William M Weed 1889 biography

William McGaffey Weed, son of William and Rebecca (Foss) Weed, was born at North Sandwich, July 29, 1814.

Jonas Weed was the first American emigrant, and came in the fleet of 1630, probably in the ship with Sir Richard Saltonstall.

The ancestors of William M. Weed were prominently connected with the early settlement and development of what is now Belknap and Carroll counties. In 1761 the first cart-path was made from Epsom to the Gilmanton line, and among the men who cut it was Orlando Weed. January 10, 1762, he brought his wife to Gilmanton, his being one of the three first families settling there. This was a winter of fearful severity, snow lying nearly six feet on a level. The first birth in Gilmanton was that of his daughter Dorothy, born October 13, 1762.

Mr. Weed became the settling agent of the proprietors of Sandwich, as narrated elsewhere, but soon after pitching here he discovered iron ore in Burton, and removed thither, as he was a machinist and saw prospective wealth in developing the mineral resources. He erected a rude smithy and succeeded in producing a coarse steel out of which he made good springs for traps. His first work was to forge an anvil, and then to construct the tools he needed. Tradition says that he also forged anchors which he drew to Portsmouth over the rough roads on a car made of two poles. He was prominent in all town matters, filled responsible positions, and died in Albany at more than ninety years of age. His sons Henry and Bagley remained in Sandwich.

Bagley was one of the first to locate in the east part of the town. Henry was agent for his father in his granted lands. He located on the Giles L. Moulton place, was a millwright by trade, and built the first mill in town on the outlet of Little pond. This was to grind corn, and the pendle-stock running into the pond was made of the then abundant clear white-pine, and is now quite well preserved. Henry had among his children, Henry, 2d, born 1751, Elisha, Susanna, Phebe, Jacob. Henry Weed, 2d, became the owner of one or two lots of land and erected the first mill on the privilege since known as Weed's Mills. This was a combined carding and grist mill and an old-fashioned up-and-down sawmill. A brisk village soon sprang up under his operations here, which freshets, floods, and the changed conditions of business long ago obliterated. Some kind of a mill has most of the time occupied his first location. In connection with his son William he constructed mills in various parts of the state, continuing, however, his residence at Weed's Mills, where he died January 24, 1821. He was prospered in business, a Congregationalist in religion, and a Federalist in politics. His wife was an Eastman, and they had Hannah, Sally (married Roby French), Phebe (married a Drake), William, Henry.

Henry succeeded to the mill property, while William became possessed of the farm originally cleared by his father, lying about one mile south of the Mills, near the Freewill Baptist Church and now owned by W. M. Weed.

William Weed was born on this farm October 22, 1774. He became noted as a machinist and millwright, and from early life was engaged in mill-building in various places in this state and Vermont. He married, March 19, 1801, Rebecca, daughter of Jacob and Margaret (McClary) Foss. She was born November 15, 1775. Their children were Hannah, Melinda, Jacob (who lived on the ancestral farm until his death), Harvey M., William M., Grace E. Mr. Weed was never a public man, his business preventing his acceptance of political or public office. He was a strong Congregationalist, and one of the founders of the pioneer temperance society of America — the Washingtonian. He died January 5, 1864, aged eighty-nine, surviving his wife fifteen years.

William M. Weed attended Gilmanton academy and the classical department of New Hampton Institution, but as his health failed he relinquished college aspirations. For some years he taught district and high schools. In 1836 he went into merchandising in the Daniel Little store at Sandwich Lower Corner, and in 1845 built a brick store near by. He was in trade fifteen years, and has always resided here. Public-spirited and active, no man in Sandwich has been more often or more continuously in office. He was inspector of the Seventh Brigade New Hampshire Militia, with rank of major on the staff of General Nathaniel B. Hoit in 1843 and 1844: in 1846 and 1847, engrossing clerk of the state legislature and one of the selectmen of Sandwich; in 1846, commissioned colonel on the staff of Governor Anthony Colby; in 1853, chairman of the board of selectmen; in 1854, 1855, 1867, 1868, 1869, 1870, 1872, 1873, 1876, and 1877, he represented Sandwich in the legislature; in 1856 a delegate at large to the Republican national convention at Philadelphia which nominated John C. Fremont for President; April, 1856, received the appointments of clerk of the court of common pleas and clerk of the supreme judicial court, which offices he held until October, 1874; in 1857, 1858, 1859 and 1860 he was moderator of the annual town meeting; in 1861 he was chosen overseer of the poor, agent to pay aid-money to the families of soldiers in the civil war, and agent to fill the quota of the town for soldiers under the calls of the President for troops, and was continued in these offices until the close of the war. October 7, 1862, he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the Fifteenth Regiment New Hampshire Volunteers; in 1871 he was a commissioner to reimburse the towns of the state for bounties paid for soldiers. Whig and Republican in politics, he was one of the state central committee from 1845 to 1876, and was absent from only three meetings in all those years.

In connection with his other numerous duties he had commenced the study of law with Samuel Emerson in 1848, and in October, 1874, was admitted to the bar. Since he became a voter, Colonel Weed has given much attention to town matters and has been absent from annual and fall meetings but twice, and then was detained by illness. He has ever been one of the town's most prosperous and leading citizens, while in private and social life he has won permanent and numerous friends. Like his ancestors, he is a Congregationalist and a liberal supporter of the faith.

Colonel Weed married in 1850 Eliza N., daughter of Elisha Hanson, then a prominent citizen and merchant of Sandwich. Mrs. Weed is a pleasant and intelligent lady. Their children were Herbert F., educated at Andover and Phillips Exeter academies, and Clara Belle, a most promising young lady who, after rapid educational progress for four years in the seminaries of West Lebanon and Bradford, Mass., died at the age of nineteen years.

Contributed 2022 Jul 11 by Norma Hass, extracted from History of Carroll County, New Hampshire by Georgia Drew Merrill, published in 1889, pages 245-247.

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Henry Weed
1751 - 1822

1889 History - Biography - William M. Weed