USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Manchester > Willey's semi-centennial book of Manchester, 1846-1896, comprised within the limits of the old Tyng Township, Nutfield, Harrytown, Derryfield, and Manchester, from the earliest settlements to the present time > Part 23
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Mr. Fairbanks is Past
from Ward 6. Mr. Fairbanks was mar- ricd to Miss Fannie M. Daniels of Man- chester, and they have had two children : a son, now deceased, and a daughter, Elsie D., who is a student at Wellesley College.
THE funeral ob- servances of the early settlers were of a character in some respects peculiar. When death entered their homes all work ceased in the neigh- borhood, and the peo- ple gathered at the house of mourning to observe a custom which they had brought with them from Ireland. These wakes often exhibited an incongruous mix- ture of solemnity and hilarity which we would find it difficult to understand. After the reading of the Scriptures and prayer, liquor would be handed round, and before dawn the joke and the laugh would break in upon the slumbers of the dead. There was always a large attendance at a funeral. Sermons were rarely delivered on the occasion, but before the prayer strong drink was served to the mourners and to the whole congregation. The same was done after prayer and at the grave, as well as at the house after the burial.
MARY SHEPHERD DANFORTH, M. D.
1850. Her parents removed to Manchester when she was four years of age, and there she attended the public schools, leaving them in 1866, when she entered Pinkerton Academy, from which she was grad- uated in 1869. A scion of old Puritan stock, her parents' wish was law to her, and she never dis- obcyed them in the slightest particular until she decided to study medicinc. Knowing that nci- ther of them would approve of such a life work, it required far morc courage on her part to set aside their wishes than to face the opposition which was said at that time to be so formid- ably arrayed against the woman physi- cian. With her frail physique and her natural diffidence shc scemed poorly fitted to meet the hard- ships and struggles of a practitioner's life. Her parents had hoped to see her become a successful teacher, but just as they began to realize these hopes she left everything and, in 1871, entered the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania. Grad- uating in 1875, two fields of labor were opened to her, the one as resident physician of a hospital in a Western capital and the other as missionary in Siam. The latter would have been her choice, but realizing how disappointed her parents had
M ARY SHEPHERD DANFORTH, M. D., been in her studying medicine, she resolved to daughter of Charles and Rebecca Farnum compensate them in a measure by settling nearer (Batchelder) Danforth, was born in Derry May 18, home, and at their wish she began the practice of her profession in Manchester. So averse, however, was she to their choice of her home city that at first she actually did not wish to succeed. Time soon made a differ- ence, however, and if there is anything today of which she is proud, next to her being the first wo- man member of the New Hampshire Mcdical Society, it is that she is a prac- titioncr in Manches- ter. Herc her early schoolmates made her welcome. Herc hcr neighbors placed their lives and health in her hands. Here, during the first year, she earned in cash four times the in- come she could have received in the same city as a teacher. Here, in 1878, with- out so much as ask- ing for the honor, other women having sought it in vain, she MARY SHEPHERD DANFORTH, M. D. was elected to the . Manchester Medical Society and became its secre- tary, and here also it was announced to her that she had been unanimously elected to membership in the time-honored and conservative old New Hampshire Medical Society, and that too without any pctition on her part other than patient, modest, daily toil. From here too she went as a delegate, in 1884, to the American Medical Congress. Here, she has not only practised, but has built a home, and proved that a woman is no less a home-maker
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and a housekeeper for being an active daily practi- tioner of medicine. Of these two lines of activity she holds to the one as steadily as to the other, demonstrating the fact that they do not conflict but are really co-ordinate in a woman's greatest success. Here, again, she has not only worked for the health of others but she has established her own and acquired therewith unusual powers of endurance, without which wealth and success are but ciphers on the wrong side of the numeral. And last, but by no means least, it was here that her parents gave her their dying blessing, assuring her she had been a hundredfold nearer them be- cause of her devotion to her high calling.
JACOB SAWYER COUCH, the son of John S. and Mary (Brown) Couch, was born in Chester, N. H., July 28, 1828. The lineage of the surname is traced back through grandfather and great-grandfather, Jacob Couch of Newburyport, to a generation of sea captains, one of whom was drowned just off the coast there on returning from his sixteenth voyage. When his vessel was wrecked all the crew perished, except one sailor who was washed ashore on a piece of the deck furniture. Captain Couch had a large sum in gold on his person secured by a belt around his waist, and the weight of the coin dragged him down almost in sight of home. When a young man, Jacob S. Couch worked with his father and brother in the Couch mills in Chester. He had some musical ability, and was a member of the choir in the Methodist church at Derry after removing from Chester in 1856. For about a year he was in partnership with his cousin, Nathaniel Brown, in a store in Derry Lower Village which Charles S. Pettee now occupies. Jan. 18, 1860, he marricd Catherine Boyer Coolidge, daughter of Charles and Louisa Coolidge of Concord, Mass., and great-granddaughter of Joseph Coolidge of Boston, an ardent Son of Liberty and one of the Boston "Tea Party." She was born April 20, 1830, the second of ten children, in the house in which Ralph Waldo Emerson afterward lived many years. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Couch :
Mary Louisa, who married Frank J. Corwin and resides in Haverhill and has onc child, a son, born Oct. 21, 1894; Charles C., who died young, and Sarah Howe, who is assistant in the postoffice at the Lower Villagc. For some years Mr. Couch was engaged in the Horne sawmill, and later he operated the sawmill at the Lower Village now in the possession of W. W. Poor. Toward the close of his life he occupied a store in the village that had been opened by the Howes just opposite C. S. Pettee's. This building was once the vestry-room and school of the Congregational society and
JACOB S. COUCH.
stood by the church, having been moved into the village by A. McMurphy. Mr. Couch was a mem- ber of Nutfield Grange for many years and also of St. Mark's Lodge. He was very tender and affec- tionate in his domestic relations and always con- siderate of the feelings of others. His death occurred Sept. 18, 1892. Mrs. Couch, who had been an invalid for many years, lingered on, en- during her misfortune and infirmity with much fortitude until April, 1894, when death released her.
CAPTAIN DAVID WADSWORTH.
C APT. DAVID WADSWORTH was born worthy comrade to identify himself with the ser- viec and obtain justice by this same record.
in Worcester, Mass., Feb. 4, 1838, his parents being David Wadsworth, a native of Worcester, and Caroline E. (Metcalf) Wadsworth. He was educated in the common schools of Cambridge- boro and Richford, Vt., in which places he resided during his boyhood. He also attended the high school at Rieh- ford and Dr. Cros- by's private school at Nashua. On the breaking out of the Civil War he enlisted with the third New Hampshire volun- teers from Nashua, entering the service as a private and be- ing at once promoted to sergeant. Nov. 16, 1862, he was made second lieutenant ; May 16, 1863, first lieutenant ; April 16, 1864, captain; and was honorably dis- charged Sept. 28, 1864. He served in Sherman's expedi- tion through the South and in the Ar- my of the James, taking part in the battles of Ellis Island, Port Royal, Bluffton, Jehasse, James Island, Seees- sionville, Pocatsligo, Stoney Inlet, Morris Island, Fort Wagner, Drury's Bluff, Wiers Bottom, Pe- tersburg, Hatch's Run, and Deep Bottom. He was wounded slightly at Drury's Bluff.
Captain Wadsworth is a locksmith by trade and previous to 1877 was employed by the Nashua Loek Company. That year he was appointed jailor for Hillsborough county and removed to Manchester to take charge of the new jail built by the coun- ty. This position he has held ever since and he has had re- markable suceess in managing the pris- oners in his eustody. He conducts a model penal institution which is a eredit to the county. He is a man of wide acquaint- anee and lasting pop- ularity, strengthened by a social dispo- sition and striet in- tegrity. He was a member of the state legislature from Nashua in 1875-76, serving as chairman of the committee on military accounts. Representing Ward 6, Manchester, in the same body during 1893-94, he was ehair- man of the committee on county affairs. He has always acted with the Republican party. His re- ligious affiliations are with the Baptist church, and he is a member of Louis Bell Post, G. A. R.
CAPT. DAVID WADSWORTH.
Jan. 5, 1860, he married Sarah A., daughter of Laban Moore of Nashua; she died June 10, 1866. Jan. 18, 1873, he married Mrs. Mary E. Buel, daughter of Benjamin and Elvira (Duntley) Lund of Milford. They have one daughter, who
The captain has a wonderful memory cover- ing the important events of the war, and this is augmented by a eoneise record book of his com- pany, kept by the clerk of the organization and now held by the captain. He has assisted many a is Mrs. Carl W. Anderson of Manchester.
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THE JOHN McMURPHY GENEALOGY. (b) William, born in 1818, married Sophia Walker of Langdon ; moved to Boston ; was an accountant. (c) David, died young. (d) Caroline, born 1824, was drowned in 1841. (e) Gardner, born 1826, married Hannah B. Flagg of Hollis, N. H. ; settled in Boston ; a merchant. (f) George S., born 1829. married Sophia Richards of Ellsworth, Me., died 1879. (g) Harriett Maria, born 1832, died 1848, unmarried.
-Alexander McMurphy, according to the History of Acworth, N. H., and the traditions of Gardner Murphy of Boston, was the son of Squire John MacMurphy, the first justice of Londonderry, and was born July 16, 1717. His father gave him in the Half Mile Range two hundred acres of land, southeast of the East Village in Derry. This land was deeded gratis, or valuable considerations not mentioned, back to the father Aug. 25, 1742. The deed shows Alexander MacMurphy to have been a cabinet maker at that time, and probably unmar- ried. About this time Squire John MacMurphy was buying land at Massabesic pond and had built a sawmill and gristmill there, and on Fcb. 15, 1750 (acknowledged before Robert Boyes March 30, 1751), he deeded the mill property, including three islands in Massabesic pond, to his son, Alcx- ander MacMurphy, in consideration of love, good will, and affection. Alexander MacMurphy mar- ried Isabel Craig, and had the following children :
(1) James, who married Margaret Graham of Chester, Jan. I, 1789, with issue as follows: Betsy 1789, Peggy 1791, William 1793, James Jr. 1797, Alexander 1796, John 1801, Mary C. 1803.
(2) Jane, married James Graham of Chester, with issue as follows: Elizabeth 1784, Alexander, John, Mary 1780 and Sarah ; her second husband was Samuel Crombie, by whom she had one child. Samuel Crombie Jr.
(2) John, born in 1756, whose descendants are herewith given. He was the grandfather of Gardner Murphy.
(4) William, who sympathized with the King in the Ameri- can Revolution, and disappeared.
Alexander MacMurphy's will was proven at probate court June 29, 1763. Robert MacMur- phy, James MacMurphy, and James Craige were the witnesses. All the property was left to his wife, Isabel, for the support of the children.
John McMurphy, sccond son of Alexander MacMurphy, and grandson of Squirc John Mac- Murphy, was born in Londonderry in 1756. Hc was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. Hc mar- ried Sarah Graham of Chester, N. H., and moved to Acworth about 1784. Their children were :
(1) William, born 1784; married Laura Shumway of Charleston ; moved to Alstead, and was a farmer the rest of his life, dying in 1859. Children of William and Laura Murphy : (a) Sarah, born 1815, married Rev. Giles Bailey, died in 1848.
(2) Alexander, born about 1786 : was a soldier in the war of 1812 : married Esther Chandler of Alstead, where he lived until his death ; he was a farmer ; he had no children.
(3) John, married Theresa Garfield of Langdon, and had these children : Nancy, John, James, Theresa ; none married but James, and all dead ; James, who was born about 1824 and died about 1851, was a physician, married Miss Hart of Ver- mont and settled in Chester, Vt. ; their children were : James, dead, and Julian, who took the name of his stepfather, Adams, and is in the government service in Washington.
(4) David, born Dec. 28, 1798, married Mary Goss of Dummerston, Vt., in 1833 ; lived in Boston ; was a State House messenger ; died Sept. 26, 1877. His children were : (a) Charles Austin, born Oct. 10, 1834 ; (b) David, Jr., died at the age of 19 ; Charles Austin married Mary White Ashley of Salem. June 9, 1870, moved to Groton, Mass., and is a farmer ; his children are : (a) Mary Ellen Murphy, born April 2, 1871, a teacher : (b) David Enos, born Nov. 2, 1872, a farmer ; (c) Jennie Ashley, born Aug. 30, 1878.
(5) George, born 1801, married Polly Maynard of Orwell, Vt .. July 19, 1829, was a carpenter, settled in Claremont. N. H., died Aug. 6, 1881, leaving two children : (a) George, born Dec. 19, 1830, a carpenter, unmarried : (b) E. Darwin, born June 4, 1834, married Frances K. Dane of Claremont, Nov. 5, 1854. is a pattern-maker and has one son, Charles A. Murphy, who was born Oct. 9, 1867, and was married Jan. 25, 1887, to Ida I. Patrick of Danville, P. Q., is a machinist and has one child, a daughter, Marion Dane, born Dec. 5, 1893.
(6) Polly, married Jesse Williams and moved to Theresa, N. Y. (7) Betsey, married Wales Jewett of Langdon and moved to New York.
(8) Sally, died young.
Children of Giles and Sarah Murphy Bailey : (1) Caroline, died young, unmarried ; (2) George W., born March 20. 1848. married Mary Lord of Maine, is a dry goods merchant in Pitts- field, Mass. ; has no children.
Children of William and Sophia Walker Murphy : (1) a son. died young : (2) Carrie, who married William E. Hutchins of Cambridge, a lawyer ; they have two daughters, May, 11 years. and Helen, 9 years.
Children of Gardner and Hannah Flagg Murphy: (1) Charles E., born 1855, married Marietta Ladd of Boston, is a merchant in Boston, has no children : (2) Frederick F .. born 1858, unmarried, a merchant : (3) Gardner E .. born 1861. mar- ried Louise Emerson of Boston, is a merchant in Boston and has two children: Gardner and Thomas Emerson: (4) Grace E .. born 1863, unmarried.
Children of George S. and Sophia Richards Murphy : (1) Hattie M., born 1860, unmarried. lives in Cambridge, Mass. : (2) Laura Louise, born 1862, died 1865.
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THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, LONDONDERRY.
IN 1730, twenty years after the arrival of the even social intercourse between the pastors. But they were Scotchmen, and it was not to be expected that either party would yield. In 1741 Windham was set off as a separate parish from the East Parish. As far as church polity and denomina- tional lines are concerned, the West Parish, now the Presbyterian church, Londonderry, is the lineal deseendant of the original Presbyterian ehureh founded in 1719. A new church edifiee was begun in 1769. It was located near the schoolhouse in Distriet No. I, not far from where Frank A. Hardy's residenee now stands. Although the cx- terior was completed the following ycar, thc interior was not finished until 1780. Pews were made in 1787, and sold in the aggregate for more than $5,000. This house stood without mueh alteration till 1845, when it was taken down and removed to the eentre of the town, on the Mam- moth road, and fitted up for a town hall. The session house was also removed and converted into a dwelling on the same road, about two miles north of the new church. In the winter of 1836-37, steps were taken for the ereetion of a new ehureh, the building being completed in the fall of 1837, at a cost of about $4,000. The land for the site, originally laid out to David Morrison, was the gift of Robert Maek. In 1860 the church was repaired at a cost of about $2,000. Rev. David MaeGregor, the first minister of the West Parish, died May 30, 1777. During his ministry the ses- sion consisted of the following men, who were at different periods eonseerated to the office of ruling elder : James MeKeen, James Leslie, James Clark, James Nesmith, James Lindsley, George Dunean, John Dunean, James Taggart, John Gregg, Robert Morrison, John Hunter, John MeKeen, Samuel Anderson, Samuel Fisher, John Aiken, and James Recd. Shortly after Mr. MaeGregor's death the "forty-family quarrel " between the two parishes eame to an end, the legislature in 1778 repealing the law allowing that singular interchange of fam- ilies. Rev. William Morrison, D. D., succeeded Mr. MaeGregor as pastor. He was ordained Feb. 12, 1783, and died Mareh 9, 1818, after a pastorate of thirty-five years. Rev. Daniel Dana, D. D., who had recently resigned the presidency of Dart-
first settlers of Nutfield, about forty families living in the western part of the town petitioned to be set off as a separate religious society, and on Feb. 25, 1740, the New Hampshire legislature incorporated the West Parish of Londonderry. The first steps toward its organization had been taken five years before, so that the church actually dates from 1735. This division in the original parish was caused partly by the location of the church edifice, which was in the eastern portion of the town, and partly by the dissatisfaction felt by some of the parishioners with Rev. William Davidson, the pastor of the "old ehureh." Rev. David MaeGregor, son of Rev. James MaeGregor, took the pastoral charge of the newly formed church and society. The house in which he generally preached was on Aiken's Range, west of Pinkerton Academy. He oeeasionally preached, however, in the Hill meeting-house, about a mile west of Aiken's Range. Although the town was divided into two parishes, east and west, parish lines were wholly disregarded, forty families of the West Parish being allowed to attend and be taxed for worship in the East Parish, and about the same number in the East were allowed to attend and be taxed for worship in the West. This division lasted until the elose of Mr. MaeGregor's ministry in 1777. For many years these families were ae- eustomed to meet and pass each other on their way to ehureh, and sometimes these meetings were attended with ludicrous seenes. Persons would go miles on foot, carrying their shoes in their hands, and putting them on just before reaching the church. Two or more would use a single horse, each riding a short distance, and then hiteh- ing the animal for the other to ride on when he came up. It is said that two lovers, one belong- ing to the East and the other to the West Parish, though engaged to be married, remained single all their lives and died of old age, be- cause they could not agree which church to attend. The division, continuing nearly forty years, was productive of evils long felt in the town, occasioning animosities between the members of the two socicties, and preventing ministerial and
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1837
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. LONDONDERRY.
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mouth College, was the next pastor. He was master of the Eastern New Hampshire Pomona installed Jan. 15, 1822, and resigned in April, 1826, being succeeded by Rev. Amasa A. Hayes, who was ordained June 25, 1828, and died Oct. 23, 1830. Since that year the pastors of the church have been : John R. Adams, 1831 to 1838; Tim- othy G. Brainerd, 1840 to 1855; William House, 1857 to 1873; Luther B. Pert, 1875 to 1879; Ira C. Tyson, 1880 to 1883; Henry C. Fay, 1885 to 1888; Frank E. Mills, 1889 to 1892 ; Samucl F. French, 1893 to the present time. The church, which is now in a flourishing condition, has a membership of 135. The membership of the Sunday school is 107, and of the Christian Endeavor society, 31. In a sermon preached in 1876, Rev. Luther B. Pert, at that time pastor of the church, notes :
That the Presbyterianism of America, through its Scotch original in the church of Londonderry and others of Ulster origin, may be traced in some elements of its history to the primitive Christian church.
That the Presbyterian church of America is not chargeable with anything real or imaginary respecting the antinomian con- troversy of 1637, nor respecting the witchcraft mania of Salem, culminating about 1692. This latter tragedy was in preparation here nearly at the time when they who founded Presbyterianism in America were defending the faith of Protestantism in the siege of Londonderry, Ireland.
That the Presbyterian Church of Londonderry, N. H., if not the first, was among the very first to found Presbyterianism in this country.
That the present Presbyterian Church of Londonderry, N. H., is the only immediate representative of the Presbyterian founders of the town, since the transference of the East Parish to another denomination.
ORACE A. HILL, one of the prominent of- H fieials and workers in the Eastern New Hampshire Pomona Grange, was born Nov. 14, 1839, on the homestead in Derry where he now residcs. He is the son of Charles Hill of Chester and Hannah T. Hanson of Brookfield, N. H. His education was obtained in the district school and at Pinkerton Academy. In his younger days Mr. Hill engaged to some extent in the lumber busi- ness, but most of his life has been devoted to agri- culturc. Ever since the starting of the Grange in New Hampshire he has been an active member. Hc was master of Nutfield Grange and oversecr and
Grange, - the largest Pomona Grange in New Eng- land,- holding each office for two years. He was active in organizing the New Hampshire State Grange Fire Insurance Company, in which he is a director, and he is also a director in the Patrons' Relief Association. He has been the State Grange deputy of the first district for four years, and was assistant marshal three years and chief marshal the last two years of the State Grange fair. Mr. Hill is a member of St. Mark's Lodge, A. F. and A. M. From carly boyhood he has attended the old Pres- bytcrian church on the hill in East Derry. In politics he is a Republican and so faithful to his civic duties that he has never misscd an election. He has always been a close observer of facts and for years has kept an accurate record of many things, such as the dates of notable storms, unusu- ally hot or cold days, and other meteorological facts of especial interest to a farmer. Nov. 3, 1869, Mr. Hill was united in marriage with Miss Lizzie H. Fitz, daughter of Luther Fitz of Ches- ter. Mrs. Hill was a teacher in the common schools previous to her marriage, and has served three years on the school board of Derry. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Hill are: Luther Fitz, born Oct. 11, 1870, died Nov. 17, 1870; Emma Josephine and Ella May, born Junc 9, 1874, graduated at Pinkerton Academy June, 1894; Albert Lyon, born March 20, 1882.
COUNTY JAIL, MANCHESTER.
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HORACE A. HILL AND FAMILY,
THE LONDONDERRY TORIES.
A T a town meeting held in Londonderry April 20, 1775, it was " voted that a committee of nine men be chosen to inquire into the conduct of those men that are thought not to be friends to the country. Captain Moses Barnett, John Mc- Keen, John Aiken, John Gilmore, Captain John Moor, Ensign James McGregore, George Dun- can, Jr., Captain Robert Moor and John Bell were this committec. Voted that the aforesaid com- mittee have no pay." In July, Robert McMurphy, Lieutenant John Pinkerton, John Nesmith, Cap- tain William Alison, James Ramsey and Peter Patterson were added to the committee, making fifteen members in all. The appointment of so large a body shows the vigilance with which the citizens sought to guard against foes at home. There were only about twenty tories in town, most of them living in the English Range, though a few resided near the First Church. Among them Colonel Stephen Holland was the most prominent. He was a gentleman of good Irish family and had come to Londonderry when a young man and married into a family whose connections were rather numerous. He was a tavern-keeper and merchant, educated, wealthy and influential, and had been representative of the town. Holding as he did at the beginning of the Revolution both civil and military offices under the crown, he was early suspected of inclining to the cause of royalty. He was a very shrewd man, however, and so took measures to allay the suspicions of his fellow- townsmen. At a town meeting called for the pur- pose he made an eloquent speech denying his attachment to the British cause, and succeeded in quieting all fears. By a vote the citizens expressed their satisfaction, and he was invested with new offices of trust. But it was not long before he openly joined the British in Boston, and his estates, including four farms, were confiscated by the act of Nov. 19, 1778. The same act also proscribed and banished Richard Holland, John Davidson, James Fulton, Thomas Smith and Dennis O'Hala, all of Londonderry. There is, however, no record of the confiscation of their property. John Clark, a tory living in the English Range, was sentenced to be confined for a time to his own premises,
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