Col Samuel LADD, I

  General Notes:

Of Belmont, Belknap Co, NH.

From the "Illustrated Laconian"
In the town of Meridith Bridge (now Laconia, N.H.) the mill privilege was purchased in 1780 by Colonel Samuel Ladd who rebuilt on the Gilford side of the river. Colonel Ladd lost his milldam three years successively, and in 1788 his mill was burned, but it was immediately rebuilt. One of the first houses on the Gilmanton side of the river was the mill house erected by Col. Samuel Ladd in 1780, near the present location of the Huse Machine Shops. Colonel Ladd purchased the land of Samuel Jewett, who settled half a mile above, the previous year. It is stated that Col. Ladd paid but 7 Spanish dollars for this lot of two and a half acres of land on the east side of the river, and previously owned the territory now known as Ladd's Hill, just across the city line in Belmont. The land on the north side of the river was first owned by Schoolmaster James of Exeter. Stephen Gale next purchased this territory and sold it to Colonel Ladd. This land commenced near the present Church Street Bridge and the boundary ran in a straight line to Lake Winnesquam, near the mouth of the Winnipesaukee River, thus including all of the most valuable property today in the city of Laconia.

From the "Laconia Democrat, 1990"
1865. Work of disinterring the dead in "this ancient depository of the departed" (the old cemetery was located about where Cherry Webb & Touraine is today) was going forward under the direction of Deacon Jeremiah Lampry. "It seems that this lot was first given by Col. Samuel Ladd for a family burying ground for the Ladd family. Edward Ladd, the father of Col. Samuel Ladd was the first person to be buried here, sometime anterior to 1801...Thus far, the remains of 166 bodies have been disinterred, and it is estimated that about 60 yet await removal. It is to be regretted that the necessity of thus disturbing the silent house of the dead, after a sleep of some sixty five years, should exist, yet the situation in 1865 could not wed be seen in 1801. It was not then expected that the private family cemetery of the Ladd family would form the very heart and centre of the enterprising and thrifty village of Laconia of 1865.

As near as can be determined all of these bodies were reinterred in what is now the Union Cemetery, Laconia, N.H. Although, numerous Ladds have been located here I have found nothing for Edward Ladd who was the first person interred in the old Ladd cemetery.

Headstone, Union Cemetery, Laconia, Belknap Co, NH
Samuel Ladd died April 9 , 1801, Age 57

  Burial Notes:

Union Cemetery, Laconia, Belknap Co, NH

Samuel married Abigail FLANDERS, daughter of Thomas FLANDERS and Margaret LAWRENCE, on 10 Nov 1768 in Belmont, Belknap Co, NH. (Abigail FLANDERS was born on 15 Jul 1747 in Exeter, Rockingham Co, NH, died on 8 Jun 1803 in Gilmanton, Belknap Co, NH and was buried in Laconia, Belknap Co, NH.)