In his History of Porter, written in 1957, William Teg tells us that “On May 22, 1792 a young man from Hampton, N.H. called at the home of Meshach Libby – his name was David Moulton. In short, he came, he saw, he conquered – he bought the Libby Homestead. The price? ‘Sixty pounds, lawful money.’ David departed, but returned on April 27, 1793 to take possession of his property.”
Meshach Libby, it should be remembered,
was the first permanent settler in Porterfield Plantation as was covered in an
earlier blog this year. The red arrow
shows the location of the homestead - M.
S. Moulton in 1875.
One of David Moulton’s sons, Thomas, chronicled his family in 1873 in which he wrote this of his father, David, who was born June 18, 1760 and married Dorothy Moulton of Portsmouth, N.H.
To
their family David and Dorothy added six children, all born in Porter:
John, born December 1794;
Joseph, born July 1797;
Sarah, born December 1799;
David Jr., born August 1802;
Mary, born January 1805; and
Thomas, born August 1810.
The Census of 1820 enumerated 7 individuals in the Moulton household who are presumed to be:
1
Male over 45 – David (age 60); 1
Female over 45 – Dorothy (age 50);
1
Male 16 to 25 – Joseph (age 23); 1
Female 16 to 25 – Sarah (age 21);
1
Male 16 to 18 – David Jr. (age 18); 1
Female 10 to 15 – Mary (age 15).
1
Male 10 to 15 – Thomas (age 10);
David
Moulton died in October 1838 and the 1840 Census shows the John Moulton
household at that time containing 10 individuals. His immediate family only accounts for 6 of
them:
1 Male 40 to 49 – John (age 46);
2 Males 5 thru 9 – James Coffin (born
1830); and Moses Sweat (born 1833);
1 Male under 5 – John Jr. (born 1835)
1 Male 15 to 19 – UNKNOWN;
2 Females 30 to 39 – Jane (age 39) and
UNKNOWN;
1 Female 15 to 19 – UNKNOWN;
1 Female under 5 – Sarah Jane (born
1826 and died later in 1830);
1 Female 60 to 69 – Possibly the widowed Dorothy Moulton?
In 1850 the members of the household, now all listed by name, were:
The
matriarch, Dorothy, at age 80;
John, age 55;
Jane, age 49;
James Coffin, age 20;
Moses Swett, age 17; and
John Jr., age 15.
Dorothy died in January 1853 and was laid to rest beside her husband David in the Kezar Falls Burying Ground.
As they achieved adulthood, John and Jane’s remaining 3 children began to make their way in the world.
· James Coffin, after beginning his education in local schools, went on to Fryeburg Academy, Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, then after studying law in Illinois moved on to Minnesota and Missouri.
· John Jr. also removed to Minnesota in 1855 where he also was employed in the law prior to his service during the Civil War 1861 – 1865. He remained in Minnesota after the war engaged in the lumber business.
Only their middle son, Moses Swett, remained behind. He married Armine Tibbetts in March 1856. She was, coincidentally, the sister of Lydia Frances Tibbetts married to Jordan Stacy 2nd and subject in a previous blog on the Stacy family.
The 1860 Census reflected the changing dynamics of the household. In addition to John and Jane; Moses, Armine, and their 2 year old son Roscoe Norton; the family included John’s 2 unmarried siblings 60 year old Sarah and 50 year old Thomas.
The
1870 Census found the family changed only by the addition of a daughter,
Jennie, born in 1864 as well as a woman named Anna Libby, 71 years old without
occupation.
Thomas
Moulton, listed in the census record above as “Retired Senator” had a long life
of public service and was a prodigious record keeper. Many of his papers are housed at our History
House and provide an invaluable glimpse into the period. He is best known for authoring the original History
of Porter in 1879 which was the major source for Teg’s History written in
1957. He chronicled not only the genealogical record of his family previously
cited but also hand wrote a detailed history of his own life. In it he wrote of what must have been one of
the shining achievements of his career:
It
is obvious that public service ranked high with this family. Thomas says this about his nephew, Moses
Swett, in his genealogical record.
By
the time of the 1880 Census the head of household had changed with the death of
John in 1876. Son, Roscoe, at age 22
listed physician as his occupation that year, having studied medicine at Bowdoin
College. He went on to graduate from
Columbia University in 1882 before establishing a practice in Boston. He died the following year in July 1883 of
diphtheria.
The household was dwindling. Jane Moulton died in 1882 as did Aunt Sarah followed by Uncle Thomas in 1888. Moses Swett died in 1895 joined by his wife, Armine, 2 years later in 1897.
At
some time during this period Jennie Moulton moved from her childhood home into
the village of Kezar Falls. She lived
just down the street from her Aunt Lydia Frances Stacy and they must have
enjoyed living near enough to visit often.
School Street: top arrow shows her Aunt Lydia Stacy’s home, bottom arrow showing Jennie’s home.
On
December 1, 1908 Jennie, at the age of 44, married Albetus Henry Peare,
minister of the Riverside Methodist Church and the Ossipee Valley Weekly
described her is this way in their write-up of the wedding.
By
1910 her husband had been posted at a church in Conway, New Hampshire as shown
in the Census of 1910 and 1920. She died
in January 1923 returning one last time to the town of her birth when she was
laid to rest at the Kezar Falls Burying Ground beside her other family members.
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