Meriden New Hampshire Archives

Location: Meriden New Hampshire

Biography of John P. Rounsevel

Posted by Kristin | Jun 10, 2013 | California, Georgia, New Hampshire, Vermont |

John P. Rounsevel, formerly a well-known wool buyer of Claremont, was born in Unity, N.H., January 2, 1815, son of Royal and Betsey (Sweat) Rounsevel. Rounseville, the original spelling of the name, was changed to the present form by Joseph Rounsevel about the year 1768. In 1749 Thomas Rounseville wrote from Ottery St. Mary to Philip Rounseville, of England, who afterward came to this country. He settled in Freetown, Mass., and was called by the townspeople King Philip. His son Joseph, who, born January 3, 1737, died in 1827, went to Washington, N.H., between 1768 and 1772, from Middleboro, Mass., having previously resided in East Freetown. Joseph was a good farmer, a well-read man, and a Justice of the Peace. He executed the legal business of the town, and represented Washington with other towns in the General Court. His children were: Alden, Charity, Phebe, John, Rosamond, and Royal. Alden married Hannah Wells. Charity married Manasseh Farnsworth in 1784. Phebe never married. John married Rebecca Chamberlain in 1768. Rosamond married Thomas Putnam in 1787. Royal’s children were: Joseph, Minerva, Elle I., Lyman, and John P. Of them Joseph, who was born in 1796, and died December 24, 1858, married Betsey Laughton, who had by him five children-Sarah, Harriet, Holmes, Lyman, and Marinda. Minerva, born in 1799, who married John Stowell, had no children, and died in July, 1848. Elle I.,...

Biography of Osmon B. Way, M.D.

Posted by Kristin | Jun 3, 2013 | New Hampshire, New York |

Osmon B. Way, M.D., a leading physician of Claremont, was born in Lempster, N.H., March 22, 1840, son of Gordon Way by his first wife, Abigail Perley Way. His grandfather, George Way, settled in Lempster, removing from the neighborhood of New London. George became one of the town’s most substantial residents. At his death he left a large family. His wife, Sarah Douglas Way, was a descendant of a noted family of Scotland and a relative of the distinguished Stephen A. Douglas. Gordon Way, son of George, went to Claremont in 1844 with his family, and there took up farming, in which he was most successful. Believing that he could not fulfil the duties of public office without allowing them to interfere with his motto, “close application to work,” he refused all appeals from his townspeople to enter into politics and public life. He was a Trustee of the Methodist church. The latter part of his life was passed quietly in the village. There were thirteen children by his first wife, who died in 1848 at the age of fifty. A lady of superior intellect, she was a sister of the wife of the late Dr. A. A. Miner and of the wife of the late Bishop Osmon C. Baker, LL.D. His second wife July 31, 1880, at the age of eighty-two years. His daughter, Eliza M., now deceased,...

Biography of John B. Moore

Posted by Kristin | May 30, 2013 | New Hampshire |

John B. Moore, a prosperous dairy farmer of Plainfield, Sullivan County, N.H., son of Hiram and Ruby (Silloway) Moore, was born in this town, April 9, 1849. His great – grandfather, William Moore, who was a native of County Tyrone, Ireland, emigrated to America early in the eighteenth century, and became one of the first settlers in Pembroke, N.H. He was a Deacon of the Congregational church. James Moore, son of William, was a native of New Hampshire, but passed the greater part of his life in Vermont as a hard-working farmer. He was a noted tenor singer in his day; and for over thirty years he led the choir at the Congregational church in Thetford, Vt. He married, and reared six children, as follows: Ezra, a prosperous farmer in Vermont, who married a Miss Cutting, and reared a family; Cyrus, who followed the sea; Betsey, who married Timothy Knight, a farmer of Thetford, and had five children; Hiram, who resided in Plainfield; Jerusha, who became the wife of Lyman Cook, of Thetford, and had three sons; and Lucinda, who became Mrs. Durgin, and resided in Thetford. Hiram Moore, son of James and father of John B. Moore, was born in Thetford, October 20, 1805. Left fatherless at the age of five years, he was reared and educated in Plainfield; and, when old enough to begin life for himself,...

Biography of William P. Wood

Posted by Kristin | Apr 8, 2013 | Massachusetts Genealogy, New Hampshire |

William P. Wood, a farmer of Plainfield, was born here, December 29, 1859, son of Alban Palmer and Rhoda (Eaton) Wood, of this town. His grandfather, John Wood was the first male child born in Lebanon, N.H. John was one of the foremost and wealthiest farmers in the district and a very religious man. He married Persis Hyde, of Lebanon, who bore him eleven children; namely, Persis, John, Jr., Lucinda, Jemima, Sally, Thomas, Annie, Harriet, Martha, Palmer, and one child who died in infancy. Persis, who was born in 1797, and did not marry, died at the age of fifty. John Wood, Jr., born in 1799, who became a very prosperous farmer and a prominent man in Lebanon, served in all the town offices, and was a Representative to the General Court. He married Sylvia Whittaker, and had two sons-John and Joseph. Lucinda, born in 1801, married Samuel Wood, of Lebanon, a wealthy farmer and real estate owner, and had two children-Hannah and Clara. Jemima, born in 1803, married Isaac Leighton, a farmer of Hartford, Vt. Sally, born in 1805, became Mrs. Silas Waterman, of Lebanon. Thomas, born in 1810, who became a wealthy farmer and speculator of Lebanon, married Joanna Davis, and had two daughters. Annie, born in 1812, died at the age of six. Harriet, born in 1814, married Allen H. Weld, of Lebanon, who was first...

Biography of William Gregg Andrews

Posted by Kristin | Mar 25, 2013 | Arkansas, Massachusetts Genealogy, New Hampshire, Tennessee |

William Gregg Andrews, a prosperous farmer of Sutton, Merrimack County, N.H., was born July 7, 1834, on the farm upon which he now lives. His father was Nathan Andrews, Jr., a native of Sutton; and his paternal grandfather was Nathan Andrews, Sr., born in Danvers, Mass., in 1767, a son of Samuel Andrews. He came to Merrimack County when a young man, and in 1795 he married Hannah Gregg and at once settled upon a farm at Fishersfield. His wife was a daughter of James and Janet (Collins) Gregg, and, though lame from childhood, was energetic and industrious, and lived to the age of ninety-four, a very bright and interesting old lady. In 1811 Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Andrews, Sr., built a frame house in Sutton, which with other buildings was burned in 1834. They then built a brick house, which was destroyed by fire on August 28, 1890. Mr. Andrews passed to the higher life September 7, 1853. Mrs. Andrews died April 7, 1866. Their son, Nathan, Jr., was born in Sutton, March 30, 1802, and died March 16, 1883. He married Dolly Sargent Pillsbury, who was born February 16, 1801, and died June 29, 1883. In early years they attended the Congregational church at Bradford Centre, but were later identified with the Baptist church at Bradford Mills Village. Uncle Nathan, as he was called, was a very...

Biography of William W. Austin

Posted by Kristin | Mar 24, 2013 | New Hampshire |

William W. Austin, a farmer and drover of Webster, N.H., the son of Eldad and Naomi Austin, was born in Webster, then a part of Boscawen, July 1, 1829. His grandfather, Paul Austin, of Georgetown, Mass., was one of the first settlers of the town. Taking up land when the country around it was a wilderness, he cleared and brought under cultivation the large farm where the subject of this sketch now lives. He died in 1852; and his wife, Mehitable Lowell, of Georgetown, died in 1829. They had eight children-John, Sallie, Dorothy, Eldad, Eunice, Mary Ann, William, and Samuel. Eldad, the second son, and the father of Mr. William W. Austin, adopted farming as his occupation, and remained at home with his parents until his marriage, when he bought a farm near by, where he spent the rest of his life. He was a Deacon of the Congregational church at Webster for forty years. He died April 15, 1883, at the age of eighty-three. His wife, Naomi, a native of Webster, died August 15, 1891, aged eighty-nine. They are survived by two of their children, namely: Mary Ann, whose husband, Sherman Little, died September 20, 1895; and William W., of whom we shall now speak. William W. Austin received his advanced education at Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, N.H. He lived at home until he was twenty-eight years of...

Biography of Cyrus E. Baker, M.D.

Posted by Kristin | Mar 24, 2013 | Kansas, New Hampshire, New York |

Cyrus E. Baker, M.D., of Claremont, Sullivan County, N.H., the well-known physician and oculist, was born in Plainfield, this State, April 9, 1835, son of Dimic and Hannah (Colby) Baker. He is of the eighth generation in descent from Jeffrey Baker, who came from England, and was one of the original settlers of Windsor, Conn. Jeffrey Baker married November 25, 1642, Joan Rockwell. They had five children, one of them being a son, Joseph, born June 18, 1655, who married Hannah Cook Buckland, January 30, 1677. Five children were the fruit of this union. Joseph Baker’s son, Joseph, Jr., born April 13, 1678, was married on July 8, 1702, to Hannah Pomroy, by whom he had Joseph, Jr., second, and Samuel; and by his second wife, Abigail Bissel, he had John, Hannah, Jacob, Abigail, Ebenezer, Daniel, Heman, Titus, and Abigail. Joseph, Jr., second, died January 29, 1754; his wife, Abigail, died February 13, 1768. Their son, Heman, the next in this line, was born April 27, 1719. He married Lois Gilbert, November 24, 1747, and had the following children: Heman, Jr., who was a soldier Anna; Deborah; John; Oliver, who became a doctor of medicine; Abigail; Lois; Delight; and Lydia. Oliver Baker, son of Heman, was born at Tolland, Conn., October 5, 1755, and died October 3, 1811. He married Dorcas Dimic, March 23, 1780. She was born September...

Biography of Edward Dimick Baker

Posted by Kristin | Mar 24, 2013 | New Hampshire |

Edward Dimick Baker was an able advocate and lawyer of Claremont. He was born April 21, 1827, at Meriden, N.H., son of Dimick and Hannah (Colby) Baker. He was a descendant in a direct line from Joseph Baker, who was born April 13, 1678. Joseph’s son, Hernon, by his wife, Abigail Bissel Baker, married Lois Gilbert, who had a son Oliver, a physician, who married Dorcus Dimick, and became the father of Dimick Baker. Dimick Baker was born March 18, 1793, in Plainfield, N.H., where he resided throughout his life. He was a prosperous merchant and farmer, and one of the most influential men of the town. His wife, Hannah, had five children, namely: Elias, who died November 11, 1884; Hannah; Helen F.; Edward D.; and Cyrus E. Having graduated from Kimball Union Academy at Meriden, Edward Dimick Baker at twenty-one began the study of law with the Hon. Nathaniel W. Westgate at Enfield, N.H. He continued his studies with the Hon. Henry A. Bellows, a Chief Justice of New Hampshire, and in 1851 was admitted to the bar. He practised at Cornish, this county, until 1855, and afterward in Claremont until the time of his death, which occurred February 1, 1895. Mr. Baker was an able and fearless lawyer. He argued for the right on matters of public importance, and to unnecessary or unwise expenditure he was always...

Biography of Henry L. Alden

Posted by Dennis | Dec 29, 2011 | Kansas, Massachusetts Genealogy, New Hampshire |

Henry L. Alden arrived in the old village of Wyandotte on Thanksgiving Day morning in November, 1867, and from that time until his death November 21, 1913, he continued a resident of Wyandotte and of Kansas City, Kansas. He was one of the most distinguished lawyers Kansas ever had. The many public honors that came to him, almost entirely within the scope of his profession, were a tribute to his power as a lawyer and his integrity of character. He was not yet twenty-one years of age when he came to Kansas. He was born on a farm near Greenwich in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, May 8, 1847, a son of Abel and Evaline (Thompson) Alden. Judge Alden was the direct descendant in the ninth generation from the famous Pilgrim John Alden, and it was the branch of the family originating in Joseph, the second son of John Alden, to which the late Judge Alden belonged. This branch of the Alden family were chiefly farmers in Massachusetts. Abel Alden spent his life on a farm in Hampshire County and he and his wife had eight children. From the public schools at the age of fifteen Henry L. Alden entered Munson Academy at Munson, Massachusetts, and a year later entered Kimball Union Academy at Meriden, New Hampshire, where he spent two years. In the meantime he had endeavored to enlist in...

Biography of Charles A. Newton

Posted by Dennis | May 14, 2011 | New Hampshire |

Charles A. Newton, a well-to do farmer of Unity and an exmember of the State legislature, was born in Plainfield, July 2, 1854, son of General Charles L. and Mary M. (Gilman) Newton. His grandfather, Rufus Newton, was a native of Grafton, Mass., who settled upon a farm in Plainfield, and there resided for the rest of his life. Rufus married Polly Ryder, and reared a family of five children, who are all living. They are: Charles L., Rufus G., Francis J., Adeline, and Ann. Charles L. Newton was born in Plainfield. When a young man he engaged in farming. He resided in his native town until 1859, when he moved to a farm in Unity; and the rest of his life was spent in this town. He was an able farmer and a citizen of more than ordinary worth and ability. He attained prominence in military affairs, and ranked as Majorgeneral in the State militia. General Newton died January 21, 1865. His wife, Mary M. Gilman Newton, was born in Unity, daughter Sewell and Deborah (Comstock) Gilman, natives respectively of Unity and Newport, N.H. Sewell Gilman, who was a prosperous farmer, died June 10, 1855; and his wife died January 26, 1869. Their children were: Henrietta, Sylvester, Randolph, Mary M., and Henry. Of these the only survivor is Mary M., who resides with her son. She has had...