INTRODUCTION
New
The settlement of Epsom was granted to the taxpayer’s of
Most of the original proprietors never settled on their Epsom
property. Several of the original lots stayed in the original families; others
lots were abandoned and sold as non-resident land for unpaid taxes; most of the
lots were sold by the original owners and changed hands several times. Few, if
any, families were living in New Rye before the French and Indian War, and only
a handful of families settled there prior to the American Revolution. Even with
just a few families residing in New Rye, access was limited to just a couple of
laid out town roads. There appears to have been a road from
In 1776 all males age 21 and older had to sign the Association
Test. There were only about a half dozen names from the area of New Rye, which
gives us the names of the families who had set their homes there; Aaron
Burbank, Levi Cass, Simon Cass, Samuel Davis and John Haines.
The 1790 US Census for Epsom gives the names of the various heads
of households in the New Rye area: Joel Ames, Job Brown, Jonathan Brown, Joseph
Brown, Levi Cass, Samuel Davis, Joseph Dennett, David Dickey, Elisha Haynes,
Jeremiah Haynes, John Haynes, Bennett Libbey, Dowst Rand and Samuel Towle.
The lot map of 1800 gives the names of the original proprietors
(though some names badly misspelled) and some of the owners at the time the map
was drawn. The various lot owners included Joseph Maloon,
James Philpot, Daniel Humphrey, Daniel Cilley, Samuel
Dowst, Bickford Lang, Jonathan Dolbeer,
Samuel Towle, Joseph Brown, Alexander and
Samuel Lear. Many of the lots had yet to be divided, and those known to be
residing in New Rye were descendants of Samuel Dowst,
Bickford Lang, Jonathan Dolbeer, Samuel Towle, Joseph Brown, Alexander and Samuel Lear. The lots of
Maloon (Meloon), Philpot,
Humphrey and Cilley would soon be sold to families
that become familiar names in New Rye. The history of each lot and the families
that became residents on them shows how the area developed. The descriptions
are excerpts from
Original Proprietors Lots,
1762 R 108-469 Ozem Doust
Sen. Of Rye to Aaron Burbank of Rye, Land in Epsom I bought of my brother
Samuel, 30 acres, Lot 69 being the one half of the sixty acres.
1775 R 107-271 Aaron Burbank of Epsom to John Haynes of Epsom,
part of lot No. 8 and Lot no. 69 in the second range containing 30 acres
1781 R 113-206 Ozem Dowst
of Rye to Aaron Burbank of Epsom, Land in Epsom being the full one half of a 60
acre lot in the second range, the original right of Samuel Dowst,
it being one half of that lot which the said Burbank now lives.
Aaron Burbank was from
1743 R 101-410 John Johnson of
1755 R 56-242 Matthias Haines of Greenland to my son John Haines
of Greenland,…land in Greenland and all my right in the township of Epsom which
I the said Matthias have as an original proprietor there (lots 103 & 98)
and one whole right which was my father in law John Johnson’s in said township
with all title in the grist mill standing near said bridge (Greenland?) being
one quarter part. Matthias and Hannah Haines.
1787 (April 16) R 158-57 John Haines of Epsom to Jeremiah Haines
of Epsom, part of land No. 70 in second range off westerly end original right
of John Johnson, 40 acres, except small lot sold to _(B)_ A. Libbey
1787 (April 16) R 123-29 Jeremiah Haynes of Epsom to John Haines,
land in Epsom lot 70 in the second range original right John Johnson, next to
that John Haines sold to Aaron Burbank. 50 acres
1797 R 147-143 John Haynes of Epsom to John Haynes Jr., land in
Epsom about 80 acres with the buildings thereon being all the land that I
own in Epsom.
1800 R 166-423 John Haynes Jr. of Epsom, to Matthias Haynes of
Epsom, aforesaid minor, land in Epsom, one full half of about 80 acres with one
half of the buildings thereon bounded southerly on Levi Cass land, easterly on
land lately owned by Joseph Dennick (Dennett) and
land owned by David Dickey, northerly on Dickey’s land and on the highway and
on Jeremiah Hayne’s land, it being the full half of land that I purchased of my
Honored father in 1797, to take possession of said land and buildings at the
decease of my father and not before.
1820 R 225-165 Matthias Haynes of Epsom to Samuel Collins of
Matthias Haines of Greenland married Hannah Johnson, daughter of
John Johnson of
1779 R 111-555 John Haines to Aaron Burbank, land in Epsom, 30
acres, taken off easterly end of lot 71 in second range
1779 R 110-391 Epsom for unpaid taxes to Levi Cass, lot 71 in
second range, 50 acres.
1779 R 111-197 Epsom to Levi Cass of Epsom for unpaid taxes, part
of lot 71, second range, original right of James Chadwick, 16 acres.
1779 R 126-44 Epsom for unpaid taxes to Levi Cass of Epsom, part
of lot 71, 2nd range, orig. right James Chadwick.
Deeds are incomplete as to when Levi Cass first bought land in
Epsom. His land is mentioned in town records of 1772 when
1750 R 70-289 Richard and Mary Perry of
Jonathan Dolbeer was of
Though there are no deeds, the largest parcel of this lot appears
to have been the property of the daughters of Richard Goss, Abigail and
Margaret. Richard died in 1734 with his wife Rachel (Marden)
gramted administration. Abigial
married Joseph Brown, and Margaret married Samuel Shaw. In addition to the land
in New Rye, Richard Goss was also the owner of one of the original twenty home
lots, lot number two. In 1756 Joseph Brown of
Jonathan Brown was born about 1760, making him about age 11 at the
time of the death of his father. He married in 1787 Mary Smith, and the family
appears in the 1790 census in Epsom. Their children included daughter Mary who
married Richard Bartlett Richardson about 1814 and had one child, Oliver. She
died sometime prior to 1817 when Richard married her sister, Abigail in Epsom,December 25, 1817. Richard and Abigail had four sons,
one who died young, and Jonathan Brown, David Bartlett, and Henry Lewis. Henry
Lewis would later marry into the Brown family. Jonathan and Mary's third child
was daughter Mehitable who married Jonathan D. Marden in 1822, and she died in 1825 leaving no children.
The only son of Jonathan and Mary was Jonathan. Jonathan married Maria Libbey and inherited the homestead which he kept until
1870. The last child was a daughter, Sarah T., who married in 1832 John Salter.
Jonathan Brown (son of Joseph and Abigail (Goss0 Brown, died in Epsom in 1836,
and his will, written some ten years earlier bequeaths to his grandson Oliver
Richardson, daughter Abigail Richardson, son Jonathan and daughter Sarah. His
daughter Mehitalbe having died the year before his
will was written. The family had a burying ground where Jonathan and his wife
Mary are buried, and the cemetery includes later generations and associated
families. One of these is the Samuel Davis family. Again some deeds appear not
to be recorded, as Samuel Davis, who married Abigail Brown, sister to Jonathan,
established a home on
Original Proprietors Lots,
1778 Town of
1791 R 131-24 James Gray to John Dolloff,
land in Epsom in the third range, part of lot 83, its beginning westerly at the
rangeway then running easterly carrying the full
width as to contain 83 acres. Second part of lot 84 bounded westerly on
1791 John Dolloff of Epsom to John
Tripp, land in Epsom part of lot 83 in the third range, its beginning at the
road leading from Epsom to Pembroke by Nathaniel Kenistons
then to run easterly the full width of the same so far as my land runs being part
of the same I purchased of James Gray to contain 40 acres.
1799 R 149-168 John Tripp to Richard Tripp Jr., land in Epsom part
of lot 83 in the third range, that I purchased of John Dolloff.
1804 (no deed) Richard Tripp to Benjamin Robinson
1821 (April) R 230-307 Benjamin Robinson to Richard Webster of
Epsom, land in Epsom, part of lot 83 in the third range, beginning at the
corner of a stone wall on the south side of the road leading from Short Falls
(so called) in Epsom by Samuel Lear’s, thence southeasterly on said road to the
south line of said lot, thence north west as the line of said lot runs leading
to the road leading from Epsom turnpike to Hall Burgin’s in Allenstown, thence
northerly on said road to the first mentioned bounds, being all the land I own
on the south side of said road to contain about 4 acres together with the shop
thereon.
1821 (July) R 230-308 Richard Webster of Epsom to Richard Webster
of Rye , part of lot 83 in the third range, beginning at the corner of a stone
wall on the south side of the road leading from Short Falls (so called) in
Epsom by Samuel Lear’s, thence southeasterly on said road to the south line of
said lot, thence north west as the line of said lot runs leading to the road
leading from Epsom turnpike to Hall Burgin’s in Allenstown, thence northerly on
said road to the first mentioned bounds, being all the land I own on the south
side of said road to contain about 4 acres together with the buildings thereon.
Richard Webster Junior of
Richard Webster Junior married Mary Philbrick
of
1781 138-369 John Casey (indexed Cary) of Epsom to Nathaniel Kenneston of Epsom, land in Epsom lot 82 in the third range
originally laid out to the widow Hicks containing 50 acres, land I purchased at
auction fo said Epsom
1795 138-373 Nathaniel Kiniston of Epsom
to Jonathan Locke, land in Epsom lot 82 in the third range laid out to Widow
Hicks containing 50 acres. Only the minutes of sale on said town’s records doth
appear.
R 143-325 1796 Jonathan Locke of Epsom to Nathaniel Keniston, land in Epsom part of lot 82 in the third range
the original right of the widow Hicks, containing 50 acres
R 194-99 1806 Nathaniel Kennison of
Epsom to Levi Haynes of Epsom, all the land I own in lots 82 and 83 in the
third range of lots in Epsom which lies on the easterly side of the Suncook
River, reference being had to John Casey’s deed Nov. 12, 1781 and John Sanders
deed dated June 17, 1802, but a part of lot 83 is owned and in possession of
Richard Tripp Junr which is not to be considered as
passing to said Haynes by this deed.
R 194-101 1811 Levi Haynes of Epsom to Benjamin Robertson
(Robinson) Jr. of Epsom, joiner, land being part of lots 82 and 83 in the third
range to contain all the land in said two lots that lays on the westerly side
of a road leading by my house where I now live and by Samuel Bickford Jnr. and
Ephraim Gould, excepting what is now owned by Richard Tripp Jr., and to contain
all the land that I own in said two lots on the westerly side of said road to
contain 35 acres with all the buildings standing thereon.
R 197-393 1811 Levi Haynes of Epsom to Thomas Bickford Jr. of
Epsom, cordwainer, land in Epsom part of land lot 82
in the third range to take its beginning at the south westerly corner of land
owned by Richard Tripp Junior thence running southerly as the old Suncook Road
so called rungs across lot 82 to lot No. 81 (?) thence thence
running easterly as the lot runs carrying the full width of said lot until it
strikes New Rye Road so called to contain all the land between said road in
said lot to contain 11 acres, being the same land I purchased of Nathaniel Kenneson.
1819 R 231-309 Levi Haynes of Epsom to Benjamin Robinson, joiner,
land in Epsom part of lot 82 in the third range taking its beginning at a white
oak spotted standing by Richard Tripps land thence
running easterly as said lot run thence southerly to contain ten acres.
R 235-177 1822 Benjamin Robinson to Samuel Fowler, land in Epsom
part of lot 82 in the third range its beginning at a white spotted oak standing
by Richard Tripp’s land on the south side of said Tripp’s land, thence running
easterly and southerly, ten acres.
There were no homes built on
Unpaid taxes 1779
1784 R 120-182 John Casey to Moses Frazier Two rights of land in
Epsom in the third range, lot 79 original of James Philpot contains 65 acres.
The second original right of John Stevens, No. 81 contains 89 acres.
1785 R 119-238 Moses Frazier to James Gray
R 148-1221798 James Gray to Daniel Humphreys
R 166-120 1803 Humphrey to John Dolloff
Jr.
R 166-120 [5 ½ acres John Dolloff to
Samuel Bickford Jr. 1803 R 166-136]
R 149-165 1803 John Dolloff to John
Tripp, part of lot 81 in Epsom part of lot 83 in the third range, to take its
beginning at the road leading fro Epsom to Pembroke by Nathaniel Kenniston’s then easterly being part of the land I
purchased of James Gray to contain 40 acres.
R 166-136 1803 John Dolloff of Epsom to
Samuel Bickford Jr. part of lot 81 in third range, original right of John
Stevens, taken off the south side to take its beginning at the road leading by
Nathaniel Kenniston’s to Allenstown of the west side fo said road, then to run west to the range to contain 5 ½
acres
R 166-332 1803 John Dolloff Jr. to
Richard Tripp, part of lot 81 in the third range, to take its beginning at the
westerly end of said lot then to run easterly carrying the full width excepting
a piece off the south side which I have this day sold to Samuel Bickford, to
contain 10 acres.
R 169-225 1804 John Dolloff Jr to Richard Tripp, Land in Epsom part of lot 81 in the
third range its beginning at the easterly end of the land that the said Dolloff sold and deeded to the said Tripp, and to run the
road leading by Nathaniel Kenniston’s house to
Allenstown, excepting what I sold to Samuel Bickford Jr,
to contain 13 acres.
R 167-226 1804 John Dolloff Jr. of Epsom
to Elisha Haines, land in Epsom part of lot 81 in the third range to contain
all the land in the lot that lies betwixt the road leading from the main
road in Epsom to Allenstown by Ephraim Gould’s and the road that goes by Nathan
Sanders to Joseph Browns with all the buildings thereon to contain 35 acres.
R 199-350 1808 Elisha Haynes of Epsom to Thomas Bickford, Jr.,
land in Epsom being a part of lot 81 in the third range to contain all the land
that lies between the road leading from the main road in Epsom to Allenstown
line by Ephraim Gould’s and the road that leads from Levi Haynes by Samuel
Lear’s to Allenstown to contain 30 acres.
Lot 80 Joseph Maloon [William Weeks of Greenland buys
from heirs of Joseph Meloon, all his property in
1796, possibly Epsom land, he has a son Clement]
1801 R 206-184 Clement Weeks to Samuel Bickford Jr. of
Epsom, 80 acres, lot 80 in the third range original right of Joseph Meloon.
Lots 81 and 80 were primarily settled on
Unpaid taxes 1779 to John Casey –
1784 John Casey to Moses Frazier R 120-182; Two rights of land in
Epsom in the third range, lot 79 original of James Philpot contains 65 acres.
The second original right of John Stevens, No. 81 contains 89 acres.
1785 Moses Frazier to James Gray R 119-238
1798 James Gray To Daniel Humphreys
1804 R 169-140 Daniel Humphrey of Portsmouth to Elisha Haynes of
Epsom, lot 79 in third range, original right James Philpot, 80 acres
1808 R 181-79 Elisha Haynes of Epsom to Robert McDaniel, land part
of lot 79 in the third range, taking its beginning at the westerly end of said
lot running easterly carrying the full width containing 20 acres.
1808 R 188-178 Elisha Haynes of Epsom to Caleb Haynes of Epsom,
land in Epsom, beginning at the southeast corner of my land at the highway near
the school house and adjoining on Nathaniel Wiggins land, thence running on the
road leading from Allenstown to Epsom about 17 rods of the south side of the
gate which leads in to my field, thence westerly a parallel line with the line
which divides between Nathaniel Wiggin's land and mine until it strikes the
range on the westerly end of the lot, to contain 11 acres.
R 212-238 1815 Elisha Haynes to Jonathan Bartlett of Epsom, land
part of lot 79 in the third range that part of said lot which I own on the
southwesterly side of the highway leading from Allenstown to Epsom by John Dolbeer’s to Benjamin Robinsons, containing 12 acres.
Elisha Haynes lived on this lot with his wife Betsy Bartlett,
daughter of Jonathan and Mehitable. . They had a
family of eight children of which only one son, Caleb B. Haynes remained in
Epsom. Elisha was the son of John and Olive (Weeks) Haynes who settled on what
was later
1789 R 124-540 Elizabeth McClary to James
H. McClary, 4 tracts, first 50 acres Lot 78 in third
range.
1795 R 158-56 James H. McClary to
Jeremiah Haynes (Haines) land lot numbered 78 in third range, original right of
James Whidden about 50 acres.
1771 R 107-329 Richard Yeaton of
Newcastle to Samuel Cutt of Portsmouth, 2 tracts, one
22 acres in the seventy lot known by the name of Barnabas Cresey,
being fourth part of Cresey’s lot.
1779 R 111-430 Samuel Cutts of
1784 R 118-249 John Casey of Epsom to Joseph Cilley
of
1802 R 161-321 Daniel Cilley to Ephraim Philbrick of
1806 R 193-136 Ephraim Philbrick of
1807 R 208-42 Bickford Lang of Epsom to John Dolbeer
of Epsom, part of lots 76 and 77 in the third range, all land I own on the
easterly side of the Suncook Road, so called, 17 acres.
1820 R 232-329 Bickford Lang of Epsom to David L. Lang of Epsom,
parts of lots 76 and 77 in the third range, and is all the land that I now own
lying between Suncook River and old Suncook Road, so called, adjoining
northerly on lands owned by John S. Haines, and southerly on land owned by
Ephraim Gould, to contain about 30 acres.
1770 R 105-298 Solomon Dowst of
1798 R 153-73 Dowst Rand of Epsom to
Bickford Lang of Rye 60 acres original lot of Solomon Dowst
where said Dowst Rand now resides (he the son of
Samuel and Sarah Dowst Rand, Sarah daughter of
Solomon)
1807 R 208-42 Bickford Lang of Epsom to John Dolbeer
of Epsom, part of lots 76 and 77 in the third range, all land I own on the
easterly side of the Suncook Road, so called, 17 acres.
1820 R 232-329 Bickford Lang of Epsom to David E. Lang, all I own
in lots 76 and 77 between
Solomon Dowst was the original
proprietor of lot 76 and had no surviving sons. His daughter Sarah married
Samuel Dowst, and among their children was son Dowst Rand, born in Rye in 1764, and married about 1787,
Hannah Lang, daughter of Bickford and Martha (Locke) Rand. Solomon deeded his
original lot to his grandson Dowst Rand in 1770. Dowst Rand does not appear as a signer of the Association
Test in Epsom in 1776, and likely settled on the lot sometime during or after
the Revolution.
Bickford Lang was born in
Bickford Lang raised a large family in Epsom, with his first born
son born in
1777 R 108-422 JCharles Frost of
1778 R 112-223 Simeon Towle to Joseph
Brown of
1778 R 114-514 Joseph Brown of
1789 R 135-436 Simeon Towle of Epsom to
Samuel Towle of Epsom, land part of lot 75 in the
third range, about 80 acres
1795 R 155-24 Samuel Towle of Epsom to Simonds Fowler of Epsom, a piece of land being part of said
lot that I now live on to contain all I own that lays on the westerly side of
Suncook River 6 acres
1804 R 169-226 Samuel Towle of Epsom to
Joseph Chapman of Epsom, land in Epsom lot 75 in the third range I purchased of
Simeon Towle July 3, 1789, excepting what was sold to
Ephraim Gould and Simonds Fowler, with buildings.
Richard Goss dies in 1735, his wife Rachel (Marden)
marries second, Job Chapman. One daughter, Rachel, married 1770, Samuel Towle. His first marriage was to Esther Johnson, with three
daughters by his first marriage, Olive, Sally and Molly. Sally married in
Epsom, 1796, Joseph Chapman.
1804 R 168-380 Indenture – Joseph Chapman of Epsom to Samuel Towle of Epsom, and wife Rachel Towle,
during their natural lives, land in Epsom with buildings thereon where the said
Samuel Towle now lives, which land and buildings the
said Towle has conveyed by deed to said Joseph
Chapman August 14, 1804, they to enjoy the same land; the said Chapman to run
the premises and deliver the full one half of all produce etc. and to
have a comfortable maintenance, and at their decease all the stock owned by
said Towle is to belong to the said Chapman who is to
pay all taxes – a part of the consideration to pay Dolly and Nabby Towle, daughters of said
Samuel seventy dollars, viz. 30 to Dolly and 40 to Nabby
in one year from the date of this leased and sooner should they join in
matrimony, and for same quitting the estate of said Samuel Towle.
Samuel Towle was the son of Jonathan Towle and Ann Norton, and was born in 1735. His brother
Jonathan Towle came to Epsom and was the father of
Simeon Towle who lived off
Samuel Towle was the son of Jonathan Towle and Ann Norton, and was born in 1735. His brother
Jonathan Towle came to Epsom and was the father of
Simeon Towle who lived off
There is no death record for Joseph Chapman, which may have been
before 1815 when a few of Epsom deaths were recorded. His wife Sally died in
Epsom in 1829. Their son Samuel T. Chapman and his wife Dolly raised their family
on the homestead, including their 11 children: Malinda, Joseph, who married
Sarah Maria, daughter of Amos and Nancy Davis; George S. who married Lois B.
Smith and inherited the homestead; William of Northwood; Mary Ann who married
Charles J. P. Brown; Elizabeth; Sarah J., who married Franklin Marden and lived in New Rye; Abby J. who married John M.
Weeks; Emily C. who married James W. Marden; Susan
who died at age 17; and Charles A., who married Sarah A. Bennett and second,
Ida Emerson, and lived in New Rye.
74 Joshua Weeks
1746 R 40-69 Joshua Weeks
to John Weeks, all my right to 100 acres in Epsom.
1778 R 108-530 John William and Ward Cotton Weeks to Richard Brown
and David Locke, interest in a lot of land in Epsom, 180 acres numbered 74 in
the third range.
1782 R 114-118 Richard Brown and David Locke of
1782 R 131-144 Richard Brown and Daniel Locke of
1792 R 131-145 Job Brown to Samuel Lear, part of lot 74, third
range, 81 acres.
1793 R 133-445 Samuel Davis of Epsom to Samuel Lear of Epsom, land
being part of the same lot that Job Brown formerly lived on and now owned by
Aleck Lear and the said Samuel Lear and a part of the same land I purchased of
Levi Towle, all the land I own in the lot the said
Aleck Lear now lives on.
The Richard Brown who bought lot 74 with one David Locke, is
likely the Richard Brown, son of Joseph and Abigail (Goss) Brown. When his
father died in 1771, his will left his eldest son Richard the homestead
in Rye.Richard and David Locke sold a part of the lot
to Job Brown, one of Richard's younger brothers. Younger brother Jonathan had
by his father's will already inherited all his Epsom land. Job settled on the
land for about 10 years, and sold part of the property to Samuel Lear in 1792.
The following year, Lear bought adjoining land from Samuel Davis being 'part of
the same ot that Job Brown formerly lived on...all
the land I own in the lot the said Aleck Lear now lives on.' The Lear family
was from
Samuel Lear's wife Sally Salter had a brother Webster Salter who
married Sarah Libbey, daughter of Samuel and Mehitable (Seavey) Libbey. They, and Sarah's parents, are buried in the Brown
family burying ground (aka Brown-Davis Cemetery).Her sister Nancy G. Libbey married Amos Davis, son of Samuel Davis and Abigail
Brown. The wife of Samuel Davis was Abigail Brown, daughter of Joseph and
Abigail (Goss) Brown, sister to
New
1810
Daniel Goss
James Chapman
James Brown
Elisha Haines
Caleb Haines
Matthias Haines
Jeremiah Haines
Nathaniel Wiggin
John Dolbeer
Samuel Towle
Levi Cass
Sally Chapman
Samuel Cass
Abigail Brown
Jonathan Dolbeer
1840
Daniel S. Clough
Joseph S. Dolbeer
John S. Haines
John Newton
Amos
Caleb B. Haines
Simeon Sanders
Samuel Cass
Nicholas Dolbeer
Eleck Brown
Samuel Wells
Thomas Bennett
Amos
Betsey Davis
Samuel L lear
Alexander Salter
Nathan Goss
James L. Cochran
Alexander Lear
1860
Stephen F. and Fidelia Brown
James and Hannah Bickford
Frank and Sarah J Marden
Ambrose D. and Elizabeth Haynes
Edwin T. and Sarah Philbrick
Samuel and Mary Cass
Samuel S and Lavinia Cass
Henry D. and Eliza Haynes
Charles C and Mehitable Doe
Franklin and Lucretia Goss
Jacob F. and Cynthia Smith
John M. and Jane Smith
Levi and Lavinia Andrews
Stephen and Polly Haynes
Chadwick and Betsy Jones
Langdon and Polly Lear
Jonathan Brown/Philina Seavey
Henry and Caroline Knox
Samuel and Mary Wells
Eleck and Mary Brown
Nicholas and Esther Dolbeer
Daniel and Mehitable Clough
Joseph S and Polly Dolbeer
Joseph and Sarah M Chapman
Simeon L. and Caroline Sanders
Looking up New Rye Hill from
HOMES
AND FAMILIES
The
houses and families are identified according to the occupants on the 1892
county and town map.
ABRAM
L. RICKER HOME
The
house on the corner of
Thomas
and Jane Cotterell moved to another area of
Death records indicate Thomas Cotterell was born in
John
T. Cotterell had a sister Thirza
who arrived in the
John
T. Cotterell married January 11, 1860 in Epsom, Clara
A. Sanders, daughter of William and Rachel B. (Wallace) Sanders. They had four
children, of which only one lived to adulthood. Minett
Wallace, James Malvern and Myra A. all died young. Daughter Bertha Thirza Cotterell married as his
first wife, Timothy Bryant Langley, and she died in 1903 and is buried in the
John Cotterell
moved his family to the area known as
Abram L. Ricker died in 1927, his
wife Ada M. Dowst died in
1929.
|
|
|
The Stephen F. and Fidelia
(Poor) Brown home, later of Albert and Lizzie Hunt and the Eldredge family. |
STEPHEN F. BROWN PROPERTY
Abbott/Hunt
Stephen F. Brown does not appear paying property tax in Epsom in
1860, though he is shown at this location in the 1860 US Census next to an
unoccupied residence. He is living with his wife Fidelia
C. (Poor) and their two children, Albert L. and Sarah J. Brown. The couple were
married in Boscawen in 1855, and Stephen F. was the son of Eleck
and Mary E. (
Stephen F. Brown sold a fourth of an acre of his land to Charles
A. Abbott in 1878. Charles Abbott had married Stephen and Fidelia's
daughter Sarah J. in 1874. Charles died in 1915, his wife Sarah in 1925. Upon
her death, Oliver C. Lombard, as administrator of her estate, sold the land and
house to Jesse A. Hunt, son of Albert and Lizzie Hunt, who had bought the
Stephen Brown homestead.
Jesse Hunt lived on the lot of the Abbott home where he and his
wife, Verna O. (Wells), daughter of Edgar Eugene and Laura A. (
|
|
|
House built for the daughter of Stephen F. Brown,
Sarah J., who married Charles P. Abbott. Later the home of Jesse and Verna
Hunt. |
Jesse Hunt, widower, sold the home 'the same premises conveyed to
me by Oliver C. Lombard July 15, 1926' to Robert and Gloria Reeves, in 1972.
Verna O. Wells was a well known school teacher in Epsom, and recieved fame when with a broken leg, she taught her class
in her home. Photos of her teaching in her home made the national wire
services. Her husband Jesse drove an early bus route.
MRS. JAMES N. BICKFORD PROPERTY
Trickey
The Bickford family owned land that stretched from
Abraham Bickford was born in 1806, the son of Samuel and Sally (Pervear) Bickford, and was one of at least a dozen
children. He married three times, the first in 1831 to Sarah Morey, who died in
1844. Their five children included: Sarah Elizabeth, Martha Maria who died
young; Martha Maria who also died young, Berintha Ann
and Hannah Jane. His second marriage about 1844 was to Nancy M. Wells, daughter
of John and Sally (Edmunds) Wells of Chichester. They
had for children: Mary B. who married Dennis Phelps; Abraham who married Anjielette Marsten; John T., who
married Lizzie B. Dickey, daughter of David and Lucinda Moses (Cass) Dickey;
Francis (aka Frank) A., who married in 1873, Florence Juliette Gray;
Warren S., who married Sarah Jane Hall, daughter of Charles Henry and
Lucy Jane (Langley) Hall; and Nancy Elvira Bickford. His third marriage was in
1860 in Allenstown to Ruth B. Burrell, with no children by that marriage.
The only house on
The property was still owned by Abraham Bickford when he died in
1882. His estate was administered by John H. Dolbeer
who sold the estate to Abraham's son Frank A. Bickford in 1883. Frank A.
Bickford and his wife Florence J. had one daughter, Minnie R. Bickford. She
married in 1893, Geogre Walter Mason, and on the
death of her parents, inherited the estate. She sold the James N. Bickford home
and part of the River Road property to Wilfred E. and Viola Mack in 1939 (Viola
being her daughter), and the Mack's sold the James N. Bickford home on New Rye
Road to Roland and Louise LaFleur in 1939. The LaFleur's sold the home to Victoria Kosko
in 1950. Kosko, later as Victoria Lyons, sold the
house to Philip P. and Claire J. Cofran in 1952.
SCOTT B. TRICKEY
Witham
The Abraham Bickford Estate also included a house across the
street from the James N. Bickford house, on the west side of
Hannah Trickey, the wife of James N.
Bickford, was the daughter of Samuel and Phoebe (Lovejoy) Trickey
who had a family of at least nine children. Hannah had a brother Scott C. Trickey, who is seen as a pauper in Pembroke as early as
1830, and in
Minnie R. Mason married in 1893, George Walter Mason and had
children: Harley, who died young; Della M.; Gertrude May; Harris Samuel who
married Viola K. Doe, daughter of Albert B. Doe; Ruby, who married Frank B.
Hatch; Clayton F., who married Esther L. Waterhouse; Ethel who married John
Dennis; Viola M., who married Wilfred E. Mack; Anjelour
F. who married Alvin Davis; and Celia who married in 1935, John R. Brown.
John and Celia Brown sold the home to Ned R. and Mary F. Witham in
1943. Ned Witham was from
By 1978 the widow Mary Gammon sold the Witham homestead to
Randolph and Jo-Ellen Bassett. The original house is no longer standing.
FRANKLIN (FRANK) MARDEN HOME
Franklin (aka Frank) Marden built a
house not far from the entrance to
Franklin Marden, son of James and Dorcas Savory (Pattee) Marden was born in Epsom in 1835 and married in Pembroke,
December 18, 1855, Sarah J. Chapman, daughter of Samuel T. and Deborah (Dow)
Chapman, who also resided in New Rye. The couple had only one child, a daughter
Lizzie. She was born in 1856 and married Gorham Rumsey Worth in 1872. Sarah J.
Chapman died in 1900, and Franklin in 1916. Upon his death, his daughter Lizzie
inherited the home, and it remained as part of the Worth estate. Gorham R.
Worth died relatively young at age 33, and his wife Lizzie died a year before
her father in 1915. Gorham and Lizzie had only one surviving son, Almon Marden Worth, who sold the
one acre lot in 1920 to Ellery C. Straw, who also bought other land in the area
that was part of the Joseph Chapman estate.
MRS. (AMBROSE D.) E. O. HAYNES
Elizabeth O. Goodhue was born in
Ambrose D. Haynes married in 1847 in Epsom, Eliza T. Goss, and had
a surviving daughter, Sarah E. Haynes. His fist wife Eliza died in 1850. Daniel
Clough in 1860, sold Ambrose D. Haynes an acre of land with a house on the
westerly side of
Elizabeth O. Haynes sold the family home to Abbie
M. Weeks three years before she died in 1896. Abbie
Weeks was the widow of John M. Weeks, a daughter of Samuel T. and Deborah (Dow)
Chapman. Her sister was the wife of Franklin Marden,
her sister Emily the wife of James W. Marden, and her
brother Joseph Chapman owned additional property in this section of New Rye. Abbie Weeks died in 1898, and prior to her death, sold the
house to John M. Mitchell of
In 1909, Waldo G. Weeks, now of Pembroke, sells his Epsom home to
Julius Peter West of Lowell, Massachusetts, who retained the property for some
twenty five years before his widow sells the home to Walter B. and Harriett A.
Chase on December 9, 1943. The house changed hands fairly frequently, with
owners including Carol Flagg, 1947; Alva Hughes, 1948; Herbert R. Seldon, 1948; Arthur Vesper, 1950; and John and Hilda
Pickering in 1962.
CHARLES F. HAYNES HOUSE
Daniel Clough sold a small lot of 48 square rods to Benjamin
Randall Fife in April of 1863, the lot next to the acre of land he sold in 1860
to Ambrose D. Haynes. Benjamin was a son of Stephen and Mary G. Fife, born in Chichester in 1834, and married Clara Etta Chapman,
daughter of Joseph and Sarah Maria (
Tennant turned the property around the same day selling the small
lot with the house to James M. Dickey. Dickey only owned the property one year
before selling it to Jesse C. Smith of Epsom. Jesse was the son of John and
Rachel H. (
Charles F. Haynes was the son of Hiram B. and Abby Jane (Cotton)
Haynes, and born in 1857. He married Ida A. Wells in 1883, she the daughter of
Hanover O. and Mary Sarah (Brown) Wells. There were no children, and Ida
died in 1909, with Charles marrying second Bertha Morin in 1910. Charles bought
adjoining land bordering the
Pauline D. Smith was the widow of John Calvin Smith. John Calvin
Smith, who died in 1888, is mentioned on two burial stones, one in
Charles and his wife Ida did not have any children, and his second
wife, Bertha, inherited the home when Charles F. Haynes died in 1930. She sold
the family homestead to Robert Wesley Hunt of
|
|
|
Ida Wells Haynes |
MRS. ABBY J. HAYNES
Hiram Bartlett Haynes
Joseph Chapman bought a parcel of land on the corners of New Rye
and Swamp Roads from Joseph S. Dolbeer in 1846. Two
acres of this land, including buildings, were sold by Chapman to Hiram B.
Haynes in 1851. Hiram Bartlett Haynes was born June 13, 1828, one of eight
children born to Caleb Bartlett Haynes and his second wife, Hannah S. Sanborn.
He married Abby Jane Cotton in
Abby Jane Cotton was the daughter of Robert P. and Abby (Burns)
Cotton, and was born in 1823. The 1850 US Census for Allenstown gives the
family as Robert and wife Abby, with children Samuel, Abby J., Mary M., Eliza
A., Charles H., Harriette and Helen. In 1880, Abby
Jane Haynes still had in the household sons Charles F. and Samuel B., along with
her sister Mary M., Eliza A., and her brother Charles H. Cotton (indexed as
JOSEPH CHAPMAN
Joseph Chapman, born in Epsom in 1822, was the eldest son of
Samuel T. and Deborah (Dow) Chapman, and grew up in the southern end of New
Rye. His brother George lived on the family homestead, his sister lived near
the entrance of
Ellery C. Straw was the son of James S. and Mary Ellen (Wells)
Straw and was born in Epsom April 10, 1866. He married Maggie Bernard in
NEW
The first
ALBERT PICKARD
Daniel Clough, Howard Farm
Solomon Dowst was the original owner of
this sixty acre lot which he sold to Dowst Rand in
1770. Dowst Rand settled on the lot, selling the
original lot where 'said Dowst now resides' to the
Bickford Lang family in 1798. After farming the land for thirty five years, the
Lang family left for
James Wiggin, with wife Hannah relinquishing dower rights, sold to
Daniel S. Clough land in Epsom 'known by the name of the Lang Farm' in November
of 1839. Daniel Clough was from Pittsfield where his father bought land in Pittsfield
near Jenness Pond and built a modest house which he
replaced with a larger home by 1800, and added to the home and increased his
property to 300 acres. His son Daniel was born in
Rosilla Winslow (Cough) Heath was born in
The second daughter of Daniel and Mehitable
was Sarah E. (Clough) Leighton, who married n Northwood in 1863, the Reverend
John Buzzell Leighton. She lead the typical life of
the wife of a minister, and the couple removed to
Cynthia Jennie (Clough) Swaine was the
third daughter of Daniel and Mehitable Clough. A
biography of her appeared in Volume 15 of the Granite Monthly magazine. She was
born on June 17, 1835 and married Charles G. Swaine
of
The last child and only son of Daniel and Mehitable
was Daniel Ansel Clough, born September 8, 1842 in
Epsom. He married in 1870, Emma J. White. His sister, Rosilla
wrote about him: "At an early age showing a ___ for drawing and
penmanship commenced teaching penmanship at the age of 16. He later taught
penmanship at Pembroke and
The next owner of the old Lang farm was Eben
S. Dutton who bought the farm from the Clough's in 1869, 150 acres. Prior to
buying the farm, Eben ran a store at
JOHN H. DOLBEER
Ralph Towle
In 1807 John Dolbeer bought land near
the Dolbeer homestead from Bickford Lang, 17 acres,
part of lots 76 and 77; and from Ephraim Gould, part of lot 75 in the third
range. He built a house and there raised his family. He married in 1801, Sally
Sherburne, the daughter of Joseph and Olive (Pitman) Sherburne. Two daughters
died young, Lucy and Maria. The other children included: Nicholas, (Towle) Cate; John, who apparently
left Epsom and of which nothing more is known; William, who married Caroline
Smith; Jonathan who died at age 12; daughter Elvira L.M. who married Mark S.
Moses; and Benjamin Alonzo, who died age 19 of consumption. When John Dolbeer died in 1819, he left his estate to all his
children - with the proviso 'that if one or more of my sons shall live at home
and carry on the farm until he or they are twenty one years of age, he or they
shall have the same or paying out to those of my sons who shall go from home to
learn a trade, thirty dollars each.' It was son Joseph S. who carried on
the family farm. He and his wife Polly were married in 1829. They lost a child
in 1833, and a son John W. in 1837. Two additional sons, John Henry and Alonzo
inherited the homestead, with Alonzo deeding his interest of the estate to his
brother in 1878, a year after the death of their father.
John Henry's obituary from an unknown newspaper: Mr. Dolbeer was the son of Joseph Sherburne and Polly (Cate) Dolbeer, and spent his life
on the farm where he was born as did his father before him. Mr. Dolbeer's ancestors settled early in Epsom and he was the
last to bear the name in town. He was educated in the schools of the town and
Mr. Dolbeer's abilities, goodness of
heart and congeniality, made him a valued citizen that will be greatly missed.
Mr. Dolbeer was twice married, first to Miss Mary
Sherburne of
John Henry Dolbeer's first wife was Mary
E. Sherburne of Northwood, and daughter of Uriah and Adaline
(Durgan) Sherburne, and she died in 1869. John
married second, Catherine (also seen spelled with a K) E. Towle,
daughter of Benjamin M. and Hannah (Sanborn) Towle.
She died in 1924. Kate and Mary Gile, the daughter
from the first marriage, sold the homestead of 80 acres in 1912 to Ralph E. Towle.
Ralph Egbert Towle was born in
HENRY D. HAYNES
Judge Kenneth Nash Home
In 1732 John Johnson drew lot number seventy and deeded it to his
son-in-law Matthias Haynes in 1743. This lot, still unoccupied, was next deeded
to the youngest son of Matthias and his wife Hannah (Johnson), John Haynes, in
1755. John married that August in Hampton, Olive Weeks, and raised a large
family. Daughter Lydia did not marry, and left items in her will to two of her
sisters; Jenny married John J. Dearborn in Epsom in 1792; Eleanor who
married Bennett Libbey; Jeremiah, married in 1784,
Margaret Dearborn of Northwood; Elisha who married first, Betsy Bartlett, and
second Mary Johnson; Olive who married Thomas Bickford; John, who married Betsey
Merrill and moved to Maine; Sally, who married Nathaniel Wiggin, and after his
death, John Robinson as his third wife; Levi, who married Polly Dolbeer, daughter of Nicholas and Mary (Randall) Dolbeer; and Matthias, who married Sarah R. Smith and resided
in Glover, Vermont.
John sold the easterly end of his lot to his eldest son Jeremiah
in 1784, a lot of 50 acres, excepting a parcel he sold to his son in law,
Bennett Libbey. In 1797 Jeremiah sold the 50 acres
off the easterly end he had bought 3 years earlier back to his father, and at
the same time, his father sold him the westerly end which he had retained. John
would, in 1797, sell his easterly end of 80 acres to his son, John Junior.
Jeremiah, who had married Margaret Dearborn, daughter of Henry and
Margaret (Sherburne) Dearborn, in 1784 in
John Sherburne Haynes married Lucy Libbey,
daughter of Nathan and Abigail (Fowler) Libbey,
though no marriage record exists. Their family included: Jeremiah who died
about age 26; Sherburne, who married Nancy Libbey and
died about age 30, no children; Hannah Libbey who
married Benjamin Danforth and had a family of seven;
Mary D. who married first Thomas Appleton and had two children, married second
John Phelps, and third an Amos Davis; Abigail Fowler who died at age 18; Nathan
Libbey, who died in Epsom in 1898, but no known
burial; George S. Haynes, who died unmarried about the age of 25; Henry D.
Haynes, who married in 1859, Eliza A. Atwood; Benjamin L. who died
unmarried at the age of 26; Sarah L. Haynes, who died about age 17; and
Jeremiah, who married Alice Estes and resided in Lynn, Massachusetts.
John Sherburne Haynes died in Epsom in 1850, his wife Lucy in
1873. The will of John Sherburne Haynes left the following to sons Henry and
Benjamin: all the personal estate which I may own at the time of my decease
except the household furniture, provided that the said Henry and Benjamin
Haynes shall suitably support and maintain their mother in sickness and in
health so long as she shall remain my widow and provided further that they
support and maintain my sister Mary Haynes and my son Nathan Haynes during
their natural lives in sickness and in health on the homestead farm. And
further order that each of my sons and daughters have a home at my house as
long as they remain unmarried. Benjamin died in 1859 leaving Henry D. Haynes
the sole heir. Henry D. Haynes married in 1859 Eliza A. Atwood and had three
children; Charles W., who died at age 10; Ada H. who
died young; and George H. Haynes, born December 15, 1878.
George married Margaret D. Waterhouse, daughter of Charles and
Nancy L. (Caverly) Waterhouse in 1903, and the couple
had three children: George Everett Haynes who married Alice B. Stearns in 1939
and died in 1994; Charles H. who died young; Eleanor Pauline who died at age 8;
and Dorothy Margaret who died age six. The couple lived in the house to
old age, and sold the 100 acre property to Kenneth Nash of
NEW
The First Christian Society of Epsom was organized in October of
1861 by Samuel Wells, Simeon C. Sanders, Abraham Bickford, William S. Brown,
Levi Cass, William H. Straw, Henry Knox, Edwin T. Philbrick,
Charles C. Doe, Stephen D. Haynes, Jonathan Brown, Samuel S. Cass, Jacob F.
Smith, Hanover O. Wells, Joseph Chapman, and Gardner W. Piper. The Society
constructed its building and was deeded the land by Henry D. Haynes in April of
1862.
Prior to 1861 many of the New Rye residents traveled to the old
Allenstown meetinghouse. Many of the Epsom residents in the New Rye section of
town, on the Allenstown border, attended church in that town, and from the
rolls, we see the following families: Benjamin, David and Moses Robinson,
Josiah and Bathsheba Allen, and the families of Dickey, Tripp, Bickford, Worth,
and Davis. John H. Dolbeer, in his Epsom History in
the Hurd's Atlas for Merrimack County, gives a short
account of the establishment of the church in Epsom: About the year 1860, Edwin
T. Philbrick, then living in that part of Epsom
familiarly known as 'New Rye' left his forge and anvil, reorganized the old
church and was ordained its pastor in the month of August, 1859. As the larger
portion of the attendants at the Sabbath services came from Epsom, and the
conveniences at the old Allenstown Church were very poor, it was decided to
build a new church edifice, and the summer of 1861 witnessed the building of
the Christian meeting-house and the organization of the 'First Christian
Society of Epsom.' The church was dedicated September 8, 1861, the Rev. A.G.
Comings of
From that time the Christian Church of Allenstown became the First
Christian Church of Epsom, with the Rev. E.T. Philbrick
as its pastor, who continued in that relation for several years, during which
time many additions were made to the church and society. Following Mr. Philbrick, the Rev. J.P. Stinchfield,
a Methodist minister supplied the pulpit for one year, from April 1869. Rev.
Benjamin Dickson of Wolfborough was the next supply,
preaching to them two or three years, and was followed by Rev. M.M. Cleverly of
In 1887 the old Congregational Church at
The First Christian Church, later the Union Congregational Church,
became the New Rye Congregational Church, and transferred the property to the
newly incorporated group in May of 1974, including the old schoolhouse and
additional land purchased in 1958.
LEVI & GEORGE P. CASS
Rev. George E. Lombard Home
Levi Cass was already of Epsom when he bought for unpaid taxes,
land in lot 71, the original right of James Chadwick. Where he lived prior to
buying this property in 1779 is unknown, though his wife, Mary Sherburne,
daughter of John Sherburne of Northwood, had sisters living in Epsom. Sister
Jane married Jeremiah Prescott in 1764, and sister Elizabeth married James
Moses in 1780. Jeremiah Prescott was settled in Epsom before the American
Revolution at the end of
Levi and Mary married in
Samuel and his wife Mary (Chesley) had a
family of ten children, of whom two daughters named Rachel, died young and are
buried in the family lot. Eldest daughter Sarah (or Sally) Blake Cass married
in 1835, Simeon Prescott Locke; Lucinda Moses married David Dickey and lived in
New Rye; Mary Sherburne married Benjamin Leighton; Hannah Randall married
Francis I. Smith; son Moses married in 1841 Elizabeth Leighton sister to Benjamin;
Levi married Elizabeth B. Philbrick in 1848 in
Allenstown, daughter of Simeon and Olive W. (Bickford) Philbrick;
Samuel Sherburne married Lavinia Jellison
Fife, daughter of Stephen Fife; and daughter Susan C. married John Bickford Philbrick in 1851, he being a brother to Elizabeth B. Philbrick.
Samuel deeded the fifty acre homestead to his son Levi in 1847
providing he care for he and his wife. At the same time he deeded one half of
the house, being the west end, two acres of land and the shoe shop to his son
Samuel Sherburne. Both deeds were renewed ten years later. Samuel Cass died in
1863, his wife Mary in 1866. In 1872 Samuel Sherburne deeded to his brother his
two acres, shoe shop and western half of the house where he was currently
residing, to his brother Levi in July of 1872.
Levi and his wife Elizabeth Philbrick
were married in Allenstown January 7, 1848, and raised their family on the
homestead. The family included Eugene who died in 1859; Elva A. who married
Walter C. Doe and resided in New Rye; Filmore, who is
seen in the 1850 census, but nothing more known; Albert S. who married Angie M.
Saturley; William Wyman who married Nellie F. Abbott;
Eliza, who died young; George P. who married Arabella
C. Chesley; Etta, who married in 1914 Fred Everett
Davis; John Tennant who married Clara L. Trundy;
Hattie E. who married Carroll J. Tilton; Eddie P. who died young; Clara Olive
who married in 1891, Waldo G. Weeks, son of John M. and Abby (Chapman) Weeks;
and Fred T. Cass who married n 1896, Elida M. Kelley.
In 1884, Levi and his wife Eliza deeded the homestead farm, now of
80 acres, reserving the family cemetery, to his son George P. Cass. George and
his wife Arabella only had two children, Maud A., who
died young, and Jennie, who was born May 30, 1892 and died unmarried in 1984.
George sold the property, which had been in the family for nearly 140 years, to
Warren M. Davis and Charles B. Rogers, who in just a few months sold the home
to George Skinner of Cornish, NH. After nearly a decade the property was again
sold, this time to the Reverend George E. and Alice S. Lombard in 1926. On
August 12, 1930, while the family was away, a possible spark in the chimney,
burned down the original house, which was rebuilt by the
DOLBEER AND CHARLES SUMNER HALL RESIDENCE
Nicholas Dolbeer, Jaworski
Jonathan Dolbeer bought land in Epsom in
lot 72 from Richard and Mary Perry, she having been the widow of the original
owner, Christopher Treadwick. Jonathan died in
Jonathan quitclaimed all his rights to land in Epsom, being the
farm and homestead where 'Nicholas Dolbeer formerly
lived' and all the land said Nicholas owned that belonged to William Draught,
to his brother John in 1801. This Draught/Dought land
was part of lot 75 which was sold to William Drought of Epsom in 1781. His
widow sold that land to Nicholas in 1795. Jonathan Dolbeer
married Rachel Cass, daughter of Levi and Mary (Sherburne) Cass in 1801, and
resided on Center Hill. Additionally, Jonathan sold more land to his brother
Nicholas in 1816, one of 2 acres which he bought from Levi Cass, 'standing on
the road near said Nicholas Dolbeer's blacksmith
shop; then six acres out of lot 72.' Before Jonathan died in 1857, he
sold Nicholas additional land of 25 acres.
Nicholas, a blacksmith, lived on the homestead which stands next
to the New Rye Church, and in 1817 he married in Dunbarton,
Esther Chase, and raised a family of six children: Emily, who married in 1852,
Samuel E. Moore; Calvin who married Abby L. Goss; Mary Ann who married in 1852,
William P. Winkley; John, who married Harriet Schlander, leaving Epsom at age 23 to become a successful
lumber man in California, and donated materials for the first Epsom library; Sabra, who married Jacob P. Chase in 1852; and Susan, who
married in 1887, as his second wife, Eben S. Dutton,
and resided in New Rye. Nicholas died in 1877, one year after the death of his
wife, and deeded his son Calvin the same land that he got from his brother
Jonathan in 1816. Calvin and his wife Abby Lucas Goss, daughter of Nathan and
Dolly (Grant) Goss, married September 18, 1850, had three children: Sarah
Eliza, who appears in the 1850 census, but nothing more known; Ellen M., who
married in 1876, Charles Sumner Hall, son of John Clark and Martha E. (Rand)
Hall; and Alice C., born in 1859 and died in 1866.
Calvin Dolbeer died in 1894, his wife in
1897. Their sole heir was their daughter Ellen, and her husband Charles Sumner
Hall. They were deeded the property in 1887 which consisted of 4 lots totaling
80 acres, excepting 'the cemetery lot thereon as now fenced together with the
right of way to said cemetery lot as now used.' Charles S. Hall co-owned
the Silver and Hall Store in Epsom, was a part of an ice cutting operation in
New Rye, owner of a box shop and lumber business, and later of the Gossville Hotel. He built a large house across from
OLIVER BROWN
Joseph Brown, Eleck Brown
Bill Yeaton Farm
In 1777, Charles Frost sold lot no.75 in the third range to Simeon
Towle and Joseph Brown, both of
The southerly end of the lot remained in the Brown family for a
considerable length of time. Joseph Brown was born in
Joseph and Abigail resided in Rye and had for children: Richard,
who married Sarah Jenness and lived in Rye, and owned
Epsom land; Elizabeth who married Jonathan Goss first, and when he died in the
War of 1812, married Alexander Lear of Epsom as his second wife; Abigail, who
died young; Joseph who married in1780, Abigail Dolbeer,
sister to Nicholas Dolbeer of Epsom; Job who married Huldah Page; Abigail who married Samuel Davis of Epsom and
resided on Wing Road; Jonathan who married Mary Smith and resided in Epsom;
James who married Hannah Smith and also resided in Epsom; and Samuel who
married Mary Morrell and resided in Loudon. Joseph died in
Joseph and his wife Abigail (Dolbeer)
settled on their lot shortly after it was purchased in 1779, and is likely all
their children were born in Epsom. Their children included: Hannah, married in
1800, Samuel Wells and resided in New Rye; Abigail who married in 1805, Henry Dowst; Joseph, who married Betsey B. Mardin
of Allenstown; Elick (Elick,
Aleck) married Mary E. Dalton of Rye in 1813; Stephen D. who married in
1824 at Salem, MA, Caroline Barton; Jonathan who died unmarried in Boston in
1862; and a daughter Ruth who is mentioned in her father's will, but of which
nothing else is known.
Joseph Brown died in 1808 and his wife out lived him over thirty
years. In his will he leaves one third of his estate to his wife, and the other
two thirds to his sons, Joseph and Elick, receiving
the other third after the death of his wife. There was an interesting proviso:
if they the said Joseph and Elick shall not
agree in dividing said estate, they shall appoint three men to divide it and
the division which the said three men whom they may appoint shall make, shall
be final and conclusive to the said Joseph and Elick
Brown forever. The other children received the following: daughters Hannah
Wells and Nabby Dowst, ten
dollars; daughter Ruth Brown, sixty dollars, one cow and four sheep; sons
Stephen and Jonathan one hundred dollars.
Joseph Brown died in 1859, and Eleck
Brown became the sole owner of the farm. He married Mary Dalton, daughter of
Michael and Mercy (Philbrick)
Eleck Brown died in 1872, and his wife Mary in 1878. All the
unmarried children remained on the homestead, with the last heir being daughter
Elvira. John H. Dolbeer was her power of attorney,
and after her death sold the Brown homestead to the Bailey Lumber Company, an
estate of 100 acres, reserving the right to the old family burying ground on
the property. The lumber company kept lumber rights when it sold the farm in
1909 to Edwin L. Bunker. Bunker married within the year, Mary Stevens, and in
1924 married the widow of Harvey J. Wells, Loella May
Marden. Edwin Bunker only kept the farm for a couple
years when it was bought by Edwin R. Yeaton in 1912.
Edwin, the son of James A. and his first wife Martha A. Randall, was married to
Ella M. Eastman, daughter of Lowell and
William Eastman Yeaton married in West Swanzey,
MRS. CLARA C. WOODMAN
Samuel Wells
Joseph Brown (1754-1808) willed his land be divided between two
sons, Joseph and Eleck. Eleck
retained the northern half of the lot and settled there, and Joseph on the
death of his father, sold his half to Samuel Wells of Allenstown. On November
12, 1800, Samuel Wells had married Hannah Brown, sister of Joseph and Eleck, and they had only two children: Samuel, who married
twice, first in 1825 to Eleanor M. Dickey, daughter of Hanover and Lydia
(Osgood) Dickey, who died in 1836, and second in 1826, to Mary S. Locke,
daughter of Ephraim and Deborah (Wells) Locke; and Abigail B. Wells who married
in 1836, in Allenstown, George W. Batchelder.
Samuel's wife Hannah died in 1840, and he married for a second
time, in Allenstown in 1841, a Mary Moulton. Samuel died in 1855, and is buried
with his first wife in a small, abandoned cemetery where her parents, Joseph
and Abigail (Dolbeer) were buried. His second wife
died within a few weeks in
Samuel deeded the old homestead farm to his son Hanover O. Wells
in 1866. Samuel and his wife Mary bought a small seven acre lot south of the
homestead the year before they sold their family farm. Hanover O. sold a small
piece of the homestead property to Albert Cass in 1876, with no buildings
mentioned in the deed, the lot bordering the west side of
Clara was a widow, her husband, Frank P. Woodman died in 1881, and
the couple had two children: Grace L. Woodman, born in 1875 and died unmarried
in 1947; and a son Harry E. Woodman who was born in 1877 and died two years
later. She was the daughter of Hiram B. and Abby Jane (Cotton) Haynes, and
married as her second husband, Fred A. Page in 1893. She sold her home in 1894
to Laura Nute, wife of Jeremy Nute,
and their son Henry sold it in 1915. The new owner was Sam Burns Haynes,
brother to Clara, and it was Fred A. Page who administered his estate and
bought back the house. Clara Page died in 1937, and Fred A. Page in December of
1949, sold the homestead a few months before to Duane Keeler.
FRANK P. RICKER
Henry Knox - Kyle Residence
Henry Knox was the son of Isaac Knox and Sally Wiggin. His father
Isaac died in 1834, his mother, who was the daughter of Benjamin and Mary (Dow)
Wiggin, died in 1840, leaving eight children, the youngest only two years old.
At the time Isaac died, guardianship was granted to James and Eliphalet Wiggin, and mother Sally (sister to James and Eliphalet) Knox, of the two youngest boys, Henry and
Albert. The rest of the siblings included: Robert, who married and moved west;
Mary, who married in 1841, Edward H. Goodhue and died in 1841; Eliza, who
married Franklin Goss, son of Nathan, who died in 1848; Elvira who died
unmarried in 1843; Sarah Jane who died in 1831 about age 5; and James W., who
died age two in 1829. Albert also went west.
Henry married Caroline Wells in 1851, the daughter of Samuel Wells
and his first wife Eleanor M. Dickey. They had three children: Cyrus H., born
1853, married Annie Lougee and died in 1932; Fred P.,
born in 1855 and married Carrie Chamberlain, and died the same year as his
brother Cyrus in 1832; and a daughter Eleanor who died young. Henry bought a
parcel of land with seven acres with buildings in 1854 from Nathan Goss Junior.
The lot was part of the Samuel Lear land which Samuel S. Lear sold to Nathan
Goss in April of 1843. Nathan, whose parents Nathan and Dolly (Grant) Goss
lived at the southern end of
After the death of Samuel, the property passed to his eldest
daughter from his second marriage, Sarah Eliza Wells, who had married in 1869
Frank P. Ricker. Frank's brother, Abram, lived at
Andrew and Christine Kyle were long time residents of New Rye,
nearly fifty years, when they moved to
|
|
|
Clarence and Edgar Wells working on |
GEORGE T. DUTTON
Stephen D. Haynes, Rev. John Mason
In 1850 Levi Haynes, age 71, and his family were living on a 7
acre parcel of land on the east side of
Stephen was still living in the home at age 72 in 1880 with Mary
A. Edmunds. He died in 1883, and his brother Kidder B. Haynes and Mary A.
Edmunds sold the home to Eben S. Dutton in 1885, and
he in turn sold it to his son George T. Dutton in 1891.
George T. Dutton married Roxie O. Meloon,
daughter of Samuel S. and Deborah R. (Rollins) Meloon
in Epsom in 1887. The couple raised two children, Clyde Vernon, born in 1890,
and Thelma Etta, who married in 1923, Clinton G. Daniels. They sold the house
to the Union Congregational Society in 1900, and the church wardens, Norman H.
Munroe, Albert F. Hunt and George P. Cass, sold the land and buildings to the
Reverend John Mason of
JOSEPH K. TARLETON HOUSE
This house does not appear in 1858, and is sold in 1864 to James
W. Fife by Henry Knox. James Wyman Fife was born in Chichester,
and married in
HANOVER O., EDGAR E., & CLARENCE O. WELLS
Jonathan Brown Farm
When Joseph Brown (1722-1771) died, he left land in
Jonathan Brown died in 1836, his wife Mary in 1830, and are buried
in a family cemetery on the east side of
Arianna T., born about 1831, died May 30, 1855.
Richard F., born about 1833, died Apr. 10, 1900 in Manchester,
married in 1856, Rosetta Jane Lear, daughter of Samuel Langdon and Polly T.
(Cram) Lear. Two children, Frank A. and Isaac Russ.
Mary Sarah, born April 15, 1834, died February 14, 1897, married
in 1856, Hanover Osgood Wells, son of Samuel and Eleanor M. (Dickey) Wells.
Children: Edgar Eugene, Ida A., Etta E., Clarence Oscar and Alice M.
Lydia Maria, born February 11, 1836, died Sept. 8, 1903 in
Mehitable Libbey Brown,
born April 4, 1837, died March 19, 1874, married in
Sarah A. Brown, born 1839, died January 25, 1891 in Allenstown,
married May 10, 1864, Jesse C. Smith, son of John and Rachel H. (Prescott)
Smith. Children, Maroa Viletta
who died young; Willie Leon who died about age 18; Alvah
Eugene who died young, and Elmer J. Smith
Harriet F. born Nov. 6, 1840, and died Nov. 10, 1840.
Harriet F., born about 1841, and died March, 26, 1871, married in
Epsom May 30, 1865, John Perkins. He married second, Margarett
Crawford.
Laura J., born September 23, 1842, died in 1904, married September
30, 1866 in
John Calvin, born May 10, 1844, died January 11, 1915, married
August 16, 1871 in Epsom, Nancy Sarah Briggs. Children, Ethel Gertrude and
Charles A. Brown.
Charles Albert, born June 27, 1845, died January 4, 1907, married
July 5, 1871, Julia Irene Philbrick, daughter of
Simeon and Olive W. (Bickford) Philbrick. One
daughter,
Ella Evelyn, born 1846 and died in
Jonathan Brown died at the age of 81 in 1884, having
outlived his wife Maria by nearly thirty years. He deeded the homestead farm of
114 acres to his son-in-law Hanover O. Wells in January of 1870. Hanover
Osgood and his wife Mary Sarah raised five children: Edgar Eugene who married
in 1882, Laura Ann (Lottie) Flint; Ida A. who married in 1883, Charles F.
Haynes; Etta E. Wells who married in 1882, James Harvey Lombard; Clarence
Oscar, who married in 1888, Annie Maria Green, daughter of John Sherburne and
Mary Marie (Flanders) Green; and Alice M. Wells, who married in 1893, as his
first wife, Fred Clinton Fife.
Percy 'Buck' Monty had married Natalie M. Wells, daughter of
Arthur A. and
In 1913 Edgar E. Wells deeded the adjoining house on the lot to
his brother Clarence, being his one undivided half. The house passed to the
only son of Clarence and his wife Annie Maria, Arthur A. Wells. Arthur and his
wife
Arthur Austin Wells died in 1958, and his widow sold the family
home to Robert and Janice Earnshaw in 1965.
CHARLES C. AND JAMES A. DOE
Samuel and Amos Davis,
Samuel Davis was in Epsom by 1776 when he signed the Association
Test, though when he bought the land on which he had his 80 acre homestead farm
is unknown. There are recorded deeds when he sells several other parcels of
Epsom land, some of which he bought of Samuel Brown and Levi Towle, but no deeds when he purchased them. His farm was
near that of Jonathan Brown, whose sister he married in 1784, she being Abigail
Brown, daughter of Joseph and Abigail (Goss) Brown. Jonathan married his
wife in 1787, and the two probably settled their farms about the same time.
Where and what Samuel’s connections were to Epsom prior to his marriage remains
unknown.
Samuel Davis was the son of John and Eunice (Seavey)
Davis, who were married in
This may have not been the first marriage for Eunice Seavey. Records show she married John Odiorne
Jr. around July 1753, and had an illegitimate mulatto child that
December, causing John to file a petition for an annulment. Records do not show
if the petition was granted, but it would seem it was as she is seen as Eunice Seavey in her marriage to John Davis. Eunice indentured the
child to Obidiah and Elizabeth Marston of
Samuel Davis and his wife Abigail Brown had the following
children: Betsey, who married Samuel Fowler; William who was born in 1785 and
died in 1798; Abigail, who married Winthrop Fowler, brother to Samuel; Amos who
married Nancy Griffith Libbey and inherited the
homestead; and Fanny who was born in 1799 and died in 1805. Samuel’s wife
Abigail died in 1813, and he married after her death an Abigail unknown of whom
he posted in the NH Patriot in 1818 my wife, conducts very imprudently and
unbecoming a wife: I hereby forbid all persons harboring or trusting her on my
account, as I shall pay no debt of her contracting after this date. She died in
1826, and he married third in 1827, Betsy George. Samuel died in 1839, and his
third wife married in 1841, a Paul Bailey.
Before Samuel died, he deeded his homestead farm to his son Amos
in 1817, being all the land and buildings he owned in Epsom and Allenstown,
some 80 acres which was located on
Amos Davis deeded the family homestead to his son-in-law Charles
C. Doe, who married his daughter Mehitable, in March
of 1846. The homestead with additional tracts of land, still about eighty
acres.
The family of Charles C. Doe and his wife Mehitable
included: Walter C., who married Elva Azilla Cass,
daughter of Levi and Elizabeth B. (Philbrick) Cass;
Amos, who married Melvina Holman and resided Boston;
James Alden, who married Mary Augusta Ladd; Sarah Albina
who married in 1873, Calvin D. Clark; and George W. who died in 1883,
unmarried. Charles C. Doe died in 1898, his wife in 1899.
Charles C. Doe deeded his property to his son James A. Doe in 1885
where he raised his daughter Tillie Ruth. The estate of James was handled
by John H. Dolbeer who sold the homestead to Moses E.
Chapman in 1905. Four years later it was bought by James’ brother, Walter,
whose wife after his death sold the land to Arthur Billings of Allenstown in
1916. The next owner in 1921 was Fred Butler.
MRS. LUCINDA (DAVID) DICKEY
This house lot, just past the
David Dickey (the first) and his wife Rachel Hanover moved to
Epsom and settled in the Mountain District. Their children all resided in
Epsom, including John Dickey and his wife Betsey Patten. They had four
children,: Margaret who married a Thomas Moore; Catherine who married a John Calden; David Dickey who married Lucinda M. Cass; and
Robert P. Dickey who married Marriam B. Nelson of
Allenstown.
The marriage date of David and Lucinda Moses (Cass) daughter of
Samuel Cass and Mary (Chesley) is unknown, and they
had nine children: Hannah J., born 1835, died 1852; Lizzie B. who married
before 1858, Chadwick B. Jones of Deerfield; possibly Mary A. of whom nothing
more is known but appears in the 1850 census; Rosina M. who is still living in
1900 and a maid in Haverhill, MA.; Ann M. who married Isaac G. Russ; Elvira K.
who married George F. Pease; Melissa, died unmarried in 1892; Norris G.,
married in Lynn, MA., Sadie J. Smith in 1871, and died in Epsom in March of
1876; and an unknown child in the Dolbeer death
records who died in 1859, age 7 (possibly Mary A. ?).
Title to the house at some point passed to Lucinda, as she is the
only person on the deed when she sells the house to their son Norris in 1872.
Norris died in 1876, his father David Dickey died in 1884. The 1892 map shows
Lucinda still living in the homestead which she sells to James S. Hartford of
Epsom in 1895. James and his wife Esther had a family of 12 and probably moved
to this smaller property for their later years. Esther Hartford died in 1902,
and James sold the house to his daughter Ida C. Hartford in 1903. Ida married
seven years later, as his second wife, Albion S. Stearns of
Albion and Ida had three children: George L. who married in Chichester in 1936, Bernadine C. McLeod; Arthur B. who
married in 1934 in Chichester, Eva May Marston; and
Alice Blodgett Stearns who married in Chichester in
1909, George Everett Haynes, son of George H. and Margaret (Waterhouse) Haynes.
George lived at what was later the Judge Nash house. Ida C. Stearns, widow,
deeded the homestead to her son George L. Stearns in 1954. She died in
GEORGE S. CHAPMAN HOUSE
Stephen Haynes
In 1850 Jeremy Salter bought his father’s homestead and a piece of
adjoining land to the north from Charles C. Doe. This one acre lot was
sold that same fall to Henry Knox, ‘land northerly of my dwelling house.’ There
were no structures mentioned on the property, but in 1853, Knox sold the one
acre with buildings to Stephen D. Haynes. Various members of the Hayne’s family
may have occupied the home during the 14 years that they owned the property,
with Stephen D. Haynes selling the small lot, now with the Dickey residence to
the north, to George S. Chapman in 1867.
George was the son of Samuel T. and Deborah (Dow) Chapman, and was
raised in this area of New Rye. He married in 1848, Lois B. Smith of Deerfield,
daughter of the Deacon David and Lois (
DANIEL GOSS
Jeremy W. Salter
Jeremy W. Salter bought land in Epsom and Allenstown from Samuel
Brown, who had purchased the same parcel from Samuel Davis. Samuel Brown sold the
property to Webster Salter in 1806. He sold this same parcel of 60 acres to his
brother Alexander Salter in 1812. Alexander likely built the house and later
moved to Pembroke, selling the 'homestead farm where I now reside on the
easterly side of the New Rye highway, bounded north by
The Salter family was from
Son Alexander and his first wife Mary Berry had for children: Lois
Anna who married in Epsom in 1824, John Langley and resided in
Levi Andrews had married Lovina W.
Haynes in 1846, and with their two children, Ella O. and Emily D., left Epsom in
1863, selling his home and an additional tract of land to William Horne of
Epsom. Levi's wife died in 1869. The house lot was now only one acre, and it
came with all the personal property, excepting household furniture. William
Horne transferred the same property, including land occupied for a grave yard
(the
Albert C. Johnson and Jane D. Haynes, daughter of Levi and Polly
Haynes, had children: Cynthia A., who married Jacob F. Smith; Horace; Calvin D.
Johnson who married Augusta A. Wiggin and died in 1871, she marrying second,
James O. Fiske, who adopted her son from the first marriage, Kidder C. Fiske;
and Dr. Albert Chandler Johnson who married Mary F. Keniston
of Allenstown. The Johnsons sold their home in 1883 to Daniel Goss.
Daniel Goss was already in old age when he purchased the house,
having been born about 1820, a son of Nathan and Dolly (Grant) Goss. He, his
brother Franklin, brother Nathan Jr., and his father all lived for a time at
the southern end of
The Boehner's also bought the adjoining property to the south,
which also included a house, in 1909. They sold the former Daniel Goss home in
1937 to Cato Dick of Jamaica Plains in 1937, who owned the home until 1951. The
house was bought that year by Bernadine Stearns. She was the daughter of
William McLeod and who married George L. Stearns, son of Albion and Ida C. (
Bernadine Stearns, as a single lady, sold the house in 1955.
LANGDON AND JOSEPH H. LEAR HOUSE
Across the street from the Salter's on the west side of New
The later whereabouts of son John A. B. Lear is unknown, but was
in Epsom long enough for sons Henry N. and Albert George to serve in the
Civil War. Samuel Langdon Lear and his wife Polly raised their family on
the homestead: Joseph Horace, who married in 1873, Abigail A. Rollins; Rosetta
Jane who died about age two and is buried in the family lot; an infant born and
died in 1839; Rosetta Jane who married Richard F. Brown, son of Jonathan and
Maria (Libbey) Brown; Nancy Davis who married James
Wyman Fife in Deerfield in 1860; Flora Ann who married Samuel Smith; Thomas
Alvin, born 1844, died 1880 in Allenstown; and Josiah Calvin who married in
1867, Eleanor Brown, daughter of Lewis and Elizabeth O. (Goodhue) Brown.
Langdon Lear died in 1893, his wife Polly a half dozen years
earlier. Before he died, he deeded the homestead to his son, Joseph H. Lear,
who did not have any heirs. Charles H. Foss was the administrator of the estate
and owner of the homestead when he mortgaged the premises with Hiram A. Holmes.
Charles and his wife Roxanna A. Rollins had three children, Bertel
R Foss and his wife Lena Kimball; Everett O. Foss; and Nora A. Foss, who
married John W. Murby. The Murby's
lived at the very end of
Samuel Lear sold a parcel of land south of his house to his
son-in-law
John W. Murby of
CHARLES R. DUTTON
Murby
Franklin Goss appears living at the very southern end of
John J. Haynes was a son of Levi and Polly (Dolbeer)
Haynes who had married in
Etta M., or Mary Etta, was the daughter of John Peasley and Abigail Appleton, and had Epsom roots. Her
mother was Abigail Appleton, a daughter of Thomas and Mary D. (Haynes)
Appleton. They lived on the
Abigail married a second time in 1870, Nathaniel Chase of Warner,
and in Epsom in 1893, as his second wife, Samuel Trickey.
She died in 1913 and is buried in the Murby lot of
the
Mary Etta Peasley married John William Murby and had a son, Guy A. Murby
in 1888. In 1898 she sells 'my homestead farm in Epsom and Allenstown' to
Charles H. Foss after separating from John. Charles was the father of
Nora Avis Foss, the second wife of John W. Murby, and
sold the premises to his daughter Nora in 1899. John and Nora bought the old
JOHN SHERBURNE GREEN HOUSE
Jacob F. Smith
Jeremy W. Salter sold a small lot south of his home to Jacob F.
Smith in 1856, land which was partly in Epsom and partly in Allenstown, on the
southerly end of
Jacob F. Smith's spouse was Cynthia A. Johnson, daughter of Albert
C. and Jane D. (Haynes) Johnson. Albert and Jane (Haynes) Johnson also had a
son Albert Chandler Johnson, who married Mary F. Keniston,
daughter of Samuel and Betsey (Philbrick) Keniston of Allenstown. Mary F. had a sister Adaline R., who married in 1859, Albert's brother, Cortes
A. Johnson. Both Albert C. and Cortes A. were doctors.
In 1868 Jacob sold the home to his wife's sister, Adaline R. Johnson. His wife Cynthia died in 1909 and Jacob
died sometime prior to 1900. Cortes and his wife Adaline
sold the house in 1878 to John Sherburne Green.
John S. Green was the son of Sherburne and Abigail Locke (Sanders)
Green born about 1831 in
The Green's were already married about 20 years when they moved to
the New Rye home, and were there when they celebrated their 50th wedding
anniversary. They sold the house to their son-in-law, Charles S. Piper, three
fourths of an acre, in June of 1909. The next month the home was sold to Eugene
H. and Sadie Boehner of
The deed of Boehner to Cato Dick in 1937 does not mention
buildings. Cato Dick sells this and another tract of land to Bernadine Stearns
in 1951.
ICE CUTTING IN NEW
Two articles on ice cutting in New Rye, the first a newspaper
article from the
Cooperative Company Finishes Ice Cutting
Special to the
SHORT FALLS Feb. 22, 1934 – Ice cutting operations have recently
been completed by the New Rye Ice Company on the pond on Deer Brook for the
37th consecutive season. This company was formed in 1897, by the neighbors then
living in New Rye, as a cooperative venture, whereby they might cut ice for themselves
and sell any surplus for the company profit.
A leader in the enterprise was Charles Sumner Hall, who then owned
the property in New Rye through which Deer Brook runs. In October 1897, he gave
the company a deed, insuring them in perpetuity, the privilege of maintaining a
dam and flooding the land from November 1 to April 1; with the right to cut ice
and make repairs on the dam whenever necessary, the deed included a right of
way to the dam. This property has since passed through the hands of Elmore L.
J. Pierce and is now owned by Leon Jaworski. Years
before the formation of the ice company, a sawmill with an old fashioned up and
down saw operated on Deer Brook near the New Rye Road. This mill had an upper
dam which was rebuilt for the use of the New Rye Company.
The cost of building the dam was met by selling shares in the
company. The company also owned two ice plows. It was cut and sold at cost to
shareholders. If the company sold ice to other customers, the surplus income
was divided among the shareholders; if expenses or cost of repairs mounted,
they were assessed.
Fred C. Fife was president of the company for many years. Old
residents of Epsom will recognize the names of the early shareholders: John
Perkins, George Dowst, Charles Doe, James H. Tripp,
Henry Haynes, John Henry Dolbeer, J. Calvin Brown,
Frank Ricker, Charles Foss and Warren Brown were among the members, as well as
Fred Page, Anson B. Cass, George Cass, Norman H. Munroe and Walter J. Pickard,
many of whom still use company ice.
Whenever property in New Rye was sold, it was usual for the
membership in the ice company to go with the deed.
This year, for the first time, ice was cut with a power cutter.
About 3,600 cakes, averaging 80 pounds each, were taken out at an estimated
cost to shareholders of three cents a cake.
HARVESTING ICE IN THE YEAR 1905 by George H. Yeaton
The first thing to do was to clean the sawdust out of the ice
house, leaving about one foot of sawdust in the bottom, this layer of sawdust
must be smooth and level as much depended on having the first layer of ice
level and solid. The next thing that one had to do was the clean the snow off
from the pond where they were planning to cut the ice. If the snow was not too
hard and frozen, one could use a hand snow scoop but usually we would have to
use steel show shovels.
For equipment to use, first an inch thick board twelve feet in
length and twelve inches in width with a short piece of narrow board fastened
on each end. Next a marker, these were made from an old hoe. A blacksmith would
cut off the blade then sharpen the curved shank that was left on the end of the
handle leaving it shaped like a three cornered file pointed at the end and a
little wider, about two inches, from the sharp end. One must have a sharp ice chisel;
this would be about four feet in length. Then the ice saws, at that time
everyone used the regular cross-cut saws, the same as were used in cutting
lumber, as the regular ice saws did not come into use for some time after this
date.
Now we would mark out the ice. One man could do this, but two
could do it much quicker and easily. The ice area to be cut was marked off in
eighteen-inch squares with the use of the board previously mentioned and the
use of the marker or markers if there were two men. When they got through
marking the ice field, it looked like a huge checkerboard. The next step was to
cut a hole in the ice at one corner of the marked ice.
This was when the ice chisel came into use, after cutting the hole
through the ice, someone would proceed to cut out the “header.” This was done
by sawing down the first marked line, then they would set over about ten inches
and saw a parallel cut of the same length. We had to be careful and not let the
saw cut wider on the underside as that would interfere with removing the
header. An experienced ice cutter would cut under a little in this way the
header could be easily removed after cutting it into pieces that could be
handled with the use of the ice tongs.
Then two men would commence to cut out the blocks of ice, one man
would saw lengthwise and the other could cut the long strip of ice into blocks
eighteen inches square. As the man who was sawing lengthwise, he must, at the
beginning of each strip, saw out a short “header” but only one short header each
time.
If one cut more than that, the ice might break if one walked on
the edge of the ice. Now a third man was needed to pull out the cakes of ice
placing them in rows. But he must be sure and put something under them, as the
blocks of ice, being wet when taken out of the water, had a tendency to freeze
to ice on the pond. It did not take much under them to keep them from freezing
down – pieces of wood of most any description. The man who did the pulling out
also helped load the teams, so he was kept quite busy. As the ice cutter
increased the size of the cut over area, the pull out man must use a pike-pole
to guide the cakes to the point where he wished to take them from the water.
There was one man who stayed at the icehouse, helping to unload the teams and
packing the ice tier upon tier until the building was full, leaving about
twelve inches on all four sides away from the side of the building. This space
would be filled later with sawdust as well as placing from one to two feet of
sawdust on top of the ice. In packing the ice one would sprinkle a little
sawdust over the top of each layer as this not only kept it level, but the
cakes would come out much easier the following summer. Any spaces between the
cakes of ice would be filled with sawdust also; this would prevent the cakes
from freezing together. Wide planks were used in unloading the ice, upon which
the ice cakes were slid from the sled into the ice house.
Swamp Road
William Haynes/Edwin T. Philbrick - 1858
This property appears on the 1858 map. The house was owned by
Ambrose D. Haynes, a son of Caleb Bartlett and his second wife, Hannah
(Sanborn) Haynes. Ambrose sold the house in 1850 to his step brother, William.
William, son of Caleb Bartlett and his first wife, Sally Haines, married a
Maria Perley or Peasley, in
JOHN HAMILTON AND FRED
Caleb B. Haynes
In maps as late as 1927,
Caleb Bartlett Haynes was the son of Elisha, he in turn a son of
John and Olive (Weeks) Haynes, whose sons had a large presence in New Rye.
Elisha was born about 1762 and married Betsy Bartlett about 1784. Their
children included: Caleb, who married first Sally Haines of Chichester,
and second, Hannah Sanborn of Chichester; James, who
married Sally Clark, daughter of Ichabod and Betsey
(Hartford) Clark of Allenstown; Betsy who died unmarried in 1825; Lydia, who
married John Kennison, son of Nathaniel and Elizabeth
(Clark) Kennison, who removed to Stanstead,
Canada; Jonathan who married Catherine Smith and lived in Wisconsin; Mehitable who married Francis Daniel Johnson and died in
1859; John Dearborn who married Eliza Stevens and resided in Boston; and Sally,
who married the Reverend Dudley Thyng, died in 1874
in Columbus, Wisconsin.
Elisha was a Revolutionary War veteran, and applied for pension
assistance in 1831, in part he discloses (extracts): That my whole family
consists of myself and my wife Polly of nearly the same age, and she had been
unable for ten years past to do but little labor, indeed none except a little
sewing or knitting. Elisha Haynes of Epsom, in said County of Merrimack, aged
71 years on the 15th day of next October, born in Greenland in said State but
has lived in Epsom aforesaid nearly 60 years, also land has been granted
to me by my son John D. Haynes, living in Boston, with also leave to occupy a
small tenement of his in said Epsom and cultivate a few acres of his land,
lying in said town, and while I was blessed with health and strength, and my
wife able to labor, but being now troubled with a rupture in my groin,
occasioned by a strain revised some years since while assisting to raise a saw
mill and with rheumatic pain in addition to the infirmities of age; and my wife
confined to her bed with an incurable dropsy; and being able to labor very
little myself, and my wife none at all, we must soon wholly depend upon charity
for our support and maintenance...My present family consists of myself, my
wife, and a young grandchild, named Charlotte Johnson, about 12 years of age,
who lives with us to assist us and we three make our whole family.
I have three daughters who are married and live from thirty eight
to fifty miles from me. I have four sons, namely John Dearborn, who lives in
Boston (Mass) 60 mile from me; James who lives in Fisherville
and Jonathan who lives in New Hampton, both in this state, the former 50, the
latter 40 miles distance; and Caleb who lives in the same town.
The three first have but small property, and Caleb has none,
having recently been compelled to take the poor debtors oath to get released
from the precincts of the
Elisha Haynes bought land in Epsom as early as 1784 when Ebenezer
Wallace sold him 50 acres, part of lot 68 which was the original right of
Samuel Wallace. In 1808 he deeds 11 acres to his son Caleb - bounded beginning
at the southeast corner of my land at the highway near the school house and
adjoining on Nathaniel Wiggin's land. What is interesting is the mention of the
school, which in 1808 was some 25 years before the establishment of the New Rye
District schoolhouse. This Mountain District school is the schoolhouse which
burned in 1833 and was replaced further east by what is now known as the Red
Schoolhouse. The homestead was sold by Elisha to his son James, who by an
indenture allowed them to stay in their home as long as it was properly
maintained. From the petition for assistance, this appears to still have been
in force in 1832, and Elisha died in 1834. His first wife Betsy died in 1812.
He married in
Caleb Bartlett Haynes was born in Epsom, May 29, 1785 and married
in
Caleb and his wife Sally had seven sons: William, who married
Maria Perley; Elisha who died at sea in 1828; Parsons
Gray who died unmarried at age 20; Samuel, who married Mary S. Wheelock and
second Louisa Hicks;
John Lagmaid who lived in
Caleb lived next to the road leading to the Sanders farm and
across the road was the home of John H. Fife, who married his daugher Mary Elizabeth. John Hamilton Fife and Mary had the
following children: Adora Ann who only lived a few
months; Mary Abigail who married Frank E. Randall and resided in Pittsfield;
James Bartlett who married Elizabeth Daily and lived in Boston working for the
Oliver Ditson Music Company; Dora Anne who married
William B. Evans of Pittsfield; Jennette N. who
tragically died when her clothes caught fire at about age 4; Fred Clinton who
married Alice M. Wells, daughter of Hanover Osgood and Mary Sarah (Brown)
Wells; and Alice F. who died age 12. The 1858 map also shows Charles Lamprey at
the same location. There appears to be no relationship, but it is known that
Charles, who also died in the Civil War, was the son of Robert and Mary (Fogg) Lamprey. He married Mary J. Dow of Epsom, daughter of
James and Betsey (Robinson) Dow.
By 1892, only one house appears on the south of the road leading
to the Sander's place, then the Chapman farm, and it is John H. and his son
Fred C. Fife. By 1927 this house is gone and had been replaced by a new
house across Swamp Road on the corner of Swamp Road and the entrance to Sanborn
Hill Road. This was the residence of Fred Clifton Fife.
Fred Clifton Fife's first wife
Fred C. Fife, by deed while of
CALVIN A. CHAPMAN
Simeon L. Sanders
The Sanders farm was part of the original right of John Johnson
which passed to Matthias Haynes of
Levi Haynes lived on the family homestead for another twenty
years, selling the homestead farm to James and Eliphalet
Wiggin in 1826. The Wiggin family in Epsom were brothers, Nathaniel and
Benjamin, sons of Eliphalet and___ Foss. Nathaniel
married Sally Haynes, daughter of John and Olive (Weeks) Haynes, and died in
1822, leaving children Hannah, Sally, Fanny P. and James. His brother Benjamin
married a Mary Dow, moved to Epsom and had children: Sally, who married Isaac
Knox; Eliphalet, who did not marry and died in
Simeon L. Sanders was the son of John Sanders and his wife Anna
Locke. John and Anna married in Epsom in 1804 and raised 10 children: George,
who married Mary Twombly; Simeon L. who married
Caroline Colby; Abigail Locke, who married Sherburne Green, father of John
Sherburne Green of New Rye; Nancy, who died young; John, who married Angennete Leavitt; Nancy, who married John Wallace
and lived at Epsom Center; Reuben L., who married Abigail Locke, daughter
of John and Mehitable (Bickford) Locke; Joseph L. who
married Harriet Potter; David Locke who married Mary A. Carr; and Solomon C.,
who married Thursey Corliss.
Simeon and Caroline raised four daughters: Sarah Jane who married
in 1849, William Henry Straw and settled on the New Rye end of Sanborn Hill
Road; Caroline Augusta who married George S. Chapman and lived in New Rye; Mary
Ann and Nancy L., neither ever married. Simeon died in 1886, and his heirs, who
included his wife Caroline, Sarah J. Straw, Caroline Chapman and Mary A.
Sanders, sold the homestead to Charles A. Chapman in 1886, reserving a cemetery
where daughter Nancy L. was buried. [note: there is also a grave in the
Norman Henry Munroe was born in
WALDO G. WEEKS
Samuel Chapman
Prior to the time that James and Eliphalet
Wiggin sold the former Hayne's farm to Simeon L. Sanders, six acres was sold to
their cousin, James Wiggin Jr., son of Nathaniel Wiggin. He did not
settle on the property, and sold it to John S. Haynes after just a few months.
When John S. Haynes sells the land, now of eleven acres, to Daniel Clough in
1843, it reserved the 'land where Samuel Chapman’s house stands, as long as
said Chapman shall choose to live there, then to belong to the said
Clough.'
Daniel Clough five years later sells a portion of the property,
likely including the house, to Joseph Chapman, a son of Samuel T. Chapman.
Samuel died in 1870 and his wife in 1877. Son Joseph sold the property to
Abbie M. Weeks in 1881, bounded in part 'westerly
from where the house of the late Samuel Chapman stood.'
Abbie M. Weeks at the time was a widow, her husband, John M.
Weeks died in 1876. Her son Waldo G. Weeks inherited the home when Abbie died in 1898. Waldo married Clara Olive Cass,
daughter of Levi and Elizabeth (Philbrick) Cass in
1891 and had two children: John Harold Weeks who married Elsie Cofran Sanborn, daughter of Jeremy Leavitt and Emma Sophia
(Cofran) of
JOHN CALVIN BROWN
William S. Brown
When Joseph Brown died in 1771 he willed his Epsom land to his son
Jonathan, and to his brother James, 20 acres of land in
James Brown married in
James Brown died in 1838 and is buried in an old family cemetery
on the property with his family. His will, written in 1833, left his wife her
one third of the property and 'the north room in the new part of the house and
a chamber in the westerly end of the old part of the house with a privilege in
the kitchen, cellar and dairy.' Son Jacob O. and daughter Hannah O. Davis
received ten dollars, and daughter Susan K. Straw fifteen dollars. His daughter
Abigail was not yet married, and was given comfortable support while she was
unmarried and 'the easterly room in the old part of my house' along with
seventy five dollars. Son William S. received all the property his father owned
in the town of
James Jr., also seen as Capt. James Brown, was born in 1805, and
married in 1831, Nancy B. Robinson, daughter of John and his second wife,
Susannah (Tilton) Robinson. James died at age 38 in 1843, having for children
Mary Ann, who married in Epsom in 1857, William S. Morrill of
By 1858 the widow of Capt. James, Nancy, is living with her
daughter Mary Ann and husband William S. Morrill, two houses up Sanborn Hill
Road in the house occupied in 1892 by William Brown. The homestead farm was
occupied by the last surviving son of James and Hannah Brown, William S..
William S. Brown married Abigail Ewer in
John Calvin Brown, a son of Jonathan and Maria (Libbey) Brown, married Nancy S. Briggs in Epsom on August
16, 1871. They had two children: Ethel Gertrude, who married first in 1901,
William J. Dooley, and second in 1909, Thomas H. Day; and Charles A. Brown,
born 1880 in
John Calvin Brown died in 1915, his wife Nancy in 1936. Their
daughter Ethel Gertrude Brown had a daughter by her first husband William
Dooley, Madeline Ewer Dooley, who officially had her name changed to Madeline
Ewer Brown. She married in 1922, George Samuel Yeaton,
son of Samuel Roby and Mabel Evelyn (Stewart) Yeaton.
The homestead passed to Charles A., son of John Calvin, and his widow Nancy,
and to Madeline and her husband George S. Yeaton. In
1979, title went from the heirs of George and Madeline to son Theodore Ewer Yeaton. The house was lost to fire in 1963.
WILLIAM HENRY STRAW
Moses Straw
According to the 1850 US
Census for Epsom, Moses Straw, his wife Susan, and children William, James S.
and Susan, were already living in their homestead farm with Nancy B. Brown and
her daughter Mary A., above them, and the farm of William and Abigail E. Brown
below them. Just when they received title is not known, but they did buy
property from Nancy B. Brown (widow of Capt. James Brown) of 20 acres on
the westerly side of the road and 2 acres on the easterly side. The family
previously resided in Hill, NH.
Moses Straw was born in Hill, NH about 1805, son of John and Mary
(Emerson) Straw. He married in Epsom on May 4, 1832, Susan K. Brown, daughter
of James and Hannah (Smith) Brown. Their children included: James Henry, who
was born in Hill, NH in 1833 and married in 1859, Sarah Jane Sanders;
James S., born in Hill in 1842, married in Epsom in 1863, Mary
Ellen Wells, daughter of Capt. Samuel and Mary S. (Locke) Wells; and Susan A.,
born Epsom, who married in 1868, Paran Philbrick, son of Simeon and Olive W. (Bickford) Philbrick.
The mother of Moses, Mary, died in Epsom in 1847, and is buried in
the family plot next to that of the family of James Brown. Also buried in this
cemetery are Samuel Wallace, his wife Jane and daughter Comfort. They lived on
a 30 acre lot between lots 68 and 69. His son Joseph Chase Wallace inherited
the Wallace homestead where he resided until sometime before 1840 when he was
in
Moses Straw died in 1878, and in the following year the homestead
was deeded by his widow and his children, to son William H. Straw, 'the
homestead farm formerly owned and occupied by Moses Straw.' The deed includes
two tracts, one each on either side of the road, and reserving 'a certain
cemetery near said road adjoining land of said (William S.) Brown and the right
to pass and re-pass there from.' William married Sarah Jane Sanders, a
daughter of Simeon L. and Caroline (Colby) Sanders, who owned the former John
Haynes land not far from the Straw farm. The couple had two children: Carrie Vicena, who married Anson B. Cass; and Mary Isabel
who married Clarence E. Kendall of
William H. Straw died in 1892. Clarence Elmer Kendall, husband to
Mary I. Straw, died in 1903. Anson B. Cass, the husband of Mary's sister Carrie
V., was appointed in 1894, guardian to the only child of Clarence and Mary,
Alice L. Kendall. As guardian, Anson Cass sold one half of the Straw
farm, excluding a small cottage house and one half acre of land, to Jeptha M. Olmstead of Old Mystic,
An Indenture document is recorded in
Within two years after the property was bought by the Beaudet's, the Epsom fire logs show the structure lost to
fire on April 23, 1932 from a chimney fire. The only remains of the
cottage and house are cellar holes.
WILLIAM BROWN
Mrs. N. Brown & W.S. Morrill
The history of this lot is not clear. In 1858, Nancy Brown, the
widow of James Brown, is living on this lot with her daughter, Mary Ann and her
husband, William S. Morrill. There does not appear to be any deeds tracing the
property as either sold by Morrill, nor the widow Brown. The 1880 US Census
shows William and his wife Sarah J., living with Williams S. Brown. By the map
of 1892, William is living on the Brown/Morrill lot.
William Brown, formerly Briggs and adopted by his Uncle and Aunt,
William S. and Abigail Brown, married in Chichester
on July 12, 1879, Sarah J. Nickerson (also seen Nixon and various other forms),
daughter of Joseph and Sarah E. (Burnham) Nickerson. They had children:
Clarence W., George H., Alice Edith., Frank Everett; and perhaps others. Sarah
J. died in 1895 and William married second the sister of his first wife, Mary
Josephine, who is seen mostly as Josie.
Son Frank Everett inherited the homestead sometime after the death
of his father. Frank E. married in 1928, Lulu E. Smith of Deerfield, daughter
of Josiah D. and Susan N. (
He took an active part in civic affairs serving as selectman, a
member of the School Board, and on the budget committee of which he was a
member at the time of his death.
Frank lived at
THE UP AND DOWN SAW
by
There was a saw mill on Deer Brook in back of the Rev. John
Mason’s summer home, now the home of Robert Tripp. Between the years of 1750
and 1780 there were several large colonial homes built in New Rye, one of them
on
The house on
The house at Wells Corner belonged to the Brown’s. When Hanover
Wells sold his house and barn in the late 1870’s, he moved in with his in-laws,
the Jonathan Browns. He had married Mary S. Brown and they had five children.
The Hanover Wells homestead was bought by a man by the name of J.
B. Tennant, who tore it down and rebuilt it as the store at
Other homes were the Lear place, more recently known as the Foss
home and then owned by LaFleurs. The Philbrick home was between the Lear and the Murby home. (The home of William Lane in 1858.) It was torn
down in the early teens.
Two other homes were the Haynes home, later Nash, and the Goodhue
home on the site of the John Howard place.
The latest use of the saw was as a sign for the Wells and Son wood
working shop at
The saw is a gift from Natalie Wells Monty. I'd like this saw to
be a memorial to Arthur Wells and our son, Neal A. Wells, both war veterans.
[The saw remains part of the Epsom Historical Association's
holdings.]