History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire, Part 139

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 139
USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire > Part 139

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).

aged seventy-five years. The latter died De- cember 3, 1854, aged eighty three years.

John Langdon Swett, the ninth child of the foregoing,-born February 17, 1810,-was em- ployed on his father's farm until eighteen years of age, attending the public schools during the winters. In 1828 and 1829 he was a student at Wilbraham Academy, Mass., and in 1830 at Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, N. H. The two succeeding years were spent in teaching and perfecting himself in classical studies.

In 1833 he commenced the study of medi- cine under the tuition of Drs. Tolles and Kit- tredge, practitioners in Claremont. He attended two courses of lectures at Dartmouth Medical College, and one at Jefferson College, Philadel- phia, from which he received the degree of M.D. in March, 1836. In July of the same year he opened an office in Newport, where a generous and liberal patronage was accorded to him, and where he has remained in the success- ful practice of his profession for a period lack- ing only a few months of fifty years.

In 1841 he became a member of the New Hampshire Medieal Society, and has been hon- ored with various positions in this association, including that of its presidency in 1874, when he delivered an address upon the duties of the profession in regard to alcoholic stimu- lants.

He has been an active member, since 1864, of the National Medical Association, and served as a delegate from the New Hampshire Society to that association, which met in New York that year ; also a member of the Rocky Moun- tain Medical Society, and an honorary member of the California State Medical Society. He is a member and vice-president of the Alumni Association of Jefferson Medical College; also a member of the Masonic Fraternity.

In the year 1842 Doctor Swett married Miss Sarah E. Kimball, of Bradford. She became the mother of four children,-two of whom died in infancy,-and died greatly beloved and lamented June 7, 1852.

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Of these surviving children was Frances Mary, born June 29, 1843, who was educated at the Mt. Holyoke Female Seminary, Mass., and married, December 7, 1865, Charles C. Shat- tuck, a shipping merchant in San Francisco, where they reside. Their children are Eliza- beth Kimball, born October 19, 1866 ; Jane Frances, born June 30, 1875; Charles Curtis, born January 19, 1879.

The second surviving child was William Kimball, born March 7, 1852. He was fitted for the medical profession under the supervis- ion of Dr. J. P. Whitney, of San Francisco, and settled at Kerneville, Kerne County, Cal. He married, July 6, 1873, Lizzie A. Davis, of Visalia, Cal. Their children are John Lang- don (2), born August 17, 1874; William Kim- ball (2), born June 10, 1876. He died July 15, 1876, in the twenty-fifth year of his age.

Doctor Swett's second marriage, June 2, 1853, was with Rebecca, daughter of Ephraim Beaman, of Princeton, Mass. In later years he has three times visited the Pacific coast,- the first time accompanied by his wife.

In 1838, Doctor Swett purchased the place on Court Square for many years occu- pied by Doctor John B. MeGregor, who was about to remove to Rochester, N. Y. The location was central and delightful, and it became the home of his family until 1872, when it was acquired by the town as the site of the new court-house and town hall, built in 1873, destroyed by fire June 21, 1885, and re-erected on the same spot the same year. He afterward purchased a valuable estate on Maple Street, known as the " Russ Place," where he now re- sides, and continues to advise professionally or act in consultation with other physicians.

It is matter of satisfaction that we are able to illustrate this work with the likenesses of representative men of the medical profession, who in their time have been a benefit and an honor to the town.

Without proposing in any way to estimate the comparative value to mankind of the three

leading learned professions, we hazard nothing in stating that the one which has regard to the maladies and ills to which flesh and blood are subject comes nearer to us than either of the others.

The physician is called to visit in families under circumstances which develop their great- est inwardness. A diagnosis of the ailments of the body often, if not always, involves the con- dition of the mind of the patient, and it be- comes necessary that mental as well as physical temperament and tendencies should be regarded in view of successful treatment.

Another consideration bearing on this mat- ter is the fact that people generally are more than willing to disclose their aches and pains and feelings to their physician. Hence, the amount and diversity of information, confided to a medical practitioner of long standing, requiring discreet consideration.

Perhaps no practitioner was ever better equipped by disposition, temperament and abil- ity to meet these and others phases of life in the medical profession than Doctor Swett. No one has had higher regard for professional honor and etiquette as regard contemporaries or patrons. No physician has held a larger or more important practice in this and the ad- joining towns, or one that has resulted more successfully. His membership in the Congre- gational Church reaches back to 1842.

In all these years he has been a prominent and useful citizen of the town. He has loved and honored his profession, and in the evening of life may review with great satisfaction his fifty years in Newport.

DR. MASON HATCH.

Dr. Mason Hatch was a lineal descendant, in the sixth generation, of Joseph Hatch, who came from England to this country not many years after the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth; say about the year 1625-30. The motives that induced Joseph Hatch, in common with many

Hasan Hatch

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others, to leave the land of his nativity, cross the ocean and take up his residence in a wilder- ness, may be easily understood, as the non- conformity of the Puritans to the Established Church subjected them to many and grievous persecutions during the reigns of James I. and Charles I., from which they fled in disgust. Some time after his arrival he purchased of the Indians the original township of Fal- mouth, situated on the northeast part of Vine- yard Sound, in Barnstable County, Mass., where he settled, lived and died at an advanced age.

He left three sons,-Joseph, Benjamin and Jonathan-who were the progenitors of nearly all of the name in the United States.

The lineage of Dr. Hatch comes through,- 1st. Joseph(1), the English emigrant.

2d. Joseph (2), born in Falmouth, Mass., 1652. 3d. Ichabod, born in Falmouth, October 12, 1691, who married Abigail Weeks.

4th. Joseph, born in Tolland, Conn., August 15, 1718, who married Sarah Stearns. This family came to Alstead, N. H., about the year 1770 and were of the first settlers of that town.

5th. Mason (1), born in Tolland, August 23, 1762, who married Mitty Brooks. This Mason came to Alstead with his parents when a child.

6th. Mason (2), born in Alstead, March 3, 1791, who is the subject of this sketch.

Dr. Hatch commenced the study of medicine when about twenty years of age, first with Dr. T. D. Brooks, of Alstead, continuing his studies with his kinsman, Dr. Reuben Hatch, of Hills- borough, and Dr. Charles Adams, of Keene, and was graduated from the Dartmouth Medical College.

He first settled in Hillsborough, and was there engaged in good and successful business for more than twenty years, and to him the homes and roads, hills and dales of old Hills- borough were ever dear. On March 5, 1818,- the first year of his settlement there,-he married Apphia Andrews, born March 5, 1795. To them were born eight children, viz .: (1) Emily

T., born April 1, 1819, died September 1839; (2) Abigail A., born February 6, 1821, died October, 1839 ; (3) Leonard, died in infancy ; (4) Sarah S., born June 19, 1824, married Sanı- uel C. Baldwin ; (5) Louisa F., born April 10, 1827, married Dexter Richards, of Newport ; (6) Charles M., died in infancy ; (7) Ellen M., born September 19, 1834, married William Nourse, of Newport ; (8) Caroline, died in in- fancy. There are no living male descendants of the name in his family.

Dr. Hatch removed to Bradford in 1836, where he remained until the year 1838, when he came to Newport to occupy the place made vaeant by the death of his brother, Dr. Isaac Hatch, who had been settled here about two years.

After a successful professional career in New- port of nearly forty years, he died December 2, 1876, in the eighty-sixth year of his age. His wife, Apphia, the mother of his children, died September 18, 1855. He contracted a second marriage, November 12, 1856, with Mrs. Mary R. Day, of Cornish, who survived him several years.

It is matter of gratification that hearts full of loving and filial regard have placed in this volume the "counterfeit presentment " of Dr. Mason Hatch. It is also eminently fitting that a face which has been so familiar in the homes of Newport and the adjoining towns for nearly forty years prior to his decease, in 1876, should thus be placed on record in a book that is likely to be found in so many of these homes, and that one for whom a sincere per- sonal regard has been so widely entertained should be thus presented and preserved after his days of usefulness are past and his earthly career ended. Aside from his professional life, it is pleasant to find herein the likeness of one with whom we have been familar as a neigh- bor and a citizen, and whose presence was always sunshine,-one who had a kind look, or word or incident for all with whom he met. We do not believe there lived in Newport or

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HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

the county of Sullivan an individual who ever felt inclined to take a street-crossing to avoid a meeting with Dr. Hatch. There was a vein of original humor about him that was not only amusing, but positively instructive. His joke, or story or comparison had a point that did not fail to tell upon the matter under consid- eration. Many of his apt sayings are still qnoted with appreciative delight.

It will be pleasing to greet on one of these pages the face of one whose head-to use a familiar expression-was "always level " in re- gard to matters and things generally. He despised shams and destroyed them with an emphatic "pshaw !" There was a basis of good sense and judgment in the mental con- struction of the man that insured success in his own undertakings and made his opinion val- uable to other people.

His medical practice was large, extending to the adjoining towns, and his tenderness and care and ability gave him success and a strong hold upon the feelings of his patrons. Profes- sionally, he was not given to technicalities, but stated matters in terms within the comprehen- sion of patient and patron. It is very probable that his character in this regard, and which with him was perfectly natural, added to his popularity as a physician. By his industry and good management he acquired a handsome es- tate. His residence was pleasantly situated on Main Street, and his lands spread out over the intervales and the uplands near the village. He was a prominent and valuable citizen in all town affairs, and was twice called upon-1854 and 1855-to represent the town in the State Legislature. His publie character and private life were above reproach. In religious belief, he was true to the convictions which forced his ancestor to emigrate to this country, and lived and died a worthy and conscientious member of the Congregational Church. He is referred to elsewhere in this sketch of Newport.

THOMAS SANBORN., M.D.

Thomas Sanborn, M.D., the subject of this sketch, was a native of Sanbornton, N. H., born September 26, 1811. He was a grandson of Benaiah Sanborn,-in his time, an eminent and highly-esteemed physician of that part of the State,-the only son of Christopher Smith Sanborn and a lineal descendant, in the fifth generation, of Daniel Sanborn, one of the first settlers of that town and from whom it derived its name.

The early years of Dr. Sanborn were oc- cupied in the duties and privileges incident to the life of a New England farmer's boy of that period. He engaged in farm-work, attended the district school during the winter seasons, and the village academy, and thus came to adult age with a sound constitution, a clear head and a basis of general knowledge on which afterward to construct his valuable life-work.

The death of his father, by drowning, which occurred when he was sixteen years of age, greatly increased his responsibility as a member of the family, but only to develop additional strength and excellence of character.

A good son, with a careful regard for the happiness and welfare of his widowed mother and sister, he remained for five or six years at the homestead and industriously aided in the management of the farm and other family affairs.

In the year 1831 he engaged for a time in a mercantile business in Lawrence, Mass., but the outlook in that direction was not at- tractive, and he turned from it to enlist in the study of medicine.

It is more than probable that his course in regard to this matter took shape in accordance with the often-expressed wish of his grand- father that one of his grandsons might choose for his life-work the profession in which he had achieved so much of distinction and success.

In 1833 he entered the office of Dr. Thomas P. Hill, of Sanbornton, and, after a term of study, attended on a course of lectures at the

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Maine Medical School, at Brunswick. The suc- ceeding five or six years were devoted to other affairs ; but, in 1839, he resumed his medical studies, under the direction of his brother-in- law, Dr. W. H. Hosmer, of New London (now of Penacook), with whom he remained two years, in the mean time attending two courses of lectures at the Dartmouth Medical College. He was subsequently, for some time, under the patronage and instruction of Dr. Gilman Kim- ball, of Lowell, Mass. He received his medical degree from Dartmouth in 1841, and commenced practice in Goshen, where he re- mained until August, 1843, when he removed to Newport.

After locating in this town Dr. Sanborn availed himself of lectures and hospital prac- tice at the Bellevue Medical Institution, in New York City, and applied himself with great assiduity to the continued study, as well as the practice, of his profession. A successful under- standing and management of the cases that came under his care and his conspicuous skill as a surgeon in due time won for him an extended and profitable patronage and a wide celebrity. In view of greater proficiency in ' many of the details of his professional work, Dr. Sanborn, in 1853, crossed the Atlantic and traveled ex- tensively in England, Scotland, France and Belgium, visiting their medical schools, hos- pitals and museums, returning to his home and friends in Newport with an increased intel- ligence, professionally, for the benefit of his patrons, and that enlarged view of men and things derived from foreign travel.

Aside from his professional standing, he was a public-spirited and leading citizen of the town, which he twice represented-1857, 1858-in the State Legislature, to the satisfaction of a large constituency.

Among the many distinguished surgical op- erations performed by Dr. Sanborn we take the liberty of referring to one which was re- ported in detail in the New Hampshire Journal of Medicine of May, 1855. It was a plastic

operation for the relief of deformity resulting from a burn, it being one of the first in this part of the State which proved entirely successful.

The subject was Jane Johnson, of Newbury, ten years of age. The burning occurred when she was four years of age and resulted in the following deformities : "Thick, uneven cica- trix, bending the chin down to the sternum, pulling the under-lip below the chin and ex- posing the mucous membrane; everting the inferior eyelids; twisting the neck so as to cause the face to look toward the right shoul- der ; bending the inferior maxillaries ; causing the inferior incisors to project. The mouth was kept constantly open and there was a continual flow of saliva, which she was entirely unable to retain. The assistance of the fingers was re- quired to retain the food in the mouth for mas- tication, the posterior molars only coming in contact." The friends report that " the wry neck is cured, the eye natural, exhibiting none of the deformity observed before the operation. The saliva is retained in the mouth, the food masticated without the aid of the fingers, and the patient continually improving in personal appearance."

Dr. Sanborn took a decided stand in favor of the Union of the States, and manifested his patriotism in deeds, as well as words. In 1863 he was appointed surgeon of the Sixteenth Regiment New Hampshire Volunteers, and served with distinction in the Nineteenth Army Corps in Louisiana. After his return he was appointed United States army surgeon of this military department.

He was a member of the New Hampshire Medical Society, the National Medical Asso- ciation and the Connecticut Medical Society. He was also a Past Master of the Mount Vernon Lodge of Masons.

The social and domestic relations of Dr. Sanborn were ever of the most agreeable char- acter. He married, November 14, 1844, Har- riet, a daughter of Hon. David Allen, of this town. Their children were,-

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HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

1. Harriet E., born October 30, 1845, died August 16, 1864.

2. Mary J., born March 16, 1847, was edu- cated at Mount Holyoke Seminary, Mass., be- came the wife of Rev. George H. Ide, of Hopkinton, Mass., the mother of two chil- dren,-Carrie S., born June 2, 1872, Charles E., born January 22, 1874, and died January 26, 1875.

3. Thomas Benton, born July 9, 1852.

4. Christopher Allen, born April 5, 1855, married, September 16, 1885, Mary Braman, daughter of Hon. Augustus Mudge, of Dan- vers, Mass.

5. Kate A., born March 19, 1867.

The Sanborns for many years owned and oc- cupied as a residence the place at present known as "Cheney's Block." After disposing of this property-1872-which came into use as the post-office and for other business purposes, they removed to a pleasant and otherwise desirable residence farther north on Main Street, oppo- site the Park, which continues to be the home of the family.

Dr. Sanborn took great pleasure in being the owner of a farm-a sentiment that undoubtedly came along with him from his boyhood and early experiences-and in the producing of hay and grain and in the raising of cattle and horses. He first owned the place on Corbin Hill once occupied by Dr. James Corbin, and afterwards the Gordon Buell farm, near Guild Station and post-office, which remains in pos- session of the family.

Dr. Sanborn was a thorough scholar, a man of the strictest integrity and possessed a remark- ably kind and genial disposition. He sought no place or preferment-the place and the pre- ferment sought him. His great experience, general reading and good judgment made him a safe practitioner in all departments of his profession, and a wise counselor professionally and in general affairs. His life in Newport covered a period of more than thirty years. His death occurred July 23, 1875, in the sixty-

fourth year of his age. The decease of no citizen of the town has been more generally lamented.

It is proper to state, in connection with this biography, that Dr. Thomas Sanborn has been worthily succeeded by his sons, Thomas B. and Christopher A. (see genealogy), who, first, under his careful influence and instruction, and, after- ward, under other instructors and in the best schools and hospitals of the country, have been thoroughly educated and taken their places in the medical profession, and are unitedly carrying on and extending the practice founded by their father. It is through their filial regard and loyalty to his name and memory that we are able to place his likeness and this brief record of his life upon the pages of this volume.

HON. LEVI WINTER BARTON.1

Ancestral excellence is an invaluable legacy. As a rule, " blood will tell," and the marked physical mental and moral traits of a promi- nent family are likely to re-appear in many successive generations. And added to this hereditary wealth comes the inspiration of a noble example, suggesting the possibility and the desirability of worthy, helpful living. The subject of this sketch was fortunate in this re- gard. In the garnered wealth of a vigorous, talented and virtuous ancestry, he has " a good- ly heritage."

Levi W. Barton's parents were Bezaleel Barton (2d), and Hannah (Powers) Barton.

The family of Power (or Le Poer, as former- ly written) was of Norman extraction, and set- tled in England at the conquest of that king- dom by the Normans, under William, Duke of Normandy, in the person of Power, or Le Poer, who is recorded in " Battle Abbey" as one of the commanders at the battle of Hastings, in 1066. Soon after Sir John Le Poer resided in Poershayse, Devonshire, England.

In 1172 one of his descendants, Sir Roger

1 By Rev. J. W. Adams.

I. M. Bailen

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Le Poer, went with Earl Stoughton in his inva- sion and partial conquest of Ireland, where he greatly distinguished himself, and received large grants of land. He was the ancestor of a succession of distinguished men, among whom were Sir Nicholas Le Poer, who had a summons to Par- liament in 1375 as Baron Le Poer, and Sir Richard, Sir Peter, Sir Eustace and Sir Ar- nold Le Poer.

The family was also a distinguished one in England, from the Norman Conquest down. In 1187 Richard Poer, of this line, high sheriff of Gloucestershire, England, was killed defend- ing the " Lord's day ;" and Sir Henry Le Poer distinguished himself greatly as a commander under the Duke of Wellington.

This remarkable family has outlived the dynasties of the Conquerer, the Plantaganets, the Tudors and the Stuarts and flourishes yet.

Since the time of Queen Elizabeth they have returned to their early orthography of Power, and finally, in America, here added " s," mak- ing it Powers.

Walter Powers, the ancestor of all the Pow- ers families of Croydon, N. H., was born in . 1639. He came to Salem, Mass., in 1654. He married, January 11, 1660, Trial, daugh- ter of Deacon Ralph Shepherd. He died in Nashoba in 1708.

The town, in 1715, was incorporated by the name of Littleton (Mass.)

Of the nine children of Walter and Trial Powers, the eldest, William, was born in 1661, and married, in 1688, Mary Bank.

Of the nine children of William and Mary (Bank) Powers, William (2d), was born 169] and married, 1713, Lydia Perham.

Of the four children of William (2d) and Lydia (Perham) Powers, Lemuel was born in 1714 and married Thankful Leland, of Grafton, Mass., daughter of Captain James Leland. All except the eldest of their children settled in Croydon, and two of his sons served that town as soldiers in Revolution.

Of the ten children of Lemuel and Thank-

ful (Leland) Powers, Ezekiel was born in Graf- ton, Mass., March 16, 1745, and married, Jan- uary 28, 1767, Hannah Hall, of Uxbridge, Mass. Levi W. Barton was their grandson.

They came to Croydon in 1767. He was a man of industry and indomitable energy. He died in Croydon November 11, 1808. His widow died October 21, 1835.

· Of the seven children of Ezekiel and Han- nah (Hall) Powers, Ezekiel, Jr. (the first male child born in Croydon), was born May 2, 1771. He married Susannah Riee, January 18, 1790. Of the six children of Ezekiel, Jr., and Su- sannah (Rice) Powers, Hannah (mother of Levi W.) was born February 20, 1795, and married Bezaleel Barton, born in 1794.

The Bartons are of English descent. With - out undertaking to be precise as to the de- tails of kinship, we are able to identify the fol- lowing as among their earliest ancestry in New England : Marmaduke Barton was in Sa- lem as early as 1638. Edward was in Salem in 1640. Rufus fled from the persecution of the Dutch at Manhattan, N. Y., and settled in Portsmouth, R. I., in 1640, and died in 1648. Mrs. Eliza Barton testified in an important case at Piscataqua, N. H., in 1656. Edward, undoubtedly the one living in Salem in 1640, and husband of Eliza Barton, came to Exeter, N. H., in 1657, and died at Cape Porpoise January, 1671. Benjamin Barton, of Warwick, son of Rufus Barton, married, June 9, 1669, Su- sannah Everton. Edward Barton, son of Ed- ward of Exeter, took the freeman's oath in 1674. Dr. John Barton, son of Dr. James Barton, married, April 20, 1676, Lydia Roberts, of Salem, Mass.

James Barton, born in 1643, came to Boston, Mass., before 1670. He died in Weston, Mass., in 1729, aged eighty-six years. Samuel Barton (probably son of Dr. James Barton) was born in 1666. He testified in a witch case (in favor of the witch, be it said to his credit) in Salem, Mass., in 1691. Stephen Barton was at Bris- tol (then in Massachusetts) in 1690.

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HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

Colonel William Barton, born in Providence R. I., in 1747,-who with a small body of men crossed Narragansett Bay on the night of July 20, 1777, passed unnoticed three British ves- sels, landed, reached the quarters of the Eng- lish General Prescott, and captured him, for which history informs us he received from Congress the gift of a sword, a commission as colonel and a tract of land in Vermont,-was a descendant of Samnel Barton and Hannah, his wife, ancestors of the Bartons, the early settlers of Croydon.

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History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire, Part 139

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