History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire, Part 137

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 137
USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire > Part 137

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

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pearance with their smoke-stacks knocked gun aft, and three 9-inch guns broadside. She down, wheels broken, decks torn up-in short, almost wrecks. was built expressly for the river service. She carried a crew of about one hundred and sixty men. The history of the Red River expedi- tion is too well known to need comment here. The difficulty of navigation in that crooked stream with so large and heavy a vessel was exceedingly great, and but for the assistance of tugs and transports he would hardly have reached Grand Ecore. He remained on the "Ozark" until November, 1864, when he re- turned to New York on sick-leave.

Captain Brown then returned to Vicksburg and remained in that vicinity until the surren- der. About a month prior to that event he vol- unteered to take a battery of naval guns in the trenehes in Sherman's corps, Steele's division, which held the right of our lines, where he re- mained until the surrender, July 4, 1863, when he had the honor of riding into the city with General Steele, Lieutenant-Commander (now Commodore) Walker and others. The day following he took command of his vessel and went down the river to give notice of the victory to the gun-boats below. About a month later, after several expeditions up the Red, Black, Ouachita, Tensas and other rivers, he was ordered to Cairo for repairs. More than half his crew were prostrated with fever, and being himself unable to attend to his duties on account of sickness, he was granted sick-leave and went to his home in New York for a cou- ple of months. Returning to Cairo, he was or- dered to the command of the " Queen City ". and all the vessels convoying transports on the White River, carrying supplies for General Stcele's army at Little Rock,-the transports going as far as Duval's Bluff, the stores being carried by rail the rest of the way, the road be- ing run by an Ohio regiment.

About this time he made the acquaintance of General N. B. Beauford, commanding Eastern Arkansas Headquarters, at Helena, who was organizing a colored regiment, of which he urged Captain Brown to accept the colonelcy, which he declined. During his superintendence of the convoying of transports no accidents oc- curred and no lives were lost. He was next placed in command of the iron-clad monitor " Ozark," then fitting out at Cairo for the Red River expedition-sometimes known as the " cot- ton-stealing expedition." The "Ozark" was one of the heaviest armed vessels of the squadron, having two 11-inch guns in the turret, a 10-inch pivot

In December of the same year he was ordered to the South Atlantic squadron and was en- gaged in special duty off Charlston, S. C., in charge of the scout and picket-boats.

There it was his pleasure to meet, for the first time during the war, with his old friend, George E. Belknap, then in command of the monitor " Canonicus." The divers ways by which the two Newport boys were able to meet in the service of their country off Charleston, S. C., which city was, for many years, the home of the writer of this sketch, also a native of Newport, involves more of incident and ro- mance than can properly be introduced in this place.

After the evacuation of Charleston, Captain Brown was ordered, at his own request, to the command of the United States brig " Perry," ten guns, then stationed at Fernandina, Fla., where he remained until March, 1865, when he was ordered to Philadelphia, where he had ar- rived a few days prior to the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln and where his ac- tive service ended. In September, 1865, Cap- tain Brown was honorably discharged from the naval service, having declined to go before the examining board for transfer to the regular navy, preferring civil life and merchant service. He came to New York and had partly arranged for the purchase of a part of a vessel. One of the parties with whom he was negotiating failed to keep an appointment in the matter, which caused a feeling of disappointment on

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the part of the captain, and in passing down Wall Street towards his home in Brooklyn, by way of the ferry, his eye caught sight of a sign at No. 115 -, as follows : " Desk Room to Let." Without further consideration he en- gaged the place, ordered the necessary furniture, and some cards printed and at onee started the business of a ship broker, in which he contin- ued until 1875, in the mean time organizing the New York and Washington Steamship Com- pany, of which he was for three years the agent. Afterward he fitted out the Cuban man-of-war " Hornet " and sent several cargoes of arms, etc., to the insurgent Cubans. At one time he took a somewhat active part in local polities, and in 1869 received the appointment of assistant assessor of internal revenue, but his private business was of more value to him than the office, from which he retired at the close of the year.

In 1875 Captain Brown was unexpectedly called upon by the New York Marine Under- writers to go to Hayti, for the purpose of in- vestigating an intricate case involving them in heavy loss. His success in the matter so far exceeded their expectations that inducements were offered which caused him to abandon the shipping business and devote himself exclu- sively to the interest of marine underwriters.

Since that time he has traveled extensively, making investigations and settlements of cases in Europe, Mexico, Central and South America and the West Indies. In his early days of sailor life he was brought in contact with Spanish- speaking people in foreign ports, first picking up the language by the ear and in later years making it a study and an advantage in the transaction of business with the people to which we have referred.

The domestic relations of Captain Brown are of the most agreeable character. He married, October 18, 1860, Mary E. Stainburn, of New York. They have children as follows :

George Titus, born October 16, 1861 ; Grace Stainburn, born November 7, 1866 ; Alfred

Hodgdon, born April 8, 1871. The family occupy a pleasant home in the city of Brooklyn, N. Y.

Captain Brown is a vestryman in one of the Episcopal Churches in Brooklyn ; a Master Ma- son ; a member of the Grand Army of the Re- publie, his badge being No. 1242; a charter- member of Harry Lee Post, No. 24, Depart- ment of New York ; a member of the Military Order, Loyal Legion New York Commandery ; a member of the New York Marine Society, the oldest society, excepting the Chamber of Commerce, in New York; a member of the American Legion of Honor and of the Na- tional Provident Union.

Captain Brown says he owes much of what he is to-day to two women,-his mother, who died May 16, 1861, whose precept and exam- ple were the guard and guide, under Providence, of his life ; and his wife, whose superior educa- tion proved of great benefit to him in over- coming the scanty opportunities of his carly years.

We are unable to learn the exact date of the establishment of the first line of stages through this town. Soon after the Croydon turnpike was opened, in 1806, stages are said to have been placed upon a route running from Washington to Lebanon, passing north and south through Newport. A few years later, by the construc- tion of better roads cast and west through the town, daily lines were established which diverted the travel from the turnpike line. The Croy- don turnpike was accordingly abandoned, and in 1838 a public road laid out over its route by the town, and " the old turnpike was a pike no more."

With the opening of railroads in other see- tions, the staging through this town grew " small by degrees and beautifully less," and during the twenty years previous to the opening of the railroad (1871) there was but one daily line.

The new line east and west, referred to, commenced running from Windsor, Vt., by the way of Newport and Bradford, to Boston,

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in the year 1818, and we have heard how, on stage-days, the boys and girls, and all hands, young and old, were on the qui vire to witness the magnificent turn-out as it swept into town, Newport Hotel, or both, where the passengers were refreshed, and the team changed. from the pulpits of the churches denounced the use of ardent spirits as a beverage, and the first societies for the promotion of temper- anee were organized, and the work went on and through the street to the Eagle, or the under the earnest direction of Rev. John Woods and Rev. Ira Pearson, then efficient pastors of the churches in this village, and was sustained and augmented by the best' people of the town, and reform came.

We doubt if the arrival of the first train of cars in 1871, and the snorting of the iron horse, attracted more attention or caused greater delight.

We have had political exeitements, and in this connection may refer to the local ferment occasioned in 1825, '26, '27, by the dismember- ment of old Cheshire, and the establishment of the new county of Sullivan out of its fifteen most northern towns, with the goodly town of Newport as its seat of justice. The foresight and energy of the leading citizens of that time have been suitably appreciated by their suc- cessors and descendants, who now maintain and enjoy the work then accomplished.

Nor can we overlook the great temperance reform movement that burst upon the whole conntry about the year 1828, and thoroughly. aroused this community to its important de- mands.

The people of New England towns and villages, in common with mankind everywhere, have had no more-stubborn and satanic foe to contend with than alcohol in all its insinuating forms. It appeared in Newport mostly in the guise of New England rum. At that time it was openly sold by the glass or quantity at all the general stores on the street, and showy bars were a conspicuous feature in the " bar-rooms," so-called, at the hotels, and a minister of the gospel was engaged in the distilling cider brandy.

Here, then, came the venerable Lyman Beecher, of Boston ; the energetie and impres- sive Doctor -- Jewett, of Rhode Island ; and the eminent Reuben D. Mussey, M.D., then at the head of the Medical Department of Dartmouth College, at different times, and

There are many people now living and active, who will remember the scenes enacted on Main Street fifty or sixty years ago on public days, and the old-time resorts about which throngs gathered every day to enter for their early morning grog as soon as the drowsy clerk withdrew the bars and bolts and swung open the doors. Comparing that state of things with the present, we are able to estimate the degree of progress attained. No alcoholic minister now dispenses the bread or the water of life to an alcoholic church, as Dr. Jewett, heretofore referred to, once charged in thun- dering accents from the pulpit of a Congrega- tional meeting-house, and the old hats and rags have been mostly withdrawn from the windows, or if they still supply the places of panes, it is due to other causes than rum.

Next in the succession of general excitements, was that caused by the work of the early Aboli- tionists, during the years from 1830 to 1840, who persevered in preaching and lecturing and talking at the hazard of life and limb, broken windows in churches and school-houses and as- saults in the way of epithets and stale eggs. The discussion of that question involved the existence of churches and societies, and, in many instances, agreeable social relations.

The contemplative mind will recur to that period across one of the bloodiest chasms that ever divided a country against itself.

About the year 1838 several of the citizens of the town undertook to introduce the culture of the morus multicaulis tree and the silk- worm, and the manufacture of silk goods in various forms.

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HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

If French and Italian skies could have been introduced with the worm and the " silk- trees " to our impracticable soil and climate, a different result might have been obtained. As it was, a good deal of speculative excitement ensued, and the whole matter was not more unfortunate for its projectors than it proved ridiculous.

Some time during the years from 1835 to 1840 certain Boston manufacturers and capital- ists were thought to be on the alert to monopol- ize at low prices all the water privileges of any account on Sugar River and its branches. The alarm spread among the knowing ones and also to some that did not know very much ; and not only water privileges, but real estate advanced in estimation to fabulous prices, quite turning the heads of some of the dwellers upon the hillside farms.

The excitement subsided in due time, and some of the grasping speculators found them- selves the possessors of property they could neither utilize or sell without loss. It was probably about that time when a midnight cour- ier rode in from the " Harbor " with the start- ling intelligence that the Sunapee dam was about to explode ; and to warn the inhabitants of the Sugar River Valley and the town of Newport to prepare for an inundation, which did not, however, come to pass.

Subsequent to the year 1840, incited by the calculations and preaching of a man named Miller, who indulged in advanced views in re- gard to the second coming of the Messiah, a religious sect sprung up in New England and elsewhere known as " Millerites." The 4th day of April, afterwards changed to the 10th of October, 1843, had been fixed by the leader of these enthusiasts as the great day of doom. The months previous to this date were spent in the most energetic preparation.

Their headquarters at Northville were at the old meeting-house and in the village at the " old red store," then standing on the corner of Main and Maple Streets. At the latter place the

most disorderly and reckless element in the population gathered at their meetings, and they came to require the presence of the sheriff or high constable to maintain a becoming order. The ex- citement not only in Newport, but throughout this section, was for a time intense, and led to acts of foolishness beyond account. But the sun rose in splendor on the 10th of October, 1843, and also on the 11th, and dissipated the fogs that hung over the minds of the Millerites, and they re- turned to their neglected farms and workshops, and interests not squandered, wiser if not better people.

The culmination of excitements, after which it would be trifling to speak of any other, was that occasioned by the mustering of our " boys in blue," and their departure for the battle-fields of the Rebellion, where some of them found soldiers' graves-and from which others re- turned bearing the indelible certificates of their bravery in defending and preserving the unity of the great commonwealth inherited from the earlier heroes and patriots.

The Newport of to-day is the goal to which we have now come as we gather up the several topics of this discursive and imperfeet narrative. It spreads out along the sunny intervale of the Sugar and the slopes of its surrounding hills. Its streets have assumed the names of the var- ious forest-trees whose places they have taken by right of way. Its Main Street-a splendid thoroughfare of two miles in length-extends north and south on the eastern side, parallel and in view of the grand avenue, laid out by the fathers of the town, on the western side of the valley.

In passing along its various streets we see its many tidy and pleasant homes ; its more pre- tentious private residences ; its substantial blocks of wood and brick for business purposes; its Newport House and Phoenix Hotel, comforta- ble hostelries for the traveler on the incoming train ; its school-houses, and churches, and spa- cious public buildings, and shaded and delight- ful village park.

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NEWPORT.

The valetudinarian or the summer visitor from the cities and sea-ports will here find a pleasant resting-place, and entertainment in pleasing variety of walks and drives within our town lines along the brooks and rivers, and from the hill-tops, from whence views which the un- sparing hand of nature has spread out may be enjoyed; or find himself within reach of ample facilities for visiting localities beyond our limits, of much interest, such as Lake Sunapee, about five miles distant, or Unitoga Springs, or the summits of Sunapee and Croydon Mountains, in New Hampshire, and Ascutney, in Vermont.

The slopes of Baptist Hill smile with com- fortable homesteads, and from the precinct of Northville, in its foreground, comes the clatter of machinery from the extensive scythe manufac- tory of the Sibleys. That locality also boasts of a store, a railroad station and a post-office ; and as it has increased in age and dignity it has dropped the " ville " from its cognomen, and is now known as " North Newport."

The present year of our Lord, 1885, the foun- dations for a new chapel have been laid not far from the site of the ancient meeting-house, the memory of which is so fraught with stirring re- ligious events in the past. The new structure will rise and stand with open doors and inviting hands for the use of all religious denominations, and the descendants of them that "stoned the prophets," and the descendants of the prophets themselves will meet in harmony in the same fold and listen to the words of the same shepherd.

In accordance with the laws that govern pop- ulation and business, another enterprising little village has gathered in the vicinity of the Gran- ite State Mills, in the eastern part of the town, and Guild post-office and railroad station invite the attention to a splendid manufacturing estab- lishment, a lineal descendant of the Giles Mills, and an indorsement of the good judgment, as regards water power and location, of that emi- nent father of the town. Had justice been done to his name and memory, the post-office or precinct would have been christened Gilesville.

THE COMMON .- The site of the "Common," or Park, which contributes so much to the beauty of Newport village, is one of those natur- ally level spaces or plateaus which are found as we recede from the Sugar River Valley eastwardly towards the highlands known as Coit Moun- tains and the Buell Hills. In the early days of the town it is said to have been an "alder swamp," and, consequently, a paradise for frogs, mud-turtles and mosquitoes. Its eleva- tion, however, above the river-lands, was such that it yielded readily to drainage and improve- ment.

The old county road, opened in 1779, after- ward the Croydon turnpike, and at present North Main Street, lay along its eastern margin.

When, in 1809 or 1810, William Cheney oc- cupied his new residence, where we now find the post-office, and opened his mercantile business on the site of " Richards' Block," Jeremiah Kelsey was the owner of this land, and also his competitor in trade on the opposite side of the road, at present the southeast corner of Main and Sunapee Streets.

By an extract from the diary of Colonel Cheney, lately published in one of the weekly papers of this village (the Argus), we are told that the locality was then used for military parades, in consideration for which the officers of the companies agreed to purchase, at the store of said Kelsey, the grog considered necessary for the comfort of officers and men on such occasions. It also appears that Kelsey had bargained a building lot, about midway of this common, to Sylvanus Richards, and, some time afterward, a second lot to Dr. Kibbey, and some buildings were placed thereon.

At this rate of progress it was only a question of short time when the eastern side of the turn- pike, as far north as the Sand-Hill, so called, would have been forever alienated from public use as a common, and our park, parade and fair- ground, ornamented with elms and maples, as at this time, would have existed only in the

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HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

special and unsatisfied needs of the generations to come.

This matter was, undoubtedly, considered by Colonel Cheney, whose good judgment and scope of mental vision enabled him to appreci- ate the matter in all its bearings, present and future.

Instead of making out the deeds of convey- ance for the house lots, as desired by Kelsey, he insisted and argued that Newport should have a " common," and succeeded in preventing the transfers. Not long after this he purchased the property from Kelsey, removed the buildings and fences, and left it open for parades and other public uses.

On its eastern margin, now Park Street, cor- ner of Sunapee, he built the Newport Hotel, af- terward disposed of to Captain Joel Nettleton, and now the Newport House. In 1816, a little farther on, he erected an immense wooden building, one hundred and fifty feet long and four stories high, known as the Tontine, the front roof of which projected several feet and was supported by tall, slender columns from the ground. It had five stacks of chimneys, fur- nishing fire-places and ovens on each floor, and a countless number of apartments of all dimen- sions. The rooms on the ground-floor were for business purposes, and those on the upper floors were arranged in suites for families. At the time of its erection it was considered the most imposing structure in this part of the State. It was taken down in 1851. Its site is now oc- cupied by the Methodist Episcopal Church edi- fice and two dwelling-houses erected by the Batchelder Brothers, from material taken from the preceding structure. Some time afterward Colonel Cheney sold and conveyed to Rev. Ira Person (since Pearson) a plot of ground still far- ther north, on the east line of the present Park Street, on which Mr. Pearson built a dwelling- house, long known as the Baptist Parsonage, and where he lived many years.

In 1871 the Parsonage became the property and residence of Joseph W. Parmelee. In

course of time, a new house of more modern construction took the place of the old, and was first occupied by the Parmelees on July 4, 1876.

In 1821 Colonel Cheney donated a plot of ground at the north end of the Common to the Baptist Church and Society, " to have and to hold " as long as it should be required for church purposes. It was there that the first church edifice in the village was erceted, and on which the present graceful front elevation of the lately reconstructed building appears.

In the year 1820 Colonel Cheney proposed to present and deed his Common to the town of Newport on certain conditions, with which the town at its annual meeting did not see fit to comply.

He then further proposed to sell and convey the same for the sum of two hundred dollars, another and principal condition being that it should remain a " common forever," otherwise to revert to the heirs of the grantor.

At the annual meeting March 13, 1821, the town voted to accept and comply with the terms of this proposition.

The deed of conveyance bears date May 22, 1821, and is on record in the archives of Chesh- ire County, liber 88, folio 194, under the certificate of James Campbell, register.

The description of property conveyed is as follows :

" Bounded on the west by the East line of the old county road and Croydon turnpike (now north Main Street), on the north by a line running easterly in a range with the South Side of Jonathan Cutting's barn to a stone set in the ground, near the house of A. S. Waite. On the East by a direct line running Southerly Six feet west of the South Side of the Ton- tine, Nettleton's tavern, and the Site of the old white school-house when Owned by Colonel James D. Waleott (probably the north line of the lot on which the present county building now stands), and on the Southwesterly from Said corner of the School-house two rods and Six links to a stone set in the ground, the bound first mentioned."

The plot of ground is nearly triangular in shape, and contains about four acres.

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NEWPORT.

From the foregoing it is evident that the Common was not a positive gift from Colonel Cheney to the town of Newport, as has some- times been stated. He received a fair compen- sation for the land, as considered from the stand- point of the time when the conveyanee was made. It is due to his name and memory, however, to state that it was through his deter- mination and management that this tract of land was made a Common and will so remain " forever."

DISASTROUS FIRE OF 1885 .- About two o'clock on Sunday morning, June 21, 1885, the ery of fire and the ringing of bells broke the silence of the hour, and roused the people of our village to witness the most disastrous eon- flagration that ever visited the town.

The fire was first seen bursting from the roof and rear of the two-story wooden building known as " Nettleton Bloek," located on the southeast corner of Main and Sunapee Streets. The basement of this building was occupied as a meat and vegetable market; the first floor, south 'room, by C. H. Watts, harness-maker ; the north room, by F. E. Nelson, a dealer in small wares ; the second floor, south rooms, as the printing-office and editorial rooms of the New Hampshire Argus and Spectator,-Barton & Wheeler, proprietors ; and the north rooms were the offices of A. S. Wait, Esq., attorney- at-law.

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History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire, Part 137

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