, from Newburyport, Mass., who married a Miss Nichols, of Portland, Maine, was the then principal storekeeper in town; John Purinton, a hatter, who married Judge Beede's daughter; Timothy Badger, saddle and harness maker, who married a daughter of Mr Hubbard; Ezekiel French, Esq., clerk of the proprietors of the town, with a large farm; Benjamin Scribner. a Quaker, owner of a large farm; Elijah Hanson, who married a daughter of Scribner, early a man of money, and a farmer of great taste in care of his smooth acres and fine cattle; there were also a silversmith and a tailor, a lawyer and doctor; one schoolhouse, but no meeting-house nor blacksmith's shop. Mr Little had a large farm in front of the village, Benjamin Scribner and Esquire French on the east, father on the west. The Little and Hanson houses remain; the Seribner, Purinton, and Varney dwellings have been blotted out. The Beede house (my father's) remains, modern- ized into the Wentworth mansion, occupied by members of the Captain Paul Wentworth family, who succeeded my father in the ownership.

Centre Sandwich, 1800-10. - The first house in the village, entering it from the north, was that now owned by Charles F. Burleigh. This was built by Dr Cook about 1806 (or near that time), and here he lived and practised his pro- fession. He owned the land where now stands the Dr White house, the D. H. Hill house, the B. B. Locke house, and where is now the Freewill Baptist cemetery. The only house in that part of the village was the Dr Cook house. William Ferguson's house stood near where is now Caleb M. Quimby's black- smith shop, and the house of Samuel Ambrose, near the building so long occupied by James M. Smith. Samuel Ambrose built the Thomas Burleigh house not far from 1806. George W. Mann's house was then standing and bore marks of considerable age. It is claimed by some to be the oldest house now standing in Sandwich. There was also an old house standing where now is the General Hoit house which was built about 1810. An orchard about twenty rods long by eight in width extended from the corner of the street by the Sandwich House to the dwelling of M. H. Marston. There was an old store standing where Smith Brothers now trade, and there was no other build- ing on that street between the store just named and the place where Charles

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Blanchard's store stands except one house, where William A. Heard's buildings are, owned by a man named Warren. From Charles Blanchard's store a narrow road extended toward Sandwich Lower Village, through a growth of ancient pines, there being no house or other building nearer than the Cyrus Beede gristmill, which stood near the old tannery site ; a little further on stood the Stephen Beede house, which even then bore marks of considerable antiquity, and now, in its forsaken gloominess, tells no tale of the many intellectual conversations held within its hospitable walls.

Business Centres. - In the first days of the settlement, an embryo city was formed at Squam Lake. Governor Gilman and John Beede conducted large lumbering operations ; mercantile establishments and other concomitants of business gathered there, and promised a long lease of life. The opening of the county road to Thornton through Sandwich notch in 1801 changed the course of events. This road soon became a thronged highway, and a main thoroughfare for Coos, Upper Coos, and Vermont farmers to convey their products to Portland. The mills on Red Hill river at the Beede place attracted the formers of the new village, and Centre Sandwich was the result. The advent of railroads put an end to the long caravans of red sleighs and wagons, but the Centre still keeps its existence, and the city on Squam only lives in tradition. The Lower Corner was the staid aristocratic village of oldtime New England character. The academy, a Congregational church, several branches of industry, several mercantile houses, at one time three lawyers' offices, etc., gave life and vivacity to its proceedings. The village is now a staid country corners. Arven Blanchard's store, Sandwich postoffice, the Reporter printing-office, the law-offices of W. M. Weed and Paul Went- worth, and one or two mechanics' shops constitute its life. Three or four homes of elegance still keep its aristocratic reputation.

Eurly Industries. - Captain Samuel Ambrose was a blacksmith in Sand- wich at an early day (1802). He once lived, it is said, where John Cook lately lived but was advised by his father, Colonel Ambrose, of Moulton- borough, to change his location to Sandwich Centre, for there would be the future village. About 1808 there was on the " Brown's mill site," now owned by Frank Plumer, a gristmill, sawmill, and iron foundry, owned by Dr Jacob Webster. Cyrus Beede owned the Adams gristmill at Sandwich Centre. Elijah Beede owned a gristmill and sawmill near where George Prescott now lives. Dr White owned a gristmill and sawmill built by his father-in-law, Ezekiel French, on Red Hill river, southerly from Sandwich Lower Corner. Weed's mill was owned by Henry Weed, an ancestor of W. M. Weed, one of the first millmen in this vicinity. This mill was long continued and had an extensive patronage.

Clothing manufacture and cloth-dressing acquired considerable importance. Stephen Fellows, and afterwards Asa Fowler, had a clothing establishment

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at Weed's mill ; John Folsom carried on the same business at Durgin's mill ; Augustine Blanchard, and previously his father, carried on quite an extensive clothing business. There were mills at Sandwich Centre, at Goss' mill, and at East Sandwich, near the Mark Huntress place. The first tannery is thought to have been carried on by a Mr Ladd on the Gilman Moulton place. He had his residence and a store on the Dale place. Afterwards Enoch Hoag carried on the same business on the place now owned by Ira Wallace. His son James followed him, and Elisha Marston learned the business of James.

Physicians. - Dr Asa Crosby came here about 1787, locating at Cram's Corner, which Judge Crosby describes as at the junction of the road from Moultonborough to Tamworth and from Little's Corner to Tamworth. Dr Crosby met here a surgeon who was located in Sandwich. His name was Ingalls Kittredge. The two became great friends and students, Kittredge instructing Crosby in surgery and Crosby teaching Kittredge medicine. After a thorough interchange of information Dr Crosby paid Kittredge a satisfactory amount for his practice and he left Sandwich. Dr Crosby built up a large and opulent practice, lived later on Wentworth hill, was town clerk, select- man, representative, and a prominent factor in society for many years. His sons were men of extended reputation.

About 1805 came Dr Lot Cook from Temple, whose brother, Joel Cook, had lived here from boyhood. He appears to have been a man of character and ability - quite a politician, a warm adherent of President Jefferson, and contributed as far as he was able to recover the town from its former adher- ence to the administration of John Adams. Dr Cook was in practice until his death in 1819.

Dr Moses Hoyt, born in 1773, began life as a physician in Ossipee, later was in practice at Dimon's Corner in Wolfeborough, and in 1812 removed to Sandwich, where he was resident until his death in 1863. He was father of Aaron Beede Hoyt, and a man of consideration.

About 1819 Dr Charles White commenced practice. He was here about thirty-six years, and died in 1855, worn out by immense professional labor, at the age of fifty-nine years. In a very high sense he was what is termed " a family physician." Personally he was a positive man, sharp in his opposi- tion, exceedingly strong in his friendship, and so decided in the expression of his opinion that none could doubt his meaning. From 1825 to nearly 1850 he had a very extensive practice. He was a man of genial humor, had a very keen sense of the ludicrous, and few men were so generally familiar with the great masters of British eloquence.

Dr Andrew J. McFarland was at Sandwich Lower Corner from 1838 to 1844. He left while his reputation as a physician was growing in favor, soon became connected with different asylums for the insane, and has occupied such positions of trust as indicate high reputation.

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Dr James Norris, who for fourteen years of his early medical life was in the United States naval service, first began practice in treating the wounded of one of the great naval battles of 1812, at Portland. His commission as surgeon soon came to him unsought. After retiring from the navy he settled in Sandwich. His practice did not extend through many years, but he was reputed to be a physician of thorough learning.

A Dr Shannon was at the Lower Corner sometime in the "forties."

Dr Thomas J. Sweatt came about 1843 and succeeded Dr McFarland, locating for some years at the Lower Corner, then moving to the Centre. He was a physician of preeminent ability, one of the leading ones in the county, yet his success arose more from his rare capacity of reading disease at sight than from study of medical authorities or personal diligence. He was success- ful and popular as a medical man : his presence in a sick-room carried health with it: yet his unfortunate habit of intemperance stood in the way of the eminence he might have attained. He removed to Rochester in 1873.

Rev. William Hewes, M.D., was located at Centre Sandwich in 1847-48 as a Methodist clergyman and also practised medicine. In 1850 Dr George Sanborn and Dr Tristram Sanborn, rivals, located at the Centre. George removed to Meredith in 1855, dying there in 1888, and Tristram died of consumption after a few years' practice.

Dr Ingalls came from Dover to the Centre, remained a few years only.

Dr Emerson was a resident of the Centre, enjoying a fair support from 1855 to about 1865, when he removed to Lynn, Mass.

Dr John Blackmer succeeded Emerson and was here seven years. He was prominent in temperance work, was candidate for governor on prohibition ticket, and is now a candidate for the same office in Massachusetts on the same ticket.

Dr Joseph Huntress, a physician of fine education, who was a surgeon in the United States army before and during the great Rebellion, and who, earlier than that, had built up a large practice in the town of Tamworth, came to Sandwich in 1873. He was a professional man of great ability and soon had a large and successful practice in Sandwich and among his old patrons in Tamworth. He died early in 1884.

Dr Geary, now of Ashland, was here a short time a few years ago. He was followed by Dr. J. A. Presby, who soon went to Salem, Mass. In 1883 came Dr F. S. Lovering, succeeding Presby. He remained about four years.

Dr Enoch Q. Marston, a native of Sandwich (son of Elisha 6), graduated at Harvard Medical School in 1876, began practice immediately at Tewksbury (Mass.) almshouse ; in 1877 went to Worcester, first as physician at the asylum for chronic insane, afterwards (1878-80) at Worcester Lunatic Hospi- tal. From 1880 to 1884 he was in practice at Lawrence. He returned to Sandwich in 1884 and is now in practice. He is a man of extensive reading, with a passion for old and rare books, of which he has a fine collection.

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Dr Ervin Wilbur Hodsdon, a native of Ossipee, son of Edward P. Hods- don, was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy and Washington University, St Louis ; studied medicine at St Louis Medical College, graduating Mareh 4, 1884. He was then for fourteen months an assistant in St Louis City Hospital, after which he located in Dover, N. H., for practice. He remained there until October, 1887, when he removed to Centre Sandwich, where he is fast making friends and building up a good practice.

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History of Carroll County, New Hampshire, Part 79

Author: Merrill, Georgia Drew Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Boston : W.A. Fergusson & Co. Number of Pages: 1124

Author: Merrill, Georgia Drew
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Boston : W.A. Fergusson & Co.
Number of Pages: 1124