USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Plymouth > History of Plymouth, New Hampshire; vol. I. Narrative--vol. II. Genealogies, Volume I > Part 31
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Chase W. Calley in early life was employed by Alvah McQuesten and by Jason C. Draper, and thoroughly learned the art of dressing stock and the manufacture of gloves. At the age of twenty-one he began the manufacture of stock and of gloves in the south part of the village, now Warren Street. He continued in business over fifty years, reaping the merited rewards of industry and integrity. He retired from active business in 1898. Jason C. Draper established business in this town and removed to Bristol in 1858. Nathaniel F. Draper was a merchant, pur- chasing stock, and was active in the manufacture from 1857 until his death, 1871. In later years his son, Jason F. Draper, was an active and esteemed factor in the business.
Samuel C. Heath is well remembered as a skilful leather dresser. He was employed a few years by Ward & McQuesten, and subsequently he had a tanyard and glove factory at Lower Intervale. He conducted business also at Livermore Falls and in Holderness.
The brothers Daniel H. and Henry C. Currier were leather dressers and manufacturers at Glove Hollow several years.
Ezra W. Avery and his son, Amasa W. Avery, manufactured gloves on Highland Street. Later the business was continued with a substantial measure of success by Amasa W. Avery, who retired from the business twenty years ago.
The brothers Thomas F. and David Glynn, under the firm name of Glynn & Brother, established business at Glove Hollow about 1865. They tanned and dressed their stock and made gloves in considerable quantity. They also sold prepared stock to other manufacturers. They retired from this business in 1878.
Pelatiah Russell removed to Plymouth, 1868. During several years, in connection with his sons, he was engaged in the business. Deserving equal mention, and engaged in business a longer or
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shorter time between 1865 and 1880, were Henry S. George, Horace W. Smith, George P. French, Blair & Burleigh, Smith & Marden, John T. Cutter & Sons, Ferrin & Wilkinson.
The brothers Erastus B. and Gill F. Dearborn, for several years, conducted a prosperous business in the manufacture of gloves and in dressing glove stock.
The carly and some of the later manufacturers of the Plymouth gloves tanned and dressed the stock from which the gloves were made, and great quantities of undressed skins were purchased in Boston and New York and shipped to Plymouth. Beginning about 1850, several of the active manufacturers purchased of Plymouth parties the stock prepared for immediate use. From 1850 to 1870 was an era of prosperity in Plymouth. The men in business secured a reasonable profit, and many skilful dressers and cutters commanded remunerative wages. The limit of a paying business was reached soon after 1870. There were so many engaged in the business that competition among rival manu- facturers in the sale of the goods forced the selling price below the level of a reasonable profit. One by one the manufacturers gradu- ally retired from business. Another and a more potent factor contributed to the overthrow of a cherished industry on the field of its origin and development. While the manufacturers of this town were maintaining a commendable pride in their method of dressing stock and in honest and thorough workmanship, there were shrewd and active men in other places who were deaf to the traditions of the glove makers of Plymouth. While borrowing largely from the method and skill developed here, they encouraged innovations, introduced machinery, and adopted processes of tan- ning and dressing stock at reduced expense and in less time. The old glove makers of Plymouth, adhering to tested methods, did not follow their uninvited rivals into a new field of competition. During the past thirty years the business in this town has rapidly declined. Frank C. Calley, a son of the veteran manufacturer, Chase W. Calley, and J. Gill Fletcher, faithful custodians of the fame of the Plymouth glove, are the only persons at present engaged in glove making in this town.
NORTH MAIN STREET
*44 4151
SOUTH MAIN STREET
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MILLS AND MANUFACTURES.
THE DRAPER-MAYNARD COMPANY.
Jason F. Draper, a native and resident of Plymouth, and John F. Maynard, under the firm name of The Draper-Maynard Com- pany, were successful and extensive manufacturers of the Ply- mouth gloves at Ashland nearly twenty years, beginning in 1881. During the past few years the firm has gradually withdrawn from the glove business and has introduced the manufacture of a full line of sporting goods. They erected a substantial and commodious factory on North Main Street, and removed their business from Ashland to this town in December, 1900. The company is pros- perous and enterprising.
THE PLYMOUTH CREAMERY COMPANY.
This company was organized upon the co-operative plan May 20, 1893. The original capital stock was $3000, which was in- creased in September of the same year to $5500. The company has established a separating station in Campton, and from the beginning the amount of business each year has been quite uni- form. The farmers of Plymouth and Campton have been paid about $26,000 each year and have delivered to the company about 1,600,000 pounds of milk annually. The average annual product of the butter made and sold has exceeded 140,000 pounds. The superintendent of the creamery is Charles J. Hosford, and George H. Crowe is his assistant.
The annual meeting is held in January, at which a board of five directors is chosen. Ten persons have been elected, and of these Charles J. Gould and Thomas S. Pulsifer have been re-elected at each meeting to the present time. The years of service of each director is noted.
Charles J. Gould, 1893-1905. Thomas S. Pulsifer, 1893-1905. Edwin S. Weeks, 1893-1897. Francis F. Blake, 1893-1896. George W. Martin, 1893.
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Silas B. Elliott, 1894.
Edward H. Sanborn, 1895-1905.
Henry H. Whittemore, 1897-1905. George D. Harriman, 1898-1901. Nathan B. Cox, 1902-1905.
Since the date of organization of the company Charles J. Gould annually has been elected president and Thomas S. Pulsifer vice- president. Dean S. Currier was the secretary and treasurer until May 20, 1899, when he resigned and was succeeded by John E. Smith.
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XXVII. TOPICS.
P AUPERISM. - The settlements upon the New Hampshire frontiers were peopled by rugged, self-supporting families. The prevailing conditions did not invite the aged and the infirm, and they seldom removed from the older towns unless attended by relatives who were able to provide for them a comfortable support. With few exceptions, only the industrious husbandman, the me- chanic, and a few professional and business men were found among the settlers of a frontier town. In Plymouth, as elsewhere, a commendable sentiment of good fellowship prevailed. The feeble- minded, supported by parents, were permitted to walk in green fields, to wander from door to door, obtaining food from the willing hand of charity, and comforted with gentle words of kindness and sympathy. The public laws did not then regulate every expres- sion of charity to the needy. The people considered the poor as one of themselves. The selectmen treated each case according to the circumstances and necessities of the applicant. The methods of relief were as many as were the poor. They did not tag each applicant for assistance with a pauper label. It was their aim to assist the poor in becoming self-supporting. Sometimes the tax was abated; sometimes the rent was paid by the town; some- times a cow was bought by the town and loaned to a needy family ; sometimes the firewood or a stipulated amount of provisions was provided; and with such measures of partial support was extended an invitation to the needy to do something for themselves. If the town was wise in the management of these affairs, there is something nobler and sweeter in the story of the charity of the individual to his neighbor. Every misfortune of accident was fol- lowed by some substantial expression of sympathy. If a farmer
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was sick at seed-time his fields were planted by generous neighbors ; and if he recovered not until the close of harvest he found his crops secured and his granaries rejoicing with the product garnered by willing labor. These neighborly offerings were a school of charity. When others fell sick or were impoverished by accident, those who had been assisted gave back many fold all they had received. In such communities there were very few paupers. In the progress of years a few passed from an intermittent to a chronic stage, and the town for a first time adopted a method of treatment. For many years, and until 1835, each of the town's poor was supported by contract in some family in Plymouth. In determining the sum to be paid by the town in each case, the ability of the person to earn a partial support was taken into consideration. In several instances the sum paid by the town was a very few dollars per annum. For several years, in Plymouth as in other towns, the financial terms of the contract were determined by auction. Much has been written concerning the inhumanity of " selling the poor at auction." In the defence of our fathers it should be stated that under this system the poor were provided with a comfortable support in good families. Then the poor of a county were not segregated in one corrupting mass, each one lending an added misery to the accumulation. There were elements of merit in many old customs. The first radical change in Plymouth con- cerning the support of the poor was similar to the action in a majority of New Hampshire towns.
In 1829 an overseer of the poor was chosen, and to him was committed the care of the wards of the town. This officer found homes for them, and contracts were no longer made at auction. At the March meeting in 1833 appears the first reference to the purchase of a poor farm or the establishment of a town almshouse. The town, by vote, requested Walter Blair, David Moor Russell, and David Webster " to investigate the farming system for sup- porting paupers, and report at the next March meeting." The report is not found in the town files; but at the next March meet- ing the subject was referred to the selectmen, who were Walter
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Blair, Noah Cummings, and Benjamin Bayley. At the annual meeting in March, 1835, it was voted "it is the opinion of this town, that it is expedient to purchase a farm to support their poor on; that a committee of three be appointed to ascertain how a farm can be purchased, and utensils to carry on the same, and report at an adjourned meeting." Walter Blair was the moder- ator of this meeting, and he was requested by the town to appoint the committee. He appointed Noah Cummings, Moses George, and Isaac Hills. The meeting was adjourned to March 25, when a new committee was chosen to purchase a farm and to secure a superintendent at once. The committee was Noah Cummings, Moses George, and Perley Pike.
The committee purchased a farm of James Blake; the consider- ation was $1450. By vote of the town the house thereon was made a House of Correction. These proceedings were completed in the spring and early summer of 1835. In 1838 the town voted to sell the town farm, and instructed the selectmen to effect a sale and to purchase " a more suitable farm." Under this vote no action was taken, and the town owned the farm purchased of James Blake until 1871, when it was sold to James F. Langdon. The farm is now owned and occupied by Wesley G. Barnard.
A county farm was established at Haverhill in 1868. This institution, under the management of the county commissioners, provides a home for the county paupers, and the sale of the town farms was a natural sequence. The town continues a temporary or partial support to those who need assistance for a season; but the persons whose necessities demand permanent assistance are humanely supported at the county farm.
THE MAYHEW TURNPIKE. - The early turnpikes of New Hampshire were a clear expression of the prevailing conditions of their time. The expansion of the territory under cultivation produced a surplus of the products of the farm, which sought a market at the seaboard. At the same time the increasing and more prosperous population demanded larger supplies of domes- tic and foreign goods from the markets of Portsmouth and Boston. VOL. I. - 24
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In a larger exchange of commodities a greater number of teams were employed, and journeys of business and of pleasure increased with the amendment of the fortunes of the people. In such con- ditions is discovered the necessity of better roads. After a few years of depression, which immediately followed the Revolution, the country was prosperous, and many became possessed of savings which sought investment. At once the turnpikes offered increased facilities of travel and employed the ready capital of the people. From 1796 to 1812 fifty-three turnpikes were incorporated in this State. With few exceptions, these corporations were the beginning of the use of associated capital in the promotion of business and public convenience, and the charters are an instructive exhibit of the thought and customs of the time. One hundred years ago the principal line of travel from the Coos country to Concord and beyond, described in terms of the present time, followed the line of the Boston, Concord, and Montreal Railroad to the line between Plymouth and Rumney, thence through the western part of Ply- mouth into Hebron, passing west of Newfound Lake, and crossing Newfound River at Bristol. The numerous petitions in the legis- lative files of the State, and the indictment of towns found in the court records of Grafton County are evidence of the general interest of the people living both north and south of Plymouth in the maintenance of this thoroughfare. The construction of a turnpike on this line of travel was not long deferred. The work mainly was prosecuted by men from other towns. The oculists of those days were not expert, and through their eye-glasses a majority of the people of Plymouth failed to discover the necessity of a high- way which diverted travel from the village.
The Mayhew turnpike was incorporated Dec. 29, 1803. The incorporators were Col. Moses Lewis, a merchant and manufac- turer of Bridgewater, now Bristol; Thomas W Thompson, a dis- tinguished lawyer and business man of Concord; Peter Mayhew, a resident of Rumney; Col. William Tarleton of Orford; Col. Peter Sleeper, an innholder and prominent citizen of Bridgewater, now Bristol; Ebenezer Kelley, an innholder of Bridgewater, now
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Bristol, and a partner of Colonel Lewis in manufacturing, and Moses Kelley of Bridgewater. By the terms of the charter the incorporators were authorized to build " a turnpike four rods wide from or near Peter Peaslee's, in New Chester, to the east side of Newfound Pond, thence on to a road leading from Plymouth to Coos."
Translating the changes of a century, the Mayhew turnpike extended from a point in the town of Hill, one half mile south of Smith's River, and near the Franklin and Bristol railroad; thence northerly through the village of Bristol and east of New- found Lake through the westerly part of Plymouth to the Rumney road at West Plymouth. The northern terminus was at the pres- ent residence of Henry H. Whittemore. The distance was sixteen miles. A majority of the people of Plymouth and Hebron were opposed to the charter of the turnpike, and the selectmen of Hebron preferred a formal remonstrance. At the same time Peter May- hew addressed the following communication to the senate: -
RUMNEY, December 12, 1803.
The undersigned begs leave to inform the honorable senate now sit- ting in Concord that he is always for a free road in a free country, but on mature consideration and for good reasons assigned him, he is de- cidedly in favor of the prayer of the petition of Moses Lewis, Esq., and others praying for a grant of a turnpike road by Newfound pond, as he is sensible the same will greatly promote the public good. He therefore heartily joins with the petitioners in praying for the grant.
PETER MAHEW.
Evidently it was the aim of many living north and south of Plymouth to maintain a better road, and more particularly to secure an essential amendment of the route in Hebron and further south. Many efforts to secure a satisfactory road had failed, and the construction of a turnpike was the last resort. Under the supervision of Peter Mayhew the turnpike was constructed in 1804. The only toll gate in this town was at West Plymouth.
In the progress of years the turnpikes became unpopular, and very few of them yielded a reasonable income upon the money
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invested. Some of the charters were surrendered without com- pensation to the proprietors, and others were dissolved under the provisions of the act of 1838, which provided that towns under certain conditions might convert a turnpike into a highway upon the appraisal and payment of damages in the same manner as the land of individuals was taken for highways. At the term of court held at Plymouth in November, 1839, in answer to a petition pre- ferred by Thomas Paine and others, the court appointed Larkin Baker of Westmoreland, Charles Flanders of Plainfield, and Henry B. Rust of Wolfeborough, a commission to lay out a road over the proposed route if in their opinion the public good required it. The proposed highway described in the petition begun at the inn of Thomas Paine in West Plymouth at the point where the turn- pike interseeted the road leading from Plymouth to Haverhill, and continuing southerly over the Mayhew turnpike, four rods wide, to the southern terminus in Hill. The prayer of the petition was granted, and the damage to the corporation was appraised at $1600, and divided among the towns as follows: Plymouth, $340.70; Hebron, $366.49 ; Bridgewater, $337.29; Bristol, $529.09; Hill, $26.43.
Thomas Paine, who was a party in these proceedings, kept a hotel at the northern terminus of the Mayhew turnpike, in West Plymouth, from 1835 to 1839.
THE WAR OF 1812. - The record of very many of the towns in New Hampshire, in the War of 1812, is faithfully told in a single paragraph. Without trespass upon the domain of State or national history the narrative cannot be extended., In addition to the towns honored by the distinguished service of Dearborn, Miller, and McNeil, only three towns in New Hampshire present much material for local history. Lancaster was the home of Capt. James W. Weeks, and there his gallant company was raised and equipped. The company won imperishable honors at Chippewa. Concord was the principal recruiting station, and experienced a scourge of scarlet fever which originated in the barracks. Ports- mouth was greatly alarmed in 1814 at the appearance, outside the
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harbor, of several British men-of-war. In the defence of Ports- mouth is found the principal incident in the history of Plymouth during the war.
The company raised in July, 1812, for six months, commanded by Capt. Ephraim H. Mahurin of Stratford, and stationed on the northern frontiers, was drafted from the thirteenth regiment, com- prising the towns of Haverhill, Piermont, Orford, Wentworth, Warren, and Benton. In this company was John Abbot of Warren. He was not drafted, but served on the quota of Haverhill. At the expiration of the term of service he enlisted a second time, and died of scarlet fever in the barracks at Concord, April 13, 1813. Ephraim Lund of Warren, probably a grandson of Ephraim Lund who built the first mill in Plymouth, also served in Captain Mahurin's company. Humphrey Webster, son of Humphrey Web- ster of Plymouth, was an ensign in Capt. John Bliss' company of Colonel Ripley's regiment. He was a graduate of Middlebury College, and enlisted from Salisbury. He was badly wounded in the face. Subsequently he was a lawyer. He died in Jefferson- ville, Ind., June 15, 1819.
In April, 1813, a company commanded by Captain Edmund Freeman of Lebanon was ordered to the northern frontiers to take the place of Captain Mahurin's company, which had been honor- ably discharged. In this company were John L. Robbins, Pres- cott Hall, and Isaac Mitchell. The residence of these three men upon the company roll is said to have been Plymouth. Possibly John L. was an error for Jonathan L. Robbins, a son of Dr. Rob- bins. Hall and Mitchell do not appear upon any tax list about that time.
In New Hampshire the supreme excitement of the war was in the late summer and early autumn of 1814. The fear prevailing at Portsmouth was extreme and not without cause. The British cruisers were constantly hovering about the coast. The people throughout the State were solicitous concerning the security of the seaport. On the ninth of September, Governor Gilman ordered that the whole militia of the State hold themselves in readiness
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to march at a moment's warning. He further ordered that seven- teen companies from regiments near Portsmouth be detached and march at once to that town.
In connection with these proceedings for the protection of Ports- mouth, the Governor issued a call for men from all the companies of militia in the State which were not already represented in the service. An army of about four thousand men was collected at Portsmouth. The quota in a majority of the towns was filled by a draft. The town records on this subject are silent, but it is probable there was a draft in Plymouth. The names of the fol- lowing men - either volunteers, drafted men, or substitutes for drafted men - appear upon the rolls and are credited to the quota of this town: Isaac Chamberlain, corporal, Asa Robbins, David Alls, Ira Morse, Jonathan Hall, Joseph Chamberlain, Jonas Keyes, Reuben Draper. They were mustered into the service Sept. 29, 1814, and served sixty days in the company commanded by Capt. John Willey of Campton. In the same company was Stephen York of Holderness, who removed to Plymouth, 1839.
In a company commanded by Lieut. Nathaniel Burley of Sand- wich were three men from Plymouth, who served sixty days, beginning Sept. 29, 1814. They were Thomas Robie, sergeant, Laban Keyes, and John Fuller. Upon the roll Fuller is reported " sick in hospital." A company commanded by Capt. Reuben Hayes of New Durham served sixty days from Oct. 3, 1814. In this company were Jonathan Dearborn and Peter Draper of Ply- mouth. In the same company were Jonathan Fellows of Bridge- water, the grandfather of Chauncey Ayer Fellows, and Walker Buswell, who, subsequently, lived a few years in Plymouth.
Several soldiers in the War of 1812, who were enlisted from other towns, subsequently removed to Plymouth. Among these were Walter Melvin, who removed from Bridgewater to Plymouth, 1815; James Pebbles, a native of Orford, who came to this town 1863; David Burleigh, who resided here after 1853; Benjamin Glover, who lived here a few years before the war and is buried in the Town Cemetery; Daniel Sanborn, removed from Dover to
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Campton, 1828, and is buried in the Town Cemetery; and Deacon Simeon Sanborn, who lived in Plymouth from 1848 to 1878.
RAILROADS. - The history of the construction and the operation of a railroad extending through many towns, when viewed from the standpoint of a single community, is fragmentary. In the con- veniences of life and of travel, in the transportation of the mails and freight, in the encouragement of business, the railroad has con- stantly served the people of Plymouth and offered equal facilities to many towns of the State. The completion and successful opera- tion of the Concord Railroad to the capital of New Hampshire stimulated a desire in many communities for roads extending from Concord to northern sections of the State. The advocates of a railroad through Plymouth to Haverhill were able and resolute men. The charter of the Boston, Concord, and Montreal Railroad was approved Dec. 27, 1844. The incorporators were James Cofran, Zenas Clement, John Taylor, William Badger, Stephen Gale, David Pingree, Warren Lovell, Samuel Bean, Obadiah Smith, Walter Blair, William W. Russell, Josiah Quincy, John Page, John McClary, John McDuffee, William A. Woods, Samuel Ross, Daniel Patterson, William V. Hutchins, Artemas Morse, Cyrus Eastman, William Brackett, James Allen, Samuel Hutchins, Jacob Kent, Jr. The enterprise was feebly supported by the capi- talists of Boston and other centres of wealth. The capital stock was subscribed, and the construction was undertaken by hopeful men who lived upon the line of location. The road was opened to Tilton, May 22, 1848, to Laconia, Aug. 8, 1848, to Plymouth, Jan. 21, 1850, and to Wells River, May 10, 1853; but the con- struction was not completed and fully opened to the northern ter- minus until July or August. Reckoning from different dates in the progress of construction, the authorities give several conflicting dates concerning the day when the road was opened to Plymouth. It is known that a train of freight from Boston, drawn by the locomotives " Josiah Quincy " and " John McDuffee," rolled into Plymouth about January 15. The cars were laden with merchan- dise for the stores of William W. Russell & Company, and the
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