USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Some things about Coventry-Benton, New Hampshire (town history) > Part 8
USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Benton > Some things about Coventry-Benton, New Hampshire (town history) > Part 8
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married Polly, the eldest daughter of Daniel Howe, married Hannah Flanders, but shortly afterwards removed to Haver- hill. Walter Mulliken had come from Haverhill some two or three years earlier, and he was followed this year by his father, John W. Mulliken, and his brothers, Nathaniel and George W. Walter remained in town but a few years, but his father remained until his death, about 1863, and Nathan- iel and George for several years later. The Mullikens es- tablished themselves to the north of the William K. Bruce or Charles B. Keyser farm next to Landaff line, but the buildings are now in ruins and the farm is for the most part now grown up to forest. George W. Mulliken is now a resident of Haverhill. William C. Bixby was a member of a Warren family, and one of five brothers who entered the christian ministry. One of his brothers, Moses H., became a leading clergyman in the Baptist denomination, and an- other was a successful Congregational pastor in Massachu- setts, but William C. adhered to the Methodist faith of his parents. He never united with an annual conference, but was ordained both deacon and elder, and supplied Methodist pulpits for several years before settling down on his High Street farm, the one now owned by De Elden Tibbets. He was a man of devout piety, and of more than ordinary intel- lectual ability, but he suffered from physical peculiarities which perhaps prevented him from entering the conference as a traveling minister.
Chester Spooner became a voter in town in 1854, and was a resident for several years at intervals until his death some time about 1880, at the age of upwards of 90 years. Two of his sons subsequently became residents of the town, Wil- liam for a few years, and Alonzo, who still resides in the town in the Hollow. Several of the sons of Alonzo Spooner
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have also at various times lived in town, Daniel, Horace and Oscar. William Merrill and Abraham Taylor were the owners of the sawmill on the Oliverian, just south of the Meadows, and Jacob M. White, who spent two or three years in town before removing to Landaff, lived on the farm which had been previously occupied by David M. Howe. "March" White, as he was familiarly known, had a large family of children, four sons : Emery B., now living in Stoneham, Mass. ; Edwin, who removed to Washington Territory ; John, who resides in Lawrence, Mass., and Charles, who lives in Stoneham, Mass. His four daughters, Laura, Ann, Mary and Susan, all reside in Mass. Mr. White was a man of good education, and maintained an active interest in the political and other questions of the day. In 1855 he was one of the active spirits in the Native American or Know Nothing movement. Jonas Hurlbut built himself a log house and cleared a few acres of land on Coburn hill to the west of the David Clough farm, but was employed for the most of the time in the sawmills of the town. He remained but a few years. Other new voters this year were C, T. Cogswell, Josiah Downey, Walter Pike, Clifton S. Mardin, Moody Styles and Nathan Blodgett, the latter living near the Haverhill line on the road leading north-east from the Meadows.
In 1855 there was quite an addition to the list of ratable polls, many of these being employes connected with the charcoal kilns which were built near East Haverhill after the opening of the Boston, Concord & Montreal railroad. Most of these were not voters, but among those entitled to vote were : William Sampson, L. W. Parker, Chase S. Cawley, Benjamin Cummings, William Hartwell, Joseph Place and Franklin Butler. Calvin Corliss settled this year in the
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west part of the town. Horace W. Gordon came from Lan- daff, married Lucinda C., daughter of Amos Whitcher, and lived in town for some ten years, subsequently removing to Stoneham, Mass., where he lived until his death. Eli- sha Hibbard came from Haverhill, and established himself as a blacksmith in the Hollow, where he lived for several years. His wife, by his first marriage, was a daughter of John and Olive Brown. Janes Glazier came from Haver- hill, and established the business of wheel-wright in the Hollow. His wife was Almira Elliott. Their eldest daugh- ter, Alma, is the wife of Charles Clark, of Haverhill ; an- other daughter, Alice, is the wife of Thomas E. Taylor, of Woodsville ; Winnie married Fred Aldrich, of Haverhill, and a son, the Rev. Burt J. Glazier, is a clergyman of the Adventist faith. Amos C. Mann became a voter in town for the first time this year.
The new names on the voting list in 1856 are those of George Corliss, Chester Corliss, Joshua Howard, Daniel Spaulding, William R. Park, Albert Buswell, Alonzo Spooner, Arthur Knapp, William Caswell, Daniel W. Brown, Thomas H. Hunkings, Henry Fuller, Prescott Parker and Prescott Parker, Jr. Daniel W. Brown died in 1859, at the age of 25, and Thomas H. Hunkings remained in town but a few years. All the others named, except the Parkers, may be properly classed as transients. Prescott Parker and Prescott Parker, Jr., came from Lyman, and purchased the farm on which "March" White was then liv- ing and remained there until they purchased the farm on which Lebina H. Parker now lives in the corner of the town adjoining Haverhill and Landaff. Prescott Parker, Jr., was an industrious, thrifty man and became one of the most useful citizens of the town. He served for several years on
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the board of selectmen and represented the town in the legis- lature in the years 1877-78. He died June 13, 1898, in his 77th year. His widow survives him, residing with her son, Lebina H. Parker. One son, Frank C., lives in Lisbon, and a daughter, Dora, lives with her mother and brother.
The new voters in 1857 were Roswell L. Cady, William Swain, Ezra C. Winchester, Charles M. Badger, Elisha C. Durant, William Harden, James B. Clark and Morin Knight. William Harden came from East Haverhill, and lived for a few years in the Hollow at North Benton, where he carried on blacksmithing. A few years later he removed to Canada but subsequently returned to Benton where he lived till his death. A stepdaughter married William H. Burnham. He had three daughters. One married Fred P. Burnham, of Bath ; another Charles Hutchins, of Woods- ville, and another, Solomon J, Hutchins, who lives on the William T. Torsey farm in Benton. Moren Knight lived for several years with his brother-in-law, Daniel Whitcher, but later married and removed to Landaff, where he still resides. Otis Brooks came to town in 1858, and remaining for several years, being engaged in the sawmills of the town, but later removed first to Easton, then to Franconia. Wes- ley B. Davis, the eldest son of Jeremiah B. and Susan (Tyler) Davis returned to Benton after an absence of several years in Massachusetts, and soon after was ordained a min- ister in the Advent denomination. His ministerial career was, however, brief, and in the early sixties he went west, and little, if anything authentic, was heard of him after- wards. Benjamin H. Tyrell also became a resident of the town in the latter part of 1857 or early in 1858, and lived for several years on the hill near Charles M. Howe. Later he lived in the High Street section. He was employed in lum-
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bering, and had a large family of children, none of whom now live in town. Ephraim Cooley came from Sugar Hill. His wife was Adaline, a daughter of Daniel Wilson. He purchased a small farm to the east of the meeting house, where he lived until his death in 1897, at the age of 83. A son, Holman D., died in 1892, at the age of 49, and his eldest daughter, Rebecca, is the wife of Byron Bailey, of Woodsville. His youngest daughter, Myra, married Den- nison B. Davis, and died in 1881, at the age of 26.
Joseph Nudd, Stephen Perkins, Charles Jacobs and John Burbank settled in the south part of the town in 1859, and Lorenzo T. Davis, Chester C. Clough and Leonard Moody became voters in the north part. Russell Kimball, with his son-in-law, Curtis Fletcher, came from Haverhill, and lived a few years on the John C. Brown farm on Tunnel stream.
There were four new comers in 1860. Darius Clough came from Bath, and settled near his brother, David Clough, but after a little returned to Bath. Alden E. Hurlburt came from Haverhill, and was for several years a resident of the town. Henry A. Glazier also came from Haverhill, mar- ried Elizabeth, a daughter of Benjamin H. Tyrell, and pur- chased the Samuel C. Annis farm near the meeting house. Daniel Spooner, Horace L. Carr, Stephen Marston, George Wilson, George W. Mulliken and Rufus W. Howe, sons of residents became voters for the first time this year.
The population of the town in 1860 was 494, the largest reached by any census taken. The vote cast for Governor and representative to the General Court was 103, which had never been exceeded except in 1858, when the vote was 109, and in 1859, when the vote was 111. But these were two of the four famous Bunga Road years when there was the bit- terest of contests between George W. Mann and Daniel
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Whitcher for the legislative honors. In 1857 the vote was 103 ; in 1861 it was 103, but thenceforward it diminished. It is perhaps safe to say that the town reached the height of its prosperity in 1860. A glance at the different dis- tricts or sections of the town with the names of the residents of each section will be of interest.
In school district No. 1, or the High Street neighborhood, so called, there were, naming the families in order from Warren line, those of James M. Harriman, William C. Bixby, Bartlett Welch, Joseph Nudd, Silas M. Welch, Chester Spooner, John Lathrop, and Josiah F. Jeffers. The David Dickey farm was not then occupied, and the Eljah Gray farm was abandoned. On the Meadows, in school district No. 2, following the road from Warren line to Haverhill line, there were : Jonathan and Ansel Stickney, Melinda Place, Nancy Pike and her son, Walter F. Pike, John Hyde, E. Hill and his sons, Randall and Lafayette, John and Moses P. Buswell and Nathan Blodgett. In "the Page Neighborhood", or in school district No. 3, there were, following the road from Haverhill line, Ephraim Cross, James J. and James Page, John Burbank, Corne- lius and Horace L. Carr, Chester Corliss and Daniel D. Page. Hiram King, who had lived for some years on the Gov. John Page farm, had left a year or two before, and the farm was unoccupied, but Jeremy Titus had erected a, sawmill to the north of Sugar Loaf, which he was then op- erating, though his house was just over the line in Haverhill.
In North Benton in school district No. 5 the residents were : from Haverhill town line on the Swiftwater road to the school house, Prescott Parker, Prescott Parker, Jr., George W. Mann, Mrs. Louisa Eastman and Amos Wilson ; from the school house on the Haverhill road to the Haverhill
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town line, Charles C. Tyler, Moses W. Howe, and Francis Dwyer ; from the school house on the road up Howe hill, so called, Charles Gifford, Daniel Howe, Daniel M. Howe, Alden E Hurlbutt, Samuel Howe, Peter Howe 2nd, Charles M. Howe and James B. Clark ; from the school house to and including "the Hollow", the eastern boundary of the district, Daniel Whitcher, Peter Howe, James Norris, Ira Whitcher, Chase Whitcher, Elisha Hibbard, John E. Key- ser, William Eastman, Amos Whitcher, William Harden and Samuel C. Annis ; and on the road up the brook, John P. Cox. In district No. 4 Henry A. Glazier on the Annis farm west of the meeting house ; Ephraim Cooley on the east, and Daniel and George Wilson on the north ; on the South road, so called, Enos C. Wells, David M. Norris, Horace W. Gordon, Caleb Wells, George Wells, Enos Wells, the Stow farm unoccupied, James A. Cox, Orrin, Samuel E. and Stephen B. Marston ; on the road leading easterly from James A. Cox's, James H. and Thomas F. Cox, Bartlett Marston, William T. Torsey, and Gilbert P. Wright. In district No. 6, Winthrop G. Torsey, Jeremiah B. Davis, George Tyler and James C. Sherman, (on a road southerly ) David Clough, William Davis, Jonathan Davis, Joseph Hutchins, Noah C. Hutchins, Jonas G. Brown, David Bowman, William Keyser, James H. Keyser, Russell Kimball, Curtis Fletcher, Jonathan Hunkings, Charles B. Keyser, John W. Mulliken and Nathaniel Mul- liken ; from No. 6 school house southerly, Israel Flanders, Lafayette W. Flanders, Asa Merrill and John Flanders.
In the decade from 1860 to 1870 most of the new comers in town were but transient residents, and the most of the young men on reaching their majority, or a little later, left for other localities, as did also many of the older residents
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who had been active in the affairs of the town. Benjamin F. and Ashael L. Warren purchased the Stickney farm on the Meadows in 1860 and for a number of years were prom- inent in town matters. A. L. Warren was a most success- ful farmer. He removed to Haverhill about 1883, where he still resides on a farm near Pike. The Rev. George W. Richardson came to North Benton in 1860 and remained for two years, pastor of the Free Will Baptist society, occu- pying the pulpit of the Union Meeting house on alternate Sundays with the Methodist preacher. Elder Richardson's disquisitions on Old Testament history were something great. He came from Vershire, Vt., and went from Benton to East Tilton. James H. Keyser, son of William Keyser, who had left home some years before, returned about the year 1860, and took up his residence with his father. He built a sawmill on Tunnel stream and engaged in the lum- ber business until the lumber lands in that section of the town were sold to the Fall Mountain Paper Co. Since then Mr. Keyser has given his entire time to farming, and has served the town in various capacities as tax collector, town clerk and selectman.' William Spooner, Daniel Hoyt, James Buswell, George Corliss, Charles Howe, son of Charles M., John Harris, Laban T. Davis, son of Jeremiah B., Frank Oakes, and John E. Oakes were new voters in 1861, and in 1862 the following new names appeared on the check list : Henry Whitcher, a son of Winthrop C. and Mercy (Noyes) Whitcher, Franklin Ferguson, Prescott Blake, Warren Blake, Henry Hutchins, son of Lucius, Ar- thur Wilson, son of Daniel, Stephen Marston, son of Orrin, Moody Howland, John Copp and Benjamin Hatch. Pres- cott Blake purchased a farm in the Page district which he occupied for some years, and Benjamin Hatch came from
JAMES H. KEYSER.
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East Haverhill and leased the Daniel Whitcher farm on the removal of Mr. Whitcher to Whitcherville in Landaff.
New names on the list in 1863 were those of Marcellus M. Davis, son of John C., Nathan Blodgett, Jr., Wesley Marston, son of Bartlett, Merrill Clough, son of David, Philemon P. Oakes, Lyman Bemis, George E. Brown, son of Jonas G., George W. Mulliken, son of John W., Amos C. Mann, Kirk Bowles, William Bliss and Sherburn Glea- son. William Bliss came from North Haverhill, and leased the blacksmith shop in "the Hollow." Sherburn Gleason entered the employ of Chase Whitcher, while Amos C. Mann purchased the farm on Tunnel stream which had been oc- cupied for a few years by Russell Kimball.
In 1864 the new names appearing on the list were those of John E. French, Taylor P. Blake, son of Prescott, Jere- miah A. Clark, William H. Weld, R. Clement Clough, Charles H. Whitcher, son of Amos, George E. Eastman, son of Sylvester and Louisa, and Francis A. Brooks. Charles H. Whitcher married Minerva, daughter of David and Hannah Bowman, purchased the blacksmith shop, and the house adjoining that of his father, but about 1872 re- moved to Stoneham, Mass., where he resided until his death. He was elected town clerk on reaching his majority, and served for several years. George E. Eastman remained a resident but a short time. He married Rebecca Bronson and removed to Bath, and later to North Haverhill, where he still resides. Holman D. Cooley, son of Ephraim, and Joshua Page, son of Daniel D., were voters for the first time in 1865, and other new names on the list were those of Charles W. Winchester, John E. Oakes, who married Mary, a daughter of Daniel Wilson, Cornelius Dwyer, Ed- ward P. Devlin and George W. Bemis. The latter, with
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his brothers, Lyman aud Moses P., purchased the Jonathan Hunkings property and engaged in the lumber business. The two brothers remained with him but a short time, and he carried on the business alone until about 1860, when he disposed of it to J. G. Ramsdell. Martha, a sister of George W. Bemis, married Philemon P. Oakes. None of the Bemis family are now in town. Moses P. resides in Haverhill. Cornelius Dwyer, a brother of Francis, came from Benton and purchased the Daniel Whitcher farm. Cornelius had spent nearly all his life at sea, and was hardly what would be called a scientific farmer. Some of his neigh- bors took advantage of his inexperience and sold him farm stock at what were most emphatically war prices. Corne- lius also engaged in the liquor traffic, but possessing him- selt an inordinate love of "the craythur" he did not gather riches to himself by this means. He returned to Boston after some three years, having perhaps gained a little in his knowledge of agriculture, considerably more in experience in trading in oxen and other live stock, but poorer by far in earthly possessions. His methods of farming furnished amusement for the boys.
James M. Copp, a local preacher of the Methodist Epis- copal church, whose family had resided for many years in Haverhill, married Marietta, daughter of Josiah F. and Asenath (Wright) Jeffers, and came to reside with Mr. Jeffers, preaching on Sundays in surrounding towns. On the death of the latter, in September 1866, he combined the lumber business with his ministerial labors, the result of which was that the small property which had been accumu- lated by his father-in-law was nearly all lost to his family. Mr. Copp was not a Whitefield as a preacher, and was still less a success as a business man. Willard W. Coburn, who
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had lived as a boy in the family of Jonas G. Brown, and whose daughter, Clara, he married became a voter this year, 1866, and continued to reside in Benton on the J. G. Brown farm, engaging also in the lumber business for some years after Mr. Brown had removed to Haverhill. He was active in town affairs, served as selectman, and filled various other town offices. His brother, Ransom Coburn, who married Cyrenia, daughter of Jonas G. Brown, was later associated with him in business. Both removed from town about 1874. Nathan Blodget and his son, Nathan, Jr., left town in 1866, and their farm was purchased by W. T. Bowen.
New names appearing on the voting list in 1867 were those of Winthrop C. Whitcher, son of Amos, Edward F. Mann, son of George W., William F. Whitcher, son of Ira, and Harrison Day. None of these became permanent resi- dents, though Edward F. Mann retained a voting residence there until his marriage in 1881. Winthrop C. Whitcher graduated at the New Hampton Institute, was for several years a licensed minister of the Free Will Baptist denomi- nation. He went to Stoneham, Mass., about 1873, where he still resides, engaged in the grocery business, and is an active and devoted layman of the Methodist Episcopal church. Other new names on the voting list were : John G. Howe, Nathaniel Clark, Charles House, Richard Drown and John Crimmings. The latter purchased the Nancy Pike farm on the Meadows, which is now owned and occupied by his son, James Crimmings. New voters in 1868 were : John A. True, Edward M. True, John Page, son of Daniel D., Moses Clough, Tristram Hartwell, Castanus Marston, son of Orrin, Orrin Eastman, Thomas Stacy, Fredrick S. Howe, son of Samuel, Isaac H. Tyler, Hiram Bowen, Henry M. Whiteman and Joseph Pond. The True brothers
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resided in the Page district, and participated actively in town affairs. Tristram Hartwell lived on the George Wells place, and Orrin Eastman and family lived with his relative William Eastman in "the Hollow." John L. Stevens mar- ried the widow of Bartlett Welch, and resided on the Welch farm at High Street.
The new voters in 1869 were : Marcellus Tyrell, son of Benjamin H., James Crimmings, son of John, Geo. Henry Mann, son of George W., Spafford W. Cowan, Charles Collins, Charles Clark, son of Jeremiah A., David Wright, son of Gilbert P., Parker Bancroft, James E. Whitcher, son of Amos, Edward L. Cox, son of John P., Ransom Coburn and S. H. Chamberlin. James Crimmings is the only one of these now residing in town. James E. Whitcher removed to Stoneham, Mass., engaging in the grocery busi- ness until his death in 1881. He was prominent in town affairs there, twice representing the town in the Massachu- setts legislature, and serving on the board of selectmen. Geo. Henry Mann entered the employ of the B. &. M. rail- road, and resides in Woodsville. E. L. Cox lived in town until his death, and was for two or three years town clerk. Charles Collins came from Haverhill, and purchased the Charles Gifford farm. He was a veteran of the Civil war. Both he and his wife, a daughter of Eli Pike, of Haverhill, are now deceased. In 1870 the only new voters were : Austin Willey, George W. Annis, son of Samuel C., Charles A. Veazey, Clifton Pike and Hiram Scales. Charles A. Veazey married Ruth J., daughter of Sylvester and Louisa (Whitcher) Eastman, and purchased the Amos Wil- son farm near the No. 5 school house, where he lived until he removed to "the Hollow", where he still resides, engaged in a "general store" business, while Mrs. Veazsy is post-
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mistress. His son, William D. Veazey, graduated at New Hampton Institute, studied law in the office of Charles F. Stone, of Laconia, and is in the active practice of his profession in that city, a member of the firm of Jewell, Owen & Veazey. He has thrice been elected solicitor for Belknap county, and holds that office at the present time. His daughter, Jennie, married W. A. Brown, and resides in Bellows Falls, Vt. The abandonment of farms had be- gun as this period closed, and the census of 1870 showed a decrease in population. The town had lost some of its best families by death or removal. Among those might be men- tioned the Stowes, the Browns, the Wellses, the Davises, with a single exception, and others were soon to follow. Benton farms were ceasing to have attractions for the young men as they came to the estate of manhood, and the lumber industry was becoming less and less profitable as railroads were extended into the forests of Coos and Carroll counties. Not all, by any means, who left town bettered themselves, but emigration had set in, and the places of those who left were hardly made good, either in numbers or in quality by new comers.
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CHAPTER V. THE BENTON OF RECENT YEARS.
In the last thirty years Benton has undergone the changes incident to the mountain towns of the state which are with- out railroad facilities, and which have not built up a summer resort business. The sale of the forest lands to the Winni- pesauke and Fall Mountain Paper companies put an end to the manufacture of lumber and the six saw mills which had done a flourishing business went into decay, were torn down, and the machinery was sold. The paper companies, indeed, began operations in the forests, but they imported their labor, adding nothing to the permanent prosperity of the town. On the contrary, the wholesale destruction of the forests materially decreased the town's material wealth and re- sources. The exodus of the representatives of the older families continued, and most of those who came in to take their places remained but a short time, or, remaining perma- nently, were lacking in the enterprise, thrift and energy of those who had gone. In the decade, 1870-1880, Ira, Chase and Amos Whitcher, Orrin, Bartlett, Samuel E. and Stephen Marston, Gilbert P. Wright, Jonathan Davis and James J. Page were among those who removed from town, while death was busy in the ranks of the residents who had contributed to the prosperity of the town. Among these were Charles C. Tyler, John P. Cox, Peter Howe, Winthrop G. Torsey, Samuel A. Mann, Amos C. Mann, and Ara Smith.
Charles C. Tyler was one of the characters of the town. He married, before reaching his majority, Diana Bishop, and they were parents of eleven children, all of whom, save one,
WILLIAM D. VEAZEY.
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grew to the estate of manhood and womanhood. Charles was shoemaker, farmer, mail carrier, dealer in calves and sheep, manufacturer of wild strawberry and raspberry pre- serves, tax collector, and sort of general utility man. He was not noted for being a hard-working man, but the fact that he enjoyed poor health may have accounted for his dis- taste for manual labor. It was a mystery to many how he managed to feed, clothe, and provide well for his family of eleven children, but he did it. He was always cheerful and hopeful, never discouraged, and never overburdened with debt since never able to obtain large credit. It was the ver- dict of his townsmen that he was possessed of "calculation". More than one industrious, hard-working citizen has exclaim- ed : "If I only had Charles Tyler's calculation, I would be a rich man."
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