- RUFUS HALL.
The emigrant ancestor of Rufus Hall was Edward Hall (1), who was in America as early as 1636, at Duxborough, Mass. After residing at several places in Eastern Massachusetts, he finally settled at Rehoboth, Mass., in 1655, where he was number forty-one out of forty-nine persons who drew lots for meadow lands in the north part of the town. His wife was named Esther or Hester.
They had eight children, of whom Benjamin (2) was the youngest. He was born in Rehoboth August 7, 1668; married Sarah Fisher, of Wrentham, by whom he had eight children. He died in Wrentham August 26, 1726. His third child was Edward (3), born March 1698 ; he married, February 7, 1721, Hannah, daughter of Eleazer Fisher, of Wrentham. He was a sergeant, ensign and lieutenant, commissioned by the crown, and was in the colonial service. He removed to Uxbridge, 1740, where he purchased two hundred acres of land for two thousand pounds. He died between November, 1764 and 1765.
Of his seven children, Edward (4) was second, born July 18, 1727, in Wrentham; married, 1748, Lydia, daughter of John and Sarah (Taft) Brown. They had a family of ten children, all of whom were born in Uxbridge. Four of his sons served in the Continental army. He, himself, was a Royalist from principle, was commissioned by the crown, and was a lieutenant in the colonial service.
About, or shortly prior to 1774 he removed to Croydon, N. H., with his ten children and a niece, Elizabeth Hall. Here he was frequently chosen to town offices, being constable, collector, moderator, and, in 1784, 1785 and 1786, selectman of the town. He died in Croydon December 28, 1807, aged nearly eighty.
Abijah (5) was the third child of Edward Hall, and was born June 7 1754, and met death by drowning August 19, 1812. He married, first, about 1780, Sarah Read (or Reed) ; she died 1791. He married, second, August 12, 1792, Mary Read, of Northbridge, who survived him. He had the numerous family of seventeen children. He held the rank of captain, and was constable, collector, selectman, etc., of his town. Amasa (6), the sixth child, was born February, 1789; married, February 26, 1811, Rebecca L. Melendy. They had but three children'97Adolphus, Rufus and Sally Read.
Captain Amasa Hall was one of the most prominent men of his town. He served in tbe War of 1812-15; represented Croydon in the Legislature in 1824 and 1825; removed to Grantham, N. H., in 1829, where he served as selectman eight years ; represented Grantham in the General Court in 1832, '34, '35, '36, and was road commissioner for Sullivan County in 1841, and was a director of the First National Bank of Newport from its organization to the time of his death. As a business man he was very pushing and energetic and was more than ordinarily successful for those times. He farmed quite extensively, traded in cattle, loaned money, and in various ways added to his possessions, and at his death left a large property. He died in Grantham August 22, 1869.
Adolphus Hall (7) was born in Croydon, N.H., December 7, 1811. He removed to Grantham with his father in 1829, where he married, June 1, 1836, Sally Leavitt. Like his father, he was a successful and enterprising business man and a leader in all the public affairs of the town. He was selectman of Grantham from 1859 to 1862, and represented the town in the critical period of I860 and 1861, when the tocsin of War had sounded and each State gathered together her wisest men for council. He was treasurer of Sullivan County in 1865 and 1866, and was county commissioner and selectman of his town for the three years preceding his death, and was an incumbent of both offices at the time of his decease, October 12, 1876. He was a farmer, trader and lumber-dealer, and, for two years prior to his death, owned, in partnership with his son, and operated a saw and grist-mill in the village of Grantham. He had but two children,'97Rufus and Elvira. He was a stanch Republican in politics, and an earnest, aggressive, active man in whatever he undertook.
Rufus Hall (8) was born in Grantham, N. H., March 18, 1844. His boyhood and youth were spent in the employments usual to the sons of well-to-do and industrious New England farmers, and, as his father was also a merchant in a country village, remote from railroad facilities, considerable teaming was necessary to transport the goods to the store, and the country produce that was taken in exchange bad to be conveyed to the railroad. Rufus did much of this teaming, and, at intervals, was employed behind the counter in his father's store.
In these various ways his time was employed until his majority, when he purchased his father's interest in the store, and, in company with Lorenzo Dunbar, who had purchased the interest of the other partner,'97Mr. Dodge,'97he began merchandising. This partnership continued about six years, when he sold his interest in the store to Mr. Dunbar, and for the four succeeding years devoted himself exclusively to farming. All the time he had been conducting the store he had also been interested in the farm. In 1874 he, in company with his father, came into possession of a saw and grist-mill in Grantham, and they together operated this till his father's death, two years later. They were engaged quite extensively in milling and lumbering.
Upon his father's decease he sold the mill and returned to farming. In 1882 he, in company with Chester Walker, purchased the store of G. W. Dunbar in Croydon, and very soon after purchased Walker's interest, and from that time to the present has conducted the business alone.
His residence is still in Grantham, while his place of business is Croydon. Mr. Hall has held and faithfully discharged the duties of many positions of office and trust in his town. He was elected town clerk of Grantham in 1869, and, with an interim of two or three years, has held the position continuously since. In 1882 he represented Grantham in the State Legislature. He holds a directorship in the First National Bank of Newport, of which his grandfather was so long a valued officer. In politics he has not deserted the faith of his fathers, but is an ardent Republican.
He married, January 12, 1868; Francina D. Smith of Springfield. They have four children,'97Leon A., born June 4, 1869; Villa E. born August 17, 1874; Earl R., born May 10 1876; and Ralph A., born August 22, 1879.
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1844 - Unknown
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