History of the town of Haverhill, New Hampshire, Part 48

Author: Whitcher, William F. (William Frederick), 1845-1918
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: [Concord, N.H. : Rumford press]
Number of Pages: 838

USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Haverhill > History of the town of Haverhill, New Hampshire > Part 48

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An account of the banks, county officers and courts, schools, churches, physicians and lawyers has been given in other chapters.

The Woodsville Fire District was created by act of the Legislature of 1887. It embraced the section lying north of the homestead of George Ring and west of the highway leading from the County Almshouse to Bath -the state road-and as subsequently amended in 1899 and 1913 pro- vided that the district shall elect at each annual meeting in the month of March, moderator, clerk, auditor, treasurer, and three com- missioners. Until 1900 there were five commissioners. The commissioners shall have within the district all the powers of the mayor and aldermen of any city respecting highways, sidewalks and sewers, and shall be by virtue of their office, firewards. They shall control and direct the expen- diture of all moneys raised under the authority of the district and by the town of Haverhill for expenditure in the district. They shall have sole authority to appoint a highway surveyor in the district, and in default of such appointments shall themselves perform the duties of the office, and no distinct or special liability is imposed on the district respecting highways within its limits. All streets and highways within the district are laid out by the selectmen, and are constructed by the town, the district being responsible for their upkeep, for which it receives in proportion to valua- tion its part of all moneys raised by the town for general highway purposes.

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The district may raise and appropriate such additional sums of money as it deems necessary for streets, sidewalks, sewers and fire protection.

As a result of this legislation, the Woodsville District has pursued a liberal policy. The main or Central Street has been concreted its entire length, concrete and cement sidewalks have been constructed, streets have been lighted by electricity, a comprehensive and efficient system of sewers has been constructed, and an efficient fire department has been organized and maintained, and it is no exaggeration that no village in the state has better or more effective protection from firc. Woodsville has, as a matter of course, suffered from fires, the more not- able of which have been: The Mount Gardner House, 1886; Railroad Passenger Station and Division Superintendent's offices, February, 1888; the Woodsville Lumber Works sawmill fire, November 24, 1905; Music Hall and Odd Fellows Block, etc., May, 1902; the roundhouse, May 15, 1907; Legro Block, August 28, 1910; the Parker House, February 13, 1912; the Hotel Johnson, August 31, 1912; Electric Light Sta- tion, February 17, 1913; D. S. Stone's saw and planing mill, Decem- ber 25, 1915; Mulliken Block, March 14, 1916. The number of men at present connected with the department is 20. There is the large hose house on Central Street, and a small one at the westerly end of the street. The department has five hose carts, one ladder truck, and 3,650 feet of hose, and the 29 hydrants which have been installed are so situated as to afford protection to the entire village.

Until 1868 the supply of water both for the use of the railroad and for families was obtained from wells and by pumping from the Ammonoosuc, but in that year a spring on what was known as the Chamberlain farm in Bath lying northerly of the Butler farm in Haverhill was purchased by the Boston, Concord & Montreal Railroad, and water was brought to the village, through a lead pipe main, costing $5,500. As the village grew and the demand for water by the railroad increased, the supply became more and more inadequate, and the problem of such supply became more and more urgent. The Woodsville Aqueduct Company was incorporated in 1885, with a capital stock of $30,000. The rights of C. B. Smith in the mill privilege on the Ammonoosuc with those of the John L. Woods' heirs were purchased, as were also the spring and aqueduct belonging to the railroad, a new dam was built on the site of the old one which had been practically destroyed by freshets, and a complete and thoroughly con- structed water system was put in giving the railroad an ample supply for its constantly increasing needs, the village also a supply for domestic purposes. The fire district created two years later the best possible pro- tection from fires, and by its automatic pumps, generating power for its electric lighting system added five years later in 1890, also for small manufacturing industries. In the construction of the power house, it

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may be of interest to note that its stone foundation was made of the stone which had formed the walls of the old town house at the centre of the town which had been abandoned some two years previously, a new Town Hall having been erected at North Haverhill. Improvements and additions have since brought the construction account up to nearly $70,000, and the property is a valuable one and is under excellent and businesslike management, a majority of the stock being at the present time owned by the Concord & Montreal railroad. The quality of the water for domestic purposes is perhaps not beyond criticism, but it has in recent years been greatly improved by chemical and mechanical devices used for its purification, and the water from the spring is still brought to the village separated through its original main, and is available for family use, so that little or nothing is left to be desired in the way of water supply. The aqueduct water is certified to by the state board of health as pure.

The original corporators were W. A. Stowell, E. B. Mann, William Ricker, E. F. Mann, Ira Whitcher, G. A. Davison and George S. Cum- mings; the directors were Ira Whitcher, W. C. Stowell, E. F. Mann, E. B. Mann, G. A. Davison, G. S. Cummings and S. B. Page. The officers were: President, Ira Whitcher; clerk and treasurer, G. A. Davison; superin- tendent and agent, E. B. Mann. The pump used, automatically run by water power, keeping the mains full at sufficient pressure for fire protec- tion was made by Lang & Goodhue of Burlington, Vt. In 1807-08 it was completely overhauled and repaired and auxilliary steam fire pump installed under the direction of Charles Griffin of Lowell at an expense of about $10,000. In 1915 the dam was rebuilt at an expense of about $6,500. At the present time (1917) the water taps are 330 and electric light meters are 367. The fire district has installed 29 hydrants at an annual expense of $25 each, and pays $15 each for its 85 street lights. The officers of the company are: President, E. B. Mann, superintendent, George E. Cummings; clerk and treasurer, Fred L. Sargent.

Woodsville has never been a manufacturing centre, nor is the prospect bright for its becoming such. It has ample and unexcelled railroad facilities, but its lack is a cheap power. The Ammonoosuc water power is fully used in the maintenance of a water supply, and the generation of electricity for the purpose of lighting streets, railroad yards, places of business and dwellings. There is no Connecticut River power available except such as may be generated from electricity and brought from a long distance up the river. Coal could of course be used for steam power, but the expense of transportation has heretofore been too great to make its use profitable. Besides the sawmills before mentioned the lumber finish- ing works operated for a time by L. H. Parker, J. M. Sayres and later by G. H. Kendall, and the present sawmill, planing mill, box and spool mill of Dwight S. Stone, there has been little or nothing in the line of manu-

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facturing industry. An attempt to establish granite working sheds, the raw material being taken from the French Pond granite quarries promised success for a time, but was abandoned as unprofitable.

As a village of residences Woodsville is specially attractive. Its growth at the present time is necessarily toward the east. The available house lots, except on Kings Plain near the new High School house, are occupied until across the track is found the newest portion of the village, where new streets have been laid out, and tasteful and well finished dwelling houses erected by D. S. Stone have given the locality the name of Stone- ville. Central Street, appropriately named, runs parallel with the rail- road track nearly through the centre of the village. On the north and cast the principal streets are North Court, Highland, Mill, Ammonoosuc, Cherry, Park streets and those newly laid out in Stoneville, while on the south and west are Pleasant, South Court, Maple, Elm, Pine, Beach, King and South streets. Central Street has just been extended west- ward in a straight line to the bank of the Connecticut to meet the new street over the free highway bridge, which the towns of Haverhill and Newbury are building to replace the toll bridge.

The Woodsville streets are well kept, the residences furnished with modern improvements, are themselves for the most part new and modern. The board of trade is constantly on the lookout for improvements and for new business, and there is a gradual healthy growth, and development. In many respects a separate and distinct municipality by itself, it is at the same time an important part of the old town of Haverhill, loyal at all times to its best interests and prosperity. More than any other section of the town its history lies in the future.

East Haverhill has probably changed less during the last three quar- ters of a century than any other section of the town. It is not a large village; it never was large, nor is there any prospect of immediate growth. It has no manufacturies unless the creamery may be considered one. The sawmills on the branch of the Oliverian, one in the Jeffers neighbor- hood and another, an earlier one, lower down the stream, and the larger and more important one near the railroad crossing below the railroad station have disappeared. The kilns for the burning of lime at the base of Black Mountain and Sugar Loaf have crumbled, and those in the vicinity of the railroad station once used for the burning of char- coal have long since been abandoned, with little left to tell of a former existence.

East Haverhill is a farming community. It has its store, its post office, its church, a neat modern structure erected on the site of the one built in the thirties of the last century and destroyed by fire a few years since, and that is all. Its farms, such as have not been abandoned are in a state of better cultivation than half a century ago; their owners have

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more money now than then, but there has been little change. Among the names of the present residents, are still those of Blake, Elliott, Jeffers, Hardy, True and Gannett, but those of Noyes, Farnsworth, Doty, Baker, Park, Durant, Morse, Nason, Page, Burleigh, Cawley, Simpson, once familiar, are missing. The railroad station is no longer East Haverhill but Oliverian, but the community is still one by itself, with its own tra- ditions and its own individuality. Whatever intimate connection it has with other parts of Haverhill, it has with Pike, just as half a century ago Pike Station might be considered a part of East Haverhill, and School Districts, Nos. Eight, Fourteen and Six, a community by itself. The changes which have taken place are at Pike, where from small beginnings an industry, under the name of the Pike Manufacturing Co. has grown to control the most extensive business of its kind, that of tool sharpening stones-in the world. In 1821 Person Noyes, who lived at East Haver- hill, while chopping in the woods in Piermont near the Haverhill line picked up a piece of stone upon which he attempted to whet his axe. The stone gave such good results that he got a few rough pieces from a nearby ledge, and broke them into rough scythestone shape but made no attempt to grind them smooth. He sold some of these to neigh- boring farmers, but dying soon after, there was no attempt to develop an industry until, in 1823, Isaac Pike, who had married Mrs. Noyes, began to grind these stones into scythestones and place them on the market. He built his grinding mill on the Oliverian, where the village of Pike has since grown up. He was also engaged in the lumber business, and transported his scythestones on his rafts down the Connecticut, and hauled them by teams to Burlington, Vt., whence he shipped them to New York by water. The quarry first used was on the shores of Indian Pond, just over the Haverhill line in Piermont, and the product became known as the Indian Pond scythestone, a name which has become famil- iar in all parts of the world where scythes are used.

Mr. Pike saw large possibilities in this industry, but at the time of his death in 1860, the whetstone business was in a very unsatisfactory con- dition. It was taken up by his son, Alonzo F. Pike, and by his indomita- ble energy, and executive ability it soon began to assume large impor- tance. In 1883, the Pike Manufacturing Company was incorporated with A. F. Pike as president and large owner of stock. At his death he was succeeded by his brother, Edwin B. Pike as head of the corporation, who in turn at his death was succeeded by his son, E. Bertram Pike. The whetstone business soon outgrew itself, and the production of Arkan- sas oilstones was taken on, the Arkansas stone being found only in the Ozark Mountains in that state. Originally used by the Indian for his crude cutting implements, its fame is now world-wide. The genuine stone is composed of millions of pure silica crystals microscopic in size,

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of the greatest hardness and sharpness, silica being among the hardest of known minerals. Indeed so perfectly crystallized is it that it is nearly sixteen times harder to cut than marble, enabling the hardest steel tools or blades with fine points or blades to be sharpened upon it without grooving the stone. No other oilstone approaches the Arkansas for the purpose of removing the last bit of microscopic burr from the cutting edge or from the delicate parts of fine machinery. Arkansas stones are prepared for commercial purposes in two grades, hard and soft. The hard is composed of 992% pure silica and its sharpening qualities are due to small, sharp pointed crystals, and it is used by surgeons, histolo- gists, jewellers, dentists, watchmakers, engravers, and in all other similar professions or trades. The soft is not quiteso fine grained or hard, but it cuts faster and is better adapted for sharpening the tools of wood carvers, pattern makers and all workers in hard wood. It is a stone used by sheep-shearers on the great sheep ranches of the United States, Australia and South America. Washita oilstones is another product of the Ozark Mountains, manufactured by the Pike Co. and is composed of nearly pure silica, but is much more porous. It is regarded as the best natural stone for sharpening carpenters' and wood-workers' tools.

The output of the company also embraces a variety of artificial sharpen- ing stones, among which is an India oilstone manufactured by the Norton Company of Worcester, Mass., the sale of which is handled by the Pike Co., and known the world over as the Pike India. It is a stone used almost universally in machine shops. These stones were first made from corundum imported from India, but the difficulty of obtaining a supply of corundum led to its reproduction in a stone called Alundum made by fusing bauxite in the intense heat of an electric furnace. The Pike Crysto- ton is another artificial stone, an electric furnace product made from coke, sand, salt and sawdust. The growth of this business of this company has been phenomenal; and from the rude scythestone fashioned by Person Noyes nearly a century ago to the more than eleven hundred different stones listed regularly in the catalogue of the Pike Co., it is indeed a far cry. There are shapes, sizes and gritsfor every conceivable purpose, this is because each one of these stones fills some particular sharpening require- ment just a bit better than any other stone. For example it might seem that in the limited field of the scythestone, the ordinary stone would be all sufficient. A scythestone is a scythestone. But there are decided differences, some grass is fine, tough and wiry like that common to New England, while at the other extreme is the coarse heavy prairie grass of the west. For the first a fine even edge is required on the scythe, for the latter a coarse rough edge is better, and for the variations in between edges of various descriptions are found more efficient. This principle applies

PRESIDENT TAFT AT WOODSVILLE, OCTOBER 10, 1912

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to the whole range of sharpening stones. A certain class of work may be satisfactorily performed on a natural stone, an Arkansas, Washita, or a Pike scythestone, or an artificial stone like the India, or Crystoton may be better fitted for the work in hand.

The Pike Manufacturing Company furnishes Haverhill's most notable industry. Its headquarters are at Pike, where a village has grown up around its whetstone plant, and where its business offices are located. They have another large plant located at Littleton.

CHAPTER XXI

THE CEMETERIES

SIX IN TOWN-HAVERHILL-NORTH HAVERHILL-NUMBER SIX-EAST HAVERHILL- HAVERHILL CENTRE-WOODSVILLE-UNDER CARE OF CEMETERY COMMISSION.

AT the annual town meeting held in March, 1903, the need of doing something in the way of improving and maintaining the cemeteries of the town was brought to the attention of the voters by Mr. E. B. Pike. As a result of this, a committee consisting of Mr. Pike, Frank W. Baird and Arthur Clough was appointed to look into the matter. At the meeting of 1904 the following persons were elected cemetery commis- sioners: Edwin B. Pike, chairman; Wilbur F. Eastman, secretary; Dr. Henry C. Stearns, treasurer; James M. Jeffers and Caleb Wells. It may be noted that these commissioners are all dead, but the work of caring for the cemeteries has been carried on by their successors subse- quently elected, though much remains to be done.

IN THE MEMORY OF MR. JONATHAN SANDERS WHO DIED JANUARY 11, 1774 IN YE 64TH YEAR OF HIS AGE Blessed are Ye Dead Yt Die in Ye Lord

Such is the inscription on the oldest tablet in the Haverhill Cemetery at Ladd Street, according to the pamphlet issued by the Cemetery Com- missioners in 1906, which in 1774 was set apart by the town for the burial of the dead, twelve years after the first settlement of the town in 1762. The original burying ground was situated in the northwest corner of the present cemetery. Another addition was made in 1853, and in June, 1868, another addition was made so that the cemetery consists of three distinct lots. The last addition was laid out in three distinct ranges, and a further addition will soon have to be made. In June, 1849, land was deeded for a cemetery on Powder House Hill, but there were but few burials there, and the bodies were taken up and removed to the Ladd Street Cemetery. Located on a hill overlooking the Connecticut Valley, the oldest cemetery in the town, it is the last resting place of so many sturdy pioneers who helped to make the town of Haverhill what it is today. Here are interred members of many of the old Haverhill families. Here lies the body of Col. Charles Johnston, the Bedels, the

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Page family (a member of which was Governor John Page), the Merrills, the Kimballs, the Ladds, the Pearsons, the Swans, the Montgomerys, the Bells, the Crosses, the Sloans, the Dows, the Gookins, the Carletons, the Bartletts, the Towles and many others.

The Horse Meadow Cemetery is located about a mile and a half on the road leading from North Haverhill to Woodsville. In the original part of the cemetery is a stone which bears the following inscription:

THIS STONE IS PLACED HERE BY

Timothy Barron of Bath in memory of his grandsire, Capt. Timothy Barron, who died Nov. 7, 1797, in the 58th year of his age. He was one of the first settlers of this town and the first person interred in this burying ground. He was seized and possessed of the land he was buried upon and there is never to be any conveyance from him nor his heirs

Our Fathers; where are they and The prophets do they live forever?

So far as is known there is no other title by which the ground is held for burial purposes. April 30, 1866, land was purchased of the late Schuyler Merrill to make an addition to the south and east sides of the cemetery, and May 4, 1893, land was bought of Lafayette Morse to make additions to the north and west sides. In June, 1900, a spring was purchased which furnishes a good supply of water. This was opened at the same time as the Haverhill Cemetery, 1774. Among the prominent people buried here are: Asa Porter, John L. Woods, Joshua Howard, Obadiah Swasey, Dr. John Angier, Dr. Henry B. Leonard, Langdon Bailey, Nathan P. Rideout, George A. Davidson, Charles M. Weeks, Ira Whitcher, George S. Cummings, Ira Carleton, Dr. H. P. Watson, together with members of the following families: Southards, Moses, Kimballs, Frenches, Jacksons, Abbotts, Eastmans, Carrs, Gales, Glynns, Hibbards, Merrills, Butlers, Woodwards, Getchells, Johnsons and numerous others.

Adjoining this on the east side is a lot devoted to the burial of paupers.

There is no available information as to the exact date when the ceme- tery at Number Six was first used as a burial ground and by whom laid out. The oldest gravestone having name and date thereon is that of Nathan Mead, who died in 1812. There are other graves older than this one, and it may be presumed that the laying out of the lot was a voluntary action on the part of the first settlers of this part of the town and the west part of Benton. It is on the road leading from near Number Six schoolhouse south through Benton flats. Here will be found the graves

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of the Morses, the Meads, the Elliotts, the Lunds, the Jefferses, the Haines, the Dotys, the Whitakers, the Batchelders.

The land of the East Haverhill Cemetery was purchased of Stephen Farnsworth, consisting of about half an acre, the price paid for the same being $15. This money was raised by subscription by Hosea S. Baker, and a deed was given July 8, 1824. A second lot was bought of Stephen Farnsworth, 2d, and additional land was from J. O. Tuttle and wife. The first person buried here was a son of John Buswell in 1822 who lived on the farm now owned by William Spooner. There are sixty graves in this yard that are unknown, and there are more than fifty known graves that have no stones. Much has been done to improve the condition of the yard, but much more remains to be done. Among the graves here are those of the Pages, the Pikes, the Pierces, the Bakers, the Simpsons, the Knights, the Cuttings, the Fords, the Niles, the Woodburys, the Noyes', and many others.

The Centre Haverhill Cemetery was first used by the burial of a son of William Gannett, in 1832. The land for the cemetery was donated to the Centre Haverhill Society by Anson Smith. It has been twice neces- sary to enlarge the yard. Among the prominent families buried in this yard are the Gannetts, Mills, Nawns, Hildreths, Bacons, Glaziers, Bribers, Morses, Prescotts, Haywards, Partridges, Phelps, Whartons, Pikes, Sleepers, Wilsons, Aldriches, Keysers, Chases, Cloughs, Millers, Heaths and Gleasons.

The cemetery at Woodsville is finely situated, on the road over the hill to Swiftwater, and was first opened to the public in 1899.

CHAPTER XXII

APPENDIX

OFFICERS-COURT HOUSE-COUNTY FARM-FISHER FARM-MILITIA-POPULATION- SUPERINTENDENT CUMMINGS' ADDRESS-HAVERHILL BIBLIOGRAPHY.

MODERATORS, town clerks, selectmen and representatives to the general court from 1763 to 1916. Town officers for the year 1763 were ap- pointed by the proprietors, except moderator who was named as such in the charter. Moderators with s attached to their names held their positions at special meetings.

Moderators

1763 John Hazen

1764

Jacob Bailey

1765

Elisha Lock

1766 John Hazen

1767

James Abbott

1768

Timothy Bedel

1769 John Hazen 1770 John Hazen s 1770 James Bailey

1771 Charles Johnston

1772 John Hazen 1773 Charles Johnston

1774 Ephraim Wesson

1774 Ephraim Wesson s

1775 Simeon Goodwin s

1775 James Bailey

1776

James Bailey s

1776 Thomas Simpson

1777 Ephraim Wesson 8

1777

Thomas Simpson

1778 Thomas Simpson s

1779 Charles Johnston

1780

James Abbott s, Timothy Bedel s, Timothy Bedel

1781 Timothy Bedel

1782 Timothy Bedel, Charles Johnston s

1783 Moses Dow

1784 Timothy Bedel, Charles Johnston s, Daniel Ste- vens s

1785

Charles Johnston

1786

Moses Dow

1787 Asa Porter s, Moses Dow

1788 Moses Dow s 1788 Charles Johnston 1788 Charles Johnston 8

1789 Charles Johnston s, Charles Johnston, Charles Johnston s

1790 Charles Johnston, Moses Dow s

1791

Moses Dow, Charles Johnston s, Asa Porter s, Obadiah Eastman s

1792 Asa Porter s, Charles Johnston

1793

Charles Johnston s, Andrew S. Crocker

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History of the town of Haverhill, New Hampshire, Part 48

Author: Whitcher, William F. (William Frederick), 1845-1918 Publication date: 1919 Publisher: [Concord, N.H. : Rumford press] Number of Pages: 838

Author: Whitcher, William F. (William Frederick), 1845-1918
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: [Concord, N.H. : Rumford press]
Number of Pages: 838