By Muriel Bristol | December 1, 2024
Henry B. Scates was born in Milton, February 10, 1831, son of Benjamin and Lovey (Lyman) Scates.
Henry B. Scates attended the common schools until he was seventeen years old, and then went to work for a neighboring farmer, with whom he remained six years. He then engaged in lumbering upon his own account, and has since carried on that business quite extensively (Biographical Review, 1897).
Brother William S. Scates died August 21, 1844, aged twenty-one years.
Benjamin Scates, a farmer, aged fifty-five years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Seventh (1850) Federal Census. His household included Lovey Scates, aged fifty years (b. NH), and Theodore Scates, aged twelve years. Benjamin Scates had real estate valued at $1,700. Their household appeared in the enumeration between those of James H. Horn, a farmer, aged fifty-seven years (b. NH), and James R. Horn, a shoe manufacturer, aged twenty-four years (b. NH).
Brother George L. Scates died February 3, 1851, aged twenty-three years.
Mother Lovey Scates of Milton made her last will September 1, 1855. She devised all her real estate and personal property in common to her beloved husband, Benjamin Scates, and her beloved son, Theodore C. Scates, provided they maintained a suitable home to her beloved daughter, Roxanna A.L. Scates. This was to include all necessary food, clothing, medicine (if necessary), so long as she remained unmarried. She devised $100 to her beloved daughter, Roxanna A.L. Scates, and a home as already provided, with a further $200 when her husband, Benjamin Scates, should die. She devised a Bible to her beloved son, Henry B. Scates, he having already received a share in her estate. She devised $100 to her beloved son, Rufus H. Scates, and $100 to her beloved daughter, Lydia J. Harrington. She left all the rest and residue to her beloved son, Theodore C. Scates, whom she named as executor. Daniel P. Warren, R.A. Lyman, and S.E. Loud witnessed her signature (Strafford County Probate, 69:296).
Mother Lovey (Lyman) Scates died in Milton, September 14, 1855, aged fifty-five years. Her last will was proved in a Strafford County Probate Court held in Dover, NH, October 2, 1855 (Strafford County Probate, 69:298).
Henry B. Scates, a farmer, aged twenty-eight years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Eighth (1860) Federal Census. Henry B. Scates had real estate valued at $800 and personal estate valued at $200. Their household appeared in the enumeration between those of Theodore Lyman, a farmer, aged forty-seven years (b. NH), and Frank Carr, a farmer, aged thirty years (b. NH).
He owns a good farm containing hundred acres of land, which he cultivates with good results (Biographical Review, 1897).
Father Benjamin Scates died of consumption in Milton, November 10, 1862, aged sixty-seven years, ten months. He was a farmer.
Henry B. Scates hired William Greene of Portsmouth, NH, as his military substitute in the 1st NH Regiment, December 30, 1864, for the term of three years. Greene was a seaman, aged twenty-three years (b. Charlton, Nova Scotia). He was 5′ 10½” tall, with dark brown hair, hazel eyes, and a fair complexion
Henry B. Scates married, circa 1865, Ellen May “Nellie” Dixon. She was born in Lebanon, ME, October 21, 1844, daughter of Benjamin and Hannah (Jones) Dixon.
Mr. Scates married Ellen Dickson, a native of Lebanon, Me. He has no children. He is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Patrons of Husbandry. He attends the Baptist church (Biographical Review, 1897).
Henry B. Scates of South Milton paid a $1 tax on his carriage in the U.S. Excise Tax of 1866.
Henry B. Scates’ friend Leander D. Clements (1830-1914) appeared as a witness in the Plummer’s Ridge civil case between his neighbors, Franklin W. “Frank” Orange (1810-1872) and S.H. “Rashe” Applebee, whom one might suppose from the 1860 census to have been Orange’s apprentice. (Note: “Rashe” being a nickname for “Horatio”).
BATCH OF SMILES. The late Henry B. Scates, an esteemed South Milton resident, one time sheriff and keeper of the Dover jail, used to tell the following incident about his friend, the late Leander Clements, a quaint character who lived on Milton Ridge. Leander was noted for his ready wit, his bluff and hearty good nature, and was beloved by all who knew him. As the story goes, two of Leander’s neighbors, known as “Rashe” Applebee and Frank Orange, got into a wrangle over the ownership of a pair of steers and decided to go to the court for a settlement, to which Leander was called as a witness. It was his first appearance before a tribunal and he was deeply interested in all of the proceedings. Applebee’s lawyer was the first to make his plea before the jury, during which Leander sat spellbound, drinking in every word uttered, and at the close was so convinced that he remarked: Applebee’s got the case! Then came the argument of the opposing lawyer, and so eloquent and impressive was he in his presentation of his client’s case that, at his conclusion, Leander exclaimed: By heavens, they’ve both got the case! – Rochester Courier (Boston Globe, December 7, 1933).
The Milton Selectmen of 1869 were E.W. Fox, Chas. Hayes, and H.B. Scates.
Henry B. Scates, a dealer in wood & lumber, aged thirty-eight years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Ninth (1870) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Ellen M. [(Dixon)] Scates, keeping house, aged twenty-five years (b. ME). Henry B. Scates had real estate valued at $3,700 and personal estate valued at $5,354. Their household appeared in the enumeration between those of Jame H. Tibbetts, works for shoe factory, aged twenty-five years (b. ME), and Theodore Lyman, a farmer, aged fifty-seven years (b. NH).
Henry B. Scates (1831-1919), aged twenty-eight years, and Andrew R. Lyman (1839-1906), aged twenty-one years, both farmers, were neighbors to each other (and to Luther Hayes) in the Eighth (1860) Federal Census. They would be partners in the Lyman & Scates lumber company between at least the years 1873 and 1889.
Scates & Lyman appeared in the Milton business directories of 1873, 1874, 1875, 1876, 1877, and 1880, as South Milton lumbermen.
The Milton Selectmen of 1880 were A.A. Fox, H.B. Scates, and D. Wallingford.
Henry B. Scates, a farmer, aged forty-seven years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Tenth (1880) Federal Census. His household included his wife, Nellie M. [(Dixon)] Scates, keeping house, aged thirty-five years (b. ME), his aunt [-in-law], Mary Dixon, at home, aged sixty-nine years (b. ME), and his help, Frank Tasker, works on farm, aged nineteen years (b. NH). Their household appeared in the enumeration between those of Isaac Wentworth, a farmer, aged fifty-six years (b. NH), and Henry H. Wentworth. a butcher, aged thirty-six years (b. NH).
Brother Theodore Scates died in Boston, MA, August 21, 1880, aged forty-one years.
Scates & Lyman appeared in the Milton business directories of 1881, 1882, 1884, 1887, and 1889, as Milton lumbermen.
The Milton Selectmen of 1881 were H.B. Scates, D. Wallingford, and E.W. Fox.
MILTON. Town meeting passed with but very little excitement. Officers elected are as follows: MODERATOR, Abram Sanborn; TOWN CLERK, Charles H. Looney; SELECTMEN, Henry B. Scates, David Wallinford, Elbridge W. Fox; TREASURER, Ira Miller. Voted to purchase a safe for the benefit of the town. Voted to build a road to the new mill, which will be done as soon as the weather will permit. OLD HUNDRED (Farmington News, March 25, 1881).
REAL ESTATE TRANSFERS. Hiram V. Wentworth to Lyman & Scates; land in Milton; $100 (Farmington News, August 10, 1888).
MILTON. Henry Scales [Scates], with a crew of eight men, broke ground for the new street, last week, commencing on the lower section opposite Geo Tasker’s house (Farmington News, May 23, 1890).
Luther Hayes, and Henry B. Scates, acting for the town, filled out a NH State Board of Health form regarding Milton’s sanitary and safety conditions in that same year. (They were not at all impressed with the sewerage and drainage at Milton Three Ponds). They noted that the Burley & Usher factory was the only building in town that had a fire escape (NH State Board of Health, 1891).
Henry Scates was among those Republicans seated on the platform at a Benjamin Harrison & Whitelaw Reid presidential campaign rally held at the A.O.U.W. Hall, September 29, 1892.
MILTON. A large and elegant Harrison & Reid flag was raised here last night by the republican club of Milton. The decorations and colored lights were well arranged and well timed, and three hearty cheers were given for the candidates. Hon. Henry W. Blair gave an earnest and intensely interesting address in A.O.U.W. hall, under the auspices of the club, holding the attention of an unusually large audience throughout, and receiving much enthusiastic applause. W.K. Norton, principal of the Nute high school, acted as president of the evening. On the platform were seated Hon. Charles H. Looney, Luther Hayes, Dr. J.H. Twombly, Charles A. Jones, Dr. M.A.H. Hart, R.M. Kimball, Henry Scates, W.C. Nash, S. Lyman Hayes, S.W. Wallingford, B.B. Plummer. The action of our young democratic friends in stoning the lanterns and breaking wires, as well as their unnecessary cat calls during the address, are appreciated at their full value, not only by republicans, but by respectable democrats (Farmington News, September 30, 1892).
The Republican presidential ticket of Benjamin Harrison and Whitelaw Reid were defeated that November by the Democrat ticket of Grover Cleveland and Adlai Stevenson.
Mother-in-law Hannah (Jones) Dixon died April 25, 1893, aged seventy-eight years.
MILTON. Henry B. Scates of South Milton has been appointed jailor at Dover and will move there (Farmington News, March 31, 1893).
Father-in-law Benjamin Dixon died May 11, 1893, aged seventy-six years.
Henry B. Scates received an initial five-year appointment as a Milton justice-of-the-peace, December 29, 1893.
Henry B. Scates of Milton made his last will, April 1, 1894. After payment of his just debts and funeral expenses, he devised his estate, be it real, personal, or mixed, to his beloved wife, Ellen M. Scates, whom he also named as executrix. John Kivel, John McClintock, and John W. Place witnessed his signature (Strafford County Probate, 149:746).
Henry B. Scates appeared in the Dover, NH, directory of 1895, as a jailor, at the Strafford County Jail, with his at the jail.
Politically, he supports the Republican party. He served as Surveyor fifteen years, as Chairman of the Board of Selectmen three years, as Town Auditor, and was Jailer under Sheriff Plummer for two years (Biographical Review, 1897).
Henry B. Scates appeared in the Dover, NH directory of 1898, as having moved to Milton.
Henry B. Scates appeared in the Milton directory of 1900, as a farmer, with his house in South Milton.
Henry Scates, a farmer, aged sixty-nine years, headed a Milton household at the time of the Tenth (1900) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of thirty-five years), Nellie M. [(Dixon)] Scates, aged fifty-five years (b. ME). Henry Scates owned their farm, free-and-clear. Their household appeared in the enumeration between those of George Kingston, a R.R. station agent, aged forty-nine years (b. Ireland), and George A. Mitchell, a counter maker (leatherboard mill), aged thirty-three years (b. MA).
Henry B. Scates appeared in the Milton directories of 1902, 1905, and 1909, as a farmer, with his house in South Milton, near the schoolhouse.
Milton, N.H. Henry Scates visited at Dover Wednesday and called on his old friend, Marshall Fogarty. Mr. Scates was formerly jailer for this county (Sanford Journal-Tribune (Biddeford, ME), September 25, 1903).
MILTON. Mr. and Mrs. Henry B. Scates, who spent the winter in Brighton, Mass., have returned to their home in South Milton (Farmington News, April 22, 1904).
MILTON, N.H. Avery, Jones and Roberts bought timber in the auction sale last week on what are known as the Pains lots, owned by Scates & Lyman. The price paid was $4,750.00. What might have been a serious forest fire, had it not been discovered in the first stages, broke out near where Avery, Jones and Roberts’ mill has been erected, on the mountain near the Ford place. About $60.00 worth of property was consumed (Sanford Journal-Tribune (Biddeford, ME), June 7, 1907).
Henry B. Scates, a farmer, aged seventy-nine years (b. NH), headed a Milton household at the time of the Thirteenth (1910) Federal Census. His household included his wife (of forty-six years), Nellie [(Dixon)] Scates, aged sixty-five years (b. ME). Henry B. Scates owned their farm, free-and-clear. Their household appeared in the enumeration between those of Walter E. Tarbell, a machinist (leatherboard mill), aged fifty-one years (b. MA), and Jeremiah Regan, a section man (railroad), aged thirty-six years (b. Ireland).
Henry B. Scates of Milton made a codicil to his last will (of 1894), August 15, 1910. He reiterated his earlier comprehensive bequest to his beloved wife, Ellen M. Scates. But after her decease, he devised his twenty-acre Milton homestead farm, as well as the Milton woodlot he co-owned with Lizzie L. [(Lyman)] Fall, as a life-estate to his beloved nephew, Frank B. Tasker of Boston, and thereafter to his grandnephew, Theodore L. Tasker. He devised to them also the Sheep Pasture lot, all of his Plains land (owned in common with the Lyman estate), both in Milton, and, in Lebanon, ME, the Blaisdell farm, and his part of the Ben Dixon estate. Frank B. Tasker would also receive all of the farming tools, carriages, horses, stock, and riggings, after his wife’s death. The rest and residue would be divided equally between Frank B. Tasker, Theodore L. Tasker, Florence L. Tasker of Boston, MA, and Bertha L. Smith of Boston, MA. George G. Fall, Luther C. Hayes, and Albert D. Jones witnessed his signature (Strafford County Probate, 149:746).
Henry B. Scates appeared in the Milton directory of 1912, as a farmer, with his house in South Milton, at the R.R. bridge.
COLLECTOR’S ADVERTISEMENT of Sale of Lands of Non-Resident Owners. Unpaid taxes on lands of non-resident owners situated in the Town of Newfield in the County of York for the year 1912. The following list of taxes on real estate of non-resident owners situated in the Town of Newfield aforesaid for the year 1912, committed to me for collection for said Town on me nineteenth day of June, 1912, remain unpaid and notice is hereby given that if said taxes with interest and charges are not previously paid, so much of the real estate taxed as is sufficient and necessary to pay the amount due therefor, including interest and charges, will be sold without further notice at public auction at Town House in said town, on the first Monday of February, 1913, at nine o’clock a.m. …
HENRY SCATES AND WIFE— Lot 1, 20 acres, N. by road, E. by E.E. Rhines, S. by Clara Wentworth, W. by M. Corson – $6.10 (Sanford Journal-Tribune (Biddeford, ME), December 20, 1912).
AGED BLIND MAN CAN SEE AGAIN. Sight Returns Suddenly to Henry Scates, Aged 84 Years. An unusual human-interest scene was enacted to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Scates, near North Rochester, when the husband, aged 84, and blind for years, suddenly exclaimed, “I can see.” Mr. Scates was sitting in the home with his wife, when he suddenly uttered a startling exclamation. To her query he joyfully cried that he could see again. The incident is considered very unusual. Because of his advanced years and the fact that the use of his eyes had been denied him for years, it was believed that he would never see again (Portsmouth Herald, 1915).
Henry B. Scates appeared in the Milton directory of 1917, as a retired lumberman, with his house in South Milton, at the R.R. bridge.
Henry B. Scates died of chronic interstitial nephritis in South Milton, October 31, 1919, aged eighty-eight years, eight months, and twenty-one days. He was retired. James J. Buckley, M.D., signed the death certificate.
WEST MILTON. Mrs. Bessie Twombly was in South Milton, Monday afternoon, to attend the funeral of Henry Scales [Scates], a respected citizen, and the oldest man in town (Farmington News, November 7, 1919).
The last will of Henry B. Scates and its codicil were proved in a Strafford County Probate Court held in Dover, NH, November 18, 1919 (Strafford County Probate, 149:747).
PROBATE NOTICES. HENRY B. SCATES, late of Milton, New Hampshire, deceased. Authenticated copy of will and codicil, and petition for the probate thereof, and praying that letters of administration with the will annexed may be issued to Florence L. Tasker of said Milton, presented by said Florence L. Tasker (Biddeford-Saco Journal, March 3, 1928).
Ellen M. (Dixon) Scates died in Brighton, MA, March 17, 1930.
DEATHS. SCATES – In Brighton. March 17, Ellen M. Scates. Funeral services at her late residence, 29 Bentley st., Brighton. Wednesday, March 19. at 3:30 p.m. Burial at Lebanon, Me., on Thursday (Boston Globe, March 18, 1930).
References:
Biographical Review. (1897). Biographical Review. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=C2sjAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA308
Find a Grave. (2022, May 13). Benjamin Dixon. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/239707376/benjamin_dixon
Find a Grave. (2023, October 1). Lydia J. Scates Harrington. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/260223474/lydia_j_harrington
Find a Grave. (2016, July 2). Sophia Lyman Scates Harrington. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/166359981/sophia-lyman-harrington
Find a Grave. (2023, September 23). Benjamin Scates. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/260134198/benjamin_scates
Find a Grave. (2023, September 7). George Lyman Scates. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/259360949/george_lyman_scates
Find a Grave. (2022, May 13). Henry B. Scates. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/239706890/henry-b-scates
Find a Grave. (2023, September 7). William Sidney Scates. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/259360910/william_sidney_scates
Find a Grave. (2016, September 18). Benjamin F. “Frank” Tasker. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/170122832/benjamin-f.-tasker
Find a Grave. (2023, September 5). Roxanna A.L. Scates Tasker. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/259284782/roxanna_a_l_tasker
NH State Board of Health. (1891). Report of the NH State Board of Health. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=1IbuVusxkxgC&pg=RA2-PA216
Milton Observer 