Polygamist George W Peckman of Salem Massachusetts

General News Summary Boston And Vicinity Wednesday, July 18, 1860 Paper: Massachusetts Spy (Worcester, MA)

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.

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Newburyport Woolen Company

From Towle Manufacturing Company, History of Newburyport & Scholfield Wool-Carding Machines

An industry inaugurated by Newburyport capital was located at the falls in Byfield. This was the Newburyport Woolen Company, established in 1794, the first company incorporated for that business in the state, and by some authorities named as the first woolen manufactory in America. The carding and other machines for its equipment were built by Standring, Guppy, & Armstrong, in Newburyport, being set up in "Lord" Timothy Dexter's stable; and were the first made in this country.

From Currier History of Newburyport Volume 2
January 29, 1794, Benjamin Greenleaf, Philip Aubin, William Bartlet, Richard Bartlet, Offin Boardman, jr., Moses Brown, David Coffin, William Coombs, John Coombs, Mark Fitz, Abel Greenleaf, John Greenleaf, Andrew Frothingham, Michael Hodge, Nicholas Johnson, Nathaniel Knapp, Peter Le Breton, Joseph Moulton, Theophilus Parsons, Ebenezer Wheelwright, Edward Wigglesworth and others were incorporated by the name of "The Proprietors of the Newburyport Woolen Manufactory."'

The company purchased about six acres of land, with a water privilege on the Parker river, in Byfield parish, Newbury, and erected a factory there, which was supplied with suitable machinery made by the Schofield Brothers and by Messrs. Guppy & Armstrong in Newburyport. It is said that the company was the first one incorporated for the manufacture of woolen goods in the United States.' The broadcloths, cassimeres, serges and blankets made there were sold by William Bartlet at his store in Newburyport. The business, however, was not financially successful, and Mr. Bartlet bought out the dissatisfied stockholders in 1803. Next year, he sold the property to John Lees, an Englishman, who converted it into a factory for the manufacture of cotton cloth.

The Above is from "Towle Book" A Newburyport philanthropist, Timothy Dexter, contributed the use of his stable. There, beginning in December 1793, the Scholfields built a 24-inch, single-cylinder, wool-carding machine. They completed it early in 1794, the first Scholfield wool-carding machine in America. The group was so impressed that they organized the Newburyport Woolen Manufactory. Arthur was hired as overseer of the carding and John as overseer of the weaving and also as company agent for the purchase of raw wool. A site was chosen on the Parker River in Byfield Parish, Newbury, where a building 100 feet long, about half as wide, and three stories high was constructed. To the new factory were moved the first carding machine, two double-carding machines, as well as spinning, weaving and fulling machines. The carding machines were built by Messrs. Standring, Armstrong, and Guppy, under the Scholfields' immediate direction. All the machinery with the exception of the looms was run by water-power; the weaving was done by hand. The enterprise was in full operation by 1795.

John and Arthur Scholfield (and John's 11-year-old son, James) worked at the Byfield factory for several years. During a wool-buying trip to Connecticut in 1798, John observed a valuable water-power site at the mouth of the Oxoboxo River, in the town (i.e., township) of Montville, Connecticut. Here, the brothers decided, would be a good place to set up their own mill, and on April 19, 1799, they signed a 14-year lease for the water site, a dwelling house, a shop, and 17 acres of land. As soon as arrangements could be completed, Arthur, John, and the latter's family left for Montville.

The Scholfields quite probably did not take any of the textile machinery from the Byfield factory with them to Connecticut—first because the machines were built while the brothers were under hire and so were the property of the sponsors, and second because their knowledge of how to build the machines would have made it unnecessary to incur the inconvenience and expense of transporting machines the hundred odd miles to Montville. However, John Scholfield's sons reported that they had taken a carding engine with them when they moved to Connecticut in 1799 and had later transferred it to a factory in Stonington. The sons claimed that the frame, cylinders, and lags of the machine were made of mahogany and that it had originally been imported from England. However, it would have been most uncommon for a textile machine, even an English one, to have been constructed of mahogany; and having built successful carding machines, the men at Byfield would have found it unnecessary to attempt the virtually impossible feat of importing an English one. If it ever existed and was taken to Connecticut, therefore, this machine was probably not a carding machine manufactured by the Scholfields. It is more probable that the first Scholfield carding machine remained in the Byfield mill as the property of the Newburyport Woolen Manufactory.

Poor Family History

A Share from Linda Hoelzel, Director of Dudley-Tucker Library Raymond NH See Poor Family Farm This is a project Linda is working on First Families of Raymond NH

This is an ancient family.  We can go back 800 years, and find the name in England.  We have made an effort to find the connecting links of those in this town, with the old family in England.  The evidence is that there are such connections, but labor and extensive research are requisite to find them.
William, Duke of Normandy, landed in England in 1066, with 60,000 men, fought the battle of Hastings, Oct. 19, was victorious, was called afterwards the “Conqueror,” and the period was called the “Conquest.”  He reigned, as king, 21 years.
The Poors came with him, and had lands in Wiltshire.  The name came, as was sometimes the case in early times, from something in the features, manners, or form of the person.  The testimony is, that the name was early given from the gaunt, sinewy, long appearance of the race.  Some say, it was because of their poverty.  It is said that, in the old country, the family passed in to the more stocky, English shape.

There was a Daniel Poor, born in England in 1628, who came to Andover, Mass., and died in 1713.  He had a son Daniel, who had a son Thomas, and he was the father of Gen. Enoch Poor, of the Revolutionary army.  Gen. Poor died during the war, and Gen. Washington was at his funeral.  A daughter of Gen. Poor, Mary, married Rev. Jacob Cram, who died in Exeter.  Patty, another daughter, married Col. Bradbury Cilley, of Nottingham, and Harriet, also a daughter of Gen. Poor, married Maj. Jacob Cilley, of Nottingham.  Harriet Poor Cilley, granddaughter of this last couple, was the first wife of Wm. B. Blake, Esq.

From what part of England, Daniel Poor, the first at Andover, came, can not be stated, nor whether he was a connection of the Poors in Wiltshire, to which we will now return.
Herbert and Richard Poor, brothers, were bishops.  In 1199, 133 years after the family came to England, John became king ; Bishop Herbert Poor assisted at the coronation.  John proved a weak prince, but passionate and tyrannical.  And in 1215, Bishop Richard Poor helped wrest from that unworthy monarch, the Magna Charta, or the Great Charter of Liberties.
Newbury, embracing what is now Newburyport and West Newbury, was settled in 1635.  One of the settlers, that year, was John Poore, there being an e at the end of his name.  There have been persons of the name there ever since, and likely descendants.

from http://www.babycookmakes3.com/family/poore1678.html

This John came from Wiltshire in England, where we have found the first of the name in that country, 569 years before.  He had 14 children, and died in 1684.  Samuel Poore, supposed to be a brother of John, had 9 children, and died in 1683.  Benjamin Poore, son of Samuel, married widow Mary Hardy, and their children were Sarah and Ann.  Samuel Poore, another son of Samuel, married Rachel Bailey.  Children:  Rebecca, Samuel, Judith, Sarah, Eleanor, and, the first Rebecca having died, another bore her name.
One branch of the Poor family lived at Indian Hill, in Newbury, and from that neighborhood came the first to this town, and settled in the Branch district.     Click for Poor Family Photos

Ebenezer Poor, son of Samuel, was born in Newbury, March 2, 1752, and died in Raymond, Feb., 16, 1819
Sarah Brown, his wife, b. Nov. 29, 1757, died Jan. 8, 1852.  Children:
1. Mary, b. March 2, 1777, married John Prescott, and settled in Chester.
2. Nathan, b. May 26, 1780, married Susan Wilson, lived in different places, and died in the old Robie house, standing where the author of this book now resides.  One of his sons was Cyrus E., killed in the late civil war.
3. Sally, b. Nov. 21, 1782, married E. Thatcher.
4. Ebenezer, b. July 17, 1785, married Dolly Sanborn, and settled in Fremont.
5. Rebecca, b. July 17, 1789, married Moses Stuart of Kingston, and went to Maine ; now living.
6. Ruth, b. Feb. 26, 1792, married Reuben Whittier, went to New York, finally to Wisconsin.
7. Benjamin, b. Sept. 24, 1795.
8. Dennis, b. March 4, 1798, married Polly Lovering, lived in Exeter near “Great Hill,” and died June 10, 1834.

Benjamin Poor, Esq., was the seventh of the children of Ebenezer Poor, just named.  His portrait accompanies this.  His name is frequently found in this book, in connection with the various offices he has held,- Selectmen, Representative in the Legislature, Justice of the Peace, and Road Commissioner.  He was born on the homestead of his father, and there has lived to the present.  He has a good constitution, and his looks, as in the picture, indicate one of only some sixty-five or seventy years of age.  The vigorous constitution was inherited from his parents, especially his mother, who, in a somewhat green old age, departed, after having lived 94 years, as will be found farther on in this work.

It is stated in the Introduction of this book, that it has been a labor of many years.  It is now fitting to say, the commencement was in the spring of 1847, twenty-eight years ago, although but little was done for many years, after a beginning was made.  Coming to the home of our childhood, disabled by the almost total loss of voice, and being told that silence was imperative, the question was, how time should be employed to some good purpose.  A voice within, as Quakers term it, was, “Write, Joseph, write.”  The purpose was immediately formed, to write the history of this much beloved town.  We began by seeking information from a class of aged persons, then living.  Much was obtained, which, had it not been secured then, would have been lost forever ; and Mrs. Sarah Poor, mother of Benjamin, was the first person of whom information was sought.

This lady was, before marriage, Miss Sarah Brown, of Poplin, now Fremont, and daughter of Captain Nathan Brown, who was in the war of the Revolution.
Esq. Poor is a farmer, and farming has been his occupation through life.  It is an important avocation, a business that lies at the foundation of most others.  The exercise is healthful, the profits, although often small, are sure, and what is obtained by labor and honest industry is enjoyed.  The bread of idleness is not good, but that gained by “the sweat of the face,” even, is the best that can be had.  These things are spoken of because applicable to this case, Esq. Poor having been long one of the substantial farmers of the town, and satisfied with his calling.
“Of all pusuits by man invented, The farmer is the best contented.”

Mr. Poor married Miss Alice Moore of Chester, daughter of Lieutenant William, who lived near where Daniel Sanborn now does.  Children:
1. Sarah J., b. April 23, 1818, married Mr. Moar, lives in Lowell.
2. Rufus, b. Aug. 9, 1820.  He came forth as a flower.  We knew him as one of our school-boys, in the Brown district, in 1833.  He died May 29, 1846.
3. Melinda K.
4. George S.
The two last mentioned reside at home, and help make the circle there.  George married Miss Nancy M. Stevens of Chester.
Samuel Poor, son of Samuel, brother of Ebenezer, married Lydia Swain, daughter of Jonathan Swain, Esq.  He lived where his grandson, Asa K., does, and died Dec. 9, 1828.  Children:
1. Nancy, b. Jan. 13, 1775, died March 21, 1778.
2. Lydia, b. Aug. 31, 1778, died Oct. 21, 1778.
3. Nancy, b. Jan. 21, 1780, married Wm. Gilman Gordon.  She was the third wife, and Horace Gordon, formerly of this town, now in Manchester, was a son by this marriage.
4. Lydia, b. July 9, 1782, married Mr. J. Whittier, settled in Canterbury, afterward moved to Ogden, N.Y.  To show the labor of removal in earlier times, it may be stated, that they were eighteen days on the way, with a four-ox team.
5. Samuel, b. Aug. 3, 1785, settled on the home place.  Fuller notice hereafter.
6. Judith, b. July 20, 1789, married Ezekiel Norris of Fremont, died in Methuen, Mass., and was buried here.

Samuel Poor, the fifth of the children of the foregoing Samuel, followed his father on the homestead, was married to Sarah True, of Chester, April 9, 1808, by Rev. William Stevens, a local Methodist preacher.  He was a farmer, calmly, industriously and quietly attending to his affairs.  He was repeatedly chosen one of the Selectmen, and was Representative two years.  His wife died Sept. 30, 1859, and he died May 21, 1868.  Children:
1. John Lindsey, b. Jan. 9, 1809, married Sophia Shannon, of Candia, settled at the Branch, but came to the village a few years ago.  Charles, a son, lives in town, is Town Clerk.  Osborn J. died here, Sept. 2, 1871.  Two others live away.
2. Almira, b. Nov. 9, 1811, married, first, Edmund Whittier, second, Mr. Robinson, and settled in Western New York.  She still lives there, having recently married a third husband.  Her children were by her first husband, and will be named in the Whittier family.
3. Judith T., b. May 21, 1814, married Jonathan Currier, of Candia.  He died, and she returned here.
4. Asa K., b. March 24, 1818, married Betsy Towle, lives on the home place, is a farmer and mechanic. Children,-Rrufus H., Mrs. True and a son younger.
5. Samuel, b. Aug. 5, 1820, married Miss Elizabeth Murray, of Auburn, was a merchant in East Kingston, returned here, was in trade in the village, also salesman in Blake’s store, served as Moderator and Town Clerk ; went to Manchester, where he is now in trade.  He married, second, Miss Augusta Brown, of Candia.
6. Wesley, b. Aug. 31, 1829, married Lydia Richardson, settled at the Branch, afterwards in the village, has been one of the Selectmen, Moderator of town meeting, is a mechanic, and has two children, the oldest of whom is the wife of John D. Fullerton.