HISTORY OF GREENFIELD, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE
----------------------------------
----------------------------------
Information located at http://www.nh.searchroots.com
On a web site about GENEALOGY AND HISTORY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE 
and its counties
TRANSCRIBED BY JANICE BROWN 
Please see the web site for my email contact.
----------------------------------
The original source of this information is in the public domain, 
however use of this text file, other than for personal use, is 
restricted without written permission from the transcriber 
(who has edited, compiled and added new copyrighted text to same).
========================================================
SOURCE: History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire 
Philadelphia: J.W. Lewis & Co., 1885, 878 pgs.
p. 331 [EXCERPTS]
GREENFIELD
Chapter I.

"PETITION FOR THE SETTING OFF OF THE NORTHWEST PART OF THE TOWN, 1790"
"To the honorable Generall Court of the State of N.H.:
 "The Petition of the inhabitants of the Society Land, So Called,
humbly shews that your Petitioners, Living in Sd Society, Labour under
many disadvantages and inconveniences by not Being in a Corporated
Town, And cannot Enjoy Such Privileges as to Render their Circumstance
Agreeable.  Wherefore, your Petitioners Humbly Pray that the Northwest
Part of the town of Lyndeborough, of which the inhabiants hath for
some years past been desirous of being better accomodated, May Be
Annexed to that part of the Society Land Lying South and Southerly of
the Crotched Mountain with Lyndeborough Slip, and incorporated into a
town therewith, and your Petitioners, as in Duty Bound, will Ever 
Pray: 
 "Benjamin Pollard, Stephen Gould, Alexander Parker, Robert Rodgers,
Samuel Farmer, William Glover, Duglass [sic Douglass] Robison,
William McCrae, Ebenr Farrington, Thomas Addison, John Waugh,
Pyam Herrick, Samuel Cudworth, Samuel Weeks, Oliver Holt, William
Wilson, Robert Alexander, Thomas Atkinson, John Chase, Timothy
Cudworth, Jonathan Gillis, James Ramsey, Robert Waugh, John McMaster,
Charles Cavender, John Ramsey,"
 "Society Land, Apr ye 27th, 1790"

"The Petition of the Subscribers, Inhabitants of a gore of land lying
between Lyndeborough and Peterborough, known by the name of
Lyndeboro Gore, Humbly Shews: That your Petitioners have been 
encouraged to settled in the Mountainous part of this State, in
expectation of being incorporated with some Adjacent Inhabitants into
a body Politic, with the same privileges that other towns enjoy,--
that your petitioners and famileys Consist of Forty-one souls, and
live Seven miles, or upward, from Lyndeborough Meeting-house, and, in
addition to the badness of Travel generally attending new Settlements,
we have to cross the Petit Manadinack Mountain to attend Public
worship,--that we have not power to raise any money for laying out
and repairing highways or Schooling our Children,--that public
Instruction in the great duties of life and the education of our
Children we Esteem as a duty and Privilege, and think it of great
importance, either in a Religious or political view, which we are, by
our local Situation, deprived of, and must so remain or quit our
habitation unless relieved by the Honble General Court,--that That
part of Lyndeborough that is adjacent to us lies west of the
Petit Monadinock Mountains and that part of the Society land that lays
South of the Crotched Mountain, and is bounded on the west by the
Contoocook River can never be Accomodated in any other way than by
being incorporated together with us and one Range of Lots in the Town
of Peterborough, and that with them we think ourselves Able to make
ever Necessary provision for the enjoyment of Privileges and
Advantages that other towns enjoy.
 "Therefore we pray that your Honors would incorporate us with the
Inhabitants above mentioned into a body Politic, with the same
privileges and Emmunities that are enjoyed by other Towns in this
State, or Grant us Reliefe, as you in your wisdom shall see fit:
 "Joseph Batchelder, Joshua Holt, Peter Pevey, Joseph S. Lawrence,
Thomas Pevey, Nathan Lovejoy, John Fletcher, William Blunt,
John Holt, John Dane, Timothy Holt.
 "Lyndeborough Gore, May 25th, 1790.

CONSENT OF PETERBOROUGH TO FOREGOING, 1790--
At a legal town-meeting of the inhabitants of Peterborough, upon the
18th day of October, 1790:
 "Voted, to grant to the persons petitioning the General Court the
east Range of Peterborough in Case they obtain from Lyndeborough and
other places what they have petitioned for to be incorporated into a
Town.
 "Attest, Thomas Steele, Town Clerk
 "Peterborough, october 18 day, 1790."

GREENFIELD was INCORPORATED June 15, 1791, and was composed of
portions of Society Land, Peterborough and Lyndeborough, and land
between the two last-named towns, called Lyndeborough Gore.
  Daniel Emerson, Esq. of Hollis, was authorized to call the first
town-meeting. They met at the house of Mr. Daniel Gould, the 5th of
July 1791.  After opening the meeting, adjourned to the meeting-house,
at which town officers were chosen.
 By an act passed December 28, 1791, the boundaries were changed and
established.  December 11, 1792, the two east ranges of lots of land
in Greenfield, in that portion which, previous to the incorporation
of the town, was known as Lyndeborough Addition, were annexed to
Francestown.  July 4, 1872, another portion of this town was annexed
to Francestown. A portion of the territory now comprised in Greenfield
was settled, in 1771, by CAPTAIN ALEXANDER PARKER, MAJOR A.
WHITTMORE, SIMEON FLETCHER and others.
  It has been stated that the name Greenfield was given the town by
Major Whittemore.

DESCRIPTION OF THE TOWN
Greenfield is situated in the southwestern part of Hillsborough 
County, in latitude 42 degrees 55' north, and longitude 71 degrees 48'
west (from Greenwich). It is bounded north by Bennington and
Francestown, east by Francestown and Lyndeborough, south by
Lyndeborough and Temple, and west by Peterborough and Hancock.
  It comprises an area of sixteen thousand nine hundred and four 
acres, irregular in shape, nearly the entire border-line from
northeast to southwest forming a curious succession of right angles.
  It is drained by the Contoocook River, which separates it from
Hancock.
  The surface is broken by many hills, while two mountains, Crotched
and Lyndeborough lie partly within its precincts. The soil is
consequently varied in character, the low lands being adapted for
tillage and the hillsides for grazing.  Its leading industry is
agriculture.  The same influences which impart severity to its winter
climate make it a welcome and healthful summer retreat, easy of
access since the extension of the Boston and Lowell Railroad to the
place in 1874, and the Manchester and Keene in 1878.
 The village consists of a church, school-house, post-office, hotel,
depot, several stores and a steam-mill, together with a goodly
number of neat and well-preserved dwellings.
  From its high central position it is visible miles away, at various
points, and the tops of its highest hills command on three sides a
grand and extensive view of the surrounding country far beyond the
limits.  Away to the east, past hill and dale and village spires,
rise the twin heads of the bold Unconoonucs, while to the west, far
across the broad intervening plain, dotted with half-concealed farm
houses, Monadnock reares his symmetrical form, towering high in the
air life a lofty sentinel keeping guard over the long line of
approaching hills that stretch far to the northward.
  It has five ponds, known as Hog Back, Mud Pond, Gould Pond,
Bower's Pond and Pollard Pond.  The last named, lcoated in the west
part of the town, is the largest, being about one mile long and
one-half mile wide.
 For many years it has been a favorite resort of pleasure-parties, and
many a wary pickerel has been lured from its siltent depths to be
cooked and devoured on its shores, with that savage relish which
excursionsists rarely fail to exhibit.
 For more than half a century a succession of its sons and daughters
have emigrated to other parts of the country, many of whom have
occupied honorable positions in the professional, business and
literary world.
  The habits of patient toil, frugality, self-denial and endurance,
acquired through the hardy occupations of their early lives, have
doubtless proved a surer passport to success than any inheritance of
wealth could have procured.
  The settlers of this town were mostly of English and Scotch-Irish
descent.  The Ramseys, Beans and Pattersons emigrated from the
ancient towns of Londonderry. The Holts, Abbotts and Peaveys came
from Andover, Mass., and were numerous in the south part of the town.
 To Chelmsford and Marblehead we are indebted for some of our
earliest settlers, among whom were the Savages, Reynolds, Fletchers
and others.
 The early settlers were industrious and frugal, and planned with a
wise reference to the future welfare of the town.
 They raised large families and so trained them for life's duties
that many of them have occupied honorable positions in almost every
State in the Union.
 But few of the descendants of the pioneers now inhabit the town.

"August 8, 1791. At a legal meeting of said voters and others,
inhabitants of the Town of Greenfield, at the meeting-house in said
town, on Monday, the 8th day of August, 1791, Chose Lieut. Amos
Whittmore Moderator.
 "Voted, to raise eighteen pounds, to be laid out in preaching, the
present year.
 "Voted, to accept the account of the committee that was chosen to
carry the matter of incorporation to the General Court.
 "Voted, to raise three pounds for necessary town charges.
 "Voted, that Messrs. Joshua Holt, Benjamin Pollard, and Joseph
Ellinwood be a committee to supply the desk the present year.
 "Voted, to choose three choristers: chose Joseph Batchelder, Thomas
Pearsons and Thomas Carlton, Jr.
 "Voted, to have the Psalm read one-half of the time, and the other
half to sing without reading.
 "Voted, to allow the constables fourpence on the pound for collecting
the taxes.
 "The town voted to join with the church in calling a fast, to have
the Church organized in this town.
 "Joseph Herrick. T.C." [Town Clerk]

FIRST ROADS--
Roads were first laid out to accomodate individuals, and rendered
passable by cutting trees as near the ground as possible, thus 
clearing a space of sufficient width for teams to pass.
 "A Transcript of a road leading from the centre road, so called,
upon the line betwixt Thomas Butman's farm and Alexander Parker's,
until it comes to said Butman's North East Corner; from thence to
the North East corner of Samuel Butterfield's clearing, and south
from Joseph Eaton's barn to the bridge over the pond brook, as near
as the land will permit. By the Selectmen of the Society, 1787."
  In 1791 a road was laid out, two rods wide, beginning at the west
line of Lyndeborough Slip, so called; thence westerly through land
of Nehemiah and Ephraim Holt, to Peterborough west line.
 In 1793 another road, beginning at John Holt's house; thence
running northeasterly to the log causeway; thence northwesterly to
the meeting-house spot.
 In 1795 a road was laid out "beginning at the County road the south
side of the meeting-house; thence easterly, by marked trees on the
north side of the road, through land of Samuel Weeks, Elijah 
Broadstreet, William Parker and Jesse Dodge, also through land of
Moses Lewis to a little brook in said land; thence easterly to the
road that leads to Lyndeborough."
  Before 1795 a road was laid out "beginning at the easterly line of
the town of Greenfield, running wouthwesterly to John Grant's east
line, south side of Grant's house, till it strikes the road that
leads by Philip Fletcher's to Lyndeborough meeting-house." Several
other roads were early laid out, and used only as bridle-paths.

FIRST CROPS--
The first crop on burnt ground was rye; the surface was as
thoroughly harrowed as it could be on account of obstructions, and
the seed was pecked in with a hoe around rocks, roots and stumps.
The yield was usually abundant; it was repaed with a sickled and
threshed with a flail.  Potatoes and turnips grew well on any land.
Flax yielded large crops both on new and cultivated land. It was
considered women's work to pull and spread it on the grass ground
to rot.  The early pastures yielded timothy, clover, and other
milk and butter-producing grasses.  Corn did better on land that had
been cultivated a few years.

FIRST MILLS--
Isaac Cobbett had a fulling-mill from 1820 to 1823 on land bought of
Deacon David Patterson. He had the privilege of flowing the meadow
for a pond until the 10th of May. He built and lived in the house
now occupied by James Lewis.
  He was succeeded by Mr. -- Locke, who carried on the same business
several years, until the gradually diminished water rendered it
unprofitable.
  The first saw-mill in town was built by Jeremiah Baldwin, just
below the junction of a brooklet from Crotched Mountain, and a small
stream which is the outlet of the Gould Pond.
  The first saw and grist-mill was erected by Major Peter Peavey, on
the brook at the outlet of the Bower's Pond. This mill was 
relinquished for want of water.
  Deacon John Savage had a mill on the Hardy Brook, so called, which
afforded power for sawing fall and spring. It was destroyed by fire.
James Sawyer had a saw-mill on the same streat, which can only be
operated a few weeks in the year, and is the only remaining mill in
town carried by water-power.
 The inhabitants of the place had long felt the inconvenience of
having neither saw nor grist-mill in town, and after enthusiastically
agitating the subject, decided to form a stock company and build a
steam-mill.
  A company was formed and a committee chosen, consisting of Charles
Richardson, John J. Duncklee and Stephen Holt Jr., to superintend the
construction of the mill.
  It was located in the village, on Depot Street, a few rods west of
the junction of the four roads.
  It was a large, heavy-timbered building, and furnished with heavy
and expensive machinery. The mill was operated by Stephen Holt Jr.,
Silas B. Winn was engineer.
  It did considerable sawing and grinding, but the expenses of running
it were too large to render it a profitable investment. It was
destroyed by fire in June 1851. A second steam-mill was built by the
Hopkins Brothers, on the same site; after running it a few years they
sold the building to S.D. Downes, of Francestown, who refurnished it
with new machinery. It was burned to the ground in May, 1883. The
site was immeidately purchased by George F. Russell, who erected a
mill and is now running it.

WILD ANIMALS--
The animals found here by the first settlers were deer, wolves, bears,
foxes, wild-cats, porcupines, woodchucks and squirrels.  Wild turkeys,
partridges, woodcocks, owls, and a variety of other birds were also
found.

DOMESTIC ANIMALS--
Oxen were the most useful of all the domestic animals for conveying
agricultural products to distant markets; as there was no pasturage,
the earliest settlers seldom kept more than one cow.
 Horses were trained to carry heavy burdens and bulky loads. They were
accustomed to carry two persons and a child.
 It was not an uncommon methods of performing short journeys to
"ride and tie," which means that a part would ride to a specified
place, and hitch their horse by the side of the road, walk on until
the other part came up, and thus alternate.
 Hogs were numerous, and in early spring they were yoked, ringed
and allowed to run at large.

CHAPTER II
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

FIRST CHURCH--Previous to 1791 the people assembled on the Sabbath for
worship at private houses, but after the town was incorporated they 
felt the need of a meeting-house for secular as well as religious
purposes.
 December 6, 1791, Deacon Cram, James Ellinwood and Paul Cragin were
chosen by the town to appraise a building owned by several
proprietors, located on the site of F.C. Fletcher's present house.
 They reported that the meeting-house was worth twelve pounds, and 
the town voted to raise nine pounds to repair said house, the work
to be done by the last of the following June.
 A church was organized in this house, as will appear from a "copy of
the proceedings of the first Church of Christ in Greenfield."
 June 25, 1794, this meeting-house was again appraised and sold to
Mr. Broadstreet, and moved to the lower part of the village, where it
is now owned and occupied as a dwelling by Mr. Horace Cudworth.

 "Several persons of the Town of Greenfield, who are in full
communion with the Church of Christ in towns where they formerly
belonged, Desirous of being embodied into a distinct Church in this
place, met together and proceeded as follows:
 "1st, Chose Dea. Cram Chairman
 "2nd, Voted to request the assistance of an Ecclesiastical Council to
be convened the Seventh day of September following.
 "3dly. Chose a committee to send to the churches in Lyndeborough, 
Wilton, and Temple, to desire the assistance of their elders and
delegates on this occasion.
 "4thly. Voted that Dea. Cram acquaint the inhabitants of the town
with the proceedings of this meeting, and desire the attendance when
the Council should meet.
 "On the Seventh of Sept. 1791, the Council were convened at the
house of Joshua Holt.  Rev. Mr. Goodridge and Esq. Fuller, from
Lyndeborough; Rev. Mr. Fisk and Maj. Abbott, from Wilton; Rev. Mr.
Miles and Esq. Cragin from Temple. After inquiring the design of
calling the Council, The information is as follows: About twenty
persons, now inhabitants of Greenfield, having obtained dismissions
and recommendations from several Churches to which they belonged wish
to be embodied into a Church here, and eight persons who are not
members in full communion with any church, have expressed their desire
of taking the covenant upon them and be embodied with the Church here.
 "The persons who stand thus propounded are John Reynolds, William
Burnham, Jonathan Ballad and their wives, also, Hannah, wife of
Stephen Burnham, and Lucy, wife of Peter Pevey.
 "The Council, being satisfied with the information, agreed that Mr.
Miles should preach in the forenoon and Mr. Fisk in the afternoon,
and that the Church be embodied.
  "The names of the persons embodied are as follows: Dea. Benjamin
Cram, Robert Day, John Reynolds, Philip Fletcher, William Burnham,
Nathan Cram, George Ferson, Joshua Holt, Joseph Batchelder, John Dane,
Jonathan Ballad and their wives. Widow Mary Fletcher, Mary, wife of
Thomas Carlton, Dina wife of Wm. Blunt, Hannah wife of Stephen
Burnham, Lucy wife of Peter Pevey, James Ramsey, Dea. Cram, Joshua
Holt, Joseph Batchelder, Robert Day and James Ramsey were chosen a
committee, in presence of the Council, to act hereafter in behalf of
the Church. An Ecclesiastical Council convened at Greenfield on the
7th of September 1791.  Agreeable to the letters missive from a 
number of persons in said Greenfield, who were members in full
communion with the Church of Christ, expressing a desire that they
might be embodied into a distinct Church, and the Churches convened
in Council approving of their proposal, a number of persons appeared
before Council and in a solemn manner entered into a Covenant with
God and with each other (names before mentioned), and they were
accordingly acknowledged to be a regular Church of Christ.
 "In testimony whereof we, the Pastors and delegates of the Churches
of Lyndeborough, Wilton, and Temple, have hereunto set our hands."
 [Signed by Sewall Goodrich, Abel Fisk, Noah Miles, Andrew Fuller,
Abiel Abbott, Francis Cragin."

June 25, 1794, the town chose the following committee to look out to
a site to build a meeting house upon: Daniel Campbell of Amherst;
Timothy Farrar, New Ipswich, and John Duncan, Antrim.
 This committee report,--
 "That they have viewed the several places of the town, and the
different spots shown us by individuals, and recommend to the
inhabitants to build said meeting house on a small hill in Coster's
cleared land, so called, and we have accordingly set up a stake and
spotted a stump for the front of the house, and, although we do not
altogether approve of the ground in its present state, we yet think
that by labor of the inhabitants, it may be made eligible, and, all
things considered, recommend it as the best place.
 "Voted to accept the above report.
 [Signed by Joseph Herrick, Town Clerk"

 "At a Town-Meeting on the 31st day of August, 1795:
 "Voted, to raise the meeting-house with ladders.
 "Voted, to have one hundred men to raise the meeting-house.
 "Voted, to have nine from Peterborough, nine from Temple, nine
from Wilton, nine from Lyndeborough, nine from Francestown, nine
from Hancock, and six from the Society.
 "Voted, to send a Committeyman to each town to invite the men to
help raise the meeting-house.
 "The Commity Report One Hogshead of West India Rum and half a
Quintal of Codfish, half a hundred of Shugar, the Raisers to have a
baiting at Nine O'Clock in the morning and a dinner at one of the
Clock.
 "Voted, to accept the report of the community.
 "Voted, to invite the Rev. Mr. Goodrich to attending the raising,
also to invite Doctor John Peabody.
 "Voted, that Messrs Isaac Foster and Joseph Batchelder be a 
committee to keep order on the ground a raising day.
 "Dec. 1, 1795. Voted to finish the meeting-house in three years from
next April."
 [Signed Joseph Herrick, Town Clerk]

MINISTRY--The Rev. Timothy Clark was the first settled minister,
according to the town records. He was ordained January 1, 1800, and 
after a pastorate of several years, on the first Sabbath in June, 
1810, after much solemn deliberation and inquiry to know his duty,
requested a regular dismission from his pastoral office.  His reasons
for doing so were,--1st, inadequacy of temporal support; 2d, a
persuasion in his own mind that the church and people were not so well
united in his religious sentiments and public administrations as to
render it duty for him to continue among them.
 The church, in the month of September, 1810, in regular meeting,
voated,--1st, their desire that the pastor should continue in office,
and that they were willing to unite with the other inhabitants of
the town in raising his salary; otherwise, 3d, should the town
decline, that they were willing to unite with them and the pastor in
calling an ecclesiastical council for his regular dismission. The
town, in the same month, September 1810, in legal meeting, voted
to comply with the pastor's request, and he was dismissed May 1, 1811.
  A town-meeting was called the 23d of November 1811. At said meeting
the church and society united in voting to give Rev. John Walker a
call to take the pastoral care of said church and society. An
acceptance of said call was manifested by the pastor-elect on the
29th of December 1811. He was ordained February 5, 1812, and continued
as acting pastor for several years, when, at a church-meeting,--
voted that it is thought expedient that the pastoral connection
between the Rev. John Walker and this church be dissolved. Voted, 
that a committee of two be appointed to confer with the selectmen,
to inform them what the church have done relative to the dismission
of the pastor, and to request a regular town-meeting to inform the
town on what terms of dismission the pastor has proposed. Agreeable
to the rest of council, he was dismissed August, 1822.
 His ministry was faithful and successful, during which time
upwards of eighty were added to the church.
 Rev. Francis Danforth graduated at Dartmouth College in 1819;
ordained over the church in Greenfield the 6th of June 1823. He
served as acting pastor for nearly eight years. Died in Clarence, NY,
in 1843. An earnest Christian and useful in his day.

[page 335]
CHAPTER III
Home Life--School--Military, Etc.

HOME LIFE--The following glimpses of pioneer life were obtained from
oen who, in 1794, made her bridal trip to a Greenfield forest home,
where she reared a family, spent a long and useful life, and now,
with her husband and all her children, rests in "God's Acre," near
the meeting-house where she constantly worshiped. Most of the
settlers lived in log cabins a short time, and then built framed
dwellings.  Their houses and barns were usually separated by a
garden or a small field.
  In fair weather the cattle were fed in the yard, and the bars were
left down that they might go to the nearest brook or spring to 
drink. Water for house-hold purposes was brought from the nearest
springs, frequently many rods away.
  The all-important room in the house was the large, long, low
kitchen, usually facing north.  It contained a wide, deep fire-place,
which in winter was piled high with logs that warmed the
well-ventilated apartment in the day-time and afforded light
sufficient for nearly all domestic purposes in the evening.  At the
right hand of the fire-place was a capacious brick oven, with an
ash-over under it.  A long high-backed settle stood aslant, across
one end of the broad, smooth, stone hearth.  An open dresser adorned
with shining pewter rested against the wall beside a fall-table.
Several broad shelves afforded convenient places for baskets of wool
and tow, piles of rolls, cards and various miscellaneous articles.
 The studding was adorned with hands of flax, bunches of wool and
skeins of flax and tow yarn.  A row of smooth poles, resting on 
wooden hooks, attached to beams overhead, served as hat-rack and
clothes-bars, and in one corner frocks, blankets and hoods were
huddled together on wooden pegs.  In one end of the room stood a
high bed, beneath which was a trundle-bed, a large and small spinning-
wheel, and, not infrequently, a loom, swifts and rell and quill-wheel
shared placed with other domestic implements.  A large brass or iron
kettle (for washing), a huge dinner-pot, tea-kettle, long-legged
spider and long-handled frying-pan comprised their principal cooking
utensils.  They did all their baking in the oven, except rye
short-cakes and Indian trench-cakes, which they baked on boards
before the fire.  Besides manufacturing nearly all their clothing
without the aid of machinery, and providing food for their families,
they made soap, beer, candles, wax, starch, glue, dyes, ink, syrups,
ointments and pills.  They knew the medicinal virtues of barks,
roots, and herbs, and, by judiciously prepared home remedies, lessened
doctor's bills.  For breakfast, children, and often the entire family,
ate "spoon victuals," consisting of milk, rye or Indian gruel,
samp broth or bean porridge.  Brown bread, baked beans and baked
Indian pudding formed one of their substantial dinners.  Another was
a "boiled dish," served on a large pewter platter; sections of pork,
beef or mutton occupied its centre and were flanked on all side by
piles of vegetables.  A smaller platter held a cylindrical boiled
Indian pudding, which was served as the first course.
  The family stood round the table while the father "asked a 
blessing," and at the close of the meal stood while he "returned
thanks." They were very economical, and nothing was wasted. The
number of years a family had kept house could be ascertained by
their pile of almanacs, for books and papers of every description
were carefully preserved.  Children were received as blessings, and
thanks were returned in the "house of God" for their bestowal.
  The old meeting-house was built, owned and controlled by the town.
After the passage of the act allowing each denomination in town the 
use of the house its proportionate share of the time, one Sabbath in
each month was allotted for the use of a few individuals of another
denomination. Thus the First Evangelical Church was without a place
of worship one-twelfth of the time. After having repeatedly and
unsuccessfully endeavored to make some arrangement with the town that
would enable them to have the continued use and control of the place
of worship, a council of ministers was called, who decided that it was
for the interest of religion that the church should have the entire
control of their place of worship, and advised the church to build and
own a meeting-house.  Acting upon this advice, the church voted to
build, and in 1838 the majority of the church, with the assistance of
other church-going people, erected a neat and commodious edifice,
which was dedicated February 13, 1839, and the next day (February 
14th), at the old meeting-house, the church voted to remove its
meetings for public worship, and for the transaction of all church
business, to the new meeting-house which they had erected and
dedicated, after the expiration of the engagement with Mr. Field,
which would terminate in April. Then the church commenced worship
in the new house, and, after employing different ministers for a 
brief period, employed, successively, Revs. David P. Smith, Jonathan
McGee and Daniel Goodhue, under whose ministrations the church was
united and prosperous and remarkably harmonious. In 1864  the
diminished numbers of church-goers in both houses rendered it
expedient that the churches should unite and occupy one place of
worship. After much preliminary arrangement, both churches disbanded
and united under the name of the Union Congregational, and occupied
the old meeting-house, the upper part having been fitted up for a
place of worship and the town having relinquished control over it.
Subsequently, the new church edifice was sold and fitted up for
private dwellings.  It was sold about three-fourths of its cost,
and the amount divided among the original stockholders.
  A Congregational Church was organized at the old meeting-house
November 19, 1839.  "Voted to give the Rev. Bancroft Fowler a call to
become the Pastor of this Church, and that the Ecclesiastical Council
now convened be requested to install him over this Church on the
morrow."  Mr. Fowler was accordingly installed on the 20th,
agreeably to the above request.  The pastoral relation subsisting
between Mr. Fowler and this church was dissolved, at his request,
April 22, 1845, after which Rev. Noah Emerson, followed by Revs.
Le Bosquet, Marshall and Case, supplied the pulpit until the two
churches disbanded and united in 1867.
  Rev. George W. Ruland, the present pastor of the church, is a native
of New York. He served in the Army of the Potomac in 1861-62, then
resumed teaching in Suffolk County, N.Y. until September 1864, when
he came to New Hampshire, and graduated in 1867 from the Concord
Institute, now known as Boston School of Theology. In connection with
his pastoral work, Mr. Ruland is well-known as an active, outspoken
minister for total abstinence and prohibition. He interests himself
in the work of the schools and has served on the Board of Education
in Littleton, Pembroke and Greenland. His first year's labor here
has been successful and attended with marked revival interest and
accessions to the church. He was installed May 26, 1885.

CEMETERIES--
The oldest cemetery is situated on the east side of the road leading
from Francestown to Lyndeborough Mountain, and north of the road
running over Lyndeborough Mountain, it being land given about 1755
by Simeon Fletcher, whose solitary habitation at that time was a few
rods north of it, and where now his dust reposes with many of his
descendants and others of the neighborhood.
  On the farm originally owned by the Major Amos Whittemore is a 
family burying-lot, although names on the headstones show that others
have been permitted to be buried there, among whom were Rev. Charles
Whiting and wife.
 The cemetery connected with the meeting-house was laid out in 1797
by the following committee: John Reynolds, Amos Whittemore, Elijah
Broadstreet and Joshua Holt, the land being owned by the town.
 More of the early settlers repose there than in all the other
cemeteries. Most of the available room has been occupied, and many
entire families have been buried there. A town receiving-tomb is
accessible from the road. About the centre of the yard are the
private tombs of Rev. John Duncklee and Dr. Samuel Fitch.
  Rev. Peter Holt and Rev. David P. Smith rest near together in the
most elevated portion of the lot.  There are several fine monuments
and many marble head-stones of modern style interspersed with ancient
late-stone slabs, and numerous hillocks indicated unmarked graves.
  GREENVALE CEMETERY--"March 12, 1878, a committee was chosen by the
town, consisting of George S. Peavey, David Starrett and David Ramsey,
to act in conjunction with the Selectmen to investigate the matter of
enlarging the old cemetery north of the church, and report at a
future meeting.
 "April 26, said committee recommended the purchase of a tract of land
situated about one mile east of the village, and south side of the
forest road, at a cost of three hundred dollars.
 "Sept. 28. Voted, that eight acres be enclosed within a suitable
fence, and laid out in lots in a good, substantial manner, at an
expense of not exceeding three hundred dollars, and that hereafter 
it be called Greenvale Cemetery."
  The first turf was broken to receive the remains of Captain Benjamin
Hardy, an aged citizen of the town and a man of sterling worth.
 The first monument was placed in the family lot of Deacon Levi S.
Holt, where two members of his family now repose.
 A tall granite monument marks the resting-place of Deacon Peter
Peavey, an esteemed native and life-long resident of the town, and
in close proximity is the unique and elegant monument erected to
the memory of Rev. Samuel H. Partridge, late pastor of the Union
Congregational Church.

SCHOOLS--
As early as 1792 a "vote was taken to choose a school committee  of
eleven to divide the town into school districts. At this time the
town was divided into seven school districts, and thirty pounds
raised for the support of a school."
  Before the erection of school houses, barns and private dwellings
were used as places of instruction. In the early part of the century
we find the following names recorded as superintending school
committee: Rev. John walker, Captain John Burnham, Farnum Holt,
William Whittemore, Peter Peavey and Amos Whittemore, Esq.
 In most of the districts there are two terms of school each year.
A fall term of select school is often supported in the village, which
is attended by pupils from all parts of the town.
 Many scholars supplement the district-school instruction by attending
High Schools and academies where they are fitted for teachers and
successfully follow that occupation.
 March 14, 1885, an appropriation of three thousand dollars was made
in District No. 3, the centre of the town, for the erection of a 
suitable school building, with a hall on the second floor for
literary purposes.

MILITARY--
 "1795. An article to see what method the town will come into to 
raise their proportion of men called for out of Captain Whittemore's
Company agreeable to General orders, which proportion is sixteen.
 "1798. An Atricle To see what method the town will take to raise the
men that are called for in town.
 "July 7, 1812. Voted, to give some encouragement to the Soldiers
raised in this town for six months."

 A draft of the following men was made destined to Portsmouth: Peter
Peavey, Jacob Peavey, John W. Bean, John Savage, Nathaniel Reynolds
and David Emerson. From the following order for muskets, given to
Stephen Holt in 1838, it is evident that a company existed as the
Light Infantry: "That the twelfth Company of Infantry, belonging to
said town of Greenfield, and the twenty-sixth Regiment of New 
Hampshire Militia, having the number enrolled and completely
uniformed as the law prescribes, doth apply to said State for their
quota of muskets for said Company."

Another well-officered company was organized about 1830, known as the
Rifle Company, which did military duty until 1851, when, by
legislative enactment, this company disbanded. Prior to August, 1862,
forty-two three-years' men volunteered from the town, and were sworn
into the United States service

[WAR OF THE REBELLION-CIVIL WAR] ROLL OF SOLDIERS

SECOND REGIMENT
Edmund Dascomb, second lieutenant, wounded July 13, 1863; died of
wounds July 13, 1863; grave 11, section A, Gettysburg Cemetery,
New Hampshire lot.

THIRD REGIMENT
Harrison Marshall, discharged for disability May 9, 1863

FOURTH REGIMENT
Harry Ellwood, wounded July 24, 1864; died of disease, date unknown
Antoine Goddard, discharged for disability, January 26, 1863; died in
Rockport, Va.
Charles H. Wilson, promoted corporal; wounded May 20, 1864;
mustered out September 27, 1864.
William P. Winn, discharged at Beaufort, S.C. 1864
George D. Stiles, re-enlisted February 20, 1864
George F. Launcey, died of disease August 20, 1863.
Dearborn S. Moody, re-enlisted February 17, 1864.

SIXTH REGIMENT
Albert L. Murphy, wounded June 3 1864; promoted corporal; discharged
for disability September 29, 1864; died in hospital

THIRTEENTH REGIMENT
Lewis P. Wilson, promoted to captain January 12, 1865
Perkins W. Hopkins, mustered out June 2, 1865
Antoine Goddard, wounded severely September 29, 1864
Ahira Z. Jones, died August 21, 1863
John J. Draper, wounded slightly, June 15, 1864
Ervin L. Lee, killed at Gaines' Farm, Va., June 1, 1864
George D. Chapman, died August 24, 1863
Joseph Ash, discharged for disability February 28, 1863
Samuel G. Stearns, died August 11, 1863
Sewal P. Stearns, killed in action June 1, 1864
Ambrose W. Stearns, died at Richmond, Va May 28, 1865
John E. Spaulding, wounded slightly June 1, 1864; discharged by
Special Order No. 239, Ex. 50, War Department, July 16, 1864
John Clark, killed in action September 29, 1864, at Virginia
Jacob Gannet, died at Greenfield NH May 1864
John W. Herrick, died August 21, 1863
Herbert Lee, died August 31, 1863
William H. Powers, promoted corporal; discharged March 1, 1864
Thomas E. Stuart, promoted corporal; discharged November 15, 1863
Nathaniel Eaton, discharged by order March 1, 1864
George E. Messer, promoted to second lieutenant March 8, 1863
George E. Messer, Jr., re-enlisted January 4, 1864
Noah Paro.
John Cain.
W.O. Woodbridge

SIXTEENTH REGIMENT
Oscar C. Stiles, mustered out August 20, 1863
Dennis Hurlahey, mustered out August 20, 1863
John Gage, mustered out August 20, 1863

----------
RECREATIONS--
Most of the early settlers were large-hearted people, ready and
willing to assist their neighbors. They were accustomed to combine
utility with recreation, and heartily enjoyed helping a newcomer
tend his burning "slash" and a townsman pile his blackened logs.
  Trainings and musters, town-meetings, Fourth of July celebrations
and election-day gatherings were highly prized. Wrestling and other
athletic sports were popular pastimes on such occasions. Aged,
middle-aged, young men and boys attended raisings. The old men made
the wooden pins to fasten the timbers together. The boys distributed
them and carried the pail of toddy round. Strong men raised the frame,
a broadside at a time, stimulated by the stentorian cry of
"Heave her up! heave her up!" by the master-workman. When the raising
was completed the older people went home, but the younger ones
remained for an evening frolic.  There were huskings in the fall,
spelling-schools, school exhibitions and evening parties in the
winter, and sweet "sugaring off" gatherings in the spring. They loved,
wooed and wed, and the brides expected to bear their shares of life's
burdens.  There was a spirit of rivalry among the women to see who
could make the handsomest flowered coverelets, plaid blankets and
table linen. Girls were taught common sewing, hem-stitching, 
embroidering and marking sample at school. Evening neighborhood
parties were very enjoyable.  Sometimes a tincture of credulity and
superstition was apparent in their love for marvelous stories, and a
disposition to find out the incomprehensible was manifested in their
warm debates about God's fore-knowledge and decrees. Informal calls to
see how stock was thriving and how crops were turning out were common,
and served to increase neighborly interest and diminish envious
tendencies.  Thanksgiving was the day that was anticipated the longest
and ejoyed the most heartily. It was both a secular and a religious
feast. Some fo the settlers prolonged it to two days.
 Two or more families would take the first dinner at one house, and
the next day at another.
 Samples of everything that had been raised on the farm were cooked,
and placed on the table together, as a thanks offering for the
bounties of the year.  A boiled dish, with all its accompaniments,
baked meats and fowls, puddings and pies, were temptingly displayed,
and after a longer grace than usual had been said, good appetites
did ample justice to the most imposing meal of the year.
  They were taught early to obey their parents, say "Yes, sir," and
"No, sir," treat their superiors with deference and all others with
courtesy. They were required to rise early and wait upon themselves,
and to do their alloted work before they stopped to play.
 After supper the father read a portion of God's word, extinguished
the candle and all the family rose and stood while he implored
forgiveness for the sins of the day, both of commission and omission,
and besought his heavenly Father to watch over them during the
defenseless hours of sleep.
  Many of them kept Saturday evening as a preparation for the Sabbath,
and Sabbath eve as holy time. They were strict in the observance of
the Lord's day,-- no walking nor riding, except to go to meeting; no
gathering berries, nor cracking nuts, nor amusements of any kind were
allowed.
  They rose early, worked hard and were prudent in all their
expenses, but generally they were cheerful, hopeful and contented.

ROAD-BREAKING--
When the highways needed breaking out, all the men and the boys in
the neighborhood met with their teams and shovels and worked until
the roads were passable, when they agreed to meet at the house of one
of the party after the evening home-work was done.
 Proceeding to their homes, they did their chores, covered their
fires with ashes, put a scalding tub on an ox-sled and laid bundles
of straw around it.
 The tub was filled with small children, while the larger ones,
with their mothers, sat on the straw bundles, and the men stood up
by the sledstakes, and the larger boys gleefully ran ahead. If there
was no moon, one or two tin lanterns with tallow candles illuminated
the merry party on pleasure bent.
 On their arrival they were ushered into the large, long kitchen
where the flames from the great open fire-place diffused a ruddy
light through the room.
 On a beam overhead, in front of the fire, a cord with three iron
hooks were suspended, and a rib, or some other delicious roast,
filled the room with savory odors.
 The men discussed the interesting topics of the day, often growing
excited over political or religious subjects.
 The women, clad in their warm domestic flannels, and with fingers
deftly plying knitting-needles, talked of domestic concerns, while
the children chased the grotesque shadows on the walls.
 After an early hour the sled was reloaded, and all returned to
their homes with increased interest in their neighbor's prosperity,
those who lived on the same road occupying the same sled.

*********
[page 338]
CHAPTER IV
Manufactures--Post-Offices--Physicians--Lawyers, Etc.

The earliest articles manufactures for market were boat oars and pine
shingles. Timber suitable for oars grew near the South Mountain. Two
or more neighbors would go into the woods together and split and
shave aors. They likewise split and shaved pine shingles, performing
the work in the forest where the trees stood. These articles, thus
manufactured, were carried to Salem, Mass., with ox-teams. They
carried bags of hay for their oxen and buckets of provision for
themselves.  At night they put up at a tavern, where they often found
teamsters from Vermont, who went loaded with pork, venison and potash,
and usually returned with salt, rum and dry fish.  After caring for
their teams, they would buy a mug of flip, open their buckets and
partake of a hearty supper, and then, seated in the bar-room before
the landlord's cheerful fire, or lounging on the high-backed settle,
they would spend the evening telling stories and hearing news. The
genial landlords of those days got the earliest news.  It took about
three days for news to travel a hundred miles.  THey were ready to
start homeward bound with the earliest gleams of morning light, and
the first evening after their return the neighbors called to hear a
description of their journey, and all the news they had collected.

POST-OFFICES and POSTMASTERS--
A post-office was established in 1808, and James Miller appointed
postmaster.  He was followed by William Whittemore, who was appointed
in 1823 (no record of having been commissioned); Ezra Prescott,
July 9, 1823; Lewis Wilson, September 3, 1828; William H. Whittemore,
June 13, 1832; Jacob Stephenson, March 1, 18141; William H. Whittemore
October 7, 1842; John J. Duncklee, September 21, 1848; Jacob
Stephenson, December 29, 1853; Rufus Hardy, April 16, 1867;
Horace Cudworth January 13, 1870; Frank R. Patch, January 27, 1874;
Samuel H. Partridge, April 15, 1884; Warren Lewis, June 12, 1884.

POST-OFFICE AT SOUTH GREENFIELD--This office was opened May 28, 1878,
and John R. Russell appointed postmaster, who continues to hold the
appointment.
 Captain Joseph Reynolds, of this town, carried the mails several
years, on the County Road, from Greenfield to Amherst, on horseback,
over Lyndeborough Mountain.  After a few years the Forest road was
built, and we then had a mail every other day from Boston, by way
of stage-coach. At present it is carried by the Boston and Lowell
Railroad.

PHYSICIANS--
Dr. Samuel Fitch came to Greenfield in 1800. He was born in Acton,
Mass., and studied medicine with Dr. Wyeth of Sherborn, Mass. He
married Miss Eunice Perry, of that place. He practiced medicine in
Greenfield until age and feeble health compelled him to retire to a
more quiet life.  He died about November 1, 1857.
  About this period doctors used to visit their patients on
horseback, carrying their lancet, calomel, ipecac and rhubarb in their
saddle-bags, and in cases of typhoid fever, they often left medicine
for four successive days, vigorously forbidding the use of water.
  When they were called out in the night they carried a tin lantern
with a tallow candle in it to guide them through the forests, over
corduroy bridges and through sloughs.
  Dr. John Ramsey was a native of the town and one of the pioneers
of the practice of medicine. He graduated from the Medical Department
of Dartmouth College in 1816. He died July 10, 1864, aged seventy-five
years. Dr. Ramsey was extensively known as a good practitioner of
medicine, as a man of good judgement and sound common sense. He had
seen nearly fifty years of practice, and it can be said to his credit
that he never grew rusty in his profession. He was the oldest
physician in this section of the country, and had been extensively
called in consultation with his professional brethren. It was always 
a pleasure to meet him; he was true, reliable and cheerful, a man
of honor and integrity. He was everywhere high respected by his
medical brethren. He was ever fearful of the powerful and dangerous
effects of medicine on the human system. The subject of this notice
pursued the even tenor of his way in his own town for nearly half
a century, without the people being aware of the great blessing and
comfort he was to the community or, perhaps, rightly appreciating
his true character. His memory will long be cherished by many a
grateful patient, as well as by all his medical brethren.
  DR. JAMES S. BURTT was born in Andover, Mass., 1791. He studied
medicine with Dr. Luther Smith of Hillsborough Bridge. He attended a
course of medical lectures in Vermont. In 1842 he became a resident
in the northwest part of the town and practiced his profession for
several years. He died in 1873, aged eighty-two years.
  DR. ISAAC N. DANFORTH was born in 1835, at Barnard, N.Y. He is the
son of Hon. Albert Danforth, who was a member of the New Hampshire
Legislature and a prominent man of that State. He was educated at
the common schools of that New England town. At the age of twenty-
three, he entered the office of Dr. Samuel P. Danforth, his uncle,
making such rapid progress in his studies that he shortly entered
the Medical Department of Dartmouth College, and graduated from that
institution three years later.  He was, soon after graduation,
elected resident physician of the Hartford Retreat for the Insane.
On account of his health, he resigned this position and removed to
Greenfield, N.H. where he practiced his profession for four years.
In 1866 he removed to Chicago. His public and private life are alike
an honor to his name and profession. He married, in 1868, Elizabeth,
daughter of the Rev. John Skelton, a well-known Methodist clergyman
of Chicago for many years. Dr. Danforth was succeeded, for a short
time, by DR. WILLARD D. CHASE of Claremont NH, who is now located at
Peterborough, and highly respected by the medical profession.
  SAMUEL D. PARTRIDGE was the only resident physician of the town
from 1869, until his death, in 1884. He was an amiable man and an
amiable physician.
  DR. NATHANIEL F. CHEEVER, our present physician, came from the 
practice of his profession in Nashua NH, the 1st of June 1884.
Dr. Cheever studied for his profession at the Universities of Michigan
and Vermont, and the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Baltimore,
Md. He bought the place known as the "Old Parsonage," and settled
down to the enjoyment of domestic life with the only daughter of 
W.T. Spear, of Nashua.

  The air is salubrious and invigorating, and the water pure and
generally sufficient.
 The inhabitants are usually quite healthy, many of them having lived
to an advanced age.
 The town does not afford a competent support for one physician
without his earnings being supplemented by practice in adjoining
towns.

LAWYERS--
GENERAL JAMeS MILLER was the first lawyer established in Greenfield.
He married Patty Ferguson, and resided in the house now owned and
occupied by Zebediah Peavey from 1804 until 1808. His infant son
James died there July 28, 1804; also his wife, May 12, 1805, in the
twenty-third year of her age.  General Miller's office was on Main
Street, nearly opposite the hotel.  He represented the town in the
Legislature in 1807. "IT was doubtless owing to the circumstance of
his having learned the manual exercise while yet a school-boy that
he became a general rather than a politician or a man of letters."
  Early in the nineteenth century he was chosen captain of the
Hancock Artillery, and in 1808 he received a major's commission in
the United States army, it being the highest commission at that time
issued to any one in the State of New Hampshire.
 He was born in Peterborough, NH April 25, 1776, and died in Temple,
NH July 7, 1851.

HON. ALSON B. ABBOTT was born in Greenfield NH  on the 3d of November,
1844. He was the son of William and Sarah J. Abbott, of that place,
both of whom are now deceased. In childhood he removed to Andover,
Mass, where he pursued his preparatory course and was fitted for
college. During his student-life, moved by the same patriotic impulses
that animated so many hundred youthful spirits at the North when the
tocsin of rebellion rent with rude blast the sky of our nation's
safety, he enlisted and served his time in the Fifth Massachusetts
Infantry, seeing active service at various places, including
Fort McHenry, Federal Hill, Monocacy Junction and Harper's Ferry. 
In 1866, shortly after graduating at Dartmouth with honors, he was
chosen principal of the Warrensburg Academy, and the following year,
a vacancy having occurred in the academy at Glens Falls, he was
selected to take charge of it as principal. In this relation he
continued for five years, serving with great acceptance and 
satisfaction to the patrons of the school. The academy was never more
prosperous and flourishing than it was durin this entire period. He
received from his alma mater the degree of Master of Arts in 1869,
and while teaching, having at the same time pursued the study of law,
he was admitted to the bar in 1872. In 1873 he was married to Sarah,
oldest daughter of the late James Morgan. In 1874 he traveled through
the Southern States, and the following year made the tour of the
continental Europe and the English isles. Soon after his return from
abroad his superior administrative abilities as "a man of affairs,"
came to a gradual recognition by an appreciative public by his being
chosen, in 1878, a director in the First National Bank of Glens Falls,
and a director in the Glens Falls Insurance Company, both of which
positions he has continued to hold to the present time (1885). The
ensuing fall he was elected to the New York Assembly, where he was
distinguished not only by his readiness in debate and his attention
to his duties, but also by his courteous, affable demeanor. The 
following season he was elected an elder in the Presbyterian Church.
Mr. Abbott is yet in the early prime of an active manhood, and his
fine intellectual training, his scholarly attainments and superior
culture, his aptitude at business affairs, and gentlemanly address
give promise of a future replete with usefulness, and an old age
honored and respected.

  EZRA PRESCOTT, ESQ. read law with Hon. Titus Brown, of Francestown,
and commenced practice in that town, when, in 1824, he removed to
Greenfield, and occupied the same office that General Miller did.
 In 1828 he was elected register of deeds for Hillsborough County,
and removed to Amherst in the fall of that year.

COLLEGE GRADUATES 
The following are some of the persons born in Greenfield or have spent
their early lives there who have graduated at different colleges:
Moses Ordway, Rev. John Duncklee, Joshua Holt Jr., Francis W. Cragin,
Rev. Amzi Jones, Rev. R.C. Stanley, David B. Ramsey, Alson B. Abbott,
Charles D. Fitch.
 Among others who have studied professions may be mentioned
Jacob Holt, M.D, Philadelphia; William H. Ramsey, comptroller of
currency in Wisconsin eight years; Amon Robinson, a good historian,
now in New York; Francis W. Cragin, M.D. Norwood, Mass; Francis P.
Fitch.
  George W. Putnam keeps a livery stable.

FOREST AND OTHER ROADS--
As Greenfield is on the direct line of travel from the north portion
of this State and Vermont, it was felt absolutely necessary to have a
road built from Hancock, through Greenfield, to Lyndeborough, suitable
for travel with heavily-loaded teams, likewise for a regular line of
stage-coaches. After a long struggle between enthusiastic effort and
determine opposition, in 1831 a road was laid to complete a direct
connection between Charlestown and Nashua.
 In 1832 the road was built through Greenfield, and several hundred
dollars were expended in leveling hills, which rendered the numerous
teamsters jubilant over the improvements on their route.  William
Whittemore and Zebediah Peavey purchased the first stage-coach. It
was built by Abbott & Downing, of Concord, N.H. Michael A. Whittmore
went to Concord with a pair of horses, which he attached to the new
vehicle and drove to Greenfield, and entered the village during a
heavy shower. The next day a team was improvised, and the owners, with
other gratified townsmen, took a ride to Hancock, and returned in the
most excultant mood.  WHen on its first regular trip, its driver,
Noah L. Jackson, cracked his whip and drove up to the tavern on an
airy gallop, where it was received with enthusiastic cheers by the
villagers and many other inhabitants who were standing in the street
to witness the important event.  The upper end of the route was owned
by Morrison & Jackson, and the lower end by Dean & Tarbell.
  In 1837, Colonel Hiram T. Morrill bought Tarbell's interest in
three teams from Nashua to Hancock, the company being Morrill & Dean.
In about two years Dean sold his interest to Hall, and the firm was
changed to Morrill & Hall.  Colonel Morrill drove the stage-coach
twelve years in succession, and owned an interest in staging until
about the time of the completion of the railroad to Greenfield, in
1874.
  The various other roads in town are in a respectable condition.
Money for keeping them in repair is raised by a highway tax, and road
surveyors are appointed in each highway district, who allow the
inhabitants to work out their taxes under their supervision.
  January 1, 1874, the railroad was opened for travel from Wilton to
Greenfield, and a long train of cars brought some twelve hundred
stockholders and others, who entered the cars along the line, and
likewise many individuals from Boston, who were entertained in the
town hall with a free dinner.
  Peterborough Railroad from East Wilton, through Lyndeborough to
Greenfield, eleven miles, is operated by the Boston and Lowell
Railroad.
  There is a telegraph connection from Boston and Keene, and telephone
from Francestown. Large quantities of soap-stone from the quarry
there are shipped from our depot.
 As a point for shipping freight on the Boston and Lowell road,
Greenfield is of considerable importance.

STORES AND TRADERS--
The first trader in the town was Ambrose Gould; he came previous to
1802. The store he occupied is now used as a dwelling-house on the
corner of Main Street and Slip road.  A few years later Joseph
Bachelder opened a store in the south part of the town, on the farm
now known as the Isaac Foster place.  In 1816, Butler & Patterson
traded in the west end of Mr. Samuel Gould's building, Mr. Gould
occupying the east end as a harness-shop.
  Whittemore Brothers traded in the Long Block and did an extensive
business. They were followed by Peavey & Gould.
  In 1826, Carkin & Cragin opened a store in the ell part of a large
building situated on the site of the present hotel. The main building
was destroyed by fire, but the ell was saved and the goods returned
in a damaged condition. Subsequently, a hotel was erected on the 
site of the burnt building.
  Amasa Farrier kept a store from 1832 to 1837. He was followed by
Grant & Dane, William Abbott, Duncklee & jones, H.H. Duncklee,
Rufus Anderson, G.P. Fletcher and L.P. Wilson.
  At an early date Mark Bailey built the store now occupied by Patch &
Lewis.
 He was succeeded by Robert Bradford, Albert Hardy, Horace Cudworth,
C.H. Hopkins, Bradford & Co.
  In 1873, C.H. Hopkins erected a large and modern building on the
west side of Slip road, near Main Street. The upper part contains
two commodious tenements.
  The first floor is occupied by the owner, who is an extensive
dealer in flour and grain, as well as most other articles usually
found in a country store.
 C.F. & G.S. Peavey are extensive dealers in cattle, sheep and meat.
They sent their meat to Manchester, Nashua, Lowell and Boston markets.
Their slaughtering establishment is fitted up with modern conveniences
and labor-saving devices.
  Brooks & Spaulding are the only blacksmiths in town. They are
successful workmen, and give strict attention to their business.
  George D. Pollard is a builder, and also celebrated for his 
judgment and success in moving buildings.
 A.H. Hopkins, D.W. Burnham and George F. Russell are experienced
carpenters.
  Earle Searle, formerly a blacksmith and tinman, is now a 
manufacturer of wooden measures, whose excellence is not surpassed
by any other workman.

TAVERNS--
Tradition says that one of the earliest taverns was kept by
John Savage his house being finely located on the brow of a hill 
about three miles from the centre of the town, on the County road
that leads over Lyndeborough Mountain.
 We fine recorded the name of Samuel Weeks, licensed to keep tavern
in 1794.
 In 1824, John Carkin opened a tavern in the Centre village. Among
his successors have been Elbridge Hardy, Mark Bailey, Horace
Whittemore, S.S. Tenney, William H. Gowing, Luther Gray, Geo. J.
Whittemore, H.H. Duncklee and John D. Emerson.
  In 1881 the hotel formerly owned by H. H. Duncklee was purchased by
J.D. Emerson, and thoroughly remodeled inside and out. He introduced
conveniences into his pleasant apartments, which are appreciated by
his numerous guests, particularly by his summer boarders from the
cities.  Mr. Emerson is a popular conductor on the railroad from
Greenfield to Boston.

THE RECORDS--
The records of the town are written in a bold and legible hand, and
are generally well preserved.  Church records are continuous and full,
and the records of the various local societies are minute and
accurate.  The Sabbath-school owns a full library. There is also a 
small circulating library in town. Many newspapers are taken, and
people are generally well informed on the popular subjects of the day.
 The town is Democratic by a large majority.
 The number of ratable polls in Greenfield in 1885, one hundred and
seventy six.
 Valuation of the town in 1884, two hundred and seventy-four thousand
five hundred and fifty-four dollars. Population in 1884, six hundred
and fifty-two.
 
The taxpayers of 1784 were Captain John Abbott, Major Abiel Abbott,
Captain John Holt, William Blunt, Abijah Clark, Joseph Batchelder,
Joshua Holt.  In 1790 the following additional names are found:
Timothy Holt, Joseph Severance, John Fletcher, Nathan Lovejoy,
Daniel Holt, Isaac Foster.

OAK PARK ASSOCATION--
At the first meeting of this association, April 22, 1875, the
following officers were chosen: President, D.H. Goodell, Antrim;
Secretary, Joseph Farnum, Peterborough; Treasurer, David Starret,
Greenfield. Executive Committee: Greenfield, John Fletcher, Albert H.
Hopkins, George S. Peavey, Leonard Bailey and Benjamin Hardy;
Lyndeborough, Luther Cram, Andrew Holt, David Putnam, George Spaulding
and John Richardson; Hancock, Orland Eaton, W.A. Washburn, A.B. Stone,
J.S. Spaulding, C.P. Bugbee; Francestown, H.Y. Simpson, Henry
Richardson, William H. Farnum, George A. Duncklee, John Morse;
Bennington, John F. Dodge, W.D. Woods, John C. Dodge, Hartwell Lakin,
Heber Presby; Antrim, D.H. Goodell, George A. Cochran, Morris 
Christie, Eben Bass, John M. Duncan; Peterborough, George H. Longley,
S.I. Vose, E.W. McIntosh, John Q. Adams and Charles Wilder.
  The first fair was held September 16 and 17, 1875. As a social
gathering it is greatly enjoyed by both young and old, and the
exhibits of farming implements and other results of scientific
research, utlizing the latent forces of nature to lessen manual
labor, serves to awaken the dormant energies of many a son and
daughter of toil.
  All the towns of Hillsborough County, and the towns of Jaffrey,
Dublin, Harrisville and Stoddard, in Cheshire County, are comprised
within the limits of this association.
  The grounds are finely located, easy of access and within 
three-fourths of a mile of the depot of the Nashua and Lowell and
Manchester and Keene Railroads.
  The track of the Manchester and Keene Railroad runs within twenty
rods of the grand entrance gate to the grounds, and passengers are
left and taken on at that point.

TEMPERANCE WORKS--
The Hillsborough County Convention of the Women's Christian Temperance
Union met in the Congregational Church, December 28, 1881. At the
close of the afternoon session a union was formed under the auspices
of Mrs. Charles Richardson, of Amherst, N.H, president of the county
society.  The names of the first officers were Mrs. S.H. Partridge,
president; Mrs. Charles F. Peavey, Mrs. Charles H. Hopkins, Mrs.
Henry Holt and Mrs. Levi Holt, vice-presidents; Mrs. Sarah M. Pollard,
secretary; Mrs. Henry Holt, treasurer. These, with a membership of
thirty, have been actively engaged in temperanace work until the
present time, 1885.
  Motto,--"Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,"
 The following peititon has been presented to the selectmen, asking
for the enforcement of the law:
 "In behalf of the officers and members of the Women's Christian
Temperance Union, we respectuflly represent that we have cogent 
reasons for believing that intoxicating liquors are habitually sold
in our village, in violation of law, and to the detriment of the
place and good order of our community. We therefore respectfully but
urgently pray your honorable body that you will promptly proceed to
execute the law in such case made and provided, to the end that the
sale of intoxicating drinks shall be effectuall suppressed, so far as
your jurisdiction extends. And we fully believe that in doing so you
will have the support and approval of the great majority of our
citizens."

GREENFIELD GRANGE was organized in C.C. Shaw, secretary of State
Grange, March 14, 1874, with the following officers: Master, John
Fletcher; Overseer, David Starrett; Lecturer, Samuel G. Hartshorn;
Steward, Willis D. Hardy; Assistant Steward, George D. Pollard;
Chaplain, Alfred N. Hardy; Secretary, Sidney H. Hardy; Gate-Keeper,
Nahum Russell; Treasurer, Pomona, Mrs. Taylor D. Lakin; Flora,
Mrs. Willis D. Hardy; Lady Assistant Steward, Mrs. Samuel G. 
Hartshorn.
 Through the influence of this grange, agriculture has received a new
impulse, and much practical knowledge has been diffused.
 The most formidable impediment to successful farming consists in the
deterioration of the pasture lands, which do not afford feed for more
than one-third of the number of cattle that they did fifty years ago.
 Milk is sold for the city markets and for the Wilton Creamery, and
the town grange, with neighboring granges, is agitating the subject
of more creameries.

ORGAN FESTIVAL--
A meeting was called, and an association formed, and arrangements
were made for a grand organ festival, to be held February 22, 1871.
 The committee of correspondence sent out over a hundred letters of
inviation to former residents of Greenfield, and to the many and
generous replies received, George S. Peavey responded as follows:
 "Greenfield remembers her absent sons and daughters, especially
her distinguished ones. She rejoiced at their prosperity. She is 
every rpoud to meet them, and gladly do we meet so many here to-night;
and remembering those who are separated by many an intervening mile,
some of whom have sent us substantial tokens, as we have just seen,
of the interest they still feel in the town, and in the prosperity of
its religious institutions; therefore, Resolved, that we, the citizens
of Greenfield present, give expression to our gratitude by a vote of
thanks to all former residents and friends of Greenfield present for
their presence and aid, and also to those who have responded by letter
with expressions of sympathy and material aid."
  The evening passed pleasantly, and the result was very gratifying.

CHAPTER V.
**BIOGRAPHICAL**

MAJOR AMOS WHITTEMORE settled in town as early as 1771. He was born
in 1746 and died in 1827. He was a soldier of the Revolution and was
with Washington when a battle was fought at White Plains, when New
York was in possession of the British and the Americans were obliged
to retreat.
 WILLIAM WHITTEMORE, ESQ., son of Major Amos, was born in 1781, and
died in 1876. He was a native and almost a life-long resident of
Greenfield. He held many trusts in the gift of the county and
represented the town in the Legislature for sixteen consecutive
sessions. He was one of the original members of the Bunker Hill
Monument Assocation. His remembrance dated back to the time when
Greenfield was almost a wilderness, two houses comprising all that the
town then contained.
  
One of the first settlers in town was SIMEON FLETCHER. He was born in
Chelmsford, Mass, May 2, 1722. He married Mary Davis.
 Deeds say that he owned a farm in Chelmsford in 1744, which he sold.
Then he removed to the province of New Hampshire (a few years later)
and took up some five hundred acres of land in what is now known as
the southeast part of Greenfield, built a house and there founded a
life-long residence. Five generations of Fletchers have lived there,
and four were born there.
 A daughter, born soon after they came here, was the first white
female born in town. He had two neighbors, who settled north of him,
one on a hill near Crotched Mountain. He was a man of philanthropic
heart, for when roads were unknown he would elevate a pine torch-light
at night as a token that all was well with him, and receive a 
similar signal if all was well with his neighbors. He was the first
man in town that ever cut hay enough to winter a cow.
 Simeon and Mary had seven children--Persis married a Beasom; Annie,
married an Ordway; and Mary, a Balch; John and Olive died at the old
homestead; Philip married Mary Harper, and tilled the ancestral
acres.
 He was a brave man, for he took under his own roof his father,
mother, and mother-in-law.  He had twelve children; one lived to be
nearly ninety-nine. He always had a bed for the poor who might be
strolling over the hill in those days. One morning, as he was going
through the woods to his brother Simeon's unarmed, he met a bear,
which stopped and looked at him, but when he raised his voice and
brandished his walking-stick, Bruin made a hasty retreat into the
wilderness, and the courageous man went on his way undauntedly.
 When one of his neighbors was bodily injured, and liable to die
before a physician could be procured, he hastily constructed a
stretcher, and, with a few others, carried him to Milford, by marked
trees, to receive medical aid.
 He and his brother Simeon were in the Revolutionary War, and at
West Point they were on guard the night that General Arnold attempted
to surrender the fortress to the British. After his return home we
find the following receipt, now extant:
 "Treasury Office, New Hampshire, January 19, 1790
 "Received of Mr. Philip Fletcher, Thirty-seven pounds, six shillings,
pin part of State Certificate Tax; of Fifty Pounds, eleven shillings,
in part of Continental Facility Tax, of Lyndeborough for the year 
1788." [signed Wm. Gardner, Treasurer]
 Philip died at the age of seventy two.
 SIMEON FLETCHER married Mary Huston, and lived to see all of his
children laid in their graves. He died at the age of eighty-four.
  PHILIP JR. lived at the old homestead with his father; he raised
hops for sixty years, and sold them in Boston. For seventy-one
consecutive years he never failed to assist in getting hay from his
meadow. From pine-trees that grew near his meadow he and his
brother-in-law, Gates Perry, made shingles, and carried them to Boston
with an ox-team to buy groceries to be used at the ordination of the
minister, Rev. John Walker. He carried the first load of soap-stone
from Francestown quarry to Boston with an ox-team, and made more
journeys to Boston with oxen than all the other men in town.
  Of the fourth generation now living in town are Deacon John,
Gilman P., and Franklin C.  Deacon John attended Hancock and
Francestown Academies. He has taught school in New Hampshire, 
Massachusetts, and Kentucky.  For a decade of years he has served as
Sunday-school committee in this town. He still owns a part of the
original land bought by Simeon more than one hundred and thirty years
ago.
 Gilman P. has been a trader here for many years. Franklin C. is an
enterprising farmer.
 The children of Deacon John, who are the fifth generation, were born
on the original homestead, and, doubtless, received inspiration from 
the grand and romantic scenery with which nature has surrounded
their ancestral home. This sacred homestead has been the birth-lace
of thirty Fletchers, twenty of whom have died there.
 Thus we find the Fletchers identified with Greenfield since the first
white man made his home on her soil.

RAMSEY ANCESTRY--CAPTAIN HUGH RAMSEY, of Scotch-Irish descent, from 
the north of Ireland, part owner and captain of a sailing-vessel,
sailed into Boston Harbor eight or nine times between the years
1718 and 1725, brining many of his relatives bearing the name of
Ramsey, who emigrated to this country in order to escape the
religious intolerance of the Established Church.
  They sought homes in different States--in Pennsylvania, South
Carolina, Georgia, New York and New Hampshire.  Many settled in
Londonderry, N.H., from which place Capt. John Ramsey, with his
nephew, James Ramsey Jr., came to Society Land (now Greenfield) in
1774, and bought adjoining farms about three miles west of the present
site of the village, where they lived and died.
  From these two were descended all the Ramseys of Greenfield,
Captain John's children were William (father of John Ramsey, M.D.),
Lieutenant John, Samuel, Ebenezer, Mary (Mrs. Boyd of Francestown),
Margaret (Mrs. David Parker, of Antrim), Anne (Mrs. John McKeen of
Ddering) and Jane, a droll and sarcastic spinters, stories of whose
eccentricities have enlivened many an hour for the present generation,
while walls echoed and re-echoed to merry peals of laughter at the
rehearsal of her quaint jokes and witticisms.
  Captain John's wife is said to have been a strict observer of the
Sabbath, and whenever the children manifested undue levity during
sacred hours she was accustomed to remostrate with them in the 
following original and forceful words: "You'll be sweet nuts for the
de'il come cracking time;" the mere mention of which undesirable fate
doubtless produced the desired effect of repressing their childish
mirth, and restoring the solemn silence regarded by the ancient
Puritans as necessary to the contemplation of themes naturally
suggested by holy time.
  JAMES RAMSEY Jr. had several brothers and sisters, viz: Hugh, of
Holderness, N.H.; William of St. Johnsbury, Vt.; Matthew, of
Rumney, N.H.; Robert, of the State of Maine; John, who died unmarried
in Derry; Mrs. Steele of Walpole, N.H.; Mrs Martha Boyce, of 
New York; and Mrs. McGlothen, of Walpole, N.H.
  The CHILDREN OF JAMES RAMSEY JR. and Mary Nesmith, his wife, were:
David, who married Hannah Marshall; John, who married Margaret Steele
of Antrim; James, who married Nancy Tenney; Elizabeth B., who married
Thomas Holmes; Margaret, who died at twenty-six, unmarried; 
Mary Nesmith, who married Ebenezer Hopkins of Francestown.  John M.
Ramsey, of Grand Rapids, Mich., born November 27, 1809, and David
Ramsey, born December 27, 1811, and the only remaining resident of
Greenfield of the same of Ramsey, are the only surviving children
of David, son of James Ramsey, Jr., the other seven having "passed
over the river" at a comparatively early age.

ABBOTT BIOGRAPH--WILLIAM ABBOTT and his wife, Hannah Bailey, came to
Greenfield from Andover, Mass about the year 1801, and settled near
the base of Peterborough Mountain. In this secluded but romantic spot,
partly inclosed by forests, while a gentle slope stretched away into
meadow-land toward the south, they saw seven of their thirteen
children grow up to manhood and womanhood, content with the simple
pleasures afforded by the surroundings of their rural home anda
adorned with those Christian graces which are the fruit of early
Christian training.
 Reared thus amid God's great pictures, so full of beauty and
inspiration, and in air melodious with the sweet, liquid notes of
the nightingale and the rapturous songs of ecstasy the bobolink pours
forth from his little throat in spring, it is no wonder they early
manifested a remarkable fondness for music, and that some of them
developed a rare musical ability, well appreciated both in their
native town and in places where they subsequently lived. And no wonder
they have since so often revisited this enchanting place with
enthusiastic delight, and lingered with reluctant feet upon the
threshold where a thousand joyous memories of earlier years made
dearer than ever the "home, sweet home," on the rugged mountain-side.
(See Abbott history)

DEACON JOSHUA HOLT, of Andover, Mass, had six sons and five daughters,
each of whom were baptized in the Orthodox Church the first Sabbath
after his or her birth. Previous to 1780 he purchased a tract of
wild land in what was then called Lyndeborough Gore, and subsequently
Peterborough Slip, and afterwards incorporated into Greenfield. For
the entire tract he paid a team of oxen.
 His son--REV. PETER HOLT, settled in Epping, and his son DEACON
SOLOMON--remained with him as home son.
 His other sons--DEACON JOSHUA, DEACON JOHN, DEACON TIMOTHY, and
DEACON STEPHEN--settled on the above-mentioned land, and became
industrious, enterprising and successful farmers.
 They were pillars in the church, and held various town offices, and
were prominent in carrying out every enterprise connected with the
welfare of the town.
 They were liberal in the support of religious, military and
educational institutions, and so educated their families for the
various duties of life that man of them have occupied positions of
trust in almost every State in the Union. Many of them became
prominent instructors, and their influence still remains, for the
town has always furnished a large proportion of teachers. All the
brothers spent their lives and died on their farms.
  The daughters--Mary, married Isaac Foster; Phebe, married Deacon
Joseph Batchelder; Chloe, married Captain Francis Bowers; Hannah,
married Captain Ephraim Holt, all of Greenfield; Bethia, married
Deacon Daniel Kimball, of Hancock. Their father always evinced a
general interest in the temporal, as well as the religious, welfare
of the settlement. He gave the church its first communion service.

In 1793, EPHRAIM HOLT, of Andover, Mass, bought a lot of wild land in
the southwest corner of Greenfield. His first crop was a large yield
of rye, which he carried to Salem, Mass, with an ox-team and sold for
silver money, which he brought home in a stocking, and which amounted
to enough to pay for his land.
 He was a successful farmer, a military captain and a justice of the
peace. He held various offices of trust, represented the town in the
Legislature, and was one of the selectmen seventeen years in
succession.
 He had seven children. Himself and wife and all his children now
repose in the same lot in the cemetery near the church.

In 1789 MAJOR PETER PEAVEY, of Wilton NH purchased a lot of wild land
near the base of South Mountain, in Greenfield.
 He built a log house about eighteen feet square, with a huge stone
chimney reaching just above the chamber-floor, and from there it
topped out with sticks plastered with clay on the outside and inside.
In one of its three windows, about a foot square, was a rude lattice
covered with oiled paper; the other, instead of glass, had boards, 
which were removed when light was needed.  The crevices between the
logs were filled with moss.  The door was wide enough to admit a
hand-sled loaded with logs to fill the yawning fire-place. He moved
his effects on an ox-team, and his wife rode on horseback with a pair
of large saddle-bags, a bundle strapped to the rear of the saddle,
a tin lantern dangling from the saddle-horn and baby, Peter Jr., in
her lap.  Her horse walked faster than the oxen, and when she reached
the last house she lighted a candle in her lantern, entered the
forest and pursued her roadless way, guided by blazed trees, and
arrived at their house before her husband, and kindled the first fire
in their new home.

Subsequently, his brother THOMAS PEAVEY, purchased an adjoining lot,
and both brothers carved fertile farms out of the primitive forests,
reared large families and occupied a front rank among the sturdy
settlers of the town.
 ZEBEDIAH, son of Capt. Thomas Peavey, one of the early settlers of
Greenfield, was born in the southeast part of the town in 1795, and
is the oldest person now living there. He was liberally endowed
with common sense and a discriminating judgment.
 He was enterprising, honest, industrious, and perservering. His
occupations were farming and dealing in cattle and sheep, which he
successfully followed. He was early chosen captain of a military
company, and was often honored by his townsmen with positions of honor
and trust. His family consists of two sons and two daughters. His
sons follow the occupation of their father, adn honor the town by
devotions to its interests.
 In 1824 he married Mary B., daughter of Deacon David Patterson,
and subsequently purchased her father's homestead in Greenfield
village, which he has owned and occupied ever since.
 On the 24th of March, 1884, they celebrated the sixtieth anniversary
of their wedding in the same room where the original ceremony was
performed.
 Friends came from far and near to congratulate the aged pair.
Although the groom had seen eighty-eight birthdays and the bride
eighty-two, they were both mentally and physically, in a remarkable
state of preservation. Their countenances retained the animated
expression of middle-life, and they greeted their guests with youthful
vivacity and pleasant allusions to former days.  Their cheerful rooms
were filled with the perfume of fragrant flowers, the gifts of
absent friends. After a social season, letters from friends (unable
to be present) and a poem, written for the occasion, were read. One
letter was written by the only surviving witness of their marriage.
The blessing of God was then invoked by their pastor, Rev. Mr.
Patridge, short speeches were made, old-time songs and hymns were sung
and joined in by the bride, who, for threescore and ten years, had
aided the church choir and enlivened social gatherings with her
musical voice.
 Refreshments were temptingly displayed on tables loaded with
wedding and other tastefully arranged cakes and fruits. Tea and coffee
were served in the identical cups and saucers which the bride set
before her guests sixty years ago.  At an early hour the visitors
retired, feeling that they had enjoyed a remarkable occasion, and
wishing the happy pair many more wedding anniversaries.
 
JACOB RICHARDSON, ESQ., an early settler of the town of Greenfield,
was born in Billerica, Mass, on the 10th day of August, 1769, and of
the sixth generation from Thomas Richardson, who, with his two
brothers, Ezekiel and Samuel, came from England to this country prior
to 1740.  He received a better education in the schools of his native
town than fell to the lot of most young men of the day. When about
twenty-one years of age he came to Milford, N.H., or the territory
which was soon after incorporated into the town of Milford. In 1793
he married Sarah Lewis, daughter of Benjamin Lewis, who then resided
on the banks of the Souhegan River, where Capt. E.P. Hutchinson now
lives. He removed to Greenfield in 1798, built a house in the village,
which is now in good condition and owned by one of his descendants.
He followed blacksmithing and farming, and represented the town in the
State Legislature in the years 1815 and 1816; he held other offices
of trust, left five sons and four daughters. He died there on
November 9th, 1839, aged seventy years.
  JACOB RICHARDSON JR., eldest son of the above-mentioned Jacob
Richardson, was born in Milford, NH January 17, 1794, and was the
first male child born in that town after its incorporation. He
obtained a good education, and on the appointment of General James
Miller as Governor of the Territory of Arkansas, accompanied him,
arriving at the port of Arkansas, the Governor's headquarters,
December 26, 1819. He rejected his appointment to the clerkship of
Phillips County, because in that sparse settlement the fees would not
pay.  A year or more afterward he rejected the appointment as one of
the judges of a court, because of fever and ague and other malarial
diseases, which had so greatly reduced him that he decided to return
East. He arrived in New Hampshire in August, 1821, after an absence
of two years.  In 1822, and for forty years afterwards, he was
connected with Barrett's silk-dyeing establishment, the latter part of
which as partner under the firm name of Barrett and Richardson. He
accumulated a handsome property. Died November 3, 1864, from an injury
received by the horse-cars in front of his office, 140 Washington
Street, Boston.
  COLONEL LEWIS RICHARDSON, second son, was born there AUgust 3, 1801.
He early went to Massachusetts to reside; represented the town of
Medford in the Massachusetts Legislature in 1838 and 1839, returning
to Greenfield in 1840. He was selectman twelve years, moderator
twenty years; represented Greenfield in the New Hampshire Legislature
in 1848 and 1849; was county commissioner for Hillsborough County
for three years; died at Greenfield on the 21st day of August, 1878.
  ALBERT LOUIS RICHARDSON, third son, was born at Greenfield,
October 16, 1803; has mainly resided in Massachusetts. His early
occupation was that of a civil engineer; has been postmaster at East
Woburn, Mass. for about thirty years. For several years prior to 1876
he took a lively interest in procuring, arranging and publishing
the "Richardson Memorial," a volume of about one thousand pages,
giving a history of the three brothers first mentioned, their
posterity and many others of that name.
  CHARLES RICHARDSON, the fourth son, was born at Greenfield, July 30,
1809, where he resided until 1853; in early life was prominently
connected with the militia of the Twenty-sixth Regiment; represented
Greenfield in the New Hampshire Legislature in 1850 and 1851; also a
member of the Constitutional Convention for the revision of the 
constitution in 1850, and held other offices of trust; elected
register of deeds for Hillsborough County in 1853, when he removed to
Amherst, where he now resides, and has been for the past thirty
years a successful pension attorney.
  COLONEL CYRUS RICHARDSON, the youngest son of Jacob Richardson, was
born there August 23, 1812; was a blacksmith by trade, and carried
on largely, in connection with his brother Charles, the manufacture
of cast-iron plows; passed some time in California; held the office
of town clerk in Greenfield in the years 1856 and 1857; was town
treasurer several years, and commanded the Twenty-sixth Regiment of
New Hampshire militia; died at Greenfield February 10, 1861.
  EDWARD A. RICHARDSON, son of Charles Richardson, above mentioned,
and of the eighth generation from Thomas, was born in Greenfield on
the 27th day of April 1843; attended the schools of Greenfield and
Amherst; fitted for college at Meriden; spent three years at Dartmouth
College; went to California in 1865; about two years later was
connected with the Bank of California, with a capital of ten millions,
and then considered the great moneyed institution of the West. Some
years since, while there was great activity in mining stock, he,
as divident clerk, paid to the stockholders of two mining companies,
which were in part controlled by the bank, a monthly dividend of a
million dollars to each of the companies. He is still connected 
with the bank, and is it foreign correspondent.

***TOWN OFFICERS***
MODERATORS--1791 Daniel Emerson Jr; 1792 John Savage; 1793, Robert 
Day; 1794 Amos Whittemore; 1795 Joshua Holt; 1796-97 Amos Whittemore;
1798 Joshua Holt; 1799 Joseph Ellinwood; 1800 Amos Whittemore;
1801 Joseph Ellinwood; 1802 Joseph Herrick; 1803 Ambrose Gould;
1804 Joseph Ellinwood; 1805 James Miller Esq; 1806-12 Ammi Burnham;
1813-14 David Ramsey; 1815 Ebenezer Farrington; 1816 Ammi Burnham;
1817 Ebenezer Farrington; 1818, Ammi Burnham; 1819 Stephen Holt;
1820-23 Joshua Holt Jr.; 1834 John Ramsey; 1835-36 Paul Cragin;
1837-38 John Ramsey; 1839-40 Ammi Burnham; 1841-42 William Whittemore;
1843-44 Lewis Richardson; 1845 Charles Richardson; 1846-58 Lewis
Richardson [additional moderators from 1859-1885 in original document,
not included here].

SELECTMEN
1791, 1792-Joseph Herrick, James Ramsey, Joshua Holt
1793-Joshua Holt, Eben. Farrington, Jonathan Ballard
1794, 1795-Joseph Herrick, James Ramsey, Benjamin Abbott
1796, 1797, 1798-Eben. Farrington, Paul Cragin, Joshua Holt
1799-Joshua Holt, Eben. Farrington, Paul Cragin
1800-John Savage, Asa Butman, John Dane
1801-Eben. Farrington, Paul Cragin, Joshua Holt.
1802-Joshua Holt, Eben. Farrington, Paul Cragin
1803, 1804-Eben. Farrington, Paul Cragin, Jacob Richardson
1805-Paul Cragin, Jacob Richardson, Stephen Holt
1806-Paul Cragin, Stephen Holt, Jacob Richardson
1807, 1808, 1809, 1810-Joshua Holt, Pyram Herrick, Amos Whittemore
1811, 1812-Eben. Farrington, Ammi Burnham, Ephraim Holt
1813-Eben Farrington, Ephraim Holt, Jacob Richardson
1814, 1815, 1816, 1817, 1818, 1819, 1820, 1821, 1822, 1823, 1824, 
1825-David Ramsey, Ephraim Holt, Samuel Lewis
1826, 1827-Ephraim Holt, Samuel Lewis, William S. Ramsey
1828, 1829-William S. Ramsey, Zebediah Peavey, Moody Butler
1830-Paul Cragin, William Savage, William Cavender
1831-John Ramsey, William Savage, William Cavender
1832, 1833, 1834-William Savage, William Cavender, Isaac H. Foster
1835, 1836-William S. Ramsey, Zebediah Peavey, Hugh A. Abbott
1837-Zebediah Peavey, Hugh A. Abbott, William S. Ramsey
1838, 1839-Zebediah Peavey, Hugh A. Abbott, Jonathan Patch
1840-Zebediah Peavey, Hugh A. Abbott, David Ramsey
1841, 1842-David Ramsey, Lewis Richardson, Douglass R. Gould
1843-Lewis Richardson, Hermon Abbott, Moses Robinson
1844-Hermon Abbott, Charles Richardson, Peter Peavey
1846, 1847-Charles Richardson, Peter Peavey, Hiram Hardy
1848, 1849-Charles Richardson, Peter Peavey, Ephraim Holt
1850, 1851-Hermon Abbott, Jacob Stephenson, Lewis Richardson
[additional selectmen from 1852-1886 found in original document,
not included here]

REPRESENTATIVES TO THE GENERAL COURT
1799-1800, Joseph Herrick; 1801 Ammi Burnham; 1802-3 Joseph Herrick;
1804-6 Amos Whittemore; 1807, James Miller; 1808-13 Amos Whittemore;
1814-15 Jacob Richardson; 1816-28, William Whittemore; 1820-32,
Ephraim Holt; 1833-37 Paul Cragin Jr.; 1837, William S. Ramsey;
1838-40 William Whittemore; 1841-43, Zebediah Peavey; 1844-45
David Ramsey; 1846-47 Hermon Abbott; 1848-49 Lewis Richardson;
1850-51 Charles Richardson; 1852, Hugh A. Abbott; 1853-54 Henry H.
Duncklee [additional represenatives from 1855 to 1884 found in
original document, not included here].

*****
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
****

JOHN RAMSEY, M.D.
Dr. John Ramsey was born in Greenfield, N.H. November 25, 1784. He was
the son of William and Jemima (Smith) Ramsey, and grandson of John
Ramsey, an Irish emigrant to Londonderry, N.H. in the early days of
that historic colony.
 Dr. Ramsey's father was a typical New England farmer, and during the
years of his minority Dr. Ramsey's time was spent alternately laboring
on his father's farm or attending school, and the vigorous out-door
exercise thus obtained laid the foundation for a rugged and strong
constitution, which served him well in the arduous labors of his
after-life as a country physician, with an extensive practice, when
the rigors of New England winters made the long and cheerless
night-drives over rough and lonely roads anything but an easy task.
 His education was obtained in Londonderry Academy, and being a close
student, with an apt and retentive memory, he became quite a 
proficient scholar.
 He studied medicine with Dr. James Crombie, of Temple, an eminent
physician of his day, and afterwards pursued a course of study at
Hanover Medical College, from which institution he graduated.
 He began the practice of his professional at Mont Vernon, N.H. where
he continued about three years, when he removed to Greenfield, N.H.
in 1818 and established a practice which continued through the 
remaining active years of his life, and the extent of which was only
limited by his capacity to attent to it.  For a period of forty-seven
years he was almost constantly at the bedside of the sick.
 He was famous as a healer of disease, success attending his efforts,
perhaps, more largely than is usual with the profession. His fame
extended to the surrounding towns and his services were in constant
demand. He was a man of very kindly heart, whose presence in the
sick-room brought sunshine and cheerfulness. That he was generous to
a fault many of those still living who were recipients of his
kindness, can testify.
 Notwithstanding his extensive practice as a physician, Dr. Ramsey
still found time for the exercise of other duties of citizenship. He
was selectman of the town of Greenfield many years, and was town
clerk during more than half the many years he was resident there.
He also did a great deal of probate business.  He was a director of
the Peterborough National Bank several years, and was a member of
the New Hampshire State Medical Society.
 In religious belief he was a Congregationalist, and a staunch
Republican in politics. He was an ardent temperance man and an
earnest advocate of whatever tended to the good of his fellow-man.
 He married Ophelia Davis, of Westford, Mass., November 1818. They
have three children, all of whom are living--John Milton, now
residing in Peterborough; Mary Davis, now Mrs. Dr. Leonard French,
of Manchester; and William Henry, now residing in Grand Rapids, Mich.
 Mrs. Ramsey died June 20, 1828, and Dr. Ramsey married, as his 
second wife, Janet, daughter of Thomas and Ann (Moore) Steele, of
Peterborough, N.H. October 1, 1829.  By this marriage there is no
living issue.
 Dr. Ramsey died July 10, 1864. Mrs. Ramsey still survives and resides
in Peterborough, N.H.

----------
REV. SAMUEL HUDSON PARTRIDGE, M.D.
Rev. S.H. Partridge, M.D. was born at Dalton, N.H. October 15, 1827.
He was the son of Lewis and Betsey (Fay) Partridge. He was brought up
as a farmer's son, and fitted for college at Francestown Academy,
but failing health prevented his entering college, and for a time he
applied himself to study and teaching. Having an inclination for the
ministry, he studied theology with Rev. Dr. Barstow, of Keene, NH
and was licensed to preach by the Monadnock Association August 13,
1850. After preaching a year and a half at Sebec, Me., he located at
Hillsborough Center, NH where he was ordained May 10, 1853, at the
same time uniting with the Union Association, of which he was a very
valuable and, at the time of his decease, the oldest member. He
labored as pastor at Hillsborough Center nearly five years, when he
removed to Lebanon, Me., at which place he was acting pastor of the
church one year.  In July 1859, he took charge of the Congregational
Church at York, Me., and here he spent ten active, useful and
happy years of his life.  But his constitution, never strong, finally
gave way before the severe climate of the sea-coast, and he was
compelled to seek the interior to recuperate his declining health.
He spent about a year in Peterborough, when, his strength in a measure
returning, he assumed the care of the Congregational Church at
Greenfield, N.H. and continued in that pastorate until a few days
prior to his decease.  He had just resigned his charge when he was
striken with the illness which proved fatal.
 While in the active discharge of his duties as minister he studied
medicine, and qualified himself for practice, and for a period of
twenty-three years he practiced medicine, supplying the pulpit at the
same time.  He was a conscientious, earnest man, studious,
intelligent and unremitting in labor, and as a physician was very
successful.  One who knew him well says of him: "As a minister he
laborered arduously and greatly to the profit of his hearers. As a
physician he entered the houses of his people only to enter their 
hearts as well." The constant and exhaustive labor necessarily 
involved in the practice of two professions simultaneously
undoubtedly operated to shorten his life.  He would often ride thirty
miles on the Sabbath in attendance on the sick, and attend three
services besides. It may be truly said of Dr. Partridge that his life
was spent in doing good for others. He was interested, actively, in
every movement calculated to benefit the community or elevate the
mental or moral tone of the people among whom he lived.
  He was possessed of a high grade of intelligence, and mentally and
morally was highly attuned In the midst of the many practical duties
of his more than ordinary busy life he found time to court the
muses, and many pearls of thought has he enshrined in verse. Many of
his productions have been published and some of them are of rare
beauty and merit.
 He married, March 25, 1851, Elvira, daughter of Joel and Mary
(Blakesly) Fay, a native of Dalton, NH but at the time of their
marriage resident in Peterborough. They had three children--Lizzie M.,
afterwards Mrs. Warren Lewis (she died August 23, 1884, leaving three
children), Abbie N. and Arlena E., the two latter unmarried.
 Perhaps no man who ever died in Greenfield was more sincerely
mourned by so wide a circle of friends and acquaintances than was
Dr. Partridge. The spotless purity of his life, the unselfish nature
of the man, as manifested in so many ways, and the active,
intelligent interest he invariable manifested in all that pertained
to the welfare of his people, very naturally endeared him to those
with whom he came in contact.
 He died May 22, 1884. A very beautiful monument marks his last
resting-place in Greenfield cemetery.

----------
CHARLES D. FITCH
Charles Darwin Fitch was born in Greenfield NH November 29, 1815. He
was the son of Dr. Samuel and Eunice (Perry) Fitch, and grandson of
Samuel Fitch, of Massachusetts.  Dr. Samuel Fitch was born in Acton,
Mass., and came to Greenfield NH about the beginning of the present
century, where he began the practice of medicine. In this profession
his life was spent, continuing in the active duties of a practitioner
more than forty years.
 His family consisted of two sons and two daughters. One of his
daughters, Louisa, afterwards became Mrs. Jeremiah Peavey.  Phebe,
the other daughter, died young.  Francis P., the elder son, became
an eminent physician. He practiced many years in Amherst, NH. Then,
after a few years spent in Milford and Nashua, NH and Wakefield,
Mass, he moved to Vineland, NJ where he died December 24, 1874.
 Charles D. was the youngest of the four children. After receiving
instruction at the schools of his native town, he attended the academy
at New Ipswich, and also received private instruction under the
tutelage of different teachers. He entered Dartmouth College when but
seventeen years of age, and graduated in the class of 1837, and the
same year we find him installed as preceptor of the academy at
Henniker, NH.  He chose teaching as his avocation, and, as an 
instructor of youth, met with undoubted success.  He remained at
Henniker, as teacher, two years, and soon after leaving there he
went to Lousianna. In this State--chiefly at St. Francisville--he
spent four years as private tutor.  Returning to his native town,
we find him, in 1846, in Castleton, Vt., attending a course of
lectures as a student in medicine.  He pursued his medical studies
a considerable time, but finally abandoned his intention of
becoming a physician, and returned to teaching as an occupation.
In 1847, he was instructor in the Amherst High School, and he taught
after this, at various times, several terms in Amherst. In 1850-51
he taught the High School at South Windsor. In the latter part of 1851
he taught a select school in Greenfield, and the following winter
taught the common school in Center District.  In 1852 he taught the
High School at Greenfield, and in 1853 and 1854 he was principal of
the academy at Conway, Mass. The last session he ever taught was at
Pinkerton Academy, Derry NH.  He then purchased a home (where his
widow now resides) in Greenfield, to which he permanently retired.
He married, March 11, 1857, Lizzie D., daughter of Deacon Peter and
Dorcas (Holt) Peavey. Two children were the issue of this marriage--
Frances Louisa, who graduated at Mount Holyoke Seminary, spring term,
1883, and is now engaged in teaching at Temple Grove Female Seminary,
at Saratoga Springs, NY,; and Orianna P., who is now in her third
year at Mount Holyoke Seminary.
 Professor Fitch was superintendent of public instruction in his
native town one year, and was leader of the choir in the Evangelical
Church many years; and, after the union of the churches, he was
leader of the choir in the Union Congregational Church to the time
of his death.  He was an ardent lover of music, and an enthusiast on
that subject. Though not the possessor of a powerful voice, yet his
hearty soulfulness gave zest to his singing and made him a
successful leader. He was superintendent of the Sabbath-school many
years, and continually sought to elevate the moral tone of his
pupils and all those with whom he came in contact. He was an earnest
friend of the cause of education, and a most zealous advocate of
moral reforms of every kind.  To all kinds of intemperance he 
opposed himself aggressively and continally. Greenfield possessed,
perhaps, no more public-spirited or self-sacrificing citizen. As an
illustration of his deportment toward those under his charge, and its
natural result upon their moral and intellectual natures, the
following quotation from a letter written him by one of his former
pupils, may serve to give an idea of the estimation in which he was
held: "Never shall I forget, while memory lasts and reason has her
power, the friendly and encouraging words that occasionally, in my
intercourse with you, fell from your lips. The impressions that I
received when in your society seemed to give more strength to my
character."  Mr. Fitch died December 19, 1877.


-----------------
DEACON PETER PEAVEY
Deacon Peter Peavey was born in Wilton, NH July 29, 1788. His father,
Peter Peavey, was a native of Andover, Mass, and his mother, Lucy
Cummings Peavey, of Hollis, NH.  In May 1790, the family, following
a line of marked trees, removed to a tract of unincorporated land on
the northern slope of the mountain known as Pack's Monadnock.  With
few advantages for acquiring an education in youth, he succeeded in
fitting himself for teaching, in which occupation he excelled,
especially in the management of large and difficult schools. His
pupils, now old and gray-headed men, are found in this and all the
surrounding towns. His patriotism and love of martial music and
military display was manifest at an early age, and culminated when a
call came for volunteers for the town in the War of 1812, he being
the first to leave the ranks of the militia, then on parade, and step
forward to the post assigned for volunteers. He was followed by his
brother Jacob, and others.
 On the return home, after the enlistment, when the tears and
pleadings of mother and sisters were threatening to damp the ardor of
their patriotism, the father (better known as Major peavey) exclaimed,
"That's right BOYS GO! GIVE it to THEM! Never let them SEE your
HEELS."
 In the autumn of 1814 he went out as a non-commissioned officer in 
the company thus raised, and continued in the service till the close
of the war. For such service he received a government pension during
the last few years of his life.
  In June 1819, he was married to Dorcas Holt, a daughter of Deacon
John Holt. They had two sons and three daughters. The second daughter,
named for the mother, died at the age of five years. The others are
all living.  This first union was sundered by the death of the wife,
October 6, 1856.
  April 9, 1857 he married Tamesin Holt, a sister of the deceased
wife. She survives him. He received the ordinance of baptism
September 18, 1791, at the age of three years, Rev. Sewall Goodridge,
of Lyndeborough officiating. In September 1812, at the age of
twenty-four, he made a public profession of religion, uniting with the
church in Greenfield, Rev. John Walker, pastor.  At the organization
of the Evangelical Church of Greenfield, January 8, 1834, he
identified himself with its interests. At its organization he was
chosen one of its deacons, who, with an equal number of elders,
chosen from the Presbyterian element, constituted the session. At a
meeting of the session, held January 9th, he was elected clerk of the
session and also clerk of the church, both of which offices he held
until the church disbanded, in 1867, to form the present Union
Congregational Church.  He was leader of the choir connected with the
Evanglical Church during its entire history, a period of more than
forty years.
  His relation to the Sabbath-school was never sundered, continuing
in active service as a teacher, with unusual constancy, till a few
months before his death, and occasionally until three weeks previous
to the injury that laid him aside from all work.
 His sympathy with the spirit of progress that belongs to the
present generation was shown in his last decision, left with his sons,
to be buried in the new and spacious cemetery recently purchased and
laid out by the town, the remains of his first wife, and "little
Dorcas" to be removed and laid beside him.
 Deacon Peavey died on the evening of the 26th of October, 1879,
after an illness of one week.
 During the eventful period of his life he was at different times
teacher, then merchant, and later in life a farmer, in which calling
he died.
  Of his children, Hannah, married Nelson Abbott of Wilton NH;
Dorcas A. died in childhood; Lizzie D. married Charles D. Fitch, and
resides in Greenfield (Mr. Fitch died December 19, 1877); 
John Peter married Mary J. Patch of Greenfield, resides in Montreal,
province of Quebec; Charles, resides in Montreal and is umarried



(end)