USA > New Hampshire > New Hampshire agriculture : personal and farm sketches > Part 16
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
Mr. and Mrs. Gordon have two sons, Robert McGaw, born August 19, 1871, and Arthur Gilbert, January 27, 1876. The elder is a graduate of the McGaw Normal Institute and of the Bryant & Stratton Business College
302
NEW HAMPSHIRE AGRICULTURE.
of Boston. He is at present a member of the Merrimack school-board and overseer of Thornton Grange. The younger son is a member of the class of 1899, New Hampshire College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts at Durham.
CHARLES W. STONE,
ANDOVER.
Among the most industrious and enterprising of the young farmers of New Hampshire is Charles W. Stone of Andover, a son of Charles J. F. and Abbie A. (Weare) Stone, born in Plymouth, August 6, 1859. His father dying soon after his birth, his mother returned with her children to her birthplace, the old Weare homestead on Taunton Hill in the eastern part of Andover, where Jon- athan Weare, a kinsman of the patriot leader, Meshech Weare, settled in early life, and eventually transmitted the property to his son Meshech, the father of Mrs. Stone.
Here Charles W. Stone was reared, and has since had his home. Possessed of an active mind, a retentive memory, and a strong predilection for study, he fitted for college in New London academy, and entered Dart- mouth with his brother George W., two years older, graduating from that institution in 1878, before complet- ing his nineteenth year, being one of the youngest men ever graduated from that college.
After graduation he returned home, and while his brother engaged in the study and practice of law, he devoted himself to the older and no less honorable avo- cation of agriculture, which he has since successfully pursued on the old maternal homestead, which, originally containing about two hundred acres, has been enlarged from time to time until it now embraces about eight hundred acres, mostly contiguous. The soil is strong
CHARLES W. STONE.
304
NEW HAMPSHIRE AGRICULTURE.
and productive, four tons of hay per acre, at two cut- tings, being secured in a season from the best cultivated fields. The annual hay crop averages about eighty tons, while a large amount of corn is ensilaged in the four silos now on the place, which have a total capacity of about two hundred and fifty tons. An abundant supply of fruit, from grafted and standard trees, is also secured in favorable seasons.
Dairying is Mr. Stone's specialty, the product of some thirty cows being marketed in the form of cream, which is raised by the Cooley process, the milk being retained on the farm for feeding purposes. His entire stock the past winter consisted of sixteen horses and forty-eight head of cattle, including the cows. These are largely Jerseys and include some pure-blooded, and fine-grade animals. No little pains have been taken for improvement in this direction, a fine blooded bull from the noted C. I. Hood herd, having been recently in use.
There are two sets of buildings on the farm, one house being occupied by the help. Three men are constantly employed, and several others during the busy season.
For several years previous to 1895, Mr. Stone, although continuing the management of his farm, was engaged as the New Hampshire agent of the Bowker Fertilizer company.
Mr. Stone is an earnest Democrat, but has given little time to politics. His fellow-citizens have called him into their service, however, to a considerable extent. He was chosen a member of the board of selectmen in 1881, when only twenty-one years of age, and again the fol- lowing year, and in 1883 was chairman of the board, which position he has held two years since that time. He represented Andover in the legislature of 1891-'2, and was chosen road agent in 1896 and again in 1897, serving so efficiently in the latter position that the
FA
GROUP OF JERSEYS, C. W. STONE'S FARM, ANDOVER.
306
NEW HAMPSHIRE AGRICULTURE.
highways of Andover are among the best in the hill towns of New Hampshire. He has also served as a ballot inspector since the office was established. He was appointed a member of the board of trustees of the State Agricultural College in 1887 and has served continuously since that time, taking much interest in the welfare of the institution. He is a Patron of Husbandry, first joining Highland Lake Grange, East Andover, but withdrawing to unite with Blackwater Grange, Andover, upon the organization of the latter. He married August 9, 1893, Emma Darveau of Quebec.
PERLEY E. FOX,
MARLOW.
Among the many men who, reared upon the farm, have gone out into other fields of labor and enterprise, and passed therein the more active years of life, and have turned again to agriculture for pleasurable employ- ment, if not for profit, is Perley E. Fox of Marlow, a well- known citizen of Cheshire county, and a prominent and interested member of the order of Patrons of Husbandry. Mr. Fox is a native of Marlow, a son of Peter T. and Emily (Perley) Fox, born December 17, 1833, upon the old farm on which his grandfather had settled, and to which his father had succeeded, about three fourths of a mile from Marlow village. Here he grew to man- hood, receiving such education as the public schools and Marlow academy afforded, and supplementing the same by attendance at the N. H. Conference seminary at Northfield, now at Tilton.
At the age of eighteen, Mr. Fox commenced teaching and pursued that occupation for about ten years, the last five years in Danville and Belvidere, Ill. In 1862 he
307
PERSONAL AND FARM SKETCHES.
returned from the West and engaged in mercantile pur- suits, and in 1869 went into the stove and tin business at Marlow, continuing the same successfully until 1892, when he retired from business, and, turning his attention to the home and occupation of his boyhood, took the old family homestead-the farm whereon his father and grandfather had wrought sturdily in the battle of life- and, though retaining his residence in the village, has since been, and now is, engaged in its cultivation and improvement, his pur- pose being to do good work and bring the farm into condition for profitable agriculture in the future, whether or not any direct pecuni- ary profit accrues to him in the process.
Mr. Fox has about 400 acres of land in all, largely pasture and woodland, some forty acres only being tillage. Of this, he keeps about PERLEY E. Fox. ten acres under the plow, his object being the production of first-class crops of hay, supplementing the same with ensilage, a silo having been recently put in. He keeps a mixed stock, including eight or ten cows, some young cattle, three horses, and a flock of 60 or 70 sheep. He was a charter member of Excelsior Grange of Marlow, of which organization he is the present master, and is also master of Cheshire County Pomona Grange, to which position he was elected in December, 1895.
308
NEW HAMPSHIRE AGRICULTURE.
He has taken an active interest in the work of the order, and is a ready and effective speaker in the various gatherings under its auspices in his section of the state. Mrs. Fox, formerly Miss Catharine Fiske, daughter of the late Hon. Amos F. Fiske of Marlow, to whom he was married November 11, 1860, is also an earnest and efficient Grange worker, and has served as lecturer of the Pomona and subordinate Granges. They have no children living, a son, Charles H., having died in infancy.
Mr. Fox is an Odd Fellow, and has passed the chairs in that organization. Politically, he is a Republican, but, residing in a Democratic town, has not been called into the public service as generally as might otherwise have been the case. He has served on the school-board many years, however, and was for three successive terms, or six years, a member of the board of county commis- sioners. In religion, he is a Methodist, and has been for 29 consecutive years superintendent of the Sunday- school connected with that church in Marlow.
While engaged in mercantile life, it should be noted, Mr. Fox took out three different patents, one of which was for the Granite State evaporator, for making maple sugar, which has been long and favorably known.
JOHN M. PRESSEY,
SUTTON.
John M. Pressey, of Sutton, son of William and Jemi- ma W. (Bean) Pressey, was born in that town, May II, 1841, and reared on the farm originally settled in 1772 by his great-grandfather, William Pressey, from Haver- hill, Mass., who was the first carpenter in town and the first captain of militia. This farm, though not now occu- pied, has always remained in the family, and is now
FARM OF JOHN M. PRESSEY, SUTTON.
310
NEW HAMPSHIRE AGRICULTURE.
owned by Mr. Pressey. At twenty years of age he en- tered the Union army as a private in the First Rhode Island Cavalry, and served until discharged in Novem- ber, 1862, after being wounded at the Battle of Front Royal. Subsequently he was for two years clerk in the store of Lewis Richards at Sutton Mills, then bought a wood lot, and carried on lumbering operations and traded in cattle in connection with farming. In June, 1865, he married Miss Electa A. Durgin of Sanbornton. He lived in Canaan four years after marriage, then returned to Sutton and bought a farm in the western part of the town. This he sold in 1883, and bought the old Aaron Russell farm at South Sutton, where he has since resi- ded. This farm, of eighty acres, is now one of the best in the region, having been greatly improved, while the buildings have been extensively remodelled, rebuilt, and put in first-class condition. Milk production is the farm specialty, the fine hay crop being supplemented by ensi- lage from a fifty-ton silo put in in 1892. From fifteen to twenty cows are kept. He has one son, William S., now about thirty years of age, who lives at home and manages the farm, while he is himself extensively en- gaged in the flour and feed business at Bradford. Mr. Pressey is a Republican in politics, and has held various town offices. He was a charter member of Sutton Grange but has since withdrawn, though Mrs. Pressey is still an active and interested member of this organiza- tion.
GEORGE F. WHITNEY, 2D,
NEWPORT.
Among the thrifty and prosperous farmers of the town of Newport is George F. Whitney, 2d, a son of Orange and Emeline (Harris) Whitney, born in Sunapee, Feb-
3II
PERSONAL AND FARM SKETCHES.
ruary 9, 1839, his parents having removed to that town from Lowell. When he was two years of age, they removed to Goshen, and a few years later to Newport, where he has ever since resided. He was educated in the common school and the Newport High school, and has been engaged in agriculture and as a stone mason and contractor during the years of his active life up to the present time.
He has a fine farm on the hillside, about two miles southeast of Newport village, which embraces about 100 acres of land. He also owns another farm on " Pike Hill," and a tract of valuable land on the Goshen road a mile below the village, upon which he has a fine barn.
Mr. Whitney was for many years actively engaged in raising thoroughbred Durham cattle, gaining much reputation for their excellence, and his present stock is in the same line. He keeps, generally, a pair of horses and twenty-five or thirty head of cattle, including ten good cows, whose milk is retailed in the village. He has a substantial set of buildings on the home farm, con- veniently arranged, including a fine new barn, just completed, 40x75 feet, with cellar under the whole. Considerable attention has been given to fruit culture, and he has one of the best young apple orchards in town.
Mr. Whitney is a member of Sullivan Grange of New- port, and has been lecturer several terms. He is a Bap- tist in religion and a Democrat in politics, has served upon the board of selectmen, and was a representative in the legislature in the summer of 1878, and reelected for two years at the first biennial election in November following. He married Clara A. Wheeler, a sister of the late Paul J. Wheeler of Newport, May 11, 1864. They have one son, Frank G. Whitney.
312
NEW HAMPSHIRE AGRICULTURE.
EMRI C. HUTCHINSON,
MILFORD.
Few names are better known among Patrons of Hus- bandry in New England than that of Emri C. Hutchin- son of Milford, secretary of the New Hampshire State Grange. The Hutchinson family has long been promi- nent in Milford, the ancestor, Nathan Hutchinson, being one of the early settlers of the town. His son, Benjamin, great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, married a daughter of William Peabody, the first set- tler of the town, who located on land grant- ed an uncle for heroism in battle. Benjamin Hutchinson 2d, son of Benjamin, received, through his mother, the land embraced in the present Hutchinson farm, and upon which his son, Benjamin F., father of Emri C., was born June 10, 1814, and has always re- sided. Benjamin F. EMRI C. HUTCHINSON. Hutchinson married Eliza Richardson, and the worthy couple celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their mar- riage some years since. He has always taken a strong interest in agricultural progress and was one of the first men in the state to engage in and report the result of scientific feeding experiments. He was an active mem- ber of the State Board of Agriculture in the early days of the organization, was for several years president of
313
PERSONAL AND FARM SKETCHES.
the Hillsborough County Agricultural Society, and also represented his town in the state legislature.
Emri C. Hutchinson was born July 31, 1849, upon the farm where he was reared and has always resided, the location being near Richardson's Crossing, on the Wil- ton railroad, about two miles from Milford village. He was educated in the town schools and the private school of Prof. W. L. Whittemore, and entered the first class in the New Hampshire College of Agriculture, but did not complete the course. August 9, 1876, he was united in marriage with Miss Annie E. Lovejoy of Peterboro, who has been a most faithful companion and assistant in the work in which he has been engaged. They have two daughters,-M. Roselle and Medora A.
Mr. Hutchinson, like his father, has always been strongly interested in agriculture, and has been promi- nently identified with organizations promotive of its prog- ress. He was for some time secretary of the Hillsbor- ough County Agricultural Society, and was a charter member and the first secretary of Granite Grange No. 7, of Milford, holding the latter office for six successive years. He was also lecturer for one year, and for two years master of the same Grange. He served as assist- ant steward and steward of the State Grange one term each, and was general deputy for eight years previous to his election as secretary in December, 1891, to which latter position he has since been successively reëlected. He has also been secretary of the New Hampshire Grange Mutual Fire Insurance Company since its organ- ization in 1889, and through his faithful and persistent labors in these two offices he has been brought in con- tact with the Patrons of the state more generally than almost any other member of the organization, and has contributed largely to its success. He was also for one term master of the Hillsborough County Pomona
FARM BUILDINGS OF EMRI C. HUTCHINSON, MILFORD.
315
PERSONAL AND FARM SKETCHES.
Grange, of which he was a charter member. Mrs. Hutchinson has also been actively interested in Grange work, and has held various offices in the subordinate, Pomona, and State Granges.
The Hutchinson farm embraces about seventy acres of land, sixteen of which is in mowing and tillage. Thor- ough cultivation has been the motto, and two tons of hay per acre the average product. At one time early pota- toes for the Nashua market were extensively raised, but milk production is the leading specialty. The cows are high grade Ayrshire and Durham, selected for their dairy qualities, and commanded first premiums at the county fairs for several years. The milk is sold to the Whitings for the Boston market, the product of this dairy going into Boston in the first car run for such pur- poses, and the sales some years have averaged over $100 per cow, at the contractor's prices.
Mr. Hutchinson is a Republican in politics, but has never held or sought public office. Both he and Mrs. Hutchinson are active members of the Unitarian church of Milford.
THOMAS S. PULSIFER,
CAMPTON.
Attendants at the Grafton County and the Grange State fairs, and the annual winter exhibition of the Granite State Dairymen's Association, for many years past, cannot have failed to observe the fine dairy exhibits labelled "T. S. Pulsifer, Campton."
Thomas Scott Pulsifer, son of John and Polly (Palmer) Pulsifer, was born on the farm where he has always resided, April 5, 1825. This farm, situated on the hillside, two miles by the highway from the railway station at Livermore Falls, and four miles from Ply-
316
NEW HAMPSHIRE AGRICULTURE.
mouth village, was settled by Joseph Pulsifer, who came into town from Ipswich, Mass., in 1767, and located here in 1781, and has ever since remained in the family. It originally embraced about 100 acres, but additions from time to time have increased the acreage to 450, all contiguous, or nearly adjacent.
Mr. Pulsifer attended the district school and Plymouth Academy, but his principal education has been gained in the school of practical agriculture, wherein he ranks with the most success- ful New Hampshire farmers, having adopt- ed "improvement" as his motto, and pro- ceeding upon the ba- sis that farming, even in New Hampshire, can be made to pay. He pursues mixed farming, with dairy- ing as a leading fea- ture. His mowing and tillage embraces some seventy-five acres, and his stock includes about thirty head of THOMAS S. PULSIFER. cattle, of which sixteen or seventeen are cows, selected for their milking qualities, four horses, and a small flock of sheep, of which in former years he kept a larger number. He raises 300 or 400 bushels of corn annu- ally, and until within a few years past, raised a consid- erable amount of wheat, for the production of which his land is admirably adapted, thirty bushels to the acre frequently being secured. Indeed, until 1894 he had never bought a barrel of flour for family use. For many
317
PERSONAL AND FARM SKETCHES.
years he produced a prime article of butter as well as cheese, but of late, except during three months in sum- mer, when he still makes cheese, to the number of sev- enty-five or one hundred, his milk has been delivered at the creamery in Plymouth.
Mr. Pulsifer is an earnest Patron of Husbandry ; was a charter member of Campton Grange, organized in April, 1878, and its second master, holding the office eight years, altogether. He was a charter member and has been an officer of Grafton County Pomona Grange, was four years a District Deputy of the State Grange, and has been a director of the Grange Mutual Fire In- surance Company from the start, and its treasurer since the second year. In religion he is a Congregationalist ; politically, a Republican. He has been prominent in town affairs, serving as treasurer, member of the school board, chairman of the board of selectmen, and representative in 1865 and 1866. He has been a director in the Pemi- gewasset National Bank at Plymouth since its organiza- tion, and a director and vice-president of the Plymouth Creamery Association, which he was active in organiz- ing.
January 1, 1852, he married Hannah P. Cook of Campton. They have had three children, of whom one son, John M., survives. He married Laura S. Worthen of Holderness, has a daughter five years of age, and resides with his parents, the management of the farm now being in his hands.
WILLIAM W. BURBANK, WEBSTER.
As a rule the man whose leading occupation in life is lumbering, or fitting for commercial uses the natural for- est product, develops a love for the soil, and a strong
WILLIAM W. BURBANK.
319
PERSONAL AND FARM SKETCHES.
affinity for agriculture, an occupation naturally resulting from, and kindred to, his own.
William Wirt Burbank, of Webster, has been princi- pally occupied during his more than ordinarily busy life, up to the present time, in the business of a lumber man- ufacturer at " Burbank's Mills," on the Blackwater, not far from Corser Hill, in the northwestern part of the town. Here he was born, September 13, 1842, a son of Friend L. and Dorothy (Jackman) Burbank. He is a descendant of Moses Burbank, who came from Bradford, Mass., in 1733, and settled at Boscawen Plain, and whose son, David, the great-grandfather of William W., was a soldier in the patriot army at Bunker Hill, and an officer under Stark at Bennington. Abraham Burbank, a son of David, and father of Friend L., engaged exten- sively in lumbering and agriculture. He built the mills at the point in question, and the family name has ever since applied to the location, where William was reared and has ever had his home. He received his education in the schools of Webster and at Boscawen Academy, and. engaged in the lumber business in company with his father. After the decease of the latter he carried on the business alone for a time, but for some fifteen years past his younger brother, Irving A., has been asso- ciated with him in the business, manufacturing all kinds of lumber to an amount exceeding 1,000,000 feet per an- num, the larger proportion of which is fitted for pack- ing boxes for shoe and woolen manufacturers. It is the leading manufacturing industry in the town, and the making of the finished product, instead of shipping the lumber as it came from the saw, as was the custom in former years, adds largely to the labor required, and consequently to the pay-roll of the firm, which is an im- portant item to the business interests of that section of the town.
320
NEW HAMPSHIRE AGRICULTURE.
RESIDENCE OF W. W. BURBANK, WEBSTER.
Mr. Burbank is an admirer of fine horses and has raised some excellent colts. Although his agricultural operations are not extensive, he has some fine intervale land which has been well cared for and produces supe- rior hay and excellent potatoes. His interest in agricul- ture has been manifested by his active connection with agricultural organizations. He was a charter member and the first master of Daniel Webster Grange ; was chosen master of Merrimack County Pomona Grange in 1891, and was three times elected a member of the exec- utive committee of the State Grange. He was among the prime movers in the organization of the New Hamp- shire Grange Fair Association, and was general super- intendent of its fair for the first four years, and president
321
PERSONAL AND FARM SKETCHES.
of the association the next two, and undoubtedly de- voted more time to the interests of the association for the first six years than any other man except the late secre- tary, N. J. Bachelder. Upon the organization of the Merrimack County Grange Fair Association in 1895 he was chosen president, and served again in the same capacity the following year.
Mr. Burbank is a Republican in politics. He has served as town treasurer, has served on the board of selectmen a dozen years, as moderator a longer time, and represented the town in the legislature in 1881. He has also been for fifteen or twenty years director of the Merrimack County Mutual Fire Insurance Company. He is a member of Harris Lodge, F. & A. M., of War- ner, and was worshipful Master of the same in 1896. In religion he is a Congregationalist, a member of the Congregational church in Webster, and clerk of the organization, and has also served some twelve years as superintendent of the Sunday-school.
September 26, 1865, he was united in marriage with Miss Ellen M. Dow, daughter of Enoch H. Dow, of Con- cord. They have had four daughters,-Nellie L., a music teacher, educated at the New England Conser- vatory ; Sarah C., deceased; Alice M., educated at Wellesley, now the wife of William B. Ranney of New- port, Vt. ; and Annie F., a graduate of the Concord High School of the class of 1897.
JOSEPH BARNARD,
HOPKINTON.
Joseph Barnard of Hopkinton has long been one of the best-known agriculturists of Merrimack county. He was born on the Barnard farm, in the northeasterly part of the town, two miles from Hopkinton village, and two
21
322
NEW HAMPSHIRE AGRICULTURE.
and a half from Contoocook, November 11, 1817, being a son of Joseph and Miriam (Eastman) Barnard. His grandfather, also named Joseph, a son of Nathaniel Barnard of Amesbury, Mass., settled here in 1765, and the farm, which embraces about 150 acres, has always been held in the family. Mr. Barnard's father attained celebrity as a breeder of fine-wooled sheep-the pure- blood Saxony-and won prizes on wool from his flock exhibited at the World's fair in London, and at the New York Institute in 1838-a bronze medal of Prince Albert at the one, and a silver medal at the other, both of which Mr. Barnard has now in his possession. He and his father were also among the first breeders of Guern- sey cattle in this country, and the Barnard herd achieved wide distinction. He married, October 26, 1849, Maria, daughter of Abial Gerrish of Boscawen, and great-granddaughter of Col. Henry Gerrish of Revo- lutionary fame. They have had nine children, of whom four-two sons and two daughters-survive. One son, George E., is married, and is now in possession of the family homestead, Mr. Barnard having fitted up a sepa- rate home near at hand. The farm produces seventy- five tons of hay, five hundred bushels of ears of corn, and a large amount of fruit. About thirty head of cattle are kept, the milk now being taken to the Guernsey cream- ery at Contoocook, and returned to the farm after the cream is separated. Fine butter was formerly produced at home and a medal and diploma were awarded the same for excellence at the Chicago exposition. Mr. Barnard is a Congregationalist and a Republican. He has represented his town in the legislature, and has been for many years an adjuster of fire losses for the Northern and B. & M. railroads. He has written considerably for the press on fruit culture, forestry, and kindred sub- jects.
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.