History of Carroll County, New Hampshire, Part 93

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

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1 Of the natives of Tamworth who have made teaching their lifework, special mention should be made of Henry T. Hodgkins, who was born August 3, 1849, and commenced teaching at the age of twenty-one, and is now teaching his sixty-fourth term. Of the first fifty terms, he lost but one day, on account of sickness. He has been superintendent of schools, and on the school board of Tamworth for many years. lle is at present employed in Ossipee, and has never taught outside of Carroll county. He is a natural teacher, enjoys his school life, and has many warm friends among his pupils.

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CHAPTER LXV.

Some Citizens, Families, and Business Interests.

S OME CITIZENS AND FAMILIES. - Colonel David Gilman, an officer in the Revolution, was from this town. He was of great height (over six and a half feet), of dignified manners, military bearing, and of superior mentality. He was one of Washington's most efficient and reliable officers, and, while on a dangerous and important mission, he met with a serious accident which disabled him for the service. Washington wrote to him, accepting his resignation with regret, and as a token of his regard and esteem for him as a "soldier, man, and gentleman," presented him with his own sword. Colonel Gilman returned to Tamworth, where he lived to an advanced agc. He was the first justice in town, and a man of great ability.

Captain Israel Gilman was born at Newmarket, January 25, 1758; married Abigail Folsom, March 22, 1778. Of their children, Israel was born at Newmarket, February 15, 1779, and Sally, in Tamworth, December 22, 1787. The captain died January 16, 1790.

Shaber, Jonathan, and Nathaniel Nickerson came from Cape Cod to Ossipee very early, Shaber locating at and building mills in West Ossipee where were later Elliott's mills. Jonathan settled on the east side of Chocorua lake in Tamworth, later removed to Albany, and combined lumbering and farming, and, still later, was a resident of Tamworth Iron Works. Nathaniel lived for some years in Ossipee, and ultimately located on Johnson hill in Tamworth, where he lived until 1837. Among his children were Joshua ; Henry ; Polly (married Stephen Allard); Thankful (married Nathaniel Currier); Henry, born September 24, 1795, in Ossipee, settled on the east side of Chocorua lake and, later, moved near to the Albany line. He married Nancy, daughter of John Doe, of Effingham. She was born May 22, 1794, and eame when a child with her parents to Tamworth, where they made a home on the west side of Chocorua lake. Henry died aged eighty-four; his wife, aged eighty-eight. They had four children : Hannah, who married John Shackford and lived in Albany ; next married Jeremiah Marston and lived in Ossipee ; Melissa; John H. ; Alonzo. Alonzo married Melissa, daughter of James Ham, of Albany ; lives on the old home. He is a man of ability and a clergyman of the Advent church. John H. Niekerson was for years a lumberman and farmer; has been seleetman, justice of the peace, etc. He married Clarinda, daughter of Eleazer Snell, of Madison. His chief business for the last twenty-five years has been the entertainment of summer boarders in his hotel, the Chocorua House.

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David Howard, from Bridgewater, came before 1800, bringing his family of four daughters and one son, David, - children of his first wife, Molly King- man, -and also $6,000 in gold, wherewith he purchased a body of four hundred acres of land at Tamworth Iron Works, built a house on the west side of Chocorua river (now occupied by George Roberts), and began clear- ings. By a second marriage he had two sons, Algernon S. and Amasa. One son became a physician, one a clothier, the third a blacksmith. Mr Howard and Henry Blaisdell built a mill on Chocorua river, locating it at the " upper dam." It was an up-and-down sawmill and gristmill combined. David soon built a forge on the lower side of the bridge, in which he placed a nail-machine, where he made cut nails. He sold his mill business to his partner after some years, but carried on the making of nails for some time, and finally changed it to an " ashery," where he made pot and pearl ashes. He was a man of good education, a trial justice, and kept full records of historical events, which, alas ! were burned as useless. He was born August 19, 1753. and died September 20, 1842; a man of usefulness and a deacon of the Congregational church. His daughter Polly married Henry Remick; Keziah married Consider Gannett ; Hannah, born 1789, married Newlon S. Hatch; Azubah married Ford Whit- man ; Huldah married Joseph Chapman ; David, his son, settled in Eaton as a physician ; Algernon S. lived at the Iron Works, erected a clothing-mill in 1817, and conducted it for fifteen or twenty years.

Alden Washburn (born 1758, died 1826), a Revolutionary soldier from Bridgewater, Mass., came to Moultonborough in 1781, married, in 1782, Sally Allen, and the same year took up the lot where Enoch Bickford lives. The barn he built is now standing. Their daughter Abigail was the first child born in this part of the town, April 23, 1783. Their other children were : Oliver, Eliezer, Sally (Mrs Nicholas Ham), Alden, John, Ephraim, Jane. Mr and Mrs Washburn were sober, quiet, industrious people, members of Parson Hidden's church. Their son Oliver married Nancy, daughter of Deacon John Stevenson, was a brushmaker by trade, and lived for years in the house where Enoch Bickford resides, which he built. Eliezer lived his life of eighty years in town. Sally, born July 28, 1796, married Nicholas Ham, a native of Albany. Mr Ham's first wife was Hannah Chase. They had three children : Belinda (Mrs Oliver Chase), John, and Lowell. Mrs Sally Ham began her married life December 24, 1838, and has since made her home on the place where her husband then lived and now occupied by his son Lowell. Mr Ham was born November 17, 1787, and died October 10, 1871. Mrs Ham is bright, active, and, with a remarkable memory of people and events of the early days, she is a most interesting person.

Thomas Sherman, one of the earliest settlers, lived where Benjamin Biek- ford now lives. Thomas Whitman lived where Mrs Eliza Drew lives. Neither of these has descendants. Nathaniel Hayford, a Revolutionary soldier, came

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from Bridgewater early and lived in Iron Works village. He married Philena Gannett. Their children were: Daniel, Seth (married Susan Gannett), Nathaniel, Polly (married a Flanders), Warren. Warren occupied the home place till his death, at eighty, and was never two weeks out of town. He married Sophia Gannett. Of their six children Sarah married Isaiah Forrest, and William lives on the home place. James and Stetson Blaisdell were early settlers on Lake Chocorua.

Seth Gannett, another Bridgewater man, about 1790 came with wife and large family and located where his grandson Seth now lives. He developed a fine farm, and died aged fourscore years. He was a large, portly man, and an excellent person. His son Matthew lived near the Enoch Bickford place, was a deacon of the Congregational church, married first a Latham, second Priscilla Hayford, and had children : Consider, Seth, Hitty, Matthew, Allen (who became a Congregational clergyman), Faxon, Consider, and Maria. Faxon is the leading representative of the family in Tamworth, and is now an old man. Nathaniel Brett Gannett, another son of Seth the pioneer, settled south of the Iron Works on the place since occupied by his son Consider, now dead. He married Sally Mason. Their daughter Susan mar- ried Seth Hayford. Nancy and Louisa married Wentworths and lived in Jackson ; Jane married a Johnson; Miranda married a Gray. Lewis, one of his sons, lives in Madison. Warren was another son. Seth Gannett, son of Seth, early went to Scituate, Mass. His brother Thomas married Hannah Hart, and lived in Madison. There were several daughters of the old pioneer who married and had descendants : Philena (Mrs Nathaniel Hayford) ; Phebe (Mrs Isaac Glines) ; Hannah (married Oliver Washburn, who was, according to Mrs Ham, the first person buried in the cemetery at the Iron Works, in 1785); Hitty (Mrs Jacob Hardin) ; Susan (Mrs Jacob Snow).

Most of the Tamworth Marstons are descendants of John, who was born in Hampton, came to New Hampton in 1776, and in 1796 to Tamworth, where Marston Hill will forever perpetuate the name. His son Ebenezer lived years in Tamworth. His son Ira has two sons residing in Sandwich. The line from William, the emigrant, to John is William1, Thomas2, Isaac3, Caleb4, Caleb5, John6.

Enoch Remick came in 1780, and bought the farm of Chatman, on which he ever made his home and which has descended to his grandchildren. Thomas Stevenson came a little later with two sons, John and James, and made his home on Stevenson Hill, where he bought a large tract of land. Major David Folsom represented Tamworth and Sandwich in 1780 and 1781. He was a man of ability, but did not remain long, moving to the West.

Dr. Joseph Cogswell, after a medical practice in Warner and Durham, retired, and came to Tamworth, and resided here until his death, March 17, 1851. In 1788 he married Judith Colby ; among their children were : Ebenezer,

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who married Betsey Wiggin, lived in Tamworth, but died in Jackson in 1866; Ruth, who married Eben Allen : Mary Sargeant, born September 20, 1805, married Jacob C. Wiggin ; Joseph, married Amanda .F. Page, and resides on the old homestead. Their children were: Susan : Nathaniel Winslow ; Emma J .; (Mrs Charles Robertson) ; Elliott Colby.

Rev. Elliott Colby Cogswell, son of Dr Joseph and Judith (Colby) Cogswell, was born in Tamworth, June 11, 1814. He graduated at Dartmouth in 1838. He was principal of the Gilmanton Academy for two years ; then, studying theology, he was ordained pastor of the Congregational church at Northwood, November 3, 1842. He was in the ministry until June, 1876, ministering to churches (after six years at Northwood) at Newmarket, New Boston, and again at Northwood. He was principal of Coe's Northwood Academy from 1866 to 1876. He was an earnest Christian, a positive, clear- cut, logical reasoner and sermonizer, and a successful and esteemed instructor. He had a great love for historical and genealogical lore, and did much pains- taking and valuable work in this direction. He published a history of New Boston in 1864, and a history of Nottingham, Deerfield, and Northwood in 1878. He had just completed a history of Tamworth at the time of his death, August 31, 1887, which is still in manuscript. Perhaps the earliest production of his pen in book form is the " Memoir of Rev. Samuel Hidden," published in 1842, a rare and valuable volume. He married Sophia Ann, daughter of Deacon Thomas Adams, of Gilmanton, who survives him.

Jacob C. Wiggin, born in Wakefield, February 7, 1803, was son of Henry Wiggin, who came to Wakefield before 1800, married Elizabeth Clark, settled on the old stage road in the Clark and Cook neighborhood, and raised a large family. Jacob came to Tamworth when twenty years old, married Mary S., daughter of Dr Joseph Cogswell, and has been a farmer, carpenter, and mason, and, with but brief periods of absence, has been a resident of the town ever since. Mrs Wiggin died February 12, 1877. Their children attaining maturity were : Joseph C. (born October 24, 1826, a merchant of Sandwich. He was captain of a company in the northern army of the Civil War, and died of wounds received at Port Royal, S. C., August 26, 1863.) ; Colby S. ; Emily C. (Mrs Alvin W. Stevens) ; Almira J .; Mary J .; Cordelia A .; Mayhew C. (born September 8, 1839, died in Libby prison, November 8, 1864) ; Arthur E. ; Hannah S. : Amanda F. Arthur Elliott Wiggin was born in Tamworth, March 2, 1842. He married Mary F. Drown of Newington, March 21, 1863. Their only surviving child is Mary L., born March 20, 1871. Mr Wiggin has resided in town with the exception of ten years in Lawrence, Mass. He is a Republican in polities, and has represented his town in the legislature, served as moderator and selectman, and was a member of the constitutional conven- tion of 1888. He has been a merchant, is a leading business man and manu- facturer, a popular landlord, and one of Tamworth's wideawake, energetic, and valuable citizens, ready to aid any movement for the public good.

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John Hubbard came from Hampton to East Sandwich very early, owned much real estate, was a man of consequence, and died aged ninety-four. He had one son, Nathaniel, and daughters : Sarah, married a White ; Mary, married a Plummer : Susan, married a Badger ; Catharine, married Dr Sanborn ; Lucy, married a Moulton ; Martha, married Rev. Joshua Dodge. Nathaniel Hubbard (born in 1777, died in 1841), after passing some years of his manhood in Sandwich, came to Tamworth, and occupied the lands (several hundred acres) owned by his father where Pike Perkins resides, and was a wealthy farmer and stock-raiser. He married, first, an Ambrose, by whom he had one son, Oliver A. ; second, Mehitable, daughter of Caleb Morse, of Moultonborough. Their children reaching mature years were : Betsey (Mrs Joshua Smith) ; Martha (Mrs Zenas Blaisdell) ; Mary ; Susan ; Nathaniel ; Judith (Mrs Henry Brown) ; Lucy ; Sarah (Mrs Charles Sanborn). Colonel Nathaniel Hubbard, the present representative of the name in town, was born October 17, 1820, settled the estate of his father, who died shortly before he came of age, and resided on the homestead until 1865, when he purchased his present residence, and, in 1868, married Sarah, daugher of Captain Enoch Remick. Inheriting wealth, and possessing a cautious and conservative temperament, he has added to it, and is said to be the wealthiest man in town. He is proud of being a good farmer, but his chief business is operating in financial circles. He has represented Tamworth three times in the legislature, and in the constitutional convention of 1876. He has been a prominent Republican, and has an extended acquaintance in the state, and was colonel on Governor Gilmore's staff.

Henry J. Banks was a son of Tamworth who had great business push and ability. He was active in securing the railroad through West Ossipee ; was a merchant here some years, in and about 1850, and proprietor of the famed Bear Camp River House at West Ossipee. His widow, a most estimable lady, resides in Tamworth village.

Joseph Gilman, son of Andrew and Hannah (Huckins) Gilman, and grandson of Dudley Gilman, was born in Effingham in 1807, and came to Tamworth in 1831 .. He married, December 12, 1831, Jane R., daughter of Elijah and Anna (Felch) Beede. She died April 17, 1851. Their children were : Mary J .; Lydia B. (Mrs Charles R. Jackson) ; Andrew (died February, 1883) ; Albert (was in United States service three years and three months, and died at Wilmington, N. C., May 31, 1865) ; George E. Mr Gilman married, October 2, 1851, Maria B., daughter of William and Mary (Page) Cushing. Their children were Anna M. (died December 14, 1884) and Sarah F. (Mrs Samuel O. Kimball). Mr Gilman has been a prominent factor in the town for a period of half a century. He was in trade for twenty years, and for thirty-five years the traveling public found good cheer and bountiful fare at his hospitable table. He has been town clerk for more than a quarter

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of a century, and the record books bear witness to the faithfulness of his work. He represented Tamworth in 1858 and 1859, was insurance commis- sioner for two years, was appointed United States marshal in 1861, was appointed postmaster in 1861, and held the office until March 22, 1869, when he was succeeded by his daughter Mary J., the present postmistress. Miss Gilman is an efficient and pleasant official. Mr Gilman has taken interest in everything pertaining to the history of the town, and has done much to preserve it.

Jonathan Webster Pollard was born at Gilford December 4, 1808. He acquired a good business education at the academy in his native town. At the age of seventeen he went to Boston, where he was a clerk for several years. About 1827 he came to Tamworth, and was a clerk in the store of Mr Titcomb, and later purchased a farm about one-half mile from Tamworth village. He married, first, Sarah H., daughter of Deacon John Marston, of Tamworth. They had one son, Albert. After some years both mother and son died. He then married a daughter of Captain John Fellows, of Sandwich, who lived but five years. Mr Pollard married, third, Mary R. Brown, of Moultonborough. Their children were Albert S. and Edward S. Mr Pollard died June 5, 1879, and his wife in November, 1879. He was an energetic business man, a good citizen, and served as selectman and as treasurer. In politics he was a strong Republican. He was connected with the Congregational church. His two sons, Albert S. and Edward S., married daughters of Joseph S. and Julia A. Remick, of Tamworth. Albert occupies a farm in the west part of the town. Edward S., until within two years, remained on the old homestead, but is now in trade in the store located by the bridge. This store was first owned by Captain Enoch Remick, then by two of his sons; afterwards Nathaniel Hubbard became owner, and Wiggin & Robinson were in trade there. The next owners were Thorn D. Whitten and John A. Elwell, who moved it to its present site, and after making exten- sive repairs, rented it for five years to Charles Robertson, who sublet it to E. C. Mansfield, and then to Henry B. Robinson, who five months after took Edward S. Pollard into partnership, with the firm-name of Pollard & Robinson. At the end of the year Robinson sold his interest to Pollard, who is now in trade, and runs the grainmill in connection with his store. The Pollard brothers inherited their father's political sentiments, are members of the Congregational church, and good and useful citizens.

John McClary Page, born in 1780, came in 1801 from Deerfield, and located on Page hill where George Garland lives. He was a teacher for many years, and a most important man in affairs for so young a man, and was known as " judge " from his service as judge of the court of sessions or probate court. He married Dolly Cram, and with five of his children died within six weeks' time of typhus fever in 1826. He had three children that survived the fever :

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Charles M., William P., and Clara (Mrs Enoch Perkins). Charles M. located near his father's place, married Abigail, daughter of James Blaisdell, and had five children, of whom Marie, Mrs Lowell Ham, is the only one resident here. George McCothran, known as " Mack," died in 1866, at Tamworth Iron Works, at over one hundred years of age. He was a deserter from the English army in the War of 1812, entered the United States service and fought well during the war, settled in Tamworth at its close and ever after was a resident.

Jonathan Philbrick moved to Tamworth in 1772. He located first on the interval, and then on Stevenson hill, enlisted in the Revolutionary army and served nine months, and died when about seventy years old, much respected. Stephen G. Philbrick, son of Jonathan Philbrick, the pioneer, born in Brent- wood, April 13, 1771, came to Tamworth the next year, when there were but four families in the town, and the primeval forests resounded with the howling of wolves, screams of catamounts, and bears, moose, and deer filled the wilder- ness. He married Ruth Rowe, of Kensington. At the age of ninety-seven his physical and mental faculties were wonderfully preserved. He voted for General Washington, and at every presidential election during his after life. He was present at the ordination of Mr Hidden. He died in June, 1873, aged one hundred and two years, one month, and twenty-eight days.

John Remick is oldest son of Captain James and Sarah (Edgell) Remick. His mother was a daughter of Captain Samuel Edgell who lived on the Captain George Dodge place ; he came from Worcester, Mass. John Remick married Mary Jane, daughter of John Pease, of the prominent families of Meredith. Their daughter Harriet married Uriah Copp, Esq., of Lodi, Ill .; their son Francis P. is now serving as selectman, and is a capable and efficient town officer. Mr Remick lives on the Aaron Smith place, on the road to Stevenson hill, and is the possessor of one of the most productive farms in the town.

Deacon William Price Hidden is the oldest child of Rev. Samuel and Betsey (Price) Hidden. His paternal grandparents were Price and Eunice (Hodgskin) Hidden. He had three sisters: Elizabeth (Mrs Dr Ebenezer Moore) ; Sophia (Mrs Jonathan C. Gilman) ; Sarah, and one brother, George. Deacon Hidden was born in Tamworth, May 7, 1799. He has always been a farmer and cleared the place where he now resides with his son John D. and grandson Samuel A. He married, December 31, 1822, Eunice, daughter of James and Hannah (Wilson) Purington, of Sandwich. Their children were : Sarah (Mrs Edward Moulton) ; Eliza A. (Mrs Samuel Woodman) ; Sophia ; John Deering; Samuel; William B. (a physician in Baltimore); Julia P .; Harriet A.

Deacon Hidden was deacon of the Congregational church from his appoint- ment until he resigned in 1876. His long life has been one of obedience to the laws of God and man, and in him was exemplified the Christian virtues; and now, in the ninety-first year of his age, " his mind is as clear as crystal," and

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he serenely waits his Master's call. John D. Hidden was born in Tamworth, July 6, 1829. He married, May 30, 1861, Angelina P. Robinson, who died March 24, 1880. Their son is Samuel A. The Hiddens are farmers by occupa- tion ; in politics, Republican ; and are always on the "right " side of moral and religious questions.

Stephen Mason came from Hampton to Moultonborough in 1768 as sur- veyor for Colonel Moulton, and while surveying lots in Tamworth was so pleased that he bought and settled here in or near 1773, ultimately becoming a large landholder. His children were: Tufton, Tristram, Jeremiah, John, Samuel, Mary, and Abigail. Tufton was born at Hampton, March 10, 1767, and from a young lad lived in Tamworth until his death, January 28, 1850. He was a deacon of the Congregational church, and his long life was devoted to usefulness. He married, in 1793, Sarah, daughter of Colonel Jeremiah Gilman, of Burton. Of their fourteen children, seven attained maturity : Peter G .; Elizabeth D .; John (purchased Woodlawn, a part of the Mount Vernon estate in Virginia, and died there recently aged ninety); Sarah (a teacher for over forty years) ; Larkin D .; Harriet (Mrs Ebenezer Dow) ; Samuel W. (the present owner of Woodlawn).

Captain Peter G. Mason lived in South Tamworth, and died in 1886 aged ninety-one. He was one of the first three anti-slavery men in town, and the president of the first anti-slavery society organized here. (The other officers were Mr Hyde and Moses and David James.) Captain Mason married Mary Bradbury. Of their children, Francis J. was killed when a lad, and Thomas B., born in 1844, acquired a good education, "taught school," " tended store," and has been a farmer. He represented Tamworth in the legislature of 1888 and 1889 as a Republican, has been a member of the board of education since 1885, holds a commission as justice of the peace, and is a Methodist.

Hon. Larkin D. Mason,1 born May 16, 1810, is one of the best known sons of Tamworth. For years a leading business man, he has been in the van of all reform movements, a pillar of the Methodist church, and a candidate of the Prohibition party for governor. His ability, eloquence, and wit cause him to stand among the representative men of the state. He married first Joanna W., daughter of Colonel Levi Folsom. Martha Gay Haskell, a great-grand- daughter, is their only descendant. His second wife was Catharine, daughter of Nicholas W. Staples. Their children are : Clinton S., Joanna F., Charles T. T., Nicholas W., John L., Justin E., Henry M., Sadie O., Mamie E.

Charles P. Cook was born in 1820, in Tamworth; received a common-school education, and began trade in 1847, and retired from the store in 1877. He married Susan B., daughter of Nicholas W. Staples, a merchant of Tamworth, who sold out to Mr. Cook. He has one son, Clinton S. Mr. Cook is a Repub-

1 See page 175.

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lican, and was selectman eight years, and representative in 1873 and 1874. In religion he is a Congregationalist. Mr Cook is a leading man, and his judgment, advice, and services are often called for in private, as well as in public, affairs. His father, Timothy Cook, born in Albany, came to Tamworth early, and worked for Rev. Samuel Hidden. He married Mary Price, in 1815. Their children numbered eight ; five sons : Stephen S., Charles P., William P., George D., and Jonathan ; and three daughters : Harrict, Mary, and Susan F. Stephen S. married Orpheia Yates, of Ohio, where he settled ; he was a physi- cian, and died in 1889; William P. married Rebecca Guptill, of Parsonsfield, and settled in town ; George D. settled in Boston ; Jonathan was a soldier in the Rebellion, and died at Norfolk, Va. Harriet married, first, a Durgin ; second, Fletcher Merriam ; Mary married Stephen Ellis ; after her death Mr Ellis married her sister Susan. The store that Mr Cook occupied so many years is one of the oldest in town. It stands in the square in Tamworth Village, and was built by one Titcomb, who sold to Staples. It is now occu- pied by Orrin S. Kimball, town clerk, as a general store.

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History of Carroll County, New Hampshire, Part 93

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