History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire, Part 172

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 172
USA > New Hampshire > Belknap County > History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire > Part 172

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Mr. Sinclair has been twice married; first in 1847, to Tamar M., daughter of Colonel Daniel Clark of

Landaff. By this marriage, there were three chil- dren-Charles A., Emma S. and Martha A. His first wife dying, he married in 1872, Mary E. Blandin, daughter of John Pierce, Esq., of Littleton, N. H.

THOMAS L. HOITT.

Graceful versatility is generally a marked trait in the character of the New England man. When promising prospects invite he will promptly change his home and business for another location and un- tried occupation. While he readily conforms and adapts himself to changed circumstances and customs in a new situation, he still holds in sweet remem- brance the home and scenes of his youth, for no land affords homes with dearer childhood associations than New England.

Thomas Lewis Hoitt was born in Barnstead, near the Parade-Ground, April 1, 1827, being the seventh in a family of five sons and seven daughters, children of Benjamin Hoitt, a respectable farmer, who was born in Hampstead, N. H., in 1790. His grand- father, Thomas Hoitt, born in Chester about 1750, was a gentleman of fine education for his time, espe- cially in mathematics, and in his younger days was engaged in teaching and land-surveying. The late Rev. Enos George, of Barnstead, was one of his pupils. His name appears on the roll as ensign in the com- pany of Captain Samuel McConnel at the battle of Bennington. He subsequently joined the United States navy, and rose to the rank of lieutenant, and was serving in that capacity on a vessel of war at the time of his death, of yellow-fever, in Surinam, in 1796. He was honored by burial in the garden of the Governor of that colony.

Mr. Hoitt traces the lineage of his family to John Hoyt, who came from England and was living in 1639 at Salisbury, Mass., of which town he was one of the original settlers. His name appears on all the earlier records of the town, and he is almost the only indi- vidual who received all his earlier grants of land at the first division. With thirty other families, he moved west of Powow River in 1645, and formed the West Parish, which, in 1668, became Amesbury. Frequent mention is made of him on records of that town as selectman, constable, juryman, moderator and committee to settle a minister.

The mother of Mr. Hoitt was Mehitable (Babson) Hoitt, daughter of Isaac Babson, of Dunbarton, a graduate of Harvard College, in the class of 1779, and Nelly (Stark) Babson, daugliter of Major-General John Stark, of the Continental army, and of illustri- ous memory.

This family of Babsons descended from James Babson, who, with his mother, Isabel, a widow, came from England to Salem, Mass., where they were resid- ing in 1644. Isabel moved to Gloucester and died in 1661, aged eighty-four. James settled at Little Good Harbor and died December 21, 1683.

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HISTORY OF BELKNAP COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

Mr. Hoitt remained at home attending the public and select schools and assisting in farm-work till 1842, when, at fifteen years of age, he entered the employ of Mr. Baily Parker, a careful and successful merchant of Pembroke, N. H., and for several years received the advantages of that excellent preparatory school for business-life,-the training of clerk in a country store.

After leaving the service of Mr. Parker he was employed in a woolen-factory by the husband of his eldest sister, J. B. Merrill, Esq., and also became associated with him in the ownership of a general store in his native place. In 1855 he located at Salmon Falls, where for several years he did a brisk and large business in the dry-goods trade, from which ill health compelled him to retire. At the breaking out of the War of the Rebellion, in 1861, moved by the patriotic, martial and heroic example of his an- cestors, he promptly supported the war measures of President Lincoln, and by voice and example en- couraged enlistments for the Union army, although he was not in sympathy with the new administration, having been a decided and active Democrat. He joined the " Fighting Fifth " Regiment New Hamp- shire Volunteers, and followed its fortunes till the close of Mcclellan's Peninsula campaign, when he was discharged. He is pensioned for injury received during the famous retreat. After leaving the army he engaged in trade for a while at North Berwick, Me. He next took charge of business, which required him to travel much of the time, and traversed a large part of the United States, taking ample time and pains to examine and inform himself as to objects and places of interest. It has been the fortune of Mr. Hoitt to happen to be present on many remarkable occasions, and to witness mauy striking and peculiar transactions. For instance, while traveling between Washington and the army on business, he arrived at

the scene just in time to be a witness of the destruc- tion of the frigates, "Cumberland" and "Congress," by the rebel iron-clad " Merrimac," and the terrible con- test of the latter vessel with the " Monitor." Mr. Hoitt was the first postal agent between Boston and Portland, Me., and when others were appointed he was made chief. For several years he owned and managed a shoe manufactory in Lynn, Mass. After passing through many changes, reverses and successes, in 1880 he did, what he had long desired to do, returned to his native town, and, with two widowed sisters, established a pleasant home at the Parade, on the bank of the Suncook River, where he enjoys the scenes and associations of his boyhood and the so- ciety of his neighbors. The old Congregational Church, near his home, the place of his early reli- gious teachings, and where he now is a constant attendant on publie worship, has been an object of peculiar regard with him. Once it was saved from destruction by his efforts. Extensive improvements of it have been mostly paid for by himself and sisters. His wife was Miss Martha Seavey, of Saco, Me. They have a daughter, Henrietta Babson Hoitt, born No- vember 26, 1876, and lead a very pleasant domestic life. Imitating the example of his uncle, Colonel James S. Hoitt, of Laconia, soon after attaining his majority, Mr. Hoitt became an enthusiastic member of the Masonic fraternity, and rose rapidly to the degree of Knight Templar. He is a skillful vocal and instrumental musician, and has freely used his talent for the entertainment of his friends and for the pro- motion of benevolent objects. He may frequently be seen enjoying a part with Barnstead Brass Band, which is almost fifty years old, and of which he be- came a member nearly forty years ago.

Mr. Hoitt has seen much of the world, mingled with all classes of society and remains a kind-hearted, generous and friendly man.

HISTORY OF BELMONT.

BY ALLAN J. HACKETT.

CHAPTER I.

PREVIOUS to 1859 the section comprising the pres- ent town of Belmont was a part of Gilmanton. In 1761 the proprietors of Gilmanton laid off a tract, six miles square, on the Barnstead line. This sec- tion was thereafter known as the Lower Parish. The rest of the town was divided into two parts,-Gunstock Parish on the northeast, and Upper Gilmanton, or, as it was called later, the Upper Parish, on the southwest. In June, 1812, Gunstock Parish was severed from Gil- manton and incorporated as a town under the name of Gilford. Previous to this time the term Upper Parish appears to have been applied to the whole section of the town lying north of the Lower Parish ; subse- quently, it was employed to describe what is now the town of Belmont. It will be so used in this article.

Previous to the division, in 1859, the political and general history of the section comprising the present town of Belmont was so closely identified with that of the rest of the town of Gilmanton that it is ob- viously impossible, at this late day, to separate the one from the other. The Upper Parish does not ap- pear to have been a very important part of the town. The Lower Parish (now Gilmanton) was settled at an earlier date, and, in addition to this advantage, the founding of the academy, in 1794, formed a nucleus around which, or, at least, in whose near vicinage, was gathered by far the greater proportion of the wealth, culture, enterprise and social distinction of the town. In those old days, before the advent of the manufacturing genius induced settlement on the banks of the streams, the pioneers of civilization courted the hill-tops and piously shunned the valleys. As Mr. Howells' Lady of the Aroostook " wanted to know," so, evidently, these early settlers " wanted to see." They made their homes, for the most part, on the high, sightly ridges, and this habit doubtless ex- plains the otherwise inexplicable fact that nearly all the old highways of the town fully merit the name, being constructed over the loftiest hills, in utter dis- regard of all questions of economy, with sublime con- tempt for the consideration of mere distance, and to the annoyance and serious detriment of modern travel.

The settlement of the Upper Parish progressed but slowly. The site of the present village of Belmont remained an unbroken forest for many years after the "Corner," as theAcademy village is still called, had become a thriving and somewhat noted settlement. The first store was opened in 1820. In 1834 an association of public-spirited citizens, foremost among whom was Governor Badger, built a brick factory for the manufacture of cotton cloth. This building is still standing, and is used by the Gilmanton Mills Company, to which reference will be made further on. Previous to the building of the factory, the village, if it may be dignified by that name, had been known as "Fellows' Mills,"-the ambitious plural being pos- sibly justified by the fact that the one building was used both as a grist-mill and as a saw-mill. This building, long ago destroyed, is said to have been located on the right bank of the river, below the bridge, and not far from the dam of the present Gil- manton Mills. After the building of the Badger fac- tory, the village grew quite rapidly, and was called " Factory Village," as a compliment to the new industry. This name is still frequently heard. About the time that the factory was built, Governor Badger also built a saw-mill and a grist-mill, at the upper dam, a few rods above the bridge. The saw-mill was situated on the right bank of the stream ; the grist- mill on the left bank, and nearly opposite. In the spring of 1852 there was a great freshet. The dam at the reservoir, five miles up the stream, was broken through, and the flood wrought sad havoc in the little village. Several buildings were swept away, and among them the grist-mill. The other mill escaped.

In 1876, it was purchased by the Gilmanton Mills Company, enlarged and altered, and used in the manufacture of cases. It was burned in May, 1885.

The freshet entailed a severe pecuniary loss upon Governor Badger, and that gentleman dying a few months later, the village experienced no considerable growth, either in size or in general prosperity, for several years.

But the devout settlers did not await the slow development of worldly prosperity before erecting houses of worship. Perhaps, no other feature of the early history of New England is so striking

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HISTORY OF BELKNAP COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

and impressive as the religious zeal of its people. Notwithstanding the bigotry, fanaticism and harsh- ness which so largely characterized the religion of the Puritans, one cannot but admire their devotion, --- a devotion so intense, so imperious and so despotic, even, that it subordinated to itself all other emotions and passions, and not only became the controlling influence in their own lives, but was also transmitted, almost as a part of their being, to their descendants. In this respect, the history of one is the history of all, the history of each community, the history of every other community. Worship was as truly a necessity as food or raiment. In none was the religious spirit stronger than among the settlers of the old township of Gilmanton, whose grant was signed by the hand of a Wentworth. They brought, unimpaired, to the wilds of this frontier town that same brave and per- fect faith which, a century before, had guided the Pilgrim fathers to the frozen fastnesses of the Massa- chusetts coast. In the charter of the town, grants of land were reserved for a parsonage and for "the first settled minister." For several years there was no meeting-house, the religious services being held in private houses and in barns. The first church in the Upper Parish was erected at the Province road (so called) in 1792. The members of this church adopted the tenets of the Free-Will Baptist denomination in 1816.

In 1835, it was incorporated by the name of the "Third Free-Will Baptist Meeting-House Society in Upper Gilmanton." Soon after, the society low- ered its meeting-house to one story, removed the gal- lery-pews, and made other alterations. So far as the writer can learn, this building, still in use and in a good state of preservation, is the one that was erected in 1792. If so, it is the second oldest building of the kind in this section of the State. There are no church records to be found previous to 1835; but it would appear, from Lancaster's "History of Gilman- ton" (1845), that "Elder John Knowles," one of the founders of the church, was its pastor from 1816 until his death, in 1837. At this time the church was re- organized. Following is the list of pastors from 1837 to the present time: Samuel P. Fernald, 1837-38; John G. Tuttle, 1838; Hugh Beede, 1845-48; Lem- uel Mason, 1848-50; E. G. Knowles, 1850-52; H. F. Dickey, 1852-55; W. A. Sargent, 1855-57; Uriah Chase, 1857-61; H. F. Dickey, 1861-65; J. B. Leigh- ton, 1865-68; O. F. Russell, 1869-70; John Davis, 1871; G. B. Blaisdell, 1872-75; C. M. Emery, 1876- 79; S. J. Gould, 1880-83, and J. C. Waldron, the present pastor, who came to the church in April, 1883. The present membership is forty-four.

In 1810, a church, composed of persons who had previously constituted the "Third Monthly Meet- ing," was established at what is now Belmont village. Lancaster's " History of Gilmanton " states that the meeting-house was built in 1811, but private informa- tion puts the date of its erection at 1815. In 1835

the society was incorporated by the name of the First. Free Baptist Society in Gilmanton Upper Parish. Rev. Peter Clark was the first pastor, and officiated for more than thirty years. He was a man of very considerable ability, intense convictions and com- manding personal appearance. He was one of the most widely-known clergymen in this part of the. State, and probably performed more marriage cere- monies than any other man in the history of the town. He was succeeded by Rev. David Moody, about 1841, but continued to preach occasionally af- ter that time. Mr. Moody, who is still living at an advanced age in Sutton, N. H., finally severed his. connection with the church in 1851. Other pastors have been, L. S. Wells, J. M. Bedell, 1854-55; H. S. Sleeper, 1856-61; W. H. Yeoman, 1861-64; Almon Shepard, 1864-65 ; M. Cole, 1865-68 ; Hosea Quinby, 1869; A. K. Moulton, W. G. Willis and J. Walker, 1870; M. Henderson, 1871; J. L. Sinclair, 1872-76 ; . M. A. Quimby, 1876-81 ; and T. G. Wilder, the pres- ent pastor, whose connection with the church began in 1881. The present edifice was built in 1852. The membership in 1884 was one hundred and six.

A Christian Baptist Church was established at the village in 1839. It was incorporated in 1841. A meeting-house was built in 1840, and was burned in 1867. The present building was erected in 1868. The following have been the pastors: Richard Davis, 1839-42; Josiah Knight, 1842-43; John Burden, 1843 ; John Gillingham, 1844 47; Samuel Nutt, 1851; Moses Polley, 1852-56; George Osborn, 1858; Abiah Kidder, 1860-72; E. S. Moulton, 1879-81. There is at present no pastor, and the membership is small. These three are the only churches that have ever been organized in the town.

The most distinguished citizen in the history of the town was Hon. William Badger, who was born in 1779. He was the son of Hon. Joseph Badger and the grandson of General Joseph Badger. Both these gentlemen were distinguished soldiers in the Revolu- tion. Joseph Badger (2d) removed from the Lower to the Upper Parish in 1784 and settled upon the farm which has ever since been owned by the Badger family. His son, William Badger, received his education in the common schools and at Gilmanton Academy. He was an active Democrat, and early became prominent. in political life. He was representative in 1810, '11, '12; State Senator in 1814, '15, '16, and president of the Senate in the year last-named; justice of the Court. of Common Pleas from 1816 to 1820; sheriff of Straf- ford County from 1820 to 1830; Governor of the State in 1834-35; and Presidential elector in 1836 and 1844. He was also for a long time president of the board of trustees of Gilmanton Academy, and filled other places of trust. As has already been stated, he was. chiefly instrumental in building the cotton-factory and other mills at the village, and he may be said to have been the founder of the manufacturing industry in Belmont. He was a gentleman of great business

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BELMONT.

sagacity and enterprise, an honest man and a public- spirited citizen. He died in September, 1852.

Governor Badger's first wife was the daughter of Rev. Isaac Smith, the first settled pastor of Gilman- ton. She died in 1810, leaving a son and a daughter, both of whom died a few years later.

In 1814, Mr. Badger married Hannah Pearson Cogswell, daughter of Dr. William Cogswell, of At- kinson. She was a woman of great ability, highly accomplished, and distinguished for her benevo- lence and public spirit. She came of a family that is very prominent in the history of New England. Among her numerous relatives now living and eminent in political circles, may be mentioned her nephews, John B. Clarke, of the Manchester Mirror, Colonel Thomas Cogswell, of Gilmanton, and General J. B. D. Cogswell, of Massachusetts, and her cousin, "Long John " Wentworth, of Illinois. She died in February, 1869. Her two sons are living,-Colonel Joseph Badger, who lives at the old homestead, and Captain William Badger, U. S. A., at present stationed at Salt Lake City.

Houses, like faces, are either passed heedlessly by, or impress upon the mind a sense of their indivi- duality. Of the latter kind is the old Badger man- sion. It needs but a glance at its generous propor- tions, its wide grounds, its grand old shade-trees to enable one to realize that it has a history. It is situated on a high hill, at a right angle in the road from Belmont to Gilmanton, midway between the two villages. The present building is a large two- story wooden house, fronting the southwest, and was erected by Governor Badger, in 1825. The Badgers have lived on this farm for more than a hundred years. In Governor Badger's time it was the most noted and valuable country-estate in this part of New Hampshire; but the farm has since been somewhat reduced in size.

The house contains many objects of historic inter- est, but the limits of this article admit only of the briefest reference to a few of them. In the west parlor are the oil portraits of Governor and Mrs. Badger, painted in the early days of their married life. It would be difficult to find a more comely pair. The portrait of the Governor represents a handsome gentleman, with a large, florid, open face, and a sug- gestion of portliness that gives promise of the three hundred pounds to which he attained later in life. That of Mrs. Badger is one of unusual beauty, and is said, by those who remember her in her youth, to he a faithful likeness. On a table near by, lies the sam- pler which her young hands wrought eighty-five years ago.

Across the wide hall is the family sitting-room. The walls are hung with paper in rich brown and wood tints, representing a variety of Eastern pic- tures, comprising street scenes, landscapes and sea- views. This paper cost one hundred dollars in Portsmouth sixty years ago. It is in an excellent state

of preservation, and its like is probably not to be found anywhere in the country. Suspended from the wall are the Governor's sword and horse-pistols. The sword was taken from a British soldier near Crown Point, in 1777, by General Joseph Badger, the Governor's father. It has an ornamental silver hilt, and its faded scabbard attests its age. Adjoining this room is the china closet, in which are to be seen the old family china, that was brought from Portsmouth in saddle-bags, and which is excellently well pre- served, and the silver tea-service. The latter is mas- sive, and of a beautiful unique pattern. It would tempt the collector of antiques to break one of the commandments, and it is by no means certain that the sin would not be forgiven him.

Ascending to the chambers, the visitor finds in one of them the canopy bedstead and quaint, high-backed chairs, which Mrs. Badger brought from her girlhood's home in Atkinson three-quarters of a century ago. The view from these upper windows is wide and beautiful, ending, as do all westerly views in this part of the town, in the majestic outlines of "lone Kearsarge." Among the objects of interest in the great roomy attic, may be mentioned several tall, stiff military caps, relics of the old "training " days, and a venerable poke-honnet, that is a prodigy of size and a marvel of ugliness. It is at least two feet deep. The carping critic, who is wont to declaim against the foibles of the feminine mind of to-day, should peer into the unfathomable depths of this ancient monstrosity, and "ever after hold his peace."

Descending by another stairway, the visitor enters the dining-room. The dining-hall of an old mansion is frequently the room richest in historic associations. Here, in this room, the largest in the house, have been entertained a President, a member of the C'abi- net, Senators, members of Congress, Governors and State functionaries almost without number. Such a royal banquet-hall would be incomplete without its great clock, and there it stands, a grand old time- piece, aged but not defaced by the more than a hun- dred years, whose flight it has faithfully recorded, the while its solemn moon-face looked down upon the revelers, and its deep voice, like that of the now silent poet's never silent horologe, kept on repeat- ing,-

" Forever, Never ! Never, Forever !"

A few rods south of the Badger mansion, is the early home of the late Hon. W. H. Y. Hackett, a distinguished lawyer, banker and legislator of Ports- mouth. Mr. Hackett was born at the Academy vil- lage, September 24, 1800, but his parents removed to this part of the town nine years later. He received his early education in the common schools, and at the academy, walking daily to and from the latter institution. He began the study of law in the office of Matthew Perkins, Esq., of Sanbornton, and re- mained there a year and a half. In 1822 he went to

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HISTORY OF BELKNAP COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

Portsmouth and continued his studies in the office of Hon. Ichabod Bartlett. He was admitted to the bar in 1826, and immediately entered upon the practice of his profession in Portsmouth. In the same year he married Olive, daughter of Joseph W. Pickering of that city.

Mr. Hackett was assistant clerk of the Senate in 1824-25; clerk of the Senate in 1828; representative in 1850, '51, 252, '57, '60, '67, '68, '69; Senator in 1861-62, and president of the Senate the latter year ; Presidential elector in 1864; member of the Consti- tutional Convention in 1876. He was president of the First National Bank of Portsmouth (which was the first national bank organized in the country) ; president of the Piscataqua Savings-Bank, and trustee of the Portsmouth Savings-Bank. He also held many other positions of honor and trust in the city which was his home for more than fifty years.

Originally a Whig, he naturally joined the Repub- lican party, and for years he was one of its acknow]- edged leaders. He ranked among the ablest lawyers and most successful financiers of the State, and was a man of strict integrity.

He always retained an active and affectionate in- terest in his native town. Indeed, so warmly was he attached to "old Gilmanton," that when the bill to change the name of Upper Gilmanton to Belmont was introduced in the Legislature, in 1869, he voted against it.

Mr. Hackett died August 9, 1878, and was buried in the South Cemetery, at Portsmouth. His brother, Charles A. Hackett, occupies the old homestead. A short distance to the east of the house, is the high- est hill in this section of the town. The view is beautiful and extensive, and, a few years ago, a signal was placed here for use in the triangulation of the State.

Belmont owes its existence as a separate town to a combination of political convenience and partisan advantage. The political convenience subserved by the separation of the town from Gilmanton, is ex- plained by the fact that the elections were held at the Academy village, and the voters in the upper part of the town were forced to travel a tediously long dis- tance, amounting, in many cases, to eight or nine miles. How serious an affliction this really was, needs not to be explained to the country voter, who has had a personal experience of the difficulties of going to the " March meeting," over roads either blocked by snow-drifts or, rendered equally impassable by the spring " thaw."

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History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire, Part 172

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