History of Lancaster, New Hampshire, Part 41

Author: Somers, A. N. (Amos Newton)
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Concord, N.H., Rumford press
Number of Pages: 753

USA > New Hampshire > Coos County > Lancaster > History of Lancaster, New Hampshire > Part 41

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James A. Smith .- One of the first men, a native of the town, to make a success of mercantile business was James A. Smith, son of Allen Smith, for many years a leading saddler and harness- maker of Lancaster. James A. Smith began business in Reuben Stephenson's house, corner of Main and Middle streets, but later built and moved into the building on Main street where he re- mained the rest of his life. His store occupied. the site of S. Rines's blacksmith shop. Here for about forty years Mr. Smith carried on a very successful business. He was a careful and sagacious man.

Hosea Gray .- One of the most successful men of Lancaster was the late Hosea Gray. For many years he conducted a freight- ing business between Lancaster and Portland, Me. On one of his trips he had the misfortune to get a leg broken, which made a change of work necessary. He opened a store in the Reuben Stephenson building, corner of Main and Middle streets. This old building was later moved to High street and converted into a dwelling house, and is now owned and occupied by Thomas C. Carbee. Mr. Gray's success as a merchant was so great that he soon had to seek larger quarters to accommodate his growing trade. He moved into the old Cargill store, where the Evans build- ing now is, in 1857. Here for a number of years he remained. In addition to his store he bought cattle and drove them to the large markets. During the period of the war, and later, he bought up

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HISTORY OF LANCASTER.

the bulk of the potato starch, then being made in large quantities in the region, and held it for a rise in price, which soon came; and he made a fortune out of the transaction. For nearly fifty years he was one of Lancaster's most successful business men. He died August 27, 1882.

Besides these there were many others who ventured in mercantile pursuits, and either finding them less profitable or themselves little adapted to them, failed or went out of trade for something else.

Among them were the following :

R. L. Adams and Oliver Nutter, who were merchants for a time. Charles Bellows, a son of Josiah Bellows, 2d. He bought almost anything that promised a bargain, and in that way carried on quite a successful business for many years. G. F. Hartwell had a store a short time on the corner of Main and Bridge streets, where E. Sullivan's house now stands. His venture was not a success. David Burnside was in business here for many years. He was a tanner by trade. He made a good property loaning money and owning and renting real estate in the village. He was interested in a variety of enterprises, and in all of them he was successful. His son, David A. Burnside, was a merchant in company with Sabin C. Woolson, and afterwards proprietor of the Lancaster House. Orrin Tubbs conducted a store on the site of the Amey House for some time, but it was one of the short-lived enterprises of the town. For some years S. G. Evans run a store in the Evans block. Be- sides these there were many other ventures in the mercantile line.

Bookstores .- Few enterprises in Lancaster are more worthy a place in its history than the book trade. For fifty years few towns of its size could boast larger stocks to select from than those car- ried in Lancaster.

So far as can be learned, the first stock of miscellaneous books brought to town was by Perkins & Company, publishers of the White Mountain Ægis, in 1838. Previous to that time some of the merchants, had carried a small stock of school books, Bibles, and religious books. After this first newspaper got fairly estab- lished it began carrying a considerable list of publications.

When James M. Rix began to publish the Coös County Demo- crat in 1838, he brought to Lancaster a very fine stock. Mr. Rix was a lover of books, and interested himself in getting his neigh- bors to read the very best volumes in print. His favorite way of calling attention to a new stock was to head the lists in the Demo- crat, " Books that are Books." Mr. Rix carried also a stock of " Yankee notions," medicines, and garden seeds. He first estab- lished his bookstore in the south end of Wells' building, where the Kent building now is, then in the Hartwell store which had been moved down from the North End, to the site of P. J. Noyes's block.

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This store was burned January 8, 1848, by which fire he lost $1,400, with $500 insurance on his stock. He next moved into the building occupied by I. W. Quimby's shoe store, now a part of Syndicate Block, on Main street. Here he continued his trade in books until the time of his death in 1856. He did much to encourage and cultivate a taste for good literature in the town. His own private library was large and of the very choicest of books.

The next book store in town was kept in connection with a drug store by Dr. John W. Barney and George F. Hartwell, where Colby's drug store now stands. Hartwell retired from the business in a few years, and Barney conducted it alone a short time, when he sold it to Edward Savage, who in turn run it a few years and sold to the late Dr. Frank A. Colby and E. B. Hamlin. Colby and Hamlin only run the store for two years, when they closed out their stock of miscellaneous books, but continued to carry school-books.

P. J. Noyes and others carried stocks of school-books also until 1882, when the school laws were changed so as to require free text- books to be purchased by the school officers.

In 1882 George H. Colby opened a book-store in his brother's drug store. After a time he occupied the second story of that building with a large stock of books and stationery. He later moved into the Hazeltine building on Main street, remaining only a short time, when he moved into the Hartshorn block on Main street. Here for a number of years he carried a large stock of books and stationery. In 1894 he moved his store into the McGee building on Middle street, where he now is with a large stock of goods.

CHAPTER VII.

MANUFACTURING ENTERPRISES OF THE TOWN FROM ITS SET- TLEMENT TO THE PRESENT TIME.

POT AND PEARL ASHES-CLOTH AND CLOTHING : CLOTHING MILLS AND TAILORS -TANNERS-SHOEMAKERS-GUNSMITHS-FURNITURE FACTORIES-PIANO SOUNDING BOARDS-BLACKSMITHS-WAGON MAKERS OR WHEELWRIGHTS -- CLOCK FACTORY-HARNESS MAKERS-HATTERS-MILLS : GRIST-MILLS AND SAWMILLS-DOOR, SASH, AND BLIND FACTORIES-STRAWBOARD MILLS -- STARCH FACTORIES-THOMPSON MANUFACTURING CO .- FILE FACTORIES- DIAMOND GRANITE WORKS.

Pot and Pearl Ashes .- Aside from hunting and trapping fur- bearing animals and the moose, whose pelt afforded good leather, the making of pot and pearl ashes was the first industry that afforded the early settlers with an article of commerce to exchange in the markets for the limited stock of goods brought here. The

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HISTORY OF LANCASTER.

land was heavily timbered, and during the winter months burning it for ashes to sell at the stores was a common occupation for men and boys for many years. The merchants traded goods for them, and then leached and boiled the lye into a dark salts, sometimes referred to as " salts of lye." This salts was treated to a second process, which made the pearl ash ( Potassii Carbonas Impura, U. S. P.). Gen. John Wilson had a "pearlash" in the rear of I. W. Drew's house on Indian Brook; the Cargill store had one some twenty rods south of Wilson's, near the same stream, used also by Thomas Carlisle when he was in business at that end of the village; Benjamin Boardman had his pearlash just opposite the stone house of I. W. Hopkinson on Main street; Reuben Stephen- son had one a little off Middle street, near where L. F. Moore's back store stands; and Samuel White had his on the south side of the river near the bridge. The late Richard P. Kent wrote in his Personal Memoranda, that from 1828 to 1832, while he was a part- ner of Royal Joyslin, they took in trade three thousand bushels of ashes a year. The business soon began to decline after that date, and has long since been given up. It is now only known as a prim- itive and crude product and business of the pioneer age of the town.

The early settlers of the town were by necessity compelled to make such articles of apparel, furniture, and implements as they used, because they were so far from the markets as to make it prac- tically impossible to buy all these things, even if they had been for sale. The first load of goods brought to town by Gen. Edwards Bucknam cost more for transportation than they were billed at; and these had to be bartered for furs and skins mainly. Fortunately those early pioneers possessed skill enough to build their own houses, dress skins and furs, spin and weave cloth, and make their own clothes. As the community grew in numbers and resources, more skilled artisans migrated here and found employ- ment at their various trades.

The Manufacture of Cloth and Clothing .- Until about 1820, nearly all the cloth worn in Lancaster was made by hand in the homes of the people. They spun the wool, the flax, and the tow, and wove it in their own looms. They colored the yarn or cloth, largely by the use of barks and a few simple chemicals. For many years the wool and flax were even carded by hand. About 1820, what was known as "cotton yarn " began to be carried in stock by the merchants. This was used chiefly as warp in the weaving of a variety of mixed cloths, and its use was hailed by the hard-worked housewives as a boon, for it saved half the work of carding and spinning, and it made, in some respects, a finer article of clothing than the former fabrics.

The various processes of spinning, weaving, coloring the cloth,

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· and making the garments came in alternating seasons. The wool was spun during the early summer, woven and dyed in the fall, and made up in the early autumn, which put everybody into their woolen clothes ready to brave the winter, while on the other hand the flax and tow were dressed in winter, spun, woven, and made up ready for their adoption on the approach of warm weather in the spring.

Cloth Mills .- As early as 1805, Richard C. Everett, who was a man of considerable means, enterprising and public-spirited, erected a large grist-mill nearly on the site of the present sawmill on Isreals river, in which he did also carding of wool and fulling or dressing cloth for those who made it and brought it to the mill to be treated. This was called a "cloth mill," and for half a century these mills were common. The Isreals River Manufacturing Company later for many years occupied this site, known as the " fulling mill." In 1815 Asahel Going erected a " cloth mill" on the branch of the river below the Main Street bridge, on what is now Water street, about on the site of the present furniture factory. This mill did a good business until about 1839, when it fell into the hands of Fred- erick Fisk, who converted it into a pail factory, and which factory later became a starch mill run by Fisk & Tillotson (Frederick Fisk and John M. Tillotson), and after the starch business was aban- doned was converted into a furniture factory by N. H. Richardson, who still runs it as such. Wool carding is still carried on by N. W. Hartford on Canal street, where rolls are also kept for sale by him.

Tailors .- Just when tailors made their advent in Lancaster is not now known. The first to follow the business were no doubt simply seamstresses who developed superior skill in cutting and planning garments. After a time professional or skilled tailors came to town. These, at first, went from house to house, cutting and fitting the more difficult or finer garments. They were often accompanied by sewing women, who made the articles up after they were cut. The tailor simply took the measures, planned and cut, and then would go to the next house, followed in time by the tailoress or seamstress.

The first person to open a regular tailor shop in town was George W. Perkins, some time before 1823. Since then Lancaster has never been without a good tailoring establishment. The successors of Perkins have been his son-in-law, George W. Ingerson, Harrison Copp, Jacob Windus-" the German tailor," Woolson & Co., Robert Sawyer, Nelson Sparks, T. S. Underwood & Son, Lane Clothing Co. (ready-made clothing), and Christian Deitrich. The last three are still in business here.

Ready-made clothing, of late years, has limited the trade of the tailors materially, while large stocks of that class of goods are car-

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ried by several houses,-R. P. Kent & Son, Lane Clothing Co., Kent & Roberts, and W. C. Sherburne.

Tanneries .- One of the earliest industries of any community is that of manufacturing leather for foot wear. Just when, and under what circumstances, the art was introduced into Lancaster cannot now be satisfactorily determined. That hides were tanned at a very early date we know, and that there were men who made it a business at or before the beginning of this century. Lieut. Dennis Stanley, who came to Lancaster about 1777 or 1778, was a tanner. He dressed moose skins for clothing and tanned hides for leather. Following him were Asa Burnap, Jonas Batchelor, William Weeks Moore, and David Burnside. Burnside's tannery was in operation within the memory of many persons still living. It was on Elm street, where the creamery now stands, his dwelling adjoining the yard on the west.

Shoemakers .- One among the first to be needed in a new settle- ment is the shoemaker. Some of the pioneer settlers of Lancaster were able to make shoes and moccasins, then called " moggasheens."

Just previous to the beginning of this century there were a num- ber of shoemakers, who went from house to house, making up for the people the leather they had tanned from the skins of the animals used for food.

In January, 1786, John Johnson made shoes for Gen. Edwards Bucknam three days, and received four shillings (66 2-3 cents).

I have before me a bill of William Brown, shoemaker, against Gen. Edwards Bucknam, and reproduce it here in order that the present generation may see what the shoemaker's art could com- mand in wages nearly a century ago.

"Edwards Bucknam, To William Brown, Dr.

£. Sh. p.

March 23, 1797. To Making one pr of boots for self, To Making one pr shoes for Son gorg 3

To Foxing one pr shoes for Suesy I

‘ 9

To Soling and meneng one pr Shoes for gorg, I

To Making one pr Shoes for Suesy 3

To Making one pr shoes for son Edward 3

Polly hartwell to Making one pr Shoes 3

Wm. hartwell one pr Do 3

To Foxing one pr for Do . I 9

Received pay, Wm. Brown £.2 15 6. "

July 3, 1797, By cash one Dollar .

May 13, 1797. To Mending one pr Boots for Self To one piece of Nankeen . 12

Two years later John Weeks was making shoes for General Buck- nam. From these dates on down into this century the leading shoemakers were: Josiah Smith, Samuel Hunnex, Samuel Went-

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worth, John Dow, Heber Blanchard, Coffin Moore, Orange Smith, Shepherd Knight, and others named elsewhere.

The first stock of ready-made shoes offered in Lancaster was brought here by Hartford Sweet in 1846. Since then that class of goods has steadily and irresistibly reduced the shoemaker almost to a mender of shoes. Lancaster to-day, with over 5,000 population, has not as many shoemakers as it had when the population was only one tenth as large.

Gunsmiths .- In the settlement of almost every community in New England, the gun was an indispensable instrument. If not called into use to defend the settler's home from savage Indians or jealous rivals seeking the conquest of territory for different rulers, it certainly was often relied upon to supply his table with meat. A family without a gun, in the first fifty years of the settlement of the town, was sadly handicapped in this respect. The first person to tinker guns and make them as a trade, was Isaac Darby, familiarly known as " Squire Darby," the miller. He attended the old Wilder mill, and while the grist was grinding mended the guns that were out of order, or perhaps worked upon a new one. It is said by some, still living, who used his guns, that they were of a very good qual- ity of workmanship. At all events they had an enviable reputation. " Squire Darby " could use a gun with deadly effect, if tradition is to be relied upon. He was a noted hunter of bears, and many of them yielded to his deadly fire with one of his long guns.

Another gunsmith of great notoriety was one Thomas Morse, a Pennsylvania Dutchman, who had his shop on Sand Hill, formerly the meeting-house common. He made many guns of a superior quality, which won for him fame that is not even now forgotten. It is said that the late Hiram A. Fletcher, at the time of his death, owned seventeen of the guns made by Morse, which he had picked up and held as relics of the past.

Daniel T. Johnson ("Tiger" Johnson), who died in the military service during the Rebellion, was also a gunsmith.

Furniture Manufacturing .- What kind of, and how much, fur- niture the first settlers had we are not quite sure, but that it was simple and scanty may well be imagined when we consider that they were more than fifty miles from any market where furniture could be purchased. Undoubtedly, some articles of a simple and rude quality must have been used by the first and second genera- tions of the town's inhabitants. None of such articles, however, are in existence to-day. Very early in the present century, tradition makes it about 1814, Samuel Philbrook came to Lancaster, and located on Mill Brook, south of the village, on the road to South Lancaster, and began to manufacture furniture. He erected what was then called a " cabinet maker's shop," for the manufacture, on

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HISTORY OF LANCASTER.

a pretty large scale, of chairs, tables, light-stands, bedsteads, and bureaus. Many of these articles are still in existence, and doing as good service as if just from some great modern factory. Walnut and wild cherry timber were very plenty in those days, and Mr. Phil- brook used it chiefly in the construction of his furniture.

In 1820, Francis Bingham from Charlestown, N. H., located in the village for the manufacture of furniture. He opened a " cabinet- maker's shop " on Elm street, next west of where the Burnside house now stands. He conducted a very successful business there for many years. He sold out to Oliver W. Baker to take charge of the Fairbanks shops at St. Johnsbury, Vt. Mr. Baker continued the business for some time.

At a later date Orville E. Freeman and Anderson J. Marshall conducted furniture manufacturing successfully for a number of years. Harvey Nutting and Samuel W. Brown had a furniture factory in the second story of the foundry building on Middle street for a number of years, in which they were successful manfacturers. Some articles of all these factories are yet to be seen in the older families, and in garrets, where they have been doomed to lie neglected for newer styles that have taken their place.

In 1867, N. H. Richardson and his brother, H. R., came to Lan- caster and bought out Nutting's interest in the starch factory on Canal street, which business they conducted until burnt out in the fire that destroyed the starch mill, peg mills, and other buildings. They later bought the old starch mill property on Water street. Here they did a good business, making a fine line of furniture that found a ready market. Mr. N. H. Richardson took W. R. Porter into partnership later. The firm of Richardson & Porter continued to do a good business until the fall of 1895, when they became heavily involved, and made an assignment. The property was bought up by Fred E. Richardson, a son of N. H. Richardson, and is now conducted by him.

Eben C. Garland & Sons built a sawmill and furniture factory on Great Brook about 1865, for the manufacture of hard wood lumber, chairs, and casks for potato starch. They also used steam power, and for several years did a good business. Their mill was burned. They rebuilt, but their losses, and the building of the Kilkenny rail- road led to the speedy depletion of the tract of timber upon which they relied, and they finally failed.

Piano Sounding-Boards .- In 1850, John H. Spaulding built a sawmill in the eastern part of the town, just beyond the " Great Rock;" and after running it only a few years sold it to John M. Whipple, who converted it into a factory for making sounding- boards for pianos. The plant was a very good one for some years ; but Mr. Whipple finally gave his attention to the manufacture of

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hard wood sheathing, a business that has been a profitable one in this section of country.

Blacksmiths .- Just at what time the first blacksmith established his shop in Lancaster is not known; but tradition informs us that it was near the Holton place, at the north end of Main street. Col. Sylvanus Chessman was for many years the only blacksmith of the town, and for many more years the leading one. In those days the blacksmith's trade was a laborious one, and called for much more skill than it does to-day. His material was not so well prepared for him as it is for the blacksmith of to-day. He forged and turned his own horseshoes, made the nails to fasten them on with; he made nails for the use of carpenters and joiners ; the axes, hoes, and plow- irons were in many instances of the local blacksmith's manufacture. . Warren Porter was skilled in making edge tools. His sign was a broad axe, the symbol of his skill in the making of such im- portant implements. His shop was on Main street, nearly opposite his house. He followed Mr. Chessman.

The next to follow that trade in town after Warren Porter were : Benjamin Bishop, Abel Porter, John Moore, Benjamin Adams, Harvey Adams, and Samuel Rines. Benjamin Adams had his shop on the Aaron Guernsey place, three miles below the village. He was noted for the excellent quality of hoes he made. He branched out on one occasion and distilled potato whiskey on a limited scale in addition to his trade. His whiskey never won him half the fame his hoes, shovels, and hay-forks did.

Samuel Rines, whose shop stood where the J. A. Smith store building now does, was among the early village blacksmiths. For many years he conducted a shop on that site, and later became in- terested in a sawmill standing just east of where the grist-mill now is, on the north side of the river. He made a plow that won fame for him; abandoning his old stand, he erected a foundry and shop near the sawmill, and devoted much of his time to the manufacture of his plow. He purchased the land between Middle street and the river, including the mill site and the old mill-house which stood where William Clough's house now does, and built a large two-story factory, extending from Middle street to the water. In the end next the street, on the first floor, he established his foun- dry, the first one in Lancaster. In the other end of the building, on the same floor, he set up lathes, planers, and other tools and machinery. Here he did business for many years under the firm name of S. & W. M. Rines. Webster M. Rines was his son, and afterwards ran a sanitarium in Delaware, where he died recently. The firm made great numbers of the celebrated plows, which found ready market far and near. Some of the older farmers now living remember the plow, and speak of it as a fine implement. This

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shop was succeeded by J. I. Williams & Co., and Thompson, Wil- liams & Co., predecessors of the Thompson Manufacturing Co.

Harvey Adams had shops at various places about the village, but while running his shop on the south side of the river, near the old carding- and fulling-mills, he did his most successful business as a blacksmith. He is still remembered by the older citizens as a good workman and a good citizen. His blacksmithing was of a general range, making and mending all sorts of things. This stand has been occupied by a smithy ever since he established his there, replacing an old pot and pearl ashery. Mr. Adams later became a wagon maker, and will be mentioned again as such. Since his time there have always been from two to three shops in the village, but the character of the work now done in blacksmith shops does not rank them among manufacturies.

Wagon Makers and Wheelwrights .- Abijah Darby was the pioneer wagon maker of the town. He followed the business for many years, making carts and wagons; he did repairing also. He also made the famous "Portland sleighs," at one time the most aris- tocratic vehicle in use in this land of long winters and fine sleighing. The business in the hands of Mr. Darby became an important indus- try. When he reached an advanced age he sold out to Levi Wil- lard, Jr., in 1822, who was for a long time the leading wagon maker of the town, extending the business to a wider range of vehicles than Darby had made.

In 1830 Stephen Hadley opened a shop as a wheelwright on the site of Samuel White's old pearl ashery, where the Monahan shop now stands. He conducted a fairly successful business there for ten years, selling out to Frederick Fisk in 1841, who did business here for only a short time when he was succeeded by Harvey Adams, the blacksmith before mentioned. Mr. Adams manufactured wagons, sleighs, hoes, and hay forks, and would have been very successful had it not been for repeated fires and freshets that ravaged his shops. He lost heavily from those sources. In those days much of the water of Isreals river, in times of freshets, came down the old channel between Mechanic street and the hill south of it and entered the main stream between Mr. Adams's shop and the bridge. He was thus badly exposed, and consequently lost much from that source. He was finally compelled to relinquish the busi- ness.

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History of Lancaster, New Hampshire, Part 41

Author: Somers, A. N. (Amos Newton) Publication date: 1899 Publisher: Concord, N.H., Rumford press Number of Pages: 753

Author: Somers, A. N. (Amos Newton)
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Concord, N.H., Rumford press
Number of Pages: 753