USA > New Hampshire > Strafford County > History of Strafford County, New Hampshire and representative citizens > Part 24
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Edward Ashton Rollins, son of Daniel G. Rollins, was the first cashier. He later achieved national fame as commissioner of internal revenue, and as president of the Centennial National Bank of Philadelphia. He is the gen- tleman who gave the money to build the beautiful Rollins Chapel for Dart- mouth College.
George L. Dearborn was Mr. Rollins' successor as cashier of Somers- worth National Bank ; John A. Burleigh succeeded Mr. Dearborn ; he was fol- lowed by Samuel S. Rollins, who held the office nineteen years, until his death in 1881, while he was in performance of his duties of cashier. Henry C. Gilpatrick succeeded Mr. Rollins and served until his death in 1897; Charles M. Dorr held the office 1897-1899: and in December, 1899, Edgar A. Leigh- ton was elected cashier and has held the office to the present time. The presi- dents of this bank have all been able and high-minded men. Since 1896 Jesse Robinson Horne has held that position.
The Somersworth Savings Bank was incorporated July 2, 1845, and the first meeting of the incorporators was held August 16th following; they were Joseph Doe, John A. Burleigh, Daniel G. Rollins, Ichabod G. Jordan, Nathan- iel Wells, Mark Noble, Oliver H. Lord, Jeremiah Goodwin, Ezra Harthan, Hiram R. Roberts, Benjamin Hanson, Moses Baker and Wm. W. Rollins.
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The officers elected were : John A. Burleigh, president; Hiram R. Roberts and Daniel C. Rollins, vice preseidents ; Joseph Doe, Moses Baker, Wm. W. Rol- lins, Ichabod G. Jordan, Nathaniel Wells, Benjamin Hanson and Oliver H. Lord, trustees. The secretary and treasurer was Mark Noble.
The bank was opened for business September 18, 1845, in Central build- ing, on Main street. The first deposit book was issued to Henry Hobbs for $100; which book is now in possession of the bank. This bank has continued sound and prosperous to the present day, having been carefully and honestly managed for sixty-seven years. The treasurers have been: Mark Noble, 1845-1857; David H. Buffum, 1857-1867; Joseph A. Stickney, 1867-1877; Albert A. Perkins, 1877-1897; William Sewell Tibbetts, 1897 to the present time. The presidents : John A. Burleigh, 1845-1860; Micajah C. Burleigh, 1860-1881; Samuel S. Rollins, one month only, in 1881; Isaac Chandler, 1882-1890; Edward Hargraves, 1890-1905; Jesse Robinson Horne, 1905 to present time. There is one official now connected with the bank who has been in its service since 1871, Miss Angenette Stickney, who has served as clerk continuously and efficiently ; no errors have been found in her work. In this connection it is but justice to state that Miss Martha T. Walker has held the office of assistant cashier of the Somersworth National Bank continuously since 1877. These two ladies are both remarkable for their efficiency, ac- curacy and courteousness in the performance of their duties. Probably no other banks in New Hampshire have women officials who have served that length of time.
The Great Falls Bank erected a banking house, in 1845, at the corner of Prospect and Market streets, on the site of the old blacksmith shop which An- drew Horne, Jr., occupied in 1823. The bank building consisted of one story and a basement and was used by both the Great Falls Bank and the Somers- worth Savings Bank. The entrance was from Prospect street. In 1874 a sec- ond story, new entrance from Market street, and a tower were added to the building, making it the present elegant banking house of the Great Falls Na- tional Bank.
In 1876 the Somersworth Savings Bank erected the large and substantial block at the corner of High, Fore and Elm streets, and beside room for itself, provided accommodations for the Somersworth National Bank, an office for the American Express Company, several stores, business offices, a hall for the Odd Fellows, and another for the Knights of Pythias.
RAILROADS
The Boston & Maine Railroad had been built in 1842 through Somers- worth from Dover to Berwick, and in 1843 a branch was built from the old
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meeting-house about two miles to the village of Great Falls. The first pas- senger train over this branch arrived in Great Falls July 4, 1843, amid the booming of cannons, firing of crackers, barking of dogs, and a general hurrah of the people. Some persons now living, who were boys and girls then, wit- nessed this the grand entry of the train, and no event since then has made a stronger impression on their memory; they say they had great fun.
The railroad company built a station where the present station is located; also a stone engine house and a large freight depot on Market street. Before the railroad was built, all the freight of the Manufacturing Company had been hauled by teams over the road where the electric cars now run, between Great Falls and Dover Landing. By means of the railroad these freights were moved with less expense and the village was brought within three hours' ride of Boston. This gave a great boom to business, and more capital was invested in the village of Great Falls.
A postoffice had been established at Great Falls in 1825; it was Somers- worth but did not take that name. Uncle Sam's postmaster general called it Great Falls, New Hampshire, and the postoffice retained that name until the village of Great Falls became the city of Somersworth. For more than three score and ten years the business world dealt with Great Falls, but had no deal- ings with Somersworth. So it came to pass that many intelligent citizens did not know that they lived in Somersworth, as it was never mentioned; they lived at Great Falls; that was the name of the postoffice and they took it for granted that was the name of the town they lived in. But when the village became a city the leading citizens made haste to have the name of the postoffice changed to Somersworth to avoid all possible chances of having the business world regard it as the "City of Great Falls."
CHAPTER XXIV HISTORY OF SOMERSWORTH (VI)
NOTED CITIZENS OF SOMERSWORTH
The Parish of Summersworth had noted men from its beginning until the Provincial Assembly changed it to the Town of Somersworth, which orthog- raphy was not asked for by the parish, and somebody blundered when he drew up the act of incorporation, and nobody noticed the blunder until it became law. In that part of the old parish, now Rollinsford, near Salmon Falls village, stands an old mansion house, a little northwest of the Boston and Maine Railroad station, which was built about the year 1710 by Col. Paul Wentworth, a very wealthy and enterprising citizen of the parish. This is the oldest house in old Somersworth, and an interesting history is connected with it during the Revolutionary war period. It has continued in possession of the Wentworth family to the present time ( 1913). Within its well preserved walls are yet to be seen many of the articles of household use in the provincial period. Among the most interesting is the old clock, still running and keeping good time, the running work of which was made in England, and the case was made by some skilled mechanic of New Hamp- shire, whose workmanship cannot be surpassed by all the "modern improve- ments." A long and interesting story is connected with the history of that house and its furnishings; but that is not for this paper; following is some mention of the builder.
Col. Paul Wl'entworth was born in 1678. He was son of Ezekiel Went- worth, one of the older sons of Elder William Wentworth. This Ezekiel Wentworth appears on the Dover tax list of from 1672 to 1677. He was fined for not serving on the jury in 1687. He received a grant of sixty acres of land adjoining Salmon Falls river, above Indigo Hill, and ten acres of marsh near Black-Water, March 19, 1693-4. He received also a grant of thirty acres of land near Black-Water brook, April 2, 1696. He served on the jury in 1699. He received a grant June 3, 1701, of ten acres of land at the head of his home plantation. and thirty acres between Black-Water Bridge and the pitch-pine plains. He received, with Judge John Tuttle, Sr.,
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October 24, 1701, a grant of all the "mill privilege" of the west side of Sal- mon Falls, and with the same person ( who had wife Mary, and was son of the first settler, John Tuttle, in Dover, who had wife Dorothy), May 19, 1702, a grant of thirty acres of ox-pasture near their mill, at Salmon Falls. He was one of the selectmen of Dover in 1702. He, Ezekiel, Sr., had from Thomas Paine, March 21, 1704, a deed of land lying in Cochecho, between his own land on the northeast and Thomas Downs on the southwest. He was assessor in Dover in 1705. He deeded land to his son (Col.) Paul, April 7, 1705, when the son was twenty-seven years old. He and his wife Elizabeth, February 3, 1708-9, deeded to son Thomas, "mariner," as his portion, one-fourth of his right in the sixty acres above "Indigo Hill," abut- ting the river on its west side, all of which "were granted to me by ye Town of Dover;" November 18, 1709, he deeded one-sixteenth of the mill accom- modation on the west side of Salmon Falls to son (Col.) Paul; and April 2, 17II, to son John, as a part of his portion, one-half of the land bought of Thomas Paine in Cochecho, being sixteen acres south of his (Ezekiel's) dwelling-house, thirty acres at Black-Water (in northwestern part of Dover) and one-eighth of the west side of Salmon Falls. He was Representative from Dover in 171I.
It thus appears that Ezekiel Wentworth, father of Col. Paul, lived in that part of old Dover which was incorporated as Somersworth, April 22, 1754; in that part of the Parish of Summersworth which was incorporated as Rollinsford in 1849, and now known as Salmon Falls village. His house probably stood near where his son Paul built the house in 1710, which is now standing. As regards Col. Paul's house, he gave it to his nephew, Judge John Wentworth, who gave it to his son Andrew, and Andrew gave it to his son John B., and the last named gave it to his son, James E. Wentworth, the present owner, who was born August 26, 1834.
Another interesting fact concerning this Ezekiel Wentworth, son of Elder William, is that for six successive generations, subsequent to himself, have been members of the New Hampshire Legislature. He died while a member, as also did his son Benjamin, whose son John 4 was a member. This John + had three sons who were members, viz., Paul,5 John,5 and Andrew.5 John's 5 son Paul,6 and Andrew's 5 son John B.6 were members, Paul's 6 son Joseph 7 was also a member. John 4 was elected to the Continental Congress, but did not attend. John 5 was a member of the Continental Congress, Paul's6 son John7 (Long John of Chicago) was a member of Congress twelve years, and two years mayor of Chicago. Thomas M.,5 son of John 4 was a member of the Massachusetts Legislature from Maine, before it was made a state, and his son. Thomas Millet,6 Jr., was a member of the Maine
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Legislature. About a dozen other descendants in the name Wentworth are also on record as members of legislative bodies in different states.
The writer will now return from this digression to a further considera- tion of Col. Paul " Wentworth, who built the house in 1710, at Salmon Falls, already mentioned. He was born in 1678; after he built the house he lived in it until his death in 1748. He married (by Rev. Caleb Cushing), May 24, 1704, Abra Brown, of Salisbury, Mass. She was admitted to the First Church in Dover, March 30, 1718. She was living May 9, 1740, but as she is not mentioned in his will made February 3, 1747-8, she doubtless died before him. He was one of the wealthiest men of his time, and a leading man in both church and state. He was a merchant and extensive dealer in lumber, of which his mills at Salmon Falls sawed as much as any other por- tion of the country. The lumber was rafted down the river to Portsmouth, N. H. and thence shipped to all parts of the world. He is called "Ensign Paul" in 1716, 1717; "Captain Paul" in 1727. Soon after that he was ap- pointed Colonel of the New Hampshire Second Regiment, and was known as "Colonel Paul" to the end of his life, and will always be so known in history. He was one of the selectmen of Dover fourteen years, between 1716 and 1740; one of its Representatives from 1732 to 1738; Moderator in town meetings many times. He died June 24, 1748. The Boston Weekly News Letter of July 14, 1748, says :
"New Hampshire, 24 June, 1748. This day, after a short fit of sickness, died Col. Paul Wentworth, Esq., of Summersworth, in the 70th year of his age; he left a very handsome Inheritance, out of which he gave (as it is judged) near 1,500 pounds (old tenor) for pious and charitable uses. That is to say, the improvement of said Legacy, and the Principal not to be dimin- ished. A very laudable example worthy of imitation."
Col. John Wentworth, often called "Judge John," was son of Captain Benjamin 3 and Elizabeth (Leighton) Wentworth, and nephew of Col. Paul Wentworth already spoken of. He was born March 30, 1719, in the Parish of Summersworth; he was baptized in the First Church, Dover, December 26, 1722. His father died when the son was six years old, and his Uncle Paul rendered assistance and practically brought him up and made him chief heir to his fortune, the house being part of the bequest. He was a pupil of the famous teacher of Summersworth, Master John Sullivan, father of Gen. John Sullivan of the Revolution, who gave him as good as a Harvard College education.
He was chosen one of the selectmen of Dover in 1747, as "Captain John" and was frequently re-elected while Summersworth continued a parish of Dover. He was chosen Representative to the Legislature from Dover
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in 1749 and until the parish was made a town in 1754. He was the first Rep- resentative chosen from the new town of Somersworth in 1755. From 1767 he was annually elected Representative for a long series of years. He was chosen Speaker of the House in 1771, and was continued in that office during the existence of the Provincial Government, under his cousin, Gov. John Wentworth. The Provincial House did not meet after 1775.
Upon the organization of Strafford county in 1773, he was made Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, by his relative, Gov. John Wentworth, and held that office till that government ended. His colleagues in court were George Frost, Otis Baker and John Plumer. Under the Revolutionary Gov- ernment he was chosen by the Assembly one of the judges of the Superior Court, January 17, 1776. He was one of the State Councillors from Decem- ber 21, 1775, until his death. He was colonel of the Second New Hampshire Regiment when the grand review took place on Tuttle Square, Dover, in front of the First Parish meeting-house, by Gov. John Wentworth, who came up from Portsmouth was a grand escort. It was at this grand review, the Rev. Jeremy Belknop, pastor of the First church, preached a noted sermon on military duty, which is preserved in the library of the Massachusetts Historical Society. He was lieutenant-colonel under Col. John Gage as early as 1767.
He was appointed one of the Committee of Correspondence, with the other colonies about the Revolution, May 28, 1774. He was in the Speaker's chair when Gov. John Wentworth sent in an order dissolving the Assembly June 8, 1774. Three days later he wrote, for the committee of which he was a member, to the Committee of Correspondence in Massachusetts, cordially commending and supporting the action that had been taken in Massachusetts. July 6, 1774. a chairman of the committee (which later became the historic Committee of Safety which managed affairs during the war), he issued a call to all the towns and parishes to elect delegates and send them to a con- vention to be held at Exeter on the 21st day of July, 1774, which convention should elect delegates to a Congress of all the Colonies.
That convention was the first Revolutionary Congress in New Hamp- shire; it met at the appointed time; Col. John Wentworth was chosen chair- man, Gen. John Sullivan and Nathaniel Folsom were chosen delegates to the first Continental Congress; John Wentworth, as chairman, signed their credentials. That Congress met in Philadelphia, September 5, 1774. This Congress recommended that another Congress be held May 10, 1775, So Colonel Wentworth issued a circular November 30, 1774, calling for the elec- tion of delegates by the towns and parishes to a Congress or Assembly to be held at Exeter, the 25th day of January, 1775. to elect delegates to the second
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Continental Congress to be held in Philadelphia, May 10, 1775. The second New Hampshire Congress met in accordance with the call and Colonel Wentworth was chosen president of it. They elected Gen. John Sullivan and Gov. John Langdon delegates to the Continental Congress. They ordered the Committee of Correspondence to issue an address to the people of New Hamp- shire to organize for defense against any attacks by the British authorities. Colonel Wentworth wrote it and signed it as chairman. It was pub- lished in full in the ( Portsmouth) New Hampshire Gazette, February 3, 1775. The beginning of the Revolution contains no more patriotic and well worded document than this one from the pen and brain of Col. John Went- worth.
Colonel Wentworth was president of the convention held at Exeter, April 21, 1775, two days after the battle at Bunker Hill, at which a committee was appointed to go to Concord, Mass., and consult with the Massachusetts Con- gress as to what course to pursue. It adjourned on the 4th of May, as the regular Provincial Assembly met at Portsmouth on that day, of which many in the convention were members, and wished to attend.
The Assembly met as above stated and Colonel Wentworth was unan- imously chosen Speaker, and his name was sent to Gov. John Wentworth for confirmation, and was accordingly confirmed. No business was transacted ; the Governor adjourned the Assembly to June 12, 1775; it met on that date but no work was done and Governor Wentworth adjourned it to July 1I. It then reassembled and he addressed it, very prudently, from Fort William and Mary. He adjourned it again to September 28, 1775, at which date the Assembly again met and received an address from the Governor, which was his last official communication to the Assembly of New Hampshire, dated at Isles of Shoals, September, 1775, proroguing it to the next April. That was the end of British rule in New Hampshire. Presto, change! In came the Independent Government of New Hampshire, in January, 1776, and Col. John Wentworth, of Somersworth, Councillor and one of the Judges of the Superior Court, which offices he held until the day of his death. The last date at which he was present at the Council Board was March 22, 1781, and he died May 17, 1781, at 11 o'clock P. M. Thus he did not live to see acknowledged the independence of his country, for which he so indefatigably labored.
He was buried at 4 o'clock P. M., May 21, 1781, in the family burial ground at Salmon Falls. There was a large attendance at the funeral. This burial ground is on the farm now ( 1913) occupied by Col. John's great-grand- son, Mr. James E. Wentworth, who lives in the Col. Paul Wentworth house, built in 1710. This farm was first owned by Ezekiel 2 Wentworth, who had
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the land as a grant from the town of Dover, and gave it to his son, Col. Paul. In that ground were buried Ezekiel 2 and his descendants, who died in the vicinity of Salmon Falls. The grave of Col. John and his three wives are still pointed out. The maiden names of his wives were: Joanna Gilman, of Exeter; Abigail Millet, of Dover; Elizabeth Wallingford, of Somersworth.
Col. Thomas Wallingford, whose daughter was third wife of Col. John Wentworth, was one of the most noted men of the Parish of Summersworth in Dover, and of the Town of Somersworth after it was incorporated in 1754. He was born in Bradford, Mass., July 28, 1697; he died in Somersworth, July 28, 1771. He was son of John " Wallingford and grandson of Nicholas 1 Wallingford, the immigrant who came to New England from Old England in the ship Confidence of London in 1638. John 2 Wallingford married December 6, 1687, Mary, daughter of Judge John and Mary Tuttle, of Dover, N. H. They resided in Bradford, Mass., until his father-in-law. Judge Tuttle, erected his saw mill at Salmon Falls about 1702, when Mr. Wallingford joined with the judge in the lumber business, in which Col. Paul Wentworth was also engaged with Judge Tuttle. That is how it came about that the Wallingfords became citizens of Dover at the Parish of Summersworth. Thomas, probably, first worked in his Grandfather Tuttle's saw mill, and by inheritance continued in the lumber business, more or less, for many years. He lived on the old road from Dover to Salmon Falls, near the site of the old Somersworth meeting-house, at Rollinsford Junction, as known to the present generation, between the meeting-house and the Falls, being the last house on the left-hand side as one approaches the Falls. He was a merchant and had his store in the village at the meeting-house. He became one of the wealthiest, as he was one of the ablest, men in the Province of New Hamp- shire. He was a Representative from Dover, Parish of Summersworth, in 1739, and each year thereafter until and including 1745; he was moderator in Dover town meetings in 1739, 1745, 1746, 1748; one of the selectmen in 1733, 1739, 1741 to 1746 and 1748, and was Judge of the Superior Court of the province from 1748 until his death. For several years he was colonel of a regiment. His grave is in the cemetery at Rollinsford Junction; a large slate headstone marks the spot, and has an elaborate inscription.
Judge Ichabod Rollins was born in Dover, July 18, 1722 ; he died in Som- ersworth, January 31, 1800. He was son of Jeremiah and Elizabeth (Ham) Rollins, of Greenland, who removed to Dover about 1711, and settled in that part of the town which later became the Parish of Summersworth, in the neighborhood of what is now Rollinsford Junction. Jeremiah was son of Ichabod, who was son of James, the immigrant who settled in the Bloody Point parish of Dover about 1640, on the farm where row is Rollins station
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on the Portsmouth & Dover Railroad. He went to school to Master John Sullivan, father of the general. He married Abigail Wentworth, cousin of Col. Jolin Wentworth already mentioned. They lived on the farm, in the nineteenth century known as the Willian W. Rollins farm, a lineal descend- ant of the judge. Ichabod was Representative of Somersworth in the Legislature of 1775 and 1776; Judge of Probate from 1776 to 1784; councillor in 1789.
Dr. Moses Carr was born in Newbury, Mass., November, 1715. He died in Somersworth, March 30, 1800. He was son of John and Elizabeth Carr, who was son of James and grandson of George Carr, immigrant to Ipswich, Mass., in 1638. Doctor Carr came to Dover with parents when he was very young. Seven years of his boyhood were spent as member of the household of Capt. Benjamin Wentworth, of Somersworth, whose niece, Mary Gerrish, he married in 1740. He was educated in Master John Sullivan's school, and later studied medicine, commencing practice about the time he was married. He lived at Rollinsford Junction and for sixty years practiced his profession in that and neighboring towns. He was town clerk from 1748 to 1776; Judge of the Court of Common Pleas from 1776 to 1784; Representative from Somersworth to the Legislature in 1781. 1782 and 1783.
Col. James Carr was born April 22, 1748. He married Susanna Went- worth, daughter of Col. John. He lived on a farm near Salmon Falls village on the old road to Dover. He entered the army at the beginning of the Revo- lution as first lieutenant in the company of Capt. Jonathan Wentworth in Col. Enoch Poor's regiment and served through the war, being promoted to major before its close for meritorious service. After the war he was colonel of a regiment of New Hampshire militia. He was sheriff of Strafford county from 1800 to 1810. He was Representative from Somersworth from 1791 to 1800, and again from 1810 to 1815.
Col. Jonathan Wentworth was born in Dover, September 8, 1741; died in Somersworth, November 16, 1790. He was son of Samuel Wentworth, who was a soldier in the Revolutionary army. He lived at Dry Hill in that part of Somersworth called "Sligo." He was one of the selectmen of Som- ersworth in 1774. He was with two brothers in the Revolutionary army. He commenced service as captain of a company raised in Somersworth in 1775. and served in Col. Enoch Poor's regiment. He started with his com- pany from Somersworth and made a rapid march of sixty-two miles just previous to the battle of Bunker Hill and arrived in Chelsea, opposite where the battle was, in the morning, but could not cross the Mystic river on account of the enemy, so went round by way of Medford to join the troops, but could not participate in the battle. He was under Washington at Cambridge, in
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