Contoocook New Hampshire

Biographical Sketch of John Arthur Jones

John Arthur Jones, a farmer of Hopkinton, was born in Contoocook, N.H., April 3, 1864, son of John F. and Maria (Barnard) Jones. His grandfather was a resident of Hopkinton for the greater part of his life. John F. Jones, who was born in Hopkinton, is now a resident of Concord, John Arthur Jones, the subject of this sketch, received his early education in the public schools of his native town and in the academy. Later he was a student at Colby Academy, New London, for a time. From New London he returned to Hopkinton, and went to his grandfather’s … Read more

Biography of Hon. Isaac Darwin Merrill

Hon. Isaac Darwin Merrill, a well-known public man of Contoocook, is a son of Isaac and Mary (Wyman) Merrill, born October 1, 1814, in Hopkinton village, N.H. The father, a native of Hollis, Hillsborough County, born June 15, 1784, was a cooper by trade, and worked in Boston, Portland, and Troy, N.Y. When Isaac D. was about a year old, the family moved from Hopkinton to Hillsborough Bridge, where his father was employed at his trade. Later, more than sixty years ago, he settled in Contoocook, built the house where the subject of this sketch now resides, worked at his … Read more

Narrative of the Captivity of Nehemiah How

Fort Dummer

A Narrative of the captivity of Nehemiah How, who was taken by the Indians at the Great Meadow Fort above Fort Dummer, where he was an inhabitant, October 11th, 1745. Giving an account of what he met with in his traveling to Canada, and while he was in prison there. Together with an account of Mr. How’s death at Canada. Exceedingly valuable for the many items of exact intelligence therein recorded, relative to so many of the present inhabitants of New England, through those friends who endured the hardships of captivity in the mountain deserts and the damps of loathsome prisons. Had the author lived to have returned, and published his narrative himself, he doubtless would have made it far more valuable, but he was cut off while a prisoner, by the prison fever, in the fifty-fifth year of his age, after a captivity of one year, seven months, and fifteen days. He died May 25th, 1747, in the hospital at Quebec, after a sickness of about ten days. He was a husband and father, and greatly beloved by all who knew him.

Biography of William Tasker

William Tasker, one of the prominent residents of Contoocook, was born August 21, 1852, in Pittsfield, this county, son of William and Mary (Lougee) Tasker. The grandfather, Joseph Tasker, and his brothers, John and Paul, removing from Newington, near Portsmouth, were the first settlers of Barnstead. Paul Tasker died leaving no family. Joseph followed the trade of shoemaker. He married Sally True, of Pittsfield, at which place they both died, he about the year 1878, and she in 1884. His son, the Rev. Joseph O. Tasker, is a Congregational minister at Short Falls, Epsom township, this county. William Tasker, Sr., … Read more

Biography of Stephen C. Pattee

Stephen C. Pattee, one of the most prominent, skilful, and prosperous agriculturists of Merrimack County, New Hampshire, lives in Warner, on a highly improved farm known as Maple Grange, which has been owned and occupied by his family for more than one hundred years. He was born on this ancestral homestead, January 11, 1828, son of Asa Pattee, and is of distinguished English and Colonial stock, tracing his descent from Sir William Pattee, who was physician to Cromwell and King Charles 2nd., and was knighted in 1660. Peter Pattee, son of Sir William, born in 1648 in Lansdown, England, emigrated … Read more