Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 7.djvu/69

 SKETCH OF WENTWORTH, N. H.— No. i.

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��He always lived in town. He was a volunteer in the war of 1S12. was ap- pointed a lieutenant, and was for some time stationed at Stewartitown, N. H., to defend the frontier of the state. From here he went to Plattsburg, N. Y., and remained there for a time. He received a pension from the U. S. government for several years before his death. After he returned from the war he followed school-teaching for many years, and thus became known by the title of Master Paige. He was very popular as a teacher. He knew little of moral suasion, or any other kind of suasion, but ruled his school with a rod, if not of iron at least of hickory or beech — chastising without much mercy in case of disobedience. But in those days he was always sus- tained by the district, and generally by the parents, who were often in the habit of threatening their children that if they were whipped at school, they would be whipped again when they got home. He was one of the most suc- cessful teachers of his day. He mar- ried June 2, 1S22, Betsey W. Glines, and their children were as follows :

Albert Gallatin Paige, born March 28, 1823.

Amanda Jane Paige, born (Jrtober 20, 1824.

Calista Paige, born July 28, 1829.

Master Paige died April. 1835. He was town-clerk from 1824 to 1830 in- clusive. In 1831, 1833, and 1834, he represented the town in the state legis- lature, and from 1830 to 1835 ^^ '^^'^^ treasurer of the county of Grafton. His widow married a Mr. Dame, of Orfordville, and her children accom- panied her and resided there. There are now no direct descendants of Master Enoch or of Major or Judge Enoch Paige residing in Wentworth. But it was different with the de- scendants of Ephraim. They settled in and near Wentworth. Many of the daughters married there, and the three sons, John, Samuel and Currier, all settled in Wentworth. A daughter of Currier, Dolly Paige, married Jonathan Eames, generally known as Bachelor

��Eames, who was a son of Priest Eames, one of the early settlers, whose tomb- stone is in the town cemetery, near the gate, on the left as you enter. There was a large family of the ICames's, who lived in Wentworth for a long time, but who have now moved away or de- ceased. Currier Paige finally moved to Canada to live with one of his chil- dren. Samuel Paige, the second son of Ephraim, lived in Warren, adjoining \Ventworth, on the old road over the hill on the east side of the river. He died there July 29, 1857, aged nearly 84 years. He had one son, who set- tled in Littleton, N. H.

Capt. John Page, the eldest son of Ephraim, was about four years old when his father moved from Salis- bury, Mass, in 1773. He, of course, had to undergo the trials and hard- ships incident to the pioneer settlers in a new country. He had but little chance to attend school, but was pos- sessed of a strong mind and memory, and he early acquired habits of busi- ness and was active and enterprising, and he proved eminently successful in what he undertook. He had great physical strength and endurance, with a frame tall and well-proportioned, and it was his boast that no man could do a greater day's work than he could ; and though he was rather given to boasting of his individual exploits, yet his hired help, who undertook to keep up with him, found that his boasting- was not in vain.

At his father's death he inherited the homstead farm, on the interval above the village, on the v/est side of the river, where he resided for many years. He was long the largest farmer and land-owner in town, owning a large quantity of wild land in different parts of the town, especially in the westerly part, on what was long known as Ellsworth hill. He had several boys, who were all brought up to work on the land. He cleared up those wild lands and sowed grain and grass, and, after mowing them for a few years, he turned them into pasture. In this way he raised much stock, and

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