By Muriel Bristol | December 10, 2023
Fred S. Hartford was born in Rochester, NH, in 1872, son of William F. “Frank” and Mary Esther “Esta” (Randall) Hartford.
(Note the dropping of the letter “r” in “Esther” by someone spelling his mother’s nickname as a non-rhotic “Yankee” speaker might pronounce it).
Annie [(Willand)] Randall, keeping house, aged seventy-years (b. NH), headed a Rochester, NH, household at the time of the Tenth (1880) Federal Census. Her household included her son-in-law, Frank W. Hartford, works on farm, aged thirty-two years (b. NH), her daughter, Esther [(Randall)] Hartford, keeping house, aged thirty-four years (b. NH), and her grandchildren, Eva G. Hartford, aged ten years (b. NH), and Fred Hartford, aged eight years (b. NH). They resided on Wakefield Street. (Grandparents Albert F. and Annie (Willand) Randall were divorced).
Parents William F. and Mary E. (Randall) Hartford divorced in Strafford County court, September 4, 1883. She alleged drunkenness (one had to allege something).
Mother Mary E. [(Randall)] Hartford married (2nd) in Great Falls, Somersworth, NH, June 18, 1884, Charles A. McDuffie, both of Strafford, NH. He was a shoemaker, aged thirty-eight years, and she was a general worker, aged thirty-seven years. Rev. Thomas Tyrie performed the ceremony.
Fred S. Hartford married in Milton, July 25, 1891, Hattie E. Downs, both of Milton. He was a shoe cutter, aged twenty years, and she was a shoe stitcher, aged twenty-one years. Rev. John Manter performed the ceremony. She was born in Milton, in 1871, daughter of Albert F. and Dorothy M. “Dora” (Tuttle) Downs. (Her father had been a private in the 1st NH Heavy Artillery during the Civil War).
Anack’s Diary. September came in with greatly needed rain. On the 14th, Thursday, fire was discovered in G.B. Wentworth’s shoe shop opposite the railway station, and the building was burned rapidly up (or down) to ruins. The house of Albert Downs was on fire several times, by reason of nearness to the shop (Farmington News, May 19, 1899).
Dora [(Tuttle)] Downs, a homekeeper, aged fifty-one years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Twelfth (1900) Federal Census. Her household included her daughter, Hattie E. [(Downs)] Hartford, aged twenty-nine years (b. NH), her son-in-law (of nine years), Fred S. Hartford, a shoe cutter, aged twenty-eight years (b. NH), her son-in-law, George W. Paey, a shoe finisher, aged twenty-five years (b. NH), her daughter, Josie M. [(Downs)] Paey, aged twenty-one years (b. NH), and her son, Fred Downs, aged nineteen years (b. NH). Dora Downs rented their house. She was the mother of six children, of whom five were still living. Their household appeared in the enumeration between those of John Howland, a clothing dealer, aged thirty-two years (b. VT), and William Randall, a shoe edge cutter, aged thirty-nine years (b. ME).
Fred S. Hartford was one of seven assistant marshals at the Milton Centennial celebration, August 30, 1902.
Fred S. Hartford was elected as one of three Trustees for three years at a meeting of Madokawanda Tribe, No. 21, I.O.R.M., i.e., the Red Men fraternal society, in January 1904.
Fred S. Hartford was the chief marshal at the Milton Dramatic Club’s 2nd annual masque ball, at the A.O.U.W. Hall at Milton Three Ponds, January 8, 1904. He and Mrs. Hartford led ninety-two couples in a dance march at the event.
Fred S. Hartford and George E. Jordan were elevated to the degree of Master Mason at a special meeting of Fraternal Lodge, A.F. and A.M., in February 1905 (Farmington News, March 3, 1905).
Fred S. Hartford appeared in the Milton business directory of 1909, as a hairdresser, i.e., barber, and laundry agent.
Father-in-law Albert F. Downs died of acute cardiac dilation in Milton, June 28, 1909, aged sixty years, eleven months, and one day. (He had been back in Milton from Togus, ME, for one week). James J. Buckley, M.D., signed the death certificate.
Fred Hartford, a barber (own shop), aged thirty-two years (b. NH), headed a Milton (“Milton 3 Ponds”) household at the time of the Thirteenth (1910) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of eighteen years), Hattie E. [(Downs)] Hartford, aged thirty-nine years (b. NH), his mother-in-law, Dora M. [(Tuttle)] Downs, aged sixty-two years, and his brother-in-law, Fred Downs, leather (shoe factory), aged twenty-six years (b. NH). Dora M. Downs was the mother of six children, of whom five were still living. Their household appeared in the enumeration between those of Florenta Berry, a widow, aged fifty-five years (b. NH), and James D. Pinkham, a news dealer, aged forty-three years (b. NH).
Fred S. Hartford appeared in the Milton business directory of 1912, as a hairdresser, i.e., barber, pool room proprietor, laundry agent, and local deputy sheriff.
Stepmother Anna L. (Haremore) Hartford died a sudden death at 2 Park Street in Dover, NH, December 4, 1912, aged fifty-nine years, five months, and seventeen days. She was a married shoe operator. H.O. Chesley, M.D., signed the death certificate. (“Probably Heart, did not see here before death”).
Father William F. Hartford died of gastric carcinoma in Milton, November 19, 1913, aged sixty-five years, seven months, and fifteen days. He was a widowed shoemaker. M.A.H. Hart, M.D., signed the death certificate.
The NH State Board of Health reported that Fred S. Hartford was the local Milton Executive Health Officer in 1916. The NH State Laboratory had undertaken twenty-six bacterial examinations of Milton Mills samples in the years 1914-16, of which three were positive and twenty-three were negative. Five tests were made for suspected tuberculosis, of which one was positive and four were negative. Two tests were made in Milton Mills for suspected diphtheria, of which both were negative (NH State Board of Health, 1916).
Fred S. Hartford appeared in the Milton directory of 1917, as foreman of cutting, at the M. [Milton] Shoe Co., boarding at Dora M. Downs’ house at 58 Main street. (His late father, William F. Hartford, appeared also, as a shoe operative, who had died November 19, 1913, aged sixty-five years).
Fred S. Hartford, a cutter (shoe shop), aged forty-seven years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Fourteenth (1920) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Hattie E. [(Downs)] Hartford, a box maker (leatherboard), aged forty-eight years (b. NH), and his mother-in-law, Dora M. [(Tuttle)] Downs, a widow, aged seventy-one years (b. NH). Fred S. Hartford rented their house in “Upper Main St.” in Milton Village. Their household appeared in the enumeration between those of Frank M. Tibbetts, a sawyer (sawmill), aged forty-nine years (b. NH), and Wilbur F. Abbott, a laborer (leatherboard), aged thirty-nine years (b. NH).
Milton sent Fred S. Hartford to Concord, NH, as its NH State Representative, for the 1921-22 biennium.
Mother Mary E. [((Randall) Hartford)] McDuffee of Rochester, NH, made her last will, August 10, 1921. She devised her home and its five acres of land in Rochester, NH, to her daughter, Gertude E. [(Randall)] Duclow; and her fifteen-acre woodlot (on the opposite side of the street from her home place) to her son, Fred S. Hartford. She appointed her daughter and son as joint executors, without need of bond. Adeline A. Wright, Edgar F. Foss, and William Wright signed as witnesses (Strafford County Probate, 155:520).
Mother Mary E. ((Randall) Hartford) McDuffee died of bronchitis in Rochester, NH, December 17, 1923, aged seventy-seven years, three months, and thirteen days. John H. Bates signed the death certificate. Her last will was proved in a Strafford County Probate court held in Dover, NH, April 1, 1924 (Strafford County Probate, 155:520).
Mother-in-law Dorothy M. “Dora” (Tuttle) Downs died of exhaustion following pneumonia in Milton, January 11, 1924, aged seventy-five years, four months, and thirty days. M.A.H. Hart, M.D., signed the death certificate.
Fred S. Hartford, a shoe cutter, aged fifty-eight years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Fifteenth (1930) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of thirty-seven years), Hattie E. [(Downs)] Hartford, aged fifty-nine years (b. NH). Fred S. Hartford rented their house on North Main Street, for $18 per month. Their household appeared in the enumeration between those of Wilbur Abbott, a laborer (fibre mill), aged fifty-two years (b. NH), and Chas. O. Skillings, a machinist (fibre mill), aged fifty-two years (b. NH).
Fred S. (Hattie S.) Hartford appeared in the Rochester, NH, directories of 1933, 1935, and 1936, as city marshal, with his house at 1 McDuffee avenue.
FIND MISSING BOY AS RESULT OF ACCIDENT. Rochester, July 26. An automobile accident near Danvers, Mass., revealed the whereabouts of David Young, 13, son of Mr. and Mrs. Atwood Young of the Strafford section, who has been missing since Friday, July 13, with the result the boy was back home last night, recovering: from his injuries. Nearly two weeks ago Young, who is 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighs 150 pounds, stopped hoeing the garden, took his bicycle and started on a trip. His mother reported to City Marshal Fred S. Hartford’ he was last seen: riding his wheel on the Strafford and Gonic road, and no trace of him was found until early yesterday, when he was taken to Danvers hospital as the result of being struck by an automobile. The hospital authorities notified his parents and he was brought home. Dislike of a neighbor caused him to leave home, he said (Portsmouth Herald, July 26, 1934).
VALUABLES IN SAFE STOLEN IN ROCHESTER, N.H. BREAK. ROCHESTER, N.H., Oct 9. – When Lawrence Ballou went to his laundry on Portland st. this morning, he found the safe door opened, the door to the strong box broken and money and valuables stolen. From the safe were taken two watches, $22 in money, a box of old coins, a $50 Liberty bond and other articles. City Marshal Fred S. Hartford sent for Ivan Hayes, fingerprint expert at Concord, to help him investigate the case (Boston Globe, October 10, 1934.
POLICE CHIEF FINDS WOMAN DEAD IN HOME. Rochester, April 15. Etta L. Morrill, aged about 80, widow of John G. Merrill, former business man, was found dead in her home on Academy street yesterday afternoon by City Marshal Fred S. Hartford. She had evidently risen and was stricken with a heart attack (Portsmouth Herald, April 16, 1935).
NEW HAMPSHIRE FORGER MAKES ONE BIG ERROR. DIDN’T KNOW WOMAN NEVER USES “MRS.” WHEN SIGNING CHECKS. Rochester, N.H., May 4. – (AP) – Charles Harrington, 30, learned to his distress today that Mrs. Lillian Sanborn never uses “Mrs.” when she signs checks. An official of the Public National bank here also knew that Mrs. Sanborn omitted the “Mrs.” and notified her when he found five checks for $23 each signed by “Mrs.” Sanborn. City Marshal Fred S. Hartford arrested Harrington who pleaded guilty to forgery in Municipal court. He was held in $2,000 bail for the September term of Superior court. Harrington said he lived in Rochester (Lewiston Daily Sun (Lewiston, ME), May 5, 1936).
G-MEN CLAIM KIDNAP HOAX. Rochester, Oct. 1. – City Marshal Fred S. Hartford last night told newspapermen that G-Men who had been investigating the alleged kidnaping of Miss Marie H. Newbury, 24, local sales girl, beauty contest winner and amateur actress, had called by telephone and said the case was closed. At the time the young woman was supposed to be enroute to New York last Saturday afternoon with two armed men she was in a Boston theatre, they concluded. Miss Newbury returned home Sunday, saying she had been kidnapped last Saturday, taken by force to Greenwich, and escaped from her captors there by a ruse. Monday night two men from the Boston office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation came here and questioned Miss Newbury for several hours in the office of City Marshal Hartford, but were unable to shake her story. Questioned at her home on Charles street by newspapermen regarding the accusation of the G-Men, Miss Newbury said she had no statement to make (Portsmouth Hearld, October 1, 1937).
Fred S. (Hattie S.) Hartford appeared in the Rochester, NH, directories of 1938, as city marshal, with his house at Wakefield, NH.
Fred S. Hartford died in New England Baptist Hospital in Boston, MA, June 24, 1939, aged sixty-seven years.
Rochester City Marshal Dies. Rochester, June 26 – City Marshal Fred S. Hartford, 67, head of Rochester police department for the past six years, died Saturday at the New England Baptist Hospital in Boston, where he underwent a surgical operation about a month ago. Soon afterward he started a decline and failed steadily to the end despite the efforts of a number of officers of the department who made numerous trips to Boston and gave blood for transfusions. Marshal Hartford, a native of Massachusetts, came to Rochester [??] years ago from Milton. When the City council elected him as successor to City Marshal Harvey D. [Smith], he had previously been a [member] of the staff of the late sheriff Fred E. Goodwin. He was a shoe cutter by trade and had worked in shoe factories in Stoneham, Mass., Milton and East Rochester. He was a great lover of horses and years ago had served as starter at the Rochester Fair races and was a member of the old Rochester Driving Club. He was president of the Rochester Police Association and was a Mason. He is survived by his widow, Hattie S. Hartford (Portsmouth Herald, June 26, 1939).
George W. Paey, a finishing room foreman (shoe shop), aged sixty-eight years (b. MA), headed a Milton household at the time of the Sixteenth (1940) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Josie M. [(Downs)] Paey, aged sixty-two years (b. NH), his sister-in-law, Hattie E. [(Downs)] Hartford, aged sixty-nine years (b. NH), and his daughter, Evelyn Paey, a houseworker (private houses), aged thirty years (b. NH). George W. Paey owned their house, which was valued at $800. They had all resided in the same house in 1935. Their household appeared in the enumeration between those of Hazel Simmonds, housework (private family), aged fifty-two years (b. Nova Scotia), and Herbert O. Perkins, stitching room foreman (shoe shop), aged forty-three years (b. NH).
Ina A. [(Come)] Downs, a tea room proprietor (tea room & food store), aged fifty-four years (b. VT), headed a Rochester, NH, household at the time of the Seventeenth (1950) Federal Census. Her household included her sister-in-law, Hattie E. [(Downs)] Hartford, aged seventy-nine years (b. NH), and her lodger, Charles Brown, aged nineteen years (b. NY).
Hattie E. (Downs) Hartford died in 1952.
References:
Find a Grave. (2020, August 18). Albert Frederick Downs. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/214561013/albert-frederick-downs
Find a Grave. (2021, August 8). Fred S. Hartford. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/230496885/fred-s-hartford
NH State Board of Health. (1916). Report of the State Board of Health of the State of New Hampshire. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=C9BKAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA327
Milton Observer 