Rev. Joseph Kimball
March 13, 1832 – March 2, 1921
Reverend Joseph Kimball, one of Haverhill’s most prominent ministers, died March 2, 1921 at the home of C. F. Emery, Portland Street, aged 88 years and 11 months. Rev. Mr. Kimball was born in Plaistow, NH March 13, 1832, not far from the church of which he was pastor late in life.
He was educated in the district schools there and entered Phillips Academy in Andover, preparing there from 1847 to 1853 preparing there for a college course. Graduating in June he entered Amherst College in the fall of 1853 and was graduated in the class of 1857.
The year following his graduation he was principal of the County Academy at Miffinsburg, PA. In 1858 he returned to Phillips Academy as a teacher, where he remained until 1865, when he resigned to accept the position of Superintendent of Schools in Massillon, Ohio. He remained in the Middle West until 1869 when he went south, serving in Mobile from 1869 to 1871. From 1871 to 1884 he held various trusteeships at Andover and was a civil engineer.
During his college career he became a member of the S.B.K. Society in his Junior Year and graduated first in his class as to scholarship, receiving a degree of A.M. from Amherst in 1860. He prepared many lectures on a variety of subjects and delivered them in different cities and towns in Essex County and elsewhere.
Rev. Mr. Kimball united with a church while a student at Amherst College, June 2, 1855, and was dismissed by letter in August 1876, to unite with the Congregational Church, Plaistow, NH and the North Parish of this city. He was ordained as an evangelist at the same time that Rev. Harry L. Briskell was installed as Pastor of the Second Congregational Church, Lynnfield, MA, Jan. 15, 1883. He entered upon his pastorate duties with the First Evangelical Church of Seabrook and Hampton Falls, NH, September 6, 1884 and continued in that position until Sept. 2, 1901. On leaving Hampton Falls he became pastor of the Evangelical Church of Plaistow and the North Parish Church of this city, where he served for a period of 10 years. He resigned from active service 10 years ago and has made his home with friends in Haverhill.
Reverend Mr. Kimball was the son of True Kimball and Betsy Chase Kimball. After the death of his parents he made his home with his brother and wife, Mr. and Mrs. Moses Kimball, at the old Kimball Homestead, now known as the Wentworth Farm.
In September of 1907, Rev. Mr. Kimball gave $10,000 to complete the Riverside Memorial Church and also purchased the organ for the church. He purchased the organs in the Union Congregational Church, Main Street, Haverhill, The Groveland Congregational Church, and the Calvary Baptist Church of Haverhill.
In April 1907, Rev. Mr. Kimball purchased an old colonial house in Atkinson, NH and turned it into a library, which he endowed with books, and in July of the same year it was accepted by the Town and designated as the Kimball Library.