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Chandler
Graham Heath (1795-1888)
In the last Record, brief mention was made of
Chandler Graham Heath, recently deceased. He was the oldest man in this
Pequawket Region. A few evenings since, Mr. Heath, a picture of whom, taken for
a few years ago, accompanied this sketch, returned to his Eastern home after an
absence of three years in the West. His arrival here was quite a surprise to his
kinsmen and neighbors, he being so advanced in years that it was not expected he
would ever again come East.
With the snows of ninety-two winters resting
upon his brow it was not expected, though hale for a person of his extreme age,
he would have the courage to leave his children in the West and start out alone
on a fifteen hundred mile journey to see the few remaining friends of his early
home.
It has been truly said there is no person, however humble his lot,
in whose life there is no incidents of interest to the world. This being the
case, what shall be said of a person whose term of years has well nigh filled a
century, whose theater of action has been the continents, seas and even the
globe, and has participated in many of the grand enterprises, marvelous events,
and exciting scenes that have marked the century now drawing to a close.
It would not be exaggerating to say that nations have been born, acted their
little part on the stage of human affairs, and passed away without leaving a
deeper impress upon the sands of time that has been produced by some individual
lives; and the faithful biography of some individual characters celebrated for
their devotion to humanity, liberty, art, science, religion, and progress would
make a volume a thousand fold more interesting than the entire history of some
nations that have encumbered the earth.
We are about to give a
biographical sketch of a man whose life, though was unknown to fame has been
intimately connected with some of the leading events of our nation's history.
He was not an orator whose eloquence has charmed the multitude s, but "the
round unvarnished tale" of the strange scenes in which he has participated and
of which he has enacted a part is not less thrilling than the orator's most
impassioned periods. His life has been one of toil, hardship, privations, and
danger, and has been marked by noteworthy incidents and startling events.
His book education was meager but natural power of mind were good and his
knowledge of human nature remarkable acute.
On his recent sixty-hour ride
of over fifteen hundred miles, he rode without sleep, his only sustenance being
a buffet of cake, sandwich, and sausage stowed away in his carpetbag.
Upon his arrival here he proceeded to one of the country stores where he was
kindly invited by the keeper to go with him to the house and get a good square
meal and a night's refreshing rest. He firmly declined the invitation, however,
stating that he wanted to get home, and had not the merchant insisted upon
hitching up his team and taking him to his destination, he would have walked the
four miles, which he had to go.
Mr. Heath was born in Rumford, Oxford
County, Maine, Oct. 17, 1795. About the year 1800 he came with his parents to
Conway, NH on the place now occupied by Charles Lewis, it being also the birth
place and ancestral home of the writer. He belonged to a hardy and long lived
family and was fortunate in inheriting an iron constitution. He was the fifth of
nine children and was the sole survivor of them all. His brother John W. Heath,
a soldier in the War of 1812, died about a year ago at the advanced age of
ninety-five years. (His father Benjamin Heath, who lived to the age of ninety,
served seven years as a Revolutionary soldier, a portion of the time being a
servant to General Washington. He was brought up the well-known and somewhat
eccentric Col. David Page, one of the pioneer settlers of "Seven Lots" men of
Fryeburg, Maine.)
The mother of the subject of this article is Dolly
Wyley (Willey) Heath, who died in 1850 at the age of eighty-five years, being an
ancestor of the Wiley (Willey) family who perished in the famous White Mountain
slide of 1826.
When six or seven years old, Mr. Heath came to this
village to live with Dr. Griswold, a well known physician, who practiced
medicine in Fryeburg and vicinity for many years, and remained with him four
years.
While living with Dr. Griswold, he attended the academy at the
base of Pine Hill, where Daniel Webster was preceptor in 1802, and was the last
survivor of those who were pupils in the old building where the great expounder
taught the young idea how to shoot. (See picture of building in Fryeburg,
Webster Memorial, facing page 31)
At the age of ten or twelve Mr. Heath
went to live with Edward Watson, where he remained about two years. He says
while there, he was many times called to tend the ferry across the Saco River,
Watson's Bridge not then having been built.
When he left Mr. Watson, he
went to live with Harry Osgood, a well-known citizen of Fryeburg in the early
part of the century. He subsequently went to Waterford, in this county, to learn
the carpenter's trade.
The embargo with its hard times soon followed and
his employer was imprisoned for debt. Ere long the tocsin of war sounded and
young Heath, filled with patriotic fervor, enlisted in the service of his
country, going as a substitute for David Hardy, on Fryeburg quota, and receiving
the magnificent bounty of twenty dollars.
Inheriting a strong love of
adventure he thus early started out as the sequel proved, on a venture full of
change, novelty, hardship, and danger. Returning to New Hampshire at the
expiration of his term of service, which was short, he went into the White
Mountain Notch and hired out with Rosebrooks at twelve dollars per month, while
there he caught mink and muskrat enough to make his pay amount to twenty dollars
per month. He thought this was better than soldiering as he could make but eight
dollars a month at that business.
Soon after this he thought he would try
his hand at a sailor's life, and in 1815 (April), he enlisted in the Navy and
went out under Commodore Decatur to fight the Algerian pirates. Here he had new
experiences and his eyes looked upon strange scenes. Decatur made quick work of
the pirates who had attacked our merchant vessels and enslaved our seamen.
Algeria, Tunis, and Tripoli soon yielded to the demands of our brave tars,
giving up their prisoners, relinquishing all claims for tribute from the United
States and paid full damages for property taken and destroyed.
The
corsairs being subdued, the rest of the time Mr. Heath spent in the
Mediterranean waters visiting the historic and classic lands bordering on the
great sea.
Sicily with her ancient cities of Palermo and Syracuse was
visited, and Naples with her matchless bay met his enraptured gaze. He saw the
ruined city of Pompeil and Herculaneum, and the lofty peak of Vesuvius and Aetna
belch forth their thunders and fiery streams before his astonished vision. In
sad contrast with these pleasant recollections and almost making he blood freeze
in ones veins are the harrowing tales he told of flogging in the navy in the
days when the barbarous practice, more cruel that the wars direct woes, was in
vogue.
Soon after leaving the navy he returned home and in August 13,
1820 was married to Lydia Wyman, a niece of the philanthropist, Abiel Chandler,
who endowed the Chandler Scientific School of Dartmouth College. Mr. Chandler
gave his niece, Mrs. Heath, a section of land at Mineral Point, Iowa County
Wisconsin. With her Mr. Heath wended his way thither in 1842 and made a new home
on this tract, then the extreme West.
Here he "roughed it," out from
civilized society, from railroads, and from comforts of his early home until
1849 when news of the discovery of gold in the new Elderado spread over the
country. The fabulous stories of sudden accumulations of wealth and of the lumps
of gold that could be had for the picking up, set his ambitious heart on fire,
and like many another in those pioneer days the gold fever took complete
possession of him at once.
But a little time was lost in the packing up
of his household goods and starting with a slow ox team on the four months
journey over the plains. So great had been the gold excitement, even at that
early day the trail had already become a thorough-fare. The prairie schooners
with their man attendants resembling a huge caravan and the dead mules, horses
and cattle, with the broken down and abandoned teams and wagons, in appearance,
marking the line of retreat of a lately defeated army.
Their route lay
through Salt Lake City where they stopped two days for rest and repairs. The
little band of Mormons had then just pitched their tents in the beautiful valley
having marched thither in the dead of Winter with nothing but white cotton tents
to protect them.
Mr. Heath has been much of a traveler and has seen much
of the world. He has visited the Pacific slope not less than 4 times and has
spent years hunting for the shining ore and cultivating the soil.
After
many years roaming o'er land and sea he seemed delighted in the evening of his
life to greet the friends of his youth, to look on the early home and scenes of
childhood.
Source: The "Oxford County Record," Fryeburg, Maine, 11 Feb
1888
Died at
Chandler's on Green Hill, three and half miles from Fryeburg, N.H. It is thought
that he was of English parents. Following are the names of his brothers and
sisters; Lewis, Ben, John, Oliver, and George. One sister married Mr. Haley, and
another sister married Mr. Stevens at Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. His father,
Benjamin Heath was in the Revolutionary War for 7 years.
Source: probably
from the "Oxford County Record," Fryeburg, Maine, (Publication date unknown
but after 2 Feb, 1888)
Chandler G. Heath of
Batchelder's Grant, N.H. and Lydia Wyman of Chattam, N.H. Intention filed:
August 13, 1820. By whom married: David Badger, Chatham. Justice of the
Peace. Date of Marriage: Aug. 13, 1820, Chatham N. H.
Source: The
State of New Hampshire, Vital Statistics
Chandler C. (G.) Heath served in the War of 1812 as a member of Matross in Capt. Phillip Eastman's Company of Artillery-Massachusetts Militia, called into service for the defense of the town of Portland. His name is born on the company muster roll for the period from September 11 to 24, 1814, dated at Portland Nov. 23, 1814, which shows that his service commenced September 12th, 1814 and that he deserted September 25, 1814. His place of residence was Fryeburg Maine. No record found of the service of any other man named Chandler Heath. Signed: C.H. Bridges, Major General
Compiled Aug 1958 by Nettie White Wolcott
Transcribed Jun 2000 by Karen
Heath Penman, Ogden, UT, genwebnut@aol.com
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This page was last updated 05/03/2024