Campbell was a member of many local organizations, such as the Men's Community Club of West Windham of which he was one of the first directors. Also, he was the chairman of the board of selectmen in town for a couple of years. Not limiting himself to just a couple positions within the town, Samuel served as the chairman of Windham's school board, a member of the town's library committee, and a member of the board of the Windham Presbyterian church. It is recorded in 1915 that, as of that time, Samuel had progressed to the rank of Council in the Masonic Order. Campbell was also the master of the local Grange and a member of the Eastern Star Lodge of Derry. Efforts to find the date of Samuel's death, or the details of the latter portion of his life were to no avail.
Samuel F Campbell was born to parents, Alphonso and Eliza (Johnson) Campbell, in Marlborough, MA on May 21, 1882. Despite being born in Marlborough, Alphonso and Eliza resided in Windham where Samuel was raised and educated. Campbell graduated from Pinkerton Academy with the class of 1902 and went on to graduate from the University of New Hampshire, even though he was forced to return home following the death of his father in 1904. Although his father was a carpenter, he had built a business based on farming and raising stock upon the family's Windham property. Samuel took control of the farm and ran it as his father had; by 1915 it is noted that he had accumulated thirty head of registered Holstein cattle, which were his specialty. Also, it has been recorded that after only running the farm for about ten years, Samuel was the proprietor of the "best stocked" farm in the entire town. According to Rural Oasis, Campbell's cows were, "some of the highest quality cows around. His purebred Holstein cattle were taken by railroad car to fairs and expositions all over New England, including the Rochester Fair and the Eastern States Exposition in Massachusetts". One of his prize cows was named Catrina Korndyke Beets, a dairy cow that produced 20,580 pounds of milk in one year, as well as 866 pounds of butter in one year. For her ability Catrina was named the New Hampshire Champion sometime around 1920. That record has since been dwarfed in more recent times by cows that have been able to produce over 72,000 pounds of milk. It is noted in Rural Oasis that Campbell entered a partnership with Sam Pratt of Derry in order to purchase a "prize breeding bull" for the princely sum of $10,000, which would amount to almost a quarter of a million dollars in 2015. Unfortunately, the milk that was being produced by his herd could not pay his expenses and Campbell was forced to sell the entire herd. He then went on to work for the Diamond Match Book Company.
Campbell was a member of many local organizations, such as the Men's Community Club of West Windham of which he was one of the first directors. Also, he was the chairman of the board of selectmen in town for a couple of years. Not limiting himself to just a couple positions within the town, Samuel served as the chairman of Windham's school board, a member of the town's library committee, and a member of the board of the Windham Presbyterian church. It is recorded in 1915 that, as of that time, Samuel had progressed to the rank of Council in the Masonic Order. Campbell was also the master of the local Grange and a member of the Eastern Star Lodge of Derry. Efforts to find the date of Samuel's death, or the details of the latter portion of his life were to no avail.
0 Comments
William Henry Anderson was born in Londonderry, NH, near the Windham border, on January 12, 1836. His parents were Francis D Anderson and Jane Davidson Anderson, who was born in Windham. He spent his childhood on his father's farm and certainly was associated with some of the townspeople of West Windham. Anderson went on to study at Kimball's Union Academy in Meriden, NH. He then went on to study at Philips Academy in Andover, MA before going on to study at Yale College. He graduated from Yale in 1859 and moved to Natchez, Mississippi where he became a private tutor. In 1860, after a very brief stay in New Orleans, Anderson moved back to the North due to illness. Anderson went to Lowell, MA where he studied law in the office of Isaac S Morse and George Stevens. In December of 1862 Anderson was admitted to the bar. As the firm he had studied under was no longer in business, Anderson went on to form a partnership with one of its former partners, George Stevens, on January 1, 1863. This partnership lasted until April of 1875 when Stevens was elected as a district attorney for Middlesex County. The two partners occupied an office at Barristers hall, where he practiced law for more than 39 years, until the time of his death. In 1868 Anderson served in the common council of Lowell, after his election to the position from Ward 4. The next year he was re-elected and selected to serve as president of the body. He was also a member of the Lowell school board for several years. Anderson served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1871 and 1872. He did not hold any public office after 1872, and instead, "devoted himself entirely to his profession". Anderson was known as being, "cool and deliberate, thoughtful and dignified, patient and thorough, he possessed the admirable qualities so essential in a successful practitioner, and because of these qualities he enjoyed an extensive and enviable practice and was ranked among the foremost at the bar of Middlesex county." William H Anderson is recorded as having been one the most prominent trial lawyers in the state of Massachusetts. The Erie Telephone and Telegraph Company, which was formed by a syndicate of telephone and telegraph investors in Lowell, MA in 1883, was Anderson's largest client. Anderson was also involved in a number of other court cases, one of which included a "Nesmith", although it is not known if the Nesmith was of any relation to the Windham branch of the family. William Anderson married Mary A Hine of Springfield on October 1, 1868. The couple only had one child, Frances W, who was born on December 20, 1877. Anderson's connection to Windham and its people is noted by Leonard A Morrison who remarked that Anderson retained an, "[intimate association] with its people, and in them and the town has always felt the liveliest interest". His interests in Windham included the mill at Beaver Brook and other local issues such as the railroad. William H Anderson died in 1902 in his home on Andover Street in Lowell, MA following a long, painful illness.
Like several of the towns near Haverhill, MA, Windham was once home to a close descendant of Hannah Dustin. To recount the story of Hannah Dustin one must go back to 1697, about one generation before the first settlers would have arrived in the region of Nutfield. On March 15 of that year a group of Indians attacked the home of Hannah's husband, Thomas. Leonard Morrison notes that Thomas, "mounted his horse, and placing himself with his trusty gun between his seven children and the savages, retreated to a place of safety." Hannah and her nurse, Mary Neff, were kidnapped and taken to the area now known as Concord, NH; Hannah's young child was killed. On March 30, after fifteen days of being held captive, the two women and a man, Samuel Leonardson, saw an opportunity to escape as the party of twelve Indians slept. Leonardson was considered to be a member of the Indian family, though not an Indian himself. The three escapees killed and scalped ten of the Indians and Hannah Dustin returned home and went on to give birth to thirteen children. It would be about one hundred years before her great-grandson, Peter Dustin, would move to Windham, NH. Peter was the son of Nathaniel and Betsey Dustin of Haverhill. Nathaniel was the son of Nathaniel and Mary Dustin of Haverhill. Nathaniel was the son of the famous Hannah Dustin. Peter Dustin was a soldier in the Revolutionary War and lived on Zion's Hill in Salem, NH until 1785 when he relocated to a 98 acre farm in Windham near the old turnpike. There is much recorded about Dustin in Morrison's "History of Windham". The book describes him as: "Duston [sic] was a character, - witty, impulsive, impatient, and fretful. He loved his apples and cider. In the 'good old times', muster-day was a great day of enjoyment, and looked forward to with anticipations of delight, and retrospectively with great amusement. One time the muster took place on the hill about a fourth of a mile south of the Ripley house, where Peter then lived. A number had arrived, and sprang from their horses, and began helping themselves from a pile of apples near at hand. They were seen by the impulsive Peter, and in a loud and comical tone, he exclaimed: 'Boys! you are welcome, I say you are welcome, to all the apples you want to eat, but don't fill your infernal saddle-bags!'" Another notable incident involving Peter is recorded by Morrison as having taken place during a great gale that occurred on September 23, 1815.
"Four-wheeled carriages had just come in to use, and Peter had one. He had unhitched his horse, and his wagon stood on the top of the hill. The gale came from the south, struck the wagon and drove it rapidly down the descent some eight rods into the gutter, struck the shafts against the wall, breaking them off short. Peter beheld the catastrophe, but was powerless to help; when he saw his valued wagon, the delight of his eye, the joy of his heart, going rapidly on the highway to destruction, his wrath knew no bounds. He was not a religious man, not even very moral at times. When he beheld his wagon in the gutter, the shafts sticking in the stone- wall, broken short off, his anger was uncontrollable, he fairly raved, and gave vent to his wrath in language more forcible than pious." Peter Dustin died on July 23, 1825 at the age of 79. The Betsey Dustin mentioned on the document above is one of his five children that were born while he resided in Salem. William Cooper was likely not a resident of Windham and there is no record of where he may have been from. When the Derry News was first published in 1880s the newspaper's scope was not limited to just the town of Derry; the paper reported on the surrounding towns of Londonderry and Windham. It is possible that many residents of Windham subscribed to the paper, or at least read it on occasion. Local newspaper reporter, William S Harris, was selected to report on local events, many seemingly trivial but interesting nonetheless. Harris was born in Windham on March 20, 1861; he would've just turned twenty at the time he wrote the article below. It is recorded in Morrison's "History of Windham" that he had been already writing for several years as of 1883 and started his career as a local correspondent for the Exeter Newsletter in 1876, at 15 years old. According to Morrison, Harris authored, "articles on various subjects, - descriptive, botanical, historical, and religious". His articles were published in several newspapers including The New York Evangelist, Exeter Newsletter, The Presbyterian, and The Derry News. Harris also assembled and published a history of the Harris family that covered almost three hundred years of his ancestry. Many of the local incidents of Victorian Windham would have been lost to history were it not for the careful reporting of William Harris. Below is an example of his work; he briefly reports on items of local interest. Harris starts his article by reporting that Reverend Perry of West Concord, NH preached at the town's Presbyterian church on June 26th and July 3rd of 1881. Next, he records that Mattie Clark and Lottie Reynolds had gone to the Profile house in the Franconia mountains where Clark had worked for many summers. Lottie was the daughter of Hiram S Reynolds and she was born in town on October 10, 1858. She later married Charles Steele and as of 1883 resided in Hudson, NH. Travel was not limited to just the state though. According to the article, William Morrison came from California to visit Windham; most likely to visit the area where his ancestors arrived in this country, as well as where the preeminent Morrison family historian, Leonard A Morrison, resided.
On a more somber note, Harris recorded the death of Charles Ladd Hasletine who was born in town on November 26, 1820. The "History of Windham" makes note of Haseltine's life as well as his farming operation. On March 21, 1845 he bought seventy acres of farm land in town as a joint venture with his brother. A few years later he bought the half interest of his brother. He married Catherine Morrison on September 27, 1848. Harris also recorded the illness of two Windham residents, Isaiah Dinsmore and B F Wilson. Benjamin Franklin Wilson was born in Lynn. MA on October 20, 1832 and moved to Windham in 1856. According to Morrison, Wilson bought a farm in school district 7 in 1859. He died on April 4, 1883, just under two years after he is noted as being ill in the Derry News. Isaiah Dinsmore was born on September 19, 1824 and married Margaret Park on 28 years later on that exact date. He spent his life in town on two different farms and is recorded as having been, "a man of energy and persistence of character". Dinsmore became ill with an unknown disease in 1878 and died after much suffering in September of 1881. As agriculture was a major industry in Windham in the 19th century, Harris could have not written about local life without commenting on some aspect of the trade. He recorded an "unusual amount of wet and cool weather" that adversely affected the grass crop. On a more positive note, the weather prevented much infestation by potato bugs. He ends his terse agriculture report by noting, "corn is small". Harris concluded his July 8th article with a short paragraph about some of Windham's oldest residents. He writes that Mary Steele was, "active, able to work, and even to walk out of doors", at the age of 93. The oldest person to attend church in town was Sally Clark, also referred to as "Aunt Sally", who was 87 as of the time Harris wrote the article. Harris recorded that there were other ladies over the age of 80 who attended the Presbyterian church. The woodlands of New England are littered with miles of stonewalls that are some of the only remaining relics of the once burgeoning sheep market throughout the region. As a result of the War of 1812, the US instituted an embargo on English goods, cutting off the main supply of wool. At the time, and to this day, one of the highest grades of wool came from the Merino sheep. However, at the turn of the 19th century, the world's supply of Merino sheep was located in Portugal, which prohibited their exportation until William Jarvis, the US consul to Portugal, brought 4,000 of the sheep to his farm in Vermont. This small number of sheep grew exponentially in a boom that has since been known as the Merino Sheep Craze. By 1824 there were almost half a million sheep in Vermont; sixteen years later the number had grown to over 1.7 million. The craze was not limited to Vermont; the Merino wool industry boomed throughout the New England states. It is recorded that in 1840 there were about 600,000 Merino sheep in New Hampshire (information from the Concord Monitor) Some of those sheep grazed upon the hilltop meadows of Windham. The only significant remnant of the sheep craze in Windham lies on the Gage Conservation Lands where an approximately 34 acre former grazing land is bounded by a square of stone walls approximately a few feet in height. Constructed by David Gregg sometime between 1807 and 1815, most likely closer to the latter date, the pen was built to measure approximately 1,200 feet on each side (measured using Google Earth). Gregg was born on October 15, 1750. He fought in the Revolutionary War and there is an interesting anecdote about his service that was recorded by Leonard A Morrison: "He was in the battle of Bennington, and had his thumb shot off. When the
battle was raging he felt a stinging sensation in his thumb, and the smoke was so thick he could hardly see; he put his thumb in his mouth, and found it hanging by a piece of skin; he bit it off, and kept on fighting, with a determination to come off victorious, or die upon the field 'with his face to the foe'. He was afterwards offered captaincy, but declined it. He received his commission of lieutenant after the war." He married his cousin, Jane Gregg, daughter of Captain David and Ann Gregg on February 12, 1784. Morrison recorded that the land David lived upon was part of the original grant to the Gregg family and he was the first one to actually occupy the land. Jane died in 1812 and David married Sally Clyde about two years later. It is recorded by Morrison that David, "took care of his parents in their old age; was made an elder of the church. He was a good man but was unfortunate in the later years of his life, lost his property, and in his old age was dependent upon the charity of his friends and the town"; David died in 1831. In 1815, David sold his property to his son, John, and that deed is the first time the meadow (by definition "permanent pastures", hence often being enclosed by walls) is ever mentioned as existing on the land. In 1828 John Gregg sold the land to Jesse Gibson of Pelham, NH, who sold it in 1838 to Asa Buttrick of Lowell, MA. By the time Buttrick had purchased the land the great sheep craze was just beginning to come to an end. |
AuthorDerek Saffie is an avid Windham historian who enjoys researching and sharing his collection with all those interested in the history of the New England town. Archives
November 2019
Categories
All
|