History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire, Part 138

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 138
USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire > Part 138

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).

The flames spread with great rapidity to all parts of the main building, and from thenee to the extension on Sunapee Street, occupied by the United States and Canada Express Com- pany, eastward to a livery office and two large stables ; and southward to the brick building onee occupied by the First National Bank, and more recently by several families ; and, lastly, to the town hall, of which some account has been given on a preceding page.

It is matter of interest that the express office was the store-house originally built and oecu- pied by Jeremiah Kelsey,-referred to in the sketch of the Common,-and afterward by the

Nettletons as a store and post-office, and moved back to give place to the more pretentious: " block " erected in 1854. The " old bank," so-called, was built in 1825 by A. Nettleton, Jr., for a residence, and where he lived and died.

The land and buildings covered by this con- flagration, up to the court-house common, were owned by Mrs. Bela Nettleton and Frederick W. Lewis.

The insurance on the property of the various occupants and owners, consisting of buildings, books, machinery, fixtures, wares, merchandise, etc., amounted to about forty thousand dollars, and the losses of the different proprietors and occupants would aggregate sixty thousand to seventy thousand dollars. The most important items of loss, and those most difficult to restore, were the valuable law library of Mr. Waite, and the files of the New Hampshire Argus and Spec- tator, running baek more than sixty years.

Whether this fire was the work, of an incen- diary or the result of carelessness and stupidity on the part of dissolute and drunken persons who may have sought obscurity in the attic of Nettleton Block, which was accessible from the street at all hours, has not transpired, and no investigations have been made.

The resources available for the extinguish- ment of a fire of this magnitude were entirely inadequate, and all that could be done was to prevent its spreading to adjoining buildings and neighborhoods.

Had a brisk wind prevailed on the night and morning of that 21st of June, in spite of our two hand-engines, their brakes manned by ath- letic firemen and citizens, the fire must have marched before it in a direct line out of town in accordance with the direction given. A brave effort at great hazard was made to save the town hall and court-house, and the fact that this magnificent structure collapsed so readily under fire is evidence of a faulty con- struction, and does much to dispel a feeling of regret at its loss.

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HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

THE COURT-HOUSE AND TOWN HALL OF 1885-86 .- Before the smoke had subsided over the smouldering ruins of this fire, a meet- ing of citizens from several of the towns of the county was held at Rowell's Rink, in Newport, Friday, June 26th, to consider the situation. There was perhaps a feeling at that time on the part of Newport, whose court-house lay in smoking ruins, that the old agitation in re- gard to the removal of the courts to Claremont might again be revived ; but this matter was soon set at rest by the appearance in this meet- ing of many of the leading citizens of that town, with kind words for Newport in the hour of its calamity, and suggesting in accordance with a resolution passed at a public meeting of their citizens the day previous, that the county build- ing be rebuilt in Newport, and made separate and distinct from a town hall. After some discus- sion a resolution was passed at this rink meet- ing in favor of the erection of two buildings, one for county and one for town purposes, with but one dissenting vote. The stand taken by the town of Claremont was thus defined.

In the mean time a County Convention, com- posed of the members from its several towns to the Legislature, then in session, convened at Agricultural Hall, in Concord, on several oc- casions to hear arrangements and deliberate in regard to the erection of a new county building, and whether the two interests of the county of Sullivan and town of Newport should proceed jointly to erect, as heretofore, or take a new do- parture and build separately. Their delib- erations resulted in the following proposition to the town, to wit :

" Resolved, That the County of Sullivan proceed to build a court-house and county offices in connection with the town hall of Newport; the County of Sulli- van and town of Newport each to share one-half the expense of such building, which shall be placed on the site of the one recently destroyed by fire, the cost of the county not to exceed the sum of eleven thousand five hundred dollars ; provided said town of Newport shall deed to said county the land on which said

building shall stand, also the court-room and neces- sary county offices on the first floor of the building, for all time the county shall desire to use said land and building for such purposes. And there shall be no rooms constructed or occupied above the second floor. A building committee of three persons shall be chosen by the county convention to act in connection with a committee of two persons from the town of Newport, whose duty it shall be to see that the building is built in a satisfactory manner, and that the expense is equally divided between the county and town of New- port. The actual expenses of such committee on the part of the county to be paid by the county."

The convention chose as members of the com- mittee, the county commissioners (L. A. Pur- mort, of Lempster, S. F. Rossiter, of Clare- mont, and Alvin S. Bartholomew, of Plain- field) and Messrs. Parker, of Claremont, and A. S. Wait and L. W. Barton, of Newport, Attorneys-at-law, were chosen to draw up the deed.

In response to the action of the County Con- vention, as before stated, the town of Newport, at an adjourned meeting held July 18, 1885, adopted the following preamble and resolutions, viz. :

" Whereas, At a County Convention of the County of Sullivan, held at Concord on the 16th day of July, inst., it was voted-(See foregoing resolutions of County Convention.) Now therefore, be it resolved that the town of Newport will join the County of Sul- livan in the erection of the said building upon the terms and conditions of the aforesaid vote of the said County Convention, and that said vote of said County Convention, so far as is necessary and appropriate therefor, be adopted as the vote of this town; the words of said vote, 'above the second floor ' being in- terpreted to mean, above the town hall.

" Resolved that Milton S. Jackson and Frank A. Rawson be the committee on the part of the town to act with that of the County in the erection of said building and that they be and hereby are authorized in the name of the town to execute and deliver to the County of Sullivan the deed to be executed in ac- cordance with said vote of the County Convention, and of the first above resolution."

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NEWPORT.

The meeting adjourned to the 25th inst., and afterward to Saturday, August 1st.

At an adjourned town-meeting held on Satur- day, August 1, 1885, the following resolution appropriating the sum of eleven thousand five hundred dollars for the rebuilding of the town hall was passed :

" Resolved that a Sum not to exceed eleven thou- sand five hundred dollars be appropriated from any moneys in the treasury of the town not otherwise ap- propriated, to the defrayal of the expenses of the erection of a town hall in Newport in connection with a court-house and county offices ' for the County of Sullivan ; the insurance ($10,000) in favor of the town upon the former building, consumed by fire, when recovered to be set apart as a fund to be applied towards the amount of said expense; and that the selectmen and treasurer of the town be authorized to .borrow so much of said sum as is needed before such insurance is collected and issue the notes of the town therefor."

It may be well to state that the court-house and town hall was insured for twenty thousand dollars,-ten thousand dollars of which went to the county and ten thousand dollars to the town.

The foundations of the new county and town building were laid in the most substantial man- ner under the direction of the joint building committee before named.

F. N. Footman, of Boston, was the architect of the superstructure, the dimensions of which are 60.5 feet front by 93.5 feet running back ; the elevation of the lower story is sixteen feet clear, and the walls, of brick, are sixteen inches in thickness.

The basement is arranged for fire-proof vaults, furnaces, storage for fuel, closets, etc. The county floor will furnish a room forty by fifty feet for the sessions of the courts, a private apartment for the judge, rooms for the grand and petit juries, witnesses and county commis- sioners, offices and safes for the register of deeds, register of probate and elerk of the courts.

The elevation of the second story is twenty- four feet clear, with a gallery all around, and

suitable ante-rooms and stairways front and rear. The walls are twelve inches in thickness, the whole interior strengthened by a complex system of timbers and supports from the roof. The town will thus be provided with a sub- stantial and elegant hall for civic purposes, assemblies and conventions.

The plans and specifications, as prepared by the supervising architect, Mr. Footman, were submitted for inspection, and the contract for the crection of the building was awarded to the lowest bidder, Hira R. Beckwith, of Claremont, for the sum of twenty-one thousand nine hun- dred and eighty-five dollars. The work is going on during these months of September, October and November. The building is to be com- pleted and ready for use on the 1st of July, 1886.

Coincident with the action of the town in regard to the reconstruction of the county and town building, was the consideration of better means and methods for the protection of the property of the citizens against fire.

STEAM FIRE-ENGINES, ETC .- A committee of citizens, consisting of S. H. Edes, A. W. Rounsevel, F. P. Rowell, John B. Cooper and Frederick W. Cheney, appointed at a former meeting, to inquire into the necessities of the town as regards suitable apparatus for the extin- guishment of fires, reported in favor of the purchase of a steam fire-engine, etc. ; and reso- lutions appropriating six thousand five hundred dollars for that purpose, and instructing the committee to make the purchase, were passed, as follows :

" Resolved, that the Sum of Six thousand five hun- dred dollars be appropriated for the purchase of a Steam Fire Engine; two thousand feet of hose; hose- carriage; engine house and site for same, and me- chanical apparatus for working and caring for and procuring water for said engine, and that the select- men and treasurer of the town be authorized to bor- row the said sum and issue the notes of the town for that amount, payable on demand with interest at the rate of four per cent. per annum free of taxation by said town.

" Resolved, that the town authorize their committee

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HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

to purchase a steam fire engine of a capacity of about Six hundred gallons per minute, with mechanical ap- paratus for working, caring for, and procuring water for the same ;- two thousand feet of hose suitable for the said engine ; and one carriage to carry 800 feet of hose, at an expense not exceeding five thousand three hundred dollars-also to purchase a site, if need be, and erect thereon a suitable engine house at an ex- pense not exceeding twelve hundred dollars."

In accordance with the action of the town, as represented in the foregoing resolutions, a No. 3 steam fire-engine from the Silsby Manufac- turing Company, of Seneca Falls, N. Y., was purchased and delivered in Newport in Septem- ber, 1885. The " Newport," so-called, weighs five thousand five hundred pounds, has a pump- ing capacity of six hundred gallons per minute and is otherwise in accordance with the order given.

THE NEWPORT STEAM FIRE-ENGINE COM- PANY was formed on Monday, October 5, 1885, consisting of thirty members. F. J. Latimer was chosen foreman ; Fred. W. Cheney, assist- ant foreman ; Rodney W. Tilton, second assist- ant foreman ; S. A. Williams, clerk ; M. L. Whittier, treasurer ; J. R. Hutchinson, steward ; F. P. Rowell, engineer ; M. L. Whittier, assist- ant engineer; Day E. Maxfield, George E. Lewis and John W. Johnson, standing com- mittee ; Day E. Maxfield, M. F. Thompson, firemen. Hose-men, pipe-men, ladder-men, etc., -James Bevine, M. C. Blaisdell, Alexander Brezsell, C. B. Chase, A. W. Clarke, M. (). Cooper, F. P. Dudley, F. H. Huntoon, H. O. Hutchinson, F. H. Jordan, J. W. Johnson, G. W. Karr, G. E. Lewis, S. D. Lewis, F. H. Morse, F. S. Morse, C. F. Pike, F. E. Rowell, R. W. Tilton, C. W. Tenney, E. B. Woodbury.

The qualities of the new "steamer" were thoroughly tested on Friday, the 9th of Octo- ber, before a large collection of the people of Newport and the adjoining towns. The after- noon was made a holiday for the children in the public schools. Firemen were present from Penacook, Springfield, Vt., and Claremont.

ing of the committee in the evening the steamer was accepted without a dissenting voice, and payment made according to contract

CITIZENS' NATIONAL BANK .- During the summer of 1885 the question of enlarging the banking facilities of Newport engaged the at- tention of some of the capitalists and active business men of this and the adjoining towns.

The matter finally took definite shape in the formation, in accordance with the general bank- ing laws of the United States, of an association known as " The Citizens' National Bank of Newport." Capital, $50,000.

The subscribers to the stock, which was soon taken, held a meeting on Monday, September 7th, and agreed upon articles of association, and directors were chosen as follows: F. A. Rawson, L. F. Dodge, M. S. Jackson, George H. Bartlett, Sunapee ; S. G. Stowell, William Woodbury, E. H. Carr, Goshen ; C. M. Emer- son, R. M. Rowe. L. F. Dodge was chosen president and F. A. Rawson, vice-president. At a further meeting of the directors, Perley A. Johnson, of Barton, Vt., was elected cash- ier.

The association has leased from the town for a term of twenty years, and will reconstruct and occupy as a banking-house, the lower story of the fire-proof building on the southwest corner of the court-house common, known as the "Old County Safe."

LEWIS BLOCK .- Frederick W. Lewis having become sole proprietor of the lot on the north- east corner of Main and Sunapee Streets, on which stood the " Nettleton Block," lately de- stroyed by fire, has made arrangements with Hira R. Beckwith, of Claremont, the well- known architect and builder, for the erection thereon of a substantial building, with a front on Main Street of seventy-four feet and fifty feet deep, with an extension of twenty feet on Sunapee Street.

The structure will be two stories in height, built of briek trimmed with granite. The The occasion was of much interest. At a meet- Flower story will be divided into four rooms for

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NEWPORT.

business purposes and the second floor adapted for offices.

THE SULLIVAN COUNTY MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY .- The enactment by the Legislature of 1885 of a law in regard to for- eign insurance companies, known as the " Val- ued Policy Bill," was followed by the with- drawal of the agencies of all such companies from the State. To meet the demands for in- surance caused by this movement, stock and mutual companies have been formed within the State. Of these was the Sullivan County Mutual Fire Insurance Company, organ- ized at Newport, November 10, 1885. Presi- dent, Dexter Richards ; Vice-President, Ira Colby ; Treasurer, George E. Dame ; Secretary, H. S. Osgood ; General Manager, R. C. Os- good ; Directors: Dexter Richards, George E. Dame, S. L. Bowers, Ezra T. Sibley, R. C. Osgood, of Newport ; Hiram Parker, of Lemp- ster ; Ira Colby, W. E. Tutherly, D. W. O'Neil, of Claremont; George Olcott, of Charlestown ; George H. Bartlett, of Sunapee ; E. H. Carr, of Goshen ; Rufus Hall, of Grant- ham ; W. C. True, of Plainfield ; J. S. Walker,. of Langdon.

The organization of such companies will, in all probability, meet the demands for insur- ance, and the wisdom of the Legislature in en- acting the law will be indorsed by the people of the State.

Notwithstanding the somewhat desultory char- acter of this work, it will not be difficult, per- haps, to gather from its pages some idea of the gradual and substantial progress of the town of Newport during the one hundred and twenty years of its existence as a corporate municipality. There may have been periods in its history without much of advancement, but no positively retrograde movement worthy of consideration can be shown. From one decade to another its valuation has steadily increased, until, as here- tofore stated, we have come up to the sum of one million, three hundred and seventeen thou- sand one hundred and fifty-two dollars.

For its continued advancement and prosperity it is indebted, in the first place, to the intelligent, industrious, well-intentioned moral and religions characteristics of its first settlers,-qualities which were ingrained in their descendants and successors, and which have stood the test of the changes of the first century and more of its ex- istence.

If we examine the statistics of crime during this period, we shall find that of the very limit- ed number who have expiated offenses against the peace and property of the citizens of this community in the State Prison, but two or three were natives of the town and descendants of the. first settlers ; and that no blood, shed by the hand of a murderer, has ever stained its soil.

In the second place, Newport is indebted to its geographical situation in some degree for its importance as a town,-its territory being cen- tral to a group of other townships, which in the course of past events, came to organize as the county of Sullivan, of which it became the seat of justice, with its court-house and county offices and local incumbents.

Its river system and water power are a further and more important consideration as affording facilities for progress. At an earlier period, when agriculture was a more leading interest, the town had no particular advantage on ac- count of fertility over the adjoining towns ; but when agricultural pursuits became less profitable in New England, Newport had its water power in reserve, and mills for the production of cot- ton and woolen fabrics and wares of various kinds sprung up at the falls on the Sugar River, and a manufacturing interest came in, not only to keep up, but to increase the inventory of the town.

The town has also prospered because of the interest that has been taken in its educational, social, religions and benevolent institutions, whereby an intelligent, temperate, industrious, charitable, law-abiding, church-going, God-fear- ing people have been raised up to join in a gen- eral effort for the public welfare, as against ig-

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HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

norance, intemperance, vice, crime and suffering from the vicissitudes of fortune. The widow and the fatherless, in their destitution, have found friends in the lodges of the Masons and Odd-Fellows, and around the camp-fires of the Grand Army of the Republic, and in the var- ious religious societies, to say nothing of indi- vidual charities and benefactions flowing from private sources.

It would afford the writer much satisfaction to be able, in a sketch of the town, to trace the owner- ships of the sixty-eight lots originally granted in the charter. To do so would require a careful examination of records of transfer in the archives of the county of Cheshire prior to the organiza- tion of the county of Sullivan.

The genealogies of the owners of these lots, and their descendants and successors, would also furnish material of interest in a town history. Such researches would involve time and expense and should be made under the patronage of the town, in its corporate capacity, whose duty and privilege it should be to protect its own life and welfare historically.

· The State has already enacted stringent laws, by which the matter of " Vital Statistics " is no longer at the hazard of desultory and uncertain private records. The earliest incidents in con- nection with the first settlement of Newport by English-speaking people are still within the grasp of history. That they should be collected and preserved is a proposition that needs no ar- gument. Our effort in this direction is here presented.

The vista opening before the town towards the future is interminable, and the "living present " should have a jealous regard for the character of the statistics that are daily and yearly accumulating to go down the stream of time, from generation to generation.

The writer may be excused for indulging in bright anticipations as regards the future good name and welfare of his native town, particu- larly as his paternal grandfather was one of its original settlers, and of which his father was

a life-long, worthy citizen, and while he is the sole survivor of the third generation, and the last of the lineage who, in all probability, will ever abide here, the old home will continue in the time to come to be held in affectionate re- gard by descendants settled in other parts of this great country. Standing as he does not far re- moved from its beginning, he may also be excused for indulging in a speculative mood as regards the appearance of the valley of the Sugar and the village of Newport, or the place on which it stood, and the social, intellectual and moral characteristics of its population after the lapse of ten or . fifteen centuries, and our time shall have become " what men call ancient."

EPILOGUE.

Some six-score years ago, where Newport stands, A howling wilderness held all the lands ; The Sugar, pouring from its crystal lake, Wild, idle, resolute through bush and brake, Chanting or shouting from its rocks and falls To echoing hill-sides and lone forest halls ; And thus had poured and roared since time began And "wood or grass had grown or water rau."

At length the men of Killingworth appeared, And sound of axe and anvil's ring was heard; They builded dams across this rushing stream And clack of mills disturbed its ancient dream ; And next, in old colonial guise appear, The preacher, doctor, trader in the rear ; And thus our civil history began, Inspired by water-power and power of man.

How well those hardy yeomen wrought and planned In building, sawing, grinding, clearing land, How well they plied their trades and with what art The women spun and wove and did their part In founding homes and making glad a wild, Where, ne'er till then, had gentle woman smiled, Though daughters of the wigwam had been there In simple vestments and dark, shining hair.

The growth of this our town, as now appears, Resolves the progress of a hundred years, And of the various interests concerned On which a fair prosperity has turned, Have we not stated all ? It now remains To close the record-estimate the gains- And bid good speed in unpretentious rhyme, The chip now cast upon the stream of time.

P. S. Smelt

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NEWPORT.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

JOHN LANGDON SWETT, M.D.

John Langdon Swett, M.D., the subject of this sketch, and whose likeness is here presented, is of English ancestry.

It is among the traditions of his family that four brothers of the name emigrated to this country, some time during the colonial era, from the south of England ; that they were Puritans in faith, and, in their estimation, freedom to worship God in accordance with their own views and feelings, though it be in a far-off wilder- ness, across the ocean, was more desirable than all the comforts and privileges of their English home, with persecution for opinion's sake.

It was of this stern material that the New England States were founded, and from which they derived the brain-power and courage to enable its people to order and direct so largely in the earlier and later affairs of our country.

For more than two centuries the various branches of this family have occupied repu- table positions in society, in letters, in the pro- fessions and under the government. The paternal ancestor of Dr. Swett was one of these brothers. His maternal progenitor came from the Isle of Wight, in the English Channel, to the Massachusetts colony in the year 1637.

The first positive record we are able to obtain in regard to his lineage is found in the old fam- ily Bible of his grandparents, as follows :

Josiah Swett (1), born December 20, 1741, died December 25, 1808. Prudence, his wife, born October 9, 1747, died August 1, 1831. These lived and died in Wenham, Essex County, Mass.

Josiah Swett (2), their son, was born in Wen- ham October 2, 1768. He married, February 17, 1791, Hannah Healy, a native of Newton, Mass., born September 24, 1771. They re- moved to Claremont, N. H., in 1793, where they spent their lives and reared their ten chil- dren. The former died December 19, 1843,

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History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire, Part 138

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