USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Dublin > The history of Dublin, N.H. : containing the address by Charles Mason, and the proceedings at the centennial celebration, June 17, 1852, with a register of families > Part 52
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Samuel Twitchell built a saw-mill and grist-mill on the brook which is the outlet of Thorndike Pond. He was one of the earliest settlers. His distinguished son, Dr. Amos Twitchell, when a boy, worked some in this mill. He was a studious youth and, when engaged upon a problem in his arithmetic, was likely to forget what he was about. On one occasion, his father entered the mill and found his son's thoughts buried in study. In the meantime, the grist had been ground and the wheels continued to turn until they became smooth and spoiled. This mill was in lot seven, range one.
Col. Charles W. Pierce had a grist-mill and saw-mill, which
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was built upon the site of the Twitchell mill. At one time, he manufactured seventy-two hundred gross of clothes-pins per year, at eight cents per gross.
Joseph H. Spofford operated the Pierce mill for a few years, turning out clothes-pins and other wooden-wares.
Amos E. Perry had a saw-mill in Harrisville, which was built and first owned by Thaddeus Perry Mason. The amount of their manufactures of boxes for shoes, boots, and cloth, and of their manufactures of various kinds of lumber, was twenty-five hundred dollars per year.
As Harrisville is now not a part of Dublin, we cannot speak at length of the thriving business of the Winn Brothers' chair factory, nor of the crafts carried on in Chesham.
A saw-mill was built by Samuel Allison on lot seventeen, range six, about 1830. It was on the Keene road, near Howe Reservoir. It was owned successively by Jeremiah K. Need- ham, Charles W. Cleaveland, and Henry Holt. It passed into the possession of Micah Howe, who lived in the two-story house recently owned by the heirs of Dow J. Hart. It was after- wards owned and operated by Mr. Howe's son, Lambert L. Howe, who lived in the cottage house near the reservoir, which was named for that family. We have no statistics at hand of the amount and value of the products of that mill. It disap- peared many years ago. There is authority for the statement that Samuel Allison's first saw-mill was nearly opposite the house of Mr. Fairbanks, on the Keene road.
Moore Brothers & Knight were in the lumber business for several years.
The mill of C. F. Knight & Son, on the road from Bond's Corner to East Jaffrey, has done a thriving business, but we cannot state the exact amount. Henry H. Wiswall operated a saw-mill in town for several years.
We shall attempt no enumeration of the portable saw-mills which have been set up, from time to time, by out-of-town lumbermen, to saw the logs which have been cut upon the tracts of timber which they have purchased.
GRIST-MILLS
We have spoken of the grist-mill built by Moses Whitaker, in 1796, on lot nineteen, range eight. It was operated but a few years. There was also a grist-mill in the old Greenwood mill, that stood on the site of the mill of Percy W. Russell,
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which was recently destroyed by fire. We have also spoken of the grist-mill built by Samuel Twitchell in the south part of the town; also of the grist-mill operated by Col. Charles W. Pierce, on the same site. These grist-mills, in most cases, were connected with saw-mills of which we have already spoken. There was also a grist-mill in the Handy district, or East Harrisville, as it came to be called. Thaddeus Morse, for many years, operated a grist-mill at the outlet of Monad- nock Lake. The mill still remains upon the site, and has been used for sawing wood. Benjamin Frost built a grist-mill on lot five, range one; but, for want of suitable head and fall of water, it was not practicable to operate it. He sold the mill and a small piece of land to Nathan Hunt of Jaffrey, who built a house, barn, and clothier's shop, and, after a few years, sold the whole to Elijah B. Kimball, who set up a carding machine, and, for a number of years, carded wool and dressed cloth.
WOOL-CARDING
Elijah B. Kimball, of whom we have just spoken, after carding wool and dressing cloth for several years, sold his plant to Col. Jonathan Locke and moved to Peterborough. Colonel Locke continued, for several years, to dress cloth and to card wool into rolls. These rolls were spun by women upon spinning-wheels into yarn. The women and girls did a large amount of knitting, both of stockings and of mittens, many of which were for sale. The country merchants "put out" knit- ting, to use an expression of the time, and many girls and women earned no small amount of money in this way, before the invention of knitting machines and the construction of hosiery-mills.
MISCELLANEOUS INDUSTRIES
BRAIDING. The braiding of palmleaf hats was once an ex- tensive industry throughout the country. Thousands of girls and women throughout New England were employed in this manner. The country merchants sent agents around to dis- tribute the palmleaf, cut into long narrow strands, and col- lected into bunches; and, afterwards, came around again and collected the hats and paid for the braiding. Many girls earned their "wedding outfit" in this way. As in the case of knitting, factory-made goods, and of a finer quality, drove this industry to the wall.
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PEARLASH. We learn from a valuable paper prepared by Warren L. Fiske, Esq., that this substance, of the same chemical nature as soda or saleratus, was manufactured in Dublin, in the former part of the last century. The business was conducted by Joseph Appleton. The building in which the work was done stood at the foot of what was known as Meetinghouse Hill (or Potash Hill), just off the wharfing, on the south side of the road, west of Mrs. Rice's house. The floor of the upper story was level with the highway. Teams could be driven upon this floor, and the loads of ashes dumped, which fell into leeches upon the basement floor. The lye ob- tained by the percolation of water through these leeches was evaporated, in cauldrons, very much as maple sap is con- verted into sugar. The substance which formed the residuum was known as pearlash, the crude form of soda. Josephus Snow attended to the business of making the pearlash.
SHOES AND SHOE-PEGS. Besides the general manufacture of shoes for home consumption, such as were made by all cobblers, John Piper, Joseph F. Hayes, and Jackson Green- wood manufactured, in each of their shops, for many years, two thousand pairs of sale-shoes per year, worth fifty cents per pair. Joseph Morse manufactured, for many years, twenty-five hundred pairs of shoes per year, which were valued at fifteen hundred dollars. Many females were em- ployed in binding shoes for the above-named manufacturers. Much of their work, says Mr. Fiske, "was sent to them from Lynn and other shoe towns, to be finished up, that is, to peg on the bottoms, etc., and for this work they received fifty cents a pair. As soon as they finished a case, they would send it back, and receive another case in return."
The manufacture of shoe-pegs was begun by Ezra Rider, on lot three, range five, where he owned a grist-mill and saw- mill. Mr. Rider sold out to Joseph P. Frost and George Bullard. The mills, which were on or very near the site of the Dublin Electric Company's plant, were afterwards purchased by Samuel W. Hale, who manufactured five thousand bushels of shoe-pegs a year, from white birch timber, and sold them at from fifty to seventy-five cents per bushel. Large quantities of these shoe-pegs were sent to Europe and sold in Liverpool and Hamburg. Mr. Hale afterwards moved to Keene, and, after some years, bought the Dinsmore house, which is now the administration building of the State Normal School at Keene. In Keene, he engaged in various kinds of wooden-ware
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manufactures, at different plants. He was the Governor of New Hampshire, 1883-85.
BRICK-MAKING. There were at least two places in town where brick was manufactured. One of these brick-yards was on the John Gleason farm, on land now owned by Mr. Catlin. Here was made the brick used in constructing the house known as Monadnock No. 1, where the Monadnock post-office is located. The house was built by Samuel Adams, was long owned by John Gleason and his heirs, of whom it was pur- chased by Colonel Leighton.
The other brick-yard was on the old Thomas Morse farm, then owned by Deacon Jesse Morse. Mr. Fiske observes: "It would take seven or eight days to burn a kiln of brick, so that they would come out in good shape. Dea. Morse, a most exemplary man, was very strict in his observance of Sunday, and would not think of such a thing as putting any wood upon the fire in the kiln, after twelve o'clock Saturday night, and trusted in the Lord to keep the fire agoing. The result was that he lost many brick that were not fit for the market. John Bullard, a young man who worked for Dea. Morse, and another young man in the neighborhood, put their heads together and decided to save one kiln at least for the good deacon. So they went to the kiln very early one Sunday morning and wooded up, and the result was that the brick came out in good condition. The deacon, in speaking of the brick, said: 'Providence was on my side, this time.' He did not know that Providence had worked through the agency of those two young men." In this yard was made the brick used in the construction of the Trinitarian Congregational meeting- house that once stood near the residence of John A. Gleason.
There was excellent clay in Pottersville, and, at a time be- fore 1820, brick enough was made there to construct the South- wick residence, which still stands in that village.
DROVERS. In former times, men, known as drovers, did a thriving business in purchasing of the farmers animals suitable for the market and driving them there. These animals (cattle, sheep, and calves) were collected at a certain place, at a defi- nite time, and driven on foot to the Brighton market. Two Dublin men, Samuel Davison and Jesse Warren, made a spe- cialty of that business. In those days, the hill and mountain pastures were filled with cattle and sheep being fattened for the market. In later years, after dressed beef began to be rushed from the West, and especially since refrigerator cars
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have made the transportation of dressed meats easy and safe, the cattle-raising and the sheep-raising industries have de- clined, and the pastures are now covered with brush, and the flocks and herds have disappeared.
TEAMING. In former times, before the railroads were con- structed, there were three four-horse teams which plied regu- larly between Keene and Nashua, passing through Dublin. They carried merchandise for the stores along the route, as well as goods for manufacturers and business men. Sometimes, in the winter, when the snow was deep, they would be stalled for two or three days at a time, and the bar-rooms of the hotels along the route were made merry by them. The breaking of the roads to accommodate the winter travel was a difficult and severe undertaking in former years. In recent years, we have not had so much snow as formerly, and the rollers keep the roads in very good condition. In the middle of the last century, however, and much later, it would take all of the men and boys in town, as well as all of the oxen and steers, at- tached to sleds, with ploughs at their sides, to keep the roads passable. The old teamsters were generally a jolly and good- natured crowd, but sometimes they became profane if the trav- elling were not good.
The great four-horse teams have disappeared, but much teaming and trucking are still done in Dublin, especially for the accommodation of the large number of summer residents. In more recent years, the following have been engaged in the teaming and jobbing business: Wilfred M. Fiske, W. B. Whit- comb, C. M. Atwood, Priest & Atwood, Atwood & Gay, and the Dublin Stage Company. The latter company uses a large auto-truck.
ICE BUSINESS. In the earliest times, it was a rather un- usual thing to make use of ice for domestic purposes. At first, individuals harvested their own ice, using primitive methods, quite crude as compared with the improved apparatus of modern icemen. At a later time, men furnished ice for houses as a side-business, in connection with other forms of business. In the nineties, John H. Mason began the business of harvest- ing ice for summer residents and others on quite an extensive scale. He built icehouses near the site of the old first meeting- house and cut ice from Monadnock Lake, which is of the finest quality, usually from fifteen to eighteen inches thick, occa- sionally thicker. When his health failed, he sold the business to Wilfred M. Fiske, who still continues to carry it on.
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TANNERIES. Micah Morse had a tannery on lot nine' range five, about 1790, or later. He moved from town, and it is not known that tanning was continued at that site. Joseph Hayward, Jr., had a tannery near the present summer resi- dence of Mrs. Monroe. The Haywards built that house. Mr. Hayward's son, Minot Hayward, who died when only twenty- seven years of age, was in the same business with his father. Mr. Joseph Hayward died in 1846, and his son, James Hay- ward, continued the business four years more, and died in 1850, at the early age of thirty years. Another tannery, operated by Curtis Smith, was located near the present resi- dence of Fremont E. Mason. A dam was constructed here, that the water in the small stream might be used for running a bark-mill, to grind the hemlock bark which was used in tan- ning. The hides, in those days, were readily purchased of the farmers in this and the adjoining towns. They all kept a large stock at that period, partly for the market, and partly for domestic purposes. The small tanning industries have all disappeared from this vicinity. Large tanning syndicates do all of the business. They import the most of their hides, which are no longer produced in this region in sufficient quantities. Chemicals also very largely take the place of hemlock bark in tanning, as hemlock trees have become quite scarce.
The editor of the former history of the town stated that, in 1852, the total amount of sales of the products of the various manufacturies of the town, which then included Harrisville, Pottersville, and Handyville, amounted to $172,576. He had not learned the exact amount of the invested capital and the annual cost of materials or stock. The business has varied from year to year. In 1870, the new town of Harrisville was created, which took away by far the most important part of the manufacturing industries. At the present time, the Knight saw-mill is the only important industry within the limits of the town.
CHARCOAL. In the latter part of the preceding century, Asa Knowlton constructed of brick a kiln for producing char- coal, near the highway, called accordingly the "Charcoal Road." The kiln was a short distance south of his house. The business was continued for several years, and the kiln is still there, but not now used. Mr. Knowlton is advanced in years and can no longer attend to active business.
LIVERY-STABLES. The advent of summer residents made necessary and profitable the livery business upon a large scale.
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George A. Gowing established a stable in the rear of his resi- dence. His sons, Clifford Gowing and Clesson E. Gowing, were connected with their father in this business and have con- tinued it since their father's death. George W. Gleason has a livery-stable on the land in the rear of his store. Hiram A. Carey also has a stable on land in the rear of the residences of Warren L. Fiske, Esq., and Wilfred M. Fiske. Business has been done for many years at all of these stables. At first, the business was wholly confined to the renting of horse-teams and boarding the horses of summer residents. Since the ad- vent of automobiles, the renting of horses is not quite so usual as in former times, although much business in this line is still done. The proprietors of these stables, however, are beginning to provide themselves with good automobiles and chauffeurs, which can be hired by parties desiring them. There is hardly any business in which changes are not necessary to meet the demands of the age. All of these stables are well equipped and do a good business every summer.
BUSINESS DEPENDING ON ELECTRICITY
TELEGRAPH. A telegraph wire was extended to Dublin in 1864. The office was established in the store then operated by George W. Gleason, and was moved to his store on the south side of the street, when he began business in that building. The office has remained in that building to the present time. The use of long-distance telephones has considerably diminished the necessity of resorting to the telegraph.
TELEPHONES. In the nineties, telephone wires were strung to Dublin; and a public telephone office was established in Gleason's store about 1897. A central station for Dublin patrons is now located in a part of the Gleason building. There are public telephones at Gleason's store, Allison's store, and French's Inn.
THE DUBLIN ELECTRIC COMPANY was formed, February 11, 1899, for the purpose of producing electric lighting facilities. The manager and principal owner was Charles F. Appleton. The plant was first located near where S. W. Hale made shoe- pegs. This plant furnished the electric light used for lighting the public buildings and private residences in Dublin, as well as certain streets and roads. Electric lighting was introduced into the Town Hall in 1899. In 1900, twenty-four street lights were installed and electric lights were introduced into
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Charles F: Appleton
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the churches. In the summer of 1907, a new up-to-date plant was installed, which is in use at the present time, located near the residence of Mr. Appleton. The water is taken from the dam near the former peg-mill, through fourteen hun- dred sixty-five feet of forty-two-inch steel penstock, with eighty-five feet of fall. This plant was put in operation, December 15, 1907, the old plant having been abandoned. The new plant was for a time under the superintendence of Arthur T. Appleton, who had graduated in 1907 from the University of Vermont, having pursued a special course in electrical engineering. In September, 1911, the business of the Dublin Electric Company was sold to the Keene Gas and Elec- tric Company, with the understanding that they would build a high-tension line to connect Keene and Dublin and furnish a twenty-four hour service in Dublin. In the summer of 1915, a steel tower line was constructed between the Keene sub- station and the Dublin plant, which is now used as a sub- station. As a result of this added power, the street lighting has been much extended, and now includes all of the roads around the lake and the road to Jaffrey for quite a distance, and also the road to Peterborough for three quarters of a mile. There was some opposition to lighting the public highways, especially around the lake, but the density of the darkness, in consequence of the growth of brush and timber much of the way, caused night travel to be so dangerous that street lights became a necessity. A law requiring all persons to use lights upon vehicles in the night would not carry with it the certainty that all would comply with the requirement, or that all lights would be of such a nature as to answer the purpose. Many houses belonging to the older residents of the town, and all of those owned or occupied by the summer residents, are now lighted with this brilliant illuminant.
Electric door-bells and call-bells are now universally used in all the large houses of the summer residents, and are begin- ning to be used considerably by the native population. In- ventions crowd upon each other so rapidly that the appoint- ments of a modern house have little in common with those of seventy-five years ago.
WATER AND HEATING
There has, as yet, been introduced no public water supply, although something of the kind is greatly needed. Many
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houses, including all those of the summer residents, have been provided with a system of water supply, at private expense, which insures running water, both hot and cold, and bathing and toilet facilities.
There is a great need of a public water supply for the vil- lage, to insure protection against fires, as well as to supply water in times of drought. There have been several seasons in recent years when the wells and springs became exhausted in many localities. At certain times, it became a serious problem to know how or where to find water, without going to the lake for it, which has been done in certain cases. The lake, so near at hand, would furnish a never-failing supply for an aqueduct system.
The ancient method of heating houses with fireplaces was really delightful and healthful, barring the labor involved in preparing the fuel. Stoves were more convenient and gave more heat, but were more unsightly and much less healthful. Many of the houses, at the present time, have steam heat, which is cleaner and healthier, if more expensive, than stove heating.
HOTELS
In the earliest times, many of the farmers obtained licenses to keep inns, as they were called, and to sell spirituous liquors, the use of which, then, was not regarded as a vice, any more than the present use of lemonade or grape-juice. It is also said that the liquors then in use were much purer and less in- jurious than those of to-day. The little log-cabins and humble homes of the earliest settlers were inhabited by kind-hearted persons, who were very hospitable. They knew what hard- ship meant, and they never rudely turned a stranger from their doors. Whatever they possessed they shared with the stranger who came to them. It was rarely that their kindness was abused or bestowed unworthily. Those who made a business of lodg- ing and feeding strangers, and who generally obtained a license so to do, charged only a small pittance for their attentions.
The first pretentious hotel in town was Chamberlain's Hotel. The house is said to have been built as early as 1772 or 1773. It was on the southern end of lot nine, range six, on the site occupied by the Unitarian Church, which was owned for nearly twenty-five years by James Rollins. It passed into the possession of Rev. Edward Sprague in 1797. James Chamber- lain, the father of Cyrus Chamberlain, lived here from 1797
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to 1801. In the latter year, Cyrus Chamberlain purchased the property of Mr. Sprague. The Chamberlains, father and son, kept a good hotel here. The elder Chamberlain died in 1826. Cyrus Chamberlain continued the business as long as he remained in Dublin. He was the first postmaster of the town and held that office until he moved to the state of New York in 1835. The house was purchased by Daniel Fiske, the father of Warren L. Fiske, Esq., and was moved in 1852 to its present location, to make room for the new Unitarian Church. It is now the residence of Wilfred M. Fiske. The post-office was in the bar-room. A few parallel strips of tape, tacked to the wall, crossing each other in such a manner as to produce diamonds, served as receptacles for the few letters which were received.
Later, Dr. Asa Heald opened a fine hotel on the "Flat," as the lower end of the village came to be called. The building is now French's Dublin Inn. Dr. Heald was also the postmaster for many years, and all the mail for Harrisville was then taken from the Dublin office. It was carried by a Mr. Corey, on foot, summer and winter, for several years. Mr. Fiske de- scribes him as a tall man, which was to his advantage in wad- ing through the deep snow. He had but little mail to carry, and could easily take it in a small satchel swung over his shoulder. The appearance of the Heald house has been some- what changed. We remember when long green blinds ex- tended from the window sills of the lower story to the tops of the windows on the third floor, upon the west and east ends of the building. This gave a stately appearance to the house, as if it were some public building. Dr. Heald died in 1874, and his widow lived until 1890.
The old Appleton store, at the upper end of the town, with the dwelling connected with it, was purchased in the early seventies by Charles H. Leffingwell of Providence, R. I., who converted it into an excellent boarding-house, accom- modating the best class of guests. The table was particularly good. His prices, although not high for the accommodations furnished, seemed high, at that time, in a modest village like Dublin. Transient guests were also received, although the proprietor did not seek for them. After the death of Mrs. Leffingwell, the business was continued by their son, Henry R. Leffingwell, until the building was burned in November, 1908. Many persons from all parts of the country have spent happy days in that old building. The situation is particularly
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delightful, commanding a fine view of the whole Pack Monad- nock range of mountains to the east.
The former Heald Hotel wasutilized as a tavern in the nineties. A man named George W. Preston was proprietor in 1896-97. It was then taken by Henry R. Leffingwell, who managed it for many years, calling it the "Leffingwell Inn," or simply "The Leffingwell." Shortly after the upper hotel was de- stroyed by fire, Mr. Leffingwell moved to Vermont. The lower hotel has been managed for several years by Walter French, and is known as French's Inn. It is a good house and the genial proprietor is anxious to serve his guests acceptably. In 1910, F. S. Willcox, who had done a thriving business in a South Carolina winter hotel, bought the house built by Horace Hamilton, opposite the site of the Leffingwell Hotel, and fitted it up for the accommodation of guests. The table and the service in general were of the finest pattern, and the prices correspondingly high. It was in operation for about four seasons. Mr. Willcox owns the building as these pages go to the press, but it was not used as an inn after the season of 1914. It was called the Willcox Inn. It met the needs of a cer- tain class of patronage admirably; but there was not enough of that patronage, in this place, to make it profitable to operate a hotel upon that plan.
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