History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire, Part 134

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia [Pa.] J. W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1520

USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire > Part 134
USA > New Hampshire > Belknap County > History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire > Part 134

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).

They are deserving of remembrance by the citizens of Northfield, not only for being the first of the name within its precincts, but as two among the earliest settlers of the good old town, having emi- grated thither from Wilmot, N. H., about the year 1775, and located themselves on the Bean Hill road, not far from the Colonel Cofran farm ; at which time his son William, the father of William F., was about six years old. Joseph was a carpenter as well as farmer, and worked at his trade more or less through life, as the wants of the community might require, to the great advantage of his neighbors, as a workman of that class must always be in great request in a growing town. And that he was a good workman is proved by the banisters of the Old Meeting-House, still in existence, which he turned in after-years, and as the History of Northfield says, " he turned them well." Indeed,. a conscientious thoroughness has ever been the characteristic of him and his descend- ants. They " do their work well." His wife, Sarah Lock, before her marriage, lived in Chester, N. H., of which town her father was one of the earliest settlers. At first, there was much trouble from the Indians ; and in after years Mrs. Knowles used to relate with great glee to her grandchildren the story of her father's encounter with one of that race. Her father, it appears, was at work in his field, when he was suddenly confronted and assaulted by an Indian. Mr.

Lock, though unarmed except with a sickle, made a stout fight, wielding his reaping hook with such effi- ciency, that he soon reduced his opponent's face to a dead level, that is, cut off his nose, which so discon- certed poor Lo, that he retreated with great precipi- tation. When asked, in after-time, what became of his nose, he used to reply, " Old Lock cut it off."

Grandfather Knowles, after residing several years on his Bean Hill farm, according to the more proba- ble account-though there is a little difference of opinion on this point-exchanged it for one on Bay Hill, where he remained till his death.

Those were the days, as everybody knows, of large families; and Joseph Knowles formed no exception to the ancestral rule. His family consisted of ten children, namely :

I. William, whose birth took place April 6, 1781. Married, in 1805, Zilpha Thorn, who was born Janu- ary 1, 1782. His death occurred May 26, 1864, at the age of eighty-three; and his wife's December 26, 1876, aged ninety-four.

William was the father of five. children, whose names are 1, Wesley, born October 6, 1806; married . Jane W. Gilman, October 3, 1832, who was born October 6, 1805, and died September 20, 1857.

For his second wife, he married, June 26, 1860, Sophronia Clement Johnson, born October 9, 1817. His four children were named,-

(a) Charles W., born May 29, 1835; (b) George C., born November 24, 1838; died May 16, 1858; (c) Lucian E., born March 22, 1842; died September 2, 1864; (d) Laura J. C., born October 4, 1843, married to Marcus A. Hardy May 29, 1866, and died March 20, 1885.

2. Betsey C., horn March 11, 1808; died May 3, 1882.

3. Cyrene, born January 21, 1813 ; died August 11, 1815.

4. Joseph, born July 29, 1817 ; died September 17, 1852.

5. William F., born April 24, 1822 ; married Sarah Pratt Robinson January 1, 1850. Her birth-place was Boston, and date, November 4, 1827. They have three children, two daughters and one'son, all born in Cambridge and all living. Their names are as fol- lows,-

(a) Addie Viola, born January 14, 1854 ; (b) Carrie Way, horn February 5, 1857 ; (c) William Fletcher Knowles, Jr., born February 19, 1861. Is a graduate of Harvard Medical College, and is soon to proceed to Germany to study.

II. Joseph Knowles, Jr., born April 1, 1783, who, after marriage, settled in Piermont, N. H., had a large family, removed about forty-five years ago to Illinois, and finally made his home in Iowa.

III. and IV. Christian and Sarah, twins, born Oc- tober 7, 1786.

V. Sally, birth April 11, 1789; married Josiah Bachelder, of Andover, N. H., and lived and died

1 By Professor Lucian Hunt,

W. P. Acowley

546a

NORTHFIELD.

there. Their son, William A. Bachelder, now lives on the old farm, and his son, Nahum, is writing a History of Andover, so report says.

VI. Hannah, born February 9, 1792; married Mr. Haines, and lived for many years in Vershire, Vt., but after her husband's death removed to Exeter, N. H.

VII. John, born October 10, 1794. Never mar- ried. Died May 29, 1853.

VIII. Polly, born August 6, 1797. Married Josiah A. Woodbury, of Northfield, in which town she passed her life and died. Had three children,-Mary, Cyrene and William.

IX. and X. A son and daughter,-January, 1800.

Having thus given a brief analysis of the Knowles family, and traced back its genealogy so far as our data permitted, we will devote our remaining space to a hasty glance at the principal events in the life of that member of it whose portrait is given with this sketch.

On the highest pinnacle of Bay Hill, looking almost perpendicularly down upon Chestnut Pond nestling at its eastern base, with the triple-peaked Gilmanton Mountains in the distance beyond, at a height per- haps of two or three hundred feet above the famous first settled farm of the pioneer, Benjamin Blanchard, on the west, with Kearsarge towering above it and far away; with Bean Hill's broad shoulders confront- ing the view on the south,-while northward stands the giant sentinels of the White, Franconia and Sandwich Ranges, with the Winnipisaukee Valley in the foreground,-is situated the pleasant, productive and romantic ancestral homestead of Wesley Knowles, Esq., where his brother, William F. Knowles, son of William and Zilpha Knowles, first saw the light on the 24th of April, 1822, as we have already stated, the same year which gave to our country Ulysses S. Grant, with but a few days' difference between their ages.

Like many other New Hampshire boys who have made their mark, William passed his boyhood at home, under the eye of a careful, industrious and much respected Christian father and mother, aiding in cultivating the well-tilled fields, laying the foun- dations by temperance, pure air and hard work, for that stock of good health and strength which were to serve him so well in after-life, and acquiring those habits of industry upon which his future success has so much depended.

The winter district-school was his only source of education till he was sixteen, when he attended two terms at the Franklin, N. H., Academy, and the fol- lowing winter made his first essay in teaching in the Sanborn district, in Sanbornton, in the years 1839-40.

The next winter he was a pupil in the New Lon- don, N. H., Literary Institution, and the ensuing fall of the Academy at Newbury, Vt., and the winter after, taught in Haverhill, N. H., always working on the farm during the summer.

The Academical School of Professor Dyer H. San- born, a noted teacher of those times, was then in the flood-tide of its prosperity, at Sanbornton Bridge (now Tilton) and thither William wended his way in the fall of 1842.

The writer attended the school at the same time, and remembers him well as a hard worker, a close student and unexceptionable in his observance of the school regulations, while in scholarship he stood in the front rank,-his tastes and strength seeming to lie more particularly in mathematics. In the sub- sequent winter he taught with general acceptance in his home-district of Bay Hill.

He was now twenty-one, and knowing he must work his way through the world by his own unaided efforts, like many other young men of his native town, he determined to leave the paternal fields and seek his fortune elsewhere; and, accordingly, in May, proceeded to Boston. Here engaging in the grocery business till September, 1844, he then entered the wholesale dry-goods store of the wealthy firm of James M. Beebe & Co., where he remained fourteen years,-a length of time sufficient to prove most de- cidedly his faithfulness to his duties and consequent acceptability to his employers.

On the termination of this engagement, he con- cluded to make still another change in his business, -the fourth,-having already tried farming, teaching and storekeeping. He engaged in the transportation business, which has been his employment down to the present time; first, with the Commercial Steam- boat Company, and the Boston and Providence R. R. Company, between Boston and New York and the South. Subsequently, he accepted an offer to go to New York in the interest of the N. Y. C. R. R. Company, and afterwards was engaged by the Penn- sylvania R. R. Lines.

After continuing in New York three years, he was, on the completion of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific R. R. to Council Bluffs, engaged to represent their road in Boston and New England. Continuing in this agency several years, until the Chicago and Northwestern, the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific, and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroads, had completed an arrangement for pooling their through business, which, by the way, was the first pooling arrangement made by any railroad, he was appointed Pool Agent for their New England busi- ness.

At the present time he is the New England Agent of the California Fast Freight Line, which line is owned and operated by the Chicago, Northwestern, the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacifie, the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul, and the Union Pacific Rail- ways.

His office is at 211 Washington Street, Boston.

Mr. Knowles is a prominent member of the Ma- sonic fraternity, having been made a Master Mason in 1857, received the Royal Arch Mason's Degree, in

546 b

HISTORY OF MERRIMACK COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

1858, soon followed by the Cryptic Degrees of the order, and a little later was created a Knight Tem- plar and Knight of Malta ; is at present a permanent member of the Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters of Massachusetts, and, on the 21st day of November, 1862, received the Grade of Sov .. Gr ... Ins ... Gen.". of the Thirty-third and last Degree, and was admitted an honorary member of the Supreme Grand Council A. A. Scottish Rite for the northern Masonic jurisdiction of the United States, and is to- day among its oldest members residing in Massachu- setts.

Owing to the nature and locality of his employ- ment, Mr. Knowles has found it convenient to make his home in or near the New England metropolis during the most of his adult years. After marriage he lived in Boston till 1852, when he changed his residence to Cambridge, where he remained twenty-

four years, till 1876. That his executive ability was appreciated in some degree by his fellow-citizens at this time is shown by the fact that he was called to serve in the city government of Cambridge two years, having been elected to the Council for 1861 and unanimously re-elected for the following year. After a few months' stay in Medford, he finally re- moved to Somerville, where he now resides, still in the full vigor of life, blessed with health and a com- petency, possessed of a spacious and pleasaut home, a charming family, with the retrospect of a life of earnest aud honest striving rewarded and rounded out by the successful accomplishment of the mission assigned him. As we said of his grandfather, so we say of him,-" he has done his work well." May pros- perity still further attend, and a ripe old age await this characteristic son of Northfield, William F. Knowles.

HISTORY OF HILL.

BY F. R. WOODWARD.

CHAPTER I.

THE township of New Chester, as originally granted, embraced a large amount of territory, containing that which is now occupied by Hill, Bristol, Bridgewater, a portion of Wilmot and Danbury. Hill, at this date (1885), contains only a small part of the original grant of New Chester, bearing this original title until Jan- uary 14, 1837, when, in honor of Governor Isaac Hill, it received its present name. The old Masonion pro- prietors granted this territory to eighty-seven propri- etors September 14, 1753 ; being mostly men from Chester, the new grant was called New Chester. The original proprietors were not all actual settlers, but many afterwards transferred or sold their claims to actual settlers.

As early as 1767 two settlements were made within the present limits of Hill, by Carr Huse, Esq. and Captain Cutting Favour. The former came from Newbury, Mass., and settled on a fine intervale farm in the village, that has been held by the family name to this date (1885).

The latter selected a good location on the Pemi- gewasset River, about two miles north of the village, towards Bristol, at the present residence of Frank Foster. At first these men did not spend their winters among the snow-clad hills and frosty valleys of their new homes, surrounded by beasts of the forests and more deadly foes, their copper-colored enemy. In 1770 they made their residence here permanent. During the same year other settlements were made in that part of New Chester which is now embraced in other towns. Certain names must necessarily appear in this history of men who were then residents of thesesur- rounding towns, as petitioners and officers. The town was incorporated November 20, 1778, in answer to a petition from theinhabitants, and named New Chester at their request. A manifest desire existed very early among the inhabitants of this large territory for a di- vision of the town, and petitions were presented to the General Court for that purpose in 1774, as is shown by the records,-

" At a town-meeting held upon the 20th day of January, 1774, upon the third article, voted that the Township of New Chester shall be In- corporated into Two Townships or parrishes.

"Upon the fourth article, Voted that what money was voted at the

last meeting to be raised for preaching Shall be applied towards getting the Town of New Chester Incorporated into Two Towuships, or par- rishes, as aforesaid, so much of it as is nessary for that Servis.

" Voted, that Samuel Livermore, Stephen Holland and John Telford, Esqr., they or either of them are here by empowered to git the Town- ship of New Chester incorporated in to two Townships or parrishes aforesaid,"

PETITIONS TO BE INCORPORATED INTO TWO TOWNS IN 1776.

" To the Honorable Council and House of Representatives of the Colony of New Hampshire :

" The Humble Petition of the Inhabitants of the Township of New Chester. Wee, the Inhabitants of Sd N. Chester, Do Labour under many Grievances and disadvantages for want of an In Corporation, whereby wee might have officers Endowed with Powers and Authority as other Towns in this Colony Do Enjoy. We therefore Ihumbly Pray Your Honours to Grant us a Charter of In Corporation-Investing us with the Powers, Priviledges and Authorities as other Towns within this Colony have. It is the Desire of your Humble Petitioners that the Sd Township may Be In Corperated into two Distinet Towns, if your Honours Please, By Reason of the Township Being Very Long, which will abundantly Best Acommodate the Inhabitants of Sd Town Ship, it is desired that Sd Towns may Be Divided at New Found River, So Called, Allowing the upper Town to In Clude the priviledges for mills upon Sd Itiver within the Limits of Sd Towu and your Humble Petitioners, as in Duty Bound, shall Ever Pray.

" N. Chester, Decenthr 24tl1, 1776.

"Jonathan Crawford, Josiah heath, Thomas Crawford, Jun, John Clark, Cutting favour, Jonathan Ingalls, Joseph Sanborn, Jacob wells, Robert Crawford, Nason Cass, John Mitchell, Gideon Sleeper, Reuben Wells, John Smith, Nathaniel Sauborn, John Bussell, Benj. MeAllester, Robt Forsith, Beniemin Emery, Carr Huse, David Emerson, Joshna Tol- ford, Tilton Bennet."

This petition not being granted, nearly two years later the following was presented :

" To the General Court of the State of New Hampshire :

" The Humble Petition of the Inhabitants of the Township of New Chester. Wee, the Inhabitants of S4 Township, Do Lahour under Many Grievances and Disadvantages for Want of an Incorporation whereby wee might have officers indowed with Power, authority, and that wee might Lay out our highways Se thint wee Might make and Re- pair them So that travilers might Safely travel or pass through the Town Ship Safely, for want of which wee are Sensible ; Some of your Honours are Sensible of and many more Dificulties which wee Labour under ; wee, therefore, Humbly Pray your Honours to Grant us a Char- ter of Incorporation Investing us with the Powers, Priviledges and an- thorities as other Towns within the State Do Injoy, and your Humble Petitioners, as in Duty Bound, Shall Ever Pray.

" New Chester, October 15th, 1778.

"It is Desird that the Town May Be Incorporated By the name of New ('hester.

" Carr Huse, Cutting favour, Chase fuller, Jonathan Crawford, thomas Loek, moses Worthen, Gideon Sleeper, John Russell, Jacob Wells, Til- ton Bennet, John Emery, Beniamin Emons, Simeon Cross, Samnel wor- then, Abner fellows, Theophilus Sanborn, John Cleveland, Nathaniel Sanborn, Eben" Iugalls, Josiuh heath, Jonathan Ingalls, Peter Sleeper, John Kidder."

547

548

HISTORY OF MERRIMACK COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

In answer to the above petition, the town was in- corporated by the Legislature November 20, 1778.

At the time of its incorporation the shape of the town, as they claimed, was indeed inconvenient for the transaction of business, as was evidently true, being shown by the following petition, that was sent to the Legislature nine years after the town was in- corporated :

"To the Honourable Senate and House of Representatives of said State, to he convened at Charlestown on the Second Wednesday of Septem- her, A.D. 1787.

"The Petition of the inhabitants of New Chester, in said State, Hum- bly Sheweth, Wee, your Petitioners, Labouring under many Difficulties and disadvantages in our present Circumstances by Renson of the Town Being Exceedingly Long and in one place but a very little more than one mile wide, which makes it very Difficult for the Major part of the people to attend Public Worship, when we have preaching in Town and like wise to Attend Town Meeting, as it is Commonly bad traveling when wee have our Annual Meeting, the Town is more than Nineteen miles in Length. Wee, your Humble Petitioners, Earnestly Request that your Excellency and Honours would Divide the Town of New Chester into two Towna, and that it may be Divided at Newfound River, So Called (vs.), Begining at the mouth of Newfound River, running up said river untill it comes to Newfound pend ; then running on the east- erly Shore of said pond untill it comes to the Tewu line between New Chester and Plymouth, and your petitioners, as in Duty Bound, will ever Pray.

" New Chester, August 234, 1787.

"Carr Huse, Reuben Wells, john Russell, Nathan Colhy, Peter heath, Jonathan Ingalls, Jun., Elias Boardman, Jon" Ingalls, Nathaniel Sun- hora, Ephm Wehster, Cutting favour, Michael Mosher, Thomas Huse, John fellows, Jonathan Holt, Jesiah Brown, David Emerson, Thomas Rowell, Joseph Johnson, Thomas Locke, Samnel worthen, Benja Boardman, John Mitchel, Jacob Fellows, Joseph Marshall, Joseph Em- ons, Moses Fellows, Simeon Cross, Daniel Heath, James heath, Jonathan heath, David powell, Alexander Craig, Jonathan Carlton, Ephraim Clark, John Mitchell, Jun, Ziba Townsend, Chase Fuller, John Ladd, Samuel Drew, David Craig, Robert Craige, Seth Spencer, Isaac Senter, Jonathan Crawford, Beniamin Emons, William Powell, Jesiah heath, John heath, James Craige."

February 12, 1788, the north part of this town was incorporated into the town of Bridgewater, and Thomas Crawford was authorized to call the first town-meeting.

By an act of the Legislature, approved June 24, 1819, that part of the town "which lies northerly of Smith's river," with a part of Bridgewater, was made into a new town (now Bristol).

December 21, 1820, the town was enlarged by the annexation of a small portion of Alexandria.

By an act of the Legislature, approved December 21, 1832, a small tract of land was taken from New Chester and annexed to Wilmot.

On the 26th day of June, 1858, a certain tract of land was taken from Hill and joined to Danbury.

The town was in Grafton County until July 1, 1868, at which time it was annexed to Merrimack County.

LIST OF RATABLE POLLS, 1775.

Carr Huse, Esq., Cutting Favour, David Emerson, Nathaniel Sanborn, Henry Wells, Jacob Wells, Tilton Bennet, Benjamin Straw, Nason Cass, Jeremiah Quimby, Joseph Sanborn, Reuben Wells, John Smith, Na- thaniel Bartlet, Robert Forsaith, Joshua Tolford, Esq., Peter Sleeper, Gideon Sleeper, John Kidder, Samuel Worthan, Meses Worthan, Ebene- zer Ingalls, Thomas Lock, Eben Fellows, Beniamin Emmous, Chase Fuller, Edmund Eastman, Gersham Fletcher, Jeho Mitchel, Thomas Crawford, Thomas Crawford (2d), Peter Heath, John Clark, Jonathan

Ingalls, Josiah Heath, Andrew Craige, Benjamin McCollester, Jonathan Crawford.

RATABLE POLLS, 1783.

"STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.

New Chester, Dec. 12th, 1783.

"A return of the Number of Male Polls from Twenty-one years of Age & upwards paying for themselves within the Town of New Chester. No 66.

" CARR HUSE, Select Men For "PETER SLEEPER, J N. Chester."

"Groton, ss., Alexandria, Dec. 12th, 1783.

"Then the above-Named Carr Huse, Esq., and Peter Sleeper, Men New Chester, Made Oath to the Truth of the above Return By them, Signed Before me. "JOSIAH TELFORD, Just. Peace."

Number of ratable polls in 1885

167

Value of real estate .

$127,832

Amount in savings banks $50,733

Money at interest on notes 6164

Railroad bonds 1000

Early Proprietors .- The following is a schedule of the proprietors' names of New Chester, with the number of each proprietor's lots as they were drawn :

DRAUGHT OF LOTS IN NEW CHESTER,

First Second Third Fourth

PROPRIETORS' NAMES.

Div'a, Div'n, Div'a, Div'n,

No.

Matthew Thornton, Esq .

. 22

Archabld Dunlap

John Tolford, Esq .

Matthew Thornton, Esq

Joseph Clark

Eesign William Telford

John Tolford, Esq . .

John McMurphy, Esqr

John Gordon

Matthew Thornton, Esqr.

John Telford, Esqr.

Robert McMurphy .

Matthew Theraton, Esqr.

Ens" Henry Hall.

Themas Shirley

Jolın Telford, Jr.

John Durham

Lieut Robert Fletcher

Hugh Telford .

Ensu James Quinton

Coll Josiah Willard.

Matthew Thornton, Esqr

Stephen Ferrington

Robert Craige .

Jeremiah Colbur

John Tolford, Esqr

James Shirley, JunT.

Matthew Livermore, Esq"

Matthew Thornton, Esq" . 86

Mark II. J. Wietworth.

John Mills. .

Samuel Moores, Esq"

Timothy Ingals .

James White. .

Capt John Underhill

Capt Thomas Wells.

Joshua Telford.

Nathanael Ingals.

Samuel Searls

Capt James Shirley.

John Kelsay.

Jetham O'Diorn, Esq"

Coll Theedere Atkinson.

Lieut Thomas Craige .

549

First Second Third Fourth

PROPRIETORS' NAMES.

Div'n.

No.

Coll Joseph Blanchard .

Lieu Ebenezer Dearbon

James McFareon.

Jeremiah Colburo

Samuel Gault

Samuel Searle

John Man

Peirce & Moore

Robert White

Capt John Moffatt .

Jeremiah Colburn .

Matthew Thornton, Esq" .

Thomas Wallingsford, Esq . . 68

Matthew Thornton, Esqr . . . 58

George Jaffrey, Esqr .

John Aikin .

William Parker, Esqr.

Joshua Peirce, Esq.

John Kinge

Jacob Sargent .

Matthew Thornton, Esq"

Coll Masurve & others.

James Wadwel! .

36 & 68

Thomlenson & Mason.

Orlando Colby .

Henry Herring.

Samuel Searls

Cou Josiah Willard.

William Graham .

Alexander McClure.

Solly & March.

John Wentworth, Esqr .

Timothy Favour.

Matthew Thornton, Esq

John Hazeltine. .

Coll Thomas Parker.

Archibald Duulap

Richard Wibird, Esq.

Coll Josiah Willard.

Richard Pearl .

James Moores .

Archabald Duolap

Mark Karr.

Samuel Emerson, Esqr.

" Copy Examined.

"JEREMIAH LIBBEY, Prop" Clerk."

In the Masonian proprietors' five hundred acre lots drawn December 24, 1781, as follows :

" Thomlenson & Mason.

No. I

Meserve & Co .

No. 2

Theadore Atkinson.

No. 3

Thomas Parker

No. 4

John Moffatt.

No. 5

"New Chester, Oct. 34, 1806.

"CAAR HUSE, Prop's Clerk."

Boundary Lines .- Considerable difficulty was ex- perienced by the early settlers in fixing the boundary lines of the township, and at several different times committees were appointed by the Legislature to settle the troubles.

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History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire, Part 134

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Philadelphia [Pa.] J. W. Lewis & co. Number of Pages: 1520

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia [Pa.] J. W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1520