By Muriel Bristol | September 12, 2021
Continued from Milton’s Milton House Hotel, c1842-70
Milton’s Franklin House or Ben Franklin House appeared in the Milton business directories just as the Milton House left their pages. One might suppose that this represents merely a change of name and management rather than an entirely different hotel edifice. The Franklin House’s Joseph Jenness was the sometime manager or proprietor of both hotels.
Joseph Jenness – 1870-73, 1875
Joseph Jenness [Jr.] was born in Rochester, NH, in 1824, son of Joseph and Hannah (Potter) Jenness.
Joseph Jenness married, November 16, 1845, Reliance C. Witherell. She was born in Monmouth, ME, January 30, 1829, daughter of Rufus and Sarah T. (White) Witherell.
Joseph Jenness, a machinist, aged fifty-nine years (b. NH), headed a Somersworth, NH, household at the time of the Seventh (1850) Federal Census. His household included Hannah [(Potter)] Jenness, aged fifty-seven years (b. NH), Mary Jenness, aged thirty-four years (b. NH), Peace Jenness, aged twenty-eight years (b. NH), Joseph Jenness, Jr., a manufacturer, aged twenty-seven years (b. NH), Isaac Jenness, a manufacturer, aged twenty-four years (b. NH), Alice Jenness, aged twenty years (b. NH), Benjamin Jenness, a manufacturer, aged eighteen years (b. NH), Sarah Jenness, aged fourteen years (b. ME), and Reliance [(Witherell)] Jenness, aged twenty-one years (b. ME). Joseph Jenness had real estate valued at $800.
Joseph Jenness, a landlord, aged thirty-six years (b. NH), headed a Milton (“Milton P.O.”) household at the time of the Eighth (1860) Federal Census. His household included Reliance C. [(Witherell)] Jenness, aged thirty-one years (b. NH), C. Crosby, a hired man, aged twenty-four years (b. NH), Emiline Crosby, aged twenty-two years (b. NH), Lydia M. Crosby, aged thirty-one years (b. NH), Charles G. Crosby, aged seven years (b. NH). His household appeared in the enumeration between those of James Pinkham, a shoemaker, aged seventy years (b. NH), and Stephen Drew, a practicing physician in Milton 40 years, aged sixty-six years (b. NH). A marginal note indicated that this was the Milton Hotel. Joseph Jenness had no real estate valuation, which suggests he was not its owner.
His Milton House boarders in 1860 included John R. Palmer, postmaster, aged twenty-four years (b. NH), B.F. Rankins, a boarder, aged twenty-five years (b. NH), Chas. Neal, a boarder, aged twenty-two years (b. NH), David Wentworth, a boarder, aged twenty-three years (b. NH), Charles Peckham, a boarder, aged twenty-seven years (b. NH), Charles Nudd, Jr., a boarder, aged twenty-seven years (b. NH), D. Palmer, a boarder, aged twenty-five years (b. NH), J.C. Robinson, a boarder, aged thirty-two years (b. NH), C.C. Smith, a boarder, aged forty years (b. NH), James Miller, a boarder, aged twenty-six years (b. NH), Mrs. C. Lane a teacher of music, aged thirty-one years (b. NH), Pamelia C. Wetherell, aged twenty-nine years, S.C. Goodrich a dressmaker, aged twenty-two years (b. NH), Dr. Jackson, a physician, aged forty-two years (b. NH), and George Hattan, an Indian doctor, aged fifty-five years (b. NH).
Joseph Jenness, a stabler, aged thirty-nine years, registered for the Civil War military draft in Milton, in June 1863.
Rufus Witherell, farmer, aged sixty-nine years (b. ME), headed a Monmouth, ME, household at the time of the Ninth (1870) Federal Census. His household included Sarah Witherell, keeping house, aged seventy-one years (b. ME), Joel W. Witherell, a farmer, aged thirty-four years (b. ME), Abbie G. [(Getchell)] Witherell, keeping house, aged thirty-one years (b. ME), Elsie A. Witherell, at home, aged eight years (b. ME), Mabel Witherell, at home, aged five years (b. ME), Ilda M. Witherell, at home, aged two years (b. ME), Mary E. Witherell, at home sick, aged thirty-one years (b. ME), Reliance [(Witherell)] Jenness, at home sick, aged forty-one years (b. ME), and Ambrose Crommett, works on farm, aged seventeen years (b. ME). Rufus Witherell had real estate valued at $5,000 and personal estate valued at $1,250.
Joseph Jenness appeared in the Milton business directories of 1873, and 1875, as proprietor or manager of the Ben Franklin House hotel.
Joseph Jenness appeared in the Dover, NH, directory of 1878, as night clerk at Granite State House, boarding there too.
Joel W. Witherell, a farmer, aged forty-three years (b. ME), headed a Monmouth, ME, household at the time of the Tenth (1880) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Abby D. [(Getchell)] Witherell, keeping house, aged forty-one years (b. ME), his children, Elsie A. Witherell, a school teacher, aged seventeen years (b. ME), Mabel Witherell, at school, aged fourteen years (b. ME), Illde A. Witherell, at school, aged twelve years (b. ME), Edith M. Witherell, at school, aged nine years (b. ME), Harvey H. Witherell, at school, aged seven years (b. ME), and Sarah E. Witherell, at school, aged five years (b. ME), his father, Rufus Witherell, a farmer, aged seventy-nine years (b. ME), his sister, Reliance C. [(Witherell)] Jenness, sewing, aged fifty-one years (b. ME), and his cousin, Elmer E. Gatchell, a farm laborer, aged seventeen years (b. ME).
Joseph Jenness died of consumption in Dover, NH, January 5, 1892, aged sixty-eight years.
Reliance C. (Witherell) Jenness died of diabetes mellitus in Revere, MA, September 2, 1901, aged seventy-two years, seven months, and two days.
DEATHS. In Revere, Mass. – Mrs. Reliance C. Jenness, 72 yrs. 7 mos. 2 ds. Prayers at 14 Centennial av., Revere, Tuesday, 4 p.m. Services and interment at Monmouth, Me, Sept. 4 at 4 p.m. (Boston Globe, September 3, 1901).
Alden T. Kidder – 1874
Alden Thayer Kidder was born in Dresden, ME, January 26, 1844, son of John and Thankful (Pushard) Kidder.
A member of the Second New Hampshire Regiment, who is himself a prisoner at Richmond, communicates to the Manchester Mirror a list of the names of forty-two members of the regiment who are now prisoners here. The list differs quite essentially from that previously published, which contained but twenty-eight names, and we therefore publish it although we have no means of determining which the more accurate. It is as follows: Herman Allen, John A. Barker, A.B. Bailey, John H. Barry, Joseph Burleigh, John Davis, Thurlow A. Emerson, Geo. C. Emerson, Moses Eastman, John L. Fitts, Galen A. Grout, A.L. Hall, Albert B. Robinson, Frank F. Weatherby, Frank K. Tucker, Samuel M. Joy, William H. Walker, W. Lord, Alden T. Kidder, Reuben F. Stevens, Charles H. Perry, Christy Jones, George E. Dow, Thomas E. Barker, Henry West, Henry Emerson, W.C. Haynes, Clark Stevens, Alonzo D. Leathers, Jacob Hall, Charles Rich, Daniel Martin, George H. Clay, Andrew L. Allen, Wyman W. Holden, Henry Moore, Levi W. Colbath, Joseph R. Morse, John F. Wheeler, Charles Chase, Henry Tibbetts, and John Rice (Portsmouth Herald, September 5, 1861).
John Kidder, a farm laborer, aged fifty-six years (b. ME), headed a Somersworth, NH, household at the time of the Ninth (1870) Federal Census. His household included Thankfull Kidder, keeping house, aged fifty-three years (b. ME), Octavia Kidder, no occupation, aged thirty-two years (b. ME), Alden Kidder, a painter, aged twenty-five years (b. ME), Margaret J. [(Kidder)] Cole, a dressmaker, aged twenty-four years (b. ME), Henry Kidder, a farm laborer, aged twenty years (b. NH), Mabel Kidder, attending school, aged twelve years (b. NH), Susan Kidder (b. ME), works in cotton mill, aged fifty-three years (b. NH), William H. Cole, works in iron foundry, aged twenty years (b. NH), Warren Kidder, a shoe maker, aged twenty-nine years (b. ME), Margaret Shorey, works in cotton mill, aged thirty-five years (b. NH).
Alden T. Kidder married in Somersworth, NH, December 9, 1872, Emma A. Galaghner, he of Great Falls, [Somersworth,] NH, and she of Milton. He was a painter, aged twenty-eight years, and she was aged twenty-one years. Rev. True W. Woodman performed the ceremony. She was born in Milton [Farmington, NH], October 10, 1852, daughter of James and Eliza (Trask) Galnagh. (It was her younger sister whose pet dog had killed her pet chicken in 1869).
A. Kidder appeared in the Milton business directory of 1874, as proprietor or manager of the Franklin House hotel. (In 1900, he would be said to have lived in Somersworth, NH, for twenty-five years, i.e., he moved from Milton to there in or around 1875).
Alden Kidder appeared in the Great Falls, [Somersworth,] NH directory of 1876-77, as a painter, boarding at John Kidder’s, on Main street. John Kidder had his house on Main street, near “Rollingsford,” i.e., Rollinsford, NH. Henry Kidder, a painter, boarded there also.
Alden T. Kidder, a hotel keeper, aged thirty-five years (b. ME), headed a Somersworth, NH, household at the time of the Tenth (1880) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Emma Kidder, aged twenty-six years (b. NH), his servant, Dennis Crowley, a servant, aged twenty-six years (b. NH), and his boarder, Annie Brown, no occupation, aged twenty-three years (b. MA).
Alden T. Kidder appeared in the surviving veterans’ schedule of the Eleventh (1890) Federal Census in Somersworth, NH, . He was said to have served two years, six months, and twenty-five days, having enlisted as a private in Co. D, of the 2nd NH Volunteer Infantry Regiment, May 27, 1861, and having mustered out, January 22, 1864. He had been imprisoned for ten months, and ten days, of that time in Richmond, VA, New Orleans, LA, and Salisbury, NC, from which he suffered still from malarial poison and scurvy.
Alden T. Kidder died of phthisis pulmonary (pulmonary tuberculosis) in Somersworth, NH, April 22, 1900, aged fifty-six years, two months, and twenty-four days.
Emma A. (Galnagh) Kidder died of liver cancer in Somersworth, NH, September 29, 1915.
R. West – 1876
R. West appeared in the Milton business directory of 1876, as proprietor or manager of the Ben Franklin House hotel.
References:
Find a Grave. (2016, October 28). Alden Thayer Kidder. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/171912731/alden-thayer-kidder
Milton Observer 