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

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

Biography of Frederic Gregory Mather

FREDERIC GREGORY MATHER AN ALBANIAN whose name shines with no dim lustre in the republic of letters, is Frederic G. Mather. Born in the city of Cleveland, Ohio, on the nth day of August, 1844, he is a son of Samuel Holmes Mather, LL. D., of that city. This cultured gentleman was born in Jj 1813, at Washington, N. H.; his father was Dr. Ozias Mather of fl East Haddam, Conn. In 1835, a year after his graduation from Dartmouth College, Samuel H. Mather removed to Cleveland, when the city was a village of only four thousand inhabitants, today it … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Willard Grant Aborn

Aborn, Willard Grant; manufacturer; born Wakefield, Mass., Sept. 23, 1870; son of George W. and Mary Frances Pennel Aborn; educated Wakefield High School; Academy at Monson, Mass.; graduated from Dartmouth College in 1893, degree of A. B., and A. M. in 1896; married, Chicago, Ill., Sept. 23, 1896, Miss Florence Louise Higgins; issue, one daughter Mary Louise and one son John Russell; spent summer vacations during college education working at engineering on water work construction; spent two yrs. in that line of work after graduation; in summer of 1895 worked for Spaulding-Pepper Tire Co., of Chicopee Falls, Mass., 1896, sec’y … Read more

Descendants of Thomas Boyden of Bridgewater, MA

albert boyden

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

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 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 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 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

History of the Bridges Between Hanover NH and Norwich VT

Norwich-Hanover covered bridge

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 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 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

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.

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

Hutchinson Family of Norwich Vermont

Hutchinson is an old and numerous family in Norwich, as well as in other parts of the country. They were among the early settlers of Massachusetts and were in Lynn and Salem in that colony as early as 1628, or 1629. A descendant of these early colonists, named Abijah, who was a tailor, removed from Salem to Windham early in the eighteenth century. His son Samuel, born about 1719, in company with his son, John, came to Norwich in 1765. They cleared an island in the Connecticut River, opposite the present residency of John W. Loveland, and planted it with … 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 Hon. Ira Colby

Hon. Ira Colby, one of the leading lawyers of the State of New Hampshire, was born in Claremont, N.H., January 11, 1831, son of Ira and Polly (Foster) Colby, both of purely English descent. Their families in the various branches number many persons of distinction. On the maternal side he is descended from Reginald Foster, who came from Exeter, Devonshire, England, and settled in Ipswich, Essex County, Mass., in 1638. It has been stated in an account of the descendants of Joseph Stickney, which appeared in the New Hampshire Granite Monthly of July, 1892, that the family of this Reginald … Read more

Biographical Sketch of L. F. Morse, M. D.

L. F. Morse, M. D., physician and surgeon, Mattoon; was born in Canterbury, N.Y. Feb. 5, 1839; his father was a farmer, and his early life was that of a farmer’s son; at the age of 14, he went to live with an uncle; in the winter of 1860, he began the study of medicine, under the supervision of Dr. L. T. Weeks, of Canterbury; after an extended course of reading, he attended a course of lectures in the Burlington Medical College, at Burlington, Vt.; in June, 1862, he was engaged in the Government hospital at Washington, as Contract Surgeon; … Read more

Biography of John Henry Albin

John Henry Albin, one of the best known lawyers of Concord and an ex-member of the New Hampshire legislature, was born in Randolph, Vt., October 17, 1843, son of John and Emily (White) Albin. His ancestors on the father’s side resided in Randolph for one hundred and fifty years, and his mother’s family is one of the oldest in Merrimack County. He came here with his parents when he was twelve years old. Having completed his elementary education in the public schools of this city, he entered Dartmouth College in the fall of 1860, and graduated from that institution in … 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