USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Littleton > History of Littleton, New Hampshire, Vol. I > Part 32
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At the time of the death of his father, Roswell H. Curtis in- herited an estate which made him the wealthiest person in town. He owned the finest mansion and most prosperous business, as well as large tracts of valuable real estate in the village. One of
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these lots extended from the Dr. Burns estate at the corner of Main and School Streets to Pine Hill, and eastward to Apthorp village. Much of this land was but a short distance north of Main Street, and embraced most of the territory through which Clay, Jackson, Pleasant, High, cast of School, Oak Hill Avenue, Cross, and Union Streets now pass, as well as the meadow south of Union Street. On the south side his possessions included the land through which South Street passes as far west as the resi- dence of James R. Jackson. He owned many isolated but valu- able pieces of real estate. Within twenty years this large estate had passed from his possession, and when he died in 1873, the remnant of title still standing in his name was a few acres at the foot of Mann's Hill, with, a cottage valued at a few hundred dollars.
The business instinct for which the father was noted, seemed entirely wanting in the son. His inheritance of personal prop- erty was squandered to satisfy his business ambition, and when this had vanished the lands were surrendered piece by piece to satisfy his necessities. A large share of the real estate on the north side of the river became the property of John Bowman, and that on the south side was purchased by Ebenezer and Cyrus Eastman.
Main Street, as it appeared at the close of the forties, had many vacant- lots.1 On the south side of the street a tract extending
1 Beside the buildings already mentioned as having been built in the years extend- ing from 1840 to 1860, the following on Main Street may be named : that near the northerly end of the Cottage Street bridge by J. S. Longee in 1849; the McCoy Block the same year, by Frye W. Gile ; the Lynch and Richardson store by Hiram B. Smith in 1851. The Tilton Block was started by William Condon, but before its completion he sold it to H. L. Tilton, who finished it, and added the westerly part and put it in its present shape in 1860. Thayer's Hotel was erected in 1850-51 by H. L. Thayer. A small building had stood on this lot that had been moved from the grounds where now stands the residence of Ira Parker; while occupying the hotel lot it had been occupied at different times by F. W. Gile, Eri Goin, James S. Nelson, and others as a store ; removed by Mr. Thayer to the site of the Bellows store, it was destroyed by fire before the hotel had been finished. The Dr. Tuttle place at the west end was built by Peter Paddleford in 1840. The same year he put up a shop west of the residence. It now stands on Meadow Street, and is used as a tenement. On the north side of Main Street the additions since 1840 have been the Mountain Home House, built by Oliver Nurse ; the S. P. Nurse house removed from the Kilburn farm, corner of Village and Lisbon roads, by James W. Merrill ; the stone black- smith's shop, built by Louis L. Merrill in 1845; the Theron A. Farr house by Cyrus Eastman in 1844; on this site Elisha P. Miner had a shop that had been removed from the Brick Store lot ; the Southworth house was placed on its present foundation in 1847; on the site of the Rounsevel Block was built in the early forties a small building that had been used for many purposes, - a grocery, harness shop, and dwelling among them. The first building at the west corner of Main and Pleasant Streets was built by Freeman Palmer in 1840; it was destroyed by fire.
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from the old Bowman house to Hazeltine's1 chair-shop was used in part as a garden and partly as a mill-yard. The lots where now stand the Lynch and Richardson store and Andrew Bingham's Block were also vacant, as were those now occupied by all but the easterly corner of Tilton's Block and the building tenanted by B. F. Corning and H. F. Howe. The land between Renfrew's store and the Coha- shauke Club, Odd Fellows Block, and the long reach extending from the present residence of R. P. White to Meadow Street,2 was tenantless save the lot nearly opposite the residence of Cyrus Young, where stood the schoolhouse of District Number Fifteen.
No part of the village has been so little changed in the last half- century as the north side of Main Street from the west end to Clay Street. Old buildings have been replaced or rebuilt, but in all this distance only five additional buildings have been con- structed on ground not before occupied.3
The first pharmacy was established by George K. Paddleford 4 in 1852 in the east store in the building now known as Odd Fel- lows' Block. This building was erected by Philip H. Paddleford for his brother's use. Soon after its completion Lorenzo C. Smith occupied the west side as a grocery store and oyster saloon. He and his sons, William C. and Henry W., continued in business there for many years.
The events that transpired in the years from 1840 to 1860 are among the most important in our history. These years witnessed the building of the railroad, our transition from an agricultural to a manufacturing community, the development of the village as a mercantile centre, and a large increase in our population. They are also memorable for the many important changes in our citizen- ship. The silent reaper had not been unmindful of his harvest, and gathered many to their final reward; among these the Rev. Drury Fairbank, the first settled minister, and Timothy A. Edson,5 Job Pingree, Jolin Gile, and William Brackett, who had for many years been prominent in business and town affairs, and who had lived out life's allotted period. Ebenezer Eastman, in the full meridian of his great powers and George S. Weolson in early manhood had been summoned to join the innumerable throng. The departure, in the closing month of 1850, to California, of
1 Now occupied in part by Opera Block and by Harrington's and Union Blocks.
2 This vacant lot was owned by Judge Bonney.
3 These are the residences of Mrs. W. A. Richardson and Mrs. Lewis Coyer, the barn near the homestead of Cyrus Young, the house built by F. F. Hodgman, now owned by Eli Wallace, and the National Bank building.
4 Francis Hodgman had kept a stock of drugs and medicines in connection with his other business.
5 Mr. Edson was born in Barre, Mass. The Genealogy does not state place of birth.
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History of Littleton.
Henry L. Tilton, William Bowman, Albert Balch, William C. Woolson, Matthew S. Hale, and John Murphy deprived the town of an important element, as these young men were nearly all engaged in business and gave promise of adding materially to the welfare of the community. They constituted the first contingent that went from our midst to that land of promise and of gold. Mr. Tilton and Mr. Bowman are the only survivors of the group, the last named being a resident of Vancouver, British Columbia. A regrettable loss was the removal of Henry A. Bellows and Calvin Ainsworth, Jr., who went to Concord to practise their pro- fessions. Mr. Ainsworth departed in 1842 and Judge Bellows in 1850. Gen. David Rankin abandoned his residence in this town in 1846, and joined his daughter at Haverhill, Ohio, where he passed the remaining years of his life.
The accessions were many and included several who became prominent in local and State affairs. Among these were George A. Bingham and Edward D. Rand, who added lustre to the legal profession, Franklin J. Eastman and Royal D. Rounsevel, promi- nent as merchants, and Gen. Edward O. Kenney and James J. Barrett, who were active in business and political circles.
The death of William Brackett in December, 1859, removed the last of the old-time merchants. He had been an active busi- ness man for a period of sixty years, during which he earned a reputation for acumen and accuracy of judgment unsurpassed by any of our business men except Ebenezer Eastman. He began business on his own account, on the meadows, and remained there until his removal to the village in 1840. During this time he engaged in nearly every branch of business activity transacted in this valley. He was a merchant, farmer, dealer in cattle, investor in wild lands, lumber manufacturer, and banker, or money-lender as this business was designated in those times. In all these lie was superior to fortune, as lie never speculated and embarked only in such enterprises as he had so closely examined that his calcu- lations were morally certain to be verified by results. By invest- ments in wild lands in Pennsylvania his heirs finally came into possession, through his son Cephas, of the largest fortune ever accumulated by any of our citizens. He held nearly all the town offices which his fellow townsmen could bestow upon him and was Representative to the General Court. This was in the peaceful days of " the era of good feeling," but when party lines were drawn in 1828 he cast his lot with the Democrats and was a strong partisan and active in the interests of that party, but never held office on account of his devotion to his large business interests.
C
JOSEPH ROBINS.
WILLIAM BRACKETT.
DOUGLAS ROBINS.
JAMES DOW.
Col. JOSEPH L. GIBB.
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The growth of the stage lines radiating from Littleton has been traced down to 1840. The years that immediately followed saw no additional routes established, but existing lines were passing through the era of their greatest prosperity. When the railroad reached Concord the tide of travel and traffic was turned from Portland to Boston, but the increase in pleasure travel to the mountains more than made good the loss in mercantile traffic over that line.
Major Cephas Brackett had acquired an interest in the Haver- hill route prior to 1840, and remained a proprietor until the car was substituted for the coach in 1853. Cyrus Willis was another stage proprietor of note at this period. These knights of the whip were popular with the travelling public. The Major always dressed with great care, and in the most approved style of the day. He usually wore a swallow-tail coat of blue broadcloth, with gilt buttons, a buff or white vest, and blue trousers. Whether Daniel Webster was his model in dress as well as in politics we do not know, but he closely followed the Great Expounder in both respects. With handsome features, a figure straight as an Indian's, and an excellent conversationalist withal, he cut a great figure in many ways in old stage days. Mr. Willis was something of a contrast to his associate. Careless of dress and of bent form, he regarded neither dress nor good looks as among his assets. He was a typical Yankee in bearing and character, and succeeded in whittling the best end of many a horse-trade out of his associates. He too was entertaining on or off the box. He told a story with a droll humor which kept the occupants of the " outside seats " in a pleasant mood as the coach bowled along the rough road and climbed its hills. His knowledge of human na- ture was great, and he made it a point to select from among his passengers for the outside seats those who were most likely to be entertained by his peculiar methods.
When the railroad superseded the coach to Wells River, mail- routes were reconstructed. The line to Danville had its western terminus at St. Johnsbury after 1847. The lines to Plymouth and Conway were no longer coach lines, except during the season of summer travel, and the mail was conveyed by a single or two- horse team. The line to Lancaster alternated via Whitefield and Dalton, with John Lindsey as proprietor for one or two years, when he sold his interest to Wallace Lindsey and Freeman D. Beede, who retained its ownership until in the course of time they too yielded to the advance of the railroad.
The old tavern is all that remains as a landmark of those times,
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and even that has been torn from its ancient foundation, and forced to take a back seat, as though it were not good enough for this hust- ling, irreverent commercial age. Driver and coach, with all their trappings, are mingled with the dust, and will soon be as forgotten as are the hopes, ambitions, loves, and dreams that once animated the grave or jolly knights who added so much that was picturesque, instructive, and amusing to the local life of long ago.
This was an over-night station, and as the volume of travel increased, it was thought that additional hotel accommodations would soon be required for guests who found a temporary home here. John Gile took this view of the situation, and in 1840, hav- ing purchased the old Roby homestead, built the Granite House, an imposing structure for the time. Henry Thomas was the first landlord of the house. He secured a fair share of the mountain business, but won little of the more profitable domestic patronage. Mr. Thomas, finding that he could not successfully master the situation, retired, and was succeeded by Stephen C. Gibb and his urbane and dignified son Joseph L., who with all their experi- ence could not make the business pay, and after a year's trial abandoned it, and, in 1845, went to the Lafayette House at Fran- conia Notch. James H. and Byron Eames then undertook, for a few years, to make the tavern popular with the travelling public, but met with no better success than their predecessors. In 1848 John Lindsey married Miss Susan A., daughter of Capt. Isaac Abbott, one of the popular teachers in the village, and soon after this event began a long career as a boniface by taking a lease of the Granite. His fortune there was similar to that of those who went before him, and at the termination of his lease the house was given over to residential tenants.
The Granite was not a financial success, yet its landlords were efficient and popular managers of hotel property, and some of them conquered success and gained enviable reputations in that capacity in other and larger spheres of action. Notably is this true of Joseph L. Gibb and John Lindsey. The former preceded Richard Taft at the Franconia Notch, and when the Crawford House at the White Mountain Notch was built, became its land- lord, and was known as one of the best hotel men in New England. His form was slight, and this gave him an appearance of greater height than he possessed ; his features were strong and somewhat wanting in symmetry ; his hair black and prone to dangle over his brow in a heavy shock ; he was straight, lithe, urbane and democratic in manner, and welcomed his guests with a cordial dignity that made friends on the threshold. Jolin Lindsey had
JOHN LINDSEY. " THE NORTHERN" HOTEL.
" THE GRANITE" TAVERN. ISRAEL C. RICHARDSON.
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been a stage-driver, and this was his first venture as a landlord. While the undertaking was not a success, it served to introduce him to the travelling public in a new capacity, as well as to give him an experience that was of value in his after career. He sub- sequently presided as landlord of the Eagle Hotel in Concord and the new Fabyan's at the White Mountains and the Lancaster House. He could do many things well, but is remembered as one " who knew how to keep a hotel."
Considering the character of the successive landlords, the ill- fortune that attended this hotel enterprise is peculiar. The fact probably is that the business demand for the new house was over- estimated in the first instance, and the difficulty of persuading the public to divide its patronage between rival taverns under- rated. The travelling public of those days was conservative, and when a landlord had gained the confidence of the wayfarer he became something more than a mere business man to him. He was his personal friend in all things, and his guide and mentor in many ; the tavern was to him a home, and his loyal preferences for its landlord were not easily alienated.
The Union House came under the control of Willard and Levi Ward Cobleigh in 1840. Willard - or " Uncle Dick," as he was styled by his friends - was a general favorite. Tall and somewhat stout, he moved with slow deliberation. His features were heavy, and his bearing rough but hearty. In early life he had followed the river, in charge of a " gang of rivermen," guiding logs to the mills on the lower Connecticut. Exposure and hardship had filled his joints with rheumatism, and it was seldom that he was free from the pain inflicted by this insatiable disease. This trouble was the cause of many of the peculiarities and mannerisms which attracted the attention of people and made him the subject of comment which served to advertise his inn among the travelling public far and near. He married Betsey, daughter of Max Hazelton, of Bath. She was a devout Methodist, and suffered much on account of the frequent ungodly speech of her husband. She was insistent in her efforts to induce him to attend meeting, but example, entreaty, and prayer failed to move his obdurate heart to yield to her wishes. It is believed that during his residence here he at- tended church but once. That was during a revival service con- ducted by the Rev. Mr. Gallaher at the Congregational Church, in 1850, when great interest was manifested in the service, and Col. Lucius A. Russell and Mr. Cobleigh were persuaded by Curtis C. Bowman to attend one of the meetings. Their entrance attracted the attention of the large audience, as both were of noticeable
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appearance and neither had been seen before within those walls by any of the assemblage. The pastor of the church, Rev. E. I. Car- penter, took note of their presence, and in the opening prayer made their case the subject of an urgent appeal for divine mercy. The allusions to the pair were so many and so pointed tliat all recog- nized the personal application. In his address the evangelist took up their case with great force and eloquence. The service ended, and as soon as the street was reaclied, Mr. Russell entered upon a fierce denunciation of the personal application which had been made on account of their attendance at the service. Mr. Cobleigh remained silent through it all, and the speaker becoming exasper- ated by his indifference, asked why he did not resent such abuse. " Don't you know when you are insulted ?" he asked. "Yes," said Mr. Cobleigh, " but it's just good enough for us ; we'd no business to be there." This closed the incident.
The public room in the tavern of sixty years ago served the double purpose of an office and bar-room. A large share of the profits of the house was derived from sales at the bar, and these reached no small sum, even at a time when tippling had ceased to be a fashionable diversion but was not yet regarded as dis- graceful. This room was also, by reason of a long-standing custom, used by the villagers as a sort of news exchange, where a knowledge of events in distant communities was gathered from travellers, and domestic gossip was doled out in generous quantities.
The bar-room at the Union House was a type of those in taverns of the better class. It was a large room, with doors opening to the men's reception-room, the dining-room, the shed, and the piazza. At one end was the bar. The counter stood breast-high, that the customer might have a convenient view of his glass and know when he had poured the required quantity. The method of meas- uring the drink much resembled Lord Selden's definition of equity, - only the thickness of the patron's finger, rather than the length of the chancellor's foot, served as the rule. One finger constituted a light, or social drink ; two fingers, a medium ; and three, a heavy dram. Sometimes an old toper would clasp the glass and fill it to the brim, much to Uncle Dick's disgust, who, regardless of pelf, was an advocate of moderate drinking. Behind the counter, within an arched recess, stood a cupboard, reaching from floor to ceiling. Its lower section stored the demijohns and jugs from which bottles were filled ; and the upper was filled with decanters of polished glass, attractive to the eye by reason of their varied coloring. They were arranged on shelves, cach of which contained
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a full variety of liquors, their quality and value increasing as you ascended from the lower to the top shelf. The price ranged from " thrippence " for New England rum to a shilling a glass for cognac brandy.
In this, or the adjoining reception-room, the Selectmen for many years held their meetings for the transaction of town business. When they met for the purpose of regulating the check-list, a large and sometimes contentious crowd filled the rooms, which were also frequently used as a court-room when some case of more than ordinary public interest was to be tricd.
The middle front room was the general reception-room of the village. Here business men, professional men, and politicians from abroad met our citizens, arranged their trades and planned their political campaigns. It was no uncommon thing to meet here such business men as Hanılin Rand, James H. Johnson, the Carletons and Hutchinses, of Bath ; the Cummingses, Parkers, and James H. Allen, of Lisbon ; the Parkers and Hoskinses, of Lyman ; the Websters, Montgomery, and Wood, of Haverhill ; Whitchers, of Benton ; Olcott, of Hanover ; the Sumners, David H. of Clare- mont and James H. of Dalton ; the Clarks, Noyes, Atwoods, and Samuel P. Peavey, of Landaff; Putnam, Parker, and Priest, of Franconia ; the Kenneys, Woodburys, and Sinclairs, of Bethle- hem ; Morris Clark, the Burnses, Carletons, Libbys, and others, of Whitefield ; the Weekses, Bracketts, Kent, Joyslin, and Burn- side, of Lancaster ; and many lumber dealers from Springfield, Hartford, and other cities on the lower Connecticut, who came here to meet the manufacturers from all the region round about. This room, too, served as an office for Reuben B. Dunn, of Water- ville, and Asa Gile, of Reidville, Maine, two of the most eminent of the business men of that State, who had large lumber interests in Whitefield. It was also occupied for the same purpose by Robert Morse and John E. Chamberlain while they were building the White Mountains Railroad. To name others, the politicians and professional men who frequented this hostelry, would prolong the list to include all who resided in the two northern counties, and many from beyond their limits.
In the fifties it was for three seasons the home of an eccentric gentleman of Jewish extraction, by the name of Nazro, a former resident of New York. To such as knew him casually, he was a polished gentleman of winning personality and great erudition, who was equally at home in the discussion of current events and grave problems of theology, philosophy, and history. He was
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subject to intervals of melancholia, and when in this mood imag- ined and proclaimed himself the Messiah foretold by prophecy. He held large possessions, which were controlled by a guardian, while his liberal allowance was principally squandered in the pur- chase of quit-claim deeds to the territory embraced by Mount Washington. On the loftiest summit of this noble mountain he proposed to erect a temple, which was to contain the tabernacle sacred to all sons of Israel, and from this temple he was finally to make his ascension to his heavenly kingdom. When the shadow passed from his mind, he became a delightful companion, and his entertaining company was much sought.
John Gile died in 1851. He had been for more than forty years an important factor in the business progress of the town, few of our citizens having contributed as much to its development. He came to Littleton from Bethlehem in 1809, having purchased the Jonas Nurse tavern on Fitch hill, where he provided entertain- ment for man and beast until the course of travel was diverted by a change in the highway to the route still in use. Soon after this event he bought, of Oliver Nurse, the property where the Mon- tain Home House now is, and there made his home during the re- maining years of his life.
Mr. Gile was industrious, thrifty, and an excellent judge of the value of real estate and in the course of time his investments made him the largest holder of valuable real estate in town. He owned the grist-mill, the old carding and fulling mill, and built the new mill, now used as a grist-mill by I. C. Richardson. This mill has played an important part in the industrial life of our town. When built it was well equipped with fulling stocks and a set of cards of the most approved pattern then in use. Eventually it passed into the control of Deacon James Hale. Then William J. Bellows and Charles Nurse converted it into a shop for the manufacture of bed- steads. They transferred it to Deacon John Merrill. A few years later it became the property of Josiah and Benjamin W. Kilburn, who used it as a machine shop and foundry ; next it was transformed by George H. Tilton and Fred E. Goodall into a factory for making knit underwear ; and later it became the prop- erty of I. C. Richardson, who turned it into a grist-mill. Mr. Gile also built the Granite and many dwellings in the village, and was the largest subscriber among our residents to the stock of the White Mountains Railroad and while extremely close in matters of personal expenditure, he possessed the sagacity, often denied to men of his habits in regard to financial affairs, to see that liberal contributions to all projects calculated to advance the welfare of
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