USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Northfield > History of Northfield, New Hampshire 1780-1905: In Two Parts with Many Biographical Sketches and. > Part 10
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WILLIAM C. HAZELTON; enlisted as a private in the Eighth Illinois Cavalry and was soon after appointed orderly .sergeant; three months later was chosen lieutenant and soon after com- missioned as captain; served in the Army of the Potomac and took part in 30 engagements; was mustered out in 1865.
CHARLES H. CARLTON was in the regular army three years at Memphis, Tenn., as officers' clerk.
WELLS FOLLANSBY served in the First Massachusetts Cavalry. JONATHAN PEARSON SANBORN; captain of Company E, Six- teenth Regiment, New Hampshire Volunteers; credited to Frank- lin; was in Louisiana under General Banks and was also in the siege of Port Hudson .. He marched his men into the place at its surrender, July 8, 1863.
DE WITT CLINTON SANBORN; Second Regiment; credited to Franklin; was killed at the second battle of Bull Run, August 29, 1862; was buried on the battlefield, as the enemy held the ground.
DAVID K. NUDD; Company G; Fifteenth Regiment.
WILLIAM KEZAR; Sixteenth Regiment; died, August 29, 1863; credited to Franklin.
CHARLES ROGERS enlisted in the Third Vermont Regiment.
FRANK MARSHALL ADAMS; enlisted for four years as a marine on the Dixie; later was on the cruisers, Helena and San Fran- cisco; re-enlisted, December 30, 1904; has been in eastern waters and visited the ports of China.
JOSEPH ADAMS was in the regular army cavalry service in the Eleventh Regiment, United States Cavalry, at Des Moines; en- listed for three years; returned home and re-enlisted for a sec- ond term.
DIXI CROSBY HOYT; enlisted as private from Framingham, Mass., at the beginning of the war; was made assistant surgeon of the Massachusetts Heavy Artillery; later was post surgeon at Fort Warren, Fort Macon and Newborn, N. C., where he died.
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HISTORY OF NORTHFIELD.
LYMAN BARKER EVANS; served in the Eighth Vermont Regi- ment and died in the hospital at Baton Rouge, La., September 13, 1864.
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. HANNAN PIPER; served in Company D, Fifteenth Regiment; was mustered out, January 18, 1865.
ENOS ALPHEUS HOYT; assistant surgeon in the Thirty-fifth Massachusetts Regiment; was in North Carolina before Rich- mond and Petersburg, to the end of the war; was wounded and permanently disabled, but was, later, surgeon in Freedman's Bureau a year or two.
JEFFERSON ROGERS; credited to Loudon; Seventeenth Regi- ment, Heavy Artillery.
SYLVANUS HEATH; surgeon; Illinois Regiment.
CALEB HEATH, a minor, enlisted without the leave of his parents, had charge of ambulances.
SMITH W. COFRAN (see portrait) ; enlisted in Company H, Twentieth Massachusetts Regiment, at the beginning of the war. He was in the Army of the Potomac and saw many hard-fought battles. He was with his regiment at Ball's Bluff and of his nine tent mates three were killed, three taken prisoners and two, with himself, escaped by swimming the Potomac River. He was under Mcclellan at Yorktown, Fair Oaks, Savage Station, White Oak Swamp, Malvern Hill, during the seven days' battle, South Mountain and Antietam, where he was wounded by having his right thigh bone fractured. He was discharged eight months later, May, 1863.
LIST III.
The following men have become citizens of Northfield since the war :
MAJ. OTIS O. WYATT. (See portrait.)
OTIS CHASE WYATT; born in Sanbornton, April 1, 1837; son of Nathan F. and Sally Clark Wyatt. Married in Manchester, June 12, 1859, Susan Maria, daughter of Vinicent and Susan Spinney Torr, who was born in Newmarket. He was in the meat business in Manchester and Hanover. He enlisted in the First Regiment, New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry, April 25, 1861, in Company G. Discharged with the regiment, August 9. Re- enlisted into the New Hampshire Battalion of the First Rhode
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MAJ. O. C. WYATT.
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MILITARY.
Island Cavalry, September 11, 1861. Promoted to first sergeant, December 17; to second lieutenant, August 4, 1862, by Governor Sprague of Rhode Island, for meritorious and gallant conduct in the battle of Front Royal; and to first lieutenant, January 1, 1863. With his regiment he took part in the battles of Front Royal, May 30; Cedar Mountain, August 9; Groveton, August 29; second battle of Bull Run, August 30; Chantilly, September 1; Hartwood Church, February 26, 1863; Kelly's Ford, March 17; Brandy Station, June 9; Thorough Fare Gap, June 17, 1863; Middleburg Rapidan Station, Culpepper or White Sulphur Springs, October 12; Auburn and Bristol Station, October 14. Commissioned as captain of Troop B, First New Hampshire Cavalry, March 3, 1864. With this regiment he took part in these engagements : White Oak Swamp, June 13, 1864; Wilson's Raid to the south of Petersburg, Va., June 22-July 1; Nottoway Court House, Va., June 23; Roanoke Station and High Bridge, June 25-26; Ream's Station, June 29; Back Roads, November 11-12; Lacey's Springs, December 20-21; Waynesborough, March 2, 1865; Rude's Hill, Nort Fork Shenandoah or Mount Jackson, March 6-7. In the engagement at Back Roads, Va., November 12, 1864, while in command of the regiment, he was wounded in the face by a charge of buckshot. He was also wounded while in command of his regiment at Rude's Hill or Mount Jackson, March 6, 1865, and still carries the bullet. He is an active member of the New Hampshire Veterans' organiza- tion, in which he has held various offices. He was president of the association in 1890. In the Grand Army of the Republic he has held almost every office within the gift of his comrades, being commander of the Department of New Hampshire in 1887.
He took up his residence on Zion's Hill, in this town, January 1, 1866, where he has since resided as a farmer. In 1875 he and the late Jason Foss were elected special assessors who, with the selectmen, reappraised all the real estate in the town and equalized the valuation of the same for the purpose of a more equable taxation. November, 1878, he was elected first super- visor, which office he continued to hold until 1890. He was elected moderator in November, 1883, and has held that office to the present time. In November 6, 1894, he was elected represen- tative to the general court for 1895-'96. In March, 1897, he was elected selectman, which office he held four years and as a
HISTORY OF NORTHFIELD.
member of the board of selectmen was a most aggressive fighter to maintain the integrity of the town. November 4, 1902, he was elected a delegate to the convention to revise the constitution. He has served ten years as a member of the town school board. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, having been made a Mason in Franklin Lodge, No. 6, Lebanon, in 1860. He is a charter member of Doric Lodge, No. 78, in Tilton and is a mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church and of Friendship Grange, Patrons of Husbandry.
CHARLES F. BUELL; Company D; First Regiment; enlisted, April 27, 1861, for three months; mustered out, August 9, 1861; died at Northfield, February 3, 1904.
OSCAR P. SANBORN; Company D; Twelfth Regiment; mus- tered in, September 27, 1862; was in the Army of the Potomac at Fredericksburg and .was wounded at Charlottesville; was taken prisoner and left on the field; was at field hospital one month and at Mansion House Hospital five months; was dis- charged November 18, 1863.
DAVID ELMER BUELL; enlisted from the Eighth Regiment as lieutenant for three years and was wounded at Port Hudson; died at Franklin, July 25, 1888.
JONAS H. DOLLEY; enlisted in Biddeford, Me., 1862, in the Maine Heavy Artillery ; spent a year in Fort McClary at Kittery as a member of the garrison; was discharged there after one year's service. .
LUTHER CADUE; served in Company E, Fifteenth Vermont Regiment; was at the battle of The Wilderness. He was dis- charged September 19, 1865.
WILLIAM CANFIELD; Ninth New Hampshire Regiment.
THEODORE BROWN.
CHARLES H. PAYSON; enlisted, December 29, 1863, in Com- pany E, Sixth Regiment, New Hampshire Volunteers; was mus- tered out, August 25, 1865. He was in 15 hard-fought battles, among which were The Wilderness, Cold Harbor and Welden Railroad. (See gen.)
OLIVER PRESCOTT MORRISON; enlisted in the Ninth Regiment; Company C; was taken prisoner at Antietam, taken to Richmond and exchanged; was promoted to sergeant; was captured again at The Wilderness, May 10, 1864, and died at Andersonville, August 30, 1864.
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BENJAMIN GALE; enlisted from Salisbury, September 2, 1862, in Company E, Sixteenth Regiment; mustered in, October 23, 1862, as sergeant; served until August 20, 1863.
ROSCOE DOLLEY; enlisted in 1861 at Charlestown Navy Yard in the marine corps; was put on board the Kearsarge as a gunner and helped sink the Alabama in Cherbourg Harbor. Returning to Boston, he was put on board another man-of-war, where he served until the expiration of his term.
SAMUEL T. HOLMES; served in Company H, Twenty-fifth Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers, under Gen. B. F. Butler and, later, under General Banks.
ROBERT MARTIN; enlisted when 40 years of age from Hill as a musician and was discharged, June 21, 1865, as a private. It was also his duty to care for the colonel's horses.
GEORGE W. BALCOM; enlisted in the Fourteenth Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers; served 27 months and saw many of the hardships and horrors of war. The date of his discharge, he says, was the happiest day of his life.
The hardships of these struggles were not all borne by those who dwelt in the "tented field" or the many who met death, swift and sudden, on the bloody battlefield. Wives and children, aged fathers and mothers took up and bore so patiently the life work of their soldier braves and, 'mid tears and prayers, per- formed the most exhausting labors that their sons might preserve their birthright unimpaired. The dear old mother town, too, has never ceased to cherish those who returned burdened with wounds and the lifelong scars, which are more honorable than epaulet or badge. She proudly repeats their names and now hands them down on the pages of her history to other generations as her proudest legacy.
SPANISH WAR.
Three young men of Northfield parentage were in the Spanish War.
LEVI S. Dow enlisted from Concord in Company C and went to Chattanooga. He was absent six months.
ELMER C. LAMBERT enlisted from Tilton in the regular army and was sent to the Philippines.
HARRY UPTON LOUGEE enlisted from Lebanon, where he now resides.
CHAPTER VI. INDUSTRIAL. EARLY INDUSTRIES.
Farming, which is both the base and keystone which supports home and society, was, of course, the first employment of the early settlers. There were few farming tools and the work was done by oxen. Every one raised his own wheat, rye, flax and corn. To prepare these for use a large number of trades sprang up.
First of all, the blacksmith must be located, for nothing could be done without axe and saw. Then, as said elsewhere, the wheel- wright's shop appeared in close proximity to the former. This was a trade, however, that required mechanical skill. Thus were sawmills established and mill wheels planted. This industry became more important as the years passed by.
SAWMILLS.
There was no brook in town of any size that did not furnish power for one, two or three sawmills and five were driven by the water of the Winnepesaukee River.
No trace exists of the one located on the land bought by the Hills, David and Timothy, in 1785, and now owned by Frank W. Shaw. The deed to them reserves a mill and mill yard and a drift road to it. They purchased the property of a Mr. Love- joy of Gilmanton, who was the second owner of Lot No. 15. (See Proprietors' Map.)
No. 2 .- Daniel Sanborn had a sawmill on the site of the present Tilton Hosiery Mill. He bought it of "Satchwel" Clark, as the records say. The power could be more profitably used and the mill was sold about 1772.
. No. 3 .- Still further down, on the site of the Elm Mills Woolen Company, was a very ancient one, dating back to colonial times. Mr. Joseph Dearborn, who manufactured lumber there many years, says of it : "My father, born in 1783, used to go there with
JEREMIAH CROSS.
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INDUSTRIAL.
his father when a little boy." It was here that Miller Glines and wife were hard at work at the breaking out of the Revolutionary War. (See p. 152.) This was sold to the railroad and torn down. Mr. Samuel Martin was the last occupant. This grist mill underneath disappeared long, long ago.
No. 4 .- The fourth mill in town was always called the Cross Mill. The story of this enterprise is best told in the following sketch of Mr. Cross' life:
JEREMIAH CROSS. (See portrait.)
JEREMIAH CROSS was born at Salisbury, August 28, 1802. He was apprenticed at 18 years of age to John Clark, familiarly known as "Boston John," a builder of meeting-houses and other difficult jobs, especially water wheels and dams. Mr. Cross was to receive at 21 years of age, as was the custom, a set of tools, and his father, $200. He could work nights for his clothes and spending money. He passed through this period and began business for himself in December, . 1824. He bought two acres of land on the Northleld end of the Clark dam and raised a sawmill in March, 1825. This, 10 years later, was burned and he found himself no better off financially than at the start, except that he had gained valuable experience and credit. He at once erected a new mill and entered upon a prosperous business, running night and day in the busy season for many years. He se- cured a landing at the mouth of the Winnepesaukee and constructed a wharf, where he built large rafts, on which the products of his mill were piled high and taken down the Merrimack through several locks to Lowell and thence through Middlesex Canal to Charlestown market. These loads consisted of boards, plank, laths, shingles, clapboards and staves, with large numbers of barrels and coopers' ware. This business he followed. until the coming of the railroad or until the locks in the river were destroyed.
He, later, enlarged his estate and added a threshing machine to his mill and had a large business with the farmers of all the surrounding towns. Often 30 loads of grain would stand awaiting their turn. He sold to the Lowell Land and Water Power Company in 1841, taking a lease back, thus continuing the business as before. He then erected fine buildings on a nearby eminence and became an extensive farmer until his death.
He held various offices in the town and was a lifelong Democrat, as well as a member of Meridian Lodge, A. F. and A. M. He married, November 12, 1828, Sarah Lyford of Pittsfield and had five children. He died at Northfield, August 11, 1872. She died at Rockport, Mass., November 19, 1882. (See Cross gen.)
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HISTORY OF NORTHFIELD.
No. 5 .- There was a very large mill at Factory Village, near where the hall now stands, and a large yard piled high with logs and finished products, extended to the canal and up to Smith Street. Samuel Haines was employed here many years.
No. 6 .- Thomas Clough, who bought two lots south and east of Sondogardy Pond, built a dam at its outlet and raised the pond sufficiently to furnish power for a mill which was in operation many years, as the hillsides were covered with valuable timber. I have no dates, but have often seen the wreckage of the dam. He had his pick of the undivided lands in payment for some service to the town and chose these lots, one of which was always called the "Clough Purchase." Further down the stream, where it crosses the first range or Oak Hill road, a mill had been early erected, which had either been destroyed by fire or had fallen to decay. This brook was known in turn as Cohas, Cross and Phillips, and here, in 1840, Capt. Moses Davis erected a mill, reported to have been unusually fine in all its appointments (see p. 81), which was run for many years by Thomas Piper, Sr., and Samuel Haines. Further down the stream was one operated by the Crosses. A shingle mill of the Plummer Brothers occupies nearly the same site.
The Dolloff Brook, coming from Bean Hill, where John and Benjamin Rogers, sons of Dea. Samuel Rogers, located, furnished annually, power for a few months. The meadow, being needed for other purposes, was not flowed, and so furnished large crops of hay for the cheese dairy, for which this farm was noted. After uniting with the two other brooks in Scondoggady meadow it furnished power for the Glidden & Smith mill, and the one whose ruins are a part of the seal of Northfield today, called the Old Hills Mill.
There were other mills in the eastern part of the town, one on what was called Tulliver Brook, and another and a chair manufactory on what was called the Great Brook, where Joseph Fellows was located, but these will suffice. Among the older mill men we must place Jeremiah Cross, as the largest mill man of his times and a leader in the business of rafting, although his cousins on the intervale had used the river for that purpose many years previous.
Modern methods and portable steam mills have supplanted the old up-and-down saw and the dams have gone to ruin and the
JEREMIAH EASTMAN SMITH.
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INDUSTRIAL.
mills to decay. It would be far from the truth were I to say that the manufacture of lumber had ceased in the town. One has only to look at the immense piles that line our railroad or to visit the Smith meadow, on which is spread out such immense quantities of plank, boards and woodpiles at the present time. Jeremiah E. Smith, who carries on this great traffic, has large forests as yet untouched, awaiting the woodman's axe. For other facts in connection with this business see subjoined portrait and sketch.
JEREMIAH EASTMAN SMITH.
It has been no easy task to assign Mr. Smith his legitimate place in this work, since he has been a leader in so many great enterprises. But the fact of his present engagement in the manufacture of lumber products entitles him to this place.
The subject of this sketch was Sanbornton-born, but Northfield-bred. Both his parents were natives of the town, who were dwelling tem- porarily over the river in a dwelling occupying the site of the present Jordan Hotel. They soon moved to the ancestral home on Bay Hill, where they remained until its destruction by fire in 1904. Mr. Smith received his education in the little red schoolhouse of the Bay Hill district, and the Seminary.
He was early taught to love his country and' was a lad of ten when the Civil War commenced. The very flagstaff that now stands on the island was standing on the square in front of his home and was wont to bear aloft the Stars and Stripes, so dear to every Yankee boy's heart. What was his surprise to behold one morning the Confederate stars and bars floating aloft from its dizzy height. With disgust it was wrenched from its halyards, seized and, quick as a flash, borne to a place of hiding with a posse of rebel sympathizers close at his beels. His father received it through an open window and when the door was burst open it was nowhere to be seen. In fact, it never met the public gaze again until his noble, patriotic mother had, with skill- ful fingers, woven the cherished rag into a charming rug, one of the now cherished heirlooms of the family, and it now lies where it ever should have lain-trampled under foot. The story shows that for which he has ever been noted-a readiness in emergencies.
Quite early in life he became associated with his father and brother in the construction of railroads. Among the lines, of which they were the contractors and builders, were the Suncook Valley, Old Colony, Montpelier & Wells River, Bradford & Claremont, Hillsboro & Peterboro and the Profile & Franconia Notch.
He was for 25 years proprietor of the Maplewood Stables and stage line at Bethlehem, going there each summer with a large number of horses. His accommodating spirit and jovial manner made him very popular with the guests at this mountain resort.
Previous to his Maplewood days, he was owner of the hotel and
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HISTORY OF NORTHFIELD.
livery stable at Tilton, renting the former to J. F. Bryant and the latter to J. L. Loverin. In 1886 he sold both to Mr. Loverin. Mr. Smith has been nearly all his life a lumberman, but of late, more especially, have his operations been on a large scale. He is also a farmer and owns 1,200 acres of Northfield soil, cutting large quan- titles of hay and planting many fruitful acres. He is the largest tax- payer in town.
Mr. Smith is, politically, a Republican and has been three times chosen by his party to represent Northfield in the Legislature. He went to the centennial celebration of the battle of Bennington with that body in 1877 and was again a member in 1880, our centennial year. He has been for 20 years a member of the Republican State Committee, is also an enthusiastic Odd Fellow and has been a member of Friend- ship Grange since its organization and, also, a Mason.
In the midst of his many occupations and interests he has found time to cultivate the gentle art of music and plays with expression and skill almost every instrument from a "bottle organ" to the violin, on which he is especially proficient.
Mr. Smith is a lover of good horses, particularly if they show speed, and has been the owner of many fine animals.
BRICKMAKING.
I find four places in Northfield where brick was formerly made. The first was located not far from the outlet of Chestnut Pond and was carried on by Jonathan Wadleigh. There are, along the brook leading to the reservoir, many indications of its locality, and family tradition says he moved from Bean Hill to the Morse place to be near his kilns.
No. 2 .- Dea. Andrew Gilman for many years manufactured brick in a small way near where the upper railroad bridge now is. But few cared to erect brick houses, so the demand for years was for chimneys alone.
Warren L. Hill bought out the business about 1840, and here, with the assistance of Col. James Cofran, the brick for the first seminary was made. The business rapidly increased and some- times 200,000 a year were made. Samuel Rogers leased the yard later and made the brick for the second seminary. Some years later the railroad bought the entire locality and the busi- ness was abandoned.
No. 3 .- Charles and Hiram Cross also made brick near their home by the Hodgdon schoolhouse. Their trade was largely with Franklin and sometimes, when "striking," employed a dozen men. This business declined only when the clay for them was exhausted.
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. INDUSTRIAL:
No. 4 .- Brick was also made by the Sawyers on the Gile farm at Bean Hill, but I have no facts or figures concerning it.
CHARCOAL.
There were extensive forests in the southern part of Northfield and the coming of the railroad to that section made a market for large quantities of wood, lumber and ties, which were shipped to other markets, and immense quantities stored constantly in a 300-foot shed for use on the engines. Mr. Cogswell says he often surveyed 2,000 cords a day.
Besides this, Deacon Ayers bought and burned into charcoal thousands of cords of pine and hardwood, which was shipped to Charlestown and Boston. (See Ayers gen.)
Benjamin F. Brown continued this business several years, using a kiln made of brick close by the station. He found a market in Concord. A queer old fellow, named "Uncle" Tucker, had charge of this industry and not only owned the entire neigh- borhood but the railroad as well, and he and his car, old No. 26, always had the right of way. Did he want the pinch bar or any other tool in the shed, he would enter and politely ask "Mr. Waterhouse" (1) for the loan of them and was very angry to be accused of stealing. IIe filled an important place, however, as when the kilns were filled and fired they needed his constant care until drawn. David Hill and other farmers who had wood lots in places difficult of access occasionally burned a sod kiln. Erastus Nudd, living on the south slope of Bean Hill, close by the Forrest Pond, continued the business for long years and many remember his large coal van as it made its weekly trips to the Concord foundries and blacksmiths' shops.
HOME-MADE CLOTH.
The home manufacture of cloth led to an extensive business in spinning wheels and looms and "Shuttle" Dow and "Father" Wedgewood were busy early and late, for every girl, as a part of her marriage outfit, must possess one of each. To provide for these the farmers must have large fields of flax and a certain number of sheep, not only for food but to furnish material for cloth. These two industries declined many years since, especially the former, and the latter in a large measure, until there is hardly a flock of sheep to be found in the limits of the town.
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HISTORY OF . NORTHFIELD.
The coming of the factories, too, with their . better products, brought a market for the wool and flax and a chance for the boys and girls to find lucrative employment, and no one mourned for the departure of the spinning wheel and loom from the homes of the overworked farmers' wives. As if the butter and cheese making, the drying of apples, storing away of quantities of food for the winter, the mending and making for the numerous household were not enough, a score of little trades came in to fill their every leisure moment, among which we find many that long since disappeared.
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