USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Chester > History of Chester, New Hampshire, including Auburn : a supplement to the History of old Chester, published in 1869 > Part 31
USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Auburn > History of Chester, New Hampshire, including Auburn : a supplement to the History of old Chester, published in 1869 > Part 31
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LOUIS® BELL (Brig .- Gen. Louis," Sen. Samuel4), was born at Chester, 5 Dec., 1864; died at West Newton, Mass., 14 June, 1923. He married in 1893, Sarah G. Hemenway, daughter of Dr. H. P. Hemenway of Somerville, Mass., who survives. He graduated at Dartmouth, 1884; fellow at Johns Hopkins University 1885-8; degree of Ph. D. 1888; professor of Physics, Purdue University 1889; editor of The Electrical World, 1890-92; chief engineer, Power Transmission Department, General Electric Co. 1893-4, designing and installing the first American three phase plants during that time. Consulting en- gineer, Boston, 1895-1923. Lecturer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, John Hopkins University, Harvard University and Har- vard Medical School. Fellow American Academy Arts and Sciences, president Illuminating Engineering Society; vice president British Illuminating Eng. Society ; member American Institute Electric Eng., American Assoc. Adv. Science, Nat. Elec. Light Assoc., Amer. Astronomical Society; Optical Society of America, U. S. Nat. Com. Int. Commission on Illumination ; served on advisory Committee of Council of National Defense, 1917-19. Author of many technical papers. Books. The Electric Railway, 1892; Power Transmission for Electric Railways, 1896; Electric Power Transmission, 1899; The Art of Illumination, 1902; The Telescope, 1922. One son Louis Hemen- way was born 17 Sept. 1894.
BENJAMIN CHASE
BENJAMIN CHASE (1799-1889) was the son of Benjamin Pike and Anna (Blasdell) Chase of Old Chester, his ancestral line being Benjamin Pike,6 Wells," Moses,4 Moses,3 Moses,2 Aquila.1
He was born in that part of Chester which is now Auburn; never wandered far from his native town; never mingled much in public affairs but lived a life full of achievements.
His school advantages were extremely small. Before the age of twelve he had attended only three terms in a private school under the instruction of a "school dame." After the age of twelve his education was limited to attending the common schools for about eight weeks each winter, which was kept as he himself said, "in a house fifteen by sixteen feet, rough boarded and ceiled, with three windows of nine panes each, a smoky chimney, and warmed by burning green wood, which lay out in the snow until needed. The writing desks were planks or boards, one edge fastened to the wall of the house and the other supported by legs inserted in auger holes, and stools with legs for seats.'
Before attending any school he mastered at home the common school arithmetic as far as the "Rule of Three," using a smoothed board and chalk instead of slate and pencil.
In the schools which Mr. Chase attended grammar was taught but little, geography not at all except by using Morse's Abridgment as a reading book in the highest class. No arithmetics were used in school by the pupils, but the teacher set the sums on each slate and the children wrought out the problems and carried the work up for examination.
In 1816 the young student borrowed from Stephen Chase, Esq., a book treating of geometry, trigonometry and surveying, and went through the book in the school-house without the aid of a teacher. He soon studied navigation. With the aid of Ferguson's Astronomy, which his father took from the town library, he studied that science
Devait Cheater Brunch.
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and made copies of the tables and rules for calculating eclipses and actually calculated them from 1818 to 1836. His only instruments were a two-foot Gunter's scale and a pair of brass dividers.
These studies prepared him to be a surveyor and when Stephen Chase, who had been the Chester land surveyor for many years, passed away Benjamin Chase succeeded to that office in Chester. Soon he made a map of Old Chester on the lines of the original plans, which was of great value in reestablishing the ancient boundaries.
On his father's side he was descended from two generations of clock-makers and was by inheritance a practical mechanic. With such a taste lie selected the trade of a millwright and found employment in the construction of sawmills and gristmills in this section of the state and northeastern Massachusetts. Being ingenious he made many valuable improvements in their construction and built one of the earliest circular sawmills used in New Hampshire.
Though possessed of mathematical and philosophical tastes, his character was well developed in morals. In early manhood upon hearing a discourse on total abstinance from the use of intoxicating liquors, he not only adopted the principle but put into practice the use of water as his beverage for the remainder of his life.
When the question of the emancipation of the slaves was pro- claimed by William Lloyd Garrison and others, Mr. Chase became an ardent supporter of freedom as well as of the principle of non- resistance and woman's rights. He often was a contributor to the "Liberator" and the "Herald of Freedom."
About 1846 there was circulated a story of a Chase fortune in England. While Mr. Chase gave no credence to that report he became interested to look up the genealogy of his family. He was able to make a complete record of his own lines of descent and collected much information relating to collateral branches of the family. He made a careful study of vital records, land records and probate records and at the same time carried on his regular employment. The result of his genealogical researches are now in possession of the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston, and it is expected that pub- lication will be made at an early date.
About 1864, at the urgent request of Judge Samuel Dana Bell and others, he undertook to prepare for publication the History of Old Chester. The result of his labors was published in a volume of seven hundred pages in 1869. It is a monumental work and by it Benjamin Chase will be remembered to the end of time.
His life was dominated by that scriptural injunction which reads : "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might."
No life was more transparent than his-a model equalled by few, perhaps surpassed by none. His industry, his unpretentious manner of living, his high moral and spiritual ideals, and his achievements as a mechanic and a historian may well inspire the present generation to restudy such an unselfish life. Full of years enriched by noble deeds none knew him but to love, none named him but to praise.
Though doing a great amount of laborious work in his chosen occupation, he so kept an even balance of physical and mental effort that his strength was well preserved and his mind clear until near the end, at two months less than ninety years.
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HISTORY OF CHESTER
BENJAMIN CHASE, JR.
BENJAMIN CHASE (1832-1912), only son of Benjamin and Hannah (Hall) Chase, was born in Chester (now Auburn ) and resided for forty-five years in Derry.
He was reared on his father's farm, attending the district school and later a select school in Lee under the instruction of a progressive educator, Moses A. Cartland, a cousin to John Greenleaf Whittier, the poet.
Encouraged by his father the boy acquired much skill in the use of mechanical tools in the home workshop. At the close of his school days he gratified his craving to go to sea by making a voyage before the mast from Boston to Mobile, Ala., and thence to Liverpool, Eng- land. His experience at sea had a practical and beneficial effect upon his subsequent career.
Upon returning he further perfected himself as a mechanic with his father and in 1855 found employment as a master mechanic in a textile mill.
In 1867 he established himself in Derry in the manufacture of certain specialties in wood for the use of the textile mills of the country. In 1907 the business was incorporated as The Benjamin Chase Company, he becoming president.
He was very ingenious and invented and constructed much of the intricate machinery used in the plant, some of which is in use nowhere else in the world. These machines are models of his genius, patience and perseverance and they brought him a wonderful degree of success
He was a man who neither sought nor held public office, but one to whom his townspeople came for sound advice, and upon whom they could always depend not only for advice, but for vigorous action in a good cause. He was one of the men who was not afraid; he hated a rum seller and a slave holder. He was liberal to those who were really in need, but he hated a sham and was absolutely independent in his convictions.
In the church and in the community he was a man of quiet ways but always to be found on the right side, with help at the proper moment, and he was equally prompt in his denunciation of what was bad.
He was a strong man in the community, deriving that power not so much from his school training as from the inherent strength of character which came from his home training and which enabled him to exercise the highest motives and strongest convictions upon great moral issues.
JOHN CARROLL CHASE
JOHN CARROLL CHASER, (1849-), only child of Charles? and Caroline® (Chase) Chase, and grandson of Benjamin7 Chase, author of the History of Old Chester, was born in Chester 26 July, 1849.
He was educated in the public schools, Chester Academy, Pinker- ton Academy in Derry, where he graduated in 1869, taught school several terms and then continued his studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Adopting the profession of civil engineer, he became in due time an assistant engineer on the construction of the Manchester (N. H.) Water Works, the Sudbury River Conduit of the Boston Water Works and the Elevated Railway Systems of New York City.
During a cessation of engineering construction, he entered the New York Custom House under civil service regulations, and after
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nearly two years' service resigned the position of assistant cashier in the Naval Office in 1881 to go to Wilmington, N. C., as superintendent and engineer of the Clarendon Water Works.
During his stay there he was also engaged in general professional practice and construction work in the Carolinas and Georgia, and was for several years city surveyor of Wilmington, and for four years the engineer member of the State Board of Health, resigning upon removal to Derry in 1898.
Here he became connected with a manufacturing business founded by his mother's brother, Benjamin8 Chase,, Jr. and when the business was incorporated in 1907 he became the general manager and treasurer, holding the last-named position at the present time.
He has been a trustee of Pinkerton Academy since 1894 and secretary of the Board for the past twenty-five years, is also a trustee and treasurer of the Taylor Library, and was for several years a trustee and president of the Nutfield Savings Bank.
He is a member of several Masonic bodies, in four of which he has held the highest elective office, is a Past Deputy Grand Commander and member of the Grand Commandery of Knights Templars of North Carolina. and has been an Odd Fellow for over fifty years.
He is greatly interested in genealogy, and holds membership in many family and historical societies, the principal one being the New England Historic Genealogical Society of Boston, of which he has been the president since 1921.
He is a fellow of the American Public Health Association, a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the Boston Society of Civil Engineers, and one of the earliest members of the New England Water Works Association. He also holds membership in the City, the New University, and Appalachian Mountain Clubs of Boston, the Technology Club of New York City, and the University Club of San Diego, Calif.
He married Mary Lizzie, daughter of Samuel and Lydia Ann (Emery) Durgin of West Newbury Mass. A son, Benjamin, born in 1876, lived but a few months. Two daughters, Caroline Louise and Alice Durgin, graduated at Pinkerton Academy, Derry, and at Welles- ley College, the elder being the wife of Raffaele Lorini, M. D., a physician of Coronado, Calif., and the younger the wife of Professor Samuel C. Prescott, Sc. D., head of the Department of Biology and Public Health of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, of which institution he is a graduate. There are three Prescott children, Robert Sedgwick, Samuel Chase, and Eleanor.
HELEN A. (FRENCH) COCHRAN
HELEN AUGUSTA FRENCH (1824-1902) was born in the homestead erected by her father, Hon. Daniel French, on I Feb., 1824. From childhood she was endowed with an intelligence and originality that made her a delight, and her townspeople early felt a pride in her gifts. Educated at the private school of Nathaniel F. Emerson in Chester and by private instruction in Exeter, her gifts of expression and imagination early won public notice in the columns of the Youth's Companion. Under the signature of Ruth Chesterfield her productions were eagerly sought and read for many years.
To other papers she also contributed. Her pen was equally facile in the domain of poetry, essay and story.
But keenness and vigor of intellect, and quickness of repartee, were not alone her claims to popularity. Possessed of a frank and cordial manner, kind-hearted liberality to worthy causes, firm in her
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principles, interested in all that pertained to her towns-people and her church, she was a true friend, and a loyal citizen of the town. state and nation.
On 13 April, 1876, she was united in marriage with Gerry Whiting Cochrane of Methuen, Mass. Widowed on I Jan., 1884, she returned to the homestead in Chester. Here she continued to enjoy her literary reputation for years; until about mid-night 17 Jan., 1902, when the French mansion on Chester street, filled with rare possessions ac- cumulated through a full century, was burned to the ground.
Three days later her intimate and lifelong friend, Mrs. Susan D. Orcutt was taken. Weakened by sorrow and grief ten days later she too passed on to be with the countless millions who walked this way and have entered that peace that passeth understanding.
ELIZA R. CRAWFORD
ELIZA ROGERS CRAWFORD (1835-1913) received her early edu- cation in a private school in Brooklyn, N. Y., and specialized in music under some of the best teachers of that time in New York. She taught music up to the time of her marriage.
When she came to Chester to live there were comparatively few musical instruments in the homes of the townspeople. Her love of music and a desire to help those around her fill their lives with beauti- ful things led her to accept a few pupils in music. Later her whole time was devoted to teaching, not only in Chester, but in the surround- ing towns. It was not many years before most of the homes had some kind of a musical instrument in them. Under her influence hundreds of boys and girls cultivating the high art grew into more earnest men and women.
She possessed a keen mind and had good executive ability; was public spirited and progressive and withal an earnest Christian, and a member of the Baptist Church.
WILLIAM CRAWFORD
DEA WILLIAM CRAWFORD was born in Chester (now Auburn) q Jan. 1823 and died in Chester, II Dec. 1896. In early manhood he removed to Sandown where he was engaged quite extensively in lum- bering and in agricultural pursuits. After a few years he returned to Chester.
He was a public spirited man, active in church and state. He was treasurer and a deacon of the Baptist church, served on the board of selectmen several years and was a representative to the state legis- lature in 1864-65. He was also treasurer of Rockingham County for a time.
He built a residence in Chester and set out many shade trees which add much to the bueaty of Chester street.
FRANKLIN CROMBIE
FRANKLIN' CROMBIE, the oldest son of Amosª and Anna (Patten) Crombie, was born in Chester (now Auburn), 25 Oct. 1803, and died there 22 Feb. 1875.
His life was spent in his native town, on the farm where his grandfather, Benjamin2, settled when he came from Derryfield in 1782. The small, one-story, unpainted house in which he was born, lived and died was on the Hooksett road, about three miles from Auburn village, and was probably built by his grandfather.
Mr. Crombie was educated in the public schools and at Phillips
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Academy, Exeter, and taught school several terms, following in the footsteps of his grandfather, who was a noted school-teacher of the olden time. Later he was the superintending school committee for many years.
In early life he took up land surveying, which he practiced until near the end of his life, and had surveyed and made a map of Lake Massabesic.
He was honored by office in the Republican Party, when it was in power, and was moderator for fifteen years of the period from 1847 until 1871. He also served as selectman five years, representative two years, and County Commissioner, 1861-1863.
A capable business man, he was called upon to settle many estates. He was also a member of the Masonic fraternity. He never married.
Possessed of an exceedingly genial personality, with an infinite fund of stories at his command, and thoroughly versed in local history and traditions, he was one of the most companionable of men. His remains lie in an unmarked grave in the Auburn village cemetery, but this memoir and his portrait are a tribute of esteem from one who, although many years younger, affectionately remembers him as a mentor, associate and friend.
WILLIAM E. DENNIS
WILLIAM E. DENNIS, son of Green Dennis, a native of New- buryport, Mass., who came to Chester in 1850, was born in Chester, 22 Aug. 1858. He early displayed skill in penmanship and at the age of seventeen entered Bryant and Stratton's School in Manchester where he became more proficient with the pen under the instruction of G. A. Gaskell. He gave instruction to classes in penmanship in Chester and later was a teacher of penmanship in Brooklyn, N. Y. Later he opened an office in New York for engrossing and illuminating memorials and testimonials and attended art schools.
The art of illustrating having grown more popular in the last forty years enabled him to establish a good business in the art of illustration. His recent death closes a remarkable career in this new vocation.
CARL C. FORSAITH
CARL CHESWELL FORSAITH, son of Frank and Rosa (Pingree) Forsaith, was born at Auburn, 2 Sept., 1888; graduated at Pinkerton Academy 1908; Dartmouth College 1912; took the degree Ph. D. at Harvard University 1915; instructor at Radcliffe College 1912-1915; professor of Wood Technology in Syracuse University, Syracuse, N. Y., 1916- to date. He married 27 June, 1915, Grace M. Dolber of Candia.
ANDREW F. FOX
ANDREW FRANKLIN FOX (1825-1919) removed with his parents to Chester (now Auburn) at the age of two and a half years. He was the son of Ezekiel and Sarah (Estabrook) Fox and was born in Dracut, Mass., 19 Feb. 1825. His family has long been established in New England, as he is a descendant of Thomas Fox who was in Cambridge and Concord, Mass. in 1631.
Mr. Fox was educated in the common schools and at Pinkerton Academy and early took a prominent part in the town affairs of Auburn which was set off from Chester in his twentieth year. He was moderator 1861-3, 1889; selectman 1848, 1850-1, 1854, 1861-3; 1867, 1871-2, 1874, 1879-86, 1895-6; town treasurer 1871-4; 1879; represen-
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tative from Auburn to the state legislature 1852-3. He was also a justice of the peace and much engaged in settling estates.
He married in Nov. 1847, Margaret Ann Heath, a native of Auburn who died there 2 April 1892. He died in Auburn, 28 Dec. 1919, being survived by three children, ten grandchildren and ten great grandchildren.
AMOS TUCK FRENCH
AMOS TUCK FRENCH, son of Francis Ormond and Ellen (Tuck) French, was born in Boston, 20 July, 1863. He removed to New York City with his parents in 1870 and fitted for college in private schools ; graduated from Harvard University in 1885. In 1888 he became Treasurer of the Manhattan Trust Co. and Vice-President in 1893. After twenty years of continuous work in that institution he retired I Jan., 1908. He has served as a Director of the Northern Pacific Railway, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Ry., The Northern Securities Co., the Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville R. R., the New Amsterdam Gas Co., the Manhattan Trust Co., etc.
He married (1) 2 Dec., 1885, PAULINE LE ROY, daughter of Stuyvesant Le Roy of New York, by whom he had six children. He married (2) 24 Nov., 1914, MARTHA BEECKMAN, daughter of Gilbert Livingston Beeckman of New York and sister to Governor Beeckman of Rhode Island.
In 1902 he became interested in the homes of his forebears at Chester and purchased the Daniel French lands there. In 1904 he purchased the Judge William M. Richardson house on Chester street and has spent a portion of his summers there.
In 1918 he was commissioned Captain of Coast Artillery Corps and served in France at Base Hospital 7 and Camp Hospital 27. He was promoted to Major, 3 Dec., 1918.
BENJAMIN B. FRENCH
BENJAMIN BROWN FRENCH, son of Hon. Daniel and Mercy (Brown) French, was born in Chester, 4 Sept. 1800. He was educated in the public schools of Chester and at North Yarmouth Academy, Yar- mouth, Me. He studied law in his father's office and was admitted to the bar in Feb. 1825. He practiced law in Hooksett and Sutton and was appointed Clerk of the Courts. He went to Newport in 1827 and was Assistant Clerk of the State Senate in 1830 and a representative 1831-3 and proprietor and editor of the "N. H. Spectator." He was Assistant Clerk of the U. S. House of Representatives 1833 and Clerk of the House in 1845. He was President of the Magnetic Telegraph Company and Commissioner of Public Buildings. Dartmouth College conferred upon him the honorary degree of A. M. in 1852. He was elected to the thirty-third degree in Masonry and was Grand Master of the District of Columbia. His first wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Judge William Merchant Richardson, who died in May 1861. He married (2) Mary Ellen Brady. He died in 1870.
DANIEL CHESTER FRENCH
DANIEL CHESTER FRENCH, LITT. D., (1850- ) was born in Exeter and at an early age went with his family to live in Concord, Mass. where Louisa M. Alcott recognizing his talent, gave him help- ful encouragement. He was educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and studied under Dr. William Rimmer of Boston and Thomas Ball of Florence, Italy.
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At the age of 23 he completed the first of his important works, The Minute Man for the centenary of the battle at Concord Bridge.
His genius early gained recognition and he received numerous commissions. He executed life-size figures from more than a dozen portraits, including those of John Harvard, Lewis Cass, Ralph Waldo Emerson, A. Bronson Alcott, John Boyle O'Reilly and several mem- orial achievements in decorative sculpture. These include the animal groups and the colossal Statue of the Republic exhibited at the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893.
Among other memorable works of the artist mention may be made of Death and the Sculptor in Forest Hills Cemetery, the statue of Rufus Choate in the Court House in Boston, of Thomas Starr King in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, Cal .; Dr. Gallandet and his First Deaf Mute Pupil, four large groups on the Custom House in New York City, and the heroic-sized statue of Abraham Lincoln, in the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D. C.
One of the most productive artists in America, his work has been inspired by the highest ideals and executed with a remarkable appre- ciation of what is true and beautiful in human life. His splendid achievements as an American sculptor have won for him an exalted place in the world of art. He has been elected to membership in many learned societies and has had honorary degrees conferred upon him by Dartmouth, Columbia, Yale and Harvard Universities.
He married Mary Adams French, daughter of Edmund Flagg French of Washington, D. C. and they have one daughter Margaret, b. 3 Aug. 1887.
FRANCIS O. FRENCH
FRANCIS ORMOND FRENCH (1837-1893), son of Hon. Benjamin Brown and Elizabeth (Richardson) French, was born in the Chief Justice Richardson house on Chester street in Chester, 12 Sept., 1837. His father, Benjamin Brown French, attending Dartmouth College, was fitted for College by his mother's brother, Rev. Francis Brown, President of Dartmouth. His maternal grandfather was William Merchant Richardson, a member of Congress from Massachu- setts during the Second War with England, who later removed to Chester and was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New Hamp- shire from 1816 to 1838.
Mr. French lived in Washington during his boyhood, entered Phillips Exeter Academy in 1852 and graduted from Harvard Uni- versity in 1857, and from the Harvard Law School in 1859, holding the degrees A. B. and LL. B. He was admitted to the Bar in New York City in 1860. He married in Washington, D. C., 5 Mar., 1861, ELLEN TUCK, daughter of Hon. Amos Tuck (Dartmouth College 1835) of Exeter, member of Congress from New Hampshire, 1847 to 1853.
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