History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire, Part 128

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis
Number of Pages: 1200

USA > New Hampshire > Sullivan County > History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire > Part 128
USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire > Part 128

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and daughters and all their friends, were grati- fied and happy.

But time and effort and capital and railroad proximities are superior to mere personal influ- ences and ambition, and Newport village has shaped itself accordingly in the later years, and rivalries of the character referred to have disap- peared.

As indicating the growth of Newport at dif- ferent dates by the census returns, we find the population to have been as follows : 1767, 29; 1775, 167; 1790, 780; 1800, 1265; 1810, 1427; 1820, 1679 ; 1830, 1913; 1840, 1958; 1850, 2020; 1860, 2077; 1870, 2163; 1880, 2612.

From the first settlement of the town until the year 1824 no necrological records appear to have been made. From 1824 to 1837 such statistics were carefully collected and published by Rev. John Woods, and from the latter date to Jannary 1, 1885, by Dr. John L. Swett. From the facts thus gathered we find that for the sixty-one years prior to January 1, 1885, there were 2155 deaths in Newport, as fol- lows: Males, 955; females, 1059; sex un- known, 141. Of these, 591 were under ten years of age ; 184 between ten and twenty ; 214 between twenty and thirty ; 158 between thirty and forty ; 145 between forty and fifty ; 154 be- tween fifty and sixty ; 226 between sixty and seventy ; 250 between seventy and eighty ; 184 between eighty and ninety ; 48 between ninety and one hundred; 1 over one hundred. It would be fair to estimate the number of dead in Newport from the beginning at about 3000.

Of those who have reached the greatest lon- gevity since 1837 are :

Mrs. Anna Wakefield, ninety-one years.

Mr. Ezra Parmelee, ninety-two and a half years.

Mrs. Ezra Parmelee, ninety-one and a half years. Mrs. Widow Dow, ninety-one years.

Mrs. Brown, ninety-seven years.

Miss Peggy Atwood, ninety-seven years. Mr. Daniel Stearns, ninety-three years. Colonel Phineas Chapin, ninety-three years.

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NEWPORT.

Mr. Samuel Goldthwait, ninety-three years. Deacon Philip W. Kibbey, ninety-three years. Mr. Daniel Wilmarth, ninety years. Mr. John Bertram, ninety-seven years. Mrs. Ruth Pike, ninety years.

Mrs. Benjamin Whitcomb, ninety-four years. Mr. Jonathan Wakefield, ninety-six years.

Mrs. Anna Locke, ninety-one years. Mr. John Baily, ninety-four years. Mrs. John Blake, ninety-five years. Mrs. Mary Hall, ninety-four years. Mrs. Mary Pike, ninety-two years.

Mr. Joel Kelsey, ninety-nine years, seven months. Mr. Benjamin Whitcomb, ninety-four years.

Mr. Moses Goodwin, ninety-four years.

Mr. Joel McGregor, one hundred years, eleven months, twenty-two days.

Deacon Isaac Warren, ninety-one years.

Mrs. Roxy Newton, ninety-two years.

Mr. Nehemiah Rand, ninety-two years.

Mrs. Erastus Newton,' ninety-one years.

Mrs. Lois Colby, ninety years.

Mrs. Samuel Barker, ninety years.

Mrs. Thankful Wheeler, ninety-four years, six months.

Mrs. Mahitable Cutte, ninety-three years.

Mrs. Luke Paul, ninety-one years.

Mrs. Sarah Perry, ninety-three years.

Lemuel Osgood, ninety-two years.

Rev. Ira Pearson, ninety-two years.

Colonel Jessiel Perry, ninety-one years.

Miss Lovina Reed, ninety-two years.

Mrs. Lucy G. Rowell, ninety-five years.

Amasa Edes, Esq., ninety-one years. Mrs. Abel Rowe, ninety-four and a half years,

Mrs. Lois Fletcher, ninety-eight and a half years.

The following table of altitudes was pre- pared a few years since by Richard S. Howe, a civil engineer of this town, who died Deren- ber 5, 1879, in the fifty-eighth year of his age. Feet

Sunapee Lake above mean tide-water at Boston 1103 Sill, front door, new court-house, above mean tide water 822

Top Coit Mountain, Newport, above mean tide- water at Boston 1588

Croydon Mountain

2789

Sunapee.

2683

Ascutney 3186

Kearsarge 2942

Agriculture has been a leading interest of a large majority of the people of Newport. The diversity of lands from the river-sides to the hill-tops, is such that nearly every crop grown in New England may find a congenial soil. The industry of the agriculturist has ever been rewarded by a fair degree of prosperity, but more so in the earlier years up to about the year 1840 or 1850 than subsequently. Those who will examine statistics in regard to this matter will find that in these later years there has been a falling off in the number of sheep and eattle, and in the aggregate value of our farm products.

This state of things is not peculiar to New- port, but common to all the agricultural towns in New England, and its explanation is general and beyond the scope of this sketeh.

The fact that the valuation of the town of Newport has increased from year to year is due to the advancement of other interests founded on the natural resources of the town in the way of water-power. Sugar River has, in fact, se- cured to the town a permanent prosperity.

The inventory of the town of Newport, as exhibited by the report of the seleetmen for the year 1885, is as follows :

Number.

Value.

Polls. 665

$66,500

Horses 500

35,354

Mules

250

Oxen

182

8,010

Cows

766

18,315

Other neat stock. 435

6,624

Sheep 1440

3,430

Hogs 86

685

Carriages

5,110

Land and buildings

824,650

Stock in public funds

11,300

Stock in banks, etc. 67,400

Bank surplus 200

Money on hand and at int'rst

104,788

Stock in trade.

92,186

Aqueducts, mills, and ma- chinery.

72,350

Total

.$1,317,152

224

HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

In point of valuation, Newport is the six- teenth of the cities and towns in the State, ac- cording to the new apportionment for the as- sessment of public taxes by act of 1883.

The Sullivan County Agricultural Society held an annual fair in this town, October 1, 1851.

The Sullivan Grange, No. 8, Patrons of Hus- bandry, was organized in November, 1873, and is now in successful operation.

The Farmers' and Mechanics' Association was organized in September, 1874, and the first town fair under the direction of this society was held in September, 1875. With some ex- ceptions, these fairs have been continued an- mually, and have been well sustained. The town hall and its surroundings have been ap- propriated for the exhibition of articles of do- mestie handicraft, works of art, dairy products, fruits, vegetables, implements of husbandry, etc., while the village park and the sheds of adjacent churches have been thronged with horses, colts, horned cattle, sheep and hogs, all awaiting examination by committees for the awarding of prizes.

The discussions in the meetings of the grange and the association in regard to ways and means and methods in general farming and the man- agement of stock have awakened additional interest on these subjects and stimulated to bet- ter effort and more of success.

We may refer to a time within the memory of many people, when the old industries of the household quietly disappeared ; when the hum of the spinning-wheel and the clack of the loom ceased ; when the tailoress was no longer re- quired to cut and fashion from home-made cloths the garments of the family ; and the shoe- maker to come with his kit, and cut and ham- mer and peg until the shoes and boots for all sizes of feet were prepared for the winter sea- son,-a time when the " hatter's shop," and the " cabinet-maker's shop," and the " shoe-maker's shop," and the " tailor's shop," except so far as mending and cobbling and patching are con- cerned, closed their doors or supplied their

shelves and counters and store-rooms with the ready-made from the great mills and manufac- tories filled with machinery and driven with steam or water-power, which as quietly monop- olized these and other industries of the home, peculiar to the first half of the century, and relegated the spinning-wheels and shuttles of our grandmothers to museums and garrets.

In olden times the trades seemed more im- portant, and to have been sustained by men of more intelligence and ability than at present. The carpenters and joiners in a double sense helped to build up the town. Of the earliest of these was Ebenezer Merritt, whose name often appears in the early records.

After Merritt came Daniel Wilmarth, who was succeeded in that line by his son, Jonathan M. Wilmarth, who is still a resident (1885).

The lives of these three span the entire age of the town ; contemporary with them many other worthy names might be mentioned.

The blacksmith's shop was perhaps the most important place in the neighborhood as a cen- tre of information.

" Under the spreading chestnut tree The village smithy stands ; The smith-a mighty man is he- With large and sinewy hands And the muscles of his brawny arms Are strong as iron bands."

Here came his customers with shares to sharpen, chains to mend, and all sorts of jobs, and while the work was being done the news of the day, social affairs, polities and religion, were discussed in homely phrase, and the smith be- came the receptacle of many opinions and much local knowledge. Seth Chase is said to have been the first blacksmith in Newport. He was succeeded by the Churches (Samuel and Sam- uel, Jr.) and the Keiths (father and son), the Dwinels, MeGregors, Deacon David B. Chapin and others.

Captain John Parmelee, son of Ezra and Sibyl, served his time with Colonel David Dexter, of Claremont, and about the year 1803

225

NEWPORT.

established a homestead and opened a shop for the manufacture of seythes on the South Branch of Sugar River at Southville, so called. He had a good water-power by which to propel the trip-hammer, grind-stone and other machinery necessary to his business. For more than thirty years he furnished largely of scythes to all the towns in the eastern part of the present county of Sullivan. In connection with this business he also cultivated a small farm. He was a pupil of Parson Remele's in the old Pro- prietors' House and in his prime was the first of- ficer of well-known Light Infantry company of the Thirty-First Regiment New Hampshire Mi- litia. He is remembered as a successful farmer, an ingenious mechanic and a worthy citizen. He died October 31, 1839, aged sixty-one years.

Newport in its time has had cabinet-makers, carriage-makers, brick-makers, shoe-makers, saddlers, tanners, tailors, hatters, coopers, ma- sons, marble and granite-workers, and all other necessary workers and machinists and architects to aid in its progress as a town.

Reuben Bascom, a son of Elias, who came from Northfield, Mass., about the year 1779, established the first cloth-dressing business in Newport. His homestead was on the " South Road," and his water-power, where he had a fulling-mill and other machinery, on the South Branch, about a quarter of a mile up the stream from the mills at Southville. Every vestige of his enterprise there has long since disappeared. He married, 1786, Lydia Hurd, daughter of Samuel, the first female born in the settlement (June 7, 1768), and has descendants in town to perpetuate his name and memory.

About the year 1800, Nathan Hurd put up a mill at a " privilege" a short distance above the present Sugar River Mills, where he carried on the business of carding, fulling and cloth- dressing until 1822, when he sold out to Elisha Kempton, who was succeeded by Philo Fuller, Oliver Comstock, Smith and Rockwell. The falls are now submerged in the upper end of the Richards mill-pond.

Oshea Ingram, who came to this town about the year 1820, was also engaged as a clothier for many years. His mill was on the canal, near the upper tannery.

The hatting business was first represented here by James White, who is said to have car- ried on the trade in the back part of the house of Dea. Jesse Wilcox, as early as 1783. After White was Nathaniel Fisher, and perhaps others.

In the year 1818, Amos Little, a native of Springfield, born February 27, 1796, who had learned the trade in Hampstead, came to New- port and built a shop near the village bridge, where he carried on the business successfully for more than forty-five years, or up to the time of his decease, August 17, 1859. Since that time there has been no occasion for a hatting estab- lishment here, the market being fully supplied from the large manufactories in Massachu- setts and elsewhere. Mr. Little was prominent in town affairs, was selectman in 1839, and rep- resented the town at the General Court in 1842 and 1843. IIe was also a liberal and efficient member of the Baptist Church and society.

From the time of Daniel Dudley, the first ex- pounder of the lapstone and the last in this town, the shoemaking trade has been represented by able and intelligent men. As a local interest, it had its climax about the years 1828-30, when John Russ and Samuel Belknap erected a build- ing opposite the Eagle Hotel, where they em- ployed from ten to fifteen hands in the manu- facture of boots and shoes. After that time the business was monopolized by the large estab- lishments in the cities and larger towns, to the detriment of the village mechanic.

NEWPORT MILLS .- The first cotton manufac- turing business was established in the town by Colonel James D. Walcott, who came from Rhode Island in the year 1812, and in 1813 erceted a factory on the site of the present Dow wood-shop. He constructed the dam and canal, still in use, by which the water-power was ap- plied to machinery for the manufacture of cotton

226

HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

yarn. Franklin Simonds afterward purchased the establishment and continued the business until 1831, when it was destroyed by fire, and Mr. Simonds removed to Warner. Afterward, Moses Paine Durkee placed a building upon the site of the burnt factory, which was used as an oil-mill until 1844, when Ingram & Parks put in machinery for the manufacture of cloths, cassimeres, etc. It was afterward occupied by Solomon Deane for the manufacture of flannel, and by him sold to Abiathar Richards, in whose ownership it was destroyed by fire in 1872.

In 1873 Wallace L. Dow & Co. erected a spacious building upon the premises and put in machinery for the manufacture of sash, blinds, doors and other articles in wood. In 1880 the establishment passed into the hands of Samuel II. Edes, and so continues.

THE EAGLE MILLS were built in the year 1822 by Farnsworth & Durkee, and first used for the manufacture of linseed oil ; afterward by James Breck & Co., for the manufacture of cotton yarn.

In 1835 a company, incorporated by the Legislature and known as the Newport Me- chanics' Manufacturing Company, occupied the premises for the manufacture of satinets. After running about two years the incorporated bubble burst.

In 1838 Parks & Twitchell took the mill and commenced the making of cassimeres. In 1844 Thomas A. Twitchell succeeded to the business, enlarged the building and put in machinery for making broadcloths, cassi- meres, satinets, tweeds, flannels and faney cloths. He was successful for a time, but ulti- mately became embarrassed, and, in 1854, sold out to the Eagle Mills Company.

After a long pedigree of unsuccesses the Eagle Mills property was, in the year 1866, purchased by Samuel H. Edes, and has since been run by him for the manufacture of blue, mixed and twilled flannels.

THE SUGAR RIVER MILLS were built by Perley S. Coffin soon after he came to New-

port (1840), and John Puffer. The interest of Puffer came, through David G. Goodridge, in 1853, into possession of Seth and Dexter Richards.

In 1867 the senior Richards and P. S. Coffin retired from the concern, leaving Dexter Rich- ards sole proprietor. In 1872 Seth M. Rich- ards became interested in the business, under the firm-name of Dexter Richards & Son, and so continues. Eulargements and improvements have been made at various times, and the pro- duction of the mills annually exceeds one million yards of mixed twilled flannels.

THE GRANITE STATE MILLS were built in 1867 by Perley S. Coffin and William Nourse, and were occupied by them in the manufacture of woolen goods until about 1881-82, when they passed into the hands of George C. Rich- ardson & Co., of Boston, by whom they are operated for the manufacture of various kinds of woolen goods. They occupy the site of the old Giles mills.

In regard to the amount of water-power afforded by Sugar River, and the amount already utilized, we gather the following statis- ties from the report to the New Hampshire Legislature, recently made (1885) by John T. Abbott, of Keene, commissioner in relation to the effects of drawing off the waters of New Hampshire lakes and ponds to supply mills, etc. Regarding Lake Sunapee, he says that its outlet is the Sugar River, which flows from its westerly shore at Sunapee Harbor, through Sun- apce, Newport and Claremont, about eighteen miles, to the Connectient River, in which dis- tance it falls between eight hundred and nine hundred feet.

For many years it has furnished the power for a large number of mills, representing different industries, and is an important source of wealth to those places. In Sunapee the capital invested in mill property amounts to $31,300; the annual product, $81,000, while the waterfall connected with mills and their privileges is 168 feet.

227

NEWPORT.

In Newport the capital invested is $297,000; the number of hands employed 315; stock in trade valued at $118,200; annual pro- duction, $602,500 ; monthly pay-roll, $6000 ; and the fall, 218.5 feet. In Claremont the amount of fall utilized by 13 privileges is stated at 223 feet in the aggregate 609.5 feet, which leaves nearly 300 feet of power running to waste. The capital in these mills has nearly all been invested with reference to using Sunapee Lake as a reservoir of water supply. The Sunapee Dam Company, which is in the interest and controlled by the mill-owners, has full con- trol, according to their charter, of these waters. The opposing interest comes from the hotels, steamboats and riparian proprietors about the lake, and is based on the fact that the region is becoming largely a summer resort, and much capital has been invested in this view, and it is damaging to these proprietors that the waters of the lake should be too much drawn out to the injury of their boating and other interests.

The matter remains without much of con- cession on the part of the mill-owners, and is virtually unsettled up to this time.

Up to the year 1871 the manufacturing and agricultural interests of Newport had achieved all the prosperity it was possible for them to attain without railroad facilities to enable them to compete successfully with other towns in the enjoyment of such facilities.

As early as the year 1848 the Concord and Claremont Railroad Company had been incorp- orated, and in 1850 the road had been put in operation to Bradford. From Bradford to Newport the rugged character of the route was appalling to engineers and contractors and par- ticularly so to capitalists, who were expected to furnish money for the construction of the road. The enterprise here came to a stand. Further efforts, legislative and otherwise, to continue the work were made without success, and for twenty-one years the heavy-laden stages and teams continued to toil on over the weary roads, to and fro, waiting for some able and friendly

hand to establish a new order of things and re- lieve them.

In the mean time the War of the Rebellion, that had absorbed the thought and musele and capital of the country, had come and gone, and " enterprises of great pith and moment," that had long slumbered, were again revived, and day again dawned upon the Sugar River Rail- road Company.

In the year 1866, mainly through the instru- mentality of Dexter Richards, then a member of the Legislature from the town, the Sugar River Railroad Company, now known as the Concord and Claremont Railroad Company, was chartered. The means to revive and continue the building of the road through to Claremont were furnished by the Northern Railroad Com- pany, aided by large assessments on the towns on the route of the road.

The town of Newport, by official act, became responsible for the sum of $45,000, or about five per cent. on its valuation at that time. In addition to this amount, the further sum of $20,000 was required to assure the continuance and completion of the work. Of this amount Mr. Richards became liable for $11,000 and several other parties interested made up the re- maining $9,000. The assurance of $65,000 from the town of Newport secured the construe- tion of the road through to Claremont.

On the 31st day of May, 1870, Captain Seth Richards, then in the seventy-ninth year of his age, and Dr. Mason Hatch, in the eightieth year of his age, the former with spade and mattock and the latter with a gaily-painted wheelbarrow in which appeared a shovel, attended by a large number of enthusastie citizens, repaired to a point on the projected road near where the pas- senger depot now stands, and while the church- bells rang and eannon pealed, and the crowd cheered, those veterans picked and shoveled and wheeled the first ground broken in the continua- tion of an enterprise which, in its completion, has been of incalculable value to Newport and the neighboring towns north and south.

228

HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

The first train of cars crossed Main Street, in Newport, November 26, 1871. The road was soon after completed to Claremont, and the first regular train from Concord to Claremont passed through Newport September 16, 1872.

A telegraph connection was made by the Western Union Company with this town, by the way of Bradford, in July, 1866, and ex- tended to Claremont in October, 1873.

Telephone lines, connecting with the towns north, south, east and west, and local about the village, were established in 1883-84.

The business men of Newport have for many years enjoyed the facilities afforded by a sound banking institution. The Sugar River Bank was incorporated in 1853, with a capital of fifty thousand dollars. In 1858, Ralph Met- calf, the first president, removed from town and was succeeded by Thomas W. Gilmore. In 1865 it was reorganized as a national bank, and the capital stock was increased to one hundred thousand dollars. In 1875 Mr. Gilmore re- tired and Dexter Richards was elected presi- dent and F. W. Lewis cashier, and so continue.

The Newport Savings-Bank was incorporated in 1868. This bank has made semi-annual dividends of two and one-half per cent. from its organization. In April, 1885, it reported : deposits, $421,433.32; guaranty fund, $20,000; surplus, $10,538.85.

CHAPTER II. NEWPORT-(Continued).

MILITARY.

WHAT we know about Newport during the Revolutionary struggle is confined to a few old records and traditions which we have been able to gather up, with a regret that they are not more complete.

The town was young and small, but active, intelligent and full of patriotism. The popu- lation, in 1775, is stated at 157, and in 1790,

fifteen years afterward, 780, so that a gradual increase must have continued during the seven years of the war. We are confident in stating that there was not a resident Tory within its lines.

The first public aet bearing upon military affairs appears under date July 20, 1775, sup- plemented by further consideration on August 7th following, when a town Committee of Safety was appointed, consisting of Benjamin Giles, Aaron Buel, Jesse Lane, Josiah Stephens, Robert Lane and Jesse Wilcox.

Early in the year 1776 the Continental Con- gress enaeted the following resolution, which was sent to each of the United Colonies :

" IN CONGRESS, March 16, 1776.

" Resolved, that it be recommended to the several Assemblies. Conventions and Councils, or Commit- tees of Safety of the United Colonies immediately to cause all persons to be disarmed within their respee- tive colonies, who are notoriously disaffected to the cause of America, or who have not associated, and refuse to associate to defend by Arms the United Colonies against the Hostile attempts of the British Fleets and Armies.

(Signed) " CHARLES THOMPSON, " Secy."

The foregoing resolve came through Me- shech Weare, chairman of the Colonial Com- mittee of Safety, and was by him submitted to the towns as follows :

"COLONY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.

"In Committee of Safety. " In order to carry the Resolve of the Hon'ble Con- tinental Congress into Execution, you are requested to desire all Males above twenty-one years of age- Lunatics, Idiots and Negroes excepted-to sign to the Declaration on this Paper ; and when so done to Make Return thereof, together with the name, or names of all who shall refuse to sign the same to the General Assembly, or Committee of Safety of this Col- ony.

" M. WEARE, Chairman."

The document submitted for signature is known as the " Articles of Association," and proceeds as follows :

229

NEWPORT.

" ARTICLES.

"In consequence of the above Resolution of the Hon. Continental Congress and to show our deter- mination in Joining our American Brethren in de- fending our Lives, Liberties and Properties of the In- habitants of the United Colonies.

" We the subscribers do hereby solemnly engage and promise that we will to the utmost of our power, at the Risque of our Lives and Fortunes, with Arms oppose the Hostile proceedings of the British Fleets and Armies against the United Colonies.

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History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire, Part 128

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis Number of Pages: 1200

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis
Number of Pages: 1200