USA > New Hampshire > Sullivan County > Goshen > History of Goshen, New Hampshire : settled, 1769, incorporated, 1791 > Part 15
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
169
HISTORY OF GOSHEN, N. H.
the mill-owners, who were farmers in season, managed reason- ably well.
Verbal accounts tend to minimize the importance of Badger's mill, yet there is an inescapable suggestion that, during the twenty-five or thirty years of its operation, it may readily have well served its day and locality. It will be noted that Goshen Four Corners was then growing rapidly, to become by far the new town's largest and most important community and Badger's saw-mill would have been most convenient to supply its build- ing needs. However, situation midway a very steep hill and lack of space for a mill-yard must have operated against its usefulness.
After the mill had fallen somewhat into decay Henry Chandler proposed to repair it, but never did so. The road past it, though easily traced, has been long discontinued. A summer-camp now occupies the site.
The stonework of the mill-foundation, the canal and the race- way below is still to be seen, causing the sightseer to marvel at the seemingly fruitless expenditure of human energy. A natural falls provided the base for a dam that required neither excessive length nor height. From the meager pond thus formed the water was conveyed in a walled canal one hundred feet to the mill- site, from whence it fell twenty-five feet almost sheer into the wheel-pit, making it, had the flow been ample at all times, one of the most remarkable mill-privileges in town. Up until recent years the mud-sill of the dam was visible at low water.
The adjoining gorge well repays a field-trip. Successive strata of a shaly granite have been bared by the flow of the stream, blackened and up-tilted at a sharp angle, resembling a mighty washboard. At occasional intervals these tilted strata reveal belts of quartz formation. A few rods above the old dam a large pot- hole, nearly three feet deep and two feet in diameter, has been hollowed into the solid ledge and others occur frequently, with enough of scenery and geological interest to attract and captify the most critical. The area must someday receive due recognition.
The Underwood Mills
About 1820 Levi Underwood built a dam and saw-mill a
170
EARLY INDUSTRIES
short distance above the Badger location. It was just above the cement-bridge on Route 31, on the south bank of the brook. After passing through several ownerships, the property was bought by Jessial P. Gove, who soon gave up use of the old-style saw, supplying a cider-mill in its place. This, together with a shingle-mill, was operated by Mr. Gove until 1892.
In the meantime, Mr. Underwood had erected a small shingle- mill upon another privilege a few rods above his first, but con- tinued only a short time in this new venture.
John Chandler and his Enterprises
John Chandler, the son of Joseph2 (Deacon Joseph1) and Mary (Lane) Chandler, was born May 25, 1804, on the farm in Goshen Center long known as the Imri Adams place and now owned by Ivan E. Scranton. He was one of eleven children.
By the time he was twenty-five years of age John had acquired a farm of 400 acres, a mile east of the parental home, at the foot of the mountain. Here he built with his own hands the cozy little farm house which was to be presided over on its comple- tion by Miss Lucy Marston of Goshen, whom he married Jan. 6, 1830. Its last occupant was Luther F. Robbins, the buildings being now in ruins. The obituary-notice (presumably the N. H. Argus and Spectator) which forms the basis for these paragraphs, comments that it was not considered consistent in those days for a young man to marry until he could provide for his family. It must be set down here that in this, as well as related financial matters, he was conspicuously successful. Of the family of five children, three lived to maturity; Mrs. Alzira Dodge of Clare- mont; Joseph of Salem, Ore .; and Ira F. Chandler, also of Claremont, with whom Mr. Chandler resided for fourteen years following the death of his wife, Oct. 17, 1889. She was born Jan. 8, 1809. He died July 3, 1904, at the great age of over one hundred years; burial at the Village cemetery, Goshen.
The big farm, largely in forest, was near the headwaters of Chandler Brook and, though farming continued to be his life- long vocation, he promptly built a saw-mill and dam in the brook-valley below his house. "With push and energy," an apt description, he branched out into other industries, owning and
171
HISTORY OF GOSHEN, N. H.
operating a brickyard and a granite-quarry along with his mill, all of which were on his own farm; and with these products he built many buildings and supplied materials for others for miles around.
One of his enduring creations was the plank-house, which is known to have been in common usage in this region. Other local builders may have used this method of construction, yet it is quite safe to say that if a house in Goshen is known to be of plank construction, it must have been built by John Chandler. For those to whom this type of building is unfamiliar, it may be explained that the house was built, not with studding, but with wide hemlock-planks three inches in thickness, all stand- ing on end, side by side, with connecting dowels inserted at appropriate intervals. At top and bottom the planks were ten- oned into sills and plates, the clap-boarding being done upon the outside in the usual manner. Inside, laths were applied directly to the planks, with a little offset for mortar-clinches. It produced a remarkably strong, warm and durable house, many of them being recognized as such today.
In his long lifetime of great activity he had many narrow escapes from serious injury. While building the schoolhouse at Goshen Center - of plank, by the way - his son Ira fell from the staging and, in his effort to save him, broke his own leg. Again, during a spring freshet a great slab of ice became bal- anced on the cap-piece of the dam with such weight as to threaten its safety. Viewing the situation with great anxiety, it seemed to Mr. Chandler that, could he cut into the slab until it broke in two, it would pass over the dam harmlessly. He at once procured an ice-saw and ventured out upon the floe. Per- haps his added weight broke the jam; at any rate it suddenly let go, carrying him over the dam and was only saved by the timely arrival of his wife who threw him a rope and assisted him to shore in an almost unconscious condition. His closest call was when he fell into the chute which led to the water-wheel and from which he was removed almost dead.
By 1865 it is certain that Mr. Chandler had sold his moun- tain-farm to John Johnson, from whom the rounded knob
172
EARLY INDUSTRIES
known as the "Johnson Cobble" undoubtedly took its name. The mill-machinery had likewise been removed to the Village by new owners. It was to the Village that Mr. Chandler moved also, buying the river-meadow farm now owned by Frank John- son and hiring help as was the custom with well-to-do farmers.
It is said of him that, a staunch Democrat all his life, he was never an office-seeker, but his counsel was always appreciated and sought by town-officials.
His son, Ira F. Chandler, was born in Goshen Nov. 3, 1842; m. (1) Esther M. Chase, who died May 12, 1870, aged 26 yrs. 8 mos .; m. (2) Ellen I. Wright, b. in Newport, Nov. 13, 1851, and d. in Los Angeles, Cal., July 11, 1931. Ira F. d. in Los Angeles, Feb. 28, 1918.
Purington's Saw Mill
Last of the water-powered saw-mills known to the writer was that built in 1844 by Ezra Purington, on the Gunnison Brook, just below the point where it is joined by the outlet of Rand's Pond. It was within hailing-distance of his house, now owned by Floyd C. DuBois. An auxiliary dam at the pond controlled a sufficient volume of water to materially increase its effectiveness and also provided for the mills below.
Mr. Purington sawed shingles, too, as well as lumber, finally giving possession to his son, Eben A. Purington, by whom the business was carried on until 1890. The water-wheel shaft, with a large bevel gear surmounting it, was still standing imbedded in gravel, within comparatively recent years.
These were all sash, or "English gate," saw-mills as then known, employing a single vertical saw-blade stretched taut in a heavy frame of wood or iron that was thrust rapidly up-and- down by crank-action from the water-wheel. An automatic trip stopped the saw-carriage, ready for its return, when the head- block had come within about two inches of the saw, the result- ing board or timber being split off by hand, with the rough "stub-short" showing, an unquestionable proof of its date and origin.
173
HISTORY OF GOSHEN, N. H.
Sawyer's Tannery
The tannery stood twenty rods south of John C. Steele's, at Goshen Corners, and was built about 1800, William Mur- dough being an early owner and perhaps its builder. A Cutter also ran the business. It eventually came into the possession of Uriah Sawyer who, after many years of ownership, was finally forced by business-reverses to abandon it. Up to this time, leather had been tanned by the old hand-processes, only two or three men being steadily employed. The green hides were first dipped in weak liquors, then packed in the tan-pits between layers of hemlock-bark and here allowed to soak for from one to three years.
Shortly after the withdrawal of Uriah Sawyer, a younger brother, Frank, resumed the business as a branch of the larger tanning-interests at Newport, having a partner, C. C. Shedd. The old tannery was enlarged, more men employed and steam- power put in, along with modern methods. Gregg Brook was turned from its natural channel, into the valley below John G. Stelljes' and so into the little trout-stream, on the east side of which the tannery stood, its nine-foot dam backing a reservoir for the use of the steam-boiler.
It was a one-storied building, evidently about fifty feet square, with a bark-shed projecting from the east end. Across the stream stood a second building thirty feet square, which contained two large, deep tan-vats. The end of the tannery nearest the dam was occupied by the boiler and engine, across the opposite end stretching a line of vats, eight in number. A business of great value to the community was carried on here until its destruc- tion by fire in 1865.
Shoemakers plied a brisk trade in the old days. A short dis- tance above the old tannery once stood a large building, de- voted jointly to leather-finishing and shoemaking. Many more cobblers did custom shoemaking and repairing in their homes, having no doubt made use of leather produced earlier in tan- pits, the primary source. These pits were dug in the edge of some convenient swale, roughly five feet deep, three feet long and
174
EARLY INDUSTRIES
slightly less in width, being planked up inside to hold the drench, for tanning calf-skins principally.
The Tannery Rebuilt at the Village
No time was lost by Sawyer and Shedd in rebuilding the tannery, but it was re-located at the Village, just off the square, this time. The new structure was two stories high in front, with a bank-wall - still standing in perfect preservation - rising a full story on the back. The upper story receded in front, forming a platform six feet in width, where glue-stock was spread to dry.
Steam-power was utilized, with a water-supply obtained by damming the Gunnison Brook just above the tannery. The pond thus formed was very narrow, but sufficed and presented a very pretty picture to travelers on the Brook Road.
The enterprise, being not too historically remote, and of the most intense interest to those whose livelihood it supplied, has been well described; the fulling-mill, for softening dry hides; the "beam room," where hides were de-haired and the drench worked out; the "green-shaving" - these are processes and terms that only leathermen know and a condensation will not only be permissible, but desirable.
In the second story, the north side was given over to storage, where the finished hides, whitened, were hung over poles to dry. Two "whiteners" were employed here constantly. The hides were thrown over beams and the white residue left from the tallow was scraped off with a knife whose edge was turned in a manner peculiar to the trade. In this second story, too, were blackening-tables, a "Union" splitting-machine, a polishing-ma- chine, a stuffing-table ("stuffing" was a mixture of tallow and oil) and two scouring-tables, largely ranged along the south windows. Two men worked on the blacking-tables. Hides were "scoured" until partly dry, then "stuffed" and dried thoroughly, then passed on to the whiteners.
The leaches in the lower room were filled two-thirds full of ground hemlock-bark, then hot bark-liquor was pumped in and their contents stood soaking until needed.
175
HISTORY OF GOSHEN, N. H.
An amusing story has been handed down and warrants re- telling here, in its original form:
One afternoon, Uncle Joe Marshall had been drawing the drench and the trap-door ordinarily covering the pit was left open at floor-level. It was in the winter and the tannery was full of steam from the warm liquor-vats. Home from school, Fred Gilmore came running into the tannery from out-of-doors and plunged full into the stinking drench. Hearing the result- ing commotion, Uncle Joe came along and knowing the boy was in no real danger, dryly remarked, "Why, Fred, I'd get right out of there. It's no fit place for you."
"I've spoiled my clothes," whimpered Fred as he clambered, dripping, out of the pit.
"Oh well, we won't charge you anything for the drench you're carrying off," Uncle Joe replied in mock solemnity, "That's a principle we tanners have; no charge."*
Seven men were given constant employment and the loads of hemlock-bark consumed added another item of great economic value to the town. Fogg's Gazeteer, 1874, said of the business: "6,000 sides of leather and 12,000 lbs. of splits are annually tan- ned, valued at $25,000."
Meantime changes had been taking place in the management of the concern. Frank Sawyer had not continued long in the partnership and upon his retirement, Mr. Shedd took J. W. Miller into the firm. However, Shedd soon withdrew from the new tannery and went into the same business in the adjoining town of Newport. Combinations of capital were already throt- tling the small country-tanneries and in the spring of 1876 Miller failed, owing his employees considerable sums in accumulated wages. He removed to California with his family and died there.
In 1894 the tannery building was taken down and removed to Claremont, thus ending a venture that originally held bright promise for all concerned.
The Clapboard-Shop
About 1854, while operating the grist-mill, William Tandy built and equipped a small shop for sawing clapboards, on the
*From my father's reminiscences. W. N.
176
EARLY INDUSTRIES
west bank of the falls, where previously the old fulling-mill had stood. He introduced a clapboard-machine that seems novel even today.
In the building-trade it is known that a "rift," or riven, clap- board is superior to one in which the grain of the wood runs more or less vertically, with a tendency to cleave apart. With a view to the production of boards, every one of which would be a rift-board, this machine, inventor unknown, required a stick of spruce four feet long and 14 or 16 inches in diameter. A thin circular-saw scored this stick lengthwise to a depth of five inches, clapboard width, the machine automatically turning the bolt one-half-an-inch each time, for butt-thickness. In this manner, as the log turned, successive clapboards were produced, with the thick edge out and the thin edge continually toward the center. Ingenious though it was, the operation was highly waste- ful, as the log had to be pre-turned to exact diameter and a "core" resulted which had no value save for wood, or fence- posts. By economic law the business was doomed to a short life.
Stacy's Handle-Shop
Soon after Mr. Tandy ceased sawing clapboards his little shop was converted to a new use by Byron Stacy, a young man who had recently come to town from Windsor, N. H., where he was born Nov. 18, 1837, son of David and Louisa (Curtis) Stacy. He married Laura Asenath Baker, only daughter of Lovell and Margery (Gunnison) Baker, having interested himself in the immediate locality along the mountain-road on which Mr. Baker's large farm was located. Purchase of the old Chandler mill-property from John Johnson, its new owner, was forth- coming and Stacy prepared to move the machinery to Mill Village, where a larger volume of water-power was available. By some it has been questioned if this purpose was actually ac- complished, though it is known that he installed a lathe for turning fork-handles in Mr. Tandy's clapboard-shop and main- tained a seasonal business there for some time. Two children were born to the Stacys, Isabella and Orville; both ch. died young. Much to the regret of his many friends, Stacy removed to
177
HISTORY OF GOSHEN, N. H.
Antrim? about 1862. His wife died in Feb., 1866, and he married (2) in Nashua, June 29, 1869, Sarah A., dau. of Joel and Esther (Putnam) Tarbell of Lyndeborough. One child, Minnie E. Stacy b. Oct. 12, 1872; m. Dennis Doucette; res. Lyndeborough. Mr. Stacy was interested in the glassworks at Stoddard and Lyndeborough; built a house for W. S. Tarbell of the latter place; died L. June 3, 1875.
The Village Saw-Mill; Various Owners
In 1830, an item appearing in The N. H. Spectator mentioned "Capt. Currier's mills," denoting the plural, mills, yet no clue has come to light as to the final disposition of the saw-mill machinery. In all likelihood it was too worn and antiquated to make news when scrapped.
Samuel Smart. Oral accounts indicate that the up-and-down saw-mill once belonging to John Chandler was in operation at the west end of the long mill-dam at Mill Village during, or immediately following the Civil War, the small building that had housed the clapboard machine and the handle lathe, in turn, having been enlarged and adapted to the new business. If Sam Smart, as he was familiarly known, moved and set up the mill in its new location, as some claim, it was a task for which he was eminently fitted by years of experience. He was a mason by trade, working with both brick and stone. His daughter, Mrs. Emerette (Smart) Hall, avers that he and two of his brothers built the four brick-houses in town, as well as several in Newport. Stone for underpinnings, as well as curbing and posts for use in cemeteries, was supplied by Mr. Smart from a nearby quarry in which he owned a half-interest. He had also operated a large farm at North Goshen, now the C. C. Mac- Tavish place.
Removing to the Village, he built a new house nearly on the site of the old one where his grandfather, Caleb Smart, Revo- lutionary War veteran, had lived for some years prior to 1800 while employed in the self-same grist-mill. Sam added a single- surfacing planer to the mill's equipment, thereby greatly in- creasing its efficiency.
178
EARLY INDUSTRIES
A period of inactivity ensued for a few years following Mr. Smart's retirement (he died Sept. 25, 1875, aged 741/2 years). The town had temporarily ceased its expansion and little new con- struction was going on. L. J. Nelson for a short time owned, or leased, the saw-mill, still with its gate-saw. He married, 1876, Miss Sarah Farr, while living in the house now owned by Edwin Chartier, at the foot of Lear Hill; probably occupied the mill about this time. Henry Barton, too, was a temporary owner.
M. S. Buxton. In 1882 the saw-and-grist-mills were purchased from William Tandy? by Melville S. Buxton, who was b. in Hancock, March 19, 1838, son of Stephen (Timothy2 John1) Buxton. His father accompanied him to Goshen and died here July 23, 1889, aged 82 yrs., 10 mos. Somewhat previously the present very attractive "Greyholm," owned by Mr. and Mrs. Chas. S. (Stark) Newton, had become the "mill-house," residence of the miller's family, and with Mr. Buxton's occupancy it be- came a popular gathering-place for the young people of the community. Parties held there and in the echoing saw-mill, during summer's idleness, were times of light-hearted gayety, with the girls, Kate and Alice, most charming school-girl host- esses.
Mr. Buxton immediately discarded the old gate-mill and in- stalled a modern circular-saw, proving in all ways an enter- prising and energetic businessman. It was a distinct loss to the town when, in 1890, he sold his mill-properties to Mrs. Ellen (Maxfield) Shaw of Lowell, Mass., and removed to Alstead.
He married (1) Nov. 20, 1860, Lizzie M. Morison, dau. of Josiah and Phoebe (Knight) Morison; m. (2) Apr. 25, 1896, Ellen Shepard of Alstead. Died in Alstead May 26, 1911. Children:
Mary Ellen, b. 1864; d. 1872, of scarlet fever.
Charles C., b. 1870; d. 1875.
Kate Elizabeth, b. Sept. 16, 1872; m. George Dow.
Alice E., b. Jan. 3, 1876; m. - Longley.
George Sumner, b. Mar. 3, 1879; res. Saxton's River, Vt. (Hist. of Langdon, Frank B. Kingsbury)
For the next ten years, when grinding ceased, the two mills were operated separately. Sherman L. Pike immediately leased the gristmill from Mrs. Shaw, following Mr. Buxton's departure,
179
HISTORY OF GOSHEN, N. H.
and was in business there for a few years. He married, Jan. 20, 1890, Miss Bertha J. Russell, both of Goshen.
In 1893, Francis B. Winter of Providence, R. I., became interested in the mill at Goshen and took over Mr. Pike's re- linquished lease. Nov. 29 of the same year, he married Miss Blanche L. Hobbs. Both young couples had occupied the "mill house" during their brief terms of proprietorship; neither of the men found sufficient inducement to continue long at milling. The purchase of ground feed for livestock by local farmers had only reached the first phases of the practice now universal.
The saw-mill continued to thrive. Joseph C. Lewis, who lived opposite the schoolhouse at the south end of the Village, ran the board-saw for years, with his various assistants drawn from the neighborhood, one of whom was Arthur M. Lear, then growing up at his mother's little farm on Lear Hill. It is re- corded that, during the winter of 1902, over 70,000 feet of oak car-stock, 30,000 feet of hemlock lumber and 60,000 shingles, besides the usual run of custom-sawing was turned out at the mill. The town voted to exempt the mills from taxation for a term of ten years if responsible parties would buy and operate them.
E. S. Robinson; a New Saw Mill. This incentive, combined with an awareness of the possibiilties offered, induced Emmet S. Robinson, farmer and businessman, to buy the mills from Mrs. Shaw, Dec. 21, 1903. Mr. Robinson was operating the former Jonas Parker farm, now owned by K. F. Purnell, on the main road at the Newport line, including over four hundred acres. He vigorously applied himself to the new enterprise.
The old saw-mill, a patched-up affair, was razed and the Fellows brothers of Newport, John and Ira, were employed to re-lay the foundation-walls anew. They were strong, young men, trained in the handling of stone and the operation of a derrick, and put in an excellent wall. Upon this Mr. Robinson erected an entirely new building and set up the mill-equipment in a most thorough manner, one piece of new machinery being a swing cutting-off saw, foot-operated. The ancient grist-mill,
180
EARLY INDUSTRIES
past its usefulness, was likewise taken down, giving the whole flow of the stream to the saw-mill.
Customary methods of winter-lumbering were carried on, with choppers in the woods and teams drawing the logs into the mill-yard over snow-covered roads. By the middle of March, when the streams usually opened, great piles of logs surrounded the mill and a season of feverish activity set in, that the accumu- lated logs be sawed out before the water failed. The board-saw was operated nine hours a day and frequently the proprietor, or an extra hand hired in for the purpose, would then saw shingles far into the night.
A typical instance has recently been recalled wherein three village boys featured, about 1908. They had been working in the woods for Mr. Robinson during the winter and were then transferred by him, to saw shingles nights at the mill. Howard D. Bailey, then living with his uncle, Isaac Blodgett, at the brick house, and George E. Guillow, both in their 'teens, were of the group. The three took turns at the work, one boy up- stairs on the main flor, at the lag-saw, bolting up small and crooked logs that were unfit for lumber, into blocks sixteen inches in length, from whence they rolled down a chute to the shingle-saw operator in the basement; the third boy was kept busy packing. When things went wrong, the day-sawyer, War- ren Whipple, who lived nearby, was routed out of bed to resolve their difficulty, whatever it might be. The spring evenings were apt to be chilly and a fire of shingle-waste was kept burning in a big chunk-stove. Altogether, it was a not-too-unpleasant job. The boys were expected to saw five or six thousand a night and they soon learned that the faster they worked, the sooner they could shut down the wheel-gate, blow out their kerosene-lanterns and go home. Shingles were worth $1.75 per thousand.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.