USA > New Hampshire > Coos County > Stratford > History of the town of Stratford, New Hampshire, 1773-1925 > Part 17
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HISTORY OF STRATFORD
Joel Clough was a blacksmith, and was living at the time on what is known as the Clough farm. He was probably one of the two blacksmiths mentioned in the essay. Blacksmithing was a very important trade then, and good blacksmiths were few and in great demand. Elisha Johnson, then living on what is now the Crown place, went in 1840 to Guildhall to persuade George Hinman to come to Stratford to practice his trade here, prom- ising to give him land on which to build a house. Mr. Hinman was an accomplished blacksmith, having served his full appren- ticeship, and his skilled workmanship was much sought after. He came to Stratford Center in June, 1840, built the little house, the family home for so many years, that was later occupied by John Dalbec and his son, Frank. In 1842 Elisha Baldwin built his shop and mill, and Mr. Hinman did a great deal of the iron work in that shop.
SINCE 1850
Hiram Lucas moved to Stratford in 1847, and bought where R. B. Marden lived. Alpha Waters built here. Mr. Lucas built a store on Mr. Bond's land, but did not obtain a deed. Mr. Bond died, in 1850, and Lucas, fearing that he might lose the store, "yanked" the schoolhouse into the road one night, and placed the store where the schoolhouse had stood. In 1855 Myron L. Lucas is taxed for the store and land on which it stands, while that amount is deducted from Hiram Lucas' tax.
Ephraim W. Swett, from Bethlehem, who had peddled through this country to the Canadian line, in 1855 opened a small store in the basement of the house next to W. R. Brown's store. He soon moved into the Lucas store, but finally built an addition, with basement, to the property before mentioned, and lived and traded there.
James Mahurin is taxed in 1855 for a store and the land upon which it stands. This store was on the Bog Brook Road, and was in the two-story tenement still standing there. During his term as postmaster the post-office was in that building. In the early part of the '60's the family moved to the West.
In 1855 Henry O. White is taxed for tannery and buildings. Jabez Baldwin, son of Nathan, was a resident at the Hollow for several years, his name appearing first in the tax list of 1843, when he pays taxes on one-fourth acre of the William Thompson lot. In 1852, the last year his name appears (he died early), he is taxed for three-fourths acres on the William Thompson lot, 100
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HISTORY OF STRATFORD
acres sawmill lot, and shoemaker's shop. This shop was used by him as a store, and was probably rented by him later to some shoemaker. In 1854 we find this site occupied by David Hyde, who had sold his farm in Brunswick, and lived at the Hol- low a few years before taking his large family to the West. The large and pretentious house called in later years "the Hyde House" was built, according to family tradition, by Jabez Bald- win. After Mr. Hyde's removal, this house was used as a tene- ment building, and finally taken down.
Dayton G. Piper built where Mr. Brown lived, and traded for a short time, 1857-58. Mr. Richey occupied his store after it was vacated by Swett. Ephraim Swett and John Wilson were in business partnership for a short time, and sold to Edwin Wilson, and Wilson sold to William Cobleigh. E. B. Merriam and Moses Clough carried on business in the Piper store. Mr. Clough dying, Mr. Merriam closed out the business and went West. He returned, purchased the store again, but sold to Loyal B. Blod- gett. This building was burned January 1, 1877. Mr. Blodgett then purchased a store of J. M. Butters, and moved it onto the land owned by Mr. Marden, opposite Mr. Brown's property. Here he did a yearly business of from $1,000 to $1,500, and in 1894 sold to Fred Taylor, purchasing a business in Piermont and removing there that year. Taylor sold to Harlan T. Connary in January, 1905. Connary sold to Blodgett & Whitney in June, 1908, and bought back the store in February, 1909. He sold to Everett C. Brown in December, 1915. This building was burned in 1922. Mr. Brown then opened another store in the Library Hall building, and in 1924 the business passed into the hands of the Frank Smith Company of Lancaster, with Harold Mason as manager. Mr. Connary did considerable business in the grain and feed line, as well as general groceries. The grind- ing was done at first in the old Ockington Mill, then operated by W. H. Kimball. Later the "city" district schoolhouse was bought and utilized by Mr. Connary as a mill where, with the use of a gasoline engine, he was able to do whatever grinding was required. This building was afterward taken away by Edward Hapgood and remodelled into his present dwelling.
A map of the village of Stratford Hollow, published in 1861, gives us the following data as to the people living there that year (we give the residences in the order in which they appear on the map) : Guy C. Burnside, Dr. C. C. Carpenter, N. B. Waters,
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HISTORY OF STRATFORD
Mrs. J. Byron, the church, Joel Clough, James Mahurin, store and post-office, gristmill and sawmill, B. B. Ockington, Charles Mahurin, H. Clark, E. M. Swett, N. Piper, W. Curtis, J. Willey, H. O. White, W. McIntire, Jonas Merriam, Russel Gamsby, Willard Curtis, Freeman Curtis, Smith Folsom, sawmill, D. McIntire. The population of the entire town in 1861 was 716.
Noah B. Waters, a carpenter by trade, opened a store in a room formerly occupied as a carpenter's shop, in 1862, and car- ried on a general store. About 1913 the Waters store and dwell- ing was bought by George Rich of Maidstone, who carries on at the present time a small line of grocery business.
H. W. Bishop built the premises owned and occupied by W. R. Brown, in 1881. Mr. Blodgett was the first occupant of that store until 1888, when he built the store afterwards sold to Fred Taylor. W. Riley Brown fitted out his own store, where he did a business averaging $1,500 a year. This store was burned in 1905. Frank Whitney rented a small building near the Marden home and opened a store. This was burned soon after that of W. R. Brown. Henry Kimball built a store opposite Harlan Connary's in 1905, after W. R. Brown's store was burned. Frank Whitney was manager of this store for Mr. Kimball.
The business at Stratford Hollow in recent years has been confined chiefly to the running of a few mills. Dan Dennis bought of Jerry La Roche the Ockington Clothespin Mill, and manufactured tubing and boards, and sold to Everett Brown. This mill was burned in recent years. Butters, who manufac- tured starch and bobbins, sold to Fred L. Kenney, who operated on the old Fiske site. Kimball's Mill, on the Ockington plant, is still in operation.
The fire connected with the burning of Everett Brown's store swept away several old landmarks, and threatened the existence of the little village. The flames were stayed only with the greatest effort. Kimball's Garage, a blacksmith and repair shop, a store in Library Hall building, another in the old Waters stand; an attractive church building, a modern schoolhouse, a library building, and a few of the old-time residences, are some of the outstanding features of the old village; while a tarvia road, electric lights, sidewalks, fine bridges, a modern bungalow that appeals to the wants of the tourists, are some of the added attractions that late years have brought to this part of Stratford.
WRAFADANFORTH
HINMAN HOUSE AND STORE THE FIRST STORE AND A GAME OF ROUND BALL NORTH STRATFORD IN EARLY 60'S .
CHAPTER XVI
NORTH STRATFORD'S BUSINESS
The business interests of Stratford were confined almost wholly to the southern part of the town during the first sixty years of her history. The old Beach place, her best known tavern, was in operation in 1805; but there was no mill here until early in the '40's, when Elisha Baldwin built a saw- and gristmill on Bissel Brook. Connected with it was a carpenter's shop for general re- pair work and undertaking. A good business was done here for nearly half a century. Jabez B. Alger was its owner the latter part of that time. The mill was burned in 1888.
The decade commencing with 1840 was to witness many im- provements which were to bring into being another village and business center in the town. The first of these was the erection of the Nulhegan Mills by the Baldwin Brothers in 1849. These were in Bloomfield, Vt., directly opposite the site of North Strat- ford. This was the beginning of the big lumber interests in this section. It was a great undertaking, as it was before the advent of railroads, and the machinery had to be hauled from Portland. The first lumber sawed was rafted in May, 1851, and was the first sent to Massachusetts through the canal at Fifteen-Mile Falls, and also the first lumber rafted for transportation down the upper Connecticut.
The Baldwin Mills were sold to Woodman & Richardson, and after one year they passed into the possession of Enoch and Alfred Perkins. The first mills were burned February 20, 1885, and were replaced the same year by the large mills of the Nulhegan Lumber Company, which were doing such a big business here at the time. In 1878 the business firm was J. H. Danforth & Co., the company being Charles Tebbetts. Mr. Danforth died September 29, 1890, and in 1892 the mills were purchased by George Van Dyke, under the name of the Lewis Lumber Company. This company after a time decided to manufacture its lumber near the markets, the mills were shut down, and the machinery removed. The mill property has been swept away by fire, and little now remains but the fine water power and the empty site of what was once a thriving industrial plant. The Connecticut Valley Lumber Company now owns it.
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HISTORY OF STRATFORD
During the sixty years that these mills were in operation employment was given to hundreds of men, and the business interests and growth of North Stratford village throughout that time were closely connected with this industry.
Another great factor in the development of the business inter- ests in the northern part of the town was the building of the toll bridge across the Connecticut at North Stratford, by the Baldwin Bridge Company. The charter was granted in 1850, and the bridge opened for travel in 1852.
The third, and perhaps the greatest of the elements that entered into the growth of this village was the coming of the railroad. A charter had been granted to the Atlantic & St. Lawrence Railroad in 1845. Construction was begun in 1846. A gravel train carry- ing a few passengers went through in 1852; and the road was for- mally opened the next year, and was almost immediately leased by the Grand Trunk Railway.
The site of the village of North Stratford, because of its prox- imity to the Nulhegan River, that important artery of the river route of the Indians from the Canadas to the New England settle- ments, had made it an ancient camping place, in their hunting and warlike expeditions. Their latest occupation was during the 1812 War, when five hundred Indians encamped here. At that time the land, on which the village now stands, was a part of the farm of Luther Fuller, who was a soldier, and died during the campaign at Plattsburg. At the time of the coming of the railroad it was owned by William Fuller, son of Luther, and was almost imme- diately bought by Hezekiah Parsons of Colebrook.
Building began at once. The first building erected here, it is said, formed part of what became the old Willard House stable; Bedel and Holmes built the first store; Harvey Hinman the first hotel; and the first dwelling house, which was known, until its destruction in the fire of 1895, as the Gamsby House, was built by Andrew Fitts.
The railroad was opened in 1853, and with its coming North Stratford became a distributing center. All merchandise for the northern part of the state was to find storage, and all produce from the north was to be brought here for shipment. It is said that as many as eighty horses passed a given point in this route each day. Stagecoaches ran from here to the towns north until the coming of the Maine Central Railroad, forty years later, when stage-
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coaches and freight wagons were replaced by railroad service.
True & Dennison, who furnished contractors' supplies along the line of the railroad, and who had stores at South Paris and Bethel, Maine, Gorham and Northumberland, N. H., soon built at North Stratford. C. P. True and Bedel & Holmes opened in trade at about the same time. The late Hon. Hazen Bedel, who erected the first permanent building, wrote as follows:
The gravel train and occasionally a freight train had run to North Stratford in November and December, 1852. I bought land in August, 1852, built a store and had it ready for occupancy in January, 1853,-Bedel and Holmes. The ground was a corn-field when I bought. The building stands near the Willard House, and is occupied as a drug store. Albe Holmes ran the store, and I remained at Colebrook. Holmes had been clerk for me for several years. C. P. True had a shanty where Danforth's (Clark & Cheney's) store now is; and had some goods brought in on the construction train for sale in the fall of 1852. He furnished supplies for the workmen, sold some goods, and bought wood for the rail- road. Edwin W. Gaskill had a shanty where the Hinman House stands, and that was where we all boarded. It was all the place there was, and for some time this was the hotel.
Judge Bedel says of it:
Where we got something to eat. It was crowded all the time. I ran a team from Colebrook almost every day to furnish provisions, so we fared well enough, and poultry was plenty; one of my men said that "they had so much goose that he invariably started for the river as soon as he got out doors." This must be taken as a joke, as we had one of the best of cooks, and every one fared first-rate, only they had to stock when they could. The depot was building at the same time I was building my store.
Bedel & Holmes continued their firm business for nine years, until the second year of the Civil War, when Albe Holmes enlisted in Co. H, 13th N. H. Volunteers, and Hazen Bedel took the goods to Colebrook, and disposed of them there. The store was sold, and a legacy of $5,000 in debts was left, "which we never collected."
This was North Stratford as it was fairly commenced: the depot, Bedel & Holmes' store, that of C. P. True & Co., the Hinman House, and the boarding house of Mrs. Gamsby. The latter had been occupied by Andrew Fitts as a tavern, but it was soon pur-
BUSINESS MEN IN NORTH STRATFORD
W. R. Danforth J. H. Danforth
Group.I
Harvey Hinman
E. Alger Baldwin William L. Baldwin
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HISTORY OF STRATFORD
chased by Mrs. Elmina Gamsby and was kept by her as a boarding house. She lived to be nearly ninety years old, and spent her last days in this house. Gaskill's shanty stood on land leased of Wil- liam Fuller. Gaskill was succeeded by Harvey Hinman and W. H. Crawford, who purchased the property in September, 1853, and erected the main part of the Hinman House about this time.
During the building of the railroad, and while the village of North Stratford was becoming established, Baldwin Homestead was the center of business activity in the northern part of the town. The first post-office in North Stratford was there, also a small store to supply the needs of the railroad employees, who had their little huts scattered over the farm. This section of the road was built by Portland contractors. Attracted by the beau- tiful scenery and the healing properties of the Brunswick Springs, they brought their families here. Many prominent Portland peo- ple followed. The "Square House" was no longer available for guests; Baldwin Homestead opened its doors to them, until the building of the hotel at the Springs, in 1862, made it no longer necessary.
For two years North Stratford had the proud distinction of publishing the Coös County Democrat, until the death of its prom- ising young editor, Charles Johnson, in 1860. Mr. Johnson had studied law in the office of the Messrs. Williams, in Lancaster. In May, 1859, he returned to Stratford and opened a law office. The preceding January Mr. Johnson had assumed the charge of The Democrat, and he removed the office to North Stratford, where he continued to edit and publish the paper until his untimely death.
The Baptist Church, which was organized in 1843, built a large and commodious house of worhip in 1855. It contained a base- ment, one part of which was utilized as a public school room until the burning of the building in 1868. The first schoolhouse was built in 1870.
Clark P. True was, as before stated, one of the first to commence business here. In 1853 Joseph H. and William R. Danforth be- came partners with him, under the firm name of True, Danforth & Company. In two years the firm became W. R. & F. A. Dan- forth, the latter in two years transferring his interests to J. H. Danforth. W. R. & J. H. Danforth did business until 1871, when J. H. Danforth became sole proprietor and conducted the business
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HISTORY OF STRATFORD
until 1881, at which time the firm of Danforth & Pattee was formed by Mr. Danforth, admitting John C. Pattee into partner- ship. During this year W. R. Danforth took the place of his brother in the firm. In 1884 Charles E. Clark received an in- terest in the business, the firm becoming Danforth, Pattee & Clark. The Danforth brothers remained more or less connected with this store for more than a generation. Joseph H. severed his connection with it to transfer his business interests to the Nulhegan Mills. William R., in April, 1892, sold out his interest to his son, William R. Danforth, Jr., who later withdrew from the firm and opened a store on Bridge Street, while the firm of Pattee & Clark continued at the old stand. After several years Mr. Pat- tee withdrew, and from December, 1910, to August, 1915, the firm name was R. F. Beattie & Company, Roy F. Beattie being manager, and Mr. Clark being absent in Lincoln, N. H., where he had charge of the Henry store. In September, 1915, Fred E. Cheney became a member of the firm, which has since conducted, under the name of Clark & Cheney, a business amouting to $100,- 000 annually. Mr. Clark retired from active connection with the firm in 1922, and died in June, 1924.
On the site of the present store of the John C. Hutchins Com- pany there stood a small building occupied by Smith Folsom, who did some trading there as early as 1858-59. This building was burned in 1863, and another, containing a store and a tenement above, was built on the site by his son, Heman Folsom, who con- ducted a grain and feed store for a time. He was succeeded by Nathan W. Alger, who had a general store here in 1856. This store was burned a year or two later; also a short time afterwards, the house in which Mr. Alger lived, and which stood a little north of the present Roman Catholic Church, was burned. This must have been one of the oldest houses in the village, and contained two or three tenements, one of which was in the basement, and was for a time the home of the Parlin family. The next store on this site was erected by J. H. Danforth (as it is stated that Mr. Dan- forth purchased it), and was leased to William L. Baldwin and Carleton Fuller, who carried on merchandising here for a few years as Baldwin & Fuller, when the property was purchased by the Holyoke Lumber Company, which traded here for one year; and in 1872 George R. Eaton bought the stock and conducted the business with marked success for ten years. Edward B. Merriam
. .. .
BUSINESS MEN IN NORTH STRATFORD
Grandison Fuller
John Isaac Crown
Charles P. Schoff
Group 2 Charles Johnson E. B. Merriam
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HISTORY OF STRATFORD
was admitted into partnership in 1882, and under the name of E. B. Merriam & Company, a yearly business of between $35,000 and $40,000 was carried on. In 1893 Mr. Merriam disposed of his stock in trade, and sold the building to John C. Hutchins, and removed to Spokane, Washington. Mr. Hutchins remodelled and enlarged both tenement and store, and moved his large stock of drugs, jewelry, furniture, etc., from the Carpenter store, and has since carried on a large trade on this site. On September 6, 1899, the fire which originated in the Percy House and swept another section of the business life of the village, carried with it the Hutchins Block. Mr. Hutchins began to rebuild October I, 1899, and December 18th the ell was completed and occupied by Mrs. E. C. Sartwell as a millinery store. The lower floor and the basement of the main building were ready for occupancy January 15, 1900, and Mr. Hutchins, who had been carrying on his business during the interval in the Knights of Pythias Block, moved back to the old stand. The tenement was completed February 22, 1900. Edgar Simonds was architect and builder. This new building was wired for electricity, one of the two public buildings which received service from the Nulhegan Mills power plant, private wires being strung across the river. Public telephone service was also installed in this store, and as the business in- creased, a room was fitted up for a telephone office in the rear of the store, and Miss Elsie Willard was appointed the first regular operator. On January 1, 1920, under the corporation laws of the state, The John C. Hutchins Company was incorporated, Ralph M. Hutchins and Leslie E. Barnett becoming members of the firm.
Herman Kugelman came to North Stratford in the '70's, and did a small business on Bridge Street, in a shop near the toll bridge. A few years later, with Levi Jacobs as partner, under the firm name of Jacobs & Kugelman, he opened a clothing store in the Twohey Block. About 1890 he purchased a lot from David McConnell on the Percy House land, and built a store, the site being later occupied by the Stevens Block. This store he sold to Charles O. Stevens and William R. Danforth, Jr., and moved to the Hinman Block, where we find him in the latter part of the '90's. About this time Mr. Kugelman took into partnership his son, Abraham, and continued in the business until his death in May, 1908. In 1905 they moved back to Bridge Street, to the
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HISTORY OF STRATFORD
building now occupied by T. G. Martin and Hand & Ramsay. Here Abraham Kugelman carried on business after the death of his father, until forced to retire on account of ill health. After a few years of recuperation in farming and out-of-door occupations, he reëntered the mercantile life, and opened a large and successful business in the new Stratford Block, in the fall of 1921. Mr. Kugelman is one of the few merchants who has been resident here and in business the greatest length of time, and who has witnessed the many changes that have taken place in North Stratford during that period.
Charles O. Stevens and William R. Danforth, Jr., in the '90's, purchased of Herman Kugelman his store near the Percy House, on Bridge Street, and established a general store, doing a large business until September, 1889, when the building was destroyed in the Percy House fire. The store was rebuilt by Mr. Stevens, and in 1900 business was resumed under the firm name of Stevens & Morse, Albert Morse becoming a partner with Mr. Stevens. The post-office was located here during the term of office of Charles P. Schoff as postmaster, from 1900 to 1905. After remaining unoccupied for two or three years, the building was again opened by Fred A. Hinman and Jay A. Sweatt, under the name of Hinman & Sweatt, for the carrying on of a dry goods and ladies' furnishing business, on April 1, 1908. The business was expanded to in- clude groceries and provisions. Mr. Hinman retired from the firm April 1, 1914, and True G. Martin entered the firm, which continued conducting a general store, under the firm name of Sweatt & Martin, until Mr. Martin retired in April, 1918; and Mr. Sweatt closed out the business in the summer of the following year. In the fall of 1919 John G. Taylor opened the building, establishing a grocery and provision store, and was carrying on trade there when the fire of Christmas eve, 1919, swept it away. E. H. Folsom and Melvin Marshall formed a partnership as gen- eral merchants, under the name of Folsom & Marshall, in 1864, and began business in the Bedel & Holmes store. Two years later Mr. Folsom retired, and still later E. B. Merriam was admitted as partner with Mr. Marshall, the firm becoming Marshall & Mer- riam. On Mr. Merriam's retirement the business was conducted under the name of M. Marshall & Company. The new firm was in trade for some years. In 1882, Carpenter Brothers (who in 1 877 established the first drug and jewelry business in the Barrett
THE WILLARD HOUSE
2II
HISTORY OF STRATFORD
building, south of the railroad) removed to the Marshall store. In 1866 they sold their goods to John C. Hutchins, who added a furniture department, and remained here until 1893, when he re- moved to the remodelled Merriam store. At the time of the fire of November 2, 1924, the Marshall store was owned by George C. Twohey and occupied by a barber's shop and the offices of Dr. Brewster.
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