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 54
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While on a visit with his wife to her sisters in Keene, Major Ingersoll took a fancy to the place, and particularly to the house-then considered a fine one- which still stands west of the little pond at West Keene, between Black brook, which comes down from the north, and White brook, which joins it from the west. It had been built and kept as a tavern by Jesse Clark, and at that time was owned and kept by Joseph Brown. The major bought it, with the farm of eighty-three acres (for $4,000) hoping there to recuperate his health. Mrs. Ingersoll named it "Whitebrook," and they came there to live, in May, 1805; but he died in July of the same year, and was buried with military honors in the Washington street cemetery.
GEORGE G. INGERSOLL.
Rev. George G. Ingersoll, D. D., only son of Major George and Martha (Goldthwaite) Ingersoll, was born in Boston, in 1796; studied at Groton and Exeter academies ; graduated at Harvard in 1815, and from Harvard Divinity school in 1818; married, 1822, Harriet Parkhurst (a pupil in Miss Fiske's school, whom he met while on a visit to his relatives in Keene); ordained in same year, pastor of the Unitarian church in Burlington, Vt .; resigned on ac- count of ill health in 1844; settled at East Cambridge, Mass., in 1847, but the state of his health compelled his resignation in 1849, when he took up his residence in Keene. He sometimes supplied pulpits at Northampton, Brattleboro and other places, and spent the winter of 1859-60 preaching at Charleston, S. C. "He was a pol- ished, genial man, with charming manners and a kindly wit." (Miss Dinsmoor's memorial.) "The Sydney Smith of our pulpit." (Christian Register.) At the centennial celebration in Keene, in 1853, he read a witty poem on local matters. He died in Keene in 1863.
CAROLINE HASKELL INGERSOLL.
Miss Caroline Haskell Ingersoll, daughter of Rev. George G. and Harriet (Parkhurst) Ingersoll, was born in 1827. With a refined taste for the beautiful in nature and art, she was an accomplished musician; and was likewise
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remarkable for her executive ability. Learning that a beau- tiful pine grove at West Keene was about to be cut down for lumber, she immediately took up the work of preserv- ing it for a public park, and raised the funds for its pur- chase by subscription from the ladies of Keene, aided by a few gentlemen of Keene, and former residents who had left the town. It was named the Ladies' Wildwood park, and she presented it to the city in 1887, as a gift from herself and the other subscribers, to be forever kept for a public pleasure ground under the exclusive control of the lady donors for twenty-five years. At the end of that period the management is to be vested in a board of three, the mayor, one alderman and one lady donor or the descendant of one, who are to constitute the Ladies' Park commission- ers; and she bequeathed to the city $1,000 as a fund, the income to be used for the care of the park.
She also made several other bequests to various insti- tutions in Keene and $1,000 for the fountain in Central park, as a memorial of her brother, to be called the " Allan Ingersoll Fountain." She died in Keene in 1893.
MOSES JOHNSON.
Moses Johnson was an enterprising trader here from 1787, or earlier,. to 1804; also had a store in Walpole, but in 1799 removed all his goods to Keene and enlarged his business here; in 1788 had a store in Federal Row; built the store since known as the Railroad store, which gave place to Gurnsey's block; afterwards joined James Mann in their large store, subsequently owned by A. & T. Hall. His large potash and pearlash works on the ridge north of what is now Castle street, near a distillery which he owned, were so profitable that at one time, even in those early days, he received a check for $5,000 for his manufactured goods. When he came to Keene the ground where the railroad track now lies, on each side of Main street, and where the Sentinel building and the Watson house, south of the track, now stand, was a dense swamp, covered with a thick growth of alders, with only a narrow causeway across it in the middle of the present street. Mr. Johnson cleared away those alders and did
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much towards filling that part of the swamp and making it solid ground. He also did a large amount of similar work near his distillery, filling in the old river bed, which ran along at the foot of the bluff near the present Tilden schoolhouse, and making it fertile land. So much did he ac- complish for the benefit of the town that at the centennial celebration in 1853 a toast was given in his honor. But he was too generous and public spirited for his own good, was unfortunate in his investments, lost his property, and removed to New York state.
EDWARD JOSLIN.
Edward Joslin, son of David and Rebecca (Richardson) Joslin of Stoddard, was born in Stoddard, April 15, 1810, being the youngest of a family of fourteen children. He came to Keene in 1830 and went to live with the older Governor Dinsmoor, attending school where the Sentinel building now stands. In 1834, he associated himself with George Page and manufactured the first mortising machine made in this country (a foot-power machine) in a shop which stood on the lot now occupied by the Washington schoolhouse. In 1836 they took Thomas M. Edwards and Aaron Davis into partnership and moved to South Keene. About the same time J. A. Fay became a member of the firm. Messrs. Joslin and Fay bought out the other inter- ests and the firm was Joslin & Fay. They brought out the first power mortising, tenoning and moulding machines ever made. About 1850 the firm erected the brick mill, 300x75 feet in size and two stories high, now occupied by the Fred P. Pierce Company. A Cincinnati branch was established about the same year, 1850, under the name of J. A. Fay & Co. The Fay company united with a rival, the Egan company, soon after 1890, the corporate name being the J. A. Fay & Egan Co. The capital stock was fixed at two million dollars, and it became the largest maker of wood-working machinery in this country, if not in the world. Mr. Joslin retained a large interest in the business.
Mr. Joslin was also interested financially in the Beaver mills, the Keene Furniture Company, the Cheshire Chair
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Company, the Keene Steam Power Company, the C. B. Lancaster Shoe Company and other concerns. He was a director in the Keene National bank from 1850 to the time of his death, and was its president for thirty years. For many years he was a trustee and vice president of the Keene Five Cents Savings bank. He was also one of the committee to build the Keene water works and for many years was one of the water commissioners.
In 1847, Mr. Joslin married Sarah Hale Thayer, daugh- ter of John Thayer of Keene. His children were Charles E. (who died in 1898), Sarah E. (who married Chester L. Kingsbury and who died in 1901), and Isabella H., who married Frank Crandall, of Yonkers, N. Y. Mr. Joslin died Nov. 21, 1901, universally esteemed and respected.
BENJAMIN KEENE.
Sir Benjamin Keene (for whom the town of Keene was named) was born in 1697, at King's Lynn, Norfolk. He was the eldest son of Charles Keene, merchant and first mayor of King's Lynn, in 1714, under King Charles II. His mother's name was Susan Rolfe. He was educated at Lynn free grammar school and at Pembroke Hall, Cam- bridge, where he graduated with the degree of LL. B., in 1718.
Through the influence of Sir Robert Walpole, a friend of the family, he was appointed agent of the South Sea Company at Madrid, and in 1724 was promoted to the British consulship at that city. In September, 1727, through the same influence, he was raised to the high post of minister plenipotentiary at Madrid. In 1729, he concluded a treaty of defensive alliance on the part of Eng- land with France and Spain. His double position of Brit- ish minister and agent of the South Sea Company caused him annoyance and denunciation by political parties and by the press, but he retained his position until he had signed a convention with the Spanish minister in 1739; but as that failed to prevent the declaration of war be- tween England and Spain, he was recalled, and returned to England. Horace Walpole described him at that time as "one of the best kind of agreeable men, quite fat and
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lazy, with universal knowledge." In 1740, he represented the borough of Malden in Essex in parliament, and from 1741 to '47 he sat for that of West Looe in Cornwall. He was also a member of the board of trade and pay- master of pensions.
"In 1746 he was sent as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Portugal to bring about a peace with Spain, and in October, 1748, he quitted Lis- bon to resume his old place at Madrid. He concluded, on 5 Oct., 1750, a treaty of commerce with Spain, when Henry Pelham referred to the abuse that had been showered on Keene, and claimed that 'he had acted ably, honestly, and bravely.' The Duke of Newcastle in 1754 wrote: I have at last got the ribbon [of the Bath] for Sir Benjamin;' and the compliment was heightened by the King of Spain performing the ceremony of investiture, whereupon the new knight took the motto of Regibus Amicis. In the summer of 1757 Keene was very ill, and wished to retire from his post, but on receiving Pitt's instructions to offer the restoration of Gibraltar and the evacuation of the settlements formed in the Bay of Mexico since 1748, if Spain would join Great Britain against France, he forced himself to make the offer. When leave to retire was at last conceded, and he was on the point of returning to England to enjoy a pension and a peerage, his illness proved fatal. He died at Madrid on 15 Dec., 1757. His body was brought to England and 'he was buried near his parents in the chapel of St. Nicholas, Lynn, a sarcoph- agus of white marble being placed over his grave. A half length portrait of him hangs in the King's Lynn town hall. He left the bulk of his fortune to his brother, Ed- mund Keene, D. D., bishop of Chester and afterwards of Ely.'
"Sir Robert Walpole ' had the highest opinion of Keene's abilities,' and in social life his 'indolent good humor' was very pleasing. Numerous manuscript letters by him, many in cipher, are among the Newcastle correspondence at the British Museum and in the collections described in the His- torical Manuscript Commissioner's Reports. The corre- spondence and other documents which he left at his death passed to the son of his brother Edmund, and were sub- mitted to Archdeacon Coxe for his historical works. Many printed letters to and from him are in the 'Chatham Cor- respondence,' 1,407, etc., 'Atterbury correspondence,' 5- 256-8, and in the compilations of Archdeacon Coxe. From a passage in Kennicott's ' Dissertation on the Hebrew Text of the Old Testament' (page 358) it appears that Keene
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interested himself in Spanish Manuscripts of the Bible."1 (Sidney Lee's Dictionary of National Biography.)
DANIEL KINGSBURY.
Deacon Daniel Kingsbury, son of Daniel of Wrentham, Mass., a descendant of Joseph, who came from England about 1630 with his brother John and kinsman Henry, was born in 1742; came to Keene previous to 1764; mar- ried Molly; had twelve children born between 1767 and 1793, but none became permanent residents of Keene. Three of his sons, Darius, Theodore and Dr. David, went West. He was a member of the military company here in 1773, and a lieutenant in Capt. Davis Howlett's company in the campaign of 1777. He owned and lived on what has since been the town farm, three and one-half miles west of the Square, and was succeeded there by his son Joel. He was a prominent man in the community and held many important offices in town-moderator of annual town meetings seventeen years; selectman twelve years; representative to the Provincial congress in 1782; a mag- istrate; and a deacon of the church for forty-five years. He died in 1825, aged eighty-two.
NATHANIEL KINGSBURY.
Nathaniel Kingsbury, elder brother of Deacon Daniel, was born in 1739; married first, Mehitable Johnson; mar- ried second, 1769, Hannah Ware; married third, 1791, Rebecca Bigelow, of Walpole; had eleven children, born between 1766 and 1798, most of whom lived in Keene and vicinity. His descendants number upwards of eight hun- dred, scattered through the northern states. He was a member of the military company here in 1773, and was also in Capt. Davis Howlett's company in the campaign of 1777. He lived in the north part of the town, on what has since been known as the Ruffle farm. He died in 1803.
ABIJAH KINGSBURY.
Abijah Kingsbury, son of Nathaniel and Hannah (Ware) Kingsbury, was born 1778; married, 1803, Abigail,
1 The story of Governor Wentworth's friendship for Sir Benjamin and his naming the town for him is told in the account of the granting of the charter of Keene in 1753, pages 108-4.
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daughter of Deacon Abijah Wilder. They lived together fifty-three years and had eleven children, all of whom lived to the age of sixty-five years or more: William, born in 1804, married Huldah Stone; Charles, born in 1805, mar- ried Ruby Osgood; Josiah, born in 1807, married Sarah Baker; Abijah Wilder, born in 1809, married Emeline Wood; Albert, born in 1811, married Ann E. Lyman; Julia Ann, born in 1813, married Isaac Rand; Mary, born in 1815, married Jonas Parker; George, born in 1818, married Lydia W. Briggs, of Keene; Abigail Martha, born in 1820, married Enoch W. Winchester; Sarah, born in 1822, married George Rising, and lived in Kansas in the exciting and bloody times of the first settlement of that state; Elizabeth, born in 1827, married Deacon George P. Drown. Many descendants of the family are still living in town. Mr. Kingsbury was an active citizen and did a large business, for those times, in shoemaking. He died in 1860, aged eighty-two.
ZEBADIAH KEYES.
Zebadiah Keyes (formerly spelled Kise) was born in Chelmsford, Mass., in 1776; married Sybil Dunn; came to Keene and with Moses H. Hale (Hale & Kise), in 1806, bought of Luther Smith the mills and water privilege on Ashuelot river, now Faulkner & Colony's, and carried on the milling and clothiers' business there until 1814, when they sold to John Maguire. His children were: Almira, born 1803, married John Colony, of Keene; Elbridge, born 1804, married, first, Martha W. Rugg, and second, Mary W. Campbell, and was for many years a merchant in Keene, with Joshua D. Colony; Harriet, born 1807, mar- ried Nathaniel Evans, a merchant, of Keene; Susan B., born 1816, married Harvey A. Bill, editor of the Cheshire Republican.
WILLIAM LAMSON.
William Lamson, son of Joseph and Susanna (Froth- ingham) Lamson, was born in Charlestown, Mass., 1763; came to Keene on foot with his bundle slung on his cane over his shoulder, in May, 1787; bought of Capt. Josiah Richardson one-fourth of an acre of land-then an open
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field - where Lamson block and the Keene Five Cents Sav- ings bank now stand, and established a tannery. When he had paid for his land, put up a building for a currier's shop and bark mill, bought his stock, and had his tannery ready for business, he had just one pistareen (seventeen cents) left in his pocket. That he went out and spent for a mug of flip for himself and friends, and then went to work. When his own work was slack he would earn a little by "striking" for his near neighbor, a blacksmith. As business prospered his operations were extended and ad- ditional land was purchased until the estate comprised, besides outlying lands and mortgages, about eighty-eight thousand square feet on Main and West streets, which is still owned and occupied by his granddaughter, Mrs. Grif- fin. In 1790, he returned to Charlestown and married Margery Russell. The young couple came as far as New Ipswich in a chaise, but from there to Keene there was no road; so, both mounting one horse, the bride on a pillion behind her husband, with all her marriage outfit tied in a bundle, they came by a bridle path through the woods to their future home. Four sons and three daughters were born to them. The eldest son, William, was for many years a leading merchant and citizen of Keene, owning and occupying the large brick block on the corner of Roxbury street and the Square, which was burned in 1865. The third son, Charles, succeeded his father in business, and was a director in the Cheshire bank, and a trustee of the Cheshire Provident Institution for Savings.
Mr. Lamson was a man of great business capacity, staunch integrity, sound judgment, amiable and generous in disposition, prompt to aid worthy young men starting in life, and one who commanded the respect and esteem of all. He died in 1828, aged sixty-five, leaving, among other bequests, fifteen hundred dollars to aid in the erection of the first Unitarian meetinghouse, on the corner of Main and Church streets, and fifty dollars a year for five years towards the current expenses of that church and society.
FARNUM F. LANE.
Farnum F. Lane, son of Ezekiel and Rachel (Fish)
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Lane, was born in Swanzey in 1816; was brought up on his father's farm; attended academies at Hancock and New Ipswich; taught school; studied law with Thomas M. Ed- wards; began practice at Winchester in 1843; removed to Walpole; came to Keene in 1849; was county solicitor for ten years; representative to the legislature from Walpole in 1847-8 and from Keene in 1862-3. Although not a popular advocate, he was well read in the law, prepared his cases with great thoroughness and managed them with sound judgment, and was a lawyer in whom the courts had great confidence and an antagonist whom other law- yers dreaded to meet. He married, 1846, Harriet, daughter of John and Harriet (Locke) Butler, of Winchester, by whom he had two daughters. He died in 1887.
THOMAS H. LEVERETT.
Thomas H. Leverett, son of Thomas and Susannah (Johnson, of London, Eng.) Leverett, a lineal descendant of Maj. Gen. Sir John Leverett, governor of Massachusetts in 1673-9, was born in Windsor, Vt., in 1806; was edu- cated in the public schools and at Capt. Partridge's military school at Norwich, Vt .; came to Keene in 1836 and was cashier of the Ashuelot bank for thirty-three years; mar- ried, first, Harriet B. Nelson, by whom he had one daugh- ter, Sarah D., who married Reuben A. Tuttle, of Boston; married, second, Abby Barnes, a teacher in Miss Fiske's school, by whom he had one daughter, Katharine F., a resident of Keene, one son who died in infancy, and one son, Frank J., who enlisted in the Ninth New Hampshire Volunteers and died in the service, at Paris, Ky., in 1863, aged nineteen.
Mr. Leverett was a genial, public spirited man, took a leading part and exercised a powerful influence in the inter- ests of agriculture and horticulture; was the active agent in the organization of the Cheshire County Agricultural Society in 1847; and also active in the purchase and im- provement, by the erection of suitable buildings, of its twenty-five acres of ground-now Wheelock park -and in the management for many years of its very successful exhibitions. He died in November, 1882.
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ABIEL ABBOT LIVERMORE.
Rev. Abiel Abbot Livermore, D. D., was born in Wil- ton, N. H., in 1811; prepared for college at Phillips Exe- ter academy; graduated at Harvard in 1833, and at Har- vard Divinity school in 1836; was ordained and settled over the Unitarian church in Keene at the close of the same year; married Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. Jacob Abbott.
His father was an intelligent farmer, prominent in his town and community. His mother was a member of the distinguished Abbot family of Wilton. He took high rank as a scholar, and was a "genuine, refined, high-minded man." Rev. Dr. Morrison, editor of the Christian Register, wrote of him: "The relation of the young pastor and his wife, a fitting helpmeet for such a man, to the people of their parish, and to the whole community in which they lived, has always seemed to me as happy a relation as I have ever known." While in Keene he did much for the cultivation of literary taste in the community, organized a large book club which contained all the choice periodicals of the day, and encouraged the study of the higher liter- ary works, not only of English, but of German and other authors. He also edited a small paper, the Social Gazette, for the publication of the literary efforts of the young, and was always the beloved pastor and cherished friend. His lectures to young men and his prize essay on the Mex- ican war were published, and he edited the Cheshire collec- tion of hymns.
After nearly fourteen years of very active labor in Keene his health gave way and he was compelled to resign his charge. Believing that he might continue his work in a milder climate he accepted a call to Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1850, where he remained six years. After that, for seven years he was pastor of a church in Yonkers, N. Y., and in 1863 he was chosen president of the theological school at Meadville, Pa., and for twenty-seven years filled that position with remarkable ability and success. Besides the works already mentioned and many articles for various periodicals, he published a volume of sermons-Commen- taries on the New Testament-which he began while in Keene; and for several years while at Yonkers he edited
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the Christian Inquirer. His last work was that of writing the history of his native town, Wilton.
"Dr. Livermore deserves to be most gratefully remem- bered among us. His rounded completeness of life was matched by an equally happy poise and symmetry of character- a conjunction as admirable as it is rare. No breath of calumny ever ventured to question his integrity. His graceful and unfailing courtesy was a constant rebuke to our modern boorishness-a man made to be loved." He died at Wilton in 1892.
DANIEL NEWCOMB.
Hon. Daniel Newcomb, son of Jonathan, was born in Norton (Mansfield), Mass., in 1747; graduated at Har- vard in 1768; studied theology and preached a few years ; read law with Judge Lowell of Boston; settled in Keene in 1778; married, 1781, Sarah Stearns of Lunenburg, Mass. The children by that marriage were: Sally, born in 1782, married John G. Bond of Keene; George, born in 1783, entered Dartmouth college when nine years old and was drowned in the Ashuelot river at the age of thirteen; Daniel, born in 1785, graduated at Dartmouth, studied medicine with Dr. Rush of Philadelphia, practiced in Bos- ton and died at Keene in 1809; Seth, born in 1786, grad- uated at Harvard, practiced law in Keene and died in 1811 ; Henry S., born in 1788, was lieutenant in the army in 1812-14, and died in 1825; Levi, born in 1790 and died in the senior class of Dartmouth in 1810; Fanny, born in 1791, married Daniel D. Hatch of Keene; Charles, born in 1792, entered Harvard and went West; Walter, born in 1794, entered Harvard, left on account of sickness, entered the United States navy and died in the West In- dies of yellow fever in 1822; Patty, born in 1796, mar- ried Dr. M. Johnson and died in Cleveland, O., in 1858.
His wife, Sarah, died in 1796.
He married, second, 1800, Hannah Dawes, widow of Benj. Goldthwaite of Boston. His children by the second marriage were: Hannah Dawes, born in 1803, never mar- ried, died 1887; William Dawes, born 1804; Francis, born 1807; Harriet, born 1809, married Rev. Fred West Hol- land, of Cambridge, Mass .; Lucretia, born in 1812, died in 1823.
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In 1781, Daniel Newcomb, Esq., was a delegate from Keene to a convention at Walpole, and another at Charles- town, in the controversy concerning the New Hampshire Grants; was appointed chief justice of the inferior court for the county of Cheshire in 1790; was delegate from Keene to the constitutional convention of New Hampshire in 1781, and again in 1791-2, and was chairman of the committee that drafted our present state constitution; was appointed judge of the superior court of New Hampshire in 1796; representative to the legislature, 1795; state senator, 1795-6, 1800-1, 1805-6.
Judge Newcomb's office, during his later years, was in the small building already described in the sketch of Gov. Dinsmoor, senior. Besides owning many houses, farms and other tracts of land-many of them obtained through mortgages-he bought the site of the first meetinghouse in Keene in 1795, and built a fine colonial house on that lot; and there he spent the remainder of his life. Being at the head of the Cheshire county bar, and wealthy, he entertained liberally, particularly at court time.1
Judge Newcomb was an eminent and public spirited citizen and did much for the benefit of the town. He established, and for some years supported, a grammar school in Keene almost wholly at his own expense. He sent six sons to college, two of whom died before gradu- ating, and one left on account of sickness. Nearly all his children died young. He had an impediment in his speech, not stuttering, but complete paralysis of the vocal organs when excited. He died July 14, 1818, aged seventy-two. His widow, Hannah Dawes, died in 1855, aged sixty-seven.
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