Lieut. Nathaniel Vilas, from Grafton, Mass., fourth son of Dea. Noah, came to Alstead in 1778, locating in the southwestern part of the town. Here he carried on a farm and engaged in the manufacture of boots and shoes, employing in the latter occupation twelve hands. He built the first water works into Boston, bringing the water in logs from Roxbury, Vt. He was twice married, first to Mary Chandler, and second to Lavina Crosby, both of whom bore him twenty children. He was a lieutenant of militia, held several of the town offices, and died in 1853. His son, Cyrus K., was born :ere in 1815, and for the past twenty-five years has been engaged in the drug business. He represented the town in the legislatures of 1845-46 and 1876-77, was a delegate to the Constitutional convention of 1876, has held the office of town treasurer for two or three terms, and has been moderator about eighteen years. Mr. Vilas’s only son is a physician practicing in New York city; one of his daughters. Mrs. A. A. Packard, resides in Springfield, Mass., and the other, Fannie M., is attending school in the same city.
