USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Warner > The history of Warner, New Hampshire, for one hundred and forty- four years, from 1735 to 1879 > Part 24
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He was a representative in the state legislature in 1845, 1846, 1868, and 1869, and was state senator in 1860 and 1861. The latter year he was the president of that body.
He was appointed assessor of internal revenue by President Lincoln, in 1862, but, after holding the office a few months, he resigned. In 1861 Dartmouth college conferred on him the honorary degree of Mas- ter of Arts.
He held a high position as a lawyer, and was much valued as a counsellor in important cases.
Mr. Foster, while living in Warner, became greatly attached to the town and people, and this attachment continued fresh and strong to the end of his days.
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Herman
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Horter
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THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.
PHYSICIANS.
Esculapius was the god of medicine among the ancient pagans. Luke, in divine revelation, is called the " beloved physician." He was the friend and com- panion of Paul. He wrote the book that bears his name ; also the Acts of the Apostles. The profession has ancient and high authority, and a good physician is ever a welcome friend. It is believed that Warner has had its share of acceptable physicians.
1. Dr. John Currier was the first. He lived at the Carter stand. Very little is known of him or his connections. He gave more attention to farming and to the hotel than to his profession. Possibly he may not have been an acknowledged M. D.
2. Dr. Cogswell was the next physician in Warner. He married a daughter of Elliot Colby, but remained in town only a short time.
3. Dr. John Hall was from Chelmsford, Mass. His first place of residence in Warner was at the Felton place, just above Ira P. Whittier's. At his next place of residence in town, which was at the John Colby house on the Plain, he lived many years. He finally removed to Maine, and died there thirty or forty years ago.
4. Dr. Thomas Webster was from Haverhill, Mass. He lived near the Georges at the Lower Village. He built and occupied the one-story house that Mrs.
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
Charles George occupied many years, and till its de- struction by fire.
5. Dr. William Dinsmoor was from Goffstown. He boarded at Pattee's tavern at the Lower Village. While in Warner he married a sister of Jonathan and Matthew Harvey, and shortly after his marriage re- moved to Henniker.
6. Dr. Henry Lyman came from Lebanon about the year 1806. He had a large practice in Warner . some twenty or twenty-five years. He died Septem- ber, 1829, aged 43, and was buried at the Parade.
7. Dr. Silas Walker was from Goffstown. He came and settled at the Lower Village about the year 1810, but remained in town only a few years.
8. Dr. Jacob Straw came in 1819, and boarded at Levi Bartlett's, in the Lower Village. After a resi- dence of a year or two in Warner, he went to Henni- ker, and there finished his work. He was two years in the state senate.
9. Dr. Moses Long was from Hopkinton. He es- tablished himself in Warner not far from 1820, his first office being at the Centre village. His second office and home in Warner was at the Lower Village, where he continued in practice fifteen or eighteen years. In 1835 he removed to Rochester, N. Y., and there followed his profession a few years. He then went with his brother, Col. Stephen H. Long, into bridge-building in Mississippi, but returned to Rochester, and died there twenty-five years ago.
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PHYSICIANS.
10. Dr. Caleb Buswell came from Grantham, and settled at the Centre village. [See Ch. XXIV.]
11. Dr. Leonard Eaton, a son of Nathaniel, was born June 10, 1800, at the Putnam place, just within the limits of Hopkinton. Nathaniel Eaton, the father, was from Haverhill, Mass. On coming back into the country he first settled at the Putnam place, but after remaining there a few years removed to Sutton, where his son, George C., now resides. He died in May, 1875.
Leonard Eaton studied medicine with Dr. Caleb Buswell, and received his degree at the Dartmouth Medical College. He was a successful physician at Warner through life. He served several years as town-clerk, two years as representative, and two as senator for district No. 8. He was also a member of the constitutional convention of 1850.
Dr. Eaton married a daughter of Hon. Benjamin Evans, and had three daughters, the youngest of whom, Mrs. Hilliard Davis, died several years ago. The other two are Miss Susan Eaton, and Maria, wife of Hon. John Y. Mugridge, of Concord. Dr. Eaton died in November, 1867, at the age of 67 years.
12. Dr. Stevens was from Charlestown, Mass. He commenced practice in Warner (his office being at the Lower Village) in 1834, remained a year or two, and then returned to his " native heath."
13. Dr. Parmalee was from Lebanon. He came 30
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
into town in 1835, or thereabouts, and he was both at the Lower Village and at Waterloo. Henry B. Chase was his uncle.
14. Dr. Charles A. Savory came from Hopkinton to Warner, not far from 1844. After an extensive prac- tice of four years' duration in town, he removed to Lowell, Mass., where he still continues in the profession.
15. Dr. Parsons Whidden was from Canterbury. He came to Warner when Dr. Savory left, took his place, and remained in town a number of years.
16. Dr. John M. Fitts was from Boscawen. He commenced business in Warner not far from 1854, remained five or six years, and went to Sutton.
17. Dr. Moses S. Wilson was from Salisbury. In 1859 he went into practice in Warner, married a daughter of Ira Harvey, returned to his native town, and, in company with his father, who was also a phy- sician, was in active business there till the war ; was assistant surgeon in the 7th N. H. regiment; went to Illinois after the war, and died there, a young man, several years ago.
18. Dr. John G. Parker came to Warner from Dub- lin in 1860. A good physician, but he died at War- ner in 1867.
19. Dr. Frank W. Graves was from Concord. He settled in Warner in 1864, and was in active practice in town five or six years. He is now settled in Wo- burn, Mass.
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PHYSICIANS.
20. Dr. J. M. Rix came from Dalton in 1867, and is now in Warner.
21. Dr. J. R. Cogswell came from Littleton in 1874, and is now in Warner.
The names of those who have gone out from War- ner, as physicians, will be given from recollection, and the list may be very inaccurate.
Dr. John E. Dalton was a son of Dea. Isaac Dalton. After taking his degree as a physician, he decided to cast his lot in the West. He made the long journey to Ohio by stage, by canal, and by steamboat, about the year 1832. He settled in Ohio, where he contin- ued in practice many years. He is still somewhere in the Great West.
Dr. Daniel Davis, a son of Capt. Jacob Davis, com- menced practice at Wellfleet, on Cape Cod, when a young man, married his wife there, made that his home, and died there a few years since.
Dr. James F. Sargent was a son of Joseph, and a grandson of Joseph Sargent, senior, of Schoodac. He pursued his medical studies with Dr. Moses Long, graduated at Dartmouth, and commenced practice at Lowell, Mass., in 1834. Subsequently, for several years, he enjoyed a successful practice at Contoocook- ville, and, at a later day, a like practice at Concord, where he died in 1864, at the age of 54.
Dr. Dana D. Davis was a son of Stephen Davis. He took his degree as a physician, married the only
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
daughter of Levi Bartlett, went to Louisiana, and com- menced business there with flattering prospects. He died of yellow fever, at Baton Rouge, in 1844. His son (Wm. D. Davis) he never saw, as he was born after the father's departure for the South.
Dr. Moses Hill was a son of Benjamin Hill, whose farm was that now owned by the town. Moses was born at that place. He commenced practice in Man- chester, then settled in Iowa, and died on a visit to Louisiana.
Dr. Henry L. Watson is claimed as a Warner boy. He was a son of Ithamar Watson, of Salisbury, who lived a number of years in Warner. Dr. Watson commenced his professional work at Guildhall, Ver- mont, where he had an extensive practice, but twelve or fifteen years ago he changed his residence to Lit- tleton, N. H. He is well situated at the latter place.
Dr. David Bagley was a son of David Bagley, of Melvin's Mills, and a grandson of Ebenezer Bagley, who came from Amesbury, and settled on the shore of the pond near Salisbury line, which takes his name. Dr. Bagley commenced practice in the state of Georgia twenty or thirty years ago, and his "flag is still there."
Dr. Wm. S. Collins, a son of Enos, received a good academic education, studied medicine, took his degree at Dartmouth, and commenced business in Grafton, where he remained five years. Afterwards he was
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PHYSICIANS.
actively engaged in his profession at Loudon some twenty-one years, and he is now located in Nashua.
Dr. Luther Pattee, a son of Asa, has been estab- lished in business at Candia, Wolfeborough, and Man- chester. He is now at the latter place, in the enjoy- ment of a lucrative practice.
Dr. Asa F. Pattee, another of the sons of Asa, be- gan in Amesbury, the old parent of Warner. He went from there to Boston, where his situation is entirely satisfactory.
Dr .. Byron Harriman, a son of John, studied medi- cine under the direction of Gage & Moulton, at Con- cord, took his degree at Hanover, and went into practice in Iowa. He has given attention to other business as well as to his profession, and has been suc- cessful. He is at present the mayor of the city of Hampton, Iowa, to which office he has been three times elected.
Dr. Luther Harvey, a son of Ira Harvey, pursued his studies, in part, with Dr. Wilson, in Illinois. After taking his degree, he commenced practice in that state with flattering prospects.
Dr. William H. Pattee, son of Stephen C., studied medicine with Dr. Luther Pattee, attended lectures at Dartmouth, and received his degree at the University of Vermont, in 1877. He is now in practice at Bel- mont, N. H.
Dr. Benjamin E. Harriman studied medicine under
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
the direction of Dr. A. H. Crosby, of Concord, attend- ed lectures at the University of Vermont, and at Bellevue Hospital Medical College, N. Y., and gradu- ated at Dartmouth in the fall of 1877. He opened an office in Manchester the following December, broke down in health in June, 1878, and is now (March, 1879) in Florida, where he has been spending the winter.
COLLEGE GRADUATES.
Warner has been more noted for giving her sons and daughters a good, practical education, than for sending them away to colleges and other popular institutions of learning ; hence 'the list of graduates is not large.
John Kelley, who is spoken of elsewhere, is believed to have been the first Warner student to take a de- gree at college. He graduated at Dartmouth in 1804.
Hosea Wheeler graduated in 1811 at the same col- lege. He became a Baptist minister, and died at Eastport, Maine, in 1823. He was a son of Daniel Wheeler, who came from Amesbury, and lived at the John Reddington place on Warner river. The other sons of Daniel, senior, were Daniel, Abijah, Gideon, and Leonard.
John Morrill graduated at Amherst college, and be- came a missionary in the West. His family is un- known to the writer.
Asa Putney, who was a son of Asa, senior, grad-
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COLLEGE GRADUATES.
uated at Amherst not far from the year 1820. He became a Congregational minister, and preached at Croydon, and in Vermont.
Stephen C. Badger graduated at Dartmouth in 1823. [See a preceding page.]
Richard Bean, a son of Nathaniel, senior, received a "liberal education ;" but, owing to some difficulty · with the authority of the college, he did not take his degree. He studied law, but had hardly completed his studies when he died.
Samuel Morrill, a brother to William K., graduated at Dartmouth in 1835, and died while a member of the Bangor Seminary.
James Madison Putney, a son of Amos, and grand- son of Asa, senior, graduated at Dartmouth, taught an academy in Kentucky, and died there about the year 1840.
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Henry B. Chase, son of Hon. Henry B., graduated at Dartmouth in 1839. [See a preceding page.]
John George, son of Major Daniel, graduated at Dartmouth not far from 1845, and died shortly after his graduation.
Ezekiel Dimond graduated at Middlebury, Vt., be- came Professor of Chemistry in the Agricultural col- lege at Hanover, and died, a young man, in 1872. His grandfather, Ezekiel, settled in the Mirick district; his father, Ezekiel, lived at the Ballard place, where Prof. Dimond was born.
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
Edmund S. Hoyt, son of Major Stephen K., grad- uated at Dartmouth. He is now in the book trade, and is a publisher of books at Portland, Maine.
John C. Ager, son of Uriah, graduated at New Church college, Urbana, Ohio, in 1858. [See Chapter XXXIII.]
Charles Alfred Pillsbury, son of George A., was born at Warner, Oct. 3, 1842. He graduated at Dartmouth college in the class of 1863. Soon after receiving his diploma he went into a wholesale provi- sion house at Montreal, with John E. Robertson. He remained there some four years, and then removed to Minneapolis, where he engaged in the manufacture of flour. The well known firm of C. A. Pillsbury & Co. consists of himself, George A., John S., and Fred C. Charles A. Pillsbury has been elected a state sen- ator in his district for six years.
Henry L., a son of Barnard Colby, commenced his studies at Dartmouth, remained two years, and then entered the army. He died shortly after the close of the war.
George L., son of N. G. Ordway, graduated at the Rochester (New York) University in 1875. [See a preceding page.]
George F., son of Stephen S. Bean, is about to graduate at Brown University, Providence, R. I.
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EDUCATIONAL.
HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS.
The first term of the Warner high school com- menced Dec. 4, 1871.
E. C. Cole, A. B., a native of Bethel, Maine, and a graduate of Bowdoin college, was principal of this school during the first three years of its existence.
N. N. Atkinson, A. B., of Minot, Maine, a graduate of Colby University (Waterville), was principal dur- ing the next two years.
William Goldthwaite, A. B., a graduate of Colby University, succeeded Mr. Atkinson, and is yet the principal of the school.
Miss Helen E. Gilbert, a graduate of Concord high school, was assistant teacher one year.
Miss Annie B. Westgate, of Plainfield, a graduate of New London Scientific Institution, was assistant one year.
Miss M. F. Reddington, daughter of Oliver P. Red- dington, and a graduate of Warner high school, was assistant. during the third year.
Stephen S. Bean, of Warner, was assistant two years.
Miss Alice P. Goodwin, of Franklin, was assistant one year.
Miss Emma E. Phelps was assistant two terms, and Miss Annie M. Hill, of Concord, was assistant one term.,
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
Miss M. F. Reddington, having been absent from the school two years, and having graduated during that time at the New London Scientific Institution, returned, and accepted the position of first assistant, which she now fills.
DEBATING CLUBS.
At various times between 1835 and 1850, debating clubs existed and flourished in Warner. In the years 1846 and 1847, in particular, a deep interest was felt in these clubs. Walker's hall (the only hall then in town) was crowded to overflowing on the evening of each debate. In those years, instead of excluding all religious and political questions,-all questions of an exciting nature,-such, only, were the questions se- lected. Many of the debates were able and instruc- tive, and the audiences were highly entertained. Though their zeal ran high, the disputants generally maintained a respectful and manly bearing. The names of those who participated in these debates are given from recollection, and are as follows :
Levi Bartlett, B. E. Harriman, Stephen K. Hoyt, John Colby (the drover), H. H. Harriman, Clark Sar- gent, Geo. A. Pillsbury, Dr. C. A. Savory, John Foster, B. F. Harriman, John Currier, Jr., Rev. R. W. Fuller, Levi Flanders, Wm. K. Bartlett, Jesse D. Currier, S. S. Bean, W. Harriman.
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Leve Barstest.
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LEVI BARTLETT.
LITERARY MEN AND WOMEN.
LEVI BARTLETT was born April 29, 1793. His grand- father, Simeon Bartlett, was one of the proprietors of Warner. His father, the late Joseph Bartlett, Esq., was a country trader at the Lower Village for over thirty years, and was quite extensively engaged in farming, and in the manufacture of potash. “Squire Bartlett" had six sons and four daughters, Levi be- ing the second child. When about 12 years of age he was employed in his father's store for a couple of years. When he was 14 years of age his father placed him in the bookstore of Thomas & Whipple, at New- buryport. Like many another country lad among strangers, he was woefully homesick, and was allowed to return, at the end of a few months, to the paternal roof. At the age of 16 he was sent to Salem, Mass., to the West India goods store of his uncle, James Thorndike; but the embargo and non-intercourse with foreign nations caused a stagnation in business. Mer- chants failed on every hand, and young Bartlett be- came utterly disgusted with “store-keeping." He wrote to his father that " tanners were the lords of creation," and that no business but tanning appeared to be prosperous in and about Salem. In the summer of 1810 he left Salem and returned home. His father built a tannery opposite his house, in which the young man was placed, with experienced workmen, and in
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
due time he took charge of the business. He contin- ued in it, with varying success, till 1838, when, yield- ing to an ever-increasing desire to become a tiller of the soil, he sold out his tanneries and began the rec- lamation of an exhausted farm, which came, at that time, into his possession. The farm was situated near- ly a mile from his home, and he and his men trav- elled daily the hilly road between the two places till his house was destroyed by fire in 1843, when he built upon and removed to the farm, where he has ever since resided.
Mr. Bartlett, in 1844, was invited to become a reg- ular contributor to the New England Farmer, and from that date, till long after he had passed his eightieth year, he wrote regularly for various agri- cultural periodicals. He was assistant editor of the Journal of Agriculture, at Boston, during its briet life. He wrote constantly for the Country Gentleman, and occasionally for the Farmer's Monthly Visitor, the Statesman, and the Manchester Mirror. He was as- sociate editor of the Boston Cultivator in 1848 and 1849. His writings have been published in the peri- odicals of various states of the Union, and have some- times been copied into English papers. When an "Advisory Board of Agriculture of the Patent Office " met at Washington in 1859, Mr. Bartlett was selected by a committee from that board to represent New Hampshire, and he was present during its session of
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LEVI BARTLETT.
eight days. A year later, when a series of important lectures on scientific agriculture was to be given at Yale college, Hon. Henry F. French, then of Exeter, and now the assistant secretary of the treasury at Washington, and Mr. Bartlett, were invited from this state to be present.
After he had passed his eightieth birthday, he be- gan and completed a " Genealogical and Historical Account of the Bartlett Family," which has been largely distributed. He claims one Adam Bartelot, who came over to England from Normandy with the Conquerer, and settled in Sussex, as the founder of the family. The preparation of this work cost a vast amount of patient research and labor.
In politics, Mr. Bartlett was a Federalist, “ dyed in the wool," and consequently was not liable to be troubled with office in a town that was for many years the very "keystone of the Democratic arch of New Hampshire." He, however, held the office of post-master for the five years immediately preceding Gen. Jackson's term at the White House.
Mr. Bartlett attended the district school at the Lower Village, and was a student a term or two at the academy in Amesbury, Mass., but this somewhat meagre training was supplemented by constant, va- ried, and extensive reading, and particularly by the study of geology and chemistry as connected with agriculture. He acquired a great amount of useful
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information, and he is always ready to communicate from his store of facts and anecdotes, to any with whom he comes in contact.
June 1, 1815, Mr. Bartlett married Hannah, only daughter of Rev. Wm. Kelley, the first minister of Warner. They had two children, who lived to ma- ture age, -- viz., William K., born July 21, 1816, and Lavina K., born March 14, 1818. William K. Bartlett married Harriet N., daughter of Nathan Walker. In his early days he was considerably engaged in teach- ing, and for fifteen years was clerk in the New York & Erie Railroad Co., most of the time residing at Port Jervis. He resigned this position in 1868 on account of failing health, and he now resides at East Concord, occupying his time in tilling the soil, and in corre- sponding for the papers. Lavina K., the daughter, married Dr. Dana D. Davis [see a preceding page]. Her only son and child, Wm. D. Davis, is a clerk in the custom house at New York city.
Dr. Moses Long was a man of education and cul- ture. He had decided literary tastes, and he wrote and published several valuable articles. One of these, which he called " Historical Sketches of Warner," he pub- lished in pamphlet form about the year 1830. Speak- ing of the productions of Warner in these sketches, the Doctor says, " melons, squashes, and pompions abound." Nobody except the author appeared to know what "pompions" were. Stephen George (a very
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FRED MYRON COLBY.
good man, but one who could be a little rough when he made an effort), in reading these sketches, came to the sentence quoted above, and halted. " What are pompions ?" he presently said to his family. "I've been in town twenty years, and I've never seen a pompion yet : bring me the dictionary." The diction- ary was brought, but there was not much in it (per- haps it was Walker's first edition). The mysterious word was not there. George sprang from his chair, seized his hat, and started for the doctor, who lived a mile away. It was now ten o'clock in the evening. Arriving at the doctor's house, he rapped sharp and loud on the front door, waited a minute, and gave another succession of startling raps, reminding one of Ethan Allen. The doctor, supposing there was an urgent demand for his professional services, sprang from his bed, pulled a garment or two partly on, and made for the door, on opening which he was saluted by his well known townsman thus : " What in h- are pompions ?"
FRED MYRON COLBY was born in Warner, Dec. 9, 1849. His early education was obtained at the schools of his native town and at Concord. He is not college- learned, but self-learned. He has a knowledge of two languages besides his own, and a wide and varied reading, being able to quote from the old poets and chroniclers for days. His early life was passed on a farm, and subsequently he was a school teacher. He
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
began to write for the press in 1872, when a novel of his was published by R. M. DeWitt, of New York. This successful venture was followed by other attempts in the same channel. Two of his novels, "The Pio- neers of Kentucky," and " Rolf the Cavalier," sold to the extent of 60,000 copies.
Besides these, Mr. Colby has written several serials for the Fireside Companion, and other story papers. He has been a frequent contributor to Potter's Maga- zine and the National Repository ; and articles of his have appeared in the Home Guest, Cultivator, Cottage Hearth, Washington Chronicle, New York Evening Post, and other well known publications. The press of New Hampshire has also been a repository of many of his sketches. The winter of 1875 he spent in Washington, D. C., as the correspondent of Boston and New Hampshire papers.
Mr. Colby is at present engaged upon a work to be entitled " The Historic Homes of New Hampshire," for which he has been gathering material during the past year. Though his highest aim is to be a student rather than an author, he must certainly be ranked as one of our most talented young writers, and one destined to make his mark in the annals of letters.
Such approved writers as John A. Harris, William K. Bartlett, and Albert P. Davis should not be over- looked. Nor should Miss Mary Rogers be forgotten, who, though not known to fame, charmed many
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hearts and lifted the cloud from many a brow by her sweet and soothing poetic effusions.
Miss Hannah F. Morrill, daughter of John Morrill, Bocedens of Burnt Hill, under the signature of "Mrs. H. F. M. Brown," wrote much and vigorously, some twenty-five or thirty years ago, for the papers of Ohio, in which state she lived.
Miss Amanda B. Harris is a constant contributor to the Literary World, The Congregationalist, and the New York Evening Post, the high character of which publications is well known. She has written, also, for Appleton's Journal, and for various other periodicals.
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