William Hall, the enterprising proprietor of Langdon Creamery, Langdon, N.H., and dealer in butter, cream, milk, eggs, chickens, pork, and other farm and dairy products, was born in Claremont, this State, March 23, 1850. He is a son of Jonathan and Caroline L. (Leet) Hall and a descendant of one of the oldest families in Sullivan County.
Both his grandfather and his great-grandfather Hall bore the Christian name of Jonathan. Grandfather Hall was born August 25, 1776, in Spencer, Mass., whence he came to Langdon when a young man. He afterward removed to Claremont, where he died in 1854. In his active years he followed the occupations of a farmer, carpenter, and cooper; and he fought in the War of 1812. He married Sally Prouty, whose father was a very influential citizen of Spencer, Mass. She was born in 1779, and died in 1871. They were the parents of eleven children, two sons and nine daughters, Jonathan, third, being the youngest son.
Jonathan Hall, third, was born in Langdon, June 19, 1815, and is now living in Keene, N.H. After leaving school, he learned the trade of a shoemaker and later that of a carpenter. Since then he has been variously employed as an architect, inventor, manufacturer, and millwright. Many of the machines built by C. B. Rogers, of Norwich, Conn., were designed by him. He was the builder of the only floating saw-mill known and built in Quebec, and the largest saw-mill in that Province, over one hundred men being employed in the construction work. Mention should also be made of the Orcutt, Charles Bridgeman, and Sprague Blocks in Keene, besides a number of other buildings in that city and in Langdon. Though strong-willed and somewhat stern in his bearing, he is known as a man of high moral principles, and is an honored and respected citizen. In political views he is a Republican, but his life work has lain in other fields than that of politics. He is a member of the Second Advent church.
His wife, Caroline L., is a daughter of Andrew Leet, of Claremont, N.H., a descendant of Governor Leete, of Connecticut. She was born in 1818. They have had six children, all boys, as follows: Leonard T., Edward, Franklin, William, Henry, and Fred, of whom the three eldest served in the Rebellion, and Franklin, born in Claremont, died of starvation in Andersonville Prison. Leonard T., born in Drewsville, Cheshire County, was in the Third New Hampshire Infantry. After the war he became a harnessmaker, and subsequently followed that occupation. Dying in 1892, he left a widow and two children. Edward Hall, also a native of Drewsville, who was in the Second New Hampshire Regiment, was a machinist in Claremont. He died in 1870, and is survived by four children. Henry, born in Claremont, is a farmer in Alstead, is married, and has two children. Frederick, born in Claremont, who died in 1885, was a carpenter in Keene. He married, and had one child that died in infancy.
William Hall acquired his education in the schools of Keene and Swanzey, N.H., after which he worked at wood-turning three years. He then took up carpentry, which he followed with his father for a time; and later he became interested with him in the manufacture of farming tools at Keene. Seven years ago he purchased the farm he now occupies; and for the past three years, in addition to farming, he has carried on an extensive business as proprietor and manager of the Langdon Creamery.
Mr. Hall married Mamie L. Johnson, of Swanzey, N.H., who was born in 1855 in Marlboro, N.H. Their five children are all living, namely: Cyrene, born in 1876; James A., born in 1878; Jonathan, born in 1880; Ira A., born in 1884; and Emery Wyman, born in 1893. At the present time Mr. Hall is serving as a Selectman of the town, also as a member of the School Board. Honest and temperate, like his father, he is highly esteemed as a useful citizen and a good neighbor.
