USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Haverhill > History of the town of Haverhill, New Hampshire > Part 44
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HISTORY OF HAVERHILL
hardly believe, if told, that he would join his double bass to the tenors and other supplementaries of the harmonies in singing the fable of the bag and the apple tree, or the formal words of a 'capais' to the music of an oratorio. Rogers and Britton and others gave parties. There was a little drinking and the decanters of wine and brandy were at all times in evidence in the parlor of the boarding house and on the dinner table."
The custom of escort for the judge was maintained for years. The writer, who was a boy of fifteen, a student at the academy in 1860, and for whom the sessions of the court possessed a great attraction, well remembers the imposing appearance of Sheriff John H. Thompson of Holderness as he escorted the presiding judge from the court house, at the dinner hour, to Smith's Hotel. It was the sheriff not the judge who made the vivid impression on his mind. And the bar at that time was one of marked ability. Only a few of the more prominent members need be mentioned: Andrew S. Woods, Harry Hibbard, Alonzo P. Carpenter, David R. Lang, George A. Bingham of Bath; Lewis W. Fling of Bristol; William P. Weeks, George W. Murray of Canaan; Daniel Blaisdell of Hanover; David Sloan, George W. Chapman, Nathan B. Felton of Haver- hill; George S. Towle, Aaron H. Cragin of Lebanon; Edward D. Rand of Lisbon; Harry Bingham, William J. Bellows, Charles W. Rand, John Farr of Littleton; C. J. F. Stone, Joseph Burrows, Henry W. Blair of Plymouth, and Thomas J. Smith of Wentworth. Many of these names have a prominent and honorable place in the political and judicial history of New Hampshire.
In 1860 the Corner had not changed much from the preceding years. The stages had gone, and Smith's Hotel was the solitary tavern. The railroads, Passumpsic and B. C. & M., were too near the village for the maintenance of profitable stage lines, and too far away to be of service to the business and social life of the village. Travelling salesmen or drummers were unknown and the merchants made their semi-annual trips to Boston and New York to purchase goods. The Brook, with its paper-mill, tanneries, grist- and sawmills with other smaller factories, was still bustling and busy. The general tone of society as well as of business was conservative. Among the older residents were the Pages, John, Samuel and David; the Redings, Sylvester and Warren; the Websters, J. V. and J. W .; the Baileys, Nathaniel, Albert and Milo; the Carletons, Arthur and Michael; there were Doctors Morgan, Spalding and Tenney; there was Colonel Bryant, Esquire Felton, Colonel McClary, Henry Towle, Levi Ham, R. N. Brown, Daniel F. Merrill, Russell Kimball, David Sloan, George W. Chapman, Michael Johnston, Dea. A. K. Mer- rill, N. W. Westgate, John L, Rix, Charles G. Smith, Horace Hunt, and well, there was a solid, substantial, conservative citizenship. It was Haverhill Corner before the war.
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HISTORY OF HAVERHILL
BUILDINGS IN 1860
Beginning at the bridge, the buildings on the right of the road to Pier- mont line were as follows; residences when not not otherwise designated: Paper mill; store and store house; Mrs. Conn; Mrs. Mitchell; J. S. Nichols; H. F. Herbert; G. S. Stevens; Mrs. Chandler; schoolhouse; A. P. Wood; Dr. E. D. Chapman; M. Johnston; J. A. Currier; store, Hook's; S. F. Hook; Exchange Hotel; store; A. Bailey; H. Hunt; Brick Block (Rix and Page, H. Towle, Democratic Republican, N. B. Felton office) ; Perley Ayer; J. L. Rix; H. R. Sinclair; C. B. Morey; G. L. Wilson; J. S. Webster; P. Merrill, Jr .; James A. Page. On the left of road: Photograph room; D. J. Bell; W. Keith; D. Sloan (owner); E. N. Tabor; E. Lee (heirs) ; parsonage; Methodist Church; N. M. Page; E. L. Page and John Page; M. Johnston; Hiram Ladd, Common, D. K. Merrill; A. Whitney; Mrs. M. Barstow; R. J. Mack; L. M. Brainerd; schoolhouse; blacksmith shop; C. H. Poole; H. N. Brown and tin shop; E. Parker; Arthur Carleton; Samuel Page. North side North Common : H. Ladd; Dr. Tenney, office; parsonage; Congregational Church. East side, North Common: S. Adams estate; academy; Chapman office, G. W. Chapman. East side, South Common: D. Sloan, R. Kimball, Jno. McClary. North side Court Street from Common: Atherton House (Bliss Tavern); blacksmith shop; county buildings, east of county buildings and back from street, C. B. Morrison, Miss Cooper, carriage shop; county jail; S. Reding; A. K. Merrill; J. P. Webster; W. H. Burbank; J. H. Swan; J. Pillsbury. South side: S. T. Page house; store; Russell Kimball store; Dr. Spalding; C. S. Tracy; E. Barrett; N. W. Westgate; J. S. Bryant; N. B. Felton; H. N. Ladd; L. Palmer; M. Carleton, Jr .; M. Carleton; Mrs. Rogers; J. D. Sleeper.
At the Brook, on the Oliverian road, there was a shop and store at the corner: J. L. Cook; George Walcott; J. H. Currier; E. Day; H. Blanchard. Across the Brook, towards Ladd Street, were sawmills and gristmill, and to the east along the Brook there was the foundry and the tannery of Currier and Webster.
FIRES AT THE CORNER
The village at Haverhill Corner has suffered at various times from fires. One of the most destructive of these and which was for years known as "the big fire" was the one occurring Monday April 17, 1848. The following account of it is taken from the Democratic Republican of April 19. The plant of this newspaper was one of the establishments totally destroyed, and the paper for the next few weeks was printed at Newbury, Vt .:
About a quarter before 5 o'clock the alarm was given, and the Columbian Hotel, owned and kept by C. S. Towle & Co., was found to be on fire in the garret of the back
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HISTORY OF HAVERHILL
part of the house, which, notwithstanding every effort made to stop it, soon reached the main part of the house and spread with fearful rapidity until the whole was enveloped in flames. Before the fire could be arrested, eight buildings on the street, reaching to the old Grafton Bank, and ten or twelve barns and out buildings were destroyed. These were as follows: The Columbian Hotel, three barns, granarys and sheds, etc .; the brick store owned by Mrs. L. B. Nelson, and occupied by W. H. Cummings for a store and by Geo. S. Towle for a law office, and David Page for a law office; the store occupied by Thompson & Steele; Henry Towle's jewelry and book store and the printing office of the True Democrat; R. N. Brown's building, occupied by him as a store, tin and sheet iron ware shop; furniture rooms of Thompson & Steele; H. B. Sinclair's harness maker's shop; G. W. Miner's shoe maker's shop, and the law office of L. R. Morris; the buildings belonging to John R. Reding, and used for the post office, reading room and printing office of the Democratic Republican; the dwelling house, barn, granary, sheds, etc., of John R. Reding; the dwelling house occupied by Col. John R. MeClary. When the fire had reached this point the people were enabled to stop its further spread by tearing away the granary and sheds connected with the Southern stage stable and here the work of destruction was stopped. At the time the fire broke out, the wind was blowing fresh from the north causing the flames to spread in a southern direction, yet the heat from the burning hotel was so intense that it was with the greatest difficulty and labor the house on its north occupied by Samuel Swasey could be saved. As it was, the back part of the house and its south side was very much injured by the fire, so much so as to make it uninhabitable. . . . The amount of property destroyed, for a village the size of this is large, amounting to $30,000, and it will take us a long time, we fear, to outgrow it.
WHEREAS, it appears that the community in which we live is in peril from the work of incendiaries and other offenders, and a committee of three has been appointed to organize a night watch-by the citizens of this place-now, we the subscribers, agree to do duty as watchmen at such times and places as may be designated by said committee consisting of Albert Bailey, Charles G. Smith and G. Fred Putnam.
Haverhill May 2d, 1863.
George W. Chapman
H. D. Carleton
L. C. Morse
G. F. Putnam
G. S. Stevens
Nathaniel Bailey
Albert Bailey
N. H. Batchelder
S. M. Wright
Charles G. Smith
Eugene Stevens
E. Carleton, Jr.
N. W. Westgate
Perley Ayer
Joseph Poor
John McClary
J. B. Smith
Samuel Page
H. H. Tenney
George W. Miner
C. B. M. Woodward
L. B. Ham
Samuel C. Barrett H. B. Sinclair
Orren G. Page
George L. Wilson
N. H. Messer
J. H. Chandler
John B. Chapman
S. Powers R. T. Mack
W. H. Page
Hosea B. Cass
N. B. Tabor
G. W. Whipple
James Page
A. K. Merrill
C. M. Durant Joseph Weed James Page
Chandler Tracy
C. H. Poole
George C. Currier
J. C. Sinclair
N. D. Brooks
A. P. Jenkins
L. A. Braynard
A. F. Thomas
Sam. P. Adams
H. Towle
M. Carleton, Jr.
John Currier
Augustus Whitney John V. Webster
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HISTORY OF HAVERHILL
P. W. Kimball
George Cooker
M. B. Carpenter
Phineas Spalding
N. Bailey
W. A. Bingham
N. B. Felton
D. Merrill
Moses Kimball
H. N. Ladd
H. Morgan
J. N. Olmstead
Michael Carleton
A. T. Beane
James A. Currier
W. H. Burbank
N. M. Page
G. N. Pierce
Jesse Morley
J. P. Webster
A. M. Glover
Tyler Westgate
F. P. Currier
E. B. Carpenter
J. D. Emerson
H. W. Reding
W. P. Smith
A. P. Wood
Jno. S. Bryant
John L. Cook
S. Reding
Michael Johnston
Thos. C. Sloan
E. S. Page
B. M. Swasey
E. N. Tabor
A. J. Randall
Another serious fire occurred Wednesday morning, February 19, 1902, entailing a loss of about $40,000 only partially covered by insurance. It broke out a little after midnight in what was known as the Batchelder building two doors north of the historic Exchange hotel, and spread both north and south until eight buildings, including the hotel owned and occupied by G. H. Stevens were totally destroyed. The Batchelder block was occupied by N. S. Batchelder as a residence and by the store of Arthur K. Merrill. North of this block were the residences of Charles G. Smith and W. H. Kent, both of which were destroyed. On the south were the residence and office of Dr. Henry C. Stearns, the hotel, the Bailey block containing the post office, the express office and the store of Dow & Westgate, and the residence owned by the estate of Milo Bailey, occupied by N. H. Barbour. These all fell prey to the flames, and the progress of the fire was only stayed at the residence belonging to the estate of Mrs. Nathaniel Page. The village was without adequate fire protection, and the loss would have been much greater had it not been for the depth of snow resting on the adjoining buildings.
Sunday, April 29, brought another serious fire entailing a loss of some $30,000 which was only partially covered by insurance. The buildings burned were the two-story brick block, erected after the big fire of 1848, the barn belonging to the estate of Nathaniel Page, and the two residences south of the brick block, the first owned by Miss Eliza Ayer, long time the residence of her father, Perley Ayer, and the second, the brick mansion house owned and occupied by Mrs. Anna Rogers, formerly owned and occupied by the old Grafton Bank and known as "the Bank house." This as well as the brick block was a well-known landmark. The block was owned and occupied by W. H. Page & Son, general merchan- dise; J. W. Merrill, Haverhill Drug Co., Tyler Westgate, Joseph Poor, Grafton Lodge, A. F. and A. M .; Haverhill Grange, and Knights of Pythias. As a result of these two fires the only buildings left stand- ing on Main Street for a distance extending more than the entire
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HISTORY OF HAVERHILL
length of the two Commons was the Page house, the solitary survivor of the two big fires.
The late spring of 1913 brought a series of fires extending over a period of five or six months which were evidently of incendiary origin. These involved the loss of property belonging to Tyler Westgate, Roy Dunkley, Fred W. Page, Charles P. Page and damage to the Crawford House. These roused the village to action the result of which has been the organ- ization under the laws of a village precinct, with a well organized fire department, and the introduction of a long needed water supply adequate for fire protection and for domestic purposes.
FIRST PIANO
The first piano in Haverhill was owned by Gen. John Montgomery and was brought to Haverhill some time prior to 1820. This instrument had an interesting history. It was made in London by Christopher Gaverand and had been the property of Princess Amelia, daughter of George III. She gave it to a chaplain of the Royal family, whose daugh- ter married an American by the name of Odionne. They brought it to Boston, later it was taken to Medford and used in a school kept by Miss Susan Ranson. It was later still purchased by General Mont- gomery and brought to Haverhill, where it was in use for some years, and was then taken to New Ipswich, where its real historical importance was seen in the life work of Jonas Chickering, who was at the age of twenty a cabinet maker in that town. The piano was out of repair and he was given the task of placing it in condition and though he had never seen such an instrument before he made it a careful study and successfully accomplished his task, and determined to become a piano manufacturer. He went to Boston in 1818, and entered the employ of John Osborne the only piano maker in that city. He mastered every detail of the work, made many improvements and in 1823 began business for himself in April, and in June of that year finished and sold his first piano. This is now in the collection of early musical instruments of various types be- longing to the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.
1827 HAVERHILL CORNER BUSINESS DIRECTORY
Grafton Bank-John L, Bunce, Cashier.
Post office-Moses Dow, postmaster; Edward Towle, assistant; office, Towle's tavern. Ministers-Grant Powers, Congregational; Ebenezer Ireson, Methodist; Bryan Morse, Methodist.
Academy-Andrew Mack, principal.
Physicians-Edmund Carleton, Ezra Bartlett.
Attorneys-Samuel Cartland, Joseph Bell, David Sloan, John Nelson. Notary-George Woodward.
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HISTORY OF HAVERHILL
Deputy Sheriff-Joshua Blaisdell.
Tailors-Moses H. Sinclair, Prentiss Knight.
Coroner-Jonathan Sinclair.
English and West India Goods-John L. Rix, Benjamin Merrill, Russell Kimball & Co., Stephen Adams, Wm. Barstow, Jacob Bell, Nancy Bliss.
Booksellers-George Woodward, Henry Towle.
Printer-Sylvester T. Goss.
Taverners-Edward Towle, James Williams, Jonathan Sinclair.
Tanners-Henry Barstow, Austin Ladd, Hiram Ladd.
Goldsmiths and Jewellers-Henry Towle, John Osgood.
Cabinet Makers-Stephen Adams, Michael Carleton.
House Joiners-Jabez Brown, Hiram Rowe.
Shoe Manufacturers-Moses H. Sinclair, Amos Horn, William Woodward, Joshua Merrill, Henry Barstow, Haines & Chapman.
Wheelwrights, Wagons and Sleighs-Bryan Morse, Hiram Rowe, Joseph Lee.
Miller and Cloth Dresser-Isaac Piersons.
Blacksmiths-Pool & Wilson, Jona. Sinclair, John H. Sinclair, Bryan Morse, Joseph Herbert.
Painter and Glazier-Nathaniel Tucker.
Saddlers and Harness Makers-Jacob Williams, Henry Barstow, Joshua Merrill.
.Tin Plate Worker-Richard N. Brown.
Hatters-Uriah Ward, Gould French.
Milliner-Nancy H. French.
Butchers-Charles J. Swan, Hosea S. Baker.
Cooper-Ahira Wright.
Mason-William Ladd.
Carding Machine Maker-Joseph Herbert.
Haverhill Corner had not then reached the height of its business pros- perity, but there was a steady though perhaps not rapid growth for the next fifteen or twenty years, the most serious check being caused by what was known as the big fire of 1848. The business directory of 1916 may be found of interest in comparison with that of 90 years earlier:
Academy-E. B. Cornell, principal.
Post Office-M. H. Randall, office in his store on Court Street.
Ministers- , Congregational; Methodist Episcopal.
Physician -. Russell.
Blacksmiths-Elmer Spencer, Frank L. Keyes.
Carpenters-Elmer S. Blake, John O. Gifford, H. H. Morrison, C. M. Swan.
Carriage Repairers-Elmer Spencer, F. L. Keyes.
Creamery-Lyndonville Creamery Association.
General Stores-W. H. Page & Son, M. H. Randall, Wells & Atkins.
Harness Maker-N. M. Avard.
Hotel-The Crawford House, Mrs. Nettie Crawford, Prop.
Insurance-Tyler Westgate.
Notaries, Justices-Tyler Westgate, Arthur K. Merrill.
Lawyer-Samuel T. Page.
Library-Haverhill Free Library.
Milliner-Miss H. F. Morrison.
Painters-H. A. Carpenter. W. H. Large.
Undertaker-M. H. Randall.
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HISTORY OF HAVERHILL
Haverhill Corner was in the heyday of its prosperity in 1820. In 1790 it was a question whether Horse Meadow, Ladd Street or the Corner was to be the leading village of the town. But when the county buildings at Horse Meadow needed to be replaced by new ones, Col. Charles John- ston and his neighbors executed a master stroke of policy when they made room for the courts in the edifice they were erecting for the Academy, and John Page and Capt. Michael Johnston made a jail according to the specifications of the court and presented it to the county. The enterprise of these public-spirited men did not end here, they obtained an exten- sion of the postal service from the south to this village, and to facilitate travel from the lower towns to the Corner a turnpike was built over the old Indian trail to Bakers River, and the Coös Bank was incorporated so that this was one of the few villages enjoying banking facilities in New England.
All this made it certain that Haverhill Corner should become the most important business center north of Concord, showing what can be done by wise and enterprising individuals for the community in which they live, enhancing the value of their own property while promoting the general welfare. Stage routes were established in every direction, from Concord by way of Bristol, also Hanover from the towns down the Connecticut River, from Montreal by way of Stanstead, Danville and Peacham, from Lancaster by way of Littleton, and across the Green Mountains to Bur- lington, Albany and down the Hudson to New York. We find routes advertised in all these directions in the local papers so that Haverhill seemed to its residents to be a point from which one could start for any part of the world that had communication with civilization. Indeed the news from Europe though several weeks old occupied a far larger space in the local print than it does today in proportion to the local items. A lady once told me that when she was a child in Danville, Vt., it was the ambition of her life to see Haverhill Corner, where all travellers from North, South, East and West must pass the night. Mr. Wells the historian of Newbury says that when he read the verse, "A city set upon a hill cannot be hid," he always thought of the Corner across the line.
The busiest place at the Corner "in the olden time," was where the old Court House now stands. Here was a lawyer's office, two stores, and the Eagle Hotel on the south side of the street, and on the north side Michael Carleton's shop where rifles were made, a wheelwright shop, and the black- smith shop where General Poole and his stalwart sons shod the horses of the neighborhood, and most conspicuous of all the yellow building, afterwards moved back to make room for the Court House, in which was the office of the local paper, a book store, and most important of all the exchange post office for the whole north country where the mail
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HISTORY OF HAVERHILL
pouches brought each night from every quarter were emptied and the mail redistributed to be sent out in the morning in every direction. Morning and evening the six horse Concord coaches drove up to this yellow building to take in or give out the mail and then turn across to the Eagle hotel or the Towle tavern or the Exchange to discharge and take on its passengers, fifteen or more on a coach, especially fall and spring when merchants made their semi-annual trip to Boston. As postage was high, and the express business not what it afterwards became, these merchants would be loaded down with letters and commissions which required a day or more in the city to deliver and execute.
The journey to Boston or Montreal occupied two days, the intervening night being spent at Concord or Stanstead according as the journey was to the South or North. Travellers had ample time to become acquainted with each other on this two day journey, and when the coaches were crowded ample opportunity to test each other, and ascertain in whom the altruistic spirit was most fully developed.
As every thing from "down below" as it was called, must be brought by the team, the people's wants were met largely by local manufactures. The wool and the flax raised by the farmers was made up at home, and furnished almost entirely the material for wearing apparel. Uriah Ward, hatter, furnished the head-gear that was not made up at home. Michael Carleton and Stephen Adams, with their journeymen and appren- tices manufactured the furniture, and articles of furniture from Michael Carleton's shop are today cherished in some homes as handsomer and more serviceable than what can be purchased in the cities. John Osgood made clocks. The one he gave to the brick church which long hung behind the minister's desk is still keeping good time in the chapel. Some of his tall clocks can still be seen in the vicinity of the Corner. Down at the Brook carriages were made in two different factories. Woolen cloth was made in the brick factory which has recently been torn down. Two saw- mills not only furnished lumber for the local market, but also for the rafts that were sent down the river. A gristmill prepared the flour and coarser grains for man and beast. A foundry transformed the old iron brought in into stoves and other useful articles. The blacksmith supplied the mar- ket with iron and steel utensils which the foundry could not turn out. The tannery furnished the leather for the local shoemakers and harness- makers. In short, local manufacturers supplied nearly every need, for freighting with horses greatly enhanced the price of whatever was brought from a distance. Their distance from market made the people of Haver- hill resourceful, while their situation where thoroughfares met and crossed made them intelligent and up-to-date, and the Academy inspired a cultivated tone in society at the Corner which probably was unexcelled in Northern New Hampshire.
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HISTORY OF HAVERHILL
It is a little difficult to say where the village of North Haverhill begins and where it leaves off. Determined by residences and buildings the village might be said to begin with the Eastman homestead on the north, extend on the street south to the top of the hill above W. H. Ingalls', to embrace Depot Street as far east as the Jefferson Pennock place, but this would be a most inadequate description of that part of the town of Haverhill, known at first as "the Plain," afterwards as Swasey's Mills, Slab City, and since the advent of the railroad as North Haverhill, though the railroad station rejoices in the name of Black Mount.
Haverhill as it has grown and developed has become a town of four communities. The Corner, embracing Ladd Street and the Brook, has been distinct from the beginning. Pike and East Haverhill, the school districts numbered 8, 14 and 6 may be fairly classed as another distinct community. Woodsville is isolated in the northwest corner, while North Haverhill means more than two streets mentioned above; it includes Horse Meadow, Brier Hill, and that part of the township variously known as Bangerstown, the Centre, school districts numbered 10, 15, and 19.
In glancing at the history of the growth and development of this section of the town there is a temptation to speculate on what might have been if-the first settlement was at North Haverhill, Poole Brook was the site of the first mills and its waters turned the first water-wheels in town; if only the mill privileges on that brook had been utilized at the first as were those on Hosmer's, the Oliverian; if only the proprietors had not permitted John Hazen to combine his rights and take the whole of the little Oxbow into his farm instead of dividing it into half a dozen home- steads on each of which was located the family of a settler; if only by further combination the so-called "Fisher farm" had not been created, and a large section of what is now North Haverhill been closed to settle- ment for thirty years and more; if only the location of Dartmouth Col- lege had been secured for the Plain as at one time it seemed certain it would be; if only the court house and jail which had been built at large expense on a site which was then desirable, and the desirability of which would not have been subsequently affected by railroad construction, had not been abandoned for a less favorable location at the Corner; if only after the death of Capt. Hazen the two leading settlers Colonels Hurd and Porter had not only worked at cross purposes with each other, but with the other settlers, so that they became subjects of boycott; if only -well, if only several things had not happened, concerning which it is idle to speculate, the history of the Plain, Horse Meadow-North Haver- hill, in fact, might have been, probably would have been different. Things had, however, by 1800 got well started at the Corner and the Brook and the opportunity of North Haverhill had passed. "Oppor- tunity has no back hair."
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