History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire, Part 182

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 182
USA > New Hampshire > Belknap County > History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire > Part 182

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The carding was first done by machinery at the village on the Hoyt's and Smith's mill privilege. Sub- sequently a mill was built a mile below, at the junc- tion of an eastern branch of the river, and machinery for fulling and dressing and pressing cloth was put in and operated by skilled workmen, and the carding machinery was transferred from Hoyt's mill to this. Fulled cloth for men's wear and the pressed cloth, a kind of flannel, for women's wear, was the general dependence. This mill and work was continued till the fashionableness of satinet came about, and then both the Buzzell's mill at Laconia and the private loom of the farmer's house produced that pattern of fabric. The warp (cotton) for the domestic article was made for many years by Mr. Parker and his children, at the end of the bridge opposite Ladd's grist-mill.

Stephen Chapman was a fuller at Gunstock Fulling- Mill, and others conducted the business for a term, and the business ceased nearly a half-century ago. Later the wool-carding ceased, and neither is now in use.

The Ticking Company was located on the Gilford side, at Meredith Bridge. It was very early in opera- tion, making bed-ticking ; while the brick mill made sheetings.

The Ticking, Company of which W. Melcher, Thomas Bobb, Mr. Green and three others were members, was a well-managed and successful firm.

It realized less changefulness than the other com- panies. Some changes occurred, however, in after- years, both in the personnel of the company and in its business. The new company built more exten- sively, and changed the machinery from cotton- working to that of wool-working, and from that of cloth-making to that of knitting-works, and are pro- ducing hosiery goods in all the mills belonging to the company. The daily products of these mills are immense, and go to commission agents in Boston, and thus are put upon the general trade, and are of a high standard.

The first cotton-mill at Lake village was one of the earliest built, and in near succession to the Avery mill at Meredith Bridge. Later the woolen mill (so called) was built, but not immediately put into operation or furnished with machinery. These were both built on the then Meredith side of the river. The change of the ownership of the property at this place was unfavorable to the development of the interests in manufactures here. The Pingree owner- ship and management promised better times, but soon left no better condition, and the Locks and Canal Company, while, by a higher dam, it created greater head, left the use of the motive power undeveloped, and rather restricted and retarded expansion at this place. In quite recent years a mill has been built and put into operation on the east side of the river, and is producing hosiery goods. Hosiery was also made at one time in the carding-mill at Gunstock Valley, by Augustus Copp and others; but it did not continue many years.

The foundry industry was early and latterly an important one. The smelting furnace was never completed. It was begun at Folsom's or Bachelder's Mills, and was designed on a grand scale. A huge conical chamber was half-built of stone, and remained in statu quo, unfinished, for a time, and was then finally removed.

Mismanagement and a fatal casualty at the moun- tain, the distance of transporting the ore and the expensiveness of getting it out, the cost of preparing and running the furnace, so as to compete with other iron-mining companies in the northern part of the State, together with the limitation of capital, proved too great obstacles to the success of the iron-mining project; and hence it was soon utterly abandoned.

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GILFORD.

But a blast furnace was put into operation for using pig in castings. This industry proved feasible, and, being well managed, was profitable. As the use of stoves came to be so extensive, their production was an important industry; also hardware, in the line of culinary utensils and farming implements, were in increasing demand.

The discontinuance, gradually, of the old wooden and iron-clad plow, and the introduction of the cast- iron one, made ready market for a great quantity of fonndry products, and gave employment to a large number of moulders and foundry-workers and much capital. This industry, conducted chiefly by the Cole family, has been an extensive and leading one at Lake village, and a substantial benefit to both the village and the town in general. The trade in, as well as the production of, this class of merchandise has been mainly at Lake village and in the hands of these men. Hence the place was called, for a long period, the Furnace village.

The iron-work done in the repair shops of the rail- road located here has also increased the business of casting and added much to the bulk of foundry pro- duction, and the shops have given employment to a large force of workmen and given impulse and growth to the place.

This village, in population and business, has in- creased rapidly of late years, and is now the rival of Laconia, and by water approaches is even better con- nected. These two largest centres of business and population were begun at nearly the same time, but the lower one had decidedly the advantage for many years, particularly in having the court, the academy, the greater trade, the greater extent of manufactures, better connections in the old modes of travel by the stage lines, the bank, the taverns, the law-offices, the resident physicians, the churches and the central po- sition in relation to the other towns already then set- tled. All these things contributed much to the pros- perity and importance of the Lower village, and were almost entirely wanting in the Upper village.

From the working of cast-iron to that of wrought- iron the transition is natural and easy. The initial department of this work was that of the common blacksmith. The places and parties of this industry have been alluded to in the notices of the personnel of the first settlers and need now no minute tracing. The services of the blacksmith were a primary neces- sity and demand, as not only for horse-shoeing and ox-shoeing and the ironing of vehicles and making of farming tools, but even the nails used by the carpen- ter were made of wrought-iron and produced at the common smith's forge in the early days of the settle- ment.

Some of the first artisans in this line were Antipas Gilman, in the sonth part of the town, and his two sons,-Winthrop and Josiah,-the latter of whom worked also afterwards at the village and subsequently became preacher to the Universalist Society there and

finally settled in Lynn, Mass., following his profession there; and Henry Wadleigh, in Chattleborough ; and Samuel Blaisdell, at his place in the northwest part of the town ; succeeded by some four of his sons, partienlarly Philip O., who worked at the same place; and John, who wrought at the village and elsewhere and finally on Gunstock Hill; and Daniel, at the Lake- side road (the Captain Locke place) and afterwards at the Plains, his present residence; also James Fol- lett, on Gunstock Hill; and at the village also Wil- liam and Ebenezer Stevens, successively; and Josiah Gilman, already mentioned; and William H. Wad- leigh, who wrought in several shops and for many years; and in later times Charles Beede, Benjamin Dame, Gilman Leavitt, Dudley Leavitt, with Charles Beede, Jacob Blaisdell, Charles Swain, a Mr. Cross and others temporarily. There have been six shops at the village, and the work done there has been of considerable variety as well as magnitude. John Blaisdell made hoes and edge-tools. His shop stood near the present site of the church and town hall. Beede (alone and with D. Leavitt) made axes and pitchforks and chains, and he built, on the new road, the present Wadleigh shop. Gilman Leavitt and Wadleigh, and, to some extent, others, ironed wagons, carriages and sleighs, and were tire-setters, and all did shoeing.

Smith-work was done at Lake village by Rabie and Hiram Gilman, and later, for carriages, by Rublee, who puts up the wood-work also. The same business, on a large scale, was done at Meredith Bridge by Thomas Babb, on the Gilford side. The most of the smith-work there was done on the Meredith side by Daniel Tucker and others.

The machinist business was carried on in connection with the factory and afterwards in separate build- ings. Badger Taylor and Alva Tucker were early workmen at this trade. Later, a large building has been devoted to the business, located on the site of the old Ladd's mill.

The tanning and shoe-making and peg-making in- dnstries have been important. The old-style tan- yard and the bark-mill was quite common in different parts of the town. Benjamin Weeks, Esq., built one in 1792, and he did some business in the line and in connection with his son Matthias. Jeremiah Thing, nearly as early, pursued the business on Liberty Hill. Captain James Follett and also Richard Mar- tin had yards on Gunstock Hill. The latter was run by John L. Martin afterwards and bought by Joseph & S. S. Gilman. These all have ceased to be oper- ated.

Bernard Morrill carried on an extensive business at the village, which was enlarged and continued by I. I. Morrill and by I. I. & J. D. Morrill and by I. I. Morrill and Samuel Wright. About forty years ago the old yard was abandoned and a new mill was built, with steam works and water-power, for grinding bark. This has been in operation till within a short time

762

HISTORY OF MERRIMACK COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

for tanning, but the currying ceased some years ago. Another yard was many years in use at the village, run by Matthias Sewall and also Morrill Thing, but ceased to be used thirty years since. Matthias Sewall had a yard and business at the Plains before and after doing business at the village. James Crocket did a large tanning business at Meredith Bridge, near the Eager tavern and court-house. This was aban- doned nearly fifty years ago. The main business in this line was done on the Meredith side by Worcester Boynton, on the site of the Buzzell mill and at Morrison's livery stable. A small amount of business was done in this line at other points in town.

The craft of the shoemaker was a special one from the first. William Clark was the itinerant shoemaker, going from house to house to do the yearly shoe and boot-making for the families in turn.

Joseph Potter, Sr., was a permanently-located shoemaker at his homestead.

Samuel Gilman (1st), a deformed or crippled man, practiced cobblery on Gunstock Hill. His son Jere- miah and grandson Daniel continued the business at the village (at B. Morrill's) and on Gunstock Hill, and the last-mentioned at three different locations in the village, and, finally, at the homestead, near the original place, on the hill. Paul Stevens pursued the trade first in the south part of the town and after- wards near the village. Israel Potter and, lately, his grandson, T. O. Potter, worked at the business at the old homestead and near by.

Leavit Sleeper very early was shoemaker at Gil- ford village. George W. Munsey early learned the business at Meredith Bridge, with one Mugget, and for many years pursued the business at the vil- lage. David Hale Munsey and Amos Prescot Mun- sey also carried on the business, in connection with George W., and the former also separately, and the work has not entirely ceased at the shop of David Hale Munsey. He has worked, or located his shop, at some four different points in the village. Thos. Perkins Ayer carried on the business at three differ- ent places in the village, and finally at the Plains. Daniel Gilman and T. P. Ayer worked also at har- ness-making. George Crosby, at Gunstock Hill, worked also at harness-making and shoemaking. An- drew Whittier pursued the trade in the east part of the village for many years ; and Joseph Potter, son of Joseph Jr., was his apprentice. John Avery was apprentice of Daniel Gilman, and Jonathan Leavitt of Thos. P. Ayer. Warren Thompson worked at the business at the village, and at Laconia afterwards. Nathaniel Edwards and Jacob Clark were shoe- makers at Meredith Bridge, and Daniel Dinsmore carried on the harness-making business, first on the Gilford side and afterwards on the Laconia side. Si- mon Rowe also for a time worked at the business at Gilford village, on sole-work. There has been no shoe manufactory on a large scale in Gilford, but the workmen at the business have been numerous. Some

of these have also been dealers in leather, especially George W. and D. H. Munsey, Thos. P. Ayer and Dan- iel Gilman. The sole-leather trade was considerable. In later years ready-made shoes, for sale in shoe- stores, supply the greater part of the demand, so that, with a greater population and larger volume of bus- iness in the shoe line, the custom-workers are less. It was the almost universal custom for each man to buy a stock of leather and have it made into shoes and boots for the family on measure. The first set- tlers rarely had boots, but used the shoe and buskin, and some thought it a sinful extravagance to wear boots, especially of calf-skin.

The manufacture of shoe-pegs was begun on the north side of the river, on the canal, by Mr. S. K. Baldwin, and was brought to a pause by the great fire, which, originating in the peg-factory, destroyed the greater part of the business section of the place. This industry was resumed on the Gilford side in the place of the grist-mill, at Ladd's mill. It was car- ried on for a term of years, turning out about fifty bushels of pegs daily, many of which were exported to Europe after supplying the home market. Af- ter the destruction of these works the enterprise was started anew, with increased capacity, in build- ings erected a short distance up-stream, and operated by power at the dam, communicated by continued shafting. The drying process is attended by consid- erable danger of conflagration. The timber used, principally white-birch and white-maple, was at last brought by railroad from the upper part of the State and Vermont. The business was attended with suc- cess by Mr. Baldwin & Sons.

The manufacture of hats and caps was undertaken by different parties at sundry times and divers places. A hat manufactory was started very early at Avery's, and Mr. Hibbard, on the Oaks road, was a hatter, and J. G. Weeks, at the village, conducted the bus- iness. G. W. & John G. Weeks, at the village, made also a stock of caps, of cloth and partly of fur. The industry of millinery was very limited in the days of home-made apparel. Miss Nancy and Fanny Stevens conducted a limited business in that line at the village, aud some volume of business of the same was done at Meredith Bridge and Lake village. Like- wise, dress-making was but limitedly conducted as an industry of itself, the average woman consider- ing herself a master of the art, if the construction of their apparel in the simple style of former days could be said to involve anything of artifice at all. Yet to the higher class there were some ministering adepts to meet the imagined exigency ; and these were represented slightly among other craftsmen, and their services were generously rewarded.

The tailor and tailoress were much more in de- mand, though the major part of men's apparel was made up by the clever maid of the house, or her training and instructive mother and sister. The craft was, however, represented from the beginning.

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GILFORD.

The primitive tailor was also an itinerant, and, with bodkin and goose and press-board, migrated through the neighborhood to uniform the lad and sire; the "hailed of all men" was the tailor. A clever dame by the name of Hannah Parsons, from Gilmanton, used to make her yearly tour a-tailoring, to the in- finite delight of the ragged urchin and tattered swain. Joseph Sanborn, Sr., was also of this craft, and lived near Meeting-House Hill. Misses Ann and Sarah Munsey carried on this business some years at Gil- ford village ; aud later, Simon Goss and one McFar- land ; and in the east part of the town Joseph Rob- erts practiced the vocation. Mrs. Bartlet, on the Plains, and Messrs. Bugbee and Odlin, at the Furnace village, conducted the business. At Meredith Bridge the main business was done at first on the Meredith side by Francis Russell, and afterwards by Charles Russell and others. In later times, Nathaniel Stevens carried on the business in different shops.

The artisans on wood-work have not been few in Gil- ford, nor inapt. Chief of these has been the carpenter, including ship carpenter and framer. The average set- tler was a clever worker on wood, and he consequently rudely constructed many things himself, as out-build- ings and many things needed in husbandry, and left for the carpenter the more difficult mechanisms, or the superintendence of non-journeymen workers. In the class of skilled journeymen workers were the following,-viz .: The Sanborns (Lowell, Richard, Lowell, Jr., Richard, Jr., Osgood, Benjamin, Lowell (Deacon) so-called) and others. They all, or nearly all, were practicing farming, or some other collateral vocation also at intervals. Then the Blaisdells (Samuel, the framer, Eliphlet and Hugh) and others. Then Joseph Thing, Sr. and Jr .; also John and Abel and Abel, Jr., Hunt. The Hunts were finishers in panel-work, banisters and ornamenta- tions. In later years there were David Watson, Gardner Cook, Thomas M. Smith, F. Follet, P. Lovit, Jeremiah Hunt, A. Woodward and many others. Jonathan Watson and Thomas Ayers were broad- axemen, and had worked at ship-carpentry. Sam- uel Leavit and a Mr. Bachelder were handy as mill- wrights. Thomas Plummer, Joshua Gilman, Enoch Osgood, Jonathan Whittier, Daniel Gove, Benjamin Rowe, Simeon Hoyt, Jr., John Abel, Jr., and Jere- miah Hunt and a few others were wheelwrights, as well as handy at carpentry.

Door, sash and blinds were formerly made by the common carpenter, but now at factories. The trade of carpentry has been an important one, as the work to be done has always been of considerable magnitude, the most of the buildings having been made of wood, and not a few of large dimensions and improved pat- terns.

Cabinet and furniture-making, as an industry, has been carried on at different places, as at Meredith Bridge by Ephraim Mallard, and on the Meredith side by the Somes Brothers; at Gilford village in the

Whitter mill, by Jeremiah Hunt ; at Abel Hunt's by himself and son, and by a few others at other places. Coffins and caskets were formerly made by common carpenters.

Artisans on stone work have been of some note and carried on a limited business, both here and in some other places. Esquire Benjamin Wadleigh and Prescot Goss are still in active life as stone-cutters. Formerly there was quite a general inclination on the part of the young men of this town to enter upon the stone-cutting business. John & Freeman S. Gil- man were engaged in the business extensively here and especially in Massachusetts. John M. Rowe in Frankfort, Me., where he quarried for Boston mar- ket great quantities of building-stone. William Levi, Dudley and Benjamin Folsom were also engaged in the business, and Joseph, son of Joseph Potter, Jr. Simeon Hoyt, Jr., also pursued the building of stone- work, and various other parties engaged in the coarser grades of stone-work and building, as stone- masons. There were here only a few formations of stone which weregood for quarrying. The mountain deposits were of coarse and not compact substance, and the boulder masses were not usually fissile ; yet some good monumental works have been made of them.

Workers of marble have been Jno. Merrill and Merrill, Hull & Co. This establishment has been a successful one, and has been lately located on the Meredith side, at Laconia, and employs several workmen.

The ordinary work of brick-masons has been limited, as but few brick buildings have been built in town. William and Henry Plummer, and Paul and Smith Stevens and some others did the masonry of former years, and in later times the work is dependent on artisans in the craft from other places.

The industry of brick-making was prosecuted in town a few years, particularly by Benjamin Rowe, on the Pine Hill stream, and this yard supplied the domestic market. But the notable Dol brick-yard, at the Weirs, on the Meredith side, was such in capacity, and by reason of the peculiar character of its clay, and in the quantity and quality of its products, that competition was impossible; hence, the few clay de- posits in the town were not extensively used in brick- making.

The industry of pottery was carried on for many years, conducted by one Mr. Goodhue, at Gilford village. The clay was obtained from the Weirs, and was made into kiln-burnt brown earthen-ware. For milk-pans and crocks of various sizes and forms it was an excellent article, and was in general use till, in later years, the use of tin in the manufacture of wares for dairy uses, and stone for making jars and other vessels, superseded them, and caused this in- dustry to be discontinued, and much to the satisfaction of the using public, as the earthenware was very fragile, as well as ponderous, and its glazing poisonous.

764

HISTORY OF BELKNAP COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

The manufacture of artificial limbs has been an industry pursued. The Palmer limb was invented at Meredith Bridge, and manufactured by him there (the iron-work by Charles Clement), at the corner of Main and Church Streets; but, subsequently, Wood- man Jewett pursued the enterprise in Gilford, and then Samuel Jewett and others engaged in it, and finally the works were mostly removed to other places, as New York and Philadelphia.

Paper boxes have been manufactured by E. Bea- man and another firm at Laconia. The demand for them has been great, and the industry employs many hands and considerable capital. The old-fashioned band-box, of a wooden veneer, has been superseded by the modern paste-board box of various forms and sizes, in which light manufactured goods are packed and sent to the market or the commission agent.

The trade of basket-making was pursued by Levi Lovit and Ichabod Buzzell at the east and west parts of the town respectively; also the sons of these, re- spectively, at the same places ; and that of the former at Laconia in later years. Ezekiel Collins also pur- sued the business near Laconia, and Abel Hunt & Son at his place. These last also reseated the ashen chairs, and manufactured other articles. The industry . of palm-leaf braiding was extensively pursued at one time. The work was done in the families, and con- ducted by the traders; those at Gilford village, Laco- nia and Lake village; particularly G. W. Weeks, Mesheck Sanborn, Horace Bugbee and a few others.

The enterprise and business of general trade has been important, and was early entered into, and is continued in increased amount and compass. Ben- jamin Weeks, Esq. began trade at his residence in the last century. His sons, Daniel and Elisha, were conducting the business there in the two first years of this century, the former succeeding the latter. The latter also did business later in Boston, which business was crippled in the time of the War of 1812, and he returned to Gilford and did more or less trad- ing here in an informal way afterwards. His sons, John G. and George W., were long in trade at the village, and the latter, later, at Lake village. A store was stocked at Gunstock meeting-house by Stephen Pearly, of Meredith Bridge, and was run a few years by a clerk, and the same was closed and the building removed to the village. After this, Joseph Sanborn was in trade there for several years, and was suc- ceeded by Jonas Sleeper, and he, in turn, by Ben- jamin Jewett, Jr., Esq. About this time Levi R. Weeks began trade there, but soon removed from town, as did also Elisha.

Charles Stark entered into trade at the Goodhue pottery, and in a few years was succeeded by Ben- jamin Weeks, Jr., and later by George W., and then by Weeks & Follet. These stores were well patron- ized and successfully conducted.

About the year 1840, the business being large, rivalry began, and a new firm was formed by Ben-

jamin Jewett, formerly in the business, and Albert Chase, who had been clerk at the Stark store and also at Jewett's, and Jeremiah Thing. The firm of Jewett, Chase & Thing continued but a few years, be- came embarrassed, and was dissolved. The firm of Weeks & Follet was afterwards dissolved, and G. W. & Benjamin F. Weeks went into trade in the Jewett, Chase & Thing store. Richard Glidden was afterwards associated with G. W., and B. F. went. out of trade. In later years George W. went into trade with his sons at Lake village. Levi B. Thompson returned from Brunswick, Me., and set up trade in a new store, and George W. & John Munsey traded at the Jewett store, and afterwards in the Thompson store. Mesheck Sanborn, a long-term postmaster, traded in a third store, and was succeeded by John Sleeper. Trade began to decrease under the facilities of transit to Meredith bridge, after the building of the Gully road, and the three stores were succeeded by two, and at length by one, and, in reduced volume of business, Martin Eaton continued the business for awhile, and at present the Jones store supplies the demands.

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History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire, Part 182

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