USA > New Hampshire > Carroll County > History of Carroll County, New Hampshire > Part 88
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He was mustered out with his regiment August 9, 1861, and the next day was commissioned colonel of the Third Regiment. This was selected to accom- pany General T. W. Sherman down the Atlantic coast. Colonel Fellows was ranking colonel of the expedition, and in the winter of 1861-62 was stationed at Hilton Head, S. C., and was first commandant of the post, acting as brigadier-general, and in command of seven regiments. The next spring he was granted leave of absence, but, an important movement being on foot, the Third Regiment was ordered to Edisto island, near Charleston, and Colonel Fellows wrote to General Benham that if he could be of service he would defer his departure. Accepting his offer, General Benham placed him in command of Edisto, where were three and one-half regiments, four pieces of artillery, a company of dragoons, and a gunboat.
After the capture of Fort Pulaski Colonel Fellows came home on his leave of absence. While here the governor asked him to take command of the Ninth Regiment just in organization, and also keep the colonelcy of the Third. Considering this not fair to the other officers of the Third, he resigned his commission in that, and accepted the command of the Ninth. Within three weeks from the departure of the Ninth from the state it participated in the battles of South Mountain and Antietam. In the first of these it made a brilliant charge up a hill in front of the enemy's fire, broke their line, and drove them from the field. General Reno gave Colonel Fellows and the
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HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.
regiment high praise for its bravery, and it honorably won its title of the " bloody Ninth." After the battle of Antietam the cold rains and snows encountered in the march through Virginia afflicted Colonel Fellows with such severe neuralgia as to make it impossible for him to remain with his regiment, and he resigned his commission. He was recommended by the governor and council to President Lincoln for appointment as brigadier- general of the United States volunteers, and a considerable part of his service was in that capacity.
Prompt, energetic, a strict disciplinarian, and of unfailing courage, Colonel Fellows was a soldier and commander by nature, and could not fail to inspire his men with his own spirit. He was one of the best drill officers in New Hampshire. He has the manners and traits of regular army officers, and was in warmest friendship with his associates, while his men felt that he looked out for their needs, always meant what he said, was ever ready to listen to and right just grievances, and in his plain, blunt way he won their confidence and affection. While at West Point he became permanently deaf, and could never after hear commands, but safely depended upon his knowledge and his eyes to execute them at the proper moment. This affliction causes him great annoyance and embarrassment, and he can rarely be persuaded to attend public gatherings or military reunions. He delivered the address on Decoration Day at Ashland in 1884, and at Sandwich in 1886 and 1889. He is an attractive speaker, and his chapter on military affairs in this volume proves that he is well capable of using the pen.
Since the war he has lived in Sandwich, interested in real estate and banking operations in Sandwich, Minnesota, and Kansas. From 1869 to 1873 he was assistant assessor and deputy collector of internal revenue for Carroll and Belknap counties. In 1868, 1869, and 1877 he represented Sandwich in the legislature. He has been no seeker of place, and the honors that have come to him have not been solicited by him. He has labored zealously for the success of the Republican party, as he deemed it right. The one predom- inating trait in his character is strict honesty. If property he has sold has depreciated in value, it has been his practice to bear the loss.
Colonel Fellows married, November 18, 1847, Mary E., daughter of Colonel Joseph L. Quimby. Of their five children three survive: William B. (see sketch among lawyers) ; Mary Lizzie, born February 22, 1861, now married and living in Somerville, Mass. ; Sarah Frances, born July 4, 1868, is now studying music at Boston Conservatory of Music. June 20, 1887, he married Lydia Dunning, formerly of Brunswick, Maine, whose great-grandfather at one time owned one half of the township and was one of its earliest settlers. She is a lady of amiability and refinement, well fitted to be a cheerful companion to such a man as the Colonel.
CHRISTOPHER C. FELLOWS, brother of Colonel E. Q. Fellows, was a
13
Dann' A. Thinner
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TOWN OF SANDWICH.
prominent citizen of the last half-century ; born Mareh, 1820, died April 3, 1888. He was early a clerk with his father, John Fellows, at Centre Sand- wich, afterwards a partner with him. For thirty years he was a druggist, keeping a drug-store where Dr Hodsdon now does business. A deeply reli- gious and conscientious temperance man, he would never sell liquor only as combined with other medicines in prescriptions. He was an active Freemason, and also preeminently a Christian and an honest man, and his influence will long be felt. He was postmaster from 1850 or 1851 to 1863, for some years cashier of Carroll County National Bank, a trustee and auditor of Sandwich Savings Bank from its organization until his death, and was town treasurer also at his death. An ardent member of the Methodist church, for many years he filled the offices of steward, recording steward, trustee, seeretary of the board of trustees, and was either the superintendent of or a teacher in the Sunday-school. He had decided literary ability, and was a penman of extraordinary skill. When over sixty years of age he wrote the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, the first twelve psalms, and the Declaration of Independence, 4,194 words, on a postal eard.
DANIEL MOULTON SKINNER.
Daniel Moulton Skinner, son of Elijah and Abigail (Moulton) Skinner, was born in Sandwich, April 14, 1825. His grandfather, Jedediah Skinner, came from Connecticut to North Sandwich about 1800. He was a noted singer and taught many singing-sehools. He was a soldier in the War of 1812. His sons Elijah and Clark engaged in trade in separate stores at Skinner Corners. Clark built up a brisk business there. He was drowned in 1830 while fording Mad river near Thornton.
Elijah Skinner at an early day removed his stoek of goods to the Centre, and for many years was a zealous and useful citizen. He was born in Lyme, Conn., September 30, 1786, and died January 22, 1871. He was above medium height, quiek and lively, with fiery red hair that stood out straight from his head. He was of unbounded hospitality, and responded to every eall on him for aid. He may be styled the father of Methodism here, as his house was the free hotel of that denomination ; in 1824 he gave up merchan- dising to build the church which he had persuaded General Hoit to join him in erecting. This was completed in 1825. Elijah and his father were the first two members of the society established here. Elijah Skinner was a prominent Freemason ; he never aspired to publie office : represented Sandwich in the legislature of 1844 and 1845, and universally bore the reputation of being an honest man. He possessed an active and mechanical mind with great inventive powers, and in many ways was fifty years ahead of his times.
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HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.
He foresaw the rapid strides of invention, and talked of railroads, locomotives, sending news along wires by electricity and conversing in the same manner, years before these improvements were developed, and people fancied him almost insane. From 1825 he took contracts to erect buildings and gave much time to invention. He secured fourteen patents on important seientific principles. He invented a serpentine water-wheel about 1810, but found that practically the same thing had been patented in France. He was greatly disappointed, but shut himself up in a room and soon developed what he termed an endless screw, one of which he placed in a mill which he erected at the outlet of Lake Winnipiseogee. Among his specifications in his appli- cation for a patent was one claiming that this wheel might be used to propel boats; and it is probable that this was the first discovery and application of the screw propeller as a motive-power. He also invented a lock to simul- taneously lock and unlock a series of locks. This principle is now universally used in locking cells in prisons, ete. He first introduced stoves into Sandwich and claimed to be the inventor of the elevated oven. In 1836 he patented an improvement in fireplaces, and many of his last years were devoted to the improvements of flues to prevent smoky chimneys and to the manufacture and improvement of stoves, and many of his make were sold through Belknap and Carroll counties as the Hoit and Sherman stove. In 1845 he purchased the tin-shop of John Fellows, placed his son Daniel in charge of it, and shortly after built a shop where Hosea Pettingill now lives, where Daniel conducted business for some time and also learned the shoe business of a man in his employ. Elijah then purchased the meeting-house he built in 1825, finished it as a dwelling and a tin-shop. Here in 1856 Daniel began the manufacture of shoes, which in a short time was transferred to a new shop on the same lot. Elijah Skinner was of too generous a nature to acquire wealth, and Daniel faithfully discharged the duties of a good son to his parents, caring for them in their last days. Mr Skinner married, December 3, 1807, Lydia Page, who died January 27, 1810. Her daughter Eliza became Mrs George W. Mann. September 13, 1810, Mr Skinner married Abigail, daughter of Daniel Moulton, in early life a privateersman in the Continental service of the Revolution. They had four children: Polly (Mrs Hosea Pettingill) ; Lydia (Mrs James M. Smith) ; Cyrus (dec.), and Daniel M. Mrs Skinner was born December 9, 1782, and died April 3, 1872. She was a quiet worker in church matters, and there, as in her family, her presence was felt to be a power, and the record of her is "a Christian character of lovely womanhood."
Daniel M. Skinner inherited inventive powers of a high order, and aided his father in his inventions and in making patterns. Like many New England boys, Daniel was better educated in the school of labor than in that of books, and after working at carpentering and in tin and iron work, in 1857 he was a shoe manufacturer, employing fifteen men. By the hard times of that year he
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TOWN OF SANDWICH.
lost his entire property, but after a few months his Boston creditors reestab- lished him in business, which, although giving employment to forty, proved unremunerative. He then went to Manchester to work in a tin-shop to support the large family dependent on him. Here his attention was attracted to a rapidly selling pie-lifter. He soon devised a much better one, but had not the means to patent it. A daughter furnished the money, and thousands of the articles were manufactured and sold at good profits. In 1870 Mr Skinner resumed shoe manufacturing in the building he now uses as a tin-shop; he employed thirty-five hands and continued five years. But he was to acquire a competence and prosperity only through his God-given powers of invention. He nearly perfected a mowing-machine, but was forced to abandon it for lack of funds. The same thing occurred with a railroad to ascend mountains, the idea of which he developed long before Marsh projected the one on Mount Washington. He invented a steam clothes-washer, which well met a popular demand.
October 23, 1883, Mr Skinner obtained a patent for a parcel transmitter, which was much noticed by machinists and merchants, and was the precursor of that wonderful combination of mechanical skill, Skinner's instantaneous cash-transmitter. This was so decidedly superior to anything of the kind extant that it was evident a fortune could be obtained from it, but not being able to properly place it on the market and defend suits that would necessarily arise, in 1887 Mr Skinner sold his interest in it to the Lamson Store-service Company for enough to make him comfortable for life. He is now enjoying a mental rest, but we predict that another pleasant surprise for the scientific world is now in its formative period in his active brain.
Mr Skinner was much interested in the old militia organization. He was advanced from private to captain at his first training, and attained the rank of major in the Nineteenth Regiment. He is a Republican, and was a member of the defunct Bear Camp lodge, I. O. O. F., and held the position of D. D. G. Master in the order. A quiet, retiring citizen, he seeks no office; in his darkest days he kept faith with his creditors, and he has ever been a kind son, husband, and father. He married, September 7, 1845, Sarah P., daughter of Samuel and Lois Stratton. Her paternal grandfather was an Englishman who made a settlement on the present site of Lawrence, Mass., served in the Conti- nental army of the Revolution, and took part in the battle of Bunker Hill. Her maternal grandfather, Cornelius Dinsmoor, served seven years in the Revolution, from Ossipee. Their surviving children are Clara M. (Mrs David Hammond); Flora S. (Mrs Charles A. Hammond); Cyrus E .; Daniel W .; Walter L .; Lucien C., and Olive L.
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HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.
Jonathan Beede, nephew of Judge Daniel, came to Sandwich from Poplin (Fremont) in 1787, became a large farmer and stock-raiser, and, like Dr Asa Crosby, was the father of a distinguished family. Among the children was Samuel, who married the eldest of Dr Crosby's daughters and emigrated to the West, where he became noted as an educator and judge. Mary was a Quaker minister of great power and traveled extensively and preached in all the northern states and territories. Two other daughters, Sarah and Annie, were also Quaker ministers. Mehitable is mentioned elsewhere in this history. The only descendant living in Sandwich is Samuel B. Wiggin.
Dr Asa Crosby was born in Amherst, now Milford, July 15, 1765, moved to Sandwich in 1790, and married Betsey Hoyt. Of his family of sixteen ehil- dren, fourteen were born in Sandwich, and none more remarkable ever lived in the county or the state. Among them was Nathan, for forty years judge of the police court in Lowell, Mass. Another was Dixi, one of the most distin- guished surgeons in the state, for many years professor of surgery in Dart- mouth College. Another was Alpheus, a scholar of wonderful attainments, who graduated from college at sixteen years of age, and became one of the most accomplished Greek scholars of his time. He was professor of Greek and Latin in Dartmouth College, wrote several Greek textbooks, and closed his public career as principal of the State Normal School at Salem, Mass.
David C. Page from 1820 to 1840 was very prominent in Sandwich, and largely engaged in public business. His son George emigrated West in 1853. Henry G. Page, his grandson, is a wealthy and influential man in Fergus Falls, Minn. He has been mayor, member of the state senate, and is a large flour manufacturer and bank president.
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TAMWORTH.
CHAPTER LXII.
Name - Surface - Bodies of Water - Boundaries - Chocorua Lake - Tamworth - Grantees - First Settlers and Settlements - Progress and Prosperity - " Siege of Wolves " - Trout - Tamworth Village - South Tamworth - Hotels - Tamworth Inn - Tamworth Iron Works -Chocorua House - Merchants of Tamworth Iron Works -Cottages - First Inventory - Water-powers, Mills, and Manufacturing.
T AMWORTH is in some ways a reminder of some of the north of England towns, but it was probably not its resemblance to the quiet English town bearing its name that caused the governor to insert Tamworth in the charter as the name of this town. The Tamworth of England receives its name from the river Tame (on whose bank it nestles), and the Saxon word weorth, signifying a river-island, or any place surrounded by water. Another Tamworth is in New South Wales.
The surface of Tamworth is uneven, broken by hills and valleys, presenting untiring variety of scenery, while its proximity to the mountain region enables it to offer many an unsurpassed view to the lovers of the grand and sublime in its primeval and eternal habitations. No town in the state has taken deeper hold of its visitants than this, and perhaps none is more cherished in memory or has the charm of drawing the observer back more often to gaze upon its attractions. The soil is deep and fertile in most parts, well adapted to tillage, fruit, and grazing, and many fine farms give evidence to this, but part of the town has but the thin soil of the pine plains. Years ago it was a great pro- ducer of maple sugar, and in 1874 it was the sixth town in the county in value of agricultural production and the first in its yield of fruit. It is well watered. Bear Camp river passes through it in an eastern direction toward Ossipee lake. Swift river rises in the northwest corner, meanders through the central part, and joins the Bear Camp. Chocorua river, the outlet of Lake Chocorua, passes through the southeast corner as a tributary of the Bear Camp. Excellent water privileges are furnished by these streams. Chocorua lake is the principal body of water, although Great Hill pond in the northwest part may rival it in area. Besides these, Elliott and White ponds are all the
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HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.
bodies of water worthy of note. The town is bounded north by Albany, east by Madison and Ossipee, south by Ossipee and Moultonborough, west by Sandwich. The Ossipee mountains occupy the southern part of the town, while the northern side is flanked by the eastern portion of the Sandwich mountains. The area is 28,917 acres. Chocorua lake is over one mile long, and is divided into two parts connected by a narrow channel which is bridged over. The shore is partly formed by curving sandy beaches, overhung by shadowy trees. It has been stocked with bass, and pickerel are caught here.
" Tamworth. - The township was granted October 14, 1766, to Lieutenant John Webster and others in sixty-eight equal shares. At that time the south line of the town was the . supposed head line of Mason's Patent'; but the ' curve line,' as established subsequently, crosses the northwest corner, taking in the entire town. William Eastman, Richard Jackman, David Philbriek, and Jonathan Choate were the first settlers in 1771. Governor Wentworth's reser- vation is in the southwest corner of the town. A committee was appointed by the legislature, February 22, 1785, to establish the line between this town and Sandwich. The committee's decision was to be final. January 10, 1796, a committee was appointed to fix the lines between this town and the towns of Burton and Eaton. The decision was to be final. The matter came up again, however, and another committee was appointed December 23, 1808, to establish the lines between the towns of Sandwich, Tamworth, Eaton, and Burton, and report to the legislature. By an act approved January 13, 1837, some territory was severed from Ossipee and annexed to this town, and the same was severed from Tamworth and annexed to Ossipee, June 25, 1859." - Hammond's Town Papers.
It is said that Colonel Jonathan Moulton was the original proprietor, the names of the grantees being inserted as a legal fiction to enable Governor Benning Wentworth to comply with the royal requisites for a charter, none of the grantees really having vested rights in the land, but the Bryants were evidently in occupation early. James Head became a resident, and was the progenitor of a good posterity ; and Israel Gilman and Jacob Fowler owned lands here.
The grantees of Tamworth were Lieut John Webster, James Cochran, Enoch Webster, Jas Cochran, Jr, Jno Merril, George Abbot, Will Rogers, Jnº Moore, Andw McMillan, Saml Osgood, Jas Osgood, Wm Cochran, Jno Webster, Junr, Jona Stickney, Thos Stickney, Josiah Miles, Joseph Hall, Jr, Saml Moore, Danl Stickney, Walter Bryent, esq., Joshua Abbot, Jona Merril, John Cochran, Saml Cochran, Alexander Lessley, Stephen Holland, Abel Lovejoy, Joseph Emery, Jona Cochran, Moses Barnett, Jas Wallis, Abel Chandler, Timy Walker, Jr, Isaac Cochran, Jno Davison, Hamilton Davison, Jona Morrison, Thos Clough, James Head, W. Bryent, Jun., Esq., Peter Coffen, Robert Fulton, Willm Coffen, R. Barnett, Jno Kimball, Jno Noyes Esqr,
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TOWN OF TAMWORTH.
Thos Wallis, Rob. Rogers, Jun., Moses Coffen, Phinehas Virgin, Saml Dickey, Jo Barnett, Jun, Jnº Webster, Esq., Jas Dwyer, Enoch Coffen, Israel Gilman, Sam1 Gilman, Colº Todd, Lieut Colo Barre, Hon. Geo. Jaffrey, Dan! Rindge, Esq., Jona Warner, Esq., Jacob Fowler.
Tradition and legend would preserve for us an early settlement of Tam- worth, as they locate Cornelius Campbell and his family on the shores of Lake Chocorua by 1750 (the latest period claimed). Prosaic faet finds no evidence of this, but hunters and trappers no doubt roamed here as early as elsewhere in this region. One of these, named Richard Jackman, had his cabin near Jack- man pond, and he and his squaw and an Indian, Sabatis, made this their home for several years before true civilized occupancy. Several other Indians had their home here, but joined the remnants of the Pequawkets in Maine as soon as white men settled here.
It is generally considered that the first settlement was made in 1771, but Rev. Mr Cogswell in his "Memoir of Rev. Samuel Hidden," published in 1842, says : "The first white man who settled in Tamworth was Mark Jewell (1772), whose father resided in Sandwich. He settled on what is now called Stevenson hill, removing about six years thereafter to what is called Birch Intervale. He is now living in good health (1842), aged eighty-nine. He was married by Daniel Beede, in 1776, to Ruth Vittum, of Sandwich. Soon after Mr Jewell's settlement, he was followed by his brother, Bradbury Jewell, who was elected one of the selectmen at the first town-meeting in Tamworth, July 2, 1777."
Bradbury and Mark Jewell were leading men for many years. They were very efficient in procuring men to fill the quota for the Revolutionary war. Tradition says the first two-story house in town was built by Bradbury Jewell on Stevenson hill. It took fourteen thousand of bricks for the chimney, for which he paid $14,000 (continental money).
The descendants of the Jewells are numerous in Sandwich and Tamworth in the female branch.
Jackman, William Eastman, Jonathan Choate, David and Jonathan Philbrick were here in 1772. Jackman soon moved to Eaton, where he was probably the first settler, locating near Silver lake. Choate soon went to Sandwich. David Philbriek was killed in 1775 by the falling of a tree. William Eastman became a lifelong resident, and was a deacon in Parson Hidden's church for years.
Colonel Moulton interested the people of Gilmanton in the "plain country between the Ossipee and Sandwich mountains," and the Gilmans and Hon. Thomas Cogswell became large landholders here. Such men as these push enterprises, and settlers came rapidly. Stephen Mason came from Moulton- borough in 1773. By this time there were several families located, Silvanus Hall's and Hezekiah Hackett's among the number. They worked together. cutting trees, hewing logs, and rolling up the log cabins for their future homes
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HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.
one after another, while Hackett, the excellent shot, was kept hunting for game for the food of the rest. After the way was found, rapid settlement was made in the south, central, and northern portions ; and in 1775 there were one hundred and fifty inhabitants. A road was early made by the settlers for the proprietors from the Sandwich line. This extended through Moultonborough and Tuftonborough to Wolfeborough, and for a long time was the only high- way worthy of the name in town. It subsequently became part of the highway extending to Conway through Albany ; and a part of this is now and has been ever in use from the first.
The hardships undergone by the early settlers were severe. Jonathan Philbrick brought cornmeal from Gilmanton on his back. Henry Blaisdell went to Kingston for a supply of meal and was gone two weeks, and during his absence his family lived on milk alone. Gamaliel Hatch was inventive enough to make a mortar wherein he pounded flaxseed into meal, which made a substitute for flour in making bread. Food, even game, was scarce with the poorer settlers who owned no guns, and sufferings often ensued. One woman put her children to bed, then told her neighbor: "I have put them to bed to die ; " but help was rendered. After they had begun to raise corn, they had to carry it to Gilmanton if they wished it ground at a mill. But in a few years, probably by 1780, there were gristmills on the north and south sides of the town, to which Ossipee people would bring " grists " on their backs along paths marked only by spotted trees.
In 1776 several families settled in the Bear Camp valley and in other parts of the town. The town was now in the first stages of prosperity, when the Revolutionary war called for valiant men for soldiers. The first to enlist was Elkanah Danforth, September 18, 1775. Joseph Eaton Keniston, Nicholas Kinestone, David Kinerson, Joseph Ames, and others enlisted in 1776. Moses Head enlisted, the first man in 1777. He left a wife and several children, and told the enlisting officer, " I go to die for my country," and did die the same year. Abial and Phineas Stevens and Isaac Head also died in service.
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