THE SIMPSONS.

Alexander Simpson and wife, whose maiden name was Mary Bryant, were both natives of Windham, N. H., and moved to this town, with their family of four children, in the month of March, 1797. They started from Windham with a yoke of oxen and sled, the only team to convey the family and goods to Vermont, They also had with them a cow and heifer. One of the oxen met with a sad accident, and died by the way.  What was then to be done ? Mr. Simpson yoked his cow and heifer together, hitched them to the sled, with the surviving ox forward, to strongly guide them, and so proceeded on his journey.  They crossed Connecticut River at about nine o'clock in the evening, on the ice, and stopped with Samuel McDuffee, on the Upper Plain, during the night. The next morning they took up their abode in a log house near by, until arrangements could be made to move to a lot which he had secured on the west side of Wright's Mountain, where he and his wife spent the remainder of their days.

THEIR CHILDREN:

1 Henry married Abigail Page, and settled in Newbury. They had three sons and three daughters. Matilda married Isaiah Woodward, of Haverhill, N. H., and after his decease, George Whipple. Daniel married Louisa Baldwin, of Newbury, and settled in Corinth.   They had six children, Abbie, Charles, Francena, George, Hylas and Lula. Mr. Simpson, their father, died May 17, 1874.  Jemima, daughter of Henry, married Newall Tabor, settled in Haverhill, and had one daughter and four sons.  Orrin, her brother, married Martha Caswell, of Fairlee, settled in Haverhill, and had a family of thirteen children.  Of Henry F., his brother, we have no account. 

2 William Simpson, second son of Alexander, married Polly Page, a sister of his brother Henry's wife, and settled in Bradford, near his father, and had twelve children, namely: Thaddeus, Cornelius, Cordelia, Albert, Avarissa, Samantha, Adaline, William, Reuben, Alonzo, and George. Of these it may be remarked that the eldest son has remained unmarried, with his parents, who at this date (June, 1874) are still living. Harriet married John Piatt, and settled in Haverhill. Cornelius married his cousin, Susan Simpson, of Topsham, and has one child.  Cordelia married Amos Flanders, and settled in Manchester, N. H. Reuben married Etta Prince, settled in Bradford, and has three children. George married Lucia Hutchins, settled in Newbury, and has one child. William Simpson represented this town in the State Legislature of 1800.

3 and 4 Nancy and Jane were twin daughters of Alexander Simpson and wife. Jane died in maidenhood.  Her sister Nancy married Daniel Page, settled in Haverhill, and had two sons and four daughters. 

5 John Simpson, the next in this original family, married Lydia Crook, settled in Topsham, and had two sons and two daughters.

6 Betsey Simpson married Samuel Page, settled in Corinth, and had a large family.

7 Mary Simpson, the youngest daughter of Alexander and wife, died unmarried.

A singular incident, related to the writer by Mr. Thaddeus Simpson, seems worth repeating here.   He said it once occurred that a horse belonging to his father, having been turned out to graze, was missing. Diligent search was made for it, not only on the premises and through the neighborhood, but more extensively, without success.  After more than a week of search, not the slightest intelligence could be obtained of its whereabouts, or of its having been seen. It was, therefore, but natural to suppose that it must have been stolen in the night, and taken to some remote place. But one day when he, Thaddeus, was out on the farm, he heard a sound which seemed like the faint neighing of a horse, under the ground. He listened,. and with anxiety approached the spot from which the sound seemed to come. To his astonishment, he perceived the head of a living horse, raised just a little above the surface of the earth! And there, in a deep potato-hole, he found the lost horse, still alive, though for some twelve days it had been without any nourishment whatever, beyond the merest pittance of grass which it had been able to reach without changing its position. The earth was speedily dug away, so as to give a path of escape, the horse was brought safely out, and lived to do still good service, and, wiser than some released prisoner, was cautious ever after not to be so venturesome as to fall again in the same or any similar pit. He said there could be no doubt in regard to the time when the horse fell into the hole, as they had been using it the very day before it disappeared.  Biographie Index

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