USA > New Hampshire > Sullivan County > History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire > Part 123
USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire > Part 123
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Eight young men have become physicians,- Jesse Smith, Truman Abell, Justice Hurd, Eras- mus D. Abell, Yorrick Hurd, Wm. Hurd, Wil- lard Hurd and Carl A. Allen ; and the three de- nominations, Congregationalists, Methodists and Universalists, have sent out twelve ministers ; all efficient and successful ; perhaps the most distin- guished of the number is the Rev. A. A. Miner, D.D., of Boston. The earliest physicians of the town of which there is any record were Dr. Mer- rill and Dr. Mather. We are informed by tradi- tion that the wife of Col. Jabez Beekwith sup- plied the place of physician in the early settle- ment, oftentimes making her visits by the aid of snow-shoes. Truman Abell succeeded Dr. Mather, and practiced until the failure of sight, when for a time his son Erasmus filled the position. About 1842 or 1843 Dr. Pillsbury moved into town, remain- ing but a short time, his successor being J. N. Butler, who, for forty years, has held the post of physician in the town. Dr. Truman Abell was the author of an almanac, which was for many years issued from the press in Claremont. After his death it was arranged by his youngest son,
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Truman Wales. Dr. Abell had much mechanical skill, and, with the aid of Deacon John Taylor, constructed a piano, which. in tone, compared favorably with those of the early days. It should have been mentioned before this, when alluding to the educational advantages, that much is due a town library of some two hundred volumes, owned as early as 1800,- solid, substantial works of history and travel. These were read with avidity by even the children. Tradition informs us of the reading of " Josephus " and the eight volumes of Rollin's "Ancient History" by Arethusa Miner, at the age of nine years. The long winter evenings were whiled away in many a family in reading these books, aided, perhaps, by the comments and criticisms of the district school-teacher, who in those days was one sought from classic halls and able to teach as well as govern. In 1844 a room for select schools was made in the upper story of the old " meeting-house," supported at first by tuition ; afterwards the town voted a certain amonnt each year for the purpose, and after a town-house was built at the East village, schools alternated be- tween the two places. Teachers have been sought from Dartmouth and Meriden. Carl A. Allen, one of Lempster's sons, taught a number of terms very successfully, as also George E. Perley.
The manufacturing interests of the town were never very extensive. The first mills built were saw and grist-mills. One in 1780, located on a branch of Cold River, in "Cambridge Hollow," owned by Oliver Booth ; the second, a mill privi- lege allowed Samuel Locke, on a branch of Sugar River, in 1791. A tannery and shoe-shop were owned and carried on by Captain Timothy Miner. The tannery consisted of a few uncovered vats, and the shoe-shop the "gude wife's " kitchen. As means increased, a building was erected for lime, curry and shoe-shop. At Captain Miner's death, in 1816, the business was continued by the late Hon. Alvah Smith and gradually increased until there were one hundred employés. It was here that calf-skins were first tanned with the hair on, being made into overshoes and boots, which found an extensive market. In 1854 the establishment
was burned by an incendiary; the loss, thirty thou- sand dollars The business seemed so necessary to the prosperity of the place that, aided by the efforts of the citizens, the shop was rebuilt on a larger scale and with the modern appliances for both shoe-shop and tannery. Subsequently this was burned, having been ignited by a spark from the furnace chimney. It has never been rebuilt.
About sixty years ago John Cambridge and son, Philip, owned a factory in “ Cambridge Hol- low " for dressing cloth-said to be the best in the county-turning out eight thousand yards an- nually. A blacksmith's stand and trip-hammer were owned by James Mitchell. Since then, for some years, there has been a carding-machine and machinery for manufacturing buttertubs; more recently the Keyes Brothers erected a large build- ing with steam-engine, where they made carriages and various other articles, but now there is no business there. At present the town has four shingle-mills,-one on a branch of Sugar River, owned by William T. Thissel ; one at the outlet of Cold Pond, owned by Charles Putnam ; Lewis Cutler's, run by steam ; another on the mountain, owned by the Pollards; and a fourth in "Cam- bridge Hollow."
Perhaps there are none of the natives of the place whose life has been so closely identified with its interests and those of the county as that of the late Hon. Alvah Smith, son of Jacob Smith, one of the early settlers, and born in 1797. He re- mained upon his father's farm until eighteen years of age, only attending district school in winter ; but each hour of study was improved and many a mathematical problem he solved by the light of pine-knots. At the age of eighteen he was ap- prenticed to Captain Timothy Miner (whose daughter Arethusa he afterward married) as tan- ner and currier. At the death of his employer the business came into his hands ; but even now we find him employing each leisure hour in read- ing and study, and he always bas a dictionary at hand. Although, by law, not liable to military duty, he was induced to take command of a vol- unteer company in the militia, from which he rose
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HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.
by regular gradation to the office of inspector, and performed the duty of inspecting the Third Divi- sion of the New Hampshire Militia as reviewed by Governor David L. Morrill and Major-General William Cary. He served in many town offices- as superintending school committee, selectman, Representative, justice of the peace and quorum throughout the State; active delegate to the con- vention at Buffalo, N. Y., which gave birth to the Free Soil party ; also a delegate to the Presiden- tial Convention in Philadelphia in 1856; two years member of the Governor's Council and of the board of trustees of the Insane Asylum; eleven years Probate judge, only resigning, as the law required, at the age of seventy ; one year Senator ; a director of Cheshire Mutual Fire Insurance Company from its commencement to the time of his death, in 1879; for four years State pension agent ; thirty-five years deacon of the First Con- gregational Church, with which he united at the age of twenty. His strong, Christian faith has been a sure support in every time of trial ; even when he saw the labor of years reduced to ashes, he could thankfully say, "The Lord reigns " A precious heirloom in the old home is a gold-headed ebony cane bearing the following inscription :
" Presented to Senator Alvah Smith for his un- wavering fidelity to principle and right, by Republi- can members of the Legislature, June Session, 1871."
Hiram Parker, Esq., a brother of Hon. H W. Parker, of Claremont, is one of our successful farmers and prominent citizens ; has been for some years a member of the State Board of Agricul- ture, which position he fills satisfactorily. He is at present our village merchant.
We would not forget that the town has had its hermit and its antiquarian. Some years since, the traveler, in making his way up Silver Moun- tain, would have found a rude hut, the home of one Jacob Hewes, who, through disappointment in matrimonial overtures, although well educated, relinquished the luxuries and even necessaries of life, and buried himself in the solitude of its rugged grandeur; nor do we think he ever
bestowed one thought on the lovely views by which he was surrounded.
Reuben Roundy, a grandson of one of the early settlers, had a passion for old literature, and would travel miles to find the complete set of any old magazine, pamphlet, almanac or spelling-book. When found binding them in volumes, a short time previous to his death, he refused one thou- sand dollars for the library thus collected, which now is scattered to the winds.
This history would be incomplete if no word was written of the pleasant township,-of its at- tractive drives, either winding in and out along the valleys, giving an intense sense of quiet and repose, broken by occasional glimpses of distant scenery, or over the hills and mountains, where can be had a bird's-eye view of the valleys, with their patches of cultivated ground and woodland, their lakelets set like gems among the greenery of the hills, the view bounded in the far distance by the range of the Green Mountains; Ascutney, in the northwest, standing a little in advance, like a sentinel on duty. The principal village has but one street, running north and south, lined with elms and maples, among which the neat and tasteful cottages seem playing bo-peep with the passer-by.
Around the village green are clustered the post-office, hotel, store, church and, towering above all, the old meeting-house, with its lofty spire and weather-vane, which has ever been true to all the winds of heaven.
A little north of the village is a continuous line of lofty, wide-spreading maples, extending one- fourth of a mile, set out, about forty years ago, by Captain Martin Beckwith, a son of Colonel Jabez Beekwith, and the first white child born in the settlement, who lived to the advanced age of one hundred and one years and one month. These trees are a beautiful monument to his memory.
The East village is nest'ed at the foot of the mountain, and is rendered attractive by Dodge's Pond, on the western border of which is the old town cemetery, much enlarged and improved the last few years, and containing many fine tablets and monuments.
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The village has its two churches, town-house, hotel, post-office and store; here also is the home of the poet, G. B. Griffith. The little hamlet on the western border of the town, formerly " Cam- bridge Hollow," has for the past year had its post-office called Keyes.
Thus have the threads and thrums of the town's history been woven into an imperfect tissue, it may be, but one of perfect truthfulness, so far as thorough search of records and facts elicited by inquiry of the oldest citizens could make it. If any who should have a place here have been omitted, it has been through ignorance and the limited space allowed for the history, which, if written in detail, would itself fill a volume.
REPRESENTATIVES OF LEMPSTER.
Oliver Booth, 1778. Elijah Frink, 1781-83. Elijah Frink, 1788. James Bingham, 1791-98. Jabez Beckwith, 1798- 1800,
James Bingham, 1800-06. Jacob Smith, 1806-14. Shubael Hurd, 1814-17. Jacob Smith, 1817. Harris Bingham, 1818- 21.
John Way, 1821-24.
William Cary, 1824-27.
Abner Chase, 1827-30. Alvah Smith, 1830-32. Daniel M. Smith, 1832- 35.
Martin Beckwith, 1835- 38.
Alvah Smith, 1838.
Matthew Parker, 1839. Daniel M. Smith, 1840. No choice, 1841-42. Martin Beckwith, 1843.
Benjamin Parker, 1844. No choice, 1845.
Nathaniel B. Hull, 1846. No choice, 1847. Lemuel Miller, 1848-50. Aaron Miller, 1850-52. William B. Parker, 1852 -54. Jacob B. Richardson,. 1854-56.
James Booth, 1856. Jacob B. Richardson, 1857.
Harvey Dudley, 1858. H. W. Parker, 1859-60. Ransom Beckwith, 1861- -63.
Hiram Parker, 1863-65. Dennison Nichols, 1865. Nathan George, 1866-68. Abram Bean, 1868-70. George Dame, 1870-72. E. B. Richardson, 1872- 74.
TOWN CLERKS OF LEMPSTER.
Allen Willey, 1774-77. Elijah Frink, 1777. Allen Willey, 1778-82. Jabez Beckwith, 1782-86. James Bingham, 1786-98.
Dr. Asa Merrill, 1798- 1803.
Uzzel Hurd, 1803-10. Dr. Truman Abell, 1810- 16.
Uzzel Hurd, 1816.
Nath. Brainard, 1817-21. Abner Chase, 1821-26. Alvah Smith, 1826-30. Daniel M. Smith, 1830- 35. Amasa A. Gould.
Abner Chase, 1836-39. David Thornton, 1839- 42. John S. Bingham, 1842. David Thornton, 1843- 45. Abner Chase, 1845-47. J. N. Brown, 1848. James Booth, 1849.
T. Wales Abell, 1850. Abner Chase, 1851-58. Benoni Fuller, 1858. David Thornton, 1859- 60. Lemuel Miller, 1860-65. E. B. Richardson, 1865. Benoni Fuller, 1866. E. B. Richardson, 1867- 79.
H. L. Thompson, 1879- 82.
Josiah Hooper, 1882. F. C. Parker, 1883-85. William A. Bowen, 1885.
SOLDIERS ENLISTED IN THE LATE CIVIL WAR.
The following were three months' men, and each received ten dollars from the town :
George S. Fletcher, re-enlisted in the Fifth Regiment. George Youngman.
Judson Tandy.
Carlos Wellman.
Henry Morse, re-enlisted for three years, Second New Hampshire Regiment; killed in the first battle of Bull Run.
Henry Adams.
Marshall P. Hurd, re-enlisted; killed at Antietam.
Timothy W. Bruce.
Elisha A. Bruce, wounded at Fort Wagner.
Nathan Calkins.
John S. Currier.
On another call for four thousand men, the fol- lowing enlisted :
Wilson Thompson. Jerome Thompson.
Stephen C. Smith.
Charles B. Davis, wounded in foot; taken prisoner and released.
T. J. Davis.
Henry J. Davis, taken prisoner ; exchanged; died from starvation.
A bounty of one hundred dollars was offered to fill the town quota, and the following enlisted :
Isaac M. Dodge, died of disease in camp. William E. Way.
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HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.
William H. Wilcox.
John Wilcox.
Emerson D. Hurd, served one year; discharged for disability.
George C. Bruce, died in camp.
Alınon J. Fletcher, discharged for disability.
George Gunnison, died in camp.
Luman Spencer, died in camp.
Orville Smith, lieutenant, Company G; afterward captain ; killed in battle at Spottsylvania.
Lucius A. Spencer, went into camp in Concord, and there died.
George W. Libby, died in Washington, D. C.
Francis P. Fletcher.
Frank G. Pollard.
Walter Scales.
Albert Hutchinson, taken prisoner, but died at home.
On another call two hundred dollars bounty was offered, and the following enlisted :
Jackson B. Herrick.
Charles M. Carey. William Welsh.
Joseph Barrett.
Ceylon M. Dodge, three hundred dollars bounty.
Benjamin T. P. Leeds, Heavy Artillery, stationed at Portsmouth.
Albert B. Corey, Heavy Artillery, stationed at Ports- mouth.
The following were drafted September, 1863 : John G. Smith.
Henry Makepeace, stationed at Portsmouth. William C. Sabin.
Leander Hill.
Horace Gee.
George Sargent.
Levi C. Taylor, provided substitute.
Alanson B. George, provided substitute. Henry Spalding.
Alden Honey, provided substitute.
Freeman Gordon, provided substitute.
Hiram Parker, provided substitute.
Augustus Chandler, provided substitute.
Kimball Pollard, provided substitute.
Isaac Blanchard, provided substitute.
James Evans, provided substitute.
Henry E. Huntley, provided substitute.
William W. Huntoon, enlisted in cavalry and re- mained till close of war.
William Bruce, drafted ; accepted; paid his bounty, then enlisted in cavalry.
Abram Bean, enlisted in cavalry ; remained till close of war.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.
HON. ALVAH SMITHI.
It is both interesting and instructive to trace the history of families ; to note the peculiarities of character that are transmitted from one generation to another. In searching the genealogical record of Hon. Alvah Smith on the maternal side, we find him descended from the Hurds,-also written "Herd " and " Heard." This family has been somewhat noted for physical strength, long life and military tastes. About 1635 John and Adamı Hurd -brothers-came from England to Stratford, Conn. John appears to have been a land surveyor, and was " a man of education and influence." In 1644 he was appointed by the General Court to collect money in Connecticut for "the maynten- ance of scollars at Cambridge." He was for sev- eral years member of the Legislature in New Haven. Among his sons was Ebenezer, who re- moved to East Haddam, Conn., where he had a son, Justus, the maternal grandfather of the sub- jeet of our sketch, and who emigrated with his wife and ten children to Gilsum, N. H., between 1770 and 1780 (date not certain).
Asenath, his fourth daughter, born October 15, 1766, married, in 1790, Jacob Smith, born in the pleasant old township of Middleborough, Mass., and son of John and Sarah (Chipman) Smith. They both dying of small-pox when Jacob was but eight years of age, he was early apprenticed to a shoe- maker.
We have not the date of his removal to Lempster, but it was probably soon after his marriage. His devotion to public interests is shown by the various responsible positions to which he was chosen by his townsmen. He was their representative from 1806 to 1814, and again in 1817. We learn his loyalty to the polls by his being taken from his
Ahah Smith
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sick room of months and carried on a bed to cast his vote. He was deacon of the Congregational Church till 1822, when he moved to Potsdam, N. Y. There he was active in building up social, political, educational and religious interests in the then new county of St. Lawrence.
We do not wonder, then, that Alvah, fourth son of Jacob and Asenath (Hurd) Smith, inheriting from the mother a vigorous constitution and strong will-power, and from the father sound judgment with moderation, should possess a character worthy a record in the history of the county.
His early education was limited to the district school, never attending in summer after his ninth year, remaining at home until eighteen, freely lending his assistance in the maintenance of the family, his father being in feeble health, with lım- ited means, pecuniarily, but rich in the love and devotion of a wife and eight children ; of those eight but one is now living,-the youngest, Eliza beth (Smith) Banister, now in her seventy-ninth year, feeble in body, but with strong mental facul- ties unimpaired. Young Alvah, arriving at the age of eighteen, was apprenticed to Captain Timo- thy Miner, tanner, currier and shoemaker. He dying the first year of service, the young apprentice was retained in business by Mrs. Miner, and served his time.
On arriving at his majority he contracted for the tannery and shoe-shop, and was eminently successful, in time building up a large business, giving employment to one hundred- operatives ; new dwelling-houses were erected, and a store opened for the accommodation of his employès. He made sales in Vermont, Massachusetts, New York and Illinois, and some of the time work was sent to the Southern States via Boston. It was in his tannery that calf-skins were first tanned with the hair on, the first one being an experiment by Joseph Marshall, one of Mr Smith's earliest apprentices, to oblige a townsman. This soon be- came quite a lucrative business, the skins thus tanned being made into overshoes and boots, which, being impervious to the water and very warm, found a ready market. On November 19, 1854, the
shoe-shop and tannery were burned by an incen- diary, involving a loss of thirty thousand dollars. The business being so necessary to the interests of the town, the people lent their aid in rebuilding it on a large scale, adding the modern appliances and improvements.
In April of 1863 this building was burned, hav- ing been ignited by a spark from the furnace chim- ney, and was never rebuilt. In all these years of business activity Mr. Smith neglected no opportu- nity for the improvement of his mind, but spent all leisure moments in gaining information both as to political and religious movements. Not infre- quently the morning light revealed the scorched newspaper, telling all too plainly that Morrheus had been robbed of rightful hours. His fellow- townsmen were not slow in appreciating his busi- ness capacities, bestowing upon him the honors of office in their gift. He was town clerk from 1826 to 1880 ; Representative from 1830 to 1832; for some years selectman and superintending school committee, and often chosen to administer on and settle estates. While being thus favored by his town, he was made justice of the peace and quorum ; two years member of the Governor's Council and of the board of trustees of the Insane Asylum ; one of the directors and agents of the Cheshire Mutual Fire Insurance Company from its inception, retaining both until two years before his death, when he relinquished the agency. In 1856 he received the appointment of Probate judge, re- tiring in 1867 at the age of seventy, having ful- filled the trust with honesty and fidelity. He was also delegate to the Presidential Convention in Philadelphia in 1856.
At the annual election in 1871 he received a few votes on the temperance ticket for Senator in Dis- trict No. 10. The person elected to that office (a Democrat) died before the Legislature met, and ac- cording to the Constitution, "the vacancy must be filled by joint vote of Legislature, for one of the two highest candidates voted for at the an- nual election;" he therefore became a candidate. The Democrats and Labor-Reformers united were a majority in the Legislature, and hoping he might
13
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HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.
feel under obligation to go with them if elected by them, elected him.
Although offered any office in the gift of the Legislature or Governor and any amount of money if he would vote with them in their revolutionary movements (as he held the balance in the Senate), he stood aloof from all their offers, and remained firm and true to the principles of liberty and equal- ity he had ever supported from early manhood.
A precious heirloom in the old home is a gold- headed ebony cane, bearing the following inscrip- tion :
" Presented to Senator Alvah Smith, for his un- wavering fidelity to principle and right, by Repub- lican members of the Legislature, June session, 1871."
He was State pension agent for four years, which would have proved a more lucrative position had not the infirmities of years made it necessary for him to employ extra help in the office.
His well-known sound judgment procured him many calls as referee in difficult cases, not only in town, but in others in the county; and after ma- ture deliberation he was always ready to give his opinion, except in cases where the differing parties were man and wife, where he considered a third party like the " fifth wheel to a coach," and advised for both forbearance and conciliation. Making himself well acquainted with points of law, he was many times solicited to enter the bar, but knowl- edge of his own acquirements modestly forbade.
he was a Whig, and so great was the influence that went out from his manufactory that it obtained the name of " Whig Fort." At the birth of the Free- Soil party, at the Buffalo (N. Y.) Convention, to which he was sent as active delegate, he adopted Free-Soil principles as best suited to carry out his ideas of right, from which he could not be moved. His firm principles made him proof against politi- cal bribery, though the temptation once came when in straitened circumstances and declining years. When told at the time, " It is said every man has his price," he made quick reply, " One man has not." Feeling from his own experience the disad- vantages arising from a limited education he was thoroughly awake in educational matters, giving his children every help in his power, not only pat- ronizing the district and select schools of his own town, but giving them academieal advantages.
He was much interested in the " Teachers' Insti- tutes " in the county, and used his influence in their favor ; also was ever ready to procure the latest and most approved text-books for his fam- ily, and it was rarely that a book or map agent re- ceived from him the "cold shoulder" if his wares promised assistance in gaining knowledge. Being " fully persuaded by what he read by his own obser- vation and experience, that there was no nourish- ment in alcohol, and that an individual could do more and better work without it than with it," he early espoused the cause of temperance, becom- ing one of its most earnest advocates. His shop, raised in 1831, was the first building in town raised without rum.
Although the law would have exempted him from military duty, he was induced to take com- mand, in early life, of a volunteer company in the When he proposed the idea to the master-work- man, he at once said " It cannot be done." "Then," replied Mr. Smith, " It shall not be raised." The day , came and with it scores of people, some from out of town, fully expecting a failure ; but, contrary to all expectation, every joist, bean and brace came in position with no other stimulant than hot coffee. It was a success in every respect and was not the last building raised on temperance principles. militia; from which he rose in military gradation to the office of inspector, and performed the duty of inspecting the whole of the then Third Division of New Hampshire Militia, as reviewed by Gover- nor David Morrill and General William Carey, a fellow townsman. Mr. Smith was an active poli- tician in the State, but not what would be termed a bigoted, zealous partisan, always advocating and voting for those principles, measures and men that, Mr. Smith was known throughout the county and State as an earnest temperance man, and was from candid consideration, he thought were for the best good of the country and nation. In early days sent as county delegate to the World's Temperance
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