USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Henniker > History of the town of Henniker, Merrimack County, New Hampshire, from the date of the Canada grant by the province of Massachusetts, in 1735, to 1880 with a genealogical register of the families of Henniker > Part 31
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CORONER'S INQUEST.
State of New Hampshire. Hillsborough, ss. An Injunction taken at Henni- ker within the said County of Hillsborough the 25th day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand Eight hundred & Six, before Enoch Long Jun" Esq', one of the Coroners of the said County of Hillsbor- ough, upon the view of the body of Nathan Blanchard, there lying dead, by the oaths of Samuel Wadsworth, Amos Gould, Joseph Plummer, Ezra Tucker, Israel Adams 3ª, Alexander Patterson, Elias Gould, Moses Connor, Bodwell Emerson,
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Parker Pearson, Benjamin Eaton, and Joseph Estabrook, good and Careful men, who being sworn and charged to inquire for the said State, when, how, and by what means the said Nathan Blanchard came to his death, upon their oaths do say that the said Nathan Blanchard was casually drowned attempting to cross Contoocook river in a small boat at Kimballs polnt, (so called.) It appears, by the testimony given, that the said Na- than Blanchard was drowned as aforesaid between sunset on Wednesday the 24th and one oclock P. M. on thursday the 25th instant, about which last mentioned time he was found, taken up, and conveyed to the late dwelling house of the said deceased, in Henniker by Moses Connor, Oliver Noyes, Phine- has Campbell, Elijah Stone, Jonas Bowman, Capt. Harris, John Gibson, Abraham Fifield, Aaron Adams, & Thomas Brown, upon a board.
And so the Jurors aforesaid, upon their oaths aforesaid, do say, that the said Nathan Blanchard, upon their oaths aforesaid, came to his death by misfortune.
(Foreman,) Samuel Wadsworth (LS) Moses Connor, (LS) Amos Gould, (LS) Bodwell Emerson, (LS)
Joseph Plummer, (LS) Parker Pearson, (LS) Ezra Tucker, (LS) Benjamin Eaton, (LS) Alexander Patterson, (LS) Joseph Estabrook, (LS) Elias Gould, (LS) Israel Adams, 3ª (LS)
In witness of all before written the said Coroner hath here- unto set his hand & Seal the same day and year.
Enoch Long Jun', Coroner (LS)
A true copy-Attest- Enoch Long Jun', Coroner.
WILLOW TREE.
The willow which has stood for so many years in front of the old "Plummer place," in the south-east part of the town, has an interesting history. Joseph Plummer, Sen., came home one day on horseback, more than a cen- tury ago, using for a riding stick a small willow twig. He imbedded one end of it in the ground, and shortly after a little daughter of his pulled it up; her father reprimanded her sharply for the act, saying to her if she did the same thing again he should punish her. She repeated the act, when his promise was carried into effect ; and the twig, which
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was used in the punishment, was again placed in the ground. From it grew the enormous tree that shaded the house for so many years.
ELM TREE.
The magnificent elm standing in front of Mr. Charles Stevens's house was set out by Major Crocker almost a century ago. Dr. Amos Whitney then resided there.
LIBRARY.
A library association was formed in this town November 30, 1803, consisting of many of the prominent men of the town, and for several years was quite prosperous, contain- ing at one time 170 volumes-a large number for those days. The books were sold by auction when the associa- tion disbanded.
In 1866, another library association was formed, com- prising many of the young ladies and gentlemen of the town, and, by the means of donations, levees, and purchases, the library at one time contained nearly one thousand vol- umes. Although quite prosperous for a while, it soon saw the need of a fund to assist it in keeping up with the pub- lications of the day, for the want of which the association became extinct, and the books scattered.
REMINISCENCES.
The following interesting reminiscences are from the pen of C. H. Gould, Esq., of Cincinnati, O. :
The writer has pleasant but also sad recollections of the home of his childhood,-of things and people that were, but are not.
The old Congregational church, once standing between the Gould and Rice residences, but long since burned down, with its sheds in the rear : looking into the interior, we find the high pulpit of the olden time, with the gallery
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all round ; pews with the seats hinged, to accommodate the order of standing in prayer time. The pulpit was furnished with two large volumes of the illustrated Bible, the pictures of which he spent many hours in examining when he went to unlock and open the church on the Sunday mornings. But the worshippers of that day have also passed away, and, like the building, remain only in memory. They came from Westbury Corner, Pork Hill, Federal Hill, Hemlock Corner, as well as from the villages, and " Priest Sawyer" seldom failed of having an appreciative audience. They came in all kinds of weather, although there was no shade from the summer's sun, or heat of any kind in the house to pro- tect from the severity of the cold of winter. They came prompt to the hour. The Woodses, Wadsworths, Morrisons, Gibsons, and Colbys, from Westbury Corner ; the Childses, Whitneys, Smiths, Gosses, and Pattersons from Pork Hill ; the Cogswells, Connors, Proctors, &c., from Federal Hill ; and the Peterses, Fosters, Rays, and Connors from Hemlock Cor- ner. They came in their Yankee wagons and one-horse chaises, and the quiet of the still Sabbath morning would be transformed into the bustle of a city for a few minutes ; but within these minutes all of these, with the people of the villages, would be gathered into the church, and all would have assumed the quiet of the well-ordered church assembly.
The preaching was doctrinal, logical, scriptural, and im- pressive ; convicting of sin, and of righteousness and judg- ment ; but lacking the simple scriptural answer to the ques- tion, "What shall I do to be saved ?" found in Acts, II : 38.
The singing was good. The old church tunes and hymns were so rendered as to make that part of the worship im- pressive. John Connor was the leader of the choir. He was by nature a musician. Dr. Sanborn and Col. Imri Woods were the players on the violoncello; William Foster the player upon the double-bass. The Cogswells, Whitneys, Fosters, and others carried the bass, and Lucinda Gould was
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the leading soprano. Carlos Gould accompanied on the clar- inet, and others on the various parts. The number aver- aged from twenty to thirty. It was the pride of the church in those days, especially about Thanksgiving time, when they would, after considerable preparation for that occasion, render some of the old anthems. These old church choirs were the beginning of a musical culture and taste that have spread far and wide since those days. The violoncello, dou- ble-bass viol, clarinet, and flute have been superseded by the organ, with its many instruments all under the control of one player ; but even now the many instruments and the many players are resorted to when fine execution is demanded ; and the present generation of Henniker may not be quite sure that in the execution of church music they are much in advance of fifty years ago.
Intimately connected with the church and its session was the old town library, and although insignificant as compared with things of its class, it may not be unworthy of a place in the town's history. For many years Elias Gould was the librarian, and it was kept in what was then the dining room and kitchen, as a convenient place for the church-going peo- ple who came to the house to warm at the time of recess between the two meetings on Lord's days. It contained between two and three hundred volumes, embracing his- tories, poems, treatises upon astronomy, theology, nature, art, etc. There was only one work of fiction, and its title was "No Fiction."
This room was the place for the attendants at the church to warm, get books, and discuss the merits of the morning's sermon, all of which was done decently and in order, with due respect to the day.
CHAPTER XXII.
INDUSTRIES OF THE TOWN-STATISTICS-POEM-VISIT TO A CENTENARIAN-CONTOOCOOK RIVER-POEM.
THE CONTOOCOOK VALLEY PAPER COMPANY.
T HIS company was established in 1871, and purchased the water-power at West Henniker, which had lain idle since the burning of Mr. Cheney's paper-mill, February 8, 1869. The dam in the river above the mill site was in a damaged condition, and the canal in so bad a state as to be almost useless, when this company purchased the property. This company was composed of P. C. Cheney & Co., one third owner; Henry T. Hill, one third owner ; and Henry A. Emerson, one third owner. It was incorporated in June, 1872. The town, at a meeting held June 8, 1871, vot- ed to exempt their improvements from taxation for a term of ten years. A new mill was built, also a new dam ; the canal was enlarged and made secure, and the bulkhead built entirely new, all at an outlay of $50,000. Since then, the property has changed hands somewhat. It has added to its mill, in room and machinery, has purchased a large amount of real estate that it needed in the village, and has been in constant operation since it was first started, save when re- pairs were necessary to be made. The mill furnishes em- ployment for about thirty-five hands, and the monthly pay- roll exceeds $1,000. Six hundred tons of paper are made year- ly at the mill, which is in constant operation, both day and
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night. The value of goods manufactured by the mill yearly is fully $100,000. The officers of the corporation, Decem- ber, 1879, were O. D. Murray, Nashua, President ; H. W. Gilman, Nashua, Treasurer; T. P. Pierce, Nashua, Clerk of Corporation ; Henry A. Emerson, Henniker, Agent. Mr. Emerson has been agent of the corporation for several years, and under his management and skill the goods manu- factured have taken a high rank in the market, especially their book paper, which is pronounced by competent and impartial judges to be the very best manufactured in New England. Besides book paper, this company manufac- ture news- and card-paper of an excellent quality. They are now owners of the entire water-power at West Henni- ker, which is one of the most valuable on the Contoocook river. A machine-shop is connected with the mill, in con- stant operation, in which the repairing and new work for the mill is done, and also a general business.
In January, 1880, Mr. Emerson retired from the firm, and the company was consolidated with the Nashua Card and Glazed Paper Company of Nashua, with a capital of $200,000. The three first officers of the company remain the same,-William M. Gilman, resident director.
JOHN GUTTERSON'S GRIST-, FLOUR-, AND SAW-MILL.
John Gutterson purchased the "lower mills" in the autumn of 1862, building them entirely new since then at a cost for mill and machinery of $7,000. In 1873 he rebuilt the dam, which had then been in existence for 107 years, having been thrown across the river in 1766. One log now remains in the dam that was placed in it when first built. In November, 1864, Mr. Gutterson purchased and brought to town a carl-oad of corn, containing 416 bushels. This was the first car-load of corn brought into town for sale, and it was not all disposed of until the April following. He now averages in sales over 7,000 bushels yearly, and from twenty-five to thirty tons of shorts.
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The amount of lumber sawed in his mill since he became owner has been 400,000 feet yearly. He also has machin- ery for dressing and finishing lumber. In this mill, Gage & Co. manufactured dry measures until their new mill was built.
DILLINGHAM & CO.'S GRIST- AND FLOURING-MILL.
This mill is known as the "Wallace mill." It does a large amount of grinding, and sells yearly from 5,000 to 7,000 bushels of corn, from fifteen to twenty tons of shorts, threshes upon an average 2,000 bushels of grain of various kinds, and makes 300 barrels of cider.
GAGE & CO.'S DRY MEASURES, BOX, AND SAW-MILL.
The mill belonging to this firm is situated one mile north of the village, and its power is fed by water from Long pond. Their building is five stories high, on one side of which is their saw-mill, and in its rear, in the second story, the ma- chinery for dressing and finishing lumber. In the rooms above, dry measures, nest boxes, and piggins are yearly manufactured, to the value of $5,000. 500,000 feet of lum- ber is the annual product of their saw-mill.
In one room of the mill Messrs. Gage & McAlpine manu- facture furniture, door knobs, and door stops to the value of several hundreds of dollars yearly.
Messrs. Gage & Co. have invested in the building and the machinery $10,000, and employ, on the average, ten hands. The goods manufactured by this firm are first-class, and command a ready market, being shipped to all parts of the United States.
KIT MANUFACTORY.
George W. S. Dow & Co. have a large amount invested in water-power, buildings, and machinery, and in good times manufacture 60,000 kits a year. They have also machinery for dressing and finishing lumber, which they do to a large
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extent. Connected with their mill is also a shingle-mill, where they saw annually a large number of shingles. Dow & Co. employ, on the average, ten hands.
TIN SHOP.
Messrs. Harriman & Marshall manufacture a very large amount of tin, copper, and iron ware.
SHINGLE- AND CIDER-MILL.
George E. Barnes has a shingle- and cider-mill just above Gage & Co.'s, taking his water-power from Long pond. He performs most of the labor in his mill himself, and saws 200,000 shingles annually, and some clapboards, and makes upon an average, yearly, 450 barrels of cider.
BROWN'S MILL.
Messrs. Brown & Gove, in the south part of the town, grind corn, saw shingles, and thresh to quite a large amount at their mill.
John C. Newton & Son have a new saw-mill just below the Brown mill.
BASKET-SHOP.
Messrs. Fred H. Barnes and George W. Farmer have a basket-shop in the north-east part of the town, where they manufacture superior baskets, to the value of many hun- dreds of dollars yearly, for all of which they find a ready sale.
CIDER-MILL.
Hazen K. Plummer has a cider-mill in the south-east part of the town, where is made yearly 250 barrels of cider.
RAKE FACTORY.
For more than a third of a century Isaac Morse has had a mill on the little stream in the south part of the town,
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where he has sawn shingles and laths, and manufactured wheelbarrows and rakes, to a large amount in value yearly.
Close by him is the mill of George Carnes, who occupies a part of the year in manufacturing wheelbarrows and other useful articles.
COOPER SHOP.
Moses Garland, at his shop, manufactures a large amount of pork- and beef-barrels, for which he finds a ready sale. Some seasons, in addition to his other work, he manufac- tures quantities of flour-barrels.
HARNESS-SHOP.
Messrs. Rogers & Sargent, at their shop, manufacture a large number of harnesses yearly, all of which are readily sold.
At the wheelwright shop of James Wilkins and Daniel E. Putney many carriages and sleighs are manufactured for sale.
At the several stores and shops in the town, goods to the value of over $ 100,000 are sold yearly.
Some of the former industries of Henniker have now be- come extinct. Capt. Aaron Adams had, near his residence in the south-east part of the town, a distillery, where quite an extensive business was done at one time. The business ceased soon after his death. A rope-walk, several hatters' shops, potash manufactories, several large tanneries, the manufacture of shoe-pegs, which was at one time carried on largely at West Henniker by David Houston and George Arnold, the manufacture of powder-kegs by Hiram M. Da- vis & Co., clothing- and carding-mills, linseed oil by Moses Brown and Mr. Gove, chairs by John Kirk, and cabinet- work by John Peters.
In the spring of 1873 a company was formed under the name of the "Henniker Boot & Shoe Co.," for the manufac-
28
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ture of ladies' boots and shoes. Several thousands of dol- lars were furnished, and a building 60 by 30, four stories in height, was erected just north of the residence of Mrs. Mod- ica. Quite an amount of boots and shoes was made for a couple of years, furnishing employment for many persons ; but the depression of the times and the overstocking of the market were ruinous to the company, and work ceased. The building now occupies the site of the brick building burned in 1876, and is used for a store, shop, offices, halls, etc.
The several industries of the town are now in a pros- perous condition, and in their prosecution there is invested at least $150,000. They furnish employment for from 75 to 100 hands, and manufacture and sell goods to the amount of $250,000 annually. The productions of the soil amount annually to $150,000. The inhabitants of the town have $175,000 in the different savings banks of the state ; $30.000 in railroad bonds and stocks ; $100,000 in gov- ernment bonds and other securities not otherwise named ; and $3,000 is received annually from summer tourists.
In pursuance of an act passed at the June session of the legislature in 1871, the town held a meeting July 7, 1871, and voted to exempt from taxation, for a term of ten years, any improvements of the water-power of the town to the value of $10,000. At the annual meeting, held March II, 1873, this vote was amended so as to include the manu- facture of cotton, woollen, wood, or iron goods, and of any other material.
VILLAGES.
The first settlement at West Henniker village was begun about 1783, by the Amsden brothers, of Bolton, Mass., who were millers by trade. The brick houses in the village, so nearly alike, were erected, the one by John Campbell, the other by Col. Imri Woods. There was at one time within its limits a woollen factory, a grist- and saw-mill, a mill for the manufacture of shoe pegs, a carding-mill, blacksmith
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shop, cabinet shop, hatter's shop, several carpenter shops, and a store. At present it contains the large paper-mill, machine-shop, store, and post-office.
There were no permanent settlements in what is now the main village, until about the commencement of the present century. Annas Campbell had erected a good house ; a log house stood in what is now the garden of L. W. Cogs- well, and was occupied by Ensign Elijah Rice ; a log house stood midway of the square between the present hotel and Noyes's new block ; no other house nearer than Mr. Peters's, under the " Scales hill," on the north side of the river, save at the lower mills. On the south side, Mr. Hemphill had a house where Charles Nichols now resides. A house or two had been erected near the lower mills, on both sides of the river. The village has continued to grow from that date,- first, a store ; then a hotel ; then other trades ; and at the present time there are within its limits upwards of one hun- dred dwelling-houses, two churches, academy, hotel, two school-houses, three large blocks each sixty feet in length, one three, one four, and one five stories in height ; tin shop, two grist- and flouring-mills, saw-mill, kit factory, wheel- wright's shop, five blacksmith shops, three stores, one tailor's shop, several shoe shops, two millinery shops, tannery, meat market, saddler's shop, jeweller, dentist, barber, and halls for Masons, Odd Fellows, Grangers, and Reform Club.
VISIT TO A CENTENARIAN.
The following sketch, written by P. B. Cogswell, is taken from the Independent Democrat, of June 10, 1869 :
One of those rare but exceedingly interesting events, the completion of a century of time in the life of an individual, occurred at Henniker, on Saturday, the 5th instant, the person being Mrs. Ruth Hemphill, whose life covers almost the entire history of the town. Hundreds of people availed themselves of the opportunity to call upon her on that day
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including men, women, and children. She endured the fatigue and excitement attendant upon so many calls most wonderfully, considering her usual habits were so complete- ly interrupted during the day and evening. Of late she has been in the habit of going to bed early in the afternoon. On this day, visitors began calling early in the forenoon, and she took a nap at 10 o'clock of nearly two hours, and again in the afternoon of about the same length, so that she could remain up and receive a serenade from the Henniker Cornet Band, which honored her with a visit about 8 o'clock in the evening, playing for her nearly an hour.
During the day and evening probably three hundred per- sons saw her, and many of them conversed with her. She seemed to enter into the spirit of the occasion, and was quite talkative, mentioning many incidents in her early life, and particularly concerning the soldiers who went from the town during the Revolutionary war : how they were marched into the old log meeting-house, and were preached to by the first minister of the town, Rev. Jacob Rice, etc. Her recollections of the battle of Bunker Hill were quite dis- tinct.
Her room was bountifully supplied with bouquets of flow- ers, especially with the pink azalia ; and a great many of her callers, knowing her fondness for sweetmeats, provided her amply with confectionery and figs, which she requested to have carefully laid aside " in her basket," consoling herself with the remark that she " should have something to eat to-morrow." She seemed to enjoy the music very much, and expressed her delight at the close of every piece, and even thought she could almost dance to a waltz which was played. She was remarkably bright through the day, and said a great many quaint things, and indulged in some jokes, thus proving that not only
" A little nonsense now and then, Is relished by the best of men,"
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but by a centenarian also. It was our good fortune to be present in the evening, and to see her again on the follow- ing day, and hear from her own lips some of the facts of her early life, which we here present.
Mrs. Ruth Hemphill was the sixth child of Dea. Eben- ezer and Ruth Harthorn (Dea. Harthorn being the thir- teenth settler of the town). Dea. Harthorn removed to Hen- niker from Marlborough, Mass., and was the first deacon in the town. He erected the second frame house in Henniker, which is now standing in excellent preservation at West Henniker, and is owned and occupied by Col. L. W. Cogs- well. It was in this house that this daughter Ruth was born. Ruth was one of the two first children baptised in town, the ceremony being performed on the same day.
In August, 1794, she married James Hemphill, a native of Windham, and, like Andy Johnson, a tailor by trade, who was eight years her senior in age. He served in the Revo- lutionary war, as is believed by his children, nearly through the whole of it, although she drew a pension as his widow for only eight months' service. It is certain that he served under two terms of enlistment. He died at Henniker, April 15, 1816, the year known as the " spotted-fever year," and two of their children also died the same year of that disease.
Mrs. Hemphill had a family of ten children,-nine boys and one girl,-and all through life has been a remarkably in- dustrious and hard-working woman. She was taught to spin and weave when a very small girl, and one year after she had her whole family, wove over 700 yards of cloth, besides taking care of her family. She was noted as a spin- ner and weaver, and by her skill maintained and brought up her large family, she being left without much means at the time of her husband's death. All the shoe-thread used in town for years was spun by her. She was also skilled as a braider of straw, and knitting was her delight. A pair of stockings knit since she was 95 years old will compare well with the very best specimens exhibited at fairs. For the
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past four years she has been unable to knit in consequence of her inability to keep the count of stitches.
She lived for about sixty-five years after her marriage in a house near the present town-house, on the road from the village to the depot. Since that time she has resided with two of her sons,-J. D. Hemphill, now of Grantham, and Ebenezer Hemphill, whose house is about a mile and a half below Henniker village, on the main road to Weare. Only two others of her children are living,-Robert in western New York, and Peter in Springfield, this state, both aged men. The exact number of her descendants is not known to any of the family, but in 1861 they numbered between sixty and seventy; and probably there are over a hun- dred of them to-day, as one of the sixth generation is living at the West.
She is the only person born in the town who ever attained the age of 100 years, and probably another instance will never occur. Two other individuals have died in the town who were 100 years or more old, viz., Widow Sally Hardy, in 1844, at the age of 103 years, who moved to town some time after the birth of Mrs. Hemphill; and Maj. Jeremiah Crocker, a colored man, who died June 14, 1836, whose age was not positively known. He was a drummer in the Rev- olutionary war, and a servant to General Washington ; and from incidents which he used to relate as transpiring in his early life, he must have been at least 100 years old at his decease.
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