History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 65

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis
Number of Pages: 1168

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263

ANTRIM.

DR. GILMAN KIMBALL.

Dr. Gilman Kimball was born in New Chester (now Hill,) N. H., December 8, 1804. His father, Ebenezer Kimball, was born in Wenham, Mass., but, leaving his native place at an early age, he moved to Antrim, N. H., where, soon after, he married Polly Aiken, the eldest daughter of Deacon James Aiken, who was the first settler of that town.

He subsequently established himself as a merchant in New Chester, N. H., a small village on the Penn- gewasset River, about twenty-five miles above Con- cord. Here he spent the business part of his life of forty years, educated his children in the best schools of the period, and became a leading man in all that region in building up town institutions and sustain- ing all publie and moral enterprises.

Dr. Kimball's early education was of a high order, no department of study being omitted that was caleu- lated to aid him in whatever business or profession he might choose to adopt.

At the age of twenty he entered upon the study of the medical profession, under the tuition of the med- ical faculty of Dartmouth College, and graduated as Doctor of Medicine at the same institution in 1826, the last two years of his pupilage having been spent in the office of Dr. Edward Reynolds, of Boston.

During this period he attended a course of lectures at the Harvard Medical College, and, at the same time, with other members of the medical class, visited regularly the wards of the Massachusetts General Hospital. At the close of the lecture term he be- came a daily attendant for a year at the United States Marine Hospital, then under the charge of the late Dr. Solomon D. Townsend, and, during several months of that time, was charged with the duties of resident physician and surgeon.

In 1827 he commenced the practice of medicine and surgery in the small manufacturing town of Chicopee, near Springfield, Mass.

In 1829 he left Chicopee to visit Europe, where, for more than a year, he pursued his studies in the medical schools and hospitals of Paris, thus ful- filling an early cherished purpose for securing op- portunities for professional study, which, at that time, it was difficult, if not impossible, to obtain in his own country.

While in Paris he availed himself of the great ad- vantages there offered for improvement in branches of study which he had been specially interested in before leaving home,-namely, anatomy and surgery.

For this purpose he placed himself under the tuition of Professor Auguste Berard, assistant pro- fessor of anatomy in the School of Medicine, re- ceiving from him daily instruction, both in anatomy and operative surgery.

For general instruction in surgery he selected the Hotel Dieu, not only from its being the largest, and, in many respects, the best appointed hospital in Paris, but from its having at the head of its surgical

department the distinguished surgeon, Baron Dupuy- tren, at that time the most popular, as well as the ablest, teacher of surgery on the continent of Europe, in this respect holding the same position in France that Sir Astley Cooper did in England.

From this eminent surgeon he received an auto- graph certificate, stating the fact of his daily attend- ance, both in the hospital and at his clinical lectures, from August 24, 1829, to July 1, 1830.

Returning home in the autumn of 1830, he imme- diately established himself, permanently, as physician and surgeon in the then comparatively small town of Lowell, Mass., and very soon became engaged in an extensive practice.

The measure of his professional growth and stand- ing at home, as well as outside the limits of Lowell, is sufficiently shown in the fact that, in 1839, he was selected by the directors of the different manufactur- ing corporations of Lowell to take charge of the hos- pital, established the same year, for the benefit of their mill operatives.

In 1842 he was elected to succeed the late Dr. Wil- lard Parker, of New York, as professor of surgery in the medical college at Woodstock, Vt., and the fol- lowing year he was chosen to fill a similar position in the Berkshire Medical Institution, at Pittsfield, Mass.

At the end of four years his relations as professor at both these institutions were necessarily given up on account of what were thought to be more important obligations to the hospital.

His connection with the Lowell Hospital terminated at the end of twenty-six years from the date of its es- tablishment. Although, during this period, he was extensively engaged in general practice, it was in the department of surgery that his name became particu- larly prominent, several of his achievements in this line of practice having been recorded in the leading medical and surgical periodicals in Europe as well as in America.

Immediately upon the breaking out of the Rebel- lion, he accompanied General Butler as brigade sur- geon, first to Annapolis and soon after to Fortress Monroe. At both these stations he superintended the organization of the first military hospitals estab- lished for the reception of the sick and wounded of the Union army.

Upon the appointment of General Butler to the command of the Department of the Gulf, he was commissioned to serve on his staff as medical di- rector, and continued in that capacity until the em- barkation of the troops from Boston for Ship Island, when physical prostration consequent upon exposure to a malarial climate the year before, at Fortress Monroe, obliged him to resign. The following spring, his health becoming somewhat improved, he reported himself to headquarters as again ready for duty, and was immediately ordered to join the army of General MeClellan, encamped at that time before Yorktown. He had scarcely reached his new post, however, when

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HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

he was again prostrated with malarial disease and forced to return home on leave of absence. His resignation was soon after tendered to the surgeon- general, and accepted on the ground of physical dis- ability.

llis services as medical officer in the Union army covered a period of nearly an entire year.

Actuated by the same zeal that first prompted him to look beyond his own country for sources of profes- sional improvement, he repeated from time to time his visits to Europe, making the acquaintance of the leading men in the several departments of the profes- sion, and gathering from them new and advanced ideas and suggestions, which, as opportunity offered, he afterwards illustrated in his own practice at home. In this connection it is but just to remark that, in a special department of surgery, his name has of late become particularly prominent.

In ovariotomy, one of the gravest and most formid- able operations known in surgery, he has acquired an enviable distinction, both in Europe and America,- a distinction the more honorable from having been reached in spite of a strong prevailing prejudice against the operation on the part of the profession at large, and a still more pronounced opposition from many of the leading surgeons in his own vicinity. This opposition, however, has at last been fully over- come by the success that has erowned his large num- ber of operations, numbering at the present time three hundred (a number larger than that of any other surgeon now living in this country), so that at the present day ovariotomy is no longer a procedure which well-informed surgeons presume to denounce; and as regards its beneficent results, it is now recog- nized as the most important within the range of legitimate surgery.

Although his connection with the operation above referred to has limited in some degree his general practice, on account of extraordinary demands upon his time, the record of his professional life of fifty years shows that during this period he has performed all the important operations naturally occurring in the line of surgery. Among the most notable of these inay be named two amputations of the hip-joint, one

of them successful; exsection of the elbow-joint, fol- lowed by a new formation of the same, the patient ultimately recovering its use, so that he was enabled to serve in the Union army as an able-bodied soldier ; ligation of the internal iliac artery, fatal on the nine- teenth day from secondary bleeding; of the external iliac, the femoral, for aneurism, the common carotid and subclavian arteries, all successful. Besides the three hundred cases of ovariotomy already alluded to, he has extirpated the uterus twelve times, with six recoveries.

Of the contributions to medical literature, the most important relate to ovariotomy and uterine extirpa- tion,-first, eases illustrating certain points in practice tending to relieve the operation of some of its most serious dangers, Boston Medical and Surgical Jour- nal for 1874 and 1876, and Transactions of the American Gynæcological Society in Boston, 1877; second, case of uterine extirpation, notable as being according to Koeberle of Strasbourg, the first on record where the operation was ever proposed and successfully performed upon a correctly established diagnosis, Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, 1855. Paper on the "Treatment of Uterine Fibroids by Electrolysis or Galvanism," Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, January, 1874; paper on the "Ex- tirpation of the Uterus," read before the American Medical Association at Chicago, June, 1877.

He became member of the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1832, received honorary degree of M.D. from Williams College in 1837, elected Fellow of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the Univer- sity of New York March, 1843, received honorary degree of M.D. from Yale College in 1856, honorary degree of A.M. from Dartmouth College in 1839, elected member of the American Gynæcological Society in 1878, and president of the same in 1882. In 1878 he was elected vice-president of the Massa- chusetts Medical Society.

He has been twice married,-first time to Mary Dewar, eldest daughter of Dr. Henry Dewar, of Edinburgh, Scotland, and second time to Isabella Defries, daughter of Henry I. Defries, of Nantucket, Mass.

HISTORY OF BEDFORD.

CHAPTER I.

Geographical-Original Grant-Souhegan East-l'etition for Incorpora- tion-Charter of the Town-The First Settlements-Names of Pioneers -The French War-Colonel John Goffe-War of the Revolution- Names of Soldiers-Votes of the Town-Association Test.

THE town of Bedford lies in the eastern part of the county, and is bounded as follows: North by Goff's- town, East by Manchester and Litchfield, South by Merrimack and West by Amherst and New Boston.

This town was one of the Massachusetts grants of 1733, made to the surviving soldiers of the King Philip's War, including deceased sokliers' heirs, and was called Narraganset No. 5, also Souhegan East, and was under the government of that province until the settlement of the line, in 1741. It was in- corporated by the government of New Hampshire May 19, 1750, and named in honor of the Duke of Bedford, who was at that time Secretary of State in the government of George the Second, and for many years Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland.

The first settlement of the township was in 1737. As early as the winter of 1735 a man by the name of Sebbins came from Braintree, Mass., and spent the winter in what was then Souhegan East. He occupied himself in making shingles, and the spot he selected for his purpose was south of the old graveyard, be- tween that and Sebbins' Pond, on the north line of a piece of land that was owned by the late Isaac At- wood. In the spring of the year he drew his shingles to Merrimack River, abont a mile and a half, on a hand-sled, and rafted them to Pawtucket Falls (now Lowell). The pond already noticed, and a large tract of land around the same, still goes by his name.

In the fall of 1737 the first permanent settlement was made by Robert and James Walker, brothers ; and in the following spring, by Matthew and Samuel Patten, brothers, and sons of John Patten; and soon after by many others. The Pattens lived in the same hut with the Walkers until they built one of their own, near where Joseph Patten used to live. They commenced their first labors near the bank of the Merrimack, on a piece of ground known as Patten's field, about forty rods north of Josiah Walker's barn. The Walkers were immediately from Londonderry, N. H. The Pattens never lived in Londonderry, though they belonged to the company ; they were im-

mediately from Dunstable. The father, John Patten, with his two sons, Matthew and Sammel, landed at Boston, stopping there but a short time; thence they came to Chelmsford, and thence to Dunstable, where he stayed till he came to Bedford. The second piece of land cleared was on the Joseph Patten place, the field south of the first pound, where the noted old high and flat granite stone now stands.

With few exceptions, the early inhabitants of the town were from the north of Ireland or from the then infant settlement of Londonderry, N. H., to which they had recently emigrated from Ireland. Their ancestors were of Seotch origin. About the middle of the seventeenth century they went in con- siderable numbers from Argyleshire, in the west of Scotland, to the counties of Londonderry and Antrim in the north of Ireland, from which, in 1718, a great emigration took place to this country. Some arrived at Boston and some at Casco Bay, near Portland, which last were the settlers of Londonderry. Many towns in this vicinity were settled from this colony. Windham, Chester, Litchfield, Manchester, Bedford, Goffstown, New Boston, Antrim, Peterborough and Acworth derived from Londonderry a considerable proportion of their first inhabitants.

" Many of their descendants," says Rev. Dr. Whiton, in his history of the State, "have risen to high re- spectability ; among whom are numbered four Gov- ernors of New Hampshire; one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence; several distinguished offieers in the Revolutionary War and in the last war with Great Britain, including Stark, Reid, Miller and MeNeil ; a president of Bowdoin College, some mem- bers of Congress, and several distinguished ministers of the gospel."

President Everett, in his " Life of General Stark," thus notices the colony,-

" These emigrants were descended from the Scotch Presbyterians, who, in the reign of James, were established in Ireland, but who, professing with national tenacity a religious belief neither in accordance with the popular faith in Ireland nor with that of its English masters, and dis- liking the institutions of lithe and rent, determined to seek a settlement in America. The first party came over in 1718, and led the way in a set- tlement on Merrimack River. They were shortly succeeded by a large number of their countrymen, who brought with them the art of weaving linen, and first introduced the culture of the potato into this part of America, and furnished from their families a large number of the pio- neers of civilization in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine ; and some of the most useful and distinguished citizens of all these states."

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HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

These quotations will not, it is hoped, be thought superfluous, when it is considered how large a pro- portion of the early inhabitants of the town were of Scottish origin. They were, as they are justly repre- sented in the address of Colonel Barnes, a well-prin- cipled, frugal, hardy and industrious people, who brought with them a sound attachment to religious institutions.

" And it is interesting to notice the similarity between the pil. grims of Plymouth and the emigrants from the north of Ireland, as respects the motives which led them to emigrate. It was no worldly ambition, it was no unhallowed thirst of gain, that in either case appears to have led these hardy men to leave the comforts and endearments of their native land and come to this western wilderness. It was, we may believe, in both cases, for the enjoyment of the rights of conscience and religious privileges that they came across the Atlantic, and settled down in these forests. "-"Historical Sketch of Bedford," by Rec. Thomas Surage, 1840.

A few years after the first settlement the inhabit- ants petitioned to be incorporated, and in 1750 the town. which had been called Souhegan East, or Nar- ragansett No. 5, was incorporated under its present name and within its present limits, its territory orig- inally extending south to Souhegan River.

April 11, 1748. Governor Wentworth informed the Council of "the situation of a number of persons inhabiting a place called Souhegan East, within this province, that were without any township or district, and had not the privilege of a town in choosing offi- cers for regulating their affairs, such as raising money for the ministry," etc.

" I'mon which, his Excellency, with the advice of the Council, was pleased to order that the above-mentioned persons, living at s'd place, be aud hereby are empowered to call meetings of the s'd inhabitants, at which meeting they may, by virtue hereof, transact such matters and things us are usually done at town or Parish-meetings within this Prov- ince, such as choosing officers, raising money for paying such charges of the s'd inhabitants, as shall be voted by a majority present at any such meeting. Provided, nevertheless, that nothing herein contained shall be construed, deemed or taken as a grant of the land, or Quieting any possession. And that this order may be rendered beneficial to the said inhabitants, tis further ordered that Capt. John Goffe, Jun'r, call the fret merting, by a written notification, posted up at a public place amongst the inhabitants, fifteen days before the time of s'd meeting, in which notification the matters to be transacted are to be mentioned ; and after that the selectmen may call meetings, and are to follow the rules in so doing that are prescribed by law, for Town and Parish-meetings. This Vote to continue and be in force till some further order thereon, and no longer."

CHARTER GRANTED TO SOUHEGAN EAST IN 1750.

"Ata Contrit bollen at Portsmouth according to his Excellency's Summons, on Friday, May the 18th, 1750 :- Present : - Ellis Huske, Theodore Atkinson, Richard Wibird, Samuel Smith, John Downing, Samuel solley, and Sampson sheatfe, Esquires :- A petition signed Sam- uel Miller, William Moore, and others, presented by John Goffe, Esq., and Mr Samuel Patten, praying for a charter of Incorporation of the inhabitants of a place called sonheron East, in this Province, being rewel, and Joseph Blanchard, Esq., in behalf of the town of Merrimack, also at the same time appearing, and the parties being heard on the said Petitlon, and agreeing where the line should run, in case his Excellency, with the advice of the Council, should think proper to grant the Peti. tioner4 & Charter of Incorporation. Mr. Goffe and Patten, upon being tyked, declared that the sole end proposed by the petitioners was to be incorporated with privileges as other towns, by law, have in this Province,

" I pon which the t'ouneil did unanimously advise that his Excellency grant a Charter of Incorporation, as usual in such cases."

The following is a copy of the petition for incor- poration :

PETITION FOR INCORPORATION.

"To his Excellency, Benning Wentworth, Esq., Governor and Com- mander-in-Chief of his Majesty's Province of New Hampshire, and to the Honorable, his Majesty's Council, assembled at Portsmouth, May 10, 1750.

"The humble Petition of the subscribers, inhabitants of Sonhegan East, so-called, Sheweth, That your Petitioners are major part of said Souhegan ; that your petitioners, as to our particular persuasion in Christianity, are generally of the Presbyterian denomination ; that your petitioners, through a variety of causes, having been long destitute of the gospel, are now desirous of taking the proper steps in order to have it settled among us in that way of discipline which we judge to tend most to our edification ; that your petitioners, not being incorporated by civil authority, are in no capacity to raise those sums of money which may be needful in order to our proceeding in the above important affair. May it therefore please your Excellency, and Honors, to take the case of your petitioners under consideration, and to incorporate us into a town or district, or in case any part of our inhabitants should be taken off by any neighboring district, to grant that those of our persuasion who are desirous of adhering to us may be excused from supporting any other parish charge than where they conscientiously adhere, we desiring the same liberty to those within our bounds, if any there be, and your peti- tioners shall ever pray, &c.

" Samuel Miller,

John Mclaughlin,

William Moor, William Kennedy,

John Riddell, Fergus Kennedy,

Thomas Vickere,

John Burns,

Matthew Little,

Gerard Rowen,

James Moor,

John McQuige,

John Tom,

Patrick Taggart,

James Kennedy,

John Goffe,

Robert Gilmoor,

Jolın Orr,

Richard McAllister,

John Moorehead,

James Walker,

James Little,

John Bell, Robert Gilmoor, Senior,

John Mclaughlin, Senior, David Thompson,

Thomas Chandler,

James McKnight,

John MeDugle,

Hugh Riddell,

Samuel Patten,

Daniel Moor,

Alexander Walker,

John Clark,

Gan Riddell,

Robert Walker,

Benjamin Smith,

Matthew Patten.

"These are to certify that we, the above subscribers, do commission John Goffe, Esq., and Mr. Samuel Patten to present this petition, in or- der to obtain incorporation for us, according to their instructions from us, the subscribers.

"JAMES LITTLE, Clark.

"[Dated] May 10, 1750."

The petition was granted and the following is a copy of the charter :

" PROVINCE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.

"George the Second, by the Grace of God, of Great Brittain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c.

To all to whom these Presents shall Come, Greeting : [L. S.]

" Whereas, Our Loyal Suhjicks, Inhabitants of a Tract of Land, with- in our Province of New Hampshire, aforesaid, Lying At or near A Place called Sow-Hegon, on the West side of the River Merrimack, Have Humbly Petitioned and Requested to Us, That they may be Encted and Incorporated into A Township, and Infranchized with the same Powers and Privileges which other Towns, within Our sd Province, by Law llave and Enjoy, and it appearing to Us to be Conducive to the General good of Our said Province, as well as of the Inhabitants in Particular, By maintaining good Order, and Encouraging the Culture of the Land, that the same should be done, Know Ye, Therefore, That We, of our Especial Grace, certain Knowledge, and for the Encouragement and Promoting the good Purposes and Ends aforesaid, By and with the Ad- vice of Our Trusty and well beloved Benning Wentworth, Esq., Our Governour and Commander In Chief, And of Our Council for sd Prov- ince of New Ilampshire, Have Enacted and Ordained, And by these Presents, for Us, Our Heirs and Successors, Do will and Ordain that The

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BEDFORD.

Inhabitants of a Tract of Land, aforesaid, Or that shall Inhabit and Im- prove thereon hereafter, Butted and Bounded as follows (Viz.) : Begin- ning at a place three Miles North from the Bridge over Sow-Ilegon River, at John Chamberlain's House, and thence to Run East, by the Needle, to Merrimack River, to a Stake and Stones, and to extend that Line West until it Intersect a Line Known by the name of the West Line of Sow-Hegon East, and from thence to Run North, Two Degrees West, about three Miles and an half to a Beach Tree, marked, called Sow-Ilegon West, North East corner ; thence South, Eighty Eight de- grees West, by an old Line of marked Trees to a Chestnut Tree, marked; from thence North, Two Degrees West, Two miles, to an Hemlock Tree, marked, called the North West Corner of said Sow-Hegon East ; thence East, by the Needle to Merrimack River, to a Stake and Stones; thence Southerly, as Merrimack River runs, to the Stake and Stones ; first men- tioned. And by these Presents, are Declared and ordained to be a Town Corporate, and are hereby Encted aud Incorporated into a Body Polli- tick and a Corporation, to have Continuance forever, by the Name of Bedford, with all the Powers and Authorities, Priviledges, Immunities, and Infranchizes, to them, the said Inhabitants, and their Successors for Ever, Always reserving to us, Our lleirs and Successors, All White Pine Trees growing and being, Or that shall hereafter Grow and be, on the sd Tract of Land, fit for the Use of Our Royal Navy, reserving also the power Of dividing the sd Town, to Us, Our Heirs and Successors, when it shall appear Necessary and Convenient for the Benefit of the Inhabit- ants thereof. It is to be understood, and is accordingly Hereby De- clared, that the private Property of the Soil is in no manner of way to be affected by this Charter. And as the several Towns within Our said Province of New Hampshire are, by the Laws thereof, Enabled and Authorized to Assemble, and by the Majority of Votes to Choose all such Officers as are mentioned In the said Laws, We do by these Presents, Nominate and Appoint John Goffe, Esq., to Call the first Meeting of the said Inhabitants, to be held within the sd Town, at any time within thirty days from the Date hereof, Giving Legal Notice of the Time, Place and design of Holding such Meeting; After which, the Annual Meeting in sd Town shall be held for the Choice of Town Officers, &c., for ever, on the last Wednesday in March, annually.

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History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 65

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis Number of Pages: 1168

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis
Number of Pages: 1168