USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Keene > History of the town of Keene, from 1732, when the township was granted by Massachusetts, to 1874, when it became a city > Part 50
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ABEL BLAKE, JR.
Abel Blake, Jr., son of Capt. Abel and Sally (Richard- son) Blake, was born in 1795; educated at the academies at Chesterfield, N. H., and Groton, Mass., and taught school for several years. Both he and his elder brother Reuel were remarkably gifted in penmanship and spent many years in teaching that art. In 1835 he married Hannah T. Monroe; lived on the homestead; had one son, Milton; died 1894, aged ninety-nine years, three months and nineteen days.
JOHN G. BOND.
John G. Bond's name first appears in Keene in 1800. He was partner with Amasa Allen (Allen & Bond) in the first store, so far as is known, on the east side of the Square; succeeded Dr. Daniel Adams as postmaster, 1802-
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1808; one of the first directors of Cheshire bank, 1804; married, 1802, Sally, daughter of Hon. Daniel Newcomb; built the house afterwards purchased by Miss Catherine Fiske and used for her school, now the residence of Mrs. E. C. Thayer; removed to Niles, Mich., and became a judge.
WILLIAM M. BOND.
William M. Bond's name first appears in 1802. He was probably a brother of John G. Bond; married, in 1802, Nancy, daughter of Alexander Ralston; partner with Alexander Ralston, Jr., in "the Red store one door north of Wells' (the Ralston) tavern," where he continued for several years; captain of the Ashuelot Cavalry in 1807, and afterwards colonel of the Twentieth regiment of militia.
Mr. and Mrs. Bond lived together until 1823 and brought up "a large and respectable family of children" (nine), when they separated, and a divorce was obtained in another state. Their daughter, Jane, married a Dr. Henry Maxwell, of Lockport, N. Y. Through that con- nection the divorced couple met, renewed their attachment, and were remarried at Lockport in September, 1831. The children, several of whom had become heads of families, joined in the wedding festivities.
ELISHA BRIGGS.
Elisha Briggs, son of William Briggs of Norton (Taun- ton), Mass., a millwright, came to Keene in 1762-3. He was a member of the militia company in Keene in 1773; in 1775 he projected the canal and built the original dam and mills where Faulkner & Colony's mills now stand, and "about this time, projected and surveyed the canal, con- ducting the waters of White Brook into Ash Swamp Brook." (Annals, page 45.) He owned and operated the mills on Beaver brook, where Giffin's mills now are (1901) and also those on the North branch near the upper Rox- bury road. He married Mary, and had ten children, born between 1759 and 1795.
ELIPHALET BRIGGS.
Eliphalet Briggs, son of William, of Norton, Mass.,
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married Abigail Gay; came to Keene in 1767, or earlier; a member of the alarm list in 1773; died 1780, aged sixty- seven. His wife died in 1781, aged sixty-four.
ELIPHALET BRIGGS.
Capt. Eliphalet Briggs, son of Eliphalet, was born in 1734; married Mary Cobb; came to Keene in 1769, or earlier; was the Eliphalet Briggs, Jr., in the alarm list in 1773, and was an ex-captain of militia at that time; was selectman in 1773 and 1776; was delegate to the conven- tion at Walpole in 1776; died of small pox in 1776, aged forty-two. His wife, Mary, died in 1806, aged sixty-nine.
ELIPHALET BRIGGS.
Eliphalet Briggs, son of Capt. Eliphalet and Mary (Cobb) Briggs; was born in 1765; married Elizabeth, daughter of Capt. Jeremiah Stiles; was a carpenter, joiner and cabinet-maker; built many of the first framed houses in Keene, by "the scratch and scribe rule," framing by the square rule not then having come into use; died in 1827, aged sixty-two. His wife, Elizabeth, died in 1819, aged forty-nine. He had ten children, born 1788-1809, four of them daughters, and the six sons all learned the cabinet- maker's trade and became skilled workmen.
ELIPHALET BRIGGS.
Eliphalet Briggs, son of Eliphalet and Elizabeth (Stiles) Briggs, was born in 1788; married Lucy, daughter of John Brown of Packersfield (owner of Brown's, now Wood- ward's pond in Roxbury); carpenter and joiner, cabinet and chair maker-first, in the firm of Smith & Briggs on Prison street and in the mills and turning works on Beaver brook, and on the North branch, afterwards alone and then with his son, William S. Briggs; lived on Prison street, where Dr. A. R. Gleason now does (1902), but in the small house now standing next east of Dr. Gleason's; then built and occupied the house opposite, No. 64; was the master mechanic that moved, repaired and finished the meeting- house in 1828 and built the Cheshire House in 1837; was selectman in 1820-30; town clerk, 1823-30; representative, 1831. He was a dignified, courteous gentleman, highly
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respected, and always alive to the best interests of the town; a fine natural musician, and for more than thirty years led, with voice and violin, the large mixed choir- sometimes consisting of seventy-five persons-of the First Congregational church; died 1853, aged sixty-five. His wife, Lucy, died in 1845, aged fifty-seven. Their children were Lucius H., Ellen S., Juliette, William S., Elizabeth S., Mary L., Joseph W., Sarah W., born between 1811 and 1829.
WILLIAM S. BRIGGS.
William S. Briggs, son of Eliphalet and Lucy (Brown) Briggs, was born in Keene, 1817; married Nancy Ann, daughter of Dr. Daniel Adams, the author of the arithme- tics; was for several years in the furniture business with his father and afterwards alone; was selectman in 1854; representative, 1861-2; director in Cheshire National bank. He recorded many details of the history of the town in articles published in the local papers; lived in Keene until nearly eighty years old; died in Montpelier, Vt., in 1901.
JOSEPH BUFFUM.
Joseph Buffum, son of Joseph and Sally (Haskell) Buf- fum, was born in Fitchburg, Mass., in 1784; graduated at Dartmouth in 1807; read law with Noah Cooke; began the practice of law in Keene in 1812; postmaster in 1813- 18; elected to congress, 1819, and served one term; declined reelection on account of the corruption and venality in politics; retired to his farm in Westmoreland; never mar- ried; died at Westmoreland in 1874.
ALBE CADY.
Albe Cady. His name first appears in Keene records in 1806 as cashier of the Cheshire bank, and he held that position until 1814. He married, in 1806, Sarah, daugh- ter of Capt. John Warner (sister of Mrs. Azel Wilder) and had five children. He owned and lived in what was then considered the finest house in town, at the northeast corner of the common, where Clarke's block now stands. He was town clerk of Keene for five years, selectman four years and representative three years. In 1814 he was
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appointed secretary of state, removed to Concord, and was reappointed in 1815. In 1816 he was chairman of the committee that built the present state house at Concord. He was for many years senior warden and a very active member of St. Paul's (Episcopal) church in Concord, and died in that town July 6, 1843, aged seventy-three.
ALBEMARLE CADY.
Gen. Albemarle Cady, son of Albe and Sarah (Warner) Cady, was born in Keene in 1809; appointed from New Hampshire to the West Point military academy; graduated in 1829, and joined the Sixth U. S. Infantry. (His military record is given in "Miscellaneous Organizations" of the Civil war). After serving on frontier and garrison duty until 1838, and being promoted to captain, he served for several years in the war with the Indians in Florida. In the war with Mexico he was present at the siege of Vera Cruz and in the battles of Cerro Gordo, Churubusco and Molino del Rey, at the latter of which he was wounded and won distinction for gallantry, for which he was after- wards promoted. For many years after that war he served in the Indian wars in the West and was promoted to major in 1857. In the early part of the Civil war he served on the Pacific coast, with the rank of lieutenant colonel and colonel, and remained there until 1864, when he was placed in command of a draft rendezvous at New Haven, Ct. In May of that year he was retired for disability resulting from wounds, with the rank of brevet brigadier general in the regular army, granted for long and faithful service. He died at New Haven, Ct., in 1888.
EZRA CARPENTER.
Rev. Ezra Carpenter was born at Rehoboth, (Attle- boro), Mass., in 1698; graduated at Harvard in 1720; married in 1823, Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. Thomas Greenwood, of Rehoboth; preached at Hull, Mass., from 1723 to 1746; settled in Swanzey, N. H., in August, 1753, and was ordained over the united churches of Keene and Swanzey, Oct. 4, 1753. His salary was £100 per annum -£50 from each town. That union continued for seven years, and he remained pastor of the church in Swanzey
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until 1769, when he was dismissed at his own request.1 He was given his choice of the two places for residence,2 and he chose Swanzey. In 1757 he was appointed a chap- lain in the Crown Point expedition. He was a man of easy, graceful manners, kind and gentle in disposition, "a pious and faithful shepherd and given to hospitality." He died in Walpole, N. H., in 1785, and a square, slate stone with an inscription marks his grave. Mrs. Carpenter died in 1766, and her gravestone may be seen in the cemetery at Swanzey. They had at least five children-possibly more-one son, who died young, and four daughters, one of whom married Dr. Taylor of Charlestown, N. H., and was the grandmother of Rev. Nathaniel and Miss Eliza- beth Sprague of Keene.
ALGERNON SIDNEY CARPENTER.
Dr. Algernon Sidney Carpenter, son of Dr. Eber and Judith (Greene) Carpenter, was born in Alstead, N. H., in 1814, and graduated at Middlebury college. After prac- ticing for a few years in Massachusetts, he came to Keene and was a leading physician for forty-eight years. He married, in 1850, Jane F., daughter of Henry Coolidge, Esq., of Keene, and they had two daughters. In his pro- fession he was skilful, kind, considerate, and successful; in his home and society he was genial, courteous, and large- hearted. He was a man of strong will and positive nature, hating sham and hypocrisy. His ancestors came from Surry, Eng .- where they held high rank-in 1638; and his grandfather, James Carpenter, was a Revolutionary soldier. Dr. Carpenter died in 1885.
LEVI CHAMBERLAIN.
Hon. Levi Chamberlain was born in Worcester, Mass., in 1788 (brother of John C, a distinguished lawyer and
1 The council that dismissed him had but just left the meetinghouse when a tornado struck it and turned it one-quarter round, so that it faced east instead of south.
2 The first log meetinghouse in Swanzey, and also the second one, a framed building, were built on "Meetinghouse hill,' and the old Indian fort was on the same elevation. Mr. Carpenter's residence was on the same hill, on the same farm and in the same house now occupied by his great grandson, Mr. George Carpenter; and the same spring of water that supplied the fort is now the source of Mr. Carpenter's water supply; and the hollow pine log that was placed in the spring for a curb, by the first settlers, in 1734. still remains the curb, and is in a good state of preservation.
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advocate of Charlestown, N. H.); married in 1835, Harriet A., daughter of Dr. Josiah Goodhue, of Hadley, Mass .; spent two years at Williams college but did not graduate; read law and began practice in Keene in 1814, in a small building on the east side of Main street below Sumner's tavern; was at one time a partner with Foster Alexander; was assistant clerk of the courts; removed to Fitzwilliam in 1819; represented that town in the legislature, 1821- 1828; was state senator, 1829-30; county solicitor, 1830; returned to Keene, 1832; representative in 1838, '40, '44, '52 and '61; for several years president of the Cheshire bank; Whig candidate for governor in 1849 and '50; one of the three commissioners from New Hampshire to the Peace congress at Washington, in 1861, called in the attempt to patch up a peace between the North and the South. Mr. Chamberlain was an able lawyer, a judicious, confidential adviser; of agreeable, dignified manners; genial and witty; and many of his bright sayings were repeated about town and through the state.1 He died in 1868.
ITHAMAR CHASE.
Ithamar Chase, son of Dudley and Alice (Corbett) Chase, was born in Cornish, N. H., in 1763; married Janette, daughter of Alexander Ralston, of Keene; came to Keene in 1813-14; kept the old Ralston tavern; was member of the state council 1812-16; died in 1817. The burial service of the Episcopal church was read for the first time in Keene at his funeral, and made a deep impres- sion.
SALMON P. CHASE.
Salmon P. Chase, son of Ithamar and Janette (Rals- ton) Chase, was born in Cornish, Jan. 13, 1808, the eighth of eleven children; came to Keene with his parents when about ten years old. He wrote that his first attend- ance at school in Keene was "in a dark room with a great many boys in it, on our (the west) side of the street be- tween my father's house and the meetinghouse," doubtless over the old Cheshire bank, where the railroad depot now
1 As a specimen of his wit it may be related that when looking for his wraps as he was leaving a party one evening he asked, "Now what rascal has gone off with his good new hat and left me my poor old one?"
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stands, as Miss C. Aldrich taught there at that time. He and his sister, Ann, afterwards attended the "family school" which Rev. Z. S. Barstow had opened at his own house. Dr. Barstow, in his reminiscences, says of him: "Chase was a rather raw and uncouth lad, but very tal- ented, and an apt scholar. He was then ten years old, and very small for his age. His sister, Ann Chase, was older, and a very superior girl. Both read Virgil and Euclid with me and I was very fond of them."
Salmon's father had invested his wife's share of the Ralston estate in the glass business in Keene, and when that failed, and the father died, the family was left very poor, and the mother with her large family of children removed from the tavern to a "yellow, story-and-half house (on the north corner of Main and Marlboro streets) where the guideboard said 'To Swanzey, 7 m's.,' and "To Boston, 77 m's.'" (S. P. Chase's own words.) From that house his sister Ann was married, in 1818, and his brother Dudley, went to sea and never returned. For two years Salmon was at school with his uncle, Philander Chase, first bishop of Ohio, and after spending a year at a college in Cincinnati, returned to Keene-walking from Troy, N. Y., via Bennington and Brattleboro-and con- tinued his studies. Not long after his return (some accounts say when he was fifteen, others' when he was seventeen years old, and it may have been during his winter vaca- tion in college) a committee from Roxbury, N. H., "en- gaged him to teach a school at $8.00 per month and 'board around.' There was a goodly number of pupils, both boys and girls, of all ages, some older than himself." It was in the little old schoolhouse still standing at the foot of Nye's hill on the road from Keene to Roxbury. There was insubordination and punishment, and before the end of two weeks he was notified that his services were no longer required. He then pursued his studies, partly at Royalton, Vt., entered Dartmonth college as a junior and graduated at the age of eighteen.
He went to Washington, D. C .; studied law four years under William Wirt; began practice in Cincinnati at the age of twenty-two, and rose to the position of governor
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of Ohio, United States senator, secretary of the United States treasury during the Civil war, and chief justice of the supreme court of the United States.
JOHN COLONY.
John Colony (original name spelled as at present, but written Connoly and Conley in the early town records) was born in Kilkenny, Ireland, in 1730; came to Wrentham, Mass., about the year 1740; enlisted in the army in the last French and Indian war, 1755-60; joined Capt. Rog- ers's famous corps of rangers; was in the battle near Fort Edward when Major Israel Putnam was captured and tied to a tree to be burned, but was finally released; served nearly through the whole war. For that service he received a grant of land in Maine, which he exchanged for a tract on Saxton's river, near the village of Grafton, Vt. In 1761 he married Melatiah, sister of Ichabod Fisher, one of the early settlers of Keene, came to Keene about the same time and bought the farm in the west part which still remains in the possession of his descendants- his great granddaughter, Martha Colony, and her husband, William H. Woodward, now occupying the homestead.
He was a man of great energy and courage. At one time during the war he was in a fort, to which the settlers had fled with their families, besieged by the French and Indians. The infant children were in great need of milk, cows were grazing just beyond the enemy's outposts, and young Colony volunteered to get the milk. Taking his gun, his pail and his trusty dog, he stole through the enemy's lines, reached the cows, filled his pail, and started to return. When nearly half way to the fort his dog barked, and turning, he confronted an Indian, whom he quickly shot, then picked up his pail and ran for the fort. The dog and the gun had roused the savages and they followed in hot pursuit, but Colony reached the fort in safety, with his pail of milk intact. At another time, after he came to Keene, he heard a large bear foraging at night in his cornfield, a little to the southwest of his log cabin. He took the old musket that he had carried through the war and went out and shot him, and had his skin for a trophy.
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He died in 1797. His children were: Hannah, born in 1762; Timothy, born'in 1764; Melatiah, born in 1766; and Josiah, born in 1774.
TIMOTHY COLONY.
Timothy Colony, son of John and Melatiah (Fisher) Colony, was born in Keene in 1764; married Sarah, daughter of Benjamin Dwinnell (her mother, Mary Estes Dwinnell, was a descendant of the parents of Rebecca (Towne) Nurse, who was hanged as a witch in 1692; see sketch of Phineas Nourse); lived on the Colony homestead ; had Josiah, born 1791, Polly, born 1793, John, born 1795, Joshua D., born 1804, and three other children. He died in 1836, aged seventy-two.
JOSIAH COLONY.
Josiah Colony, eldest son of Timothy and Sarah (Dwin- nell) Colony, and grandson of John Colony above, was born in 1791; brought up on the farm; educated in the public schools and by his own efforts in extensive reading and study, gaining thereby unusual general intelligence. Robust and athletic, and displaying a remarkable aptitude for mechanics, he was employed in early manhood in run- ning the saw and grist mills where the Faulkner & Colony mills now stand. While thus employed, in 1814, he enlisted in the company of Capt. James M. Warner, of Acworth, in the regiment of Lt. Col. John Steele, of Peterboro, of the detached militia sent to Portsmouth in September to de- fend that town and harbor from an attack of the British, then threatened. After a service of sixty days, when the danger was passed, he was discharged, with his company.
In 1815, he formed a partnership with Francis Faulk- ner, clothier, and with him bought all the mills and water privileges where he had been at work, except those owned by Azel Wilder, west of the sawmill, and established and carried on a successful business, which their descendants still continue, greatly enlarged.
In 1817, Mr. Colony married Hannah, daughter of Danforth Taylor, of Stoddard. The children by this mar- riage were Timothy, George D., Henry, Mary A., Alfred
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T., John E. and Horatio, born between 1819 and 1835. In 1853, he married for his second wife, Mrs. Jane (Briggs) Buell, by whom he had one son, Josiah D., born in 1855. He died in 1867, aged seventy-six.
Mr. Colony was a remarkably keen observer,1 shrewd and persistent in his business affairs, but of the strictest integrity. He never sought public office, but was generous and public spirited in everything that pertained to the welfare of the community.
JOSHUA D. COLONY.
Joshua D. Colony, (named for Capt. Joshua Durant), son of Timothy and Sarah (Dwinnell) Colony, was born in 1804; had a common school education; when a young man was a clerk in the Phoenix Hotel; began business in 1828 with Elbridge Keyes (Keyes & Colony) in the west end of Wilders' building (now Ball's block). The firm built a three-story brick store in 1832, on the site of the present postoffice, and moved into it in 1833. That firm dissolved in 1844, and Mr. Colony, with his nephew, Tim- othy Colony (J. D. & T. Colony) succeeded Sumner Wheeler & Co., in Perry's block, on the east side of the Square, where Colony's block now stands. They after- wards took in Timothy Colony's brother, Henry (J. D. Colony & Co.), and added to their business the manufacture of window glass at the old works on the site of the present jail-the last of glass-making in Keene. That firm dissolved in 1850, and Mr. Colony, with Geo. W. Tilden (Tilden & Colony) took the old Lamson store, on the east side of the Square, then owned by Geo. H. Richards. In 1853, Mr. Colony was appointed postmaster, and he held that office eight years, through the administrations of Presi- dents Pierce and Buchanan-keeping the office at his store. In 1855, the Cheshire County bank was organized (now the Keene National). Mr. Tilden retired from the firm to
1 Many of Mr. Colony's bright and witty sayings were repeated, one of which, showing the clearness of his financial vision, is given here. During the Civil war, when paper money was in great abundance and business was exceed- ingly profitable, the firm invested largely in real estate. At one time Mr. Colony bargained for a tract of land in Ash Swamp meadows, and asked his partner, Mr. Charles S. Faulkner to go with him to look at it. Arriving on the land Mr. Faulkner looked it over and said: "Why, Mr. Colony, this is very poor land. It doesn't bear anything but checkerberries." "Yes, yes," " said Mr. Colony, "but a bushel of checkerberries will be worth as much as a bushel of greenbacks if this war continues."
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become its cashier, and his place was taken by Mr. Col- ony's son, Lewis J. (J. D. & L. J. Colony). In 1860 the firm sold out their mercantile business and bought the cotton mill at Munsonville. A few years later the Cheshire Republican was purchased by J. D. Colony & Sons, includ- ing Ormond E. and Oscar L., who had been in the firm since 1860-the father assuming the chief editorial work and management-and that property still continues under the same firm name, in the possession of the son, Oscar L. Colony.
Mr. Colony married, 1831, Frances Seamans Blake, daughter of Ira and granddaughter of Dr. Obadiah Blake of Keene. Her mother was a daughter of Aaron Seamans, one of the active business men of Keene in the early days, who, in partnership with Moses Johnson, had pot and pearlash works and a distillery on what is now Castle street, a tannery in rear of the present Eagle Hotel, and, with Ebenezer Daniels, a large shoe manufactory on Main street; and built and lived in what is now 72 School street.
Mr. Colony had three sons, named above, and three daughters, Frances M., Sarah and Hannah. He died in 1891.
NOAH COOKE.
Noah Cooke, "a descendant of Major Aaron Cook, who came to this country in 1630 and commenced the settlement of Dorchester, Mass., afterwards removed to Connecticut;" was born at Hadley, Mass., in 1749; grad- uated at Harvard in 1769; studied divinity, and was licensed to preach, in 1771; joined the American forces at Winter Hill in October, 1775; "received his first commis- sion as chaplain, dated January 1st, 1776, 'embracing the Fifth regiment of foot commanded by Col. John Stark, and the Eighth regiment commanded by Col. Enoch Poor, in the army of the United States.' In 1777 (to 1780) he was chaplain to the hospital of the Eastern department. These commissions entitled him to the rank and pay of a colonel." (History of New Ipswich). He served till Oct. 3, 1780. Soon after leaving the army he came to Keene; read law with Daniel Newcomb, Esq .; was admitted to the bar in
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January, 1784; married Mary (Polly), daughter of Na- thaniel Rockwood of Winchester, N. H., in the same month and removed to New Ipswich the same year; bought of Daniel Newcomb, in 1790, the "Cooke place" on Pleasant street; came to Keene in 1791, built the "Cooke house" (still standing, on West street), and made that his home- stead, and died there in 1829, aged eighty. During the last years of his life his office was in the northwest parlor of that house. Previous to that it had been on the east side of Main street, below the Edwards tavern, and later on the east side of the Square. He was for many years one of the leading lawyers in the county ; for ten years-1795 to 1804-town clerk of Keene; and was an upright, honorable man, much respected by the whole community. His children were: Noah, born in New Ipswich, 1785; died in Keene, 1791. Josiah Parsons, born in New Ips- wich in 1787; studied with his father; married Mary Pratt, of Boston; went to that city and became an eminent and very successful lawyer. Polly (Mary), born in New Ips- wich, 1788; married Rev. Silas Wilder of Keene. Noah R., born in Keene, 1792.
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