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 38
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whom, Mrs. C. C. Shattuck, of San Francisco, Cal., survives. In the eighty-fifth year of his age he is in full possession of his mental faculties and straight and active, like a much younger man. When eighty years old he retired from active practice.
REV. JOSIAH SWETT,
Third son of Josiah Swett, Jr., was born on Maple avenue, Claremont, August 4, 1814, and died at Highgate, Vt., January 4, 1890. He was for many years a well-known successful teacher in Claremont and elsewhere; became an Episcopal clergyman and was settled as rector at Bethel and Highgate, Vt., being succeeded at the latter place in the rectorship by his son, the Rev. Paul F. Swett. He had ten children - five sons and five daughters - all of whom, except one daughter, are living.
BENJAMIN SUMNER
Was one of the earliest settlers of the town. He was selectman in 1769 and 1770; town clerk in 1774 and 1775; moderator in 1784 and 1785 ; representative in the New Hampshire legislature in 1784, 1785, 1793, and 1794; and was a civil magistrate for many years. He died here in May, 1815.
DR. WILLIAM SUMNER
Came from Hebron, Conn., to Claremont, in 1768, and was the first practitioner of medicine in town. He was moderator of town meeting in 1769, and a useful and influential citizen. He owned the Cupola farm, and died there March 4, 1778.
JOHN W. TAPPAN,
Son of Rev. John Tappan, was born in Claremont in 1807, and died December 29, 1869. He attended Kimball Union Academy, Meriden ; studied law with his uncle, Weare Tappan, of Brad- ford; was admitted to the bar of Sullivan county, but did not practice his profession. He married Harriet Erskine, who died
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October 3, 1873, at the age of sixty-five years. She left to the town, by will, the most of her estate, which amounted to thirty thousand dollars, the interest of which was to be expended in pay- ing prizes to meritorious scholars in the public schools of the town. Mr. Tappan was for several years president of the Con- necticut River Bank at Charlestown. He built the large brick house on Broad street, now owned by the widow of Prentis Dow, where he died. They had two sons, both of whom died before their parents.
JOSEPH TAYLOR
Was engaged in the Cape Breton War in 1745; in the French and Indian War in 1755, and in the Revolutionary War. While he and a companion by the name of Farwell were hunting in the woods of Maine, near Snow's Falls, on the Little Androscoggin river, in 1755, they were both captured by a party of Indians, taken to Canada, and sold to the French. For a long time he was kept so closely confined that his friends could learn nothing of him. He finally succeeded, after several attempts, in making his escape, wandered through the woods, subsisting upon what he could find, and after an absence of several months - the late Solon C. Grannis said seven years - he reached his home. He was cap- tain in Col. Timothy Bedel's regiment, raised by order of con- gress, in New Hampshire for the expedition against Canada, in 1777, and served in other organizations during the Revolutionary War. He was one of the selectmen of Claremont in 1772 and several succeeding years. In 1777, by a vote of the town, he was excused from serving on the board because he was about to join the army. He married a daughter of Dr. William Sumner, and died in what is known as the John Sumner house, on the Cupola farm. He was buried in the cemetery at Cornish Center. The inscription on his tombstone is : " Capt. Joseph Taylor, died March 17th, 1813, aged 83 years.
" A neighbor once, kind, generous, brave,
Yes reader know this is a heroe's grave."
EDWARD J. TENNEY.
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AMOS J. TENNEY
Went from Rindge to Greenwich, Mass., and from the latter place came to Claremont in 1837, his father, Amos Tenney, coming with him, who died May 17, 1839, at the age of fifty-five years. Amos J. formed a connection with the Claremont Carriage Company and was involved with its complicated affairs until they were closed up in 1843. He was engaged in trade with Samuel P. Fiske under the firm name of Fiske, Tenney & Co., from 1838 to 1845, after which he followed farming and trading in various commodities. He was an active, careful, and thrifty man. He died August 3, 1855, at the age of forty-seven years, leaving a widow, a second wife, and three sons, viz .: Charles A., born at Greenwich, January 23, 1834, graduated at Dartmouth College in the class of 1855, and died August 10, 1856; Edward J., born at Greenwich, December 11, 1836; George P., born in Claremont, February 9, 1838, who for several years held a position in the war department at Washington, D. C., and died there suddenly of heart failure, Sep- tember 12, 1892. He enlisted in the War of the Rebellion, under Capt. W. P. Austin, in April, 1861; was sergeant of Co. H, Sec- ond Regiment, New Hampshire Volunteers; wounded in the hand and mustered out at the end of his three years term of enlistment, June 21, 1864, leaving an honorable record as a soldier.
EDWARD J. TENNEY
Was born December 11, 1836. At the time of the death of his father Mr. Tenney was less than nineteen years old. With a step- mother and older brother, both in feeble health, and a younger brother, the business affairs of his father, with which he was well acquainted, and the settlement of the estate, seemed to rest largely upon him. He assumed the responsibility and managed things with the judgment of one of more mature years. He was a clerk in the general stores of James P. Brewer and Charles M. Bingham until he reached his majority, soon after which he formed a copart- nership with Edwin W. Tolles in the grocery business, under the
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firm name of Tolles & Tenney. Subsequently he was engaged with J. W. Deane, under the firm name of J. W. Deane & Co., in the cigar and tobacco business; with R. W. Farwell, as Far- well & Tenney, and also with Augustus Barrett, as Barrett & Tenney, in shoe manufacturing. Mr. Tenney was director of the Claremont National Bank from 1881 to 1893; is now director of the People's National Bank; director and treasurer of the Sulli- van Park Association; director and manager of the Claremont Bridge Company ; director and treasurer of the Claremont Electric Light Company; director and treasurer of the Claremont Building Association; and on the committee for the building of Hotel Clare- mont. In 1871 and 1872 he was a representative in the New Hampshire legislature, and from 1881 to 1887, by election and ap- pointment he was one of the state railroad commissioners. In the fifteen years preceding 1892, as executor, administrator, trustee, and guardian, he had the care, management, and settlement of many estates - some of them quite large and more or less compli- cated - in all which fiduciary positions he discharged his duties ably and faithfully. In December, 1891, he was appointed judge of probate for Sullivan county, which office he still holds.
GEORGE A. TENNEY,
Born in Claremont February 9, 1864, is the only surviving child of Edward J. Tenney. He was employed in the office of the Boston and Lowell railroad, Boston, two years, when, in 1887, by reason of the ill health of his older brother, who was cashier of a bank in Kansas, he went to fill his place, and remained there engaged in banking in that state and Nebraska until the spring of 1892, when he returned to Claremont and took the position of cashier of the People's National Bank, which he has since held.
GEORGE TICKNOR,
Son of Benjamin and grandson of Elisha Ticknor, of Lebanon, who was a lieutenant in the Revolutionary army, was born in Boston, April 14, 1822. He took a preparatory course at Kimball Union
DR. NATHANIEL TOLLES.
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Academy ; entered Dartmouth College, where he graduated in 1847; studied law with the late Judge George W. Nesmith, of Franklin; was admitted to the bar, opened an office in Claremont in 1852, and continued in practice here about ten years. From 1854 to 1859 he was solicitor for Sullivan county. He was author of the Gazetteer of the State of New Hampshire, which forms a large part of the book entitled "New Hampshire As It Is." In 1862 he removed from Claremont to Marlow, from there to Keene, and was editor of the New Hampshire Sentinel. He died De- cember 25, 1866.
JOHN THOMAS.
John Thomas was among the first settlers of Claremont. He came from Connecticut in 1768 and bought the farm on Red Water brook in the north part of the town, where he died May 24, 1798, at the age of sixty-eight years. His son Zina succeeded to the farm, and after his death Alonzo, son of Zara and grandson of John, went into possession of it. Alonzo Thomas was born August 28, 1807, and died on that farm December 20, 1890. His son, Charles L. W. Thomas, has owned it since the death of his father. It has been in possession of the Thomas family one hundred and twenty- six years. The house, now standing, is one of the oldest frame houses in town.
DR. NATHANIEL TOLLES
Was the fifth and youngest son of John Tolles. He was born at Weathersfield, Vt., September 17, 1805, and died in Claremont, June 24, 1879. When thirteen years old he came to Claremont with his parents. He fitted for college at the school of Rev. Virgil H. Barber, West Claremont, but did not take a college course. He studied medicine with Dr. James Hall, of Windsor, Vt., and Dr. Charles G. Adams, of Keene; attended lectures at Bowdoin and Dartmouth colleges, and received his degree at the latter in November, 1830. He was appointed resident physician at the
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South Boston almshouse, where he remained six months, and then located in Reading, Vt., remained there ten years, and in March, 1842, came to Claremont, where he passed the remainder of his life in an extensive practice of his profession. He was a member of the first board of county commissioners, elected in 1858; presidential elector of New Hampshire in 1860, and member of the New Hamp- shire constitutional convention in 1876.
DR. CLARENCE W. TOLLES,
Son of the late Dr. Nathaniel Tolles, was born in Claremont, April 30, 1845. He studied medicine with his father; graduated at Bellevue Medical College in 1868; studied one year at University Medical College, London; was associated with his father in prac- tice until the latter's death, in June, 1879, when he succeeded to the practice of the firm, making a specialty of surgery.
WILLIAM E. TUTHERLY,
Second son of the late Samuel Tutherly, was born in Unity, Janu- ary 27, 1823, and died January 8, 1893. He came to Claremont with his parents in 1833, which was ever afterwards his home. He attended Norwich, Vt., Military University two years, but did not graduate. He was selectman seven years, his first term being 1860 and his last 1874 ; county commissioner from 1876 to 1885 ; repre- sentative in the New Hampshire legislature in 1865, 1866, and 1878 ; member of the governor's council in 1867 and 1868, and for several years a director in the Claremont National Bank. When not occu- pied with his public duties Mr. Tutherly gave his attention to farming. He was a careful, painstaking, and prudent business man. June 1, 1847, he married Lorette C., daughter of Sherman Rossiter, who died January 8, 1888, just five years before the death of her husband, at nearly the same hour of the day and in the same house, leaving three children - Capt. H. E. Tutherly, of the United States army; Mrs. F. W. Haubrich, of Montreal; and William Tutherly, assistant clerk of the New Hampshire house of repre- sentatives.
DR. CLARENCE W. TOLLES.
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HISTORY OF CLAREMONT.
HERBERT E. TUTHERLY,
Son of the late William E. Tutherly, was born in Claremont April 5, 1848. He was appointed cadet at West Point July 1, 1868; graduated and commissioned second lieutenant, First U. S. Cavalry, June 14, 1872; promoted first lieutenant of same, April 14, 1879, and captain of same, January 15, 1891; received the honorary degree of M. A. from the University of Vermont in 1885. He has served on regimental duty about fourteen years, and college duty about eight years. He was detailed by the war department as professor of military science and tactics at the Uni- versity of Vermont, 1881-85; at Cornell University, 1889-92 ; and at the University of Vermont, September 1, 1893.
BENJAMIN TYLER
Was born at Wallingford, Conn., February 22, 1732, and died at Claremont March 9, 1814. He removed to Farmington, Conn., and from there came to Claremont, traveling on foot, in the spring of 1767, and that summer built the first dam across Sugar river, at West Claremont, in the same place where the Jarvis and Coy dam now is, having been given a grant of the privilege and a small tract of land for that purpose by the proprietors of the town. After the completion of the dam he returned to Farmington, and the following March started with his wife, six children, and house- hold effects on an ox sled, for Claremont. At Montague, Mass., he was detained by a snow storm, and in the time, being an ingen- ious mechanic, made a pair of cart wheels for the landlord, in pay- ment for his entertainment. From Bellows Falls there was no road, and he came from there on the ice of Connecticut river. On arrival here he stopped with Daniel Warner, who came the year before and built a log-house near where Lottery bridge now is. Soon after Mr. Tyler's arrival the ice in Sugar river broke up, formed a dam where it empties into the Connecticut, the water set back, and the family were forced to leave the house on a raft. The Tylers lived with the Warners until the former built a log- house near where he had erected a dam the year before.
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That year, 1768, Mr. Tyler built a grist-mill and saw-mill on the north side of the river, in connection with his dam. For two or three years after this the crops were almost a failure, and there was considerable suffering in consequence. The millstones were obtained on Ascutney mountain, and were brought over Connecti- cut river on the ice. The quarry from which these stones were taken was worked by Mr. Tyler and his sons for several years. The blocks were brought in a rough state to West Claremont, where they were finished into millstones, and supplied mills in pretty nearly all parts of New England, New York, and Canada.
In consideration of Mr. Tyler's having built the mills the pro- prietors of the town gave him ten acres of land on the south side of Sugar river, opposite the mills. He purchased the land on the north side of the river, from where the High bridge now stands to the line of the Dustin farm ; eight acres south of the river, op- posite the site of the High bridge, and a tract extending from the Lawrence A. Tolles place to where the town house now is, and was granted fifty acres on what was called Big Meadow, east of the village. >He built and occupied for a homestead the large two- story house at West Claremont, which has been known as the Maynard tavern stand for the last fifty years.
About 1790 Mr. Tyler built a dam near the site of the High bridge, and a forge and smelting works in connection with it. The ore used was brought from Charlestown, and the lime from Weathersfield, Vt. John Strowbridge came from Bridgewater, Mass., superintended this establishment, married Mr. Tyler's daugh- ter Patience, and subsequently received this property as a legacy.
Mr. Tyler invented and had patented a process for dressing flax, and an improved bucket for a wooden water-wheel with an upright shaft, called the rye fly or tub-wheel, for which he was granted two patents - one in 1800 and the other in 1804. When near sev- enty-five years old he retired from active business, and was suc- ceeded by his three sons, John, Benjamin, Jr., and Noah. He had eleven children, five of whom were born in Claremont. Mr. Tyler was selectman in 1768 and 1769. In his life-time he gave to each of his ten children a good farm.
JOHN TYLER, 1ST.
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AUSTIN TYLER,
Son of Benjamin Tyler, Jr., and grandson of Col. Benjamin Tyler, was born in Claremont January 6, 1790. He was one of the most active, enterprising, and public-spirited men in town in his time. He was selectman nine years, between 1824 and 1834; moderator many times; representative in the New Hampshire legislature in 1827, 1828, 1831, 1835, 1836, 1837, and 1842, and state sen- ator in 1838. He died August 12, 1844.
JOHN TYLER,
A son of Benjamin Tyler, Jr., and grandson of Col. Benjamin Tyler, was born in Claremont in 1803, and died in the first framed house built in town, where he had lived for many years, at West Claremont, January 13, 1886. He learned the mill-wright trade of his father and followed it until sixty years old. He had six chil- dren - five sons and one daughter - John Henry, Charles Webster, James Andrews, Austin, and Hoell, and Mary Anna. John Henry died at the home of his late father, January 29, 1890, the result of an injury sustained by being thrown from a carriage a few days before. Charles Webster, James Andrews, and Austin are in busi- ness in New York city, and Hoell is assistant medical superintend- ent of the New York City Hospital for the Insane, at Blackwell's Island. The daughter, Mary Anna, is the widow of Daniel W. Johnson, of Claremont. Mr. Tyler was a representative in the New Hampshire legislature in 1850 and 1851, and warden of Union church many years. His father and grandfather had also been wardens of the same church.
JOHN TYLER, 2D,
Is a son of John Tyler, and grandson of Col. Benjamin Tyler. He was born in Claremont March 26, 1818. He learned the trade of mill-wright, serving an apprenticeship of seven years, and was then for eight years foreman of the shop where he learned his trade, in Barre, Vt. He then came to West Lebanon in 1850, for several years did a large business in building mills, sometimes em-
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ploying fifty men. He returned to Claremont in 1872, where he has since resided. He was engineer and superintendent in building the Sugar River Paper Mill, is a principal stockholder and presi- dent of the company. In 1856 he invented and got patented the iron Tyler turbine water-wheel, the first iron water-wheel ever made, since which he has been granted nine patents for improve- ments on it. These are now running in most of the states and territories in the Union and in the Canadas. He is also the in- ventor and patentee of Tyler's copper cylinder washer, for wash- ing paper stock. In 1872 Mr. Tyler built what is known as the Bible hill aqueduct, to supply Claremont village with pure spring water. It runs to over two hundred families. He was a repre- sentative in the New Hampshire legislature for the years 1891 and 1892.
GEORGE B. UPHAM.
The Uphams have been conspicuous in politics, in business, and socially in this town, county, and state for more than a hundred years, and are entitled to other than a brief notice in this history. The descent of the Uphams with whom this sketch has more immediately to do has been traced back in an unbro- ken line to Hugo de Upham, the first known Upham in England, in 1208, in a genealogical record of "The Descendants of John Upham," prepared by Frank K. Upham, a captain in the United States army, published in 1892. This record is the result of many years of painstaking and persistent research. The Uphams have become quite numerous in this country, more especially in Mas- sachusetts and New England. According to this record, after Hugo de Upham - without here tracing back through many gen- erations and naming each minutely - in a direct line came Rich- ard Upham, who held the copyhold estate in Bykton in 1546; then John Upham, who emigrated to New England with the Hull colony, settled in what is now Weymouth, Mass., and soon re- moved to Malden, where his son Phineas was born, being the first Upham born in America, and from whom all of the name
GEORGE B. UPHAM.
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in this country have descended. He was a lieutenant in the King Philip War in 1675. At the storming of Fort Canonicus, De- cember 19, 1675, his captain, Johnson, was killed early in the engagement, and Lieutenant Upham was in command of the company until he was mortally wounded. He died of his wounds October 8, 1676. The heads of the next two generations also bore the name of Phineas. The third was the father of Dr. Jabez Upham, of Brookfield, Mass., who had a son Phineas, the father of the subject of this sketch.
George B. Upham died in Claremont on February 10, 1848, soon after which an interesting article, connecting the family with the trying events immediately preceding the Revolutionary War, appeared in the Boston Daily Advertiser, from which many of the following facts are gathered :
George B. Upham's father, Captain Phineas Upham, of Brookfield, Mass., was a representative from that town in the last House of Assembly convened in Massachusetts, by writs of election issued by royal authority. General Gage, at a moment when he flattered himself that there was a reaction in the popular sentiment, dissolved a refractory House, and ordered the election of a new As- sembly. The precepts were issued on the first day of September, 1774; and they directed that representatives who might be elected, convene at Salem on the fifth day of October following. The result of the election was found to be most unfavorable to the royal cause, an increased number of patriots being returned to the House. On the twenty-eighth day of September His Excellency issued a proclamation discharging the members elect from attendance, and de- claring his intention not to be present at the time specified in the writs of election. It was at once resolved not to pay any regard to the proclamation of the twenty-eighth of September. The right of the governor to prorogue a House of Assembly before it had convened was denied, and ninety members, belonging to the popular party, and constituting a majority of the whole number elected, made their appearance in the Court House at Salem, on the fifth of October, 1774. They awaited in silence the appearance of His Excellency to administer to them the usual oaths. Thus passed the day. The next morning they met again, and again awaited the appearance of the governor. But he came not. On the third day, having chosen John Hancock their chairman, and Benjamin Lincoln their clerk, and, considering the executive department of the govern- ment as derelict, they assumed the entire legislative and political control of the colony, and declared themselves a Provincial Congress. This procedure severed the tie that bound Massachusetts to the throne of Great Britain, and may be
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considered the very first act of the American Revolution, regarded as a civil or political transference of allegiance. The body of men who took this step crossed the Rubicon; they pointed and led the way by which the colonies, without convulsion or misrule, without any suspension of law or order, without being for a moment cut adrift upon a sea of anarchy, passed from the sov- ereignty of the mother country into the quiet and regular enjoyment of inde- pendence and self government. Captain Phineas Upham of Brookfield was an active and faithful member of the Congress that accomplished this great and momentous work.
George B. Upham was born at Brookfield, December 9, 1769. He received his preliminary education at Phillips Exeter Acad- emy, and graduated at Harvard College in 1789. He studied law with his older brother, Jabez, who had established himself in practice in Claremont. Soon after his admission to the bar, Jabez left his business to his brother, and returned to his native town. George B. found himself in an extensive practice, and continued in active and lucrative professional employment until, at the age of sixty years, he voluntarily relinquished it. He was a sound lawyer - a persuasive rather than a brilliant advocate- and a safe and able counselor, whose legal opinions might always be relied upon.
Mr. Upham was representative of his town in the New Hamp- shire legislature fifteen years, his first election being in 1796, and his last in 1821, and was speaker of the house in 1809, and again in 1815, and state senator in 1814. He was elected mem- ber of congress in 1801, and declined a re-election. This was during the administration of Thomas Jefferson, when the northern and southern sections of the confederacy often clashed. Mr. Upham uniformly and boldly advocated the rights of New Eng- land. Early in his term in congress, an incident occurred illus- trating the difference in temper and spirit of the northern and southern character. The eccentric and irascible John Randolph of Roanoke had an overbearing and offensive way of making New England members whom he could intimidate by his inso- lence turn out for him on sidewalks or wherever he chanced to meet them. Mr. Upham had heard of this, and soon after his
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