HISTORY OF TOWN OF HUDSON 
HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE
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SOURCE: History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire 
Philadelphia: J.W. Lewis & Co., 1885, 878 pgs.

HUDSON NH
page 458

CHAPTER I
Boundaries--Topography-- Forests-- Wild Animals-- Ponds and Streams--
Employments-- Dunstable-- Settlement of Londonderry-- Londonderry
Claim-- Hill's Grant-- Joseph Hills-- His Will-- Samuel Hills--
Hills' Garrison-- Blodgett's Garrison-- Taylor's Garrison-- Fletcher's
Garrison.

HUDSON is situated east of the Merrimack River, and borders upon the
Massachusetts line.
  It is bounded north by Litchfield and Londonderry, east by Windham
and Pelham, south by Tyngsborough, Mass, and west by Nashua and 
Litchfield.
  The Merrimack River--a beautiful stream, from three hundred and fifty
to five hundred feet wide--separates it from the city of Nashua and
forms its western border from Litchfield to the Massachusetts line, a
distance of about six and one-half miles.
  Its extreme length from north to south is a little more than eight
miles, its average width about three and one-half miles, and contains
seventeen thousand nine hundred and fifty-one acres, exclusive of water.
  The Merrimack at this point is raised from four to six feet above
its original level by the dam at Pawtucket Falls, at Lowell, which
causes a flowage as far north as Cromwell's Falls, a distance of about
twenty miles, and covers all the falls between these two points.
 The surface of the westerly part of the town is comparatively level,
and bordering upon the Merrimack are some very fertile and productive
intervale lands, where, especially at the northerly part, the Indians
cultivated small fields of corn before the first settlements were made
by the whites.
  Some of the land along the river is sandy and less productive, and
other sandy plains abound to some extent.
  The easterly part of the town is hilly, rocky and hard to cultivate,
yet in the valleys and upon the slopes of some of the hills are good,
strong, productive soils and many excellent farms, which are especially
adapted to the production of grass, the apple and other fruits.
  The sandy soils and rocky hills, many of which are entirely unfit
for cultivation, are very productive in the growth of wood and timber,
which, being near market, long have been, and for generations to come
probably will continue to be, a source of considerable profit and
income to the inhabitants of Hudson.
  For many years past the white pine has been the most profitable
timber, and naturally thrives best and makes the most rapid growth upon
sandy soils; yet some of the best pine timber in town may be found
growing among the rocks.
  The hard pine is also a common forest growth on the plains, but,
as compared with the white pine, is of but little value for timber.
  Oak of several kinds, walnut, soft maple, gray birch and poplar
thrive on the hard, rocky soils, and some spruce and hackmatack may
be found in the swamps.  About forty per cent of the area of the town
is covered with forest growth, much of its young, and very little that
has been gorwing more than fifty years.
  The first settlers found here an almost unbroken forest of heavy
growth of white and pitch-pine, oak, maple, walnut and other species,
which was long since cleared away.
  Some of the early settlers were engaged for many years in collecting
turpentine, by "boxing" the large pines, which, after being put into
barrles, was floated down the river and shipped to England.
  The moose, deer, wolf, beaver, otter, mink, muskrat, squirrel, wild
turkey, partridge and other wild animals were found here, and salmon,
shad, alewives and lamprey eels were abundant in the Merrimack.
  "Deer-keepers" were elected as late as 1784, and bounties of six
pounds each, for killing wolves, were paid in 1752.
  The last moose known to have been in town was killed by Asa Davis,
Esq., in Moose Swamp, at the east end of Hill's meadow, some time, 
probably about the beginning of the present century, although the exact
date is unknown. One of the horns of this animal is still preserved by
the descendants of Mr. Davis.
  Barrett's Hill, in the northeast section of the town, is the highest
elevation, being about five hundred feet above the sea-level.  Three
ponds are within the limits of the town.
  Little Massabesic, in the northeast part, and until 1778 in
Londonderry, covers a surface of about one hundred acres and empties
into Beaver Brook.
 Otternick--more commonly called "Tarnic"--lies about one mile east
of the Merrimack, contains thirty-eight acres and empties into the
river by Otternick brook, about eighty rods below Taylor's Falls
bridge. 
  Several mills have been built upon this stream at various times,
from its outlet at the pond to near the Merrimack.
  The first saw-mill erected in town is said to have been located
at the outlet of Otternick Pond as early as 1710.  There is now on
this stream a saw and grist-mill and file-shop. The name was derived
from an Indian name, variously given in the ancient records as
Wattannick, Wataanuck, Watanock, Watananuck, Watannack, etc. 
  Musquash is a small pond in the south part of the town, out of which
flows a stream of the same name, which empties into the river below
the State line in Tyngsborough, Mass. This stream has furnished power
for a saw and grist-mill from the time of the early settlements to the
present.
  The water-power in this town is very limited, and no extensive
manufacturing interests have ever been located within its borders;
consequently the inhabitants of Hudson have always been, and are still,
principally engaged in the pursuit of agriculture.  It is essentially
an agricultural town, and while, perhaps, it would not be classed
among the best in the country, it is as good or better than average.
  The city of Nashua furnishes a very convenient market for much of
the surplus products of the town, while Lowell, Mass., with a population
of more than sixty thousand, is but about five miles distant from its
southern boundary.
  The grant of the old township of Dunstable by the General Court of
Massachusetts, October 16 (Old Style), 1773, included all of Hudson.
  Londonderry was settled by Presbyterians of Scotch origin, from
Ireland, in April 1719. A tract of land not to exceed ten miles square
was conveyed to them by a deed dated October 20, 1719, from John
Wheelwright, grandson of the original claimant of the same name under
the famous "Wheelwright Deed."  The General Court of New Hampshire
incorporated the town of Londonderry, July 21, 1722.  The boundaries
of the town, as described in this charter, brought the southwest angle
of Londonderry within less than two miles of the Merrimack River, at a
point about northeast from Taylor's Falls bridge, and from there the
line ran due north by the needle eleven and one-half miles.
  This covered nearly ten thousand acres within the lines of Dunstable
as granted by Massachusetts forty-nine years before, and about four
thousand six hundred acres of this land are within the present limits
of Hudson.
  Some controversy followed between the proprietors of Dunstable and
Londonderry in relation to the ownership of the land included in both
towns, and long known as "Londonderry Claim."
 This controversy did not reach a final settlement until the province
line between Massachusetts and New Hampshire was finally established, in
1741, when--as these lands all fell within the limits of New Hampshire--
the original boundaries of Londonderry were recognized and sustained
by the General Court of that province.
  The first and only grant of land within the present limits of the
town, made prior to the incorporation of Dunstable--so far as I have
been able to learn--was five hundred acres laid out to Joseph Hills,
of Malden, and surveyed by Jonathan Danforth in 1661. 
  This survey was not acceptable to the court by reason of its being
"in three places, and so much length on the river." 
  This grant was made, as stated by Mr. Hills, in his request for a
second survey, "on a double consideration, for L33 6s. 8d., laid down in
ENgland, and for services to the country."
  A second survey was ordered by the General Court and a return made,
of which the following is a copy:
  "According to the order of the General Court, the 14th Day of the
 4th month, 1662, There is added until the farm of Mr. Joseph Hill,
 of Malden, One hundred Acres of land joining to the former Parcel,
 Backward from the River; thence the Buttings and Boundings of his
 farm are as follows:
 "Layed out to Mr. Joseph Hills, of Malden, 500 acres of Land in the 
 Wilderness, On the Easterd Side of Merrimack River."
 "One Parsel of the Same, containing 450 Acres, Joineth to Said River;
 Beginning at Wattiannack Right Over Against the Island which Lyeth
 at the mouth of Sashuay River, Running up Merrimack 450 Poles by the
 River; thence Running half a point Northard of the East 148 Poles,
 cutting across A Small brook which BOunds it on the North, near
 Merrimack; thence Running South and by East 406 Poles unto a Pine
 Tree marked H; from thence the closing Line to Merrimack is 106 poles,
 all of which is Sufficiently BOunded by Marked Trees, the form of
 which Does Better Appear by a Plat Taken of the Same.
 "Also one Other Parcel of the same, about 50 Acres of Meadow, Lyeth
 South East of the former Parcel, about 2 Miles Distant from It,
 Lying under the North East end of a great hill called Discovery hill.
 Also Bounded by the other great hills on the North West and North East;
 A Brook Running through the Same.
 "Also there is Another Meadow added unto this Parcel.
 "This was Laid out by
 "Jonathan Danforth, Surveyor."

The first trace of this land, containing four hudnred and fifty acres,
commenced on the river about sixty rods from above Taylor's Falls 
bridge, and extended up the river to the little brook on the farm now
owned by Tyler Thomas, and included the best intervale lands in town.
 The second tract, of fifty acres, was in the large meadow known as
"Hill's Meadow," and the last tract was on the brook east of Otternick
Pond.
  This Joseph Hills was from Malden, Essex County, England; was in
Charlestown, Mass, in 1638; removed to Malden where he was freeman in
1645; was Representative for Madlen 1647, 1650-56, and Speaker of the
House in the earliest year.
  He was a lawyer, leader of the militia in the town and a man of much
note; his descendants in this town at the present time, under different
names, may be numbered by hundreds.
 He was married four times, and died in Newbury, February 5, 1688,
in the eighty-sixth year of his age.
 In his very lengthy and explicit will, dated September 1687, he
disposed of his "farm" in Dunstable in the following manner:
 To his daughter, Hannah, wife of Abial Long, he gave ninety acres of
upland at the south end and ten acres of meadow.
 To his son Wait he gave forty-five acres of upland, next to that he
gave to Hannah, and five acres of meadow, with the little island at
the mouth of the Nashua River, and his six-acre piece of meadow.
 To his grandchildren, Hannah and Elizabeth Blanchard, he gave forty-
five acres of upland and five acres of meadow ground, next to that he
gave to Wait.
 To his grandson Gershom he gave a like quantity of upland and meadow,
next to said Blanchard's.
 To Hannah Vinton and Samuel Greene, his grandchildren, he gave each
forty-five acres of upland and five acres of meadow, next to that he
gave his son Gershom.
 To his granddaughter Elizabeth, daughter of Gershom, he gave forty-six
acres of upland and five acres of meadow, next to that given to Vinton
and Greene.
  All the remainder of his farm in Dunstable, both upland and meadow,
he gave to his son, Samuel.
  This SAMUEL HILLS, son of Joseph by his second wife, and father of
the first settlers of this town, was born in Malden July, 1652; married
May 20, 1679, Abigail, daughter of David Wheeler, and had children in
Newbury,-- Samuel, born February 16, 1680; Joseph, July 21, 1681;
Nathaniel, February 9, 1683; Benjamin, October 16, 1684; Abigail, Sept.
2, 1686, died young; Henry, April 28, 1688; William, October 8, 1689;
Josiah, July 27, 1691; John, September 20, 1693; Abigail, June 27, 1695;
James and Hannah twins, February 25, 1697; and Daniel December 8, 1700.
  Three of these sons, according to tradition, were the first settlers
of what is now Hudson, but from the records two only can be traced--
Nathaniel and Henry.  They built a garrison and settled on the north
part of the "Joseph Hills' farm," willed to their father, Samuel. This
was known as the "Nathaniel Hills' Garrison," and for nearly twenty
years it was the extreme northerly outpost, it being an unbroken
wilderness between here and the Canada settlements.  The exact date of
this settlement is not certain, but the best evidence now to be
obtained places it in 1710, which cannot be very far from correct.
 The garrison stood about twenty-five rods east on the Litchfield road,
on the farm now owend by CLifton M. Hills, one of the descendants, about
twenty rods east of the house, where a depression in the ground records
the location of the first settlement in Hudson.
  The original farm, as willed to Samuel Hills, contained about
eighty-nine acres, and included the north part of the Pierce farm, the
C.M. Hills farm and the south part of the Tyler Thomas farm, to near the
mouth of the little brook on the river.
  Nathaniel Hills also bought of JOnathan Tyng nine hundred acres of
land between the north end of the Joseph Hills farm and the Brenton
farm, on the north, which extended east from the river more than two
miles.
 This included "Hills' Row," and this last tract was all in Litchfield--
as incorporated in 1734, unless, as seems probable, the east end
extended into Londonderry--until Notthingham West was incorporated by
the General Court of New Hampshire, July 5, 1746. These farms have 
always been known as "Hills' Farms."
  Captain John Lovewell and his party spent the first night at "Hills'
Garrison" when on their march to Pequawket.
  Nathaniel was the only one of the brothers married for several years
after they settled in the garrison, and his wife, Sarah, was the only
white female resident.
 Traditions have been handed down showing the heroism and bravery of
this woman, and that once, at least, in the absence of all the men, the
garrison was saved from falling into the hands of a party of hostile
Indians by her fearless courage and strategem.
  She lived to a great age, and died in 1786, aged one hundred and two
years.
  Nathaniel Hills died April 12, 1748, aged sixty-five.  Henry Hills
died August 20, 1757, aged sixty-nine.
  Another brother, James Hills, removed from Newbury to this town in
1737, and from these three brothers--all of whom left children--the
numerous family of Hills of this town have descended.
  Two other garrisons were built at or before the time of Lovewell's
war,--Joseph Blodgett's and John Taylor's.
  The Blodgett garrison was located about two and one-half miles below
the mouth of the Nashua River, some distance west of the present River
road, on the farm now owned by Philip J. Connell, which is a part of
the original Blodgett farm.
  We have it from tradition that the first white mal child born in town,
was a son of Joseph Blodgett.
  Joseph Blodgett was one of the first settlers, if not the first,
after the Hills.
  We find recorded upon the old Dunstable records, the following
births: Joseph Blodgett, born February 9, 1719; Ebenezer, January 3,
1721; Rebecca, February 3, 1728; Jonathan, December 5, 1730. And on the
Nottingham Records, James Blodgett, born February 17, 1734--all
children of Joseph and Dorothy Blodgett.
  Joseph Blodgett died December 3, 1761 in the seventh-fourth year of
his age, and his widow Dorothy, died March 6, 1778, in the eighty-fourth
year of her age.
 The descendants of Joseph Blodgett are numerous in this town.
  The John Taylor garrison was on that part of the Joseph Hills farm
willed to Gerhom Hills, now owned by Charles W. Spalding, and was
located between the present Litchfield and Derry Roads.
  The exact spot where it stood is still known, and pieces of timber
which entered into its construction are preserved by Mr. Spalding.
  But little is known of this John Taylor, and none of his descendants
are supposed to be residents of this town at the present time.
 His name does not appear upon the town records later than 1742.
 It is recorded in the Dunstable records that Elizabeth Taylor,
daughter of John and Sarah Taylor, was born December 10, 1710, and
that they had a son born January 16, 1726.
 It has been thought that the falls in the Merrimack about eighty rods
below Taylor's Falls bridge,--now covered by the flowage from the dam
at Lowell,--derived the name from this John Taylor.
 Another, the Fletcher garrison, was located in what was the town of
Nottingham, a short distance south of the State line, now Tyngsborough,
Mass.

CHAPTER II
The charter of Nottingham-- First Town-Meeting and Town Officers--
Short Biographical Sketches-- The First Meeting-House, Hills Farms
Meeting-House-- Incorporaiton of Litchfield-- Boundaries--
Settlement of Rev. Nathaniel Merrill

In 1731 the inhabitants residing on the east side of the Merrimack
petitioned the town of Dunstable to be set off from that town as a
separate township, and by a vote of the town of Dunstable, March 2,
1732, the petition was granted, to take effect "when the General Court
shall judge them capable."
 Leave was obtained from the Assembly of Massachusetts, and the new
township was incorporated January 4, 1733, under the name of
Nottingham.
  The township of Nottingham, by the terms of this charter, included
"all lands on the easterly side of the river Merrimack belonging to
the town of Dunstable," and extending from Dracut line, up the 
Merrimack [river], about seventeen miles, and included Litchfield,
about one-third of Pelham, nearly all that part of Tyngsborough on
the east side of the Merrimack and all the present town of Hudson,
escepting that which was included in the "Londonderry Claim," already
mentioned.
  The charter required "that the inhabitants of said town of
Nottingham are hereby enjoined and required, within the space of
three years from the publication of this act, to procure a learned
orthdox minister, of good conversation, and make provision for his 
comfortable and honourable suppsort."

  If, by the condition of the charter, it was understood that the town
was enjoined to settle a minister within three years, those conditions
were not strictly complied with.
 But Rev. Sampson Stoddard was employed to preach soon after the
charter was granted, for which services he was paid, March 18, 1734,
L35 10s 5d., and he received nearly as much more during the same year.
 An order from the General Court of Massachusetts, dated April 4, 1733,
directed to "Mr. Robert Fletcher, one of the principal inhabitants of
Nottingham," authorized him to "assemble and convene the Inhabitants of
said Town, to choose Town officers to stand until the annual meeting
in March next."  A warrant was accordinly issued by Mr. Fletcher, and
the first town-meeting was called to meet at the house of Ensign John
Snow on the 1st day of May, 1733, at ten o'clock, A.M.
 The following is a full list of officers elected at this meeting:
 Captain Robert Fletcher, moderator; Henry Baldwin, town clerk;
Henry Baldwin, Captain Robert Fletcher, John Taylor, Joseph Snow,
John Butler, selectmen; Joseph Hamblet, constable; Nathaniel Hills,
tithingman; Joseph Perham, Joseph Winn, Eleazer Cummings, surveyors;
Thomas Colburn, JOnathan Perham, field-drivers; Phineas Spalding, John
Hamblet, hog-reeves.

The tax list for 1733, was composed of the following names:
 Captain Robert FLetcher, Ezekiel Fletcher, Daniel Fletcher, 
Joseph Perham, JOnathan Perham, Jeremiah Colburn, Zaccheus Spalding,
Deacon Joseph Perham, James Perham, Captain Joseph Butterfield,
Hugh Richardson, Samuel Gould, Ensign John Snow, Phineas Spalding,
Zaccheus Lovewelll, Thomas Pollard, Eleazer Cummings, William Commings,
Eleazer Cummings Jr., Ebenezer Spalding, Nathaniel Hills, Ephraim
Cummings, Joseph Snow, Thomas Colburn, Joseph Blodgett, Nathan Cross,
John Taylor, Jabez Davis, Henry Hills, Edward Spalding, Benjamin Adams,
Aquilla Underwood, Samuel Moores, Thomas Wartels, Captain RObert
Richardson, Ebenezer Wright, Edward Lingfield, JOhn --, JOhn Butler,
John Butler Jr., Samuel Butler, Joseph Hamblet Jr., JOsiah Winn,
Henry Baldwin, Thomas Cummings, Joseph Wright, James Walker, Joseph
Hamblet, Joseph Winn, John Hamblet, Jonas Proctor, Benjamin Hassel,
William Harwood, Samuel Murdough, Robert Walker.

This list contains fifty-five names, of which the first twelve all lived
in that part of the town which is now in Tyngsborough, eight, beginning
with Benjamin Adams, in what is now Litchfield, and the seventeen
last, commencing with the name of JOhn Butler, were all, or nearly all,
residents of what is now Pelham.
 Thus it seems that the tax-payers then residents within the present
limits of Hudson numbered only about eighteen.
  Joseph Winn soon after settled near the river.
 Space will not admit of giving any lengthy account of these early
pioneers; yet, as their descendants comprise a very large percentage
of the present population of Hudson, a brief sketch may prove of
interest to many of the inhabitants of the town.
  
THOMAS COLBURN was son of Thomas and Mary Colburn, of Dunstable,
born April 28, 1702.Samuel Sewell, of Boston, conveyed to him, April 
21, 1726, three pieces of land on the east side of Merrimack River
containing in all seven hundred acres.
 The first tract described contained about two hundred acres, bounding
on the river, about three miles below the bridge; it was the one on
which he settled, and a large part of it is yet owned by his
descendants.
 "Capt Thomas Colburn died August 30, 1765, in his 64th year of his
age.
 "Thomas Colburn, Jr., son of Capt. Thomas Colburn and Mary, his
wife died August 30, 1765, in his 4th year.
 "Both killed by lightning."
 Children of Thomas and Mary Colburn,--Thomas, born November 12, 1761;
Isaac, January 25, 1763; Zaccheus, February 16, 1765.

THOMAS POLLARD also settled upon a farm bordering on the river, about
one-half mile above the Colburn place.
  He was son of Thomas and Sarah Pollard, of BIllerica, who had ten
sons and five daughters.
 Children of Thomas and Mary Pollard--John, born September 20, 1727;
Ebenezer, December 4, 1728, was at the battle of Bennington; Thomas,
September 17, 1732, died September 7, 1756; Dorcas, January 12, 1735,
died young; Amos, March 2, 1737; Rachel, March 26, 1739; Mary, June 10,
1741, died young; Samuel, July 10, 1743; Timothy, August 24, 1745, 
a soldier in the Revolution.
  Thomas Pollard died July 23, 1769.

JOSEPH AND JOHN SNOW lived at the south part of the town, and, as is
supposed, about two miles from the river.
 JOSEPH SNOW was chosen constable for the east side of the river
March 2, 1723 (Dunstable records). 
 JOHN SNOW was the first town treasurer, and died March 21, 1735.

JOSEPH WINN was from Woburn [MA] and a descendant of Edward Winn, an
early settler of the that town.  He bought land on the river upon which
he settled between the farm of Thomas Colburn and that of Thomas
Pollard.  A part of the original farm is now owned by Paul T. Winn, one
of his descendants.  He had several chidlren, and died August 25, 1781,
in his eighty-fourth year of his age. His wife, Elizabeth, died
September 17, 1778, aged seventy-three years. His descendants are
numerous.

NATHAN CROSS and THOMAS BLANCHARD were taken prisoners by a party of
Mohawk Indians when employed in getting turpentine of the Nashua River,
and about three-fourths of a mile west of the Merrimack, September 4,
1724.
 They were taken to Canada, where they remained in captivity several
months, when they effected their release and returned home through
the wilderness in the spring of 1725.
 After his return CROSS found his musket in a hollow log where he had
placed it with his dinner on the day of his capture. This musket has
been preserved by the family, and not long since was presented by one
of his descendants to the Nashua Historical Society.  Mr. Cross had
but a short time before coming to this country.
  April 22, 1724, Joseph Butterfield conveyed to him forty-five acres
of land on the east side of the Merrimack River, two pieces of meadow
and the little island at the mouth of Nashua River, it being the same
land willed by Joseph Hills to his son Wait.
 Soon after his return from Canada he built a house and settled upon
this farm.
 The children of Nathan and Sarah Cross, as found recorded, were
PETER CROSS, born September 28, 1729; SARAH CROSS, June 26, 1731; and
JOHN, son of Nathan and Mary Cross, born October 9, 1735.  He died
September 8, 1766.
  This family became numerous in this and the adjoining towns.

The names of ELEAZER CUMMINGS, ELEAZER JR., WILLIAM, EPHRAIM and THOMAS
appear in the list.
 They were all descendants of John Cummings Sr., of Dunstable, who was
the son of Isaac Cummings, an early settlers from Scotland, in 
Topsfield, Mass.
  JOHN CUMMINGS was one of the proprietors of Dunstable, was elected
one of the selectmen April 7, 1680, and was one of the founders of the
church in the same year. He was one of the selectmen and town clerk for
many years.  He married Sarah HOWLET and had children--John, Nathaniel,
Sarah, Thomas (born 1659), Abraham, Isaac and Ebenezer.
  WILLIAM CUMMINGS was son of John Cummings Jr., born April 24, 1702;
married Sarah, daughter of William Harwood.  He settled on that part of
the Joseph Hills farm willed to Hannah and Elizabeth Blanchard, next
north of the Cross farm.  His children were Sarah, born November 10,
1728; Ebenezer, January 29, 1730; John Harwood, April 24, 1733; and
Dorcas, December 18, 1737. He was deacon of the church, and died
September 9, 1758.
  EPHRAIM and THOMAS CUMMINGS were brothers, and sons of Thomas
Cummings.  Thomas did not remain long in town.  Ephraim Cummings was
born March 10, 1706 and married Elizabeth BUTLER.  He lived on the
Pelham Road, on the south side of "Bush Hill." His (Ephraim's)
children were Peter, born December 8, 1733; Sarah, March 12, 1736;
David, May 20, 1738; Elizabeth, October 26, 1740; Ephraim, April 9,
1743; Hannah, April 29, 1745; and Priscilla, July 7, 1747.
  ELEAZER CUMMINGS JR., as he is recorded was the son of Abraham
Cummings, born in Woburn [MA] April 9, 1704; married Rachel Proctor.
He lived on the south part of the ninety acres of the Joseph Hills farm,
willed to Hannah Vinton and Samuel Green. The house in which he lived
was at the foot of the hill, east of the causeway, on the farm now
owned by Josiah K. Wheeler.  He had two children,--Eleazer Cummings,
born December 15, 1730; and Abraham, June 1, 1734.  He (Eleazer) died
in 1735, and it seems that his wife died before, and that he married
a second time, as the name of his widow was Mary.
  Eleazer Cummings was a son of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Cummings, born
October 19, 1701, and from him all now living in this town by the name
of Cummings have descended.
  By deed dated August 1, 1728, Benjamin Long and Hannah Rogers conveyed
to him all that part of the Joseph Hills farm willed to their mother,
Hannah Long, containing ninety acres, at the sound end, below the Cross
farm, and extending to within about sixty rods of Taylor's Falls bridge.
  He soon after erected a two-story frame house, in which he lived. 
 He married, July 28, 1734, Mary Varnum, of Dracut.  About that time he
established a ferry and opened a tavern.
  It was said by his son, Eleazer, who died December 1, 1843, that this
was the first tavern in town, and the first regular ferry between this
town and Dunstable.
  His wife died September 17, 1759, aged fifty-three years. He married
again, July 12, 1764, Phebe Richardson, of Litchfield. Their children,--
Eleazer, born June 16, 1765 and Phebe, July 8, 1768.
  He died December 8, 1780, and his wife died December 7, 1788.

The SPALDINGS were descendants of EDWARD SPALDING of Chelmsford [MA].
  ZACCHEUS SPALDING, who lived south of the State line, and PHINEAS
SPALDING were brothers, and nephews of EBENEZER.
  PHINEAS SPALDING probably lived in the north part of the town.
  EBENEZER SPALDING, who was the ancestor of all the Spaldings now
resident in town, and EDWARD SPALDING, his son, lived upon that part of
the Joseph Hills farm willed to Elizabeth, daughter of Gershom Hills,
containing forty-six acres, and it seems by deeds that he owned another
piece north of it, or all of what is known as the "Pierce farm."
  He was a son of EDWARD SPALDING, and born in Chelmford [MA] January 
13, 1783.
  He married Anna -- and had children,--Edward, born March 8, 1708;
Bridget, December 25, 1709; Experience, March 22, 1711; Reuben, March 
27, 1715 (died young); Stephen, May 28, 1717; Sarah, November 27, 1719;
Esther, February 22, 1722; Mary, May 4, 1724; Reuben, July 26, 1728;
and Anna, November 30, 1731. The majority of the children were born in
Chelmsford [MA].

ZACCHEUS LOVEWELL was a brother of Captain John Lovewell, and lived
near the river, a little north of the State line, until 1747, when he
removed to Dunstable (now Nashua) NH.

JABEZ DAVIS was a Quaker, and is supposed to have lived on that part
of the Joseph Hills farm next north of that owned by Eleazer Cummings 
Jr.

Within a few years after the town was incorporated other families 
settled here by the names of Greeley and Marsh, from Haverhill; Merrill,
from Newbury; Wason, Caldwell, Chase, Hale, Hardy, Burbank, Burns,
Hamblet, Page, Frost, Barrett, Kenney, Robinson, Searles, Burroughs,
Carkin, Nevens, Houston, and others, many of whose descendants are now
residents.
  Very soon after the town was organized, as was common with other new
towns, the question of building a meeting-house engrossed the minds of
the inhabitants; but a serious difference of opinion existed in respect
to a location.  September 11, 1733, the town instructed the selectmen
"to measure from the lower end of the town, so up the river as far as
Natticook line, and so arround the town; and also to find the centre
of the land."
  November 5th, "Voted, that the meeting-house shall stand on the east
side of Littlehale's meadow, at a heap of stones at the roots of a 
pine tree."
  At a town-meeting December 26th, the last vote was reconsidered, and
a location farther north was selected, and it was "Voted, to build a
meeting-house forty feet long and thirty-five feet wide and twenty feet
between joints."
  A committee of five was chosen to "set up the frame," and it was
"Voted, that the meeting-house shall be raised by the first day of May
next."
  It was also voted at this meeting to raise forty pounds to pay for the
frame.
  March 6, 1734, the town voted to raise one hundred pounds to hire
preaching, and fifty pounds more to finish the meeting-house.  "Voted,
to board, clapboard, shingle and lay the lower floor," and a committee
was chosen to finish the meeting-house, with instructions to 
"accomplish the same by the last day of September."
  The location was again changed at the same meeting.
  "May 27th, "Voted to reconsider the former vote locating the
meeting-house, and voted to build a meeting-house on land of Thomas
Colburn, at a heap of stones this day laid up, not far from said
Colburn's southerly dam." "Also voted to raise the same on the first
day of June next."
  This last was the final location, and it appears that the committees
carried out their instructions, as a town-meeting was held in the
meeting-house October 3, 1734.
  All the town-meetings prior to that date,--nine in number,--with one
exception, were held at the house of Ensign JOHN SNOW, one at the house
of EPHRAIM CUMMINGS.  This was the first meeting-house in town, the 
exact location of which is not known, but it stood on the east side of
the road, as then traveled, north of Musquash Brook, and is said to
have been a little north of the Nathaniel Merrill house, which occupied
the same spot upon which Benjamin Fuller's house now stands; but
tradition aside, it would look more probable that it stood between the
Merrill house and the brook.
  Tradition has log pointed to the Hills Farms meeting-house, that
stood on the east side of the Derry road, some distance south of
Alden Hill's house, as having been built at an earlier date.
  The following extracts from a petition to the General Court, in 1742,
signed by John Taylor and fourteen other inhabitants of the north part
of Nottingham, and Nathaniel Hills and sixteen other inhabitants of the
south part of Litchfield, proves the tradition to be erroneous.
 The petition represents,--
 "That your petitioners, after a meeting-house was built in Nottingham,
and before any was built in Litchfield, erected a meeting-house for
the public worship of God, where both were and our families might
attend upon God in His house, and since that another meeting-house
has been set up in Litchfield...
 "And your petitioners have for some considerable time maintained and
supported the public worship of God among us at our own cost and
charge...
 "Your petitioners therefore do humbly pray that we may be erected into
a township, there being a sufficient tract of land in the Northwesterly
part of Nottingham and the Southerly part of Litchfield to make a 
compact Town, without any prejudice to the towns of Nottingham or
Litchfield..."

Litchfield, which had been known as Naticook, or Brenton's Farm, was
incorporated by the General Court of Massachusetts, July 4, 1734.
  Under this charter the town of Litchfield was bounded,--
 "Beginning at Merrimack River, half a mile south of where Naticook
south line crosseth said river, running from thence west two miles and
a half, then turning and running northerly, the general course of
Merrimack River to Sowbeeg (Souhegan) River, making it a straight line,
then running by Sowbeeg (Souhegan) River to Merrimack River again two
miles and a half.
 "Also, that the bounds dividing between Natticook and Nottingham
begin at the lower line or south bounds of Nathaniel Hills' lands on
Merrimack River, so extending east by his south line to the south east
corner; so on east to Nottingham east line; north two degrees east,
about half a mile, to a pine tree with stones about it, standing 
within sight of Beaver brook, marked with the letter F; from thence
North North west by a line of marked trees, lettered with F., about six
miles to Merrimack River, near Natticook corner; Southerly by the
River Merrimack to the mouth of the Sowbeeg (Souhegan) River, before
mentioned."
 Litchfield, as then bounded, extended south at Merrimack River nearly
a mile farther than at present, and about one-half mile south of the
Brenton line, and included the nine hundred acres of land Nathaniel
Hills bought of Joseph Tyng, leaving all, or nearly all, of the Joseph
Hills farm in Nottingham.
  The Hills Farms meeting-house, built soon after, was in Litchfield,
near its southern border, as the town was then bounded, and so were all
the houses and farms in Hills Row, which farms were parts of the
Nathaniel Hills "Tyng" land.
  December 3, 1735 the town voted to build a pulpit and a body of seats,
leaving room in the middle of the meeting-house up to the pulpit, and
leaving room around the outside to build pews, and also to lay the 
gallery floors, build stairs to the galleries and a gallery rail.
  July 6, 1737,  "Voted and made choice of Mr. Nathaniel Merrill for
their gospel minister to settle in Nottingham, and voted him L200 
settlement in case he accepts the call, and chose Captain Robert 
Fletcher, Ensign Joseph Snow, John Butler and Henry Baldwin to find
his terms how he will settle."
  September 19th the town voted to give Mr. Merrill, in case he should
accept the call, two hundred and fifty pounds, bills of credit, old
tenor, as a gift, and to give him one hundred and twenty pounds,
annually, in bills of credit, silver money twenty shillings to the
ounce, an addition of ten pounds annually to be added after five years
from settlement, and an addition of ten pounds more annually after
ten years from settlement, and to give him a sufficient supply of
firewood brought to his door annually.
  The call was accepted and the Rev. Nathaniel Merrill was ordained
November 30, 1737, and a Congregational Church was founded the same day.

REV. NATHANIEL MERRILL was the son of Abel Merrill, of West Newbury;
born March 1, 1712, and graduated at Harvard College in 1732.
 He bought land of Thomas Colburn for a farm, built a house near the
meeting-house, where he resided until his death, in 1796.
  In front of the house an aged elm is now standing, which is said to
have been planted by Rev. Mr. Merrill.
  He had nine children, all born in this town.
  Children of Rev. Nathaniel and Elizabeth Merrill,--
  Nathaniel, born September 25, 1739; Betsey, September 6, 1741;
Mary, August 28, 1743, died young; John, October 26, 1745; Abel,
December 23, 1747; Dorothy, February 10, 1749; Olive, December 4, 1751,
married Isaac Merrill February 25, 1779; Sarah, October 31, 1753; and
Benjamin, April 3, 1765

***********
CHAPTER III
Settlement of the Province Line-- Charter of Nottingham West--
Boundaries-- Second Meeting House-- North Meeting-House-- Roads Laid
Out-- Stocks-- Petition of Josiah Cummings-- Bounty on Wolves--
Highway Taxes-- Mr. Merrills' Salary-- Presbyterians--
Settlement With Rev. Mr. Merrill

The province line between New Hampshire and Massachusetts, about which
there had been a long and bitter controversy, was settled and
established in 1741.
  The new line divided the town of Nottingham, leaving about four
thousand acres of the south part in Massachusetts and the balance in
New Hampshire. The meeting-house was within less than two miles of
the province line; the inhabitants were dissatisfied and "Voted, to
send a petition to England to be annexed to Massachusetts Bay."
  The petition did not succeeed, and Nottingham, north of the line,
remained a district about five years subject to the jurisdiction and
laws of New Hampshire.
  March 10, 1746, at a district meeting, it was voted, by a vote of
thirty-two yes to twenty-one nays, to be incorporated into a "Distinct
Town," and "Thomas Gage, Ephraim Cummings and John Butler were chosen a
committee to treat with the Courts Committee."
  A charter was granted by the General Court of New Hampshire, July 5,
1746, and the name of the town was changed to Nottingham West, there
already being a Nottingham in the east part of the State.
  Under this charter the town was bounded,--
  "Beginning at the River Merrimack, on the east side thereof, where
the line that parts the Province of Massachusetts Bay and New Hampshire
crosses the said river, and runs from said river east, ten degrees
south, by the needle, two miles and eighty rods; then north,
twenty degrees east, five miles and eighty rods to Londonderry south
side line, then by Londonderry line west northwest to the southwest
corner of Londonderry township, then north on Londondery west side line
one mile and eighty rods; then west by the needle to Merrimack river;
then on said River southerly to the place began at."

The charter contained the following reservation:
 "Always reserving to us, our heirs and successors, all white pine
tres growing or being, or that shall hereafter grow and be on the said
tract of land, for the use of our Royal Navy."

These boundaries excluded all of that part of Pelham--nearly one-third--
formerly included in the district of Nottingham, with about twenty
families by the names of Butler, Hamblet, Baldwin, Gage, Gibson,
Nevens, Douglass, Richardson and Spalding, and included a part of the
south part of Litchfield, as before bounded, about one mile wide on
the Merrimack, but less at the east end, with Nathaniel Hills, 
William Taylor, Henry Hills, Joseph Pollard, James Hills, Ezekiel Hills,
John Marsh Jr., Thomas Marsh, Henry Hills Jr., Samuel Hills,
Nathaniel Hills Jr., and some other inhabitants.

In a petition to the Governor and Council, by Nathan Kendall, in behalf
of the inhabitants of Litchfield, August 22, 1746, it is represented,--
 "That by some mistake or misrepresentation, the boundaries given
in said charter are different from what the intention was, as they
conceive, for part of that which was called Litchfield on the easterly
side of said river is, in fact, taken into Nottingham and incorporated
as a parcel of that town, and what is left of Litchfield is much too
small for a town and can't possibly subsist as such, and there is no
place to which it can be joined, nor from which anything can be taken
to add ot it."

The first town meeting under the new charter, called by Zaccheus
Lovewell, was held at the house of Samuel Greeley, July 17, 1746, at
which Zaccheus Lovewell was elected moderator, Samuel Greeley town
clerk, George Burns treasurer, and Samuel Greeley, Zaccheus Lovewell,
and Eleazer Cummings selectmen.
  August 20th, "Voted to move the preaching to Mr. Benjamin
Whittemore's house.
  October 20, 1746, a committee was chosen to find the "centre up and
down of the town;" and at an adjourned meeting, November 20th, the
"Committee's report is, that the centre up and down of this town is on
the northeasterly side of Mr. Benjamin Whittemore's lot, and on the
east side of the way that leads to Litchfield."
  "The town viewed the said place, and marked several pine-trees on
said spot, and voted said place to erect a meeting-house on."
  It was also voted, at the same meeting, to "pull down the old
meeting-house," and a committee was chosen to effect the same. The
committee did not "pull down the old meeting-house" as it appears later
that no satisfactory arrangement could be made with those people of
Pelham and Tyngsborough who helped build and owned pews in it
  January 12, 1747 the town voted to build a meeting-house forty feet
long and twenty-six feet wide, and a committee was chosen to effect
the same.
  The meeting-house was not built by that committee, and June 1, 1748,
the town, "Voted to purchase the upper meeting-house in said town, at a
value of eighty pounds, old tenor;" and a committee was chosen to
"pull down and remove the said meeting-house, and to erect the same
at some suitable and convenient place, and to effect the same at or
before the first day of July next."
  This was the Hills Farms meeting-house, before mentioned, and it
appears that the committee soon after effected its removal, as the
next town-meeting August 31, 1748, was held at the meeting-house,
and it was "Voted, to lay the lower floors, hang the doors,
underpin the frame, board up the upper windows, and to remove the seats
out of the old meeting-house and place them in the new house, and put
up some of the old glass windows, and to have a tier of pews built in
front of the meeting-house."
  October 26th a committee was chosen by the town "To pull up the floors
in the old meeting-house, and the breast-work, and take out the rails;
and to put up stairs and put in slit-work; lay the gallery floors, and
bring the slit-work, old floors and breast-work to the place, and put up
the breastwork; all to be done this fall, and to allow horse-shelters to
be built on the town's land, near the meeting-house."
 April 24, 1749, "Voted, to clapboard the meeting-house and put up the
window-frames and the old glass this year."
 July 7, 1751, "Voted, to have two seats made and set up around the
front of the gallery, and to call in and put up the old glass so far as
it will go."
 This house occupied nearly the same position where, forty years ago,
stood the old school-house in District No. 4, near the Joseph Blodgett
place, in the margin of the old burying-ground and near where the gate
now stands.
 It was the last meeting-house built by the town, and was occupied as a
place of public worship until March, 1778, when the town voted to sell
the "old meeting-house," and, February 1, 1779, "Voted, that the money
that the old meeting-house sold for should be turned into the treasury
by the committee who sold it."
  The record does not inform us to whom the meeting-house was sold, but
it is reasonable to suppose that it was bought for Mr. Merrill by his
society and friends, and removed to the south part of the town, as
there was at about that time, and for many years after, a meeting-house
on the east side of the Back road, south of Musquash Brook, in which
Mr. Merrill continued to preach until near the time of his death in
1796. This house was called "Mr. Merrill's Meeting-house," and later,
the "Gospel-Shop."
  It was located east of the road, on the high ground nearly opposite
the old burying-place, and was not--as had been supposed by some--the
first meeting-house, which, as been mentioned in a former chapter, was
on the north side of the brook, and about a half a mile distant from
the location of this one.
 And further, if we suppose an error possible as to the location of the
old meeting-house--after the town, in 1748, had removed the seats, 
pulpit, deacon-seats, windows, floors, breast-work and rails, and put
them into the new house, it was voted unanimously, January 30, 1749,
"To give the old meeting-house all that is remaining, excepting the
window-frames, casements and glass and pews--i.e., all their right and
interest in and to the same, excepting what is before excepted, as a
present to the Rev. Mr. Merrill."
  Mr. Merrill preached in the second meeting-house for nearly thirty
years after he was presented with the shell of the old one, and it would
not be reasonable to suppose that he would preserve and keep the old
house in repair for that time, when he had no use for it.
  The old North meeting-house, at the Centre, which stood until the
present town-house was erected, in 1857, was built by the Presbyterians,
probably in 1771, as a town-meeting held October 7th of that year, was
called at the old meeting-house.
 The land upon which it stood was conveyed, December 15, 1770 by Deacon
Henry Hale, to Captain Abraham Page, David Peabody, Hugh Smith, Joseph
Wilson and Asa Davis, "as a committee appointed for building a
meeting-house on said premises."
  This building, which was the cause of several very bitter 
controversies, was repaired by the town in 1792, deeded by the 
proprietors to the Baptist Society November 26, 1811, and by that
society to the town of Hudson March 1, 1842.
  The town-meetings, with a few exceptions, were held at this 
meeting-house from 1779 until the present town-house was erected to
supply its place. A few were held at the house of Timothy Smith and
other private dwellings.
  November 19, 1764, the town voted to build a meeting-house, and 
several similiar votes were passed at later dates, but as a location
could not be agreed upon, the subject did not succeed.
  March 9, 1747, "Chose Edward Spalding and Benj. Frost to take care
that the deer are not chased around out of season as the law directs."
  In 1747 the selectmen laid out a road from Litchfield to the province
line, which the town voted not to accept, and it was laid out by a
"Courts Committee" the same year. Nine other roads were laid out by the
selectmen and accepted by the town.
 September 21, 1747, "Voted to erect a pair of stocks, and voted three
pounds, old tenor money, to erect the same.  John Marshall was chosen
to build said stocks."
  December 7, 1747, Josiah Cummings, Eleazer Cummings and several other
residents of the north part of the town petitioned the General Court,
praying "That they might be discharged, both polles and estates, from
paying anything towards the support of the ministry at Nottingham, so
long as they attend elsewhere..."
  March 7, 1748, Deacon Samuel Greeley and John Marshall "were chosen to
go to court to answer a citation..." The prayer of the petitioners was
not granted.
  October 15, 1749, a road was laid out from Rev. Mr. Merrill's to the
meeting-house, beginning near the Rev. Mr. Merrill's orchard, and
running northerly, through land of Roger Merrill, Ebenezer Dakin,
Hezekiah Hamblet, Gerrish, Joseph Blodgett, Deacon Samuel Greeley and
Benjamin Whittemore, to the town land appropriated for the use of the
meeting-house. This is the same road now known as the Back road, or
Burns road.
  March 2, 1752, a bounty of six pounds was voted for every wolf caught
and killed.
  The first tax for mending the highways was in 1753, when two hundred
pounds, old tenor, was raised for that purpose, and the price of labor
was established at fifteen shillings a day for men, one-half as much
for a pair of oxen and four shillings for a cart.
  As the currency continued to depreciate, Mr. Merrill's salary was 
raised from year to year, until 1759, when he received twelve hundred
pounds, old tenor, at six pounds per dollar.
  September 26, 1764, "Voted, that those Presbyterians who attend Mr.
Kinkaid's meeting in Windham be excused from paying towards the support
of Rev. Mr. Merrill."  Much trouble had already arisen in relation to 
the collection of the minister taxes from the Presbyterians, of which
there was a considerable number in town, which continued many years
later, and at times was carried into the courts for settlement.
  At the annual meeting, 1772, "The town chose Deacon Ebenezer
Cummings to see that the fish are not obstructed in their passage up
Wattannock Brook, so called, this present year."  Alewives in large
quantities made their way up this brook until the dam at Lowell
obstructed their passage up the river.
  In March 1773, a vote was passed against raising any money to pay
Rev. Mr. Merrill, and in June following it was "Voted to call a council
to settle the difficulties now subsisting between Mr. Merrill and his
people upon such terms as may be reasonable and agreeable to the word of
God."
  It does not appear that this council was ever convened.
  September 27th the town "Voted to dismiss all those that are uneasy
with Mr. Merrill from paying any rates to his support."
  The contract between the town and Mr. Merrill was dissolved, as the
following receipt will show:
  "I, the subscriber, for an in consideration of the sum of sixty
pounds, lawful money, to me in hand paid, or secured to be paid, do
therefore acquit and discharge The Inhabitants of the Town of
Nottingham west for all demands I now have, or may have hereafter, upon
them as a Town, by virtue of any former agreement or agreements, vote or
votes made or voted between them and me as their minister; As witness
by hand, 
 "Nath'l Merrill"
 "Nottingham west, July 11, 1774."

****************
CHAPTER IV
A Part of "Londonderry Claim" Annexed to Nottingham West, 1778--
Name Changed to Hudson, 1830-- Taylor's Fall Bridge--
Post Offices and Postmasters-- Nottingham West Social Library--
Hudson Social Library-- Schools and School
Districts-- Population-- Physicians-- Nashua and Rochester Railroad-
Employments--

In 1754 a petition was presented to the General Assembly, signed by
twenty-seven of the inhabitants of the southwest part of Londonderry,
praying to be taxed in Nottingham West, which petition was dismissed.
  As early as 1768 some action had been taken by a number of the
inhabitants occupying the south part of "Londonderry Claim," in
Londonderry, to be annexed to this town, and in March of that year the
town voted to hear and answer their request.
  February 3, 1778, a petition praying to be annexed to Nottingham West
was presented to the Honorable Council and Assembly, signed by 
Levi Andrews, Josiah Burroughs, Simeon Robinson, John Marshall,
William Hood, Joseph Steele, Philip Marshall, Moses Barrett,
Daniel Peabody, John Smith, Ebenezer Taylor, Simeon Barrett, 
James Barrett, W. Elener Graham, Isaac Page, William Graham,
Ezekiel Greeley, George Burroughs, David Lawrence, Richard Marshall,
Hugh Smith, Thomas Smith, Sampson Kidder, Benjamin Kidder, 
William McAdams, Joseph Hobbs.
 The petition was granted by an act of the General Assembly, passed
March 6, 1778, annexing the southwest portion of Londonderry to
Nottingham West, with the following boundaries:
  "Beginning in the South boundary of Londonderry, at the North East
corner of Nottingham West, Thence running North 5 degrees East, 
frequently crossing Beaver Brook, 424 rods to a large Pine tree marked,
standing by said Brook.
 "Thence North twenty degrees West 740 rods to a large Black oak tree
marked, standing about 4 rods east of Simeon Robinson's House.
 "Thence North eighty degrees west, 600 rods to the East side line of
Litchfield, to a Poplar tree marked, standing in the edge of Fine
meadow, and including the houses and lands belonging to William Graham,
William Steele, William McAdams, Simeon Robinson, and Ebenezer Tarbox,
lying to the Eastward and Northward of said tract, according to the
plan thereof exhibited with said petition, and excluding any lands
lying contiguous to said North and East Bounds, belonging to Samuel
Andrews and Thomas Boyd, lying within the same.
 "Thence form said Poplar tree South in the East Bounds of Litchfield
and Nottingham West about two miles and three-quarters to a corner of
Nottingham West.
 "Thence East South East in the South Bounds of Londonderry and North
Bounds of Nottingham West, two miles and three-quarters of a mile to
the place began at."
  
Only two minor changes have since been made in the boundaries of the
town.
  The first by an act of the Legislature, passed June 27, 1857,
establishing the northeast corner of Hudson and the southeast corner
of Londonderry about one hundred and twelve rods farther northerly on
Beaver Brook than the old corner, and running from there north, 
27 degrees 12' west, six hundred and ninety rods to the original corner
established in 1778, and from that to the corner at Litchfield line,
as before.
 Also providing that these lines should be the boundaries between the
two towns.
 Prior to 1862 the line between Hudson and Windham crossed Beaver Brook
several times. July 2d of that year an act was passed by the Legislature
establishing the line in the centre of the brook, from the northwest
corner of Pelham, about three hundred and twenty rods, to the southeast
corner of Londonderry, as established in 1857.
  The tract annexed in 1778 included nearly twenty families other than
those names were upon the petition.
  March 9, 1830, "It was voted to request the selectmen to petition the
General Court to change the name of the town, and Moses Greeley,
Colonel William Hills, Deacon Asa Blodgett and James Tenney were chosen
a committee to report a name."
  At an adjourned meeting, March 13th, "Voted to accept the report of
the committee to designate a name for the town, which name was that of
Hudson."
 The name of the town was changed from Nottingham West to Hudson at the
June session of the Legislature of the same year.

  In 1826 a charter was granted to several individuals of this town and
Nashua, by the name of the Proprietors of Taylor's Falls Bridge, for
the purpose of building a bridge across the Merrimack.
  At that time there was no bridge across the river between Lowell and
Amoskeag. The bridge was completed and opened as a toll-bridge in 1827.
  Previous to that time people crossed by ferries, there being three,--
Hamblet's ferry, formerly called Dutton's and for many years Kelly's
ferry, was located near where the bridge was built.
  Another, about two miles above always known as Hill's ferry; and the
third about three miles below, first called Hardy's and later
Pollard's ferry.
  Taylor's Falls bridge remained a toll-bridge until 1855 when a highway
was laid out over it by the county, and it became a free bridge.
 It was a lattice bridge, built of the best of old growth native white
pine, and remained until 1881, a period of forty-four years, when it
was replaced by a substantial iron structure.

POST OFFICES and POSTMASTERS-- Prior to 1818 there was no post-office
in this town, and letters and other matter sent by mail, addressed to
Nottingham West people, were sent to the post-office at Litchfield,
which was established as early as 1804.
  A post-office by the name of Nottingham West was established at the
Centre July 12, 1818, and Reuben Greeley was appointed postmaster at
the same time.
 The name was changed to Hudson June 9, 1831.
 It was discontinued March 3, 1835, and re-established April 25, 1835.
  The office was removed to Taylor's Falls bridge September, 1853,
and was discontinued again April 13, 1868, and re-established September
21, 1868.
  Hudson post-office remains at the bridge. A daily mail is carried
between this office and the Nashua post-office, the distance being less
than one and one-half miles.
  November 1, 1876, another post-office, called Hudson Centre, was
established at the station of the Nashua and Rochester Railroad at the
Centre, and Eli Hamblet appointed postmaster.
 The following list exhibits the names of all of the postmasters from
1818 to 1885, with the time for which they severally held the office:
  Reuben Greeley, from July 12, 1818 to April 17, 1829
  James Tenney, from April 17, 1829, to March 3, 1835
  Elbridge Dow, from April 25, 1835, to November 13, 1849
  Reuben Greeley, from November 13, 1849 to September 15, 1853
  Thomas H. Ewins, from September 15, 1853 to December 3, 1855
  George W. Hills, from December 3, 1855 to April 13, 1868
  Willard H. Webster, from September 21, 1868 to November 15, 1869
  Nathan P. Webster, from November 15, 1869 to July 24, 1878
  Waldo P. Walton, from July 24, 1878 to April 14, 1879
  Nathan P. Webster, from April 14, 1879 to the present time, 1885.

  Eli Hamblet, at Hudson Centre, appointed November 1, 1876, continues
to hold the office.
  Paul Colburn was appointed postmaster October 27, 1863, but failed to
qualify or enter upon the duties of the office, and G.W. Hills was
continued in office until 1868.

***
NOTTINGHAM WEST SOCIAL LIBRARY--In 1797 Samuel marsh, Joseph Winn,
Phineas Underwood, Eleazer Cummings, John Pollard and Joseph Greeley
petitioned the General COurt for the incorporation of a library, and
December 9th of the same year an act was passed incorporating the
same by the name of Nottingham West Social Library.
  The proprietors of this library were very fortunate in the selection
of books, many of them being of a high order, and it continued in
active existence until after 1840, when it was dissolved, and the books
divided among the proprietors.
  Soon after the first library association was dissolved the Hudson
Social Library was organized, but it was dissolved, and the books
divied in 1857.

***
SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL DISTRIcTS--Prior to 1754 no money had been raised
for the support of schools.
  At the annual meeting of that year, "Voted, to hire a school-master
the ensuing year, and to raise one hundred and twenty pounds, old tenor,
for the support of said schools, which shall be proportionated between
Hills' Farms, Bush Hill and the lower end of the town."
  No further action was taken in relation to schools until 1759.
  The law in force in New Hampshire prior to and for some years after
the Revolution required towns having fifty families to support a public
school for teaching children in town to "read and write," and towns
having one hundred families or more to maintain a grammar school.
 These schools were sustained by an annual tax, voted by the town, and
were wholly under the charge and control of the selectmen.
  This school law remained in force without material change until 1789.
  The following exhibit presents the yearly amount of the school-tax
voted from 1754 for the following thirty-five years:
  In 1754 one hundred and twenty pounds old tenor. In 1755, 1765, 1757
and 1758, no school tax.  In 1759 three hundred pounds, old tenor. From
1760 to 1765 inclusive, no school tax. In 1766 and 1767 fifteen pounds
lawful money or silver each year. In 1768 four hundred pounds, old 
tenor. In 1769 and 1770 no school tax. In 1779 three hundred pounds. In
1780 four hundred and fifty pounds all in Continental money. In 1781,
1782, 1783, 1784, 1785, 1786 and 1787 thirty-six pounds each year,
lawful money. In 1788 forty pounds, and in 1789 thirty-six pounds lawful
money.
 An act of the General Court, passed in 1789, repealed the school laws
till that time in force, and made it the duty of the selectmen yearly
to assess upon the inhabitants of each town's forty-five pounds upon
each twenty shillings of the town's proportion of the public taxes, for
teaching the children and youth of the town "reading, writing and
arithmetic." 
 The first school tax assessed under this law, in 1790, was forty 
pounds.
 Since the law of 1789 was passed very little money has been assessed
for schools in addition to the amount required by law.

SCHOOL DISTRICTS--In 1785 the selectmen were chosen a committee to 
divide the town into school districts and number the same. The
committee made no report to the town until 1799, when a report was
submited, which was adopted, dividing the town into nine school
districts and establishing the boundaries of each district.
 In 1805 a number of the inhabitants of District No. 9, petitioned
for a new district, which petition was granted by a vote of the town,
and School District No. 10 was set off from the westerly part of No. 9
as a new and separate district.
 In 1835 a committee was chosen to "take a view of the town in respect
to school districts and report."
 March 14, 1837, the committee made a report giving definite boundaries
of each of the ten school districts.
 With one minor amendment, the town "voted, that the report fixes the
school districts in this town with regard to bounds and limits."
 But few changes had been made in the boundaries of the districts since
1805, and, with the exception of the new district made in that year,
the limits of the several districts, as established by the last
committee, were substantially the same as those made by the committee
chosen in 1785.
  The districts remained with no material alterations from 1837 to 1885,
when, at the annual March meeting, the town voted to abolish the school
districts and adopt the "Town System," under section 2, chapter 86,
of the General Laws; and Kimball Webster, David O. Smith and Daniel
Gage were elected a Board of Education.

****
POPULATION--By the provincial census taken in 1767 the town contained a
population of five hundred and eighty-three, with two slaves.
  In September 1775, a second census was taken by the New Hampshire
Convention, when the town was credited with a population of six hundred
and forty-nine. Men in the army, twenty-two; slaves, four.
  According to the several censuses taken in different years since, the
population was as follows: 1790, 1064; 1800, 1267; 1810, 1376;
1820, 1227; 1830, 1282; 1840, 1144; 1850, 1312; 1860, 1222; 1870, 1066;
1880, 1045.

****
PHYSICIANS--I have been unable to obtain data sufficient to give as full
and accurate an account of the physicians who have been residents in
this town as would be desirable, yet the following exhibit is believed
to contain the names of nearly all those who have practiced their
profession here as resident physicians.
  DR. EZEKIEL CHASE probably the first, removed into this town as early
as 1741. He was appointed a justice of the peace about the year 1747,
did much official business and was a very prominent man in the affairs
of the town. His wife, Priscilla (Merrill) died February 22, 1768 in
her fifty-ninth year. His death is not found recorded, but it occurred
not earlier than 1780.
  DR. JOHN HALL was a resident in 1779 and 1780.
  DR. JOSEPH GRAY removed into this town about 1782, and remained until
1790.
  DR. APOLLOS PRATT resided here in 1803 and 1804, and possibly later.
  DR. PAUL TENNEY, born in Rowley, Mass., April 11, 1763, married,
November 2, 1790, Sarah Gibson, of Pelham; removed into this town as
early as 1789, where he practiced his profession for more than thirty
years. He resided at the Centre, where he built a tomb, the only one
in town, and died April 6, 1821.
  DR. DANIEL TENNEY, son of Dr. Paul Tenney, born June 15, 1795,
practiced his profession for a few years in this town, and removed to
Derry. He died November 7, 1840.
 DR. DUSTIN BARRETT was also born in this town, was a very skillful
physician and practiced here for several years. He died June 1, 1831,
aged thirty-seven years.
 DR. HENRY M. HOOKE removed into this town a few years after the death
of Dr. Barrett, and remained until about 1847, when he removed to
Lowell, Mass., where he died a few years later.
 DR. JAMES EMERY commenced the practice of his profession in Hudson 
about 1847.  He acquired an extensive practice, and remained in town
until the time of his death, which occurred September 30, 1880.
 DR. DAVID O. SMITH, son of Alvan Smith, born in this town, commenced
the practice of his profession here May 1, 1850, since which time he
has been an active and industrious practitioner, and is now (1885)
the only resident physician in Hudson.

****
NASHUA AND ROCHESTER RAILROAD--One railroad only intersects Hudson.
The Nashua and Rochester went into operation in the fall of 1874. It
crosses the Merrimack from Nashua about sixty rods below Taylor's
Falls bridge, and follows a northeasterly course through Hudson Centre
to Beaver Brook, a distance of about four miles, where it enters
Windham.
  There is but one railroad station in town, and that at Hudson Centre,
where Eli Hamblet is station agent and postmaster. Under an act of the
Legislature, passed June session, 1883, this railroad has been
consolidated with the Worcester and Nashua Railroad, which consolidated
road is called the Worcester, Nashua and Rochester Railroad. It forms
a continuous line from Worcester, Mass., to Rochester, N.H., where it
connects with the Portland and Rochester.

The inhabitants of Hudson are and always have been principally engaged
in agriculture, no extensive manufactories ever having existed in town.
  Some twenty or more of those residing near the Bridge are employed
in the manufactories and upon the railroads in Nashua.
  In 1820 Hudson contained two meeting-houses, one tavern, three stores,
four saw-mills, four grain-mills, two clothing-mills, and one
carding-machine.
 There are now (1885) in town two grist-mills, two saw-mills, one drug
and spice-mill, one file-shop, three meeting-houses and ten school-
houses. At the Bridge is one store, two wheelwright-shops and two
blacksmith-shops, and at the Centre one store and a blacksmith-shop.
 Deposits in the savings-bank in the State, one hundred and forty-two
thousand and twenty-nine dollars.

**********
CHAPTER V
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
Congregational and Presbyterian Churches-- Rev. Nathaniel Merrill--
North Meeting-House-- South Meeting-House-- Ministers--
Congregational Meeting-House; Members-- The Baptist Church and Society;
Ministers-- Baptist Meeting House; Deacons, Members-- Methodist
Episcopal Church and Society; Meeting-Houses, Ministers, Members.

In former chapters I have already given an account of the organization
of the Congregational Church, November 30, 1737, and the ordination of
Rev. Nathaniel Merrill as pastor on the same day; of the building of the
first and second meeting-houses by the town; and of the building of the
North meeting-house by the Presbyterians. For the first fifty-eight
years of the existence of this church no original records are now to
be found, other than such as are contained in the town records.
  Mr. Merrill's relations as pastor to the church continued till very
nearly the time of his death, in 1796, although his civil contract
with the town was dissolved July 11, 1774.
  He continued to preach in the second meeting-house until it was sold
by the town, in 1778, and later in the meeting-house in the south part
of the town, which probably was the same building, bought and removed
by the Congregational Church and Society, and called "Mr. Merrill's
meeting-house."
 He was son of Abel Merrill; born in West Newbury, Mass, March 1, 1712,
and was gradated at Harvard College in 1732.
 He seems to have been a man almost universally loved and revered by
his church and people, as his long-continued services as pastor,
extending over a period of nearly fifty-nine years, will attest.
  For a few years preceding 1774, the time of his dismissal by the town,
some trouble occasionally arose in relation to the payment of his
salary, which became largely in arrears, owing to the Presbyterian
voting against raising money for the purpose, and refusing to pay such
taxes when assessed against them. 
 It is a singular fact that no record of his death can be found, and
that among his very numerous posterity the exact date is unknown.
 A headstone--erected by his grandchildren many years after his death--
marks his grave, and dates his death in 1796, but the day or month is
not given.

  It will be remembered that Londonderrry was settled by Presbyterians,
and before a portion of that town was annexed to Nottingham West, in
1778, a large number of families of that denomination were residents
in this town, who, joining with others of the south part of 
Londonderry, a Presbyterian Church was organized, probably before the
North meeting-house was built, or as early as 1770.
  No records of this church are to be found earlier than 1816, the date
of its union with the Congregational Church.
 Its first minister of whom we can find any record was Rev. John
Stickland.
 The exact date at which he commenced preaching here is uncertain, but
the town records incidentally show that he was paid a salary by the
Presbyterians in 1773.
  Mr. Fox, in his historical sketch of Hudson, says,-- "July 3, 1774,
Rev. John Strickland was ordained, but after a few years was dismissed
by the town."
  That he was ordained as pastor of the Presbyterian Church July 3, 1774
is probably ture, but the town records do not show that as a town it
had anything to do with his settlement or dismissal.
  He probably remained here until 1784, as his name appears for the last
time in the tax-list for that year.
 For several years the town assessed a minister tax of sixty pounds,
twenty-five pounds of which was to be paid to Mr. Merrill, and the
balance laid out for preaching at the North meeting-house.
 In 1792 the town entered into some agreement with the proprietors,
and repaired the North meeting-house.

 It appears that Rev. Matthew Scribner preached here about 1790, and
Rev. Mr. Parrish soon after, but no minister was settled until 1796,
when, on the 24th of February, Rev. JABEZ POND FISHER, a Congregational
minister, was ordained at the North meeting-house.
 Mr. Fisher was graduated at Brown University in 1788, and was voted a
settlement by the town, under protest of the Presbyterians against
paying any part of the same, or of his salary of four hundred dollars,
and an annual salary of three hundred and ten dollars so long as he
should continue as a pastor.
As early as 1790 an unsuccessful effort was made by the town to purchase
the North meeting-house from the proprietors, and in 1797 a like 
attempt was made, with no better result.
 The town, having repaired the house, claimed to own a part in common
with the proprietors and pew-holders.
 Many of the Presbyterians declined to pay any tax for the support of
Mr. Fisher, and the proprietors refused to permit him to preach in the
North meeting-house.
 This led to a very bitter controversy, in which a committee was chosen
to open the house on the Sabbath used axes upon the doors to effect an
entrance, but without success, as the resistance by the proprietors,
led by Asa Davis, Esq., upon the inside, was so great that the attempt
was abandoned, and the meeting for the day was held in the open air
upon the common in a drizzling rain.
 After this Mr. Fisher preached in the meeting-house already mentioned,
in the south part of the town, in private houses, barns and in the
open air, until the South meeting-house was built, in 1793, by
proprietors connected with the Congregational Church and Society.
  At the time mr. Fisher was ordained the members of the Congregational
Church numbered a little more than fifty, and while he was pastor,
about five years, thirty-six were admitted.
  From obvious reasons, the town failed to raise the money to pay
Mr. Fisher as had been agreed, and in consequence of his salary being
largely in arrears, in 1801 he called for a dismissal, which was
granted by an ecclesiastical council, to take effect June 4th of the
same year.
 He afterwards brought suit against the town to recover a balance of
$1013.92 due him, which amount was allowed and paid in 1802,--members
of the Presbyterian and Baptist Churches being exempt from paying any
part of this tax by a vote of the town passed October 30, 1797.
  For about fifteen years after Mr. Fisher left, the church remained in
a very weak condition, and the records show of but little as having 
been done and very few new members added.  Preaching was sustained
but a small part of the time until 1816, when, on the 15th of October
of that year, the Congregational Church united with individual members
of Presbyterian Churches and organized a Presbyterian Church under the
Londonderry Presbytery.
  At the date of the union the church was very small; only eleven
Presbyterians and thirteen Congregationalists are given as uniting to
form the new organization, but many members of the old churches and
new converts were admitted soon after.
 After the organization of the new church preaching was maintined 
nearly all the time, it being divided between the two meeting-houses,--
twenty-four Sabbaths in the year it was at the North meeting-house and
the balance of the year at the South meeting-house,--but no minister
was settled until 1825.
  During this period the pulpit was supplied by Rev. Mr. Wheelock,
Rev. Samuel Harris, Rev. Mr. Starkweather, and others.
 November 2, 1825, Rev. William K. Talbot was ordained, under an
agreement that he should remain as pastor for five years, at a salary of
four hundred dollars annually.
  At this time the church had a membership of about ninety, but during
the four years that Mr. Talbot was pastor more than one hundred new
members were added.
 In February, 1829, owing to arrearages being due him, Mr. Talbot
requested a dismissal as pastor at the end of four years, instead of
five, as he had been agreed.
 The church refused to comply with this request, but upon an appeal to
the Presbytery he obtained a dismissal and soon after removed from
town, and a few years later was deposed from the ministry.
 In an appeal to the Presbytery by a committee chosen by the church to
opposte the dismissal of Mr. Talbot, that committee gave among other
causes for his salary being in arrears,--"That many have died--out of
the town sixty death occurred in one year, and ten or more of the best
families have providentially removed to other places of residence, five
of whom were elders, or elders elect."
 The church had no settled minister for the next fifteen years, but the
pulpit was supplied a part of the time by Rev. Samuel H. Tolman, a
methodist minister, Rev. Samuel Harris, Rev. Mr. Wheeler, Rev. Mr.
Lawrence, Rev. Willard Holbrook and others.
 At an ecclesiastical council composed of minister and delegates from
several Congregational Churches, convened at the South meeting-house
September 29, 1841, the Presbyterian Church organization was dissolved,
and the members were organized into a Congregational Church, called the
Evangelical Congregational Church of Hudson, which adopted the
articles of faith of that denomination.
 The names of twenty-fix members were enrolled at the time of its
organization, and sixty others united within the next two years.
 A new meeting-house was built in 1842, fifty by forty feet, located
about one-half mile east of Taylor's Falls bridge, near the Methodist
house, which had been built two years previous.
  Soon after, the Rev. William Page was engaged to supply the pulpit,
and in 1844 an invitation from the church and society to settle as a
pastor was accepted by him, and he was ordained August 24th of the same
year.
 His pastoral relations continued until 1852, when his request for a
dismissal was granted by an ecclesiastical council June 28th of that
year.
 During abound eight years of Mr. Page's labors after he was ordained
about thirty members united with the church.
 The next minister was the Rev. Daniel L. French, who was hired to
supply the pulpit soon after the dismissal of Mr. page, and remained
till the time of his death, which occurred July 20, 1860.
  For the next eight years the desk was supplied by Addison Heald,
Rev. Austin Richards, Rev. S.D. Pike, Rev. Benjamin Howe, and Rev.
Silas M. Blanchard.
 For about eight years prior to October 1876, no preaching was sustained
by this society.
 Rev. John W. Haley commenced to supply the pulpit October 2, 1876,
and soon after many were united with the church.
 In November 1878, Mr. Haley closed his labors here, and preached his
farewell sermon on the 24th of that month.
 The Rev. S.D. Austin, of Nashua, has since supplied the pulpit the
most of the time and is the present minister.  The number of members
is now about sixty.

***
THE BAPTIST CHURCH AND SOCIETY--The Baptist Church was organized
May 1, 1805, with sixty-five members, who had been dismissed from the
Baptist Church in Londonderry, of which they constituted a branch for
several years, acting in harmony with said church, but sustaining
preaching and the ordinances of the church.
 The church was organized by an ecclesiastical council upon the above
date, and took the name of the Baptist Church of Christ in Nottingham
West.
 For several years after its organization the church did not enjoy
the labors of a settled pastor, but the pulpit was supplied by
Rev. Thomas Paul (colored), Rev. Robert Jones, Rev. Samuel Ambrose
and John Young.
 The labors of Rev. Thomas Paul was especially effective, and many
united with the church under his preaching.
 The first pastor of the church was Rev. Ezra Kendall, who assumed
his charge November 3, 1808, and resigned March 5, 1810. After Mr.
Kendall resigned, the pulpit was supplied by Rev. Isaiah Stone,
Rev. John Perkins and others until 1814.
  June 19, 1811, the church was incorporated, and all the right of the
proprietors to the North meeting-house, and the lot of land upon which
it stood, was conveyed to it November 26th of the same year.
 Rev. Daniel Merrill, who had several years previous preached in town
as a Congregational minister, was invited to the pastorate of the
church in May 1814, and accepted the invitation in August following.
 Mr. Merrill was a very radical man in his beliefs. After he renounced
the Congregational creed he was a very zealous advoate of the sentiments
of the Baptist denomination.
 One of his successors in the ministry, in writing a history of the
church, says, "That it was not difficult for a stranger, after hearing
him preach one sermon, to decide with what Christian denomination he
had cast his lot." During his ministry, which continued about six years,
seventy-five were baptized and received into the church.
 He resigned in September 1820, and during the next two years the pulpit
was supplied a part of the time by Rev. Isaac Westcott, Rev. Otis
Robinson and others. Rev. Joseph Davis was ordained June 18, 1823 and
resigned November 5, 1824.
 There was another interim of about three years and a half, during
which time the church did not have any settled minister, and the desk
was supplied by Rev. Otis Robinson, Rev. George Evans, Rev. Samuel
Elliot, Rev. John Peacock and others.
 The next pastor of the church was Rev. Benjamin Dean, who commenced
his labors in April, 1828. Mr. Dean's connection with the church 
terminated June 26, 1830, under circumstances of a painful nature. He
was deposed from the ministry by an ecclesiastical council, and
excluded from the fellowship of the church.
 The church remained without a pastor for nearly four years, but the
pulpit was supplied a part of the time by Rev. Otis Robinson,
Stephen Pillsbury and others.
 The Rev. Barlett Pease assumed charge of the church March 1834, and
his pastoral labors terminated in April 1839.
 The next pastor was Rev. John Upton, who commenced his labors
November 1839, and resigned August 1841.
 The attention of the church and society had for several years been
turned to the object of erected a more convenient house of worship than
the old one they occupied; but a difference of opinion respecting the
location, together with some other circumstances, had prevented any
decisive action on the subject.
 In 1841 a location near the old meeting-house at the Centre was agreed
upon, and a new meeting-house erected, which was completed and dedicated
the same  year.
 In September 1841, Rev. Jonathan Herrick assumed the pastoral care of
the church. He was a very zealous laborer in his profession, and many
united with the church under his ministry.
 Mr. Herrick was dismissed, at his own request, September 1843, and the
desk was supplied for a few months by William H. Eaton, a student
connected with Brown University.
 Rev. Joseph Storer supplied the pulpit in 1844, and assumed pastoral
charge January 1, 1845.
 During this year a parsonage was built by a stock company for the
accomodation of the pastor, which was a few years later presented to the
society.
 Mr. Storer was a very zealous and faithful minister, loved by all
connected with his church and society, and universally esteemed and
respected by his townsmen. He was retained in his office as pastor until
May 1855, longer by nearly five years than any other pastor of this
church, when he was compelled to resign in consequence of failing 
health.
 Rev. W.H. Dalrymple began to supply the pulpit in June 1855, and
assumed the pastoral care in August following, which relation he held
until March 1858.
 Rev. George L. Putnma, the next pastor, was ordained June 15, 1858,
having previously supplied the desk about three months, and was retained
as pastor until November, 1863.
 In 1860 the parsonage, built by a stock company in 1845, was presented
to the society, and extensive and substantial repairs and alterations
were made upon the meeting-house the same year.
 A bell was presented to the society several years before by Deacon
Moses Greeley, which is still in use, and the only church bell ever
hung in this town.
 Rev. Barlett Pease, who was a resident minister, supplied the pulpit
about a year after the resignation of Mr. Putnam.
 Rev. Henry Stetson was pastor from October 1864 to June 1, 1868, when
he was dismissed at his own request.
 November 1st of the same year, Rev. A.W. Chaffin accepted an invitation
to become the pastor, and appropriate services were held December 23d.
 In 1872, Mr. Chaffin became very feeble physicially, and his mental
faculties were much impaired; but he was retained as pastor until
April 1873, though he was unable to preach several months. He
removed from town, but his health continued to decline, and he died
soon after.
 Rev. George A. Glines held the relation as pastor from September 1,
1873, to April 1875, when he resigned.
 Rev. S.W. Kinney, the next pastor, assumed his charge January 1, 1876
and resigned in 1879, after which the pulpit was supplied by several
minister until May 1881 when an invitation was extended to Rev.
William P. Bartlett to become pastor, which was accepted and he was
ordained June 28th.
  Mr. Bartlett failed to gain the love and confidence of his church
and people to a degree that would make a long stay profitable or
desirable, and he was dismissed, at his own request, in March 1883.
The present pastor, Rev. T.M. Merriam, assumed that relation in
May 1883.

***
DEACONS OF THE BAPTIST CHURCH--Thomas Senter and Nathaniel Currier,
chosen May 7, 1805; Moses Greeley and David Burns, chosen October 30,
1816; Enoch S. Marsh and Benjamin Kidder, chosen April 1, 1838 (Deacon
Marsh died December 19, 1865); Hiram Cummings and John M. Thompson,
chosen October 4, 1866; Lewis L. Fish, chosen in place of Deacon
Cummings, October 12, 1881; Eli Hamblet, chosen April 1882.
 The original number of members of this church in 1805 was sixty-five.
 The largest number at any one time was in 1828, when it was 167; in
September 1847, the number of members was 139; in Feburary 1878, 177;
and January 1, 1885, 125.

****
THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH AND SOCIETY OF HUDSON--Prior to 1830
a considerable number of persons in this town had embraced the
religious opinons and sentiments of the Methodist denomination.
 Soon after the dismissal of Mr. Talbot by the Presbyterians, in
November 1829, the members of that society, to receive material aid
from the Methodists in the support of a ministry, entered into an
agreement with them, and hired the Rev. Samuel H. Tolman, a minister
of the Methodist persuasion.
 Mr. Tolman preached here in 1830, and possibly later, and may have
been instrumental in laying the foundation of the Methodist Church
organized ten years later.
  In 1839, Rev. Jared Perkins, the Methodist minister in charge of the
Nashua station, came to Hudson, and lectured in the school-house in
District No. 4, and held meetings in other parts of the town, assisted
by others from Nashua and Lowell.
  An interest was awakened and several persons were desirous of having
the regular service of the Methodist Episcopal Church established among
them.
 The Annual Conference of 1839 appointed Abraham Folsom pastor in 
charge of this station.
 Mr. Folsom was a man of energy and zeal, and so labored as to 
establish a church.
 The chief effort of this year was to raise funds for the building of a
house of worship, and twelve hundred and fifty dollars were subscribed
and collected for that purpose, a meeting was called, trustees
appointed and the society legally organized.
 Cyrus Warrne, Nathaniel M. Morse, David Clement, Ethan Willoughby
and John Gillis constituted the first board of trustees.
 The meetings for the first year were held in the South meeting-house
when not occupied by the Presbyterians, and in school-houses and private
dwellings.
 A plain meeting-house, fifty by forty feet, was erected in 1840, on
the south side of the road, about one-half mile east of Taylor's Falls
bridge, and was dedicated December 2d of the same year.
 In 1877, the Nashua and Rochester Railroad having been previously
built, and passing between the meeting-house and the highway, which
rendered the location very inconvenient, the building was removed to
the north side of the road, and near the pasonage, which was built a
number of years before.
 The meeting-house was raised and enlarged by an addition in the rear,
a vestry constructed beneath the auditorium, forty by fifty feet in
size, and other extensive alterations and repairs made. The expense
of this change and repairs was fifteen hundred dollars.
 On Sunday, August 3, 1879, immediately after the close of the services,
the stable connected with the parsonage took fire, and, together with
the meeting house and parsonage, was totally destroyed.
 The buildings were insured for a moderate amount, and this loss seemed
a severe blow to the society.
 In 1880, a lot having been purchased by the church near Taylor's Falls
bridge, a meeting-house built of brick and wood, fifty by seventy
feet, with a tower and spire at one corner, was erected at a cost of
about seven thousand dollars.
 This church contains an audience-room and vestry of ample size, and
is one of the most convenient and neatest country churches to be found
in the State.
 The members of the church contributed liberally and many other
citizens of Hudson and Nashua furnished substantial aid in paying the
expense of its construction, so that the debt upon the society was not
burdensome. It was dedicated December 7, 1880.
  The present number of members of the church is seventy, forty-eight
of whom are residents of Hudson.
 The names of the ministers who have been stationed here as pastors
of this church, and the time of their services, as near as I have
been able to ascertain, are as follows:
 1839, Abraham Folsom; 1840, Charles H. Chase; 1841-42, Moses A. Howe;
1843, A.H. Worthing; 1844, John Boyce; 1845-46, Matthew Newhall;
1847-48, Jonathan Hall; 1849-50, Isaac W. Huntley; 1851, George F. 
Wells; 1852 -- Cathers; 1853, Kimball Hadley; 1854-56 supplied by
students from Biblical Institute at Concord; 1857, R.C. Danforth;
1858-59, J.W. Johnson; 1860-61, L.W. Prescott; 1862-63, William Hewes;
1864-65, B.W. chase; 1866-67, Samuel Beedle; 1868-70, Otis Cole;
1871-73, C.A. Cressey; 1874, W.W. Smith; 1875-76, J. D. Folsom;
1877-79, A.F. Baxter; 1880-82, C.W. Taylor; 1883-84, William Wood;
1885, Frederick C. Pillsbury.

*********
CHAPTER VI
Nottingham West Soldiers in 1748-- Soldiers in the French and Indian
War of 1754-60-- Nottingham West in the Revolution-- Committees of
Safety and Inspection-- Test Oath-- Bounties Paid by the Town--
Captain Samuel Greeley's Company-- Nottingham West Soldiers in the
Revolution.

In volume two of the Adjutant-General's Report for 1866, in the muster
roll of Captain John Goffe's company, employed in scouting and guarding
the Souhegan, Monson and Stark garrisons, in 1748, I find the names of
John Bradbury, John Carkin, Samuel Houston, John Hewey, Isaac Page
and John Pollard, all being names of persons then residents of this
town.

**
NOTTINGHAM WEST SOLDIERS IN THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR OF 1754-60--
In captain Joseph Blanchard's company, doing duty on the Merrimack
River in the fall of 1754-- Peter Cross, Isaac Waldron, Stephen Chase
and John Carkin.
 In Major Bellows' company, doing duty on the Connecticut Rvier at the
same time-- Amos Kenney and Henry Hewey.
  In Captain James Todd's company, Second Regiment, 1755,--
James Blodgett, John Carkin and Jeremiah Hills.
  John Pollard was also in the army the same year.
  In 1757, James Wason, Micajah Winn and Timothy Emerson; and in 1758,
Amos Pollard, Asa Worcester, Ensign John Pollard, Joshua Chase,
Elijah Hills, Joseph Lowell, Jonathan Hardy, Samuel Houston,
Nathaniel Haseltine, John Carkin and Thomas Wason.
  In Captain Noah Lovewell's company in 1760-- Amos Kenney and
Sanders Bradbury.
 The foregoing names are all found in the report before mentioned, but
it is not supposed to be a full list of the names of all the men from
this town who were soldiers in that seven years' war.
 It is believed that ALL those whose names are given above were men 
from this town, as men of the same names were residents here at that
time; yet we have no positive evidence that such is the fact.

***
NOTTINGHAM WEST IN THE REVOLUTION-- April 25, 1775, Abraham Page was
elected to "join with the Congress at Exeter, to act upon such matters
as shall be thought proper and expedient for the public good."
  May 7th, he was again chosen to "join the Convention of Delegates,
to meet at Exeter, May 17th."
 At the same meeting it was "Voted, That the persons who shall inlist,
to be ready on any emergency when called for, shall have forty
shillings per month for their wages."
  At a special town-meeting, June 12, 1775,-- "Chose Moses Johnson,
Samuel Greeley, Elijah Hills, Timothy Smith, John Haseltine,
Deacon Ebenezer Cummings and Alexander Davis, a Committee of 
Inspection."

 In April 1775, the following Test Oath was sent out to each town in
the State:
  "We the subscribers, do hereby solemnly engage and promise that we
will, to the utmost of our power, at the risque of our lives and
fortunes, with arms oppose the Hostile Proceedings of the British
Fleets and Armies against the United American Colonies."
 Every person was required to sign this test or be regarded as an
enemy to the country.
 In this town one hundred and nineteen signed the pledge, and one only,
Captain Joseph Kelley, refused to sign.
 Captain Kelley at that time owned the ferry near where Taylor's Falls
bridge now is, kept a tavern near the same, was a man of bad repute
and feared by the inhabitants. He afterwards removed to Wentworth, in
this State, where he became a pauper.
 At an adjourned town-meeting, September 30, 1776,
 "Voted to allow Major Samuel Greeley and the selectmen, viz: Asa Davis,
John Haseltine and William Burns, for expenses on their march to
Lexington fight, five dollars, -- L1, 10s. 0d."
  At the annual meeting March 10, 1777, "Voted to choose Lieutenant
Ezekiel Hills, Captain James Ford and Lieutenant David Cummings, a
committee of inspection and safety."
 April 7th, "Voted to raise eighty dollars for each of those men that
should enlist into the Continental army for three years."
 April 15th, "Voted to raise twenty dollars for each of those men that
should enlist into the Continental army as an additional bounty to what
has been already raised."
 July 14th, "Chose Deacon Ebenezer Cummings and Seth Wyman in addition
to the committee of safety and inspection last chosen."
 Annual town meeting March 16, 1775, "Chose Jno. [Jonathan] Caldwell,
Captain Marsh, Deacon Ebenezer Cummings, Thomas Smith, George Burns
as a committee of safety and inspection for this present year."
 Special town-meeting June 24th, "The town voted to choose a committee,
viz: Asa Davis, Esq., William Burns, Timothy Smith, Ensign David
Lawrence, Deacon Ebenezer Cummings, Ensign Daniel Hardy, Lieutenant
John Hazeltine Jr., and empower them to hire and agree with any men
or number of men, and what sum of money they will give, provided at
any time the militia should be called upon to march, in order to stop
our enemy on any sudden emergency."
 At a special meeting November 2d, "Voted, that what was formerly
Nottingham West should pay the six hundred dollars that was paid by
subscription to Richard Cutter and John Campbell for service in the
war this present year."
 "Voted to give those families (viz:5) whose husbands are in the
Continental army two hundred dollars, -- L36."
 Annual meeting, March 1, 1779, "Voted, that the selectmen take care
of the soldiers' families this year."
 April 5th, "Chose a committe, viz, Timothy Smith, Samuel Pollard,
Captain Moses Barrett, Daniel Marshall, Deacon Ebenezer Cummings,
William Burns and Samuel Wason, and gave them discretionary power
to hire and agree with men as they think proper, in order to stop our
enemy on any emergency."
 June 21st, "Voted to give the selectmen discretionary power to hire
and agree with the remainder of our present quota of men, for the
Continental army during the war, in behalf of the town."
 March 6, 1780, "Voted to allow the present selectmen the interest
money they have paid in procuring soldiers for the army in the year
1779."
  July 3, 1780, at a town-meeting held at the house of Samuel Greeley,
inn-holder, "Voted, as a town, to hire six soldiers for the term of
six months, to join the Continental army, and chose a committee to
effect the same, viz: Asa Davis, James Ford and David Lawrence, and
likewise gave said committee discretionary power to hire and agree
with any men, or number of men, upon any emergency in behalf of the
town, for the present year."
 February 5, 1781, "Voted to raise our quota of men to fill up the
batallion in the Continental army, and chose a committee in order to
procure and agree with the men in behalf of the town, namely,--
Timothy Smith, Captain Samuel marsh, Daniel Marshall, Lieutenant
Ezekiel Hills, Lieutenant David Cummings."
 March 5th, "Voted to give the committee last chosen discretionary
power to agree with the soldiers for young cattle, and to give their
obligations for the same in behalf of the town."
 Two beef-rates were assessed in 1781, amounting to six hundred and
eight pounds "in bills of the new emission, or in the old bills at
forty to one."
 The corn-rate for 1780 was four hundred and thirty four bushels, and
for 1781 five hundred and sixty-four bushels.
 July 9, 1781, "Voted, that the former committee still stand good and
have discretionary power to hire and agree with soldiers in behalf of
the town, as occasion may require."
 July 30th, "Voted to choose a committee to raise soldiers that is and
may be called for this present year, and give them discretionary power
to give their obligations in behalf of the town."
 "Voted that said committee consist of three men, viz: Captain Peabody,
Lieutenant Peter Corss, Ensign Elijah Hills."
 "Voted that the obligations of the committee has given to the soldiers
for corn, in behalf of the town, that the rate therefor be made in corn
only, without mentioning money."
 December 1781, "Voted to approve of the selectmen selling the old
paper money, eighty dollars for one of the new emision."
 April 17, 1782, "Voted to choose a committee of three, namely,--
Joseph Greeley, Lieutenant Reuben Spalding and Ensign Nathaniel Davis,
as a committee to hire seven Continental soldiers for three years, or
during the war, and give them power as they shall see fit."
 May 13th, "Voted to choose a committee to raise the Continental
soldiers called for, namely,-- Major James Ford, Captain Cummings,
Engisn Elijah Hills, Jeremiah Hills, Joseph Blodgett, Ensign Simeon
Barrett, Lieutenant Ezekiel Hills, Seth Hadley, Henry Tarbox,
Lieutenant Benjamin Kidder and Seth Wicom.
 "Voted, To impower this committee, in behalf of the Town, to give 
their private security for to hire said Soldiers, not to exceed 100
dollars for each soldier yearly, for three years."
 It is a matter of regret that a complete list of the names of all the
soldiers who served their country, from this town, in the War of the
Revolution, cannot be given.
 No town documents to show who they were can be found, and a few of
their names only are incidentally mentioned in the town recrods.
 Hon. Isaac W. Hammond, Assistant Secretary of State, has kindly
furnished some valuable information, some has been gathered from the
Adjutant-General's REport, and some names have been obatined from other
sources.
 Within the limited time given to complete this history it has been
impossible for me to make an exhaustive research for all the names of
those patriotic soldiers possible to be obtained.
 The following names are given as a partial list of the men from
Nottingham West, who were soldiers in the War of the Revolution.

NOTTINGHAM WEST SOLDIERS IN THE REVOLUTION--The following was copied
from the original paper in the possession of the New Hampshire 
Historical Society, by Hon. D.F. Secomb:
 "A muster-roll of Captain Samuel Greeley's Company, who turned out as
volunteers from Nottingham West, in New Hampshire, at the time of
Lexington battle, on the 19th day of April, 1775."
 Samuel Greeley, captain; John Kelley, lieutenant; John Pollard,
ensign; James Ford, clerk; William Merrill, sergeant; William Burns,
sergeant; Ebenezer Pollard, sergeant; Justus Dakin, corporal;
Simeon Barrett, corporal; Jonathan Bradley, corporal; John Pollard,
corporal; Benjamin Marshall, fifer; Samuel Currier, fifer;
Samuel Marsh, Reuben Spalding, Peter Cross, Ebenezer Cummings,
Ebenezer Perry, Elijah Hills, Ezekiel Hills, Jeremiah Hills,
Samuel Hills, Richard Marshall, Daniel Hardy, Seth Hadley,
Abijah Reed, Richard Cutter, Nehemiah Winn, Benjamin Whittemore,
Abiather Winn, Stephen Chase Jr., Joshua Chase, John Haseltine,
David Glover, Oliver Hills, Page Smith, Samuel Campbell, Samuel Smith,
Moses Barrett, Richard Hardy, Jonathan Blodgett, Joseph Greeley,
Samuel Durant, Samuel Moore, Andrew Seavey, Stephen Chase, 
James Pemberton, John Osgood, Nat. [Nathaniel] Hardy, Benjamin Marshall,
Daniel Marshall, John Walker, Joseph Gould Jr., John Merrill,
David Cummings, Thomas Wason, Alexander Caldwell, Thomas Caldwell,
Asa Davis, Samuel Wason, Ichabod Eastman, Abraham Page, 
Nat. [Nathaniel?] Davis.
  The "muster-roll" also give the number of days each man served,
and the number of miles travelled; also, the number of pounds of pork
furnished and the number of gallons of rum. Of pork there were four
hundred and twenty-four pounds, at sixty(?) cents per pound; rum, twelve
gallons, at twenty-two cents per gallon.

The following Nottingham West soldiers were known to have been in
Captain Walker's company at the battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775:
Joseph Blodgett, Stephen Chase, Joshua Severence, Joseph Greeley,
Nehemiah Winn, and Abijah Reed.  Joseph Greeley was severely wounded
in the ankle.

By the provincial census taken in September 1775, Nottingham West was
credited with having twenty-two soldiers in the army.
 The following is a list of Nottingham West soldiers who enlisted for
three years to fill up the Continental Batallions, April 1777:
 "In Captain Emerson's Company, Cilley's Regiment
 - Sanders Bradbury, sergeant; died of disease, 1779
 - Amos Kinney, killed
 - Nathaniel Hardy, discharged April 10, 1780

 "In Captain F.M. Bell's Company, Hale's Regiment (mustered May 7, 1777)
 - Daniel Wyman, Elijah Gould, John Seavey, Ephraim Jones, 
   Samuel French, James Eastman

 "Enlisted at York
 - Joseph Severence and Samuel Kinney; Thomas Perry, enlisted April 12,
   1779, discharged April 10, 1780

 "New Levies."
 - Abel Sargent, Isaac Foot, Asa Hamblet and Thomas Cutter enlisted
  June 28, 1780; discharged December 1780
 - Aaron Hood, enlisted February 28, 1781
 - Ezra Carlton, enlisted April 23, 1781
 - Joseph Marshall, enlisted February 28, 1781
 - Eliphalet Brown, enlisted April 6, 1781

 "Enlisted for Six Months, July 1781, for West Point
 - Jonathan Farwell, Daniel Pierce, Abel Sargent, James Pemberton,
   Timothy Smith.

 "Enlisted for Six Months May 14, 1782
 - Jonathan Farwell, James Pemberton, Abel Sargent, Daniel Smith,
   Timothy Smith, Abel Merrill

Samuel Brown, Joseph Hobbs and Simeon Butterfield were mustered by
   C. Frye, June 16, 1782
---- Hardy, enlisted in Captain Mark Wiggins' company, Lang's regiment,
November 13, 1776.

Upon the "Ticonderoga Alarm," in June 1777, a company of twenty-four
men was raised in Nottingham West, and vicinity, commanded by Captain
James Ford, of this town.
 They marched as far as Dublin, where an express met them ordering them
home. They returned the 5th of July, and the next day were "ordered
out again and went as far as No. 4, where they heard of the evacuation
of Ticonderoga and returned."

Captain James Ford commanded Company 3 of Colonel Nichols' regiment at
the battle of Bennington, August 16, 1777, where he was wounded in both
thighs, from which he suffered a lameness through life.

Names of other soldiers who are known to have been in the army,--
Ebenezer Pollard was at the battle of Bennington; Seth Cutler enlisted
in Stark's regiment in May 1777; he was in the battles of Bennington,
Trenton and Princeton, and several others of less note. Richard Cutter
was in the army from June 10, 1778 to January 1779.  John Caldwell,
1776. Timothy Pollard, Gideon Butler, JohN Campbell, Roger Merrill,
Jonathan Perry, James Brown, Jonathan Marsh, Theodore Merrill,
Robert Bettys, John Haseltine Jr., William Merrill, Isaac Merrill.
  The account of Nottingham West for pay-roll on alarm at Cambridge was
fifty-six pounds.

At a town-meeting, October 9, 1777,--
 "Voted to choose Lt. Ezikel [sic Ezekiel] Hills, Jno. Caldwell,
Jno Hale, Lt. William Merrill and Samuel Wason a committee to set a
valuation upon what has been done towards carrying on the present war,
and to make a report thereof to the Town."
  The committee made a report at a meeting, December 22, 1779,--
 "It was put to vote to see if the Town would accept the report of the
committee that was chosen to settle what each man hath done in this
Town in this present war.
 "Voted in the negative.
 "It was put to vote to see if they would accept any part of the report
of the above committee.
 "Voted in the affirmative.
 The report is not recorded, but upon a tax made by the selectmen,
December 29, 1778, "to hire schooling and defray town charges, the
following persons, in addition to the names already given as soldiers,
have credits placed against their names, in most instances the whole
amount of their tax.
 There is good reason for supposing that a majority of these men, but
not all, had been in the army. Some may have been credited on account
of their sons.
 "Andrew Seavey, Stephen Chase Jr., Ensign Nathaniel Merrill,
John Walker, Benjamin Marshall, John Pollard Jr., John Winn Jr.,
Joshua Chase, Asahel Blodgett, Joseph Blodgett, Justus Dakin,
Moses Barrett Jr., Stephen Hadley, Eliphet [sic Eliphalet] Hadley Jr.,
David Glover, Samuel Caldwell, Samuel Wason, James Caldwell,
Thomas Caldwell, Nathaniel Haseltine, Thomas Hamblet, George Burns Jr.,
John Merrill, William Burns, Samuel Smith Jr., Page Smith, John Hale,
Peter Cross, Isaac Barrett, Caleb Severence, Ensign Elijah Hills,
William Hills, David Marsh, Richard Marshall, Thomas Marsh.
 Credits were also allowed to many of the same persons upon the 
tax-lists made November 8, 1779 and January 19, 1780.

************
CHAPTER VII
CIVIL WAR
Hudson in the War of the Rebellion-- Names of Soldiers--
Bounties Paid by the Town-- Drafted Men who Furnished Substitutes--
Other Men who Furnished Substitutes-- Relief of Soldiers' Families--
Soldiers Aid Society

As in the War of the Revolution, so in the late Civil War, the quota of
soldiers alloted to the town by the State, on the many calls for 
troops, was promptly filled.
  The names of the Hudson soldiers, with the dates of their enrollment
or mustering, time of service and regiments and companies in which they
served, are presented in the following lists.

The First New Hampshire Regiment was raised in answer to the call of
President Lincoln, of April 15, 1861, for seventy-five thousand men for
three months.
 It was under the command of Colonel Mason W. Tappan, and was mustered
in at Concord [NH] on the 4th of May, left for Washington on the 25th,
and, upon the expiration of its term of service, returned, and was
mustered out at Concord on the following 9th of August.
 Three Hudson men enlisted in this regiment,--
 - Walter L. Walker, Company E., mustered out August 9th; re-enlisted
in the Seventh New Hampshire Regiment
 - Abel F. Gould, Company K., mustered out August 9th; re-enlisted in
the Eighth New Hampshire Regiment
 - Eben Tuttle, Company K., mustered out August 9, 1861

Third New Hampshire Regiment enlisted for three years; colonel,
Enoch Q. Fellows.
 This regiment was mustered in August 26th; left Concord September 3,
1861, and on the following 19th of October was ordered to the seat of
the war in South Carolina.
 The Hudson soldiers in this regiment were,--
 - George D. Carr, Company E., wounded and captured at James Island
June 16, 1862; died in the hands of the enemy, at Charleston, S.C.,
June 28, 1862.
 - Peter Hennessey, Company E., re-enlisted February 16, 1864
 - William F. Millett, Company E., mustered out August 23, 1864.
 - George W. Miller, Company F, wounded severely (left arm amputated)
at James Island June 16, 1862; discharged for disability September 13,
1862.
 - Nathan Caldwell, Company F., re-enlisted February 22, 1864.
 - Charles A. Wyman, Company F., mustered out August 23, 1864
 - William F. Hardy, mustered out August 23, 1864

The Fourth New Hampshire Regiment was mustered in Manchester [NH] in
September 1861, and left for Washington [D.C.] on the 27th, under the
command of Colonel Thomas J. Whipple.
 The Hudson men in this regiment, enlisted for three years, in 
Company B., were,--
 - Caleb Marshall, discharged for disability at Beaufort, S.C.,
March 11, 1863.
 - Charles A. Robinson, discharged for disability at Beaufort, S.C.,
October 19, 1862.
 - Hugh Watts, discharged for disability March 12, 1863.
 IN COMPANY K,--
 - Samuel T. Coffin, musician, discharged for disability, Feb 11, 1864.
 - Israel W. Young, discharged for disability at DeCamp Hospital, NY,
June 4, 1864

COMPANY G, of the Second United States Sharpshooters, enlisted in this
State for three years; was mustered in December 12, 1861.
 The Hudson men in this company were,--
 - Harvard P. Smith, sergeant; promoted to second lieutenant October 10,
1863; promoted to captain November 1, 1862; wounded May 6, 1864;
mustered out December 24, 1864.
 - Norris Smith, promoted to sergeant; re-enlisted December 24, 1863;
wounded May 31, 1864; promoted to first lieutenant January 16, 1865;
honorably discharged.
 - Joseph G. Winn, killed at Antietam, MD, September 17, 1862
 - Dustin B. Smith, re-enlisted February 17, 1864; transferred to Fifth
New Hampshire Volunteers January 30, 1865; mustered out June 28, 1865.
 - Allen Steele, died of disease at Washington, D.C., January 22, 1862.
 - Dura P. Dow, promoted to corporal January 14, 1863; died of disease
February 26, 1863.
 - Job F. Thomas wounded slightly at Antietam September 17, 1862;
discharged on account of wounds December 14, 1863.
 - William H. Thomas, discharged for disability, February 13, 1863.
 - Charles W. Hopkins, wounded severely in the arm at Antietam
September 17, 1862; discharged on account of wounds January 7, 1863.
 - Henry Taylor, died at Washington March 6, 1862.
 - Joseph S. Floyd, enlisted as a recruit February 12, 1864; killed at
the Wilderness, VA, May 6, 1864.
 - Charles E. Osgood, enlisted as a recruit February 25, 1864; wounded
May 16, 1864; transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps January 30, 1865;
honorably discharged.

The Seventh New Hampshire Regiment was enlisted for three years; 
mustered in at Manchester [NH] December 24, 1861 and left for Florida
by the way of New York, under the command of Colonel H.S. Putnam,
January 14, 1862.
  In COMPANY B, of this regiment, were the following Hudson men:
 - Leander H. Cummings, promoted to corporal May 6, 1862; wounded and
captured July 18, 1863; died of wounds at Charleston S.C. July 28, 1863.
 - Albert Campbell, discharged by civil authority January 7, 1862.
 - William J. Fifield.
 - William L. Walker, re-enlisted from First New Hampshire Regiment;
promoted to sergeant August 1 1864; mustered out December 22, 1864.
 - Otis A. Merrill, Company H., enlisted August 21, 1862; promoted to
sergeant; mustered out June 26, 1865.
 - Andrew J. Berry, Company H., enlisted August 21, 1862; killed at
Fort Wagner, S.C., July 18, 1863.

The EIGHTH New Hampshire Regiment was also enlisted at Manchester for
three years, commanded by Colonel Hawks Fearing and mustered in 
December 23, 1861.
 It left Manchester for Ship Island, Miss., by way of Boston, January 4,
1862.
The following Hudson men were in the Eighth Regiment:
 - Levi E. Cross, Company A., discharged for disability at Carrollton,
La., October 27, 1862; re-enlisted in the Eighteenth New Hampshire
Regiment.
 - Robert D. Caldwell, Company A., mustered out January 18, 1865.
 - Abel F. Gould, Company A., re-enlisted from First New Hampshire
Regiment; drowned at Alexandria, La., May 10, 1863.
 - James Hales, Company D.
 - Amos M. Young, Company D., re-enlisted January 4, 1864; transferred
to Company A., Veteran Battalion, Eighty New Hampshire Volunteers,
January 1, 1865.
 - John P. Young, Company D., transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps
May 1, 1864.
 - Charles A. Russell, Company E., killed at Georgia Landing, La.,
October 27, 1862.
 - John Smith, Company E., mustered out October 24, 1864.

The NINTH New Hampshire Regiment was organized at Concord [NH] and
left the State August 25, 1862, under command of Colonel E.Q. Fellows.
 The Hudson men enlisted for three years were,--
 - Jesse S. Bean, corporal, Company C., wounded slightly December 13,
1862; transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps, January 15, 1864; mustered
out July 5, 1865.
 - Elias L. Foote, Company F, died of disease at Antietam, MD, October
5, 1862.
 - Thomas P. Conery, Company C., captured May 12, 1864; died of
disease at Andersonville, Ga, August 28, 1864; grave No. 7072.

Prior to August 1862, no bounties to volunteers to fill the quota of
Hudson in the war had been offered or paid by the town.
 At a meeting held the 12th of August that year the town, "Voted to
pay a bounty of two hundred dollars to each person who will enlist
into the service of the United States as a volunteer for three years,
or during the war; until the last day of August, unless the quota of
the town is sooner filled;"
 Another town-meeting was held September 11th, at which it was voted
to pay a bounty of two hundred dollars to each volunteer for three
years, not to exceed twenty, and one hundred dollars for nine months'
volunteers.

The TENTH New Hampshire Regiment was mustered in at Manchester September
5, 1862, and left for the seat of war on the 22d.
 The Hudson soldiers enlisted in Company B for three years in this
regiment were,--
 - Charles K. Kershaw, corporal
 - John D. Farnum, corporal, transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps
August 15, 1863.
 - William Durant, discharged for disability May 20, 1863; enlisted in
Invalid Corps September 2, 1864; mustered out November 15, 1865
 - Joseph French, mustered out June 21, 1865
 - Francis Tetro, mustered out June 21, 1865
 - Robert French, Company C., mustered out June 20, 1865

The THIRTEENTH New Hampshire Regiment enlisted for three years, left
Concord October 6, 1862 under command of Colonel Aaron F. Stevens, of
Nashua.  In Company I of this regiment, eighteen Hudson men enlisted
September 20th, whose names are given below,--
 - James M. Greeley, sergeant, discharged for disability at Washington
February 25, 1863; enlisted in Heavy Artillery September 6, 1864
 - Nathan M. Blodgett, corporal, discharged by order, at Portsmouth, Va.
November 30, 1863
 - Reuben Cummings, musician, mustered out June 21, 1865.
 - Alden M. Jones, musician, mustered out June 21, 1865.
 - George W. Batchelder, captured October 27, 1864; died of disease at
Salisbury, N.C., February 12, 1865
 - Henry Butler, wounded December 13, 1862; promoted to corporal
April 1, 1863; mustered out June 21, 1865.
 - Bradford Campbell, mustered out June 21, 1865.
 - Henry T. Colburn, discharged for disability at Concord NH July 13,
1863.
 - Gilman F. Chase, transferred to Company C., September 25, 1862;
transferred to brigade band January 25, 1863; mustered out June 12, 1865
 - Rufus Fletcher, mustered out June 21, 1865
 - Lorenzo Fuller, mustered out June 17, 1865
 - Frederick Hiccox, mustered out May 12, 1865
 - Napoleon E. Jones, mustered out June 21, 1865
 - William B. Lewis, promoted to corporal April 1, 1863; wounded
slightly May 16, 1864; promoted to sergeant June 7, 1864; mustered
out June 21, 1865
 - Jacob Marshall, died of disease Portsmouth Va, August 21, 1863
 - Otis R. Marsh, wounded severely October 27, 1864; discharged by
order May 28, 1865
 - Andrew J. Smith, killed at Petersburg Va., June 26, 1864
 - James G. Smith, died of disease at Porstmouth, Va., October 3, 1863

The town continued the bounty of two hundred dollars to men who enlisted
for three years, and December 5, 1863, "Voted to assume the State and
government bounties, and add thereto the sum of three hundred dollars
to each volunteer." "Voted to pay the men who were drafted September 2,
1863, one hundred dollars each in addition to the two hundred already
paid them."
 "Voted to pay a bounty of two hundred dollars to men who have enlisted
in 1861, and who are now in the service, they having received no town
bounty."
 At a meeting held June 18, 1864, it was voted to pay a bounty of three
hundred dollars to volunteers for three years, or to drafted men;
and August 29th, the town, "Voted to pay each soldier who shall enlist
and be mustered into the service of the United States, who shall have
been for three months previous a resident of this town, for one
year eight hundred dollars, for two years nine hundred dollars, for
three years one thousand dollars." This included the State and United
States bounties.

In Company F of the First Regiment New Hampshire Heavy Artillery, 
sixteen Hudson men enlisted, September 6, 1864, for one year, whose
names are given below, all of whom were mustered out June 15, 1865,--
 - Samuel M. Walker, corporal; James McCoy, corporal, reduced to ranks
June 1, 1865; George W. Berry, appointed musician December 16, 1864;
Lucius T. Buker; James S. Blodgett; Albert A. Campbell; James N. 
Corliss; John W. Fletcher; Frank J. Fuller; Samuel A. Greeley;
James M. Greeley; Horace J. Hamblet; George S. McCoy; Austin T. Merrill;
Frederick F. Smith; Willard O. Winn.

The following is a list of other Hudson men who enlisted into the
service:
 - John H. Phillips, enlisted for three years in Troop M., First New
England Cavalry; mustered in September 15, 1862; transferred to
Invalid corps September 1863; discharged for disability January 27, 1864
 - Warren Smith, enlisted in Troop A., First Regiment, New Hampshire
Cavalry; mustered in March 24, 1864; promoted to corporal May 1, 1864;
wounded severely August 25, 1864, and died of wounds soon after.
 - Jonathan Burbank, enlisted for nine months in Company E., 15th New
Hampshire Regiment; mustered in October 9, 1862; mustered out at
Memphis, Tenn, August 13, 1863; sick at Memphis and died soon after.

The following enlisted for one year in Company E., Eighteenth New
Hampshire Regiment; mustered in September 28, 1864:
 - Levi E. Cross, corporal, mustered out June 10, 1865.
 - Cyrus Cross, mustered out June 10, 1865.

The following Hudson men were in the United States Navy:
 - James H. Shaw, enlisted in the navy April 19, 1861, and was 
honorably discharged April 19, 1865.
 - Thomas M. Senter, enlisted for two years June 1862; re-enlisted for
two years February 27, 1865.
 - George E. Senter, enlisted as acting master's mate June 1862;
resigned June 1863.
 - Joseph W. Wallace, Michael harney and Samuel L. Beverly, date of
enlistment unknown.

The following are the names of Hudson men who enlisted in Massachusetts
regiments:
 - Almon S. Senter, enlisted in the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment for
nine months; afterwards in Massachusetts Heavy Artillery and served
through the war.
 - Aaron B. Frost, Twelfth Massachusetts Regiment
 - Jamison Greeley, Company M., Fourteenth MA Regiment
 - Samuel M. Walker, Company C, 16th MA Regiment
 - William Livingstone, 36th MA Regiment

The following enlisted in unknown Massachusetts regiments:
 - George McQuesten, Henry H. Dane, James O. Dane, Alexis Baker,
   Patrick Bradley.

The following enlisted in a MAINE regiment:
 - Myron W. Harris and Henry Harris.

The following are the names of men drafted in 1863 who furnished
substitutes:
 - John B. Marshall, Willard O. Winn, Ira Templeton, Nehemiah H. Gage,
 E. Wesley Hill, Augustus F. Blodgett, Obediah F. Smith.
In 1846 who furnished substitutes:
 - Benjamin F. Kidder, Lucius F. Robinson, Arus H. McCoy, John C. Smith,
 Charles W. Grant, Edwin S. Gowing.

The following is a list of men not drafted who furnished substitutes:
 - David O. Smith, Franklin A. Hill, Willard H. Webster,
 Alfred C. Ripley, Alphonso Robinson, Charles Steele, Emery Parker,
 Augustus R. Morrison, Kimball Webster, Daniel M. Greeley,
 David Clement Jr.

The names of these twenty-four substitutes, together with thirteen 
others furnished by the town, all being non-residents and principally
aliens, are omitted.
 In giving the names of the soldiers, it has been my purpose to give
the names of those who were residents of this town, a few of which are
credited to other towns.
 At the close of the war this town was credited at the adjutant-
general's office with twelve men more than its full quota under all the
calls for soldiers during the war, and it was claimed that twenty-one
men more than its quota had been furnished, after allowing all due
credits to other towns.
 The whole number of enlistements credited to Hudson by the
adjutant-general was one hundred and thirty-five.
 Amount of bounty paid by the town to soldiers, a parta of which was
afterwards reimbursed by the State and United States, thirty-six
thousand seven hundred and twenty-five dollars.
 October 14, 1861, the town elected Hiram Marsh, Gilman Andrews and
Stephen D. Greeley a committee to relieve the families of soldiers,
and instructed that committee to pay not exceeding one dollar a week
each for the wives, children and parents dependent upon soldiers
serving in the army from this town or such as may hereafter enlist.
 This committee paid for the relief of said families during the war
upwards of seven thousand dollars, which was reimbursed by the State.
 At the beginning of the war, April 24, 1861 at a citizens' meeting,
held at the town-house, the amount of two hundred and twenty-three
dollars was subscribed and paid for the purpose of furnishing
volunteers who had enlisted with necessary outfits, in addition to
such as were furnished by the government.

 On the 29th of October of the same year, at another meeting of the
citizens, the Hudson Soldiers' Aid Society was organized, and was
continued in active and successful operation until the close of the war.
  The president of this society was Addison Heald; its secretary,
Mrs. Nancy B. Merrill; and its treasurer, Mrs. Addison Heald; with an
extensive committee composed of ten ladies, one from each school
district,--Mrs. Thomas Gowing, Mrs. Luther Pollard, Mrs. Samuel 
Morrison, Miss Mary Buttrick, Mrs. D. M. Greeley, Mrs. Oliver Hill,
Mrs. David Seavey, Mrs. Robert A. Andrews, Mrs. J.E. Greeley and Mrs.
James M. Greeley.
 The society contributed, collected, bought material and manufactured
and forward to the soldiers, in large quantities, articles of
necessity and comfort, such as comfortable clothing, bedding, lint,
bandages, dried fruits, comforts for the sick and wounded in the
hospitals and necessaries for the use and convenience of the men in
the field and camp.
 These contributions were greatly appreciated by the soldiers at the
front, and did much to relieve their sufferings and add to their
scanty comforts.

*************
CHAPTER VIII
First Town Officers 1733-- Moderators of Annual Town Meetings, Selectmen
and Town Clerks of Nottingham from 1734 to 1741-- Moderators of
Annual Town Meetings, Selectmen and Clerks of the Distrcit of
Nottingham from 1743 to 1745-- Moderators of Annual Town-Meetings,
Town Clerks and Selectmen from 1746 to 1885-- Delegates to the
General Court, etc. from 1733 to 1885-- Representatives to the
General Court from 1775 to 1885-- Votes for State President from
1784 to 1792-- Votes for Governor from 1793 to 1884

FIRST ELECTION
The first election for the choice of town officers for the town of
Nottingham was held at the house of Ensign John Snow on the 1st day
of May 1733.
 The following is a full list of all the officers chosen at that
meeting, and who held their office until the annual meeting in March
1734:
 Captain Robert Fletcher, moderator; Henry Baldwin, town clerk;
Henry Baldwin, Captain Robert Fletcher, John Taylor, Joseph Snow,
John Butler, selectmen; Joseph Hamblet, constable; John Snow, town
treasurer; Nathaniel Hills, tithingman; James Perham, Joseph Winn,
Eleazer Cummings, surveyors; Thomas Colburn, Samuel Butler, fence-
viewers; Edward Spalding, Jonathan Perham, field-drivers; Phineas
Spalding, John Hamblet, hog-reeves.

The following is a list of moderators of annual town meetings, town
clerks and selectmen of the town of Nottingham from 1734 to 1741:
  MODERATORS OF ANNUAL TOWN MEETINGS:
 - Henry Baldwin, 1734, 1737, 1738
 - John Butler, 1735, 1741
 - Joseph Snow, 1736, 1739
 - Thomas Colburn, 1740
  SELECTMEN
 1734- Henry Baldwin, Robert Fletcher, Zaccheus Lovewell, John Butler,
Eleazer Cummings
 1735- John Butler, Robert Fletcher, Thomas Colburn
 1736- Daniel Fletcher, William Cummings, John Butler
 1737- Henry Baldwin, Joseph Hamblet, John Butler
 1738- Henry Baldwin, John Butler, Joseph Hamblet, Joseph Winn,
John Baldwin
 1739- Eleazer Cummings, Zaccheus Lovewell, Jonathan Snow
 1740- Thomas Colburn, Zaccheus Lovewell, John Snow
 1741- Henry Baldwin, Joseph Hamblet, Thomas Gage
  TOWN CLERKS
 - Henry Baldwin, 1734, 1737, 1738, 1741
 - John Butler, 1735, 1736
 - Jonathan Snow, 1739, 1740

Until 1741 the town was supposed to be wholly in Massachusetts, and
was under the laws and jurisdiction of that State; but upon the
settlement of the province line in that year, the town was divided, and
the greater part fell within the limits of New Hampshire, and
Nottingham, in this State became a district, and remained as such
until 1746. There is no record of any town or district meeting from
November 22, 1741 to August 9, 1743 at which last meeting the first
district officers were elected.

  MODERATORS OF ANNUAL MEETINGS
 - Henry Baldwin 1743, 1744
 - Thomas Colburn 1745
 - Thomas Gage, 1746
  SELECTMEN
 1743- Zaccheus Lovewell, Ezekiel Chase, Samuel Greeley
 1744- Ezekiel Chase, Joseph Hamblet, John Marshall
 1745- Zaccheus Lovewell, Samuel Greeley, Samuel Butler

 Samuel Greeley was elected district clerk at the first meeting and was
re-elected each year afterwards as long as Nottingham remained a
district.

  The charter of Nottingham West, as a town, as we have seen, was
dated July 5, 1746, and the first meeting for the election of town
officers was held July 17th.
  The following lists present the names of the persons who have held 
the several offices of moderator of annual town-meetings, town clerk
and selectmen from the year 1746 to 1885, with the years in which they
were respectively chosen:

  MODERATORS OF ANNUAL TOWN MEETINGS FROM 1746 to 1885
 Zaccheus Lovewell, 1746
 Thomas Colburn 1748-1741, 1753, 1758
 Ezekiel Chase, 1752, 1755-57, 1764-68, 1776
 Abraham Page, 1759-60, 1771-75, 1777-78
 Daniel Merrill, 1761
 Ephraim Cummings, 1762-1763
 Henry Hale, 1769
 George Burns, 1770
 Asa Davis, 1779-1780, 1783-1785, 1798-1801
 William Burns, 1781-82, 1795
 Timothy Smith, 1786, 1788-1790
 Samuel Marsh, 1787
 Phineas Underwood, 1791-1794
 Moses Johnson, 1796-1797
 Jesse Davidson, 1802-1803
 Isaac Merrill, 1804-1808, 1810-1812
 Robert Patterson, 1809
 Caleb S. Ford, 1813-1817, 1819, 1821-1822, 1824-1828
 Noah Robinson 1818
 Joseph Greeley 1820, 1823
 Thomas B. Wason, 1830-1839
 Jabez P.F. Cross, 1840-1845, 1847-1848
 Jeremiah Smith, 1846
 Ethan Willoughby 1850-1851
 James Emery 1853-1854, 1859-1860, 1866
 James T. Palmer, 1855-1857
 Benjamin F. Chase, 1858
 Timothy S. Ford, 1861
 William H. Chase, 1862-1865, 1867-1871
 Caleb Richardson 1872
 Jacob F. Spalding 1873
 Dana Sargent, 1874-1875, 1877
 Benjamin A. Merrill, 1876
 Josiah K. Wheeler, 1878, 1881-1885
 Stephen D. Greeley, 1879-1880
For the years 1849 and 1852 the election of moderator is not recorded.

TOWN CLERKS FROM 1746 to 1885
Samuel Greeley 1746
Samuel Greeley Jr. 1747
Doctor Ezekiel Chase, 1748
Samuel Greeley Jr., 1749 to 1781 except 1777
Samuel Greeley Jr. (son of the last Samuel) 1777
Timothy Smith, 1782 to 1784
Asa Davis, 1785 to 1795, and 1801 to 1807
Joseph Greeley, 1796 to 1800
James Gibson, 1808 to 1811
Joseph Greeley Jr. 1812 to 1815
Joseph Pollard, 1816 and 1817
Asa Blodgett, 1818 to 1825
Foster Towns, 1826
Reuben Greeley 1827 to 1837
James Pierce, 1838 and 1839
Henry M. Hooke, 1840
Daniel McCoy, 1841
Dustin B. Farnum, 1842 and 1843
Paul Colburn 1844 to 1856
William H. Chase, 1857 and 1858
John C. Webster, 1859
Eli Hamblet 1860 to 1868
Josiah K. Wheeler, 1869 and 1870
Waldo P. Walton, 1871, 1872, 1874
James Emery, 1875 and 1877 to 1879
James G. Walker, 1876
James B. Merrill, 1873 and 1880 to 1885

SELECTMEN FROM 1746 to 1885
1746-- Samuel Greeley, Zaccheus Lovewell, Eleazer Cummings
1747-- Ezekiel Chase, John Marsh, John Marshall, Samuel Greeley Jr.,
James Wason
1748-- Thomas Colburn, Samuel Greeley, Ezekiel Chase, William
Cummings, James Hills
1749-- John Marshall, Stephen Chase, Joseph Winn, Henry Hills,
Samuel Greeley Jr.
1750-- John Marsh, Samuel Greeley Jr., George Burns
1751-- Samuel Merrill, Eleazer Cummings, Samuel Greeley Jr.
1752-- George Burns, Samuel Greeley Jr., Josiah Cummings
1753-- Samuel Marsh, Abraham Page, Samuel Greeley Jr.
1754-- Thomas Colburn, Samuel Greeley Jr., James Hills
1755-- Ezekiel Chase, Roger Chase, Samuel Greeley Jr.
1756-57-- Ezekiel Chase, Samuel Greeley Jr., Ephraim Cummings
1758-- Abraham Page, George Burns, James Hills
1759-- Abraham Page, Samuel Greeley Jr., Roger Chase
1760-- Daniel Merrill, Ezekiel Hills, Henry Snow
1761-- Samuel Greeley Jr., Eleazer Cummings, Daniel Merrill
1762-63-- Samuel Greeley Jr., Ephraim Cummings, Samuel marsh
1764-- Ezekiel Chase, George Burns, Asa Davis
1765-- Henry Hale, Abraham Page, Ezekiel Hills
1766-- Samuel Greeley Jr., Ezekiel Chase, Ephraim Cummings
1767-- Abraham Page, Nathaniel Davis, Asa Davis
1768-- George Burns, Nathaniel Davis, Ezekiel Hills
1769-- Abraham Page, Henry Hale, Asa Davis
1770-- George Burns, Samuel Moor, Nathaniel Davis
1771-- Abraham Page, Nathaniel Davis, Nehemiah Hadley
1772-74-- Abraham Page, Nathaniel Davis, John Haseltine Jr.
1775-- John Haseltine Jr., Asa Davis, William Burns
1776-- Samuel Marsh, John Caldwell, William Burns
1777-- Samuel Marsh, Timothy Smith, George Burns Jr.
1778-- John Haseltine, John Caldwell, Andrew Seavey
1779-- Samuel Marsh, David Lawrence, Moses Johnson, Samuel Wason,
Samuel Greeley
1780-- Asa Davis, James Ford, David Lawrence
1781-- Samuel Marsh, John Hale, Isaac Merrill
1782 and 1784-- Timothy Smith, John Haseltine Jr., Samuel Burbank Jr.
1783-- Timothy Smith, Nathaniel Davis, Samuel Burbank Jr.
1785-1788-- Asa Davis, John Haseltine Jr., Isaac Merrill
1789-- Asa Davis, John Haseltine Jr., Phineas Underwood
1790-92-- Asa Davis, Phineas Underwood, Thomas Hills
1793-94-- Asa Davis, Samuel Marsh, Phineas Underwood
1795-96-- Samuel Marsh, Page Smith, Isaac Colburn
1797-- Samuel Marsh, David Lawrence, Isaac Merrill
1798-- Asa Davis, Thomas Senter, Jonathan Burbank
1799-- Jonathan Burbank, Isaac Merrill, Thomas Hills
1800 and 1804-- Asa Davis, Isaac Merrill, Page Smith
1801-- Asa Davis, Page Smith, Ebenezer Cummings
1802-03-- Asa Davis, Page Smith, Jesse Davidson
1805-06-- Asa Davis, Isaac Merrill, Caleb S. Ford
1807-- Asa Davis, Caleb S. Ford, James Gibson
1808-- Caleb S. Ford, James Gibson, Jeremiah Smith
1809-1000 Caleb S. Ford, James Gibson, Noah Robinson
1811-- James Gibson, Jonathan Burbank, Moses Greeley
1812-- Jonathan Burbank, Moses Greeley, Reuben Sargent
1813-14-- Moses Greeley, Joseph Greeley Jr., Jeremiah Smith
1815-16-- Moses Greeley, Benjamin Merrill, William Hills
1817-19-- Caleb S. Ford, Thomas B. Wason, Jacob Chase
1820-- Caleb S. Ford, Reuben Sargent, David Burns
1821-- David Burns, William Hills, Noyes Tenney
1822-- David Burns, Jacob Chase, Noyes Tenney
1823-- Noyes Tenney, William Hills, Oliver Pollard
1824-- Oliver Pollard, Noah Robinson, Reuben Greeley
1825-- Oliver Pollard, Noah Robinson, Ebenezer Ford
1826-- Reuben Greeley, James Pierce, William Hills
1827-28-- Reuben Greeley, James Pierce, Jacob Chase
1829-- Caleb S. Ford, James Pierce, John Burnham
1830-- James Pierce, William Hadley, Joseph Blodgett Jr.
1831-- James pierce, William Hadley, Thomas B. Wason
1832-- Caleb S. Ford, Jeremiah Smith, Noah Robinson
1833-- Noah Robinson, Timothy Ford, Jabez P.F. Cross
1834-- Noah Robinson, Jabez P.F. Cross, James Wilson
1835-- Reuben Greeley, Noah Robinson, Jabez P.F. Cross
1836-- Reuben Greeley, Thomas B. Wason, David Robinson
1837-- Thomas B. Wason, Reuben Greeley, Paul Hardy
1838-- Thomas B. Wason, Paul hardy, Dustin B. Farnum
1839-- Paul Hardy, Dustin B. Farnum, Jabez P.F. Cross
1840-41-- James Pierce, William Hadley, Warren Pollard
1842-- Thomas Marsh, Greenlief B. Farnum, Gilman Andrews
1843-- Thomas B. Wason, Amos Hills, Paul Colburn
1844-- Thomas B. Wason, Amos Hills, Gilman Andrews
1845-- Jabez P.F. Cross, Gilman Andrews, Alvan Smith
1846-- Gilman Andrews, Alvan Smith, Samuel Morrison
1847-- Paul Hardy, Jabez P.F. Cross, Stephen D. Greeley
1848-- Paul Hardy, Jeremiah Smith, Stephen D. Greeley
1849-- James Pierce, Alvan Smith, Benjamin F. Chase
1850-- Paul Hardy, Calvin Pollard, Stephen D. Greeley
1851-- Alvan Smith, Calvin Pollard, Stephen D. Greeley
1852-- Calvin Pollard, Stephen D. Greeley, George W. Burns
1853-- James Pierce, George W. BUrns, George W. Hills
1854-- Stephen D. Greeley, Hiram Marsh, Benjamin F. Chase
1855-- Benjamin F. Chase, Luther Pollard, John Cross
1856-- David Clement, John Cross, James T. Palmer
1857-- James T. Palmer, Eli Hamblet, Granville Hill
1858-- Eli Hamblet, Granville Hill, Samuel Gowing
1859-- Alvan Smith, John P. Pierce, Noah O. Robinson
1860-- Hiram Marsh, Samuel Gowing, Silas Hills
1861-- Eli Hamblet, Samuel Gowing, Daniel T. Gage
1862-- Daniel T. Gage, Samuel Gowing, Caleb Richardson
1863-- Daniel T. Gage, John Chase, Alden Hills
1864-- Eli Hamblet, Alden Hills, Benjamin A. Merrill
1865-66-- Stephen D. Greeley, Benjamin F. Chase, Josiah K. Wheeler
1867-68-- Stephen D. Greeley, Benjamin F. Chase, Benjamin A. Merrill
[years 1869 to 1885 included in original document, not included here]

DELEGATES TO THE GENERAL COURT ETC from 1733 to 1885
 1733-Captain Robert Fletcher and Zaccheus Lovewell, delegates to the
Massachusetts General Court to get the non-resident lands taxed for the
support of the ministry and to get a proportion of the lands for the
town, given to the town of Dunstable by the proprietors or others.
 1734-March--Zaccheus Lovewell, delegate to the Massachusetts General
Court to procure the passage of an act allowing the town to assess a
tax of ten shillings upon all cattle driven into the town to pasture
in addition to the usual taxes.
 1734-June--Captain Robert Fletcher, Henry Baldwin, Joseph Snow and
Joseph Hamblet, delegates to the Massachusetts General Court to answer
for the town in all matters relating to the petition of the people of
"Natticook" to be incorporated as a separate township.
 1734-November--Captain Robert Fletcher, delegate to the Massachusetts
General Court to procure a grant of province lands to aid the town to
maintain a public school.
 1741--Captain Thomas Colburn, delegate to the Massachusetts General
Court to procure the abatement of the county tax, in consequence of
the town being divided by the new province line.
 1747--John Marsh, delegate to the New Hampshire General Court, upon a
petition of the town, for the passage of an act for taxing the lands of
non-residents.
 1748--Deacon Samuel Greeley and John Marsh, delegates to the New 
Hampshire General Court to answer to a citation in relation to a 
petition of Josiah Cummings and other inhabitants of the town to be
released from paying taxes for the support of Rev. Nathaniel Merrill.
 1760-March 17--Ephraim Cummings chosen delegate to the New Hampshire
General Court to make application to have the lands of non-residents
laid under a tx.
 1762-January 15--Captain Samuel Greeley chosen Representative for
Nottingham West and Litchfield to represent said towns in the General
Assembly.
 -Captain Samuel Greeley was re-elected March 4, 1762
 -Captain James Ford, delegate to the Provincial Congress at Exeter,
January 25, 1775
 -Captain Abraham Page, delegate to the Provincial Congress at Exeter,
April 1775
 - Captain Abraham Page, delegate to the Provincial Congress at
Exeter, May 17, 1775 and to act for the town for six months.
 - John Hazeltine Jr., delegate to the County Congress at Amherst,
1775.
 - 1778-May 30--William Burns chosen delegate to the convention to
meet at Concord, June 10th, to form a new plan of government.
 -1781-May 8--Timothy Smith chosen to represent the town at a 
convention to be held at Concord, on the first Tuesday of June, to form
a new plan of government.
 -1786-October 30--Reuben Spalding chosen delegate to the convention 
"to make a general plan for Paper money."
 -1788-January 28--Ebenezer Cummings chosen delegate "to sit in the
Convention at Exeter, on the second Wednesday of February next, in order
to consult and examine the Federal Constitution."
 -1850--Ethan Willoughby, delegate to the convention to revise the
constitution.
 -1876--Dana Sargent, delegate to the convention to revise the
constitution.

REPRESENTATIVES TO THE GENERAL COURT FROM 1775 to 1885--Prior to
October 1780, this town was classed with Litchfield for the election
of Representatives.
 Those elected from this town are given in the following list,--
 - Captain Abraham Page, 1775, 1776
 - Asa Davis 1777, 1779, 1792-94, 1799-1808
 - Captain Samuel marsh 1784-1786
 - Ebenezer Cummings 1788
 - Colonel Joseph Greely 1795-98, 1811, 1815
 - Robert Patterson, 1809-1810
 - Isaac Colburn 1812
 - Isaac Merrill, 1813-1814, 1816-1817
 - Noah Robinson, 1818, 1820-21
 - Thomas B. Wason, 1819, 1828, 1830-33, 1835-36
 - Caleb S. Ford, 1822-1827
 - Reuben Greeley, 1829
 - Joseph Greeley Jr. 1837
 - David Burns, 1838-39, 1847
 - Jabez P.F. Cross, 1840-1842
 - William Hadley, 1843-1844, 1846
 - James Carnes, 1848
 - James Pierce, 1850
 - Joseph Storer, 1851
 - William Warren, 1852-53
 - James Emery 1854
 - Hiram Marsh 1855
 - Benjamin F. Chase, 1856
 - Paul Colburn 1857
 - Luther Pollard, 1858
 - Granville Hill, 1859
 - Samuel Morrison, 1860
 - William H. Chase, 1861
 - Addison Heald, 1862
 - Samuel Gowing, 1863
 - Stephen D. Greeley, 1864
 - Eli Hamblet, 1865
 - Isaac Colburn, 1866
 - Benjamin Kidder, 1867
 - Thomas Gowing, 1868
 - Daniel M. Greeley, 1869
 - Daniel T. Gage, 1870
 - Josiah K. Wheeler, 1871
 - Samuel Greeley 1872
 - Dana Sargent, 1875, 1875
 - James B. Merrill, 1876
 - Lucien M. Tolles, 1877
 - Waldo P. Walton, 1878

The following were elected under the revised constitution, providing
for biennial session of the Legislature:
 - John M. Thompson, elected November 1878
 - Justin K. Hill, elected November 1880
 - Nathan P. Webster, elected November 1882
 - William F. Winn, elected November 1884
No representatives were elected for the years 1787, 1789, 1790, 1791,
1832, 1834, 1845, 1849 and 1873.

VOTES FOR STATE PRESIDENT FROM 1784 to 1792 INCLUSIVE and
VOTES FOR GOVERNOR FROM 1793 to 1884, INCLUSIVE
[this information found in the original document, not included here]


********
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
********

KIMBALL WEBSTER
JOHN-1 WEBSTER, of Ipswich, Mass, is supposed to have emigrated from
Ipswich, England, county of Suffolk, in the year 1634. He was a 
freeholder in 1635, and died about 1645. He had eight children,--
John, Mary, Hannah, Elizabeth, Abigail, Stephen, Israel and Nathan.
 STEPHEN-2 WEBSTER was born in Ipswich, Mass; removed to Newbury; from
there, in 1653 to Haverhill. He was a tailor by trade, a man of
influence and one of the selectmen in 1669. He married, first, March 24,
1663, Hannah, daughter of John Ayer, of Salisbury; second, widow
Judith Brown. His children, all by his first wife, were Hannah, John,
Mary, STEPHEN-3, Nathan and Abigail. He died August 10, 1694.
 STEPHEN-3 WEBSTER born in Haverhill January 1, 1672, married widow
Mary Cook. He was one of the eight men in the garrison of John Webster,
March 1690. He died March 9, 1748. He had six children,-- Samuel, John,
Stephen, William, EBENEZER-4, and Mary.
 EBENEZER-4 WEBSTER, born in Haverhill, Mass, February 1, 1744, settled
in Pelham NH was married three times. His third wife was Elizabeth
Bradford, of Beverly, Mass., by whom he had Rebecca, Nancy, Moses, 
Simon, Isaac, Asa, JOHN, Benjamin, and Betsey. Ebenezer Webster was a
quiet, industrious farmer in Pelham, and enjoyed the universal respect
and esteem of his townsmen. He died in Pelham March 13, 1823, aged
seventy-nine years. His widow survived him twenty-two years, dying at
Amherst [NH] March 27, 1845.
 JOHN-6 [should be 5] WEBSTER was born in Pelham NH [some sources say 
Londonderry] December 25, 1791. He married, August 22, 1815, Hannah, Daughter of Eleazer and Sarah (Hale) Cummings, or Nottingham West (now Hudson) and great-granddaughter of Deacon Henry and Mary Hale. (The
Hales and Cummings were noted families in early New England history.
Mr. Cummings combined the vocations of farmer and school and music-
teacher.
 Mrs. Sarah (Hale) Cummings, born April 20, 1767 was a very remarkable
woman in physical strength and endurance; while her husband was
absent from home, occupied in teaching, she performed her household
duties, which were many and arduous, having a large family of children,
and also took charge of a stock of cattle. She was a woman of sterling
worth, a member of the Congregational Church for manh years. Her
Christianity was a part of her daily life, not an adjunct and she
obeyed truly the golden rule. She died May 7, 1852).
 John Webster lived upon the old homestead in Pelham, excepting one
year in Meredith and one in Hudson (formerly Nottinham West) until 1841,
when he sold his farm in Pelham and purchased one in Amherst where he
resided until 1846, when he returned to Hudson, buying a farm upon the
Bush Hill, he lived there twenty years; then resided with his
daguthers (Mrs. Titcomb and Mrs. Baker) until his death, March 1, 1883,
of old age. Mr. Webster was a man of great energy and unremitting
industry, and it was only by hard, unceasing toil that the rough and
rocky soil of the old homestead, at Pelham, could be made to yield a
remunerative crop; but perserverance and patient conqured, and Mr.
Webster was able to provide for his large family of children and insure
himself a comfortable living for his old age. He was drafted in the War
of 1812, and served in Captain Haynes' company of New Hampshire militia
at Portsmouth, where he obtained an honorable discharge, and received
for his services a pension from February 14, 1871. He was a loyal
citizen, a good husband and father, a kind and attentive son, supporting
his aged parents until their death, doing his duty faithfully in every
position, and for many years he was universally called "Honest John
Webster."
 Mrs. Hannah (Cummings) Webster, although a woman of small stature and
delicate health, peformed faithfully her part in life as wife, mother
and Christian. Industrious and frugal, she cared for her children,
physically, morally and religiously; notwithstanding her weakness, she
was a tower of strength to lean upon, and her children learned from her
daily, by precept and example, the force of the words, a good Christian
mother. She united with the Congregational Church in Pelham, and was an
esteemed member of other churches of the same denomination wherever she
resided.  She died in Hudson February 3, 1871.  The children of this
worthy couple were Elizabeth B. (Mrs. Warren Blodgett), Moses,
Sally Hale (Mrs. Simeon C. Titcomb), Eleazer C. (deceased), 
Louisa U. (Mrs. John H. Baker), Lucy Ann (Mrs. Daniel B. Cluff),
KIMBALL, Hannah J. (deceased), John C., Nathan P., Willard H. 
(deceased), Milton E. (deceased), Orrin P. (deceased).
 KIMBALL-7 WEBSTER, son of John and Hannah (Cummings) Webster was born
in Pelham NH November 2, 1828. His education was acquired at the common
schools of his native town and Hudson. While a boy he worked upon a farm
in Hudson, and for a short time in the quarries in Pelham. He was one of
that historic, heroic and truly illustrious band, the old "Forty-niners"
which has furnished so much material for story and song. Before
attaining his majority, in April 1849, when the news of the discovery
of gold in California had reached New England, he started and traveled
across the county, arriving in the Sacramento Valley in October,
six months before being passed in reaching the golden West. He
remained there about two years, engaged in mining and other pursuits;
then went to Oregon, where he was a deputy-surveyor upon the
government surveys, and returned home in the fall of 1854. In 1855 he
was employed by the Hannibal and St. Jo Railroad Company in Missouri.
In 1858 he resided in Vinalhaven, Me., where he owns and occupies a
portion of the land purchased by his great-grandfather, Eleazer Cummings
in 1728.
 Mr. Webster married, January 29, 1857, Abiah Cutter, daughter of Seth
and Deborah (Gage) Cutter, of Pelham. Their surviving children are
Lizzie Jane (Mrs. Horace A. Martin), Ella Frances (Mrs. Frank A. Walch),
Eliza Ball (Mrs. Charles C. Leslie) Latina Ray, Julia Anna and
Mary Newton.
 Mr. Webster is a quiet, unostentatious man, of active temperament and
of great executive ability. He has a marked power of making friends,
and enjoys a high degree of popularity in a very large circle of
acquaintance. He is a worker and does his work conscientiously and
thoroughly, and as a surveyor of long experience he has a wide
reputation as being one of the most accurate and reliable in the county.
He is a Democrat in politics and an active believer in the Jacksonian
theory that "The blessings of government, like the dews of heaven,
should fall unseen alike on the just and unjust." He has been justice
of the peace since 1859, and is a trustee of the Mechanics' Savings-
Bank of Nashua.
 He is a member of Rising Sun (Nashua) Lodge of F. and A.M.,
Hudson Commandery, U.O. Golden Corss, and has been largely identified
with the history of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry in Hillsborough
County. He was the first to petition for the establishment of a grange
in Hudson, and upon its organization, December 8, 1873, was chosen its
presiding officer, which office he held three years. He was one of the
few to organize the New Hampshire State Grange, December 23, 1873,
and also Hillsborough County Council, March 4, 1874, of which he was
master two years, and secretary from December 1876 until the 
organization, April 17, 1883, of its successor, Hillsborough County
Pomona Grange, when he was made secretary of that body and is now
holding that office. He has been an active and valuable member of this
order from the first, and stands high in the regards of the fraternity.
 He is much interested in historical matters and ancient landmarks.
He has done much to preserve the latter by careful and creditable
copies of many of the much worn and injured plats of portions of lands,
old grants, etc., in "Old Dunstable."
 Mr. Webster is a safe counselor, a good representative of New England's
intelligent farmers and business men, an honest man, and worthily
stands high in the public esteem for his hearty co-operation in every-
thing tending to the elevation or improvement of the community.


*************
JAMES B. MERRILL
 Among the families of New England who should be recorded in history,
the one bearing the name of Merrill has a high claim and many of its
representatives have been good and faithful ministers of the gospel.
 NATHANIEL MERRILL-1 was one of the first American ancestors of this
numerous family. Emigrating from England to America in 1634, he
settled in Newbury, Mass in 1635. His wife was Susanna Jourdaine. Their
children were Nathaniel, John, Abraham, Susanna, Daniel and Abel. He
died March 16, 1655.
  ABEL-2 MERRILL was born in Newbury Feburary 20, 1646, settled there;
married February 10, 1671, Priscilla Chase. He died at Newbury,
October 28, 1689. 
 His oldest son, ABEL-3 MERRILL was also born at Newbury, December 28,
1671. He moved to West Newbury, married, January 19, 1694, Abigail
Stevens, and died February 6, 1759. He was a man of note, a deacon in
the church, and left property, which, by will made October 21, 1752,
and proved March 1759, was divided among his sons and sons-in-law.
His children were Samuel, Abel, Thomas, John, NATHANIEL, Abigail
(Mrs. John Kent), Martha (Mrs. Joshua Marsh), Priscilla (Mrs. Ezekiel
Clark).
 NATHANIEL-4 MERRILL youngest son of Abel and Abigail (Stevens) Merrill,
was born in West Newbury, Mass, March 1, 1712, was graduated at
Harvard College in 1732, and was pastor of the Congregational Church in
Rye, NH. When the Congregational Church was formed in Nottingham West
(now Hudson) November 30, 1737, he was ordained its pastor, and
continued in that relation until his death, in 1796. The minister was
settled by the town, and his salary raised by a special tax. There being
many opinions in the church, some claiming to be Presbyterians, others
Baptist and Methodists, the people protested against being compelled
to pay outside of their own denomination; therefore the civil contract
was dissolved in 1774, but Rev. Mr. Merrill's connection with the
church as pastor did not cease, his salary being paid voluntarily by
his congregation. He was a man of great decision of character and love
for his chosen profession; of acknowledged ability, both natural and
acquired, he possessed excellent judgement and sterling integrity,
and secured the respect of all men. He married Elizabeth Sargent. They
had twelve children--NATHANIEL, Betty B., Mary, John, Abel, Dorothy,
Oliver, Sarah, Benjamin and Ruth (twins), Molly and Theodore.
  NATHANIEL-5 MERRILL (Tertius) was born September 25, 1739 at 
Nottingham West; married, February 25, 1767, Olive Lund, of Dunstable
(Nashua). They had three children, all of whom attained maturity--
Benjamin, Oliver and Asa.  Nathaniel held an ensign's commission from
King George III before the Revolution, but supported the cause of the
colonies. He inherited a portion of his father's estate, which, just
previous to the war, he sold and purchased a mill, where he manufactured
machinery for cider-presses, etc. The parties to whom the farm was sold
did not pay for it until Continental money was so depreciated as to make
it valueless to Mr. Merrill.  His death occurred in 1785. His wife
survived him, dying in 1820, aged seventy-nine.
  BENJAMIN-6 MERRILL was born January 24, 1768. His father dying soon
after the loss of his property, when Benjamin was seventeen years old,
it was only by his indefatigable industry and energy that his mother
was enabled to keep the family together. He worked early and late, and
provided a home for his widowed mother during her life. He married,
July 25, 1820, Mrs. Sarah Caton, whose maiden-name was Plummer. They
commenced house-keeping in the house which he had built in 1810, on
the farm in the south part of Hudson, where he ever after resided, and
which is now owned by his descendants. Their children were
Benjamin A., Ebenezer B. (deceased), James B. and William T.
 Benjamin Merrill was prominent in town and church affairs, was at one
time a member of the Board of Selectmen, was a deacon in the
Presbyterian church and familiarly known as "Deacon Ben." A man of good
judgement, honest in character, faithful in duty, of a kind and social
disposition, he possessed many friends, and few, if any, enemies,
preferring to bear an injury rather than to resort to any unpleasant
measures. He never had a lawsuit, but his services were often sought as
referee, and his wife and friendly counsel made him a peace-maker.
Politically, he was a Whig. He died April 25, 1849, aged eighty-one
years, leaving a record of a life well spent, His wife, survived him
but a few years, dying October 25, 1853, aged seventy-one years.
 JAMES B.-7 MERRILL, son of Benjamin and Sarah (Plummer) Merrill, was
born in Hudson NH May 6, 1824. His education was gained at the schools
of his native town. He remained with his father, working on the farm,
until he was twenty-one. He then learned the carpenter's trade, and
carried on the business of carpenter and builder for about thirty years
in Lowell, Nashua, Hudson and elsewhere, but of late years has been
mostly occupied in farming. He married January 22, 1857, Persis A.,
daughter of William and Persis G. (Moore) Winn, of Hudson. They
commenced house-keeping in the house where they now reside, and which
Mr. Merrill built before his marriage. Their children are A. Gertrude,
J. Everett and George A.
  Mr. Merrill's affiliations are with the Republican party; yet he
never allows himself to be goverened by partisan bias.  He represented
Hudson in the State Legislature in 1876. He has taken an active part
in town affiars, having been a selectman for several terms, town clerk
in 1873, and apopointed to fill a vacancy in same office in 1879, to
which he has been re-elected annually ever since; he was town
treasurer for the years 1873-74, and now holds that office, which he
has had since 1879. He was a charter member of Hudson Grange, No. 11,
and its first secretary, and has held nearly all of the offices; has
been its master and is now its overseer. He is also a member of the 
order of the Golden Cross. In his religious preferences Mr. Merrill is
a Congregationalist, being a member of that church in Hudson and a
president of the society.
 Mr. Merrill stands high in the esteem and regard of his fellow-
townsmen, and in the discharge of the various offices entrusted to him
he has acquitted himself honestly conscientiously and creditably.
Honorable in all dealings, of exemplary character and habits, the
reliance of home and friends, he is in all respects an estimable
citizen, and is one of Hudson's representative men and a worthy
descendant of the early minister.


********
ELI HAMBLET
 Eli Hamblet, son of Thomas and Tamar (Gilson) Hamblet, born in
Hudson (then Nottingham West) May 12, 1810. We find, from early
genealogical records in Massachusetts Historical Society's collection,
that William Hamlet (or Hamblet) born 1614, emigrated to America about
the middle of the seventeenth century. He was a freeman in Cambridge,
Mass., in 1651; removed to Billerica in 1658, and was a substantial
citizen of the town, and was one of the first Baptists of the place.
He married widow Sarah Hubbard, who died at Woburn in 1689. His oldest
son, Jacob, was three times married,--first to Hannah Parker in 1668,
next to Mary Dutton, third to Mary Colburn. His children were Joseph,
William, Jacob, Henry and others. It is not definitely shown, but
probably his son Joseph's three sons,--Hezekiah, Joseph, and Jacob--
were the ones who respectively settled in Dracut, Mass, Hollis and
Stratham, NH.
  JOSEPH HAMBLET, great-grandfather of Eli, was a farmer and miller in
Dracut, Mass on Beaver Brook; settled on lands which he conveyed,
March 4, 1773 to his son, Joseph Hamblet, carpenter, and by him deeded
to his wife in 1774, as he was in ill health. He died soon after.
His son Thomas was probably born after his father's death, October 27,
1775. He was brought up as a farmer by Isaac Colburn (grandfather of
Isaac Colburn, missionary to Burmah), a resident of the south part of
Hudson. Thomas worked at farming and in various mills, particularly in
Hales mill, Chelmsford, Mass, for a number of years. His diligence,
industry and economy raised him to a solid financial standing for those
days. He married Tamar, daughter of Solomon and Tamar (Lawrence) Gilson,
October 21, 1806. The young couple came to Hudson and settled at
Pollard Mills, in which Mr. Hamblet purchased a half-interest; but,
in a few years after, the mill was carried off by a freshet, and he
exchanged his interest in the mill property for a farm of sixty acres
in the south part of the town, where he resided until his death,
November 9, 1850, being about seventy-five years old.  His wife survived
him, dying March 5, 1866. Their children attaining maturity were Eli,
Drusilla (Mrs. Joseph Phelps, deceased), Dorcas S. (married first,
Reuben Frost; second, Joseph Skinner); Alvan (deceased), Joseph and
Gilbert. Mr. Hamblet was a hard-working, economical and prudent
man, a good, honest citizen, social friend and kind neighbor. He was
a Universalist in his religious views; politically a Whig, and held
some town offices.
 Eli passed his boyhood's days, and until he was twenty-one, on the 
farm, and was early taught to know the value of good, honest labor,
which he has never ceased to appreciate. His opportunities for early
education were limited to those attainable at night, after his farm
chorse were finished, by the light of a pine-torch, thus gaining the
knowledge which has been of so much practical value to him in later
years. At the time of his majority, Eli left the farm and went to
Charlestown, Mass., where he engaged in brick-making; he worked at this
business for ten years, slowly, surely and steadily accumulating the
wages so hardly earned, and at the end of that time his savings
amounted to one thousand dollars. About this time, however, he was
prostrated by illness, which incapacitated him for hard labor for 
nearly a year, and, with his capital somewhat retrenched by this 
sickness, he returned to Hudson, and purchased the place, of sixty
acres, which has since been his home.
 He married, first, Lucy Frost, of Tyngsborough, Mass, June 30, 1839;
she died September 24, 1840; second, April 2, 1844, Rebecca, daughter
of Enoch and Susan (Marsh) Butler. She was born in Pelham, February 3,
1819. They commenced house-keeping in the house where they now reside,
and which they have occupied over forty years. Their children are
R. Souvina and Arvilla, both living with their parents. About thirty
years ago Mr. Hamblet's residence was struck by lightning. The shoe was
torn from Mrs. Hamblet's foot, and from the shock she then received
she has never fully recovered.
 After his return to Hudson, Mr. Hamblet devoted himself to agriculture,
and has been a faithful, diligent worker, and by industry, frugality,
and judicious judgement, has acquired a comfortable home. For ten
years he has been agent of the Worcester, Nashua and Rochester Railroad
at Hudson; selectman for six years, having been chairman of the board
for most of the time; he has served on committee of roads and bridges;
as town clerk for nine years and treasurer for the same period; he has
been postmaster at Hudson Centre since the office was located. He has
also been appointed administrator on several estates, and has done
considerable probate business. Whig and Republic in politicis, he
represented the town in the State Legislature of 1865. He was enrolling
officer for Hudson during the Rebellion, and was appointed by the
Governor recruiting agent to fill the quota of enlistments for the town.
He is a Baptist in his religious opinions and had been deacon in that
church for the past three years, and is a prominent teacher in the
Sunday-school.
 Mr. Hamblet is a strong temperance man, is a good member of society,
unostentatious and esteemed in church and social circles, and favors
everything which advances honesty, sobriety and the education,
improvement and elevation of his native town. He is one of a class now,
unfortunately, passing away,--the pleasant, social, unpretentious,
and yet well-informed New England farmer of the last generation. He
has worthily and honestly filled his place in life, conferred honor
on all stations to which he has been called, and in his old age is
the warm friend, trusted confidant and able adviser of a numerous
circle.


(end)