Mountain Road and New
The
The area New Portsmouth and the Mountain District cover stretches
from the south side of the home lots to the Allenstown/Epsom border and
included lots 1 through 20 in the first range, and the eastern end of lots 60
to 73 in the second range, those south of the Sanborn lot (the westerly side
being part of New Rye). The town history in the Hurd’s
Atlas by John Dolbeer lists the original proprietors
of these lots as the following: No. 1, Nathaniel White; 2, James Seavey; 3, John Odiorne; 4,
Benjamin Ball; 5, Israel Mark; 6, Samuel Haines; 7, John Foss; 8, Joshua
Brackett; 9, Zachariah Foss; 10, Jonathan Dockam; 11,
Richard Jordan; 12, Samuel Weeks; 13, John Underwood; 14, Robert Avery; 15,
John Rindge; 16, Richard Tarleton; 17, Henry Trefethen;
18, Thomas Manneren; 19, John Wilson; 20, James Marden - 60, Daniel Lunt; 61, Sampson Shiefe;
62, William Seavey Jun.; 63, Joseph Simpson; 64,
Nehemiah Berry; 65, Joshua Seavey; 66, Samuel
Brackett; 67, Robert Goss, Robert Goss, Jun; 68, Samuel Wallis; 69, Samuel Doust; 70, John Johnson; 71, James Chadwick; 72,
Christopher Treadwick; 73, Richard Goss.
Most of the original lots were never settled by their original
proprietors, and few, if any, had any settlements until after the French and
Indian war. The majority were populated after the American Revolution. Town
records indicate a Southern District school as early as 1793, which would have
served families in the New Rye and Mountain District, and it was known as early
as 1804 as the Mountain District School.
Some of the families who lived in New Portsmouth and over the
The writings of George H. Yeaton
in 1963 includes an article of the families and the area of New
THE GHOST TOWN IN
AND THE FAMILIES THAT LIVED IN THIS PART OF EPSOM, MANY YEARS AGO
On the old Canterbury Road and on what was once known as East Street, as you
came to the foot of the hill and at the place where Mrs. Isabella McCoy was
captured on Aug. 21, 1747 by the Indians, one comes to the Mountain Road, this
road which joins the Canterbury Road leads in a southerly direction and to what
was at one time one of the most important sections of Epsom.
This was the part of town known as “New
There were one or more mills built on the mountain brook, and at
one time twenty to forty children came from this part of Epsom to attend the
school at Center Hill, four from New Portsmouth graduated from Dartmouth
College, others studied and became professional men. In time of war men from
this community left their home and families to fight for their country, one or
more were soldiers in the Revolutionary War, at least three served in the War
of 1812, and seven or eight were soldiers in the Civil War, the names of some
of the families were Hall, Grant, Allen, Tarleton, Coffran,
Dowst, Goss, Griffin, Foss, Babb, Wells, Langley,
Appleton, Dickey, Hill, Nelson, and Joel Ames, the blacksmith.
Tradition tells us that at one period in the early history of this settlement,
there were forty yoke of oxen kept on these farms. I was told by a descendant
of one of the old families, that when he, as a boy, went to school there were
twenty children who came from New Portsmouth to attend the school at Center
Hill, this would be as late as the years 1873-1880.
Some of the names used in referring to parts of this settlement
were: The Sand Hill, Grants Hill, Allen Hill, Tarleton Meadows, Simeon’s Gully,
Mountain Road, Tarleton or Grant Road and Mountain Brook; these were all
familiar names when referring to this section of Epsom, in the days long gone.
Alter the close of the Civil War there were fifteen or twenty families living
in the New Portsmouth area but since that time the community has gradually
grown less and less until today April 1963 there are only three houses suitable
to live in that are left standing, and only one of these are occupied, this one
by a man and his wife both well advanced in years; their only livestock a
dog and a few hens. It was in this part of Epsom that the Indians had a lead
mine where they obtained the lead that they traded with Sargent
Blake. (The location of the lead mine is still a secret
[1963]). The rest of this area, which was once covered with farms and
homes is now dotted with old cellars, wells, springs, one Indian burying
ground, one or more family burying grounds and small clearings that were once
large fertile fields, scattered in the valleys and on the slopes of Fort and
McCoy's Mountains.
The census of 1810 lists
those enumerated as the home were visited, and gives a glimpse of the earliest
families in New Portsmouth. Listed, they are Daniel Wells, Aaron Babb, John
Grant, John Grant Jr., Simon Grant, Mark Emerson and Ephraim Amazeen. Nearer 1850, these larger tracts of land began to
be divided into smaller lots with additional families moving into the area.
Families included were Simon, John and George W. Grant, Greenleaf Allen,
William and Thomas Tarlton, Thomas Appleton, Charles
Flower and Benjamin Hall. By 1883 the Chesley family
owned most of what was New Portsmouth, including what were called th Tarlton
farm and lot, the
JOHN GRANT FAMILY
The family of John Grant is nearly impossible to verify due to the
lack of vital records for the town of
Poll and tax records would indicate there was only one Grant
family in Epsom, and following the addition of names to the rolls, the
following gives a picture of the family:
John Grant the father pays tax from 1793 until his death in 1822.
Simon Grant is added in 1798
William Grant in 1799 to 1811
John Grant Jr. in 1803
Job Grant in 1808 to 1809
Thomas Grant in only 1818
Ebenezer Grant in 1825
Knowing the age at death of Simon and John Jr., and using the
number of years between the addition of the Grants in the years of the polls, a
sense of the years and order of the birth of the sons can be estimated.
In 1810, the US Census takers recorded their enumerations in the order in
which they visited area households, and in that census, the Grants are listed
one after the other, being John, John Jr., Simon and William. Marriages show
Simon marrying in 1798, William in 1800, John Jr. in 1801, and Job about 1811.
No marriage record has been found for Thomas nor
Ebenezer.
A list of Epsom soldiers of the War of 1812 (John Dolbeer’s History in the Merrimack County Atlas) lists
Thomas Grant, and it is known that the widow of Job Grant applied for a pension
before she married a second time in 1816. John Grant Jr. also is not listed,
though his grave is honored each year as a veteran of the 1812 War. William
does not pay poll tax after 1811 and his widow appears with two children in the
census of 1820, perhaps William also a casualty like his brother Job.
John Grant’s widow in 1838 mentions in her will sons Simon, John
and Ebenezer, along with her three daughters. No record of Ebenezer has been
found, but must have still been living at the time of his mother’s will. The
daughters were Sally Libbey, Polly Foss, and Dorothy
Goss. John Grant was born about 1755 in
Simon, born about 1776, died in Epsom, February 1863, married
Hannah Babb, at least four children.
William, born about 1777, died before 1820, married in Pembroke in
1800, Cata Hall, at least 2 unknown children. May have died in service during the War of 1812 as he does not pay
poll tax after 1811. Not mentioned in the will of his mother in 1838.
Sally, married in Epsom in 1800, Joshua Libbey, had 9
children and moved to
Polly, born about 1786, married in Epsom, Ephraim Blake Foss, son
of Timothy and Abigail (Blake) Foss of Barrington. Job, born about 1786,
married Nancy Locke about 1811, daughter of Deacon Abraham and Molly (Sanborn)
Locke of Epsom. Probably died in service during the War of
1812 as his wife applied for a pension and married at Epsom in 1816, Andrew
Fischer. Not mentioned in the will of his mother in 1838.
Dolly, born about 1788, married about 1809 in Epsom, Nathan Goss,
son of Samuel and Abigail (Lucas) Goss. They had 10 children and resided in
Epsom. Thomas, born about 1795, pays poll tax in Epsom up to 1818, and is
probably the Thomas Grant seen in listings as serving from Epsom in the War of
1812. Not mentioned in the will of his mother in 1838. Ebenezer, born about
1802, died after 1838 when he appears in the will of his mother, he pays poll
in Epsom in 1825. Nothing more is known of him.
The Grants lived for a time in
John Grant, cordwainer, settled his
family on lot 19, of which he sold a portion to John Wells of Epsom in 1792,
being 20 acres running from little meadows brook westerly to the second range.
This lot would later be owned by his son Simon. Most of the other land
transactions are in the family, which speculates whether there was any
relationship to John Wells or his wife Jane. John’s son John Jr. in fact names
a son George Wells Grant.
In 1802 John Grant deeds land to his son John Jr. who had married
a year earlier. The land was part of lot 19, again on the westerly side of a
brook, running westerly to contain 40 acres, and a reverse deed quitclaims to
his father rights for the term of his natural life. Part of the easterly end of
the lot was sold by John Grant to John Wallace in 1804. In 1806 the family
homestead is deeded by father John Grant to his son Simon, who sells it back to
his father September 16, 1807. That same day, John Grant transfers ‘all the
land I now own, the same where I now live’ to John Grant Jr. and his brother
Job, again with rights to John and his wife Dolly during the term of their
natural lives. Job sells out his portion to Thomas D. Merrill in 1808, and
Merrill sells the land back to John Grant Jr., in 1814.
John Grant Jr. continues to buy parcels of land. His father died
in 1822, and his son John, via a lease in 1826, gives the use of one half of
his real estate to his son George W. Grant, allowing himself the use of the
property during his natural life.
John Grant Jr. married at Epsom in 1801, Hannah McGaffey, daughter of Neal and Sarah (Babb) McGaffey. They resided on the homestead farm and had three
children: Ruth Seavey, born in 1802 and married in
1822, Timothy Foss; George Wells Grant, born 1805 and married in 1827, Sally
Foss, daughter of Timothy and Abigail (Blake) Foss, who died in 1855; and Sarah
Babb, who married a Daniel L. Richardson. John’s wife Hannah died in 1827 and
he married second, about 1825, Betsey Phelps. They had a son Andrew McClary Grant, born about 1823, and on his death record
from
John Grant in 1833 deed half of the homestead to his son George
W., ‘easterly on land of John Wallace, northerly on land of Mary Parker and
Greenleaf Allen, westerly by the Mountain Road, and southerly on land of
William Tarlton.’ In 1841 he deeds to his son
Andrew M. Grant ‘half my home farm, that is the farm and buildings where I now
live, excepting what I have conveyed to George W. Grant.’ Andrew deeds back to
his parents in 1845 the rights to the same property for the term of their
natural lives. This changes in 1849 when the same is deeded to his brother
George W. Grant, making him sole owner of the family farm.
George Wells Grant and his wife Sally Foss had four children: Emeline who married a John P. Stevens; William T., born in
1831 and married in 1856, Sarah A. Twombly; Betsey
F., of whom nothing more is known; and Clara S. who married in 1855, Perly C. Giles and resided on New Orchard Road. Andrew M.
Grant married in 1842, Sally Cate Wiggin daughter of
James Wiggin of Epsom, who died in 1846. He married at
George Wells Grant deeds the family homestead to his son William
T. Grant in 1853, still subject to the lease of its use by his father granted
at the same. Various deeds are exchanged, and in 1857, Andrew quitclaims all
rights to the homestead back to his parents. His brother deeds his portion back
to Andrew. John Grant died August 17, 1864, his second wife moved to
Charles E. Flower was a son of Charles Flower, of whose ancestry
nothing is known, and Hannah Lawrence, daughter of Joseph H. and Mary (
Sometime between 1864 when Charles E. Flower purchased the Grant
farm, and 1867 when he sold the property, deeds indicate that the Grant houses,
apparently several residences on the farm, were lost to fire. Flower sold the
farm in two parcels. Both were sold October 22, 1867. The first parcel was sold
to John Chesley, ‘on the westerly side of the highway
leading from the Mountain road to the Tarleton farm on the northerly line of
said farm, running westerly on said line to land of Charles H. Hall.’ The
second parcel was sold to Michael M. McClary, being
‘on the easterly side of the highway from the Mountain road to the Tarlton farm.’ Both deeds reference the southeast corner of
the cellar of the Grant houses lately destroyed by fire.
John Chesley’s portion was passed down
through his family, and Michael M. Steele in 1882, sold his portion to John Chesley’s son, Daniel G. Chesley.
SIMON GRANT
Simon Grant was a son of John and Dorothy (Foss) Grant, born in
In 1832 Simon deeds the property he bought in 1814 to Levi T.
Grant of Dunstable, MA., and
Philip B. Grant of
Simon Grant in 1855 sells his half of the homestead to Mary Grant,
wife of his son Philip in 1855. She sells her half to Charles Henry Hall in
1856, making him sole owner of the Simon Grant farm. Hall leases the property
to his father shortly after buying the farm, and later sells it to his brother
Daniel in 1862. The house is no longer standing.
Uriah Hall owned land on
BENJAMIN HALL FAMILY
The parents of Benjamin Hall were difficult to trace because of
various sources relating to where he was born. His son Daniel on his death
record places it in
The Hall family is from
Uriah, born in 1798, and Olive had children: William R., married
Sarah Wyman and resided in Tyngsboro, MA.; Lemuel,
who married Betsey C. Langley, daughter of True and Mehitable
(Dow) Langley, resided in Epsom for a time in a house at New Portsmouth, died
in 1866 and she married second, George H. Piper; Mary, who died unmarried in
1896; Uriah G. who married Addie Lamprey and resided in the Lakes region;
Lucinda, who married John Robinson Dow; Sarah B., who married James P. Ordway
and resided in Hooksett; Elizabeth, married Alvin Libby of Maine; and Charles
Walker, married Lorinda McIntire.
Benjamin Hall, born in 1805, married in Epsom in 1829, Polly
Wells, daughter of Daniel and Lucy (Emerson) Wells. Their children included:
Charles Henry, born in 1831, and in 1851 married Lucy Jane Langley, daughter of
True and Mehitable (Dow) Langley, sister of Betsey C.
Langley who married Lemuel Hall; Andrew J., born
1834, married, probably in Illinois, Sarah J. Poynter
and resided for a time in the former Tarlton house in
New Portsmouth; and Hollis, who was born in 1836 and died unmarried in 1854.
Polly died in 1840, and Benjamin Hall married second, Mary Dowst,
daughter of John and Betsey Holton (Wallace) Dowst in
1844. They had children: Lucy A., born 1846 and married Charles F. Cofran, two children, Shurldin
and Malcolm W.; Daniel H., born 1847, married in 1870 Hannah M. Piper, daughter
of Gardiner W. and Mariah H. (Dustin) Piper, one son, Benjamin Gardner Hall;
Mary Frances born 1850, married James Lewis Batchelder;
Ellen M., born 1853, married in 1881, John J. Hill, children Carolyn, Mamie,
Amy F.B., Lewis, Annie M., and Richard H.; Caroline, died young; Hannah M.,
born 1859 and married in 1877, Charles F. Roberts; and Edward, born 1862 and
married Lucy Cofran. In 1856, Charles H. Hall, son of
Benjamin and Polly, bought the Simon Grant farm and leased it to his father
during his natural life, that he, Benjamin, keep in repair the buildings and
fences, as well as pay the taxes. Six years later Charles H. sells the property
to his step brother, Daniel H. Hall. The property passed down through his heir,
being his son Benjamin G., and through his heirs, remains in the family. George
H. Yeaton, in his memoir of the ‘Ghost Town of Epsom’
written in 1963, adds the following: All that is left to show where the
original Benjamin Hall farm was, in the early days of the settlement of “New
Portsmouth,” is the house cellar partly filled. The remains of the foundation
where the barn stood and the large lilac bush near the house cellar, in the
small clearing.
CHARLES HENRY HALL HOUSE
Charles H. Hall was the son of Benjamin Hall and his first wife
Polly Wells, who married in Epsom in 1851, Lucy Jane Langley, daughter of True
and Mehitable (Dow)
Charles H. Hall bought land from Joseph Lawrence Jr. of Epsom on
June 9, 1852, where according to the deed his dwelling, barn and other
buildings already stood, a plot of four and a half acres. While Charles had
built his house on the small lot, he quickly accumulated additional property in
the area. The land was originally Marden land, which
passed from James to Nathan Marden, the later selling
the lot, number 20 in the first range, to James H. McClary,
excepting a portion sold to Thomas Babb. McClary sold
the property to his son Michael, and upon his death the seized parcel was
bought by Thomas D. Merrill in 1834. Sold by Merrill to David Griffin in 1839,
it was next owned by John Griffin, his son in 1848 when it was sold to Joseph
Lawrence. The deed was for 80 acres, with
Charles Henry Hall wrote his will in 1898, and all the estate
property passed to his son Hollis Hall in 1904. Hollis died in 1938 and left
his property to his only heir and daughter, Flora. Flora (Hall) Sullivan left
her property to Blake's Brook Campground, which sold the Charles H. Hall house
to Gottfried Zwesper in 1968.
Flora (Hall) Sullivan House
Hollis Hall built this house next to his father, Charles Henry
Hall, cordwainer, shortly after he married Mabel
Sanders in 1891. He inherited his fathers house upon
his death in 1904. Hollis and Mabel had one daughter, Flora D. Hall, who
married in 1912, Arthur H. Sullivan, son of John F. and Martha O. Edmunds. Upon
the death of her father Hollis, she inherited all the Hall family estate, and she died in 1976. She was active and well known
throughout Epsom, and was instrumental in starting the Epsom Historical
Associations archive of photos. The house does not appear on the 1892 county
map.
The inventory of the estate included the home farm of 175 acres,
the
WELLS FAMILY
Information on this Wells family is very incomplete. There is a
lack of records and deeds to establish many of the relationships, making some
suppositions when trying to outline the family. There were in the New Rye area
some early deeds between a Samuel and Simon Wells, and a John Wells sells land
to Ebenezer Wallace in the Mountain District in 1788, part of lot number 9.
This lot was sold by a Zachariah Foss to Jacob Libbey
in 1741, and how John Wells acquired it is unknown. The next deed seen was when
John Wells bought 20 acres of land from John Grant in New Portsmouth in 1792.
In both instances, the sale to Wallace and the purchase from John Grant, John
Wells is already of Epsom.
John Wells sells his 20 acres bought of John Grant to John Wells
Junior in 1796, the deed being signed by himself and
wife Jane. It is possible that Jane was a sister of John Grant, but there is no
proof. John Grant had a grandson named George Wells Grant, and Lucy Wells, wife
of Daniel Wells, was living in 1850 in the household of Simon Grant. Again,
this is supposition and not proved. John Grant paid poll tax in Epsom up to
1799, and does not appear in the 1800 US Census, and apparently died between
those dates. His wife Jane may be the female over 45 in the household of John
Wells Junior in 1800. A few records of deaths were kept by the Congregational
Church from 1815, and she does not appear in them, so she may have died prior
to 1815. The poll data shows a John Wells Junior paying tax on 30 acres of land
starting in 1797, and a Daniel starts to pay poll tax in 1800, likely sons of
John and Jane Wells.
John Wells sold two parcels of land to Simon Grant in 1799, part
of lot 19, a total of 10 acres. He previously deeded to John Wells Junior in
July of 1796, 20 acres of lot 19, which he had purchased from Philip Babb. John
Jr. sold half of the 20 acres to Nathan Marden Junior
in November of that same year. The deed was signed by John and Rebecca Wells.
John Wells died in 1817, and the disposition of his property remains unknown.
Daniel Wells raised his family at New Portsmouth, buying land in
1814 from Michael McClary, part of lot 20 in the
first range to take its beginning at the crotch of the New Portsmouth road
where it crosses the Mountain road, then to run on the south side of the
Mountain road as said road runs to lot numbered 19, then of the line betwixt
lot No. 19 to the New Portsmouth road, then on the northwesterly side of New
Portsmouth road to the bounds first mentioned to contain seven acres. This
seven acre lot was sold by Daniel to his son Samuel on February 1, 1831, and
sold it twenty days later to Thomas D. Merrill, being the same and all the land
deeded to Thomas D. Merrill, being the same and all the land deeded to me by
Daniel Wells on Feb. 1, 1831, together with all the buildings situated thereon
and also a Cooper's Shop situated on the easterly side of the New Portsmouth
road near the other buildings. Samuel was a cooper and it appears that this
might have been the family homestead. In 1833, Samuel buys a small two acre lot
in the vicinity of the junction of the Mountain and Tarleton Roads from Joseph
Emerson. This parcel is sold to Nathan Griffin 2nd in 1847. The earlier parcel
sold to Thomas D. Merrill that bordered
Still another parcel, which by the deed from Samuel Wells Jr., to
Aaron B. Grant, references a two and a half acre parcel bought of Daniel Wells
in 1836, but the deed for that purchase could not be found. Samuel Wells buys
land at the corner of Center Hill and Echo Valley Roads in 1837, leaving New
Portsmouth. A mystery still remains, as the later hand drawn maps of Lewis Hill
shows the birthplace of James L. Wells, a son of Samuel in 1837, at the very
eastern end of the
Possibly connected is the appearance of Mark Emerson in this area
in the 1810 Census. Mark Emerson and his wife Molly Hutchings had a daughter
Lucy who married in Epsom in 1801, Daniel Wells. Perhaps he lived at the end of
the
John and Jane (Grant ?) Wells appear to
have had two sons. John, who by deed had a wife Rebecca, who died and he
married second in 1815, Rachel Libbey, daughter of Jethro and Abigail (Libbey), who
married after the death of John in 1817, William McCrillis.
John and Rebecca show an unknown son under age 10 in the 1810 Census. The other
son was Daniel Wells, who married in 1801, Lucy Emerson. They had children:
Elizabeth born about 1802, who died age 14; possibly Benjamin, born about 1804;
John born about 1807, married a Lovey unknown and
later in life lived on what is now part of the McClary
Cemetery; Polly, who married Benjamin Hall in 1829, resided on Center Hill
before moving late in life to New Portsmouth; Samuel who married Harriet Wicome, lived at New Portsmouth and later moved to Center
Hill, having one son born in 1837, James Lewis Wells; Rachel who married at
Lowell, Massachusetts, Morrill Dickey of Epsom, and died two years later; and
Ann Wells, who married Thomas J. Emerson in 1837. His parents remain unknown,
and she died in 1843.
AARON BABB FAMILY
Philip Babb descends from the Babb family of the Isles of Shoals.
Philip married Grace Lang, both of Greenland and had the following children:
Rachel, born about 1749 and married George Wallace, son of George and Margaret
(McClary) Wallace, she died before 1797 when he
married second, Lydia Eastman; Sarah who married in Greenland, 1781, Neal McGaffey, settled in Ohio, their daughter Hannah married
John Grant of Epsom; Philip, born about 1750 in Greenland, married there in
1794, Sarah Holmes, daughter of Jeremiah and Elizabeth (Lewis) Holmes; Captain
Thomas, born in 1752, married in Deerfield, 1776, Elizabeth Wallace, daughter
of George and Margaret (McClary) Wallace and brother
to George; Aaron, born 1759, married in Greenland, 1787, Hannah Tarlton, daughter of Benjamin and Mary Tarlton;
Mary, born about 1765, married William Workman McGaffey
and resided in Lyndon, Vermont; John, born about 1767, married 1795 in
Greenland, Anna Holmes and resided Epsom; and Hannah, born in 1767, married in
Epsom in 1798, Simon Grant. As can be seen from the marriages, there are strong
connections to New Portsmouth with the Grant and Tarlton
families. Philip bought land in Epsom as did his sons Philip, Thomas and Aaron.
In 1778, as part of land the town of
Thomas Babb also bought all of lot 20 from Nathan Marden, 22 acres in 1783, and the remainder in 1798. The
land holdings of the family increased in 1784 when George Urin
sold part of lot 14 to Aaron Babb in 1784, and Joseph Cilley
sold 117 acres of lot 15, and 106 acres of lot 18 to Thomas
and Aaron Babb in 1792. Aaron built a house on lot 18 when by deed they sell to
their father Philip two tracts of land in Epsom, first being lot 18 in the
first range original right of Thomas Mannaren, 104
acres, and part of lot 15 in the first range beginning on the westerly side of
a way leading through said lot to Aaron Babb’s house then southerly on said way
to the southerly side of a small brook then west 6 rods then south west to the
southerly line of said lot, thence westerly carrying the whole width of said
lot so that a parallel line will contain 70 acres. The small brook is likely
the same mentioned in Grant family deeds. Philip Babb died in 1800, and his son
Philip sold the property, excepting 2 acres bought by Benjamin Moody, to Aaron.
Simon Grant in 1804, sold to Aaron Babb the property
that his father had sold to John Wells, part of lot 19. Aaron Babb died in
1813, and the family began to deed land back to his widow, Hannah. This
included Sarah Batchelder of Sanbornton, her right to
lot 15; in 1824, John Babb to Hannah, lot 13.
Upon her death in 1848, Alonzo Wallace, her grandson, sold her land in the
first range, to George Sanders, it being 90 acres and the land formerly owned
and occupied by the widow Hannah Babb, late of Epsom, deceased, with the
buildings on the same. Sanders still owned the property at the time of his
death, and as assignee to his estate, John H. Dolbeer
sold the ‘Babb’ pasture to James E. Philbrick in
1899. The house and buildings apparently no longer standing.
Aaron Babb and Hannah Tarlton had the
following children: Polly, born about 1788 married Joseph Chambers, and she is
last seen in Kittery, Maine in the 1880 Census; Hannah, born about 1789,
married Nathan White and was widowed by 1845, died in Epsom in 1878; Rachel,
who married a cousin, Philip Babb Wallace, resided in Deerfield on the Griffin
Road, not far past the Epsom/Deerfield line, their son Alonzo settled the
estate of Hannah Babb; Statira, born about 1798, died
unmarried in 1852, had a guardian appointed in 1849 as she was decreed an
insane person; Samuel, born about 1800 and died unmarried in 1845; and Joseph
E., born about 1803 and died unmarried in 1827.
WILLIAM TARLETON FAMILY
The Tarleton farm included lots 17 and 18 in the first range of
lots. The original lot owner of lot 17 was Henry Trefethen
(also seen as Teferrin) who sold the lot to his son
Robinson. Robinson sold the lot to Ephraim Amazeen of
Ephraim Amazeen Jr. was the son of
Ephraim and Abigail (Jones) of
Ephraim and his wife Jane built a house on lot 18, and paid poll
tax in Epsom until 1810.
William Tarlton married Lucretia, daughter of Ephraim and Abigail (Jones) Amazeen in 1786 and moved into the home he bought of
Ephraim and Jane Amazeen. The Tarlton
family consisted of the following: Thomas, born 1787, married Dorothy Neal;
William, born 1788, died 1793; Lucretia born 1793,
and married in Epsom, Reuben Sanborn in 1815, he the son of the Deacon Ira and
Mary (Page) Sanborn and resided in Epsom; William, born 1794, married in Epsom
in 1815, Comfort Wallace, daughter of Joseph Chase and Polly (Clark) Wallace;
Abigail, born 1796, married John Stearns of Deerfield in 1842 as his second
wife; and Dorothy, born 1798 and died in 1803.
The senior Tarlton died in 1847, and his
wife Lucretia in 1849. Their children inherited the
homestead farm, and his son William lived there with his wife Comfort, and
raised their family of: Joseph W. Tarleton, born 1817, became a minister and
married in 1854, Betsey S. Dutton, daughter of Deacon Roger and Rachel (Sawyer)
Dutton, and resided in Hooksett; John E., born 1819, married in 1844, Mary Jane
Tuttle, he died in Concord in 1849, his wife moving to California where she
died in 1889; Thomas Scott, born 1821, married in Boston in 1850, Susan Abbott
Tuttle, sister to Mary Jane, and they moved to California where he died in
1884; Mary Jane, born 1823, died 1826; Mary Jane born 1827, married Charles
Niebuhr in 1853, and died in Boston in 1858; Henry Clay, born 1830, married in
Epsom 1853, Rebecca J. Heath, daughter of Andrew McClary
and Jane Cram (Cass) Heath, he went to California and died there in 1855, his
wife marrying second, William Pickering Babb; Abigail, born 1832, died 1840;
Elizabeth Goss, born 1834, married Charles Crane and died in Brooklyn, New York
in 1871; and Dennis P., born 1836 and died 1837.
Comfort Tarleton died in 1842, and she along with William Tarleton
Sr., his wife Lucretia, and her children who died
young, are buried in a family cemetery on the property of the homestead.
William after her death married Rhoda Berry in 1843, and they had three
children: Charles William, born 1844, married Ella James in Deerfield in 1879
and resided in Concord; George Edwin, born 1846, died 1848; and John Berry,
born in 1849, and died unmarried in 1921 in Pierce County, Washington State.
With his second marriage, William and his new wife moved down to the Mountain
District.
The New Portsmouth Tarleton homestead seems to have eventually
been bought by Joseph W. Tarleton, with Thomas S. selling him his half in 1851,
and Alonzo Wallace, guardian of the minor child Henry C, selling his interest
that same year. In 1853, William sold his portion to his brother Joseph W.,
though these deeds seem to clear the way for ownership, the property of about
120 acres was sold by an administrator of the elder William’s estate to Brice
S. Evans of
Andrew J. Hall was a son of Benjamin Hall and his first wife Polly
Wells. He left Epsom for
GREENLEAF ALLEN FARM
Greenleaf Allen was the son of Jude and Sarah (Philbrick)
Allen of Epsom and born about 1797. Jude Allen married in 1766, and Greenleaf
was born some 30 years, speculating whether or not his father might have married
a second time, with the previous child born in 1792. There are no records for
any deaths in the period, and no second marriage record has been found. His
parents became paupers, and town records show that Greenleaf assumed the care
of his parents by 1821, and is shown in a town warrant article for that year:
Article 19 - Voted to authorize the Selectmen in behalf of said Town to give a
bond to Greenleaf Allen for the conveyance of a piece of land now occupied by
said Allen - on condition that the said Allen shall indemnify the said town
from all expense for the support of Jude Allen and his wife during their
natural lives. What the arrangements were is unknown, and the town still had
unsettled business with Greenleaf two years later when the issue was revisited.
In April 1828, Greenleaf had the following published in the NH Patriot
Newspaper: NOTICE. The subscriber having contracted with the selectmen of Epsom
to support and maintain Jude Allen, a town pauper, during his natural life,
hereby forbids all persons harboring or trusting him on my account or on
account of said town, suitable provision having been made for him. Greenleaf
Allen, Epsom, April 7, 1828.
The wife of Jude Allen died December 19, 1827, and Jude Allen Died
in September of 1828. Since he was no longer caring for his parents, the town
sold him the 20 acre lot where he was residing on February 7, 1829. In April of
1828, Greenleaf married Fanny Langley. He sold the 20 acre lot to Thomas D.
Merrill in October of 1829, and Merrill sold it two years later back to the
town of
Greenleaf Allen is in Epsom in 1850 with nine children, and by
1860 he is by himself and living in
THOMAS APPLETON PROPERTY
There is no deed as to when Thomas Appleton bought land in Epsom,
but he is in the 1850 Census and shows that he paid toll and property tax for
10 acres with buildings. He was born about 1814, son of Robert and Mary
(Atwood) Appleton. His father’s original surname was Trickey,
and in 1831 had the family name changed to
In 1854 Thomas and Mary sold a half acre of land to Josiah D.
Langley, and mortgaged their property to Joseph Lawrence of Epsom in 1862,
consisting of nine and a half acres, beginning at the junction of the New
Portsmouth and the Mountain roads, thence running southwesterly by said
Mountain road to land of John Chesley, thence
easterly and southwesterly by said Chesley’s land to
land of George W. Grant, thence easterly by said Grant’s land to the New
Portsmouth road, thence northerly by the New Portsmouth road to the point of
beginning containing about nine and one half acres together with the buildings
thereon. Thomas Appleton died in Epsom October 7, 1863, and his widow married
in 1866, John Phelps, the marriage taking place in Epsom. Phelps died in 1872,
and Mary married for a third time in 1876, an Amos Davis of Sutton. Mary died
in 1906, and both she and her first husband are buried in the
The widow Mary, in 1867 after her second marriage, sold her
homestead in Epsom to George and Lydia Cofran of
Epsom. He was the son of James L. and Martha J. (unknown) Cofran,
and was born in Allenstown about 1847, married September 19, 1868, Lydia J.
Miller. George and
JAMES LEWIS SANBORN HOUSE
James D. Langley built a house on the half acre lot he bought from
Thomas Appleton in 1854. He sold it to Lemuel Hall of
Epsom in 1856. Lemuel was a son of Uriah and Olive (
OZEM DOWST HOUSE
Joseph Emerson sold two acres of land near the Greenleaf Allen
home to Samuel Wells Jr. of Epsom in 1833. Samuel moved down to Center Hill and
sold the two acres to Nathan Griffin the 2nd of Epsom in 1847. No buildings
were erected on the 2 acre plot when the land was sold by
Ozem was the son of John and Mary Margaret ‘Peggy’ (Wallace) Dowst, born in Allenstown of September 11, 1825. He married
in
Ozem and Martha Dowst had the
following children: John L., born 1857, married Henrietta Reed, and one story
says he was murdered in Lincoln, NH while working for the railroad, though his
death record gives the cause as typhoid fever; Sarah J., born 1859, married
Frank B. McCarthy; Daniel, born 1861, died 1862; George W., born 1863, died
unmarried in 1890; Caroline L., born 1869, married first in 1885, Ernest C.
Roby, parents of Arthur E. Roby, who married second in 1900, Charles E. Brock;
and Ozem, born 1873 and died in 1874. Ozem Dowst died in
Hollis Hall sold the Dowst place to
Annie M. Hill of Epsom in 1913, land formerly owned by William Grant, now owned
by Daniel G. Chesley and near the house of James L. Batchelder formerly owned by Josiah Langley and where said
line of land interacts the
John J. and Ellen M. (Hall) Hill had the following children:
Carolyn, of whom nothing is known; Mamie E. who was born in 1882 and died in
1884; Amy F.B.born 1885, married Elmer M. Batchelder; Lewis (aka ‘Perch’), born 1888, died unmarried
in 1965, whose hand drawn map of New Portsmouth appears in this book; Annie M.
born 1891, who married Arthur E. Roby; and Richard Hannibal, born 1891 and
married in 1920, Simonne O. Gosselin.
Ellen Hill died in 1932, and her daughter, Annie M. (Hill) Roby, in 1959.
Arthur Roby sold the family home in 1976 to Byron B. Brock of
BRACKETT FARM
Lt. Joshua Brackett of Greenland was the original proprietor of
Ebenezer Brackett served in the Revolution in Moses Hazen's
Regiment. The 1907 Brackett Genealogy references a will dated 1806 in which his
farm is bequeathed to his wife, and on her decease to
his son-in-law David Keniston, then to his son James.
One dollar was bequeathed to son James as he was already 'well provided for.'
Sons Greenleaf Clark and son Hanover each to get one dollar, and small
bequests given to his daughters, witnessed by Tufton
Wiggin and Enoch Clark. Enoch Clark, son of Enoch Clark and Hannah Gove, had a
brother Greenleaf, and a brother Ebenezer who married Judith Brackett, Ebenezer
Brackett's sister. Tufton Wiggin married his
sister Mary. This will, nor any will, was found in
Rockingham or
The Brackett Genealogy gives the marriage of Ebenezer to an
Abigail Clark in
Greenleaf Brackett by deed inherited the homestead. Born in Epsom
August 9, 1785, he married first in Epsom March 19, 1807, Naomi B. Locke, born
in Epsom, September 5, 1786, daughter of Jonathan and Alice (Pearson) Locke.
Naomi died in 1839, and Greenleaf married in 1841 at Allenstown, Sally D. Marden, daughter of
Greenleaf in his will left the homestead farm, where he currently
resided, to his son John L. Brackett. John Locke Brackett married
LIBBEY
The Libbey lot was No. 7 in the first
range which was originally drawn by John Foss and sold to his son Josiah. It
passed to Jonathan Smith who sold the lot in 1773 to Edward Blue of
Jethro, son of Reuben and Sarah (Goss) Libbey, married in
Jethro Libbey ran into
financial trouble, and by deed had to sell the homestead with sons Ebenezer and
Richard. It was sold in 1813 to Ephraim Eastman of Deerfield, and the deed in
part stated, being the whole of the lot 7 in the first range excepting about 3
acres set off to Benjamin Moody by virtue of an execution in favor of him
against the said Jethro Libbey
on April 11, 1809. About twenty years later, in 1842, the homestead was bought
and returned to the family by Michael M. Libbey.
Michael M. Libbey was the son Jethro's oldest son, David. David had married Martha Dolbeer in 1804 and their children included: John, who died
young; Michael M. who married first, Mary Moulton, and after her death in 1854,
married Susan Churchill Badger, widow of Simeon C. Goss; Mary Dolbeer, who married in 1833 John Durgin
of Barnstead; David who died at age 6; Lucinda, who married Daniel Foster Wadleigh and lived for a time in Epsom; David, married in
1846, Dolly J. Jone of Lee, NH; and Martha Jane who
was born in 1822 and died in 1840, unmarried.
Michael M. Libbey married Mary Moulton,
daughter of John and Abigail (Blake) Moulton of Kensington. The couple resided
in Stratham and
WIGGIN-TRIPP HOME
Benjamin Wiggin was born about 1771, a son of Eliphalet
and an unknown Foss. Benjamin had two known brothers, Eliphalet
(Jr.) and Nathaniel. In 1788, his father and brother Nathaniel bought 100 acres
of land in Bow, and the family appears in
Benjamin Wiggin married in 1798, Mary Dow, daughter of Henry and
Martha (Perkins) Dow. She was the widow of John Dowst
who died in 1795 in Epsom with whom she had 5 children. Benjamin and Mary had
three children: Sally who married Isaac Knox of Pembroke; Eliphalet,
who was born about 1800 and died in Wisconsin in 1846, unmarried; and
James, who married an unknown Mary and had children: Sally Cate,
who married Andrew McClary Grant in 1842, died in
1846; and Almira H. who died unmarried in 1845.
Sometime after the death of his first wife, James married Rosilla
Winslow, daughter of Elisha and Lydia Winslow and widow of Ebenezer Harvey.
James inherited his father's homestead after his death in 1844. James died in
1864, and his widow Rosilla and heirs sold the
homestead to James Tripp of Epsom, October 16, 1865.
James Tripp was born in Epsom on April 24, 1814 to John and Sally
(Gordon) Tripp. He married on February 2, 1843, Isabella Dickey Prescott,
daughter of John Morrill and Hannah (Dickey) Prescott. They only had one son,
James H. Tripp, born June 15, 1849, and married Sarah Locke Moses in Pembroke,
June 19, 1869. She was the daughter of Dearborn Blake and Sally Hoit (Locke) Moses. They also had one son, Walter H. Tripp.
James and Isabella made this their life-long home, James having died in 1898
and his wife in 1902. He deeded half the homestead to his son James H. in 1874,
being the same property he bought of Rosilla Wiggin.
Upon the death of his mother Isabella, James H. sold an undivided half of the
homestead to his son Walter H. Tripp, reserving the school house lot and
cemetery, containing 60 acres. Walter H. married Alice M. Fowler in 1898, with
three chidlren: Harold James; Russell Fowler, and
Robert Moses. The father and son sold the homestead to Ralph R. Pickard of
RED SCHOOL HOUSE
The original
JOHN DICKEY - THE
David Dickey and his wife Rachel moved to Epsom with their family
from
John Dickey died September 2, 1852 and the homestead passed to his
son David, who already occupied the premises. David and his wife Lucinda moved
to
Josiah D. Langley previously had a home at New Portsmouth, and
sold the Mountain District home to Varnum Fisk in
1862 and moved to the lower part of
John Robinson Dow was born in Epsom in 1817 to James and Betsey
(Robinson) Dow. He married Hannah Fogg of Northwood
at Pittsfield in 1845 and had three children: John D., born 1846 and died in
1867, married in 1865, Lizzie E. Libby; Clara Aura, born 1848 and married Seth Quimby in 1865, three children, Alice, Gertrude and Aura
Leona; and James D., born in 1858 and died about a month later. His first wife
died in 1858, and he married second, Lucinda Hall, daughter of Uriah and Olive
(
John Robinson Dow bought the property in 1878. His second wife
died in 1873, and he died in 1887. His heirs, Anna A. Quimby,
Emma Hall, Sadie Dow and Nellie Brown, sold the homestead to James Tripp in
1902. Tripp held the property for 18 years when it was sold by James H. and his
son Walter H. Tripp to Ralph Pickard of Haverhill, MA and Lizzie Philbrick of Plaistow. The property, according to Bob Tripp
was tumbling down by 1919, and less any structures, was sold to Stephen Bosiak in 1943.
BATHSHEBA ALLEN -
Aaron Burbank owned several lots in Epsom, one of which was lot 73
in the second range containing 30 acres. It was later owned by Ozem, then son, John Dowst, who
sold to Joseph Dennett. Dennett sold the property to Jonathan Locke, and was
bought by David Dickey, which he sold to his son Jonathan in 1800, including
the homestead. Though the deed was not found, it appears that the lot was sold
to Josiah Allen in September of 1803. Little is known of Jonathan Dickey, who
appears only paying tax in Epsom in 1806, and by deed, had a wife named Polly.
Josiah Allen and wife Bathsheba Allen,
lived in Epsom and Allenstown. He was a Revolutionary Ware veteran, and with
his wife raised a large family: Joseph, who married in 1814, Mary Batchelder of Deerfield; Polly who married in 1804
Nathaniel Rollins; Hannah who married in 1818 John
Locke; Josiah Hill, who married in 1816, Betsy Merrill; Lydia, who died
in Epsom in 1869, unmarried; Ezra, who married in 1814, Sarah M. Batchelder; Betsey H., who died in Allenstown, 1859
unmarried; Bathsheba, who died in Epsom in 1879,
unmarried; Nathaniel, of which there is no record, but is
mentioned as a son by Deerfield Selectmen seeking relief for his support from
the town of Epsom; Nancy, who married in 1818 Joseph Graves; and Daniel who
died in Epsom in 1824, unmarried.
Josiah sells the land he bought of Jonathan Dickey in 1803 to his
son Ezra in 1812 who may have built and resided on the property. He sells the
southern half of 15 acres with buildings to his sisters
JEREMY NUTE
The homes at the bottom of the old
Jeremy Haines Nute was born in
JOHN ROBINSON LOT
The Robinson lot included parts of lots 3 & 4 in the first
range of lots on
John and Betsey had three daughters: Betsey, born about 1792 and
married in 1816, James Dow; Polly, born about 1795 and died unmarried in 1819;
and Sally who married in 1825, Isaac Dowst, and
resided at the Mountain District. Betsey (Dennett) Robinson was likely the
daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Dennett. This family appears in Epsom in the
1790 US Census with three daughters. Joseph Dennett bought part of lots 71, 73
and number 9 in 1790, near the property John Robinson bought shortly after his
marriage to Betsey. Betsey Robinson died in 1800 and her spouse married as his
second wife, Susannah Tilton, whose parents remain unknown. John and Susanna
had the following children: William P., born in 1802, and married in 1826,
Nancy Ladd, daughter of Jedediah and Nancy (Brown)
Ladd of Deerfield; Nancy B., born about 1805, married in 1831, Capt. James
Brown and resided in New Rye; Thomas, born 1807, died in 1834 unmarried; John,
born and died in 1810; and Abigail, born 1812 and married Simon W. Healey. His
wife Susannah died in Epsom on February 10, 1815, and John married as his third
spouse, Sally Haynes, daughter of John and Olive (Weeks) Haynes in 1823. She
had married previously Nathaniel Wiggin by whom she had five children, and he
died in 1822.
John Robinson wrote his will in 1836 and mentions his wife Sally,
and children Betsy Dow, Sally Dowst, Nancy Brown,
Abigail Healey and son William. William inherited the homestead and at the said
William's decease to his eldest son then living and to the oldest son of each generation
for fifteen generations. William and his wife Nancy Ladd had four known
children: Franklin, who married Mary Ann Batchelder
in 1856; Horace who married Jane Orcutt in 1856, one
son, Henry O. (1857-1860); Susan F., who married in 1858, Addison Whittier of
Deerfield; and Thomas B., who married in 1860 Abiel
A. Hackett, who died in 1861, he married second, Betsey W. Yeaton,
daughter of John and Sarah (Bickford) Yeaton. Thomas
and Betsey had three children, Elmer, Albert and Jane. Thomas B. Robinson died
in 1885 and his widow married as her second spouse, John F. Brown.
William Robinson deeded to his son Horace 'the homestead farm of
John Robinson' in 1860, and for over twenty years Horace raised his family
there. With no heirs, Horace sold the homestead in 1882 to John H. Sullivan of
Allenstown, reserving the burying ground. William and his wife built another
house which he sold to his son Thomas B. in 1875 with a reverse deed that he
cares for his parents. This home was sold by his daughter Jane (seen as Jennie,
who married James O. Bartlett of Northwood in 1891, and after his death, George
Burroughs in 1901) to her brother Albert P. (seen as Bert) Robinson. Albert
married Bertha E. Rollins in 1907, and died ten years later, and his widow
married Gerald Pickard. Bertha, in 1921, sold the property to Ralph Pickard of
John H. Sullivan, who bought the original homestead of John
Robinson in 1882, sold it a year later to William H. Cate
of Deerfied. One acre of the farm was sold to Hiram
G. Hartford in 1884, and 15 acres to Alonzo A. Wicom of
The family held the property until 1967 when son Ralph L. and his siser Alida sold to Maurice and
Angie Clark of Kingston, land in Epsom beginning at the corner of the roads
opposite the Mountain School house in Epsom, thence easterly by the Mount
Delight Road, to land of Alonzo Wicom, thence
southerly by said Wicom land to land of Moses C. Libbey, thence westerly by said Libbey
land to land of Simeon L. Sanders, to land of Hiram G. Hartford, thence
northerly and westerly by said Hartford land to the highway leading to the
first mentioned bound, reserving an enclosed lot used as a burying ground.
HIRAM GEORGE
After John H. Sullivan purchased the John Robinson homestead, he
sold off two tracts. One tract was one half acre which was sold to Hiram G.
Hartford of Epsom, with the provision that he keep and
repair all the fence on the property. Hiram was the son of Joseph and Mary L.
(David)
ALONZO WICOM HOME
In addition to selling a small lot to Hiram Hartford, John
Sullivan sold 15 acres to Alonzo Wicom of
Peter Montminy was born in
MOSES C. LIBBEY
David Potter
John Bartlett of Meredith married Abigail Smith Bartlett in 1827, she was the daughter of John and Mary (Smith)
Bartlett. They had four known children: Mary A., who married Lorenzo Hoyt;
James L., who married Sarah E. Yeaton, daughter of
John and Sarah (Bickford) Yeaton; John Gilman,who married Oersus A.
Colby; and Joseph W., who married Caroline Maria Bickford, daughter of William
and Polly (Rand) Bickford of Epsom. John died in 1856, his wife in 1876, and
are buried in the Red Schoolhouse cemetery.
John and Abigail sold the property where they resided to their son
James L. Bartlett in 1853. Two years later, James sold the lot to his brother
John Gilman Bartlett. Again, after two years, John G. sold the lot to David
Potter of
Moses C. Libbey married in Epsom on May
12, 1864, Rosetta Langley, daughter of True and Eliza (Dowst)
Langley of Deerfield. Their children included: Etta I., who married John Horace
Babb, resided in Epsom; Walter R., who married in 1890, Ida Charles; James T.,
who was unmarried; Kidder H., also unmarried; John
L., also unmarried; and Clarence, who also did not marry. The estate
passed to son James T., whose estate sold the old homestead to Philip Cofran in 1949, and then sold to Dorothy Weeden in 1953.
GARDINER W. PIPER HOUSE
Jonathan Dickey
David Dickey sold to his son Hanover his holdings in lots 1 &
2 in the first range. By 1801, at least 20 acres were owned by his brother
Jonathan, of whom little is known, which was sold to James Brown of Epsom in
1805. In 1807, Hanover sold to his brother 40 acres out of the two lots, which
Jonathan sold to Joseph Towle, and quit claimed back
to him in 1808, being now with buildings 'that the said Dickey now lives on.'
Jonathan Dickey, with his wife Polly, sold the 40 acres and their home to
Samuel Goodhue Jr. of
Samuel Goodhue was a brother to Timothy Goodhue who also owned a
part of lots 1 & 2. His family probably resided on the lot at some time,
selling it to George W. Piper in 1849, though no mention of any buildings. The
property had been expanded past the original 40 acres.
Gardiner W. Piper was from Allenstown, and had married Mariah H.
Dustin and had children: George H., who married first Betsey C. Langley,
daughter of True and Mehitable (Dow) Langley,
and second, Etta M. Knowles, resided at the old parsonage on Center Hill; James
W., married in 1870, Sarah F. Yeaton, daughter of
Solomon M. and Mary (Hilliard) Yeaton; Hannah,
married 1870, Daniel H. Hall, son of Benjamin and Mary (Dowst)
Hall, resided at New Portsmouth; Eugene, who died unmarried; and Mary E., who
married Daniel F. Leavitt of Allenstown. Gardiner W. died in 1868, his wife in
1901, both in Allenstown. The surviving heirs (wife Mariah, George H., James
W., and Hannah Hall) sold the homestead to John C. Smith of Pembroke in 1871.
JAMES L. BARTLETT HOUSE
Seth Bartlett
The Bartlett Farm was located on the north of
Seth Bartlett was born in
James was the son of John and Abigail (Smith) Bartlett, who for a
time owned the Moses C. Libbey house. Abigail was the
daughter of John and Mary (Smith) Bartlett, and his father was Seth Bartlett.
James L. Bartlett married in 1855 Sarah E. Yeaton and
had four daughters: Susan N., born 1858, and married in 1878, Josiah D. Smith;
Sarah A., born 1859, and married in Epsom in 1881, Walter L. Pickard; Lizzie
E., born in 1862, married in 1887 at Epsom, George U. NcNeal;
and Mary Nettie, who married in 1893, Florus W.
Tripp, who died in a logging accident in 1894. The property passed to his
daughter Sarah, who went by Sadie, and her husband Walter Levi Pickard. Walter
and Sadie had children: Winfred J., who married in Chichester
in 1912, Carrie Marie Lane, daughter of George W. and Annie Lovering
(Locke) Lane of Chichester;
Gerald Charles, who married in 1917, Bertha E. Rollins,
daughter of Benjamin F., and Clara A. (Sanders) Rollins, widow of Albert
P. 'Bert' Robinson; and Gladys, married in 1922, Percy Carleton Batchelder, son of George Elmore and Nettie Alice (Stewart)
Batchelder.
The Pickards sold the family farm in
1917 to Warren M. Davis of Bow and Charles B. Rogers of Epsom. In 1926, Warren M. Davis, and Harry K. Rogers, to Clara Plante, after being owned a short time by Adelard Langlois. The
property went through several owners the next several years, including Odilon Bergevin, Hormidas L. Houston. Foreclosure to the Suncook Bank in
1938 precipitated its sale that same year to Stefan Bosiak
of Allenstown. The abandoned structure was lost to a careless fire in the
1970's.
EDWIN A. WHITE HOUSE
David Smith of
William and Mary Ann Clark sold the home in 1873 to her father
John Wiggin of
PAULINE D. SMITH HOME
Part of lots one and two in the third range was owned by Deacon
David Smith of
BELLE COFRAN HOUSE
Daniel F. Wadleigh
The Belle Cofran property bordered the
Allenstown town line and was part of lot No. one in the first range, which was
part of the David Dickey holdings. Hanover Dickey sold 79 acres to Jeremiah Fogg of Deerfield in 1809, and Jeremiah sold 20 acres of
the lot in 1811 to Timothy Goodhue of
The Wadleighs were from Kensington, and
in 1842, Daniel Foster Wadleigh married Lucinda Libbey in Epsom, she being the daughter of David and Martha
(Dolbeer) Libbey. The
family moved to
Samuel Buchanan Cofran married in 1866
at Allenstown, Elizabeth A. Belknap, and nothing more is known of her, but the
couple had three children, Sophia, George and Samuel. He married second in
1887, Isabel (aka Belle) Elzora
ANSON CASS FARM
Ebenezer Wallace
Samuel Wallace of
In 1769 George deeded lot 68 in the second range to his son
Ebenezer. Ebenezer and his wife Sarah McGaffey,
daughter of Neal and Jane (Lucas) McGaffey, were
married in Epsom January 11, 1770, and their children are listed in the old
town records: Jane born 1770, who married David Lawrence Morrill, and died in
1823, he remarried and later became Governor of New Hampshire; Margaret born
1772, married Thomas Crtichett of Epsom in 1793;
George born 1774, died unmarried in 1822; John born 1776, married in 1802 at
Pembroke, Anna Goodhue; Hannah born 1778 of which nothing more is known; Sally
born 1780 of which nothing more is known; Ebenezer, born 1784, of which nothing
more is known; and Elizabeth born 1788, who may be the Elizabeth who married in
1806, a Richard Brown.
Ebenezer's wife Sarah died about 1789, as he married in Epsom
March 4, 1780, an unknown Elizabeth Quimby. Ebenezer
and his family resided on the family farm for over thirty years when he died
intestate in 1802. He was a Revolutionary War veteran, and may have been buried
in a possible enclosed cemetery on the property. His estate was handled by his
son John, who by reverse deed owned the property provided he takes care of his
father Ebenezer and his wife Elizabeth. As executor he sold the family farm to
Levi Cass Jr. of Epsom (son of Levi Cass of New
Levi Cass was the son of Levi and Mary (Sherburne) Cass, and
married around 1800 Mehitable Osgood, born in
Raymond. The couple had children: a possible son Bradley; John Sherburne, born
1804 and died in 1883, unmarried; Jonathan Stickney, born 1807, married in
1834, Eliza Sherburne, daughter of David and Betsey S. (Moses) Sherburne, he
died in 1884; Jane Cram, born 1811, married at Epsom in 1832, Andrew McClary Heath, son of Capt. Simon A. Heath, she died in
1883 and resided in Epsom; Joseph Blake, born 1813, married in 1847, Mary Lucy
Brown, daughter of William and Lucretia Billings
(Gray), he died in 1900, resided Epsom; and Henry Osgood, born in 1824, married
Matilda D. Heald.
Levi Cass died in 1850, his wife Mehitable
in 1873. Before Levi died, he deeded the 79 acre homestead to his son John
Sherburne Cass. After the death of his father, John S. sold one half of the property
to his brother Henry O. Cass. John S. Cass was deemed insane and had a guardian
John R. Dow, who sold his remaining half of the homestead to Henry O. Cass in
1875. Henry Osgood Cass and his wife Matilda had two children: Anson Bradley,
born in 1859 and married Carrie Vicena Straw,
daughter of William H. and Sarah Jane (Sanders) Straw; and Emma Abbie, born in 1860 and married in 1881, Frank Webber
Chapman, resided at New Rye. Henry died in 1912, his wife in 1922, and the
homestead farm passed to their only son, Anson Bradley Cass.
Anson B. Cass lived to age 93, being the oldest native resident in
Epsom when he died Mar. 31, 1952, his wife having died ten years earlier.
From his obituary, he had been a farmer, holder of the Boston Post cane
and held membership in Evergreen lodge, I.O.O.F. of
The family farm was in the hands of his son Ralph Leroy Cass, who
along with his sister Alida (who did not marry), were
the surviving heirs. They two did not choose to keep the family farm, selling it
in 1953 to Samuel and Elizabeth Bigelow of
As early as 1769, Samuel Moses owned land in the Mountain District
which he bought from Joseph Goss of Stratham, part of lot 67 in the second
range. In 1784 he bought an additional 78 acres near the road that lead back to
Center Hill near Deacon Marden's land and
What James Moses bought included 117 acres, part of lots 66 &
67, and part of which was formerly left as a highway between the two lots which
Samuel bought of the Selectmen in 1794. There was a boundary dispute between
James Moses and John Wallace respecting the line between lots 67 and 68, for
which depositions were taken from James Gray, Ebenezer Brackett, Samuel Moses, Jethro Libbey and Levi Libbey in 1802. They were all very similar to that of James
Gray: James Gray of lawful age testify that in the year 1769 I was shown a
beech tree then standing at the easterly end of the second range of lots in
Epsom by Mr. Ebenezer Wallace (since deceased) who then informed me that the
said beech tree was a boundary between lots No. 67 and 68 in said second
range and on which tree was marked in figures 67 on the north and 68 on the
south side of the same, that in the year 1779 I had occasion to have recourse
to the aforesaid tree in company with the said Ebenezer Wallace who then owned
the lot No. 68 aforesaid and adjoining lot that the said beech tree was then
standing with the numbers before mentioned thereon, I further declare that I
have this day at the request of James Moses been upon the ground where the said
beech tree formerly stood, and testify that according to my best knowledge
there now stands an apple tree nearly if not exactly on the same ground where
the aforesaid marked beech (tree) formerly stood. Epsom – Dec. 24, 1802. The
outcome may have been the deed of John Wallace to James Moses the following
year: Land in Epsom part of lot 68 in the second range to contain 55 rods and 5
feet of the estate of said deceased, owned in common with myself, to take its
beginning at the northeasterly corner of said lot to an apple tree standing
near the road leading to Allenstown, then running north west to a stake and
stones and from thence north west to a stake and stones standing by the
southerly corner of said Moses land and from hence upon south side of lot No.
67 to the first mentioned bounds.
James Moses was born in 1758 and married at Epsom in 1780,
Elizabeth Sherburne, daughter of John and Sarah Sherburne. The couple had
children: Mark, born 1781, died 1811, and married in 1802, Betsey Cate; James, born 1783, died 1812, married in 1807, Betsey Chesley, daughter of Lemual and
Sarah (Randall) Chesley, who resided on New Orchard
Road; Jane, who was born in 1784, died unmarried in 1867; Betsey Sherburne, born
1786, married in 1807, David Sherburne, son of William and Sarah (Muchmore) Sherburne, resided at Gossville;
Mary, born 1788, married at Northwood in 1814, John Morrison; and Sarah, born
1792 and married in 1814, John Lake, son of Thomas and Rebecca (Blake) Lake of Chichester.
James Moses the family homestead to his
son Mark in 1806 'all land adjacent to each other excepting where roads part
them.' Mark Moses and his wife Betsey Cate,
daughter of the Deavon John and Abigail (Sherburne) Cate, had three sons; Joseph James, born in 1803, married
in 1829, Hannah Cate, daughter of John and Mary (Towle) Cate, and eventually moved
to Manchester; Dearborn Blake, born in 1805, married at Deerfied,
Sally Hoit Locke; and Mark Sherburne, born 1808,
married at Epsom in 1835, Elivira L. M. Dolbeer, daughter of John and Sally (Sherburne) Dolbeer. She died and he married in 1854, Mary Abigail Towle, daughter of Robey Marston
and Mary Abigail (Nelson) Towle,.
Mark S. died in 1865 and his widowed married second,
the Reverend George Smith.
Mark Moses died in 1811 leaving his three young sons, and his
widow Betsey, who died in 1848. The homestead stayed in the family, with son
Joseph J. deeding his portion to his brother Dearborn in 1829, and his brother
Mark S. doing the same in 1857, with his deed mentioning the right and title to
the cemetery which is very close to the house. Dearborn and his wife Sally had
three children; probably Elizabeth, whose name only remains (though probably
not visible now) on a stone in the family cemetery; Sarah Locke, born in 1841
and married in 1869, James H. Tripp; and Mary E. who died young and is buried
in the family cemetery.
Dearborn Blake Moses died in 1881, and his wife Sally in 1886, and both are buried in the cemetery next to their home.
The property passed to their only surviving daughter, Sarah Locke and her
husband James H. Tripp. James and Sarah had one son, Walter H. Tripp, and by
deed James H. and his son Walter sold the homestead in 1919 to Ralph L. Cass.
The deed was for only two acres with buildings, reserving the cemetery.
According to a caption in a photo of the house, it burned in 1919, though it is
not mentioned in the town fire log. Ralph L. Cass moved from the old John
Robinson and built the present home.
Ralph Leroy Cass, son of Anson Bradley Cass, was born in 1884 and
married in 1909 at
CHARLES W. TARLTON HOUSE
David Dickey
Samuel Dowst owned several tracts of
land which he sold to his brother Ozem Dowst which he in turn sold to Aaron Burbank of
Ten years later, in 1792, David Dickey purchased from Jacob Sheaf
of Portsmouth, all of lots one and two containing 180 acres, making his
holdings in the Mountain District about 300 acres. In two transactions, lots
one and two were sold to his son Hanover (1794 and 1800) who began to sell
various portions of the two lots. A smaller area of the property was owned by
David Dickey was the son of John and Margaret Dickey of Chester,
and the Rev. John Wilson noted the births of three children: David, born
September 28, 1737 who married Rachel Hanover; Isabel, born March 18, 1739, who
married late (1790) in life as his second wife, Ozem Dowst; and Robert, born August of 1742, who may have died
prior to 1785 when his mother sells land to their daughter with a boundary of
Robert Dickey, deceased. John Dickey died in 1779, and his widow Margaret sold
the homestead to daughter Isabel, spinster in 1785, and died two years later.
No marriage record appears for David and Rachel, and their
children were probably all born in Chester, and included: John, born about
1765, married Betsey Patten at Chester in 1792, daughter of Robert and
Catherine (Carr) Patten; Margaret, born about 1767 and married Joseph Cochran
of Pembroke and resided Plymouth; Isabel, born April 28, 1771 and married at
Epsom in 1795, William McClary, son of Capt. Andrew
and Elizabeth (McCrillis) McClary,
removed to Barston, Canada; Hanover, married at Epsom
in 1799, Lydia Osgood, daughter of Col. Samuel and Eleanor (Morrill) Osgood;
Hannah, born February 1775, John Morrill Prescott and removed to Monson, Maine;
David, born about 1777, of which little is known and probably is the David
Dickey who died at the Poor Farm in 1863, unmarried; Jonathan, who by deed had
a wife Polly and resided in Epsom and apparently left town and nothing more is
known; Robert, born about 1782, married in 1803 at Epsom, Hannah Osgood, sister
to Lydia who married Hanover Dickey.
With the exception of son David, the remainder of the sons of
David and Rachel had homes either near the homestead or in the Mountain
District. In 1800 David and his wife Rachel deeded the homestead to son
Jonathan with a reverse deed that for and during the term of their natural
lives, the improvements of which they the said David and Rachel shall manage in
which way and manner as to them shall think best for and during said term.
David Dickey died in 1805, and his wife Rachel
sometime after 1800. Jonathan sold a piece of the land to his sister Hannah in
1802, a piece to Jethro Libbey
in 1807, and the same year sold the homestead farm to his brother Hanover, who
there raised his family with his wife
Hanover was several times selectman and state representative, and
in 1839 deeded the homestead to his three sons, David, Hanover and Abram, bounded beginning at the
southerly corner of Levi Cass land on the highway passing by Benjamin Wiggins
and running southerly on said highway to land of which John Dickey now lives,
thence south westerly by the said land on which the said John Dickey lives to a
pine tree on land of Samuel Cass, thence westerly to a maple stub on land of
Simeon Sanders thence northwesterly to said Sanders land to land of Isaac Dowst, thence by said Dowst land
to the highway westerly to the highway passing by Capt. James Brown’s thence
easterly by the last named highway to land of the said Brown thence southerly
and easterly by said Brown’s land to land of Levi Cass’ land to the bound first
mentioned to contain 125 acres all which land above is meant here to be
conveyed excepting the burying place enclosing the graves of my Father and
mother as the stone wall now stands.
Charles W. Tarleton sold 20 acres, the lot where the house stood,
to Charles B. Rogers of Pembroke in 1915.
ISAAC AND CALVIN DOWST HOUSE
Ralph and Robert Cass
The Dowst farm was originally part of the David
Dickey farm which David sold a portion of to his minor son (age 18) Robert in
1800. Robert married three years later Hannah Osgood, daughter of Col. Samuel
and Eleanor (Morrill) Osgood. Their family included: Morrill, born in 1804 and
married first in 1835, Rachel Wells, daughter of Daniel and Lucy (Emerson)
Wells, and after her death in 1837, married Betsey Tuttle; Eliza W., married in
1823 at New Hampton, Nathan Bickford, son of Thomas and Olive (Haynes)
Bickford; Samuel born in 1809, died unmarried; Sarah, born 1811 of which nothing
more is known; Robert O., born in 1817, married in 1839, Martha F. Perkins,
resided with his father for a time on Route 28 south; Hannah,, born 1817 of
which nothing more is known.
Robert Dickey sold his 60 acre farm 'where I now live' to Isaac Dowst of Allenstown of March 29, 1821. Isaac was the son of
John and Mary (Dow) Dowst and was bon in Allenstown
on June 26, 1794. He married Sally Robinson, daughter of John and Betsey
(Dennett) Robinson who was born Oct. 15, 1799. Isaac and Sally were married in
1825, and had children: Mary Elizabeth, born in 1826, and died unmarried in
1869; Calvin, who married in 1875, Mary B. Libbey,
daughter of Michael M. and Mary (Moulton) Libbey, who
as B.L. Libbey resided at the old Jethro
Libbey homestead, no children; James, born 1833, died
at Antietam, Virginia, in service during the Civil War; Lydia Ann, born 1835
and died in 1837; and Sarah Ann, born in 1838 and died in 1840. The last two
daughters were buried in the
Isaac and Calvin are seen as owners of the property in 1858. Isaac
died in1885, his wife Sally in 1879, their son Calvin inheriting the homestead.
The 60 acre farm was sold by Calvin to George T. Dutton in 1900, who sold it to
Peter Montminy in 1905. The Montminys
owned the farm for a dozen years and sold the estate to Fred C. Fife in 1917.
The property since has changed hands many times. In 1924 it was
owned by Alfred Gosselin; in 1935 by Ralph L. Cass,
then to his son Robert H. Cass who resided there with his family for a little
over two decades. In 1965 Robert H. Cass sold 64 acres and building to Charles
and Kathleen Eastman of
Lot 65 was the original right of Joseph Seavey,
and before 1791 was owned by Joel Ame (aka
Samuel Wallace's father had owned property on Center Hill, one of
the homelots which went to his three sons, each who
sold their portions. Samuel returned to Epsom and settled on lot 65, and died
in1800. The lot stretched on the east in the Mountain District to the western
end in New Rye. The home was likely on the western end, as Samuel, wife and a
daughter are buried just outside the Brown cemetery on
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Named for Charles McCoy who lived on
Nat’s Mountain
Written by George H. Yeaton
Nat’s Mountain is about one-half mile from
It was given the name of Nat’s Mountain because Nathaniel, one of
the McCoy children became lost while hunting for the cows. It is said that he
was lost for quite a long time and lived on berries; and that when he was
finally found he was afraid of the ones who discovered him. Elevation
1000 feet.
Written by George H. Yeaton
most evidence is that in approaching the mountain from the
north side its towering precipice of granite might
well suggest the walls of
The entire summit of
Now let us go back two hundred years or more, and vision some
fearless citizen of Epsom climbing
From the summit on a clear day smoke from
steamers and the sails of sailing vessels, on the
If you should visit
Seven years ago my father told me that as a young man, my father
was born in the year 1832, he visited the mountain and saw quite a large
hollowed out place in one of the ledges near the summit, where the Indians in
the early days were supposed to have ground their corn and roots that they used
for food.
Arthur H. Sullivan, who lives in the part of Epsom, near
At the date of my father's first visit to the Mt. and saw the old
stone mortar, a stone was lying near by which showed by its shape and
appearance that it must have been the old pestle that the Indians used.
In later years, when he again visited the mountain the old stone
pestle was not there. It was my father who told me about the remains of the old
beacon lying on the ledges. Then there is the legend of the cave that is in the
side of the mountain, which in the old days the Indians made much use of.