USA > New Hampshire > Strafford County > Durham > History of the town of Durham, New Hampshire (Oyster River Plantation) with genealogical notes, Volume 1 > Part 23
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Judge Jonathan Steele, son of Capt. David and Janet (Little) Steele, was born in Londonderry, N. H., 3 September 1760. He studied law with Gen. John Sullivan and was admitted to the bar in 1787, practising in Nottingham and Durham. He married, Lydia, only daughter of Gen. Sullivan. He first rented a small house near the Durham ship yard. As his fortunes improved he bought one half of the house lot of Ephraim Folsom deceased, where he was living before 12 March 1790. This house was burnt in 1867 after passing into the possession suc- cessively of James Durgin, Jr., Dr. Jedediah Ingalls, Samuel Dunster, Ira Cheney and Mrs. Alfred Chesley. This lot was opposite the residence of Mrs. Hamilton Smith. Judge Steele served some time as clerk of court, but declined the position of United States attorney for the District of New Hampshire. He was a justice of the Superior Court from 1810 to 1812, but the position was uncongenial and the salary was insufficient. So
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he resigned the office and spent his last days in the practice of law in Durham and in the care of his farm and residence, which he built, now occupied by Mrs. Joseph W. Coe. He is said to have been diffident and sensitive to criticism. As a lawyer he had more than ordinary learning and skill. He died in Durham, 3 September 1824.
David Steele, nephew to Judge Steele, was born in Peter- borough 27 November 1793 and studied law with Stephen Mitchell in Durham. He was admitted to the bar in 1824 and settled in New Durham in 1825. He removed to Dover in 1850, and died there 6 July 1882.
Jonathan Steele, another nephew of Judge Steele, was born in Peterborough 8 February 1792 and graduated at Williams College in 1811. He studied with Stephen Mitchell of Durham and Charles H. Atherton of Nashua. He was admitted in 1815 and practised in Epsom and Sandwich. He was solicitor of Rockingham County, 1818-23 and died at Epsom September 1858.
Gen. John Sullivan, who was the most prominent lawyer Durham ever had, needs no further mention here. See chapter on Military History.
George Sullivan, son of Gen. John Sullivan, was born in Dur- ham 29 August 1771. He graduated at Harvard in 1790 and studied law with his father. He commenced practice at Exeter in 1793 or 1794, was county solicitor in 1802, representative in 1805 ,and attorney general two years. In 1811 he was elected · a member of Congress. In 1814-15. he was State senator, and served again as attorney general from 1815 till his resignation twenty years later. He died at Exeter, 14 April 1838. Governor Bell says, "By universal consent he ranked among the half a dozen foremost lawyers in the State."
John Thompson was born in Durham 2 December 1801. He was educated at Phillips Academy and Harvard, where he was graduated in 1822. He studied law with Stephen Mitchell of Durham and with Levi Woodbury of Portsmouth. In 1825 he established himself as a lawyer in Center Harbor, where he died, unmarried 22 January 1854. His house took fire and, in trying to save a chair which he valued as a gift from his mother, he perished in the flames.
James Underwood is supposed to have been son of James
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Underwood of Litchfield. He read law in the office of Wiseman Clagett of Litchfield and in that of Gen. John Sullivan. He was with the party that captured the stores at Fort William and Mary, December 1774, and afterward enlisted in the army and served at Cambridge. In 1776 he became adjutant of Col. Joshua Wingate's regiment raised for the Canada campaign. He practised law in Bedford about six years and is said to have become insane.
John Sullivan Wells, son of Edward and Margery (Hardy) Wells, grandson of Theophilus and Margery (Sullivan) Hardy, was born in Durham, 18 October 1803. He practised law in Lancaster and in Exeter, where he died I August 1860. He was admitted to the bar in 1828 and first practised at Guildhall, Vt., for seven years. Thence he removed to Bangor, Me., and in 1836 to Lancaster. He soon became county attorney and served two terms. He was representative in the legislature, 1839-41, being speaker of the house the last year. He was ap- pointed attorney general in 1847 and resigned within a few months. In 1851 and 1852 he was president of the State senate. In January 1855 he was appointed United States senator to fill a vacancy and served till the following March. He was a candi- date for Governor in 1856 and 1857, but was defeated. Dart- mouth College conferred on him the honorary degree of A. M. in 1857. As a lawyer he was successful, and he was distinguished for his work as jury lawyer.
John Smith Woodman was educated for the law, but turned from this vocation to that of teaching and so is mentioned else- where in this book.
Col. John W. Kingman, who once lived in Durham, in the Coe house, practised law with Daniel M. Christie in Dover. He served in the Civil War with distinction as a colonel. He married a daughter of Mr. Christie and removed to the West, serving as United States judge in Wyoming for a time. He then removed to Iowa and died at Cedar Falls at the age of 82 years.
James F. Joy was a native of Durham, who became a very able lawyer in Detroit, Mich. He was born 2 December 1810, son of James and Sarah (Pickering) Joy. He was gradu- ated at Dartmouth in 1833 and studied for a year at the law school of Harvard. He then taught in Pittsfield Academy and as tutor of Latin at Dartmouth College. He completed his
HON. JAMES F. JOY
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studies at Harvard and in 1836 entered the law office of Augustus B. Porter in Detroit and was admitted to the bar the following year. He became interested in railroad construction and secured the building of the Michigan Central, and also organized the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. Several other lines are due to his activity. He nominated James G. Blaine for the presidency. He was a large owner of real estate and railroad stock and was numbered among the millionaires. He was also a classical scholar and a profound student of railroad law. All this did not hinder his serving one term in the State legislature nor from taking an active part in the Congregational Church. Mr. Joy drew the will of Benjamin Thompson, his cousin, and was one of the executors of the same. He came on and gave a public address in the State House at Concord in behalf of the acceptance of the terms of the will, thus helping to secure the College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. Mr. Joy received the honorary degree of LL. D. from Harvard, Iowa University and University of Michigan, all in 1869.
PHYSICIANS
The records are not abundant concerning those who have practised medicine in Durham. The knowledge we have is derived from incidental mention in town records and elsewhere.
The first physician, of whom we have any knowledge, was the Rev. John Buss. Most of the ministers of his time had some training in medicine as well as theology, like many of the mis- sionaries now sent out to foreign lands. Hence John Buss cared for both body and soul in Wells and Oyster River. In a deposi- tion, dated 1705, he is called Dr. Buss. He lived beyond the age of ninety-eight, and the town assisted in his support in his old age and in the support of his widow for many years, not be- cause he had been a physician, but in consideration of the fact that he had been the settled minister.
Dr. Jonathan Crosby is mentioned 22 October 1718, when he bought land of James and Mary Burnham. He sold this land to the Rev. Hugh Adams, living on lot adjoining. The Dover records say that he had wife, Hannah, and children born as follows: Jonathan, born 16 August 1719; John, born 3 October 1721, and Sarah, born 18 January 1723/4. His marriage in- tentions with Mary Dill were recorded in York, Me., 16 August 1729, and he had children, Daniel and Elizabeth, baptized in Dover, 4 July 1731. Since his daughter, Sarah, was baptized in Dover 2 February 1724, it is probable that he removed to Dover before that date. He sold his eighteen acres at Oyster River to Joseph and Samuel Smith, 18 September 1722, and bought of Joshua Cromwell twelve acres on Dover Neck, 21 August 1723. He and wife, Mary, sold this, 16 July 1731, to Nicholas Hartford and probably left Dover about this time. June 1, 1723, the House and Council "allowed Doct" Crosby for administering to the men under Capt. Gilmans Command as per his acct on file £1,12,11."
The Rev. Hugh Adams was something of a physician. He makes mention of practising the healing art at Georgetown, Me., on the famous Sebastian Rasles before he settled in Durham. He probably taught his son, Samuel, the greater part of his
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theoretical knowledge of medicine, and Dr. Crosby, living at the next house, may have done the rest. Cf. pages 189-91.
Dr. Samuel Adams built the so-called Sullivan house and practised medicine till his death in 1762. The following bill in his own hand-writing, has been preserved. "March the 25th 1759-Sam" Demerit Dr to Sam" Adams for a visit Blooding & medicians Aplyd to him £5 =0 =o old Tenor." The Province papers mention Dr. Adams repeatedly as ministering to soldiers. For further particulars see Genealogical Notes.
Dr. Samuel Merrow, son of Henry and Jane (Wallis, or Wal- lace) Merrow, was born in Reading, Mass., 9 October 1670. His father was probably one of the Scotchmen sent to Boston in 1651. Dr. Samuel Merrow began practice in Dover about 1720 and lived within the Oyster River parish till about 1733. He removed to Rochester, N. H., and died there about 1740.
Dr. Joseph Atkinson came to Durham about the year 1734 and bought the Huckins farm, on the road to Madbury, and probably built the house still standing. He married the widow of Timothy Emerson and had no children. He married (2), 9 December 1777, Elizabeth Waldron and died in 1780. His widow married, 15 June 1788, John Heard Bartlett of Kittery, now Eliot, Me. Dr. Atkinson was one of the selectmen in 1742 and 1743, and was moderator of town meetings in 1762-64, 1771, 1773-74. Judge Ebenezer Thompson, who studied medicine with him and settled his estate, acquired his real estate by purchase from the heirs, and perhaps some property was given by Dr. Atkinson to his young friend.
The Rev. John Adams practised medicine to some extent, especially after he removed from Durham to Newfield, Me.
Dr. Stephen Swett was born in that part of Exeter which is now Newmarket, 3 January 1733/4, son of Moses and Hannah (Swett) Swett. He married, 8 August 1756, Sarah, daughter of Dr. Samuel Adams, and probably learned the arts of a physician from his father-in-law. He is named in 1757 as a soldier or militiaman under command of Samuel Demeritt, ordered to be fitted and ready to march at a quarter of an hour's notice. It is probable that he practised medicine in Durham to some extent, since his first two children were born there. He lived in Pembroke and Epsom, N. H., and removed to Gorham, Me., about 1770. Here he was the first and only physician for many years. He
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served as surgeon in Col. Edmund Phinney's Thirty-first regi- ment of foot for three months in 1775, going to Cambridge, and on the sixth of October of that year was recommended by Gen. Washington for a surgeon's commission, which one of his descendants still possesses. In his old age he lived for a short time in Windham, Me., and died in Otisfield, Me., 6 January 1807, at the house of his son, William, who was then keeping a store on Otisfield Hill. He has a host of descendants, among them the writer of this book .*
Dr. Samuel Wigglesworth, son of the Rev. Samuel Wiggles- worth of Ipswich, Mass., was born 25 August 1734 and was graduated from Harvard in 1752. After practising medicine in Ipswich a short time he removed to Dover about 1768. He was evidently living in Durham in 1774, for then "Dr. Samuel Wigglesworth" appears as one of the Association Test Com- mittee. He was taxed in Durham in 1777. He was a surgeon in the Revolutionary Army, in two different regiments. He married, 9 September 1779, Mary, daughter of George Waldron of Dover, where he taught school and practised as a physician till about 1792. Then he settled in Lee, where he died about 1800.
Dr. Samuel Shepard is mentioned in 1762. He married Eliza- beth Hill, 21 October 1761. Perhaps he was son of Samuel Shepard who married, 23 March 1726, Margaret Creighton and had son, Samuel, baptized by the Rev. Hugh Adams, 24 December 1727. Dr. Shepard was doubtless the same who taught a school in Durham in 1759, for whom Dr. Samuel Adams received pay. June 24, 1765 Dr. Samuel Shepard conveyed to John Edgerly half an acre of land, with house and barn, for £1,500, "on ye southerly side of ye Falls Hill," on the Mast Road. He seems to have practised medicine in Nottingham at the time of the Revolution and afterward to have been a Baptist minister at Brentwood. Rev. Samuel Shepard of Brentwood married Ursula Pinkham of Madbury, 11 July 1781.
Dr. John Angier was born II July 1761 ; married in Durham, 31 August 1794, Rebecca Drew, born 10 March 1766. The fol- lowing children are recorded in the town book; Sophia, born 5 June 1795; John, born 10 April 1797; Luther, born 23 March 1799; Calvin, born 30 May 1801; Charles, born 14 March 1803,
*See my Swett Genealogy, p. 42.
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and Joseph, born 24 April 1808. He lived in a house that was moved and is now a club house, near the college.
Dr. Jedediah Ingalls was born in Andover, Mass., 26 July 1768 and graduated at Harvard in 1793. He commenced medical practice in Durham in 1796 and died there I August 1847. He married, 3 February 1802, Eliza Currier of Gilmanton. She died 26 October 1851. He lived just across the street from the Hamilton Smith house, in a house that was burned more than thirty years ago. He had a large practice and was regarded with popular favor. A daughter, Eliza, married Mr. Doyle, an engineer on the B. & M. R. R. Another daughter, Harriet, married William Fowler. A son, Charles, was a physician in Andover, Mass.
Judge Ebenezer Thompson was also a physician. [See chapter on Leaders in the Past.]
Dr. Richard Steele, son of Judge Jonathan Steele, was born in Durham, 6 January 1797. He was graduated from Dart- mouth College in 1815 and from the Medical College in 1825. He practised medicine successively at Portsmouth, Durham, Peter- borough, Dover, Lowell, Mass., Great Falls, N. H., Boston and Newburyport. He returned to Dover in 1867 and died there 13 June 1869.
John Gilman Pike, son of Nathaniel, grandson of John and great-grandson of the Rev. James Pike of Somersworth, was born in Somersworth, now Rollinsford, 17 August 1817. He was graduated at Bowdoin Medical College in 1847, having previ- ously studied three years in the classical department, in the class of 1845. He practised at Durham, 1847-48; Salmon Falls, 1848-68; Boston, Mass., 1858-71, and resided at Dover, N. H., till his death, 31 July 1905.
Dr. Alphonso Bickford, son of Thomas Bickford of Dover, was born 12 December 1817. He was graduated at Bowdoin Medical College in 1837. He practised in Durham, 1837-48, whence he removed to Exeter, thence to Boston and thence after one or two years to Dover. He was Mayor of Dover in 1861 and 1862 and Alderman in 1866 and 1867. He was a skill- ful physician and had an extensive practice. He died in Dover 31 December 1869. His daughter married Elisha R. Brown of Dover, President of Strafford National Bank.
Dr. William Parker Sylvester was born in Charlestown, Mass.,
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2 July 1821. He was graduated from Bowdoin Medical College in 1847 and practised successively at Poland, Me., North Pownal Me., Durham, before 1875, Dover, 1875-78, and South Sherborn, Mass. He died 18 September 1894.
ALPHONSO BICKFORD, M.D.
Dr. Silver is said to have practised in Durham about the time of the Revolution. There was later a Dr. Flanders, and Dr. O. G. Cilley, now of Boston, Mass., practised here. Dr. Wood- house of Barnstead was here a little while in the 60's.
Dr. Samuel H. Greene son of Simon P. and Mary Augusta (Smith) Greene, was born 12 February 1837 in Newmarket; graduated at Harvard Medical College in 1860, and the same year settled in Durham, continuing in practice here six years. 19
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He removed to Newmarket but still held a large practice in Durham. He was a selectman of Newmarket six years and postmaster eight years and also represented the town in the State legislature. He married, 12 July 1860, Mattie Ross Baker, daughter of Andrew and Mary Jane (Sawyer) Baker and had one son, Walter Bryant Greene. Dr. Greene died at Newmarket 17 December 1911.
Dr. A. E. Grant was born in North Berwick, Me., 30 July 1873. He was educated in the public schools of that town and in Oak Grove Seminary, Vassalboro, Me., He was graduated from Dartmouth Medical College in 1896 and settled in Durham I March 1897, where he still resides. Before him Dr. James Roberts and other physicians lived in Durham a short time.
LEADERS IN THE PAST.
Some who properly belong in this class have been sufficiently mentioned in previous chapters. Here can be named only a few of those who were prominent in the civil history of the town and in business activities. Valentine Hill, merchant, was admitted to church in Boston, the 12th of 4th month, 1636, and was made freeman, 13 May 1640. He had a brother, John Hill, who lived in London and named Valentine and other relatives in his will. He was proprietor, town officer and deacon in Boston, member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery, and chief owner in a wharf. He had numerous grants of land by the town of Dover, between 1643 and 1652, chief of which were a large tract on the north side of the mouth of Oyster River, the mill privilege and five hundred acres where Durham village now is, and the mill privilege at Lamprey River with accommodations of timber on land a mile wide on both sides of the river, for which he was to pay to the town twenty pounds annually. In 1660 " the house of Mr. Valen- tine Hill, which is his now dwelling house at Rocky Point" is mentioned in fixing the division line of Oyster River parish. This must have been on his tract at the mouth of the river. He had a house also at the Falls.
Valentine Hill was the leading man of Oyster River for more than a dozen years. He built the first church. He was a select- man in 1651 and 1657. He was deputy to the General Court at Boston from 1652 to 1657, inclusive. By petition of the inhabi- tants of Dover he was made one of the associate judges in 1652 and probably continued in that office till his death in 1661. For further particulars concerning him see incidental mentions in this history and especially the Genealogical Notes.
Capt. John Woodman came from Newbury, Mass., as early as 1656. When the inhabitants of Oyster River petitioned to be made a separate parish they sent John Woodman to represent them at the General Court. He was selectman of Dover seven years, moderator of the town meeting in 1675, justice of the peace, and deputy to the Provincial Assembly in 1684, when resistance was made to the oppression of Cranfield. Upon the overthrow of Andros, a convention was called to form a govern-
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ment, and Capt. John Woodman's name appears at the head of the Dover delegation of six. This convention drew up a form of government, one branch of which was to be a Council, and in January 1690, Mr. Woodman was chosen a member of this Coun- cil. He was again provincial deputy from 1692 to 1696, 1699, 1703, to the time of his death in 1706. He was also justice of the peace and a justice of the Court of Common Pleas, 1702-1706. He held a commission as captain prior to 1690, which was renewed several times. His garrison was one of the most noted, resisting all attacks and continuing till it was accidentally burned in 1896. He was a wise and trusted leader in councils of war and of peace. [See Genealogical Notes.]
Col. James Davis was born at the garrison house near the mouth of Oyster River, 23 May 1662, and died at the same place 8 September 1749. His career was one of marked activity and leadership and shows him to have been a man of superior abilities, which were readily recognized by his fellows. His name gleams brightly from the pages of colonial military history and appears upon the records of New Hampshire as one of the most important in the formative period of the state. He participated actively in the affairs of town and colony. Before reaching the age of twenty he had organized and led scouting parties against the Indians for the defence of the colony and had received the rank of lieutenant. This rank was recognized by the Massachusetts government, 19 March 1689, and renewed by Governor Usher, 20 September 1692, extending through the period of King William's War. He held the rank of captain during the period of Queen Anne's War. In the spring of 1703 he was on a scouting tour in the lake regions of New Hampshire, at the head of sixty men, and in 1704 he took part in an expedition against the French and Indians in Maine, for which he received a special award of five pounds for honorable service. On the 18th of October 1707 he was appointed by the New Hampshire government a member of the Council of War. In June 1709 he reported that one of his scouting party (Stevenson) was killed. In 1710 he had com- mand of another scouting party of 110 men, when he was allowed nine pounds for snowshoes and moccasins. In 1712 he led a party of 370 men for five months. He was in one or more of the ex- peditions against Port Royal. Before 1719 he was advanced to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and in 1720 was made colonel.
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He was moderator of the Dover town meetings in 1702, 1713, 1715-17, 1720-21, 1728-31, and moderator of the first town meeting held in Durham, 1732, in which capacity he served at nine of the following meetings. He served repeatedly as commissioner of highways and assessor. He was one of the selectmen of Dover in 1698 and 1700-01. He also was deputy to the General Court, 1697-1701, and 1715-27. He was justice of the peace and, 9 December 1717, was appointed judge of the Court of Common Pleas, which office he held at the time of his death. On account of disagreement with the Rev. Hugh Adams he and his wife withdrew from the church at Oyster River and joined the church at Dover, in 1723.
Col. Davis received large grants of land in Dover, Durham, Madbury, Rochester, Barnstead, Canterbury and Bow. In 1694 he had a one-eighth share in the entire Lamprey River for the purpose of erecting saw-mills. His lands and riches he dis- tributed among his sons and daughter. [See his will and Genea- logical Notes.] Altogether he was the most prominent man of his time in Durham, and few were his equals in the Province of New Hampshire. Strength, courage, conscientiousness, intelli- gence, enterprise and an iron will mark his career.
Capt. Francis Mathes was the leading man at the "Point" for many years. He served as selectman in Dover thirteen years and four years in Durham. He was deputy, or representative, 1728-30 and 1731-32, and moderator in 1728. He was the town clerk of Durham from its first meeting, 26 June 1732, until 29 March 1736. He is called "Sargent" in 1707, "Ensign" in 1714, "Captain" in 1728. Frequent and honorable mention is made of his services in the State and Provincial Papers. He was active in religious affairs, promoting the building of a meeting house at Durham Point, on his own land, and he sought to make the Point District a separate parish in 1739. He was one of the proprietors of Rochester and was chosen chairmen of its first board of select- men, in 1727. Some of the meetings of the proprietors were held in Durham. [See Genealogical Notes for further particulars.]
Capt. Jonathan Thompson's name appears on the muster roll of Capt. James Davis in 1712. He was selectman in Dover, 1729-30, and in Durham, 1732-41 and 1746. He acted as moderator in 1733, 1737 and 1745. He was representative in the General Court, 1741-44 and 1748-51, when he served on a
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large number of committees. He was a deacon in the church during the pastorate of the Rev. Hugh Adams but withdrew and joined the church at Dover when the Rev. John Adams became pastor. He died in 1757, aged about 64.
Col. Samuel Smith, son of Joseph, was born 16 June 1687, and lived on the ancestral farm on the north side of Oyster River, where he died 2 May 1760. He was selectman of Dover in 1727- 28 and 1731-32, and was chairman of the first board of selectmen in Durham, 1732, being reelected in 1734, 1735, 1737 and from 1744 to 1752 inclusive. Five times he served as moderator of town meetings. He was town clerk from 29 May 1736 until his death. He was councilor from 13 January 1742 till 2 May 1760. He also served as colonel in the militia.
Hon. John Smith, 3d, was born 24 December 1737, called "Master" John Smith from the fact that he taught school. He inherited the Smith homestead nearly opposite the Sullivan monument, where later lived Maj. Seth H. Walker and, more recently, John Drew. He died 24 May 1791. He was town clerk 1774-91, dying in office. He was selectman thirteen years, beginning with 1766, and representative from 1776 till 1782. He was a member of the town's Committee of Correspondence, Inspection and Safety, 1774-79, delegate to the third congress at Exeter, 1775, clerk of the House of Representatives, 1781-83, member of the New Hampshire Committee of Safety, 1776-77 and 1781-84. He was justice of the peace after 1780 and regis- trar of deeds for Strafford County, 1781-91. A petition that he be appointed justice of the peace was signed by eighty-one of his townsmen, stating that he was a "Gentleman who has not only distinguished himself as a patriot but from his early youth by an upright and irreproachable conduct gained the Esteem and Con- fidence of all his fellow citizens who have had the pleasure of his acquaintance." It adds, "The proficiency he has made in Litera- ture is not equalled by many." [See N. H. Town Papers, XI, 592-94.]
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