Coffin and Greeley Tide Mills Project

Sunset near Farm Lane dock in Seabrook. In the foreground is the remains of an old tidal saw mill that occupied the site from about 1650 to 1888. Just up stream on Mill creek, a tide mill was constructed about 1640 by Andrew Greeley who ground corn for early Hampton and Salisbury, Mass. settlers.  From Lane Memorial Library Hampton NH  Click for Story & Photography by Stephen T. Whitney  New Hampshire Profiles, June 1971, Vol. XX, No. 6  
Andrew Greeley settled on a part which is now included in Seabrook New Hampshire and thereupon built a tide mill for the grinding of corn on Kane's river 1650. In addition to this mill he built a large saw mill.He moved to Haverhill and opened another Mill (fresh water) Three successive generations of Andrew Greeley were born on the old Greeley homestead Salisbury's earliest settlers By J.Q. Evans See Also John Goff  Tidal Mills defined
Full Text click "Genealogy of the Greely-Greeley family"

Mace Pike who lived in old Stephen Coffin House. This photo shows the old stone from the Coffin Mill at the front door. Google Street View

Please post or email for a pdf copy of this newsletter publication

Portion of Ron Klodenski's presentation about Coffin’s Mill on Ring’s Island made this to the Tide Mill Institute’s conference in York last November. Please contact me or post for full PDF document

John Edward Macy

Scrapbook of Josiah Bartlett Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution

John Edward Macy born December 15, 1877 in Cleveland Ohio son of James Cartwright Macy and Mary Emma Stevens.
James C son of  Frederick Bunker Macy and Sarah Dunn
Frederick son of Benjamin Macy and Lydia Bunker
Benjamin son of John Macy and Bethiah Cartwright
John son of Robert Macy and Abigail Barnard
Robert son of Thomas Macy and Deborah Coffin
Thomas son of John Macy and Deborah Gardner
John Macy son of Thomas Macy and Sarah Hopcott

In addition to teaching commercial  law John was also a Professor of Sacred Oratory, Church Music. He lived at 204 Temple Street, West Roxbury. He graduated Boston Law School in 1901. 

 

From  Friday, May 16, 1913 Paper: Boston Herald

Book published
A selection of cases on municipal or public corporations
Listed in 1907 A Treatise on the Law of Torts: Or the Wrongs which Arise Independently of Contract
Corporations—Municipal—Elliott. Second Edition, by John E. Macy, Professor in Boston University Law School.
Harvard Law Review: Volume 34 Corporations, Municipal, Cases on the Law of. By John E. Macy, of the Faculty of Boston University Law School. The most comprehensive case-book on this subject 19
John E. Macy, a former professor at the school, presented to the school, on May 8, sixteen law books. From Bostonia, Volumes 19-21 1918

From Stevens family geneology:
Mary Emma Stevens (John, Joseph, Joseph, Samuel, Thomas, Henry) was born at Detroit, Mich., Oct. 28, 1853. She married May 10, 1875, James C. Macy, born June 27, 1845, at New York City, the son of Frederick Bunker Macy and Sarah (Dunn) Macy. Mr. Macy was in the Civil War nearly three years, his service ending in the March to the Sea with Gen. Sherman. He is a well-known musical composer. They have resided at Detroit, Mich., Cleveland, O., Norfolk, Va., and at Revere, Maiden, Medford, and Somerville, Mass. They are members of the Broadway Congregational Church at Somerville.

Children of James C. and Mary Emma (Stevens) Macy:
Frederick Stevens, b. at Detroit, Mich., Mar. 17, 1876; m. Sept. 1, 1897, Ethel May Tibbetts.
John Edward, b. at Cleveland, Ohio., Dec. 15, 1877; m. Aug. 5, 1902, Sara Lamont.
Henry James, h. at Cleveland Ohio June 26, 1879; d. Oct. 12, 1879.
Burt Houghton, b. at Norfolk, Va., Dec. 14, 1880; m. Oct. 16, 1905, Perle Leonora Angell.
Myrtle Alice, b. at Cleveland Feb. 10, 1884; d. June 15, 1889.
Ella Hazel, b. at Malden, Mass., Feb. 21, 1891.
From the Who's who in New England
John C Macy was a well known music composer: ed. pub. schs., Maiden, Mass.; LL.B., summa cum laude, Boston U. Sch. of Law, 1901, LL.M., 1907; m. Sara J. Lamont, of Somerville, Mass., Aug. 6, 1902; 3 children, John M., Norman L., Harold S. Practiced in Boston since 1901; mem. Macy & Shurtleff; instr. Boston U. Sch. of Law, 1902-8; prof, constitutional, administrative and corporation law, same school., since 1908; lecturer on business law, Coll. of Business Administration, Boston U., 1913. Congregationalist. Member, American Bar Assn., Bar Assn. City of Boston,' Am. Political Science Assn., Boston U. Alumni Assn. Mason. Author: Cases on Municipal Corporations, 1911. Reviser of Elliott on Municipal Corporations, 1910. Recreations: reading, walking, bowling. Home: West Roxbury, Mass. Office: Room 58, 19 Congress St., Boston, Mass.

John married  Sara Jessamine Lamont, d. of Andrew A Lamont and Henrietta H. Powell Lamont on August 5 1902.

Children of John Edward and Sarah J. (Lamont) Macey:

John Melville, b. Sept. 12, 1903.

Norman Lamont, b. June 16, 1906.

Harold Stevens, b. Apr. 14, 1908.

Jacob Perkins Inventor & Genius

Jacob Perkins was born and bred in Newburyport, MA B: July 9 1766 D: July 11 1849 in London Son of Mathew Perkins and Jane Noyes Married November 11 1790 Hannah Greenleaf d.of Ebenezer Greenleaf and Hannah Titcomb Greenleaf  See The Jacob Perkins House 

Jacob Perkins Newburyport, MA building: 2nd floor by Dick Hancsom May, 2010

• Check your coin jar  
• Historic mint is restored, reopens this weekend
• Jacob Perkins Printing and Engraving Building
• From American Journal of Numismatics, Volume XXVII, Page 25
• Jacob Perkins, An Early New England Die Cutter.

One of the most ingenious of engravers and one of the earliest to attempt to engrave medallic dies, was Jacob Perkins, whose medal of Washington, bearing an urn and the inscription, "He Is in Glory, the World in Tears," is well known to collectors. He was born in Newburyport, Mass., July 9, 1766. His father was a tailor, and carried on his business in that quaint old town on the banks of the Merrimac, which at that time was a prosperous municipality and the home of many distinguished men. On its principal street stands the church where Whitfield lies buried, the well-known friend of the Wesleys and the Countess of Huntingdon, and to whose fervid sermons on his journeys through the colonies Franklin occasionally listened. Jacob's father had a numerous family, and brought them up in much of the strictness which characterized the period; but Jacob was somewhat disposed to resent the rigor of the parental rule, and it is related that on one occasion having been sent to his chamber for some trifling misdemeanor, his father repaired thither shortly after, determined to apply the rod of correction, but was astonished to find only an empty room; the boy had discovered some balls of the "listing" torn from his father's woolens, and, extemporizing a rope, had made his escape. Whether this ability of taking care of himself led to the immediate result of his leaving home, history does not relate, but soon after, at the age of fifteen, we find him at work as a goldsmith, and assuming a large share of the responsibility of the business. At the age of twenty-one he is said to have made his first attempt at gutting dies for striking coins. A letter from Mr. Matthew A. Stickney, in the Journal for September, 1868, (p 36), says that he "executed beautifully a silver pattern for the first coinage of United States dollars," an impression of which, obtained from a nephew of Mr. Perkins, is in the Stickney cabinet, who esteems it as among the choicest pieces in his possession, and who remarks that it was rejected because it bore the medallion head of Washington.

On the 11th of February, 1800, a Masonic procession was held in which the Grand Lodge, Samuel Dunn, Grand Master, and 1600 Brethren participated, many of them wearing a Medal struck for the occasion from dies cut by Jacob Perkins. The obverse has a bust of Washington to left, in uniform, and surrounded by a wreath of laurel. It bears the legend, "He Is in Glory, the World in Tears," which was suggested by the Hon. Dudley A. Tyng, who was at one time collector of the Port of Newburyport. The reverse has an inscription in four concentric lines and a skull and crossbones at the bottom.

 Washington funeral medal, c 1800 Private Collection Picture from American Silversmiths 

Advertised in the Providence Journal (Providence RI), 5 Feb 1800, by David Vinton offering the Washington funeral medals produced Perkins.
Eleven days later a civic procession marched through the streets of the same city, and another medal, having the same obverse, but a different reverse, with an urn, etc., the dies of which were also cut by Perkins, was worn. These medals were struck in a three-story wooden building which stood for many years in Market Place, Newburyport, and perhaps is still there; it was just below the Ocean Bank.

The "pattern silver dollar" referred to in the above extract can hardlybe classed as a pattern coin. An "impression from the die" would be a better designation, for it appears that Mr. Perkins cut only one die—the obverse. Only one of these impressions is known, which was offered in the sale of the Stickney collection by Mr. Henry Chapman in 1907, where it was described as follows:

"(1793) Dollar. Bust of Washington in military costume facing left, on a plain field surrounded by concentric bands of various designs; in the outer one at the top in incused letters is the word 'Washington.' Struck on a thin silver planchet, the reverse being the same design as obverse incused. Silver. Extremely fine and perfect. Size 2 6. Unique and unpublished, unknown to everyone—not even in Baker's 'Medallic Portraits of Washington, 1885.' It is wrapped in a piece of old paper and inscribed in Mr. Stickney's handwriting—$10 Pattern dollar, 1793, by Jacob Perkins of Newburyport, given me by his nephew—very rare.'"
Ad from  Tuesday, April 24, 1810 Paper: Poulson's American Daily Advertiser Philadelphia, PA

Perkins Mint on Fruit Street, 1890s. Photograph by Noyes Studios. Courtesy of the Newburyport Public Library Archival Center   Tribute as posted in the Commissioner of Patents Annual Report 

JACOB PERKINS. This eminent inventor died during the past year. The following tribute to his memory is entitled to a place here, inasmuch Mr. P. took out seventeen American patents — the first one in 1799, for nail making machinery. "A simple and unostentatious notice of the demise of this remarkable man, is all the tribute that the public press has yet paid to his memory. The merits of our ingenious countryman deserves more. He has passed quietly away from the scene of his labors ; but he has left his mark upon the age. He was descended from one of the oldest families of that ancient portion of the State of Massachusetts, the county of Essex — a region of stubborn soil, but rich in its production of men. Matthew Perkins, his father, was a native of Ipswich, and his ancestor was one of the first settlers of that town. Matthew Perkins removed to Newburyport early in life, and here Jacob Perkins was . born, July 9th, 1766. He received such education as the common schools of that day furnished, and nothing more. What they were in 1770 may be guessed. At the age of twelve he was put apprentice to a goldsmith of Newburyport, of the name of Davis.
Elias Davis JR born June 11 1782 son of Elias Davis SR and Phoebe Woodman Elias Davis Sr was son of Job Davis and Thomasina Greenleaf Elias JR married Joanna Coffin on November 1 1831

His master died three years afterwards; and Perkins at fifteen, was left with the management of the business. This was the age of gold beads, which our grandmothers still hold in fond remembrance — and who wonders ? The young goldsmith gained great reputation for the skill and honesty with which he transformed the old Portuguese joes, then in circulation, into these showy ornaments for the female bosom.

Shoe- buckles were another article in great vogue ; and Perkins, whose inventive powers had begun to expand during his apprenticeship, turned his attention to the manufacturing of them. He discovered a new method of plating, by which he could undersell the imported buckles. This was a profitable branch of business, till the revolutions of fashion drove shoe-buckles out of the market. Nothing could be done with strings, and Perkins put his head-work upon other matters.
Machinery of all sorts was then in a very rude state, and a clever artisan was scarcely to be found. It was regarded as a great achievement to effect a rude copy of some imported machine. Under the old confederation, the State of Massachusetts established a mint for striking copper coin; but it was not so easy to find a mechanic equal to the task of making a die. Perkins was but twenty-one years of age when he was employed by the government for this purpose; and the old Massachusetts cents, stamped with the Indian and the eagle, now to be seen only in collections of curiosities, are the work of his skill. He next displayed his ingenuity in nail machinery, and at die age of twenty-four invented a machine which cut and headed nails at one operation.

 In 1795 Perkins setup a nail-manufacturing company at the falls in Amesbury that used water power to drive the machinery. Today the shaft that was connected to the water wheel can still be seen. Photo by Wayne Chase

This was first put in operation at Newburyport, and afterwards at Amesbury, on the Merrimac, where the manufacture of nails has been carried on for more than half a century. Perkins would have realized a great fortune from this invention, had. his knowledge of the world and the tricks of trade been in any way equal to his . mechanical skill. Others, however, made a great gain from his loss: and he turned his attention to various other branches of the mechanic arts, in several, of which he made essential improvements, as fire engines, hydraulic machines, &c. One of the most important of his inventions was in the engraving of bank bills. Forty years ago counterfeiting was carried on with an audacity and a success which would seem incredible at the present time. The ease with which the clumsy engravings of the bank bills of the day were imitated, was a temptation to every knave who could scratch copper; and counterfeits flooded the country, to the serious detriment of trade. Perkins invented the stereotype check-plate, which no art of counterfeiting could match ; and a security was thus given to bank paper which it had never before known. 

There was hardly any mechanical science in which Perkins did not exercise his inquiring and inventive spirit. The town of Newburyport enjoyed the benefit of his skill in every way in which he could contribute to the public welfare or amusement. During the war of 1812 his ingenuity was employed in constructing machinery for boring out old honeycombed cannon, and in perfecting the science of gunnery. He was a skillful pyrotechnist, and the Newburyport fireworks of that day were thought to be unrivaled in the United States. The boys, we remember, looked up to him as a second Faust or Cornelius Agrippa; and the writer of this article has not forgotten the delight and amazement with which he learned from Jacob Perkins the mystery of compounding serpents and rockets.

 

About this time a person named Redheffer made pretensions to a discovery of the perpetual motion. He was traversing the United States with a machine exhibiting his discovery. Certain weights moved the wheels, and when they had run down, certain other weights restored the first. The experiment seemed perfect, for the machine continued to move without cessation; and Redheffer was trumpeted to the world as the man who had solved the great problem. Perkins gave the machine an examination, and his knowledge of the powers of mechanism enabled him to perceive at once that the visible appliances were inadequate to the results. He saw that a hidden power existed somewhere, and his skilful calculations detected the corner of the machine from which it proceeded. " Pass a saw through that post," said he, " and your perpetual motion will stop." The imposter refused to put his machine to such a test: and for a sufficient reason. It was afterwards discovered that a cord passed through this post into the cellar, where an individual was stationed to restore the weights at every revolution. The studies, labors, and ingenuity of Perkins were employed on so great a variety of subjects, that the task of specifying and describing them must be left to one fully acquainted with the history of the mechanic arts in the United States. He discovered a method of softening and hardening steel at pleasure, by which the process of engraving on that metal was facilitated in a most essential degree. He instituted a series of experiments by which he demonstrated the compressibility of water, a problem which for centuries had baffled the ingenuity of natural philosophers. In connection with this discovery, Perkins also invented the bathometer, an instrument for measuring the depth of the sea by the pressure of the water; and the pleometer, to measure a ship's rate of sailing.

Perkins continued to reside in his birth place till 1816, when he removed from Newburyport to Boston, and subsequently to Philadelphia. His attention was now occupied by steam machinery, which was beginning to acquire importance in the United States. His researches led to the invention of a new method of generating steam, by suddenly letting a small quantity of water into a heated vessel.

After a short residence in Philadelphia, he removed to London, where his experiments with high pressure steam, and other exhibitions which he gave of his inventive powers, at once brought him into general notice. His uncommon mechanical genius was highly appreciated; and his steam-gun was for some time the wonder of the British metropolis. This gun he invented in the United States, and took out a patent for it in 1810. It attracted the notice of the British government in 1823, and Perkins made experiments with it before the Duke of Wellington and a numerous party of officers. At a distance of thirty-five yards he shattered iron targets to pieces, and sent his balls through eleven planks, one inch thick each, and placed an inch apart from one another. This gun was a very ingenious piece of workmanship, and could discharge about one thousand balls per minute.  Perkins continued in London during the remainder of his life. He never became rich. He lacked one quality to secure success in the world—financial thrift. Everybody but himself profited by his inventions. He was, in fact, too much in love with the excitement of the chase to look very strongly at the pecuniary value of the game. He died in London, July 30th, 1849. The name he leaves behind him is that of the American inventor. It is one which he deserves, and which is his true glory. He was entirely self-educated in science, and the great powers of his mind expanded by their innate force. For half a century from the hour of his birth he lived in the town of Newburyport. Here he grew up, acquired his knowledge, applied his genius to action, perfected his inventive powers, and gained all his early reputation. At the present day, when books are in the hands of every man, woman, and child, and the rudiments of scientific knowledge are presented to us in thousands of students' manuals, cyclopaedias, periodicals, public lectures, &c, we can form no adequate notion of the obstacles which lay in the way of a young man beginning his scientific pursuits at the time when Perkins was a youth. Imagine the state of popular science in 1787, and some faint notion may be obtained of the difficulties which the young artist was compelled to encounter in the preliminary steps of every undertaking. The exact sciences were but slightly regarded, even by those who made pretensions to complete learning in those days; and a great proficient in the mechanic arts could only hope to be considered in the light of a clever carpenter or blacksmith. Men did not dream of such fame as that of Watt and Arkwright. It is much to the honor of his townsmen that Perkins was from his earliest days, held in the highest esteem by them. They fully appreciated his genius, and were proud to honor him. In the latter years of his life, when far removed from the land of his birth, his thoughts and feelings always turned homeward, and he never ceased to express the hope of returning to lay his bones in his native soil. His wish has not been gratified, but his memory will remain for ever connected with the spot." 

Hannah Greenleaf Perkins

                                                      

Loftus Perkins grandson of Jacob and Hannah

 

In 1880, Loftus Perkins installed a triple expansion steam engine
Loftus son of Angier March Perkins (21 August 1799 – 22 April 1881) was a U.S. engineer who worked most of his career in the UK and was instrumental in developing the new technologies of central heating.

• Old Newbury Historical Society 
• House Stories: Jacob Perkins from Brick and Tree
• Jacob Perkins by Minor Descent
• Lateral Science 
• Genealogy of Greenleaf Family
• Historic mint is restored, reopens this weekend by By Katie Farrell Lovett
• House Stories – Jacob Perkins House – 16-18 Fruit Street, Part III
• DICK HANSCOM VISITS THE NEWBURYPORT JACOB PERKINS BUILDING
• Perking Building Restoration in Newburyport
• History of Newburyport, Mass: 1764-1905, Volume 1 By John James Currier
• Petition of Jacob Perkins, of Newburyport, in Essex County, and State of Massachusetts, for a Renewal of His Patent Right to a Nail Cutting Machine: June 15, 1813.
• The History and Present State of the Town of Newburyport By Cushing Caleb
• The Patentee's Manual: Containing a List of Patents Granted by the United States By William Elliot
• New Scientist Jun 29, 1978 
• Jacob Perkins, his inventions, his times, & his contemporaries
• Reminiscences of a Newburyport Nonagenarian By Sarah Smith Emery
• Historical Collections By John Warner Barber

THE PROJECTOR OF THE MOUNT WASHINGTON RAILROAD

Charles C Coffin July 26, 1823 – March 2, 1896

By Charles Carleton Coffin
The Bay State Monthly, Volume 3, No. 2 Project Gutenberg

There were few settlers in the Pemigewasset Valley when John Marsh of East Haddam, Connecticut, at the close of the last century, with his wife, Mehitable Percival Marsh, traveling up the valley of the Merrimack, selected the town of Campton, New Hampshire, as their future home. It was a humble home. Around them was the forest with its lofty pines, gigantic oaks, and sturdy elms, to be leveled by the stalwart blows of the vigorous young farmer. The first settlers of the region endured many hardships—toiled early and late, but industry brought its rewards. The forest disappeared; green fields appeared upon the broad intervals and sunny hillsides. A troop of children came to gladden the home. The ninth child of a family of eleven received the name of Sylvester, born September 30, 1803.
The home was located among the foot-hills on the east bank of the Pemigewasset; it looked out upon a wide expanse of meadow lands, and upon mountains as delectable as those seen by the Christian pilgrim from the palace Beautiful in Bunyan's matchless allegory.

Rev. John Marsh

Copied from the Memorial History of Hartford County

It was a period ante-dating the employment of machinery. Advancement was by brawn, rather than by brains. Three years before the birth of Sylvester Marsh an Englishman, Arthur Scholfield, determined to make America his home. He was a machinist. England was building up her system of manufactures, starting out upon her great career as a manufacturing nation determined to manufacture goods for the civilized world, and especially for the United States. Parliament had enacted a law prohibiting the carrying of machinist's tools out of Great Britain. The young mechanic was compelled to leave his tools behind. He had a retentive memory and active mind; he settled in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and set himself to work to construct a machine for the carding of wool, which at that time was done wholly by hand. The Pittsfield Sun of November 2, 1801, contained an advertisement of the first carding machine constructed in the United States. Thus it read:

"Arthur Scholfield respectfully informs the inhabitants of Pittsfield and the neighboring towns that he has a carding machine, half a mile west of the meeting-house, where they may have their wool carded into rolls for twelve and a half cents per pound; mixed, fifteen cents per pound. If they find the grease and pick the grease in it will be ten cents per pound, and twelve and a half mixed."

The first broadcloth manufactured in the United States was by Scholfield in 1804, the wool being carded in his machine and woven by hand.

In 1808 Scholfield manufactured thirteen yards of black broadcloth, which was presented to James Madison, and from which his inaugural suit was made. A few Merino sheep had been imported from France, and Scholfield, obtaining the wool, and mixing it with the coarse wool of the native sheep, produced what at that time was regarded as cloth of superior fineness. The spinning was wholly by hand.
The time had come for a new departure in household economies. Up to 1809 all spinning was done by women and girls. This same obscure county paper, the Pittsfield Sun, of January 4, 1809, contained an account of a meeting of the citizens of that town to take measures for the advancement of manufactures. The following resolution was passed: "Resolved that the introduction of spinning-jennies, as is practiced in England, into private families is strongly recommended, since one person can manage by hand the operation of a crank that turns twenty-four spindles."
This was the beginning of spinning by machinery in this country. This boy at play—or rather, working—on the hill-side farm of Campton, was in his seventh year. Not till he was nine did the first wheeled vehicle make its appearance in the Pemigewasset valley. Society was in a primitive condition. The only opportunity for education was the district school, two miles distant—where, during the cold and windy winter days, with a fire roaring in the capacious fire-place, he acquired the rudiments of education. A few academies had been established in the State, but there were not many farmer's sons who could afford to pay, at that period, even board and tuition, which in these days would be regarded as but a pittance.
Very early in life this Campton boy learned that Pemigewassett valley, though so beautiful, was but an insignificant part of the world. Intuitively his expanding mind comprehended that the tides and currents of progress were flowing in other directions, and in April, 1823, before he had attained his majority, he bade farewell to his birthplace, made his way to Boston—spending the first night at Concord, New Hampshire, having made forty miles on foot; the second at Amoskeag, the third in Boston, stopping at the grandest hotel of that period in the city—Wildes', on Elm street, where the cost of living was one dollar per day. He had but two dollars and a half, and his stay at the most luxurious hotel in the city of thirty-five thousand inhabitants was necessarily brief. He was a rugged young man, inured to hard labor, and found employment on a farm in Newton, receiving twelve dollars a month. In the fall he was once more in Campton. The succeeding summer found him at work in a brick yard. In 1826 he was back in Boston, doing business as a provision dealer in the newly-erected Quincy market.
But there was a larger sphere for this young man, just entering manhood, than a stall in the market house. In common with multitudes of young men and men in middle age he was turning his thoughts towards the boundless West. Ohio was the bourne for emigrants at that period. Thousands of New Englanders were selecting their homes in the Western Reserve. At Ashtabula the young man from Quincy market began the business of supplying Boston and New York with beef and pork, making his shipments via the Erie Canal.
But there was a farther West, and in the Winter of 1833-4 he proceeded to Chicago, then a village of three hundred inhabitants, and began to supply them, and the company of soldiers garrisoning Fort Dearborn, with fresh beef; hanging up his slaughtered cattle upon a tree standing on the site now occupied by the Court House.
This glance at the condition of society and the mechanic arts during the boyhood of Sylvester Marsh, and this look at the struggling village of Chicago when he was in manhood's prime, enables us to comprehend in some slight degree the mighty trend of events during the life time of a single individual; an advancement unparalleled through all the ages.
For eighteen years, the business begun under the spreading oak upon what is now Court House square, in Chicago, was successfully conducted,—each year assuming larger proportions. He was one of the founders of Chicago, doing his full share in the promotion of every public enterprise. The prominent business men with whom he associated were John H. Kuisie, Baptiste Bounier, Deacon John Wright, Gurdon S. Hubbard, William H. Brown, Dr. Kimberly, Henry Graves, the proprietor of the first Hotel, the Mansion house, the first framed two-story building erected, Francis Sherman, who arrived in Chicago the same year and became subsequent builder of the Sherman House.
Mr. Marsh was the originator of meat packing in Chicago, and invented many of the appliances used in the process—especially the employment of steam.
In common with most of the business men of the country, he suffered loss from the re-action of the speculative fever which swept over the country during the third decade of the century; but the man whose boyhood had been passed on the Campton hills was never cast down by commercial disaster. His entire accumulations were swept away, leaving a legacy of liability; but with undaunted bravery he began once more, and by untiring energy not only paid the last dollar of liability, but accumulated a substantial fortune—engaging in the grain business.
His active mind was ever alert to invent some method for the saving of human muscle by the employment of the forces of nature. He invented the dried-meal process, and "Marsh's Caloric Dried Meal" is still an article of commerce. See Mount Washington Cog Railroad

THE PROJECTOR OF THE MOUNT WASHINGTON RAILROAD

While on a visit to his native state in 1852, he ascended Mount Washington, accompanied by Rev. A.C. Thompson, pastor of the Eliot Church, Roxbury, and while struggling up the steep ascent, the idea came to him that a railroad to the summit was feasable and that it could be made a profitable enterprise. He obtained a charter for such a road in 1858, but the breaking out of the war postponed action till 1866, when a company was formed and the enterprise successfully inaugurated and completed.
Leaving Chicago he returned to New England, settling in Littleton, New Hampshire, in 1864; removing to Concord, New Hampshire, in 1879, where the closing years of his life were passed.
Mr. Marsh was married, first, April 4, 1844, to Charlotte D. Bates, daughter of James Bates of Munson, Massachusetts. The union was blessed with three children, of whom but one, Mary E. Marsh, survives. She resides in New York. Mrs. Marsh died August 20, 1852, at the age of thirty-six years. She was a woman of the finest mental qualities, highly educated, and very winning in her person and manners.
Mr. Marsh married, second, March 23, 1855, Cornelia H. Hoyt, daughter of Lumas T. Hoyt of St. Albans, Vermont. Three daughters of the five children born of this marriage live and reside with their mother in Concord, New Hampshire. Mr. Marsh died December 30, 1884, in Concord, and was buried in Blossom Hill Cemetery.
Mr. Marsh was to the very last years of his life a public-spirited citizen, entering heartily into any and every scheme which promised advantage to his fellow man. His native State was especially dear to him. He was very fond of his home and of his family. He was a devout Christian, and scrupulous in every business transaction not to mislead his friends by his own sanguine anticipations of success. His faith and energy were such that men yielded respect and confidence to his grandest projects; and capital was always forthcoming to perfect his ideas.
He had a wonderful memory for dates, events, and statistics, always maintaining his interest in current events. Aside from the daily newspapers, his favorite reading was history. The business, prosperity, and future of this country was an interesting theme of conversation with him. In business he not only possessed good judgment, wonderful energy, and enthusiasm, but caution.
He was philosophical in his desire to acquire wealth, knowing its power to further his plans, however comprehensive and far-reaching. Immense wealth was never his aim. He was unselfish, thinking ever of others. He had a strong sense of justice, and desired to do right—not to take advantage of another. He was generous and large in his ideas. He was benevolent, giving of his means in a quiet and unostentatious way. He took a great interest in young men, helping them in their struggles, with advice, encouragement, and pecuniary assistance. Students, teachers, helpless women, colored boys and girls, in early life slaves, came in for a share of his large-hearted bounty, as well as the Church with its many charities and missions.
Mr. Marsh was a consistent Christian gentleman, for many years identified with the Congregational denomination. He was a Free Mason; in politics he was an anti-slavery Whig, and later a Republican. In private life he was a kind, generous, and indulgent husband and father, considerate of those dependent on him, relieving them of every care and anxiety.
He was a typical New Englander, a founder of institutions, a promoter of every enterprise beneficial to society.

---

B G Willey & Gilead Maine

Chapter XVI from Benjamin G. Willey's Incidents in White Mountain History (1856) From the Bethel Historical Society  Photo share from Gilead Historical Society NEW AD From Heirlooms Reunited  1803 Brunswick, Maine Document: Joseph Lary, Jr. Promises to Pay Robert McManus

Benjamin G. Willey (1795-1867)
Portrait from Bent's Bibliography of the White Mountains (1911) Situation of Gilead — Soil — Wild River — Early Settlers — Ministers — First Church — Slide — Bears — Encounter of One Bean — York's Warm Reception by a Bear — Oliver Peabody's Loose Ox — Famine Among Bears — Bear and Hog Story — Horrible Tragedy. Gilead, formerly called Peabody's Patent, took its name from a great Balm of Gilead tree, still standing near the centre of the town.  It lies on both sides of the Androscoggin River, which runs through its entire length from east to west, the town being six miles long, and three wide.  On the borders of this river is some of the best land in the region, producing very bountiful crops.  One farm, some years since, under the cultivation of a very skillful, industrious farmer, when a premium was offered by the State of Maine for the best crop of wheat on a given portion of land, secured the premium.  Large crops of corn and potatoes have been raised on it.  Some of the former have equaled one hundred bushels to the acre.  The more usual crop is from forty to sixty bushels.  Potatoes have gone up as high as one thousand six hundred bushels to the acre; and one man, for a number of years in succession, raised one thousand five hundred bushels to the acre.
    The town is so situated as to escape almost entirely the early frosts of autumn.  Ranges of high mountains bound the valley in which it is situated, completely shutting it in on the east and west.  A continual current of air is thus formed, preserving the crops in the valley and on the hillsides, while the frost is busily at work in the adjoining towns.  Shaggy and rude in the extreme are the mountains which so completely wall in this fertile valley.  One has remarked that "the expense of transportation of fuel down the mountains, in a slippery time, is very trifling."

Androscoggin River from the Bridge at Gilead, June, 1973. U.S. EPA. National Archives #NWDNS-412-DA-8215

 Wild River, one of those impetuous mountain streams, empties into the Androscoggin in this town.  "It is a child of the mountains; at times fierce, impetuous and shadowy, as the storms that howl around the bald heads of its parents, and bearing down everything that comes in its path; then again, when subdued by long summer calms, murmuring gently in consonance with the breezy rustle of the trees, whose branches depend over it.  An hour's time may swell it into a headlong torrent; an hour may reduce it to a brook that a child might ford without fear."
    This town was settled about the time Shelburne was, whose brief history we have just given [in a previous chapter].  The settlers came generally from Massachusetts and the southern part of New Hampshire.  They were Thomas Peabody, Capt. Joseph Lary, Isaac Adams, Eliphalet Chapman, Capt. Eliphalet Burbank, George Burbank, Ephraim and Seth Wight, John Mason, Stephen Coffin, and Samuel Wheeler.  After this, soon came Phineas Kimball, Henry Philbrook, Peter Coffin, and Joseph Lary, Jr.  These were all exemplary good men, giving a character of energy to the place.  They regarded religious institutions, and helped sustain them by their property and example.  They were a church-going people, always attending the worship of God on the Sabbath. From Find A Grave Peter Coffin

From the earliest time of its settlement it has enjoyed more or less steadily the preaching of the gospel.  Before any Christian church was planted in it, it had a succession of missionaries, sent from different sources, who were instrumental of great religious benefit to the people.  Among these were the Rev. Jotham Sewall, or, as he is often called, "Father Sewall," and the Rev. Samuel Hidden, of Tamworth. In 1818, a Congregational church was formed, consisting of Melvin Farwell and wife, Abraham Burbank and wife, Widow Susannah Burbank, Betsey Philbrook, John Mason, Jr., H. Ingalls, Rhoda Styles, Mary Peabody, and Ephraim and Seth Wight.  This church, sometimes through its own efforts, and sometimes in connection with Shelburne, has had preaching most of the time since its formation.  Its regularly settled pastors have been Rev. Henry White, and Rev. Henry Richardson.  Besides those, Rev. Daniel Goodhue and others have been supplies for different portions of time.  There is a Methodist church, also, which has been instrumental of great religious and moral benefit to the place. During the terrible storm of 1826, when my brother's [Samuel Willey] family was destroyed at the [Crawford] Notch, slides also took place on many of the mountains in this town.  From Picked Hill came rushing down thousands of tons of earth, and rocks, and trees, and water, destroying all that lay in their path.  No lives were lost, but the consternation of the inhabitants was great.  The darkness was so intense as almost to be felt.  The vivid lightnings and long streams of fire, covering the sides of the mountains, caused by the concussion of the rocks, only served to make the darkness more visible.  Amid the deluge of rain, the terrific crashings of the thunder, and, over all, the deafening roar of the descending slides, it was impossible to make one's self heard.  The valley rocked as though an earthquake was shaking the earth.  The frightful scene did not last long; but, during its continuance, more terror was crowded into it than during an ordinary lifetime.  The inhabitants under these mountains alone can appreciate the awful scene through which my brother and his family passed on that terrible night. This region has been very much infested with bears, especially during the summer months.  Many live now on the mountains, preventing entirely the raising of sheep.  Though much of the land, especially on the mountains, is well adapted to grazing, still it is never safe to trust sheep and young stock far from the settlements.  So late as the summer of 1852, a most desperate encounter took place between one of the farmers in this vicinity and a large black bear of the white-face breed—the most savage of that variety.   A Mr. Bean was at work in his field, accompanied by a boy twelve years of age.  The bear approached him, and having his gun with him, charged for partridges, he fired, but with little effect.  The bear bore down upon him; he walked backwards, loading his gun at the same time, when his foot caught by a twig, which tripped him up, and the bear leaped upon him.  He immediately fired again, but with no visible effect.  The bear at once went to work,—seizing his left arm, biting through it, and lacerating it severely.  While thus amusing himself, he was tearing with his fore paws the clothes, and scratching the flesh on the young man's breast.  Having dropped his arm, he opened his huge mouth to make a pounce at his face.  Then it was that the young man made the dash that saved his life.  As the bear opened his jaws, Bean thrust his lacerated arm down the brute's throat, as far as desperation would enable him.  There he had him!  The bear could neither retreat nor advance, though the position of the besieged was anything but agreeable.  Bean now called upon the lad to come and take from his pocket a jack-knife and open it.  The boy marched up to the work boldly.  Having got the knife, Bean with his untrammeled hand cut the bear's throat from ear to ear, killing him stone dead, while he lay on his body!  It was judged the bear weighed nearly four hundred pounds.  One of his paws weighed two pounds eleven ounces.
    The earlier annals of this town are full of adventure, nearly equaling this in daring and bravery.  The older inhabitants can recall many a scene of thrilling interest which took place within sight of their very cabins.
    A man by the name of York, living in the woods, one day came rather suddenly upon a full-grown bear.  They both stopped and looked each other steadily in the face.  Neither seemed disposed to retreat.  The bear bade defiance in her look, and York did the same.  An encounter seemed unavoidable, partly because he dare not retreat now if he might, and partly because he had the pluck not to do it if he could.  So they both addressed themselves to the battle.  The bear raised herself on her hind feet, standing upright, and spread her fore legs to receive her antagonist.  York responded by opening his arms, and a close grip succeeded.  Then followed a struggle for dear life, the issue of which no one could have decided but for one circumstance.  York had the advantage in it from having an open, long-bladed jack-knife in his right hand when he commenced.  This, of course, he used in the best way he could, not stopping to ask whether it was fair or not.  Making a little extra exertion on the first good opportunity, he drew the blade across the bear's throat, and she relaxed her hold and soon bled to death.  The victory was his.
    One dark night Mr. Oliver Peabody, living in a log hut, was disturbed by his cattle in the hovel near by.  Supposing that one of them had broken from his fastening, and was goring the rest, he rose from his bed, and, with nothing on but his night-dress, ran towards the hovel to search out the cause of the trouble.  As he came to the entrance, which was merely a hole in its side, he espied some black creature standing just inside, and, thinking it one of his cattle, stepped forward a little, and struck it on the rump with a stick he had in his hand, crying, "Hurrup! hurrup there!"  The creature, deeming this rather a rough salutation, turned round, and, with the full force of his huge paw, gave him a heavy slap on the side.  By this time he began to imagine that he was in no very delicate, refined company, and must look out for himself.  The salutation he received from the creature was a little more unceremonious and rude than the one he first gave him.  He was fully aware, now, that sometimes a person must take blows as well as give them, and hard ones, too.  Certain it was, he had no disposition to repeat his stroke, or his cry of "Hurrup! hurrup!" and, perceiving that the bear was about to repeat the blow, he sounded a retreat, and made haste back to his hut.  Whether the bear kept his ground, and proceeded to annoy the cattle further, we were not informed.
   In the autumn of 1804, it required all the vigilance and courage of the inhabitants to preserve their cattle and hogs from the ferocious creatures.  The nuts and berries, their usual food, had failed them, and, driven on by hunger, the infuriated beasts would rush almost into the very houses of the settlers.  Young hogs were caught and carried off in sight of their owners, and within gunshot of their pens.  A huge, growling monster seized a good-sized hog in his paws, and ran off with it, standing on his hind legs, satisfying his hunger as he went. The red barn built for Col. Oliver Peabody

One dark night, Mr. Oliver Peabody, the same we have spoken of before, was disturbed by the loud squealing of his hogs.  As unsuspecting as before, he rushed out in his nightdress to the yard where they were kept, back of his barn.  Scarcely yet fully awake, he placed his hands upon the top rail, and stood peering into the darkness, shouting lustily to whatever might be disturbing his hogs.  So intent was he on driving away the intruder, that he was conscious of nothing until he felt the warm breath of a large bear breathing directly in his face.  The huge monster had left the hogs on his first approach, and, rearing herself on her hind legs, placed her paws on the same rail, near his hands, and stood ready for the new-year salutation of the Russians—a hug and a kiss.  Realizing fully his danger, he darted away for his house, the bear following close at his heels.  He had barely time to reach his door, and throw himself against it as a fastening, when Madam Bruin came rushing against it.  The frail thing trembled and squeaked on its wooden hinges, but his wife placed the wooden bar across it, and thus it withstood the shock.  Opening the door slightly, on the first opportunity, he let out his dog.  The dog, used to the business, seized the bear fiercely by the throat, as she sat on her haunches eyeing the door.  Not so easily driven off, however, she threw the mastiff with tremendous force against the house, and leaping a fence near at hand, sat coolly down.  The noble dog, as soon as he could recover from the stunning blow, again attacked her.  With still more force she threw him this time against the cabin, displacing some of its smaller timbers, near where some of the children were asleep in a truckle-bed.  Bounding away, she ran some eighty rods, to the house of one Stephen Messer, seized a large hog, and leaping a fence three feet high with it in her arms, ran thirty rods, and sat down to her feast.  Before Messrs. Peabody and Messer could reach her, she had finished her repast and walked slowly off into the woods.

    About the middle of June, 1850, one of the most tragical scenes transpired in this town that ever took place in any region.  Happily the principal actors in it were not natives of the town or region, but foreigners.  A contractor on the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad, which was then being constructed through the Androscoggin valley, after burying his wife in Bethel, went to board with a Mr. George W. Freeman, a blacksmith.  This man was in the employ of the contractor, helping him build a very expensive bridge over Wild River.  Mr. Freeman's family consisted of a wife and three children.  He had been somewhat remarkable as a kind and faithful husband and indulgent parent, and nothing had ever occurred to mar the peace of the family until the advent of the contractor into it.  Mrs. Freeman, young and beautiful, was very attractive in looks and address, but in all respects, heretofore, had shown herself an exemplary woman and devoted wife.  Freeman, unable to harbor the thought of anything wrong in his wife, for a long time passed by many things which caused him much uneasiness.  The particular attentions of the contractor to his wife he tried long and hard to construe as only the civilities due from a gentleman to a lady.  As each day the attentions became more marked, and the evident partiality of the two for each other's society became more manifest, the loathed suspicion worked itself gradually into the terrible conviction that his companion was yielding to the wiles of the seducer.  So bold had they become in their course, that scarcely a day passed but they rode out together, sometimes extending their rides to late hours in the night.  At last they went to Bethel, a distance of nine miles, to attend a ball, and did not return until near morning.  This fully roused Mr. Freeman from his heretofore almost stupid forbearance.  He undressed and put his children to bed, and then calmly awaited the return of the guilty pair.  Not in anger, but intensely in earnest, he expostulated with them, warning them of the consequences of their guilty course.  Passionately he besought his wife to remember their hitherto happy life, and spare himself and her babes the disgrace and loss of such a companion and a mother.  It was all, however, to no purpose.
Saturday, December 18, 1802 Paper: New Hampshire Sentinel (Keene, NH) Volume: IV Issue: 196 Page: 3

Shortly after the ball at Bethel, Mrs. Freeman threw off all restraint, and asked her husband for a divorce.  Her affection, she said, for him was gone, and it was better for them to separate.  She could never again love him as she had, and to live with him in her present state of mind was unendurable.  She not only asked him for divorcement, but told him that, with or without it, she should certainly leave him.  That she was in earnest was clearly manifest.  She commenced her preparations for a journey, proceeding even so far as to pack some of her things.
    The contractor's office was in Freeman's house, and his clerk was almost constantly employed in it.  By chance Freeman overheard one day a conversation between his wife and the clerk.  She had come for advice, and imagining no opposition from the clerk, disclosed to him her plans.  Contrary to her expectations, the noble young man reprimanded her severely for her conduct, and warmly advised her for her good.  Freeman heard all, and it confirmed his worst suspicions.
    Previous to these active preparations of Mrs. Freeman for her departure, the contractor had left for New York.  Before leaving, it seems, it had been arranged between them that Mrs. Freeman should soon follow to meet at some place yet to be agreed upon.  Freeman learned these facts but too soon.  Not long after the contractor had left, a beautiful trunk, marked for Mrs. Freeman, was one day left at the door, when Mrs. Freeman chanced to be out.  With a shop-key Freeman opened the trunk in his shop, and there full evidence of the intentions of the pair was manifest.  Beautiful dresses and jewelry for herself and children were the contents, and under all a letter disclosing the plans.  She was to meet the contractor at Syracuse, N.Y.  There were minute directions as to the routes to travel, and particular caution to fasten the door of her bedchamber, at night, in the different hotels.  The day for her departure was named.  He concealed from his wife the trunk and letter, and she never probably knew of its arrival.
    The day for Mrs. Freeman's departure was already fixed, and the night preceding her leaving in the morning had arrived.  Calmly Freeman sat among his family during the evening, and on their retiring had embraced and kissed them according to his usual custom.  Long he lingered near his wife, but, at length, bidding her the last good-night, retired to his room.  They had not slept together for some time, a servant girl occupying the bed with his wife and young child.  Stillness had settled down upon the house, when suddenly a piercing shriek broke upon the night, startling every sleeper from his slumbers.  "I am murdered!  I am murdered!" was all that could be distinguished in the confusion which ensued.  Each hurried whence the voice proceeded, and there, in Mrs. Freeman's room, weltering in blood, lay the unhappy wife, shrieking in paroxysms of terror.  She rose up in bed, as they entered, the mutilated, bleeding arm hanging at her side.  Medical assistance was soon at hand, the wounded limb amputated and carefully dressed, but to no effect; from loss of blood the murdered woman died but a few hours after.  A few buckshot were taken from the head.  The shattered condition of the arm, and the broken window, made it evident in what manner the poor woman had been murdered.  Sleeping on her side, the murderer had aimed directly at her heart, but, missing, had discharged the whole contents of the gun into her arm.  He had accomplished, however, his purpose as well as though he had not missed his aim.
    The murdered wife was conscious who had murdered her.  Her husband was the only one of the large family who gathered not around her bedside at her fearful summons.  "It was my husband," were her words.  And the full weight of her great guilt bursting upon her too late, she could but groan and ejaculate, "O, my own dear husband!  And will he not come!  O, George, my husband, shall I not see him, to be forgiven!"  She died, not suspecting that her husband was dead, but that he avoided seeing her from grief.  Fully forgiving him, she died with his name upon her lips.
    But to turn from the sad spectacle of the wife to the still sadder sight of her husband.  Instant search was made for him as the murderer of his wife, and after long hours of hunting, about a mile from his house, he was found dead, lying in a pool of his own blood.  His throat was cut from ear to ear, his hand still grasping the fatal razor.  By him lay his gun and a piece of rope.  The gun, it seems, he had tried, but it had not done its work, merely bruising badly one cheek.
    A jury of inquest was holden on his body, and a verdict rendered according to facts.  On examination of his affairs, letters were found, written by his own hand, giving directions in regard to his children, and the disposition he wished to be made of his property when he was dead.  It is supposed, from some things in his case, especially one important incident, that until a late period in his life, he did not intend to kill his wife, but the contractor.
    He asked the clerk of the contractor, one day, [on] which side of the bed they held in common he, the contractor, slept? giving an occasion by this for an inference that he had some design upon him.  But the contractor leaving before the design could be executed, and determined, as he had declared, that the contractor should never enjoy his wife, he made up his mind to kill her, and did actually perform the dreadful deed we have rehearsed.  How strongly this whole affair impresses upon us the importance of watching against the first emotions of any great sin, and praying earnestly the prayer taught us by the Saviour, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil," we certainly need not say.  There being no minister in Gilead at this time, Rev. Mr. Leland, of Bethel, attended the funeral on the occasion.  He preached to a very large concourse of people on the text, "When lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."

Peabody Tavern, Gilead, Maine, 1895; courtesy of Joanne Peabody Stewart