Gilman B. Kimball, a resident of Hopkinton and one of the most prosperous and progressive agriculturists of Merrimack County, comes of pioneer ancestry. His paternal grandfather, Nathaniel Kimball, born here July 23, 1786, was the second owner of the present homestead. With the exception of two or three years spent in New London, this State, Nathaniel lived on it from the time of his marriage until his death, which occurred November 27, 1869. He and Betsey Titcomb, who was born January 27, 1794, were married March 7, 1815, by the Rev. B. Darling. She was an active, thrifty housewife, and noted for her manufactures of silk, as shown on page 150 of “Life and Times,” compiled by C. C. Lord. She died February 7, 1856, having been the mother of three children. The latter were: Cyrus T., born December 22, 1815, who lived but a year; Moses T., the father of Gilman B.; and Priscilla, who died at the age of two years.
Moses T. Kimball was born April 12, 1817, during the residence of his parents in New London, and died in Hopkinton, April 19, 1874. He was reared on the home farm, which became his by inheritance, assuming its management before the death of his parents, whom he cared for during their declining years. The present house, all of which is more than one hundred years old, was built at different periods of time, both the father and grandfather of Moses having added to the original residence. One of his aunts, a sister of Nathaniel Kimball, named Hannah, was born in this house in 1773, and died within its walls in 1863, aged ninety years. Moses T. Kimball was an industrious, prudent man, wise in his business methods and sound in his judgments. He acquired quite a property. After giving a tract of land to each of his daughters, he owned at his death, in addition to the homestead of one hundred and twenty acres, one hundred acres in Hopkinton and fifty acres of pasture in Bradford. He did a good deal of lumbering in his earlier life, cutting logs from his own land and hauling them to the river, where he sold them. He was prominent in the town and a leader in the Democratic party, which the Kimball family have invariably supported. He was a lifelong member of the Baptist church, in which for many a year “Gransir” Kimball was one of the pillars. He was twice married. On May 1, 1842, by the Rev. S. Cook, he was united in marriage with Harriet Emerson, of this town. She died a few years later, leaving two daughters, namely: Priscilla, born January 30, 1845, who is the widow of J. G. Highland, and lives on the old Smith farm; and Ellen L., born March 13, 1846, who married Philander M. Lord, of Dunbarton. On November 17, 1852, Moses T. Kimball married Mary F. Smith, who was born March 17, 1820. Her birthplace was the farm in Hopkinton, on the Jewett road, now owned by Mrs. J. G. Highland, and of which her grandfather, Moody Smith, was the original owner. Her parents, Josiah and Sarah (Bailey) Smith, Hopkinton, and her father resided throughout the seventy years of his life in the house in which he was born. The children of Mrs. Moses T. Kimball were: Gilman B. and Herbert M.
Gilman B. Kimball was born September 23, 1854, on the farm where he now resides. Since the age of fourteen years he has virttually had charge of it, his father having been an invalid in the last five years of his life. He and his brother have been extensively engaged in the various branches of agriculture, and have greatly increased the acreage of the original ancestral estate by the purchase of other land, in many cases buying entire farms. They bought for eighteen hundred dollars the Charles Merrill farm of eighty acres, on which Herbert for a while resided. They owned the Colonel Colby farm of sixty acres for a time; and a few years since they bought for two thousand eight hundred dollars the large and well-improved farm of John Page, on which were buildings that cost six thousand dollars to erect. The last purchase was effected in October, 1893, when the seller was a man to whom the property was knocked down at auction for three thousand dollars, and who gave them two hundred dollars to take it off his hands. That was one of the greatest bargains of the times, the estate being one of the finest in Hopkinton or Concord, containing much land valuable for tillage, excellent pasturage, and a good piece of timber. Herbert now lives on that farm, where he keeps a large dairy of fifty cows and supplies a long milk route.
Gilman B. Kimball also pays much attention to dairying, having twenty cows of a good grade and a profitable milk route. For nearly two years he has been somewhat of an invalid, not able to do much manual labor, employing trusty help for that, while he has general superintendence of the farm. He has never married; and he resides with his mother, a very bright and active woman, who has continued her residence on the homestead. She is a most estimable Christian woman and a consistent member of the Congregational church.