History of Carroll County, New Hampshire, Part 81

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

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Return of Ratable Polls in 1783.

"State of Newhampshire & County of Straford- A Return of the Just Number of all the Male Poles Paying for them Selves a Pole Tax in the Town of Sandwich this Present Year 1783 the Number of Which is one hundred & one Taken By the Select Men of Sd Sand- wich December ye 8th 1783.

Jacob Smith ( John Ladd Seleet Men of Sandwich

Judge Daniel Beede. - From Governor William Plumer's manuscript in State Historical Society's collection and other sources we are enabled to give an excellent sketch of Judge Daniel Beede. His father, Eli Beede, was a Frenchman of the Isle of Jersey, who, in 1713, at the age of fourteen, came to Boston and in a few months went to Hampton, where he served a regular apprentice with a farmer. In 1720 he removed to East Kingston, then Kings- ton, married and settled there, becoming a member of Rev. Mr Secombe's church. This Eli Beede was the ancestor of all the families of that name in New Hampshire. Daniel Beede was the second son of Eli, and was born in East Kingston, July 21, 1729. His education was very imperfect. Our

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schools were then few in number and seldom merited the name. The great mass of the people in the state had little means to improve the school or give their children a knowledge of literature or the useful arts. The Bible was the only book Eli Beede allowed to be read in the family, and that book, or detached portions printed for that purpose, was almost the only one used in the country schools. Under such circumstances Daniel was unable to acquire the knowledge he sought, but by the aid of Mr Secombe he obtained some valuable information and the use of books, amongst others a spelling- book, which, he used in after life to say, he was obliged to keep as seeret as if it had been stolen goods. Mr Secombe also instructed him in the higher branches of mathematies, trigonometry, and surveying. He afterwards became a good practical surveyor. He imbibed the principles of Quakerism, was attached to the Quakers, attended their meetings, and frequented their society, but never joined their church, and in advanced life thanked God that he had preserved his freedom from the discipline and powers of all church governments and from the restraints and impositions of all seetarians. June 15, 1795, he was appointed a judge of the court of common pleas of Strafford county, which he resigned in the winter of 1799, just before arriving at his seventieth year. He died early in April, 1800, aged seventy-one. He was a man of sound judgment, great prudence, and striet integrity, and was superior to the narrow views of party and the sordid spirit of selfishness. He was distinguished for his hospitality and kindness to strangers and trav- elers. In publie as well as private life his great objeet, and one he pursued successfully, was to be useful to others, and in return he enjoyed the consola- tion arising from the respect, esteem, and confidence of all who knew him, as those who differed from him in opinion never questioned the purity of his motives and submitted to his decision ; indeed, the mildness of his temper and the gentleness of his manners tended not less than the firmness of his charac- ter to disarm opposition.

He married, January 26, 1750, Patience Prescott, and settled in Gilmanton. He possessed executive qualities in a large degree, and was considered to be the best person to become father to the coming town that the proprietors could find. As an inducement to him to become the first settler and their agent they offered to give each of his children (tradition says each of his sons) one hun- dred acres of land. He then had six sons and two daughters. Leaving his farm in Gilmanton in charge of his son Daniel in the autumn of 1768, he, with his wife, Israel Gilman and wife, fifteen laborers, and Mary Wells, a hired girl, came to the town, and located on Wentworth Hill. Here, according to the statement of his daughter, Phebe, they cut the first trees and put up the first house in the town (a log one) the same day they arrived. It was in front of the present residence of Paul Wentworth, Esq., where the first burying-place in the town was afterwards made. After making homes as comfortable for the

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winter as the lateness of their arrival would admit (snow falling the first night of their stay), Mr Beede proceeded to divide the town into ranges and lots, drawing a plan of his work for the proprietors. (This is not now in existence, an imperfect copy being all the document attesting to the original division.)

From this time until his death, April 7, 1799, Daniel Beede was busy with the development of the town and the conduct of its affairs. He was on the first board of selectmen, the first town clerk, first justice of the peace, delegate to the fifth provincial congress at Exeter in December, 1775, representative many times, justice of the quorum, and delegate to the constitutional conven- tion of 1791-92. He built many of the early log houses ; a few years after his arrival he put up the saw and grist mill where Cyrus Beede lived. It is said that he had many combats with the wolves while on his way on horse- back between these buildings. His second wife, Dorothy, widow of Captain Nathaniel Ethridge, he married February 27, 1795. He had a great posterity. Not less than ten of his children attained mature age. His home was always on Wentworth Hill, and he was buried there. He left to his children several of the best farms in town, not an acre of them being tainted with dishonest possession. His children were by his first wife, and were: Nathan, born May 23, 1750; Daniel, May 20, 1752; Aaron, September 22, 1754; Elijah, May 16, 1757 ; Joshua, May 13, 1760; Sarah, February 19, 1762 (married Joseph Varney) ; Mary, March 26, 1764 (married Richard Varney) ; Cyrus, March 9, 1766 ; Martha, March 9, 1770 (married Stephen Hoag) ; Phebe, December 6, 1771 (married John Purington); Lydia, September 28, 1773 (married Samuel Tibbetts) ; Patience, September 2, 1777 (married Barzilla Hines).

Cyrus Beede was long a leading and influential man. Judge Hill says of him : -

It does not appear that he was ever very much engaged in public business, his general qualities of character leading him in other directions. He was a Quaker minister of wide reputation, and it is said he was regarded by his brethren in the ministry as being one of the ablest (perhaps the ablest and soundest) exponent of the doctrines of his denomination in New England. He was once owner of a large amount of land around the Mill pond at Sandwich Centre, and also where Sandwich Centre village now stands, which he sold to Samuel Ambrose and others. Dr Charles White was accustomed to say of him, that when one became acquainted with Cyrus Beede, and came to appreciate his intellectual dimensions, his logical grasp of mind, his conversational powers, and high moral elevation, he was sure to concede to him a high rank.

Daniel Beede, Jr, lived on the Albert Quimby place. He owned that ridge of land in North Sandwich extending from Leander Pierce's nearly to Durgin's mill. He is reputed to have been a man of large possessions, but somewhat indolent and careless ; and when a neighbor of whom he purchased potatoes expressed surprise that he should need to buy potatoes in view of the large acreage he planted the previous year, he replied : " I now remember I did plant

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two acres in the northwest field, but it slipped my recollection and I forgot to dig them." His son Aaron traded at the Pierce place for some years.

Aaron Beede had descendants who appear to have settled on Burleigh hill and in the pine-woods region of East Sandwich. He once lived on the Aaron B. Hoyt place. After his death his widow built a fine two-story house near Asahel Gline's residence.

Elijah Beede was drowned while young. It is said that his father, on his way home from a session of court, was strongly impressed that his son Elijah was in peril, and, going out of his usual way, reached the point on the highway near the northeast part of Squam lake where Coon brook flows into it, just as a party of men had recovered from the water the dead body of the drowned boy. (About eighty years later his grandson, Daniel B. Hoag, was drowned in the same lake, near Hoag's Island.)

Israel Gilman settled on the cross-road leading from the Asahel Wallace place to that of Benjamin B. Hoit. Israel's mountain took its name from him. He was totally blind for some time previous to his death. He was buried about forty rods from his residence in a northerly direction. His widow, Sarah, married, in 1803, Joseph Flanders, who sold the place to Paul Wentworth, who sold it to Thomas Beede Weeks.

Ezekiel French, born in Deerfield, October 31, 1754, was in early life a carpenter in Epping, from which town he entered the continental army. After his service, and before the close of the Revolution, he came to Sandwich and, December 10, 1778, married Phoebe, daughter of Bagley Weed. He first settled in the north part, then exchanged farms with David Bean : on this farm near Wentworth Hill he passed his life, and the place still bears his name. He was a very successful farmer, did much at land surveying, was active in all matters, and a careful, useful, and valuable citizen, prominent in all good works. His name first appears as selectman in 1790. This office he held many years. He was representative in 1799, and was moderator and on important committees of the proprietary meetings held in Sandwich. He was architect of the Congregational meeting-house, and it is said that when the plate was ready for raising, he stepped upon it, asked, " Are you all ready ?" received the answer, "All ready," said, " Then take it up," and remained upon it until it was placed into position. He died July 8, 1826. Probably next to Daniel Beede and Dr Asa Crosby, he was in his day the most influential man in town. Of his nine children, seven married and had children. Of his children attaining maturity, his oldest son, Nathaniel, born July 19, 1781, married Grace Beede Crosby, represented the town in 1820, and died February 17, 1822. He had the title of captain. (Dr Otis French and Ezekiel French were his sons.) James, born July 2, 1799, the other son, emigrated to the south ; his son, Norman G., now resides in California. Susanna, born May 22, 1783, the oldest daughter of the first Ezekiel, married, first, James O. Freeman, Esq .;

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second, Dr Lot Cook; Rebecca, born November 10, 1784, married Josiah, son of Eliphalet Smith. Phoebe, born October 25, 1792, married, first, Nathaniel Burley, Jr; second, Elder Scarriott ; third, John Crosby. Sally, born April 22, 1797, married Dr. Charles White. Mrs French, all through her long life, was an uncommonly industrious and provident woman, and noted for her Christian work and example. Few women in Sandwich were better known or more highly respected. She died at the advanced age of ninety-seven, the last survivor of the first generation of settlers.

Captain Nathaniel French, brother of Ezekiel, was a prominent townsman ; married Martha, daughter of Rev. Jacob Jewell, August 27, 1780. He was a clerk of the proprietors. He had two sons, Sargeant and Nathaniel, and daughters, among them Anna, Martha, and Dorothy (married John Severance). He lived on the S. F. Severance place.

Roby French, a relative of Ezekiel, came to Sandwich in 1798 or 1800, and was one of the best known men in the north part. He was possessed of the elements of great personal popularity, married a daughter of Henry Weed, the first miller, and lived a short distance below him on the river.

John Beede and Thomas Beede, nephews of the judge, came here some years after its first settlement. John became one of the strong men of the town. He, Ezekiel French, and Dr Asa Crosby, after the death of Judge Beede, were the leaders of society, politics, and business. He lived on the place now owned by J. Edwin Beede, was much engaged in public business, a large land- owner, and a man much more generally known in the west part of Sandwich. He, with Governor John Taylor Gilman, owned a gristmill near the northeast corner of Squam lake, where it was once supposed would be the principal village in the town. Among his grandchildren are J. Edwin Beede and John W. Beede, of Meredith.

Thomas Beede settled close under the mountain, nearly a mile from the present road leading to Holderness, in a school district rendered locally famous by having as its teacher the famed astronomer and almanac-maker, Dudley Leavitt. Daniel G. Beede was son of his son Thomas.

The Varneys, Hoags, Meaders, Bunkers, and nearly all the Quakers came from Dover. The Varneys claimed descent from Richard Otis, who was killed at the time of the capture and destruction of the garrison of Major Richard Waldron, of Dover, in 1689.

Samuel Ambrose, another leading Sandwich man, born about 1771, appears to have become quite a landowner prior to 1800. His home was at Sandwich Centre. He was the first postmaster (the postoffice being established about 1828), and his correspondence with the postoffice department shows many interesting facts. He held many offices of trust, was administrator of many estates, guardian of minors in many instances, and, in addition, was a leading member of the Freewill Baptist Church. His home was an open hotel to all

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the denomination, and continued many years to be so kept by his descendants. He had one other element of influence (without which a person is not very great), that of gaining and holding the confidence of nearly all who came within the radius of his sphere. He died in 1820. Among his children were Jesse and Merritt Ambrose, Mrs Caleb Marston, and the wife of Rev. Elias Hutchins.

Enoch Hoay. - About 1786 came Enoch Hoag, from Dover, with a family of five boys and five girls, and settled on the farm later owned by Lewis Hoag. He was " Enoch Hoag, goldsmith," and he made spoons, knives, rings, ornaments of various kinds, and was the only tradesman of that nature in town. His oldest child, Mary, born in 1758, became the wife of Isaiah Gould, and was the grandmother of Hon. Ezra Gould. Perhaps he has left a larger posterity than any other man who ever lived in Sandwich. There were ten families of his own children, while the number of his grandchildren must be nearly one hundred, and more than sixty of them had families. It is believed that the entire number of his descendants must be nearly or quite five hundred; among them now living in Sandwich are found the names of Gould, George, Plumer, Burrows, Bacon, Hoag, Quimby, Sinclair, Heard, Smith, Felch, and doubtless others, while the tide of emigration has carried many to other towns. His children settled near him. Stephen owned the farm owned afterwards by Enoch Hoag; Enoch, his eldest son, lived on the farm later owned by Ira T. Wallace, and his grandson James owned the farm now owned by Levi W. Stanton. Here he carried on the business of tanning. Stephen in early life carried on coopering. He afterwards became a prosperous farmer and acquired a competency. This farm for many years was one of the great dairy farms of Sandwich. John, the youngest brother in the family, lived on the Lewis Hoag farm, and Joshua lived on the Goodwin farm.

Enoch Hoag, son of Stephen, was of national reputation. By self-exertion he received a liberal education for his day. Arriving at maturity and having a strong incentive to a life of activity and usefulness, at the age of twenty- four he married and engaged in mercantile pursuits, which he followed until 1854, when he removed with his family to Iowa, where he engaged in rural avocations. He was much interested in public questions of the day, especially those of slavery and Indian civilization. His influence was unceasingly exerted for the abolition of slavery, and after the emancipation he assisted in aiding the freedmen in education. At the same time he gave his attention more particularly to the welfare of the Indian, and, in 1869, entered that branch of the public service of the government in response to a nomination made by Friends by request of the President. His seven years of faithful and arduous labor accomplished much in establishing many tribes permanently and providing for the education of their youth. His last years were devoted

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to the interests of peace and in gospel ministry. He died in Sandwich, June 26, 1884.

Abraham and Christopher Tappan, who lived on the old road from Little pond to Moultonborough, were the ancestors of the Sandwich Tappans. Benjamin Scribner came from Brentwood as one of the laborers of Daniel Beede. His sister Dorothy married Nathan Beede. They were Quakers. He married Huldah, daughter of Christopher Tappan, and they passed their lives on a farm at the head of Scribner Hill. Of their thirteen children, nine lived to be men and women: Peggy, born 1772, married Paul Bunker; Hannah, 1776, married Joshua Hoag ; Abigail, 1778, married Timothy Varney ; Samuel, 1780 ; Sarah, 1784; Huldah 1786, married Elisha Hanson ; Stephen, 1794 ; Ruth, 1795 ; Benjamin, 1799.

Joshua Prescott, son of Joshua of Chester, born 1740, married Ruth, daughter of Bradbury and Anna Carr, in 1762; came to Sandwich in June, 1772, and was in the Revolutionary army for a long time, acquiring the title of captain. He filled prominent offices, and died February 22, 1829. Five of his children married and had children, forming to-day an extensive circle of descendants. They were: Bradbury, born December 29, 1765; Ruth, 1767, married Samuel Burleigh; Dolly, 1773, married John Atwood ; Anna, 1775, married Rev. David Bean; Josiah.

Henry McCrillis came from Epsom in 1780 with his wife Margaret and two children : Jane, aged three, and John, aged one year. Their only guide through the dense forests was blazed or notched trees. He drew their goods on a sled, while his wife and children rode together on horseback. John McGaffey, his father-in-law, had come to Sandwich in 1778, and lived on what is now called the John M. Smith farm. In 1780 there were but three houses from the Moultonborough line to John McGaffey's. McCrillis located on one of the best places in Sandwich, under the morning shadow of Mount Whiteface, and his descendants now occupy the old homestead. This pioneer couple lived long and useful lives, and had ten children born in Sandwich: Henry, 1781; David, 1783; William, 1785; Margaret, 1787; James, 1790; Neal, 1792; Mary, 1794; Nancy, 1796; Elizabeth, 1799; Andrew, 1801.

Augustus Blanchard removed from Hopkinton to Sandwich in 1800. He was a clothier, and carried on his trade for many years near John Hubbard's, and afterward at the mills near the "meeting-house," where he built the house in which he died October 11, 1829. Carding wool and dressing cloth was an important matter in those early days. Mr Blanchard pursued that branch of business, as did also his son Augustine, so long as it was remunerative. He was a genial, social, and kindhearted man, quite as good to his neighbors as to himself. He let the political questions of the day pretty much alone, though belonging to the Washingtonian and Federal wing. He married, in 1792, Esther Crosby. Mrs Blanchard was a devoted mother, a warm-

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hearted Methodist : always cheerful, sympathizing, generous, cordial, loving, and lovable. Their son Augustine, born April 19, 1793, married, first, Mrs Betsey (Ambrose) Purington, of Sandwich, second, Rebecca F. Currier. His children were: Caroline : Harriet; John Augustus, who became a physician ; Elizabeth, a teacher in Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, and Charles. Augustine Blanchard followed the avocation of his father, was a successful business man, lived a life of quiet virtue, and received the respect and esteem of the community. He died February 11, 1877.

Charles Blanchard married Mary J. Donovan. He is a prosperous merchant, and owns a beautiful residence in the centre of the town. He is a Republican in politics, and has been postmaster for many years ; has again been appointed under the present administration, and is one of the most energetic and popular citizens of Sandwich. "He might have been an aid-de-camp on a governor's staff, with rank of colonel, but he would n't accept."

General Daniel Hoit, born in 1778, died in 1859, was son of a lieutenant in Stark's regiment at the battle of Bunker Hill and later. General Hoit was lieutenant-colonel of the Nineteenth Regiment New Hampshire militia from 1810 to 1817, colonel in 1818 and 1819, brigadier-general of the Second Brigade in 1820-22, when he resigned his commission. He represented Sandwich in the legislature for many terms, was state senator in 1828, and councillor in 1825 and 1826. He was father of the distinguished portrait- painter, Albert G. Hoit, whose works had more than a national reputation.

Hon. Neal MeGaffey was one of the strong powers of Democracy. He lived on the place where Oliver Ambrose now lives. He was a wealthy farmer. Tall and dignified in his presence, he commanded attention when he addressed the people, and was an adroit manager of political affairs.

John Cook, son of Joel and nephew of Dr Lot Cook, born December 14, 1795, died June 6, 1887. He was one of the last surviving soldiers of the War of 1812. He was the young associate of the early settlers, and his keen memory and bright understanding has preserved valuable information of those early days of log cabins, wild beasts, and privations. His accurate memory made him a treasury of wealth to the historian. He was an early Abolitionist.

John S. Quimby,1 born in Sandwich, March 10, 1793, was the oldest of eleven children. His father, Enoch, third in a family of twelve children, was born in Weare, March 23, 1769, became an officer in the War of 1812, and later one of the hardest-working men and most thriving farmers in Sandwich, where he died at 63. His grandfather was Aaron Quimby, born July 22, 1733. He, with others of the same name, was among those who asked for the incor- poration of the town of Hawke, now Danville, their native place. They

1 By Colonel E. Q. Fellows.

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afterward moved to Derryfield, now Manchester, whence they went as pioneer settlers to Weare, in 1752, 1753, and 1754.

Aaron Quimby was one of the incorporators of Weare, one of its first selectmen, served in the old French war, went on the expedition to Canada in 1755, and was a captain in the Revolution. He was promoted to major, came to Sandwich about 1779, bought four hundred acres on Rock Maple ridge, North Sandwich (paying in continental scrip), where he afterward lived, died, and was buried in December, 1810.

John Smith Quimby was one of the best known and leading men in Sandwich and vicinity in his day. Coming into active life when party politics ran high, he became an ardent Jackson Democrat, and was intimately asso- ciated in politics with such men as Captain Paul Wentworth, Hon. Neal McGaffey, and Captain Randall, until the schism in that party about 1844 or 1845, when he, with John P. Hale and others, joined the Freesoil party, to which he firmly adhered till his death, July 13, 1853.

With limited means of education, a farmer's son and living all his life on a farm. with no professional training, as he ought to have had, he was yet a man of affairs, and could with equal facility lead his men in the mowing field, when he was so minded, without fear of being " cut out of his swath," act as farrier for himself and neighbors, or preside as moderator in town or church meetings, be of counsel, or preside as justice, according to circumstances.

He was a captain in the old militia, held many town offices, and represented Sandwich in the legislature in 1843, 1846, and 1847. He was a man of alder- manic build and fine presence, a genial companion and firm friend, a strong opponent, fearless, and tenacious of his opinions and rights. For sixteen years previous to his death he was a leading member and zealous supporter of the Free Baptist church at Centre Sandwich. He was a kind and indulgent father of twelve children, eleven of whom lived to mourn his loss.

Robert Moulton, of Gilford, had a son Joseph, who married Phoebe, daughter of John Chase, Jr, a soldier of the War of 1812, and was buried under arms. Their son, Gilman Moulton, fifth of seven children, was born June 27, 1825, in Albany. His parents moved to Sandwich in 1834, and he lived with them till he was twenty years old, when he became engaged in busi- ness in various cities of this state and Massachusetts for five years. He has since been resident in Sandwich. He has been selectman, representative, justice from 1860, deputy sheriff sixteen years under both Democratic and Republican administrations ; and was tax collector for Sandwich eight years. Mr Moulton married, first, Abbie T., daughter of John S. and Nancy Quimby. Of their children none survive. His second wife was Lydia A., daughter of Warren and Eliza Dearborn. Their son, Warren J., is a graduate of Tilton. Seminary, and a prominent member of the class of '88, Amherst College, and is engaged in teaching at present.

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History of Carroll County, New Hampshire, Part 81

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