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 56
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71
Their children were: Mary, born in 1768, in Falkirk, Scotland, married Elijah Dunbar, of Keene; Elizabeth, born in 1770, in Falkirk, married Sylvester Tiffany; Janette, born in 1773, in Charlestown, Mass., married Ithamar Chase; Hannah, born in 1775, in Keene, married Jonathan Chase, of Cornish, N. H .; Alexander, born in 1778, in Keene (in trade with Wm. M. Bond and went to Clare- mont); Ann, born in 1781, in Keene, and died young; James B., born in 1783, in Keene; Nancy, born in 1785, in Keene, married Wm. M. Bond,1 of Keene; Sally, born in 1788, in Keene, married James H. Bradford, of Keene; and William.
Mrs. Ralston was a very talented woman, and her daughters were noted for their beauty and brilliancy. "Mrs. Ralston told my father, Abijah Metcalf, that when she came from Scotland she brought her stocking full of gold." (Dea. William Metcalf.) After the death of her husband, in 1819, she lived for many years in one of her own houses, on Main street, where the "Appleton house" now stands, but was at Cornish, with her daughter, Mrs. Jonathan Chase, when she died in 1833.
JAMES REED.
Gen. James Reed was born in Woburn, Mass., in 1724, of English ancestry ; married Abigail Hinds of New Salem,
1 See sketch of Wm. M. Bond for divorce and remarriage.
639
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Mass .; lived in Brookfield; removed to Lunenburg, to the part that is now Fitchburg, and kept tavern where the city hall now stands; was for several years a captain in the last French and Indian war, in the campaign against Ticonderoga under Gen. Abercrombie in 1758, and under Gen. Amherst in 1759; rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel; was one of the first settlers of Fitzwilliam, about 1765; raised a company in that town upon the Lexing- ton alarm, April 19, 1775, and marched to Medford; was made colonel of the Third New Hampshire regiment; com- manded his regiment at the battle of Bunker Hill, and had the credit of being the last field officer to leave the field; marched with the army to New York after the siege of Boston; was entrusted by Washington with funds to pay the northern army and carried three boxes of specie- $300,000-to Gen. Schuyler, at Albany; joined Arnold's army on its retreat from Canada, and in Arnold's absence held a talk with the chiefs of the Indian tribes, received their pledge of friendship and transmitted it to congress. In that campaign he contracted the disease so prevalent in that army, small pox, which caused the loss of his sight. On the 9th of August, upon the recommendation of Gen. Washington, congress appointed him a brigadier general and the next day sent him his commission with the follow- ing letter :
"Philadelphia, August 10, 1776.
"Sir: The Congress having yesterday been pleased to promote you to the rank of brigadier-general in the army of the American states I do myself the pleasure to enclose your commission and wish you happy.
I am, Sir, Your most ob't and very humble serv't. John Hancock, President. To Brigadier General James Reed."
But his impaired health and blindness compelled him to resign his commission. He retired to Fitzwilliam at the close of that year, and was granted a pension in accord- ance with his rank-half pay, amounting to $750 per year. In 1779 the legislature granted him (at a small rental) the confiscated house and twenty-five acres of land of Dr. Josiah Pomeroy, on the west side of Main street,
640
HISTORY OF KEENE.
and he came to Keene that year1 or the next and lived here until 1793, when he returned to Fitzwilliam. Mrs. Reed died in Keene, and the slate headstone from her grave in the old south burying ground is still preserved in the new cemetery,2 bearing the inscription: "In memory of Mrs. Abigail, wife of Genl. James Reed, Who departed this Life August 27th, 1791, In the 68 year of her Age."
In April, 1783, the Society of the Cincinnati was formed, and General Reed of Keene was one of the charter members of the New Hampshire branch. He had nine children, and three of his sons, James, Sylvanus and Hinds, served in the Revolutionary army. His daughter, Saloma, married Lockhart Willard, of Keene. He was a man of the highest honor and integrity, and in the patriot army, from Washington down, his name was mentioned in terms of commendation and eulogy. About the year 1800 he removed to his former home in Fitchburg, Mass., near the present city hall, and died there, Feb. 13, 1807, aged eighty-three, and was buried with military honors. His monument stands in the old burying ground in Fitchburg, and his portrait hangs in the state house at Concord.
JOSIAH RICHARDSON.
Capt. Josiah Richardson, son of James and Sarah (Fowle) Richardson, was born in Leominster, Mass., in 1742; married first, Rebecca Beaman, of Leominster; came to Keene in 1770, or earlier, and kept a tavern and store on Poverty Lane, about where the St. James parish house now stands. He bought all the land on the west side of upper Main street from the south line of the present railroad, extending west as far as the present Horatio Colony estate, and north to the old Sun tavern on the Walpole road, and to the present Mechanic street on Prison street, including the greater part of Central square. In 1773 the town granted him the right to "remove" the road running west from Main street, called Poverty Lane, to Pleasant street (now West), thus opening the east end of that street from the meetinghouse, which then stood
433. 1 State Papers, vol. 11, pages 672-4; and Revolutionary Rolls, vol. 3, page 2 Since Gen. Griffin's death the stone has been removed to the Washington street cemetery .- EDS.
.
641
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. .
where the soldiers' monument now does, on its present line. He then built his new tavern where the Y. M. C. A. building now stands. He also built a store, afterwards occupied by his son-in-law, Joseph Dorr, and others, on what is now Elliot's corner; and gave the lot for Rev. Aaron Hall's house, west of his own, and that for the Centre or Church street schoolhouse. He is described in deeds drawn in 1771-2-3 and later as merchant, trader, and innholder. In 1814 he sold the corner lot mentioned above to Appleton & Elliot.
He was in the battle of Bunker Hill, and in 1777 he was lieutenant in Capt. Mack's company, Col. Nichols's regiment at the battle of Bennington. Toward the close of the fight, after our troops had carried the works and- the enemy was pretty thoroughly demoralized, Lieut. Rich- ardson came upon three Hessians. Being a powerful, reso- lute man, he commanded them, in an imperious voice, to surrender. Accustomed to obey the command of an officer, they complied at once; and he disarmed them and sent them to the rear as prisoners. In 1780, he was captain of one of the militia companies of Keene that marched to repel the Royalton raid, and was afterwards promoted to major. He was five years selectman, two years town treasurer, six years representative, and was chosen, by a convention of the legislature, from the house to the state council in 1788. He was the first postmaster in Keene, appointed by the state of New Hampshire in March, 1791, before the United States assumed the carrying of the mails.
Capt. Richardson's wife, Rebecca, died in 1779, leaving one daughter, Abigail, who married Joseph Dorr, a mer- chant of Keene. He married, second, Mrs. Abigail (Bel- lows) Hunt, daughter of Col. Benjamin Bellows, of Wal- pole-"a woman of rare moral and intellectual endow- ments." By her he had one son, Josiah, who was killed in infancy by falling from his mother's arms while on her way to Walpole on horseback.
He died in 1820, aged seventy-eight.1
1 In those early days one of the routes by which Englishmen reached Mon- treal was via Boston, and thence by stage through Keene and Burlington, spending the night in Keene. Tradition, well authenticated, tells us that the Duke of Kent, father of Queen Victoria (or according to some reports, Prince Edward, then governor of Canada), once made that trip, when a young man,
642 ·
HISTORY OF KEENE.
ERI RICHARDSON.
Eri Richardson, son of Dr. Amos, who was of the fourth generation from Samuel, who came from Kent, England, in 1630 with his two brothers, Ezekiel and Thomas, in the same ship with Governor Winthrop, was born in Billerica, Mass., in 1741; married Sarah, daughter of John Durant; came to Keene about 1780; lived on the last farm in Keene on the old road over West mountain towards Swanzey; had twelve children, all born in Keene between 1764 and 1789. His eldest son, Amos, from his size and strength called "the giant," settled on the first farm in Swanzey next south of his father.
BARZILLAI RICHARDSON.
Barzillai Richardson, son of Amos, called the giant, was born in 1792; married Lydia Foster of Swanzey; set- tled on the Dickinson farm on West mountain (now Scrip- ture's) and lived there thirty years; had ten children-six sons and four daughters-born between 1815 and 1833. All the sons and all the husbands of the daughters became railroad men early in life and served an average of thirty years each, or an aggregate of 300 years for the family. They aided in building the Worcester railroad in 1833, the Boston & Albany in 1835, the Cheshire and many others. Amos, the eldest, had charge of laying all the first track of the Cheshire railroad, and was afterwards roadmaster. Joel F., the second son, bought his minority of his father at nineteen, was twelve years on the Boston & Albany, went to Indiana, originated and built the very successful belt road around the city of Indianapolis; and was for nine years superintendent of the Indianapolis, Cincinnati & Lafayette railroad. He was thirty-nine years in railroad service. Eri, the fourth son, after twenty-six years in rail- road service, invested largely in Sioux City, and became a banker and a wealthy man. One of the sons-in-law, Geo.
and lodged at Capt. Richardson's tavern. The story goes on to say that be- fore supper he gave Mrs. Richardson (the second wife, Abigail), some of the tea which he carried with him and asked her to brew it for him for both supper and breakfast; that she took the tea to her kitchen, laid it carefully aside as a keepsake, and brewed of her own for him; and that he did not discover the trick. Mrs. Richardson had the reputation of once saving the life of Salmon P. Chase, when, in his boyhood, he was attacked with malignant typhus fever, by her unremitting care and skillful nursing.
643
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
W. Perry, was the engineer who ran the first passenger train into Keene, in 1848, and was afterwards master mechanic. Another son-in-law, Niles Aldrich, was engineer and conductor on the Cheshire road for thirty-five years.
HENRY ROWE SCHOOLCRAFT.
Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, LL. D., ornithologist, United States Indian agent, and author, was born at Watervleit, N. Y., in 1793; graduated at Union college in 1811; learned the art of glass making.
His grandfather came from England, surveyed land, taught school, and changed the family name from Calcroft to Schoolcraft. His father, Lawrence Schoolcraft, was superintendent of a glass factory near Albany, N. Y .- had been a soldier in the Revolutionary war and a colonel in the war of 1812-came to Keene about 1814 as an expert to superintend the manufacture of glass, and remained several years. Henry came to Keene with his father, and the next year Daniel Watson, Timothy Twitchell and young Schoolcraft seceded from the company on Prison street, united as partners, built a factory, and made flint glass bottles and decanters on Marlboro street, and had a store on Main street near the present Eagle Hotel. After- wards Watson-and still later Twitchell -withdrew, Na- thaniel Sprague joined, and the firm became Schoolcraft & Sprague.
In 1817 Schoolcraft published the first part of his treatise on vitreology; and his knowledge of mining led him to leave Keene during that year to examine the mines of Ohio, Missouri, and other western states. In his travels he gathered much information concerning the Indians, and in 1822 he was appointed Indian agent, with a view to gaining such information for the use of the government. He established himself at Sault St. Marie, and married Jane Johnson-granddaughter of the noted Ojibway chief, Waboojeeg- who had been educated in Europe. In 1832 he led a government expedition up the Mississippi river and discovered its source in Itaska lake. In 1836 he nego- tiated a treaty with the Indian tribes on the upper lakes by which 16,000,000 acres of land were ceded to the United
644
HISTORY OF KEENE.
States. Afterwards he was acting superintendent of Indian affairs and chief disbursing agent for the northern depart- ment; and through his influence many laws were passed for the protection and benefit of the Indians. He made a study of the Indian languages, and his published work on that subject was translated into French and other languages, and brought him a gold medal from the French Institute. Longfellow acknowledges that it was from Schoolcraft that he got his legends for his poem of Hiawa- tha and other works. He visited Europe and after his return, in 1847, congress authorized him to collate and edit all his information concerning the Indians. It was published by Lippincott in six large quarto volumes, extensively and handsomely illustrated by Capt. Seth East- man, of the United States army-also a New Hampshire man-with a portrait of Schoolcraft. The government appropriated $30,000 per volume for the work. It was- and has ever since been-the standard work and the one upon which the government relied in all its affairs with the Indians. He was the author of thirty-one volumes in all, besides a mass of very valuable manuscript, preserved in the library of congress. The University of Geneva gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1846; and he was a member of a large number of ethnological, historical and other societies, in this country and in Europe.
In 1847, five years after the death of his first wife, he married Mary Howard, of Beaufort, S. C., an authoress, who assisted him in his later work, when he had lost the use of his hands by paralysis and was confined to his chair.
He died in Washington, Dec. 10, 1864, aged seventy- one. "His Indian Legends are charmingly written; and in his death a shining light in American literature has been extinguished." (Obituary in Washington paper.)
PELEG SPRAGUE.
Hon. Peleg Sprague, son of Noah and Mercy (Dexter) Sprague, was born in Rochester, Mass., in 1756; began life as a clerk in a store in Littleton, Mass .; was a bright student and entered Harvard college, but finished his course
645
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
at Dartmouth, in 1783; read law with Benjamin West, of Charlestown, N. H .; married Rosalinda Taylor of that town, granddaughter of Rev. Ezra Carpenter; represented Acworth, N. H., in the tentative legislature of Vermont in 1781; admitted to the bar in 1785; practiced in Winchen- don and Fitchburg, Mass .; came to Keene in 1787; was selectman in 1789-90-91; soon took high rank in his pro- fession; was county solicitor in 1794; representative to the legislature in 1797; was elected to congress in the same year; reelected, 1799; resigned on account of ill health; died April 20, 1800, aged forty-three, and was buried with Masonic honors. He built the house on Main street, now Mrs. Laton Martin's (1900) and lived there. He also owned the Luther Nourse farm on Beech hill, and died in that house. His children were: Nathaniel, born in 1790; Elizabeth, born in 1792; David, born in 1794, who died young.
NATHANIEL SPRAGUE.
Rev. Nathaniel Sprague, D. D., son of Peleg, was born in 1790; graduated at Dartmouth; was superintendent of glass works in Keene, succeeding Schoolcraft; afterwards partner with Schoolcraft in the manufacture of glass bot- tles, decanters and similar ware on Marlboro street; cap- tain of Keene Light Infantry in 1816; taught school in Keene, 1820; was ordained in the Episcopal ministry; had a parish at Royalton, Vt., afterwards at Drewsville, N. H., and still later at Claremont; received the honorary degree of D. D .; never married; died at Claremont in 1853. A memorial of him was placed in a window of St. James' church in Keene by his sister, Elizabeth.
ELIZABETH SPRAGUE.
Miss Elizabeth Sprague, daughter of Peleg, was born in 1792; never married; was a woman of remarkable gifts and a brilliant conversationalist; for several years teacher of music and languages in Miss Fiske's school- for two years Miss Fiske's partner-and the piano she used was the first brought to Keene and still exists, well preserved, in the family of her cousin, Mr. George Carpen- ter of Swanzey, where she died in 1880.
646
HISTORY OF KEENE.
JEREMIAH STILES.
Capt. Jeremiah Stiles, son of Jacob and Mary Stiles, was born in Lunenburg, Mass., Feb. 23, 1744; came to Keene while young; married, 1768, Mary, daughter of Eleazar Sanger of Keene; was lieutenant of the company that marched from Keene, April 21, 1775; was raised to captain upon the promotion of Capt. Wyman; commanded the company at the battle of Bunker Hill; was transferred with his company from Stark's regiment to that of Col. Paul D. Sargent of Massachusetts, and served his eight months' term of enlistment; discharged with his company at the close of that year. He was afterwards a member of the town committee of safety, a magistrate, a member of the state constitutional convention of 1778, nine years selectman, five years town clerk, nine years representative to the legislature, and held many other important offices. He was also a land surveyor, and a prominent Mason, and "he painted the portrait of David Nims, first town clerk of Keene." (William S. Briggs, his great-grandson.) (It is more probable, however, that it was his son who painted the portrait, as Jeremiah Stiles, Jr., was a portrait painter by vocation. He was thirty-two years old when David Nims died, and the portrait shows that the subject was of very great age). Capt. Stiles owned a farm and had his dwelling house on the north corner of Cross and Prison streets, and his office as magistrate was in the old wooden building that stood on what is now Elliot's cor- ner. His children were: . Elizabeth, married Eliphalet Briggs; Jeremiah, Joseph, John W., and Mary, born between 1769 and 1781. He died in 1800, aged fifty-six, and was buried with Masonic honors. His funeral-a public one at the meetinghouse- was largely attended and very impressive.
CORNELIUS STURTEVANT.
Cornelius Sturtevant, fifth in descent from Samuel, one of three brothers who came from Holland about 1640. was born in Plympton, Mass., in 1734; married Sarah Bosworth of Plympton; had six sons and one daughter, all born in Plympton between 1767 and 1777; came to Keene in 1779, and settled on a farm on the hills east of
·
647
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
the Ashuelot river, near the north line of the town; died in 1826, aged ninety-one. He was remarkable for the beauty of his handwriting-"said to be a little plainer than common print." His descendants to the seventh generation are still living in Keene.
His eldest son, Luke, married Abial, daughter of Nathaniel Kingsbury, and was killed in 1811, by the fall of a tree which he was cutting on the homestead.
CORNELIUS STURTEVANT, JR.
Cornelius Sturtevant, Jr., son of Cornelius and Sarah (Bosworth) Sturtevant, was born in 1771; taught school; learned the printer's trade of Henry Blake & Co .; bought their printing establishment, published the Rising Sun, and sold to John Prentiss in 1799; married, 1794, Sarah, daughter of Ichabod Fisher of Keene; had eight children, born between 1795 and 1806, and the only cradle Mrs. Sturtevant had for her babies was a slab of hemlock bark.
In 1813, Mr. Sturtevant enlisted in the Seventeenth United States Infantry, served through the war, remained in the service and died at Piketon, Ohio, in 1821, aged fifty. Mrs. Sturtevant died in Keene, in 1853, aged eighty- three.
CHARLES STURTEVANT.
Charles Sturtevant, son of Cornelius, Jr., was born in 1806; married Eliza Cummings, of Marlboro, N. H .; was register of deeds for Cheshire county for twelve years; died in Keene in 1867.
GEORGE W. STURTEVANT.
George W. Sturtevant, son of Cornelius, Jr., was born in 1799; married, 1823, Frances W., daughter of Jehiel Kilburn, of Keene. They lived together fifty-three years, had six children, and he survived his wife but three weeks, both dying in 1875. For fifty years he was the civil engineer of the town and of a large part of the county, and the number of maps and plans of real estate that he left is very large. He also held many offices of trust.
+
648
HISTORY OF KEENE.
EDWARD EVERETT STURTEVANT.
Edward Everett Sturtevant, son of Cornelius, Jr., was born in Keene in 1826; was the first man in New Hamp- shire to enlist for the Civil war; and he opened the first recruiting office in the state, at Concord, in April, 1861. He went to the front as captain of Company I, First New Hampshire Volunteers, for three months; and again as captain of Company A, Fifth New Hampshire Volunteers for three years or the war; was promoted to major; was in all the battles of the Army of the Potomac in 1862- at times commanded his regiment by seniority ; - was act- ing lieutenant colonel at the battle of Fredericksburg, Va., Dec. 13, 1862, where he was killed, and was buried in an unknown grave. He was a gallant soldier and an excellent commander of troops.
JOHN W. STURTEVANT.
Gen. John Warner Sturtevant, son of Luther and Isa- bella L. Sturtevant, was born in Keene, June 15, 1840. He was a descendant of Cornelius Sturtevant, the pioneer. From 1858 to 1862 he was a clerk in the bookstore of G. & G. H. Tilden. In 1862, he enlisted in the Union army (Company G, Fourteenth New Hampshire) and served through the war, rising to the rank of captain. He was for a time in the adjutant and provost marshal's office at Washington, and afterwards aide-de-camp on the staff of Brigadier General B. S. Roberts at Carrollton, La., and provost marshal of the district of Carrollton. In the battle of Opequan he was wounded in the arm and thigh.
At the close of the war he went to Beaufort, S. C., where he engaged in the cultivation of cotton and had charge of a general store until 1867, when he returned to Keene. In the same year he bought out George Tilden and became a partner in the store of G. H. Tilden & Co.
He was a member of John Sedgwick post, G. A. R., and of the Massachusetts commandery of the Loyal Legion of the United States.
In 1869 he was elected town clerk and held the office until the town became a city in 1874. He was a member of the board of education of Union district for nine years,
i
649
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
and moderator and clerk of the district for several years. In 1876, 1877 and 1885 he represented ward 3 in the legislature. In 1888 he was a member of a special com- mission to ascertain the value of the state's interest in the Concord and Boston & Maine railroads under the reserved charter rights.
When the Keene Light Guard battalion was formed in 1878, Capt. Sturtevant became captain of Company H and later was lieutenant colonel of the Second regiment of the New Hampshire National Guard. In 1879 he was made inspector general on the staff of Gov. Head.
In 1871 he married Clara, daughter of Charles Chase of Keene, by whom he had two sons, Charles C. and Clifford L.
He died Dec. 12, 1892.
THOMAS RUSSELL SULLIVAN.
Rev. Thomas Russell Sullivan, son of John Langdon Sullivan of Boston, and grandson of James Sullivan, who was governor of Massachusetts in 1808 and a younger brother of Gen. John Sullivan of the Revolutionary army, was born in Boston in 1799; graduated at Harvard in 1817; was ordained and settled over the Keene Congrega- tional Society in 1825; married, 1826, Charlotte Caldwell, daughter of Francis Blake, of Worcester, Mass. His mother was Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Russell, the celebrated merchant of Boston, for whom she named her son. For several years while in Keene he edited the Liberal Preacher, a Unitarian publication printed in Keene. He resigned his pastorate in Keene in 1835, and afterwards opened a school in Boston for fitting lads for college.
He was a refined, scholarly man, courtly and dignified. At the centennial celebration in Keene in 1853, Rev. Dr. Barstow spoke of him as "the distinguished Thomas Russell Sullivan." He had six sons and two daughters. He died in Boston in 1862.
CLEMENT SUMNER.
Rev. Clement Sumner came from Cheshire, Ct .; gradu- ated at Yale in 1758; was ordained at Keene, June 11, 1761. Before coming to Keene he had married Elizabeth,
650
HISTORY OF KEENE.
daughter of Capt. Samuel Gilbert of Hebron, Ct., the prin- cipal proprietor of the township of Gilsum, N. H., though never a resident there. Their children were: Elizabeth and Anna (twins) born in Hebron, Feb. 22, 1760; Clarissa, born in Keene in 1762; Lucina, born in Keene in 1764; a son born in Keene in 1765, died an infant; Clement Au- gustus, born in Keene in 1767; Samuel Gilbert, born in Keene in 1769; William, born in Keene in 1771.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.