USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Wentworth > History of the town of Wentworth, New Hampshire > Part 6
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
REVIEW OF THE YEAR 1850
In order to convey to the reader an idea of what constituted the resources and business of the com- munity in the year 1850, at which time the highest degree of development had been attained, as well as for the purpose of historical record, we will briefly describe conditions as they existed in that year, as shown by the selectmen's accounts.
The town's population was 1, 197, the highest in its history. The tax list contains 323 names; of these, fourteen were Ellsworths, while thirteen were Kim- balls. The selectmen were Rufus Stevens, Cyrus
86
HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
Johnson and Joseph Colburn. The five largest owners of real estate, with the amount of their valuation for that year were as follows: Joshua Blaisdell, $5,764.00; John Currier, $3,136.00; Jesse Eaton, $3,978.00; Robert Eames, $3,166.00; Fayette Kezer, $2,900.00. Rodney and Harrison Messer were taxed on 36 horses; they were the contractors then engaged in building the new railroad and did not remain in town after their work was done. No townsman had more than four horses at this time. Benjamin Woodbury had four while Joseph Caverly and John Currier had each three horses. Cyrus Johnson had the largest number of cattle. Marshall H. H. Breck had 124 head of sheep and led all competitors in that direction.
Contrary to what may be the general impression there were not large land holders then in town. Large owners of timber land are not found in the tax list, while our modern holding companies were then un- known.
Of the farmers, John Currier, Robert Eames, Jona. Eames, Jesse Eaton, Fayette Kezer, Ferdinand Kezer, James K. Page and Jeremiah Smart were among those owning the most real estate.
Putnam Spaulding, whose property consisted of real estate, stock in trade and cash on hand, was the largest taxpayer. Joshua S. Blaisdell was a good second in line. The brick yard was taxed to Peter C.
87
REVIEW OF THE YEAR 1850
Hobbs and Silvester Sanders jointly for $100. Oliver S. Cole, Saul Spaulding, Putnam Spaulding and Joshua S. Blaisdell, all had stock in trade, the two latter in large amounts.
Mills abounded. The largest mill property at that time was the one at the outlet of Orford Pond, owned by Jonathan Judkins. William Haines had the old saw mill at the village near the bridge. John F. A. Peabody had the mills on the South Branch, known later for many years as Colburn's Mills. Owners or at least proprietors of other and smaller mills of various sorts and kinds were John L. Brown, Josiah P. Brown, Alpha C. Jewett, Daniel Merrill, Jr., Ephraim Merrill, Dustin F. Mellen, Jeremiah Smart, Rufus Stevens, Reuben Whitcher and John Whitcher.
These mills were of all kinds, saw mills and different kinds of woodworking establishments being the most numerous. There were, however, at least two grist mills, one clover mill, one carding and fulling mill, also one tannery if not more. At least three cider mills were in active operation; there were probably more than that.
Even if most of these mills were small, the above list shows very plainly that a substantial amount of mill business was done at this time in the township.
There were at this time ten school districts, num- bered one to ten; the school money in these several :
88
HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
districts was disbursed by the following men as pru- dential committees for the year:
John Pillsbury District No. I
James K. Page.
2
Maynard W. Davis
3
Samuel Sargent
4
Alfred Hobbs.
5
John Foster Jr
6
Uriah Colburn Jr.
7
John L. Brown .
8
Solomon Spaulding
9
Albert Pillsbury
IO
The whole amount of school money for the year was $494.33. District No. 2 received the largest · amount, $94.76 while District No. 3 got $24.60, the smallest sum paid to any one of the districts. It is very doubtful if the average length of the school year throughout the town was at this time in excess of fourteen weeks.
There were funds amounting to $34.44 to be di- vided among the several religious societies of the town and we find there was alloted to the Universalists, $16.80; Congregationalists, $6.30; Methodists, $4.76; Free Will Baptists, $5.32; and to John L. Brown, $1.26.
There were then in town twenty-four highway dis- tricts. Beginning with district number one and con- tinuing in numerical order, the surveyors were as listed below, to wit:
89
REVIEW OF THE YEAR 1850
John Pillsbury
Jesse Stetson
Luther Clifford
Benjamin Ellsworth
Edson Rollins
William Kimball
Wallace Kimball
John Sanders
Joseph Colburn
Daniel Hobbs
David Gove
Ebenezer Swain
Samuel Fellows
Clark Harris
Oliver S. Cole
Ward Batchelder
John Loud
Hazen Clough
Ebenezer Atwell
Jonas Sawyer
Wolcott Dana
Benjamin Martin
Fayette C. Kezer
William U. Bailey
The whole amount of highway money for the year was $717.51.
Some of the districts were very small. Three of them were allowed less than $10.00 apiece. District No. 8, whose surveyor was Oliver S. Cole, received $153.53; no other district got over $50.00.
Quite a lot of money, however, was expended by the selectmen during the year on roads and bridges, in addition to what has been shown in the above ac- count. One new road was laid out and built as can be seen by the following items: "Paid Thomas Kimball for land damages for road, $36.00; paid David Boyd for damages on land for the road which was laid out by the commissioners, $18.00." Then follows a long list of payments made "For labor on the new road."
The town paid in 1850, for state tax, $157.80; for county tax, $349.46; for bounty on crows, $12.80.
90
HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
A new school house was built during the year in District No. 9 at a cost of $85.09. One other item is worthy of notice, viz .:
Paid to soldiers of the Phalanx Company. . $150.00
Paid to soldiers of the Infantry Company . . 26.00
Paid to soldiers for rations on Muster day . . . 26.50
We are also forcibly reminded in this account of the solemn fact that the poor have always been with us. The pauper bill for the year amounted to $690.94. It was no doubt because of these large pauper bills that the town soon voted to buy and maintain a town farm and soon found they had made a change from bad to worse.
All told, the receipts for the year were $4,239.20; expenses for the year were $4,188.86, leaving on hand a surplus of $50.34. There were, however, notes out- standing amounting to $1,382.77, which represents the amount of the town debt at that time.
Before closing this chapter, a word should be said about the "Wentworth Phalanx" Military Company mentioned above.
Thomas J. Whipple, known in after years as "Colonel Whipple," was educated in part at least at the Norwich (Vt.) Military Academy. His taste for military life was early displayed and may have been in part due to impressions received at this academy.
While he was still young, there was enlisted, or-
91
.
REVIEW OF THE YEAR 1850
ganized and drilled in town, a company known as the "Phalanx." This company was raised largely by his efforts and he became its captain.
In time the company became well equipped with arms and uniforms: they were drilled as soldiers and recognized eventually as the crack military organiza- tion of the whole region. They received extra pay and allowance from the town and appear to have been worth it from a military standpoint. The company was maintained until the militia system was abolished in 1851. The arms of this company were, however, re- tained in town for some years, being finally returned to the state. Several men, trained in the "Phalanx," saw service later in the Civil War. One of this number (John O. Stevens) died in the Peach Orchard at Gettysburg on the fateful day of July 2, 1863.
"Seek out, less often sought than found, A soldier's grave, for thee the best"
would have been in his case, a fitting epitaph.
With this perhaps too much extended review of the condition of our town in the year 1850, when it can fairly be said to have reached its zenith, this chapter can properly be closed.
A new era had now dawned, the so-called age of steam. The tremendous changes which this was des- tined to make in our rural as well as in our urban
92
HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
communities was little realized at the time, and after a lapse of eighty years, the end is not yet in sight and cannot now be predicted with any degree of cer- tainty. The answer has not as yet been found.
-
CHAPTER V-1850-1870
TOWN FARM ESTABLISHED - FLOOD OF 1856- COMING OF THE CIVIL WAR - WAR TIMES IN TOWN - MEN WHO SERVED - POST WAR PERIOD
THE CIVIL WAR PERIOD, 1850-1870
The thread of our narrative will now be resumed with the opening of the railroad in 1851. The imme- diate result in town was a rise in the value of real estate, which gained largely in price. Lumbering in- creased and a large new sawmill, known as Mellen's Mill, was built just above the village on the Pond Brook.
The owner of this mill, Dustin F. Mellen, appears to have been successful in business. This mill was the first to be equipped with a circular saw. The days of the old style, up today and down tomorrow, board saws were now numbered. There was also now a market for railroad ties. The hemlocks of Wentworth furnished for years thousands of such ties, which were always hewn with the broad ax in the woods wherever the trees happened to grow. Many farmers made, during the winter months, quite a feature of getting out cordwood and ties for sale to the railroad.
94
HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
The railroad worked at once, however, to the detri- ment of the hotel or tavern keepers. The wayside inns, which had grown up everywhere along all of the main roads, were one by one forced, for lack of pat- ronage, to go out of business. The old hotel at the village, however, was kept open until it was destroyed in 1890 by fire.
In 1851 the selectmen made apparently what would now be called a drive, in an effort to locate and tax the cash on hand, as well as money at interest, of sundry citizens.
As the two lawyers then in town, Judge Sargent and Samuel Herbert, Esq., were both among those "doomed" in the inventory of that year, it is not believed this movement originated with the lawyers, or that the selectmen were acting upon their advice in the matter.
At this time the town seems to have been the legal center for all the region roundabout.
There were, in addition to the two eminent lawyers just mentioned, William D. McQuesten and Henry Johnson, justices of the peace and quorum, while Aaron Jewett, John F. A. Peabody, William Moore, James Atwell, Newell Stanyan, Peter L. Hoyt, George S. Dean, John Currier, Jonathan P. Burnham, M. H. H. Breck and Alonzo A. Whipple were, all of them, justices of the peace.
95
THE CIVIL WAR PERIOD, 1850-1870
Probate court was held then in town in February and August of each year.
The year of 1851 saw the abolishment of the militia; Wentworth was then included in the 35th Regiment and had the following regimental officers: lieutenant- colonel, Rawson Z. Clifford; adjutant, David Stanyan; quartermaster, Lyman Whitcher.
The justices of the peace of 1851 were evidently overworked, or not able to keep up with the business; during the next two years their number was increased by the addition of Jeremiah Blodgett, Putnam Spaul- ding, Cyrus Johnson, Elijah Rollins, Wolcott Dana, Joshua S. Blaisdell and Thomas J. Smith.
Judge Sargent was, during these years, beyond a doubt the leading public man of the town. He went to the legislature, and in 1854 was elected speaker of the House.
He was Senator in 1855 and elected president of the Senate; these elections are a testimony to his ability as well as giving to his home town a measure of political importance.
Political and partizan spirit was at this time very high, and the disturbing political questions that in a very few years brought about the Civil War were everywhere making for discussion, debate and bitterness; Wentworth was no exception to this rule. Political issues were carried even into
96
HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
the church societies, to their detriment, it must be admitted.
The present generation does not understand and probably would never believe that partizan and politi- cal feeling could go to the extreme lengths attained previous to and during the Civil War. All that is necessary to convince the most sceptical upon this point, however, is for them to study for a while the files of some newspapers printed during these years and note the language used. Our present political campaigns are as mild as the meeting of a Rotary Club compared with the campaigns of the past. Every individual and every action appears to have been weighed during these years on the political scale and became the object of either fulsome eulogy or vindictive abuse, according to the partizan bias of the writer or speaker. The town was rather evenly bal- anced politically. Elections were bitterly contested and fought to a finish in the same bitter spirit. This political bias even crept into the courts and juries of those days, and the issues were in some instances de- cided not by the evidence presented but by political affiliations and influence apparently.
The town was now each year paying a substantial sum for the support of the town poor. It was finally decided a town farm should be established. Up to this time the poor had been supported either in their
97
THE CIVIL WAR PERIOD, 1850-1870
own homes or in private families, as was deemed best by the town officials.
In some towns, and perhaps in ours, it was at times the practice to invite bids for the support of the indi- gent and dependent members of society, with unfor- tunate results in some cases. There is very little evi- dence, however, that the practice of putting up at auction the town's poor ever was practiced much in Wentworth, although it may have been in some in- stances.
As a result of the agitation for an almshouse or "poor farm," as it was generally called, the town in 1853 voted to buy of James K. Page the place now owned by Clarence Eaton and originally settled by Ephraim Page.
The price paid was $4,730 which included, it is be- lieved, some personal property as well as the real es- tate. This was one of the best farms in town and the house was large and well built.
A town farm was kept here for some fifteen years. The financial results were not up to the expectations of the taxpayers, and in 1868 the town voted, under an appropriate article in the warrant, to authorize the selectmen to "Sell the Town Farm soon as practi- cable," and the farm was sold the same year to Wol- cott Dana at a price that cannot now be ascertained.
In the year of 1856 occurred the disastrous flood
98
HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
and washout that ruined practically all the mills located along the Pond Brook, except the Mellen Mill. On the 6th of August, following a rainfall of nine inches in forty-eight hours, the dam at the outlet of Baker's Ponds gave away. The disaster that followed is well described by Dr. Hoyt, and his article will be found in full in another chapter.
It suffices here to say this flood ruined the main industrial portion of the village. Several dwelling houses with their outbuildings, mills and shops of various kinds, about an acre of land in the village proper, more or less highway, the bridge near the Franklin Eaton house, as well as several bridges on the South Branch, can be mentioned as a part of the losses sustained by the town as a consequence of this freshet.
The village never fully recovered from the blow sus- tained at this time, and on the spot where was once located mills, houses and gardens, there is today a naked ledge, the picture of ruin and desolation.
About this time some fairs were held in town on the Robert Eames land, later owned by Max Whitcher; in 1855 a county fair was held on this ground on Sep- tember 21 and 22.
There is no doubt this was a festive occasion for the townspeople; some two thousand people were in at- tendance. This fair perhaps made up, for the time
99
THE CIVIL WAR PERIOD, 1850-1870
being, to the young people as well as some older ones, for the loss of the muster days, hitherto the great events in their experience.
During this period a new and strange contraption called a mowing machine made its appearance. The first ones were not very practical and probably pulled up by the roots more grass than they cut off; as a companion to the mower, was a horse rake with wooden teeth, clumsy and clattering in its operation. These imperfect machines were, however, the fore- runners of our present mowers and horse rakes.
Up to about this time all work on the land or in the woods had been done by oxen. During the early years of the town's history but few horses were kept. These were used almost wholly as saddle horses. To be able to own and use a chaise was for years, in town, the height of luxury.
In 1810 there were but two chaises in town. One be- longed to Squire Caleb Keith, the other to Doctor David Gibson. The doctors of those days, we find, as a rule traveled on horseback.
Of course the condition of the roads had something to do with this state of affairs. There were, we find, but few horses kept before 1820 and still fewer wagons. The patient ox was the farmer's mainstay, and a yoke of oxen almost as much of a necessity as a Ford car is today to an average citizen. It is rather doubtful if
100
HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
there is a man in town today who could or would make an ox-yoke, and about as doubtful if there are any who would use one.
A good deal of lumbering was done during these years. The south part of the town in particular had several sawmills at about this time as well as some charcoal burners, and did quite a business. The orig- inal splendid growth of pine was gone, but there was still a good deal of spruce and hemlock. The firm of A. L. Brooks of Lowell, Mass., lumbered many win- ters in town; their logs were floated down the river as soon as the ice went out in the spring.
This log drive was a yearly event; several men from town went usually on this drive to Lowell, the trip taking from two to three months. The men ate baked beans generally three times a day, every day while on the drive, and called for more beans as soon as they got back home.
In the years just before the Civil War, the leading storekeepers were Joshua S. Blaisdell and Albert S. Hammond, both men of good business ability. John Whitcher had now moved from the south part of the town to the village. He did much lumbering and was generally prominent in affairs. He was· chairman of the Board of Selectmen for eight years and during the entire duration of the Civil War.
Samuel G. and Lorenzo W. Currier were now com-
·
101
THE CIVIL WAR PERIOD, 1850-1870
ing into prominence in town affairs. Both of them were destined to be more or less in public life as selectmen, town clerk or representative during the next thirty years.
Stephen Aldrich was doing business at what be- came later Brown's Mills. William Haines, Jr., was running the old Aiken Mill at the village. Josiah P. Brown had a mill in Rowentown. James F. Colburn owned the mills built by Peabody on the South Branch.
The tax list for 1858 contained the names of seven- teen Ellsworths and eleven Kimballs. Judge Sargent that year paid the largest tax. The selectmen received during the year $6,489.37, and reported a net debt at the close of their account of $3,657.84; the tax rate appears to have been $2.23.
The census of 1860 showed a population of 1056, a loss since 1850 of 141, and marked the beginning of the decline of the population. Emigration to the new states of the West had set in strongly by this time and lasted for many years:
The year of 1860 was politically eventful and dis- turbing. The clouds of impending civil war slowly gathering over the nation for an entire generation were now rapidly becoming darker and more intense.
With the firing upon Fort Sumter in April, 1861, by the armed forces of the Southern States, the storm
-
102
HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
of civil war broke in all its fury upon a divided and discordant nation.
There is no evidence that the outbreak of the war was hailed with any degree of enthusiasm by the population of Wentworth. Enlistments during 1861 were few in number. On April 15, 1861, President Lin- coln issued a call for 75,000 men to serve for three months. By act of Congress of May 3, 1861, the Presi- dent was given authority to enlist 500,000 men for three years or during the war.
The first man from Wentworth to enlist was Alba C. Haines on May 3, 1861. He expected to serve in the Ist N. H. Regiment, which was composed of men enlisted for only three months. This regiment was raised so quickly that Haines did not get a chance to enter it.
The 2nd N. H. Regiment, raised under the call of May 3 for 500,000 men, was now being organized, and Haines reënlisted on May 21, 1861, in this regiment, serving throughout the war in Co. G, enlisting for the third time in February, 1864.
He had an excellent record as a soldier. From July I, 1864, until the close of the war he was color ser- geant.
To have been color bearer in a combat regiment, such as the 2nd N. H. certainly was, is a lasting tribute to his fidelity and capacity as a soldier. After
103
THE CIVIL WAR PERIOD, 1850-1870
the war closed, Haines was for many years a freight conductor on the B. C. & M. R. R., and died in Lan- caster.
John O. Stevens enlisted in May, 1861, in Co. B, 2nd N. H. He had an honorable record as corporal and sergeant, and lost his life in the bloody Peach Or- chard at Gettysburg on July 2, 1863. His body was recovered, brought home and buried in the East Side cemetery.
There appears to have been no more recruits from Wentworth, until late in 1861. During November and December of that year, the 6th Regiment was raised by enlistment.
A squad of six men from Wentworth enlisted as original members of this regiment, namely: Joseph G. Cross, Sebastian S. Getchell, George Holbrook, Hollis K. May, Albert C. Smith, and Charles Wallace.
Of these men, Getchell, entering the service as private, was steadily promoted, finally being com- missioned first lieutenant of Co. G, and seems to be clearly entitled to special mention.
George Holbrook and Charles Wallace both died in the army of disease. Albert Smith was wounded severely at Antietam, Md., and discharged. He later served another enlistment, however, on the quota of Rumney.
During the year of 1861 three Wentworth men en-
104 HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
listed outside the state: Rodney Eames and Hiram Farnsworth enlisting in Vermont regiments, while Willard Simpson enlisted in the 18th Massachusetts Infantry, serving almost five years on the quota of that state.
A special town meeting was called for November 23, 1861 ; one article in the warrant was "To see if the town will vote to raise money for the support of volunteers enlisted in the service of the United States."
On July 2, 1862, the President issued a call for 300,000 men to serve for three years.
In order to assist in filling the quota of the town under this call, it was voted on August 26, 1862, "To pay all who enlisted before September Ist, 1862, $200 each."
· At this time the 12th Regiment was being rapidly raised. It was expected that Col. Thomas J. Whipple was to command this regiment in the field. This may perhaps explain in part why the men of his native town, many of whom as boys must have known him more or less intimately, enlisted so largely in this regiment.
According to official records, the Wentworth men in the 12th N. H. were:
Orlando Boyd George C. Breck Patrick O. Casey
Albert Burnham
L
105
THE CIVIL WAR PERIOD, 1850-1870
George C. Chase
Thomas J. Ellsworth
William O. Chase
Caleb Hoyt
Homer Eames
David P. Hoyt
James C. Eames
Lyman Kimball
Bartlett Ellsworth
Wellman Kimball
Benjamin Ellsworth
Solomon H. Kittrell
George W. Ellsworth George E. Patterson
James M. Ellsworth
Cyrus J. Philbrick
Jason C. Ellsworth
Clinton F. Preston
John C. Ellsworth
Edward S. Smith
Samuel Ellsworth
James H. Stanyan
William Wallace, Jr.
In all, twenty-seven men, of whom eight were Ellsworths.
Of these men, four, namely, Patrick O. Casey, Thomas J. Ellsworth, George W. Ellsworth and Homer Eames were killed in battle, while Cyrus J. Philbrick, Bartlett Ellsworth, Jason Ellsworth, Wellman Kimball and Edward S. Smith died in the army, of disease.
James M. Ellsworth, Caleb Hoyt and Solomon Kit- trell were all severely wounded and suffered greatly from the effects of their wounds ever after.
Seven at least of the original twenty-seven were with the colors at the fall of Richmond, being among the first troops to enter the city.
Other enlistments during the year of 1862 from town included Nelson Daniels, enlisted on the quota of Rumney in Co. F, 9th N. H. and died of disease in
106
HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
January, 1863; George W. Kenney, enlisted in Co. G, 6th Vermont Infantry, credited to Orange, Vt. He served until the close of the war; Amon W. Clif- ford, enlisted August 30, 1862, in Co. E, Ist Regi- ment, U. S. Sharpshooters. He died of disease Novem- ber 12, 1862, at Washington, D. C., and was buried in the Foster Cemetery.
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.