ENOCH DAY WOODBRIDGE Enoch D. Woodbridge Nashua ENOCH DAY WOODBRIDGE, the first settler in Nashua, and a son of Timothy Woodbridge, a farmer of Vermont, was born in that state at Middlebury on the 3d of March, 1806. His mother was Lydia Chipman, daughter of Judge Chipman, of the same place. Enoch farmed in his native town until eleven years old, when the family moved to Ohio and settled on land twenty miles west of Cleveland. In 1835 Enoch removed to Southport, now Kenosha, Wisconsin, and bought and sold land there for several years; spent some time on a farm in Rock county, Wisconsin, and in 1854 pushed westward into Iowa, dealing in merchandise a year or two at McGregor, and in July, 1855, settling where Nashua now stands. At that time Bradford, then the seat of justice of Chickasaw county, had quite a cluster of dwelling houses, stores and hotels, but not a cellar had been dug or a sod turned on the site of Nashua, at first caled Woodbridge. In company with Mr. Andrew Sample he purchased the water-power; soon afterward built a saw-mill and grist-mill, and sold out the next year to E. P. Greeley. He then became a speculator in land, following the business for many years, most of the time with fair success. In business transactions he was an honest dealer. Mr. Woodbridge was one of the supervisors of the county for a long time, and mayor of the city one year, when, his health declining, he refused to serve any longer. He was a hater of oppression, and a true friend of his race; a strong abolitionist in political sentiment, acting heartily with the republican party during the last fifteen years of his life, he dying on the 8th of April, 1874. The cause of his demise was some disease of the brain. He had been a member of a Baptist church nearly forty years, and lived a steadfast christian life. He was remarkably conscientious, and cherished his religion and his politics with equal sincerity and unselfishness. A kinder-hearted man never lived in Nashua. If anybody was ever "generous to a fault,'' it was Mr. Woodbridge. In him the poor had a true and liberal friend. His widow was Miss Abijail Nichols, of Kenosha Wisconsin. They were joined in wedlock on the 20th of October, 1836, and have no children. Pecuniarily, Mrs. Woodbridge is left in very comfortable circumstances. She holds her church connection with the Baptist society at Charles City, eighteen miles away, there being no Baptist church in Nashua. Her late husband was connected with the same body. Mrs. Woodbridge is the oldest living settler in Nashua, a woman of rare christian virtues, who is held in the warmest esteem by her neighbors. Many years ago a brother of Deacon Woodbridge died, leaving four children, and he kindly took charge of the whole of them, rearing and educating them; three of them teaching, more or less, in their younger years. One of them died in 1861, aged eighteen years, a christian young man. The other three had a good start in life, and are doing well. Source: Iowa Biographical Dictionary, 1878, Page 721. Transcribed By Mike Peterson

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