BY J. N. McCLINTOCK.
A stranger in Concord is at first most impressed by its natural beauties, enhanced by the foresight of the fathers of the town. Nature and art are rarely combined. Beautiful shade trees are on every hand, as they are in many other of the favored cities of the Union. Concord is distinctively attractive in its perfection. The roads and streets are carefully graded; the bridges are substantial and elegant structures; the system of water supply, gas-works, and sewers, unseen, is excellent and complete; the school-houses are appropriate and ornamental; the private and public buildings are well built and neatly maintained; the fire department is exceptionally fine; the property of the city is discretely acquired, and well cared for; the policy of the city is at once progressive and liberal.
To no one man can be given the credit of accomplishing all these satisfactory results; they are the fruits of unity of purpose of the many, guided by a large, public-spirited policy dictated by a few. To no one, however, is the city of Concord more indebted for its material advancement and internal improvement, during the first quarter century of its municipal existence, than to its esteemed citizen, Hon. John Kimball. The name is a household word in Concord. It conveys a meaning to the present generation peculiar to itself. It is the name of a man who, springing from the sturdy yeoman and artisan stock,—from the people,—has won his way, by tireless industry, unblemished integrity, sterling honesty, and sound good sense, to positions of responsibility and prominence.
The Kimball family is one of the oldest in New England. It sprang from
1. Richard Kimball, who, with his wife, Ursula, and seven children, left their home in the mother country, braved the dangers of a stormy ocean, landed on the inhospitable shores of an unbroken wilderness, and commenced a new life, deprived of the comforts and luxuries of civilization, but blessed with political and religious liberty. He came from the old town of Ipswich, county of Suffolk, in the east of England, sailed on the ship "Elizabeth," and in the year 1634, at the age of thirty-nine, settled in Ipswich, in the Bay colony. The next year he was admitted a freeman, which must be accepted as evidence that he was a Puritan in good standing. He was the father of eleven children, and died June 22, 1675. From this patriarchal family most of the Kimballs of New England can trace their descent.
2. Richard Kimball, son of Richard and Ursula (Scott) Kimball, was born in England, in 1623, and was brought to this country by his parents, in childhood. He was a wheelwright by trade; married Mary Gott; was the father of eight children; settled in Wenham, Mass., as early as 1656, and died there May 20, 1676. The mother of his children died September 2, 1672.
3. Caleb Kimball, son of Richard and Mary (Gott) Kimball, was born in Wenham, April 9, 1665. He was a mason by trade; was the father of eight children; settled for a time at Exeter, N. H., and died in Wenham, January 25, 1725. His widow died in Wenham, January 20, 1731.
4. John Kimball, son of Caleb and Sarah Kimball, was born in Wenham, Mass., December 20, 1699. He settled on the land purchased by his father in Exeter, N. H., and married Abigail Lyford, February 14, 1722. She was the mother of six children, and died in Exeter, February 12, 1737. He afterwards married Sarah Wilson, of Exeter, September 18, 1740. They were the parents of nine children. The fifteen children of John Kimball were all born in Exeter.
5. Joseph Kimball, son of John and Abigail (Lyford) Kimball, was born in Exeter, January 29, 1730. In early life he married, and was the father of two children, but was left a childless widower in a few years. He afterwards married Sarah Smith. They were the parents of nine children. In 1793 he removed to Canterbury, and settled on a farm just north of Shaker Village. In early life he was stricken with blindness, and never looked upon the town of Canterbury, and never saw six of his children. He died November 6, 1814. His wife died March 1, 1808.