History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 72

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

USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire > Part 72

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).

In 1870 only twenty-four of its population were of foreign birth, and at present there is not a specimen of negro or mixed race residing in Brookline.

The town is connected by telephone with Nashua, Hollis, Townsend and Fitchburg. For so small a place its citizens are quite enterprising. On the 8th of September, 1869, they had a spirited centennial celebration, addressed by Ithamar B. Sawtelle, poem by Edward E. Parker and chronicles by Theophilus P. Sawin. These exercises, although of ordinary interest, except to people of the town, engaged the close attention of about three thousand people. From the stand-point on the hill, where the McDonalds settled, looking westerly and southerly, Brookline presents to the eye rather a pleasing picture. The glassy shimmer of Massapetanapas Pond adds a water view to the scenery ; and then the green hills beyond, and nearer at hand the village nestling at the base of "Little Tanapas Hill," arrest the attention. Here the houses, while they are not expensive, are, for the most part, kept in good repair, giving an air of thrift to the general appearance. An abundance of shade- trees, especially when they are clothed in their snn1- iner verdure, adds much to the attraction of the place. The town has none very rich and few that are poor; and, although they altercate and jostle at the ballot-box and different church-bells call them to worship on the Sabbath-day, they are very friendly with each other, and enjoy happy homes.

" Whatever deep science has given at our call, The science of home is the choicest of all.

'Tis to beat back these demons of discord and sin That always are trying to steal their way in To use all the means God has placed in our sight To make our homes innocent, happy and bright."

294

HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

ALONZO S. WALLACE, M.D.

Alonzo Stewart Wallace, M.D., of Brookline, Hills- borough County, N. H., was born in Bristol, Me., on the 17th day of February, A.D. 1847, and consequently is thirty-eight years of age. He is the only son of David and Margarett Wallace. His father, David Wallace, was born in New Hampshire, being the son of David Wallace, one of the pioneer settlers of that State, and is doubtless of Irish descent. His great- grandmother was Nancy Palmer, in whose veins flows English blood.

Dr. Wallace is essentially a self-made man. Born and bred in the humbler walks of life, in a section of our country far removed from business centres, and at a time when the best advantages for education and self-improvement had not reached that section of his native State, he early felt that yearning for personal advancement-sometimes called ambition-which, in our New England life and training, has led the way to high and scholarly pursnits.

Unaided and alone, almost unadvised, this young man, with that resolute will and unyielding deter- mination that has characterized his whole life, began his journey in pursuit of an education. Receiving little encouragement from his surroundings, at a time and in a community when higher education was rather despised than commended, he set to work with a zeal and fervor that found partial satisfaction in attend- ance upon the district school in winter in the little "red school-house."

Being born and bred in a maritime town, he began the career of a sailor when very young, and rose with surprising rapidity in that calling, and when he aban- doned it for higher pursuits had filled many respon- -ible positions, the last being that of first mate of a barque.

At the age of eighteen he began a career of teach- ing in the district schools of his native town, and began his first work for a higher education in Lincoln Acad- amy, New Castle, Me., then under the direction of Grenville M. Thurlow. He pursned with great dili- gener and perseverance his studies, teaching in winter, attending on the academy a term now and then, till he had mastered its full course of study and was fitted for Bowdoin College. Afterward he attended the East Maine Conference Seminary, Bueksport, Me.

He was engaged in teaching in various sections of his native State and in Massachusetts from 1868 to 1872. At an early age he was called to fill the posi- tion of principal of the Rockport ( Me.) High School, and superintendent of the schools of his native town. He resigned his position at Rockport to accept the position of first assistant teacher of the Reformatory School for the city of Boston, and was soon promoted to the position of principal. He held this position fora

number of years, which was an exceedingly difficult one to fill, on account of the character of the pupils who necessarily attend there. He, from the first, was master of the situation, and at once gained the love and confidence of the boys under his charge and the esteem and respect of the city officials. During his labors here he became intimately acquainted with Dr. S. H. Durgin, then port physician for the city of Boston, since and for many years the able and efficient chairman of the Board of Health for that city. This acquaintance ripened into a strong and personal friend- ship, which exists to this day, and this, no doubt, gave choice to Dr. Wallace's chosen profession. While in charge of this important school he began the study of medicine, and had obtained a good knowledge of anatomy and physiology when he gave up his charge to enter upon an extensive and thorough preparation for his life-work. He attended the medical school of Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Me., and also that of Portland, Me., graduating at the medical school of Dartmouth College, Hanover, N. H., in the year 1874.

During his preparation for medical practice he was under the instruction of Professors Frost, Crosby, Brackett and Green, and it is safe to say that few young men ever entered upon their profession better equipped.

After six months' service at the Massachusetts State Lunatic Hospital, he resigned to accept the position of first assistant port physician for the city of Boston. He was soon afterwards promoted to port physician of the city, to fill the place formerly occupied by his friend, Dr. Durgin. In 1879 he resigned the office and entered upon his practice in Brookline, in this county, where he now enjoys a large and increasing practice, and has the respect and esteem of the whole community and of all who know him. Dr. Wallace is a member of the secret Order of Odd-Fellows and of the United Order of the Golden Cross and Massachusetts Medical So- ciety. In politics he has been a life-long Republican and a strong advocate of the temperance cause.

He joined the Orthodox Church while attending school at the Lincoln Academy, and has ever since adhered to that faith. He is by no means in his Christian life a bigot, but follows the advance-guard of religious thought.

He married an estimable lady in the person of Mary F. Maynard, of Lowell, Mass., the only child of Charles and Harriett Maynard, by whom he has three children, one bearing the name of Arthur Lowell, in honor of the birth-place of his wife.

The Puritan spirit, the master-influence of New England civilization, has a satisfactory type in Dr. Wallace. He has always regarded the influence of the humble homes of New England as the great in- finence that has shaped our New England character and wrought the "amazing miracle of America!" His estimation of early New England life is best expressed in that passage of New Hampshire's greatest man, Daniel Webster, which has always been to Dr. Wallace

Det the pupill who

macthe fint we- wo gonodibo lo e

.. During lii

Ybundan for the city o' -

-as the able & d elh nt Wiesoth for that it. 1168 galperin d friend od this. no doubt, gave

profesion, While in be boen the sings

yo y when he give up his clage Waterde 1 th medical ach Jo Tomeslek, Me. and sho that of Of ... . The Medico sche of at ley Harover & f , in the red. 16it. revandien for chal practice he was

afired upuer then profes ion better

*********** to -peine city of Boston. He Laser WY miola o portu port physician of th for opi by his Friend

1 De metal the Calle Forfor

Đương hý thương để hàs

was noted the influence of No Sund as the great 10 les Preland charpoto um of America"" HK Tto mai li . best expressil Hengeloe's greates mal the Fas alves bean to Dr. Wallace

alomp S. Wallace M.

295

BROOKLINE.

the choicest gem of all that man's writings, as follows: " It did not happen to me to be born in a log cabin, but my elder brothers and sisters were born in a log cabin, raised amid the snow-drifts of New Hampshire, at a period so early that when the smoke first rose from its rude chimney and curled over the frozen hills there was no similar evidence of a white man's habi- tation between it and the settlements on the rivers of Canada. Its remains still exist. 1 make to it an annual visit. I carry my children to it, to teach them the hardships endured by the generations which have gone before them. I love to dwell on the tender recollections, the kindred ties, the early affections and the tonching narratives and incidents which mingle with all I know of this primitive family abode. I weep to think that none of those who inhabited it are now among the living, and if ever I am ashamed of it, or if ever I fail in affectionate veneration for him who reared it and defended it against savage violence and destruction, cherished all the domestie virtues beneath its roof and, through the fire and blood of a seven years' Revolutionary War, shrunk from no danger, no toil, no sacrifice to serve his country and to raise his children to a condition better than his own, may my name and the name of my posterity be blotted forever from the memory of mankind."

Dr. Wallace's New England character and training, united with persistent energy and untiring industry, have given us, in the subject of this sketch, another and striking example of that reward which attends upon honest effort among a people governed as we are governed.

In the year 1879, Dr. Wallace came to Brookline. The position was one of peculiar difficulty on account of existing conditions occasioned by the great popu- larity of his predecessor,-Dr. D. H. Dearborn. Three years before this quite a number of the citizens took the matter in hand of securing a resident physician. For years the community had depended upon medical skill from the surrounding towns. The time seemed to have come when a physician was demanded, whose home should be in their midst. By chance Dr. Dear- born was secured, and the hearts of the people went out towards him. This heartiness of welcome, coupled with a skill in his profession, won him a large place in the affection of both the town and the outlying villages. On this account nearly every one predicted failure for any one who should succeed hint. Dr. Wallace entered upon the work of this field under stern circumstances, and while an entire stranger, he soon gained a popularity that was as remarkable and more wide-reaching than that of his predecessor. Within a very short time his practice enlarged to such an extent that only the possession of an almost perfect physique enabled him to attend to the multiplied calls upon his time and skill. From almost the first four horses were in constant requisition, and night and day, in many seasons of the year, were alike working hours for him. Many difficult and delicate surgical

operations have been performed by Dr. Wallace, some of which taxed the nerve and knowledge of older physicians in the neighborhood. As a citizen, Dr. Wallace, from the first, identified himself with every reform,-social, moral and religious. No subscription paper or solicitor for a worthy objeet ever met his dis- approval or failed to receive hearty indorsement and substantial aid. In 1884 he was elected a member of the School Board, and his labors in that direction, often performed under a stress of business that would have unnerved most of men, have been valuable to the town and encouraging to every well-wisher of youth.

Dr. Wallace has gained the reputation of being an ardent temperance man, exhibiting his absolute dis- like and even hatred of the rum traffic and fashionable tippling both in his professional life and public career. It has been said many times and with truth that while some physicians may by their prescriptions lay the foundation for a drunkard's career in many lives, Dr. Wallace can never be charged with such a responsi- bility, for if he found it necessary to prescribe a stim- ulant to one whose taste was vicious, he would so dis- guise it with drugs as to make it well-nigh nauseous. We think we speak what we know when we say that he has done more towards suppressing the swinish habit of eider and beer-guzzling than any man in our community. Although Dr. Wallace did not unite with the Congregational Church in this place by letter from the church in New Castle, Me., until March, 1885, yet he was ever in sympathy with church and pastor. No firmer friend to the cause of truth and religion could be found in the community, and the pastor always felt that he had in him a firm friend, a valuable helper and a sympathizing worker. Generous to a fault, no poor person ever applied to him for aid but he received more than he asked. Hundreds of dollars in bills were given to the deserving poor or those who were otherwise unfortunate. Many will be able to rise up in the future and eall his name blessed and his works noble. To lose such a man from any community would seem to be a loss almost irreparable.

The following letters will show the esteem in which he was held by his associates in Boston:

** OFFICE OF THE BOARD OF HEALTH.

"Boston, March, 1879.

" DR. DEARBORN :

" Dear Sir,-Dr. A. S. Wallace, our port physician, is about to leave us, and asks me for a letter to you. His leaving us will be a source of regret, but a letter in his behalf is a pleasure to me. 1 have known him well for ten years. His student course, largely under my direction, was pursned at Boston, Brunswick and Hanover, taking his degree in medi- cine at the latter place in 1874. He was selected by the Dean, from his class of twenty-five, at Dartmonth, to assume the duties of assistant physician, under Dr. Earle, at the Northampton Lunatic Asylum, which duties he began four weeks before graduating. Ile filled that position with credit to himself for six months, and was then reluctantly let off to accept the position of assistant port physician under our charge. At the end of abont six months he was promoted to the position of port physician and assistant physician to the city institutions at Deer Istand. lle has heid the last two positions for nearly four years, and has won for himself the reputation of a prompt and efficient officer, a polite gentleman, a kind, devoted and untiring physician. His record is one of which he

296

HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

may well be proud. He has done about half the work at the institution, where over two thousand patients are treated in bed and as many more ontable, annually, including a great variety of medical and surgical cases in with seven, from infancy to old age.

" He has also had the advantage of the tare opportunities afforded by uur quarantine service. This experience has been an unusual one, and will be of great service to him and his patients wherever he settles. He Is strictly temperate, moral and upright in every particular. His present position necessarily separates him from his wife and two children, whom he loves dearly, and with whom he feels he must be, and therefore seeks a home and private practice. If he comes to your place I think you will not Jes disappointed in speaking of him in numistakable forms. To his faithfulness to duty and powers of endurance I have never seen any limit. Of our regret in losing this officer we shall speak at another time, of his success in private practice I can have no doubt.

" Very truly yours,

". .. II. DURGIN, M. D., " Chairman Boston Board of Health."

ASENE. ]

"PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS. " Deer Island, Boston Harbor, April 15, IST9. "DR. V. S. WALLME!

" In r Doctor, We, who hereunto sign ourselves, deeply regretting your departure from among us, desire you to accept the accompanying pieces of gold as a slight expression of the high regard and esteem in which you are held by your friends and associates, hoth officially and samially, during the past ten years.

" Wishing you . God speed ' and a glorious success in your new field of Talar.

" We remain,

" Your's most truly, "our C. UNDERWOOD, Superintendent,

"JOHN W. DADMUN, Chaplain. " HORACE BERRY, M.D., Resid't Physician.

"CHARLES C. PAIGE, Engineer.

"JOHN J. COLLIER, Clark

"JOHN B. SWIFT, M. D.

" W. PRESTON WOOD, Asst. Superintend't.

"SETH PERKINS, Carpenter.

"EREN. M. SEAVER."

JAMES HARVEY HALL.

James Harvey Hall, the son of William Hall, Jr., was born in Brookline, N. Il., June 22, 1810. Hiseduca- tional advantages were limited to the common schools of his native town ; but, being of a bright, active turn of mind, he obtained a fair rudimentary education, He worked on a farm during boyhood, and also learned coopering, and when he had attained his majority he went to the town of Lyndeborough and engaged in barrel manufacturing ; this he continued there until the time of his marriage (1835). He then went to France-town, where he resided four or five years, when the advancing age and declining health of his parents made it necessary that he should return to his native town of Brookline and take care of them.

I'pon his returning to Brookline he engaged in a branch of business which he continued through life, and which proved very remunerative.

The homestead and adjoining lands were quite heavily timbered, and he engaged in burning charcoal. He was a man of untiring energy, and he pushed his business assiduously and earnestly, and, meeting with eminent success, he gradually added to his landed possessions ; conducted farming on quite a large scale, became the owner and conductor of a grist, saw and planing-mill on property adjacent to the home farm, and also the owner of valuable tenement prop- erty in Charlestown, Mass.

He represented his town in the State Legislature in 1869 and 1870. He was an ardent temperance man and a total abstainer, and from early manhood was a consistent and valued member of the Congregational Church, and one of its most generous supporters, pay- ing yearly, for several years, two hundred dollars and over for the support of the gospel in his native town. He remembered in his will the church of his native town, and his memory has further been perpetuated in this direction by a generous contribution by Mrs. Hall for the remodeling of the church edifice, and by his son, E. T. Hall, in the gift to the church of an excellent bell, which now hangs in the tower.

In business matters Mr. Hall was remarkably far- seeing and sagacious. While proverbially slow in expressing an opinion or forming a conclusion on any subject, yet his judgment, once pronounced, was almost invariably found to be correct. Every im- provement in the social or business affairs of the town found in him an earnest advocate. He was an active, honest, earnest man, and one of the most useful citizens of his town.

He was twice married,-first, to Mary A., daughter of Major Nehemiah Boutwell, of Lyndeborough, November 10, 1835. They had five children, only two of whom are now living,-Edward T. and Mary F. (now the widow of Deacon George W. Peabody). Mrs. Hall died January 24, 1853. Mr. Hall married, as his second wife, October 20, 1853, Mary J., daughter of Matthew A. and Jane W. (Christie) Fisher, of Francestown, N. H. By this marriage there are no children.

Mr. Hall died August 15, 1874. Mrs. Hall still survives (1885). She is a great-granddaughter of Dea- con Samuel Fisher, who came from Ireland in what was known as the " starved ship," and a niece of Mrs. Levi Spaulding, who was a missionary at Ceylon for more than fifty years. Mrs. Hall's mother (recently deceased) was a sister of the late Hon. Daniel M. Christie, of Dover, N. H.

٠٬٠٠٠

1. Ist and Coming lands were quite chy solemn wy lie engage d'in burning charcoal. 7 h & mrc ) voi ,and he pushed his nettoy an !, meeting with amisali ance. this landed on quite = larre . doctor of a grist she 11 projets od. ut to the home

Ta -6 40. Ptate Legi lataro Unescod d 'epiporance man 0000, 400 00 boy manhool was Gain Ter of the Congregation

Frechou , Ire l dollars and nati towl. sol joko h of cis o tive bộ Lecor perpetuated .a gnome contribution lov One of the church Halb in the gift to the rtFmoch now hang in the

Walters renarkady for- white powerbially sbw in i Losing con lusion of

whereet. Every Dil- - - 00es affais of the

mul one of the Iron

Mary A, daughter

of Lyndeborough,

Med nye children, only Luiward T and Mary Heorce W. Peabody. N. Hell married,

Mary J. daughter (hristie) Fisher, of Trice there are m

Mrs. Hall still

daughter of Dei-

Trelend in what , Sol a niece of Mis. mary at Ceylon for Tall's mother (reventiy 1. Hon. Daniel M.

James I Hall

HISTORY OF FRANCESTOWN.

BY REV. W. R. COCHRANE.

CHAPTER I.

THIS tract was known to hunters and explorers long before its settlement, on account of its " beautiful meadows," As early as July 18, 1673, a "plat had been accepted " under the government of Massachusetts, purporting to cover most of the surface of this town, as now existing. This amounted to nothing, as the location was dangerously remote from any settlements. But it shows the attractiveness of the locality in those early days. These open, green, grassy meadows were like oases of beauty in the dense forests. The clear- ings had been made, perhaps centuries before, i. e., by flowage. The beavers, then very numerous in this section, eut small trees and twigs with their teeth, set up the short sticks a few inches apart in the mud, and wove in brush between them. Then, with their flat, strong tails as trowels, they plastered this dam on both sides with mud, thus making quite a strong barrier, and raising ponds of considerable extent. As the streams were then much larger than at the present day, and these dams were numerous and put in well- chosen places, to the eye of the first white men, New Boston and Francestown must have seemed to be about one-fourth covered with water. But when, very early, the beavers had been destroyed by hunters, on account of their valuable fur (a rapid and easy work), the dams they had made soon rotted down, the ponds were mostly drained off, and over the soft ground, long covered with water, grass sprang up luxu- riantly and was just in season for the settlers. This wonderful grass crop at once attracted attention. It was of excellent quality, was high as a man's head and easy to get. Soon men came up from the lower towns in the summer, harvested the grass and made stacks of hay in warm, dry places. Then, with a rude "camp" of logs and some partial shelter for stock, they drove up cattle in the fall and wintered them on the hay, some adventurous young fellows staying in camp till spring, occupying their time in tending the stock and fire, and in hunting sable along the streams and larger game upon the hills. And this process soon led to the permanent settlement of the town.

The first actual settlement was made by a Scotch man named John Carson, and the date usually a: . signed is 1760, though it is probable he was on the ground part of several years before, and that other settlers had made beginnings previous to that year. But the spot on which Carson located, and much of the east and best part of Francestown, was then a part of New Boston. That town, granted by Massachu- setts January 14, 1736, had quite a show of settlers and " improvements " when the celebrated "Mason claim " was finally successful and the title was pur- chased by the " Masonian Proprietors" (1746). But the course of the "grantees " and settlers of New Bos- ton was so honorable toward these new owners that, after conference of committees from each party, the said " Masonian Proprietors " not only, for a small consideration and with a few reservations, deeded the whole of the old grant, but also a large and valuable traet on the west, called "New Boston Addition" (1751). And when New Boston was incorporated, in 1763, this "Addition" was incorporated with it as a part of said town. It extended nearly as far west as the present village of Francestown. Hence, John Carson, named above, was one of the first Board of Selectmen of New Boston. He was also chosen one of the " Dear- Keepers." The following year the town of New Bos- ton chose John Carson chairman of a "Comite to Looke for a miniester, or miniesters, in order that we may have Some preaching." Men living in the " Ad- dition " continued to be appointed to various offices for the whole town. When New Boston looked toward the attainment of a minister for the town, Thomas Quigley, of the " Addition," was appointed chairman of the committee to "talk With the Rev". Mr. Solo- mon Moor in Regard to his Setteling in New Boston." David Lewis, of the " Addition," was twice on the Board of Selectmen. In this way, and most of the time in great harmony, the " Addition " belonged to New Boston twenty-one years. With characteristic shrewdness, the settlers and land-owners in that town had sought these rich lands on the west, and several of the leading New Boston men, for various reasons, had "lots assigned to them in the New Addition."

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.

History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 72

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