USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Kensington > Kensington, New Hampshire, sketches and reminiscences > Part 2
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Then east again is found the farm formerly owned by Jeremiah Sanborn. He had a large family but all have passed on and the farm changed owners a few years since. The barn was of that style that was in town over on hundred years ago. Only four of that style are now standing.
The first barn in town in which the floor ran straightwise was on the farm of the late Samuel Tuck over 90 years ago and now owned by Nahum Osgood.
Going south from the farm of Joseph Shaw's descendants over the brook, was the home of Moses Rowe and it is now held in the family.
The next farm where lived Theopilus Hilliard over one hundred and fifty years ago, is owned by one of his descendants. The home there is one of the oldest houses in town. The barn there was built sixty-one years ago.
At the corner, south, was formerly the schoolhouse. That stood there till 1798 when one was built where now is the brick one. When that was removed the lot fell to teh adjoining land and some years after one acre was sold to John Gilman, who stayed there a few years and then left town. The place, now owned by Jones Smith, has been enlarged since and the buildings made more convenient.
The next house east was built by a Miss Prescott, a tailoress by trade. Then on the other side of the road was the home of Deacon Joseph C. Hillaird, who died in 1795, and now held by the trustees of the late Joseph C. Hilliard, a direct heir of the first Hilliard. On that same place over one hundred years ago a blacksmith named Oliver Towle lived and then sold his right and moved to Exeter.
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FRE
In going down the hill over the brook is the farm of the heirs of John French. He bought that place about 1828. He was a blacksmith by trade, and he died in 1884. His widow, "Aunt Orena," survives him and is the oldest person in town, being 94 years of age.
The next place east was the home of Hanson Hodgdon, and he and his wife lived together fifty-five years. He died in 1840. ne was in the Revolution. The east end of the house there form- erly stood on Orchard Hill and was moved there across the field and pastures in 1832 and afterwards made larger.
And down the road was, before 1790, the home of Parker Mor- gan. The next house we see south was the home of Moses James, who used to run the old grist mill that stood in the pasture of Frank Philbrick. Near the James house was the home of a Mr. Sanborn for some years.
The brick schoolhouse was built in 1842, taking the place of one that stood there built in 1798. The lot there cost $10 and a wooden building was erected with a peaked roof. It stood 44 years.
The road from the old church by the James house was made in 1833 and then north to the Exeter line in 1838. When the road was made by the schoolhouse in 1838 two men had the contract to build that piece of the road, and Mr. Tuck, who owned the land, had that year some rye sown, and it was almost ripe. But those two men came on and ploughed it all in. It was done at a great loss to Mr. Tuck.
The farm there was first owned by Joseph Shaw, a grandson of Roger Shaw of Hampton. He died in 1745 and his descendants he u it till 1801. Then Jacob French owned it. Jonathan Til- ton had lived there a few years when Mr. Tuck bought it in 1809.
East of the brick house was formerly the home of the ances- tors of Mr. Tuck. They were tanners and shoemakers by trade. It is still owned by one of the heirs.
Across the brook the small house was the home of John Potter, a son of Ebenezer Potter, who owned the land there and the farm there later owned by the Rowe family.
Then the next place was the home of Deacon Jonathan Fel- lows who died in 1837. His son died some years before that.
Across the brook in the lot on the south side of the road can be seen where Major John Lane lived.
Next was the farm of Robert Prescott who used to live near F. A. Mace's. He had two sons, Josiah and Daniel. He and his widow were buried in the field back of D). R. Prescott's. The farm is still held by Robert's descendants.
Beyond the corner, east of that farm, we come to the farm
of John Blake who lived there over one hundred years ago. Ira Blake, Esq., lived there and then his son, J. A. Blake. Then the home was sold to different parties.
North and opposite was the home of Josiah Rowe, and then Dean Rowe. That place has been in the family nearly one nun- dred years.
Next, on the other side of the road, was the home of Dr. Ben- jamin Rowe. He was sick with dropsy; was tapped 67 times and over a ton of water was taken from his body. He had a son, Ben- jamin, a doctor. He was in the Revolutionary War. He died in East Kingston. Then the third Benjamin sold it to Capt. Mark Wadleigh. He followed the sea for many years. At his death the farm changed hands.
Then we see a farm-house in the field Jonathan Rowe lived there many years. He married but left no issue.
Next was the farm of John Collins, Sr. North of the Collins nome is seen the farm of Winthrop Rowe, a Revolutionary sol- dier. Then a Wadleigh family owned it and now the Simpson heirs hold it.
The first Collins made the buildings near the town line where Samuel P. Tilton lived. Afterward the buildings were all burned.
The little house before you get there was the home of Mark Wadleigh, who was killed by a tree falling on him. Before him was William Rollins.
On the other side of the road is found the farm of the Gilman family, of Exeter, of 183 acres. They sold it two years ago to two men from Rochester. That farm was in the Gilman family most two hundred years. The Exeter town line is on the north side of that place.
South of that farm was a large farm owned by Caleb T. San- born most one hundred years ago, and which has since changed hands as the family have all left there.
Now by going back to the corner we go south and on the hill was the home of Nathan Fellows. His son, Nathan, died in 1852, and his family held it till about three years ago when they sold it to a man from Hampton Falls.
Then east are two farms owned by the Wadleigh families for most two hundred years. On the other side of the road was the home of Sewell Wadleigh for many years.
Then on the other side we see the home farm of Newell Healey, who died in 1830. Later this was the home of Dr. Jonathan Brown, and then of his son Boardman. At his death it changed hands.
Down the hill is the home of Daniel Dearborn, the former home of S. P. Tuck. It was a part of the farm of Samuel Tuck, who
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lived where now is Nahum Osgood. He had the first barn in town that the floor ran through. Three hundred men went to see it raised and at night many did not see their way home.
Then on the new road toward the Town House we see the old place of Dr. Joseph O. Osgood. He had three sons, two were preachers, and one, a doctor, and daughter. The place is now eld by one of his descendants.
The Union House was made in 1840, and the Town House built in 1846.
Next south of the church was the home of Deacon Jeremiah Fellows and now held by his descendant.
Next was the old home of Winthrop Wiggin, a soldier in the Revolution. He died in 1840 in his 93d year. The writer stood beside Lewis Gove and he was telling how old he was. This was at Mr. Wiggin's grave and he said he did not desire to live as long as Wiggin had. He died two years after that.
Our little town has always done its full share in the military service of the country. We had a list of soldiers in the Revolu- tion numbering 28. In the war of 1812 the number was 49; in the Mexican War, 2; and in the Civil War, 87. A part were put in by the town, and others for themselves, and many were volun- teers.
Our two cemeteries are thickly dotted with flags each Decora- tion Day to mark the resting places of most of them,
W. N. S.
UPPER STUMP FIELD.
As all roads lead to "the city," we wend our way in that direc- tion through what is known as "Stumpfield."
Not far from the East Kingston line dwelt branches of the Blake family. Dearborn T. was a carpenter and moved to Exeter about fifty years ago. William was a veteran of the Civil War and afterwards lived in Lynn. Ferdinand, also a veteran, died in 1886, and his family reside in Haverhill. Jeremiah lived in the house now occupied by James Purinton. The musical ability of Ferdinand and Jeremiah contributed greatly to the pleasure of teh past generation.
The Shaw estate is now the attractive summer home of Mrs. A. J. Brown, Miss Emily Shaw and Mrs. J. F. Goodwin and her daughters (all members of the Shaw family), who find rest and enjoyment in their commodious and hospitable "Liberty Hall."
Miss Mary Stevens and her brother, Elbridge, have their home on what was formerly the Nathaniel Tucke place. Fred Foss owns and lives at the George Howe farm.
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Joseph Evans resides at the intersection of this highway and the beautiful road that extends from Moulton's Ridge past the West schoolhouse to J. N. Austin's corner. He cultivates the farm of his brother, Daniel Evans, who has moved to East Kings- ton. The Evans property includes the farm of the late John Piper and that of the late Abram Shaw, the Stuart land on the hill and the old Dearborn homestead. The last-mentioned was the birthplace of John and George Dearborn. The latter will be remembered for his gift which enlarged and improved the cem- etery. This generous deed and his desire to rest among his kin- dred and friends proved his deep interest in his "old home."
Having left the corner and climbed the steep hill we soon reach, on our right, another old Blake home. The Blake family was followed some sixty years ago by the Prescott Spaldings, and later by Charles A. Evans and others. S. A. G.
MACE'S CORNER. Approach to Stumpfield Road, Site of Early School
LOWER STUMP FIELD AND VICINITY.
For about a mile beginning at the East Kingston line, on what is sometimes called the Middle road, there are scattered along some eight or ten farm buildings whose owners lived their faith- ful, quiet lives, tilling their farms and leaving them to their pos- terity in better condition than they found them. Some of their
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children still stay at the old homesteads, but many of them have gone from the ancestral homes to see their fortunes in the West or in larger places, but there are no "deserted farms" on this road.
Coming down the road we reach what is called "Gove's hill." It is not so high as Moulton's hill but I think it excels in beauty of scenery and as an ideal residential location all other places in town. On this hill are four houses, two built by the Tiltons, for one of them is still living-three children of the third gener- ation. The grandfather of this generation was a tailor and as people used to have their tailoring done in their homes, I have heard it said that Mr. Tilton used to take his "goose" and other tailoring implements and walk long distances in the early morn- ing to do a day's work. For this he received the enormous ( ?) sum of twenty-five cents a day and his board.
Two of the houses on the hill were built by the Goves. The stately brick house on the crest of the hill, built by a son of the first generation -- a merchant in Boston-seemed to my young eyes as grand as a palace. In later life I loved to look from the observatory on the top of the house, on the broad expanse of hill and dale and woods, or, of an evening coming down the hill towards home to see eastward the Snoals light gleaming for the mariner; and below in the valley "the light in the window for me."
Mr. Amos Gove sold this house to a brother living in Ports- mouth. Not far from 1830 Lewis Gove moved his family into their new home. At that time he had several children and one of them was a pretty, young daughter just entering her teens. A little later there came from the north part of the town a briglit and good-looking young man to teach in the old schoolhouse just below the hill. He boarded at the Gove's and "thereby hangs a tale.". What usually happens when two congenial young people associate much together? Well, all we know is the gossips whis- pered, "They are engaged," and many years we watched to see the bridal team come down the hill but it never came. He died a bachelor-she a maiden.
After descending the hill the first house you come to is a typi- cal two-story house with the front door in the middle. The chief attraction here is a row of noble elms in front of the house. Form- erly this place belonged to two brothers by the name of Chase- Stephen and John. Stephen sold his part to my father, Benja- min Brown, and thither we moved in 1837 .. We sold out to Charles, the youngest son of John, who still lives there all alone, happy in his "single blessedness," evidently trying as hard to im- prove the place as if he had a dozen children to heir it.
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Near to this is a large white house and an imposing array of many buildings which look almost like a little village by itself. These with the well-tilled fields show that farming does pay when managed by skill and energy such as Mr. T. K. Mace possessed. He has passed on and his only son, Frank, owns and manages the estate. Of his wife it may be said a kinder woman "ne'er drew breath."
This place was originally owned by Ezra Chase, and one of his sons, Ezra Bailey, had considerable artistic skill and for some time was in Boston with Daquerre, the originator of the old- fashioned daquerreotype. Ezra Bailey, or, Baailey, as he was usually called, had one son who inherited his father's skill in pic- ture-making; another who became a Congregational minister, and both of whom are now living in Ohio. A few rods south of the Mace estate was situated the old school-house. It was of ancient style, built more than a century ago. It was a square building facing what is known as the "new road," if that can be called "new," which is nearly or quite a century old. Between the two front doors was a recess in which stood the teacher's desk- "deep-scarred with raps official"; also on "the battered seats the jack-knife's carved initial." We did not freeze on cold winter days for opposite the teacher's desk stood a large box stove with a blazing fire which gave prophecy of warmth seldom fulfilled to those in the back seats, and yet how we younger pupils longed to be large enough to go "up higher." "Higher" it truly was for the floor was on an ascending scale from the front to the back part of the room. If any luckless wight chanced to drop the ap- ple from which he was taking clandestine bites it was sure to go rolling down to the teacher's desk. Many memories cluster around that old schoolhouse. At last the call came for a new building in the eastern part of the town so this old temple of learning was sold and we watched it as it was drawn slowly away over the snow by many pairs of oxen ..
Coming down the "new road" the first house we come to is often called the "parsonage." This is an old-fashioned house bought by Bailey Chase of Mr. Joseph Poor. It was moved to its present location by a team forty yoke of oxen. Now there are wut two pair of oxen owned in town. Our good minister, Eras- tus D. Eldredge, bought this house, fitted it up and there he lived with his family tin he and his noble-hearted wife were called to the mansion above.
One house more we reach on this road; a pretty little cottage, originally one-half Chase's cider mill, it was moved here and built into a home for William Hodgsdon's mother, and years later passed to the ownership of Miss Tenney who is its present occu-
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pant; and then we. come to the "city." I leave that for abler pens than mine to describe.
Passing this cottage let us bear to the right and now we will introduce to you another pleasant cottage formerly owned by the Bartletts but now the home of R. T. Brown. We go on with our woodsy, pleasant walk, and in close proximity to each other stand the Beckman, the Dow and the Davis homes. The Dow residence was originally a meeting-house located near Harrison Rowe's corner. The road passing these houses leads down to the main road near which stands the East school-house, built in 1873. In the school playground is an elm tree, furnished by the late Mr. Stephen Brown and planted on Arbor Day, 1887, with appropri- ate ceremonies by Mrs. Akerman and her pupils.
We turn our steps backward as far as the Hobbs cottage for a delightful walk up "Lover's Lane." We are going up hill now but we often stop and take a look backward for the view grows prettier behind us as we advance till we come to the summit of the hill. Here we will sit on the stone-wall and rest with our faces turned to the eastward for we shall be very likely to see some white sails on the ocean, as well as many buildings in the adjoining towns.
Now we move on descending the other side of the hill. We soon come to where the over-arching trees on both sides shut out the sunlight, and so grand and solemn it seems that we ex- claim, "Surely, the groves were God's first temples." In this cathedral of nature we need not "put our shoes from off our feet" for there is no dust thereon.
Very seldom does a carriage pass this way so that all the width of the road is a carpet of green grass. Beside the walls grow many shrubs and wild flowers with the ferns; here the birds feast unmolested on raspberries and other berries, for when lovers strolled this way they are too much interested in each other to disturb the birds. R. A.
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KENSINGTON-"THE CITY."
Five dwelling houses, two stores, a church and library, clus- tered together, provoke a smile from the stranger when he hears them designated as "the city." But such is the name long at- tached to the little Kensington village that nestles by the road- side between Newell's Hill and the old Hog-pen meadow on one side, and the woods that stretch away on the other. And it's no mean city, either, in the importance it has played in Kensing-
"CITY" OF KENSINGTON, N. H.
ton's history. The locality was long ago one that commended it- self to the watchful eyes in old Hampton. Hog-pen plain and Hog-pen meadow, were apparently valuable tracts of land to the first settlers, and in 1668 a very large portion was given to the Rev. Seaborn Cotton.
The locality was soon built upon, and remained a sought-for section of the town. Our town historian, George Osgood, is of the opinion, however, that none of the early dwellings occupied ex- actly the spots on which the houses now stand. Two of these
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were built over a hundred years ago, the Blake house built by a Stewart, and the Hiliard house built by a Johnson, but the oth- ers are of later years. Across the road from the Blake house stood for over a hundred years a building of considerable size, and called "the shop." Originally used as a tannery it came into the possession of John T. Blake in 1836. Mr. Blake had lived for six years in Boston where he had learned the boat-maker's trade. He now set up in the manufacture of such in the tan- nery building, and that considerable success attended his efforts is seen by the fact that over 30 men were soon employed by him, and a Newburyport skipper records in a diary of the thirties, "Kensington is the best place for either coarse or fine boots in this section of the country." Soon after, Mr. Blake turned the lower part of the building into a store, and became a village mer-
GREEN'S BROOK. Site of First House in Kensington
chant. The old post road was soon abandoned for the new road. Locke's Tavern was superseded by Blake's store as the Post Office, and thus became a rallying point for the townspeople. In the enthusiasm of these advances Mr. Blake made his boast that Ken- sington would soon be a city.
Some unknown wag of the countryside at once caught up the phrase, and for a long time "Blake's city" was the village desig- nation. The word "Blake" was finally dropped, but "the city" has ever stuck to it. Post Office, factory and store the old shop
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was in the flourishing days of Kensington, the gathering point of many an old-time scene of gaiety and sport. Here was made the daily stop of the old stage coach in the days before the war.
MAIN ROAD TO HAMPTON FALLS LINE.
Taking our way along the "Main road" southward from "the City" we pass the fine fruit farm of Mr. Abram Hilliard. The plain near by was once the "May Training Field."
Next is the residence of Mr. Clarence Bragg. Here lived the family of Mr. Joseph Hilliard. His daughter, Miss Sarah Hii- liard, was one of the original trustees of the Social Library.
We go on past the "Healey place," now owned and occupied by Mr. Moses W. Evans, a prosperous farmer. This estate was orig- inally granted fo Rev. Seaborn Cotton, one of the early settlers of Hampton, of which Kensington was then a part. The house was built for the use of "Parson Shaw."
A little farther on at the end of the "Pevear Lane" stood a schoolhouse, doubtless built of logs, where the children of revolu- tionary days learned "the three R's." Entering this lane and climbing hill after hill we are rewarded at the summit by the fine view. Eastward the broad Atlantic with Hampton Beach, Boar's Head and the more distant Isles of Shoals are plainly visi- ble. Salisbury Beach and the church spires of Newburyport are southeast, while hills and mountains stretch away to the horizon west and north of us. At the top of this hill was a "gar- rison-house," and its old cellar may still be traced. Truly this site was well chosen for its commanding position.
Returning to the " Main road," continuing on our way we come to a barn which may well be termed a land-mark. Built near the brook some time in the eighteenth century, it was drawn by sixty-eight pairs of oxen to its present position in 1798. All of its timbers were hewn, and those of oak are now in a good state of preservation.
The house across the road, built in 1806, is the nome of Miss Sarah A. Green who represents the sixth generation of the family of Abraham Green, Quaker, the first settler. This farm is the only one owned and occupied by a direct descendant of the same name as the original settler. Here sometimes came Harriet Liv- ermore, to whom Whittier refers in "Snowbound," in the lines:
"Another guest that winter night Flashed back from lustrous eyes the light."
A little way below, on the right, is the site of the first frame house built in what is now Kensington. This house was worn out and gone a century ago. On the left, not far from the brook
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was the old log-house which family tradition tells us was the scene of the midnight visit of an Indian who left his tomahawk near the door. This weapon was kept many years by the family.
The little stream known as "Green's Brook," which we cross at the foot of the hill, has its source in never-failing springs in the field just south. It is the largest tributary of Hampton River and is recognized as the half-way mark between Exeter and Amesbury.
We go up the hill to the residence of Mrs. Sarah P. Badger who observed in April, 1909, the ninety-third anniversary of her birth. Here, too, resides her daughter, whose husband was the late Dea- con Sidney Chase.
Beyond the ledgy hill is "Lamprey's Corner." Near here on the "old road to Exeter" was the home of Mr. John Patterson Lamprey who died in 1899, the last of his line. The family was noted for hospitality and the place for several years was the sum- mer nome of .. eneral A. W. Greely.
After Mr. Lamprey's death the property passed into the posses- sion of Mr. George A. Evans. The fine old house and all the farm buildings were destroyed by fire April 30, 1908. Mr. Evans then bought and now occupies the adjoining property of the late Mrs. Susan W. Chase. This, too, was originally a Lamprey home.
At this corner we turn from the "Main road" and, as we travel easterly, on our right is the field where the September "Musters" years ago made a gala day for all the country around.
Father on at our left is the modern residence of Mr. Warren P. Lamprey where Rev. David Frazer of Manchester, a former pas- tor of the Congregational church, finds a warm welcome for him- self and family in all vacation times.
Just beyond is the house built about 1782 by Deacon John Lam- prey. He was a man of great endurance and lived to the age of ninety-six. On the day he was seventy he is said to have "picked one hundred bushels of long red potatoes." This house is occupied by the Deacon's grand-daughters, the Misses Sarah and Emily Lamprey and their nephew, Mr. John W. Lamprey and family. The latter has erected a mill for grinding grain and es- tablished a new industry which proves a great convenience to the neighboring farmers.
Down the hill towards Hampton Falls, back from the highway on the right lives Mr. Wilbur K. Parker in the dwelling where Mr. Newell Dow and his interesting family once lived.
Across the fields, still farther from the road, is another house, the old home of Miss Dow, familiarly known as "Aunt Nancy." This is now the residence of Mrs. Norris Robie and her family.
Along these ways our ancestors took their journeys on horse- back, often with a pillion, "carrying double." Later they re- joiced in the "one-hoss shay."
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