SANBORN HILL

 

At the time Charles McCoy was living in Epsom there was a ‘Suncook Road’ leading over the hill from Center Hill to Allenstown. This road is mentioned in deeds as early as 1752, and it was in 1768 that the town laid out the current road from Center Hill to New Rye. It was extended in 1772 ‘partly on the old way’ through land of Levi Cass. Early deeds refer to this road as simply ‘the Hill Road’ and later as Sanborn Hill Road.

 

The families that settled on the hill were the McCoy’s, Sanborn’s and Sander’s. Along with these families were Daniel Goss and Charles Quimby, and at the foot of the hill, Samuel Blake. Samuel Blake sold a couple small lots at the base of the road occupied by families of Chesley, Weeks and Hall. The road is no longer a through road, ending as it approaches New Rye.

 



Samuel Blake

 

Samuel Blake’s home was near the base of Sanborn Hill, and his purchase of the property is part folklore and part based upon deeds. His story is interesting, and is certainly contrasting to that of his early neighbor, Charles McCoy. In particular is their relationship in dealing with the local Indian population. John H. Dolbeer relates the early history of Samuel Blake in Hurd’s History of Merrimack County.

 

Samuel Blake, commonly known as Sergeant Blake, was one of the pioneer settlers, coming into town when but fifteen years of age, and began a settlement near where Mr. John Chesley now lives. He purchased his land, more than one hundred acres, near the centre of the town, for ten shillings, and turned in his jack-knife for one shilling of that sum. Mr. Blake had a large family of children, who grew up and married; but at the present writing none of the name remain in town, and but a few of his descendants.


After capture of Mrs. McCoy [1747] the Indians frequently visited the town, but never committed any very great depredations. The greatest damage they ever did to the property of the inhabitants was the spoiling of all the ox-teams in town. At the time referred to there were but four yoke of oxen in the place, viz.: McCoy's, Captain McClary's, George Wallace's and Lieutenant Blake's. It was a time of apprehension from the Indians, and the inhabitants had therefore all fled to the garrison at Nottingham. They left their oxen to graze about the woods, with a bell upon one of them. The Indians found them, shot one out of each yoke, took out their tongues, made a prize of the bell and left them.


The ferocity and cruelty of the savages were doubtless very much averted by a friendly, conciliatory course of conduct in the inhabitants towards them. This was particularly the case in the course pursued by Sergeant Blake. Being himself a curious marksman and an expert hunter, traits of character, in their view, of the highest order. He soon secured their respect; and, by a course of kind treatment, he secured their friendship to such a degree that, though they had opportunities, they would not injure him even in time of war.


The first he ever saw of them was a company of them making towards his house through the opening from the top of Sanborn's Hill. He fled to the woods and there lay concealed till they had made a thorough search about his house and enclosures and had gone off. The next time his visitors came he was constrained to become more acquainted with them and to treat them with more attention. As he was busily engaged towards the close of the day in completing a yard for his cow, the declining sun suddenly threw several long, enormous shadows on the ground before him. He had no sooner turned to see the cause than he found himself in the company of a number of a number of stately Indians. Seeing his perturbation, they patted him on the head and told him `not to be afraid, for they would not hurt him.' They then went with him into his house, and their first business was to search all his bottles to see if he had any `occapee'  (rum). They then told him they were very hungry, and wanted something to eat. He happened to have a quarter of a bear, which he gave them. They took it and threw it whole upon the fire, and very soon began to cut and eat from it half raw. While they were eating he employed himself in cutting pieces from it and broiling upon a stick from them, which pleased them very much. After their repast they wished for the privilege of lying by his fire through the night, which he granted. The next morning they proposed trying skill with him in firing at a mark. To this he acceded. But in this, finding themselves outdone, they were very much astonished and chagrined; nevertheless they highly commended him for his skill, patting him on the head and telling him `if he would go off with them they would make him their big captain.' They used often to call upon him, and his kindness to them they never forgot, even in time of war.


Plausawa had a peculiar manner of doubling his lip and producing a very shrill, piercing whistle, which might be heard at a great distance. At a time when considerable danger was apprehended from the Indians Blake went off into the woods alone, though considered hazardous, to look for his cow that was missing. As he was passing along by Sinclair's Brook, an unfrequented place, northerly from McCoy's Mountain, a very loud, sharp whistle, which he knew to be Plausawa's suddenly passed through his head like the report of a pistol. The sudden alarm almost raised him from the ground, and, with a very light step, he soon reached home without his cow. In more peaceable times Plausawa asked him if he did not remember the time, and laughed very much to think how he ran at the fright, and told him the reason for his whistling. `Young Indian,' said he, `put up gun to shoot Englishman; me knock it down and whistle to start you off.’ So lasting is their friendship when treated well. At the close of the wars the Indians built several wigwams near the confluence of Wallace's Brook with the Great Suncook. On a little island in this river, near the place called `Short Falls,' one of them lived for a considerable time. Plausawa and Sabatis were finally both killed in time of peace by one of the whites, after a drunken quarrel, and buried near a certain brook in Boscawen.

 

Samuel Blake was born about 1718 in Hampton, son of John and Mary (Dearborn) Blake. His parents lived on Center Hill, where in May of 1750 the proprietor’s met at the family home. All of John and Mary’s sons lived for a time in Epsom – John, Samuel, Thomas, Dearborn and Benjamin. Samuel was the only son to remain in Epsom, and a sister, Mercy, married about 1756, Samuel Bickford, and also resided in Epsom. Samuel married twice, first to Sarah Libbey, by whom he had the following children: Hepzibah, who married Abraham Wallace of Epsom; Mary, married at Epsom in 1769, Simeon Chapman; Sarah, baptized in 1748, of whom nothing more is known; Samuel, baptized in 1751, and of whom nothing more is known; Mehitable, married a William Moses; and James, born about 1757, probably died young. Samuel’s first wife died, and he married second, about 1760, Sarah Bickford, daughter of Thomas and Esther (Adams) Bickford, and the couple had children: Esther, married at Epsom in 1779, Josiah Knowles; Sarah, baptized in Epsom 1763, married at Epsom in 1787, Jonathan Fellows of Chichester; Abigail, baptized at Epsom in 1766, married at Epsom in 1784, Simeon Locke, son of David and Hannah (Lovering) Locke; Rebecca, baptized at Epsom in 1767 and married at Epsom in 1788, Thomas Lake of Chichester; Mercy, baptized at Epsom in 1770, and married at Epsom in 1795, Joseph Goss; Temperance, baptized at Epsom in 1772, married at Epsom in 1796 a Joseph Knowles; Hannah, born in 1774, married at Epsom in 1795, Robert Lake of Chichester; Samuel, born 1775, married about 1803 a Nancy Griffin; Elizabeth, born at Epsom in 1777, married at Epsom in 1797, John Chesley of Lee; and James (2), born in 1781, married in 1804 at Epsom, Jane Sherburne, daughter of William and Sarah (Muchmore) Sherburne of Epsom.

 

Samuel bought 50 acres on the south side of East Street from William  Haynes of Greenland in 1742, about the time he probably married his first wife. He bought an additional 50 acres from his father, adjoining property in, 1749.  The original farm remained intact with the exception of what became three smaller house lots bordering East Street leading to the entrance to Sanborn Hill Road. One transaction was from Samuel Blake to Amos Morrill in1789, and ten years later in 1799, to John Chesley.

 

Samuel Blake died in 1801, and in his will mentions his widow, and daughters Hepzibah Wallace, Mary Chapman, Mehitable Moses, Esther Knowles, Abigail Locke, Sarah Fellows, Rebecca Lake, Mercy Goss, Temperance Knowles, Hannah Lake and Elizabeth Chesley. His son James was bequeathed money, and the homestead should his brother Samuel decease, or not have any heirs. Son Samuel and his wife Nancy were given the homestead farm and property.

 

Samuel and his wife Nancy lived on the hundred acre homestead with his family which included: Betsey Chesley, born in 1803 and married Samuel Alexander; Sarah F., born in 1805, married in 1827, Samuel Tucke French; Samuel, born 1806, married in 1830, Sophia Farnham; Michael McClary, born 1809, married at Concord in 1833, Ruth Ann Knowles; Nancy, born 1810, married William B. Hurd; Charles William, born 1814, married Sarah W. Griffin; Mary Jane, born about 1816, married Enoch French; James, born 1819, died 1864, unmarried; and Eliphalet Sanborn, born 1821 and went by the name Sanborn Blake, and died unmarried in 1863 at Concord.

 

On June 11, 1823 Samuel Blake put the family farm up for auction, and on July first, deeded ‘all the homestead of the said Blake’ to his sister Elizabeth and her husband, John Chesley. John Chesley married Elizabeth at Epsom on February 23, 1797, and perhaps lived for a time on the lot be bought of his father-in-law Samuel in 1799. The couple had children: John, born 1805, married Joanna Tibbetts; Samuel Morrill, born 1809, married at Epsom in 1827, Sarah Martha Lang, daughter of Bickford and Abigail (Locke) Lang; Elizabeth G., born 1813; Jonathan Steele, born 1816, married October 4, 1840, Abigail Hoyt and resided at Epsom; James Blake, born 1817, married first Mary Jane Lake of Chichester, and second after her death, Georgianna R. Turner;  and Josiah Crosby, born in 1820, married Elmira Wood and resided at Concord, NH.

 

The family homestead passed to John Chesley, son of John and Elizabeth (Blake) Chesley who had married Joanna Tibbetts at Barrington in 1834. The couple had children: Almira Blake, born about 1835, married at Epsom in 1862, Alfred Kimball; Daniel Gilman, born 1837, married at Gilmanton in 1888, Olive Elnora Sanborn; John Augustus, born 1839, died unmarried at Epsom in 1909; Margaret Ann, born 1839, married at Epsom in 1867, Daniel T. Yeaton, and died in 1870; Lizzie Joanna, born about 1843, married at Epsom in 1865, Warren Kimball;  Ellen Frances, born in 1846, died 1850; Lydia Addie, born 1848, married at Haverhill, NH in 1868, Charles W. French; Emma Susan, born 1849, married Orange E. Sackett, resided in Illinois; Edward Munroe, born 1852, married twice; Etta Ornthia, born in 1855, died unmarried in 1878; and Ella Frances, born in 1857, married at Epsom in 1888, Charles W. Martin of Pittsfield.

 

In 1883, John and Joanna deeded the homestead and several additional properties to sons Daniel Gilman and John Augustus. A biography of Daniel G. Chesley appeared in the Merrimack and Sullivan Counties atlas (excerpt):

 

Daniel Gilman Chesley , one of the largest land-owners of Epsom, Merrimack County , was born upon the farm he now occupies, July 2, 1837 , son of John and Joanna (Tibbetts) Chesley . The Chesley family is believed to be of English origin; and the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch was Lemuel Chesley , who resided in Lee, N.H.

His son, John Chesley, Sr. , grandfather of Daniel Gilman , was born in Lee . When a young man he went to Chichester, N.H. , where he learned blacksmithing of James Blake . After his marriage he settled in Epsom and continued to work at his trade for some time. He also followed agricultural pursuits quite extensively in this town, and kept a hotel. He died at the age of sixty years. He married Betsey Blake , sister of James Blake , with whom he served his apprenticeship. Betsey Blake was a daughter of Samuel Blake , one of the first settlers of Epsom , who purchased from the Indians a large tract of land near the centre of the town for the paltry sum of ten shillings, and turned in his jack-knife for one shilling of that sum. Samuel Blake , generally called Sergeant Blake , came to Epsom at the age of fifteen; and several years later his father, Lieutenant Blake , moved into town. In the early days the frontier settlers were kept in a state of almost continual alarm by the incursions of the Indians, whose ferocity and cruelty were doubtless very much averted by friendly conciliating conduct on the part of the white inhabitants toward them. This was particularly the case in the course pursued by Sergeant Blake . Being himself a skilful marksman and an expert hunter, evincing traits of character and abilities in their view of the highest order, he soon gained their respect; and by kind treatment he secured their friendship to such a degree that, though they had opportunities, they would not injure him even in time of war. An industrious pioneer, he cleared and improved a good farm, which is now owned by his descendants, Daniel Gilman Chesley and John Augustus Chesley . John and Betsey (Blake) Chesley had a family of six children; namely, John , Samuel M. , Betsey , Jonathan S. , James B. , and Josiah C. , none of whom are now living. The death of Mrs. Betsey B. Chesley occurred previous to that of her husband.

 

Daniel Gilman Chesley acquired a good education in schools in his native town, in Pittsfield , and Pembroke . After completing his studies, he engaged in educational work, and taught twenty-nine (mostly winter) terms of school in Illinois and New Hampshire. He eventually settled at the homestead, where he now resides; and he devotes his time and attention to the cultivation of his farm with the same energy and perseverance which characterized his ancestors. On November 25, 1888 , Mr. Chesley married Olive Elnora Sanborn , a daughter of Nathan B. and Ruth (Cousens) Sanborn . Her father was a native of Gilmanton, N.H. , the son of Jonathan T. and Hannah (Page) Sanborn ; and his mother was the daughter of Andrew and Elizabeth Page , the latter being a cousin of Daniel Webster , and also related to the Greeley family of which Horace Greeley was a member. Ruth Ann Cousens , a native of Kennebunk, Me. , was a daughter of Jeremiah M. and Eliza (Kimball) Cousens , the former a soldier in the War of 1812 . Olive Elnora Sanborn was born in Thornton, N.H. , where her parents, who were industrious farming people, resided for a period of twelve years, removing then to Gilmanton , where they passed the remainder of their days. Nathan B. Sanborn was identified with public affairs, and served as a Selectman in Thornton . He lived to be seventy years old, and his wife to the age of sixty-six. They had a family of seven children, of whom six are now living. Olive E. (Mrs. Chesley) was the third-born. She was educated in the schools of Gilmanton , graduated from Gilmanton Academy, and became a teacher in the public schools, teaching previous to her marriage twenty-eight terms of school in New Hampshire and Maine . She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. and Mrs. Chesley have three children: Elnora Sanborn , who was born September 1, 1889 ; Mabel Florence , born September 4, 1893 ; and John Gilman , born March 29, 1895 .

In politics Mr. Chesley is a Democrat. He served as Superintendent of Schools for fifteen years, was a member of the School Board six years, was Chairman of the Board of Selectmen for two years, Town Treasurer four years, and Town Clerk two years. He has also held other offices and is now Auditor. He stands high in the estimation of his fellow-townsmen, who regard him as one of the most upright, conscientious, and worthy of citizens.


By deed of John Gilman Chesley in 1922 (brother) and inheritance, the homestead and property were owned by Eleanora (Chesley) Nutter. Eleanora Sanborn Chesley married in 1918, Lewis Harvey Nutter. She wrote a history of the family and the homestead for the Epsom Historical Association in 1970 and is as follows: 

Epsom was incorporated May 18, 1727. Although my house is not one of the oldest in town, it was built by one of the earliest settlers. Samuel Blake is reported to have come to Epsom in 1733 as a boy of 15. His father, John Blake, was one of the 20 proprietors whose requirement was to build a house and plant or sow 3 acres on each home lot, so called. Apparently there was no requirement as to length of their stay. Until the close of the French and Indian Wars, about 1749-50, probably no great attempt was made a permanent settlement.

A meeting of the proprietors was held in 1743 but these meetings were not necessarily held in their township. The early settlers spent the warm months of the year on their Epsom acreage and returned to their former homes in Rye, Greenland or other towns for the winter.


In 1749 John Blake deeded to his son Samuel Lot #10 of the Home Lots. Samuel also owned Lot # 9 as a later deed for the property showed. {Actual lots 13 & 14} These two 50 acres lots were laid out in 1732. They were bounded on the north by that part of the Center road known as West Street, and extended in a southerly direction 160 rods up Sanborn Hill to land of Charles McCoy, an early settler. He sold his land in 1760 to Reuben and Eliphalet Sanborn and it has been in possession of the Sanborn family until recent years. This is how Sanborn Hill got its name. There was an early house on one of these lots on the Center Road at the corner of the old Sanborn Hill Road. This may have been the home of Samuel’s older brother John.


Samuel was married in 1743 and probably about that time built his house on the location where my present house stands.


He was a friend to the Indians and in fact paid them for the land he had already been granted. The price was ten shillings but for one of these shilling he gave them his knife which they had much admired. So the story had always been told that he bought his 100 acre farm from the Indians for 9 shillings and a jack-knife. He also invited the Indians into his house to partake of meat roasted in the fireplace, which pleased them very much. Once when he was searching for his wandering cow, one of his Indian friends warned him of the presence of Indians of an unfriendly tribe so that he was able to return home safely.


The first house was destroyed by fire. Evidence of the fire remained for many years as one of the young Lombardy poplars in front of the house was badly burned. These trees had been brought from England and lived to grow to great size, and were finally blown over by strong winds when about 150 years old. The fire burned one of them but it still grew with deep indentations in its trunk. In later years its girth going in and out of the indentations was 28 feet.The present house was built soon after the American Revolution, 1784. Its Colonial style is very similar to that of the one built on the Parsonage Lot on Center Hill about the same time, now the home of Mr. Hughes, also the Sanborn House, now the home of Dr. Clark.


The foundation of the house is of granite, the great blocks having been hauled from the quarries in Hooksett and Allenstown by ox teams. The house was built facing the Center Road with the end and side entrance facing the old Sanborn Hill road. The road we now use was built many years later, about 1847, as the town had grown in the direction of the village on the new turnpike road. This was shorter and avoided the steeper hills.

Lumber for the house was no doubt cut on the farm and sawed in the mill of which Samuel Blake was part owner. Supporting timbers were hand hewn. The large central chimney rests on a great pile of rocks in the middle of the cellar. Rocks were no problem to obtain as every hillside farm had them in abundance as is evidenced by the miles of stone walls all over the countryside, and the rock piles which were enlarged year after year by rocks picked up from the filed as they were prepared for cultivation. Another method of disposing of large rocks was to sink them by digging a hole at the side and tipping them over into it. Even so, many extra large rocks were left in the fields, which interfere greatly with present day machine work. To return to the chimney, it was built with five flues to serve five fireplaces, two of them in the front upstairs rooms. The one in the main room served as kitchen, dining room and living room is large enough to accommodate a 4-foot cordwood stick. It also has a brick oven and ash pit. There are 9 rooms in the main house with a large open chamber and full size attic. The present ell was added nearly 100 years later to replace a small summer kitchen. The rooms are large (15 by 16) to provide for the large families of those times. Samuel Blake had 19 children. The flooring is of wide boards. The boards in the main room are 20 feet long. All of the downstairs doors are of the Christian type except for one narrow cupboard. All doors had latches.


The upstairs rooms were not completely finished off until Civil War times when it was easy to obtain competent labor from skilled artisans, men working their way to Canada to escape the draft. It may have been at this time that the windows with small panes were replaced with four pane windows. Four of the original windows were left in the attic, two at each end.


Other changes to modernize the house have been the removal of corner posts in the east front room or parlor, changing of several latches to doorknobs, and papering over wide paneling. All of the fireplaces were bricked up. We have opened two of them and probably will open the others. Seven generations have enjoyed the privilege of living in this old house. If the walls could talk, what interesting stories they might tell!!

 

Lewis Harvey Nutter died in 1948, his wife in 1975.

 



Weeks – Langley House

 

One of the three small lots that were part of lot 13 belonging to Samuel Blake, was sold by Blake in 1789 to Amos Morrill of Epsom. Morrill earned fame at the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Revolution and became a buyer and seller of property in Epsom. He moved his family to St. Alban’s Vermont about 1791, selling this three acre lot to his son Theophilus of St. Alban’s in 1798. The deed does not mention any buildings, and at some point was sold to Jonathan Locke who sold the land to joiner James Marden in 1802. Still with no mention of any house, Marden sold out to Caleb Haynes in 1811. Caleb apparently built a house on the three acres, and sold half of the land and half of the buildings to Jeremiah Prescott III of Epsom in 1815, and the other half to Thomas D. Merrill in 1816. By a quitclaim deed of 1815, Jeremiah Prescott again owned the property, and sold the buildings and land to James and Samuel Weeks of Epsom, tanners, in1824. The following year James sold his half to his brother Samuel.

 

James and Samuel Weeks were sons of John and Susannah Abbott Weeks who resided in Concord. James married Mary Locke on February 19, 1822 at Epsom, she being the daughter of Jonathan and Alice (Pearson) Locke of Epsom. James and his wife removed to Concord where his wife died and he married second after 1846, Hannah McCrillis, daughter of William and Hannah (Brown) McCrillis, also of Epsom.

 

Samuel Weeks married at Epsom in 1824, Betsey Heath, daughter of Capt. Simon A. and Elizabeth (McClary) Heath. Their family included: Simon Ames H., born 1825, married at Pembroke in 1863, Susan A. Goss, daughter of Nathan and Dolly (Grant) Goss; Elizabeth Ann, born 1827 and of which nothing more is known; Mary Jane, born about 1829, married Daniel B. Fuller in 1852; John M., born in 1831, married at Pembroke in 1854, Abby M. Chapman, daughter of Samuel T. and Deborah (Dow) Chapman of Epsom, resided at New Rye; Harriet Abigail, born about 1833, died unmarried in 1855; George E., born in 1837, died in 1839; William Henry, born in 1839, married Charlotte E. Shepard and died at Washington, D.C. in 1871, a veteran of the Civil War; Rachel, born about 1842 and of which nothing more is known; and Andrew McClary, born 1843, died of wounds sustained in the Civil War, April 21, 1864. Samuel’s wife died in 1853, and Samuel married the widow of George Benson Ham, Olive Ann (Bickford) about 1856, having a daughter Eva Ann born in 1858, and who died the following year.

 

Samuel and Betsey raised their family at their homestead where he resided until his death in 1878. His son, Simon Ames H. Weeks and his wife Susan inherited the home, and Simon died just three years later. Martin H. Cochran of Pembroke was the administrator of the estate and sold the homestead at auction to the widow Susan. For a decade Susan owned the home, selling what was now two tracts of about 18 acres, to Josiah D. Langley in March of 1892. She died the following December.

 

Josiah D. Langley made his home across the street from the old Week’s homestead, and sold the house and land to his son Josiah T. Langley of Manchester. Josiah True Langley was living in Manchester where he was a successful photographer, and apparently used the house summers.  Josiah married in 1891 at Harrisville, NH, Kate Townsend, and the couple had two daughters; Grace Evangeline and Florence Isabel, both born in Manchester. Josiah died in 1916 and that year his widow Kate sold the homestead to Timothy Bryant Langley, younger brother to her late husband.

 

 

SARAH BUNKER HOUSE

 

The middle house of the three at the bottom of Center Hill Road is difficult to trace. It appears that James Weeks mortgaged the lot ‘beginning on the main road at the northwesterly corner of land owned by Samuel Weeks, and running westerly on said main road to land owned by Jeremiah Prescott’ to Thomas D. Merrill in 1826. There were no buildings mentioned and perhaps James Weeks built a house about this time. Merrill sold the one and a quarter acre lot with buildings to William Rand of Portsmouth in 1852. John Chesley sold William an additional 2 acres in 1852, probably part of that Samuel Blake property he bought in 1799, or perhaps a portion of his homestead. Ten years later, Hall B. Rand of Portsmouth sold to Uriah Hall Junior of Epsom, ‘land with buildings, bounded northerly by the main road leading to Deerfield, southwesterly by the New road, so called, southeasterly by land of John Chesley and Lemuel Hall, being the same land now occupied by Uriah Hall, containing two and one half acres, being the same conveyed to William Rand by John Chesley in 1852 and by Merrill, and the land bequeathed to me in the will of William Rand.’ On the 1858 map this middle house is shown as belonging to J. Chesley, with Samuel Weeks to the east and Uriah Hall to the west. William Rand was a son of Tobias Trundy and Mary Stockbridge (Lear) Rand of Allenstown, born about 1810 and died unmarried at Portsmouth in 1860. Hall Burgin Rand was his brother, and his sister Olive was the wife of Uriah Hall, and mother to Uriah Hall Junior.

 

Hall B. Rand sold the premises to John D. Dow of Epsom, February 26, 1865, and after just over a year later, the Dow’s sold the property to Elbridge G. Batchelder. Batchelder was born in 1844, and married about 1865, Vienna Ramsey Yeaton, daughter of John and Sarah (Bickford) Yeaton. Elbridge and his wife had two children which they raised in their new home: George Elmore, born in 1866 and married in 1888, Nettie Alice Stewart, daughter of Alanson and Mary A. (Carleton) Stewart; and Edith G., born 1872, married at Epsom in 1897, Ansel Clough Heath, son of Christopher S. and Rosilla Winslow (Clough) Heath of Epsom. Elbridge G. Batchelder died in 1884, and his wife’s brother Daniel Yeaton was the administrator of his estate, selling the premises to James Yeaton, who turned the property over to the widow Vienna Batchelder the same day. She is shown as the occupant in 1892, and she and her children sold the homestead to James V. Bunker of Epsom in 1901. James Van D. Bunker was from Barnstead, and married there in 1886, Sarah Mehitable Swain, daughter of Elbridge Lyman and Hannah Plummer (Cilley) Swain, the couple having one son, Edwin Lawrence, born 1886 who married first in 1910, Mary Ida Stevens, and second, the widow of Harvey J. Wells, Loella May Marden. James Van D. Bunker died in 1928, and his widow Sarah sold the property to Percy E. Hall of Epsom in 1930. Hall sold out in 1937. The house is no longer standing, but the barn remains.

 



JOSIAH DOW LANGLEY HOUSE

 

Zachariah Berry drew this lot, but the list of those to draw the additional out lots, was Samuel Libbey. Deeds show that home lot No. 8 was sold in 1737 to Richard Sanborn by Jethro Goss who seems to have received the lot as an original proprietor for settling the town. Sanborn also bought the adjoining home lot # 9 and sold the two to Samuel and John Libbey. By a special agreement, it was decided that Samuel Libbey reside on lot No. 8, and indeed resided there for a time. Samuel and his second wife Peneolpe sold it to Isaac Libbey in 1759 including a house and barn. Isaac Libbey was one of the original members of the Epsom Church, and for a time his son Isaac Jr., who resided on the homestead, and son, Reuben who had a child baptized in Epsom in 1762 were all in town. Isaac Jr. had a large family with 8 children from his first marriage, and six more with his second. The first child with his second wife was Nathan, who by deed inherited the homestead in 1790. Probably being of ill health, he made a will in 1813, leaving the homestead to his son Nathan when he reached 21, at which time his wife would own one third. After the death of Nathan in 1814, the property began to be divided, and by 1830 was in the hands of John and Martha Marshall. Andrew McClary Heath moved from Echo Valley to the home in 1855.

 

Andrew M. Heath was born in 1810, his parents were Capt. Simon A. and Elizabeth (McClary) Heath. He married at Epsom in 1832 Jane Cram Cass, daughter of Levi and Mehitable (Osgood) Cass. They had a daughter, Rebecca J. born in 1834, who first married Henry C. Tarlton in 1853, and about 1858, William Pickering Babb. In 1860, Andrew sold the property to his daughter Rebecca. William P. Babb and Rebecca had children: Charles W., born 1859, married at Pittsfield in 1886, Susie E. Garland;  Annette, born 1861, died 1862; Grace May, born 1869, married at Pittsfield in 1896, Eugene P. Hill; and Elbra A., born 1872, married at Epsom in 1901, Everett A. Dow.

 

William and Rebecca moved to North Road, selling the home in 1864 to Josiah D. Langley. Josiah was born in 1832 at Deerfield to True and Mehitable (Dow) Langley. He married at Epsom in 1852, Elma Jane Locke, daughter of Major Thomas D. Merrill and Eliza J. (Cass) Locke. He bought homes on Mountain Road and in the Mountain District before settling in this home. His family included: Charles A. born 1853, married Lettie Nichols; Josiah True, born 1856, married at Harrisville, NH in 1891, Kate Townsend, resided Manchester; Eliza J., born 1860, died 1866; Emma B., born 1863, married Charles E. Roberts and Charles H. Swan; Maurice L., born 1868, married at Manchester in 1892, Amanda Little; Hettie E., born 1872, died unmarried in 1955; Timothy Bryant, born 1873, married first Bertha T. Cotterell, and second, Laura A. Haynes, widow of Alonzo Batchelder; and Nellie, born 1876, married about 1903, William E. Wallace. The property was later owned by George and Madeline Knowles.

 



Stone – Kelley House

 

The first family to occupy the third lot at the bottom of Sanborn Hill Road, and the one property that borders the road, was that of Uriah Hall. In several printed genealogies he is misidentified. He was the son of Uriah and Hannah (Shattuck) of Brookline, New Hampshire, and came to Epsom with his brother Benjamin, both being coopers. Uriah married about 1825, Olive Rand, born in Epsom and raised in Allenstown, the daughter of Tobias Trundy and Mary Stockbridge (Lear) Rand. They arrived in Epsom about the time of their marriage and appear in town as seen in the 1830 US census. They are taxed in 1850 for a single acre, and from 1855 to 1859, three acres. There are no deeds for when the property was purchased, and is shown only in 1865 when it is mortgaged by a daughter, Elizabeth C. Libbey, wife of Alvin H. Libbey, whom she married in 1861. The deed describes the property as on the corner of Sanborn Hill Road and main road through Epsom. Her brother Uriah G. appears to own the lot when it is deeded to his sister Elizabeth.

 

Uriah and his wife Olive had the following children: William, born about 1829, married a Sarah A. Wyman and resided in Massachusetts; Lemuel, born 1830, married about 1856, Betsey Caroline Langley, daughter of True and Mehitable (Dow) Langley, and they resided in Epsom where he died in 1866; Mary A., born about 1833, died unmarried in 1896; Uriah G., born 1839, married at Laconia in 1864, Addie V. Lamprey;  Lucinda, born about 1841, married at Deerfield in 1859, John Robinson Dow of Epsom; Sarah B. born 1844, married in 1867 at Manchester, James P. Ordway; Elizabeth, born about 1846, married Alvin H. Libby at Manchester in 1861; and Charles Walker, born 1849, married Lorinda Ann McIntire in 1872. Uriah died in 1875, his wife Olive in 1864. The family is seen at this home on the map of 1858.

 

The next occupant of the lot was George W. Ham, whose name appears at this house in 1892. He was born in Epsom in 1832, son of George Benson and Olive Ann (Bickford) Ham. He married about 1852, Mary P. Marden, daughter of William and Elizabeth (Ellsworth) Marden. The couple had children: Frank P.; Clara; Charles E.; George Walter; and twins Edward Ellsworth and Everett Elmer. His wife Mary died in 1862. There is a marriage record of a George W. Ham to a Nancy F. Marden in Pittsfield a month later, but cannot be attributed to this George W. Ham. He did marry on July 27, 1878, Myra (aka Almira) Yeaton, daughter of John and Lucretia G. (McDaniel) Yeaton. She previously was the wife of Henry W. Sherburne, and had a son, Stillman E. Sherburne. She married second, a Mr. Gilbert before her third marriage to George W. Ham. The house and lot passed to Stillman E. Sherburne, who married before 1880, Clara Alton, and they had three children: Harry Eugene, born in 1880, married Lottie Allen; Grace Belle, born 1882, married at Epsom in 1917,

Arthur Stone, who died in 1924; and Arthur, born in 1887 and married at Chichester in 1911, Hazel V. Bailey.

 

Harry E. Sherburne owned the property by 1919 when he sold the homestead to his sister Grace B. Stone, being ‘the same obtained from his grandmother, Mrs. Elmira Ham by will about September 1886.’ She never married after the death of her husband. They had one daughter.

 

Charles McCoy

 

What little is known of the McCoy family comes from just a few sources, and the lack of vital records make tracing the complete family impossible. From the few articles about them, their time in Epsom can be documented. Once the family leaves Epsom in 1760 there are more questions than data to track the descendants.

Charles McCoy of Londonderry, farmer, bought 20 acres of land in Chester from Nathaniel Ordway in 1728. and sells the same 20 acres to Jonathan Goodhue on June 10, 1730.

 

An article by Bryon Moore in the Granite Monthly magazine and the Curtis history of Epsom, place Charles McCoy in Epsom by deed in 1735, buying land of Joseph Simpson, lot 63 of about 130 acres. The articles do not mention that Charles McCoy was in Epsom in 1733, and perhaps earlier following his selling of his home in Chester. There were no other settlers in Epsom at this time as the land was still being surveyed. This is shown by the following 'warning out of town.'

 

Prov of New Hampshire

To Paul Chapman, Constable

Whereas information is come to us that Mr. Charles McCoy hath come into our town of Epsom to settle without our leave__ __ to order you the Constable to go and warn him the said Charles McCoy out of the town and order him go withdrawn out of the town in fourteen days of otherwise he will be treated as the law directs and proceed in such causes hereof __ not and make return of your doing, herein to us the Selectmen. Dated at Epsom June 26th 1733.

Richard Goss, Thos Berry, John Wilson

 

Prov. Of New Hampshire

Epsom June ye 27th, 1733

According to ye contents within mentioned of this precept I have warned ye said Charles McCoy to move and depart out of the said town of Epsom. - Paul Chapman, Constable.

 

His family consisted of his first wife Mary and at least son John and daughter Mary. By the time his second wife Isabella was captured by the Indians in 1747 there were other children, though unnamed. At the time of the capture most residents left Epsom, as did probably the rest of the McCoy family, their home having been burnt to the ground. Isabella returned but probably died  while the family was in Hampton where Charles married his third wife, another Mary. The capture of his wife by the Indian's was first written  down by Reverend Jonathan Curtis in his Epsom history published in 1823. At the time he wrote the article, Charles McCoy’s daughter Mary, who had married James Wood, was still living, giving Curtis access to a first hand account of the incident:

 

CAPTIVITY OF MRS. MCCOY

 

The Indians were first attracted to the new settlements in the town by discovering McCoy at Suncook, now Pembroke. This, as nearly as can be ascertained, was in the year 1747. Reports were spread of the depredations of the Indians in various places; and McCoy had heard that they had been seen lurking about the woods at Penacook, now Concord. He went as far as Pembroke; ascertained that they were in the vicinity; was somewhere discovered by them and followed home. They told his wife, whom they afterwards made prisoner, that they looked through cracks around the house, and saw what they had for supper that night. They however did not discover themselves till the second day afterwards. They probably wished to take a little time to learn the strength and preparation of the inhabitants. The next day Mrs. McCoy, attended by their two dogs, went down to see if any of the other families had returned from the garrison. She found no one. On her return, as she was passing the block-house, which stood near the present site of the meeting house, the dogs, which had passed around it, came running back growling and very much excited. Their appearance induced her to make the best of her way home. The Indians afterwards told her that they then lay concealed there and saw the dogs when they came around.

 

McCoy, being now strongly suspicious that the Indians were actually in town, determined to set off the next day with his family for the garrison at Nottingham. His family now consisted of himself, his wife and son John. The younger children were still at the garrison. They accordingly secured their house as well as they could, and all set off next morning: -McCoy and his son with their guns, though without ammunition, having fired away what they brought with them in hunting.

 

As they were travelling a little distance East of the place where the meeting house now stands, Mrs. McCoy fell a little in the rear of the others. This circumstance gave the Indians a favorable opportunity for separating her from her husband and son. The Indians, three men and a boy, lay in ambush near the foot of Marden's hill, not far from the junction of the mountain road with the main road. Here they suffered McCoy and son to pass; but as his wife was passing them they reached from the bushes, and took hold of her, charging her to make no noise, and covering her  mouth with their hands, as she cried to her husband for assistance. Her husband, hearing her cries, turned, and was bout coming to her relief. But he no sooner began to advance, than the Indians, expecting probably that he would fire upon them, began to raise their pieces, which she pushed one side, and motioned to her friends to make their escape, knowing that they would doubtless be killed if they approached. They accordingly ran into the woods and made their escape to the garrison. This took place August 21, 1747.

 

The Indians collected together what booty they could obtain, which consisted of an iron trammel, from Mr. George Wallace's; the apples of the only tree which bore in town, which was in the orchard now owned by Mr. David Griffin, and some other trifling articles, and prepared to set off with their prisoner for Canada.

 

Before they took their departure, they conveyed Mrs. McCoy to a place near the little Suncook river, where they left her in the care of the young Indian, while the three men, whose names were afterwards ascertained to be Plausawa (1), Sabatis and Christ!, went away, and were for some time absent. During their absence, Mrs. McCoy thought of attempting to make her escape. She saw opportunities, when she thought she might despatch the young Indian with the trummel, which, with other things was left with them, and thus perhaps avoid some strange and barbarous death, or a long and distressing captivity. But, on the other hand, she knew not at what distance the others were. If she attempted to kill her young keeper, she might fail. If she effected her purpose in this, she might be pursued and overtaken by a cruel and revengeful foe, and then some dreadful death would be her certain portion. On the whole, she thought best to endeavor to prepare her mind to bear what might be no more , than a period of savage captivity. Soon, however , the Indians returned, and put an end for the present to all thoughts of escape. From the direction in which they went and returned, and from their smutty appearance, she suspected what their business had been. She told them "she guessed they had been burning her house." Plausawa, who could speak some broken English, informed her they had. They now commenced their long and tedious journey to Canada, in which the poor captive might well expect that great and complicated suffering would be her lot. She did indeed find the journey fatiguing and her fare scant and precarious. But, in her treatment from the Indians, she experienced a very agreeable disappointment. The kindness she received from them was far greater then she had expected from those who were so often distinguished for their cruelties. The apples they had gathered they saved for her, giving her one every day. In this way they lasted her as far on the way as Lake Champlain. They gave her the last, as they were crossing that lake in their canoes. This circumstance gave to the tree on which the apples grew the name of "Isabella's tree," her name being Isabella. In many ways did they appear desirous of mitigating the distresses of their prisoner while on their tedious journey. When night came on, and they halted to repose themselves in the dark wilderness, Plausawa, the head man would make a little couch in the leaves a little way from theirs, cover her up with his own blanket; and there she was suffered to sleep undisturbed till morning. When they came to a river, which must be forded, one of them would carry her over on his back. Nothing like insult or indecency did they ever offer her during the whole time she was with them.. They carried her to Canada, and sold her as a servant to a French family, whence, at the close of that war, she returned home. But so comfortable was her condition there, and her husband being a man of rather a rough and violent temper, she declared she never should have thought of attempting the journey home, were it not for the sake of her children.

 

After the capture of Mrs. McCoy, the Indians frequently visited the town but never committed any very great depredations. The greatest damage they ever did to the property of the inhabitants was the spoiling of all the ox-teams in town. At the time referred to, there were but four yoke of oxen in the place, viz. McCoy's, Captain McClary's, George Wallace's, and Lieutenant Blake's. It was a time of apprehension from the Indians; and the inhabitants had therefore all fled to the garrison at Nottingham. They left their oxen to graze about the woods, with a bell upon one of them. The Indians found them; shot one out of each yoke; took out their tongues, made prize of the bell and left them.

 

The ferocity and cruelty of the savages were doubtless very much averted by a friendly, conciliating course of conduct in the inhabitants towards them. This was particularly the case in the course pursued by Sergeant Blake. Being himself a curious marksman and an expert hunter, traits of character in their view of the highest order, he soon secured their respect; and, by a course of kind treatment, he secured their friendship to such a degree, that though they had opportunities, they would not injure him even in time of war.

 

The first he ever saw of them was a company of them making towards his house, through the opening from the top of Sanborn's hill. He fled to the woods and there lay concealed, till they had made a thorough search about his house and enclosures, and had gone off. The next time his visitors came he was constrained to become more acquainted with them and to treat them with more attention. As he was busily engaged towards the close of the day in completing a yard for his cow, the declining sun suddenly threw a long several enormous shadows on the ground before him. He had no sooner turned to see the cause, than he found himself in the company of a number of stately Indians. Seeing his perturbation, they patted him on the head and told him "not to be afraid, for they would not hurt him." They then went with him into his house; and their first business was to search all his bottles to see if he had any "occapee," rum. They then told him they were very hungry, and wanted something to eat. He happened to have a quarter of a bear which he gave them. They took it and threw it whole upon the fire, and very soon began to cut and eat from it half raw. While they were eating, he employed himself in cutting pieces from it and broiling upon a stick for them, which please them very much. After their repast, they wished for the privilege of lying by his fire through the night, which he granted. The next morning, they proposed trying skill with him in firing at a mark. To his he acceded. But in this, finding themselves outdone, they were much astonished and chagrined; nevertheless they highly commended him for his skill, patting himon the head and telling him "if he would go off with them, they would make him their big captain." They used often to call upon him, and his kindness to them they never forgot even in time of war.

 

Plausawa had a peculiar manner of doubling his lip and producing a very shrill piercing whistle, which might be heard a great distance. At a time when considerable danger was apprehended from the Indians, Blake went off into the woods alone, though considered hazardous, to look for his cow that was missing. As he was passing along by Sinclair's brook, an unfrequented place, northerly from McCoy's mountain; a very loud sharp whistle, which he knew to be Plausawa's suddenly passed through his head like the report of a pistol. The sudden alarm almost raised him from the ground; and, with a very light step, he soon reached home without his cow. In more peaceable times, Plausawa asked him if he did not remember the time, and laughed very much to think how he ran at the fright, and told him the reason for his whistling. "Young Indian," said he, "put up gun to shoot Englishman. Me knock it down, and whistle to start you off." So lasting is their friendship, when treated well. At the close of the wars the Indians built several wigwams near the confluence of Wallace's brook with the Great Suncook. On a little island in this river, near the place called "Short Falls," one of them lived for considerable time. Plausawa and Sabatis were finally both killed in time of peace by one of the whites after a drunken quarrel and buried near a certain brook in Boscawen.

 

The capture can be verified by Charles McCoy’s petition to the Governor.

 

1747

Province of New Hampshire

To his Excellency Benning Wentworth Esq. Captain General Governor and Commander in Chief in and over his Majesties Province of New Hampshire. To the Honorable his Majesties Council for said province and the House of Representatives in General Assembly convened.

The Memorial and Petition of Charles McCoy of Epsom, in said Province, most humbly shews, that on or about the twenty-first day of August last, his wife was taken by the Indian enemy and either killed or carried away captive, and his house burnt. That there is no garrison nor soldiers there, that your petitioner begs he may have some guard to go with him and take care of his cattle and field there as your Excellency and Honor shall judge necessary. his Charles [x] McCoy mark

 

According to History of Manchester, 27 men were sent to Epsom under Capt. Joseph Thomas to 'take care of the cattle and fields' of the petitioner. The property was secured and they scouted a fortnight from Epsom through Nottingham and Durham, but did not meet with the enemy.

 

The McCoy's were back in Epsom by 1752 when Charles deeded land to sons Nathaniel and Francis. In 1759 he petitioned for a tavern in Epsom:

 

1759, January 31 

Province of New Hampshire. Epsom. To the Honorable his Majesties Judges of the Superior Court of Common Pleas or Judges of serious or others whom it may concern of granting of licenses for keeping on Taverns and Houses of Publick Entertainment in said province.

The humble petition of Charles M'coy of Epsom aforesaid, yeoman humbly sheweths that your petitioner living at Epsom aforesaid near the Publick Road leading from Nottingham East to Bow the distance between which 2 places is upwards of sixteen miles and no place of public entertainment between them, whereby several persons have suffered for want of some the refreshment, Your Petitioner therefore as his request and desire of several persons who have hereunto subscribed their names and others humbly request your Honours, he may have and that you would release to grant him a license to keep a Tavern or place of Publick Entertainment for all sorts of sociable liquors and ___ at his house in Epsom aforesaid, and that he will be bound as other Inn Holders are to pay, exercise and observe all other duties as required by law in such cases and said petitioner will ever pray &c. Charles McCoy, Ephraim Locke, Samuel Blake.

 

Son John apparently married and moved to Durham. John had a daughter baptized in Epsom while living in Hampton - Baptized in the year 1760 & on Sept. 10: Elizabeth, ye daughter of John Mac'coy, Baptized at Epsom.

 

He appears on the following list for 1760 in what is now Durham - "Ministers Counterpein for the year 1760" in the possession of S. H. Shackford, Esq., of Boston, which gives the names of those then living on the "North Side" of Oyster River.”  Son Francis was old enough to be involved in land transactions in 1752 and 1754. In 1760 he buys land in Bow.

 

Son Nathaniel seems to disappear after 1761 when he sells land in Bow to John Noyes which he had bought from him the previous year. The only other references to Nathaniel include two newspaper items. The first places him in Epsom in 1758:

 

April 1, 1758

Whereas Anna my wife, has eloped from me her lawful husband, Nathaniel McCoy of Epsom, in the province of New Hampshire, and refuses to live with me, as an obedient wife, agreeable to the Marriage Contract; This is to desire that no person would entertain, or trust her upon my account; for that I will not pay any debts she shall contract from the date hereof. But in case she repents her Evil Eaus, and will return to me, and behave as a loving obedient wife ought to do, she shall be kindly received and tenderly treated without any upraidings of her former misconduct, from her truly affectionate and loving husband. April 1, 1758 Nathaniel McCoy.

 

And the following from 1760:

 

From the Portsmouth Gazette, July 11, 1760

A RETURN OF MEN INLISTED BY Captain Alexander McNutt in the Province of New Hampshire, for the total Reduction of CANADA, who have declined appearing at the Place of Rendezvous.

Men's Names Places of Residence

Nathaniel McCoy Epsom, NH.

 

Dolbeer in his history of Epsom also relates the following:

 

Nat's Mountain is situated about half a mile south of the last-mentioned one (McCoy's Mountain). It was so named from the circumstances that Nathaniel, one of McCoy's children, who had been lost in the woods while searching for the cows, was found upon it. It is said he was absent several days, and subsisted during that time upon berries; and that, when first discovered, he was disposed to flee from those who came to his relief.

 

Daughter Mary remained in Epsom having married James Wood, his parentage unknown. Their children appear in the church baptism records, including James, Isabel, Joseph, Mary and Betsey. The last listed as a child of the 'wido' Wood, as apparently James had died by 1768. Note that one girl is named Isabel.

 

A timeline would indicate that these children were all from Charles's first marriage. It would also appear that Charles and his third wife, Mary Moulton, had a son Charles born about 1753, though no official record could be found. The marriage record is quoted in the Boston Transcript article as Feb. 10, 1752, Mary Moulton of Hampton Falls to Charles McCoy of Epsom. The article surmises that this marriage may be of a son Charles, but based on census records and deeds, it would appear the marriage was indeed the third for Charles McCoy of Epsom. Charles McCoy and sons sell their Epsom land to the Sanborns' in 1760, with his wife Mary giving up her right of dower.

 

There is little information on Charles McCoy once he and his family leave Epsom. He appears in Chester in 1762 when he sells land there to Elizabeth Bunton, being his house and barn, land he bought of Robert Bunton, deceased in 1760. Four days later he purchases land in Starkstown, alias Suncook, 30 acres from Patrick Gault. Only months later, in December of 1762, he sells his house and 30 acres to John Noyes of Pembroke. Starkstown becomes Dunbarton, and Charles and Mary McCoy sell 100 acres there to son Francis in 1772. By 1789 Charles appears in Allenstown, selling, along with wife Mary, 26 acres, the 'farm on which I now live' to the Selectmen of the town.

 

When the McCoy's left Epsom in 1760, there were also several land transactions by two sons of Charles and his first wife Mary. John Noyes sold land in Bow to Francis McCoy in 1760, and in 1761, Nathaniel McCoy sold 18 acres of land in Bow to John Noyes of Pembroke. Francis sells 48 acres of land in Bow he bought of Major John Noyes. In 1772, Francis buys land in Dunbarton from his parents, Charles and Mary in 1772. Additionally that same year Francis buys land in Allenstown and Nathan Noyes sells to Francis McCoy of Allenstown, land in Dunbarton 'adjoining McCoy's fence.' One witness to the later purchase was a James McCoy. It is probably this land that the son's of Francis, Jonathan, Daniel and Stephen, sell 'our right to our father Francis McCoy's estate late of Dunbarton' to James Moore of Dunbarton.

 

There is no additional information on Nathaniel or his wife Anna following the deed of 1761. From the son's of Francis' deed to James Moore, it can be established Francis died about 1783. The three sons on the deed are the only known sons.

 

No family has been found for Jonathan, but an announcement of his death appeared in the NH Gazette of June 5, 1849 giving his death in Bow at age 97. This would put his birth as about 1752. There is a Revolutionary War pension file for Jonathan where he is in Allenstown in 1818, and in Bow in 1820 when he states he has no wife, but two children, Daniel, age 16 and John aged 14. No property or income.

 

Son Stephen resided in Bow and is shown in the 1840 census in Bow as a Revolutionary Soldier, age 81, which would put his birth as about 1759. He is probably the Stephen found in the US Census in Bow 1810 to 1830. Bow also shows in 1841, paupers, Stephen, Abigail, Sarah, Elizabeth and John M'Coy. Other than the 1783 deed, there is no additional information on Daniel, the third son of Francis. There is no record of a spouse for Francis. Stephen also had a Revolutionary War pension file and the 1820 file gives a wife with no name aged 45 years, and children Deborah 15; John, 13; (Abigail?) 11; Moses, 9; Sarah, 5; and Elizabeth, 4 months. In later papers he has a wife Rachel who gives a marriage date (also in NHVR where her maiden name is given as Welch) of Jan. 20, 1820 in Bow, thus being his second wife. This would place daughter Elizabeth as daughter of Stephen and Rachel. She also states that Stephen McCoy died in Bow March 3, 1846. His original request for a pension in 1818 gives his age as 57. When the McCoy's left Epsom in 1760, Charles and his third wife Mary, along with their son Charles, moved to Allenstown and Chester. Along with them were the sons of his first marriage, Nathaniel and Francis. Nathaniel disappears from the records, but Francis appears to have moved to Dunbarton and had at least three sons, Jonathan, Daniel and Stephen.

 

Of the known family of Charles McCoy of Epsom, is the eldest son, John. He is the only other named member of the family in the account of the capture of Charles McCoy's second wife, Isabella. After the capture and the burning of his house, the McCoy's may have moved to the Hampton/Hampton Falls area where Charles married his third wife, Mary Moulton in 1752. They were back in Epsom by 1759 when Charles petitions for a tavern in Epsom. Son John meanwhile may have remained in Hampton for a while where vital records give the baptism of a daughter Elizabeth 'in Epsom' in 1760. This same time period a John McCoy is in Oyster River, and in 1761, Jeremiah Elkins of Epping sells land to John McCoy of Durham, 25 acres in Nottingham, part of lot 45 on Winter Street.

 

John married a Margery unknown and had a fairly large family. He died about 1789, and Rockingham deeds of that year show a number his children deeding to their mother, the land that Elkins sold to John McCoy. They include John, Phebe (Hill), Margery (Leathers), Lois (Emerson) and Hannah (Libbey); Paul of Boscawen and Mary (Sawyer) of Barrington.; and where Margery sells land to Vowell Leathers, reserving shares of three children, Paul, Charles and Mary Sawyer.

 

There are virtually no vital records or burials for any of the children of John and Margery. What few records that exist are a few dates, a couple of probate pieces and Revolutionary War records. Only Paul and Charles appear in any census records, and those of Charles do not match what is known of the family, and no children of Paul have been found. Charles signed the Association Test in Nottingham (the Charles McCoy that served in the Revolution was the Charles of Allenstown/Pembroke/Suncook). Brother John and Paul joined the fight and are found in the war records in the NH State Papers. John served on the Frigate Raleigh and applied for several pensions.

 

What happened to Paul McCoy remains a bit of a mystery. There is a Revolutionary War pension for Paul McCoy of Col. Cilley's NH line of Salem, NY in 1818 with a supporting document from a John McCoy (no relationship given), and in 1820, in subsequent documents, of Galway, NY with a wife age 65 and one son. The file is transferred in 1832 to Whatley, MA, where Paul had been a resident 6 years, with his previous residence 'Gallaway', New York, where he appears in the 1820 census. Papers indicate that a Daniel McCoy is his guardian as Paul is no longer mentally able. Massachusetts vital records show a Paul McCoy died Jan. 2, 1842 in Plainfield at age 85.

 

Charles McCoy of Chester and Epsom and wife Mary had children:

 

John, married a Margery unknown and resided at Nottingham, he died about 1779, his wife after 1794. They had children: Charles, Phebe, Margery, Lois, Hannah, Paul, Mary, Elizabeth and John.

 

Nathaniel, married an Anna unknown, nothing more known.

 

Francis, married, though spouse remains unknown, children included Jonathan, Daniel and Stephen.

 

Mary, born about 1730 at Epsom, married about 1760, James Wood who died before 1772. Mary was then provided for by the town and died in January of 1828.

 

Sometime before 1747, Charles married Isabella unknown, who after her capture by the Indians returned to Epsom and died sometime before Charles married third, Mary Moulton in February of 1752. She is his wife by deed when the family leaves Epsom in 1760. No known children with Isabella, and at least one child with his third wife, Charles, born about 1753 who married Sarah Hazeltine of Pembroke. Charles and Sarah had known children, Hannah, John, Nathan and Susan.

 

The most reliable information on the family of Charles McCoy is that which is known of the family in Epsom. It would appear that John was the eldest son and likely resided in Epsom for a time with his father before eventually ending up with his family in Nottingham. A newspaper article verified son Nathaniel and a wife Anna, and that Nat's mountain in Epsom is named for him. He is last mentioned in a deed of 1761. Francis is seen by deed as late as 1772, and his son's sell his estate in Dunbarton in 1783. He is seen buying land as early as 1752. This is the same year Charles sells land to his son's Nathaniel and Francis, making them of age by that time. Daughter Mary marries James Wood and resided in town.

 

On April 30, 1760, Charles McCoy sold his homestead to Reuben Sanborn Jr. and Eliphalet Sanborn of Hampton, containing 130 acres. His wife Mary gives up her right of dower, and sons Nathaniel and Francis deed the same, that which they received of their father in 1752, to the Sanborn's on May 1, 1760.

 

Sanborn Family

 

The Epsom Sanborn’s came to town in May of 1760 when they purchased the McCoy property in three deeds. The sale was to Reuben Sanborn Junior and his younger brother, Eliphalet Sanborn. The first deed was from Charles McCoy containing 130 acres with all the edifices thereon, lot 63; the second deed was from his wife Mary releasing her right of dower; and the third from Nathaniel and Francis McCoy, brothers and son’s of Charles, who sold the forty acres of land they bought from their father in 1752.

 

Reuben and Margaret Sanborn resided at Hampton where they raised their family. The ‘Genealogy of the Sanborn Family’ by V.C. Sanborn does not give the parentage of wife Margaret, though it has been learned she was Margaret Richardson of Newbury, MA, daughter of Joseph and Margaret (Godfrey) Richardson, born Sept. 27, 1699. She is seen in the will of her father of 1724, and additionally she is proved as a member of this family in the probate on the death her brother William in 1743, signing with husband Reuben. There is no official marriage record for Reuben and Margaret, though it may have been at Methuen, MA in 1727, or possibly December 28, 1726 at Hampton. Their children born at Hampton, NH, included: Reuben, born Dec. 25, 1728, married at Hampton May 20, 1752, Elizabeth Ward; Eliphalet, born July 28, 1730, married at Epsom in 1761, Margaret Wallace, daughter of George and Margaret (McClary) Wallace; Lydia, born June 12, 1732, married in 1751 a John Page; Sarah, born March 19, 1734, married at Hampton in 1753, John Fletcher Nason, and had a son William who resided for a time in Epsom; Abigail, born August 9, 1736, died 1749; and Margaret, born August 9, 1738, married at Kingston in 1758, Barzillai French.

 

Descendant Walter Henry Sanborn was honored for his judicial service by the St. Louis Bar Association in 1927, which included a testimonial dinner and a book of published remarks, tributes and history. According to the history, it was Reuben and Margaret who moved the family to Epsom from Hampton, though it was actually the two sons who made the purchase, and their parents made the move with them. Whether it was the father, sons, or combination of all three, they built the first Sanborn house in 1760, ‘on the side of McCoy’s Mountain, and was known as “Sanborn’s Hill.”’ Immediately they became involved in Epsom affairs. Margaret Sanborn is seen in the church records as being a founding member along with Sarah Nason, widow, which would be her daughter, wife of John Fletcher Nason who died prior to 1760 and must have moved to Epsom with her parents and two brothers. She is also seen in Hampton  records having been dismissed from the Hampton Church to Epsom. The wife of Reuben Sanborn Jr. also joined the Epsom Church on November 28, 1762, also with a letter of dismission from the Church of Christ in Hampton. In 1763, Eliphalet and his wife Margaret renewed their Baptismal Covenant. The list of Association Test signers of 1776 give both Reuben and Eliphalet, and since Reuben is no longer designated as Junior, his father Reuben had since passed away.

Reuben Sanborn (Jr.) had married before the family arrived in Epsom, and his brother Eliphalet married his wife Margaret Wallace at Epsom November 19, 1761. A brief paragraph appeared about Eliphalet in the W. H. Sanborn testimonial book:

 

Eliphalet Sanborn, son of Reuben, was born in Hampton July 28, 1730, and removed with his father to Epsom in 1750. He took an active and prominent part in both civil and military affairs, serving with the Colonial troops under Wolfe in 1758 in the French and Indian War. On September 3, 1776, he enlisted in the Continental Army and served throughout the Revolution. During the years 1773, 1775, 1776 and 1777 he held the position of Town Clerk of Epsom, an office of great responsibility and influence even in times of peace in a commonwealth governed as New Hampshire was, largely through the pure democracy of the “town meeting.” In 1772 Eliphalet Sanborn was elected a selectman of his town, and he was re-elected in 1773 and 1774. He died from the lingering effects of wounds received in the Revolutionary War.

 

Eliphalet died on July 27, 1794, and his wife Margaret remarried as his second wife, John McGaffey, November 6, 1800. She returned to Epsom after his death in Vermont in 1810, and died in 1836. Both are buried in the McClary Cemetery. They had the following family: Josiah, born in 1763, married in 1789 at Epsom, Anna Locke, daughter of Moses and Mary (Organ) Locke; Lydia, born in 1765, married at Epsom in 1784, Samuel McGaffey and resided at Sandwich, NH; Rachel, married at Epsom in 1791 Moses Osgood, one of his four wives; William, born in 1770, married at Epsom in 1794, Elizabeth Cass, daughter of Levi and Mary (Sherburne) Cass of Epsom; Andrew, born about 1773, married at Boston, Sarah Hewes, daughter of Solomon; Margaret, born 1775, married Stephen Sherman and died in Vermont in 1838; Jane McClary, born 1778, married Theophilus Cass, son of Simeon and Elizabeth (Locke) Cass and resided at Stanstead, Canada; Simon, married 1811 Harriet Dearborn of Hampton Falls, and died in 1818, resided on Center Hill; Caleb, born 1781 and died in Texas, date unknown; and Eliphalet, born in 1790, apparently married and moved to Michigan. The baptisms of the first four children are in the Epsom Church records, and all the children are mentioned in his will of 1790, where the homestead was passed to his eldest son, Josiah.

 

The senior Reuben Sanborn constructed a family home, but arrangements must of changed as the family grew. There are no early records or deeds which show any disposition of land amongst the family until the town recorded poll and inventory records in 1793. The US Census of 1790 shows the families of Eliphalet and son Josiah both with land and buildings. Eliphalet’s brother Reuben shows land and a building, and his sons Theophilus, Ira and Reuben Jr. paying poll only as they came of age, with son Moses no longer listed as he may have moved to Vermont. Eliphalet died in 1794, and the tax information for 1794 shows his son Josiah having obtained his father’s land. Reuben’s family in 1794 still shows Reuben and sons Theophilus, Ira and Reuben Jr., with Theophilus owning 31 acres. The next year, 1795, it would appear that the elder Reuben may have died, and his son Ira having received his father’s land and buildings. Ira’s brother Theophilus moved to Vermont, and by 1800 there were only two Sanborn’s on the hill, Josiah with 124 acres and buildings and Ira with 113 acres and buildings. By the census of 1810 there were still the families of Josiah and Ira, with the addition of Ira’s brother Reuben having land of 48 acres.

 

It is pretty clear by 1800 that the Eliphalet/Josiah Sanborn house and land were on the west side of Sanborn Hill Road and the Reuben/Ira Sanborn homestead on the eastern side. Josiah added land to his portion of the hill, and bought nearly 160 acres in lot 114 in the fourth range, increasing his land holdings to 300 acres. His son’s started to come of age and paying poll tax, Frederick in 1811 and James in 1813. Josiah’s brother Simon bought land on Center Hill by 1811. Ira’s sons also become of age with Reuben Jr. in 1816 (Ira’s brother Reuben also paying tax) and Benvolio in 1819.

 

 

 

The Josiah Sanborn Homestead

 

Josiah Sanborn married at Epsom in 1789, Anna Locke and had the following children: Deacon Frederick, born in 1789 and married in 1816, Lucy L. Sargent; Captain James, born in 1791, married first Abigail Pearson in 1814 and resided on Goboro Road; Nancy, born in 1793, married about 1820, John Perkins of Loudon;  Rachel, born 1796, married at Epsom in 1822, John Locke, son of Simon and Abigail (Blake) Locke of Epsom, resided at Concord; Hannah, born 1798, married at Epsom in 1821, Benjamin M. Towle, son of Simeon and Elizabeth (Marden) Towle of Epsom; Josiah, born in 1800, married at Durham in 1826 as her second husband, Harriet Chesley, resided Medford, MA where he died in 1882; and two infant children who died young, one son born 1802, and a daughter born 1804.

 

A brief sketch of Josiah appeared in the Testimonial for Judge Sanborn as follows: Josiah Sanborn, the great-grandfather of Judge Sanborn, eldest son of Eliphalet, was born on the old homestead in Epsom, October 4, 1763, and died there on June 14, 1842. In the year 1794 he removed the first house and erected the house of 16 rooms, which with three large barns, is still standing upon the estate and constitutes Judge Sanborn’s summer home. He served as selectman of the town of Epsom for twenty years, as representative in the Legislature for eight terms, and as a member of the State Senate for three terms.

 

A story of the integrity of Josiah appeared in the Concord Gazette newspaper in March of 1815:

The following communication was received two or three weeks since for publication. We had heard the story to which it relates, ad the source when it sprang, but deemed it too ridiculous to require contradiction. As, however, we are informed, great exertions are making to circulate this report, with a view to prevent the election of Mr. Sanborn, we feel it our duty, in justice to the character of the Gentleman, to insert the certificate of Levi Towle, Esq., the person with whom the transaction referred to, took place.

Certificate.

I the subscriber, hereby certify, that I have known and dealt with Josiah Sanborn, Esq. of Epsom, for many years. I always found him to be a fair, honest, upright man, in all his dealings. I never knew him to take any property of any kind from me wrongfully. The story that is in circulation of Esq. Sanborn's taking a twenty dollar bank bill from me, wrongfully, is a mistake. I know of no such thing: There was a 20 dollar bill swept from my table by some means, I know not how, but I did not miss the bill until Esq. Sanborn asked me if there was not a mistake about the money he had paid me; I answered not to my knowledge; I will look and see, Esq. Sanborn said you need not look, for I have taken off the floor a twenty dollar bill, and I know it to be the same bill I just paid you, and handed it to me.

LEVI TOWLE

 

Another article appeared in the Farmer’s Gazette in 1825 describing the loss of the barn to fire:

 

At Epsom, about 12 o'clock, on the night exceeding Monday the 19th instant, the barn belonging to Josiah Sanborn, Esq. together with its contents, 30 tons of hay, 20 head cattle, including a yoke of large fat oxen, a horse and various other articles, was consumed by fire. By the timely exersions of the neighbors, the house, which was united with the barn by a shed, was preserved. The residence of Esq. Sanborn is upon the side of McCoy Mountain, and the flames of the burning building presented a sublime and awful appearance. From the time of night at which the fire took, it is supposed to have been the work of an incendiary. Loss about $1000 - no insurance.

 

Esquire Josiah Sanborn died in June of 1842, his wife Anna in 1838. On his death the family homestead passed to his oldest son, Deacon Frederick Sanborn. Of his other two surviving sons, Deacon James bought his father’s land in lot 114, and son Josiah moved to Medford, Massachusetts. Frederick and his wife Lucy had the following children: Catherine Gray, born in 1816, married the Reverend John Burden in 1826 and had a daughter Catherine G. who married in 1857, Michael McClary Steele, her mother died two years later; Henry Frederick, born 1819, married at Princeton, MA in 1843, Eunice Davis;  Martha E., born 1823, married in1845, John G. Pearson, son of Timothy and Margaret Sanborn (Osgood) Pearson, who after his death in 1879 removed to Minnesota where she died in 1901; Ann, born 1825, married at Worecester, MA in 1855, Henry D. Smith; and John Benjamin, born in 1826, married first, Catherine Hall in 1857, second Anna E. Nixon in 1865, and third in 1880, Rachel Rice.

 

Harriet Sanborn (Towle) Dudley (her grandparents were Benjamin M. Towle and wife Hannah Sanborn, daughter of Josiah and Anna Sanborn) wrote a Towle family genealogy, which included mention of her Uncle Frederick Sanborn:

 

My father’s cousin, Henry Sanborn, told me that he and another man were engaged in a race mowing with scythes in one of the Sanborn field. Encouraged by the customary rum and by Uncle Frederick, my grandmother’s brother, and Henry Sanborn’s father who sat in the shade and watched them, they mowed on until Grandfather dropped. He lives several years, I think, but was never able to do much work after this illness. Uncle Frederick Sanborn was my grandather’s brother. I can remember his coming down to visit her and my father. He was a believer in the old doctrines of fore-ordination and predestination. I can remember his saying to my father, “I tell you Benjamin, everything was foreordained before the beginning of the world:, and Father’s reply, “Uncle Frederick, if I believed you I would never offer another prayer.”


Judge Walter Sanborn once told me that Frederick Sanborn, his grandfather, became a Millerite and expected the world to end in 1843. He sold off everything, which his wife could not prevent him doing. When the time passed and the world did not end, he decided that that as far as he was concerned it had ended and he did no more work as long as he lived, which was many years.


Uncle Frederick was a trying old man, I remember my father and mother being up to the Sanborn’s the night he died, and their telling us that in his death struggle he broke the footboard of the bed.


Son Frederick Sanborn inherited the homestead, and young son John Benjamin moved to St. Paul, Minnesota. The following again from the Walter H. Sanborn Testimonial: 


General Sanborn had established the firm of Sanborn & French in St. Paul in 1855, and successfully practiced there until the Civil War began. At that time he was serving as Adjutant General and Acting Quartermaster General of the State, and as such he equipped the first troops raised in Minnesota. He was then commissioned Colonel and assigned to the Fourth Minnesota Volunteers, whom he commanded in the operations that culminated in the fall of Vicksburg. He served as regimental, brigade and division commander with such distinction that upon the personal recommendation of General Grant he was promoted to Brigadier General and later to Brevet Major General.


From October, 1863, to the close of the war General Sanborn commanded the District of Southwest Missouri, his duties requiring him, from time to time, to visit St Louis. Governor Fletcher of Missouri publicly praised his action in re-establishing the authority of the civil law immediately upon the cessation of hostilities.

 

During the three years following the war, he was engaged, together with three other Civil War generals, in making treaties with the hostile Indian tribes. Subsequently he returned to St. Paul, and in 1871 established the firm of John B. and W. H. Sanborn, which was joined later by Edward P. Sanborn, the younger brother of W. H. Sanborn. The firm so constituted continued the practice of law until 1892, when W. H. Sanborn was appointed U. S. Circuit Judge. Edward P. Sanborn still continues this law practice in St. Paul. General Sanborn was several times elected representative and senator in the legislature of the State of Minnesota.


Once more a brief biography of Henry F. Sanborn from the Judge Sanborn Testimonial: 


Henry F. Sanborn, father of Judge Sanborn, entered Dartmouth College, but typhoid fever and failing health compelled him to abandon hope of a professional career, and he devoted his life to education and farming. He was elected selectman of Epsom for six terms, a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives in 1855, and a member of the State Senate in 1866 and again in 1867, when that body consisted of only twelve members. In 1843 he married Eunice Davis of Princeton, Massachusetts.


Henry F. and his wife Eunice raised two sons on the Sanborn homestead: Judge Walter Henry, born October of 1845 and married at Milford, NH, Emily Frances Bruce; and Edward Payson Sanborn, born May of 1853 and married at St. Paul, MN, Susan Dana in 1884. Henry F. and his wife Eunice left the farm in 1882 to reside there in their later years. Both died at Princeton, Henry in 1897 and Eunice in 1900. They are buried in Princeton, with the following inscription on the family gravestone: Hon. Henry F. Sanborn of Epsom, N.H. Selectman, Representative, Senator. Both sons moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, leaving the homestead as a summer residence for son Walter Henry.


Finally, an excerpt from the Judge Walter Henry Sanborn testimonial about his life:


Walter Henry Sanborn, the subject of this sketch, was the oldest child of Henry F. and Eunice Davis Sanborn, and was born in Epsom October 19, 1845. He spent his boyhood on his father's farm, attending the common school of the town, and he was a student during the winter term for two years in the neighboring academy. In the spring and summer, and at other times when he was able, he helped his father with the crops.


In the summer of 1863, after the hay crop had been gathered, Judge Sanborn's father and Mr. Cate, father of Almon F. Cate, a crony of young Walter's, told the two boys that they might go to a fitting school to prepare themselves for admission to Dartmouth. They went to Meriden, New Hampshire, and interviewed the principal of a school there, who informed them that in view of their scanty scholastic attainments, at least two years more would be required to fit them for college. This further delay did not appeal to the boys. They left their trunks at Meriden, walked seven miles to the nearest railroad station, went to Dartmouth and requested an immediate examination for admission. Largely through the kindness of Professor Patterson, afterwards United States Senator from New Hampshire, they were permitted to enter college on condition that within the first year they make up the work in which they were deficient, in addition to doing their regular work. The boys accepted these terms, and during their freshman year passed all their entrance conditions, which included the reading of three books of Homer.


In July, 1867, Judge Sanborn graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Taking the course as a whole he led his class for the entire period, and by virtue of that achievement became, under the rules of the Faculty, Valedictorian of his class. At the commencement exercises he delivered both the Greek oration and the valedictory address.



In order to secure funds to help with his education, he taught during the winter term of about three months, beginning in December, in the village school at Princeton, Massachusetts, in 1862; at Deerfield, New Hampshire, in 1863; at West Westminster, Vermont, in 1864; at West Boylston, Massachusetts in 1865; and at Stratford, Vermont in 1866. Just as he returned to college from Stratford, in the winter that he taught there, the chairman of the school board at Milford, New Hampshire, came to Dartmouth College and asked the president if there was not someone in the senior class whom he could get to take the high school at Milford. The president recommended "Sanborn, '67," who took the position of principal and taught there three months, returning to Dartmouth in time for graduation with his class.


Upon leaving Dartmouth, he resumed the principalship of the Milford High School, a position he held until 1870. At the same time he read law in the office of Hon. Bainbridge Wadleigh of Milford, afterwards United States Senator from New Hampshire. In 1870, Dartmouth conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts.


In February, 1870, declining an increase in salary, he resigned his position as principal of the Milford High School and went to St. Paul, Minnesota. On January 28, 1871, he was admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court of Minnesota. On May 1, 1871, he formed a law partnership with his uncle, General John B. Sanborn.

 

On November 10, 1874, Judge Sanborn was married to Emily F. Bruce of Milford, New Hampshire. Four children were born to them - Grace, wife of C.G. Hartin of St. Paul; Marian, wife of Grant Van Sant of St. Paul; Bruce W., a member of the law firm of Sanborn, Graves & Andre of St. Paul; and Henry F., General Agent of the St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad at Chicago.


On February 10, 1892, the name of Walter H. Sanborn of St. Paul to be United States Circuit Judge for the Eighth Circuit was sent to the Senate, and on March 17, 1892, the nomination was confirmed and the Commission signed. Judge Sanborn took his seat upon the bench at the opening of the May session of the October term in St. Louis on May 2, 1892. On June 3, 1903, upon the resignation of Judge Henry C. Caldwell, Judge Sanborn became, by virtue of the seniority of his Commission as Circuit Judge, Presiding Judge of the Court, and since that date he has met and discharged with promptness and distinction the full burden of the duties of that important post. On April 8, 1927, the Bar Association of St. Louis tendered to Walter Henry Sanborn, Presiding Judge of the Circuit Court of Appeals of the Eighth Federal Judicial Circuit and senior Circuit Judge of the United States, a testimonial dinner in appreciation of his thirty-five years of distinguished service as United States Circuit Judge.


Son Bruce Walter Sanborn, born in 1882, married first in England, Conradine Schurmeier, and had children Conridine, Hildegard, Bruce W. and Theodore S. She died in 1927 and he married second, Frances Maud Moon in 1943. Bruce died in 1977, his second wife in 1965. He, like his father, made trips to the old homestead.


The younger son, Henry Frederick was born at St. Paul in 1888, and married in 1911, Florence Wheaton Fulton. The couple had one son, Walter H., born in 1911, who died unmarried at a home for the insane in California in 1937. The couple divorced and Henry married second, May Irene Waterous about 1914, and had a daughter Edna E. in 1914. His first wife married again to a Paul King Judson in 1917. His second wife May died in 1944 and is buried in her families plot in Minnesota as Irene M. Sanborn.

 

 

Henry F. Sanborn died in 1933 and is buried in the McClary Cemetery in Epsom. Judge Sanborn and his wife deeded ‘land known as the Sanborn Homestead which was occupied by Henry F. Sanborn and his wife for more than twenty years prior to March 1882, which comprises two hundred acres’ to their son Bruce, November 18, 1911. Bruce W. Sanborn sold the property in 1943 to Virginia Jarvis of Newton, MA, but ended up buying back the property, paying the existing mortgages of Virginia Jarvis on December 1, 1948.  The homestead on land of about 27 acres with the house was sold to Samuel D. and Anne B. Clark of Brookline, MA in 1961.

 



The Ira and Ed Sanborn Homestead

 

Reuben Sanborn Jr. was married before the family came to Epsom, having married while still in Hampton in 1752, Elizabeth Ward. His first half dozen children were born in Hampton, the later at Epsom. The family included: Simon, born about 1753, a Revolutionary War Veteran who died of small-pox at the end of his service in Epsom; Abigail, born 1754, probably died young; Sarah, born 1755, married at Pittsfield 1773, Nathaniel Chase; Thomas Ward, born 1756, died 1757;  Moses, born 1757, married Sarah Marden and moved to Vermont, died there in1812; Molly, born Epsom in 1760, married at Epsom in 1779, Deacon Abraham Locke, son of Francis and Sarah (Page) Locke of Epsom, and died in 1805; Theophilus, born 1762, married about 1787 Mehitable Haskell, moved to Vermont with his brother Moses; Miriam, born 1764, married at Epsom in 1785, Robert Dickey; Ira, a church deacon, born 1766, married at Epsom in 1793, Mary Page; Reuben Jr., born 1769, married in 1796, first Abigail Arnold, second at Northwood in 1813, Pamelia Bowen, and third at Chichester in 1825, Sarah Sanborn, daughter of Abraham and Mary (Prescott) Sanborn; and Betsey, born 1772, married at Epsom in 1798, Joseph Chase Wallace, son of Samuel and Jane (Chase) of Epsom, removed and resided in Concord.

 

When Reuben Jr. and Eliphalet Sanborn arrived in Epsom they all likely resided in the home built by their father Reuben, Reuben Jr. moved to Chichester in 1764, but sold his Chichester lands by 1777 and was in the Epsom census for 1790. He is seen in the tax information of 1793 but not after 1794 and may have died about the time his brother Eliphalet did, though unlike Eliphalet and his wife, there are no known dates or burial location of Reuben Jr. and his wife Elizabeth. The family home passed to his son Ira who is taxed for 115 acres and buildings in 1795.  Deacon Ira and his wife Mary had three surviving children. Reuben, born 1794, married at Epsom in 1815, Lucretia Tarlton, daughter of William and Lucretia (Amazeen) Tarlton, had an untimely death described in a newspaper article in 1851 - Intoxication and Death - At Epsom, NH, on Saturday evening, as a man named Reuben Sanborn, in a state of intoxication, was returning to his home from a day's work, with his scythe and broad axe,he fell, as is supposed upon his tools, and cut his arm severely. Some individuals took his tools from him and started him along. He was found the next morning dead by the side of the road, within a half mile of his home. He had bled profusely, and probably became faint and was unable to proceed and perished from exposure to the night air.

 

Thomas D. Merrill was the administrator of the estate and sold the homestead of 95 acres to blacksmith, William Sanders in 1846. William Sanders is shown as the occupant of the property in 1858. He married Rachel B. Wallace, daughter of John and Mary (True) Wallace at Epsom in 1829. Their children were: Mary C., born 1830, married George W. Swain; Louisa B., born 1833, and died in 1839; Alvah B., born 1836, died young; Clara A., born 1837 and married at Epsom in 1860, John Thomas Cotterell, resided Short Falls and later Slab City; William True, born 1841, married about 1867, Drusilla T. Ewer; and Emily G., born 1844, married about 1866, Horace Grafton Bickford. William Sanders died in 1865, his wife Rachel in 1882. The property passed to his surviving son William T. Sanders.

 

William T. Sanders died in 1890, his wife in 1883. His administrator was Cyrus O. Brown, who sold the estate to James M. Burnham of Epsom, land and buildings and still of 95 acres, in May of 1890. The same day Burnham transferred the property back to the Sanborn family, Walter H. Sanborn making the purchase. Within the month, Walter H. Sanborn sold one third interest in the property to his brother Edward Payson Sanborn, and another third to his cousin John Benjamin Sanborn, both of St. Paul, Minnesota. John Benjamin and Walter H. sold their portions to Edward P. in 1904. The property and buildings remain intact when Edward sold the old Ira Sanborn homestead to John B. Sanborn in 1928.

 

After the death of John Benjamin Sanborn, his son John Benjamin Sanborn owned the property and sold it to the son of Walter H. Sanborn, Bruce Walter Sanborn in 1935. He sold this family home in 1965.

 

Robert Sanders family

 

This branch of the Sanders family comes from John Sanders, born in England in 1720, and came to New Hampshire where he married first in 1740, Mary Berry. Their son George Sanders, born about 1748, and seen as George Berry Sanders, was already of Epsom by deed in 1775, and signed the Association Test in Epsom in 1776. He married Anna Page, and had children: Molly, born 1771 and married Nathaniel Sherburne in Epsom in 1789, resided on New Orchard Road on land owned by her father; Stephen born about 1775; Huldah, born about 1775 and married at Epsom in 1797, Philip Yeaton, resided in Epsom and removed to Canterbury; Elizabeth, born 1778; John, born 1781, married at Epsom in 1804, Anna Locke, daughter of Simeon and Abigail (Blake) Locke, resided at Epsom and moved to Concord; and Hannah, born 1783.

 

The first born son of John and Mary (Berry) Sanders was Robert, born about 1743 and married in 1765, Mary Locke, daughter of Elijah and Huldah (Perkins) Locke. Their children included: Robert, born about 1766, married at Rye in 1787, Mary Foss, daughter of Job and Sarah Bickford (Lang) Foss; Mary, born about 1767, married at Epsom in 1797, James Chapman, son of Simeon and Mary (Blake) Chapman and resided at Epsom; Elijah, born 1769, married Mercy Rand at Rye; John, born 1774, married Lydia Chapman, sister to James Chapman, at Epsom in 1799 and where he died in 1848, she in 1820, no known children; William, born about 1776, married Lois Hall, lived at Ossipee and Wakefield; and Nathaniel who married at Epsom in 1799, Sarah Chapman, sister to Lydia and James Chapman. Nathaniel sold his Epsom land in 1804 and 1805 and moved to Effingham where he had known children Joseph, Robert, Clemantine, Alice G., Jacob and Elizabeth.

 

John Sander’s married as his second wife, Trephena Philbrick, daughter of Joses and Abigail (Locke) Philbrick in 1760. Their family included Abigail, born 1760, married in 1779, William Locke, son of Elijah and Huldah (Perkins) Locke, who bought three home lots, raised their family in Epsom and later moved to Alexandria; William, born 1763; Sarah, born 1763, married William Sanders (of a different ancestral line) in 1783 and lived at Alexandria;  and Olive born about 1766, married in 1787 at Rye, William Tucker, and lived for a time in Epsom, and later Rye.

 

The third generation of the John Sanders family settled on Sanborn Hill, occupying three homesteads on the west side of the road past the Sanborns.

 

Robert Sanders and Mary Foss had the following family: John, born 1788, married Betsey Buzzell in 1813 and that year moved to Ossipee, NH: Sally, born 1788 who probably did not marry; Robert, born 1790, married at Chichester in 1815, Comfort Philbrick, daughter of Perkins and Olive (Garland) Philbrick of Epsom, resided at Ossipee; Job, born 1792, married at Pembroke in 1816, Polly McFarland; Dorothy Wallis, born 1795, married Ordway Brown and died at Candia in 1870; Hulda, born 1797 at Epsom, married at Epsom in 1818, Silas Marshall Brown, resided at Effingham; Elijah, born 1799 at Epsom, married Olive Garland Philbrick, sister of Comfort who married his brother Robert, resided Chichester; Edward T., married about 1825, Eveline Manson, daughter of William and Catherine Manson of Maine; and William, born 1806 at Epsom where he married in 1829, Rachel B. Wallace, daughter of John and Mary (True) Wallace.

 

Robert Sanders and his wife Mary Locke bought land from John Cass of Epsom in 1798, and sold it to his son Robert Jr. and wife Mary Foss in 1798. The deed mentions that his son already had a home on the property and reserved a drift way ‘to the west end of the land I live on’ as well as ‘one third of the orchard where I now live.’ This places both father and son on the former Cass land, part of lot 61 in the second range. The elder Robert sold a portion of the land to his brother William and wife Lois, which William deeded to Robert Sanders Jr. in 1800, which he then deeded to his parents ‘for and during the term of their natural lives as if they had not made deed of the same premises to William Sanders.’  By 1814 the elder Robert had died and his son owned the family homestead which included three tracts of land. He sold the homestead to his son John who at the time had moved to Ossipee in 1813 and where he was joined by his brother Robert. Two years later the homestead was sold to another brother, Job Sanders.

 


Edward T. Sanders home

 

Job owned the homestead of 125 acres, and at some point by 1840, the northern portion of about 78 acres was occupied by his younger brother, Edward T. Sanders. Edward and his wife Eveline had three children: William Albert, born in 1829, married Sarah E. French; Lucretia E., born 1831, died unmarried in 1858; and Edward H., born 1838 and died unmarried in 1862. Edward T. deeded his homestead to his sole heir, son William A. in 1880. William and his wife had for a family: Annie E., born 1858 and who married in 1883, Charles A. Morse; Albert L., born 1860 and married at Pittsfield in 1893, Mary Melvina Demers, daughter of John B. and Rose D. (Minard) Demers; Edward M., born 1864 and married in 1889 at Tilton, Anora Lamprey; and Perley T., born 1871 and married in 1894, Marcia Nason, and died in Durham in 1900.

 

The homestead passed from William Albert Sanders to his son Albert L. Sanders. William A. died in 1907, and son Albert L. in 1921. Albert’s widow Mary and the couples only daughter Ruth E. (born 1906 and married in 1923, Walter Burnham Huckins) sold the homestead to Irene B. Campbell in 1933. Campbell also purchased additional Sanders land and homes in two tracts. One tract included about 40 acres and was the old Edward T. Sanders homestead.

 


Job Sanders home

 

The middle of the three Sander’s lots was the homestead of Job Sanders. Originally the right of Sampson Sheafe, it was owned by 1757 by Daniel Moulton when he sold 106 acres of lot 61 to Abraham Libby of Rye. Half the lot was sold a few years later by Libbey to Anthony Chapman, son of Jonathan, and the other half in 1762 to Richard Tripp of Allenstown. The next year Richard Tripp moved to Short Falls, selling his part of lot 61 to Andrew McClary. In 1783, James Gray purchased both halves, now with buildings, and sold them to Theophilus Parsons in May of 1783. Parsons was the person who sold out to John Cass, who sold the western portion with the home to Robert Sanders in 1796.

 

The homestead passed in 1816 to Job Sanders where he raised his family with his wife Polly, which included: Mary Jane, born 1818 who married at Epsom in 18336, William T. Jenness, who for a while operated a store at Short Falls, and moved to Lawrence, MA; Orren Strong, born 1820, became a doctor and married at Effingham in 1843, Drusilla Morse, resided eventually in Boston;  Jonathan Curtis, born about 1822, married at Epsom in 1844, Caroline M. Bickford, daughter of Samuel Weeks and Lucy Coolidge (Learned ) Bickford, and resided in Derry; William Henry, born 1828, married a Mariah Bailey and died in Chicago in 1891; and Martha Ann, born about 1834 and died unmarried in Charlestown, MA in 1855.

 

Robert and John Sanders moved to Ossipee in 1813, and John sold the homestead to his brother Job in 1816. The homestead included 3 tracts of land and 125 acres. Job and his wife Polly raised the following family: Mary Jane, born 1818, married at Epsom in 1836, William T. Jenness, lived in Epsom before moving to Lawrence, MA; Orren Strong, born 1820, married at Effingham, NH in 1843, Drusilla Morse; Jonathan Curtis, born about 1822, married at Epsom in 1844, Caroline M. Bickford, daughter of Samuel Weeks and Lucy Coolidge (Learned) Bickford; William Henry, born in 1828, married about 1847, Mariah Bailey and died in Illinois in 1891; and Martha Ann, born about 1834, died unmarried at Charlestown, MA in 1855.

 

Notable among the children of Job and Polly Sanders was son Dr. Orren S. Sanders, whose life was outlined in the Hurd’s History of Merrimack County:

 

Orren Strong Sanders, M.D., Boston Mass., was born in Epsom, Merrimack County, N. H., September 24, 1820. He is the eldest son of Colonel Job and Pollie Sanders, being the senior of four sons. The palms of his hands were hardened before he reached his teens in handling the implements of an industrious farmer.

At the age of thirteen years and a half he went to live with General Joseph Low, Concord, N. H., for one year as a servant, receiving for his services two months' schooling and fifty dollars, the whole of which sum, with the exception of five dollars, he gave to his father.

The succeeding year he served seven months as a farm-hand with Judge Whittemore, Pembroke, N. H., for nine dollars a month, rising early and working late. During the following winter he attended the town school in his father's district.

In April, when fifteen years and a half old, he went to Northwood, N. H., to learn the trade of a carpenter with the late Luther and William Tasker, receiving fifty dollars and three months' schooling that year. In March, 1836, as soon as the district school closed in Epsom, he decided to change his purpose in life, and, with his neighbor and friend, Henry F. Sanborn, went on foot, with a bundle of clothes, a few books in hand and seventeen dollars in his pocket, seventeen miles to Gilmanton, N. H., where he commenced in earnest to obtain, in the middle of the spring term, an education. In the summer term he again went to Gilmanton, boarding himself, with three other students, for ninety cents each a week.

In the autumn of the same year, a younger brother desiring to attend school, he changed his plan, and went to Pembroke, N. H., it being less than half the distance to "Old Gilmanton," and there he continued his studies for several successive terms, practicing the economical method of "playing house-keeping."

 

Shortly after he had attained his sixteenth birthday he commenced his first school in Chichester, N. H., known as the Meeting-House, or Reed District, for the sum of eight dollars a month and "boarded round." This school had about thirty scholars enrolled, and the sixteen dollars appropriated to the object of education for the winter months secured for them the benefit of young Sanders' earnest efforts to stimulate them to increased mental activity, to make up for brevity of opportunity.

The following winter this persevering youth was reengaged to instruct in the same district, and at the termination of this school term he commenced teaching the school in Bear Hill District, and at the end of twelve weeks closed his efforts with a brilliant exhibition.

In the following autumn he spent fourteen weeks in Northwood, teaching in the lower part of the town; following this school, he served as teacher in the "Young District," in Barrington, returning to Northwood the succeeding winter, and gave another term of services in the same locality as before.

His last and final experience as "school-master" was in the Cilley District, in his native town, where he was favored with a large attendance and secured a successful result. 

Six months after he had passed his nineteenth birthday he commenced the study of medicines with Dr. Hanover Dickey, Epsom. In the autumn of 1841 he attended his first course of medical lectures at Dartmouth College, after which he pursued his medical studies in the anatomical laboratory with Dr. Haynes, Concord. When he had completed his studies in anatomy, physiology and hygiene with Dr. Haynes he entered the office of Drs. Chadburne and Buck, with four other students, forming an interesting class, with daily recitations, taking up several branches of the medical course.In the spring of 1843 he went to Lowell, Mass., and entered the office of Drs. Wheelock, Graves and Allen. In this new relation he had not only the assistance of Dr. Allen as a private medical tutor, but saw much practice with Dr. Graves. In the fall of 1843 he graduated at the very popular medical college, Castleton, Vt.

On the 27th of November, 1843, he united in matrimony with his present wife, Miss Drusilla, eldest daughter of S. M. Morse, Esq., Effingham, N. H. In December following he commenced the practice of medicine in Centre Effingham, where he remained till June, 1847. He then moved to Chichester, where he entered upon a large and lucrative practice; but in the autumn of 1848 he became interested in the science of homeopathy, as best embodying the true principles of healing. At this time he disposed of medicines and equipments, and went to Boston, entering the office of Dr. Samuel Gregg, a distinguished homeopathic physician; remaining with him, investigating, by study and observation, this new method of the healing art, for eighteen months; and from that time to the present Dr. Sanders has followed his profession in Boston, and has been, from the first, conspicuous among the physicians of that city for his extensive and lucrative practice and his successful treatment of disease.

The habits of industry and frugality, formed in youth and student-life, not only gave to Dr. Sanders a vigorous constitution, but laid a broad foundation for that power of endurance so essential to enable him to bear that long, continuous professional strain which has secured him unparalleled success and a high professional reputation.

While he is a "medical winner" in every sense of the term, with aspirations ever for the right, he has enjoyed the confidence of his numerous friends, not only in the city government and Masonic fraternities, but also of the members of the church to which he has so long been attached.

His generosity has been equal to his success, and he has contributed with no stinted had to public institutions, and freely given aid to the deserving poor. He is ever ready to give his support to any worthy object; and if his large-hearted charities, for the most part secretly performed, find no place in newspaper reports, they are written in letters of light by the recording angel in the Book of Life.

His munificence is establishing the "Home for Little Wanderers" is but one of the many grand and noble acts of his life.

For several terms Dr. Sanders was a member of the Boston School Board, and, despite the exigent demands made upon his time by his extensive practice, he was unfailing in his attendance, and his utterances were always valued for their suggestiveness and practicability. In fact, industrial education has long been with the doctor a favorite study, and he has written some excellent essays on the subject. He is not, in any sense of the term, a politician, and yet he has always endeavored, from a consideration of the duties of citizenship, to make himself familiar with the ever-varying phases of political life, to thoroughly comprehend the tendency of each political movement and to give his intelligent support to the public welfare. His judgment has frequently been appealed to, his influence solicited and nominations to office have been tendered him by appreciative friends; but hitherto his professional tastes and duties have led him to decline to have his name appear in the list of political aspirants.

Within the pale of his profession, however, honors have been thrust upon him, and on the medical platform he has been a frequent and eloquent speaker.

In 1872 he delivered, before the Massachusetts Homeopathic Medical Society, a masterly oration on "Progress without Change of Law." In 1875, before the same body, his address on "Dynamization" was pronounced to be an able production; and in 1878, when elected president of the society, his oration on "Homeopathy, the Aggressive Science of Medicine," was received by the audience as a new revelation of the triumphant progress of similia similibus curantur. He has frequently lectured before the Ladies' Boston Physiological Society, and his lucid expositions of hygienic law were always listened to with marked appreciation; and the records of other medical societies will bear witness to his readiness to contribute his quota of original thought to the medical knowledge of the day. His article on cholera, which appeared in the Boston Globe July 5, 1885, is exhaustive of the subject and has attracted much attention.

As a speaker, he is forcible and earnest, and his appearance on a platform is such as to at once win the sympathies of an audience. As a writer, his styled is vigorous and terse; and his clear-cut sentences make it peculiarly attractive. If his studies had been so directed, he might have excelled as an orator or obtained a conspicuous place in the ranks of literature.

We give an engraving of his present commodious residence, at 511 Columbus Avenue, Boston, which was finished in 1872. This house, which is his own property, and which was erected at a cost of some hundred thousand dollars, was designed throughout by himself, and seems to indicate that, if he had not been a doctor, he might have become eminent as an architect. The sanitary appliances are perfect, the decorations in excellent taste, the arrangements for comfort and convenience the best possible, and from basement to attic it bears testimony to the high development of the doctor's constructive faculties.

The lion, life-size, which is placed in couchant attitude on the corner of the house, and is a conspicuous ornament to the avenue, was carved from a block of granite selected by the doctor himself, and, as a work of art, may compare favorably with the famous lions of Landseer, which adorn Trafalgar Square, in London.

In closing, what Dr. Sanders has done for God and humanity is but an example of what other young men may accomplish, if they will only model their lives after his perseverance, self-denial and unblemished habits. 


The Sanders owned their homestead for just about a century when Job and his son Jonathan C. sold the property in April of 1866 to James F. Langmaid of Pembroke. Jonathan C. moved his family, along with his parents, to Derry where he was a hotel keeper. Job died in 1880, his wife Polly in 1887. They died in Derry and are buried in Dover.

 

Langmaid did not settle in Epsom, but remained in Pembroke where his daughter, Josie Langmaid, met an untimely death. James F. Langmaid was born at Chichester in 1833, the son of Thomas and Grace L. (Pousland) Langmaid. He married in 1856 Mary Ann S. Marden, and had two surviving children, Josephine A. in 1858 and Waldo H. in 1859. Mary died in 1864, and James married second, in 1867, Sarah H. Cochran and they had three daughters, Grace, Lizzie and Abbie. Josie Langmaid headed to school at Pembroke Academy on October 4, 1875, but never arrived. After a search, her mutilated body was found near the school that evening.

 

On October 13, Joseph Lepage was arrested for the crime and eventually found guilty and sentenced to hang, which occurred March 15, 1878. Josie’s brother Waldo, devastated by the murder of his sister, developed typhoid fever and pneumonia and died December 15, 1875.

 

James F. Langmaid sold the Job Sanders property in three tracts in 1867 and 1868. One tract of 27 acres was sold to George and George Sanders Jr., who lived to the south; 40 acres was sold to Samuel Quimby, who lived on the east side of Sanborn Hill across from the Job Sanders farm; and the third tract was sold to Benjamin M. Towle and James M. Burnham, 48 acres.

 

Samuel Quimby’s home was across Sanborn Hill Road from the Job Sander’s farm, which was owned by his father Charles’s and sold in 1879. Samuel, still in Epsom in 1880, bought an additional tract of land of about 125 acres from his father which apparently was purchased from Daniel Goss, the deed for which does not appear to have been filed. Samuel may have rented the Sander’s home as it appears occupied by W. N. Munroe in 1892. In 1903 Samuel moved to Manchester and sells two tracts of land, one of which was 125 acres, the other the 40 acres bought from James Langmaid, to Gideon D. and Hollis E. Sanders of Ossipee, son of Robert and Comfort Sanders, and his son, Hollis E. Sanders. Hollis, in 1908, being at the time ‘of Epsom’ sold the same premises to James L. Bickford of Epsom. James L. Bickford kept the property for just over a year before selling it to James E. Philbrick of Epsom. James, known as Gene, owned several properties in Epsom that had orchards, which was included in this land. He lost several properties to foreclosure, including this one, which was taken over by the Loan and Trust Savings Bank of Concord. The bank sold the 125 acres and buildings to Irene B. Campbell in Epsom in 1939. After selling the property once, it was bought back to later be acquired by Daniel E. Measures of Ipswich, MA in 1941. In 1944 it was owned by Clyde Logan and Napoleon Roscoe, both of Epsom at the time. The next owner in 1946 was Dorothea Peters, and in 1951, Winifred G. Learnard. The Learnard’s sold a portion of the property, including buildings, in 1972.

 



George Sanders homestead (Moore Place)

 

The third Sanders home on Sanborn Hill was the southernmost dwelling on the west side of the road, and was not occupied by George Sanders until 1832. At one time the road extended through to New Rye and Allenstown, but for some time it has not been a through road. The property began as 5 consecutive lots, each of thirty acres, and were part of the thirty acre out lots granted to the original 20 home lot owners on Center Hill for being the first settler’s of the town. One of these early settlers was Samuel Allen of Wakefield, who sold his 30 acre lot, being number two, to his nephew Nathaniel Allen of Epsom, son of Jude Allen, in 1793. Nathaniel sold the lot in 1797 to Thomas Marden of Epsom. Marden was living in Portsmouth when he bought earlier in 1793 from Jonathan Bartlett of Epsom, two 30 acres lots, numbers three and six, both in the second range, Lot number six, according to the deed, was where Jonathan Bartlett was living and included buildings. Lot number four originally belonged to John Blake, and was deeded to his daughter, Tabitha Barnard of Amesbury, MA, who sold this 30 acre lot to Titus Philbrick of Deerfield in 1785, and then he sold it to Jude Allen the following year. Jude Allen sold the lot to his son Nathaniel in 1789. In a deed from 1797, Nathaniel Allen sold a quarter acre of lot four to Thomas Marden, which referenced a house belonging to Thomas, probably also on lot four.

 

By 1800, Thomas Marden owned lot numbers two and three along with a quarter acre of lot number four and 26 acres of lot number 6. Nathaniel Allen retained lot number 4 along with a dwelling house on the property. Samuel Blake owned lot number 5, ‘running easterly to the top of McCoy’s mountain.’ All these owners, encompassing the 30 acre out lots, numbers 2,3,4,5, and 6, where sold to Joseph Allen of Boston by the end of 1802. This Joseph Allen was a brother to Nathaniel and son of Jude Allen and Sarah Philbrick of Epsom. He is listed on the deeds as a windsor chair maker. He had just married Kezia White in Boston in February of 1802, and the couple moved to Epsom where they stayed until 1818, selling the entire property of 120 acres, together with the buildings, ‘the same land I now live on.’ The buyer was William Badger of Kittery, Maine, a ship builder. William Badger and his son William Jr. died within months of each other in 1830. In 1832, the Epsom property was sold on behalf of the minor children of William Jr. and his sister Hepzibah (wife of Joseph Sherburne) to George Sanders of Epsom, being part of lot 2 through 6 in the second range, ‘being the Allen farm.’

 

George Sanders was a son of John and Anna (Locke) Sanders. Anna was the daughter of Simeon and Abigail (Blake) Locke, and the family was raised in Epsom, with John and Anna later moving to Concord, NH. John and Anna had the following children: George, born 1804, married in 1832, Mary Twombley; Simeon L., born in 1806, married in 1837 Caroline Colby and lived at New Rye in Epsom; Abigail Locke, born 1808, married Sherburne Green in 1828; Nancy, born 1809, died 1810; John, born 1811, married at Concord in 1839, Angennete Leavitt and resided at Concord; Nancy, born 1812, married at Epsom in 1839, John Wallace, son of John and Mary (True) Wallace; Reuben L., born 1814, married in 1842, Abigail Locke, daughter of John and Mehitable (Bickford) Locke of Epsom; Joseph L., born 1815, married in 1842 a Harriet Potter, resided at Concord; David Locke, born 1817, married in 1844, Mary A. Carr, resided Concord; and Solomon C., born 1818, married in 1847, Thursey Corliss, and resided at Concord.

 

George Sanders and his wife Mary (Polly), raised their family at the homestead on Sanborn Hill, having been married in 1833 and having three children: George Jr., born 1832, married at Epsom in 1875, Nancie (Nancy) A. White; a twin sister, Mary, born 1832 and married at Epsom in 1855, a Nathaniel Twombly; and John, born 1844 and died unmarried at Epsom in 1865. Polly died in 1884, her husband George Sanders in 1886. Their son George Jr. shared the homestead, and inherited the property on the death of his father.

 

George Sanders (Jr.) was married late in life, January of 1875, to Nancy A. White. The couple did not have any children. A brief biography appear in the Hurd’s Atlas of George Sanders Jr. (excerpt):

 

One of the representative agriculturalists of this section, whose keen practicality, industry and devotion to that science well deserves more than a mere mention, is George Sanders, Jr. He is the son of George and Polly (Twombly) Sanders, and was born in Epsom, NH, November 6, 1832. The ancestor of the American Family of Sanders was Christopher Sanders, who came from England in 1671. We cannot fully trace the line to George, nor tell from which one of the sons of Christopher he is descended.


The great-grandfather of the one of whom we now write was George Sanders, a resident of Rye, NH., where he passed his days, a quiet and useful citizen. His son John, the pioneer of the family in this town, was born in Rye, and when a young man came to Epsom, married and became a resident. He was a stalwart man, vigorous and energetic, and devoted himself to his farm with all the force of his strong nature, and as a citizen, was much respected. About 1850 he removed to Concord, where re resided until his death, March 13, 1870, aged nearly eighty nine years. George Sanders, Sr., son of John and Anna Sanders, married Polly Twombly, of Barrington. They had three children, -- George and Mary (twins), and John. Mr. Sanders, inheriting the strong physique and hardy nature of his father, became a farmer, and in 1832, shortly after his marriage, he purchased a farm of one hundred and twenty acres, and by unremitting labors and constant care he brought the land into such a state of cultivation that is soon became remunerative, and he was able to increase his first ownership in land some hundreds of acres by adding to it at various times, and at present the Sanders family have five hundred and thirty acres in their possession. It is located in different tracts, but the home-farm is considered one of the best farms in the town of Epsom. Mr. Sanders, Sr., has been selectman, and held some minor town offices. His religious convictions are in accord with the Free Will Baptists, of which church he has been a member about twenty years. He is now living, at the age of eighty one. Mrs. Sanders died December 22, 1884, aged eighty-one.


George Sanders Jr., could hardly have consistently followed any other vocation than that of the farmer; having been born and passed his childhood days where everything about him revealed the bounteous gifts of Mother Nature, and also inheriting, in some measure, from his father and grandfather the characteristics of a good agriculturalist. He received a good common-school education, supplemented by a term at Pembroke Academy. He has always resided on the old place. He married, January 5, 1875, Nancy A., daughter of David and Mary Ann (Carr) White. George Sanders, Jr., has always pursued that oldest and most honorable calling among men, farming, and has proved himself the right man in the right place. To be convinced of his wisdom and care, you have only to look on his fields and meadows, his walls and buildings, his barns and stalls, his stacks and cribs. But, with all these cares, he has identified himself with the civil and religious interests of the town, has been selectman for several years, and is an earnest and liberal member of the Free-Will Baptist Church. Democratic in politics, he represented Epsom in the Legislature of 1874-75.

 

Goss - Quimby - Seavey home

 

William Seavey was the original proprietor of lot 62 in the second range. It was sold by his son Amos Seavey to Simeon Chapman of Epsom in 1779. Simeon’s wife was Mary Blake, a daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Libbey) Blake who lived at the bottom of Sanborn Hill. In 1800 he deeded to his son James Chapman part of lot 62, lying on the easterly side ‘of a road that goes through the same from the main road to the south part of town.’ James had married in 1797 Mary Sanders, daughter of Robert and Mary (Locke) Sanders, who had already settled on the hill. James took his own life in June of 1812, having previously sold his part of lot 62, where he had built a home, to John Sanders in 1808. Sanders did not stay on the lot, turning over the property that same year to Joseph Towle, land and buildings. Again, the property was not used as a homestead and sold just a few months later to Josiah Sanborn. Finally, the property was sold in 1812 by Sanborn to Daniel Goss, whose family made it their homestead.

 

Daniel Goss married Alice Locke Chapman, daughter of Simeon and Mary (Blake) Chapman, in 1802. This is the same Simeon that bought the lot in 1779, and had daughters that married into the Sanders family. Daniel did not have a large family, and the children included: Abigail L., born 1803, married Isaiah Lane of Chichester where they resided; Mary, born 1804, married at Epsom in 1823, Thomas Badger who died in 1830 and she twice more married; Simeon C., married about 1828, Susan Churchill Badger, daughter of Samuel Emerson and Susannah (Churchill) Badger, and sister to Thomas; and Alice Chapman, born about 1815 and died unmarried at Epsom in 1852. Daniel Goss died in 1852, his wife Alice in 1874.

 

Daniel is shown at this location in the census of 1830 and 1840. Town tax information for 1847 shows him owning 154 acres and buildings valued at four hundred dollars. Town tax information for 1848 gives Charles Quimby, non-resident, paying taxes on 150 acres and buildings worth four hundred dollars, with the notation that Daniel Goss was the former owner.

 

By 1850 Charles Titcomb Quimby and his wife Harriet Upton are living in Epsom, and continues to pay taxes until 1853. They were residents of Bow when they married in Hooksett, November 9, 1827, and reared a large family: John, born 1828, married first Lydia P. Colby, and second, Mary S. Colby; Charles, born 1829, married first at Epsom in 1856, Frances Mariah Putnam Haynes, daughter of Caleb Bartlett and Hannah S. (Sanborn) Haynes, and married at Concord in 1880, as hir second spouse, Mary E. Stewart; Sylvester, born 1830, married at Epsom in 1860, Georgie Ann Bickford, daughter of Daniel C. and Jane (Staples) Bickford of Epsom, and after his death, she married a second time; Asabel, born in 1833, married in 1857, Margaret Baker; Alfred, born 1834, married in 1858, Abigail W. Colby; Harriet, born in 1838, married at Manchester in 1861, Rufus Woodbury; Samuel, born 1840, married in 1864 at Concord, Mary M. Smith; Horace, born 1841, married at Manchester in 1867, Hattie A. Parker; Seth, born in 1843, died in 1844; Seth (2), born 1844, married at Epsom in 1865, Clara Aura Dow, daughter of John Robinson and Hannah (Fogg) Dow of Epsom; Mary Ann, born 1848, married in 1873, Daniel Ordway, resided Manchester; Rufus, born 1850, died in 1867 unmarried; and Sarah Jane, born 1853, married at Manchester in 1879, Charles H. Wheeler.

 

The Epsom property was exchanged and mortgaged many time from 1853 to 1872 amongst Charles and Harriet, living in Bow, and children Charles Jr., Sylvester and Samuel. All three sons resided at the homestead, buying additional property in the area, with son Alfred buying a parcel of land in 1875.

 

Sylvester Quimby and his wife Georgie Ann (Bickford) had children: Fred Lincoln, born at Epsom in 1862, married at Northwood in 1888, Rosa Belle Roberts; Carrie, born 1868, married four times; and Walter H., born 1873, married first in 1894, Effie Bryant, and second, Jennie R. Moore in 1900, resided Epsom.

 

Charles Jr. and his first wife, Frances M. P. (Haynes) had for a family: Charles L., born at Epsom in 1856, married Catherine Horn; Edgar Payson, born 1858, died unmarried at Epsom in 1867; Olive Ann, born 1862, died 1864; Ellsworth Grant, born 1866, died 1872; Elmer S., born 1866, married at Concord in 1888, Catherine F. Murray; Lunettie May, born about 1868, died 1872; Nellie Geneva, born about 1869, died 1872; and Albria Ann, born about 1872 and died that same year. Both Sylvester and Charle’s Jr. are buried with family members in the Gossville Cemetery. Charles Jr. was a Civil War veteran, 11th Regiment, NHV.

 

Samuel Quimby and his wife Mary M. (Smith) also had children born in Epsom; Grace L. in 1872; Nettie L. in 1877; and Herbert Samuel (seen as Samuel in some records) born 1880.

 

Sylvester eventually moved to Manchester, his brother Charles to Concord, though both continued to own land near the homestead. The homestead itself ended up owned by their father, who sold the old Goss property with the family home to William A. Seavey of Concord in 1879.

 

William Augustus Seavey was of the Chichester Seavey family where he was born in 1829. He married Abbie G. Lane, daughter of Eben and Nancy L. (Goss) Lane of Chichester. His wife Nancy was a sister to Daniel Goss,

who sold the property to the Quimby’s. William and Abbie had children: Almira, born 1858, died 1863; Mary A., born 1859, died in Chichester, unmarried in 1905; and Frank L., born 1863, married in 1895 at Chichester, Clintie W. Lane, daughter of George Warren and Annie Lovering (Locke) Lane. The Seavey’s lived in Epsom at the time their children were born, they were of Concord at the time they bought the house and land from Charles and Harriet Quimby. William Augustus Seavey and his wife Abbie both died in Epsom in 1887. His sole heir, son Frank L. inherited and resided at the home. Frank L. sold the property to William Brown of Epsom in 1907. The property passed to Frank Everett Brown, William’s son, and he sold the home in 1960 to Richard B. Learnard of Epsom, being the same premises conveyed by Frank L. Seavey to William Brown. The original house is no longer standing.

 

The property owned by Alfred Quimby was a part of lots 60 and 61. It was owned early on by John Cass, and sold to Simon Cass, and then to a George Osbourne of Epsom in 1799. He moved back to Portsmouth, and the land was sold amongst several Portsmouth residents through 1804. By 1850 it was owned by Jonathan S. and Josiah C. Chesley of Epsom, and sold by them in 1864 to George Sanders Jr. Sanders sold the land to Samuel Quimby of Epsom, and  Alfred and Horace Quimby of Bow in 1875. Samuel and Alfred, both of Manchester, sold the land to Joseph Morin of Manchester in 1917. It was eventually taken by the town for taxes in 1938, described as 40 acres of land with a cottage house, known as the Morin lot.