WILLIAM SHERMAN came to Croydon from Barre, Mass., in 1797, and died Feb. 19, 1855, aged 79 years, leaving a large family. He is remembered as an upright farmer. Of him it, might be said, as of one of old: “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile.”
Captain Harry C. Fay, editor-in-chief of the National Eagle, a bright and thoroughly up-to-date newspaper published in Claremont, was born in Richmond, Vt., November 30, 1830, son of Captain Nathan and Polly (Colby) Fay. Stephen Fay, his great-great-grandfather, was an early settler in Bennington, Vt., and was the father of eight children. His son John kept the Catamount Tavern, which during his day became a meeting-place for many great statesmen, who formed a legislative body, and held there meetings known as “Councils of Safety.” He, John, fell in the battle of Bennington. His son, Nathan Fay, served as a Colonel … Read more
MOSES REED, the father of the Reeds, was among the early settlers, and was a cloth dresser at the Flat.
DELLAVAN D. MARSH, son of WILLIAM, and grandson of Samuel, was born May 8, 1818. He studied medicine with Willard P. Gibson, of Newport, and John S. Blanchard, of Cornish; attended lectures at Woodstock, Vt., and at Hanover, N. H., and graduated from the latter institution in 1834. He commenced practice at Mount Desert, Me., the same year, but in 1837 returned to Croydon, where he has since remained in the practice of his profession. He has taken a deep interest in agriculture. He introduced the North Devon cattle, and in 1848 was Treasurer of the County Agricultural Society. He … Read more
Timothy B. Rossiter, one of the wealthiest men in Claremont, was born there, September 18, 1807, son of Sherman and Olive (Baldwin) Rossiter. Sir Edward Rossiter, the founder of the family, with his son and son’s wife, Dr. and Mrs. Bray Rossiter, embarked from Plymouth, England, on the ship “Mary and John,” March 20, 1630, and arrived at Nantasket, Mass., May 30, 1630. They began a settlement at Mattapan, and in the spring of 1636 removed to Windsor, Conn. Sir Edward Rossiter, who was chosen in London in 1629 to serve as an assistant to Governor Winthrop, died soon after … Read more
Volume II of History of the Town of Cornish, New Hampshire, with Genealogical Record, 1763–1910, compiled by William Henry Child and published in 1911, presents a detailed genealogical account of the families who settled in Cornish from its founding through the early 20th century.
Croydon New Hampshire Genealogy contains the 1850 census of Croydon New Hampshire as well as the general, church, civil, industrial and military histories of the town, including 261 brief sketches of it’s early residents. This is an eclectic collection of material, some of it is original, while others was extracted from a variety of sources.
JOHN HALL, son of James Hall, Esq., and grandson of James Hall, Sr., was born in October, 1813; studied medicine with his uncle Albina Hall; graduated at Brunswick, Me., and commenced the practice of his profession at Newark, Ohio, where he died. His two daughters, JULIA and MARY, are both well educated and accomplished teachers.
EPHRAIM KEMPTON, the father of the Kemptons, came early to Croydon and purchased some four hundred acres of land, covering all the grounds where the Flat is now situated, and built near the residence of Capt. Nathan Hall. He never attained to great wealth, and was unassuming in his manners.
DOCT. SILAS HALL, son of Ezra Hall, was born in Dec. 1792. In 1808, moved with his father to Cayuga Co., N. Y. In 1815, commenced the study of medicine with Consider King, an excellent physician, and received his diploma in 1818. After ten years of practice at Sempronius, the county seat, he removed to Monrovia, where he has since resided.
MOSES HUMPHRY was born at Hingham, Mass., in 1807. At the age of twenty-four he was married to Lydia Humphry, daughter of John Humphry, one of the early settlers of Croydon. At fourteen he commenced going to sea, and at nineteen was appointed Master of a vessel, which position he held until he left the sea at the age of twenty-five. He was the first man that commenced the manufacture of mackerel kits by machinery, which business he has pursued with ever-increasing energy since, at Hingham, at Croydon nine years, and now at Concord. In 1853, when Concord adopted the … Read more
Edward S. Barrett, a prosperous farmer of West Concord, was born February 17, 1824, at Ashburnham, Mass., the son of Benjamin and Nancy (Stone) Barrett. The paternal grandfather, also named Benjamin, who was a native of Ashby, Mass., followed the occupation of farmer, spent the latter part of his life in New York State, and ended his days in Aurelius, N.Y. Benjamin Barrett, who was also born in Ashby, after having learned shoemaking, worked at that trade for a number of years. He then followed farming in Ashburnham for a time. Subsequently he removed to Fitchburg, Mass., and later to … Read more
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
HIRAM SMART, son of the preceding, has been a Representative from Plaistow in the Legislature, a School Commissioner, and Register of Deeds for Rockingham County, and is now in the Boston Custom House.
JOHN WOODBURY PUTNAM, eldest son of John Putnam, Esq., born April 6, 1819, is a man of excellent judgment and decision of character. After operating as a farmer in his native town, and going to the recent war, where he held the position of Captain, be has sold out and removed to New York. He is located on the Hudson River about sixty miles above the city of New York, on a large farm belonging to his brother-in-law, Timothy C. Eastman.
Danford Rice, late a well-known farmer of Claremont, who died August 4, 1877, was born in this town, December 2, 1805. His grandfather, Ebenezer Rice, who was one of the earliest settlers of Claremont, coming with a little colony of pioneers from Tolland, Conn., bought considerable land in the village, but afterward removed to West Claremont. He was a carpenter by trade, and framed the old Union church at West Claremont. He was a Deacon of the church, and in the absence of a minister he used to read the services. A stanch patriot, he fought for American independence in … Read more
DAVID PUTNAM and CALEB PUTNAM came to this town from Sutton, Mass., among the early emigrants, and settled on the south-east slope of the Pinnacle, in a locality long known as the ” Salt Box.” They were noted for a hardy constitution and great industry.
HOTELS – Benjamin Barton and Reuben Carroll at Four Corners, and Nathan Hall, William Allen and David A. Sargent, at the East village, have been hotel-keepers. STORES – The following are among those who have been engaged in trade: William Cheney, Solomon Clement, Henry Breck, Peter Barton, Hiram Smart, at Four Corners; Putnam & Cooper, Edward Hall, Ruel Durkee, Joel Ferry, George Dunbar and Rufus Hall, at East village, and James Breck, Simeon Edson, Stephen Eastman, Henry Hurd, James and Lyman Hall, Paul J. Wheeler, M. L. Barton, D. N. Adams, Daniel R. Hall, and Harriet Pillsbury at the Flat; … Read more
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.
ELISHA and SIMEON PARTRIDGE came from Franklin, Mass., and were among the first settlers. The former married a sister of Timothy Winter and settled on Winter Hill. The latter settled on the B. Brown place, near the Flat. They were valuable citizens, and occupied honorable positions in town. ELISHA PARTRIDGE, Son of Elisha, is a farmer, and has much musical talent.