Grantham New Hampshire Genealogy

Biography of Martin V. B. Hastings

Martin V. B. Hastings, one of the leading farmers of Grantham, N.H., son of Jonathan B. and Rosina (Kidder) Hastings, represents the third generation of his family in this town, where he was born June 2, 1844. His grandfather, Jonas Hastings, a farmer, who came from Maine, was one of the early settlers of Grantham. He married Affie Baker, and had a family of ten children: Benjamin; Maria; Jonathan B.; Rosilla; Jonas, Jr.; William; Amos; Affie; John; and one child that died in infancy. Benjamin Hastings was a carpenter and farmer in Newport, N.H. He married Eliza Smith, and had … Read more

Biography of William B. Leavitt

William B. Leavitt, a prominent resident of North Grantham, widely known as the compiler of Leavitt’s Almanac, was born August 7, 1812, son of John and Susan (Burnham) Leavitt. The family has been in America since the early part of the seventeenth century, when three brothers came from England to the shores of the New World. Robust, sturdy, and energetic, these brothers soon assumed a leading position among the early settlers. Since that time the family tree has grown so that now its branches may be found in several parts of the country. It has given men of upright lives … Read more

Ancestors of William P. Whitman of Brockton, MA

WILLIAM P. WHITMAN, president and treasurer of the well-known shoe manufacturing concern of the Whitman & Keith Company, of Brockton, and one of that city’s successful and progressive business men, as was his father before him, is a descendant of distinguished and historic New England ancestry. Mr. Whitman is a direct descendant of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins, of the “Mayflower,” 1620; of Rev. James Keith, the first ordained minister of Bridgewater; and of John Whitman, who settled in Weymouth, Mass., as early as 1638, from whom descended many persons eminent in professional life and otherwise, among them Dr. Marcus Whitman, who saved the vast territory of Oregon to the United States; Hon. Ezekiel Whitman, for many years chief justice of the Superior and Supreme courts of the State of Maine; and Hon. William E. Russell, twice governor of Massachusetts.