USA > New Hampshire > Strafford County > History of Strafford County, New Hampshire and representative citizens > Part 38
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the family that the land was given as a reward for Major Hale's service to the Crown at Louisburg. As a matter of fact in the next century his grand- son and great-grand-son went to Conway and made that their home the rest of their lives.
Major Hale represented Portsmouth in the Legislature for several years, and in his later years was judge of the court of common pleas for Rock- ingham county.
Judge Samuel Hale was educated in his father's school at Portsmouth ; after completing his school studies his father sent him to Dover to learn the business of tanner and currier with Mr. Kelley, who had a large tannery in the section of the town called Littleworth, in the neighborhood of the springs that bear the name "Kelley Springs." Having mastered that business, soon after 1780 he commenced to operate one of the tracts of land his father had purchased several years before, and the present Judge Hale house on the Province Road was built about 1784 by the assistance of Major Hale, except an addition that was put on by Judge Hale in the next century, when it was supposed his son Samuel would make Barrington his permanent residence. Of course the lumber business first occupied his time and attention; but soon he opened a store, which he erected near his house, where he carried on general trade with all the townspeople, and his own employees, of whom he always had a big crew on hand. Soon his brother William came up from Portsmouth, a young man of twenty years, and became his assistant and finally his partner in the store business. The writer of this has one of their day books of 1784 which is interesting historical reading, but cannot be quoted here. Major Hale also gave to his son William 300 acres, part of the original purchase, which has come down to his descendants, intact, to the present time. Besides having a store Judge Hale had a tannery in the field at the south side of the barn where the road now runs, making use of the water of Midnight Brook which runs there from its source at the foot of "Mount Misery," which is west of the house and not far from it.
William Hale, the younger son of Major Hale, remained in Barrington with brother Samuel until about 1797; he was united in marriage with Lydia Rollins, April 30, 1794, and their first two children were born in the Judge Hale house, Thomas Wright, Feb. 9, 1795, and John, born Dec. 24, 1796. Their next child, Mary Ann, was born in Dover, Nov. II, 1798, so it appears he had removed to Dover at some date between December, 1796, and Novem- ber, 1798. But his removal to Dover did not dissolve the partnership; it remained intact until Judge Hale's death in 1828. The firm name was "Sam- uel & William Hale," and they conducted an immense business for that period in New Hampshire history. They erected a big store on the east side of the
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Cochecho river at the south corner of the Washington street bridge, up to which they could bring their goods in boats from Portsmouth and unload them direct into the lower story of the store. That store was continued by his son, the late William Hale, until purchased by the Cocheco Manufac- turing Company and the space used for the present No. 1 mill.
After William removed to Dover, Samuel discontinued the store business in Barrington and substituted shipbuilding, having his yard on the gravelly knoll at the southeast of the barn, in recent years cut away by the new road from Province to Canaan road, so called. Judge Hale had plenty of ship timber right at hand, and good ship carpenters a-plenty. In that yard the ships were framed and fitted together; then taken apart and hauled to Dover Landing where the frame work was put together and properly covered and finished, ready for sea voyages. In all these ventures the Hale Brothers were successful, being careful, shrewd and energetic managers, and for years they increased their wealth "hand-over-fist," each having a handsome prop- erty; Samuel died in 1828, William in 1848.
Judge Hale married first, in 1791, Mary Rollins. They had one son, Samuel, born in Barrington, April 30, 1793; he graduated from Bowdoin College in 1814, receiving the degree of A. B., also Harvard College con- ferred the degree upon him in 1818. For three or four years after graduation he remained at Barrington with his father, and an addition was made to the house at the northwest corner, for his special use. During the time he was in business with his father there, shipbuilding and in other ways, he was elected Representative in the Legislature, for two terms. But he soon after went to Portsmouth to supervise the mercantile business of his father and uncle which had branched out. At this time they had become extensive owners of wharf property in Boston-Long Wharf, as it was called, in particular. Later, in 1843, Mr. Hale became the agent of the Manufacturing Company at South Berwick, which position he held until his death in Rollinsford, Dec. 19, 1869. He was a tall, large, fine-appearing man like his father and grandfather, and a man of great business capacity.
Judge Hale first appears in public affairs as one of the Selectmen of Barrington in 1789, when he was thirty-one years old; from that date on, for thirty years he had more or less to do with public affairs, and being popular with his townsmen he could have anything for the asking whenever he asked for it and his business might permit him to accept. So he was Representative to the General Court; State Senator; twice a Presidential Elector; he held various military positions and in the war of 1812-1815 he was major-general of the Second Division of New Hampshire Militia. From 1813 to 1816
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he was judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the Eastern Circuit of New Hampshire.
Thomas Wright Hale, one of the three brothers, was settled by his father, the major, on a farm adjoining that of Judge Hale; his house was on the Canaan road, about a mile from Judge Hale's house, and the pathway be- tween them was through a grove of white oak trees, the finest the writer's eyes ever looked upon. These trees were cut down in 1862 and hauled to Portsmouth Navy Yard and converted into ships that helped capture south- ern ports and finally subdue the great rebellion. Mr. Hale devoted his energies to good farming, and took a hand in political affairs at March town meetings for many years. For twelve years he was Representative to the General Court; but Mr. Hale's specialty was to serve as Moderator in town meetings, and his fellow citizens elected him to that office a great many times ; having a commanding presence and a still more commanding voice, he could rule the most stormy meetings and make himself heard above the most turbulent noise. His son, William Hale, who was born in 1791 and inherited the homestead, was equally famous as Moderator in town meetings. His eldest son, Thomas Wright Hale, who was born in 1826, and died in 1910, was equally distinguished in this official business as his father and grandfather. For a hundred years the Hale family was one of the most noted in Barrington. For fifty years after his death in 1828, old residents in Barrington delighted to recall reminiscences of Judge Hale, what he said and what he did.
Among the men who were born in Barrington in the nineteenth century and won fame elsewhere are Col. John W: Kingman; a graduate of Harvard College ; a student-at-law with Daniel M. Christie; and a son-in-law and law partner of the same. He won distinction in the Civil war as colonel of the Fifteenth New Hampshire Regiment. After the war he settled in Wyom- ing and won distinction as an attorney and judge. His son, Daniel Christie Kingman, is an officer of high rank in the regular army.
Prof. Sylvester Waterhouse who graduated from Harvard College in 1852, won nation-wide distinction; for a half-century he was professor of Greek in Washington University, St. Louis, Mo., being one of the best Greek scholars in the country. But outside of that delivered important scientific lectures which greatly aided in the development of various industries in the Northwest.
Frank Jones won national and international fame as founder of the Frank Jones Brewery at Portsmouth. He was mayor of Portsmouth several terms and member of Congress two terms, president of the Boston & Maine Railroad for several years, and the promoter of many corporations which
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have been of wide benefit to the business interests of New Hampshire and other states. He was the founder of the great Wentworth Hotel at New- castle, and probably did more for Portsmouth than any one man in the nineteenth century.
The brothers Judge Jacob D. Young, Col. Andrew H. Young and Aaron Young, all born in Barrington, were men of marked ability, and were pleasant men to meet. Judge Young won fame as an able and just judge of Probate Court, which office he held for many years. Col. A. H. Young held important positions in the army during the Civil war, and after the war was collector of internal revenue for several years. During the closing years of his life he was a colonel in the regular army. The younger brother, Aaron, held various official positions under the Government for many years. Probably Barrington never produced three brothers who were their equal in successful political management.
Charles A. Foss, who was born in Barrington in 1814, and resided all his lifetime on the ancient Foss homestead in the neighborhood of Locke's Mills, was a good citizen in every way, and a good farmer; he did not neglect the political interests of the town, nor of his party. He was one of the delegates from his town that brought the Republican party into working shape in New Hampshire, and he remained its staunch supporter to the end of life. He was elected to the Legislature for 1855-56, and in 1875-76 he was elected one of Governor Cheeney's Council. For many years he served as Moderator in town meetings, in which he won fame second only to the Hale family. Mr. Foss was tall of stature and well-proportioned, with a voice that commanded attention from afar. He always enjoyed the confidence and respect of his fellow-citizens.
Rev. Joseph Boody, Free Baptist, son of Zachariah Boody, was born in Barrington, May 16, 1752. Began to preach in 1780, and was ordained at North Strafford, Aug. 22, 1785, and was pastor of the church there until 1813. During the time he did missionary work in Vermont and Canada, and organized Free Baptist churches there. He frequently preached in Barnstead and other towns around. His home was on a farm in Strafford. where he died Jan. 17, 1824.
Rev. Hezekiah D. Brock, M. D., Free Baptist, was born in Barrington in 1821. He was converted to the Free Will Baptist belief and commenced preaching when he was twenty years old; at Raymond he supplied the church two years; later he was ordained at Kannebunk and was minister there three years. He left the ministry in 1847 on account of lung trouble and studied medicine, receiving the degree of M. D. He died in Dover, N. H., Dec. 30, 1851.
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Rev. Aaron Bussell, Free Baptist, was born in Barrington in 1764. He was a farmer until he became converted to the Free Will Baptist belief, and commenced preaching when he was twenty-seven years old and was an itin- erant preacher, traveling from town to town in New Hampshire and Maine with his brother Rev. John Buzzell, seven years preceding 1808. He was ordained at New Durham, the birth-place of the Free Will Baptist Church, Oct. 18, 1798. His life work was that of an itinerant preacher. His home in later years was Strafford, Vt., where he died Oct. 21, 1854. He was great at "revivals" and the record says "preached with power."
Rev. John Buszell, Free Baptist, was born in Barrington in 1766. He was a farmer and school master until he was twenty-four years old; at that age, in 1790, he was teaching school at New Durham-hearing Elder Benja- min Randall preach, he became a devout Free Will Baptist, and preached his first sermon in April, 1791, in Middleton, and was so successful and satisfac- tory to Elder Randall that he was ordained Oct. 25, 1792. He had a powerful voice and a graceful and persuasive style of speaking, and could argue a theological question to the finish. He was not a permanent minister long in any one church, but his work was an itinerant who was expert in organizing Free Will Baptist societies in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. He was largely instrumental in establishing the Parsonfield (Me.) Seminary. He was the first man who established an interchange of courtesies with the Baptists in England. He began publishing Free Will Baptist doctrine in 1811, after preaching it twenty years. In 1826 he was one of the founders of the Morning Star, the Free Will Baptist paper, which became a power for good, and for many years was published in Dover, N. H. The paper ceased to exist as a Morning Star in 1910, and became merged with the great Baptist paper, The Watchman. William Burr was the first editor and publisher. Elder Buzzell was one of the assistant editors for a quarter of a century. He died in Parsonsfield, Me., March 29, 1863, having reached very near to the century mark in his life journey. He deserved to be a D. D. Elder Buzzell was one of Barrington's most worthy productions.
Rev. Nathaniel Critchett, Methodist, was born in Barrington, Oct. 29, 1821. He was a farmer and business man until he was thirty years of age, but had been active in Sunday school work ten years. About 1850 he began preaching occasionally at places in Maine, and was admitted to the Maine General Conference "on trial" as a preacher in 1861; ordained deacon in 1864; and elder by Bishop Ames at Lewiston, Me., May 13, 1866. Following that he held several two-year pastorates in Maine, then removed to Illinois, where he was a successful pastor until he retired in 1880. He died at Cheming, Ill., May 12, 1890.
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Ephraim Holmes Hart, Free Baptist, son of Nathaniel M. and Betsey (Connel) Hart, was born in Barrington, in the Captain Hunking garrison, June II, 1809. He was educated in the common schools and Strafford (now Austin-Cate) Academy, and was an instructor in the academy for a time. He was licensed to preach by the church in Strafford May 3, 1838, and was ordained Dec. 23, 1840, at Brownfield, Me. He served as pastor in various churches in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts until 1873. His last pastorate was at Alton. He died in Lynn, Mass., Jan. 4, 1877.
Rev. Alonzo Hayes, Congregationalist, son of John Wingate and Mary (Hale) Hayes, was born in Barrington (at Green Hill), Aug. 22, 1810. Graduated from Dartmouth College in 1839. Teacher in Washington, D. C., 1839-1840. Graduated from Andover Theological Seminary, 1842; ordained pastor of Congregational Church at West Burnstable, Mass., May 24, 1843, and remained seven years. He held other pastorates, and died July 15, 1858, at Hall's Cross Roads, Alexandria, Va.
Rev. (and Major ) William Neal Meserve was born in Barrington, April 9, 1840. Previous to the Civil war he was engaged in business in Boston. Near the beginning of the war he joined one of the Massachusetts regiments as captain ; for gallant service he was discharged at the end of the war, Major Meserve. In 1870 he received a strong religious impression, which he could not throw off, that he must become a minister; he studied for the ministry, was graduated at the Theological Institute of Connecticut in 1874. He was licensed to preach by the New London (Conn.) Association, April 8, 1873. Ordained an evangelist at Santa Cruz, Cal., Oct. 8, 1873. His services have been confined largely to places in California and Colorado. He is still engaged in the evangelistic work for the Congregationalists.
Rev. (Elder) Samuel Sherburn, Free Baptist, son of Gideon Sherburn, was born in Barrington, Oct. 23, 1803, and always resided there, having inherited a valuable farm of 200 acres, but he was impressed to preach the Gospel from the Free Will Baptist point of view. He was a good scholar, good schoolmaster and interesting speaker. For thirty consecutive years he was teacher in winter district schools. His services were always in demand. He began to preach when he was nineteen years old; Sept. 2, 1830, he was ordained and installed as pastor of the Free Will Baptist Church at South Barrington, and held the pastorate thirty years, preaching his last sermon Aug. 4, 1861 ; he died four days later, Aug. 8, 1861. Elder Sherburne was superintendent of schools in Barrington several years, and commissioner of schools for Strafford county. He represented Barrington in the Legislature in 1842. It remains to be said that Elder Sherburne did not improve the ancestral farm. There is a tradition that he did not enjoy farm work.
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Rev. Cyrus Foss was born in Barrington in 1799. He went to Dover, New York, before he was of age, and became a teacher in Beekman, N. Y. He was licensed to preach when he was twenty-five years old, and was a circuit rider in the Goshen (N. Y.) district. Admitted to the New York conference in 1825; ordained deacon in 1827; elder in 1829. All of his appointments were in New York State beginning at Stamford in 1825. He was placed on the superannuated list in 1847, and died at Carmel, N. Y., Feb. 28, 1849.
Mr. Foss has a good record as minister, but his great fame rests in having a son, Cyrus David Foss, who was born at Kingston, N. Y., Jan. 17, 1834, and became one of the most distinguished bishops in the Methodist Episcopal church; perhaps that church never had a greater man for bishop. His brother, William Jerry Foss, was also a Methodist Episcopal minister of note.
Barrington has certainly been the birth-place of many noble sons. As itinerant ministers the Buzzell brothers, Aaron and John, must be ranked as the greatest leaders in the evangelistic work done by natives of Barrington. They worked together many seasons. When it was announced that they were to hold meetings in a village the meeting-house would be packed at the beginning; there would be something doing without delay. They always had full meetings as long as they stayed. They did a much-needed work; and they did it well.
LOCALITIES
Barrington has various names for localities within its boundary. The Two-Mile Streak has already been explained. Green Hill is the highest ele- vation of land in the town; it contains excellent farming land and the views from its summit are very fine, extending miles in all directions. Mount Misery, on the west side of the Judge Hale mansion, is remarkable in that, on the east side, for half a mile, it is a ledge almost perpendicular, presenting a very rugged appearance; the Province road passes over its northern end, at a steep grade; the summit is quite level for a considerable space then slopes off gently to Nippo pond, a beautiful body of water on the border line between Barrington and Strafford. Waldron's Hill is the eastern companion of Mount Misery, its southernmost summit-being called, in old times, Brown's hill. The farms on it are excellent. It took its name from Col. Isaac Waldron and his family, who at one time were extensive owners. The Province road passes over this hill. This road took its name from the fact in Gov. John Wentworth's time, before the Revolution, the Provincial Assembly
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voted money to help build it from Durham to Barnstead, to encourage settle- inent in Barnstead and beyond.
In the beginning of settlements in the town the settlers gave fancy names to localities in order to inform their friends out of town in what section they resided. Along the southwestern border is Ireland. France, Canaan, Bum- fagin, Wild Cat road. In the center is Hard Scrabble, Mellago, Smoke street ; Ayers pond, Long pond and Round pond are in the northwest sec- tion. Stone House pond is also a noted locality, taking its name from the high ledge and cavern under it.
A noted locality at the closing years of the eighteenth and the first half of the nineteenth century was known as Leathers City. It disappeared from the map many years ago. The immigrant Leathers family settled at Oyster river as early as 1677, and were very respectable people, except for one family which settled in Barrington a century later who by some bad intermarriages and too much use of rum produced the historic Barrington tribe whose spe- cialty was the manufacture of various kinds of baskets, which they carried to market in large hayracks, and took their wives and children with them as they journeyed through the villages and cities in Massachusetts. Some of the old women made a specialty of telling fortunes to such as wished to know the future before they arrived there.
The story was prevalent in the middle of the nineteenth century that they were of gypsy origin. It was said that a gentleman emigrated from England to Portsmouth, N. H., about 1750, and brought with him several European gypsies and endeavored to train them as household servants. He failed in the attempt and the gypsies left Portsmouth and settled on some rough land in Barrington. And from them sprang the basket makers of the nineteenth century, having a village of a few houses on a lonesome road that led north from the so-called Wild Cat road. The late Dr. A. H. Quint studied that question carefully, and in an article published in the Dover (N. H.) Enquirer, showed conclusively that the Barrington Leathers family were from Eben- ezer and Benjamin who went there after 1771. One of these had six dis- tinguished sons, who married as follows: Ebenezer Leathers and Eleanor Morse, March 25, 1777. Benjamin Leathers and Sarah Place, Oct. 8. 1789. Thomas Leathers and Lydia Surgeant of Northfield, July 1, 1795. Edward Leathers and Anna Leathers, Oct. 25, 1798. Jonathan Leathers and Betty Giles, March 23, 1801. William Leathers and Thankful Arnold, Sept. 12, 1802. Valentine Leathers and Sarah Starbord, Sept. 10, 1803. Daniel Whitehouse and Polly Leathers, March 24, 1803. Ebenezer Leathers and Huldah Sawyer, May 14, 1804. These and their children are the persons
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who gave Barrington this fame afar. They made first rate baskets and spread their fame in their travels to sell the products of their labor.
Ebenezer, who married May 14, 1804, Huldah Sawyer, was unfortunately implicated with his son Ebenezer and brother Robert Leathers in an affray in front of their own house, June 25, 1847, which resulted in the death of Ebenezer's brother Steven. For this at a trial Jan. 22, 1848, the three were convicted of manslaughter, and sentenced, each, to three days solitary confine- ment, and Ebenezer, Sr., to ten years in state prison, and Ebenezer, Jr., and Robert, each to twenty years. The old man was soon pardoned out, Eben- ezer, Jr., died in prison in January, 1854, aged 45. After this affair all the others in the village made haste to have their names changed, by act of the Legislature, so for many years now there has not been a person in Bar- rington bearing the name of Leathers. And they gave up basket making with the name. Leathers City ceased to exist. Complete records would give most interesting testimony as to the potency of a particular streak of bad blood.
CHAPTER XLV HISTORY OF STRAFFORD (I)
ORIGIN OF THE NAME-ORGANIZATION OF THE TOWN
Strafford was set off from Barrington by an act of the Legislature passed in June, 1820. The old town was twelve miles long by six and a half miles wide. The General Court cut in halves, and called the northern half Straf- ford, from the name of the county, which had been named by Governor Wentworth in honor of the Earl of Strafford in Old England, whose sur- name was Wentworth. So the town is about six miles square, and it is divided into two sections of about equal area, by the Blue Hills, known on the old maps as "Parker's Mountain," because it fell by lot to a Mr. Parker of Portsmouth when Barrington was first distributed among the tax payers of that town about one hundred and ninety years ago. Mr. Parker's lot was not very valuable for farming purposes, but from its summit can be seen some of the most beautiful and grand views that New Hampshire affords : and in turn it is one of the most conspicuous and beautiful landmarks in Southern New Hampshire. From year to year, previous to 1820, there had been a demand for a division of the town of Barrington as the residents in the northern half objected to travelling from six to ten miles to attend town meetings, which were always held in the neighborhood of Cate's Garrison, in the Two-Mile-Streak. This part of the old town did not begin to be settled until the Revolutionary war began, but after the war its land was rapidly occupied.
It is said that since days of the judges in Irsael, when "every man did that which was right in his own eyes;" or since the days of Homer, when in a council of war, any private soldier had a right to rise and express his opinion as well as the general, six square miles of the surface of the earth occupied by civilized man, never exhibited social conditions more completely demo- cratic, freer from distinctions of class or rank than the space occupied by the town of Strafford set forth from the beginning of its settlement. There was absolutely no aristocracy and no proletariat-no man who did not meet his neighbor on equal terms. The owner of a field worked side by side with
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