Grafton County NH

Biography of William Hall

William Hall, a retired merchant of Plainfield, was born in Cornish, N.H., February 28, 1846, son of Israel and Elizabeth D. (Demming) Hall. He is a descendant of Willis Hall. His grandfather, Jonathan Hall, who was a native of Connecticut, was the first of the family to ascend the river for the purpose of settling. Jonathan, who was an extensive farmer, married Mercy Cady; and his children were: Israel, Sophia, Alfred, and Susan, all of whom were born in Windsor, Vt. Sophia married Sullivan Blood, of Windsor, and with her husband made the journey from Vermont to Missouri by horse … Read more

Biography of Albert Bingham Woodworth

Albert Bingham Woodworth, the Mayor of Concord and a well-known merchant of the city, was born in Dorchester, April 7, 1843, son of George and Louisa (Hovey) Woodworth. His grandfather, Sylvanus Woodworth, born in Lebanon, Conn., who was one of the first settlers of Dorchester, served in the Revolutionary War, and fought at Bunker Hill under General Putnam. The father, also a native of Dorchester, was a man of lofty character and thoroughly respected where he was New Hampshire. He was prominent in the Congregational church, of which he became a member early in life. The mother was a native … Read more

Biography of Alger, William Rounseville

Alger, William Rounseville, son of Nahum and Catherine Sampson (Rounseville) Alger, was born in Freetown, Bristol County, December 28, 1822. He attended the common schools from the age of four to ten, then began to work for a livelihood; he worked five years in a cotton mill at Hookset, N. H., studied attentively in all available house, educating himself in the various branches of an academic course. He attended an academy in Pembroke, N. H., two years, and one year at Lebanon, N. H. He entered the divinity school of Harvard University in 1844, and was graduated in the class … Read more

Biography of Samuel Henry Melcher

Samuel Henry Melcher is the son of Woodbury Melchor, Esq:, and a grandson of Capt. Samuel B. French, was born in Gilmanton, N. H., October 30, 1828. Was educated at Gilford and Gilmanton academies; graduated at medical department, Dartmouth College, in Grafton county, N, H.; then in Boston, Mass., until 1859, when he traveled South and through Texas; and at the close of that year, settled in Potosi, Washington county, Missouri. On the breaking out of the war, he offered his services at once to Gen. Lyon, at St. Louis arsenal; and was mustered in as assistant surgeon 5th Regt. … Read more

Biography of Hon. Gardner Batchelder Emmons

Hon. Gardner Batchelder Emmons, a successful business man of Concord, N.H., who is now serving his first term as a State Senator, was born in Bristol, Grafton County, this State, February 18, 1847, son of Horace M. and Maria (Batchelder) Emmons. The paternal ancestors have been identified with the history of Bristol, N.H., for at least one hundred and fifty years; while the Batchelders have been inhabitants of Reading, Mass., about two hundred and fifty years. Gardner B. Emmons attended the public schools of Bristol in his boyhood, and completed his course of study in New Hampton Institute at the … Read more

Biography of Perley Oscar Folsom

PERLEY OSCAR FOLSOM, active in business and politics at Cushman, Massachusetts, in the town of Amherst, was born in Marshfield, Vermont, March 28, 1882. The name he bears appears first in history in the first half of the fourteenth century. John Foulsham, of Foulsham, was prior of a Carmelite Monastery in Warwick, England. He was a prominent ecclesiastic; and his brother, Richard Foulsham, was even more prominent. The word foule (fowl) signified bird, and the country seat of Foulsham probably took its name from its being the home (ham) of many foules (birds). (I) The first traceable ancestor of the … Read more

Biography of Honorable Daniel Buck

Daniel Buck came to Norwich in 1784 or ’85, and opened the first lawyer’s office in town, on the hill near the old center meeting house, then just being completed and there continued to live and transact business for twenty-five years, or until he removed to Chelsea in 1809. Norwich then contained probably about one thousand inhabitants, but no village, there being at that time not over three or four dwellings where Norwich village now stands. But little is known of Mr. Buck previous to his coming to Norwich. He was born at Hebron, Conn., November 9, 1753, and was … Read more

Biography of Floyd O. Hale

Floyd O. Hale, general manager of the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, with office in St. Louis, was born at West Windsor, Vermont, April 13, 1882. His father, Frank S. Hale, was likewise born in the Green Mountain state, where his ancestors, of English lineage, had settled at a very early day. In fact the family was founded in the new world when this country was numbered among the possessions of Great Britain and some of the family served with the American forces in the Revolutionary war. Frank S. Hale during his active life was engaged in agricultural and mercantile pursuits … Read more

Free Masonry in Norwich Vermont

It does not appear that any Masonic Lodge has ever existed in Norwich. Quite a number of our citizens, however, as might be expected, have at different times belonged to lodges in adjacent towns. In the list of members of Franklin Lodge, established at Hanover, N. H., in 1796, we find the names of the following Norwich men, with the year of their admission: Reuben Hatch, Freegrace Leavitt (1798), William Sumner (1799), Thomas Brigham, Erastus Leavitt, and Moses Hayward (1800), Reuben Partridge, Andrew Dewey, William Little, Levi Richards, Aaron West (1801-1807), Lyman Lewis, Elijah Slafter, Simon Baldwin, Enos Lewis, Jasper … Read more

Biography of John Tyler

John Tyler was well known in Claremont as an inventor and builder. He was a son of John Tyler and a grandson of Benjamin Tyler, both eminent mechanics. Benjamin, who settled in Claremont in the spring of 1776, built the first dam across the Sugar River at West Claremont, and was for many years one of the most public-spirited men in town. The History of Claremont gives the following facts concerning his grandson:- “John Tyler was born in Claremont, March 26, 1818. He learned the trade of millwright, serving an apprenticeship of seven years, and was then for eight years … Read more

Biography of Moody C. Little

Moody C. Little, treasurer of the Mutual Building and Loan Association of Emporia, was for many years a merchant and banker in Illinois, but had been identified with Emporia for more than thirty years. Moody Cook Little, father of the Emporia banker and business man, was born at Campton, Grafton County, New Hampshire, in May, 1822. Moody C. Little was the only child of his parents, and grew up in LaSalle County, attending the public schools until about eighteen, when he found employment that eventually led to his engaging in the dry goods business at Tonica, Illinois, where he remained … Read more

Biographical Sketch of William C. Hobart

William C. Hobart, a retired carpenter of North Charlestown, Sullivan County, N.H., was born in Hebron, N.H. In early life he went to Unity, where in 1848 he purchased a farm; and he was successfully engaged in farming in that town for twenty years. In 1870 he removed to Charlestown, where he now resides. He is a carpenter by trade, and until late years has done a great deal of building in Charlestown and the vicinity. He holds membership in the Claremont and Charlestown Masonic Lodge, No. 12. He is also a prominent member of the Methodist church, of which … Read more

Loveland Family of Norwich Vermont

Loveland Homestead, built by Joseph Loveland in 1792

One of the farms in Norwich still (1904) owned and occupied by descendants bearing the name of the original settlers, belongs in the Loveland family. Joseph Loveland was born in 1747, in Connecticut; moving from that state to Dartmouth College, Hanover township, New Hampshire, where he enlisted to reinforce the Continental Army at Ticonderoga. In 1778 he settled on a now fertile farm, about a mile and a half from Norwich village, building a home a little off the river road. Ten of his thirteen children were born in town, and six of them made, during most of their lives, … Read more

Biography of Arthur Eugene Ewing, M. D.

Dr. Arthur Eugene Ewing was born near Cartersville, Georgia, April 26, 1855, his parents being Whitley Thomas and Hannah Jane (Pettingill) Ewing. The father was also a practicing physician and in his college work had received the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Doctor of Medicine. He provided his son with liberal educational advantages, the latter attending private schools in Gadsden, Alabama, from 1862 until 1874, when he entered Dartmouth College, where he studied for four years and received the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1878. He then took up the profession of teaching and was principal of the public … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Harold E. Smith

Smith, Harold E.; patent lawyer; born, Lebanon, N. H., May 2, 1882; son of Wilbur F. and Marie Antoinette Sargent Smith; educated, Dartmouth College, A. B., 1903, A. M., 1906; National University Law School, LL. B., 1908; LL. M., 1909; George Washington University, M. P. L., 1909; married, Washington, D. C. Oct. 5, 1909, Annie Stratton; one son; instructor in physics at Dartmouth College, 1903-1906, asst. physicist, National Bureau of Standards, 1906; examiner U. S. Patent Office, 1906-1910; member of firm of Hull & Smith, patent lawyers, junior partner; member Hanover Scientific Ass’n; member Gamma Alpha and Sigma Nu Phi … Read more

Biography of John P. Rounsevel

John P. Rounsevel, formerly a well-known wool buyer of Claremont, was born in Unity, N.H., January 2, 1815, son of Royal and Betsey (Sweat) Rounsevel. Rounseville, the original spelling of the name, was changed to the present form by Joseph Rounsevel about the year 1768. In 1749 Thomas Rounseville wrote from Ottery St. Mary to Philip Rounseville, of England, who afterward came to this country. He settled in Freetown, Mass., and was called by the townspeople King Philip. His son Joseph, who, born January 3, 1737, died in 1827, went to Washington, N.H., between 1768 and 1772, from Middleboro, Mass., … Read more

Biographical Sketch of James Cheney

James Cheney, from Hanover, N. H., located in the northern part of this town at an early date, where he resided until his death, in 1810. He reared a family of seven children, three of whom remained in the town.

Biography of James Hale Newton

When a man’s manifold activities in the field of banking, building, and general business win for him the title of “Grand Old Man,” his place as leader is firmly established. Thus was James Hale Newton regarded in Holyoke, Massachusetts. He was of a long-established New England family, which originated in England. The pioneer ancestor was Richard Newton, who settled in Massachusetts in 1638, and afterward was admitted as freeman of the colony. For many years he lived in Sudbury, then settled in Marlborough, where with eight others he founded the township, and died’ there when nearly a hundred years old, … Read more

Coosuc Tribe

Coosuc Indians (from koash ‘pine’, ak ‘at: at the pine’). A small band, probably of the Pennacook, formerly living about the junction of the Upper and Lower Ammonoosuc with the Connecticut, in Coos and Grafton counties, New Hampshire Their village, called Coos or Coosuc, seems to have been near the mouth of the Lower Ammonoosuc. They were driven off by the English in 1704 and joined the St Francis Indians, where they still kept up the name about 1809. See Also: Coosucks and St. Francis Indians of Lamoille County, Vermont

Biography of James H. Bean, M. D.

James H. Bean, M. D., has attained a distinctive position in connection with the medical fraternity of southern Idaho, and is now successfully engaged in practicing in Pocatello, where he also conducts a drug store. Realizing the importance of the profession, he has carefully prepared himself for his chosen life work, and spares no effort that will further perfect him along that line. By the faithful performance of each day’s duty he finds inspiration and added strength for the labors of the next, and his marked skill has secured him prestige as the representative of one of the most important … Read more