History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire, Part 19

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 19
USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire > Part 19

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IV. Daniel, Dr., born 1792, Dartmouth Col- lege, 1813 ; married Abby Greelee ; had two sons and two daughters, viz. : Augustus Gree- lee, Henry Bond, Lucy and Caroline; died 1865.

6. JOHN ELLIOT.6-Business life, chiefly with his maternal relative, Aaron Appleton, at Keene, manufacturing window-glass ; he was for many years President of the Cheshire Bank, at Keene ; married Deborah Bixby ; born 1787, died 1880, and had two sons and two dangh- ters, viz .:

I. D. Maria, died, unmarried, in 1862, aged fifty-one.

II. John Henry,7 Harvard University, 1835, A.B. and A.M.

III. James Bixby, married (1) Harriet R. Eames, who died 1868; had four sons and two daughters, viz. : James H., Harvard Univer- sity, 1864, Arthur N., George B., Andrew R., Grace and Florence.

Married (2) Jane Savage.

IV. Frances, died an infant, 1818.

7. JOHN HENRY ELLIOT,7 studied law ; bus- iness life was spent as treasurer, trustee and ac- tuary of the Ashuelot Railroad ; secretary and director of the Cheshire Railroad; president of Cheshire Fire Insurance Company and of the Cheshire Bank ; and president or director in several other corporations. He was a member of the Executive Council of New Hampshire at the fall of the slaveholders' reign and the rise of the plutocratic rule of the nation. Rei- publicce forma-laudare facilius quam erenire. Married, 1848, Emily Ann Wheelock, born 1821, died 1860 ; their children were:

I. William Henry, Harvard University, 1872, A.B. and LL.B .; married, 1882, Mary Fiske Edwards.

II. John Wheelock, Harvard University, 1874, A.B. and M.D .; married 1883, Mary Lee Morse.

III. Emily Jane, married, 1882, Tucker Daland ; Harvard University, 1873, A.B. and LL.B.

IV. Russell Gray, died an infant, 1858.

CALEB T. BUFFUM.

Caleb Talbot Buffum, son of James and Ruth (Bliss) Buffum, was born in Royalston, Mass., June 4, 1820. His father, a farmer, married Ruth, daughter of Nathan Bliss, and had ten children, of whom six are living. (Na- than Bliss was one of the "embattled farmers of 1776," and attained a great age-over ninety years.) James Buffum moved to Keene about 1830, where he now resides, aged ninety-two.

Caleb, in his sixteenth year, went to learn the tailor's trade with Dinsmore, White & Lyon, a leading mercantile house of Keene. Remaining with them four years, he worked as journeyman one year, then, in 1841, he formed a co-partnership with Jonas Parker, under firm- title of Buffum & Parker, and commenced his long and successful business career as a clothier in Keene. For fifteen years this firm was one of the prominent mercantile houses of Keene, and conducted a large and prosperous business. Then Mr. Buffum, aspiring for a larger field and greater opportunities, elosed his connection with the firm of which he had been so long a member and established himself in Boston as a wholesale dealer in clothing and furnishing goods. This new sphere of activity was highly congenial to Mr. Buffum's business nature, and had not his health failed, he to-day would doubtless be one of Boston's merchants ; but on account of his health he was compelled to dispose of his business interests in Boston, and go to Florida to recuperate. In the spring he returned to Keene, with his health greatly improved, and finding the bracing atmosphere of his own home to be more beneficial to him than that of Boston, he repurchased his old interest in the clothing business, and, with his brother formed the firm of C. T. & G. B. Buffum, and, with slight changes, this was con- tinued until January, 1871, when Mr. Buffum retired from active business. As a business man, Mr. Buffum has been energetic, far-seeing, saga- cious, careful and conservative. He never strained his eredit and believed heartily in cash payments, and during his entire business life never gave but one note in commercial transac- tions. His shrewd common sense and good

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judgment combined with his financial ability have made him a prominent factor in the moneyed institutions of Keene. He has been for several years a director of the Ashuelot National Bank. When the Keene Five-Cents Savings-Bank was incorporated, in 1868, he was one of the incorporators, was made one of the trustees, and placed on the board of invest- ment, to which he has given much time, and of which he is now a valued member. January 1, 1876, he was elected president of the savings- bank and yet continues in that office. He is actively interested in the Lombard Investment Company, of Boston, Mass., and Creston, Iowa, of which he is a director. He has dealt somewhat in real estate in Keene and quite largely in Western and Florida lands. He is interested in, and officially connected with, several financial and monetary institutions in the West.

Republican in politics, he represented the town of Keene two years in the State Legisla- ture, but has not sought official distinction or political preferment. He is an alderman of Keene the present year. In religious belief he is a liberal Unitarian, and a generous contribu- tor to that church of which he is a member. He has been much interested in the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and for a long term of years was president of the Keene Humane Society, resigning the position in 1884.

Mr. Buffum married, first, April 19, 1843, Susan R., daughter of Lewis Gilmore, of Charlestown, N. H .; she died December 21, 1854. They had one child, Ellen A., who died at the age of sixteen. He married, second, February 23, 1857, Sarah A., daughter of Asa Stratton, of Greenfield, Mass. The two chil- dren of this marriage were Fred. Lincoln, born November 14, 1860, died December 5, 1867, aged seven years, and Susie S., born April 19, 1865.

Since his retirement from active business Mr. Buffum has traveled extensively through- out the United States, having passed three winters in Florida, California and on the Pacific slope. He is a great lover of hunting and fishing, and enjoys the charms which a true lover of nature discovers in her varied

creations. It is said of him, by one who knows him well, that " few men know better how to eraek a joke, catch a fish or make life happier than Caleb T. Buffum." He has a fine collec- tion of mounted birds and animals,-trophies of his skill with gun and rod. To these have been added other specimens, the gifts of friends, and various minerals, geological and antiquarian objects of interest, the whole being arranged and classified with that system and order which is an essential part of Mr. Buffum's nature, and to which he attributes his success in life.

He possesses a strong personality, is leal and loyal in his friendships, and is a gentleman of broad and liberal views : consequently an ex- tremely agreeable social companion. He is kind and affectionate in his family relations, and a worthy citizen, whose character through life has been marked by honesty, integrity and honor ; he, to-day, holds no second place in the regards of his large circle of friends.

EX-GOVERNOR SAMUEL W. HALE.

Ex-Governor Samuel W. Hale has been a well-known resident of Keene for more than a quarter-century. It was not his native place, but there he has spent most of his maturer years. He was born in Fitchburg, Mass., April 2, 1823, and is descended from Moses Hale, of Newbury, whose son, Moses Hale (2d), married Abigail Smith, of West Newbury, and came to Fitchburg to live about 1786. He there reared a family of children, the third of whom was Samuel Hale, who married Saloma Whit- ney, of Westminster, Mass. Both Moses Hale and his son Samuel were farmers by occupation, and the old homestead was situated on one of those magnificent hills which now overlook the thriving city of Fitchburg. Among these pleasant surroundings the boy Samuel Whitney Hale had his birth, and here, by vigorous out- door labor, a strong physical constitution was moulded. As is always the case, the early teachings of this home in moral and religious truths have exercised a constant influence in developing character.

The advantages of the district school and town academy were the best to be had at home,

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HISTORY OF CHESHIRE COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

but they were improved until the boy graduated into the more extensive school of life's labors. At an early age he began to work on his father's farm, and continued to do so until, at the age of twenty-two, he left the parental roof to en- gage in business with his brother, already es- tablished in Dublin, N. H. There he remained until the year 1859, when he removed to Keene, then a busy town, awakened into life by new industries. He there began the manufacture of chairs, at first in a small way; but, as the busi- ness prospered, enlarging it, until it became the South Keene Chair Company, which has con- ducted for many years an extensive trade. Mr. Hale, from time to time, became interested in various business enterprises. In 1879 he es- tablished the Ashuelot Furniture Company, which employed more than one hundred men, until it was destroyed by fire, in February, 1884. In 1882 he purchased the Lebanon Woolen Mills, at Lebanon, N. H.

He became a director in the Citizens' National Bank of Keene and the Wachusett Bank of Fitchburg. The building of the Manchester and Keene Railroad, now a branch of the Bos- ton and Lowell, was a great undertaking, and required the most untiring energy and persever- ance. It was " confessedly a disastrous failure until Mr. Hale and his associates came to its rescue." They succeeded in carrying it to a successful completion. He was at one time treasurer of the Boston, Winthrop and Point Shirley Railroad, and subsequently president of the Boston, Winthrop and Shore Railroad.

Ever since its organization, ex-Governor Hale has been a strong supporter of the Republican party. His first vote was cast for the Free-Soil candidate. During the struggles against sla- very, in discussion and in the War of the Rebel- lion, his advocacy of the principles of freedom and equality was uncompromising. In 1866 he was elected a member of the State Legisla- ture, and re-elected the next year. He was a member of the Governor's Council in 1869 and 1870, and a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1880. After a prolonged and exciting canvass he was nominated, in Septem- ber, 1882, to be the Republican gubernatorial candidate. The campaign was one of unusual

interest, but, amid the general disaster which overtook the Republicans throughout the coun- try, Mr. Hale was elected Governor of New Hampshire. He filled the executive office for a term of two years, from June, 1883. Dur- ing his administration many important measures were adopted. Ex-Governor Hale has been known as a friend of every good cause. He is connected with the Second Congregational Church in Keene, and is a member of the Masonic order.

He married, in 1850, Emelia M. Hay, of Dublin, and has two children,-a son, William S., of Keene, and a daughter, Mary L., the wife of Rev. William De Loss Love, of Hart- ford, Conn.

For many years ex-Governor Hale has re- sided in the house built by ex-Governor Samuel Dinsmoor, on Main Street, Keene.

JOHN H. FULLER.

No history of Keene would be complete without more than a reference to John H. Fuller. Identified with every business de- velopment, the largest purchaser of wool in the county, when it was a common thing for a single farmer to raise from one to two thousand pounds, he was yet democratic and unconven- tional in all things, with an honesty that was never questioned. His son, John Quincy Ful- ler, furnishes the steel engraving accompanying this history as a son's tribute to the memory of a worthy father. The following sketch of Mr. Fuller was written by J. Henry Elliot, his associate and friend of years :

John Houghton Fuller was of a family that emigrated from Lunenburg, in Massachusetts, to Walpole, in this county, some time in the final decade of the last century.

He passed his minority in Walpole, and be- gan active life in a country store, first in Ches- terfield, then in Winchester and lastly in Keene, where he soon engaged in wool dealing, which became the main business of his after-life.

While living in Winchester he was called to act as adjutant-general of the government forces stationed at Portsmouth in the closing season of the War of 1812; and it was there,

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too, that he married a daughter of the Rev. Ezra Conant, by whom he had three sons and three daughters. He was the principal pro- moter and first president of the Winchester Bank, of the Ashuelot Railway and the Keene Five-Cents Savings-Bank.

He reclaimed, at great expense, a large area of waste land in Keene, lying north of Cross Street and between Court and Washington Streets-laid out and built streets, located a school reservation and aided many homeless families to secure homes upon wise and practic- able terms.

He died suddenly in the winter of 1869 at the age of seventy-seven years, leaving a repu- tation of the highest type of old New England character and a well-to-do estate, that was in no way tainted or fused with false weights or measures.

GORDIS D. HARRIS.

Arthur Harris, an Englishman, emigrated to America in the early part of the seventeenth century, as we find him a resident of Duxbury, Mass., in 1640, and he was one of the first set- tlers and one of the three original proprietors of Bridgewater. He died in Boston in 1693. He had four children, and of his numerous de- scendants, many have become distinguished in the various professions and callings for which their natural talents and tastes have fitted them. The line to the present generation is Arthur, Isaac Abner, Abner, Abner, John, Wilder, Gordis D.

Mr. Wilder Harris was formerly a resident, engaged in farming and the manufacture of lumber, of Chesterfield, N. H .; in 1865 he re- moved to Brattleborough, Vt., where he now lives. Although now, (April, 1885) nearly eighty-eight years old, Mr. Harris carries his years with all the activity and grace of a much younger man-the result of his vigorous constitution, busy life and temperate habits. He has always been warmly interested in religious matters, and is a liberal contributor to the support of the Methodist Church. His children are George Francis, born March 7, 1818 ; Broughton Davis, born Au- gust 16, 1822 ; and Gordis Day.

Gordis Day Harris, third child of Wilder and Harriet (Davis) Harris, was born in Chesterfield, N. H., October 29, 1824. His edu- cation was received at the common schools and academy of Chesterfield, in which town he learned the trade of carpenter. Believing a larger place would give more remuneration for his labor, he removed to Fitchburg, Mass., in 1845, where he established a home, marrying, October 29, 1848, Eunice B., daughter of Ziba and Nancy (Babbitt) Albee, also of Chesterfield, and resided there for nineteen years. He first carried on carpentering and building for several years with success. He began his long and ex- tensive connection with railroad contracting in 1851, by taking a contract to build depots and turn-tables on the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad; and, by steady and rapid advances, he was soon holding contracts involving large amounts to build railroads. He was of strong physique, active, resolute and accomplished much labor. He always has had a pleasant frankness of manner, which won many friends. This had a happy influence in his business re- lations, which were highly satisfactory. In May, 1864, accompanied by his wife, he went to Cali- fornia, where he became a resident, and, with his accustomed activity, was soon connected with important business interests. He remained on the Pacific slope until October, 1872, passing most of that period east of the Sierras, pros- pecting and mining in the various States and Territories of California, Nevada, Idaho and Utah. His energy, pluck and perseverance were handsomely rewarded. July 4, 1870, he dis- covered in the Pilot Knob range of mountains, in the extreme west part of Utah, the valuable Tecoma mines, rich in carbonate of silver and lead. These were worked from the time of discovery until September, 1872, when they were sold to Messrs. Howland & Aspinwall, of New York.

Returning to New Hampshire, Mr. Harris made his home first in Chesterfield, and since 1873 in Keene, in close proximity to the scenes of his boyhood, where he has since resided.

Although in possession of an ample compe- tency, Mr. Harris is of too active a tempera- ment to withdraw from business life. He is a

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member of the firm of Harris Brothers & Co., general contractors for the construction of rail- roads, public works and other operations of magnitude; and, in company with his brother, Broughton D., he is now largely engaged in operating the famous Peach Orchard coal-mines, Peach Orchard, at Lowance County, Ky., which they purchased January 1, 1884. The daily output of the mines is at present four hundred tons. This amount they are proposing to soon raise to eight hundred or a thousand tons per day.

Mr. Harris has been a pronounced Whig and Republican, casting his first vote for President in 1848 for General Taylor. He represented Chesterfield in the State Legislature of 1873, and Keene in that of 1881. He is a Unitarian in religious belief, and a member of Lodge of the Temple, F. and A. M., of Keene. Possessed of a powerful will, untiring energy and industry, and endowed with a high order of business talent, he has overcome all obstacles that confronted him. With his strong physique and resolute nature, he has been a man of one purpose-his business. Generous, kind-hearted, public spirit- ed, energetic and wide-awake, Mr. Harris is a good representative of the clear-headed, ambi- tious, successful business men of Cheshire County.

DANIEL HI. HOLBROOK.

It is probable that no other name is so inti- mately connected with the introduction of water into Keene and the construction and care of the water-works, in the mind of the public, as Daniel H. Holbrook, and it seems appropri- ate to give a space in this record to his life.

Daniel H. Holbrook (7), son of John and Mercy (Hill) Holbrook, was born in Swanzey, N. H., January 8, 1806, and is consequently seventy-nine years old. He comes of an old Massachusetts family, dating in American resi- dence to the early days of the colony, and going back through centuries of honorable and dis- tinguished existence in England, where the family is entitled to bear arms. The first American emigrants of the name, and the pro- genitors of the greater number bearing the

name to-day, were John and Thomas, brothers, who settled in Weymouth, Mass., in 1640. According to the best authorities attainable the following is the line to Daniel H .: John (1), was a man of consideration, had quite a family, and a son, John (2), who became a resident in Weymouth. His son, John (3), settled in Ux- bridge, where he was a man of public note, and entrusted with various offices. John (4) mar- ried, in 1732, a native of Mendon. John Hol- brook (6) was born in Uxbridge, Mass., in 1778, and was the son of John Holbrook (5), a farmer in the fertile valley of the Blackstone River. This farmer, John (5), married Rhoda Thay- er, of Mendon, a daughter of a promi- nent, numerous and honorable family of New England, and emigrated about the year 1800 to Swanzey, N. H., where he passed the remainder of his life. John (6) had a decidedly mechani- cal turn of mind and learned the trades of car- penter, joiner and wheelwright. In 1799 he enlisted as a soldier for nine months in the so- called French and Spanish War, to repel inva- sion. He married, in Mendon, Mass., Mercy, daughter of Daniel and Mercy (Howard) Hill. He was a skilled mechanic, and, after working at his trade for two years, he also removed to Swanzey, settling in the south part of the town, where, in process of time, he purchased land for a home, and erected buildings thereon. He lived to be about sixty,-dying May 7, 1838. Although a strong adherent to Jeffersonian De- mocracy, he was not an active politician, but was much interested in military matters, and was influential in forming a company of men, who, like himself, were exempt from military service. In this company he held a lieutenant's commission, and was noted as a disciplinarian. His children who became adults were Rhoda, married Nathan Cheney, resided in Boston, where she died, leaving one child, Ellen ; Dan- iel Hill ; Abida, married Hiram Bolles, lived and died in Baraboo, Wis. ; Sophia, married Carlostine Blake, and now lives in Keene (her two children, John H. and Nathan C., died when young men); Susan A., married Randall Bolles, lived and died in Swanzey (her chil- dren were Hiram H., M. Maria (Mrs. Angell), Abida A. (Mrs. Abijah Holbrook), Ellen E.

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(Mrs. Frederick Farr) ; Chloe, married James Pierce, lives in Sharpsville, Pa. (has children, Jonas J., Walter and Wallace (twins), Franklin, James B.); John ; Mercy H., married Ebenezer Flanders, of Hopkinton, Mass., and now lives in Henniker (Mrs. Mercy Holbrook was born July 1, 1800, and died in December, 1876).

Daniel Hill Holbrook was named from his maternal grandfather, Daniel Hill, a worthy farmer of Mendon, Mass.,-a man of strong physique and of strong mental qualities. He fought valiantly in the Continental army of the Revolution, and, at a hale old age, was gathered to his fathers, honored and mourned by all.

Daniel Holbrook, until he was sixteen, was given such educational advantages as were af- forded by the old-time district schools, and was especially apt and ready in mathematics, ac- quiring such skill in mental calculations as to surprise even now many expert accountants. He labored with his father until 1825, both as a carpenter and farmer, when he went to Bos- ton, and was a witness to the imposing ceremo- nies attending the laying of the corner-stone of Bunker Hill monument. He remained in Bos- ton a year or two, then returned to Swanzey, and commenced that life of hard work which, united with good judgment and skill, during the course of years, built up not only financial prosperity, but also a character for integrity, ability and sterling common-sense. He became a farmer and also manufactured lumber, which latter business acquired, in time, large propor- tions.

He purchased, in 1832, the mills known as Holbrook's Mills, which he rebuilt in 1845. He became, in connection with manufacturing, an extensive dealer in lumber, purchasing the product of other mills, filling many contracts with railroad corporations, sending many rafts down the Connecticut, and shipping largely to Keene, Brattleborough and other places.

In 1865, his diligence and attention to business having met a satisfactory return, be sold his mill and removed to Keene, where he has since resided. He married, September 5, 1837, Caro- line, daughter of Josiah and Sophia (Lawrence) Prime. She died December 5, 1880. Their children were Ellen S. (died young), Chloe P.,

John J. (see biography) and Frances V. (Mrs. D. M. Nichols).

Since his residence in Keene, Mr. Holbrook has been most active in his connection with the water-works. In 1868 he was one of a commis- sion of five elected by the town to introduce water into the city,-build necessary dams, reservoirs, etc. The greater part of the super- intendence of this work fell upon Mr. Holbrook, and from that time to the present he has been prominently connected with it. He has been superintendent and commissioner, and in 1872 he successfully conducted the water under the Ashuelot River, and introduced the water on the north side. His wise judgment, practical experience and mechanical skill have been of great benefit to the city in this branch of public service. He consented to serve as assessor and supervisor of Swanzey in 1849, but could not spare time from his business to accept other proffered offices. He was a Jeffersonian in pol- itics until 1872, supporting the Democratic nominations. Since then he has acted indepen- dently of party.

With a strong mind and well-preserved phy- sical powers, Mr. Holbrook is passing the closing years of his life, cheered by the affection of lov- ing daughters, and blessed with the esteem of a large range of acquaintance, who prize him for his sterling worth.

JOHN JOSIAH HOLBROOK, A.M.

John Josiah Holbrook, only son of Daniel H. and Caroline (Prime) Holbrook, was born in Swanzey, N. H., December 10, 1844. He received an academic education, showing the true qualities of a successful student, at the sem- inaries of his native town and Townshend, Vt., and at the High School of Keene. He prepared for college at New London, N. H., and entered Brown University, from which he was gradu- ated in 1872, and where, as expressed by one of his university professors, "he distinguished himself above all others by his taste and aptitude for experimental science," and was an enthusi- astic and earnest worker. After graduation, with deep religious consecration, he pursued the three years' course of study at Newton (Mass.)

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History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire, Part 19

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