HISTORY OF JEFFERSON, COOS COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE 
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History of Coös County, New Hampshire, by Georgia Drew Merrill; 
Syracuse N.Y.: W.A. Fergusson & Co., 1888, 1888, 1018 pgs. 

page 399
JEFFERSON was formerly called DARTMOUTH, but when it was incorporated
it assumed its present name in honor of Thomas Jefferson.  It embraces
the original territory of Dartmouth, and a part of Kilkenny.

The first charter of Dartmouth, granted October 3, 1765, to John
Goffe, Esq., and fifty-seven others, among them David Page of
Lancaster was forfeited; and June 26, 1772, it was again granted, but
to different persons from the first, excepting four, whose names
appear as grantees in both charters, namely Theodore Atkinson, Daniel
Ward, Mark Hunking Wentworth and Stephan Holland.  There were seventy
shares and seventy grantees named in the second chater, which granted
"something more than six miles square; twenty-four thousand, five
hundred and eighty-one acres," bounded thus:--
  "Beginning at a white pine tree (marked I.G. October 1765-6) standing
on the westerly side of Israel's River, so-called, nearly opposite the
second crotch from Connecticut River, and running west one hundred and
sixty-three rods to Lancaster easterly line; thence south 69 degrees
west one hundred and sixty-eight rods by Lancaster, from thence south
six miles, two hundred and sixty rods to a rock maple tree (marked
V.R. 1771), then turning off and running East five miles and an half
mile, thence west four miles and one half mile to the bound began at."

Among the conditions of the charter all white pine suitable for
masting the Royal Navy was reserved for the Crown; certain improvements
were to be done; and all the reservations and specifications of the
formal charter of that day were presented.

The signers of the original document requesting incorporation, signed
in Dartmouth 29th May 1793 were John Marden, Samuel Hart, Richard
Stalbird, James Rider, John holmes, Samuel holmes and Elijah Moulton.

In House of Representatives, June 12, 1793 a hearing was ordered, but
this petition was NOT granted, and another was presented by Col.
Joseph Whipple, as agent for the town, dated May 20, 1796, which was
granted.

INCORPORATION--By an act of legislature approved December 8, 1796,
the territory of Dartmouth was incorporated as the town of Jefferson.
"John Marden (or in the case of his death, other disability or
refusal, Jonas Baker) is hereby authorized to call the first town
meeting of said inhabitants to choose all necessary and customary
town officers, giving fourteen days notice of the time, place and
design of such meeting."

TOWN RECORDS--As early as March 1798, we have the first record of a
town meeting, in which John Marden was chosen moderator, Samuel
Plaisted, town clerk, and Benning Simes, James Hight and Samuel
Plaisted, selectmen.  JOhn Ingerson was collector and James Hight
and Benning Simes were his bondsmen.  William Hewes, Richard Marden 
and Capt. James Rider were surveyors of highways, and William Summers
and William Moulton "tythingmen."  Benjamin Hicks and Daniel Moulton
"hog reeves."  Daniel Moulton was engaged to get a copy of the
'charter of the town'....

There were at this time about twenty voters and the tax list contained
the names of Joseph Whipple, Richard Marden, James Hight, John Marden,
William Hewes, John Ingerson, William Ingerson, Samuel Marden, William
Moulton, George Holmes, Samuel W. Hart, Samuel Hart, Samuel Plaisted,
Benning Simes, Ezekiel Moulton, John Holmes, Benjamin Hicks, Lazarus
Holmes, John Garland, John Holmes, James Rider, Richard Stalbird,
Thomas Whittam, William Shores, Daniel Moulton, William Summers, F.K.
Foster, James Twombley, Benjamin Twombley, Reuben Haywood, James
Wentworth and Joseph Bachelder.

ROADS AND TAVERNS--The "old turnpike" for years was the principle
road in Jefferson.  It was the great thoroughfare between "the Upper
Coos" and Portland.  It was on this road at the Meadows where the
Whipple farm was located, and probably, the first public house opened.
Here, on a wild mountain stream, were erected a saw-mill and a mill
for grinding provender.  Soon after the mills were erected on Israel's
river at "Jefferson Mills" by Mr. Whipple, and in 1804 a good bridge
was built across the river at this place and rebuilt in 1826.

The old county road from Gorham, on the Androscoggin, through
Randolph, over Jefferson hill to Lancaster, was in use at an early
date; and May 26, 1820 a road from Jefferson hill to "Whipple's"
on the turnpike was "laid out" and surveyed by Jonas Baker, Esq.
This road was so straight that you could look from one end and see
the other, distant about four miles, through heavily timbered woods.
No engineering instruments were used; nothing but a true eye served
as guide.

In 1799 Eleazer Dennison, Esq. kept a public house situated down the
river about four miles from the Whipple place, at what is now known
as the Howe farm.  From this point on the turnpike a road was "laid
out" to Whitefield line, June 7, 1820.  This place is perhaps a mile
up the river from Jefferson Mills.  Dennison's license was signed
by John Marden, James Rider, William Hewes, selectmen of Jefferson;
Reuben Haywood, town clerk.

Samuel Plaisted was also licensed as a "tavernor" September 5, 1811.
Mr. Plaisted was an agent for Mr. Whipple, and probably opened the
first public house in town.  His son, B.H. Plaisted, Esq. kept the
old "Red tavern" for many years, and in 1860 built a part of the
famous "Waumbek Hotel," now occupied by Charles Hartshorn, Esq.
In 1874 B.H. Plaisted built the "Plaisted House," now opened by his
son Philip C. Plaisted.

1812 Residents Poll Stock
[The list of their property, although included in the original 
document, is not included here, ONLY the names of those residents]
Jack Stocks, George Holmes, William Summers, Thomas Willson, Samuel
Plaisted Jr., Ezra Foster, Joseph Whipple, Esq, Samuel Plaisted Esq.,
William Denison, Abner Flanders, Jabez Garland, Benning Simes, Isaac
Sawyer, Richard Perkins, Richard Perkins Jr., William Chamberlain, 
John Hart, Nicholas Stillings, George Ingerson, Lazarus Holmes, 
Mehitable Hight, John Garland, Nathaniel Stalbird, John Ingerson,
William Ingerson, Ephraim Drew, James Rider, James Holmes, James
Holmes Jr., John Holmes, Nath. Holmes, Daniel Deshong, Daniel Moulton,
Samuel Marden, John Marden, Jabez Garland, George Simes, William
Summers Jr., Benjamin Hicks, David Perkins, Ebenezer Grant, Thomas
Marden, Paul Nute, Thomas D. Bailey, Bailey Dennison and Noyes
Dennison.

POPULATION
In 1775 Jefferson contained four inhabitants; in 1790, one hundred
and eleven; in 1800 one hundred twelve.  The reason the population
increased so slowly was to be due to the reluctance of the proprietor
to sell the lands.  

[General description of the township in the original document is not
included here].

TRADITIONS--The early settlers of Cohos found relics of the ill-fated
Rangers, and tradition keeps green their memory in many a tale, 
which almost indicates the exact spot where the silver image,
weighing eight pounds, which they brought from the church at St.
Francis, and the long rolls of guineas, and other spoils were buried.
Here is one which has so often been told as to be by many as 
implicitly believed as if it were true.

A party of nine Rangers trusted themselves to an Indian guide on
the Connecticut near the head of the Fifteen-mile falls, who agreed
 to take them through the Great Pass (Notch) of the mountains to
the settlements below.  They had a silver image, which in their
weakened condition was a heavy load.  Their guide led them up the
Connecticut to Israel's river, and up this to the deep snow-laden
gorges at the foot of the great White Hills.  Pretending a fear that
the Great Spirit would kill him if he ventured on the region of the
Agiocochook, the Indian made a rude map on birch bark, and gave it to
one of the Rangers, at the same time, apparently accidentally
scratching his hand with a poisonous fang of a rattle snake.
Toiling on through the deep snows over the steep rocks, the poison
did its fatal work, and under the resulting madness, the Ranger flung
himself over a precipice to his death.  The survivors, after a hasty
consultation, concluded to bury their treasures in a cave where the
fear of the Indians would prevent their discovery, and save themselves.
The false chart of their guide misled them, and they wandered many
days, suffering extreme hunger, and one by one, succumbed to the
fatique and cold.  Only one, it is said, survived, and he was crazed 
by his fearful exposure and suffering.  Years after some hunters
found a barkless spot on a pine tree at the mouth of a wild ravine,
on which were many half obliterated characters engraved by some rude
tool.  Near this were rusty button, rotting cloth, a small copper
kettle and the metallic parts of a gun.  At the foot of a steep bank
six rusty gun-barrels were found with what might once have been a
pile of knapsacks.  An old hunter, exploring for this hidden treasure,
sought shelter from a terrible storm under a projecting cliff.  Here
he discovered in the farther corner a hatchet deeply encrusted with
rust and a roll of birch bark covered with wax of wild bees.  In the
roll was an Indian-tanned fawn skin covered with mysterious
characters.  Many searches have been made for this hidden treasure,
and yet the rocks preserve wll the secret of the truth or falsity
of this strange story.

J.H. Spaulding gives this legend in his work on the White Mountains--
 "Among the defiles to the southeast at the head of Israel's river
tradition locates the destruction of a detachment of Roger's Rangers,
under circumstances wierdly horrible.  The church plate, candlesticks,
and a massive silver image were carried away by the conquerors of
St. Francis.  But large Indian forces rapidly gathered and hung on
the line of their retreat, while heavy snows impeded the march. The
Rangers soon broke up in small parties, each of which made its
independent way southward.  Nine of them attempted to carry the silver
image to civilization, but were led astray by a perfidious Indian
guide, who piloted them up Israel's river into the gloomy labyrinths
of pine in the trackless gorges near its head, and then eluded them,
after having poisoned one with a rattlesnake's fang.  Bewildered
among these dark ravines they sank, one by one, under terrible
deprivation, and but one reached the settlements, bearing a knapsack
partly filled with human flesh.  The golden candlesticks were found
near Lake Memphremagog in 1816, but the most earnest quest has not
yet availed to discover the silver image.
 "Numerous legents have been developed on this romantic background
among which are those of the hunter and the fawn-skin and parchment,
the skeleton Indian in the speaking storm, the magic stone, the
fortune-teller and the midnight quest, and the screeching of lost
spirits.  The most beautiful of these traditions is that of a lonely
hunter, camping at night far up toward Mt. Adams, before whose
astonished vision the mountain mist rolled back and showed a great
stone church, and within this was an altar, where from a sparkling
censer rose a curling wreath of incense smoke, and around it lights
dispersed a mellow glow, by which in groups before the altar appeared
a tribe of savages kneeling in profound silence.  A change came in the
wind; a song loud and long rose as a voice offering to the Great
Spirit! then church spire, church and altar vanished, and down the
steep rock trailed a long line of strange looking men, in solemn
silence.  Before all, as borne by some airy spirit, sported a 
glittering image of silver, which in the deep shadows changed into
fairy shape, and, with sparkling wings, disappeared in the rent
rocks."

Colonel Joseph Whipple, for years the leading man of this section,
came in 1773, and obtained the ownership of the whole town as
follows: February 17, 1774, he purchased of Josiah Willard, of
Winchester, three sevenths of the town, being twenty-six of the
original rights, paying therefor 400 pounds.  April 12, 1774, he
purchased of John Hurd, of Portsmouth, for 400 pounds "proclamation
money," the rights of twenty-six other grantees.  September 29, 1775
he paid John Hurd 30 pounds for two more rights.  Colonel Whipple
was for many years collector of taxes for the proprietors, and under
this authority, he sold five shares for taxes about June 1, 1785.
Each share was sold for 6 pounds, except one which brought
6 pounds 5 shillings.  By June 31, 1785, Colonel Whipple had bought
them for exactly the sums for which they were sold.  He had now
purchased sixty-two of the seventy shares, paying 905-5-0 (about
$4,023).  We cannot find any record of a transfer to Mr. Whipple
of the remaining eight shares; but at a sheriff's sale held
November 9, 1796, by Daniel Webster, sheriff of Grafton county,
at the house of Capt. Joseph Bliss, in Haverhill, Col. Whipple
bid off the whole township for $181.62.  This sale was made by
reason of non-payment of state taxes for 1786-1790.  He had now
acquired title to the whole town for about $4,200, an average of
$60.07 per share.  The town was divided into eleven ranges with
twenty-four lots in a range, each lot containing 100 acres.  The
price at which the first lots were sold was one dollar per acre.
It was customary, however, for the Colonel to give settlers fifty
acres and sell them the other half of the lot.  This was ostensibly
done to induce settlers to come here, but it was not infrequently
the case that the recipient of the gift had to pay $100 for the
other fifty acres of the lot.  But notwithstanding all that tradition
says against Col. Whipple, he was more than a common man and active
in the early improvements.  Largely by him, and through his influence,
roads were made, mills built, taverns opened, stores, civilization
introduced, and the wilderness reclaimed for thriving homes.  Many
years ago, however, he ceased to own any portion of the town.

During the Revolution, Col. Whipple was here captured in his own
house by a party of savages headed by a white man.  He asked leave to
go into another room to change his apparel, and to get some necessary
articles for his march to Canada.  This was granted, and he seized
the opportunity to jump out of a back window and escape into the
woods, where he eluded their pursuit.  A Mr. Gotham, who lived with
the Colonel, escaped at the same time, and running directly for the
river, he was shot at while crossing it on a log, but the ball cut
down an alder instead of the man, and he escaped without any harm but
a sad fright.  The party plundered the house, supplied themselves
plentifully with provisions, and departed without further injury.

EARLY SETTLERS--James Hight, a ship carpenter from Portsmouth came
in 1797 as Whipple's agent to take charge of his business.  He paid,
November 10, 1798, $100 for one half of Lot No. #, range 5, the
other half of the lot being given him.  Mr. Hight's house was 
nearly opposite "The Sunny Side" cottage.  His daughter Mehetable,
afterwards Mrs. John Garland, was the first child born to the
settlers of the town.  The "old pound" was built in Mr. Hight's
garden.  Eleazer Dennison was Mr. Whipple's next agent.  Samuel
Plaisted was his third agent, and settled on lot 13, range 10,
which was deeded to him, September 20, 1792, "said Plaisted to
settle on the same, carry on the blacksmith trade and pay 15 pounds."
November 2, 1797, Lot No. 9, range 7 -- 100 acres-- was deeded to
John Holmes.  One half was given him; for the other he paid $50.
The "Waumbek Cottage" stands on this lot.  John Marden settled on
lot 8, range 6.  He paid $100 for his land, November 11, 1799, and a
second deed was given after Col. Whipple received his deed of the
township from the sheriff.  William Ingerson, Samuel Hart, Marden
and Holmes came together from the navy yard at Portsmouth in the fall
of 1797, with their families.  They all lived in some small log house
during the winter, and settled on four contiguous lots, which were
as good ones as were in the town.

Among other early settlers were Benjamin Hicks, Capt. James Ryder,
William Danforth and Lazarus Holmes.  While serving in the Revolution,
they were captured by the British and paroled.  Their officers did
not recognize their parole on their return, and, on their refusing to
serve until exchanged, pronounced them deserters.  Being warned of
approaching arrest and court martial, they fled to Jefferson and
were secreted at "Pond of Safety" in Durand (Randolph) until the
close of the war.  This gave the name to the pond.  After the war
closed they all settled in Jefferson and ranked among the best
citizens.  Peter and Nicholas Stillings were also early settlers.
While some of the settlers knew much about pioneer life, many were
entirely unacquainted with its hardships.  None, however, anticipated
what they were to experience.  With many, the first few years were
absolute struggles for life.  The severities of winter, scarcity of
clothing, scantiness and lack of variety of food, rudeness and
inconvenience of their poor log houses, remoteness from mills and
markets, lack of money and of means of getting it, the cold summers
and short crops, combined with the barren educational facilities and
destitution of religious privileges would have utterly discouraged
any by the boldest and most resolute.  The lack of salt was one great
evil.  A form of goitre, or swelled throat, was prevalent from this
cause, particularly among the children.  For the use of a horse to
go to Portsmouth and return with two bushels of salt, one bushel was
frequently paid.  Grists were carried on horseback, or on "cars"
made of two poles fastened together: the horse or ox being attached to
one end as to a pair of thrills, the other, bearing the burden,
dragging on the ground.  Had it not been for the game and fish,
which were abundant, many must have starved.  Trout weighing seven
pounds were not uncommonly found in Israel's river; moose could be
killed at almost any time, and the meat preserved by drying or
smoking; bear were equally as plenty.  After corn and wheat were
raised, much of it was pounded in large wooden mortars, and cooked
and eaten.

The first white woman of the town was Nancy, whose story has been 
told in every book published concerning the White Mountains.  Her
full name is said by some to be Nancy Livermore; but the weight of
authority gives it as Nancy Barton.  She came here as cook for Col.
Whipple, and kept a boarding-house for the men who were clearing
land for him.  She was a hard-working woman, and by her toil in this
wild country, had accumulated some money, which in the fall of 1788,
she entrusted to an employee of Col. Whipple, with the intention of
going with him to Portsmouth with the Colonel's next party, and
settling down there to the enjoyment of married life.  This did not
meet the Colonel's wishes, for he did not desire to lose his
competent cook, and he arranged with her treacherous lover to start
during her temporary absence at Lancaster.  She learned this, by
some means, the day of their departure, at once walked to Jefferson,
tied up a small bundle of clothing and set out to overtake them at
their first stopping place, the "Notch" thirty miles distant through
an unbroken wilderness.  She travelled all night through the freshly
fallen snow, reached the camp soon after they had left,
tried in vain to re-kindle the fire, and then hastened on after
them through the "Notch" and wild valley of the Saco.  For several
hours she continued her course, fording and re-fording the icy
river.  Exhausted nature at last gave way, and she was found, frozen
to death, a few hours afterwards, by a party who came after her from
Col. Whipple's farm.  Nancy's bridge and Nancy's rock in Bartlett
both claim the melancholy honor of being the place where she expired.

DEBORAH VICKER--The second woman was Deborah Vicker, who came from
Portsmouth, and succeeded Nancy as cook for Col. Whipple. She lived
here eighteen months before she saw a white woman.  She brought with
her the first Bible in town, for which she paid ten weeks' work,
at fifty cents a week.  Her strong mind, energetic will, and
remarkable physical endurance gave her immense influence among the
Indians and settlers of a broad extent of the territory.  Tradition
tells us that she made the first maple sugar of the settlement, in 
what is now John A. Hick's sugar orchard.  Col. Whipple paid her over
a year's salary in depreciated Continental currency which he knew to
be nearly valueless.  When she learned of the character of the pay,
she quietly waited until the Colonel came again from Portsmouth,
when she remonstrated with him in such a forcible manner that he
gave her a choice of any unsold fifty acres in the town, in addition
to what she had been paid.  She chose the lower half of lot No. 10,
range 6.  In the deed made by Col. Whipple, December 10, 1797,
the consideration is given as "one dollar duly and truly in hand
paid before the delivery hereof, and the love I bear to the said
Deborah Vicker."  She at once employed Benjamin Hicks to fell some
trees and begin a clearing.  Returning to Portsmouth in a few months
she married Richard Stalbird, and the next spring came to Jefferson.
Mr. Stalbird thought this land too rocky, and exchanged it with Col.
Whipple for the upper half of the lot.  Here Mr. and Mrs. Stalbird
settled and made their life residence.  In later years she added to
her natural great skill in nursing a knowledge of Indian rememdies,
and travelled, an angel of mercy, through northern New Hampshire,
braving all kinds of dangers to relieve suffering, and was welcomed
everywhere as "Granny Stalbird."

The first communication with Lancaster was by a bridle-path, without
bridges, along Israel's river.  The first path from the Notch came
over the hill back of the Elephant's Head.  Colonel Whipple did a 
great labor on this.  The first cows brought to town came by this
path.  The first barrel of rum in the settlement came on a car along
the route, and was brought by Samuel Marden.

Adino N. Brackett wrote this description of Jefferson in 1821--
 "The turnpike road, leading from Lancaster to Portland, runs
through Jefferson; and a road of considerable travel, which passes
by the north end of the White Mountains, branches off from the
turnpike in this town.  The easterly side runs up high on Mount
Pliny, which lies mostly in this town.  Along the southwesterly and
westerly side of this mountain lie a number of excellent and
beautiful farms, which command a most delightful view of the White
Mountains.
  "Israel's river runs tshrough Jefferson from southeast to northest.
It receives a considerable southern branch a little southward of
the seat formerly owned by Col. Joseph Whipple, and now by Daniel
Austin, Esq.  Here the river forms an extensive and beautiful meadow.
This lies directly in front of the house, and during the spring and
summer months, is clothes in the richest vegetable green.  The
meadow is perfectly level, which might fatigue the eye, were it not
occasionally caught by a majestic spreading elm, which the taste of
the owner has suffered to occupy the spot where it has stood rooted
for ages.  In addition to these, the fine farms before mentioned lie
directly before you a short distance beyond the meadow, between which,
and the farms at the base of Mount Pliny, stretches a zone of fine
forest trees; and, to complete the scenery, a little to the right
appear the lofty domes of Mount Washington, Mount Jefferson, and
Mount Adams.  The beauty, the variety, and the grandeur of the
objects which are here presented, render it one of the most
delightful spots, during a clear summers day, which is anywhere to
be found in actual existence, and the imagination can hardly create
a finer scene.  But when the clouds begin to roll over the mountains
in dreadful haste, all is at once changed; what before was beautiful
now become terrible; the clouds, broken by the violence of the wind,
cover, in part, the mountains' heads, or roll down and envelope the
plains in darkness.  If the eye breaks the gloom, the mountain
resembles a gigantic maniac ready to seize the affrighted 
inhabitants.
  The land in the westerly part of the town is too wet for
cultivation.  The high land is covered with a growth of hard wood,
of which the sugar maple forms a considerable part.  The low land is
covered with spruce, fir and larch.  There are few pines in the town,
but not enought for the use of the inhabitants.  There is no saw or
grist mill in Jefferson, nor any machinery carried by water.  About
a year ago (1820) a fine set of mills, which were erected by Col.
Whipple at a great expense, were burned down.  Israel's river
furnishes water and sites sufficient for any number of mills.
Jefferson has not settled minister, but it is believed a regular
Baptist church exists there.  It has an handsome and convenient
school-house.

BOUNDARIES AND POPULATION--Jefferson is bounded north by Lancaster
and Kilkenny, east by Randolph, south by the White Mountain region 
and Carroll, west by Whitefield.  The population in 1810 was 197;
in 1820, 252; in 1885, 965.  December 7, 1842, all the inhabitable
portion of Kilkenny was annexed to Jefferson, and it now forms the
east and southeastern part of the town.  The total valuation of the
town in March 1887, was $288,972; the number of polls, 318; number
of horses, 394; number of cattle 988; number of sheep, 661.

=============
CIVIL LIST

REPRESENTATIVES--Immediately after the annual town meeting, that day
when the citizens of each little republic met to choose their
servants for "the year ensuing," came the great day of the year,
the district meeting, at which the ambitious would-be-representative
was elected to go to Concord or--to stay at home.  Few people of the
present day realize with what vim and energy a campaign of this kind
was conducted.  Food was free, and "refreshment" flowed. 

The "District" was composed of Lancaster, Jefferson, Bretton Woods,
and Nash and Sawyer's Location.  Of course Lancaster was the larger 
town.  The records show that a meeting held in Jefferson in 1801,
Richard C. Everett was elected representative; in 1803, 1807, 1809,
1811 William Lovejoy; in 1813, 1815, 1817 A.N. Bracket.

In 1809 Samuel Plaisted, of Jefferson, had forty-six voted for
representative, but it does not appear that he was elected until
1820.  The district now was composed of Jefferson, Durand (called
Randolph a few years later), Shelburne, Shelburne Addition (Gorham),
Bretton Woods, and Nash and Sawyer's Location.  This year, 1820,
Samuel Plaisted was elected. In 1821 and 1812 Frederick Ingalls was
chosen.  In 1828 and 1830 William Chamberlain was chosen.  Mr.
Chamberlain was one of the first settlers, and evidently a prominent
man in town.  In 1832, Clovis Lowe was chosen; 1834, Daniel Pinkham;
1836, Robert Tuttle; 1838, David Legro; 1840, Robert Tuttle; 1841
Justus Low; 1843, Joseph Meserve; 1845 James G. Summers; 1847,
Edward Parsons.  In 1850 Jefferson had 161 voters and was entitled to
send a representative alone, and elected Benjamin H. Plaisted (He
was the son of Samuel Plaisted, who was representative in 1820).
B.H. Plaisted was also representative in 1851 and 1852.
[The original document goes on to show the representatives from 1853
to 1887, not included here].

TOWN CLERKS
1798-Samuel Plaisted
1799-Reuben Haywood
1800-1806-James Hight
1807-08 Eleazer Dennison
1809-12 John Marden
1813-1814 Samuel Plaisted Jr.
1824-1826 Timothy Faulkner
1827-1830 Benjamin Hicks Jr.
1831 Hubbard Holmes
1832-1838 Benjamin Hicks Jr.
1839-40 Aaron M. Pottle
1841 Benjamin Hicks Jr.
1842-1848 Edward Parson
1859 Francis W. Town, moved away, Moses Woodward took place
1850 Edward Parsons
[The original book goes on to include town clerks to 1887 but are
not included here.]

page 412
SELECTMEN
1798-Benning Simes, James Hight, Samuel Plaisted
1799-John Marden, James Rider, William Hewes
1800-Samuel Plaisted, Eleazer Dennison, Benjmain Hicks
1801-JOhn Marden, James Rider, William Hewes
1802-Samuel Plaisted, Timothy Holmes, Asa Grosvenor
1803-James Rider, Samuel Plaisted, Benning Simes
1804-Timothy Holmes, Thomas Marden, Samuel Plaisted
1805-Thomas Marden, William Summers, Thomas Hart
1806-Benning Simes, Samuel Plaisted, Samuel Hart
1807-John Ingerson, Thomas Marden, Benning Simes
1808-Samuel Plaisted, Eleazer Dennison, Lazerus Holmes
1809-Benning Simes, Thomas Marden, William Chamberlain
1810-James Rider, William Summers, Benning Simes
[The original source goes on to list the selectmen to the year 1887,
but are not included here]

SUPERVISORS
1880-Nathan R. Perkins, Jacob Davis, William Crawshaw
[additional listings in original, not included here]

EDUCATION--At the first town meeting of which we have record,
Tuesday March 13, 1798 it was voted to raise thirty dollars in 
cash or wheat to support a school.... There was no school house, and,
at an adjourned meeting held December 19 (1799) it was voted that
the school tax be used to pay town charges.  March 8, 1803 it was
voted to build a school-house and a committee chosen.  By 1806 a 
schoolhouse still had not been built, and a petition to the
town committee requesting same was signed by Benjamin Hicks, James
Hight, John Marden, Thomas Marden, John Wentworth, Lazeras Holmes,
John Garland, Samuel Marden, William Summers, Nick Stillings, and
Joshua Hart.

There was much disagreement on whether to build a school-house, where
it would be located and how to pay for it.  It was not until around
1816 that one was actually built, before that students were taught
at home.  By 1819 the town had four school districts. 
[additional information on schools, and school officers, found in 
the original document, are not included here.]

FIRST SERMON--In Dr. Jeremy Belknap's account of his tour to the
White Mountains in the summer of 1784, we find that the first sermon
preached in Jefferson was by Dr. Belknap.  His text was from
1 Corinthians, 6:19,20.  Rev. Daniel Little, then pastor of the
church in Kennebunk, Maine, baptized eight children; Rev. Manasseh
Cutler, of Ipswich, Mass., made the concluding prayer.  Thirty-eight
people of the place were present.  The religious service was held
in Col. Whipple's barn, Tuesday afternoon, July 26, during a thunder
shower.

CHURCHES IN JEFFERSON--

BAPTIST CHURCH--About 1822 a Baptist Church was established.
Among the members were Mr. Plaisted and wife, William Chamberlain and
wife, Absalom Forbes, and Nathaniel Moulton. One of the first
ministers to arrive was Isaac N. Hobard who came here from Maine.
Rev. Mr. McGregor was also here at one time, and Philip Chamberland
from Hebron, Me.  About 1835, under Chamberlain's pastorate, a
Baptist Church was built... 

FREE WILL BAPTIST CHURCH--About 1824 a Free Will Baptist church was
organized at East Jefferson, and was in the care of Elder John Morse,
of Randolph.  It was active from 1824 to 1837 when Elder Morse
moved from Randolph to Gorham.  Among the members of this church
were Benjamin Estes and wife, Josiah Hall, Joseph Hall, Phebe Hall,
Thomas Whittam, Jonah Hite, Rebecca Huntley, Polly Hite, Willard
Huntley and Ketury Estes.  Benjamin Estes was probably "deacon."
[more information in original document not included here]

METHODISM--In 1820 John Smith from Vermont preached once in four
weeks.  Other circuit minister came from time to time.
Wilbur Latham lived for a while on the Tuttle place where the
"Grand View" House now stands.  He preached the funeral of
Eliakim Hartford, who was drowned May 8, 1832.  Latham and
Chamberlain preached in the "Old North School-house" and each
had his friends and followers.  

[Near the Hartford grave, in a secluded shady nook, rest the remains of 
a siter who died in 1819,and close by, lovingly lean toward each other, 
the grave stones ofHon. Samuel Plaisted and wife.  A son of Plaisted, 
too, rests here,who, a mossy slab tells us was drowned in Connecticut river.]

By 1856 members included Henry W. Marden (elder), Harriet E. Marden,
T.A. Hall, Mary A. Hall, Edward Parsons, Maria D. Parsons,
Joshua Plaisted, Eleanor Plaisted, Sarah Woodward, Rebecca Drew,
Louisa Drew, Lucy P. Pinkham, Arvilla Folsom, Clarissa Holmes,
Lydia Ann Plaisted, Reuben Plaisted, Vienna Tuttle, E.S. McIntire,
Mahitable McIntire, Mary A. Bedell, Caroline D. Garland, Abial
Bedell, and Mercy Chamberlain.

About 1860 a Methodist church was organized with Rev. Truman
Carter, preacher in charge.
[more information in the original document not included here.]

---------------------
THE SLIDE--Cherry mountain, rising 3,219 feet in the air and
beautifully wooded to the summit, with the bald spur known as
"Owl's Head" as its northern limit, is a striking feature of the
landscape in the vicinity of Jefferson.  Nowhere else can the vast
arc of circling peaks comprising the Pilot, Presidential and Franconia
ranges be seen in such grandeur of array.  From its summit the
winding valley of Israel's river with its noble enclosing hills,
the Androscoggin with its clean banks and many islands, can be
traced till lost in the dim horizon.  The slope of the moutain from
the spur of Owl's Head is steep and heavily wooded.  Following an
irregular course down the mountainside at this point flows a little
brook, one of the feeders of Cherry pond--an atracative sheet of
water in the plain below.  The surface of the ascent while
precipitous is quiet regular and unbroken till the summit is
approached.  Just where the wood and the hillside merge into the
fertile and level meadow begins the farm of John Boudreau,
whose dwelling house stands on the brow of the shallow ravine through
which the streamlet runs.  Two minutes' walk below in a direct line
was the home of Oscar Stanley, one of the worthy farmers of Jefferson.
By Stanley's house ran the Cherry mountain road.  A lofty and solid
stone wall girls the road on either side, while below the highway
was a grass field terminating in a thin patch of woodland sixty
rods away.  Five miles to the eastward lies Whitefield, and across
the valley on the opposite side is Jefferson.

CHERRY MOUNTAIN LAND SLIDE occurred July 10, 1885, about six o'clock
in the morning.  There had been heavy rains the week previous, and
especially the night before; the mountain rill was far beyond its
usual size, and had become an angry torrent.  Suddenly there was a
loud crash, followed by a roaring, rushing sound as of many waters,
and it seemed to Oscar Stanley, and his men, who were at work with
him, as if the mountains were coming down.  They sprang to a place
of safety, when immediately a wave of solid earth surmounted by
trees and rocks came surging down the green fields.  Mr. Stanley's
house, which was in process of erection, was entirely demolished
and swept away in a moment.  One and on this tumultous mass of
irresistable motion went for two miles from the starting point,
when its power was lessened by the level ground below, where it
spread over twenty acres.  One million tons of earth and stone were
hurled into the valley, and one hundred thousand feet of timber
was strewn over the plain; huge boulders were uplifted from their
foundations, and came crashing into each other with a terrible
velocity.  This slide was from fifty to 100 feet in depth, and from
100 to 800 feet in width.  The only loss of life was that of Donald
Walker, who died of his injuries.  The slide began close to the
summit, descending in a straight line till it struck the water-course
which it followed truly to the end.  A huge scar on the mountain
side marks the track with amazing distinctness.

JEFFERSON MEADOWS--a small village built up by, and belonging to,
Browns' Lumber Co., contains from fifteen to twenty houses; is a
station on the Whitefield & Jefferson railroad.  Edward Ray is station
agent and cashier of the railroad.  Manasseh Perkins has been
express agent and conductor on the railroad from its opening in 1879.

POST OFFICES--There are three postoffices: JEFFERSON, Richard B.
Eastman; JEFFERSON HEIGHTS, George W. Crawford, postmaster;
MEADOWS--Edward Ray, postmaster.

LUMBER--Besides Brown's Lumber Co., G.W. & N.W. Libbey, Rines &
Simpson, and Jewett & SOn are engaged in the production of lumber.

MERcHANTS--The firm of Bowker & Co. (Brown's Lumber Co) conducts a
large establishment at Jefferson Meadows.  J.B. McIntire at
Jefferson Hill has a favorable reputation and carries a good stock
of goods; E.E. Plaisted conducts another long established house.

PHYSICIAN--C.H. Burnham, M.D. at Jefferson Hill.  He has one of the
most attractive and artistic residences in the region.

SUMMER HOTELS AND BOARDING HOUSES--The chief industry of the town
outside of the lumber business is the conducting of houses for the
accomodation of summer visitors.  Hundreds come annually to vist
this charming resort where they can hold communion with Nature in
one of its most sublime abodes, and can breathe the exhilirating
air, which stimulates like wine. Jefferson Hill is one long line of
summer hotels and boarding houses, and we state a fact when we
say that nowhere can be found pleasanter resting places, more
satisfactory tables, or more genial entertainers.  Prices and
accomodations can be found suited to all purses.  We affix a list
of the more prominent ones with the number they can accomodate.


Waumbek Hotel................Waumbek Hotel Co. ............250
Plaisted House...............P.C. Plaisted.................125
Starr King House.............C.K. Gile..................... 80
Maple House..................Mrs. M.H. Bowles.............. 50
Stalbird House...............Levi Stalbird................. 25
Sunnyside House..............Charles McIntire...............25
Cold Spring House............W.H. Crawford..................30
Jefferson Hill House.........E.E. Bedel & Co. ............. 100
Grand View House.............Mrs. Benjamin Tuttle........... 50
Woodward Cottage.............Mrs. C.A. Woodward............. 20
Hillside Farmhouse...........N.M. Davenport................. 30
Mount Adams House............W. Cranshaw.................... 60
Crawford House...............E.A. Crawford.................. 50
Pliny Range House............George W. Crawford & Son....... 30
Highland House...............G.A. & G.L. Pottle............. 60
Willow Cottage...............J.A. Hicks..................... 10
Union House..................Hight Brothers................  30
Cloverdale Cottage...........John Palmer...................  20
Waumbek Cottage..............Oscar Stanley.................  25

BENJAMIN HICKS
Benjamin Hicks of Lee came here early.  When but sixteen he was a 
soldier in the Continental army of the Revolution, so his birth must
have been in 1760 or '61.  His son, DAVID HICKS was born in Jefferson
August 17, 1796.  He bought the 100 acre lot, on which he has since
lived, from Samuel Plaisted in 1818, married Eliza, daughter of John
and Betsey (Hight) Garland, December 25, 1824.  Their children were
Horace D., Elizabeth (Mrs. N.R. Perkins), Alice J. (Mrs. James Tate),
John A., Harriet T. and Joseph G.  In connection with farming he has
done much in nice wood-work; formerly made spinning wheels, clock
reels, etc.  Democrat in politics; he has always been a quiet,
law-abiding citizen, very fond of his rod and gun and of trapping.
He is a Calvinist Baptist and was called "deacon."

BENJAMIN HUNKING PLAISTED
Benjamin Hunking Plaisted was born May 16, 1808 at Jefferson Meadows,
on the Colonel Whipple place.  His hotel experience begain in a small
wayside inn on Jefferson Hill; and at the suggestion of Rev. Starr
King, he erected the original Waumbek House, which he sold, and,
about 1872 built the popular Plaisted House.  He was a landlord who
entertained with old-time hospitality and generosity.  Mr. Plaisted
was also conversant with town affairs, represented Jefferson several
terma in the state legislature, and was a member of the first board
of railroad commissioners chosen by the state of New Hampshire.
He died December 16, 1881, and was buried with Masonic honors.
His wife, Mrs. Rebecca Plaisted, his sons, Charles and Philip C.,
and three daughters survived him.

DANIEL AUSTIN
Daniel Austin, who purchased the Col. Whipple place, was originally
from Massachusetts, a refined gentleman and a Unitarian clergyman.
Farm life in these wild regions did neither agree with his nature
nor his finances, for he lost his property, returned to Massachusetts,
and there married a very wealthy lady which brought him comfort in
his latter days.  But when he left Jefferson he said he would not
return until he came with a fine pair of horses of his own.  This
he did some years later.

A GOOD STORY--Hon. A.S. Bachellor, of Littleton, related the story of
a good natured controversy he once heard on the White Mountain Express
between Plymouth and Littleton.  The parties were Northern New
Hampshire lawyers, politicians and businessmen.  'Whether Jefferson
village had a higher altitude than Bethlehem Street,' was the
question.  "Among the Clouds" and "Echo" were quoted.  The testimony
of members of the factions, who had stood in one village and looked
down into the other, were taken, and the passengers who listened to
the argument and evidence soon got merry, and then uproarious.
"Nate" Perkins led the Jefferson party, and John G. Sinclair cited
a passage in the "organ of the summit," which summarized Bethlehem
as the "ultima thule" of the mountain region.  "Nate" called upon
Maj. Drew, his lawyer backer, to translate it, and declare in
triumph when the "English" of it came, that it must be correct, for
that was always the idea of the place.  "Ultima thule," said the
barrister, means "bottomless pit."  Thus the bantering progressed
till Sinclair's muse came to the rescue of Bethlehem, and, as the
conductor called 'change for Bethlehem,' we got the following lines,
impromptu, from the genial John, and then a truce was called:--

     The Bethlehemites, as high as kites,
     Look down the run towards Jefferson.
     Whose people there, in sheer despair,
     'Neath shadow of our mountains,
     Sit on logs and fish for frogs,
     In bog bound muddy fountains.
     With hay disease, oh! hear them sneeze,
     The poor unhappy creatures!
     While clouds of flies around them rise,
     And armies of mosquitoes.

But still the level of "Nate's" house in Jefferson pays no attention
to poetical effusions, and, by unerring and invincible logic,
shows the superior altitude of Jefferson.

------------------
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

HON. NATHAN RANDALL PERKINS
In 1638, scarcely two decades after the landing of the Pilgrims on
Massachusett's shores, a company of adventurous pioneers landed
upon the fertile lands of what is now Hampton, N.H.  They were
mostly of English decent, and among them was Abraham Perkins, of the
Plymouth Colony, probably the first of the family to settle in this
state, although John Perkins, born in 1590 at Nervant, Gloucester
county, England, who came in the "Lion" to Boston, February 1631,
with Roger Williams, was the first immigrant.  Abraham Perkins is
described as being superior in point of education to most of his
contemporaries, and was often employed as an appraiser of estates.
In 1648 he built the mill in Hampton known as Perkin's mill.  He
died in 1683.  The name of Perkins appears on the roll of
Revolutionary soldiers, and among the early representatives of
Hampton.  John Perkins, born about the middle of the eighteenth
century, who married a Keniston, had a son, David K., who was born
in New Durham in 1797, and married Margaret Runnels, a daughter of
--- Runnels, and his wife Margaret Randall.  She was a daughter of
Elder Benjamin Randall, "the patriarch of the Free Will Baptist
denomination."  "Elder Randall was a man of medium size, erecte and
gentlemanly in appearance.  His features were sharp, his eyes of a
hazel color, and the general expression of his countenance grave
and dignified.  His gestures were few, and as a speaker he was calm,
argumentative and very impressive.  He was a man of deep piety and
fervent spirit.  His perception was great and his memory strong.
He had a good business education for the times.  He studied the works
of men, but was emphatically a man of one book, and that the Bible."

The Runnels family traces its descent from Ayrshire, Scotland.  John
Runnels settled in Dover, in 1718; his son, Abraham, is spoken of as
a brave Scotch patriot; he with five of his sons, served in the
Revolution.

To David K. and Margaret (Runnels) Perkins were born nine children:
Nathaniel, Samuel R., Mary Ann (Mrs. James Eastman, deceased),
Manasseh H., Nathan R., William Dana, Joan (Mrs. Moses Drew), David,
and one who died in infancy.  Mr. Perkins resided in New Durham
and Middleton until 1829, when he removed to Whitefield and settled
in the east part of the town, where he remained until 1839, when he
located in Manchester, and worked at his trade of stone mason.  He
died December 4, 1862. 

Hon. Nathan Randall Perkins was born in Middleton, December 13, 1828.
Descending from the sturdy Scotch family, Runnels, the strong Free
Will Baptist, Elder Randall, and the colonist, Abraham Perkins, no
wonder that in him are combined the traits of manly independence,
with sound health of blood, and an incorruptible integrity.

Mr. Perkins has been an energetic worker all his life; when but a 
mere lad he labored on the farm, and from the age of twelve, until
he was seventeen years old, in the mills, and at stone work in
Manchester, when he went to Lancaster, learned blacksmithing of
L.M. Rosebrook, and supplemented his common school education with
an attendance at Lancaster academy.  He formed a strong friendship
for Mr. Rosebroo, and worked for and with him for some years.  In
1852 Mr. Rosebrook, who was mountain born, conceived the idea of
building a house of entertainment on Mount Washington, and Mr.
Perkins, who had saved some money, agreed to join him in the
enterprise.  They began their laborious work on the first hotel on
Mt. Washington in May 1852.  Its walls were of the immense granite
blocks so thickly strewn upon that high eminence, and the timbers
and boards (which came from Jefferson) had to be conveyed on horse
back up the steep mountain side from eight miles below.  They soon
took Joseph S. Hall as a partner, Mr. Perkins retaining one-fourth
interest.  The house was called the "Summit House," was 20x40
feet inside measurement, and, although not finished, was opened for
guests in July 1852.  In 1853 Mr. Perkins was in personal charge of
the Summit House during the seaons and built a large addition,
remaining on the mountain from the last of May until the middle
of September.  In February 1854 he sold his interest, and in the
spring, purchased the farm where he now resides, which L. M.
Rosebrook had owned.  May 22, he married Elizabeth C., daughter of
David and Eliza (Garland) Hicks.  Their only child, Manasseh,
was born October 28, 1855 (He has been conductor and express agent
of the W. & J. R. R. since 1879. He represented Jefferson in the
legislature of 1885-1886).  In connection with farming Mr. Perkins
carried on blacksmithing.  The sturdy blows of his hammer were
heard early and late in the little shop opposite his house, and
his industry and diligence were rewarded, each year increasing his
prosperity.  In 1860 he bought the Jefferson mill property, and
rebuilt the saw and grist-mills on an enlarged and improved scale,
erected a starch factory, and conducted these enterprises for
twenty years with financial success.  About 1868 Mr. Perkins 
obtained by purchase some three thousand acres of timber land of
the estate of Canning Williams, and at once began to survey it.
He had acquired civil engineering by his own study without an
instructor, his natural tendency for mathematical science making it
easy.  From this time to the present he has done much in the field.
In 1872 he was employed to locate and lay out the Whitefield &
Jefferson R.R. and has attended to all the civil engineering 
required by the main road and its lumber branches.  The work has
been accomplished in the best possible manner to facilitate the
end designed...The attention of Mr. Perkins was early attracted
to the timber lands, and he dealt somewhat extensively in them.
In 1872 he purchased three-fourth of Lowe and Burbank's grant
(10,500 acres).  Upon the organization of Browns' Lumber Company
in 1874, Mr. Perkins became a member and has since been in charge
of its interests in Jefferson and the "woods."  He was the second
president of the company.  He superintended the entire building of
the railroad, laying out and putting up the camps, surveys the
land, lets the contracts for getting out timber, etc., etc.
The company has developed a large farm lying along both sides of
the railroad from Whitefield to Randolph, and this is supervised
by him in addition to his own home farm of 150 acres. .... He has
just erected a new set of buildings on "Valley farm" near Randolph
line.

A visit to their "camps" in winter, when nearly 200 men are engaged
in cutting and hauling logs to supply the great mills in Whitefield,
is fraught with interest.  The "camps" are clean, comfortable and
capacious log-houses, fitted to accomodate from sixty to seventy-five
men, while the best of provisions, cooked by experience cooks who
have served at leading hotels in summer, give an added zest to the
appetites caused by active labor in the wintry air.  The employees
receive the best treatment; temperance is rigidly maintained, no
liquor being allowed in the camps.  The order and system of
Mr. Perkins is discernible, and every thing moves like clockwork.

Mr. Perkins is a Democrat. He has held all important town offices;
was county commissioner five yars, during which time he was
instrumental in building the large barn on the county farm, and
he personally brought about the introduction of steam heat into
the county-house, and furnaces into the court-house.  Notwithstanding
these improvements, the county debt was reduced several thousand
dollars.  He has represented Jefferson five terms in the legislature;
was a member of the constitutional convetion of 1876, and one year
each in the executive councils of Governors Straw and Weston.  He
aided in getting the state appropriation for opening the road up
the Androscoggin from Dummer to Errol, and with James W. Weeks
and George R. Eaton, formed the committee which decided what amount
each town should pay.  He has been a delegate to Democratic county,
state and other conventions for many successive years, and attended
the national Democratic convention in 1868, as a substitute.  He
has been a member of North Star Lodge and Commandary for many years.

THOMAS STARR KING
Thomas Starr King was the son of a Universality clergyman of
Charlestown, Mass.  When he was but fiften years of age, his father
died, and Starr King was entirely without means, and with the
burden of the household upon him.  However, he was a manly youth 
of much promise, and his poverty touched the heart of Warren
Sawyer, who was then president of the Mercantile Library Association,
Boston, and hearing that King had a lecture of Goethe, he consulted
E.P. Whipple and James T. Fields as to the inviting of young King
to deliver his lecture before the association; to this proposition
he heartily agreed, but the young man shrank from such an ordeal,
and it was only after much encouragement that he consented.  It is
sufficient to say the lecture was a success, and Whipple, who took
much interest in, and had great sympathy for, young aspirants for
literary fame, took him by the hand and congratulated him.  His
example was followed by Fields and others, until the platform was
thronged with the admiring auditors.  This was the commencement
of Whipple's life-long friendship for King. Both Whipple and King
were lovers of the White Mountains and visited them in company,
and "King's brilliant letters to the Boston 'Transcript' which
formed the basis of his 'White Hills' were the description of
the mountains as seen through Whipple's eyes.  Great were the
story-telling seaons at the White Mountains when Fields, and King
and Whipple were members of the tramping parties."

It was at the suggestion of Starr King that the original Waumbec
House in Jefferson was erected for the accomodation of summer
travelers, and to him more than any other is the public indebeted
to the knowledge of the vast magnificence of the White Mountains
and their surroudings.  Of Jefferson Hill he writes, "It may
without exaggeration be called the ultima thule of grandeur in
an artist's pilgrimage among the New Hampshire mountains, for at
no other point can he see the White Hills themselves in such array
and force."

Few souls in the world have the gift of portraying the glories of
nature in language that will live forever.  Starr King was one of
this immortal few, and the joy and gladness they leave behind will
never die, and the memory of the author of "White Hills" will last
as long as the mountains endure.

THADDEUS S.C. LOWE
Prof. Thaddeus S.C. Lowe, now of Norristown, Pa, the distinguished
inventor, aeronaut, and scientist, was born August 20, 1832 at
Jefferson, NH and is the son of Clovis and Alpha Greene Lowe, of 
that town.  His mother was a daughter of Thomas Greene, of Berlin
Falls, N.H. and on both sides the ancestry is of the early pilgrims
who came from England in the seventeenth century.

Mr. Lowe enjoyed only a common school education in early life,
working on a farm between the age of ten and fourteen years.
The only opportunity for attending school was about three months in
the year in winter, walking two miles and often on snow shoes at
that.  During this period, the best opportunity for study was in the
evenings by the light of pine knots industriously gathered in early
autumn while laying in the winter's supply of wood.  Mr. Lowe's
favorite studies were chemistry, natural philosophy and kindred
subjects.  In his fifteenth year he left his mountain home,
walking one hundred miles to Portland, Maine, and from thence went
by water to Boston, where he apprenticed himself out for three years
to learn the trade of boot and shoe cutting.  At the close of his
apprenticeship, he was enabled to earn money sufficient to admit of
his pursuing his studies, selecting medicine as a specialty, and at
the age of twenty-one he commenced the compounding and practice of
medicine.  Although very successful for his years, he so disliked
the practice that instead of permanently establishing himself, he
went on a lecturing tour of several years duration.  Before this,
however, he taught a class in chemistry for a short time.  He
lectured on scientific matters, mostly confined to interesting
chemical experiements in which the various gases played an
important part.  In this he was eminently successful, pleasing large
audiences, and constantly gaining for himself valuable information.

In 1855 Mr. Lowe was married to Miss Leontine Augustine Gachon,
of New York, who was born and educated in Paris, France.  Very soon
after, in 1857, he began the study of aeronautics, and made numerous
aerial voyages in different parts of the country, his first being one
from Ottawa, Canada, in 1858 in celebration of the laying of the
first Atlantic cable.  In 1859 he constructed the largest aerostat
ever built.  In was intended for voyages across the ocean, which
he estimated could be made in less than three days by taking
advantage of the ever-constant eastward current which he had
discovered to always prevail in all the numerous voyages he
had made previous to that time.  This he did to, in some way,
compensate for the temporary failure of the Atlantic able, which
was to endeavor to communicate more rapidly than by steamers,
which in that day were quite slow compared with the present.  This
aerostate was 150 feet perpendicular diameter, by 104 feet
transverse diamete, its atmospheric displacement amounted to
a lifting force of twenty-two and one half tons.  It had for its
outfit, besides a car with all the necessary scientific instruments,
provisions, etc., a complete Francis metallic life-boat, schooner
rigged, much larger than several that have successfully crossed the
ocean since that time.  The gas envelope weighed over two tons, while
the network and other cordage weighed over one and one half tons.
It was quite late in the autumn before this monarch of balloons
was completed.  Prof. Lowe procured the site of the New York Crystal
Palace, which had been destroyed by fire, and cleaning away the
debris of that once fine edifice, he, on the first of November,
1859, began the inflation of his monster aerostate for the voyage;
but owing to a lack in the supply of gas from the street mains,
whereby six days would be required to inflate instead one one day,
which was necessary for a successful use of gas, the attempt at that
time had to be abandoned.  There was not then a newspaper in the
civilized world but what noticed, more or less, the extensive
preparations he had made for this undertaking, and all sorts of
comments went rounds of the world.

In the spring of 1860, by invitation of a number of members of the
Franklin Institute, Prof. Lowe came to Philadelphia where Prof. John
C. Cresson, then president of the Philadelphia gas works, promised
the necessary rapid supply of gas for a trial trip to test the
feasibility of inflating and launching into the air this immense
aeronautic machine. Older aeronauts from all parts of the world had
predicted that an aerostate of this size could not be successfully
inflated and launched into the air.  Notwithstanding these predictions,
a successful trial trip was made from the Point Breeze gas works
in June 1860, where four hundred thousand cubic feet of gas were
furnished in four hours.  On this trip five passengers were taken,
including Mr. Garrick Mallory, of the "Philadelphia Inquirer," who
wrote an account of the trip which was published in that journal
at the time.  In this voyage, two and a half miles altitude was
obtained in passing over the city of Philadelphia, and when near
Atlantic City a descent was made to a lower current, which wafted
the great aerostate back to within eighteen miles of Philadelphia,
where a landing was effected.  This immense balloon was handled
with so much skill that the departure from the earth with the
weight of over eight tons, and the return again, were so gentle
that the passengers on board could hardly have known when they left
or when they landed had they not seen it accomplished.

So well pleased were Prof. Lowe's friends at his successful managing
of an aerostate six times larger than any ever before built that
they recommended him to visit Prof. Henry, of the Smithsonian
Institute, and, if possible, secure his cooperation, and to that
end furnished him with a letter.... It is needless to say that Prof.
Henry received Prof. Lowe with extreme warmth and congeniality,
giving him the freedom of the Institution, and from this meeting
sprang a lasting friendship.

During Prof. Lowe's intercourse with Prof. Henry he outlined a plan
for taking meteorlogical observations at different parts of the
continent and from high altitudes by means of balloons and 
communicating the same by telegraph to a bureau to be established
in Washington, whereby weather predictions could be made useful
exactly in the same way as it is today done by the U.S. signal
service.  To Prof. Lowe the government is as much indebted as to any
other one man for the successful establishment of that service,
for it was his plans frequently and freely communicated to Major
Meyers, during the war, that led to the establishment of this service
after the close of the war.  There is now in existence considerable
correspondence between Prof. Lowe and the late Prof. Joseph Henry,
General Meyers and others, upon this subject.

Upon the recommendation of Prof. Henry, preparatory to a transatlantic
voyage, Prof. Lowe made a trip across the continent in a smaller
aerostate, starting from Cincinnati, Ohio, at four o'clock in the
morning of April 20, 1861, after taking leave of his friends, among
whom were Messrs Potter and Murat Halstead of the "Cincinnati
Commercial;" he landed on the South Carolina Coast at twelve
o'clock the same day, making the quickest and longest voyage on
record, delivering papers at about a thousand miles distant, still
damp from the press in eight hours after they were printed.  This
voyage was fraught with great interest, both scientific and otherwise
long accounts of its being published at the time. Landing in this way
in South Carolina two weeks after the firing on Fort Sumter caused
considerable excitement in the Rebel armies, and Prof. Lowe was
arrested and thrown into prison, but on producing proofs relative to
the scientific objects of the voyage, he was released, and after
five days and nights of railroading found his way back to Cincinnati,
the point from which he had so recently travelled the same distance
in eight hours.

Secretary Chase, then a member of President Lincoln's cabinet,
telegraphed at the request of the President to Prof. Lowe to come
to Washington and consult with him as to the use of balloons for
war purposes.  He went and was received by the President with marked
attention, spending a night in the Executive Mansion.  These 
interviews resulted in obtaining authority for the organization of
the corps of observation or aeronautic corps, with Prof. Lowe as its
head chief aeronaut of the United States army, which position he held
for three years, during which time he rendered valuable service to
the government.  At the end of this time his health became so much
impaired that he turned his department over to one of his assistants
and retired on a farm in Chester county, Pa., with the hope of
regaining his health.  The serviced rendered the goverment during
his stay in the army were of immense value, as testified to by
the commander-in-chief, and numerous corps commanders, who had
receieved valuable information to better govern their movements.
During this time he made, personally, over three thousand cable
ascensions and was the first and only person to establish telegraphic
communication from a balloon to various portions of the army and to
Washington at the same time.

Conspicuous among these occasions were those at the battle of Fair
Oaks.  These balloons, with assistant aeronauts instructed by Prof.
Lowe, were sent to different armies, including the forces on the
southern coast and in the west.  To make these war balloons efficient
on land and water, it became necessary to make new inventions,
conspicuous among which were Prof. Lowe's hydrogen gas generators,
for field and ship service.  At any time within three hours after
halting beside a pool of water he would extract sufficient hydrogen
therefrom to inflate one of these balloons, whereby himself and
often several officers would mount a thousand or two feet in the air
and overlook the country.  His renown spread over Europe and
South America, and his field system of aeronautics was introduced
into the British, French and Brazilian armies.  The Emperor of
Brazil, through his ministers, made numerous overtures and offered
large inducements to Prof. Lowe to take a Major-General's commission
in the Brazilian army during the Paraguayan war, to conduct the same
line of service as that rendered to the U.S. government, but owing
to other engagements he was compelled to decline.  He, however,
furnished the necessary field appartus and balloons, with competent
assistants, who rendered valuable aid and greatly shortened the
duration of that war, especially by observations on the river in
Paraguay at Asuncion.

In 1867 Prof. Lowe invented and brought out the ice machine for
refrigeration and the manufacature of ice, which is now in general
use in warm climates in all parts of the world.  In 1873-75 he
invited and brought out his famous water-gas process for illumination
and heating purposes, which is already lighting over two hundred
cities, and is predicted to, ere long, with his later invetion in
the production of fuel water-gas, and his indestructible metal
compounds for incandescent lighting, entirely supersede all other
methods of light, heat and power.

At the last exhibition of the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia,
Prof. Lowe received thre medals and a diploma, the highest award
ever given to any one man at that Institution.  The first was a
diploma and silver medal for his general exhibit of gas works and
appliances; second, the Elliot Cresson gold medal, for "water-gas
and incandescent lighting," third, "grand medal of honor for the
invention held to be the most useful to mankind."

This sketch may be properly closed by quoting the following from a
previous publication: "He has little more than reached middle life
and it is warrantable to suppose that his speculative and fertile
mind will grasp and produce other valuable invetions."  He has
already made a number of ingenious lighting, cooking and heating
appliances for using his heating gas, the numerous patent rights
of which he holds for the protection of his business.

Prof. Lowe is eminently a domestic man, having a large family of
children, whose names are as follows: Louisa F., Ida Alpha, Leon
Percival, Ava Eugenie, Augustine Margaret, Blanche, Thaddeus, Edna,
Zoe, and Sobieski.  The three eldest were born in New York.

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