History of Strafford County, New Hampshire and representative citizens, Part 25

Author: Scales, John, 1835-1928
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Chicago : Richmond-Arnold
Number of Pages: 988

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1776; was at Ticonderoga in September of that year, but owing to some dis- agreement of commanding officers he left the service for a time. He again joined the Continental army at Rhode Island, August 5, 1778, under Gen. John Sullivan. He was major in 1783, under Col. Thomas Bartlett, of Not- tingham, and at one time brigade-major under Col. Stephen Evans. In March, 1779, he was Representative from Somersworth in the Legislature and held that office continuously from that date to March 13, 1782. He was colonel of the Second New Hampshire Regiment in 1789 and later.

Somersworth had other noted men between the close of the Revolution and 1820, when Great Falls began to be looked at for development of its power, which had been running to waste for centuries. During the half century from 1820 to 1870, the following were a few of the noted men who led in business, church and state :

Isaac Wendell was born in Portsmouth, November 1, 1786; died in Bustle- ton, Pa., about 1866. He was son of John 5 Wendell, who married, June 20, 1753, Sarah, eldest daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth (Frost) Wentworth, of Portsmouth. This Daniel Wentworth was son of Lieut .- Gov. John 3 Wentworth, grandson of Samuel and great-grandson of Elder William Went- worth, of Dover. Elizabeth Frost was niece of Sir William Pepperrell. John 5 Wendell was son of John # and Elizabeth (Quincy), of Boston. This Elizabeth was daughter of Hon. Edmund Quincy, of Boston. John 4 Wendell was great-grandson of Evert Janse Wendell, the immigrant from Holland who settled at Albany, N. Y., receiving his grant of land from Gov. Peter Stuyvesant in 1652; he lived to be nearly a century old and became immensely rich.

John 5 Wendell, father of Isaac,5 founder of the mills at Somersworth, was born in 1731 and graduated from Harvard College when he was nineteen years old. He studied law in Boston and soon after he was twenty-one years old opened an office in Portsmouth, N. H., and became an expert in the real estate business, as well as a good lawyer. He hield professional and social relations with leading citizens of the time. Among others he was a personal friend of Gen. John Sullivan, of Durham, and contributed freely from his fortune, as well as by his pen, towards sustaining the stand taken in the province against the arbitrary exactions of the Crown. He was a ready speaker and writer. He received the degree of Master of Arts from Yale College in 1768 and from Dartmouth in 1773. He died in Portsinouth, April 29, 1808.

John 5 Wendell was twice married. His first wife died in 1772 and he married again in 1778 Dorothy Sherburne, daughter of Judge Henry and Sarah (Warner) Sherburne, of Portsmouth. He was then forty-seven years

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old and she was twenty, only two years older than his eldest child then was. Their son Isaac, who was born November 1, 1786, had an older brother Abraham and a younger brother Jacob, who were associated with him in the ownership of one-fifth of the capital stock of the first Great Falls Manufac- turing Company in 1823.

This Jacob Wendell was a noted and very wealthy merchant in Ports- mouth, ancestor of the distinguished Prof. Barrett Wendell, of Harvard College. He became associated with his brother Isaac, in 1815, in the "Upper Factory" cotton mill at Dover. . \ letter written by Isaac's daughter, Miss Ann Elizabeth Wendell, of Wayne, Pa., about 1880, gives the following interesting account of her father and Uncle Jacob. She says :

"This undertaking was first initiated by some gentlemen of Dover, at what is known as the "Upper Factory," where they were at that time (1815) spinning yarn and also making nails. Isaac Wendell, my father, entered warmly into the enterprise, and enlisted in its interests, and in those of the new mills established at Dover (Cochecho Falls), and subsequently at Great Falls (Somersworth), his brother, Jacob Wendell, and others, with his partner, John Williams, of Dover. The location and rise of the Great Falls Manufacturing Company dates from 1823, the legislative act granting its incorporation bearing date June 11, that year. The inspection of mechanical details in the factory at Dover was intrusted to William Blackburne, an expe- rienced weaver from the city of Manchester, in England, while Isaac Wendell occupied the position of agent, and exercised a general supervision over the interests of the mills."

"Of the working capacity of these factories some idea may be gained when we state that the first year (1821) three thousand spindles were put in operation in the wooden mill at Dover, since removed, while the total number operated at both places exceeded 30,000. The bricks necessary for these build- ings were made on the ground (from the excellent clay banks), while much of the ironwork needed was furnished by a small furnace erected on the Bellamy river (at lower falls). The mills made shirtings, print cloths and sheetings, and the annual production was very large. Twelve to fifteen hun- dred operators were employed on the corporation, while the amount of money disbursed, monthly, exclusive of the cost of cotton, amounted to a large sum. In 1825 the company attempted the manufacture of woolen cloth and carpets, erecting a mill for that purpose, but it soon relinquished this project, and put the new factory also upon the manufacture of cotton.

"The industry of weaving textile fabrics was then in its infancy on this side of the Atlantic, very little being known here at that period of improved machinery patented in Great Britain, which was prohibited by the Govern-

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ment from exportation abroad. Isaac and Jacob Wendell, the embryo manu- facturers, purchased through Daniel Webster, then resident in Portsmouth, several fine water privileges, the first acquisition being the estate in Dover, known as the (Daniel) Waldron farm, upon which they erected successively several structures. In the fall of 1821, the first mill was ready to commence operations, and its machinery was started in control of a skilful superintend- ent, under such favorable auspices, and with such satisfactory results, that two years later another mill was built upon the Salınon Falls river (Great Falls) purchased of Mr. Gershom Horn, which was the pioneer factory of the Great Falls corporation.

"For some time everything went prosperously. The mills earned a hand- some profit upon the capital invested; the stock advanced to a premium, and all seemed to augur well for the future, until the notable commercial panic of 1827-28 swept the country, and one mercantile crash succeeded another. The destruction of all confidence in business credit and financial strength was rapid and widespread, involving on all sides extended commercial ruin, among which was the failure of the Great Falls Manufacturing Company, and the consequent precipitation of heavy losses upon the Wendell Brothers, Isaac and Jacob. The shock of this calamity, though it very seriously crippled them financially, did not cause utter discouragement. Accepting the unwelcome and unexpected circumstances, they devoted their energies, in the long years to come, in successfully getting into comfortable circum- stances, and passed their old age on Easy street."

Jacob Wendell died at the homestead on Pleasant street, Portsmouth, N. H., August 27, 1865. Isaac Wendell married Ann Austin Whittier. of Dover, N. H., in 1708, who was cousin to the father of John G. Whittier, the poet. "Whitcher's Falls" on the Cochecho river took its name from her father or grandfather. Isaac Wendell removed from Dover to Bustleton, Pa., in 1830, and was engaged in manufacturing business there more than thirty years. He died about 1866.

Nathaniel Wells was born at Wells, Me., February 28, 1805; he died at Somersworth, August 16, 1878. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Acad- emy in 1826. He then went to Brunswick, Me., where he engaged in trade for a time and edited a weekly newspaper. He came to Great Falls in 1830 and studied law in the office of Winthrop A. Marston, and after his admis- sion to the bar became a partner of Mr. Marston, and soon became one of the leading lawyers in Strafford and York counties. When Mr. Marston removed to Dover in 1842, Mr. Wells became law partner with Hon. Charles H. Bell, who later became Governor of New Hampshire. After the death

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of Mr. Marston in 1851, Mr. Wells formed a partnership with Royal R. Eastman and the partnership of Wells & Eastman continued until 1873.

Mr. Wells was acknowledged as a leading lawyer in Strafford county. and his reputation extended throughout the state. He was offered a posi- tion on the bench of the Supreme Court of New Hampshire, but declined. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1850, but he was not a politician nor a seeker after office. He was one of the five organizers and first directors of the Great Falls Woolen Co., at "New Dam." He was one of the organizers of the Great Falls State Bank, and first president of Great Falls National Bank, now the First National Bank, of which his son Christopher H. Wells is now president; the senior Mr. Wells was president eighteen years until his death. He was an incorporator of the Somersworth Savings Bank and for many years was its vice-president, which position his son, above mentioned, holds.

Mr. Wells lent a helping hand in the construction of the Great Falls & Conway Railroad, and was one of the incorporators and first president of the Great Falls Gas Company. In 1870 the honorary degree of Master of Arts was conferred on him by Dartmouth College. With a broad and deep knowledge of the law, excelling in drawing up legal instruments, and safe and honest as an adviser, he built up a large practice and gained a wide reputation as a lawyer.

On the 20th of February, 1844, Mr. Wells was united in marriage with Eliza Lane Thom of Derry. To them were born six children, four of whom are now living: William T. of Malden, Mass .; Harriet C. of St. Louis, Mo .; Christopher H. of Somersworth, and Mrs. H. W. L. Thatcher of St. Louis.

Charles Francis Elliot, M. D., was born at Mt. Vernon, N. H., Novem- ber 3, 1803. When he was but a child his parents removed to Amherst, N. H. He obtained his preparatory education for college at Amherst and at Pembroke Academy. He entered Dartmouth in 1825 and graduated in 1829 with honor. He at once commenced the study of medicine at Amherst in the office of Doctor Spaulding; he completed his studies at Dart- mouth and at Bowdoin Medical Schools, and received his degree of M. D. in 1832.

In December, 1833, he took up his residence here and for forty-two years practiced medicine in this place. He died at his home here June 23. 1876. Dr. Elliot was a large, fine looking man and a physician of great skill and ability. He was one of the leaders of his profession in this section of New Hampshire, one of the best type of doctors of his time. He had a large practice, was universally esteemed as a man of high character and

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worth. He was president of the Strafford District Medical Society, 1847-8. He was deeply interested in educational work and at one time was school commissioner, being called upon to visit all the schools in the county.

He married Harriet Adelia Thom of Derry, August 4, 1834. Of their four children one is living, Miss Mary P. Elliot, who resides in the old homestead on Beacon street.

Hon. Daniel G. Rollins was born in Lebanon, Me., October 3, 1796; he died February 22, 1875; he was a son of John and Betsey (Shapleigh) Rollins; her immigrant ancestors and his lived on the banks of the Pas- cataqua river; the one in Old Kittery, now Eliot, the other at Bloody Point in Dover, now Newington, their original grants of land were nearly oppo- site, and before 1650. Mr. Burleigh was a thoroughbred Englishman in both paternal and maternal ancestors, Jaines Rollins being the paternal and Alexander Shapleigh the maternal immigrant. His father was a farmer and brought his son up to do all kinds of farm work, from hunting hens' nests in the barn when a kid to driving the oxen with the goad, and holding the plow among stumps and rocks in the "breaking up" for spring planting; while his father took good care in his bringing up, outdoors on the farm and in attending the winter schools, the good mother in the house saw to it that he received good moral and religious training; so in early manhood, in muscle and mind he was thoroughly trained to do well whatever his hands found to do, and there was a lot of it during the nearly four score years of his life.

Mr. Rollins left the farm and started out in the world when he was twenty-five years old. That year was spent in Boston, at work in a store. The next year, 1823, and for two years following he was located in Ports- mouth as agent of a sugar refining company; his chums at that time were men who later became known as Hon. Ichabod Bartlett and Hon. W. H. Y. Hackett, two very distinguished New Hampshire lawyers.

He was married February 3, 1825, at Watertown, Mass., to Miss Susan Binney Jackson, by the Rev. Dr. Borie of that town. She was attending a boarding school in Portsmouth when Mr. Rollins made her acquaintance, resulting in a mutual falling in love. They celebrated their golden wedding February 3, 1875, only twenty days before his death.

Judge Rollins, as he came to be known later in life, was a man of unusual enterprise. He made the acquaintance of the Wendells, Isaac and Jacob, while in Portsmouth, and by them was induced to remove to Great Falls, but he did not at first settle on the Somersworth side of the river: he lived on the Berwick side, where he had a sawmill and did a good deal in the lumber business; quite a lot of his lumber he used in building houses

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in the Great Falls village (Somersworth) for the accommodation of the men and women who worked in the cotton mills. Later he removed his family across the river and spent the rest of his years in the village, and his spacious old homestead is still held in the family. He was largely instrumental in the projection, construction and management of the branch railroad from the village to Rollinsford Junction, two miles, to connect with the Boston & Maine road, in 1843. The first passenger train over this branch arrived in Great Falls July 4, 1843, amid great rejoicing by the people. Judge Rollins was one of the passengers and received hearty cheers when the public saw him. Later Judge Rollins was leader in the construction of the Great Falls & Conway Railroad, which was completed to Rochester in 1850 and to Conway in 1870. He also helped extend the Conway road in the other direction to South Berwick and connect it with the Portsmouth, Saco & Portland road at Conway Junction. He was an incorporator of the Great Falls Bank and of the Somersworth Savings Bank, and had much influence in getting the town to vote to establish Forest Glade Cemetery; he gave it the name.

He was appointed Judge of Probate for Strafford county in 1857 and held the office until 1866. He was not a lawyer; he never studied law, but his heart was warm, his sympathies quick, his judgment was logical, always making a careful decision according to the law as laid down in the books and according to common sense and justice when common law demanded a decision. Judge Rollins rarely made a mistake in his decisions of probate cases. His integrity was never challenged or suspected; he was a man of personal purity ; his speech was never unclean, profane or irreverent; he was subject to no evil habit. He was a member of the Congregational Church, and one of its liberal supporters.

To Mr. and Mrs. Rollins were born eleven children. Two died young and nine survived him. His sons were: Franklin J. of Portland, for many years United States collector of internal revenue for the district of Maine; Edward A., Speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives in 1850, 1852; U. S. commissioner of internal revenue and president of the Centennial National Bank in Philadelphia; and donor to Dartmouth College of the beautiful Rollins Chapel. He was graduated from Dartmouth in the class of 1851 ; he died at Hanover, N. H., September 7, 1885, aged fifty-seven years. Daniel Gustavus, district attorney for the city of New York several years, and surrogate. New York, 1882-1888. He died at Somersworth in August, 1897, aged fifty-five years. George F. served many years in the Treasury Department at Washington.

Micajah Currier Burleigh was born in South Berwick, Me., June 15,

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1818; died in Somersworth, March 7, 1881. He was a son of Hon. William Burleigh, M. C., and Deborah Currier, his wife; his father served three terms in Congress from the first district in Maine, and died when his son Micajah was nine years old. The son was educated in the common schools and at Strafford Academy and New London Academy, at which institution he was converted and joined the Baptist Church, of which he always remained a member. In the fullness of his years he gave this institution $2,000. For a few months he studied law with his uncle, Hon. John A. Burleigh. Four- teen years he was a seafaring man, entering the service as a common sailor and rising to be captain in the last years. In that service of command of the ship and all in it Mr. Burleigh acquired a habit of "command" which lasted through life; he did not forget the bluff, hearty sailor ways in dealing with men in other callings of business, but he did not often displease by these characteristics.

On leaving the seafaring life he engaged in business in South Berwick in the store of Parks & Hains, general assortment of goods such as were in demand in a village store; he was all-round clerk for a while, then, having mastered the business, he became a partner in the firm for a year or two, then gave it up and became partner in the firm of W. & E. Griffin, iron founders, then running two small foundries on the Salmon Falls river, one at Salmon Falls, the other at Great Falls. In about three years Mr. Burleigh obtained control of the whole business, the partners withdrawing. It was in 1848, when thirty years old, that he started in business for himself as an iron founder. In 1849 he procured an act of incorporation under the name of the Somersworth Machine Company and Mr. Oliver H. Lord became partner with him in the business. Mr. Burleigh was agent and Mr. Lord treasurer of the corporation. They met with great success and gathered in the shekels hand over fist. This partnership continued until 1864, Burleigh and Lord holding their respective offices. In that year Mr. Lord purchased the Dover Iron Foundry and turned his attention more especially to it, and Mr. Burleigh alone was the executive head of the Somersworth concern, and he kept on doing big business just the same, devoting the best and most active years of his life to it; with it his name was inseparably connected, and from it he acquired a large property.

When Mr. Burleigh had got himself well established in business in Somersworth he began to take an interest in public affairs; having been a successful sea captain, he knew how to rule men in other ranks in life, and his fellow citizens placed confidence in him and he never betrayed them. In 1854 and 1855 they made him their Representative in the State Legislature. They made him State Senator in 1858 and 1859. In 1876 they made him a

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member of the Constitutional Convention. In all these he did good service on important committees; he was not a public speaker or debater. Up to 1860, when the Civil war began, he was known as Captain Burleigh. Governor Gilmore made him one of his staff officers with the rank of colonel, after that he was known as Colonel Burleigh and his fame was mighty among thie men of Somersworth and Strafford county, New Hamp- shire, and York county, Maine. Colonel Burleigh had a commanding per- sonal appearance; he was above tlie medium height, broad shouldered and deep chested, weighing when in health considerably over 200 pounds, but there was nothing slow about him; always erect, and usually agile in his carriage. He was one of the most efficient members of Gilmore's staff and was a tower of strength to the Governor in that distressing time of war. He had a large, massive head, features strong and regular, a clear blue eye, and a mass of dark, wavy hair in the prime of life, which in his old age had turned white and made him a marked man in all places where men assembled.

On December 9, 1847, he married Mary Francis Russell of Somers- worth. They had a large family of children. Two sons graduated from Dartmouth College: William Russell, who was born in 1851, and graduated in 1872. His father was present at commencement and received the honor- ary degree of A. M. at the same time the son received the degree of A. B. The son studied law and commenced practice in Somersworth. He is now and has been for a number of years a lawyer in Manchester. The other son, Edward Stark, graduated from Dartmouth in 1878; studied law and for many years has practiced his profession in Florida, where he was obliged to go for his health.

Oliver Hubbard Lord was born in South Berwick, Me., November 19, 1811: he died in Somersworth in 1890. He was a son of Ephraim and Sally (Goodwin) Lord. He was educated in the public schools and Berwick Academy of that town and learned the trade of saddler and harness maker. Later he worked in the woolen factory there and won rapid promotion under the agent. Joshua W. Peirce. May 28, 1832, when he was twenty- one years old, he came to Great Falls (Somersworth) and entered the employ of a dry-goods store as clerk. He remained with Mr. Lawton one year. then engaged with the firm of Tarr & Bates as clerk; salary, $100 a year. Having learned the business, he soon was engaged as manager of the store of John W. Davis; after working two years he became partner with Mr. Davis, under the firm name of Jacob Davis & Co. In 1836 he withdrew and engaged with John B. Wood, under the firm name of Wood & Lord, which continued until 1839. He then opened a store of his own and did a prosperous business up to 1850, when he retired from the dry-goods busi-

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ness, and soon engaged with Hon. M. C. Burleigh, June, 1851, in the iron foundry business, of the Somersworth Machine Company, he being treasurer and Mr. Burleigh agent. Several years afterward he became proprietor of the Dover Iron Foundry, which was managed by his son-in-law, Charles E. Marston, after Mr. Lord's death. In all these concerns Mr. Lord prospered and acquired large wealth.

Mr. Lord was one of the incorporators of the Somersworth Savings Bank. He was trustee from the time of its organization until 1876, when he declined a re-election. He was one of the incorporators of the Great Falls State Bank in 1846, and one of its directors until 1852, when he resigned to take a directorship in the Salmon Falls State Bank, then being organized. He was president of the savings bank up to 1882. He was a stanch republican, having been a Free Soiler before the Republican party was organized. He was one of the Representatives from Somersworth in the Legislature in 1861 and 1862. He was a stanch supporter of the Great Falls & Conway Railroad, and saved it from going into bankruptcy in 1856. He was chairman of the board of trustees of the third bondholders, who took possession of the road.

Mr. Lord's wife was Mary W. G. Stevens, daughter of Dr. Whiting Stevens of Shapleigh, Me. They were married in August, 1838. They had two sons and two daughters, who lived to grow up: George Boardman; Mary A., wife of James Dix, for a number of years principal of Colby Academy, New London, N. H .; Annie A., wife of Charles E. Marston; and Edward Oliver. The last named graduated from Colby University in 1877. For a number of years he was editor and proprietor of the Great Falls Free Press and Journal.

David Hanson Buffum was born in North Berwick, Me., November 10, 1820. He was a son of Timothy and Ann ( Austin) Buffum. His father died when the son was six years old. He was brought up by his uncle. He was educated in the common schools and Berwick Academy, and taught district schools in the winter. He began his business career as clerk in a store at Great Falls (Somersworth) in 1839, at a salary of eight dollars a month. He began when he was nineteen and worked two years as clerk. When he was twenty-one he became a partner in the concern and worked two years more. He then sold out, in 1843, and built a brick block with three stores in it, one of which he occupied himself for the sale of general merchandise. December 5, 1846, he was chosen cashier of the Great Falls State Bank and gave up storekeeping to attend to banking. He was cashier until April 20, 1863. In August, 1867, he was elected treasurer of the Somersworth Savings Bank and held the office ten years. In 1857 Mr.

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History of Strafford County, New Hampshire and representative citizens, Part 25

Author: Scales, John, 1835-1928 Publication date: 1914 Publisher: Chicago : Richmond-Arnold Number of Pages: 988

Author: Scales, John, 1835-1928
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Chicago : Richmond-Arnold
Number of Pages: 988