History of Coos County, New Hampshire, Part 93

Author: Merrill, Georgia Drew
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Syracuse [N.Y.] : W. A. Fergusson
Number of Pages: 1194

USA > New Hampshire > Coos County > History of Coos County, New Hampshire > Part 93

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It was not until 1854 that any movement was made for a church edifice. This was done by the Baldwin Brothers, and a church was erected in 1855- 56, they bearing the principal part of the expense. The building committee was E. A., William L., and Elisha Baldwin. This house cost $3,500, and was a well-arranged and artistic structure, with a vestry and a kitchen in the basement. (The vestry was used as a school-room for some years.) In March, 1868, it was destroyed by fire. The present church was built in 1868 and 1869. The pastor, Rev. Abram Bedell, was untiring in his efforts to replace the burned church, and his labors were successful. The build- ing committee was composed of three leading business men, -J. H. Dan- forth, E. A. Baldwin, and E. B. Merriam. Under their skillful manage- ment the church was completed at a cost of only $3,000. It was dedicated in 1870. In 1872 it was furnished with a bell weighing 450 pounds. This became broken, and another was bought in 1875. A parsonage was built in 1882. The church seats 200, has a fine auditorium, and possesses excel- lent acoustic proportion.

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Pastors .- In 1843 Rev. A. Bedell supplied the pulpit about six months. Rev. Daniel Rowley, the first settled minister, was here two years. Rev. George W. Butler was here from 1845 to 1851. He lived in the house at the mill, and preached in the town-house and Baldwin school-house. From his pastorate there were but occasional "supplies " until 1857. Since then have officiated C. W. Bailey, Amos Boardman, E. P. Borden, C. W. Walker, George A. Glines, S. D. Ashby, A. Bedell, J. L. Sanborn, S. A. Reed, William Beavins, William McGregor, L. A. Cornwall. C. H. Sisson. E. C. Goodwin came in December, 1886.

Deacons .- Samuel Thomas, J. W. Forbes, Elisha Baldwin, E. A. Bald- win.

Sunday-School .- An interesting Sunday-school of about eighty schol- ars is held in connection with the church. The superintendents from organization have been E. A. Baldwin, G. W. Butler, N. W. Alger, Silas W. Curtis, Rollin A. Baldwin. The superintendent in 1887 was Deacon E. A. Baldwin; the teachers Rev. E. C. Goodwin. Silas W. Curtis, N. W. Baldwin, Mary Baldwin, Edith Thompson.

In 1887 a Catholic church was erected. This is an ornament to the place.

Education .- Prior to 1884 only a common district school furnished in- struction. The vestry of the church was used for some years as a school- room. In 1884 the beautiful two-story school-house now occupied was erected at a cost of $3,000. two of the three rooms seated to accommodate 108 pupils, and the school properly graded and supplied with apparatus. The average attendance is eighty. Miss Mary A. Danforth is principal; Miss Mary A. Parker, assistant. The board of education is Guy W. John- son, John C. Pattee, Charles D. Platt.

Hotels .- The first place opened for travellers was a shanty built about 1851, on land leased of William Fuller, by one Gaskell. It stood on the ground now occupied by the Hinman House. Gaskell with various part- ners conducted it some months, and was succeeded by W. H. Crawford and Harvey Hinman who purchased the property in September, 1853. The main building of the Hinman House was put up about the same time. Crawford would not sell to Mr. Hinman, and C. P. True purchased his in- terest, August 1, 1854, and deeded it to Mr. Hinman the same day. Dur- ing the few weeks it was afterward occupied by Crawford, it is said he did considerable damage to the property. When Mr. Hinman took posses- sion he repaired and refitted it, and opened it the same season as the Hinman House. From that time it has been kept as a hotel by Mr. Hinman and his son, H. B. Hinman, who leased the property in 1869 and became its proprietor in 1874. For some years it was the chief hotel of the place; the small number of rooms, however, were not equal to the requirements of travel, and the Willard House took that place. No more enjoyable meal

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can be obtained, however, than here, and the moderate charges cause much patronage.

In 1852 the dwelling now occupied by Mrs. Elmina Gamsby was built by Clark P. True and opened as a tavern by Andrew Fitts. In a short time the place was purchased by Mrs. Gamsby, who kept travellers until other accommodations were provided.

The Willard House was opened by Jerry Willard in November, 1858. He kept it until the next May, when E. F. Bailey took it and conducted it for two years and a half. Mr. Willard then was its landlord until 1865, when he sold it to Jennison & Crane, who carried it on until 1868, when Mr. Willard again became proprietor for one year. He leased it then to Clark Trask for two years, and then again ran it for one year. He closed his connection with the house by selling it to C. S. Bailey and E. H. Folsom. Mr. Folsom soon bought out Mr. Bailey and remained seven years. He sold to Rowan & Gould. C. E. Moses purchased Rowan's interest Febru- ary 18, 1879, and Gould's interest December 6, 1879, and ran it until November 19, 1883, when George Hilliard leased the hotel. Mr. Moses bought Mr. Hilliard's lease January 7, 1856, and closed and repaired the house, which he re-opened March 27. 1886, with J. W. Tibbetts as partner, to whom he leased one-half interest for three years. Mr. Tibbetts sold his lease to W. H. Bishop, December 22, 1886. This house has rooms for fifty guests, and has a large public hall connected. Under the management of Mr. Moses this hotel possesses attractions for the traveller and has a fine patronage. The table is one of the best in Northern New Hampshire; the rooms are kept scrupulously neat, and the whole service of the house is excellent.

The Percy House was built about 1869 by V. R. Davis, who carried it on for some years. Since he left it the house has been open part of the time, with various proprietors. Those who were the longest here were Mr. Smith from 1879 to 1882, and J. W. Tibbetts from 1883 to 1886.

H. B. Hinman began the livery business in 1869 with one horse. He purchased the livery attached to the Willard House in 1886. and employs from twenty to thirty horses.

Knights of Honor .- Coos Lodge, No. 2,533, was organized August 26, 1881, with twenty-two members, namely: H. B. Hinman, J. C. Pattee, E. B. Merriam, Clark Stevens, A. D. Norcott, C. E. Thompson, Ayers Trufant. George C. Kimball, G. J. Schoff, E. S. McCoy, H. S. Goodwin, W. C. Carpenter, R. A. Baldwin, H. A. Beecher. J. H. Danforth, Lewis Titus, E. L. Parlin, James Ogle, E. C. Tibbetts, G. W. Dalley, Burton Beecher, J. M. Baldwin. First officers: Dictator, H. B. Hinman; Re- porter, W. C. Carpenter; Financial Reporter, E. B. Merriam; Treasurer, J. H. Danforth. The present membership is thirty nine. The lodge owns a three-story building, thirty by sixty feet in size, which cost $2,600.

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TOWN OF STRATFORD.

The upper story contains a well-appointed hall for lodge meetings; the two lower ones are leased for business purposes. The officers for 1887 are: Dictator, W. R. Wilson; Reporter, C. W. Clongh; Financial Reporter, C. E. Moses; Treasurer, H A. Beecher; Trustees, Clark Stevens, A. D. Nor- cott, William H. Danforth.

Good Templars .- Victory Lodge, No. 70, was instituted February 15, 1883, with thirty-four members: E. A. Baldwin. Harvey Hinman, Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Williams, F. A. Roby, Jennie Thompson. Ira Day, Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Alger, Mary Whitcomb, Charles Day, Charles Blodgett. Willis Alger, E. S. Greenleaf, Daniel Phillips, Burt Stevens, Lena Perkins, Mr. and Mrs. B. A. Bowker, Fred A. Hinman, Milton Cook, Mr. and Mrs. Cyrus Blodgett, Dr. Moses Whitcomb, Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Pattee, Allie Bundy, Leonard Titus, Willie Beecher, Alex. Ogle. Edith Wilson, Henry Burbank, Harry Bowker. First officers: Cyrus Blodgett, W. C. T .; Mrs. B. A. Bowker, W. V. T .; B. A. Bowker, Sect .; Milton Cook. Treas. ; E. S. Greenleaf, Chaplain. This lodge has about fifty members now, and holds its meetings Tuesday evening's at Twohey's hall. The present officers (April. 1557,) are: James Twohey, Chief Templar; Allie Trufant, Vice Templar; Maud Amey, Sect .; Ola Thrasher, Treas .; E. A. Baldwin, Chap- lain.

G. A. R .- R. R. Thompson Post, No. 77,* was formed April 16, 1884, under a charter granted April 6, 1884, C. P. Schoff, W. H. Lovejoy, and Clark Stevens being the chief promoters. The first officers were C. P. Schoff, Commander; W. H. Lovejoy, S. V. C .; H. B. Gilkey, J. V. C .; Clark Stevens, Q. M .; F. A. Roby, Adjutant. Charter members: Clark Stevens, C. P. Schoff, N. M. Johnson, Myron C. Fuller, Frank C. Roby, Fred A. Roby, Edwin Beach, Simon Grover, Erastus A. Atherton, Isaac M. Wood, George W. Rowell, Silas W. Curtis, H. B. Gilkey, Edwin Hol- brook, Michael Lynch, W. F. Severy, William W. Russ. W. E. Crown. Present officers: W. H. Lovejoy, Commander; Edwin Holbrook, S. V. C .; Isaac N. Wood, J. V. C .; Clark Stevens, Q. M. ; F. A. Roby, Adjutant. The post has a membership of thirty-five, and holds its meetings semi- monthly in Twohey's hall.

Knights of Labor .- T. V. Powderly Lodge, No. 8,161, was organized July 10, 1886, with fifty seven members. The number is now about 350. Place of meeting. Twohey's hall.

*Robert Richardson Thompson, born in Rumford, Me., December 17, 1822, was a descendant of John Thompson, an early emigrant of the Plymouth Colony. Robert was a graduate of Bowdoin college, and a civil engineer of marked ability. He enlisted in the Thirteenth New Hampshire (Co. H), in August, 1862. as a private. He was in all the battles in which the regiment was engaged until Angust. 1863, and received a second lientenant's commission July, 1863. May 16, 1864, he was wounded at Fort Darling, and July 15 he was commissioned first lientenant of Co. D, and was acting adjutant of the regiment. He was instantly killed at the battle of Chapin's Bluth, September 29, 1864, falling almost at the moment of victory, as he was about entering the fort with his company. He was a brave soldier, and a true man in every relation of life.

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HISTORY OF COOS COUNTY.

Granite State Stock-Farm .- In 1884 Dr. D. O. Rowell purchased the farm of 350 acres, known as the "Nathan Baldwin " farm, of which ninety-seven acres are rich interval land, and is developing a fine stock- farm. He makes a specialty of standard-bred horses and Jersey and Polled-Angus cattle, and now has thirty-one horses, and twenty- five thorough-bred cattle, about two-thirds of which are Jerseys. He is pay- ing most attention to horses and has a fine stud; at the head is "Pilotone," No. 4,204, two years old. Another fine animal is " King Arthur," by " Con- stellation." half-brother of the noted "Glenharm," five years old, with a record of 2:232.

Mills .- The Turner's Falls Lumber Company purchased, in 1887, the mill of Ezra F. Merrill, on Bog brook, in the east part of the town. This mill has been conducted by Mr. Merrill for forty years. It is now run by steam, and consists of a rotary saw-mill, shingle and clapboard machines, with a capacity of manufacturing 25,000 feet a day.

David Stone, on the same stream a short distance below, has a rotary saw and shingle, clapboard, and lath machines, run by water-power.

Frank N. Piper manufactures flour and meal.

Physicians .- Dr. Cyrus C. Carpenter, so well-known and esteemed for long years as the trusted family physician of a large circle, was son of Dr. Cyrus Carpenter, and born at Whiting, Vt., May 29, 1819. After his medical studies at Castleton and New York, he passed some years in the west, and was then in practice in Vermont until 1851, when he came to Stratford. From this time he was in active practice until his death, November 13, 1856.

Dr. Moses Whitcomb, homeopathist, located here in 1861, and is now in practice. C. E. Thompson, M. D., a graduate of Burlington, (Vt.), Medical college, came in 1880. He died in 1857. H. W. Blanchard, M. D., son of David Blanchard, of Pittsburg, a graduate of Burlington Medi- cal college, began practice here in 1886 Of pleasing address, winning manners, high moral principles, and devoted to his profession, he gave promise of much usefulness, but died suddenly in December, 1887.

Lawyers .-- Joseph W. Merriam, son of David and Joanna (Smith) Mer- riman, born in Stratford, June 14, 1828, studied law with Burns & Fletcher, and was admitted to the bar in Lancaster in 1854. He was of literary tastes: became first assistant editor of the Coos Democrat, and afterwards was connected with, and did able work for, the New Hampshire Patriot, Boston Post, and Memphis (Tenn.) Avalanche. The civil war drove him north, and after practicing law in Grinnell, Iowa. a short time, he estab- lished himself in Chicago, Ill., where he has built up a large and lucrative business.

Charles D. Johnson, son of Marcus D. and Maria (Marshall) Johnson, was born in Stratford, June 13, 1835. He studied law with Gov. Williams,

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and was admitted to the bar in November, 1858. He at once commenced practice in North Stratford, but soon died. (See Press of Coos county in General History.)

Moses Holbrook, son of Oren Holbrook, born in Stratford, November 17, 1844, studied law with Hon. B. F. Whidden, and at the University of Michigan. He was admitted to practice in Massachusetts, and is now in practice in Boston.

Brief Personal Sketches .- Captain Ephraim Mahurin was born in Westmoreland, March 1. 1780. He married Rebecca Bundy, of Walpole, and came to Stratford in 1801. He was a man of much more than ordi- nary abilities, and superior in education to most of his associates, entering Middlebury college before he was seventeen. Of strong frame, tireless energy, and dauntless nature, he was peculiarly well adapted to make himself felt in the exigent circumstances of the times. He early taught school: he was U. S. customs officers on the frontier during the War of 1812, and fearlessly and faithfully performed the arduous duties contingent upon the position; he was captain of a company of regular soldiers en- listed from Grafton and Coös counties to serve on the border; he was sent repeatedly to the legislature, serving his last term in 1825; he was sheriff from 1825 to 1830, and deputy sheriff for twenty-five years; he did much in surveying, in which he was an acknowledged expert, and was em- ployed in 1836 by the Boundary Commission to make explorations and surveys along the border in Indian Stream Territory; he was one of the party that rescued Blanchard from the "King's-men "; in company with Samuel White he was for a time in trade in Lancaster; educated as a lawyer, he did much legal business, and in his last years was noted for his skill in drafting documents, particularly conveyances; he was road commissioner in 1850-51; he was a member of the first Masonic lodge formed in Coös county. During a long, extremely active and useful life, honor and integrity marked all his actions. He died in Stratford, March +, 1859, aged seventy-nine years and three days.

Joshua Marshall came with his father, Antipas, from Gloucester, Mass., in 1796, when sixteen. He married Betsey, daughter of Eliphalet and Tirzah (French) Day, and settled in Stratford. He was chosen town clerk in 1814, and for years thereafter was in public office; he represented this district numerous terms in the legislature; was a justice of the Court of Common Pleas from 1833 to 1550; was for over half a century a consistent and prominent member of the Methodist church, holding the office of steward for twenty years. "Judge" Marshall. as he was universally called, died May 14, 1861.

Nahum Daniels Day was born in Northumberland February 24, 1807, and was early in life a teacher; afterwards he became a merchant at Strat- ford Hollow in company with Mark Webb: later still he was a farmer.

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He was prominent and of value in public matters and office. He filled many town offices wisely; was a member of the legislature; succeeded Joshua Marshall in 1850 as justice of Court of Common Pleas, and held this position until 1855; from 1861 to 1863 he was county treasurer. A gentleman of strong convictions, urbane manners and wide-sweeping charity. he acquired a large circle of personal friends, which came from all shades of politics and religion. He was quite well educated, and was a close, reflective reader and a man of deep and logical reason. He died August 15, 1872.

Marcus D. Johnson, "the old surveyor," is a survival of the plain, un- assuming, yet solid men of another generation. He has been for long years an active and useful citizen, and a worthy member of the Methodist church. He is an authority on lines and angles; can reproduce from mem- ory a plot of nearly every lot in a wide radius, and is as vigorous as many men now in the prime of life: with an accurate memory, reaching through a long line of years, he is a treasure-house of information to the historian.

In a work of this character it is impossible to give extended sketches of many over whom our pen would gladly linger. The old families, nearly without exception, have descendants doing credit to their name in many fields of distinction and honor; the live men of to-day who are maintaining the standard of the town by their financial, business and official ability are worthy of more than a mere mention, and we could write much of the Danforths, the Hinmans, the Stevenses, and other enterprising and promi- nent men, but space forbids; and we leave a full account of all these to ap- pear in the town history now in preparation by Rev. L. W. Prescott, as being more in accordance with such a work.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

THE BALDWIN FAMILY.

The Baldwin family for nearly a century has been connected with the improvement and progress of Stratford in its civil, business and ecclesias- tical interests, and deserves especial mention in its history. They were among the early settlers, people of education and culture, and of Episco- palian faith. Jabez Baldwin, born April S. 1733, married Judith Brace in August, 1770; and March 13, 1788, they, with their children, Nathan. John, Lucinda, Lucia and Marcia, left their home in Newtown, Conn., and emi- grated to the wilderness town of Stratford. Mr. Baldwin located, January, 1790, upon the place known as the Baldwin farm (still in the possession of his descendants). where he had erected a framed house with lumber

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brought up the river from Guildhall, Vt. This was the first framed house in the section. Mr. Baldwin was one of the grantees of Stratford, and, before coming, selected from the plan of the town the lot now forming the inter- val of the Granite State Stock Farm; but, on arriving here, his number called for the lot below, yet eventually this lot came into the possession of his children. He was a man of wealth in Connecticut, but the greater part of his property was lost during the Revolution. In the spirit of true manhood he left his old home to create a new one in the " woods," and his family bravely bore the deprivations and hardships of the life in the new settlement. September 19, 1788, Elisha was born, and Charlotte (Mrs. Enos Alger), October 8, 1792. Several years passed, and although they missed the luxuries of the old home, yet they were contented. In 1803 Mr. Baldwin went to Connecticut to attend to some unsettled business. During his absence his family was attacked by small-pox. and when he reached Lancaster he received a message from his wife to remain there, but he came home, took the disease, and died.

Upon his eldest son, Nathan, devolved the care of this large family. He possessed great intellectual ability, became prominent in town affairs, and was several times elected to the legislature. He was appointed judge of the Court of Sessions in 1821. He married, first. Kate Schoff; second, Susan Bundy. His last years were passed in Ohio, where he died in 1867.

Elisha Baldwin. born in Stratford, September 19. 1788, became a farmer on the old homestead; received his education at home under a private teacher, and at the schools of that early period; was a Federalist in poli- tics, and filled the several duties to which he was called with fidelity, and was prominent in the organization of the Baptist church. He married Huldah, daughter of Edmund and Huldah (Lothrop) Alger, of West Bridgewater, Mass. [See biography of L. W. Alger, Stewartstown. ] Their children were Elisha Alger, born December 30, 1818; William Lothrop; John Brace, born November 12, 1822; Edmund Willis, born March 24. 1825; Jedediah Miller, born March 9, 1827; Lucinda Annette (Mrs. Jabez B. Alger), born November 14. 1829: and Lucia Annette (Mrs. Robert R. Thompson), born February 27. 1833. Mrs. Huldah (Alger) Baldwin would have been a prominent woman in any place and at any time. Coming in early girlhood from Massachusetts. she took an active interest in educa- tion. the means of obtaining which were, alas! extremely slender in the forest wilderness where her lot was cast. Of great and conrageous heart, indomitable energy and executive ability, she mastered more than the rudiments of a good English education, and her letters were models of penmanship and correct spelling. She had a wonderful skill in nursing; never forgot a " prescription " for any disease, and in mature life was the "beloved physician " of a wide extent of country. Her family was well brought up. She instilled her habits of neatness, force, and systen

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thoroughly into their natures, and did a noble woman's work nobly through a long course of years. Her charity was more than charity. She was the "Lady Bountiful" of the community, and her whole life was sustained by an unfaltering and reverent trust in God, her Heavenly Father.

William Lothrop Baldwin was born on the Baldwin homestead in Stratford, May 18, 1820. He obtained a good education at the local schools and Lancaster academy. While a youth he had quite a taste for agricul- ture, was active as a farmer, and developed great capacity as a judge of cattle; but his health was impaired by overwork before he was twenty- one, and he was forced to change his avocation. He followed teaching successfully for several years in this state, Rhode Island, and Quebec. He also taught vocal music. About 1848 he returned to Stratford, and, in connection with his brother, Elisha A. (a natural and trained mechanic), he engaged in building mills. This was a great undertaking, as it was previous to the advent of the railroad, and the machinery had to be hauled from Portland. They put up a small saw and grist-mill on Mill brook, added a turning lathe, shingle and clapboard machines, and manufactured machinery. This was the first mill of modern make in this section, and a great number of the mills erected for a long time in Upper Coos were built by E. A. Baldwin.

In 1849 the Baldwin Brothers erected a mill on the Vermont side of the Connecticut, at the mouth of the Nulhegan river. (This mill was burned February 20, 1885, and the site is now occupied by the immense mills of the Nulhegan Lumber Company.) William L. Baldwin changed his residence to Bloomfield, and made that town his home for fourteen years. The first humber sawn was rafted in May, 1851, and was the first sent to Massachusetts through the canal at Fifteen-mile falls, and, also, the first lumber rafted for transportation down the Upper Connecticut. Employment was given to numerous people, and the flourishing village of North Stratford formed from an old blackberry jungle. Under a charter granted July, 1850, the Baldwin Bridge Company erected the toll-bridge across the Connecticut, which was opened for travel in June, 1852. Thus in many and highly important ways Mr. Baldwin was identified with the development and business interests of Stratford, and one of its most valued component parts. His business occupied him closely, yet he served as se- lectman and as justice in Bloomfield; and, always a strong Republican, was the first postmaster of "North Stratford " postoffice. From 1865 his business life was in Stratford, and comprised lumbering, merchandising, and farming, until his sudden death December 27, 1878.

Mr Baldwin was five feet, eight inches in height; remarkably erect. His disposition was sanguine, and he was generous to a fault. During the hard times, when to run his mill was a loss, he carried it on for two years

MR Baldvin

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in order to give his workmen employment, sacrificing his own interests to promote that of others. That he was sagacions and far-seeing was evinced by his large purchases of wild lands; the value of which was apparent to him before scarcely any had dreamed of it. As a religious man he was especially marked. He was one of the thirteen original members of the Baptist church in Stratford, and was a consistent, devoted Christian. His business affairs did not detain him from the church meetings. There his voice was raised in song and prayer, and his fervent spirit would often en- courage the disheartened. He manifested his Christianity in his daily life, and in his home, where he was ever the kind husband and affectionate father, never speaking an angry word. Public-spirited, trusted by all, the world was the better for his having lived.

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History of Coos County, New Hampshire, Part 93

Author: Merrill, Georgia Drew Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Syracuse [N.Y.] : W. A. Fergusson Number of Pages: 1194

Author: Merrill, Georgia Drew
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Syracuse [N.Y.] : W. A. Fergusson
Number of Pages: 1194