Hanover New Hampshire Genealogy

The Founding of Dartmouth College

The founding of Dartmouth College at Hanover in 1769 was an event of great interest and importance to the early settlers of Norwich. Besides the advantages it promised for the convenient higher education of their children, advantages to which they were fully alive, as shown by their liberal subscriptions in land and money to its endowment, the building up of such an institution in the immediate neighborhood created an instant demand for labor and supplies of every kind. The president, Doctor Wheelock, through his Indian pupil, Samson Occum, and other agents, had collected in England and Scotland several thousand pounds … Read more

Biography of Albert P. Davis

Albert P. Davis, attorney-at-law and one of the most active, prominent, and pushing citizens of Warner, was born May 2, 1835, in the village of Waterloo, Merrimack County, N.H. The Davis family originated in Wales, from whence the first ancestor in this country emigrated in 1638, settling in Amesbury, Mass. Gideon Davis, the great-grandfather of Albert P., and a nephew of Francis Davis, who led in the early settlement of the town, was born in Amesbury, where he lived until after his marriage with Mary Cheney. In 1784 he came to Warner, and, taking up a large tract of timber … 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 Henry M. Baker

Henry M. Baker, of Bow, Merrimack County, lawyer and Congressman, and son of Aaron Whittemore and Nancy (Dustin) Baker, was born in Bow, January 11, 1841. He comes of patriotic and heroic ancestry. His great-great-grandfather, Captain Joseph Baker, a Colonial surveyor, married Hannah, only daughter of Captain John Lovewell, the famous Indian fighter, who was killed in the battle of Pigwacket, May 8, 1725. A few years later the township of Suncook, or Lovewell’s town, which included much of the present town of Pembroke, was granted by Massachusetts to the surviving participants and the heirs of those killed in that … Read more

Biography of Prof. George Bush

George Bush, one of the most eminent Biblical scholars and Orientalists of his time in America, was born in Norwich, Vt., June 12, 1796, a son of John and Abigal (Marvin) Bush, and grandson of Capt. Timothy Bush. The boyhood of George Bush was mostly passed in Hanover, New Hampshire, whither his father removed when he was quite young. The son gave early indications of superior intelligence. His eldest sister says “he had a ravishing love of books from her first remembrance of him.” He frequented the College library at Hanover and would bring home ponderous volumes, almost as large … Read more

Biography of Amos Richardson

Amos Richardson, an influential resident of Cornish, was born here, November 27, 1817, son of Amos and Sophia (Cummings) Richardson. He is a descendant of Dr. Amos Richardson, who was a physician of note in Pelham, N.H. Dr. Amos’s son, Joseph, was grandfather of the subject of this sketch. Joseph’s children were: Miriam, Joseph, David, Josiah, Sarah, Mercy, Rebecca, and Amos. Miriam, now deceased, was the wife of Joshua Wyman, of Pelham, and the mother of seven children; Joseph married Polly Hilliard, of Cornish, and had a family of twelve children; David, now deceased, married Sarah Ford, and was the … Read more

Biography of John W. Staples, M.D.

John W. Staples, M.D., a prominent physician of Franklin Falls, N.H., and a native of Wells, Me., was born January 25, 1855. His parents, John and Ann (Wells) Staples, also natives of Wells, belonged to families that had lived in that town for a number of generations. John Staples, who was a farmer, spent his life in the place of his birth, and died in 1879. His wife had died in 1877. They had four children, one of whom died in infancy. The others were: Albert, who died when nine years old; Moses, a farmer in Wells; and John W., … Read more

Biography of Maurice Sinclair Sherman

In the present-day development of the publicational plans of the Springfield “Union,” one of the foremost of the long established newspapers of Massachusetts and of New England, Maurice Sinclair Sherman, editor-in-chief of that journal, himself a successor to many editors who had already borne a notable share in the history of publicity in the Bay State, is a thoroughgoing interpreter of the value of the news and of the newspaper of to-day. That the “Union” continues in its robust and progressive pace with the demands of these times, as it ever has in other eras of its career, is due … Read more

Biography of David M. Currier, M.D.

David M. Currier, M.D., a successful physician of Newport, was born in Grafton, Grafton County, September 15, 1840, son of David and Rhoda (Morse) Currier. The grandfather, David Currier, presumably came from Salisbury, Mass., and located in Canaan, where he became the owner of a good tract of land, and died at the age of seventy-one years. He married February 2, 1797, Ruth Stevens, David, born February 8, 1803; Edward, born June 12, 1805; Aaron, born September 10, 1813; Dorothy, born January 28, 1799; and Hannah, born June 23, 1800. David, the father of Dr. Currier, was also a farmer. … Read more

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

Biography of Robert M. Funkhouser, M. D.

Dr. Robert M. Funkhouser, a physician and surgeon of St. Louis who has also been connected with the educational activities of the profession and who is now largely concentrating his time and energies upon surgery, was born in St. Louis, December 10, 1850. His father, Robert M. Funkhouser, was a native of Illinois and of Swiss descent, the family being founded in America by John and Christopher Funkhouser, who came to the new world in 1698 and first settled in Fredericktown, Virginia. Among the ancestors of the family were five who participated in the Revolutionary war. The family is also … 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

Norwich Vermont and Dartmouth College

Notwithstanding the fact that Norwich had for many years within its borders a collegiate institution of its own, founded and directed by its most distinguished son, the relations of their people towards Dartmouth College on the opposite bank of the Connecticut were always intimate and friendly.

History of the Bridges Between Hanover NH and Norwich VT

The earliest form of transportation across the Connecticut River between Norwich and Hanover of which we have any information was the canoe of Nathan Messenger, who sometime in the summer of the year 1765 established a hunting camp near the bank of the river, a few rods south of where the west end of Hanover bridge now is. In this canoe the family and household goods of John Hutchinson were brought over from the Hanover side in the late fall of the same year, at the completion of their long journey from Ashford, Conn., to their new home. This family … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Hon. Frederic W. Gregg

Hon. Frederic W. Gregg, of the law firm of Harris & Gregg, is a Green Mountain boy, born in Vermont, thirty-two years ago; was educated in Dartmouth College, celebrated as the alma mater of eminent men of action, men who have led in the fields of law and politics and commerce, where a combination of mental and physical vigor are the motive power of success. Graduating from Dartmouth in the class of 1878, Mr. Gregg studied law in the office of Hon. Frank Plumley, United States District Attorney for Vermont, and at the Columbia Law School. In June 1881, he … 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 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 Frederick S. Kohler, M. D.

The wise system of industrial economics which has been brought to bear in the development of Nampa has challenged uniform admiration, for while there has been steady advancement in material lines there has been an entire absence of that inflation of values and that erratic “booming” which have in the past proved the eventual death knell to many of the localities in the west, where “mushroom towns” have one day smiled forth with “all modern improvements” and practically on the next have been shorn of their glories and of their possibilities of stable prosperity until the existing order of things … Read more

Biography of Charles M. Babbitt

Charles M. Babbitt, the well-known contractor and builder of Franklin Falls, was born in Hanover, N.H., son of Isaac and Wealthy (Lovejoy) Babbitt. His grandfather, Asa Babbitt, who came from England, served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and spent the greater part of his life upon a farm in Hanover, dying in 1837. Isaac Babbitt and his wife, both natives of Hanover, were prosperous farming people. Isaac died in 1878, and Wealthy in 1894. They were the parents of twelve children, namely: Marinda, now deceased, who married William Ward, a merchant of Lebanon, N.H.; Isaac Sylvester, who married … Read more

Descendants of Thomas Boyden of Bridgewater, MA

BOYDEN (Walpole-Bridgewater family). For a half century – for fifty and more years: – the name Boyden has stood in the town of Bridgewater, Mass., as a synonym for the highest type of useful, ennobling and elevating citizenship, as exemplified in the life of the now venerable principal emeritus of the Bridgewater State Normal School, Prof. Albert Gardner Boyden, who for the long period of fifty and more years has been identified as student, teacher and principal with the noted institution of learning alluded to, and has reared a son who has taken up the work so recently laid down … Read more