USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Salisbury > The history of Salisbury, New Hampshire, from date of settlement to the present time > Part 33
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JOHN BAKER
was born in Salisbury, May 23, 1792, attended the academy, and studied medicine with Dr. Jonathan Kittredge. It is said he practiced medicine in Salisbury from 1841 to 1851. He resided in the L. M. Learned house. He died at Little Rock, Ark., June 1, 1851. He married Miss Esther Town, of Hills- borough, December 6, 1831, by whom he had John G., born in Weare, September 24, 1823, (graduated at Dartmouth Col- lege in 1846,) Harriet, born August 14, 1825, married - Kel- logg and resides in Georgia. He married Mary, sister of the first wife, who died January 2, 1845, leaving one son, George, who resides in Nebraska. He married for his third wife Lydia Hale, of Salisbury. Dr. Baker practiced in Antrim, Hillsborough, Weare, Salisbury, and Lowell, Mass., from whence he went to Arkansas.
CALVIN BACHELDER
was born in Pittsfield, May 2, 1796, and was a son of Jacob and Mary (Cleaveland ) Bachelder. He studied medicine with Dr. Enoch Hoit, of Northfield, and received his degree at Dartmouth Medical College in 1825. He was in successful practice, as a physician, from 1827 to 1846. After practicing his profession about eighteen months, he came to Salisbury in
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HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
the autumn of 1827. He married Lydia, daughter of Capt. Benjamin Pettengill, and sister of Thomas Hale Pettengill, May 1, 1826. His wife died November 22, 1842. He subse- quently practiced medicine in Lowell and Taunton, Mass., and in Oshkosh, Wis., where he died in 1865. His second wife was Mrs. Dorothy M. (Pike) Steele, of Cornish, Me. His only child, Henriette Ackland Bachelder, born of his first wife, at Centre Harbor, September 28, 1827, married March 20,. 1852, Prof. Jonathan Tenney, a graduate of Dartmouth Col- lege in 1843, who now resides in Albany, N. Y.
ABRAHAM HAZEN ROBINSON
was born in Concord, January 8, 1813 ; prepared for college at Phillips Exeter Academy in 1830 ; entered the sophomore class in Yale College in 1832, and graduated in 1835. In 1836, he com- menced the study of medicine with Dr. Timothy Haynes, of Con- cord, graduated at Dartmouth College in 1840, opened an office in Hillsborough, at the Bridge, and soon after removed to Salis- bury into the Moses Eastman house. He had an extensive practice, was chosen town clerk in 1849, and was re-elected for five succeeding years. He was a delegate to revise the State Constitution in 1850-1, and a representative to the legis- lature from this town in 1857-8. He removed to Concord in 1859. At the breaking out of the War of the Rebellion, he was appointed assistant surgeon and had charge of the hospi- tal department at Concord for three years. He was President of the New Hampshire Medical Association in 1867.
CHARLES B. WILLIS
removed to Salisbury from Brattleborough, Vt., in the spring of 1859, and had an office in the building just west of the hotel. He remained in practice in Salisbury till 1863, when he removed to Tilton, and soon after entered the army. He is now understood to be in Des Moines, Iowa.
GEORGE H. TOWLE,
son of Roby M. Towle, was born in Pittsfield, April 13, 1839,-
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PHYSICIANS AND LAWYERS.
attended Pittsfield Academy, studied medicine with Dr. John Wheeler, of Pittsfield, attended courses of lectures at Dart- mouth, Harvard and Bowdoin Medical Colleges, graduating from the latter institution in 1865. In July of that year he came to Salisbury and settled on the South Road, where he re- mained in practice till December, 1868, when he removed to Deerfield, where he has since resided, and has had a large practice. In 1881 he was elected and served as state senator.
WARREN W. SLEEPER
was born at New Hampton, January 22, 1828, received his education at the New Hampton Institution, and studied medi- cine with Dr. Smith, of Dover, and Dr. O. P. Warren, of Pitts- field. He graduated at the Worcester Medical College in 1849 and commenced practice at Meredith Bridge ( Laconia) where he continued four years. He then removed to Salisbury. In 1875, he removed to Franklin, where he is now in practice. He married Miss Lizzie Randall.
EDWARD B. BUXTON,
youngest child of Charles and Polly Bailey, was born at Dun- barton, November 12, 1845. At the age of two years, he was adopted by Rev. Edward Buxton, a highly respected Congrega- tionalist minister of Boscawen ( Webster.) He was educated at Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, studied medicine with Dr. Thomas H. Currie, of Webster, and graduated from Dart- mouth Medical School in 1868. He began practice in Green- field, Iowa; thence he went to the Illinois Asylum for the In- sane. He afterwards practiced at West Concord, Campton, Loudon and Derry. In October, 1875, he moved to Salisbury, succeeding Dr. Sleeper, and remained till 1875, when he re- moved to Concord. Like George Washington, he has returned to the cultivation of the ground, and is now carrying on a farm at Hill. He married Miss C. H. Roby, of Fisherville.
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HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
GEORGE PILLSBURY TITCOMB,
son of Jeremiah and Rebecca Pillsbury Titcomb, was born at Boscawen, September 30, 1838, graduated at the Eclectic Med- ical College of Pennsylvania, and immediately began the prac- tice of medicine at Danbury, in 1859, where he continued till the breaking out of the War of the Rebellion, when he enlisted in the Fifth New Hampshire Volunteers. After a service of eleven months, he was assigned to the "field hospital " depart- ment, and was finally discharged for disability. He returned to Danbury, where he continued such practice as his enfeebled health would permit, and removed to Salisbury in 1868, where he now resides.
JOHN J. DEARBORN,
the eldest of two sons of John M. and Ruth E. (Hoit) Dear- born, was born in Concord, December 19, 1851 ; received a common school education ; also served three years in a school of pharmacy. In 1869 he began the study of medicine under Drs. Gage and Conn, of Concord ; attended medical lectures at Hanover and at Burlington, Vt., receiving his diploma in 1873, in which year he succeeded Dr. Harry M. Dearborn as a physi- cian, in Hopkinton. He removed to Salisbury in 1878 and es- tablished a good practice. In 1884 he removed to Tilton. November 21, 1881, he married Etta J. Bean, only child of David G. and Eliza J. ( Severance ) Bean, of Salisbury.
WILLIAM RICHARDSON
was born in Londonderry, February 26, 1860. Was brought up on a farm, his father being a farmer and lumber manufac- turer. In 1880 he began the study of medicine and received the degree of M. D. at Dartmouth Medical College, November 13, 1883. He was married to Miss Esther F. Whidden, of Auburn, August 27, 1884, and came to Salisbury, December 4, 1884, as successor to Dr. John J. Dearborn.
Choco Compen
HELIATUDE DRIUTINA PR ROSTON
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PHYSICIANS AND LAWYERS.
LAWYERS.
THOMAS WHITE TIIOMPSON
was the son of Dea. Thomas Thompson, whose name he bore. The name "White" was inserted by authority of the legisla- ture as a matter of convenience. He was born March 10, 1766, prepared for college at Dummer Academy, Byfield, Mass., under the instruction of the venerable Samuel Moody, and graduated at Harvard University in 1786. He was aid to Gen. Lincoln during the Shays Rebellion. Afterwards, he decided to become a clergyman and was enrolled as a student in the Andover Theological Seminary, but being appointed tutor in Harvard University, he accepted the position, which he occu- pied for two years, and gave up his intention of becoming a clergyman. He gained the favor of the students and faculty of the college by his fine scholarship and courteous manners. Upon leaving the position, he studied law in the office of Theo- philus Parsons, of Newburyport, Mass., was admitted to the bar in 1791, and commenced practice the same year in Salis- bury, until about 1799 or later, when he removed to the Lower Village. His office was in the Nathaniel Bean house at the South Road. He was postmaster from 1798 to 1803, trustee of Dartmouth College in 1801, serving until his death; county solicitor in 1802; representative to the legislature for one or more years following; was elected representative to the ninth congress in 1805; was state treasurer in ISIo, and removed to Concord; was a member of the house of representatives from Concord in 1813 and 1814, and was speaker both years. The second year, he was chosen United States Senator for three years, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Nicholas Gilman.
Mr. Thompson was not a politician, but a statesman, of re- fined manners, superior scholarship, an elegant speaker, a learned lawyer, and a christian gentleman. He was a deacon of the First Church in Concord at the time of his death in 1821. His disease was pulmonary consumption, induced by injuries which he accidentally received.
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HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
His retirement from political life is said to have been occas- ioned by his vote in favor of the increase of the pay of mem- bers of congress, and all who voted with him on that question shared the same fate. A very eloquent address, delivered by him at Salisbury on a Fourth of July, was published in pam- phlet form, copies of which may possibly be found among some of the older families in Salisbury and among historical collec- tions.
PARKER NOYES 1
was born at South Hampton, November 18, 1778, fitted for college at Dummer Academy under the same instruction as Thomas W. Thompson, graduated at Dartmouth College in 1796, and read law with Mr. Thompson. He was admitted to the bar in September, 1801, when he removed to Warner and commenced practice there, where he remained till 1803. He then returned to Salisbury and became the law partner of Mr. Thompson. When the latter removed to Concord in 1810, Mr. Noyes bought the interest of Mr. Thompson in Salisbury and carried on the business, and eventually took in as partner his former law student, George W. Nesmith. He died in August, 1852. Mr. Noyes was appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court, and was offered the attorney generalship, both of which exalted positions he declined, although in early years he was county solicitor for a few years. With him " exalted worth was elevated place." As a lawyer Mr. Noyes stood in the front rank, with Smith, Mason, the Websters, Sullivan, and other members of the legal profession who have contributed to the renown of New Hampshire. He was personally held in high esteem by all his cotemporaries in the State. He was a man of "modest merit," and one of the marvels of the world, since he neither desired nor sought office. In 1805 he married Ellen, sister of Thomas W. Thompson, who died in 1827. They had three children, but only one, Horace, born in 1808, reached mature years.
1
Geo. M. Nesmith.
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PHYSICIANS AND LAWYERS.
MOSES EASTMAN
was born in Salisbury, August 1, 1770, fitted for college under the instruction of Rev. Dr. Samuel Wood of Boscawen, grad- uated at Dartmouth College in 1794, read law with Thomas W. Thompson and was admitted to the bar in 1797. He com- menced the practice of law in an office on the site now occupied by Mrs. H. C. W. Moores, at the South Road. He removed to Concord in 1826.
Previous to the formation of a new county, he was clerk of the Circuit Court from 1816 to 1823. Upon the organization of Merrimack county he was appointed clerk of the Superior Court, and was continued in that office till 1834. He was also clerk of the Court of Common Pleas. He returned to Salisbury in 1834, and remained there until 1847, when he removed to Waltham, Mass., where he died April 19, 1848.
THOMAS HALE PETTENGILL
was born in Salisbury in November, 1780, fitted for college at Salisbury Academy, and graduated at Dartmouth in 1804 ; read law with John Harris of Hopkinton, was admitted to the bar in 1808, and opened an office at Canaan, where he remained till 1822, when he returned to the place of his nativity and purchased the place now occupied by Caleb E. Smith, and con- tinued a resident of Salisbury till his death, except two years which he spent at Franklin. Mr. Pettengill was a quiet, unas- suming gentleman, and was possessed of much wit and pleas- antry. His life was active and honorable; he was a wise and safe counsellor, and at the time of his decease was one of the oldest of the members of the American bar.
GEORGE WASHINGTON NESMITH.
The first man of much prominence who settled in East Salisbury, or in Republican Village, was Ebenezer Eastman. Thirty years after him came the subject of this sketch. The town of Franklin owes him a debt of gratitude for his efforts
-
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HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
in procuring an act of incorporation, and for much of the growth and development of the natural advantages of the town.
He was born in Antrim, October 23, 1800, and graduated at Dartmouth College in 1820. In August, 1822, he removed to Salisbury, and began the study of the law with Parker Noyes ; was admitted to the bar in 1825, and formed a part- nership with Mr. Noyes, who, at the end of the year, withdrew from practice, thus giving Mr. Nesmith an extensive business. In April, 1829, he removed to what is now Franklin Village. In the formation of the town his efforts were earnest and
unceasing. He wrote the charter, and dictated the name of
the town. He has held all the offices in the town, and has been many times a member of the Legislature. With unusu- ally good foresight he enlisted in the railroad enterprise, and secured the right of way for the Northern railroad to pass through Franklin. He was its president for eight years, and a director from its organization, in 1845. He has been trustee of his alma mater since 1858, and a trustee of the Agricultural College since its establishment in 1866, and its president since 1877. Dartmouth College conferred the degree of LL. D. upon him in 1871. In the Orphans' Home, at Lower Franklin, he takes a deep interest. He was Associate Justice of the Su- preme Judicial Court for eleven years, and until he reached the limit which the psalmist has assigned to manly life. He mar- ried, September 26, 1826, Mary M., daughter of Samuel and Annie (Bedel) Brooks, born at Haverhill, July 8, 1799, who died May 31, 1885.
RICHARD FLETCHER
was born at Cavendish, Vt., January 8, 1788. He was a son of Asaph and Sarah (Green) Fletcher, and graduated at Dartmouth College in 1806. He came to Salisbury to teach in the academy, and taught two years, and at the same time pursued the study of the law. After teaching two years he went to Portsmouth and read law with Daniel Webster. While there, in a letter to Rev. Mr. Worcester, dated April 22, 1808, he says : "I have but few changes in the even road of a student's life, and am
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PHYSICIANS AND LAWYERS.
pleasantly situated in an agreeable family." In 1809, Mr. Fletcher returned to Salisbury, and commenced the practice of his profession at the South Road, where his success was soon assured, and he rapidly rose to the position of one of the first advocates at the bar. While in Salisbury he was found in nearly every good work, and was a patron of many a poor boy who was climbing "the hill of science." To scholastic and literary institutions he rendered material assistance, not only giving his personal attention thereto, but lending pecuniary aid. He was made an honorary member of the Literary Adel- phi, in July, 1813. While at Salisbury he had his office at the South Road, over Samuel Greenleaf's store. In 1819 he- removed to Boston, and there remained till his death. He was "an orator of great power, fluent and eloquent in diction, bright and sparkling in speech, and quick at repartee." ( Fletch- er Genealogy, p. 173.) William Pingree said of him : " I once listened to a legal argument from him, of an hour's duration, which was the most learned and powerful that I ever heard from human lips." He had little to do with political life, although he was a member of Congress from Massachusetts from 1837 to 1839. He was elected deacon of the church, but either declined or resigned the office because he was not scrip- turally qualified. The scripture required that he should have " one wife," and he never had any ; he died a bachelor. In 1848 he was appointed by the Governor of Massachusetts a Judge of the Supreme Court of that State, which position he resigned in 1853. Dartmouth College, in 1826, and Harvard University, in 1849, conferred upon him the degree of LL. D. He was a trustee of Dartmouth from 1848 to 1857, and in his will made the college a very liberal bequest. Upon his retirement from the bench he withdrew from public life, and spent the remain- der of his days in study.
SAMUEL ISRAEL WELLS
was the son of Israel and Lucy ( Lyon ) Wells, and was born in Shelburn, Mass. He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1814, and taught the academy in Salisbury a number of terms. He
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HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
read law with Richard Fletcher at Salisbury, and was admitted to the bar in 1819. He opened an office in Salisbury, and was in practice there till 1836, when he removed to Windham, Me., thence to Alabama, where he taught school. He married, at Windham, Miss Lucy Kellogg, a lady of much literary merit, and a writer of Sunday school books, her father being a minis- ter. In the class with him in college were many students who attained eminence in the varied stations of life. He stood first in his class, and delivered the valedictory at commencement. He was an excellent scholar, possessed of a most wonderful memory, and was fitted for any judicial position in the State. However accomplished he was as a lawyer, a scholar, and a gentleman, he had none of the power and arts of an advocate. Courteous in the extreme, he never used bravado, and never tried to brow-beat a witness, and he treated his brethren with studied politeness.
CHAPTER XXXII.
ANTIQUITIES.
" He had a routh of old nicknackets, Rusty airn caps, and jinglin' jackets, And parritch-pots, and old saut buckets, Afore the flude."
THE FIRST CHILD
born in town was undoubtedly John Call, son of Stephen Call. He owed his preservation to his mother, who took him in her arms, when an infant, and hid with him behind the large chim- ney in her house, at the Lower Village, at the time the Indians made their raid upon Stevenstown, and murdered the wife of Philip Call, the mother of Stephen.
STOVES.
The first stoves, of which there is evidence of use in the town, appear to have been in 1803, when Moses Eastman purchased a brick stove for the South Road school district, he guarantee- ing it safe, and the district being responsible for its good use, and paying $25.00. This same year Reuben True charged the town for the use of a stove.
THE FIRST PIANO
which was brought into Salisbury was owned by Daniel .Bart- lett, when he was a trader in Grafton, about 1826. It was here that President Samuel C. Bartlett, while on a visit to his uncle in 1827, fingered the keys and obtained melodious music, exciting much wonderment in his youthful mind. His uncle was called "a good player." On the removal of Dr. Peter Bartlett to Peoria, Ill., in 1836, it was brought to Salisbury by
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HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
Ichabod Bartlett, and placed in the old Bartlett homestead, in the front room, where it excited much curiosity. This was then the residence of the mother. At her death, in 1839, Ichabod presented it to Moses Eastman, who, on his removal to Massachusetts, in 1846, left it in charge of Dr. A. H. Rob- inson. Dr. Robinson took the "music" all out of it, and now uses it as a side-board (1886).
FIRST CLOCK.
Before clocks came into use, sun-dials were used. These were made of marble or pewter, with a triangular upright piece to throw the shadow, when the sun shone, upon the different figures and lines of the dial, so as to indicate the time of day. This upright piece was called the "gnomon " or "pin of the dial." This was placed on the meridian line, and the shadow, cast upon the graduated circumference, would indicate the hours and minutes. These were useless in the night time and on cloudy days, but exact when the sun shone.
The earliest clocks were of English manufacture, and very expensive. David Blaisdell, of Amesbury, born in 1712, was a clockmaker, as was his son, Isaac, a resident of Chester. One of his clocks is owned by his descendant, Isaac Blaisdell, of Salisbury. These clocks were of brass, and heavily made, and run but one day without winding up. One line and one weight operated as a mainspring for both time and striking. The first clock brought into Salisbury belonged to the wife of Robert Smith. IIer father made a wedding present of it to her, and it was brought to Salisbury on horseback. It still keeps most excellent time, and is owned by Gilbert Eastman, a descendant of Mrs. Smith on his mother's side.
WATCHES.
A watch was a rare institution in Salisbury in the early set- tlement of the town. In 1765 Capt. Jethro Sanborn purchased in England an English bull's-eye watch, for which he paid fifty Spanish milled dollars. This watch came by will to the pos- session of Mrs. Searle, wife of Rev. Jonathan Searle. She
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ANTIQUITIES.
presented it to her daughter, Margarette, who afterwards became the wife of Benjamin Rolfe, of Boscawen. She gave it to her son, Enoch Sanborn Rolfe, who was named for his great-grandfather Sanborn. Upon the decease of Enoch San- born, by direction of the mother, the watch came into the possession of her son, Henry Pearson Rolfe, of Concord, in ISSI, and is now owned by him; but many years ago,
" It stopped, short, never to go again."
CHAISES.
It is said that the first chaise owned in town belonged to Thomas W. Thompson. In 1804 he purchased a new one. During his residence in Concord, to which place he removed from Salisbury, he owned the finest one in town, and it was such a curiosity that people traveled many miles to see it. In 1804, the following persons were taxed for chaises : Andrew Bowers, Samuel Greenleaf, Thomas W. Thompson, Reuben True ; and in 1806, in addition to the above, Mrs. Hannah Bartlett, Ebenezer Eastman, John C. Gale, Stephen Greenleaf, Joseph Noyes, Edward Blodgett, David Pettengill, Josiah Rog- ers, Ebenezer Taylor, and Mrs. Sarah Smith. Persons going upon journeys swung their trunks under the axle of the chaise by straps placed upon the trunks for that purpose, but they had no "Saratogas " at that time.
WAGONS.
Wagons came into use after chaises. In the earliest settle- ment of the town, the journeyings were on horseback, and in carts, and on sleds. By and by chaises were used, but only by the select few. At length wagons were introduced, and they were a very little improvement upon the ox-cart. They came into pretty general use in Salisbury as early as 1815. The light wagons, as they were termed, were rather rough and heavy, without thorough-braces or springs, and the body rested on the axletree behind, and the rocker-bar forward. There were springs for the scat to rest on, made of wood, but the occu-
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HISTORY OF SALISBURY.
pants were constantly, if not painfully, reminded of the rough- ness of the roads. Moses Greeley owned the first wagon which was fitted with thorough-braces. Before chaises and wagons came into use it was no uncommon sight to see man and wife and one child traveling on horseback, the wife sitting behind the man upon the pillion, carrying the child, and a pair of saddle-bags slung across the horse, filled with provis- ions. The early settlers came from Massachusetts, with their household goods on the pack-horse. Daniel Webster went to Dartmouth College on horseback, and carried his feather-bed and bedding, his clothing, books, and provisions to eat on the way, on horseback. It is said that when he reached Hanover, he turned his horse to pasture, and had him to ride home at the end of the term in November.
As the ox-sled preceded the cart, so sleighs for traveling preceded the wagons. The first sleigh in town of which there is any trace was owned by the father of Daniel Webster.
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CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE TORNADO.
" The sky Is overcast, and musters muttering thunders, In clouds that seem approaching fast, and then In forked flashes a commanding tempest."
General Walter Harriman, in his History of Warner, says that " the winged messenger of death, which bore down through Warner that fatal day of September, 1821, was a tornado, and so let it hereafter be forever known." It is immaterial whether it be called a blizzard, a cyclone, a whirlwind, or a tornado. It seized the fowls, the animals, the people and their habitations, and whirled and tossed them about as a very little thing. It stripped the trees of their branches and twisted off their trunks ; it rended the forests, and it spared little that stood in its way, leaving nothing in its remorseless track but death and desola- tion. The day and the hour when this visitation occurred was September 9, 1821, at about five o'clock in the afternoon. For several days previous, it was warm, and the 9th was sultry.
" All the air a solemn stillness held,"
till about five o'clock, when a black cloud was observed to rise rapidly in the northwest, and to bear in a southeasterly direc- tion. All of a sudden there were violent agitations in the atmosphere in that vicinity. This cloud was charged with thunderbolts, and it was illumined in its course by incessant and vivid flashes of lightning. This cloud was portentous of evil, and in it there was a most terrifying commotion, which gave warning of fearful desolation. A high wind prevailed as
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