History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire, Part 29

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 29
USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire > Part 29

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).

Though extensively engaged in business, Mr. Haile took a prominent part in political affairs. With the exception of two years, he represented Hinsdale in the General Court from 1846 to 1854; was elected to the New Hampshire Sen- ate in 1854 and 1855, of which body he was also president the latter year, and was again elected representative in 1856. The next year he was elected Governor, to which office he was

re-elected in 1858. In 1873 he removed from Hinsdale to Keene, where he had built a fine residence. He did not cease, however, to take an active part in business till his death, which occurred July 22, 1876. Mr. Haile married, in 1828, Sabrana S., daughter of Arza Walker, of Chesterfield.

PHINEAS HANDERSON, son of Gideon and Abi- gail (Church) Handerson, was born in Amherst, Mass., December 13, 1778. He was born in his grandfather's house, which was torn down, when it was more than a hundred years old, to make room for the Agricultural College. While he was yet an infant his parents removed to Claremont, this State, his mother making the journey on horseback and carrying him in her arms. Having obtained what education the common schools of that town afforded, he began the study of law in the office of Hon. George B. Upham. In 1805 or 1806 he settled in this town, in which he practiced his profession till 1833. While a resident of Chesterfield he fre- quently held town and State offices. In 1811 he was seleetman ; in 1812, 1813 and 1815 he represented the town in the General Court; in 1816 he was elected State Senator, an office to which he was re-elected in 1817, 1825, 1831 and 1832. He married, 1818, Hannah W., daughter of Rev. Samuel Mead, of Walpole. She died December 30, 1863. In 1833 he re- moved to Keene, where he continued the prac- tice of law. At the time of his death, in March, 1854, he was president of the Cheshire bar.

THE HARRIS FAMILY .- The founder of the Harris family in Chesterfield was Abner Harris, a probable descendant of Arthur Harris, who emigrated from England to America at an early period, and was living in Duxbury, Mass., in 1640. Abner Harris came from Woodstock, Conn., and appears to have settled in Chester- field in 1777. His will was proved August 23, 1798.

One of his sons was John Harris, who lived and died in Chesterfield. John married, in 1783, Hannah Colburn, of this town, and had a

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family of eleven children, three of whom are now living, the youngest being more than eighty years old. The eldest of the three, Wilder Har- ris, born May 11, 1797, now resides in Brattle- borough, Vt., but was a resident of this town till 1865.

Another son of John Harris and brother of Wilder Harris was John Harris, Jr. He was a farmer in Chesterfield, and married, in 1808, Luna, daughter of Abel Fletcher, of this town. He was seleetman in 1830-32, and represented the town in the Legislature in 1849-50. He died February 27, 1856, aged seventy-one years.

A third son of John Harris, Sr., was Norman Harris. He was engaged a number of years in mercantile business and in " packing " in Cali- fornia. He died at Bellows Falls, Vt., July 22, 1875, aged seventy-one years.

Two other sons of John Harris, Sr., Ezekiel and Erastus, were farmers in Chesterfield dur- ing the greater part of their lives. Both died in Brattleborough in 1859.

CAPT. EBENEZER HARVEY was of Northfield, Mass., in 1758, having come to that town from Sunderland. He appears to have removed from Northfield to Winchester, and from that town to Chesterfield. September 17, 1772, he pur- chased of Elkanah Day, of this town, a part of house-lots Nos. 5 and 5, in the tenth and eleventh ranges. This land was near the com- mon at the Centre village, which was mentioned in the deed as having been conveyed to the town. In June, 1777, he was sentenced by the "court of inquiry " at Keene to be confined to the limits of his farm and to pay a fine for al- leged hostility to the American cause. He appears also to have been a zealous partisan of Vermont in the controversy about the "New Hampshire Grants." He was selectman in 1783 and 1803 ; representative in 1785. He was the first postmaster in Chesterfield com- missioned by the United States, holding the office from 1802 to 1810. He died in 1810. One of his sons, Rufus Harvey, Sr., lived and

died in Chesterfield. For many years he (Rufus) was a deputy sheriff for the county of Cheshire.

DR. SOLOMON HARVEY was in Dummerston, Vt., in 1773, of which town he was clerk sev- eral years. He appears to have settled in Ches- terfield in 1775 or 1776, and to have taken an active part in the affairs of the town during the War of the Revolution. In 1788 he repre- sented Chesterfield in the convention that adopted the Federal Constitution. He was se- leetman in 1789-92; town elerk, 1800-17. He probably died in Chesterfield after 1820.

BENJ. HASKELL was in Chesterfield in 1784. He appears to have settled on lot No. 12 or 13, in the thirteenth range. Justice of the peace ; seleetman, 1784, 1787, 1788, 1798, 1799 ; rep- resentative, 1789, 1799, 1800. Some of his de- seendants now live at Ascott, Lower Canada ; but whether he himself removed to that town has not been ascertained. He removed from Chesterfield, however, between 1815 and 1819.

ELEAZER JACKSON, supposed to have been a descendant of Edward Jackson, who came from London, England, and settled in what is now Newton, Mass, as early as 1643, was born May 12, 1736 In 1767 he was in Walpole, Mass., but afterwards removed to Wrentham, and thence, in 1771, to Dudley. He was originally a clothier by trade. October 6, 1778, he took a deed of eighty-two aeres of land in Chesterfield, upon which he settled. This land is a part of the farm on which his grandson, Jay Jackson, now resides, and has always been, since 1778, owned by members of the Jackson family. He was selectman in 1782, '83, '87, '88, '93-'96 and 1800; repre- sentative in '92, '93, '97. In 1791 he was the delegate from Chesterfield to the convention for revising the Constitution of the State. He died November 11, 1814. His wife was Rachel Pond, who died March 12, 1836, at the great age of ninety-six years.

One of his sons, Enoch Jackson, married Martha, daughter of Andrew Phillips, and lived on the paternal farm till 1837, when he

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removed to Winhall, Vt., where he died at the age of nearly eighty-four years. Ile was a noted pedestrian and seldom made use of a horse in performing long journeys. His son, Jay Jackson, still resides on the ancestral farm, as mentioned above, and is a well-known farmer.

LEVI JACKSON, son of Eleazer Jackson, was one of the most intelleetnal men that Chester- field has ever produced. Of him his nephew, Jay Jackson, writes as follows :

" In a history of the town of Chesterfield, justice to the memory of Hon. Levi Jackson seems to require something more than the bare mention of his name; for probably no one has done more for the honor of the town, or to elevate the moral and intellectual standard of the community in which he moved.

" The youthful years of Levi were principally spent in company with his father and brothers in clearing up and cultivating their new farm ; but he manifested a desire to obtain a better education than the common schools of that day were calculated to impart, and told his father that he thought he might afford to send one of his numerous family of boys to college. Improving his meagre common-school privileges, and dividing the remainder of his time between his labors upon the farm and his fireside studies, with the benefit of a few months at the then infant institution of Chesterfield Academy, he qualified himself for college, and entered Dartmouth in 1797, two years in advance. Graduat- ing in 1799, his services were immediately secured by the trustees of Chesterfield Academy as preceptor of that institution, which position he held for six con- seeutive years. During this time the academy ac- quired an enviable reputation as a literary institution. Possessing a fine personal appearance, an unassumed dignity and firmness, yet easy and pleasant in his manners and conversation, it was said of him that he commanded both the love and the fear of his pupils and the respect of all.

" On retiring from the preceptorship of the acad- emy, he engaged in trade at Chesterfield Centre, and continued in that business during the remainder of his life. He was a member of the N .. H. House of Representatives in 1808, '09, '10 and '11, and again in '21 ; a member of the State Senate in 1812, '13, '14, and '15, and of the Council in 1816 and '17. Modest and unaspiring in his deportment (unlike many of our modern politicians), the offices of honor and trust that he held were unbought and unsought by him, but be- stowed upon him by an appreciative constitueney in consideration of his eminent qualifieations for the same.

" A man of temperate habits and strong constitu - tion, in the full strength and vigor of life and useful- ness, and with a prospect before him amounting to nearly a certainty that, if his life was spared, he would soon be called to fill the highest office in the gift of the State, his unexpected death, which occurred August 30, 1821, at the age of 49, was a severe loss to the town, the State and the community, and brought deep mourning upon his family and friends ; but his memory will be cherished while virtue, honesty and intelligence are justly appreciated."

SAMUEL KING, son of Dr. Samuel King, ap- pears to have settled in Chesterfield about 1773. He probably came from Petersham, Mass. He was one of the most conspicuous characters in the history of the town. In 1776 he refused to sign the " Association Test," and in June, 1777, he was summoned before the "court of inquiry," at Keene, "as being inimical to the United States of America ;" was tried and sentenced to pay a fine and to be confined to the limits of his farm. When the contro- versy about the "Grants" was at its height, he espoused the cause of Vermont, and la- bored strenuously to effect the union of the disaffected towns with that State, and at one time held a commission as colonel in the Vermont militia. According to the ree- ords of the Superior Court of Cheshire County, he was indicted at the same time with Samuel Davis, for attempting to break up the Inferior Court in September, 1782; but this indictment was quashed. In 1781 he was chosen, to- gether with Deacon Silas Thompson, to repre- sent Chesterfield in the General Assembly of Vermont, and was selectman the same and the following year. In 1782, '83 and '84 he repre- sented the town in the General Court of New Hampshire. He died September 13, 1785, in his thirty-fourth year, and was buried in the old town grave-yard at the Centre village. In his will, which was made twelve days before his death, he devised the use of his farm to his father and mother, and made certain provisions respecting his sisters and children. The ap- praised value of his estate was £2497 98. 4d.

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JOHN KNEELAND, son of Timothy Kneeland, and brother of the celebrated Abner Knee- land, was born in Gardner, Mass., in 1766 or '67. He was a carpenter by trade, and helped build, in 1790, the large square house, near the West village, now owned and occupied by Ira D. Farr. He lived a few years after his marriage in Dummerston, Vt., but returned to Chesterfield about 1797. He resided many years on the farm now owned and occupied by Charles C. P. Goodrich, Esq., and which has long been known as the "'Squire Kneeland farm." He was a justice of the peace for many years, and held the office of selectman longer than it has ever been held by any other person since the town was incorporated, viz. : 1806, '08, '10, '12-16, '20-26, or sixteen years in all. He was also representative 1818-20, '22 and '25. He died February 9, 1850.

BENJAMIN LLOYD MARSH, son of Captain Reuben and Mary (Wetherbee) Marsh, was born in Chesterfield November 8, 1823. While a young man he went to Boston, and became, in 1851, a member of the great dry-goods firm of Jordan, Marsh & Co., the senior partner of which is Eben D. JJordan. Mr. Marsh re- tained his connection with this firm till his death, which occurred June 13, 1865, "having shared in all the struggles, vicissitudes and triumphs of the house." His brother, Charles Marsh, is still a member of the same firm.

LEVI MEAD, son of Matthew Mead, was born in Lexington, Mass., October 14, 1759. Soon after the War of the Revolution began he enlisted in the American army, and served dur- ing the whole war. In 1782 he married Betsey, daughter of Joseph Converse, who settled in Chesterfield about 1794.

In October, 1800, he purchased of Asa Brit- ton, of this town, what is known as the " Mead farm," having a frontage on the main street, at the Centre village, extending from the old " back road " (leading westward, and now dis- used) to the " Dr. Tyler place." In the spring of 1801 he came to Chesterfield with his fam-

ily, and occupied the next house south of the Tyler place, which he kept as a tavern. In 1816 he built the present hotel at the Centre village, long known as the " Mead tavern." In 1802 he was appointed deputy sheriff for Cheshire County, and held this office many years. He died April 29, 1828.

LARKIN G. MEAD, born in Lexington, Mass., October 2, 1795, was the son of Levi Mead. He was educated at the Chesterfield Academy and at Dartmouth College, and then read law with Hon. Phineas Handerson. For many years he was a prominent member of the Cheshire bar. He was a man of culture, and possessed rare business qualities. He was ever foremost in promoting the cause of education, and took great interest in the public schools. In 1839 he removed to Brattleborough, where he resided the remainder of his life, and where he con- tinued to practice his profession. He procured the charter for the first savings-bank in Ver- mont, now called the Vermont Savings-Bank of Brattleborough, and was treasurer of the institution about twenty-five years. In 1846 he was a member of the Vermont Senate. He died July 6, 1869.

His wife was Mary Jane, daughter of Hon. John Noyes, of Putney, Vt. One of his sons is the well-known sculptor, Larkin G. Mead, Jr., who was born in Chesterfield January 3, 1835, but removed to Brattleborough with his parents in 1839. In 1862 he went to Florence, Italy, where he has since resided the greater part of the time. Among the most important of his works are the " Recording Angel," the colossal statne " Vermont," "Ethan Allen," " The Returned Soldier," "Columbus' Last Appeal to Isabella," " America," the bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln, " Venice, the Bride of the Sea," etc.

JOHN PIERCE, came to Chesterfield from Groton, Mass., between 1770 and 1776.

According to tradition, he served in the last French and Indian War. On coming to Ches- terfield, he appears to have located at what is

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HISTORY OF CHESHIRE COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

now the Centre village, where he may have kept | 1761, came to Chesterfield in his boyhood, and a small store. At the same time he owned a large quantity of land in the town, much of which he is said to have sacrificed to the cause of liberty during the War of the Revolution. Together with others of this town, he also took part in the battle of Bennington, probably as an independent volunteer. April 19, 1782, he purchased of Samuel Davis Converse the western half (the other half lying in Spafford's Lake) of lot No. 12, in the tenth range, on which he built a house. Here he passed the remaining years of his life, erecting, after a while, a larger and more commodious house near the highway that formerly led from the Centre village to Westmoreland. He died July 7, 1812, aged sixty-nine years.

EZEKIEL P. PIERCE, son of John and Tabi- tha (Porter) Pierce, was born April 20, 1785, and spent the most of his life in Ches- terfield. About 1821 he opened a store at the Centre village, where he also kept a tavern for some time. He afterwards engaged in trade for a while at Factory village, and in London- derry, Vt. The first " patent accelerating wheel-heads," for spinning wool, that were made in Chesterfield, were manufactured by him at Factory village, probably about 1820. He also engaged to some extent in the manu- facture of bits and augers. In 1827 he repre- sented the town in the General Court. He died May 23, 1865.

WARHAM R. PLATTS, son of Captain Joseph Platts, of Rindge, born July 18, 1792, married Sarah Harvey in 1821, and settled in Chester- field. For about twenty-one years he was post- master at the Centre village. He was also, for many years, a deputy sheriff for Cheshire County, and for a while sheriff of the county. He was always interested in the affairs of the town and in national politics. In 1848 and 1851 he held the office of selectman, and was town clerk in 1843-44. He died February 21, 1872.

JOHN PUTNAM, born in Winchester May 10,

lived in the family of Ebenezer Harvey, Sr. In 1779 he enlisted in Colonel Hercules Mooney's regiment, and served for a while. This regiment was ordered to march to Rhode Island. In 1801 he married Mary, daughter of Joseph Con- verse, and lived many years at the Centre vil- lage, in the large house that once stood near the south side of the common, and which was burned about 1845. Though he commenced life in very humble circumstances, he succeeded, by his sagaeity and perseverance, in acquir- ing a considerable fortune, owning much tim- ber-land in the Winchester woods. For a number of years he was one of the trustees of the academy, and served the town in the ca- pacity of selectman in the years 1808, '09,'20, '21, '26. He also represented the town in the Legislature in 1816, '17, '18 and '26. He died November 17, 1849, at the age of eighty-eight years.

ELEAZER RANDALL, son of Eleazer and Clarissa ( Wheeler) Randall, was born in Ches- terfield February 27, 1820. Having learned the carpenter's trade when a young man, he en- gaged pretty extensively, from about 1850 till 1860, in the construction of railway and other buildings in Vermont, Western Canada and Michigan, being associated, most of the time, with Marshall H. Farr and his own brothers,- Shubel H. and George Randall. He married, in 1846, Elvira Rumrill, of Hillsborough Bridge. From 1860 till the time of his death he engaged in farming, in Chesterfield, on the farm that he had owned and managed since 1850, and which is now owned by his sons, Oran E. and Frederick R. Randall. He died JJuly 30, 1882.

SILAS RICHARDSON, a descendant of John Richardson, who came to this country from England, appears to have settled in this town about 1776, having come from Mendon, Mass.

He was one of the original trustees of Ches- terfield Academy, and was seleetman in 1788, 1793-96. He died in 1803. His wife was

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Silence Daniels, of Medway, Mass., and one of his sons, Orlo Richardson, married Naney Wild, of this town, and settled here. In 1826-28, '34, '35, he (Orlo) also held the office of selectman, and represented the town in the Legislature in 1828-29. He died May 27, 1852. His son, John Milton Richardson, born November 25, 1807, is a farmer and justice of the peace in Chesterfield.

ARCHIBALD ROBERTSON, born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1708, emigrated to America in 1754, with his wife, Elizabeth (Watson), and children, James, William, John (?) and Anna (?). Archibald and his wife were dissenters from the old-established Church of Scotland, and joined with the " New Disciples." Their names ap- pear among those of the subscribers for the new book of " Confession of Faith," a copy of which is now in possession of their great-grand- son, Timothy N. Robertson. They came to Chesterfield (having lived a few years near Boston), after their son James had settled here, but just how long after has not been ascertained. December 14, 1775, Archibald was chosen to represent Chesterfield and Hinsdale in the " Provincial Congress " that was to assemble at Exeter the 21st day of the same month, being the first person ever chosen by the town for such purpose. After living here a number of years he removed to Brattleborough, or Ver- non, Vt. He died in Brattleborough in 1803.

JAMES ROBERTSON, son of Archibald Robert- son, born in Scotland March 8, 1741, came to this country with his father in 1754. For a few years after coming to this country he worked in old Dunstable and vicinity, and, probably, also took part in the last French and Indian War. In the summer of 1762 he eame to Chesterfield, and began to prepare a home for himself and future wife. The place where he built his cabin is about thirty rods west of the present residence of his grandson, T. N. Robertson. When the war broke out between the mother-country and the American colonies he ardently espoused the cause of the latter,

though a Briton by birth. In September, 1776, he enlisted in Captain Houghton's company of Colonel Nahum Baldwin's regiment. In 1777 he was a lieutenant in Colonel Ashley's regi- ment, but the date of his commission has not been ascertained. He was, also, at one time a member of the town "Committee of Safety." During the controversy about the New Hamp- shire Grants he was firm in his opposition to the Vermont party, by some of whom he ap- pears to have been rather roughly treated. He died March 19, 1830. His first wife was Sarah Bancroft, of Dunstable (now Tyngsbor- ongh), Mass. She died June 28, 1798, in her fifty-fifth year.

ELISHA ROCKWOOD, born in Groton, Mass., November 20, 1740, purchased in Chesterfield, in 1769, the larger part of house-lots Nos. 7 and 8, in the tenth range. In his deed he was styled " a clothier." He took a prominent part in the affairs of the town during the War of the Revolution, being one of the town Com- mittee of Safety in 1777. He also was select- man the same year and in 1780. He died Feb- ruary 13, 1832.

THE SARGENT FAMILY .- The founder of the Sargent family in Chesterfield was Erastus Sar- gent, a great-grandson of Digory Sargent, of Massachusetts, who was killed by the Indians about 1704, and whose wife and children were captured and taken to Canada. Erastus mar- ried Annas, daughter of Warren Snow, of Chesterfield, and lived many years here, fin- ally removing to Stukely, P. Q., where he died August 24, 1847, aged seventy-five years. One of his sons, Edwin Sargent, married Sally, daughter of David Stoddard, of this town, and lived here the most of his life. He represented the town in the General Court in 1842. One of his sons, Charles R. Sargent, engaged to a considerable extent, in his earlier years, in school-teaching ; but at the time of his death, which occurred in Hinsdale April 2, 1880, he was one of the commissioners of Cheshire County, to which office he had been twice elected.

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HISTORY OF CHESHIRE COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

W'M. SHURTLEFF came to Chesterfield from Ellington, Conn., in 1787, and died here in 1801. His wife was Hannah Cady, and one of his nine children was Roswell Shurtleff, born AAugust 29, 1773. At the age of about nineteen years Roswell entered Chesterfield Academy, where he studied Latin, going through Ross's Grammar in just two weeks. One of his mates at the academy was Levi Jackson, who was afterwards his classmate and room-mate at Dartmouth College. After a while he took up the study of Greek, and went through the " Westminster Greek Grammar" in one week. In 1797 he and Jackson entered Dartmonth two years in advance, and graduated in 1799. From 1800 to 1804 he was tutor in that college ; from 1804 to 1827, professor of divinity; from 1827 to 1838, professor of moral philosophy and political economy. For nearly twenty years he was also college preacher, and pastor of the church on Hanover Plain. He was a man of great intellectual force, an excellent teacher and a devoted friend to all young men who were striving to obtain an education. He died at Hanover February 4, 1861, in his eighty- eighth year.

MOSES SMITH, the first settler of Chesterfield, was of Leicester, Mass., in 1738, where he owned land purchased of John Nobles, of Norwich, Conn. In 1761 he was of Hins- dale, as was stated in the deed of the land which he purchased in Chesterfield that year. His wife was Elizabeth -, who died July 20, in hersixty-first year. He was selectman in 1777, 1771-72. The inscription on his gravestone is as follows : " In memory of Ensign Moses Smith, the first settler in Chesterfield, who de. parted this life Dec. ye 30th, 1785, in ye 75th year of his age." He was buried in the town graveyard, situated near the " river road " and a short distance south of the residence of Charles C. P. Goodrich, Esq.

MOSES SMITH, JR., son of Moses Smith, the first settler, married, in 1768, Phebe, daughter

of John Snow, of Chesterfield. He was one of the first settlers in the eastern part of the town, having purchased, December 25, 1764, lot No. 12, in the sixth range. He was lieutenant in 1777, and justice of the peace for many years. He was also one of the original trustees of the academy. During the controversy about the "New Hampshire Grants " he esponsed the cause of Vermont, and at one time the New Hampshire government gave orders for his arrest. He held the office of selectman in 1775, '76, '78, '81, '89-91, and was repre- sentative in 1786-88, '90, '91. About 1824 he removed, with his son Moses, Jr., to Pike, Allegany County, N. Y., where he died about 1830, aged eighty-seven years.

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History of Cheshire and Sullivan counties, New Hampshire, Part 29

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