ABIGAIL POWERS, daughter of Rev. Lemuel Powers, was born in 1798. In February, 1826, she married Millard Fillmore, late President of the United States. She was a lady highly respected for her intelligence, dignity and many virtues.
HON. LEMUEL P. COOPER, born July 18, 1803, is one of the most intelligent and progressive farmers in town. He has always taken a deep interest in the cause of religion and education, as well as politics. He was a popular teacher and superintendent, a trustee of the Industrial School of New Hampshire, twice a representative, twice in the Senate, and was at one time a candidate for Governor of the State.
HON. CHARLES ROWELL was born in 1785. He removed to Allenstown, NH, and served as selectman of his adopted town twenty-four years; representative to the Legislature four years; county treasurer two years; State Senator two years, and a justice of the peace from early manhood until his death, which occurred January 11, 1867.
HON. ORA CROSBY, son of Prince, born November 14, 1793, settled at Hardwick, VT He was a representative, a justice, judge of the County Court, director of the Danville Bank and president of the National Bank of Caledonia. As a financier, Judge Crosby had but few equals.
BARON STOW, D.D., born June 16, 1801, graduated at Dartmouth and was settled in Boston. Having a pure heart, a vigorous intellect, an eloquent tongue and attractive manners, he was the favorite son of the town, and was one of the most popular clergymen in the Baptist denomination.
JONAS CUTTING, LL.D., born November 3, 1800, graduated at Dartmouth and located at Bangor, Me. He had intellectual faculties of a high order; was conscientious, adroit and learned; was popular as a lawyer, and commanded the highest respect as a judge, ranking with the foremost among the members of the bench.
JOHN TOWNE, son of John Towne, was born August 17, 1805. In June, 1840, he was appointed Deputy Secretary of State, which office he held four years. He was register of deeds for Sullivan County from 1851 to 1854, inclusive. He was for many years a successful teacher and has been for a long time a prominent and respected citizen of Newport.
HON. RUEL DURKEE, born July 14, 1807, a farmer, was much in office at home. Shrewd, self-poised, with an instinctive knowledge of human nature, he was for nearly a whole generation one of the most conspicuous managers in the Republican party of the State. His presence was always required during the sittings of the Legislature and at all conventions It has been said that in caucus the lightning usually struck the aspirant towards whom his magnetic finger pointed. He died in July, 1885.
VASHTI TOWNE, a sister of John, born May 8, 1813, was educated at Kimball Union Academy; taught school in her native town, three years at Norwich Institute, nine years at Portsmouth, Va., and fifteen years at Washington, D. C. While at the latter place she had under her instruction the sons of President Lincoln and also those of Presi dent Grant. She was an intimate friend of Mrs. President Fillmore who was a relative. She died in 1869 at Newport, NH.
TIMOTHY C. EASTMAN, Esq., born May 30, 1821, was first a farmer at Croydon, then a milkman, with a hundred cows, at Cleveland, O., and is now the cattle-king of New York. He has a beautiful residence on Fifth Avenue, and, as a financier, he has been by far the most successful son of the town. He originated the plan of transporting beef to Europe in refrigerators, by means of which he presented the Queen with the quarter of beef as fresh as when taken from the slaughter-house at New York.
CAPTAIN MOSES WHIPPLE, son of Jacob, born at Grafton, MA, in 1733, came to Croydon, 1766. His was one of the first three families that came to town. Being well educated, intelligent, distinguished for energy and decision of character, warm-hearted, hospitable and generous to all, he was well calculated to be what he indeed was,-a father to the town. No one in town was ever more trusted or respected.. He filled many important offices, and was chairman of the Committee of Safety during tae Revolutionary struggle.
REV. LUTHER J. FLETCHER, born February 25, 1818, a Universalist clergyman, has been located at Buffalo, Lowell and New York; is a man of rare talent, a fine writer and an eloquent talker; was a member of the Massachusetts Legislature, and once a judge.
WILLIAM P. WHEELER, A.M., born July 31, 1812; graduated at Harvard; was for many years a prominent member of the Cheshire County bar; was twice appointed to a seat upon the bench of the Supreme Court, which he declined; 11 was twice a candidate for Congress; was president of the Keene Savings-Bank, and was a trustee of the New Hampshire Industrial School and of the Agricultural College; died May 10, 1876.
ISRAEL GOODWIN was remarkable for his intellectual and social qualities. He lived at the Flat, and was a cloth-dresser by trade. In 1824 he removed to Plainfield, VT, where he represented that town in both branches of the Legislature. He was appointed judge, and removed to Montpelier, where he died.
PAUL J. WHEELER, son of Ceryl; born December 8, 1820; a merchant of Croydon; settled in Newport; was cashier of Sugar River Bank; was moderator five years, a representative four years, a candidate for Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1860; in 1862 was a candidate for Governor. He died in 1862.
NATHAN HALL, son of Edward Hall, Jr., resides at the Flat, and is a farmer by profession. He was moderator several years, town clerk twelve years, and County Commissioner three years.
CAPTAIN WORTHEN HALL was born July 11, 1802. In 1827 he went to sea, and, being well adapted to the business, he followed that vocation for twenty-eight years. In 1855 he retired with a fortune, and settled at the Flat. In 1866-67 he was elected representative, which position he filled with credit to himself and honor to the town.
The town of Acworth lies in the southern part of the county, and is bounded as follows: North, by Unity; east, by Lempster ; south, by Cheshire County; and west, by Charlestown and Langdon. This town was first granted by Governor Bentin, Wentworth, December 28, 1752, to Colonel Sampson Stoddard, of Chelmsford, Mass., and sixty-nine others, by the name of Burnet, probably in honor of Governor William Burnet. At this time white people could. not live safely in this vicinity at any great distance from the fort at No. 4, (now Charlestown), on account of the Indians; and the town, … Read more
The Congregational Church in Acworth was organized March 12, 1773, with eight members, as follows: Henry Silsby, Betbiah Silsby, Thomas Putnam, Rachel Putnam, Samuel Silsby, Elizabeth Silsby, Dean Carlton, Anna Cross. During the first fifteen years the church was supplied by George Gilmore, David Goodale, Isaiah Kilburn and others. The first pastor was settled on the second Tuesday of November, 1789. The first meeting-house, erected in 1784, in front of the present house, was not ready for use till 1789. The present edifice was built in 1821. The Confession of Faith and Covenant were revised by direction of the church, … Read more
1. JOSHUA ATWOOD of Bradford, Mass., the son of John and Hannah Atwood, was b. Dec. 3, 1724. he was a blacksmith by trade. He m. in 1744, Mehitable Seva, b. in Bradford Feb. 1, 1727. They removed from Bradford to Pelham, N. H. (time not known), and became the parents of seventeen children. He d. July 8, 1809, aged 85 years. His wife d. March 11, 1805, aged 78. They both d. in Pelham. Of this family two settled in Cornish: William who came about 1811, and Joshua, Jr., a few years earlier. These spent the remainder of their … Read more