History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire, Part 141

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 141
USA > New Hampshire > Belknap County > History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire > Part 141


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).


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In December, General Sullivan appealed to the citi- zens of New Hampshire to recruit his forces on Win- ter Hill, and two companies were raised in Pembroke.


Of one company Andrew Bunten was captain ; Samuel McConnell, first lieutenant; Peter Robinson second lieutenant.


Of the other company Samuel Conner was captain, Matthew Pettingill, first lieutenant; Nathaniel Head, second lieutenant.


In July and August, 1776, a New Hampshire reg- iment was raised for service in Canada and on the northern frontier, and placed under command of Col- onel Joshua Wright.


Second Lieutenant Stephen Bartlett was from Pem- broke, as were the following soldiers, all in Company Nine.


Samuel Kimball, Nathaniel Lakeman, David Frye, Benjamin Hlaggett, William Knox, James Knox, John Knox, Nathaniel Smith, Eliphalet Connor, Samuel McConnell, Levi Carter, Asa Foster, Jr., Jamea Head, Jonathan Elliot, John Lander, Eliphalet Norris, Phedria McCutchin, John Bete, John Quimby, Joseph Cochran, Ephraim Garvin, Samuel Kelly, Thomas Stickney, Jeremiah Abbot, Nathaniel Martin, Benjamin Norris, John Cook, John Cochran, James Martin, John Jeunes.


Captain Benjamin Frye became disaffected with the management of public affairs, complained of the court publicly and asserted that he should not go into the service until he was paid his dues. As it ap- pears from the town records that he had a wife, at least, dependent upon him, and, from the complaint of the zealous patriot who reported him, was without an estate and dependent upon his pay, at this distance of time his fault-finding seems not unreasonable, but justifiable. During his absence his wife was admitted to the privileges enjoyed hy the families of non-com- missioned officers and privates by a special vote of the town. It evidently required wealth for a man to hold a commission during the Revolution, for the money received for pay from the Continental authorities had very little purchasing power compared to its face value.


"A MUSTER-ROLL of CAPT. SAMUEL MCCONNELL's Compa in Coll Stikney's Regiment Belonging to Brigadier-General Starke's Brigade of the State of New Hampshire, Pembroke, July 18, 1777. Raiaad for the


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PEMBROKE.


Defence of AMERICAN Liberty, against the UNCONSTITUTIONAL ACTS of BRITAIN."


Samuel McConnell, captain ; Robert Gilmore, first lieutenant ; John Orr, second lieutenant ; Thomas Hoit, ensign ; Jeptha Tyler, first ser- geant ; Robert Burns, second sergeant; Ebenezer Ferren, third sergeant ; James Gay, fourth sergeant ; James Knox, first corporal ; Robert Spear, second corporal ; Samuel Huston, third corporal ; Enoch Sergent, fourth corporal ; Matthew Gault, drummer ; Patrick Roach, fifer ; Enoch Eaton, Eliphalet Richarde, Benjamin Stevens, Jr., Samuel Ames, Amos Richards, David McCluer, Jr., Nicholas Felch, Jonathan Cilley, Isaac Sargent, Joseph Colbey, Daniel Hadley, Stephen Mors, Charles Mcl'oy, Jeremiah Abbot, Ephraim Garven, Joho Moor, John Robinson, Samuel Piper, James Alexander, Fry Holt, Solomon Amee, George Evane, John Wallace, John Bell, William McLaughlin, James Walker, Isaac Huston, Robert Matthewe, Adam Smith, Samuel Remick, Samuel Carr, Samuel Hoit, Benjamio Stevens (3d), Nathan Haws, Samuel Dunlap, Malachi Davis, John Astor, David McCluer, John Rowell, Reuben Wells, Samuel Eaton, Caleb Page, Jr., Thomas Mills, Jr., William Holmes, Jr., John Church, David Morrison, William Wheeler, Jr., Archibald McCurdy, David Farmer, Theophilus Griffin, Zachariah Holden, Enoch Harvey, John Nutt, Jacob McQuaid, John Morrison, John Aiken, John Barret, Hugh Riddle, John Gilmor, Reuben Trussell, John Huntington, Joshua Willet, Benjamin Betle, Ebenezer Hacket, Daniel Collins, James Wallace, Solomon Whitehouse, Zebulon Davie, Joseph Norris, Willianı Moor, Samuel McDuffee, Daniel Story, Samnel Kelly, Obadiah Hadley, Hezekiah Colbey, William Emerson, John Abbot, Gershom Durgin, James Barker, privates.


This company was with General Stark at the battle of Bennington, and did good service. Major James Head was mortally wounded in the battle, and was buried in the village of Bennington.


In 1777, Ebenezer Frye was captain and John Moore was first lieutenant of a company in the First New Hampshire Regiment in the Continental army.


The training-band "was constituted of all the able-bodied male persons in the State, from sixteeen years old to fifty, excepting certain persons in position and employment specified, and negroes, Indians and mulattoes." The alarm-list " included all male per- sons from sixteen to sixty-five not included' in the training-band," not specially exempted, and was organized in a separate corps.


The militia of each county was organized in regi- ments and companies, the field officers being chosen by the Council and House of Representatives. The companies consisted of about sixty-eight privates, who elected their company officers.


Pembroke during these dark days, like all other towns in the American colonies, was an armed camp, every citizen under military orders.


In 1781, Major McConnell, Lieutenant Samuel Daniell and Lieutenant Samuel Noyes were chosen a committee to divide the parish, and to give to each company their quota of men required from the town for the army. Major McConnell was also empowered to purchase the quantity of beef required of the parish by the State authorities. In March the com- mittee reported that Captain J. Cochran's company should furnish six men, and Captain N. Head's com- pany five men, to fill the quota of the town. Every able-bodied man, liable to serve, was enrolled a militia or minute-man. While the actual fighting had been progressing no draft had been required to fill Pem- broke's quota. Volunteers were willing and ready. Now that the powerful aid of France had been suc-


cessfully sought and obtained, and the British were acting on the defensive, and peace seemed probable, the enthusiasm had in a measure subsided. Yet Pembroke again willingly did her duty, and the men were furnished.


The extreme poverty of the people was very dis- tressing after the war, and the Legislature was impor- tuned to issue a fiat money to an unlimited extent to relieve the wants of the most needy, and finally did emit fifty thousand dollars; but this did not suit the most clamorous, and it was determined to coerce the authorities. Runners were acccording sent into the most disaffected towns, calling upon the people to arm, go to Exeter and demand an emission of paper money, and other enactments to suit their views. September 20th, about two hundred young and thoughtless insurgents entered the town of Exeter, some on foot, some mounted, armed with every variety of weapon, from a musket to a staff. Of the military men in this insurrection are handed down the names of Major James Cochran, Captain James Cochran, and Lieutenant Asa Robinson, of Pembroke, and probably a large part of their following were from the young men of the town. The dispersion of the mob is a matter of history,-how General Cilley arrested with his own hands Major Cochran ; how the rash men were dragged from their homes and brought to trial at Exeter, plead guilty and were discharged with a reprimand. Major Cochran was cashiered, but was restored on account of former good conduct,- more fortunate than Captain Cochran and Lieutenant Robinson, whose sentences were not revoked, and they lost their military rank.


Under the military organization of the State in 1812, Asa Robinson was brigadier-general of the Third Brigade ; Samuel Cofran, lieutenant-colonel Eleventh Regiment ; David Norris, major First Battalion ; Asa Foster, major Second Battalion.


In a company sent for the defense of Portsmouth, in July, were Moody Dustin, Edla Foster and Wil- liam Abbot, of Pembroke.


The following Pembroke men were called into active service in the summer and fall of 1814, under the command of Captain William Marshall : Samuel Ames, Samuel Evans, Joseph Emery, Edmund Holt and Richard Morse.


September 26th the company under command of Captain Edward Fuller was called out for sixty days; the following were all or in part from Pem- broke:


Edward Fuller, captain ; Asn Head, lieutenant ; Sanmel White- house, ensign ; Abel Read, William Knox, sergeants ; Aaron Martin, Reuben Osgood, corporals; Samuel S. Moulton, Stephen Hlayes, John Conner, Jeremiah Edmunds, George Wheeler, Suunuel Kelley, John Davis, Robert Moor, Jr., Isaac Knox, John Nickson, Seth Baker, Stephen Chickering, William Fife; David Brown, Robert Knox, Hillary Knox, John Morrison, Thomas Knox, Charles Rowell, Levi Baker, Thomas Martin, Chase Prescott, Georgo French, Richard Welch, Joseph Knox. Nathaniel Lakeman, William Roach, Daniel Kimhall, Samuel Robinson, privates.


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HISTORY OF MERRIMACK COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.


The company was stationed at Portsmouth on gar- rison duty.


Lieutenant Head seems to have been on detached service, for the pay-roll of his company, all Pembroke men, has been preserved.


Asa Head, second lientenant ; Samuel Whitehouse, ensign ; William Ham, John Palmer, Jr., William Knox, sergeants ; Aaron Martin, cor- poral ; Peter Tucker, Andrew Gault, musicians ; Prescott Kendall, Seth Baker, Levi Baker, Jolın Conver, Stephen Chickering, Jeremiah Edmunds, George Freneh, Samuel Kelley, Joseph Knox, Nathaniel Lakeman, Robert Moore, Jr., John Morrison, Isaac Knox, John Nickson, Charles Rowell, Samuel Robinson, Isaac C. Swan, Joseph Seavey, John Phillips, Edmund Whitcher, John Sargent, Jr., privates ; Tim Lyndstone, waiter


PEMBROKE'S ROLL OF HONOR DURING THE REBELLION.


Samuel O. Burnham, Edward Clark, M. V. B. Davis, L. H. Dearborn, Henry C. Fife, George W. Nixon, Woodbury Brooks, Frank Daniels, Pierre Francois, Thomas Gardner, John J. Jackson, Edward Levy, John D. Wolfe, Wm. M. Edmunds, Duncan Kennedy, George Barney, George F. Smith, Jos. B. Connor, Henry Quimby, Wm. Zanes, Harrison Zanes, Thomas Haslin, Lucian B. Smith, M. C. Richardson, John Sweeney, Carl Weisman, Charles L. French, John Frederick, Alvin H. Stevens, John Bachelder, Henry Brown, William Burson, George Burney, John G. Gillis, Michael Hall, William Lynch, Henry A. Mann, Daniel W. Knox, James Toben, George H. Cilley, Benj. A. Brown, Benj. F. Messer, Alfred Towns, Win. Gray, James Crowley, D. M. Leighton, Joseph


Lewis, John Fredericks, Ilenry Hashoff, Marshall Field, J. M. Prentiss, Benj. White, C. M. Cofran, A. T. Dolby, G. N. Glidden, B. B. Haggett,


J. W. Nelson, J. D. Swett, T. Sullivan, II. H. Sargent, G. F. Smith, A. Bickford, Jabez Chickering, A. J. Abbott, W. L. Robinson, Leon Ban- ford, J. F. Kennedy, Francis Henshaw, Daria Shillard, Daniel Lehelle, Chas. Kohlman, Solomon P. Gale, Hazen O, Baker, H. F. Black, Simon Drew, T. H. Fife, W. A. Glidden, S. H. Haggett, F. P. Robinson, S. D. Robinson, W. F. Morse, Gain Burpee, Henry Johns, C. H. Kelley, R. H. Payne, J. M. Abbott, D. K. Richardsoo, Alvin Holt, Alex. Shandon, John Coyle, G. W. Oliver, A. L. Gale, Benj. Baker, G. W. Stone, Geo. B. Cofran, Henry Durkee, Trucworthy Fowler, L. D. Haggett, E. A. Kelley, Wm. Simpson, Jas. Brady, P. C. Savory, E. P. Kimball, Richard Shannon, Barney Spelman, John Colby, G. E. Gay, H. Prescott, T. A. Gorman, C. A. Brickett, Wm. Aurccy, T. Ogle, Alvin H. Stevens, J. B. Edgerly, Thomas Gardner, Carl Weisman, C. L. French, Henry Brown, E. Seavey, Michael Hall, D. W. Knox, James Tobin, Lewis Covert, John Sullivan, Henry Miller, Richard Condon, Chas. Lewis, Wm. Shehan, James Cam- mell, P. Francois, John Fife, Frank Daniels, John Sweeney, G. W. Nixon, John G. Giles, J. D. Wolfe, J. Donavan, Wm. M. Edmunds, Robt. Latimer, Joseph Howland, Geo. W. Smith, James Collins, G. C. Edmunds, Frank Gilt, John Wallson, John Gibbons, C. A. Moore, Ed- ward Clark, J. J. Jackson, Edwin Chickering, John Harrington, Geo. Barney, Wm. Lynch, Wm. Burson, Duncan Kennedy, Wm. Buchar, John Hart, G. H. Cilley, B. Dolan, R. Liblance, James Boyer, John Clark, Chas, Mansfield.


Of course, many never returned from the war. There is in Suncook a branch of the Grand Army of the Republic, and a flourishing Masonic lodge.


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.


COL. DAVID LYMAN JEWELL.1


The chief industry of the flourishing village of Suncook is the manufacture of cotton cloth. The China, the Webster and the Pembroke Mills are three great establishments under one mangement, built on the banks of the Suncook River and operated


principally by its power, where print cloths are made. About these mills, which give steady employment to over fifteen hundred operatives, has grown up a sub- stantial village, with fine public buildings, spacious stores, elegant private residences and long blocks of neat tenement-houses, inhabited by a liberal and pub- lic-spirited class of citizens, and governed by a wise and judicious policy which renders this community comfortable, attractive and law-abiding. The man to whose clear head and skillful hand is entrusted the management of this great corporation, of such vital importance to the village of Suncook, is a genial gen- tleman of forty-five, Colonel David L. Jewell, a brief outline of whose life it is my purpose to sketch.


David Lyman Jewell, son of Bradbury and Lucinda (Chapman) Jewell, was born in Tamworth, N. H., January 26, 1837. In the midst of the grandest scenery of New England, under the shadows of the Ossipee Mountains, and in view of bold Chocorua, our friend was ushered to this earthly pilgrimage.


Colonel Jewell is a descendant of Mark Jewell, who was born in the north of Devonshire, England, in the year 1724, and died in Sandwich, N. H., the 19th of February, 1787. He descended from the same original stock as Bishop John Jewell, of Devonshire. Mark Jewell came to this country in 1743, married and located in Durham, N. H., and was the father of three sons, Mark, Jr., Bradbury and John. Mark, Jr., was the first white man who settled in Tam- worth, in 1772, on what is now called "Stevenson's Hill," removing soon after to "Birch Interval," as known at the present time. He married Ruth Vittum, of Sandwich, in 1776; they were the parents of sixteen children. He was prominent in all town affairs, and sometimes preached, and was fa- miliarly called among his fellow-townsmen " Elder " or "Priest" Jewell.


Bradbury, son of Elder Jewell, married Mary Chapman, in 1806, by whom he had two sons,-Brad- bury and David. Bradbury Jewell, a pupil of Samuel Hidden, was a teacher of considerable note, and his memory is tenderly cherished to-day by many of his pupils throughout the State. While engaged in teaching he pursued a course of medical studies and in 1839, having completed them, collected his worldly goods and removed to Newmarket, a place presenting a larger field for practice. There he commenced in earnest his chosen profession ; hut being of a delicate constitution, the exposure incident to a physician's life soon told upon his limited strength ; he sickened and died " ere the sun of his life had reached its me- ridian," leaving his widow, with two little children, in indigent circumstances, to combat with a cold and selfish world. A wealthy merchant of the place, hav- ing no children, wished to adopt young David, offer- ing to give him a college education and leave him heir to his worldly possessions; but with a mother's love for her offspring, Mrs. Jewell refused the offer, and resolved to rear and cducate her children as well


1 By J. N. Mcclintock.


I


S. L. Телей


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PEMBROKE.


as her limited means would allow. Being a woman of undaunted spirit, she opened a boarding-house for factory operatives, when factory girls were the intelli- gent daughters of New England farmers, who re- garded this new industry as a most favorable opportu- nity for an honorable employment.


Having brothers in Massachusetts, and thinking to better sustain herself and children, Mrs. Jewell re- moved to Newton Upper Falls, Mass., following there the same occupation. In that village young Jewell first attended school, the teacher of which was a former pupil of his father. To render his mother more substantial assistance than he could afford her by doing irksome chores, he went to work in the fac- tory when but nine years of age, receiving for a day's work-from quarter of five in the morning until half- past seven in the evening-the very munificent sum of sixteen cents a day, or one dollar a week. He worked nine months and attended school three, every year, until he was nearly thirteen years of age, when the close confinement was found detrimental to his health, and he was taken from the mill and placed on a farm. The next three years he passed in healthful happy, out-door work. Returning home from the farm, strong, robust and vigorous, he re-entered the mill, where he was variously occupied, becoming fa- miliar with the operations of the numerous machines in each department, but more particularly those per- taining to the carding-room, where his step-father, Thomas Truesdell (his mother having married again), was an overseer, learning as he pursued his work, gradually and insensibly, things that to-day are of incalculable benefit for the business in which he is now engaged. He little thought, however, when moving his stool from place to place, in order to facili- tate his labor, he would some day be at the head of similar works, many times greater in magnitude than those in which he was then engaged.


His inherited mechanical taste was developed by his life among machinery, and when he was seventeen years of age he gladly entered a machine-shop. Here his ready perception of form rendered his work at- tractive and his improvement rapid. Before com- pleting his apprenticeship he felt keenly the want of a better education, and determined to obtain it. His exchequer was very low, but having the confidence of friends, he readily obtained a loan, and in the spring of 1855 entered the Wesleyan Academy, at Wilbra- ham, Mass. The principal, after a casual examina- tion, said, "Well, you don't know much, do you?" Being quick at repartee, young Jewell replied : " No, sir. If I did, I would not be here." This brief sip at the fountain of knowledge only increased his thirst for more, and in September of the same year he en- tered the State Normal School, Bridgewater, Mass., under the regime of Marshall Conant, a life-long friend and counselor.


Mr. Jewell from the first was a favorite among his class-mates, courteous, genial, pleasant in disposition,


somewhat careless withal, but physically vigorous and always the first at athletic sports when relieved from study. Mathematics, of which he was very fond, and natural philosophy, were his favorite branches of study, and free-hand drawing his delight, as slates, book-covers and albums attested. While in school he made rapid progress and graduated in the spring of 1857, having acquired, as his diploma reads, " a very creditable degree of knowledge of the several branches taught therein. Besides these attainments, Mr. Jewell possesses tact and skill for rapid sketch- ing and delineation, which give life to his black-board illustrations."


To show the forethought possessed by him in a marked degree, before graduating he had secured a school to teach in New Jersey, and the day after the closing exercises were over he started for his new field of labor. He taught with great success in New Jersey and also in New York, some three years. One school, of which he was principal, numbered three hundred scholars, and employed five assistant teach- ers, all of whom were his seniors in years. Like his father, he gained an enviable reputation as a teacher, and his credentials speak of him in the highest terms as a competent, faithful and pleasing instructor and most excellent disciplinarian. One superintendent of schools remarks: "He was the best teacher who had been employed in the town for thirty years." While engaged in teaching Mr. Jewell pursued a course of study in engineering and surveying, and finally determined to follow engineering as a profes- sion. He gave up school-teaching, left the "foreign shores of Jersey," and entered the office of R. Morris Copeland and C. W. Folsom, of Boston. His first work was the resurvey of Cambridgeport. He after- wards worked in Dorchester and on Narragansett Bay. He had just commenced this new occupation when " the shot heard round the world " was fired on Sum- ter, and the tocsin of war sounded the alarm.


Surveying, like all other business, came to a stand- still; the compass was changed for a musket ; dis- tances were measured by the steady tramp of the sol- diery, and the weary flagman became the lonely sentinel. About this time the owners of the Pemn- broke Mill and property connected there in l'embroke and Allenstown, N. H., decided to increase their busi- ness by building a new mill twice the capacity of the one then owned by them. Knowing Mr. Jewell to be a good draughtsman, having employed him during the construction of the Pembroke Mill, they again en- gaged him. Consulting with their then resident agent, he prepared the required working plans and drawings for the Webster Mill. The work of the building was soon under way and rapidly pushed to completion. While thus engaged the agent at New- ton died, and the immediate care of the mills was given to Mr. Jewell, until (as the treasurer said) he could find a competent man for the position. Fin- ishing his work at Suncook, and having conducted


37


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HISTORY OF MERRIMACK COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.


the affairs of the company at Newton in a very satis- factory manner, the treasurer tendered him the agency of the mills. In accepting the position, his career as agent began, where, fifteen years before, he commenced the work that fitted him so thoroughly for the successful management of the same. The mills were in a bad condition, the machinery old and run down, and the owners impatient and anxious. Nothing daunted, however, Mr. Jewell entered heartily into the business, making such changes that at the time he tendered his resignation he had doubled the production and greatly improved the quality of the goods manufactured. Looms built more than fifty years before, and improved by Mr. Jewell, are still running and producing nearly as many yards per day, and of as good quality, as those made at the present time. These mills were run throughout the war, paying for cotton as high as one dollar a pound, and selling the cloth for thirty-five cents a yard. Mr. Jewell was very anxious to enlist during the exciting times of war, but was prevailed upon by the owners to continue in charge of their works, and by the entreaties of his wife, who was hopelessly ill, to remain at her side.


The treasurer and part owner of the mills at New- ton Upper Falls was also treasurer and large owner of the mills at Suncook. The Suncook Company, seeing a brighter future before them, agitated the project of enlarging their plant, and, iu 1867, active operations were commenced upon the China Mill, which was, when completed, the largest works of the kind contained under one roof in the State. Mr. Jewell again fulfilled the office of engineer and draughtsman. The company's agent at Suncook, wish- ing to devote his time exclusively to the construction of the new mill, desired that Mr. Jewell should come from Newton several days each week to look after the manufacturing in the two mills then running. Thus for more than two years he acted as agent at Newton and as superintendent of the Webster and Pembroke Mills. In 1870, before the China Mill had fairly com- menced operations, the agent resigned his position. Mr. Jewell, having at Newton proved diligent, faith- ful and capable, was appointed in his stead. Resign- ing his position at Newton, he moved with his family to Suncook, and assumed the management of the trium- virate corporation June 1, 1870. He was obliged to go through nearly the same routine here as at New- ton. The machinery, however, was more modern, but had been neglected, and the power was inadequate to the demand. With indomitable perseverance he has remedied these defects,-by providing reservoirs, and more thoroughly utilizing the water-power, adding new and valuable improvements, putting in powerful steam-engines, so that now the mills are able to run during the most severe droughts, and the amount produced has been increased from twelve millions of yards in 1874 to twenty-nine millions of yards in 1885, with substantially the same machinery, showing


what tireless perseverance and devotion to duty can accomplish, when impelled by men actively schooled from boyhood in practical manufacturing.


Mr. Jewell is a member of the New England Cot- ton Manufacturers' Association, and of the New Hampshire Club. Mr. Jewell was honored by being appointed aide-de-camp, with the rank of colonel, on Governor Head's staff, and speaks, with a merry twinkle in his eye, of turning out officially more times than any other member. He is a member of the Governor Head Staff Association ; an active member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, of Boston ; a member of the Amoskeag Veterans, of Manchester, of which he was elected, in 1885, com- mander, but declined on account of the press of duty ; a member of the New Hampshire Veteran Officers' Association; and an honorary member of the Old Twelfth New Hampshire Regiment. He was elected captain of the Jewell Rifles, a military company named for him, but graciously declined, and was made an honorary member. The Masonic frateruity also claims him, being an active member of "Jewell " Lodge, Suncook, named in his honor, and of the Trinity Royal Arch Chapter, Horace Chase Council, R. and S. M., and Mount Horeb Commandery, Con- cord. He is a member of the Supreme Council, having taken all the Scottish Rites up to the thirty- third degree, and is an active member of the Massa- chusetts Consistory, S .:. P .:. R.c. S.'. 32º, Boston, and a member of Connecticut River Valley Masonic As- sociation.




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