USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Peterborough > History of the town of Peterborough, Hillsborough county, New Hampshire > Part 54
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Samuel Smith, the youngest son of William Smith, was, in some respects, the most remarkable man among them. He was the most enterprising of them all. He had the bearing and manners of an accomplished gentle- man. He would have been anywhere a man of mark. He was born to take the lead. For many years he was moderator in the town meetings, and the choice of the
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THE SMITH FAMILY,
people was hardly needed to give him the place. He early saw the advantages for manufacturing purposes, which its superior water-powers gave to our locality, and set himself to improve them. He built a paper-mill, which was the admiration of the neighboring country. His store became the central point of the town, taking the place which Wilson's tavern had held a generation before, where the people were drawn together informally for animated talks and the discussion of public or pri- vate measures. When he was not present himself his part was ably sustained by his cousin, Polly Morison, who took care of the store, and who was quite a match in wit and swiftness of repartee for any persons who were bold enough to measure their strength with hers.
Samuel Smith was chosen a member of Congress in 1813, and would undoubtedly have distinguished himself there, but he could not leave his private business, and therefore resigned his seat. It is rightly inscribed upon his monument that he was "the founder of this village." It used to be called "Smith's Village." And well it might be, for his was the enterprise and the controlling mind which prepared the way for its enlargement and prosperity. His enthusiasm and strength gave an im- pulse to the whole town, and did not a little to keep the minds of the people awake, and to increase their mate- rial prosperity, while nothing that was mean or under- handed or dishonest could ever find a shelter near him. He failed at last, not so much from lack of judgment as because he had undertaken more than his limited re- sources would enable him to carry out. He felt pain- fully the want of active enterprise and employment. They who saw him only in his latter days could, from what they saw then, form no conception of the dignified, animated, energetic leader who once had such a com- manding influence among men.
His son, Frederick, who died at an early age, was a young man of a very uncommon mechanical genius. His son, Jeremiah, was distinguished for his rapidity and skill as a penman and mercantile accountant. He was for many years a merchant in New York City, and died there in 1860. The third son, Samuel G., had a great aptitude and taste for mechanics and natural science. He was a man without guile, of a most genial, kindly disposition. He was engaged in manufacturing, as the agent, successively, in different companies, and died in 1842. Hamilton, the fifth son, was considered one of the brightest and happiest young men in Peter- borough. But ill-health prematurely weakened his ener- gies, and caused his death in 1858. Of the other sons,
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THE SMITH FAMILY.
Albert only is living. Sidney d. Sept. 26, 1875, æ. 72 yrs. Of the daughters, the oldest, Elizabeth, the wife of Rev. Levi W. Leonard, D.D., d. in 1848, greatly be- loved by those who knew her. Mary died while yet a child, and two, Mrs. Sarah Blanchard and Mrs. Ellen Smith, yet survive.
I have just given a slight and inadequate account of a very remarkable family of men. They, most of them, lived in a narrow sphere, but they were men of large ideas. They were led by generous impulses. If they sometimes "failed to bear with fools gladly, seeing they themselves were wise," and sometimes made merry, too boisterously, over the weaknesses and absurdities of others, they were always very tender and compassionate towards the needy and the helpless. No poor man was ever made poorer by their taking advantage of his neces- sities. The widow and the fatherless have reason to bless them. Gov. Steele, in his Centennial Address, spoke with a warmth which was honorable alike to his heart and his head, of the encouragement which he, an un- known youth, had received from one member of the family. The same might be said of every one of them, by young men who were encouraged and helped by them to advantages of education, or posts of usefulness and emolu- ment, beyond anything which they had been permitted to enjoy for themselves. Grand times they used to have when they came together, as they sometimes did, in their mature years, and made the old house, where their father had lived, ring with loud voices and sounds of laughter, as they "tauld their queerest stories," or with assault and repartee met one another in keen encounters of pleas- antry and wit. Nor were the sisters inferior to the men in the use of the same weapons. The judge was a very handsome man, " the handsomest old man," said Prof. Bowen, " the wittiest wise man, and the wisest witty man, that I ever knew." His sister, Mrs. Samuel Morison, was as homely as he was handsome. In a playful humor, at her house, when she was old and very infirm, the judge put on her nightcap, and going to the looking-glass ex- claimed, "Why, Betty, I thought it was you that I saw in the glass." "Yes," said she, with an air of disdain, "they always told me that I looked like you, and it mortified me almost to death." Well, they have passed away. They believed in God and in the religion of Jesus. They felt more than they expressed. With them, faithful, upright, Christian living was more than any pro- fessions could be. When, in talking with Fanny, the most Calvinistic and Antinomian of them all, I once said, " I had not supposed that I should ever have to impress
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THE SMITH FAMILY.
on you the importance of faith," as quick as a flash she answered, "Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works." They have gone. But their spirit is not dead. They have not lived in vain. The people of Peterborough to-day are a bet- ter and nobler race because of the virtue which has gone out from these grand specimens of our humanity. In an age of intemperance, I never heard the charge of drink- ing too much brought against any one of them, nor did any suspicion of dishonesty ever sully their good name.
They were all men of mind, and had a great influence in Peterborough. And whatever influence they had was always exercised on the side of truth, and uprightness, and fair-dealing between man and man. In the con- sciousness of superior strength they may sometimes have been overbearing and impatient. They sometimes used very plain language. A conscientious Presbyterian, who could not stay in the meeting with a bass-viol, which he considered an instrument of Satan, consulted Jeremiah Smith as to the legality of certain steps which might be taken in order to defraud his neighbor of a piece of land. The young lawyer could not help exclaiming : "You want, then, to cheat him out of it !" "No," said the pious man, "not cheat him. I wad na cheat him out of it for the world; but I thought that perhaps I might kind of work him out of it." He had asked advice from the wrong man. These Smiths were above all such arts and tricks as that. Wherever their power was felt, it was on the side of open-handed justice and honor. There was no double-dealing about them. What they thought they said very distinctly, and some- times, perhaps, in louder tones than were necessary. They were in favor of a liberal policy in education, and in whatever might elevate the standard of morals, while they always, by precept and example, favored what the Apostle James calls " pure religion and undefiled, before God and the Father."
I have written these few paragraphs in the midst of ancient Rome, with the memories and associations of a history reaching through five-and-twenty centuries, and moulding the policy and the fortunes of the world, pressing upon me. And I cannot but see that the principles and habits which contribute to the well-being and happiness of my native town among the mountains of New Hampshire are the same as those which once placed this city at the head of the world's civilization. As long as it preserved its pristine honor and virtue, and its habits of industry, frugality, and simple living, it went on prospering and happy ; but when it left these
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SARAH SMITH.
principles and habits behind, and became the seat of all the worst crimes that disgrace our humanity, its day of doom came swiftly and fatally upon it. It is pleasant to turn away from this mournful history, and the decaying monuments which I see around me, to the still youthful and hopeful land of my birth, and to bring vividly before me some of the truthful, hard-working, intelligent men, who helped to form the character and secure the prosperity of that humble settlement.
ROME, Feb. 22, 1876.
For most of the facts and details under this name we are indebted to a genealogy of the family of William Smith, prepared in 1852 by Rev. L. W. Leonard, D.D., and Rev. Samuel Abbot Smith.
· I
ROBERT SMITH, of Moneymore, variously spelled Mun- nehaugh, Moneymar and Moneymore, in the County of Londonderry, and north of Ireland, near the Lough Neah, was the son of James Smith, of Ireland, and came to this country with a number of families in the autumn of 1736, and spent the following winter in Lex- ington, Mass. He was a tanner, and brought with him considerable property. Some of his brothers settled in Virginia, and though considerable inquiry has been made, yet no trace of the family has ever been discov- ered. Most of this company made a settlement in Lun- enburg, Mass. Four children came with him and set- tled in Peterborough. His wife, Elizabeth, was a daugh- ter of James Smith, of England, who was a son of James Smith, of Scotland. She d. in Lunenburg, Sept. 28, 1757, æ. 74 yrs. It appears that Robert Smith came to Peterborough to live soon after the death of his wife in 1757, and d. Jan. 14, 1766, æ. 85 yrs. It is said that he put down four tan-vats, now in a good state of preserva- tion, in the tan-yard of the late Deacon John Field, now Deacon A. A. Farnsworth ; and probably, as old as he was, he did some little business in tanning. The neces- sities of the people probably required it. The children who came with Robert and Elizabeth Smith to this coun- try were as follows.
t Fohn, b. in Ireland, 1715 ; m. Mary Harkness.
Sarah, b. in Ireland, 1716 ; m., Ist hus., James Bell, the ancestor of Samuel and John Bell, of Hooksett ; 2d hus., Deacon William McNee, by whom she had no children. She d. Jan. 31, 1814, æ. 98 yrs., some supposed 100 yrs. 34
2 3
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MARY SMITH.
4 Mary, b. in Ireland, 1720 ; m. Capt. Thomas Morison ; d. Dec. 29, 1799, æ. 79 yrs. In the church records, Dec. 31, 1799, Mr. Dunbar makes this entry : "At- tended the funeral of the aged Widow Mary Morison, relict of the late Capt. Thomas Morison, and sister of William Smith, Esq. She died yesterday morning, after a long confinement and a total loss of bodily strength and of all her mental powers."
5
t William, b. in Ireland, 1723 ; m. Elizabeth Morison, dau. of John Morison.
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JOHN SMITH was b. in Ireland, and was twenty-one years old when his father emigrated to America. He m. Mary Hartness or Harkness, of Lunenburg, and came to Peterborough some time before 1754, when his first child was b. He began the place in the south part of the town, where his descendants lived so long, and raised a large family. He was selectman in 1761 and '73, and his name occurs often on the town records, as surveyor and also on committees and in the frequent legislation about roads. He d. Jan. 28, 1801, æ. 86 yrs. In the church records, Jan. 29, 1801, Mr. Dunbar says : " Attended the funeral of the aged Mr. John Smith (æ. 86), brother to William Smith, Esq., a native of Ireland, and came to New England sixty-three years ago. He survived his mental powers." She d. May 14, 1822, æ. 87 yrs.
Elizabeth, b. June 14, 1754; m. John White, Jr.
Thomas, b. June 8, 1756 ; m. Martha Ritchie ; two ch., Thomas and Mary ; d. 1825.
Mary, b. Nov. 6, 1757 ; unm. ; d. Dec. 5, 1796, æ. 39 yrs. ; always an invalid.
6 7 8 9 . Robert, b. April 29, 1759 ; m. Louis Kidder. He prac- tised medicine in various places, as Durham, Milford, Petersham, Bristol, and Addison, Vt., at which latter place he d .; ch., (1) Frederick; (2) Charles ; (3) Henry ; (4) Fanny ; (5) Nancy.
IO
Sarah, b. April 29, 1761 ; m., Ist hus., Rev. David Annan ; 2d hus., John Todd.
II Hannah, b. Aug. 29, 1763 ; m. Thomas Dunshee ; r. Bristol, Vt. ; eight ch.
Margaret, b. April 29, 1765 ; m. Thomas Fletcher ; r. New Ipswich ; d. 1845 ; two ch.
John, b. June 18, 1767 ; d. Sept. 25, 1778, a. II yrs.
Jenny, b. 1769 ; unm. ; had a son by David Smiley ; David
I2 13 14 Smith, her son, was in Dartmouth College three years, and then studied divinity, and the last heard of him he was preaching in Michigan. His mother d. with him.
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JAMES SMITH.
Nancy, b. November, 1772 ; m. Dea. Jonathan Smith. t William, b. July 3, 1773 ; m., Ist w., Jane Moore ; 2d w., Olive Gray ; 3d w., Nancy Sheppherd. Fames, b. -; d. 1778.
Naomi, b. 1775 ; m. William Burns ; r. Bristol, Vt.
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WILLIAM SMITH succeeded his father on the home -. stead. Late in life he sold his farm, and ·spent a few years before his death with his daughter, Mrs. Russell, of Jaffrey. He d. June 23, 1875, at Jaffrey, æ. 96 yrs. He m., Ist w., Jane Moore, Dec. 25, 1800 ; d. Feb. 7,' 1803, æ. 29 yrs. ; m., 2d w., Olive Gray, April 22, 1806 ; she d. Nov. 28, 1820, æ. 38 yrs. ; m., 3d w., Nancy Shepp- herd, February, 1822 ; Ist w., two ch .; 2d w., nine ch .; 3d w., two ch.
19 20
John, b. Aug. 20, 1801 ; d. Sept. 10, 1802, æ. I yr. William M., b. Jan. 18, 1803 ; m. Levina Hardy ; ch., (I) Charles ; (2) Justin ; (3) James ; (4) Clarissa; (5) Levina ; r. Lowell.
Fane, b. March 1I, 1807 ; m. George McCrillis ; ch., May Jane and Henrietta.
Mary, b. Oct. 18, 1808 ; m. Andreas Emery, Jaffrey ; ch., (1) George ; (2) Lucy ; (3) Charles.
Sarah, b. Nov. 21, 1809 ; m., Ist hus., Joseph H. Find- ley ; m., 2d hus., - - Whiting ; ch., (1) Charles ; (2) George ; (3) Emma.
John, b. Nov. 7, 1811 ; m. Sarah Moore ; ch., (1) James ; (2) Sarah ; (3) Ellen ; r. Hudson, Mich. ; d.
Dexter, b. Jan. 20, 1813 ; m. Almira Stearns ; ch., (1) . George ; (2) William ; r. Michigan ; d.
Margaret, b. Sept. 5, 1814; m. Luke Pierce ; one ch., Sarah ; r. and d. in Michigan. James, b. Jan. 13, 1816 .*
" He graduated at Yale College, in 1840, studied law. at Harvard, and settled in New Orleans, 1843. He was a young man of superior talents and excellent scholarship, possessing a proud nature and a towering ambition, guided and controlled, however, by noble and generous impulses. He began the practice of law in the great Southern city which he had selected for his home, with every prospect of success. Friends, who had been his classmates in college and at the law- school, gave him a favorable introduction ; and business grew upon him more rapidly than he had any reason to expect, or than is usual with young lawyers. He loved his profession, and devoted himself to it with a single-
* Letter Nathaniel H. Morison, LL.D.
2I 22 23 24 25 26 27
I5 I6
I7 18
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JAMES SMITH.
ness of purpose which is sure to win success. He examined his own mental powers with calmness and impartiality, and decided that they promised a more distinguished career on the bench than at the bar. After this conclusion was reached, it became his highest ambition to qualify himself for filling the office of a great judge. He had probably made a correct diagnosis of his case; but the high esteem in which his great relative, Judge Smith, of Exeter, was held in the State, and his own admiration for him, may not have been without influence on his judgment. In the midst of his plans, and his dreams of the greatness that lay before him, he was struck down by that insidious disease, con- sumption, which has destroyed so many of his family. One damp evening, on riding out rather late to his lodgings, which were a few miles from the city, he felt an unusual chill, and took a cold bath, thinking that the reaction which should follow would restore the proper temperature. He was not aware of having taken cold ; but in the bath he was seized with a violent hemorrhage. No one was in the house, except the negro servants, who waited upon him, and no physician was near. He per- ceived at once the full significance of what had occurred, and he knew too well the destiny that awaited him. In a few days, however, he had so far recovered as to be able to attend to his business again ; but other attacks soon followed which weakened his constitution, naturally strong, and destroyed all hope of a permanent recovery. He then quietly arranged his business affairs, took leave of the lady to whom he had become engaged, and bid- ding farewell to his other friends, came back to his old home with the full consciousness that he must die.
" To but one friend did he ever reveal the keen disap- pointment, the utter desolation, which he felt when he found that all his hopes had been blasted, and that the future to which he had looked so confidently was to be for him a mere blank. But he uttered no complaint to any one, not even to the sister who was dearest to him, and who watched over him lovingly to the last. His family were not aware of his marriage engagement, as he never talked of his personal affairs, and destroyed all the letters which he received from the South. He bore his sufferings, mental and physical, with stoical fortitude, and died as he had lived, the loftiest, proudest spirit in that little band of ardent, aspiring young men, who had started in life together (at Exeter Academy). He breathed his last at his father's house, in the South Vil- lage, just as the clock struck the midnight hour which ushered in the new year, 1847, a. 31 yrs.
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ROBERT SMITH,
Charles, b. April 23, 1817 ; d. May 20, 1820, æ. 3 yrs. Olive, b. June 13, 1820 ; m. Sylvester Russell ; r. Jaffrey. Henry, b. Jan. 22, 1823 ; m. Harriet Frost ; r. Lowell ; killed on railroad.
Nancy, b. June 9, 1824 ; d. May 10, 1854, æ. 30 yrs.
WILLIAM SMITH. We suppose that he took up his residence in town about the time of his marriage, Dec. 31, 1751, no doubt having been here more or less for some time previous, in preparing for the support and shelter of a family. He was considered one of the best informed of the early settlers, was justice of the peace many years, delegate to the Provincial Congress, 1774, deacon of the church, "was a man of singular discretion, modesty, and goodness," a useful citizen, and much employed in the business of the town. He held various offices in town. At the first meeting after incorporation he was chosen one of a committee to settle with the " old committee," and subsequently he was moderator, selectman, tithing-man, treasurer, etc., at various times. He m. Elizabeth Morison, dau. of John and Margaret Wallace Morison, Dec. 31, 1751. She was b. in London- derry, and was distinguished for industry, economy, and energy. She d. Sept. 15, 1808, æ. 85 yrs. He d. Jan. 31, 1808, æ. 85 yrs.
Robert, b. Feb. 15, 1753 ; m., Ist w., Agnes Smiley ; 2d" w., Isabel Ames.
t John, b. April 10, 1754 ; m. Margaret Steele.
t James, b. Jan. 29, 1756; m. Sally Ames. William, b. March 14, 1757 ; d. Jan. 31, 1776, æ. 19 yrs. Elizabeth, b. July 28, 1758 ; m. Samuel Morison.
t Jeremiah, b. Nov. 29, 1759 ; m., Ist w., Eliza Ross ; 2d w., Elizabeth Hale.
Hannah, b. May 18, 1761 ; m., Dec. 7, 1795, John Barker ; r. Rindge ; ch., (1) Hannah, b. April 24, 1801 ; (2) John, b. Nov. 28, 1804.
t Jonathan, b. April 11, 1763 ; m. Nancy Smith.
39 40
t Samuel, b. Nov. 11, 1765 ; m. Sally Garfield.
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ROBERT SMITH. He was a deacon in the Presbyteri- an Church, and very much respected for his good sense and Christian character. He lived on a farm in the south part of the town, originally deeded by Jeremiah Gridley, John Hill, and John Towle to Halbert Morison, July 5, 1753, and by him to William Smith, June 2, 1761, and by him to his son Robert. He d. early, in conse- quence of an injury to his knee. He m., May 25, 1778, Agnes Smiley, dau. of William Smiley. She d. Oct. 10,
28 29 30 31 I- 5
32 33 34 35 36 37 38
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ROBERT SMITH.
1791, æ. 36 yrs. ; m., 2d w., May, 1792, Isabel Ames, who m., for 2d hus., Shubael Hurd, of Lempster. She d. August, 1847, æ. 84 yrs. He d. Dec. 31, 1795, æ. 43 yrs. ; Ist w., two ch .; 2d w., three ch.
41 William, b. May 16, 1779 ; unm. ; d. Aug. 31, 1840, æ. 61 yrs. He was subject to epilepsy, which greatly impaired his mental powers.
42 Fanny, b. Sept. 4, 1780 ; unm. She d. July 10, 1858, æ. 78 yrs. She was a talented but eccentric woman. She very early espoused the anti-slavery cause, but was not permitted, as many of her associates were, to see such a glorious realization of all her hopes. She ordered the marble obelisk which stands over her grave, and dictated the inscription in 1858 : "This side is dedicated to the glorious cause of emancipation. May God prosper it, and all the people say, Amen."
43 44 45
t Fesse,
m. Eliza Bailey.
Stephen,
b. March, 1793 ; m. ; had three wives; r .. Buffalo, N. Y. All his ch. deceased. He d. in 1867, æ. 74 yrs.
+ Robert, b. Aug. 8, 1795 ; m., Nov. 18, 1818, Nancy Nesmith.
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JESSE SMITH, M.D., graduated at Dartmouth College, 1814. He concluded to study the medical profession, but having expended all his means, and more too, and having incurred debts for his collegiate education, he was obliged to teach a few years while pursuing his medi- cal studies, and did not receive his degree till 1819, when he graduated in the medical class of that year, in Har- vard University. In 1820, he was appointed to lecture on anatomy, in the Dartmouth Medical College, where he acquitted himself so creditably that he was invited to the Professorship of Anatomy and Surgery, in the Ohio Medical College, Cincinnati, which he accepted, and held to the time of his death. He became eminent as a sur- geon, standing at the very head of the profession in the Western States. He operated thirteen times for stone in the bladder. He was an independent and strong- minded man, with an indomitable will that overcame all obstacles, and with a wide culture in his profession which rendered him an interesting and instructive lecturer. He m. Eliza Bailey, dau. of Jonathan Bailey, of Charles- town, who m., 2d hus., Rev. John Wright, of Cincinnati.
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JOHN SMITH.
They had seven children, all deceased but one, Mary Elizabeth, b. March 7, 1830 ; m. John R. Wright ; have six ch. Prof. Smith d. of cholera, July, 1833, after four- teen hours' sickness, a victim to his professional zeal and ability, during the prevalence of cholera in that city. See Centennial Appendix. Addr
h-287 -
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ROBERT SMITH, b. Aug. 8, 1795 ; m., November, 1818, Nancy Nesmith. He went south early in life, and taught school some years in Mississippi, when he removed to Simmsport, La., where he owned and carried on a plan- tation. He had several children, of whom Samuel only survived, and now lives in Louisiana. He d.
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JOHN SMITH. I am indebted to his daughter, Mrs. Louisa Fifield, now residing in Alton, Ill., for the follow- ing graphic sketch of her father, as well as for many of the ideas in the remaining part. She says : -
" Her father when twenty-one years of age could read the Bible, and knew a little of arithmetic. His first use of his freedom was to raise a crop of rye, from the proceeds of which he supported himself at school, at Exeter, some six months, and gained, with other acqui- sitions, the rudiments of Latin. With this scanty provision of education, he began his life's work, supple- mented by diligent reading of the Bible, which he loved, and by the thorough perusal of such works as Edmund Burke's speeches, Hume's History of England, Boswell's Life of Johnson, Blair's sermons, and, above all, Burns' poems, in which he greatly delighted. He was liberally educated, in a higher and better sense than that of the thoughtless graduates of our colleges. The town library, the weekly newspaper, and an occasional book loaned by a friend, were the scanty, but sufficient, means of culture. A strong mind that used its oppor- tunities made him an influential and leading citizen. He was early made a justice of the peace, and did most of the justice business in town for many years. He was always deeply interested in town affairs, and held all the offices of trust except that of selectman. He was moderator 1793, '97, '98, '99, 1801 ; representative to the General Court twelve years, from 1791 to 1803, and much employed in committees on all important business. Speaking evil of no one, and judging all men kindly as he would himself be judged, he exercised a kindly and genial, as well as a strong, influence over his fellow-men.
" His influence, said the Hon. John H. Steele, in his centennial speech, 1839, contributed much towards giv- ing a distinct character to the town. But where now is
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