CREEK ROAD GANG
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Autobiography of
Nathaniel Watson Ladd (1848-1932)
Part Three
Editor's note: This is the third excerpt from the autobiographical manuscript left by Nathaniel Watson Ladd. See the October issue for the first installment of Ladd's and the November issue for the second installment of his autobiography.
Born in 1848 in Derry, New Hampshire, the second child and first son of Daniel and Lucy Ladd, Nathaniel Watson Ladd went on to graduate from Dartmouth College and to study law at Boston University. He became a Boston lawyer and political figure, serving on the Boston Common Council, and later in the State Legislature. He was also a founder of the Boston Athletic Association. He died in 1932.
In this passage, Ladd traces his lineage from the arrival of "Original Daniel" in 1634 in what is now Ipswich, Massachusetts, making note of some of the historical connections in his family. Links are provided to sites for information related to some of Ladd's references.
There were nine generations between the original [Ladd]ancestor, who came over here from England, and myself, and only two names, three Daniels and six Nathaniels. In order to distinguish between them, there seems to have been a habit of giving "nicknames."
The first Daniel was called "Original Daniel" and came here in the ship Mary & John in 1634 and landed in Ipswich. A grant of land was made to him there and some years ago, when I was returning from Exeter to Boston on my bicycle, a rainstorm came on and I stopped over, examined the Town record, found out where his land was and the next morning got up early and located it on Labor in Vain Creek. Into this Creek flowed the drainage from the section where the Saltonstall Memorial now stands, and probably this was the first section that was settled, somewhat removed from the present village. Some years ago I had the pleasure, when my nephew Arthur Watson Ladd of New York was visiting me, of going with him and his family and showing the younger generation where the Original Daniel's land was located.
His son, the first Nathaniel, was called "the Haverhill Nat' because born in Haverhill. He moved to Exeter and married Elizabeth Gilman, and their son, Nathaniel, was called the "Exeter Nat" and he married Catherine Gilman and in 1728 built the oldest house now standing in Exeter. It is on Governor's Lane off Water Street, and Ladd Street leads to it from a street near the Academy Grounds. He built the house of brick. The making of brick was a flourishing industry in Exeter at that time. He lined it with wood inside and outside. He so built it in order to prevent the Indians from burning it. In that house is a small room which was used as the first United States Treasury {believed to be an error in manuscript. Colonel Nicholas Gilman, an owner of the house, was the first Treasurer of the state of New Hampshire, and used the room as New Hampshire Treasury.} It was absolutely fire proof.
Some years ago, when my mother and I were making a carriage trip along the north shore from Portsmouth to Wells, Maine, where I taught my first school, we called there [at the oldest house in Exeter], and Dr. Perry, who was the owner, had revamped the house and restored all the old features, big beams in the room all wainscotted just as it was originally. He seemed to take great pleasure in showing mother and me over the house. It is now occupied by the Society of the Cincinnati.
The Exeter Nat's son was named Daniel and called the Eppings Mill Daniel because he went to Epping and built the ancestral house of my father's family at North River which we occupied for years. It was quite a large house, two full stories with a large attic made by rather a regular roof having four sloping sides coming to a point at the center and having two windows and in it was the military uniform of his son John [Dr. John Ladd], the father of Judge Ladd of Cambridge, who was a physician and was probably in the New Hampshire Militia [War of 1812] in that capacity. The uniform was complete even including the sword, and we children used to have great fun in that attic, dressing up in that uniform.
The front door of the house led directly into a very large room, along one side of which was an open stairway leading to the next floor, and on the northwest corner was a little addition which had been used as a Country Store. On the Southwest corner stood a very large Elm tree. The house itself was built on a knoll in an angle of the road and had a fine outlook. Before we moved there, the road had been straightened and passed back of our orchard, leaving what the builder called his mansion stranded on a lane. His [Eppings Mill Daniel's] son Nathaniel, my great-grandfather, was called "Concord Nat" because he carried on at Concord an extensive tanning business. He married the daughter of General Smith of Epping and they lived in great style. When she came to Epping to visit her sister, Mrs. Watson, a roll of carpet was laid down from the carriage to the door for her to step on. Her sister's husband said, "They come like the whirlwind and they will go like the lightning."
He [Concord Nat] was induced to enter into a large contract to deliver a large quantity of shoes when he had not provided himself with the leather. He was unable to meet his obligation, which meant imprisonment at that time, and he fled to Port of Spain, Trinidad, where he established another large tanning business. Judge Ladd, a good many years ago, gave me the last letter he ever received from him [Concord Nat] in which he says that for forty years, which was a little more than all of his married life, he had not known what it was to have a holiday, and only once in that time had he been disguised by liquor. He spoke very pathetically of his wife who had died many years before while he was away, and his three children, and said he was trying to provide for them. My grandfather Ladd when a young man made an attempt to go to Port of Spain to find out what had become of his father, but got no further than Virginia, where he taught school to get the means of returning.
Mary Ames, the widow of North River Nat, remained a widow for many years and proved to be a very efficient woman. She made a home for my grandfather during his boyhood and the other son, only a baby, my grandfather's brother, was practically adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Watson and received a very handsome property at the time of their death.
My grandfather was called "Elder Nat" because he was a Methodist Minister and was living with his family on the Watson Farm at the time that my grandfather Dustin was the Methodist Minister at Epping Corner, and the parsonage farm adjoined the Ladd farm. There my mother first met and became intimately acquainted with my father. She had a brother, my uncle Isaiah, about father's age, and he once told that at Christmas time, my father stumped him to break the ice and take a bath in the Epping River. I asked Uncle Isaiah, "Did you take the stump?" He said, "Of course I did, and we both broke the ice and went in."
My father, the third Daniel, was called "Doctor Ladd" because he had studied medicine and practiced a sort of water cure system of his own.
Born in 1848 in Derry, New Hampshire, the second child and first son of Daniel and Lucy Ladd, Nathaniel Watson Ladd went on to graduate from Dartmouth College and to study law at Boston University. He became a Boston lawyer and political figure, serving on the Boston Common Council, and later in the State Legislature. He was also a founder of the Boston Athletic Association. He died in 1932.
In this passage, Ladd traces his lineage from the arrival of "Original Daniel" in 1634 in what is now Ipswich, Massachusetts, making note of some of the historical connections in his family. Links are provided to sites for information related to some of Ladd's references.
There were nine generations between the original [Ladd]ancestor, who came over here from England, and myself, and only two names, three Daniels and six Nathaniels. In order to distinguish between them, there seems to have been a habit of giving "nicknames."
The first Daniel was called "Original Daniel" and came here in the ship Mary & John in 1634 and landed in Ipswich. A grant of land was made to him there and some years ago, when I was returning from Exeter to Boston on my bicycle, a rainstorm came on and I stopped over, examined the Town record, found out where his land was and the next morning got up early and located it on Labor in Vain Creek. Into this Creek flowed the drainage from the section where the Saltonstall Memorial now stands, and probably this was the first section that was settled, somewhat removed from the present village. Some years ago I had the pleasure, when my nephew Arthur Watson Ladd of New York was visiting me, of going with him and his family and showing the younger generation where the Original Daniel's land was located.
His son, the first Nathaniel, was called "the Haverhill Nat' because born in Haverhill. He moved to Exeter and married Elizabeth Gilman, and their son, Nathaniel, was called the "Exeter Nat" and he married Catherine Gilman and in 1728 built the oldest house now standing in Exeter. It is on Governor's Lane off Water Street, and Ladd Street leads to it from a street near the Academy Grounds. He built the house of brick. The making of brick was a flourishing industry in Exeter at that time. He lined it with wood inside and outside. He so built it in order to prevent the Indians from burning it. In that house is a small room which was used as the first United States Treasury {believed to be an error in manuscript. Colonel Nicholas Gilman, an owner of the house, was the first Treasurer of the state of New Hampshire, and used the room as New Hampshire Treasury.} It was absolutely fire proof.
Some years ago, when my mother and I were making a carriage trip along the north shore from Portsmouth to Wells, Maine, where I taught my first school, we called there [at the oldest house in Exeter], and Dr. Perry, who was the owner, had revamped the house and restored all the old features, big beams in the room all wainscotted just as it was originally. He seemed to take great pleasure in showing mother and me over the house. It is now occupied by the Society of the Cincinnati.
The Exeter Nat's son was named Daniel and called the Eppings Mill Daniel because he went to Epping and built the ancestral house of my father's family at North River which we occupied for years. It was quite a large house, two full stories with a large attic made by rather a regular roof having four sloping sides coming to a point at the center and having two windows and in it was the military uniform of his son John [Dr. John Ladd], the father of Judge Ladd of Cambridge, who was a physician and was probably in the New Hampshire Militia [War of 1812] in that capacity. The uniform was complete even including the sword, and we children used to have great fun in that attic, dressing up in that uniform.
The front door of the house led directly into a very large room, along one side of which was an open stairway leading to the next floor, and on the northwest corner was a little addition which had been used as a Country Store. On the Southwest corner stood a very large Elm tree. The house itself was built on a knoll in an angle of the road and had a fine outlook. Before we moved there, the road had been straightened and passed back of our orchard, leaving what the builder called his mansion stranded on a lane. His [Eppings Mill Daniel's] son Nathaniel, my great-grandfather, was called "Concord Nat" because he carried on at Concord an extensive tanning business. He married the daughter of General Smith of Epping and they lived in great style. When she came to Epping to visit her sister, Mrs. Watson, a roll of carpet was laid down from the carriage to the door for her to step on. Her sister's husband said, "They come like the whirlwind and they will go like the lightning."
He [Concord Nat] was induced to enter into a large contract to deliver a large quantity of shoes when he had not provided himself with the leather. He was unable to meet his obligation, which meant imprisonment at that time, and he fled to Port of Spain, Trinidad, where he established another large tanning business. Judge Ladd, a good many years ago, gave me the last letter he ever received from him [Concord Nat] in which he says that for forty years, which was a little more than all of his married life, he had not known what it was to have a holiday, and only once in that time had he been disguised by liquor. He spoke very pathetically of his wife who had died many years before while he was away, and his three children, and said he was trying to provide for them. My grandfather Ladd when a young man made an attempt to go to Port of Spain to find out what had become of his father, but got no further than Virginia, where he taught school to get the means of returning.
Mary Ames, the widow of North River Nat, remained a widow for many years and proved to be a very efficient woman. She made a home for my grandfather during his boyhood and the other son, only a baby, my grandfather's brother, was practically adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Watson and received a very handsome property at the time of their death.
My grandfather was called "Elder Nat" because he was a Methodist Minister and was living with his family on the Watson Farm at the time that my grandfather Dustin was the Methodist Minister at Epping Corner, and the parsonage farm adjoined the Ladd farm. There my mother first met and became intimately acquainted with my father. She had a brother, my uncle Isaiah, about father's age, and he once told that at Christmas time, my father stumped him to break the ice and take a bath in the Epping River. I asked Uncle Isaiah, "Did you take the stump?" He said, "Of course I did, and we both broke the ice and went in."
My father, the third Daniel, was called "Doctor Ladd" because he had studied medicine and practiced a sort of water cure system of his own.
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Next installment: More of Nathaniel's stories of growing up in Epping and the environs in the mid-1800s
