USA > New Hampshire > Sullivan County > Claremont > History of the town of Claremont, New Hampshire, for a period of one hundred and thirty years from 1764 to 1894 > Part 31
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In September, 1833, during Andrew Jackson's second term as president of the United States, the government deposits, amount- ing to more than ten millions of dollars, were removed from the National Bank in Philadelphia and distributed amongst certain state banks, called " pet banks." This had the effect to make the issues of paper money by these banks very plentiful, and loans ob- tainable on easy terms, which seemed to stimulate speculation in every kind of commodity and real estate all over the country. The people of Claremont caught the prevailing fever. Some of them saw in the splendid water-power of Sugar river the source of great wealth, and visions of a big town or city in the immediate future distracted them - in short, they lost their heads. In view of the brilliant prospects water-privileges were bought; farms within a mile of the center were purchased at what a few months before would have been thought fabulous prices, laid out into building lots, and put into the market, passed from one to another in rapid succession, each making a handsome profit, and specula- tion was indeed lively.
A company was formed, built a large carriage factory at the north end of the upper bridge, and carried on an extensive busi- ness for a few years, with apparent success, but finally, for some cause, failed, and those who had invested one hundred dollars in the stock had to pay six hundred dollars to clear themselves from their liabilities. Another company built the upper Monadnock mill, not knowing what it was to be used for. It stood unoccupied for many years, and was then sold to its present owners at a large discount from its original cost. Simeon Ide, in a small pamphlet,
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entitled " The Industries of Claremont," says that about 1836 the company expended twenty-five thousand dollars in the purchase of land, water-power, and the erection of the mill building and two boarding and tenement houses, and in 1844 sold the entire prop- erty for three thousand dollars.
In 1835 and 1836, the four large brick houses, with tall pillars in front, on the south side of Central street, were built by Charles L. Putnam, Simeon Ide, Ormon Dutton, and Henry Russell. They were then the finest and most expensive houses within fifty miles. During those two years more than one hundred and fifty buildings, mostly dwelling-houses, were erected in the village. Everybody had plenty of money and seemed to be prospering.
In 1837 the United States Bank suspended specie payments, as did most of the state banks, and the great financial crash of that year immediately followed. Many Claremont men had put into these speculations all the money and credit they could command, and when the bubble burst they could not meet their obligations and thereby ruined themselves and many of their friends and neighbors. Specie was very scarce - not enough in circulation to do business with - and after a while the banks issued fractional bills. Hon. Jacob Collamer, of Vermont, went about in 1840, lec- turing in the Harrison campaign, and speaking of the hard times, said : "Everybody owes everybody and nobody has anything to pay anybody."
WEST CLAREMONT CADETS.
In the fall of 1850 an independent military company was organ- ized at West Claremont, called the West Claremont Cadets. At a meeting of the company, in D. F. Maynard's hall, the following officers were elected : Captain, J. H. Cross; lieutenants, John McConnon, W. G. Kidder, and H. G. P. Cross ; sergeants, Gawen Gilmore, S. A. Higbee, D. M. Keyes, and J. Wilder. There were about seventy members. It had attached to it the Burpee Band, led by Aaron Burpee, which furnished excellent martial music. Mr. Burpee was a famous drummer. This company attended an independent muster at Newport, in a new and showy uniform, and
CENTRAL STREET.
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attracted much notice. On the twentieth of November the ladies of West Claremont presented the company a handsome silk ban- ner, the presentation address being made by Miss Ellen Wetherbee, now the wife of De Witt Thrasher, of Weathersfield, Vt., whose father, Jonathan Wetherbee, was toll-gatherer at Claremont bridge for many years. In the evening the cadets gave a grand military ball in Maynard's hall. The cadets paraded at the county fair, in Claremont village, in 1851. On the Fourth of July, 1853, this company made its last public appearance, at the celebration. They met the Norwich University Cadets at the High Bridge, escorted them, headed by the Windsor Cornet Band, to a breakfast pro- vided by the West Claremont ladies, in Wyllys Redfield's grounds. The two companies then marched to the village, where a juvenile company, commanded by Capt. Fred. A. Briggs, met them at the lower bridge, and all marched up town and took part in the day's celebration.1
VISIT OF GENERAL LAFAYETTE.
In 1824 the congress of the United States passed unanimously a resolution requesting President Monroe to invite Lafayette to visit the United States. He accepted the invitation, but declined the offer of a ship of the line for his conveyance, and with his son, George Washington Lafayette, and secretary, took passage on a packet ship from Havre to New York, where he landed on August 15, 1824. His progress through the country resembled a continu- ous triumphal procession. He visited in succession each of the twenty-four states and all of the principal cities. In December congress voted him a grant of two hundred thousand dollars and a township of land, "in consideration of his important services and expenditures during the American Revolution."
Among the earliest of the arrangements for the laying of the corner stone of Bunker Hill monument, on the seventeenth of June, 1825, was an invitation to General Lafayette to be present. He so timed his progress through the other states as to return to Massachusetts in season for that great occasion, and was addressed
1 This account is given on the authority of C. H. Gilmore, a son of the late Hiramn Gil- more, now living at Cote St. Paul, near Montreal.
,
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by Daniel Webster, in the course of his oration, in feeling and fit- ting terms.
General Lafayette then started on a tour through New Hamp- shire and Vermont. He visited the New Hampshire legislature, then in session at Concord, on the twenty-second of June, soon after which he started for Vermont, by way of Bradford, Newport, and Claremont. He was met at the Newport town line by a com- mittee, cavalcade, and many citizens, Dr. Josiah Richards being chief marshal. Tradition says that when he reached the line of this town, it being quite dark, all formalities were waived, and General Lafayette and his immediate party were conveyed quietly to the Tremont House, where they passed the night of the twenty- seventh of June. The next morning he was met by the Claremont committee and welcomed to the town, Dr. Leonard Jarvis deliver- ing a short address. Dr. Jarvis then conveyed the general to Windsor, Vt., in an unique foreign-made willow carriage, now in possession of Dr. Jarvis's grandson, in a good state of preservation.
On September 7, 1825, General Lafayette sailed from Washing- ton in a frigate named in compliment to him, the Brandywine. On his arrival in Havre the people assembled to make a demon- stration in his honor, but were dispersed by the police.
UNUSUAL SEASONS.
The winter of 1779-80 was an unusually severe one all over New England. On the nineteenth of October snow fell to the depth of two feet and did not disappear until late in the following spring. Many cattle died of starvation. A day of fasting and prayer was held on account of the sad prospects.
May 19, 1780, the "dark day" occurred, which added to the gloom of the desolate winter just passed.
THE COLD SEASON.
The season of 1816 is recorded and spoken of as the cold sum- mer. In this section it is said that there was frost every month in the year. Rev. Ebenezer Price, in his Chronological History of
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Boscawen, says that " on the sixth of June, the day of the general election, snow fell several inches deep, followed by a cold and frosty night, and the following day snow fell and frost continued. July 9th, a deep and deadly frost killed or palsied most vegetables. The little corn which had the appearance of maturity was desti- tute of its natural taste and sustenance. But the providence of God was bountiful in supplying the article of bread from the crops of rye, which were uncommonly good." The crops raised the year before had been almost entirely consumed and the means of transportation were very limited, so that provisions could not be brought from distant parts, while money was so scarce that but few could pay for them, and a famine seemed imminent. The people depended upon what could be got from the soil for their support. It was only by those who had the necessaries of life di- viding with those who had not, that extreme suffering by man and beast was prevented during that period of short crops. The season of 1817 was a favorable one, and crops of all kinds were abundant.
ARMY WORM.
In 1770, according to E. D. Sanborn's History of New Hamp- shire, the Connecticut river valley, from Northfield, Mass., to Lan- caster, N. H., was visited by a species of army worm, which destroyed most of the crops and reduced the people nearly to starva- tion. In their maturity the worms were as long as a man's finger and as large in circumference. The body was brown, with a velvet stripe upon the back, and a yellow stripe on each side. They were the most loathsome and greedy invaders that ever polluted the earth. They marched from north or northeast and passed to the east and south. They covered the entire ground, so that not a finger's breadth was left between them. In their march they crawled over houses and barns, covering every inch of the boards and shingles. Every stalk of corn and wheat was doomed by them. The inhabitants dug trenches, but they soon filled them to the surface and the remaining army marched over their prostrate companions. They continued their devastations more than a
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month; then suddenly disappeared, no one knew how or where. Eleven years later a second visitation of the same worm was made, but they were then few in number. Potatoes and vines were not eaten by them. Pumpkins were abundant and very useful in sus- taining the lives of men and animals during the autumn. The atmosphere was also black with flocks of pigeons, which were caught in immense numbers, and their meat dried for winter use.
FLOOD.
In 1771 a great freshet occurred in Coös and Grafton counties, and the rich Connecticut river meadows were not only submerged by water, but in some places buried two or three feet with sand. Thus the inhabitants lost their crops for that year, and the use of their fertile lands for several years after. Cattle, sheep, swine, and horses were swept away, and in some instances families were caught in their dwellings by the tide, and were saved with great difficulty by boats. Severe suffering followed this sudden flood, the greatest, perhaps, known on the Connecticut river.
CARNIVAL OF COASTING.
One of the notable seasons was the spring of 1862. Early in April the snow in the vicinity of Claremont was fully three feet deep on a level. Upon the top of it a crust was formed by fine sleet and rain, followed by a freeze, perfectly smooth, and so hard and firm that heavy teams could go all over the lots without com- ing in contact with fences or tree stumps. The people of the town - young, middle aged, and old - left their usual occupations and enjoyed a rare carnival of sleighing and coasting on this crust. The grounds known as Sullivan Park -now Fair View - and north of it the powder-house lot, west of Mulberry street, for days and evenings were thronged with boys, girls, and frisky older people, with hand-sleds, enthusiastically coasting down the knolls into the valleys, and spectators in sleighs and on foot, witnessing the sport. On the thirteenth a warm spell came on, the snow melted under the influence of an April sun, soon disappeared, and the season was not more backward than usual.
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By the town records it appears that at the annual meeting in 1811, it was "Voted that the inhabitants be allowed to wear their hats in the meeting."
In 1823, " Voted that the Rev. Mr. Nye be requested to make a prayer." The record is, " That rev. Gentleman not being present, proceeded to vote for Town Clerk, and George Fiske was chosen, the oath of office was administered to s'd Clerk by J. H. Sumner. The rev. Mr. Nye having come in - offered up Prayer - & then the meeting proceeded to ballot for Selectmen."
In 1833 it was " Voted that horses, cattle, sheep and swine shall not run at large in the town of Claremont the ensuing year; and that the penalty for each and every offense be one dollar."
LARGE ELM TREE.
A short distance from the house, on the old Hitchcock farm, now owned by Daniel N. Bowker, on Red Water brook, stands the largest elm tree in town. It was planted by John Hitchcock, more than a hundred years ago, is still growing, sound, and healthy. A few feet from the ground it is nineteen feet in circumference, very tall, of graceful shape, and its branches cover an area of fully one hundred feet in diameter. Mr. Hitchcock's children watched its growth with much interest as long as they lived, and his grand- children pay frequent visits to it.
FIRST MUSTER.
The first muster of the militia in Claremont of which there is any known account, occurred October 9, 1806. According to the late Amos Hitchcock and Nahum Wilson, there was no place where a regiment could be paraded, and after the day for the muster was appointed the men cleared one from the town house to near the Prentis Dow residence, on Broad street. A snow storm interfered with the parade.
In the Claremont Spectator of March 5, 1824, is the follow-
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ing: " Married, in this town, on Wednesday morning last, by J. H. Sumner, Esq., Mr. Josiah Jones to Mrs. Rebekah Picket, aged about 60 years each.
" Who'd think Cupid strong enough To pierce two hearts so old and tough ? - Communicated."
BIOGRAPHICAL.
CHAPTER XXX.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
DR. TRUMAN ABELL,
Son of Phinehas Abell, was born at Lempster, February 16, 1779, and died there, May 19, 1853. He studied medicine with Dr. Na- than Merrill, of Lempster, passed an examination and was licensed to practice by a board of the New Hampshire State Medical So- ciety, soon after which, probably about 1806, he came to Clare- mont, where he remained but a short time, and then returned to Lempster, to fill the place of Dr. Merrill, who had died. Dr. Abell continued in practice - most of the time being the only physician in that town - until his death. He devoted much time to the study of astronomy, mathematics, and botany, and was au- thority upon these subjects. He was the author of " Abell's New England Farmers' Almanac," which was the popular almanac in New England. He published it annually for more than fifty years ; the last part of the time, having lost his eyesight, he was assisted by his son, Truman W.
THE AINSWORTHS.
The Ainsworths of Claremont are direct descendants of Edward Ainsworth, born in England in 1652. He was a seafaring man and came to America prior to 1687. His grandson, Edward, born at Woodstock, Conn., November 21, 1729, settled in Richmond, Cheshire county, where for a time he combined the practice of medicine and farming, and in 1765 removed to Claremont and de- voted himself to agriculture. He was the father of ten children - seven sons and three daughters. His son, Walter, had six sons,
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viz .: Harry, who died at Northfield, Vt., about 1858; Ralph, father of Charles H., of this town, and James E., living in the West; he died some years ago; Laban, father of George J. and Ralph, of this town, died May 19, 1881; Elijah, who died in Hart- land, Vt., about 1780; Edwin, who died here November 11, 1868 ; and Edward, twin of Edwin, father of Oliver, living in Michi- gan, William E, and Walter H., of this town, died July 1, 1892.
Ralph Ainsworth, senior, was selectman in 1838, 1841, and 1842 ; Laban was selectman in 1868 and 1869 ; Edwin was postmaster from April 9, 1849, to May 5, 1853; Edward was selectman in 1855 and 1856, and representative in 1866 and 1867; Charles H., son of Ralph, senior, was selectman in 1872 and 1873, and representative from 1883 to 1885.
THE ALDEN FAMILY.
John, James, and Benjamin Alden, sons of John and Hannah (Kingman) Alden, were born in Bridgewater, Mass. They were lineal descendants of John Alden and Priscilla Moline, his wife, who came from England in the Mayflower and landed at Plymouth in 1620. They came to Claremont in 1772, and became joint owners of a tract of twelve hundred acres of land in the southeast part of the town, which was subsequently divided up among their descend- ants. James was one of the selectmen in 1782. From these three brothers sprang numerous families, scattered all over the country, bearing their name.
LEVI ALDEN,
The oldest son of John, came to Claremont with his father. He was a man of considerable activity and extensive business. Be- sides the care of his farm he operated a brickyard, which turned out many of the bricks used in buildings erected in his time in town, manufactured earthen ware, and carried on blacksmithing He married Bedina, second daughter of Thomas Warner, a Revo- lutionary soldier. Among their children were Louisa M., Thomas W., Levi, and Lucinda C.
LOUISA M. ALDEN
Married Jacob R. Peterson, and was left a widow with two young
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children. Before her marriage she had taught school in her own and other districts in town. She was largely dependent upon her own exertions for support, and having received a good education, opened a private school in Claremont, which was very popular, and well patronized for many years. In 1855 she removed to Janesville, Wis., and there established a select school, which was quite successful, and continued it until near the time of her death, November 6, 1881, at the age of eighty-one years. Of her chil- dren, James died in Janesville, and Mary Louisa is assistant post- master in that city.
THOMAS W. ALDEN,
Son of Levi, was born January 2, 1807, and died January 14, 1892. He married Huldah Blodgett, who died April 29, 1892, at the age of eighty-five years. He was a thrifty farmer in the southeast part of the town, and a respected citizen for many years. They left children - Carrie and John, of this town, and Sarah, wife of Charles Hurd, of Wapella, Ill.
LEVI ALDEN,
Son of Levi, was born in Claremont, July 24, 1815, and died at Madison, Wis., November 23, 1893. He was educated at Unity Academy and Union College, Schenectady, N. Y. He taught at academies in New York state and Wisconsin. In 1845 he settled in Janesville, Wis., where he soon began the publication of the Janesville Gazette, of which he was proprietor for a number of years. He was several times elected representative in the Wiscon- sin legislature; was clerk of the circuit court of Rock county from 1858 to 1867; removed to Madison, the state capital, and was elected superintendent and auditor of public printing, which posi- tion he held for many years, and was associate editor of the Wisconsin State Journal. He married Sarah Ann Leach, of Fleming, N. Y., who died at Madison, January 23, 1873, leaving children - Mary E., wife of George Judkins, of Claremont, whose son, Levi Alden, is observer in the United States weather bureau, Boston; Frances B., wife of Frank C. Cook, of Janesville ; Louisa
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J., wife of Dr. T. W. Evans, who died April 23, 1887; Sarah Lo- vinia, wife of Dr. Henry S. Hall, of Hyattsville, near Washington, D. C .; and Hattie L., who resides at Washington, D. C. June 19, 1879, Mr. Alden married for his second wife Mary A. P. Dean, who survives him, and resides at Madison.
LUCINDA C. ALDEN
Married Horace Baker, of Claremont, who died May 13, 1893, at the age of eighty-five years. They have surviving children - George H., who resides at West Newton, Mass .; Horace Albert, of New York city ; and Alfred, of Janesville, Wis. Mr. Baker was for many years janitor of the Congregational church and a blame- less man.
EZRA B. ALDEN,
Son of Adam, and grandson of Benjamin Alden, died in 1874. His wife, Mary B. Alden, who died in 1869, in her lifetime founded the Alden Literary Prize Fund, of the Stevens High School, giving to it her entire estate, after the death of her husband, which amounted to about three thousand dollars.
DR. ARTHUR N. ALLEN,
Son of John D. Allen, was born in Rutland, Vt., August 6, 1868. He graduated at Hahnemann Medical College, Philadelphia, Pa., in April, 1892, and commenced the practice of his profession in the following October.
W. H. H. ALLEN,
Son of Joseph Allen, was born in Winhall, Bennington county, Vt., December 10, 1829, and died in hospital in New York city, April 26, 1893, when on the return to his home in Claremont from Florida, where he went in the hope of improving his health. He was of Puritan stock - a direct descendant from Samuel Allen, who came from Braintree, Essex county, England, and settled in Cambridge, Mass., in 1632. Ethan Allen, of Revolutionary fame, was the fifth in the line of descent from Samuel, through his sec-
W. H. H. ALLEN.
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ond son, and Judge Allen was the eighth, through his third son. In 1844, after living in different places in Vermont, the last being Hartland, his father returned with his family to Surry, the place of his birth. Judge Allen lived at home, working on farms and at- tending public schools a few months each year, until he was fifteen years old. After that he attended the academies at West Brat- tleboro' and Saxton's River, Vt., and Keene, and taught school occasionally. For eighteen months he was under the tutelage of Joseph Perry, of Keene, an accomplished scholar and veteran teacher, by whose instruction he completed his preparation for ad- mission to college. He entered Dartmouth College in 1851, and graduated second in his class in 1855 - Walbridge A. Field, chief justice of the supreme court of Massachusetts, being the first. The late William S. Ladd, of Lancaster, ex-judge of the supreme court of New Hampshire, ex-Gov. Nelson Dingley, of Lewiston, Me., Charles A. Tenney, who died in 1856, and Sidney S. Harris, who died in New York city in 1892, both of Claremont, were of the same class. Following his graduation, Judge Allen was princi- pal of a high school at Hopkinton, Mass., and superintendent of schools at Perrysburg, O. He read law in the offices of Wheeler & Faulkner and F. F. Lane, Keene, and Burke & Wait, Newport, and was admitted to the bar at the September term of the court for Sullivan county in 1858. In November, of the same year, Thomas W. Gilmore resigned the clerkship of the courts for Sulli- van county and Mr. Allen was appointed to the position and took up his residence at Newport. He continued in this office, trying referee cases and doing much other business now done by the judges, until 1863, when he was appointed paymaster in the army, which place he held until December, 1865. He then returned to Newport, opened an office, and commenced the practice of his pro- fession, and continued it there and in Claremont, to which place he removed in 1868, until 1876, when he was appointed associate judge of the supreme court of New Hampshire, which place he resigned in March, 1893, on account of failing health. He was judge of probate for Sullivan county from January, 1867, to July, 1874,
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and register in bankruptcy when the bankrupt law of 1867 went into effect, and held that office until he was called to the supreme court bench. Judge Allen was a man of varied attainments, a pro- found scholar, and had the reputation of being an upright judge.
SAMUEL ASHLEY,
One of the grantees of Claremont, son of Daniel Ashley, was born in Deerfield, Mass., March 20, 1720, and came with his father to Winchester, when quite a young man. He was chosen selectman of Winchester in 1755, and several subsequent years, and was representative in the provincial congress in 1775 and 1776. He had grants of land by Governor Benning Wentworth in several towns on each side of Connecticut river in New Hamp- shire and Vermont. He was a justice of the peace, and one of three persons in Cheshire county authorized to record deeds. In 1775 he was appointed one of the Committee of Safety for the state; was a member of the executive council from 1776 to 1780; mustering officer, superintended the enlistment and organization of many of the troops raised in the westerly part of New Hamp- shire during the Revolutionary war, and was commissioned colonel of a regiment. He was a volunteer on the staff of General John Stark, and with him in the battle of Bennington, on the sixteenth of August, 1777. Mr. Ashley removed from Winchester to Clare- mont, about 1782, his sons, Oliver and Samuel, Jr., having pre- ceded him. He died in Claremont, was buried in the cemetery in the west part of the town, and his tombstone bears the following inscription :
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