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- PETER CARLETON OF LANDAFF
This little sketch is written about Peter Carleton of Haverhill, Ma and Landaff, Grafton Co., Nh. His father and mother were Peter and Hannah (Gage) Carleton who were married at Haverhill 12 March 1750. Peter was their third child, he was born 9 September 1755.
It is to be supposed that he lived the life of the average boy of those times. He attended public schools of Haverhill and afterwards engaged in
agricultural pursuits. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary War.
In the course of time, he married Abigail Hazeltine on 6 January 1782. The birth of their daughter Zalinda on 12 June 1790 is recorded on the
vital records in Haverhill. The others: George, born 6 July 1792; John born 9 September 1794; Louise born 24 September 1796 are recorded at Landaff. There may have been other children.
So it would seem that it was about 1790 that he removed fromHaverhill, Ma to Landaff, Grafton Co., Nh and made his home on the farm now occupied by Amos Albee. He was probably the most prominent man in this vicinity at that time.
In the summer of 1793 he was one of the committee who did the work of laying out a road from Concord (now Lisbon) line through the towns of Littleton and Dalton to the Lancaster town line. This road, the history says, when completed made a rough but passable thoroughfare between Haverhill and Lancaster. It was made to be traveled on horseback, or on foot, or by ox teams. Fordable streams were not bridged and swamps were sometimes corduroyed, stumps were cut close to the ground, but rocks were permissible in the best roads of the day.
He was a Justice of the Peace, and performed a great many marriage ceremonies. A good many of them are found recorded on our old (Lisbon) town records. He was the magistrate before whom a great many people appeared to be sworn when making conveyances of land, and his wife, Abigail, witnessed many of the signatures of conveyances.
In 1795 he was on a committee with Ebenezer Brewster of Hanover, and Capt. John Mann of Orford, the founder of that town, to select the site for the old covered bridge between Haverhill and Newbury, known as the "Haverhill Bridge." This is the bridge a little way below the Keyes farm.
The death of his wife Abigail has not been found on record, but on the town records of Bath his second marriage is recorded. On 8 March 1801, he married Miss Azubah Stone, a woman twenty years younger than himself.
In 1803 the Coos Bank of Haverhill was chartered. Peter Carleton was one of the incorporators and directors of the bank. With him in this bank were associated John Montgomery, the president of the bank who lived at the Brook (in Haverhill) and built the beautiful Colonial house where Mr. Koch has an antique shop now. George Woodward was the cashier of the bank. He was the s/o Bezeleel Woodward of Hanover and his wife,Mary, the daughter of Eleazer Wheelock, the founder and first president of Dartmouth College. Like his father, he had been treasurer of the College. He built the fine mansion at the south end of the common in Haverhill, surrounded now by a beautiful antique fence. In this house the bank did its business. Another one of the directors was Moses Pays/o Bath, who built the house we now know as the Colonial Inn.
In 1820 the bank found itself in financial difficulties and failed.The directors were retired and the Grafton bank was chartered. Moses Payson was the only one of the directors of the Coos Bank called to the directorate of this new bank.
In politics he was a Democrat. He was elected to the State House of Representatives in 1803, and served his term. At this time John Taylor Gilman of Exeter was the Governor of the state. He was elected State Senator in 1806, which office he held during the term of John Langdon as Governor. He was elected to the Tenth United States Congress and served from March 1807 to March 1809. At this time Thomas Jefferson was the President of the United States. John Marshall was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He may have witnessed the trial of Aaron Burr for conspiracy against the Government. About this time Robert Fulton launched his steamboat on the Hudson River, and the events which catapulted the War of 1812 were in the embroiling.
On 9 April 1818, being 63 years of age, he applied for a pension. This would seem that he had been unfortunate financially. In his application he said that he had enlisted in January 1777 in Ma, and served under Capt. John Blanchard and Col. James Wesson until 31 December 1779,
on which date he was discharged at West Point, Ny. That he was in the battles of Bemis Heights and Stillwater. He held the commission of Sergeant Major. He signed this application with a cross, which would make it seem that he had become blind. His claim for a pension was allowed.
In 1820 he mentions his children by his second wife: Hannah fourteen years of age, James seven years of age, and Mary five years of age, and says: "I have children by a former wife, they are all of age."
In 1855 his wife Azubah, was living in Norfalk, St. Lawrence Co., New York.
He died in Bath. The papers in the settlement of his estate are on file in the Probate Office at Woodville.
The inscription on his unimposing gravestone in the cemetery at Landaff, reads: "Peter Carleton, Esq., died April 29, 1828 in the 73rd year of his age."
Mary Carleton Br¸mmer
Lisbon, Grafton Co., Nh
Jan. 22, 1934
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Old Dead Relatives
1755 - 1828 (72 years)
: Address
: Location
: City/Town
: County/Shire
: State/Province
: Country
: Not Set
