History of Manchester, (Hillsborough County) New Hampshire United States of America

MANCHESTER, a city and one of the shire towns of Hillsborough county, New Hampshire, is situated on the left bank of the Merrimack river, at the junction of the Manchester and Lawrence, the Concord, and the Vermont Central railroads, 18 miles S. S. E. from Concord, and 59 miles N. W. from Boston. This town, like a number of others in New England, through the development of the manufacturing enterprise, has suddenly grown from a small farming community into a wealthy and populous city. Its site is on an elevated plain, 90 feet above the surface of the river. It is regularly planned; the principal street, 100 feet broad, extends upwards of a mile from N. to S., with others of less breadth parallel to it, and to the river. These are intersected by others, running from E. to W. There have been laid out in different sections four public squares, some of which are handsomely ornamented. The eastern portion of the city is built almost exclusively of brick, while the western abounds in structures of wood, many of which are tasteful and elegant residences. The mills and boarding-houses occupy the slope between the western verge of the plain and the river. The principal public buildings are the new town house, erected in the place of the one destroyed by fire in 1842, and the churches, of which there are 12, of the various denominations. An Athenæum was established in 1844, having a reading room and a library, which at present numbers about 3500 volumes. The system of public instruction comprises a high-school, 2 grammar schools, an intermediate, 6 middle, and 12 primary schools, besides others not classed. Manchester contains 9 or 10 newspaper offices, 6 insurance agencies, and 3 banks, with an aggregate capital of $500,000. A gas company, for lighting the city, was incorporated in 1851, with a capital of $76,000.

The present prosperity of Manchester commenced about the year 1839, at which date the locality now occupied by the city contained no more than 50 inhabitants. The Merrimack here has a descent of 54 feet in the distance of a mile, called the Amoskeag falls, which are the most extensive throughout its entire course. By the erection of a dam across the river, at the head of the falls, and the construction of canals, the stream has been made to furnish an hydraulic power sufficient to run several hundred thousand spindles. With these advantages for manufacturing, the place has increased rapidly in population and importance. Among the most extensive corporations in Manchester, may be mentioned the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, who have 4 mills, containing 62,846 spindles and 1665 looms. These are operated by 2100 females and 400 males, who daily manufacture 65,000 yards (37 miles) of tickings, denims, pantaloon stuffs, drillings, and sheetings. The machine shops connected with the above employ 500 hands, who annually turn out 60 locomotives, besides a vast amount of machinery of every description. The Sark Mills (3 in number) employ 1600 females and 200 males. These daily produce 17,000 yards of drilling, and 30,000 of sheeting, equal to 27 miles of cloth, besides more than 5000 seamless bags. One loom yields 40 substantial fancy striped bags daily, woven from top to bottom without a seam. The Manchester Print Works, burnt down in September, 1853, are now being rebuilt, and will be ready for operation by March, 1854. In these works 12,000,000 yards of delaines were annually printed. The cloth is manufactured by the Merrimack mills, at the rate of 38,000 yards (22 miles) daily. Besides the above, numerous other establishments in Manchester annually turn out a vast amount of various kinds of work. Several new companies have been incorporated the present year, (1853.) Among these may be named the Bloodgett Paper Company, (capital, $200,000,) intended to make 8000 rolls of paper hangings daily; the New Paper Mill, for the manufacture of all kinds of paper, at the rate of 8 tons a day and the New Brass, Copper, and Iron Foundry. Buildings for the above are now in course of erection, and will be ready for operation about the let of January, 1854. A new foundry has just been completed, with which is connected the building of freight cars, intended to employ 200 machinists. The Amoskeag Company are also laying the foundation of another mill, to be completed next year, in which 1500 operatives will be employed. Manchester received a city charter in 1846. By a late act the corporate limits have been extended, including the villages of Piscataquog and Amoskesg, (commonly called "Squog" and "Skeag.") Population in 1850, 13,932; in 1853, 20,000.

Biographies:

John Weeks Moore, musical editor, was born in Andover, N.H., April 11, 1807; son of Dr. Jacob Bailey and Mary (Eaton) Moore; grandson of Dr. Coffin and Comfort (Weeks) Moore, and a descendant of Dr. Coffin Moore, and of Col. Jonathan Moore, a British officer who came to America long before the Revolution, and was a resident of Stratham, N.H. He was educated in the public school of Andover, the high school, Concord, N.H., and at Plymouth academy. He was a journeyman printer in Dover, N.H., 1825-26; established the Androscoggin Free Press, Brunswick, Maine, in company with Nathaniel Wells, in 1827; the Semi-Weekly Advertiser, with his brother, Henry E. Moore, at Concord, N.H., in 1831; established the first musical newspaper in New Hampshire in 1834; assisted E. F. Lancaster in the office of the Strafford Republican, and commenced the Gazette at Bellows Falls, Vt., in 1838. He returned to New Hampshire in 1863, published and edited The Daily News in 1869, and became editor of the New Hampshire Journal of Music in 1873. He edited: Vocal and Instrumental Instructor (1843); Sacred Minstrel (1848); Complete Encyclopedia of Music, Elementary Historical, Biographical, Vocal and Instrumental (1854); American Collection of Instrumental Music (1856); Star Collection of Instrumental Music (1858); Appendix to Encyclop?dia of Music (1875); Musical Record (5 vols., 1867-70), and Historical, Biographical and Miscellaneous Gatherings Relative to Printers, Printing, Publishing of Books, Newspapers, Magazines and other Literary Productions from 1420 to 1886 (1886, vol. II., Ms.). He died at Manchester, N.H., March 23, 1889.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Henry Eben Burnham, senator, was born in Dunbarton, N. H., Nov. 8, 1844; son of Henry L. Burnham, and a descendant of John Burnham who came from Norwich, England, in 1635, and settled in what is now Essex, Mass. He was graduated at Dartmouth college in 1865; studied law in the office of Minot and Mugridge at Concord, N. H., and in the offices of E. S. Cutter and Judge Lewis W. Clark at Manchester, N. H. He was admitted to the New Hampshire bar in 1868; engaged in practice with Judge David Cross at Manchester, later with George I. McAllister, and subsequently became a member of the firm of Burnham, Brown & Warren. He served as judge of the probate court in Hillsborough county, 1876-79, and presided over the Republican state convention in 1888. He was elected to the U.S. senate from New Hampshire as a Republican for the term 1901-07.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

George Henry Hall, painter, was born in Manchester, N.H., Sept. 21, 1825; son of Patten and Parthenia (Coburn) Hall; grandson of John and Mary (Patten) Hall, and of Joseph and Huldah (Wilson) Coburn, and a descendant of Thomas and Mary (Dickey) Hall, who came to America in 1718 with a colony from Londonderry, in the North of Ireland, and settled on land in New Hampshire which had been granted them, and which they named Londonderry; afterward divided into four towns, one of which is Manchester. In 1829 George Henry Hall removed to Boston with his widowed mother. He began to paint at the age of sixteen. In 1849 he went to Germany, studied art at the Dusseldorf academy and afterward in Paris and Rome. On his return to America in 1852 he went to New York, where he made his permanent residence, with occasional trips abroad. He was elected an associate of the National academy of design in 1853 and an academician in 1868. Among his paintings are: The April Shower, three girls under an umbrella, engraved in Paris by Goupil, in 1855; Thursday Fair at Seville (1860); A Young Lady of Seville and her Duenua (1861); The Precious Lading (1867); The Roman Fountain (1873); A Rug Bazaar at Cairo (1877); Oven at Pompeii (1882); Luna, and Nymph of the Blue Grotto (1886). His work consists chiefly of figure painting from Italian and Spanish subjects. He also acquired reputation as a fruit and flower painter.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

George Washington Morrison, representative, was born in Fairlee, Vt., Oct. 16, 1809; son of James and Martha (Polton) Morrison; grandson of Samuel Morrison of West Fairlee, Vt., and a descendant of Samuel Morrison, one of the grantees of the town of Londonderry, N.H. He attended school at Thetford, Vt., studied law, was admitted to the bar of Orange county, Vt., in 1835, and began practice in Manchester, N.H., in 1836. On Nov. 5, 1838, he married Maria L., daughter of the Hon. Lyman Pitch of Thetford, Vt. He was a representative in the state legislature in 1840, 1841, 1844, 1849 and 1850, and county solicitor, 1845-48. He was elected a Democratic representative in the 31st congress, Oct. 8, 1850, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of James Wilson, and was re-elected to the 33d congress, serving 1850-51 and 1853-55. He was opposed to the Kansas-Nebraska bill, notwithstanding his friendship for President Pierce. He died at Manchester, N.H., Dec. 21, 1888.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Manchester, (Hillsborough County) New Hampshire

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